Chapter 128 - Doesn't Trust Me
After the Emperor gave Royal tribute to Ying Lili's mother, everyone left for their respective works. Ying Lili went to the Prison with Sheng Li where he told Ying Lili a task to do. Ying Lili went to the special prison where she saw Zhang Yong was tied with shackles, beaten up, and tortured.
Seeing the Crown Princess there, Zhang Yong pleaded to her to tell the Crown Prince to let him live. "I wish I could do that. You should not have listened to your half-sister. Look, she did not even come to rescue you," Ying Lili asserted.
Zhang Yong fell silent after hearing that. "Empress Wei knows how to use the pawns. She is now using your daughter. I am afraid how long she will survive," Ying Lili stated.
Zhang Yong panicked and said, "Crown Princess, please save my daughter. I beg you." He lowered his eyes and continued, "I regret now for killing the mother of the Crown Prince. The one who saved my life, I killed her and I regret it."
"Your daughter will be at your place after a few days. Why? Because she is going to turn useless to Empress Wei. Only I can save her, but for that, I want something from the Ex-Prime Minister," Ying Lili put forward.
"What do you want, Crown Princess? I will tell you anything to keep my daughter safe. But then how can I trust you? What if you are using me?" Zhang Yong was skeptical of Ying Lili's condition that she was going to put forward.
"Ex-Prime Minister, I have many ways to kill her right away. I just need to plan like you did while poisoning the Crown Prince," Ying Lili pronounced in a menacing expression.
"What does the Crown Princess want to know?" Zhang Yong asked.
"Who does the work for the Empress? There is someone who is backing her from the shadows and working for her. I want to know about him," Ying Lili asserted.
"I do not know. The Empress never told me," Zhang Yong replied. His eyes were closing because of the tiredness.
"It seems you do not worry about your daughter," Ying Lili stated and turned to go when she heard Zhang Yong.
"Crown Princess, I am telling the truth. The Empress never told me because she and I are half-brother and sister. She doesn't trust me fully," Zhang Yong asserted. "I did everything she told me till now because she promised me that she will make my daughter the next Crown Princess and then the next Empress," pronounced Zhang Yong.
"This was not useful for me at all. If you do not know anything, then there is no use in keeping my promise to keep your daughter safe from the Empress," Ying Lili asserted.
"Crown Princess, I really do not know. But there is one thing which can be useful for you," Zhang Yong, gathering his entire strength, said. Ying Lili turned and looked at him. "Crown Princess, the Empress daily goes to the nearest Buddhist Shrine for the prayers. The Shrine is especially constructed for her by the Emperor himself as she is a keen believer of Lord Buddha. But I think there is something suspicious about that," Zhang Yong pronounced.
"You mean to say that she meets someone in the shrine and executes her plans?" Ying Lili questioned. Zhang Yong hummed. His eyes were closing as he asked for the water. Ying Lili saw the earthen pot there. She took the water in the porcelain cup and came closer to Zhang Yong. She helped him in drinking the water. Tears started pouring down his eyes.
"I should have saved Sister Mei," Zhang Yong regretfully said. "My greed took me here. Crown Princess, I know I will not get out alive from here. The Empress is not someone who can be taken lightly, so, whatever you do, keep a backup plan. You must save that boy w-who…" Zhang Yong started coughing blood. Ying Lili rubbed his back and again gave him water.
"Whom do I have to save?" Ying Lili asked as the Ex-Prime Minister turned stable.
"The young man who saved the Crown Prince. The Empress killed the master already who knew the antidote and now, I think she will kill this young man. Save him. Keep him near the Crown Prince so that the unknown person who works for the Empress cannot get near him," Zhang Yong proclaimed. Ying Lili thanked Zhang Yong and told him she would keep her promise.
She turned to go when something came to her mind. "There is something I want to know," Ying Lili stated. "What did the Empress do to Sheng Li when he was young?" Ying Lili asked.
"She tortured him because she failed to kill him along with the former Empress. Sister Mei was poisoned since the day her pregnancy was announced. But then nothing happened to the Crown Prince. Sister Mei started getting weak because of the poison, which appeared to be a prolonged illness. I would have told this in front of the Emperor, but he would not believe a traitor," Zhang Yong stated.
Ying Lili agreed with Zhang Yong and left from there. As she came out of the prison, Sheng Li saw the blood on Ying Lili's, which worried him. "Why is there blood in your hands?" He took her hands and cleaned them with a handkerchief. Ying Lili looked at Sheng Li and her eyes turned watery.
Wang Hao and Xiao Zhan looked at the Crown Princess. Sheng Li was done cleaning and looked at Ying Lili. "Let's have breakfast first and then I will take you out," Sheng Li told Ying Lili who nodded.
They came out of the prison when Han Wenji came there with a few servants behind him. Both the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess bowed their heads. "Father, you came here unannounced," Sheng Li softly said.
"Because I want to hear the truth from Zhang Yong's mouth. I cannot have breakfast as I want to hear the truth from Yong Wei. Let's go in," Han Wenji commanded. Sheng Li told Xiao Zhan to send the Crown Princess to Zhenzhu Inn before going inside the prison with the Emperor.