The Ugly Empress

This novel"s original t.i.tle is 丑娘娘 (chou niang niang)". Niangniang (娘娘) is used for palace women : queens, empresses and imperial concubines. For an Empress or Queen it could mean ‘Her Majesty".  I translate ‘Niangnang" directly into ‘Empress".

Here"s chapter 2, enjoy!

The maidservants waiting outside the room wishing to see some jokes were shocked by the slap and hurriedly withdrew with disappointment.

Teng Yun was exhausted. That one slap was draining all his strength. He sat on the bed and raised a hand to ma.s.saged his eyelids. When his hand grazed his swollen cheekbone, it stung painfully.

Teng Yun had no idea what was going on with this ugly empress. If she was born ugly, why would her face hurt when touched? Clearly it was some kind of wound.

But he didn"t have the strength to think about it right now. In fact, he felt he"d almost broken this borrowed sh.e.l.l by using too much force. He sat paralyzed on the bed trying to regain his breath.

Unknowingly Teng Yun fell asleep and had a lot of strange dreams. In his dream, he saw himself appointed as a general, then he relived the ten-years battle, and eventually he was captured and killed. He also dreamed that his country was conquered by Xue Junliang, while on the inside Teng Country was also suffering civil war. And finally the country perished altogether.

Teng Yun woke up sweating. From outside his room, he could faintly hear commotion. With a frown, Teng Yun got up from the bed. As soon as he pushed the door open, the maidservant waiting outside greeted him.

The maidservant in peach-colored clothing, now sporting a swollen cheek and looking a little scared, said, “Empress… is there something you need? Xiu Yao will help you.”

Teng Yun said nothing and just side-eyed her. Xiu Yao shivered, she could feel her cheek throbbing. Had she said anything wrong again? She didn"t think so.

Fact was, it wasn"t that Xiu Yao said anything wrong. But Teng Yun thought it was strange that a maidservant would stop an Empress when she wanted to go outside.

Teng Yun didn"t know about this Ugly Empress" reputation. Xue w.a.n.g and Defei had always treated her as a joke, so Defei ordered people to spread rumors that though the Empress was a n.o.blewoman, her manners weren"t so n.o.ble she could scare people.

From then on, this sorry excuse of an Empress was put into her chamber and not allowed to go outside.

More over, the Ugly Empress felt inferior because of her appearance, so she herself didn"t want to go outside.

But Teng Yun was born and raised to be a military leader, though he was a prince he wasn"t pampered nor spoiled. After experiencing wars for over a decade, he wasn"t to be stopped by a mere servant.

Xiu Yao didn"t dare stopping the Empress. After all, His Majesty didn"t especially prohibit this Empress to go outside. Also, the mistress of the Imperial Harem was still the Empress. Defei might be arrogant, but her rank was still lower.

As they stepped outside the room, Teng Yun asked, “Why is it so noisy?”

“Answering to Your Majesty,” having learned her lesson, Xiu Yao respectfully answered, “Today was the day His Majesty executed the prisoner from Teng Country, so everyone gathered in the flower garden to drink in celebration.”

“Oh…”

Suddenly, Teng Yun lost his voice while his heart froze; it was getting harder to maintain his calm, “Then… the prisoner"s body, has it been sent back to Teng Country?”

“No, it hasn"t.” Xiu Yao said, “This servant heard that amba.s.sadors weren"t allowed to bring the corpse back to Teng Country. His Majesty has already ordered a grand funeral.”

“Grand funeral? Grand funeral…”

Teng Yun almost laughed out loud. Xue Junliang killed an enemy country"s great general by his own hands, then arranged the corpse to be buried here? Was he trying to show mercy?

For Teng Yun, this wasn"t a show of generosity. As a Teng citizen, if he could choose, he absolutely didn"t want to stay in this hostile land even after his death.

“Your Majesty? What"s wrong? If you"re feeling unwell, I"ll call the royal physicians.”

Xiu Yao saw the Empress swayed and quickly went to help. Although Xiu Yao belittled and talked rude to the Empress, there was still a reason this ugly woman was crowned as the head of Imperial Harem. Her younger brother was Feng Country"s king.

Therefore, Xiu Yao still had to take care of this ugly empress.

Teng Yun steadied his feet and said, “Let"s go outside.”

The request didn"t make sense to her, but Xiu Yao obediently trailed behind.

When the pair of them just came outside the gate, they saw someone in bright yellow attire coming from afar. The person was small; seemed to be a child.

He was wearing yellow robes with a pair of blue boots. He walked fast with hands behind his back. A nervous-looking servant followed closely behind him.

When they walked closer, Teng Yun could hear the old servant said, “Crown Prince, please walk slower… Walk slower… If you collide with someone, you"ll be in trouble!”

The little child said, “Who dare colliding with me? I want to see this famous Empress.”

By their faintly-heard conversation, Teng Yun could guess this little Crown Prince had especially come here to find something to nitpick.

As Xue Junliang"s legal wife and mistress of the Imperial Harem, the Crown Prince should still call the Empress mother even though she wasn"t his biological mother. But obviously this newborn calf of a prince thought he was higher than an ugly empress.

When Teng Yun heard the news of ‘his own" death, his heart had become so numb. Now that his ident.i.ty was that of different person, how could he be loyal to this country? Teng Yun simply didn"t want to…

And now someone came looking for trouble with him. Just as well, Teng Yun could use this opportunity to vent his anger.

The Little Crown Prince walked quickly, but only when he started up the bottom step did he looked up and found Teng Yun standing right at the gate.

The little prince"s mouth was bold, but he was really only a seven or eight years old child. When he saw Teng Yun, he took two steps back so abruptly that, if not for the old servant catching him, he would"ve planted his b.u.t.t on the ground.

Teng Yun saw the little prince looking at his face with peculiar expression. Teng Yun couldn"t believe his eyes too when he first saw himself in the bronze mirror; his face was bruised black and blue, his cheeks were swollen, there were even bloodstain-like marks.

But the little Crown Prince didn"t have Teng Yun"s experience and wisdom, so he could only stared blankly for a long while. Gradually he calmed down and said, “She isn"t so great, she is just scary.”

The old servant behind him, who actually knew about etiquette, was afraid the little prince didn"t know how to control his speech. She immediately knelt down and said, “This old servant pays respect to Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Jiang Yu, get up.” Little Crown Prince glared at the old servant.

The servant with cautious speech and deeds was called Jiang Yu. She was the head maidservant who had served Xue Junliang himself. Later on, because Xue w.a.n.g loved his only son so much, he sent Jiang Yu to serve the Crown Prince.

Teng Yun said nothing, so Jiang Yu didn"t dare getting up. The little Crown Prince got angry that his own servant didn"t listen to his words. He said, “Jiang Yu, who do you kneel for? Just because of a marriage alliance, our mighty Xue Country shouldn"t need to be afraid of this ugly empress. We already conquered Teng Country, it"s only a matter of time before we conquer Feng Country too.”

Hearing this, Teng Yun laughed coldly and said, “Crown Prince, have you ever studied books?”

The little prince raised his chin to Teng Yun and said, “Of course I"ve studied books. Do you think I"m illiterate?”

“That"s a shame,” Teng Yun said, “If you"re educated, how come you speak like an uneducated child?”