Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
On August 20, Prince Heng was brought into jail, stripped of his title, and forced to wait for his impending judgment.
In three days, the imperial guards were like thunder strikes and gloomy clouds, endlessly pouring out of the red palace doors like floodwater, into the residences of the noble families in Pandu. Their forces infiltrated everywhere to catch the accomplices and faction members.
Meanwhile, in the palace, Zhan Nancheng continuously sent orders in a flurry to clean the army and organizations that Zhan Beiheng had access to when he was in power. As for those who used to label themselves as Zhan Beiheng’s faction or those who were very close to him, none of them were able to escape. Pandu was engulfed in a fearful atmosphere, causing the people in the city to live with worry.
This case sent ripples of shock throughout Pandu. Zhan Beiheng used to have over 3,000 visitors, and he committed many kind deeds. Hence, some people tried to vouch for his innocence. However, when an official in the court tried to bring this up, Zhan Nancheng smirked and threw down a bunch of objects. There were restricted items, imperial tributes meant for the palace, and a wooden doll carved with the birth details of the Crown Prince.
A big case on witchcraft, Guchong!
Silence fell upon the officials, and they broke out in cold sweat as they retreated. Cases related to Guchong had always been taboo in past dynasties, and the royal family especially avoided witchcraft at all costs. Once a person was found guilty of utilizing it, death was the only possible punishment, and no mercy should be shown.
A thought drifted in their minds.
‘Prince Heng, was done for!’
There was no prior news about this case, and even Prince Heng was not prepared at all. In an instant, he was jailed, and all his confidantes were either executed or replaced. During the years that he was in the city, though he was only the acting leader of many affairs, the number of his faction’s people being strategically placed in various organizations was not little, and all of them were not spared. However, most shockingly, Captain Meng – who was the closest to him and even had a concubine who was once his – was the only one who was not implicated. Still taking on the role of Captain steadily and safely, there were even signs of her gaining greater favor. It was not just a rarity, but a miracle.
According to rumors, when the case was revealed, some people petitioned about Meng Fuyao being to close with Zhan Beiheng and not being loyal to the Emperor. However, they were all placed on hold by Zhan Nencheng. As he read the petitions and carefully went through the entire case in his mind, he felt that there was no way Meng Fuyao could be involved. She wouldn’t have accepted the ninth wife if not for him instructing Zhan Beiheng to bestow her. When he went to her residence, it was an impromptu decision that no one knew beforehand. During the dance party, Meng Fuyao invited him to rest in the inner room numerous times and had no intention to let him overhear the conversation in the garden. They were all coincidences. How could anyone be so shrewd as to plan every coincidence without any mistake at all?
After much thinking, Zhan Nancheng could not bring himself to believe that a person like Meng Fuyao could have formulated such a dangerous master plan which spanned such a long duration. As such, Meng Fuyao continued to live her stable life, being the sociable captain that she was. She continued to waste her days in the camp while figuring out how to harm people at night.
Meanwhile, as it was in late August, rainfalls and dark clouds were a common sight. The Heaven Demon court was engulfed in a similarly gloomy atmosphere, and there were successive orders, food, and soldiers sent to River Qi, but in the face of the massive Black Dragon army, they were all in vain. The court’s army was extremely vulnerable, and they became more and more fearful after each defeat. Once the enemies crossed the River Qi, there would be no other cities to defend Heaven Demon from the Black Dragon army. The whole of Heaven Demon would be exposed to the enemy!
On the night of August 24th, the tension was high in Pandu, but Captain Meng’s residence had a peaceful ambiance.
In her garden, Captain Meng was playing a game of self-made mahjong with the others. Losers would have to eat peanuts – but hands were not allowed.
Actually, Meng Fuyao wanted to see the handsome lads use their mouths to pick up the peanuts. How cute that would be… she grinned from ear to ear and shuffled the sets. ‘I used to be a pro at this and used this to earn the pocket money of my dorm mates. You guys just wait to use your mouths to lick those peanuts in front of everyone…’
Yun Hen lost the first round and took out his sword. Meng Fuyao’s face turned ashen. ‘Ah, brother, if you don’t want to embarrass yourself, just let me know. Weapons are not necessary, right?’
With a slash of his sword, the corner of the table that the peanut was placed on dropped, while the peanut bounced up and landed into his mouth.
During the second round, Zong Yue lost. The Mongolian doctor slowly looked at the peanut, then his sleeves shook, and… the peanut was gone.
The game was supposed to make the losers eat the peanut and not destroy it. Hence, Meng Fuyao was not willing to let him go. Zong Yue, however, smiled. “This is the newest powder that disintegrates corpses. Next time, I’ll let you have a try at it?”
After the third round, Zhangsun Wuji finally lost, and Meng Fuyao’s eyes gleamed. “No weapons and no medicine!”
Zhangsun Wuji nodded while smiling, seemingly willing to cooperate. With that reassurance, Meng Fuyao felt relieved that she could finally see the ungraceful side of the noble Crown Prince.
In the end, His Highness snapped his fingers, and the guinea pig who was squatting on the side immediately went to fetch the peanuts, sending them one by one into his mouth.
Gracefully, the Crown Prince chewed and nodded his head in approval. “Very fragrant.”
In the meantime, there was a knock on the window. Meng Fuyao solemnly walked over to the window, and in the darkness, a glimmer of light flashed by, and a small wax pill was shot into her palm.
Meng Fuyao shook her head and smiled. “80% chance that that guy won his fight…” As she walked over to the table and opened the pill, a few people, feeling concerned, crowded around her.
A piece of paper, which was of average quality and stilled stained with the smell of blood and gunpowder, was laid on the table. A gentle motion of rolling it open seemed to allow the reader to feel the atmosphere of the bloody war.
The quality of the content was even more sub-par. With generous strokes of ink, a few gigantic characters were written on the paper.
“Fuyao! I will eventually cross the River Qi one day. Wait for my return!”
In the brightly-lit room.
Two heads gathered around her – Ya Lanzhu’s and the guinea pig’s.
Three other people remained still in their seats – the handsome lads who had mixed expressions on their faces.
Yun Hen looked down, Zong Yue drank his tea in silence, and Zhangsun Wuji washed the deck. When he swept a glance on that piece of paper, his expression was one that seemed to be a smile.
The ink was splattered on the paper, and the casual yet powerful strokes were written with force. Those few words appeared lively. Similarly, the feelings of longing seemed to come to life on the piece of paper.
In a hurry, Meng Fuyao crumpled the paper in her hands and gave a silly laugh towards the curious Ya Lanzhu. “Zhan Beiye said that he’s coming back soon.”
Ya Lanzhu shrewdly walked away from the mahjong table because she did not want to be the outlier among the three handsome lads. Feeling a little down, and with the desire to play mahjong not being satisfied, when she heard Meng Fuyao trying to conceal the content, the corner of her lips twitched in despise.
“According to his personality, I don’t even need to see, and I know that he probably wrote ‘XX has been destroyed, wait for my victorious return’, or something along those lines,” she said.
Meng Fuyao looked up at her admiringly. “Zhu Zhu, you’re a genius!”
Ya Lanzhu’s eyes darkened, but she soon laughed. “Compared to you, everyone’s a genius,” she responded. Grabbing the guinea pig, she retreated to the bed and continued to chat.
Looking at her lonely figure, Meng Fuyao thought of how Ya Lanzhu knew that the line “wait for my victorious return” was not directed at her. This teenage girl, who had chased after Zhan Beiye for many years, had to endlessly extend her chase because of Meng Fuyao’s appearance. How long more did she have to wait before her dream would be realized? But how many teenage years could a woman have to spend them on such an endless chase?
Propping up her cheeks, Meng Fuyao carefully calculated the probability of her matching up Zhan Beiye and Ya Lanzhu. However, she remembered the consequence of her matchmaking Zhangsun Wuji with Hu Sang. If even a generous guy like Zhangsun Wuji could not tolerate such a nonsensical match and had to torture her, with Zhan Beiye’s bomb-like personality, he would probably dismantle her bones, right? If so, forget it, she should just go with the flow.
As Meng Fuyao was engrossed in her thoughts, she was not focusing on the game while the others played attentively. Suddenly, Zhangsun Wuji pushed his blocks and announced his victory. “I won.”
Meng Fuyao leaned over and cried, “My money…”
On that night, Meng Fuyao lost a house, ten acres of land, a dozen attendants, and even her newly-wed concubine were given to Zong Yue. But Zong Yue didn’t want her and demanded money instead. With teary eyes, Meng Fuyao removed the ruby bracelet from the ninth fairy’s wrist, who her foot was painfully stepped on by the ninth fairy instead.
The ninth fairy was not the true ninth fairy – the one in the Prince’s residence was real, and so was the one who liked Meng Fuyao and wanted to have intimate contact with her. However, during Meng Fuyao’s interaction with Zhan Beiheng, she had carefully scrutinized his concubines and chose the favored and brazen ninth fairy. She even bribed the servants in the inner courtyard to use Zong Yue’s powder to stun the horse, allowing Meng Fuyao to become the knight in shining armor. When the ninth fairy was successfully gifted to Meng Fuyao, she immediately sent her far away. The ninth fairy that Zhan Nancheng saw was merely Zhangsun Wuji’s subordinate in disguise. Anyway, Zhan Nancheng could not possibly have had a deep impression of Zhan Beiheng’s concubine who rarely came out of the residence. In the future, if she knew of Zhan Beiheng’s death, she would not come back and look for her own death too. As such, Meng Fuyao could be considered as her savior.
As for those restricted items and imperial tributes kept in the residence, they were all thanks to the secretive force that was left behind by Zhan Beiye’s grandfather. The grandfather used to gather talents with diverse expertise, and there were a few tomb-raiders who were pros at digging tunnels and stealing objects. With geniuses and a well-planned strategy, it was easy to make Zhan Beiheng fall into their trap.
It was a pity that General Meng was good at plotting against others, but was no match for those people in front of her. Yun Hen was good at calculating and in less than two times of playing the game, he had remembered every block clearly. On the other hand, Zong Yue played as though he was prescribing medicine, and his movements seemed even more well-trained than an experienced player like her. He didn’t calculate the blocks, but he would especially memorize Meng Fuyao’s. Whatever Meng Fuyao needed, he would never release it, holding on to the belief of “victory for myself is not important, but I’d never let you win”. Zhangsun Wuji was even better. He seemed average as compared to the other two since he played casually and did not win every round. However, after one round, Meng Fuyao realized that he’d definitely win once after two losses, and would always win back the money he lost. In the end, he would definitely not lose any money – to be able to play mahjong, a form of entertainment that relied so much on probability and luck, to such a calculative extent, it was longer a game of mahjong but another battle of wits.
