"Let him in."
The last time they met briefly, he hadn't had a chance to say anything. If they didn't meet again, he wouldn't give up.
Biyu bit her lip, wanting to say something, but ultimately said nothing and turned to leave.
Upon hearing that he could enter, Wang Ningqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He knew his sister was the softest-hearted.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have saved him that night.
"Jiaojiao," Wang Ningqing called her by her childhood nickname.
Wang Ningqing, the current patriarch of the Wang family, was a man of deep thought and skilled at manipulating people's hearts. He knew what would most easily touch her.
Wang Ningqing's expression was sorrowful. "Big Brother knows you've suffered all these years. It wasn't that Big Brother was heartless, but rather that the Wang family was in no position to help themselves. That fire in Liancheng back then almost destroyed our Wang clan's centuries-old foundation. For years, the Wang family disciples endured hardship, and now we finally have the means to free Jiaojiao from her cage. Jiaojiao, Big Brother is here to champion your cause."
"Big Brother, I voluntarily came to Qianshan Temple to pray for Da Wei. It's very good here. I've gotten used to it over these years. I will not return to the palace. Big Brother need not worry." Wang Youling's voice was soft, but firm.
"Jiaojiao, how long will you continue to deceive yourself? You are the legitimate daughter of our Wang family, the Empress of Da Wei. How can you be reduced to such a state? Have you forgotten that the one in the palace caused you to miscarry? Once her son returns victorious this time, he will be made Crown Prince. Do you think she will let you off then?"
"The Sage has already disregarded the dignity of noble families and canceled the marriage alliance between the Seventh Prince and the Cui family. The blade in his hand will swing towards the noble families again. Can you bear to see the tragedy of the past repeat itself, our good men of the Wang family flowing like rivers of blood? Have you forgotten how grandfather and parents died? Have you forgotten, Jiaojiao?"
Every word Wang Ningqing spoke pierced to the heart. Each syllable was like a sharp sword stabbing into Wang Youling's chest, a dense, throbbing pain engulfing her.
She remembered. How could she not remember?
She remembered her mother sacrificing her own life to shield her in her arms, and her elder brother, disregarding everyone's objections, desperately carrying her out of the sea of flames. She remembered it all.
That was why she entered the palace for the sake of her family.
"Big Brother, I am a nun now. Everything in the mortal world is irrelevant to me." Wang Youling said in a low voice.
"Jiaojiao, can you bear to see your brothers and nephews die under the Xiao family's butcher's knife? When the Seventh Prince ascends the throne, and that woman becomes Empress Dowager, we will be like meat on a chopping block. No matter how many centuries the Wang family has been established, we cannot contend with the iron cavalry of the Northern Army. Do you know that Aunt died from a slow-acting poison? The Emperor could even lay hands on his own mother. What are we, the Wang family, in comparison?"
Wang Youling's gaze finally showed a flicker of emotion. Aunt died from poison? How had she not known?
"Although the Wang family has been confined to Liancheng these past years, we are not entirely cut off from news from the palace. Aunt did indeed die of poison. If you don't believe me, you will know once you return to the palace and investigate." Wang Ningqing, catching the fleeting surprise in her eyes.
"You and Aunt were not mother and daughter, yet you were closer than mother and daughter. Can you bear to see her die so unjustly?"
Before entering the palace, she hated the Xiao family for rising to power with the support of noble families, only to discard them once they had secured their reign. They were clearly unrighteous, like a cunning rabbit is killed and its hounds are discarded.
But after entering the palace, what she heard and saw overturned all her previous perceptions. What she saw was different from what Big Brother told her.
She discovered that her kind and amiable aunt was willing to harm the former Emperor and the former Empress's children to ensure a prince with Wang family blood ascended the throne.
She didn't know if the Wang family was involved in the death of the former Crown Prince, but it was said that the Eastern Palace that day flowed with blood, even staining the sky red.