Chapter 39 Hatred

Chapter 39: Hatred

Lu Jiming went to great lengths to calm Wei Yan down. It took half the day, and his arms ached from the effort.

After bathing and changing, Wei Yan entered the imperial study with Lu Jiming. He instructed the guards to secure the room, then explained the situation to Lu Jiming.

The Empress Dowager hadn’t suddenly lost his mind—but neither was Wei Yan entirely sane.

“Out of respect for his seniority, I originally had no intention of speaking of these matters,” Wei Yan said, his expression grim. “But now that he has crossed a line—and given what lies between us—I can no longer cover for him.”

Lu Jiming listened in silence.

He, too, had been unnerved by Huan Zixiao’s sudden appearance earlier—overwhelmed by emotion, trapped in a loop of confusion.

Now, however, something was shifting. Perhaps Wei Yan’s unwavering resolve gave him confidence; perhaps it simply allowed him to stop fixating on all that tangled, painful history.

“Do you remember when I told you that, before entering the palace, he harbored feelings for someone—but fate intervened, and they never ended up together?” Wei Yan’s face darkened. “Do you know who that person was?”

“Who?”

“Chen Yiqing,” Wei Yan ground out.

Chen Yiqing was Chancellor Chen—imprisoned by the late emperor for poisoning him.

Because the late emperor had forbidden any investigation into the poisoning and instead fabricated other pretexts for the arrest, Chen Yiqing was pardoned upon Wei Yan’s ascension, sparing his life. Yet he remained confined in the imperial prison to this day.

Wei Yan intended to keep him imprisoned indefinitely—until he broke, or died.

After a moment’s reflection, Lu Jiming realized that if the Empress Dowager bore a grudge against him—because he and Wei Yan together had uncovered Chen Yiqing’s crime, leading to his imprisonment—then his motive made sense.

The Empress Dowager’s move was likely not merely meant to trouble Lu Jiming—it was also a threat aimed squarely at Wei Yan. Perhaps he hoped to use it to secure Chen Yiqing’s release—or at least a lighter sentence. Who could say?

“If the Empress Dowager and Chen Yiqing were lovers, how could Father have been so generous as to appoint this man chancellor?” Lu Jiming asked.

In their previous life, Chen Yiqing had been a senior minister entrusted by the late emperor on his deathbed—effectively controlling the empire for years. At that time, the young Wei Yan had barely held any power at all.

Would the late emperor truly entrust his child—born to the Empress Dowager—to the Empress Dowager’s former lover?

“Father didn’t know,” Wei Yan replied. “That the Empress Dowager cherished someone else—and thus resented Father—was something Father only learned after I was born. As for the identity of that person… Father never confirmed it.”

At least, in their previous life, the late emperor genuinely hadn’t known. As for this life… Wei Yan suspected he’d already guessed much of it.

Lu Jiming’s brow twitched slightly. “If even Father didn’t know—how did *you* find out?”

Wei Yan offered a vague smile. “I have my ways.”

In their previous life, with Chen Yiqing wielding power and the Empress Dowager aiding governance, Wei Yan had been manipulated like a puppet. Had he remained utterly ignorant of their past, wouldn’t that have rendered him a complete fool?

After court today, Wei Yan had already dispatched people to investigate the spies the Empress Dowager had planted—and to assess his influence within the court. He’d originally thought that, if the Empress Dowager remained silent in this life, he might still preserve some semblance of filial affection. But now that matters had escalated to the imperial court, there was no turning back. The reckoning had begun.

“Xuping—I hope you believe me. No matter what happens, I will always stand by your side.”

Lu Jiming smiled at Wei Yan. “I know you.”

“Knowing me is enough.” Wei Yan took Lu Jiming’s hand and placed it gently in his own palm. “As long as you know me—and trust me—we’ll face anything together.”

After speaking with Lu Jiming, Wei Yan went straight to the Empress Dowager’s palace.

Today, the Empress Dowager had been “escorted” from court by Chief Envoy Xue—humiliating him before all civil and military officials. Then the Imperial Guard had surrounded Cide Palace, fueling his fury further.

Now, as Wei Yan entered, the Empress Dowager merely sneered, “His Majesty has grown up—developed his own opinions. Deceived by schemers, unable to tell friend from foe.”

Wei Yan studied the Empress Dowager. It had been years since they’d stood so close—just the two of them. The Empress Dowager was handsome; even now, age had not dimmed his charm.

That was why the late emperor had been so obsessed—entangled with him for years.

Wei Yan resembled him closely—except for his eyes: round, like those of the Wei family, unlike the Empress Dowager’s narrow, slanted ones.

“Father—is it truly that I cannot distinguish loyalty from treachery? Or is it that you are using state affairs for personal gain?” Wei Yan asked.

The Empress Dowager’s voice quickened noticeably. “What nonsense is this? It must be that Lu fellow whispering slander in your ear. You actually believe *him* over *me*?”

Wei Yan noted that, apart from a slight widening of his eyes—effortful, strained—the Empress Dowager showed no other flaw. His words flowed with such conviction, as if every syllable came from the heart.

Suddenly, the Empress Dowager reached out and gently touched Wei Yan’s shoulder. “My dear child—when your father was still alive, weighing all pros and cons, and thinking of your future, I had no choice but to deliberately distance myself from you. Yet I am still your father. How could my heart not ache for you? How could I not love you?

“And now, blinded by that Lu fellow, sinking deeper into the mire—you think I can just stand by?”

Wei Yan thought that, if the person before him were truly his seventeen-year-old self, he would certainly have fallen for this masterful performance. But the soul inside him was older than the Empress Dowager himself. Watching him strain so hard was almost laughable.

Wei Yan pulled the Empress Dowager’s hand away, stepped half a pace back to create distance, and said coldly, “Father—you meticulously schemed to frame Xuping, stirring chaos across the capital. Was it truly for my sake? Or was it for Chen Yiqing, rotting in prison?”

The Empress Dowager’s expression froze instantly. The corner of his mouth twitched—as if attempting a kind smile—but stiffened grotesquely on his face.

Yet the expression lasted only a moment. In the blink of an eye, he regained composure, his face stern as he demanded, “What nonsense is this now? I’ve long secluded myself in the inner palace—I’ve never even met Minister Chen. How could it possibly be for *him*?”

“Is that so?” Wei Yan curled his lips. “I assumed you were using Xuping to threaten me—for Chen Yiqing’s sake. Even if the threat failed, you could still exact revenge on Xuping for exposing Chen Yiqing’s poisoning plot—leading to his dismissal and imprisonment.”

“This is utterly baseless!” Realizing Wei Yan had seen through his intentions, the Empress Dowager finally lost his temper. “You slander me—accusing me of an affair with Chen Yiqing without evidence! It’s all for *that* Lu fellow of yours!”

“Is that so?” Wei Yan said. “Wasn’t it *you* who poisoned Father with Zhenhanyi toxin? For your sake, Father chose to conceal the matter—sparing Chen Yiqing’s life. What more could you possibly want? You still intend to help him escape punishment? Truly devoted—and righteous—toward Chen Yiqing, Father!”

It had been stated before: palace poisoning was no simple matter. The emperor’s food and drink underwent layers of inspection. Later, Wei Yan had imperial physicians study the formula—and discovered Zhenhanyi was not completely undetectable, colorless, or odorless. Whoever administered it to the late emperor must have been extraordinarily close to him.

Combined with the late emperor’s reaction at the time—ordering the investigation halted—Wei Yan had all but concluded the poisoner was his own father.

The late emperor had detected it. But implicating the Empress Dowager at that moment would have endangered Wei Yan, his son—and jeopardized his smooth succession. To ensure Wei Yan’s ascension, the late emperor chose silence.

The late emperor had likely also suspected the affair between the Empress Dowager and Chen Yiqing. Wei Yan refused to dwell on that possibility—if true, how agonizing Father’s final days must have been.

He even regretted telling Father about it. Yet deep down, Wei Yan understood: his father was the sort who would rather suffer with clarity. Dying in ignorance was worse than seeing, with full awareness, the true nature of the man to whom he’d pledged his life.

Realizing Wei Yan truly held evidence—and that further denial would be futile—the Empress Dowager abandoned caution, shouting, “What did he do for me? It was *all* for *you*! You father and son—conspiring together—ruined my life. Isn’t it only right that he died by my hand?”

“So this is the truth,” Wei Yan said coldly. “You hate me.”

He’d long known the Empress Dowager didn’t love him—but he hadn’t expected hatred.

He’d thought he and Lu Jiming shared similar misfortunes. Yet it seemed he was worse off. At least Lu Yuanye retained some shred of feeling for Lu Jiming—whereas his own birth father harbored deep, abiding hatred—not only for him, but for Father.

“Of course I hate you. If not for you—why would I be trapped here, reduced to neither human nor ghost, groveling for favor with the Xies and the Chens?”

Wei Yan recalled that, in their previous life, it was upon hearing these very words from the Empress Dowager that he’d decided to let Lu Jiming leave. From that moment, their lives diverged—twisted by fate, never to walk the same path again.

Now it seemed he and this birth father were fundamentally opposed from the start.

Wei Yan seized the implication in the Empress Dowager’s words and asked, “So—if Father had chosen only you, you would have submitted?”

The Empress Dowager did not answer.

Wei Yan found it laughable, and felt it deeply ironic. This man seemed to be deeply affectionate towards Chen Yiqing, yet still clung to imperial favor. He truly couldn't understand what his father had been entangled with such a person for all his life.

"What a shame. Consort Xie entered the palace earliest and grew up with my father like siblings. Unless he left voluntarily, my father would never have made him go. Later, with A Xuan, it became even more impossible for him to leave the palace." Wei Yan sneered, deliberately provoking the Empress Dowager with his words. "As for Consort Chen, youthful and handsome, with his heart and eyes set only on Father, how could you possibly compare?"

"Perhaps even that night of intimacy between you and Father back then was part of your scheme..."

"Get out!" The Empress Dowager's veins bulged, her eyes bloodshot as she pointed at the door and shouted at Wei Yan. "Get out!"

Wei Yan thought to himself, he had guessed right again. His birth father, entangled with his father for so many years, wasn't truly seeking a life together with Chen Yiqing, but was using this affair to make his father feel guilty towards him.

He thought trading his future and freedom would buy him the ultimate power and status, only to find that his father couldn't satisfy his desires, forcing him to retreat and recuperate.

As for cooperating with Chen Yiqing in the poisoning, it was naturally for his own benefit as well. With his father passing away early and himself ascending the throne while still young, she, as Empress Dowager, could collude with the powerful minister Chen Yiqing, and the empire's power would naturally fall into their hands.

Wei Yan truly didn't know what to say.

He left Cide Palace and said to Eunuch Chen and the guards waiting outside, "The late Emperor has passed away, and the Empress Dowager is overwhelmed with grief. She has decided to devote herself to a life of Buddhist devotion and will never step out of Cide Palace. As for the palace maids and eunuchs serving here, dismiss them from palace service. Two new attendants will suffice."

Lu Jiming had also been waiting on the long street outside Cide Palace. Seeing Wei Yan come out, he approached and asked, "Shi Xia, how did it go?"

Even to Lu Jiming, Wei Yan couldn't bring himself to speak of these sordid matters. He simply pulled Lu Jiming into an embrace and asked, "Xuping, I think instead of explaining these rumors one by one, it would be better to find the easiest one to refute, prove it is completely unfounded, and the rest will naturally be resolved."

"What do you mean?" Lu Jiming carefully considered the rumors targeting himself. It seemed only one was the easiest to disprove.

"Xuping, can you still bear to part with the Lu family?" Wei Yan asked.

Lu Jiming nodded. Perhaps he had still held a sliver of hope before, thinking they could go their separate ways and leave each other alone from now on. He never expected... the Lu family would collude with the Empress Dowager and come to the capital to denounce him.

Lu Jiming's heart had turned completely cold.