After the prince's rebellion was defeated, he was imprisoned in the Qingsi Palace in the inner courtyard. Imprisoned with him were the crown princess, two concubines and two little princesses.
It rained last night, and water droplets hung on the grass and trees. The glazed tiles, freshly washed by the rain, were shining brightly in the morning sun.
The queen squinted her eyes, silently chanting the "Sutra of the Past Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva", walked slowly along the corridor through the palace courtyard, walked into the hall, and nodded to the eunuch Wang Yuandao.
Wang Yuandao ordered the chief eunuch of Qingsi Palace to bring the commoner Rong here.
Soon, two eunuchs escorted Huan Rong out of the bedroom.
In just one month, he had become emaciated and haggard, with no trace of his former elegance, leisure and high spirits.
In fact, the emperor did not treat the son who wanted to take his life harshly in terms of food and clothing. It was just that the palace servants and eunuchs knew that the deposed prince was waiting to die, so they naturally refused to serve him wholeheartedly. Huan Rong was waiting for his fate, as if a guillotine was hanging over his head. He was so restless that he had no appetite and could not eat or drink.
Seeing his mother in the dawn light at this moment, he was like a drowning man finding a piece of driftwood, and hope instantly lit up in his dark and decadent eyes.
He fell to his knees with a plop, hugging the queen's legs: "Mother, you are finally here. I knew you would not ignore me... I know I am wrong. I listened to the slander of the villain and was bewildered for a while, so I did something so treasonous. I beg you, mother, to ask Aye for me..."
He didn't know at this moment that his trusted subordinates and eunuchs had already confessed that he had murdered his elder brother, and the Censorate and the Dali Temple had found irrefutable evidence.
The queen lowered her eyes and looked at her son steadily for a while, then raised her hand and stroked his head, as if he were a child.
Huan Rong was greatly encouraged and put his face on his mother's knees: "Mother, Erlang really knows his mistakes. Please save your son once..."
The queen took her hand back and said softly, "You haven't eaten well recently, have you? You've become so thin."
As she spoke, she took a food box from the eunuch and placed it on the table: "Mother, I'll make your favorite seven-treasure soup and golden milk cake. Please try them."
As she spoke, she opened the food box and placed the soups, pastries and other dishes on the table one by one with her own hands.
Huan Rong had no appetite at this time, and he felt impatient, but he still obediently picked up the jade chopsticks, picked up a golden milk pastry and put it into his mouth. After chewing it twice, he couldn't wait to swallow it. He put down the jade chopsticks and said, "Mother, I want to explain it to you in person, but those servants refused to tell you. Is you still angry?"
The Queen said, "Don't be in a hurry to talk. Cakes are too dry to eat alone. Let's have some soup."
Huan Rong felt something was wrong, but he still patiently picked up the spoon and scooped out a spoonful of seven-treasure soup.
The soup tasted salty and bitter. He couldn't help but frowned: "This soup..."
Before he finished speaking, his face suddenly changed, his hand trembled, and the jade spoon fell on the sandalwood table, making a crisp sound and broke into two pieces.
The Queen asked, "Why? Is it because the taste is not right? Mother remembers that you loved this soup the most when you were little. Every time you finished your own bowl and it was not enough, your eldest brother would always give you his."
Huan Rong pinched his throat, bent his back and retched, as if he wanted to spit out the soup he had eaten.
The queen looked at his flushed face and said coldly, "There is no poison in the soup."
Huan Rong was stunned, and slowly straightened up: "Mother..."
The queen said, "You are my son, whom I raised with my own hands. No matter what others say, I will not believe it."
She raised her eyes and stared at her son, her eyes full of cold hatred: "Until just now, I had no choice but to believe it."
Huan Rong was startled: "Mother, I don't understand what you are saying..."
The queen's gaze was like a sharp arrow, as if it wanted to pierce him: "Did you, a beast, kill Ye'er?"
Huan Rong said, "It was Concubine Shu and Huan Jiong who killed my elder brother. My son is totally unaware of this. Did you hear Huan Xuan accusing me? He wants to kill me, so he will find ways to frame me. He has connections everywhere. He bribed the Censorate and the Dali Temple. He also bribed those people in the Eastern Palace. You must believe me, mother..."
The queen sneered and said, "I didn't believe it at first, but seeing is believing."
She nodded to Wang Yuandao.
Wang Yuandao retreated silently, and soon returned with a silver-gilt wine pot.
The queen took the wine pot and filled the empty wine glass on the table with wine: "This is your favorite Yingzhou Fushui."
Huan Rong understood something, and his crying and begging stopped abruptly.
He slowly straightened up, gave a bitter smile, and said to the eunuch: "Let me get a basin of water."
He looked at his mother: "At least let me go in a decent way."
The eunuch glanced at the queen, and the queen nodded to her.
After a while, the eunuch fetched some hot water and brought a towel and comb.
Huan Rong slowly washed his head and face, shaved his beard, tied his hair up, straightened his clothes, and picked up the wine glass.
The queen had made up her mind last night, but when the time came, she found that killing her own son with her own hands was much more difficult than she had imagined.
Her lips trembled slightly: "Do you want to see your wife and children?"
Huan Rong said: "No need to bother, it will only cause more trouble."
He looked at the wine in the glass, then suddenly raised his head and smiled at the queen: "I have never regretted poisoning Huan Ye."
The queen turned pale: "You beast!"
Huan Rong sneered, "The Queen has only one son, Huan Ye. If I am not a beast, what am I?"
"You..." The Queen's face was distorted with hatred, "From childhood to adulthood, I have never treated you unfairly!"
Huan Rong said: "Yes, you have never treated me unfairly, but no matter how well I do, you only see Huan Ye. I remember when we were young, we painted a picture of winter for you to judge. At first, you clearly said that my painting was better, but when you found out that it was drawn by me, you immediately changed your mind and said that Huan Ye's painting was better..."
The Queen said sternly, "You are so petty and vicious, you are such a bastard!"
Huan Rong snorted coldly: "There are so many trivial things like this. I grew up through these trivial things. Sometimes I would like to switch places with Huan Xuan and be a motherless person..."
Before she could finish her words, the queen raised her hand and slapped her son in the face, knocking his face to one side.
"Shut up!" she yelled.
Huan Rong just sneered: "Yes, I am insidious, vicious, and narrow-minded. Didn't I learn all this from my mother? Do you dare to let Big Brother know what you did to Huan Jiong?"
He paused and said, "Just because the monk praised Huan Jiong for his wisdom but didn't praise Huan Ye, you are so resentful that you want to spoil him. In terms of viciousness and narrow-mindedness, who can compare to A Niang?"
The queen trembled all over and gnashed her teeth as she said, "Huan Jiong is just a bastard. I asked Concubine Shu to give birth to him, so she should be content. It was he who was greedy and wanted to compete with Ye Er. I didn't do anything to him and his mother. I provided them with fine clothes and delicious food. They are repaying my kindness with hatred!"
She pointed at Huan Rong's nose and scolded him, "Your brother has always given in to you since you were little, but you are not good at anything, but he is so arrogant. You killed him out of jealousy. I really regret raising you. If I had known this would happen, I should have strangled you to death!"
Huan Rong laughed: "He is better than me in every way, but where is he now? Didn't I kill him?"
The queen could not help but hit her son on the head: "I will beat you to death, you evil creature!"
Huan Rong let her hit him and continued, "I just hate him. I was content to be a useless prince, but he suddenly came to me and said he wanted to give up the throne to me. A few days later, he pretended nothing happened and continued to be his crown prince. He can give it up if he wants to, and take it back if he wants to. How can such a thing be so easy in the world?"
He glanced at his mother's wrist.
The queen noticed his gaze and unconsciously rolled up her sleeves to cover the scar on her wrist.
Huan Rong said slowly: "After all, it wasn't you who killed my eldest brother. If you hadn't threatened to die to stop him from going to Heshuo, I wouldn't have touched him. If you hadn't treated Huan Jiong like this, it wouldn't have been so easy for me to kill my eldest brother."
He stared at the queen and said, "It was you who killed your most beloved son. It was you!"
The queen involuntarily took two steps back, but fortunately the palace maid was quick to support her.
Huan Rong continued, "Do you know why my brother wants to go to Heshuo? You think you are good to him, but in fact, he has been suffocated by you for a long time..."
"Shut up!" the Queen interrupted him harshly.
Huan Rong continued to talk: "He just wanted to leave you! Why did big brother smile when he left? Because he finally got rid of you!"
The queen picked up the wine jug from the table, grabbed her son's hair, and stuffed the spout into his mouth: "I told you to shut up! You are talking nonsense, Ye'er was deceived, he went astray..."
Huan Rong did not struggle and let her pour the poisoned wine into his throat.
After drinking half a pot of poisoned wine, Huan Rong covered his stomach in pain and his body began to twitch.
The queen suddenly came to her senses, threw the wine jug to the ground, and slumped down on the couch.
Huan Rong fell to the ground, his hands and feet twitching constantly, his body bent into a bow shape, looking extremely horrifying.
He raised his head, stared at his mother, and suddenly cried out in a sharp voice: "Mother, my son's life still belongs to you today!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his whole body twitched violently, his head tilted, and finally he stopped moving.
His eyes were still wide open, but lifeless, like two lead beads.
The queen covered her mouth and retched, tears streaming down her face like a flood.
Wang Yuandao hurried over to support her: "My lady, please accept my condolences. Please take care of yourself..."
The queen looked at her hands in a daze: "I killed Ye'er, I killed my own son..."
Wang Yuandao hurriedly advised: "That was the young master's careless words, Madam, please don't take it to heart. Madam, you were thinking about the late prince at the beginning, how can you say that you were the one who caused it?"
The queen tightly grasped the Buddhist beads in front of her chest, muttering Buddhist mantras, and finally recovered after a long while: "You are right..."