Quick Transmigration: What to Do When the Male Supporting Character You Saved Becomes Obsessed with

Chapter 233 The Ruthless and Disabled Crown Prince (133)

Ji Shuqin didn't know that his father looked like he was in a lot of pain, and that his days were probably numbered.

The Empress went to see the Emperor, but the pent-up frustration in her heart could not be relieved; instead, it burned even more intensely. The itchy, throbbing sensation made her wish she could tear open her chest and scratch her internal organs...

For so many years, she has always felt that the Emperor knew what happened back then, that he was wrong, but he was unwilling to admit it, which is why he sent her and her child to the mountain temple, unwilling to face the truth of his mistakes.

But the Emperor didn't think he was wrong at all! He hadn't felt the slightest bit of remorse all these years! He had long since forgotten it.

When I questioned him today, the expression on his face was so inexplicable; he didn't seem to care at all... How could he have lived so peacefully all these years!

The Empress is going mad—

She could feel nothing else. Even if she could strangle the emperor herself, she wouldn't feel any pleasure. Nothing could compare to all these years... all these years of her impoverished and wasted life!

Today she is like a wandering ghost, trying to find Ji Shuqin.

Putting him on the throne is another wish the Empress insists on, and she can only barely maintain her composure by focusing all her thoughts on this.

But Ji Shuqin was not there.

The Empress searched for him several times, but he was nowhere to be found!

"Where did he go? Go find him! Tell me, now—" the Empress roared.

Upon hearing the report that Ji Shuqin was at the Third Prince's residence, the Empress suddenly stood up and got into her sedan chair.

“Your Highness, you cannot leave the palace at will.” Granny Ma followed beside her.

"Who can do anything to me?" the Empress said coldly. "Can't I even leave the palace to visit my own son?"

There was no one in the palace who could make the decision, so the message was relayed to the Empress Dowager.

Since the Empress returned to the palace, the Dowager Consort has relinquished power and rarely interfered, staying in her own palace and acting as if the Empress did not exist except when necessary.

After the Emperor fell ill, the Empress Dowager visited him several times, but never inquired about who would succeed to the throne or who would act as regent.

Like a truly loving mother, she devoted all her attention to the Emperor.

One day, when the emperor was slightly more lucid, the Empress Dowager stayed by his side for two hours. No one knows what the mother and son, who had met by chance, actually said to each other.

In fact, the emperor had not fully regained his senses that day. He opened his eyes in a daze and saw the Empress Dowager getting up to leave.

"Mother...is that you, Mother?" he asked in a hoarse voice, sounding nervous and flustered.

The Empress Dowager stopped and slowly turned around. She looked at the Emperor, who was so thin on the bed that he was just skin and bones, as he struggled to raise his head and look in her direction. His expression was not in line with his age.

That expression on his face, with its half-black, half-white disheveled hair and sallow complexion, was extremely incongruous, yet it made the usually calm and kind Empress Dowager pause, revealing a hint of surprise.

"Mother, you've come to see me... Mother, what's wrong with me?" The Emperor's eyes seemed unfocused, and his words were incoherent, as if he were still in a daze before he ascended the throne.

A flicker of emotion crossed the Empress Dowager's eyes. She stood there for a few moments, but remained silent.

The relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor gradually became distant after the Emperor ascended the throne.

The Dowager Consort gradually stopped resembling the mother who raised him and became just an ordinary elder. This just-right distance was something the Dowager Consort actively created.

Over the years, the Emperor had tried to improve his relationship with the Dowager Consort more than once, but she always remained the same. Sometimes the Emperor felt frustrated and embarrassed, but the Dowager Consort's actions were impeccable and she didn't seem to be holding a grudge against him at all.

In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed, and the moment of farewell has arrived.

The Emperor always addressed the Dowager Consort as "Mother Consort," but the Dowager Consort herself didn't know how many years it had been since she had heard him call her "Mother Consort" in that way.

I'm not a heartless person, so how could I not be moved?

She sat back down on the edge of the bed, but noticed that the Emperor's gaze didn't follow her. Her expression became even more panicked: "Mother?"

“…Zhen’er?” The Empress Dowager sighed softly and tentatively spoke.

"Mother! What's wrong with me?" The Emperor tried to move, but had no strength at all, and asked in a panic.

"Don't worry, Zhen'er. You're sick. Just rest well... you'll be fine soon."

"Why does Mother's voice sound a little hoarse?" The Emperor believed the Dowager Consort's words and frowned slightly.

"It's cold, and I'm feeling a bit chilly."

"Has the imperial physician examined you? Mother, you must take care of yourself. If you fall ill because of me, then I will be an unfilial son!"

After listening to him say a few more words, the Dowager Consort vaguely remembered when it was.

It was during the time I accompanied him in his struggle for power...

During that period of intense stress and exhaustion, the Imperial Concubine caught a cold, which never fully healed and left her with a chronic illness. She would cough frequently afterward, and at its worst, she even coughed up blood.

After examining the patient, the imperial physician said quite seriously that if the patient was not properly cared for, the illness would likely develop from the lung meridian and become tuberculosis.

Ideally, one should do nothing and think nothing, focusing solely on recuperating without overexerting oneself.

The imperial physician's words worried the emperor, who was still a prince, and he often instructed the Empress Dowager to take her medicine on time and have her pulse checked regularly.

Whenever he could find the time, he would come to the Empress Dowager's palace to personally prepare medicine for her; the mother and son shared a deep and abiding affection.

Even a cough from the Dowager Consort seemed to weigh heavily on his heart, but later, at some point, that stopped.

"What's the sky like outside? Is it already dark?" the Emperor murmured.

Although the room was brightly lit, the Dowager knew that his eyesight had deteriorated.

"Yes, it's already dark. To help you sleep more peacefully, I've extinguished the candles..." the Empress Dowager said softly.

The emperor seemed a little more relaxed.

"Why am I so sick? If I can't get up, won't that cause delays?" He was quite troubled.

"No, don't worry, just rest and recover... Your mother will take care of everything." The Dowager Consort closed her eyes, trying to hide the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"Yes... I'm relieved to hear from my mother." The Emperor's voice trailed off, as if he had exhausted all his strength.

The Empress Dowager patted the back of his hand, just as she had comforted a disappointed child.

The emperor remained silent for a long time, only his heavy, disordered breathing could be heard.

The Dowager thought he had fallen into a deep sleep again and was about to get up and leave.

As soon as he lowered his hand, the Emperor spoke in a low voice, as if in a dream: "I...I have failed my mother in all that has happened."

"When...when I get better...I will definitely take good care of you..."

The Dowager stood quietly by his bedside, looked at him for a while, and then bent down to cover him with the quilt: "Your mother heard you."

Everyone in the world knows they are wrong, including the emperor; he just felt he could do that.

Over the years, he has risen too high to distinguish right from wrong; he only cares about his own liking and disliking, and whether he is willing to bestow favors.

The Empress Dowager never visited the Emperor again. From that day on, she secluded herself in the palace, never venturing out, and the hustle and bustle outside seemed unable to penetrate her heart.

Today, a palace maid begged to come in and told her about the Empress's insistence on leaving the palace.

"If the Empress wants to go out, then let her go." The Dowager Consort did not stop her in the slightest. She knelt in the small Buddhist hall, with several sutras that she had copied by hand in front of her.

No one knows what she wished for.

The Empress Dowager didn't care, and the palace servants could only watch helplessly as the Empress broke the rules of the inner palace and left the palace gates.

Looking back and reflecting on it, I think the Empress had the right to be so confident.

Judging from the current situation, I'm afraid that in the future... who will be able to find fault with Her Majesty the Empress?

The Empress, who had been holding back her frustrations for days, unleashed them all on the people in front of her.

"Mother! What has Min'er done to deserve such treatment from you!"

Ji Shuqin felt as if he had returned to his childhood, when his mother treated his younger brother in the same way.

At that time, Ji Shuqin was ill for a long time and knew nothing. After leaving the palace, as he grew up, the kind motherly demeanor his mother showed made him gradually forget what she used to be like. Now, the scene is recreated, which makes Ji Shuqin feel uncomfortable.

The more the Empress criticized him without cause, the more Ji Shuqin felt guilty for his past words and demands of Ji Shumin.

The only difference between the scene before him and the past was Ji Shumin's appearance.

The skinny child who once looked wronged and stubborn can now just curl the corners of his mouth and remain indifferent when he hears these words.

"What is Mother saying? Your Majesty, I don't understand." Ji Shumin straightened his sleeves, picked up a handkerchief, and slowly wiped each fingertip.

"What have you taught Qin'er? You are a vengeful spirit, here to seek revenge on me! You caused Qin'er to become estranged from me. Why wasn't it you who died of illness back then!" The Empress's voice was so sharp it almost split open.

She had lost all the composure of a nation's mother; her madness was so distorted and terrifying.

"It's not like I haven't been on the verge of death before, but I'm just too stubborn, and even the King of Hell won't take me." Ji Shumin said calmly, deliberately trying to provoke the Empress into a frenzy.

"What should I teach my elder brother? Naturally, as you wish, I will teach him what a crown prince should be like, such as being clear-headed and ruthless enough..."

Ji Shumin chuckled to himself, his beautiful eyes crinkling into crescents: "So, have you personally experienced how well I've taught as a teacher?"

Lu Liruan hissed inwardly, feeling that Ji Shumin's words were really stabbing the Empress in the back.

"You...you evil spirit from who-knows-where! I've always known you're not my child...I hate you, and you hate me too. I knew that even when you were still in my womb!"

Lu Liruan's heart skipped a beat, and she turned to look at Ji Shumin: Has the Empress really gone mad?

"Exactly! Hahahaha! You're absolutely right! I was born to make you unhappy!"

Before Lu Liruan could even react, she saw Ji Shumin laughing so hard he was doubled over, his face flushed with a deep, vibrant color.

But not a trace of a smile appeared in his eyes; his gaze was deep and unfathomable.

It feels like another one has gone mad...

Lu Liruan felt that she had rediscovered the feeling Ji Shumin gave her when she first met him.

Thinking back now, it seems like it's been a long time since I've seen Ji Shumin go crazy.

Today...

Ji Shuqin stood there frozen. Lu Liruan guessed that he had seen Ji Shumin go crazy before, but never this crazy, and couldn't process it.

"I should have strangled you back then! Why did I soften my heart back then..." The Empress glared at him, squeezing out the words through clenched teeth.

"Mother! Enough!" Ji Shuqin had never heard such hurtful words before, and suddenly shouted angrily!

"Don't talk such nonsense. What is the purpose of your visit here today?" Ji Shuqin was furious. He didn't know how Ji Shumin could laugh, but he was extremely angry, and his blood rushed to his head.

His words brought the Empress back to her senses, and she stared intently at Ji Shumin.

"Go to the palace and find out where the Imperial Seal is." Since she couldn't find the Imperial Seal, she could only place her hopes on Ji Shumin.

As the crown prince, Ji Shumin has been by the emperor's side for so many years; perhaps he can find him.

Lu Liruan's eyes widened, almost thinking she had misheard: Has the Empress really gone completely mad? What... has she suffered?

"Mother, what are you doing?" Ji Shuqin was clearly even more shocked and stood up abruptly.

"Now that Qin'er has inherited the throne, it is a foregone conclusion. You don't want your brother to be criticized or said to be illegitimate, do you?" The Empress ignored Ji Shuqin.

"If you can be of any use, then in the future..."

"Enough!" Lu Liruan couldn't listen anymore. After the initial shock, she was furious: "What do you intend to do to him?"

"Your Majesty the Empress seems not to have figured out that what happens to him and what happens to us in the future has nothing to do with you, and you... cannot interfere in the slightest!" Lu Liruan said forcefully.

"Who gives you the right to speak here?" The Empress looked at Lu Liruan coldly.

Lu Liruan grasped Ji Shumin's hand under the table. His hand was as cold as ice, which made Lu Liruan shiver, but she did not let go. Instead, she held it even tighter.

"Why can't I speak? I'm the one who will share his honor and be with him day and night from now on. What, do you still think you hold a very important place in his heart and life? So important that he has to listen to your insults and let you do whatever you want? Your Majesty... you should take a good look at what you're doing now. How insignificant are you to him!" Lu Liruan knew how to make the Empress feel bad.

She said that on purpose.

The Empress still believes that Ji Shumin can be controlled and influenced by her. She believes that she can make Ji Shumin suffer extreme pain or live a life of agonizing pleasure if she so desires.

Lu Liruan was going to clearly and bluntly tell her that her arrogance and madness were completely useless!

"You have never fulfilled your responsibilities as a mother, nor have you given him loving guidance, yet you expect him to respect and revere you. Where does this rule come from?" Lu Liruan still couldn't understand why the Empress thought she could control Ji Shumin.

The Empress's face was extremely pale. No one had ever spoken to her like that before, and no one had ever said such things.

It's as if a net that has been woven so neatly and thickly for so many years has been ripped open, revealing the rotten cotton inside.