novelraw Chapter 1919 Leaving the City
Chapter 1919 Leaving the City
Chapter 1919 Leaving the City
"Lord Zhuge, Lord Xie, what are you doing?" Fang Ziqin looked coldly at the two men who were bowing. They straightened up without being humble or arrogant. Xie Yanping said, "Last night, the house of Minister Xu Youtong of the Ministry of Revenue was hit by fire. Someone saw Miss Fang at the scene."
Fang Ziqin raised an eyebrow. "Lord Xie, do you intend to interrogate my sister based solely on one side of the story?"
“Your Majesty, even a prince who breaks the law is subject to the same punishment as a commoner.” Xie Yanping did not back down. “As the Prefect of the Capital, this is my duty and my principle.”
"Lan'er caught a cold and has been in her room since yesterday, not leaving for a moment," Fang Ziqin said calmly. "She is still unconscious. If Lord Xie does not believe me, come with me and you will see for yourself."
Xie Yanping nodded slightly, "Since Her Majesty the Empress has granted permission..."
"Lord Xie, if what I say is true," Fang Ziqin interrupted Xie Yanping rudely, "even if someone is deliberately trying to frame me, Lord Xie, as the Prefect of the Capital, could ruin my sister's reputation by arbitrarily interrogating her without verification..."
She paused, her gaze sharpening, "Can Lord Xie bear the consequences?"
"Your humble servant..." Xie Yanping hesitated, but Fang Ziqin snorted coldly, "Lord Xie, there's no need to rush to answer me. Let me remind you, the former Prefect of the Capital, Xu You, along with Lord Xu, rashly detained my sister—the second young lady of the Fang family of the Prime Minister's residence, Fang Zitong—without clear evidence, only to be proven to be a misunderstanding..."
Xie Yanping's voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly, "Your Majesty the Empress..."
"I will not allow the same thing to happen a second time." Fang Zilan's expression was sharp. "Lord Xie, do you understand?"
Xie Yanping clenched his fist into a fist hidden in his sleeve. Zhuge Yu, standing to the side, pursed his lips, recalling the scene when he went to see Li Qiyou before entering the palace.
After hearing that Xu Youtong’s residence had caught fire, he became suspicious of Fang Zilan and rushed to Yu Cheng’s residence, only to be turned away at the door.
He went to great lengths to meet Li Qiyou's two princesses, and upon hearing the news of Li Qiyou's injury, he felt an indescribable sense of lingering fear.
If Fang Zilan was the one who injured Li Qiyou and set fire to the Xu residence, he dared not even think about how many more people would lose their lives before the truth about Mo Han's death was revealed.
Although I had long been familiar with Fang Zilan's style of doing things, it was all about fighting external enemies. Once she turned her sword...
"Lord Zhuge?" Xie Yanping's cautious voice pulled Zhuge Yu back to reality. He looked over and asked, "What does Lord Xie want to say to me?"
"Just now in Fengyi Palace, I didn't know what to say, but Lord Zhuge..." Xie Yanping flicked his sleeve in exasperation, "How could you remain silent?"
Zhuge Yu glanced in the direction of Fengyi Palace. “With Miss Fang the Second’s example as a precedent, Her Majesty the Empress is clearly biased towards Miss Fang the Third. Even if I speak up, it will be of no use.”
In a daze, all sorts of voices from her memories came rushing back, sweeping through every corner of Fang Zilan's mind.
But unlike any of her previous memories, this time she was able to hear every word clearly and identify the owner of each voice.
However, the more she heard and the clearer she understood, the more suffocated she felt.
Just like that time she fell into the water, she was like a drowning person, submerged at the bottom of the water, able to see the sunlight that seemed within reach, but she could never touch it when she reached out her hand.
This life, in the end, no longer belonged to her.
"Fang Zilan? Fang Zilan!" An anxious and earnest voice echoed in Fang Zilan's ears again and again, trying to pull her out of the quagmire of memories, but she still refused to wake up.
This body is both the sharpest sword in the world and the most humble woman in the world. She falls in love with someone impossible and willingly becomes a pawn to be used by him, even if it means being torn apart.
This body does not belong to her, these actions are not for her, this way of living is not hers either. If she were to die from the poison, would she be able to return to her original world?
This is so exhausting. She vaguely remembers someone whispering in her ear:
"The former dynasty's people are like lonely ghosts who cannot see the light of day. If you want to live, you cannot walk the path of sunlight, so you can only enter the gate of hell."
"Those who belong to the Ghost Gate cannot be seen in the light."
Even if my dignity is broken and my legs are severed, I will not yield.
"As long as I live, I will not live in vain. I will take back everything that belongs to me and make them all pay the price."
This is Ji Ningtian's hatred and ambition, none of which belong to her.
Yet it seemed as if she had experienced everything with him, entangled in the so-called red thread of fate, inseparable even by an inch.
"I don't want to."
The three powerful words were like a beam of light breaking through the darkness.
In her memory, Fang Zilan knelt upright in front of the Fang Clan Ancestral Hall, speaking each word with righteous indignation. She looked like just a young girl, yet she possessed an indescribable strength.
“My mother cannot enter the Fang family ancestral hall today, but one day I will make sure you invite her in. You all treat me as nothing more than a concubine’s daughter of the Prime Minister’s family, but I, Fang Zilan, will never accept my fate. One day, I will make you all kneel at my feet.”
So that's how it is? She had always thought that Fang Zilan's desperate efforts were only for Ji Ningtian, but now, thinking back on this, she realized that her original intention was actually herself.
Women in ancient times had it tough. Fang Zilan's mother came from a poor background, so she was looked down upon by everyone in the Fang family. But who can choose their birth?
Fang Zilan pleaded with everyone she could, but she still couldn't get her mother, who had died saving her, into the Fang family ancestral hall. In the end, she was buried in a thin coffin in some unknown mass grave.
She struggled desperately, but no one paid any attention to her.
Fang Chongzheng's silence, Fang Ziqin's admonition, and Fang Zitong's sarcasm—everyone simply hoped that she would take care of herself.
She's just a concubine's daughter from the Prime Minister's household; it would be quite an achievement if she married into a wealthy and powerful family.
But she refused to accept her fate. In front of the Fang family ancestral hall, she personally rejected the marriage that Fang Chongzheng had chosen for her, and even said that she would never marry in this life.
Thinking about it this way, Ji Ningtian wasn't heartless. Given his status, he should have married a former princess like Wu Qing, but he didn't.
He didn't marry her, and she didn't want to marry him. From the very beginning, their fate had already deviated from its original course, heading towards a future that no one could predict.
She transmigrated from a hazy, accidental encounter into an inevitable, life-or-death struggle.
Countless times she felt lost and helpless, her midnight dreams filled with unease, but only now, in the hazy depths of her dream, has she finally found the real reason.
No matter which version of her it is, even if it's all falsehood and condemnation from everyone, even if it's just an excuse, she will still persevere on her own, and that's the meaning of her existence.