My elder sister forced me to become a concubine; I was reborn and remarried into the emperor's

Seeing that there was no way out and that he had reached a dead end, Pei Yuyan decisively drew the sword from the guard beside him and turned to look at Pei Ji.

"Do you think you won?"

Pei Ji raised his eyelids indifferently, tilted his head slightly, and his eyes were filled with obvious contempt. It was clear who had won and who had lost.

But Pei Yuyan suddenly burst into laughter: "You are different from me. You seem cold-blooded and ruthless, killing without blinking an eye, but in reality you are easily soft-hearted. People with weaknesses are destined not to sit on the throne."

As he spoke, he clapped his hands, and then the door on the side of the hall was pushed open, and a guard led a person in.

"Shou Zhuo..."

The person with a dagger pressed against her neck was none other than Empress Dowager Jiang.

Pei Ji's smiling lips slowly drooped, his thin lips pressed into a line, his face expressionless, but anyone could tell he was unhappy.

"Pei Yuyan, are you even human? I am your own grandmother!"

Pei Yuyan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, walked over, grabbed Empress Dowager Jiang's arm tightly, took the dagger with his other hand, and pressed it straight against her neck.

His movements were not gentle, and the dagger was extremely sharp, instantly slicing through the flesh, causing blood to flow out and soaking the half-high collar of his clothes.

Although Empress Dowager Jiang was knowledgeable and experienced and a victor in the harem, she had also lived a life of luxury and had never suffered any pain.

Unable to withstand such intimidation and pain, she couldn't help but cry out in pain as she gave birth.

"You, you beast."

Pei Yuyan was not angered at all. Instead, he listened to her insults and laughed maniacally.

"A great beast naturally gives birth to a little beast. So what if I am a grandmother? I have even killed my father, so what difference does a grandmother make?"

"You, you, how could my son have given birth to a son like you? If your mother were still alive, she would surely be furious to death."

Pei Yuyan's laughter faltered, and his face turned sinister: "Empress Mother? You still have the nerve to mention my mother? Do I need to remind you why she died? If it weren't for you, old woman, making her pay her respects every day, how could she have accidentally caught heatstroke in the sweltering heat and given birth to me prematurely?"

“You showed no remorse whatsoever, and even immediately summoned her own sister to the palace as a concubine under the pretext of caring for the infant.”

Empress Dowager Jiang never expected that he knew all these past events.

She wanted to explain that she hadn't intentionally asked the Empress to come and pay her respects; it was simply that she had been suffering from a headache at the time, and the Emperor wasn't in the palace. It was the Empress, being filial, who insisted on coming to attend to her.

She felt very guilty about the accident.

Seeing the infant crown prince and witnessing the emperor's unbearable breakdown, she proposed that the empress's sister enter the palace to accompany him.

Her intentions were good; she thought that her own aunt would be kinder to the Crown Prince.

"Do you know how Consort Xian has treated me all these years? If I hadn't been lucky, how could I have survived until now?"

"But...but the emperor treated you well. When you were still an infant, he made you the crown prince, gave you your first education, and taught you to ride horses and shoot arrows. He has never cared for any other child like this."

Pei Yuyan scoffed lightly: "He's not being kind to me; he's feeling guilty and afraid that the Empress Dowager's spirit will come back to haunt him. If he truly cared for me, why would he doubt and be suspicious of me, and even secretly summon Pei Ji to the capital? Isn't it all to guard against me?"

“Even tigers don’t eat their cubs. He was just afraid of being infamous for killing his own child. He wasn’t as ruthless as me, so he’s the one lying there now.”

Pei Ji watched the grandfather and grandson's conversation with cold eyes, as if he were a complete stranger.

Until the knife pierced deeper by Pei Yuyan's trembling, blood instantly overflowed.

This was the first time Empress Dowager Jiang had faced death directly. Her eyes widened, and her voice trembled uncontrollably with fear and panic.

"Ayan, I am your grandmother. I have never thought of harming you."

"Shou Zhuo..."

She looked at Pei Ji again, the helplessness in her eyes making her no longer seem like the high and mighty Empress Dowager, but no different from ordinary people who feared death.

"If you want to save her, just cut off your own arm and surrender, and I will spare her life."

Pei Ji looked at him coldly, the corners of his mouth curled up, and he took a big step back with his arms outstretched.

She even casually waved her hand at him, saying, "Do as you please."

Pei Yuyan thought he was putting on an act; this person was far too cunning, more cunning than anyone he had ever met.

He thrust the dagger deeper into his hand: "You want to provoke me? Do you think I wouldn't dare?"

There is no one in this world worth my attention.

The blood had soaked the collar around her neck, and Empress Dowager Jiang's lips had turned visibly pale. She looked at Pei Ji with pleading eyes, not daring to utter a word.

She felt guilty towards her youngest son, and now Pei Yuyan was using her life to repay his. She dared not call out to him again.

No matter what decision he makes, she will feel sad and heartbroken.

"Shouzhuo, don't worry about me..."

This time she wasn't referring to "I," but to me, to her as a mother, not to her as the Empress Dowager.

Seeing that he was truly unconcerned and showed no emotional fluctuation whatsoever, Pei Yuyan began to doubt himself. Had he misjudged him again?

Everyone thought Pei Ji was cold-blooded, but he felt that the other party longed for family. At least when Empress Dowager Jiang was injured, he would definitely lose his composure.

But why didn't he react? Was he as heartless as him?

If Empress Dowager Jiang really died, without this last trump card, how could he possibly escape?

Pei Yuyan heard faint shouts coming from outside the hall, which seemed to indicate that Pei Ji's troops had arrived.

If this drags on any longer, he really won't be able to leave...

But in that brief moment of distraction, he felt a cold wind sweep past his eyes.

When he realized something was wrong, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist; his hand bones had been broken, and the dagger fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Empress Dowager Jiang, whom he had imprisoned, slid to the ground. He had no time to care about anyone else; his knees ached, and he knelt down heavily.

He heard that deep, cold voice above him: "Therefore, we are even."

These words were spoken to Empress Dowager Jiang. His so-called "two cleareds" meant that he was repaying her kindness in giving birth to him with his life.

Empress Dowager Jiang seemed to understand his meaning. Her eyes reddened, but she had lost too much blood and could not speak. She opened her mouth and then fainted completely.

Pei Yuyan was wrong; Pei Ji was indeed a cold and indifferent person.

All his longing for family had long since died on the battlefield.

He didn't care about anyone's life or death. Whether it was the Empress Dowager or the Emperor, they were just one among the masses to him, not even as important as his close attendants.

The person who changed him was Wei Nanxun.

She brought warmth and a heartbeat back to that cold, dead heart.

"I want to know, how exactly did you survive?"

Pei Yuyan knelt in humiliation, yet still defiantly raised his head, spitting out blood, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at him.

He was unconvinced and unwilling to accept defeat; he wanted to know exactly how he had lost.

Pei Ji looked down at him coldly, feeling that he was both foolish and pathetic.

Although the emperor suspected him, he never thought of killing him. His sons were young and their talents and abilities were not as good as his. If he could continue to pretend, the world of Great Yan would eventually be his.

Unfortunately, he failed the test and drove himself to his death.

However, it was also thanks to him that Wei Nanxun would have repeatedly run into him in order to avoid him. If it weren't for Pei Yuyan's ulterior motives, she wouldn't have kept running into him.

How did he come to have this marriage?

Thinking of Wei Nanxun, a rare warmth appeared in Pei Ji's eyes.

He deftly dislocated the other man's arm, watching him struggle in agony like an ant.

Looking down at him, he said in a calm voice, "Dead people have no right to know."