Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
An Yina continued, “The woman was originally an ordinary village woman. In order to please the emperor, the local officials ordered someone to kill her husband and sent the pregnant woman into the palace. She was heavily favored by the emperor for a period of time because she looked almost identical to Guifei. However, she violated a taboo because she tried to compare herself to the late Wang Guifei… Haha. Afterwards, she died suddenly for no reason together with the baby girl she gave birth to in the palace. The whereabouts of the mother and daughter were not known. However, this isn’t all that I’ve found. Are you in the mood to listen to more?”
Suppressing the restlessness in her heart, she tried to calm herself down.
“This is a pretty interesting story. Go ahead. I’m very bored these days. I can listen to it and kill time.”
Her reaction was very composed without a single reaction. The more she acted that way, the more suspicious An Yina became.
“I spent a lot of effort and finally found the imperial maid who served the woman that year and got some information.” An Yina continued mystifyingly, “The woman had violated a taboo because she tried to compare her favoritism to Wang Guifei, so she was abandoned by the emperor. The emperor felt that she was insatiably avaricious. How could she be compared to the superior and pure Wang Guifei? Thus he dumped her in the slums and she became a prostitute.”
“The woman became a prostitute and took in different customers every day. She was so pitiful. Her daughter also followed in her footsteps. It was so sad for the mother and daughter.”
Huijun shuddered mentally. She had already guessed what An Yina wanted to say. However, she knew that if she admitted it, she would probably die a miserable death.
Therefore, Huijun put on a natural facial expression. She used her handkerchief to wipe the tea stain on the corner of her mouth and said in an elegant way, “It’s indeed a heartbreaking story. Are you warning me not to overestimate myself and compete against the late Wang Guifei for the emperor’s favor? Or, are you letting me know that I should know my place and that I’m only heavily favored by the emperor because of my face? Haha. If that’s the case, I appreciate it.”
Although An Yina did not have names, she knew very well that the story was very likely to be true. Huijun felt miserable on the inside, but there was still an exceptionally gorgeous smile on her face. She had stopped An Yina’s multiple attempts to sound her out with ease.
Without a choice, An Yina asked eloquently, “Do you know where the woman’s daughter is?”
Huijun replied, “Since she’s a lowly prostitute, I think she has already been tortured to death.”
An Yina secretly hated that she could not find a flaw in Huijun. However, she did not have any solid evidence, so she could not control Huijun. An Yina had her eyes on Huijun’s influence on the emperor. If she could keep Huijun under her control, the plan to subvert the entire Dongqing would be easy. The princes were already in a hot dispute. Outside, there was Prince Changshou who was eyeing Dongqing with hostility.
If the emperor died all of a sudden at this time, Dongqing would be in complete chaos!
When their internal dispute had nearly reached its climax, the cavalry of the three tribes of the North borderline would dispatch its troops and make their way to the south. They would be able to capture Dongqing effortlessly.
After An Yina left, Huijun sat in the same seat for a while and ate two abortion pills which she had been hiding in secret. She had been pregnant for a couple of months. As a prostitute, she had experienced several unintended pregnancies. She was pressed onto the ground by her mother to forcefully abort her child, so she had long thought she was infertile.
However, ever since Liu Xi exercised the ‘Immortal Technique’ on her, her body had become stronger and stronger. The balance between yin and yang with men was like the invigoration of the yin by using the yang instead. Her damaged reproductive organs had also recovered. A few days ago, she found out that she was pregnant.
Huijun was very ruthless. She had never thought about giving birth to a child for the emperor. Now that she had listened to An Yina’s story, it was even more impossible.
Therefore, Huijun had a miscarriage because she had eaten the snacks sent by Princess An Yina which were mixed with a large amount of substances that would promote abortion and blood circulation.
The emperor burned with rage upon learning the news.
“Perhaps… Princess An Yina is worried that her husband’s bright future would turn bleak if I were to give birth to a child…” she complained tearfully. The emperor was used to seeing her arrogance and had never seen the weak and pitiful side of her.
He felt tender and protective towards her. He hated An Yina and the second prince to his bones. Huijun sinisterly provoked the emperor’s most sensitive nerve… He was old and his sons were coveting the throne. Now they could not even tolerate the emperor’s child in the heavily-favored concubine’s belly!
If so, An Yina would not end up ‘dying all of a sudden’.
Huijun added fuel to the fire and disclosed the filthy things that happened between An Yina and the fourth prince. She said, “Princess An Yina sees me as a thorn in her flesh. She’s afraid that I’ll spill the beans to you and disclose her affair with the fourth prince…”
The powerful could do whatever they wanted, but the weak were not allowed to do anything. The emperor was a typical person like that. He could have affairs, but others could not.
That night, An Yina died all of a sudden. The emperor did consider about the North borderline’s reaction. However, compared with his imperial majesty, it was nothing.
The royal family of Dongqing wanted to conceal the news, but they could not stop Prince Changshou from impeding them in the dark. The news of An Yina’s sudden death quickly spread out of Chenzhou. At the same time, an urgent letter was also sent out from Prince Changshou’s camp to the north by horse.
It was already midsummer when the news had reached Jiang Pengji. It was the hottest season of the year. She lowered the recruitment standard a little and took her time to recruit the troops. The female battalion was further expanded to a number of 5000 female troops. On the other hand, there were 15000 male troops. By combining the male and female battalions, there was a total of more than 20000 troops, which was not too weak among the northern forces.
At the same time, she slightly improved the Order of Army Farming which she had previously discussed with her strategists. The Order of Army Farming was originally designed to deal with the problem of surplus captives. There were not many captives now but the problem of food shortages was imminent.
After discussing, they decided to experiment with the first batch of trial fields in Chengan District.
The reason was simple. There was a vast area of wasteland near Chengan District and its terrain was flat and open. The construction of the water channels was also relatively complete. If it was used as a trial field under the Order of Army Farming, the effect would be better. For this reason, Jiang Pengji even transferred Li Yun who was skilled in farming from Maolin District.
As there were reservoirs, water channels and several new wells, Chengan District was not too short of water.
Li Yun rolled up the legs of his pants and gulped down the water in the pottery bowl. The icy water vapor slightly dissipated the high temperature caused by the sun.
“I’ve gone to see the fields today and some of them have cracked… Fortunately, the lord is farsighted. Otherwise, I don’t know if we’d be able to drink water.”
After a long day of exposure to the sun, Li Yun’s skin which had managed to turn fair had become darker again.
Yang Si sighed quietly. “Fengyi County is still alright. The people in other places… They’ll probably have a hard time… In this world, the ability of the people to live a comfortable life depends entirely on the type of local magistrate they have…”
Jiang Pengji’s character was terrible, but Yang Si had to admit that the people were indeed living better lives in her presence.
Li Yun agreed and nodded. It was as if his facial expression was saying that his lord was the best.
Speaking of his lord, he looked somewhat worried. “Mr. Jing Rong, do you think the lord can handle the mob in Xiangyang District? If the problem can’t be solved, the female battalion will probably…”
