Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The corner of Meng Fuyao’s lips twitched as she picked up Tang Yiguang by the collar. After staring at the tear-stricken face for a few moments, Meng Fuyao sighed helplessly.
Should she really kill Tang Yiguang? This dimwit child whose intelligence was only that of a four-year-old?
Conflicted, she looked towards Zong Yue to try to garner some constructive advice from him. However, Zong Yue ignored her and looked up towards the sky. “I’ll only tell you that it’s not true that she’s a dullard.”
‘Of course, she is,’ Meng Fuyao thought as she rolled her eyes. If not, could she and Zong Yue not have spotted it? Would they have allowed her to get close to Meng Fuyao at the most crucial stage, while Meng Fuyao was totally unaware? If she was not a dullard, how could she still execute her mission without any hesitation, even at the stage when the monkeys were about to scatter from the toppling tree?
It was precisely because she was dimwit that the Regent King chose her.
Who was that… Brother Ah Liu? It could not possibly be Zong Yue, right? A fake Zong Yue who was kidnapped could not have harmed both Xuanyuan Yun and Tang Yiguang, right? Meng Fuyao stared at Zong Yue suspiciously, and Zong Yue immediately defended himself. “Why are you looking at me? Do you think I will be affiliated with this tiny idiot in any way?”
Suddenly, Meng Fuyao grinned. “Since she is not affiliated with you, I’ll show no mercy.”
Her palm aimed straight for the top of Tang Yiguang’s head.
“Hold it!”
When that voice rang, Meng Fuyao’s palm stopped and hovered above Tang Yiguang’s head. She smiled. “It is indeed you,” she said.
In the darkness, the beautiful and colorfully-dressed crossdresser Emperor slowly walked out.
He looked at Meng Fuyao with a strange expression, and he looked towards Tang Yiguang, who was still wailing. There was a mix of emotions in his eyes, including reminiscence, disappointment, sorrow, and helplessness… It was filled with the inner thoughts that he wanted to express so desperately, but he held back, as he instinctively did.
A few seconds later, he walked over, squatted down, and hugged the child. As he slowly caressed Tang Yiguang’s head, he gently spoke. “Brother Ah Liu’s horse is the largest one in the field. How could you ride that?”
Instantly, Tang Yiguang trembled and stopped crying. She raised her tear-stricken face and wept softly. “The little white horse was killed by father. He did not allow me to ride.”
“Yes.” Xuanyuan Min took out his aromatic handkerchief and carefully wiped the sweat and tears off her face. Gently, she said, “If you want to ride a horse the next time, Brother Ah Liu will accompany you so that you will never fall off again.”
“You’re Brother Ah Liu?” Tang Yiguang stopped crying and took a look at him seriously. With a red nose, she mumbled, “Brother Ah Liu is not as tall and as colorful as you…”
Unable to control herself, Meng Fuyao burst out in laughter. But she rubbed her nose after that and turned away.
Why did she suddenly feel her heart wrench?
The youngest son of a sidelined prince was chosen to enter the palace as a puppet Emperor. The youngest daughter of the general there dashed after him on the day that he left, but her little white horse was killed, and she mounted the aggressive horse that her Brother Ah Liu left behind instead.
Then, she fell, and her world was never the same again. Everything became as blurry and thin as a snowflake on the window, and all that was left was a vague image of her Brother Ah Liu.
12 years went by.
While he performed The Drunken Beauty alone in the enclosed palace, she forever guarded the little boy with her 4-year-old mental state.
They were a mournful pair of childhood playmates and the portrayal of royal grievances.
When Tang Yiguang saw the colorful Xuanyuan Min, she suddenly wiped the tears off her face and used it to wipe Xuanyuan Min’s face. Xuanyuan Min did not move, but he was teary-eyed as he watched the child use her hands filled with crumbs to remove his makeup.
From his cheeks to his eyebrows, lips, and skin… the extravagant pretense was slowly wiped away by the girl’s palms, and a pale but handsome face appeared.
Tang Yiguang lept forward.
She jumped into the arms of the Brother Ah Liu she knew 12 years ago.
Brother Ah Liu left on a day in Spring, and a horse carriage took him away from her. From then on, her life experience eternally froze at the moment that she chased him. It was that last look Tang Yiguang had before she fell off from the horse that was as tall as two humans, and her eyes reflected the upside-down view of the romantic pasture that stretched thousands of miles in the rural areas of the nation.
Afterward, she could only remember the horse field that they were in and their respective mounts, the playful moments that he and she shared, and how she would fall asleep on his shoulders whenever she became tired from watching the sun set. At night, when the stars and moon rose, he would carry her back, and his robes would be stained with the aromatic fragrance of the dew from the surrounding flowers.
Many years later, she became his Noble Consort and thought of her Brother Ah Liu as she munched on the snacks in her golden palace. The Regent King had told her that Brother Ah Liu would be returned to her once she became the Noble Consort, and she could forever be with Brother Ah Liu once the Empress was killed.
Being the Empress would be great, but nothing was more important than her Brother Ah Liu.
Tang Yiguang snuggled her head against Xuanyuan Min’s shoulder and cried her lungs out. Xuanyuan Min just hugged her, and he glanced sideways at Meng Fuyao.
In response, Meng Fuyao smiled. “Murderers cannot be spared.”
Xuanyuan Min continued to look at her. Moments later, he remarked. “Aren’t you just worried about me?”
Slowly, he carried Tang Yiguang and stood up. “If you guys can win, I will not fight you. Let me take her away and become an idle Prince.”
However, Meng Fuyao laughed. “You’re willing to give up?”
“So what if I do or don’t?” Xuanyuan Min gave her a habitual wink. “You did so many things, and though you appeared to remove Xuanyuan Cheng, you’re helping him to remove another enemy. Ah Yue could have settled Xuanyuan Cheng on his own, but you’re putting in so much effort just to remove us both in one shot.”
“I have no choice,” Meng Fuyao said as she beamed. “Your Majesty, you make me very wary of you. You’re too good at enduring silently, faking, and being calculative. As such, I feel that you spell trouble. Any trouble must not be kept.”
Xuanyuan Min snorted. “Among you two, one of you steadily infiltrated the court officials, while the other directly colluded with external forces. I’m merely a figurehead Emperor that is confined in the palace and have only acted as a messenger and cover during this whole time. Even the people I use belong to Xuanyuan Yue. Do you think I can stir up anything?”
Meng Fuyao stayed silent and thought, ‘Now you’re under our absolute control, but if Zong Yue doesn’t sit on the throne, with all your pent-up frustration that was accumulated from enduring for so many years, you’ll probably be another Xuanyuan Cheng.’
‘Luckily you’re able to submit to your circumstance.’
Xuanyuan Min carried that Doraemon who refused to let go of the hands encircled around his neck. As he slowly rocked her, he said, “Actually it’s nothing… What I ultimately want is just freedom…”
He squinted, and his expression was one of anticipation as he spoke in a desolate tone, “The horse field we grew up in will be prettier next Spring, right? The grass field, the cherries, the flowers, and the purple alfafas… blooming passionately in the colors of red, yellow, purple and green. The sky is so far that its end cannot be seen. When you scream, the echoes will reverberate through the three huge mountains… hehe… It’s so good. I’ve had enough of being surrounded by palace walls and singing lonely tunes. I’ve had enough… really had enough…”
The horse field, the grass patches, and the aromatic fragrance of flowers etched in his memory. The child that belonged to the field from 12 years back, finally crossed past the dark palace in smiles and walked towards the hometown in his dreams, step by step.
He brushed his shoulders past Meng Fuyao in a dreamy expression. When he passed by, he suddenly looked over and asked in an extremely low voice, “Meng Fuyao, you put in so much time and effort to help Ah Yue snatch over the position. Is it really just because you’re afraid that I will harm him after I sit on the throne?”
Meng Fuyao’s body shook at his words, but Xuanyuan Min had already laughed and walked away.
Slowly, Meng Fuyao fell into silence.
She thought that only she would know the thoughts that were hidden deep in her mind. Who knew that an outsider like Xuanyuan Min would be so clear of her intentions? If he could, why wouldn’t the clear-minded Zong Yue know?
Suddenly, Meng Fuyao felt a sense of embarrassment and could not stand being beside Zong Yue anymore. Hurriedly, she said, “I’ll go get some fresh air from outside.”
Zong Yue did not move and watched as she escaped out of the palace walls. Moments later, a miserable smile appeared on his pale face.
That smile resembled the initial rise of moonlight when the stars had yet to shine, and the moon just hung in isolation in the clear and lonely sky.
‘… Fuyao.’
‘You used such a complicated way… just to reject me.’
‘I only wanted to be a carefree doctor who could forever be by your side after my mission had been completed. But you would rather force me to sit on the throne, and use the responsibility of governing a nation to remove my freedom to chase you.’
‘You don’t actually have to go so many rounds.’
‘I have had enough of my double identity and the complex life of moving between darkness and daylight. In front of you, I only wanted to be the simplest person.’
‘I wanted to love you in the simplest way.’
‘Even if you were bound to give me the simplest form of rejection.’
Meng Fuyao, the natural manipulator of thrones, nosily helped the sharp-tongued man remove the Regent King’s forces and chase Xuanyuan Min away for his eternal safety and security. Zong Yue allowed her to do what she wanted since he only wanted to do one thing—kill Xuanyuan Cheng.
Xuanyuan Cheng’s forces may be removed, but his authority was not totally undermined. After being in power for so many years and being very skilled in politics, he deeply understood the importance of the military. Though he was in such a bad situation, 3,000 soldiers of the Capital Defence still remained in his control. The 3,000 guards in his residence were also the true elite forces.
While the external forces outside the borders were just a pretense to hold up his soldiers, a tough and bloody fight in the capital would be truly unavoidable.
Zong Yue’s method was to appear relaxed but tighten his internal forces and slowly gather his power.
Xuanyuan Cheng had always controlled and pressured the underground forces in the nation, so Zong Yue used his status as a ‘Holy Doctor’ to build his forces in other nations. He did not reject any requests of royals who sought his help and did not accept monetary payment. He used these opportunities to ask for favors in exchange.
He had the tightest information web in his hands, the most exquisite but advanced military weapons, a relatively small but extremely well-trained army of soldiers. These soldiers were recruited at a young age and went through the toughest training during the chilly winters at the Northern Plains of Qiongcang, where the climate was the worst. They were able to use medicine to infiltrate any steel of bronze, and they were also the largest assassin group in the continent under the control of the top assassin, Shadow Blade. The assassination missions that spanned seven nations were all real-life experiences to train their battling skills.
Similar to him, these assassins blended in as the average commoner on the streets, saving people in the day and killing ruthlessly at night. They could be a teenage girl selling flowers or an old man selling wanton and peaches. Every flower in her basket represented a life lost, while the containers carrying the wanton and peaches contained bloody swords.
This group has endured for a long time, and each strike of theirs would definitely be successful.
Over two years, Zong Yue slowly placed his most elite subordinates in different positions in Xuanyuan by using all kinds of methods. During the birthday celebration for Xuanyuan Cheng last year, amongst the royals of the continent that came to give their blessings, there were 18 of them who were replaced by his subordinates, and they subsequently stayed in Xuanyuan.
