How could Wei Dongling let her just leave like this? She stepped forward and grabbed tightly onto Concubine Xue's sleeve, saying coldly, "Concubine Xue! I haven't finished yet! I just want to ask you, why on earth have you treated me like this? You didn't hesitate to kill Qiao Yue, to make Princess Qi take the blame, and to make the Empress Dowager suspect me! Do you have to drive me to death before you'll stop?"
Concubine Xue shook off her sleeve forcefully, pushing Wei Dongling away. She sneered, "What a joke! Why would I want to harm you?"
Concubine Xue remained vigilant all the time. Only then did she remember that Princess Qi, Murong Yunxi, was clearly under house arrest and had been punished not to leave her quarters for three months. How could she have deliberately gone to the inner courtyard to look for Consort Zhao? Maybe she and this Princess Wu had joined hands to set a trap.
The more Concubine Xue thought about it, the more frightened she became. She couldn't wait to turn around and rush back as fast as she could.
Wei Dongling was caught off guard and was pushed to the ground. Seeing that Concubine Xue wasn't taking the bait, she covered the wound on her chest and coughed loudly, saying, "What a 'Why would I want to harm you'! Dare you say that your hatred for me isn't because of the deposed Crown Prince? Isn't it because the Xue family's army was almost completely wiped out and you took it out on me?"
Hearing the words "deposed Crown Prince" and "Xue family's army" come out of Wei Dongling's mouth, Concubine Xue felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen. Her hands trembled continuously. She turned back and glared at Wei Dongling fiercely, wishing she could tear her to pieces.
Seeing that these words effectively stopped Concubine Xue from leaving, Wei Dongling couldn't help but feel happy. She quickly got up and continued to provoke her, saying, "Concubine Xue, have you ever thought about it? What does the deposing of the Crown Prince have to do with me? Was it my fault that the 80,000 - strong Xue family's army was destroyed? How innocent I am!"
Concubine Xue widened her eyes in disbelief. She was so angry that the blood in her body surged, and she almost couldn't stand steadily. She stared at Wei Dongling fiercely, with a hideous face, and said, "You're innocent? How are you innocent? You deserve to die!"
Wei Dongling's face was deathly pale. She raised the scar on her left palm and showed it to Concubine Xue, shouting coldly, "Your son, Murong Jingyu, tried to kill me with a knife several times! Look at this scar! This was left when an archer's arrow from the Crown Prince's mansion pierced through my palm! I'm covered in wounds from head to toe. There isn't a single piece of uninjured skin on me! All these are thanks to your good son!" If the situation wasn't inappropriate, she would have even stripped naked to show all her wounds.
Concubine Xue was extremely angry. She demanded, "My son treated you like this? Why did he do so? Why don't you ask yourself what you've done? You interfered in the flood disaster in Xingshan and meddled in the war in the northwest! If it weren't for you, how could my son have ended up like this?"
Wei Dongling asked in astonishment, "Do you know that your son embezzled money and sold food and medicine to the victims during the Xingshan disaster?"
Concubine Xue roared angrily, "You're talking nonsense!"
Wei Dongling gritted her teeth and said, "If I hadn't out - witted the government's supplies and distributed them to the victims, blocking his way of making money, would he have chased me and tried to kill me relentlessly? He deserves what he's got!"
The words "He deserves it" were like stepping on Concubine Xue's tail. She was furious and wished she could rush forward and strangle Wei Dongling. She roared angrily, "My son was once the Crown Prince of the country, second only to the Emperor. All this is your doing! And you're still here talking nonsense and smearing my son? You deserve to die!"
Wei Dongling patted the fallen leaves on her body and stared back at Concubine Xue defiantly, saying, "Does he deserve it? A Crown Prince should love his country and people. What about your son? When the country was in trouble, he regarded human lives as worthless and made a fortune from the national disaster! What kind of person is he? Does he deserve to be the Crown Prince?"
Concubine Xue only had this one son. Now that he had been demoted, she was already exhausted. And here Wei Dongling was, openly criticizing her son's faults! Concubine Xue was so angry that she almost fainted. She only regretted not getting rid of her earlier. She roared, "You shut up!"
Seeing that Concubine Xue had been provoked into losing her mind, Wei Dongling secretly smiled. But on the surface, she sneered calmly, saying, "Come to think of it, Murong Jingyu wasn't completely useless. At least he was brave enough to take responsibility. But you, as the mother of the deposed Crown Prince, first instigated Qiao Yue to secretly poison me but failed, and then tried to frame me. You're so cowardly that you dare to do it but not admit it. You're even worse than your son! As the saying goes, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked! With a mother like you, how good could Murong Jingyu be? It's a pity that my father, such a good person, wasted his efforts training such a son!"
There was a burning anger in Concubine Xue's eyes. She pulled out the gold hairpin from her head and walked step by step towards Wei Dongling.
Wei Dongling raised her eyebrows in astonishment and asked, "Concubine Xue, what do you want to do? Do you want to kill me to cover up your tracks?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Concubine Xue took the gold hairpin and swiped it fiercely at Wei Dongling's face.
Wei Dongling was as fast as the wind. While dodging, she exclaimed in surprise, "Concubine Xue, are you crazy?"
Concubine Xue missed her target and was filled with annoyance. Immediately, she tightened her grip on the gold hairpin and stabbed at Wei Dongling frantically.
Wei Dongling's steps were light. The dry leaves rustled under her feet. She asked, "Concubine Xue, do you think the person Qiao Yue finally named as the mastermind was Princess Qi? She actually named Li Wenbin and you a long time ago! It was my father who suppressed the news and didn't make it public!"
Concubine Xue roared angrily, "Impossible! Even if she confessed, Qiao Yue would only name Li Wenbin! I never contacted her privately!"
Wei Dongling snorted coldly and said, "You still say you weren't behind it! You can't wait to get rid of me!"
Concubine Xue roared, "So what if I was! You made my son be demoted and almost wiped out the Xue family's army! Shouldn't I hate you? You deserve to die!" She was secretly surprised by Wei Dongling's speed, but because of her deep - seated hatred, she kept waving the gold hairpin in her hand, wishing she could pounce on her and stab her to death.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Wei Dongling pretended to stumble and deliberately fell to the ground. She covered the wound on her chest and cried miserably, "Help! Murder!"
Concubine Xue was consumed by rage and didn't notice the footsteps nearby at all. Seeing Wei Dongling fall, she took the opportunity to pounce on her, grabbed her neck, and stabbed the gold hairpin fiercely at her face.
"Stop!" A roar made Concubine Xue tremble all over. She looked up and saw the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, Murong Yunxi, and Eunuch Cao. There were also a group of guards and eunuchs following them. They walked out from the side door that had never been opened before.
The Emperor had a furious look on his face, which scared Concubine Xue so much that the gold hairpin in her hand clattered to the ground.
She had fallen into a trap! She quickly let go of Wei Dongling's hand and knelt on the ground in a daze. Only then did she realize that Wei Dongling had been trying to provoke her all along. Mid - way, she had sensed something was wrong and was about to retreat when she heard Wei Dongling scolding her son, Murong Jingyu. The anger welled up in her and she just couldn't hold it back, which was how she fell into Wei Dongling's trap!