Which sentence in Chapter 42 is true?
Mu Yu's face drained of color, and she was filled with fear.
No, it can't end like this! She's been planning this for so long, she absolutely can't let it all go to waste here!
Just then, Yuan Hua, sitting high on his throne, cast his majestic phoenix eyes down, his gaze filled with a chilling coldness.
"Someone come here."
Her voice was resolute.
"Drag these two criminals, who dared to impersonate imperial heirs and deceive the emperor, away!"
"Execute by slow slicing!"
The last four words were unusually cold.
All the civil and military officials trembled, and even the common people watching the spectacle below gasped in shock.
Lingchi! That's the cruelest form of punishment!
Once the Empress Dowager uttered these words, it was an ironclad decision, leaving no room for maneuver!
Yuan Hua lowered his eyes, his hands, hidden beneath his wide sleeves, trembling slightly.
Lingchi (death by a thousand cuts)...
In those previous ninety-nine cycles, every time her own daughter was tied to the execution ground and had her flesh cut off piece by piece, dying in endless pain and despair, it was always her own daughter who was tied up and executed!
The thought of the suffering her daughter had endured was like a thousand ants gnawing at her heart, causing her unbearable pain.
This time, she's going to make these culprits pay a hundredfold!
"No!"
Mu Yu screamed hoarsely.
"Empress Dowager! You can't do this! It's the princess abusing her power!"
"It's been like this since I was little! She bullied me every day, beating me until I was covered in bruises, and only gave me leftovers to eat! All these injuries on my body are from her beatings!"
She suddenly turned to Cui Li and wept bitterly.
"Cui Lang and I are deeply in love and have long been engaged! It was Luan Xue who stole us away! Knowing that we were in love, she deliberately asked the late emperor for a decree to grant us marriage, forcibly separating us! I had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure!"
Prince Consort Cui, standing beside him, seemed to have found his pillar of support and immediately began to cooperate in the performance.
"Your Majesty, please be wise! Mu Yu and I are truly in love!"
He made his accusations with tears streaming down his face.
"Mu Yu is kind-hearted and thought that even if she became a concubine after marriage, she could stay by Chen's side. But Luan Xue is extremely jealous and couldn't even tolerate that! When Mu Yu was pregnant with Chen's child, she actually sent someone to force-feed her a medicinal soup, causing her to abort our child! And she made sure that Mu Yu would never be able to have children again!"
"Not only that!" Cui Liyue became more and more excited as he spoke.
"She also disrespects her mother-in-law, bosses my parents around, and deliberately brings them spoiled food! My poor nephew, who had the talent to be a top scholar, failed the imperial examination because he was constantly harassed by her and became restless!"
He slammed his head heavily on the ground, the sound resounding and powerful.
"If the Empress Dowager does not believe me, she may summon all my family members to the palace! They can all testify!"
Looking at the man and woman below who were turning black into white, Yuan Hua was so angry that he laughed instead.
The smile was cold, not reaching his eyes.
"Okay, very good."
"Since that's the case, then summon the entire Cui family to the palace. I want to see how the princess of Great Yu dares to bully others!"
[Yay! Yay! Let's wipe them all out! Anyone who dares to bully my Imperial Aunt must die!]
Xiao Zhaoning sat on the dragon throne, swinging her short legs back and forth, and her anger subsided a little.
Soon, the Cui family was brought up.
The mother of Prince Consort Cui was adorned with gold and silver and was quite overweight.
Behind him followed his elder brother and sister-in-law, as well as his nephews and nieces.
As soon as the family stepped into the main hall, they all knelt down with a thud and began to wail loudly.
"Empress Dowager! You must do justice for the Cui family!" Old Madam Cui cried, pounding her chest and stamping her feet. "What sins have we committed to deserve such a wicked daughter-in-law!"
"On her very first day in the family, she set rules for us, saying that she was a princess and we all had to act according to her wishes!"
The prince consort's elder brother also joined in the lament, "Yes! Our whole family scrimps and saves, but she eats delicacies every day, and doesn't even give us a sip of soup!"
The eldest sister-in-law went even further, rolling up her sleeve to reveal the handprint she had secretly made by pinching her fingers.
"Your Majesty, look! This is because the Princess pinched me yesterday because she thought I was talking too loudly! It still hurts!"
The people were once again bewildered by this spectacle.
Is there more to this story? This family is crying so bitterly, it doesn't seem fake!
Seeing this, Mu Yu's eyes flashed with a hint of triumph. She took the opportunity to turn around and shout pitifully at the thousands of people outside the palace.
"Let the world judge! Just because she's a princess, does that mean she can do whatever she wants and arbitrarily kill us ordinary people? Does being a member of the royal family give her the right to treat human life like dirt?!"
Her words were highly inflammatory, and the people, who already harbored a natural distrust of the powerful and wealthy, now discussed the matter even more vehemently.
"That makes some sense..."
"Yes, does that mean a princess can just abort someone's child like that? That's too cruel!"
The civil and military officials in the imperial court remained remarkably calm at this moment.
They've weathered wave after wave of reversals and have learned from them.
If something happens, don't panic.
Let's see what His Majesty has to say first.
All the ministers who could hear the whispers of the heart silently turned their gazes toward the small figure on the dragon throne.
The next second, that childish, angry voice arrived as expected.
[Pah! What a shameless family, twisting the truth like that!]
Xiao Zhaoning's face turned red with anger, and her cheeks puffed out like a steamed bun.
[They say my imperial aunt didn't feed them? When my imperial aunt married into the family, her dowry was enormous! They practically moved mountains of gold and silver! And what happened? It all filled that bottomless pit of the Cui family!]
[That old hag! She's using my imperial aunt's money to keep a gigolo on the side! She spends all her time listening to music and watching plays, living a life more comfortable than the Empress Dowager!]
[And that older brother! He's a hopeless gambler! He stole all of my imperial aunt's gold and jewels, pawned them, and gambled it all away! And he even dared to hit people when he got back!]
[The funniest one is that nephew! A good-for-nothing who doesn't know anything! My royal aunt couldn't stand it anymore, so she spent a fortune hiring a disciple of the great Confucian scholar Wang Taifu for one-on-one tutoring every day! And he didn't even pass the lowest level of the imperial examination! And she can blame that on my royal aunt? It's absolutely hilarious!]
"Cough cough cough!"
Many people choked and their faces turned red.
Keeping actors?
A gambling addict?
A good-for-nothing paired with a learned scholar?
[How dare she say my royal aunt is unfilial! That old woman was sick, and my royal aunt stayed by her bedside day and night! And what happened? That old hag turned around and told the neighbors that the princess's daughter-in-law was arrogant, and even though she was dying, the high and mighty princess didn't even give her a second glance!]
[What's most infuriating is that Prince Consort Cui! That ultimate scumbag! He took my Imperial Aunt's money and bought this imposter, Mu Yu, a huge mansion with three courtyards in the suburbs of Beijing! Even the chamber pots in that mansion are inlaid with gold!]
A gold-plated chamber pot?!
All the civil and military officials were greatly alarmed.
This goes beyond being shameless.
Using a princess's dowry to do this is shameless!
[This is called oppressing others with power? This is clearly being forced to the ground and drained of your blood, and then being complained about for the smell of blood!]
Xiao Zhaoning concluded angrily at the end.
On the high platform, Yuan Hua spoke in a cold voice.
"Okay, okay, okay!"
She slowly stood up, looking down at the Cui family members who were still putting on a show, her phoenix eyes full of mockery.
"Someone come here!"
The Empress Dowager gave the order.
"Take off the longevity hairpin from Old Madam Cui's head, the pair of red gold bracelets from Madam Cui's wrist, the warm jade from Young Master Cui's waist, and all other precious items for me!"
The golden-armored guards immediately stepped forward, their movements swift and decisive.
The Cui family was stunned. Before they could react, their most valuable possessions were taken away.
"Empress Dowager! What are you doing!" Old Madam Cui shrieked. "Even the imperial family can't rob us commoners in broad daylight!"
"Exactly! Why should they take our things!"
The family started throwing a tantrum again.
Just then, the old tutor Wang An, who had been silent all along, finally couldn't stand it anymore.
He walked forward shakily, pointing to the glittering jewelry on the tray, his voice booming.
"Shut up, you old man! Open your dog eyes and see clearly!"
Wang An was so angry that his beard was trembling.
"The gold hairpin in Old Madam Cui's hair was a gift from the Emperor! The bracelet on Madam Cui's wrist was a tribute from the Western Regions! And that jade pendant bears the imperial seal! Your Cui family is just an ordinary family, where did you get these imperial gifts and tributes from the Western Regions?!"
The old tutor spoke sternly and sternly.
"You are not wealthy merchants, yet you are all dressed in gold and silver, and fine silks and satins! Where did all this money come from? Tell me!"
He paused abruptly, his eyes flashing.
"Could it be... treason?"
The words "treason and collusion with the enemy" instantly sent chills down everyone's spines.
That's a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family!
"No! That's not true! I'm innocent!"
The Cui family was instantly terrified and scrambled to their feet, kowtowing repeatedly.
"Your Excellency, the Grand Tutor, you are wise! We have not colluded with the enemy or betrayed the country!"
"These, these things, were all gifts from the princess! They were given to us by the princess!" Old Madam Cui blurted out in her anxiety.
The entire room fell silent instantly.
All eyes were on the Cui family.
Ahead, Yuan Hua slowly sat back down, propping his head up with his hand, his posture languid, his voice carrying a sense of pressure.
"oh?"
She asked softly.
"Since my daughter has treated you so well, she has given you priceless imperial gifts and rare tributes."
"Then why did you just now so confidently accuse my daughter of bullying others and never even giving you a second glance?"
Which statement is the truth?
The Empress Dowager's voice was soft and slow.
But it made everyone in the Cui family feel as if they were being choked.
The expressions on the faces of the Cui family members froze instantly.
Their mouths were agape, their eyes wide, their minds blank, unable to utter a single word.