Chapter 94: There is no "if"

Yang Zhuofei laughed softly. "This subject knows that Bixia doesn't believe it, but this subject truly doesn't know why she's been moved here."

But this bearing of hers, in Jiang Changbai's eyes, seemed even more like a clever charade, and she said, "Don't think We wouldn't dare to kill you. Whatever We ask, you will answer, and perhaps if Our mood is good, We'll allow you to live. You must know the logic of there being no worry for firewood as long as there are verdant mountains."

Yang Zhuofei smiled as well. "There's no worry for firewood as long as there are verdant mountains? Even if this subject truly were able to get out alive, I fear it would be very hard to have a foothold in the capital, wouldn't it."

Jiang Changbai cast her a glance from on high, not saying anything. Yang Zhuofei raised her head to look at her; right now, it was afternoon, and the sunlight that crept in through that palm's width crack just happened to hit her eyes.

The vicissitudes of these past few days had caused Yang Zhuofei, in the span of a few days, to have aged quite a bit. The person who'd been esteemed and respected before had suddenly become a prisoner, and fine wrinkles had crawled out from the well-cared for eyes. Her eyes weren't as clear as they had been before, either, a muddiness having grown.

Jiang Changbai said, "Not having met for a few days, how has Princess Yu grown so much older?"

Yang Zhuofei was a bit ill-adapted to this beam of light as well, and she closed her eyes in pain.

Jiang Changbai, seeing Yang Zhuofei wasn't speaking, didn't care about stamping out her hopes one by one. "Who are you waiting for here to save you? That maid who was loyal to you? Called Han Yu, right? She died even before Shen Yanyi. Every person from Prince Yu's manor has scattered and fled, and it's said that yesterday, even the plaque was stolen away.

"As for the person who allowed you to stay here, don't worry—We will investigate as well. Let's make a bet—will you escape first, or will We first uncover all the people who want to help you."

Though Yang Zhuofei had already guessed that Han Yu had likely met some mishap, with these words spoken definitively by Jiang Changbai, she still struggled a bit to accept them.

The next moment, though her eyes were closed, the voice that came out carried some entreaty. "Bixia, you're brilliant and skilled; of course you'll be able to uncover those trying to help this subject first. But at this moment, in this world, I fear that all shun me, and there probably isn't anyone who'd be willing to help this subject. Bixia, it's just as both you and I are women—must you be so ruthless?"

"As you and I are women, must I be like this?" Jiang Changbai, hearing this, laughed, and took a few steps forward, leaning down so her gaze and Yang Zhuofei's were level. She sneered, "Now you know both you and I are women, but this question, oughtn't it be Us asking you?

"As both you and I are women, why did you still contact so many people who wanted to drag Us down from the throne? Only now that We've triumphed over you do you lower yourself to such a petty level to beg Us to let you go, but if it were We who had been defeated, could We have lived until now?"

Yang Zhuofei's thoughts were pinned accurately by this sentence of Jiang Changbai's, but she maintained that bearing of pitiful suffering. "This subject never thought that."

Jiang Changbai smiled, and spoke unhurriedly. "You never thought that? We did live deep in the Palace, and it is quite hard to hear the voice of the people, but 'hard to hear' doesn't equal 'unable to hear'.

"We ask you, those rumours of 'women usurping men's role', who was spreading them at the start? And who was it who made the connection between the first flood and Our being a woman? And the nursery rhyme of 'rebirth at dawn, the reappearance of the sun and the moon revealing the will of the heavens"—who composed that?

"Did you really believe We didn't know?"

Only as everything she'd done was exposed before her face by Jiang Changbai did Yang Zhuofei realise that everything she'd planned had long since been entirely exposed before Jiang Changbai's eyes. She finally gave up playing at lowliness as a way to survive, and slowly opened her eyes, and looked directly at Jiang Changbai for the first time that day.

The only source of light in this cell was blocked by Jiang Changbai, and when Yang Zhuofei raised her head, she could just see Jiang Changbai's hair dyed white by the sunlight. It was as if her entire figure was giving off some light, as if she really were the fated Emperor.

But she was Yang Zhuofei, and she'd never believed in fate.

"So, it turns out Bixia knew everything; but since you know it all, why have you only acted against me now?"

The words that Yang Zhuofei spoke had clearly changed in tone, the grandeur in her voice increasing a bit, and the despondence in her tone just before had been swept entirely.

Jiang Changbai seemed to be quite pleased by this question of Yang Zhuofei's, and didn't pay any mind to the fact that her form of address had changed. Jiang Changbai sat down on the bed once more, and said, "Because you and I are both women."

With the question from before having been tossed back as an answer, Yang Zhuofei seemed to have been struck by something. Only after being dazed for a long while did she say, "But you and I are both women; why could you be the Emperor, and I could only be a dead husband's Princess Yu?"

Yet Jiang Changbai shook her head, her tone somewhat vacant. "But no one was forcing you to be the Princess Yu; when did We say such words? Prince Yu died so long ago, and you wanted to be the Princess you, and so remained steadily at Prince Yu's manor; when We ascended the throne and the court's finances were in such straits, was your stipend ever withheld?

"If you didn't wish to be the Princess Yu, if you weren't willing to depend on someone else's vassalage as your title, you could have returned to Yang Zhuofei. If you wanted to be a merchant, you could have opened a stand; if you wished to be an official, you could have entered the keju; if you wanted to be a farmer, if you wanted to travel the world, all of it was at your fingertips.

"With all those dowager consorts and dowager concubines let free, would We have restricted you to being the Princess Yu?"

Yang Zhuofei, hearing this, was shocked, and gazed dazedly at Jiang Changbai. But just as she was about to speak, Jiang Changbai's tone changed.

"But We gave you countless smooth roads, and you insisted on walking a craggy path. Liu Zihe and Wu Dongmu's rapacious ambitions could be seen in traces in the late Emperor's time, and after We ascended, they grew even clearer, and you insisted on colluding with them and standing opposite Us, and now that you've fallen to such straits, you're still blaming Us?"

The brief pause Jiang Changbai made allowed Yang Zhuofei the space to cut in. She scoffed, and said, "Truly, imperial benevolence; a thousand smooth roads—your majesty truly says it so uncomplicatedly. But if I wished to be the Emperor above all, wasn't dragging you from the throne the only path?

"You and I are both women; what you can do, I naturally can as well. Why is it you who's high above, and every time I see you, I must make obeisance?"

Jiang Changbai was a bit disdainful. "You wished to be Emperor? Think about it carefully; was it that you wished to be Emperor, or was it that you wished for Jiang Mingyou to become the new emperor?"

"What difference is there between Jiang Mingyou ascending to Emperor and me ascending to Emperor? He's from a backwater, and his legs were broken; what ability could he have? He can't even speak the standard—could he really rebel? Once he was Emperor, everything in this world would be done as I, as Empress Dowager said it!

"What ability does you showing off your might here to me count as? Even your own mother won't see you—if you truly were skilled, why don't you have Lu Pingwan come out with you for next year's prayer for blessings?"

Jiang Changbai's words had hit Yang Zhuofei's heart, and now, Yang Zhuofei was already a bit hysterical, her voice growing louder and louder, echoing around the entire prison.

Meng Daosheng and the others, guarding at a distance, would have struggled not to hear the commotion, and Meng Daosheng, a bit hesitant, still inquired, "Bixia, this minister'll come help you execute that brute."

Jiang Changbai clearly didn't have the intent for Meng Daosheng to come help, and she only said, "Just remain properly outside; if you're truly needed, We will call for you."

"Understood!"

Just as she finished speaking, Jiang Changbai's gaze fell once more on Yang Zhuofei's face. She'd previously suspected the identity of the "Jiang Mingyou" who'd appeared, and now that Yang Zhuofei had laid it bare, she wasn't too surprised.

But she still gazed fixedly at Yang Zhuofei for a long while, and only then spoke, her tone unexpectedly mixed with a bit of regret. "What must We say? If you really wished to be Emperor, We ought to respect you a bit. But all your plans were only to be the Empress Dowager. Sometimes the difference of address can be a great disparity.

"Think on it—someone who could endure having their bones broken and being reborn, are they truly a simple character? Even if he were a fool, and could only obey to you in everything, would Liu Zihe and Wu Dongmu obey you? One a scholar and one a military man, with the majority of the court under their monopoly, would they have been happy to take your orders?

"We had thought you were intelligent, and hadn't imagined that your goals were so narrow and shallow. Even if your plans had succeeded, the best result would only have been the Tai Emperor returning from the dead. Those people would still control the government. Think on it—the words they use now to restrict Us, would they not use them to restrict you in the future the same?"

The loftiness in Jiang Changbai's words caused Yang Zhuofei's self-esteem to ache, and she retorted, displeased, "Things have already come to this point, so naturally whatever you say is what is. But if they really were rapacious in their ambitions, why did they listen to my orders before? What Empress Dowager, what Emperor—if I could be Emperor, would I want to be Empress Dowager? If I'd been surnamed Jiang from birth and not Yang, if I'd had that headache of a jade pendant from birth, would I have pursued it so assiduously?!"

As she spoke, Yang Zhuofei stared firmly at Jiang Changbai, her expression carrying some provocation. The intent was seemingly to let Jiang Changbai know that, though she had many supporters, in terms of the support of peoples' hearts, her own wasn't any less than hers. If the two of them had had the same origin, it wasn't certain whom it would be who sat on the imperial throne now.

But Jiang Changbai, hearing these words, merely smiled; she couldn't help but remember Song Juguang, and the words that Song Juguang had told her. But Jiang Changbai knew well that, if that day, the person who'd burst into Prince Ling's manor hadn't been Song Juguang, she wouldn't have been unable to sit on the Dragon Throne.

Seeing Yang Zhuofei glaring at her, Jiang Changbai said softly, "If you were surnamed Jiang as well, perhaps you wouldn't be alive anymore."

"Nonsense! If I were surnamed Jiang, then the person in this position ought to be me!"

Having spoken to this point, Jiang Changbai suddenly had no need to speak further. Today she'd only come because of a sudden thought, wanting to see what Yang Zhuofei was like now. She wanted to chat with her, and see if she could find any hints as to her conspirators.

But this obstinance of Yang Zhuofei's, Jiang Changbai knew, no matter what she more she said, Yang Zhuofei wouldn't say anything useful. And compared to searching for weaknesses here, it would be better to go interrogate the Warden, and see who it was who couldn't see the situation clearly, who had protected Yang Zhuofei in secret.

So, Jiang Changbai stood without the slightest hesitation, about to leave; Yang Zhuofei wanted to obstruct her, but how could someone who hadn't eaten properly for days have the strength? In an instant, she was pushed to the ground. Meng Daosheng and the others, standing guard outside, hearing the thud, hurried over; Meng Daosheng was the fastest, and almost slammed into Jiang Changbai.

"Let's leave," Jiang Changbai said, casting her a look and didn't pay her embarrassment any mind, and the next moment, she looked at the trembling Warden as well, and said, "you as well."

On the third day of the seventh month of the first year of Dao'an, the Princess Yu, Yang Zhuofei, caught a severe illness, and passed away in prison.

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