Cooperating with Qing Jing was not in Lening's plan. However, after some careful thought, she figured that collaborating with someone else might not be a bad thing.
Moreover, they shared the same goal.
They both wanted to take Emperor Shao's life.
Lening aimed to avenge her people, while Qing Jing... Well, it was probably for the cold and lofty throne.
But she didn't really care about his motives. As long as he could assist her in her revenge, everything would be fine.
Not long after Qing Jing started collaborating with her, he came up with a plan. He also found out who had informed the emperor about the matter: it was the eldest prince.
The eldest prince had overheard Lening and Qing Jing's conversation in the imperial kitchen. He saw this as an opportunity to eliminate all those who might hinder his ascension to the throne.
This way, he could frame the third prince and drag down the emperor's favored courtiers at the same time. It was truly a win - win situation.
But if only things were that smooth.
Qing Jing turned the tables on the eldest prince. After all the careful planning, the eldest prince ended up trapping himself.
Emperor Shao was furious and immediately imprisoned the eldest prince.
Normally, a prince wouldn't be imprisoned even if he killed someone. But Qing Jing had added a little something extra.
When reporting to the emperor, he said a bit more. Emperor Shao was a suspicious man. Hearing the hints about the eldest prince's plot against him, he naturally wouldn't let it go.
He would rather kill by mistake than let any potential threat slip by, even if it was his own son.
In Emperor Shao's eyes, no one was more important than himself.
He was a selfish man, always had been.
Qing Jing set up a scheme precisely because he knew this. Lening was the perfect pawn he placed by the emperor's side.
And his plan had quietly been put into motion.
Qing Jing secretly expanded his power outside the palace. He also obtained the military amulet from Emperor Shao, which could mobilize the guards in the palace. After years of biding his time, he finally waited for an opportunity.
Lening walked into Emperor Shao's bedroom. Her hand in her sleeve tightly grasped a short dagger. She walked step by step towards his bed.
"Aning... Is that you, Aning?" Emperor Shao's voice was very soft. He turned his head and glanced at the blurry figure outside the window curtain, his voice low.
Aning smiled. After lurking in Yu Ling Palace for so long, she finally waited for this opportunity. The hand holding the dagger tightened even more.
"Yes, it's me, Your Majesty." Lening emphasized the words "Your Majesty" heavily, with a hint of disdain.
She had been in the palace for so long, always walking on eggshells, just waiting for a chance to kill him.
If it had been three years ago, Lening wouldn't have believed that one day she would bow to a king, nor would she have expected to live such a humble life.
But now, it was all coming to an end.
"Aning, it's so late. Why are you here? There's some noise outside. Why is it so noisy?" Emperor Shao rubbed his temples. He had been feeling uneasy in his sleep recently, as if something bad was about to happen.
This feeling was particularly strong today. He suddenly had a bad premonition.
Lening sneered and said emotionlessly, "Tonight, no one will save you."
"You... What do you mean?" Emperor Shao lifted the bed curtain and looked at the person standing in front of him.
The person held a dagger glinting with cold light, with no expression on their face. In the flickering candlelight, one could tell that the person was filled with killing intent.
He knew this look in the person's eyes too well. It was the same look he had seen in a child's eyes when he invaded the palace of Li Du.
That look in the child's eyes had made him uncomfortable back then, and he had killed the child with his own hands.
But now... This look overlapped with the child in his memory. Emperor Shao took a few steps back.
"Are you... An orphan of Li Du?!" Emperor Shao's voice dropped a bit, and he trembled as he said these words.
He was scared.
Looking at the emperor's retreating steps, Lening couldn't help but burst into laughter. She raised the dagger in her hand and stepped towards him.
A smile played on her lips. In the huge palace hall, only the sound of her approaching steps and her low laughter echoed.
"Yes, I'm the seventh princess of Li Du, and I'm also the child you killed with your own hands." Lening's voice was low, and she enunciated each word clearly.
Emperor Shao's uneasiness grew more intense. He shouted for the guards to protect him, but no matter how many times he called, no one came to the palace hall to rescue him.
"It's useless. I've already told you. No one will come to save you! Today, I'm going to avenge the hundreds of lives in the Li Du Palace!"
"You were already dead. How could you still be alive?!"
"Is it so strange? Didn't you invade Li Du in search of the elixir of immortality? What's so strange about me coming back to life?"
"You... You took that elixir!"
"No, I am the elixir itself."
Saying this, Lening stabbed the dagger into Emperor Shao's chest. One stab wasn't enough. She stabbed several more times until her hands were covered in blood and the man beneath her had no more breath.
"Now... It's all over..."
Lening dropped the dagger on the ground. She seemed to lose all her strength and slumped to the ground beside the bed. Staring blankly at the blood on the brocade quilt.
The cooperation between her and Qing Jing back then... It was finally coming to an end.
Back then, Qing Jing and she had planned. He had control of the palace guards. When the time was right, he would give her an opportunity.
An opportunity to kill Emperor Shao.
And Qing Jing would take out the imperial edict of succession he had prepared long ago and successfully ascend to the throne.
Lening watched as the palace door was slowly pushed open. A man held a long sword in his hand and walked towards her step by step with the guards.
The candles were lit one by one. Lening saw her own embarrassed appearance in the man's eyes. Her whole body was covered in blood, and even her hair was a bit messy.
She looked at the man and didn't say a word for a long time.
"Aning, the maid beside Emperor Shao, has harbored evil intentions and dared to assassinate His Majesty today. Quickly arrest her and execute her immediately as a warning to others."
Qing Jing's voice rang out. His voice clearly reached her ears. Lening raised a smile at the corner of her mouth. She staggered to her feet and walked towards him.
The guards on her side pointed their long swords at Lening, preventing her from taking another step forward.
There was not the slightest change in Qing Jing's expression. Lening just let out a low laugh. She stood not far away and smiled in Qing Jing's direction as she was held down by the guards.
"I'll be back."
After leaving this sentence, she was taken away by the guards. Qing Jing was a bit worried because of this sentence Lening had left before she left.
He was afraid that someone would rescue Lening, so he personally supervised the execution.
He watched as Lening was taken to the guillotine and saw her head fall to the ground. No one came to rescue her from beginning to end.
Maybe... He had just been overthinking...
Qing Jing comforted himself like this. And as for Lening's body, special instructions were given to bury the parts separately.
Qing Jing was afraid that someone would use evil magic to revive her, although this was a rather absurd thing.
After three hours, on the desolate burial ground where Lening's body had been casually thrown, the blood on the body slowly flowed out. After merging with each other, a new body emerged.
Lening looked down at her tender palm and murmured in a low voice, "So I'll turn into a child after being resurrected from the beheading..."
Then she clenched her fist and squinted her eyes as she looked in the direction of the imperial city in the distance.
Later, she heard that after Qing Jing ascended the throne, he was obsessed with the pursuit of immortality. At that time, he found an ancient book saying that one could use poison bugs as bait to achieve immortality.
Lening just thought it was ridiculous. The emperor of Yu Ling only cared about immortality, but he never thought about whether he was worthy of it.
Later, it took her a long time to figure out why she could be resurrected. She found that it was blood that served as the catalyst. So she used this method to infect many people in the palace. Finally...
She managed to sneak into the palace again. Liu Shiyao was also a test subject she created. Unfortunately, there were still some flaws in her resurrection.
Each time Lening was resurrected, she would become a bit younger. And Liu Shiyao needed to suppress the effects of resurrection with a human heart.
That year, she killed everyone in the cold palace and returned to the palace in the name of the seventh princess of Yu Ling.
Then a thick fog surrounded her, covering the scene in front of her eyes. All that was left in front of her was a vast expanse of white, and even the path was blocked.
"These..." Ye Zhiqiu looked at the white fog in front of him and took a few steps forward, but the fog still didn't disperse.
"Sir, I didn't expect you to come here." Lening's voice rang out. Ye Zhiqiu turned around and saw the person standing behind him.
"These are all my past experiences, and they are also the root cause of everything. We are all poor people exploited by Yu Ling. We are equally unfortunate."
Lening looked at the white fog in front of her and said this sentence in a calm voice, with a hint of sadness in her tone.
"How on earth can I get out of this illusion?!" Ye Zhiqiu didn't have time to talk to Lening now. He just wanted to leave this illusion.
Lening shrugged, pointed forward, and smiled brightly in Ye Zhiqiu's direction. "I don't know either. Maybe if you walk along this path and get out of the fog, you'll be able to leave."
"You..." Ye Zhiqiu wanted to say something else, but as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Lening's figure was covered by the thick fog. In the end, there was no trace of her left.
Ye Zhiqiu had no choice. Now, the only thing he could do was to try the method she had mentioned.
Thinking like this, he took more determined steps forward.
As long as he could break through this fog, he would surely be able to leave this illusion.
Lening watched Ye Zhiqiu's receding back. In the end, she just tucked her sleeves and walked deeper into the fog.