Chapter 782: Can"t Stand Your Face
The ministers agreed with what Nianzu said. It was considered treason when anyone tried to harm the Emperor or the Empress. Nianzu looked at his mother and asked him to accept the crimes that she had committed till now.
"It was all for you," Deng Hui said. "I was taken as a concubine. You always were humiliated because of me. That"s why I stayed quiet believing that a day would come when I would get authority over people. I didn"t do anything wrong." She had refused to accept the crimes that she committed. She stepped back from him and pulled out the dagger from her sash.
The Ministers got terrified and so did the others in the court. Sheng Li rose to his feet while General w.a.n.g stepped forward to make sure that Deng Hui would do nothing wrong.
"Drop it, Empress Dowager," Sheng Li commanded her and quickly descended the stairs.
Nianzu stepped toward her asking her to put the dagger down. However, Deng Hui pulled it out of the sheath. Before anyone could react, Deng Hui stabbed the middle of her stomach with it. Nianzu was glued to his place. Dumbfounded.
Nianzu ran forward and held his mother from falling to the floor. Everyone was shocked at the act of Empress Dowager. Deng Hui coughed the blood as she had pierced the dagger too deep in her abdomen.
"Call the Royal Physician," Nianzu said, holding his tears back.
Deng Hui shook her head. "You wanted me to die. So, I-I make it easy," Deng Hui said, putting her hands on her stomach. Blood covered her hands and tears poured down the edges of her eyes.
Nianzu was speechless. But this moment was pain-stricken for him. He indeed wanted her to be dead because of the ways she tried to harm the Emperor and the Empress. Her acts were unstoppable, so he wanted to put an end to them. He tried everything in his capacity to bring her out of that path.
"Why didn"t you stop, Mother?" Nianzu asked while weeping. "I knew that in the palace, I would lose you someday. I told you to leave the palace with me. Why was power so important to you? Why?" Nianzu posed many questions in front of his mother.
Deng Hui forced a smile on her lips, which were now covered in blood. "Be-because I was the daughter of a low-ranking official. I don"t regret it. Even Sheng Li gained power because he was weak, with-out a m-mother," Deng Hui reasoned.
Sheng Li stepped forward and got on his knees. "But I never want
ed to kill the people I respected the most. I hid your previous mistakes for a reason," he a.s.serted and lifted his head to tell Eunuch Xing-Fu to bring the physician to the court.
Deng Hui grasped the arm of Sheng Li, who looked at her. "Let me di-die. I cannot st-stand your face," she said and averted her gaze from him.
Ying Lili frowned upon hearing Deng Hui. Why did Empress Dowager say such words to Sheng Li? She found out how terrible Sheng Li must have felt at that moment.
"Mother, at least don"t say anything bad now," Nianzu said and found his mother had closed her eyes. Her hand left the dagger and hit the floor.
Nianzu pulled out the dagger and it fell to the floor. He tightly hugged the corpse of her mother. He cried his heart out. "Mother." His voice was too painful to hear.
If she had not become the Empress, then she would not have taken her life. If he had not complained to his father about the ill-treatment of his mother, today she would not have taken her life.
Jian Guozhi asked the ministers to leave, who silently left the imperial court. Xing-Fu came to Ying Lili and asked her to return to the chamber in the Northern Palace.
Ying Lili refused as her entire focus was on Sheng Li, who looked hurt. He would deny till the end that he had not felt bad, but she was well aware of his mind. Deng Hui used to take care of him. He didn"t punish her for Nianzu, but because of him.
Ying Lili looked at the blood-lying corpse of Deng Hui and weeping Nianzu. The sight was appalling to her. This was not what she had imagined. But was it in her hand? This was the fifth death in the Han family. All because of the throne! Her eyes glanced at the Dragon throne before her.
"Forgive me, Royal Father. I promised you that no one would lose his or her life. However, I was wrong. I don"t know how I will handle Sheng Li. He is broken inside out after Empress Dowager said those words to him." Ying Lili thought and then gazed at Nianzu.
A person like Nianzu was difficult to find. He was devastated by all this. He indeed was upset with his mother, but if she would have been sincere in her acts, Nianzu had never asked Sheng Li to give her a death sentence. What went wrong that his mother was unable to understand him? She was an indispensable part of his life. Every act of hers hurt him and her death was even more torturous for him.
He cuddl
ed up with her mother, who would never wake up. "Why did Mother do it?" He murmured while sobbing.
Sheng Li put his hand on Nianzu"s back and caressed it. He bit his bottom lip and glanced at Ying Lili, whose eyes were misty. Sheng Li had promised her that he would not let any bloodshed, but he broke it.
Today, because of him, another life was lost. It was all because of him. Weng Wei said similar words to him as Deng Hui had said today. Why did they hate him till their last breaths? This thought once again troubled him.
Sheng Li realized that he wasn"t capable of being an Emperor. He once again landed on the conclusion that he should renounce this t.i.tle.