Extra 3 – Chapter 21
Chapter 21
After taking care of the business of the a.s.sa.s.sins, WanQi Yan hurried over to enquire about the youth’s health. When he saw w.a.n.g Bao standing guard in the corridor, he asked in a grave voice; “Why aren’t you inside serving? Is the little Marquis’ injuries serious?”
“Why don’t you listen and tell me?” w.a.n.g Bao had already been standing for two shichen and his face was extremely helpless.
WanQi Yan inclined his ear and listened. Immediately his face became bright red. He stood rooted to the spot, not knowing if he could go forward or back. He paused very awkwardly for some time and finally didn’t leave, instead standing guard with w.a.n.g Bao outside the door. He listened intently to the moans that belonged to the little Marquis until the sun finally came up and he made his leave.
At liushi, the sound of the Regent’s voice summoning him finally came from inside the palace. w.a.n.g Bao hurried to follow orders and entered the Golden Palace.
A pillar was covered with white liquid which had already dried. The throne was an entire mess and all the cushions needed to be changed. In half an hours time it would be time for the Morning a.s.sembly, cold sweat poured down w.a.n.g Bao’s head.
Zhao Xuan had a satisfied face. He wrapped up the sleepy and half-unconscious little fox until he was completely covered up and wanted to intended to take him out via a window. Halfway there he turned back and said, “Go and tell Zhao ZongZheng, this Lord will be getting married soon and needs to take two months leave.”
“Get- get married?” w.a.n.g Bao was so shocked his tongue almost stopped working. He hurried to ask, “Who is the w.a.n.gfei?”
“Other than Li’Er, who else would it be?” Without waiting for his words to completely finish, he had already disappeared, leaving a sh.e.l.l-shocked w.a.n.g Bao doing panicked circles around the room.
The news that the Regent wanted to marry the Zhong Yi Marquis created huge waves inside the Tian Yuan Country, momentarily suppressing the momentum of the news about the a.s.sa.s.sins at court. In order to save HeLian MoYuan, the Empress of Da Yong Country, agreed to cede the borderlands of her country to bring the matter to a close. After being beaten, HeLian MoYuan was finally sent back. Because his reputation had been sullied by not performing his duties well, he was later murdered and it was unknown which one of his brothers was responsible.
If Zhao Xuan wanted to marry a male w.a.n.gfei, then of course Zhao ZongZheng couldn’t be more happy. He pretended to try to dissuade for a while then pretended to helplessly agree without any other choice. He even gave them an imperial marriage order. The lackeys who followed the Regent had thought that eventually he would get rid of the young Emperor and crown himself, however how could they have expected that he would suddenly marry a man. Since he had cut off his chance of having descendants, it made everyone very disappointment and not unexpectedly, some developed traitorous thoughts.
Because of this, everything became a chaos at court. The old ministers who supported the Emperor voiced their opinion that the young Emperor should be allowed to govern. Some people agreed, others disagreed. They argued non-stop.
Thus in these two months, the Regent’s power dissipated quite a lot. Only a few loyalists were left, the others all left him in favor of Zhao ZongZheng. Zhao ZongZheng was overjoyed to death. He began to enact change with big strokes, and aimed his blade squarely at the Regent. Inside and outside he began to make waves and gather up resources and soldiers.
Zhao Xuan wasn’t worried about it at all. He took the little fox around travelling, playing in the mountains and rivers, and only when the honeymoon pa.s.sed did he return to political affairs. At the same time he took a good look at who the traitors around him were.
After weathering several rounds of “cleansing”, and as someone who was loyal to the Emperor’s faction, the Bai family finally obtained Zhao ZongZheng’s recognition and important use.
Bai Lian’s ministerial position rose. Not long after marrying OuYang MingYue, he rose to a third rank official, making Old Madame OuYang overjoyed. The OuYang family were initially predisposed towards the Regent’s faction, but seeing that the Regent appeared to be weakening they immediately changed their direction towards the Emperor. In the process the Bai family helped them a lot to make connections and build bridges. This marriage was very profitable and so OuYang MingYue’s position naturally rose. Every time she returned back to her home, she would be met with a lot of fanfare and regard.
Having OuYang MingYue wasn’t happy at all.
Right now her biggest concern was still the piece of meat inside her stomach. This fetus was extremely stable and no matter what happened it refused to miscarry. It steadfastly and stubbornly remained inside her. Right now the birth was almost at hand and she had no choice but to purchase a baby from outside just in case. If the baby was Bai Lian’s, they she would return the infant she had purchased. However if it was the Kunlun slave’s, then she would exchange the two babies. These days the only times she went out was for the purpose of making inquiries as to whose due date was close to her own.
After searching for one or two months, she finally found a woman who was willing to sell the baby in her belly. OuYang MingYue gave a big sign of relief. She kept her in a side manor, taking care of all her expenses.
The woman gave birth first and successfully bore a male infant. She hadn’t even had a chance to look at the baby for more than one eye before she was suffocated to death with a pillow by OuYang MingYue’s loyal maid. After patiently waiting for a few days, OuYang MingYue’s belly finally started to move too. Her maid held a basket and hurriedly ran back to the manor. However just as she entered the door she froze. Because all the people responsible for the birth were unfamiliar faces and not the people she had previously arranged. The maid immediately went forward to ask the two midwives what they were here for and wanted to kick them out.
No matter how capable OuYang MingYue was, right now she was only capable of lying on the bed and screaming loudly.
Bai Lian was worried about her safety. When he saw her maid not letting the midwives enter, he immediately got angry. He ordered people to arrest the maid. It was unknown who accidentally knocked the basket in her hand and discovered that inside there was an unconscious male infant. From his extremely red skin, it was obvious he had been just born in the last few days.
Bai Lian didn’t know how to react immediately but Madame Bai already instantly developed a lot of thoughts. She was angered to death and ordered people to lock the maid up in the firewood room. After the young lady gave birth, she would be interrogated thoroughly.
When OuYang MingYue heard the commotion outside, she was really at the point where praying to heaven and earth was no use. She really wished she could dig out the baby from her belly and eat it. However the two midwives didn’t give her a chance. After forcing her to drink a bowl of medicine, within half a shichen a male baby with dark skin and a strong bone structure appeared, and the ethnicity was immediately apparent that it was a Kunlun slave.
Madame Bai screamed and fainted dead away. Bai Lian gazed down at his extremely weakened wife and didn’t say anything for a long time. He was extremely heartbroken and finally his heart died. He didn’t want to look at OuYang MingYue for one more glance and definitely didn’t want to listen to her explanations.
How deep his love was, was now how strong his hate. He wasn’t the same person as in his past life who was a slave, who after his whole finally had been put to death by the Regent, was rescued by OuYang MingYue. He didn’t need to rely on OuYang MingYue to live and so he could not tolerate her betrayal. He gave the baby to a trusted aid and ordered him to swiftly throw the child away. Then using the excuse of a serious illnesss, sent OuYang MingYue away to the countryside and never wanted to see her again.
In order to a.s.suage the pain in her heart, Madame Bai quickly helped him marry a few concubines. Their family backgrounds weren’t worse than OuYang MingYue’s. If not because she wanted to cover up the ugly situation, then she really wished that she could directly drown OuYang MingYue and that b.a.s.t.a.r.d child, in order to satisfy the anger in her heart. After Old Madame OuYang received Madame Bai’s letter, she had a stroke on the spot and died not many days later. Grandfather OuYang gave the order that OuYang MingYue would never set foot inside the house again.
But no matter how hard she fell, OuYang MingYue would never accept defeat.
She didn’t protest when she was sent to the countryside. Every day she would eat her meals on time and not forget to take her medicine. She wanted to hurry and nurture her body back to health and practice her martial arts. She was overjoyed to discover that as the Regent’s power waned, the people sent to spy and watch her also slowly decreased. In the last two months they hadn’t appeared at all. In other words, she was free. Although she didn’t know how long her freedom would last, however she had to grasp this opportunity.
She behaved just as she did before getting married. She wore male clothes and went out to seek business opportunities. She needed money and connections. She wanted to return all the humiliation she had suffered onto the people who had looked down on her. The Bai family. The OuYang family. WanQi Yan. Zhao Xuan. And also Fan YuLi. These people were all on her black list.
She was the female lead and the world never failed to give her an opportunity. One day, she helped a young man chase back a wallet that a thief had stolen from him. She unexpectedly discovered that the young man was the young Emperor Zhao ZongZheng in disguise. The two people immediately felt a connection at first sight, they had a wonderful conversation. One of them was frustrated because he was unable to take back military power. The other person knew military strategies and tactics from another dry and age. After testing each other a few times, they decided to become allies and forge a career for themselves.
OuYang MingYue told Zhao ZongZheng the blueprints and formulas for creating guns, gunpowder and hand grenades. In return she obtained huge amounts of gold and power. In a split second, the originally rumored to be almost dead Young Madame Bai suddenly revived. She was recognized by the Emperor as his adoptive older sister, and taken back to the Imperial City with a lot of fanfare. She was give the t.i.tle “Zhen Guo Princess” and given a residence with walls made of gold.
Now that she had the t.i.tle of a Princess, OuYang MingYue momentarily became one of the most ill.u.s.trious women in Tian Yuan Country. When the Bai family and the OuYang family saw her they had to kneel down and pay respects. She summoned Bai Lian countless times to the Princess’ Residence to serve her in the bedchamber, however each time she was firmly rejected. In anger she had several of his concubines killed and one of them was even two months pregnant.
She only know how to kill and didn’t know anything about love. So she had no idea how to turn back Bai Lian’s heart. Not only did Bai Lian not return to her side, but even the last bit of love he had for her was completely destroyed clean. Quickly he sent her a divorce letter then quit his official post and left to go far away. It was unknown whether or not he would return in his lifetime.
As time pa.s.sed, OuYang MingYue gazed at the empty spot by her side and discovered that all the men in her life had left her one by one.
Li WenHan died. Fang WeiTong died. Fang Shou died. The Kunlun slave died. Only Bai Lian didn’t die, but hated her into his bones. This was even harder for her to bear than dying. How come it had become like this? She asked herself in her heart time and time again, she kept feeling that this wasn’t supposed be her fate. In order to a.s.suage her loneliness, she seduced Zhao ZongZheng. Every day she would enter the Palace to mess around with him and quite a few times was discovered by the Empress and imperial concubines.
It didn’t take long for the rumor about the two people’s sordid relationship to disseminate around the imperial city. However the young Emperor had power and wasn’t afraid of offending anyone. And anyone OuYang MingYue was right now divorced and logically should be able to remarry. After the ministers grumbled for a few days they eventually dropped the subject.
In order to completely control OuYang MingYue, Zhao ZongZheng intended to marry her into the Palace as a concubine. He finally consulted the heavens and selected a fortuitous day. When the Empress who was already nine months pregnant heard the news, she rallied all the imperial concubines and went to his study to stage a protest. However they didn’t even get to see the Emperor’s face. She was so angry she almost had a miscarriage.
OuYang MingYue already had a sordid reputation before entering the Palace. However she didn’t let this stop her at all and even took pride in it. She raised her head high and lifted her chest up, walking around with her nose in the air, causing many people around her to gnash their teeth and hate their into their bones. But what was the use of their hate? After half a month she still gloriously married into the Palace and become Concubine De, and obtained all the spoiling and attention from the Emperor.