Princess Chang'an was full of worries when she came, and she was still full of worries when she left. Before leaving, she went to see her daughter and gave her some instructions before letting Chu Jingxing send her out.
Before getting in the car, she stopped what she was doing, dismissed the servants and asked him, "What about the Zhennan Palace..."
Chu Jingxing's face immediately turned ugly.
Those insults and gossip still bother him to this day. Even at his age, no one has ever dared to do that to him.
The hatred between Wei An and him can never be resolved.
Princess Chang'an was not affected by his cold and arrogant look and continued, "You should behave better. Although your reputation has been ruined, it is not too late to mend the fold. You should at least salvage some of it."
Chu Jingxing nodded his head.
He then asked Nanny Yuan to prepare heavy funeral ceremonies and send them to the Prince of Zhennan's Palace.
However, the Zhennan Palace was obviously determined to become his enemy. Before the people from the palace had gone far, they had people throw all the gifts out of the gate intact and shouted for the servants to take the things away.
Originally, the people of the capital liked to watch the excitement, but because the Jinyiwei were arresting people everywhere, there was no excitement to watch for a while. Now that this happened, they gathered together again and talked about it with relish as a topic of conversation on the streets.
Chu Jingxing never sent any gifts again. On the day of the old princess's funeral, he did not send a paper pavilion as the Linjiang Palace, nor did he hold a roadside sacrifice.
However, Shen Chen and Chu Jingwu each donated thirty large paper pavilions and thirty small paper pavilions in their own names, and on the day of the funeral, they asked their servants to set up a roadside sacrifice.
These Zhennan Kings actually don’t care much.
For him, it would be useless even if Chu Jingxing moved the palace here.
The old princess' life is too important to the palace.
As long as the old princess is alive, she is a living signboard. No matter who is the emperor, for the sake of the late emperor, in order to win the hearts of the people and prove his kindness, he must always treat the Zhennan Palace well.
Once the old princess dies, the meaning becomes different.
Although he is the legitimate Prince of Zhennan, he is not the biological son of the old princess and the old prince. After his death, he is forgotten by everyone. The life of this adopted son will be completely different from before.
Because of this, he not only hated Chu Jingxing with a vengeance, but was also extremely disappointed with his niece Wei Yulong.
Wei An had Wei Yulong locked up and not allowed to go out or talk to anyone. He also had his servants strictly follow Wei An's instructions.
However, Wei An had been in the palace for some time and could not come out, so he could not go without food. Therefore, Prince Zhennan ordered people to deliver two meals a day to Wei Yulong, just to keep him from starving to death.
By the time the funeral was over, all the old princess's affairs had been dealt with, and he hadn't even thought of the person called Wei Yulong.
It was not until the maids and the maids came up to report that Wei Yulong had committed suicide that he remembered Wei Yulong. He glanced at Wei An, who was still dressed in plain clothes and had a solemn expression, and asked her, "Before her death, mother did not specify how to treat her. As her uncle, it is not easy for me to make any decisions. You have spent the longest time with mother and know her best. You were also the one who handled this matter. Now her life and death is up to you."
Wei An nodded and followed Zhuang Rong to the backyard where Wei Yulong was imprisoned.
Wei Yulong did look much more haggard. She had been thin to begin with. Although she felt better after recuperating in Suzhou for a while, her physical condition was still not good. After these days of torture, she became even thinner.
No one spoke to her, no one appeared beside her, and even the servants opened the door and put the meal on the ground before leaving.
She had been tortured to the point of almost going crazy, and when she saw Wei An, she pounced on him.
Wei An dodged nimbly and just curled his lips as he watched her lose balance and fall to the ground.
Wei Yulong turned over and looked at her, with obvious resentment in her eyes. She hadn't spoken for a long time. When she spoke, she could hardly hear her own voice. After a while of adjusting, she sneered at Wei An and asked her, "Are you satisfied?"
She smiled, wiped the tears that had slipped down her cheeks, and asked again indifferently, "You have taken over my sister's identity and status, and have survived by taking everything she should have. Now you have become a princess, forced my mother to death, and snatched away my brother and grandmother. Are you satisfied now?"
The truth has been said countless times, but those who don’t understand will never understand, nor will they listen.
Wei An was too lazy to reason with her, and just told her coldly: "Grandmother has been buried and is now at peace."
Wei Yulong's pupils constricted. He glanced at her and then burst into laughter.
Zhuang Nun could no longer bear it, and stepped forward with his fists clenched, cursing: "You are simply crazy! Grandmother has done everything for you, but you are not satisfied..."
"How can I be so kind and righteous?!" Wei Yulong's tears flowed down, and the grievances buried in her heart for so many years suddenly poured out: "How can I be content?! If it weren't for her, if it weren't for her, my mother wouldn't have split up with my father, my mother wouldn't have become so cruel, and everything she has now should be mine! She took away my things, and she even pretended to be so wronged that people would sympathize with her, and make people think that she was the one who suffered, but what about me?!"
"I told you before." Wei An finally interrupted her endless complaints and said coldly, "I have presented the facts and reason to you before. I also told you that I am not as glamorous as you imagined, but you didn't believe me."
She stared into Wei Yulong's eyes and spoke word by word, "Not only did you not believe it, you also colluded with outsiders and ran back secretly, wanting to kill the entire Zhennan Palace. You didn't feel guilty even though you angered my grandmother to death. I didn't steal everything I have from you. You didn't want it. You made your situation worse and worse. It was you who made my grandmother and brother extremely disappointed in you, not me."
Wei Yulong refused to listen and screamed at her to shut up: "I just want to take back what belongs to me! I don't ask for much, I just want to live openly as the daughter of Dingbei Marquis. It's you, you and my grandmother, who refused to let me live a good life. You insisted on sending me to Suzhou, leaving me alone without anyone to rely on, and making others think I was an orphan from somewhere."
She laughed sharply: "You still want me to get married..."
Zhuang Rong could no longer bear it: "The family that grandma picked for you is her relative's. If this doesn't suit your taste, what else can suit your taste? Will she harm you?!"