Shu Weiyue froze. At that moment, many thoughts flashed through her mind. She also thought of the time when she was a child and was not punished after being taken back by Haikang. Finally, her thoughts stopped at the rumor that the queen wanted to choose a princess for the prince.

She could pull down her stepmother, but what about her father? He was the Minister of Rites, and it would be difficult for her to move him. Why not take this opportunity to take a gamble...

While thinking about these things, she deliberately avoided the sleeping Yan Qing.

Shu Weiyue walked out from the darkness and bowed, saying, "I am Shu Weiyue, the Minister of Rites, and I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Pei Zhuo looked at her solemnly: "What do you know?"

Shu Weiyue forced herself to calm down and not look at Yan Qing: "I saw everything that happened just now."

Shu Weiyue sensed the murderous intent in Pei Zhuo's eyes. She took a deep breath and looked directly at Pei Zhuo.

"I will not tell anyone about this. I heard that the Crown Prince is going to marry a Crown Princess. Why don't you cooperate with me?"

"Your Highness has someone in his heart and must not want to marry, but if Your Highness wants to ascend to that position, he must marry. I am the most suitable candidate."

"After you marry me, the Minister of Rites will be your helper. Even if it's just for the sake of following the dragon, he will spare no effort to help you get to that position."

"I have been weak since I was young. The doctor once said that I would not live past 25. After I die, if Your Highness still does not want to marry, you can keep the six palaces vacant in my name. Most importantly, I have no hostility towards the princess."

Hearing this, Pei Zhuo's murderous intent towards Shu Weiyue faded a little. What she said was indeed feasible and could solve his urgent problem.

But why should I believe this stranger who suddenly appeared, and what is she asking for?

Shu Weiyue noticed his hesitation and finally said, "Your Highness can investigate this matter. I only ask that you help me kill my father after you ascend the throne."

Pei Zhuo was a little surprised: "You want me to kill your father?"

Shu Weiyue was silent for a moment, then told the whole story of her mother's death.

She kowtowed and said, "Please grant me your blessing, Your Highness."

Pei Zhuo's eyes were dark, and no one knew what he was thinking. In the end, he just said, "You go back first."

Shu Weiyue lowered her eyes, feeling a little uncertain, but she also knew that Pei Zhuo was considering it, so she didn't want to pester him any further.

"Your Majesty, please retire."

In the few days after leaving the palace, there was no other news from Pei Zhuo. Just when Shu Weiyue thought she had failed, news came from the palace that the prince fell in love with her.

Shu Weiyue heaved a sigh of relief immediately. When faced with her father's question, she pretended to be shy and said that she had met the prince a few times.

Minister Shu clapped his hands and laughed: "You are worthy of being my good daughter."

There was a flash of coldness in Shu Weiyue's eyes. His reaction was just as she expected. As long as he was of use to her, he would have such an expression now. It was really disgusting.

Everything that followed went smoothly. She became the Crown Princess, and she and Pei Zhuo treated each other with respect. They were extremely affectionate in front of outsiders. Pei Zhuo stopped taking concubines for her, and was furious with those who wanted to send their daughter to the Eastern Palace.

Shu Weiyue naturally did not forget her original promise, and deceived her father into doing his utmost to help the prince win the throne.

Thinking about the benefits she promised, her father naturally put in his best efforts. Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that after Pei Zhuo came to power, his death would not be far away.

After Shu Weiyue entered the East Palace, she could occasionally see Yan Qing coming over, which was much more often than before when she could only see him at palace banquets.

Pei Zhuo even openly showed his preference for his younger sister, but no one thought much about it. Only she knew the special emotions behind Pei Zhuo's actions.

But Yan Qing only treated him as a brother.

Shu Weiyue lowered her eyes, showing respect to her as the emperor's sister-in-law.

She still remembered that day, not long after she became the Crown Princess, she met Yan Qing while admiring the flowers in the small garden. That person did not show any strange reaction to her becoming the Crown Princess.

"I've met the emperor's sister-in-law."

The expression on Yan Qing's face was as indifferent as when he had met her before.

Shu Weiyue's heart was not at peace. She suddenly said impulsively: "Weiyue, you can call me Weiyue."

After he finished speaking, Shu Weiyue clearly saw the surprise and hesitation in Yan Qing's eyes. She suddenly became nervous and clenched the crabapple flowers in her hand.

There is not much difference in age between the two of them, so if they are close, it would be ok to just call each other by their names.

As if sensing her nervousness, Yan Qing smiled and said, "Wei Yue."

He saw the crabapple flowers in her hand from the corner of his eye, and in order to ease the awkwardness between the two of them, Yan Qing asked, "Does Wei Yue like crabapple flowers?"

Shu Weiyue lowered her eyes and glanced at the crabapple blossom in her hand. It was picked for her by a little palace maid just now. She didn't like it very much.

But since Yan Qing asked, Shu Weiyue replied: "Yes, do you like crabapple flowers too?"

Yan Qing smiled and nodded, "The crabapple blossoms in spring are extremely beautiful, so of course I like them."

After hearing Yan Qing's words, she looked at the crabapple flowers in her hand and actually felt a little happy.

But before she could continue talking to Yan Qing, Haikang came over and said that Pei Zhuo wanted to see Yan Qing about something. Shu Weiyue naturally couldn't stop them, so she could only watch Yan Qing and Haikang walk away.

Later, Pei Zhuo came to her.

"You met Qingqing."

Shu Weiyue was well prepared. On the day of their marriage, Pei Zhuo once said that he hoped he would not have too much interaction with Yan Qing. Today, she was impulsive and could not help but want to say a few more words when she saw Yan Qing.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. The Princess and I just happened to meet on the road and chatted for a while. We didn't say anything else."

To be fair, as long as Yan Qing is not involved, Pei Zhuo is easy to talk to in daily life.

Although marrying her was a deal that benefited both parties, she was still given the same dignity and respect that she deserved.

After hearing Shu Weiyue's words, Pei Zhuo was silent for a moment. In his heart, he actually didn't want Shu Weiyue to see Yan Qing, but this was too harsh.

"You should have a good rest. I'm going back now."

Shu Weiyue nodded and had no other thoughts about Pei Zhuo.

The days passed one by one, Emperor Chongming died, and Pei Zhuo ascended the throne and completed the deal with her.

Her father was imprisoned, and naturally her stepmother and others could not escape either.

Her father had a bad record as an official, and Pei Zhuo was so accurate in his accusations that the charges he collected were enough to execute the entire family.

The night before the man she called father was to be beheaded, Shu Weiyue went to see him.

When Minister Shu, who had become a prisoner, saw her, he burst into tears and talked about how much he had paid to help Pei Zhuo ascend the throne and how good he had been to her, and prayed that she could persuade Pei Zhuo to show mercy.

Shu Weiyue remained unmoved. After he finished speaking, she said faintly, "I was outside the night my mother died."

Minister Shu's pupils dilated as he looked at Shu Weiyue in disbelief. He instantly understood why he had fallen to this point.

Anger slowly appeared on his face: "It's you, it's all your fault, right..."

Shu Weiyue ignored his words and turned her gaze to her stepmother.

Seeing the frightened look on her face, Shu Weiyue smiled sweetly and asked someone to bring a bowl of medicine.

She walked step by step to her stepmother, who was already being pressed to her knees by a jailer.

Facing her increasingly frightened expression, Shu Weiyue's eyes suddenly became fierce: "I have been looking for this bowl of medicine for a long time, and finally found the same prescription that my stepmother and I drank that night."

“No…you…”

Shu Weiyue didn't give her a chance to speak and forced her to drink the medicine.

She struggled continuously, but was pinned down by the jailer and could not break free.

After taking the medicine, blood instantly gushed out from his lips.

Shu Weiyue took a step back and looked at the person vomiting blood in front of her, with a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.

After leaving the Dali Temple, Shu Weiyue looked at the sunlight outside and whispered, "Mother, I have avenged you."

Yulan, who was following beside him, also had a look of satisfaction on her face after having her revenge.

Shu Weiyue didn't stay outside for long and soon returned to the palace.

When passing by the Imperial Garden, I met Yan Qing again.

Shu Weiyue stopped and asked with a smile on her face, "Where is Qingqing going?"

When she saw Pei Zhuo calling him that, she started to call him that too.

After seeing Shu Weiyue, Yan Qing also paused. She smelled the smell of blood on Shu Weiyue's body. It was very faint, but it was hard for her to ignore.

Just seeing Shu Weiyue's nonchalant expression, Yan Qing didn't ask any more questions, but answered her previous questions.

"My mother summoned me."

After hearing that it was the Queen Mother who called Yan Qing over, Shu Weiyue always felt uneasy in her heart, but she didn't know where this uneasiness came from.

She could only step aside and said, "Then I won't delay you."

Yan Qing nodded to her and went to the Cining Palace where the empress dowager lived.

Shu Weiyue sent someone to watch at the intersection, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Yan Qing had come out of the Cining Palace safely. She was too worried.

But on the second day, Pei Zhuo, who had been too busy to handle everything since he ascended the throne, came to her rarely, with his gentle eyes and eyebrows shimmering with hostility.

Shu Weiyue felt a little depressed. The only person who could make him look like this was Yan Qing.

"But what happened?"

Pei Zhuo said coldly: "Qingqing came to me today and said that she wanted to open a mansion outside the palace."

However, this coldness was not directed at Shu Weiyue. During the time they spent together, they were able to occasionally say a few words to each other, but most of the topics revolved around Yan Qing.

After listening to Pei Zhuo's words, Shu Weiyue remembered that the Queen Mother summoned Yan Qing yesterday. She frowned and told Pei Zhuo about it.

Pei Zhuo's eyes were gloomy: "It must be that the Queen Mother said something to Qingqing."

"Does your majesty agree?"

Pei Zhuo simply said: "No."

Shu Weiyue expected the same thing. Out of selfishness, she actually didn't want Yan Qing to leave the palace and build a mansion.

If Yan Qing's mansion was built outside the imperial palace, they would certainly have met less often.

"I'm going to the Cining Palace."

While Shu Weiyue was still in a daze, Pei Zhuo had already stood up and went to the Cining Palace.

She stood there for a moment, and then followed Pei Zhuo's footsteps. Pei Zhuo looked at her in surprise and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Shu Weiyue lowered her voice and said, "I always feel something is wrong. Does the Queen Mother know about Your Majesty... It would be safer for me to go together."

Pei Zhuo was silent for a while. He actually had the same guess.

He might be able to hide his feelings for Qingqing from most people, but given his mother's understanding of him, she would definitely be suspicious. He was not afraid of others knowing about this, but he was afraid that Qingqing would be hurt because of it.

Therefore, he did not let Shu Weiyue go back. If necessary, he could use Shu Weiyue as a cover to see if he could hide it from his mother.

However, neither of them expected that they had fallen into a trap the moment they stepped into the Cining Palace.

The incense burning in the Cining Palace turned out to be an aphrodisiac incense, which they inhaled unknowingly while they were talking to Xie Eryun.

The next day, when they woke up, they were both full of anger. Pei Zhuo had a fierce argument with Jie Eryun for the first time.

Shu Weiyue clenched her fingertips but couldn't say anything to the Queen Mother. She closed her eyes tightly and thought of Yan Qing again.

After that day, when facing her, Pei Zhuo was silent for a long time and apologized: "I was careless. I never thought that my mother would be so radical."

Shu Weiyue also calmed down: "Let's just forget about this matter."

However, two months later, she always felt that she had no appetite, and the imperial physician diagnosed that she was pregnant.

Shu Weiyue didn't want the baby in her belly at first, but suddenly thought of her mother and finally decided to give birth to the baby.

When Pei Zhuo found out, he respected her thoughts and said to her: "Whether this child is a boy or a girl, he will be my only heir."

After Pei Shiyu was born, Pei Zhuo fulfilled his promise and named Pei Shiyu the crown prince.

However, Shu Weiyue felt somewhat displeased when she saw the way Pei Zhuo treated the child.

Shu Weiyue's health was severely damaged after Pei Shiyu's birth, and she rarely left Fengyi Palace.

Only Yan Qing would come to see her once or twice, but every time Yan Qing came, she would have someone take Pei Shiyu away. Until then, she had to admit that she didn't want this child to appear in front of Yan Qing.

Like Pei Zhuo, she didn't want her children with other people to appear in front of Yan Qing.

When Pei Shiyu grew up a little, Shu Weiyue's health became worse day by day. She was weak to begin with, and now she might not even live to be 25, let alone 23.

The imperial doctors in the palace came and went, and countless precious medicinal herbs were sent in, but she still couldn't hold on.

Pei Zhuo was not too surprised by this. He had cooperated with Shu Weiyue in the first place because she was weak and would not live long.

Looking at Shu Weiyue's pale face, Pei Zhuo assured again: "The next emperor of Dazhao will only be Shi Yu."

Shu Weiyue's eyes were somewhat empty. In fact, at this moment of her death, she could no longer remember Pei Zhuo or Pei Shiyu.

The memory in her mind stayed on that night when Yan Qing came to her side little by little from a distance and pulled her up from the ground.

The scene changed, and it was the scene where the man came towards her without hesitation when she was plotting against her concubine sister...

As her memories unfolded bit by bit, every scene in it was a detail of her meeting with Yan Qing. There were only the two of them, no one else.

Shu Weiyue's eyes were a little dull, and when she saw Yan Qing coming over, they lit up for a moment and then went out in an instant.

Her voice was already very soft, and it just floated in the air.

"Qingqing..."

Even at the last moment, I still can't express my love.

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