Chapter 5: Repaying Kindness with Ingratitude

Chu Chengyao supported Zhou Yuexue’s hand

"I told you before that you need not bow to me, and now, there is even less need."

Zhou Yuexue smiled coquettishly

"I know Your Majesty dotes on me, but it is against propriety. I do not wish for Your Majesty to be criticized because of me."

Chu Chengyao placed his hand on Zhou Yuexue’s shoulder, his tone gentle

"I know you are the most considerate and sensible."

Zhou Yuexue put on a shy expression

"Oh, Your Majesty, Jinyan is still watching."

Chu Chengyao turned his head to look at Lin Jinyan, who was glaring at him. His expression turned cold, and there was not a trace of warmth in his eyes, as if the person before him was not the wife who had shared his bed and helped him ascend the throne, but an irrelevant ant.

Lin Jinyan’s heart was already numb with pain. She straightened her broken body and questioned the man who once shared her pillow

"Chu Chengyao, my Lin family and the Gu family were utterly sincere toward you! Yet you plotted against us like this! Even if you do not care for the favor the Gu and Lin families showed in helping you! You have already ascended the throne, and the Gu family, whom you viewed as a threat, has already been exiled to the northern desert. What else are you worried about? If you still have a shred of conscience, release my father and my brother. They pose no threat to you; why must you keep them detained in the palace!"

Chu Chengyao said coldly

"What favor do they owe me? Back when the Crown Prince was at the height of his power, I asked you to beg the Gu and Lin families to assist me.

You said the Gu family were military generals who only cared about defending the country and did not involve themselves in court affairs. You said your Lin family were merely loyal subjects who did not involve themselves in factional strife.

It was only after I found my own way and struggled through great hardship to defeat the Crown Prince, and was contending with the third prince, that the Gu family finally stepped in to help. Yet, they let the world mistakenly believe that it was because I married you and gained the support of the Gu and Lin families that I was able to ascend to the throne."

Lin Jinyan shook her head, frowning and rebuking him

"My maternal grandfather and paternal grandfather were always loyal and patriotic men. At that time, the Crown Prince sat in the Eastern Palace in accordance with the will of heaven; for the Gu and Lin families to help you overthrow the Crown Prince would have been tantamount to treason!

After the Crown Prince was deposed, the princes relied on their own abilities. If not for the help of the Gu and Lin families, how could you have attained this supreme position!"

Chu Chengyao’s face turned gloomy, and he said indignantly

"That I could sit on this throne was entirely due to my own meticulous planning! What does it have to do with your Gu and Lin families! You looked down on me for having no maternal family support, then later acted like fence-sitters to snatch the credit for supporting the new emperor!

Does the Gu family not pride themselves on being loyal subjects who defend the country? I will make them become traitors who go down in history as a disgrace! Does the Lin family not pride themselves on being upright scholars with integrity? I will make them the culprits who framed the loyal and virtuous!"

Lin Jinyan braced her hands on the ground and shouted with a voice full of hatred

"Chu Chengyao!! You shameless villain who returns kindness with enmity and breaks your word! There are gods three feet above! Are you not afraid of retribution!!"

Chu Chengyao took two steps toward Lin Jinyan, stood before the window, and looked down at her, saying

"The Gu family has already received the retribution they deserved; next will be the Lin family."

The tone in which he said this was as if it were the most ordinary statement, without even a fluctuation in his voice.

When Lin Jinyan heard this, it was like a thunderclap exploding in her ears. She stared blankly at Chu Chengyao, as if all her ferocity had dissipated in an instant.

The sunlight spilled onto Chu Chengyao’s bright yellow dragon robe, and the glare made Lin Jinyan’s eyes ache so much that her tears fell like beads from a broken string.

She lowered her body and slowly crawled toward Chu Chengyao’s feet. Her legs had been broken, so she could only drag her body with her hands. Her fingers exerted force, tearing open the wounds on her hands; blood, mixed with white pus, meandered down, leaving trails of blood behind her as she crawled.

Chu Chengyao watched Lin Jinyan’s slow crawl, not urging her, but merely watching with indifference.