The Ugly Empress

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“This old servant has committed a grave mistake! This old servant deserves death! This old servant cannot be forgiven…” Jiang Yu kowtowed over and over again; his official hat had fallen aside and his forehead was swollen.

A royal physician was treating Xue Junliang"s wounds while shaking in fear. When Xue w.a.n.g waved a hand allowing him to leave, he immediately escaped.

Working as a royal physician might not necessarily be easier than as an official of imperial court. He would, some times, heard words he shouldn"t be allowed to. Those words might not be very precise and very telling, but still they could be leaked to outsiders. Therefore, if His Majesty let him go, he would hurriedly go. It was better to know less.

Xue Junliang touched his right hand and leaned back on the couch. A few small cuts on his face didn"t obstruct his majestic presence. Even when he said nothing, he always wore a barely-there smile on his face, making people unable to see through, yet not dare to guess, what was on his mind.

Jiang Yu didn"t hear Xue w.a.n.g said anything, so he carried on kowtowing.

Finally, Xue Junliang leisurely said, “Alright, get up.”

“Th… Thank you, for Your Majesty"s mercy.”

“Jiang Yu,” Xue Junliang said, “I have always looked up at you as I grow up, always respected you. I treat you like a senior, as you had served the former king… This matter, how come you couldn"t handle it properly?”

“This old servant…” Jiang Yu"s legs trembled and he fell back on his knees. Lowering his head to the ground, he said, “This old servant must die.”

Xue Junliang gave him an eye, then said, “You have followed me for a long time, you are always so dedicated and hard-working. Although this time you made a mistake, I don"t have the heart to punish you. If it"s only me getting hurt, then it"s nothing big. But this time, the Empress was very frightened.”

“This old servant… This old servant…” Jiang Yu couldn"t say any more words. This time, even if he was executed by a thousand cuts, he wouldn"t be able to pay for his crime.

The Empress was intercepted by a.s.sa.s.sins on her journey to her hometown. This matter was actually something that Xue Junliang had predicted. But it was also a brilliant play Xue Junliang had arranged.

Xue Junliang was an old cunning fox. Feng Ming might have been full of schemes, but he was no match against Xue Junliang. Instead of letting Feng Ming a.s.sa.s.sinated the Empress at Xue Country"s border, he might as well arranged the a.s.sa.s.sination by his own two hands.

Her Majesty the Empress was frightened by a.s.sa.s.sins, therefore it was impossible for her to continue her journey to Feng Country according to plan. She would be better staying home. Feng Ming, then, could only complain for a few words, and there was that; could not be used as an excuse to attack Xue Country.

But Xue Junliang never could have expected his perfect play would go off-track. The a.s.sa.s.sins had attacked half-way. These a.s.sa.s.sins definitely couldn"t be Feng Ming"s people, because Feng Ming"s people were still waiting at the border; waiting to ambush the Empress" entourage.

The a.s.sa.s.sins that had attacked them was obviously a band of mere petty thieves. They recklessly attacked only ten miles away from the capital city border. Here, there were many soldiers and guards, and with a little to no time and effort, the a.s.sa.s.sins had all been captured by Xue Houyang.

Xue Junliang was also a military commander; suffering a few minor wounds was nothing to him. But what angered him was that Jiang Yu treating this matter too lightly.

Xue Junliang deliberately paused for a long time between speech, making Jiang Yu shook and sweated. People most likely saw Jiang Yu"s status was very high; he was highly favored by Xue Junliang. But Jiang Yu himself knew that Xue Junliang was unlike any other king; he was not one to favor one eunuch above everyone else. Xue Junliang"s trust was built upon layers of tasks done right.

Jiang Yu was old and experienced, he"d served as long as two generations of kings. Jiang Yu"s decisive and clever a.s.sistance had helped Xue Junliang a lot when he was still dealing with his compet.i.tors. Xue Junliang could say he was very grateful to Jiang Yu, and didn"t intend to forget. He didn"t want to punish Jiang Yu too severely, but still, Jiang Yu had to be disciplined and warned. Letting Jiang Yu shook miserably was a form of punishment, too.

When he deemed Jiang Yu had been shaking long enough, Xue Junliang said, “Gu will not punish you, you failed but you did work hard to complete this task, I"ll consider it payment enough. But you had caused the Empress stress, so you"ll have to attend to the Empress for a few days. If she needs anything, you"ll directly report it to me.”

Naturally, Jiang Yu was very grateful for the pardon, but he also understood Xue w.a.n.g very well. Though Xue w.a.n.g"s order was reasonable given the situation, Jiang Yu also knew Xue w.a.n.g meant to plant Jiang Yu at the Empress" side, to watch and report if there was any unusual activities.

Jiang Yu kowtowed, “Your Majesty is merciful, this old servant will dedicate my whole life to repay Your Majesty!”

Xue Junliang smiled, “No need to be so courteous. You are loyal, therefore I am happy.”

Then Xue Junliang looked up at the direction of the door. He was sitting inside his inner room, between him and the door was a separating screen. Even without the screen, he would not be able to see outside the door, but Jiang Yu understood and immediately said, “Marquis Wannian is still waiting outside. Da w.a.n.g, do you want to see him?”

Xue Junliang nodded and said, “Let him in.”

Jiang Yu stood and went outside to inform Xue Houyang to enter.

Xue Houyang had been kneeling on the stone steps outside the main room for one shichen. Allowing a.s.sa.s.sins making trouble at Shili Pavilion was not a small matter. Shili Pavilion, as the name implied, was only ten li away from the capital city"s gate. The enemies were under his own eyes and Xue Houyang was caught off guard. This kind of mistake was equal to a.s.sisting enemies to commit treason.

[T/N : Shili (十里); Shi (十) means ten. Li ( 里 ), also known as the Chinese mile, is standardized to be 500 meters (roughly 0.3 miles).]

As soon as Xue Houyang entered the inner room, he immediately knelt and said, “This criminal, Xue Houyang, pays respect to Your Majesty.”

Xue Junliang stood and walked over to Xue Houyang. With his left hand, he helped Xue Houyang to stand and said, “Hurry get up, let me see if you"re uninjured.”

Those words made Xue Houyang feel touched. He got up but kept his head low to express his shame and guilt. He said, “Chen-di is useless, has commit a crime. Please, Da w.a.n.g, punish me.”

“You did nothing wrong. This was the local governors" fault, don"t blame yourself over it. I a.s.signed them to watch the gate, I even allowed them to lead military troops, but they could not even guard the gate properly. This is ridiculous.”

Patting Xue Houyang"s shoulder, Xue Junliang added, “There is always some people like that everywhere. But, Houyang, you were so quick in subduing all those a.s.sa.s.sins. From here on, those governors" military troops will be handed over to you.”

Xue Houyang was so stunned he looked up to see if Xue Junliang was joking. Then he knelt again and said, “Chen-di is guilty yet still granted Da w.a.n.g"s trust, Chen-di…”

“Don"t say any unnecessary words. You know very well I don"t like those overly-sweet talks.”

Xue Houyang"s face promptly heated up with embarra.s.sment. He said simply, “Your Majesty is wise.”

Xue Junliang sat back down, “Have you caught all of the a.s.sa.s.sins?”

Xue Houyang"s expression turned somewhat cloudy. He nodded stiffly and said, “Yes… I have.”

Xue Junliang searched Xue Houyang"s face. Pretending he didn"t know anything, he smiled and said, “So quick, as expected from Marquis Wannian. Who sent them?”

“It"s…” Xue Houyang looked down, “Chen-di ordered people to interrogate them. At first, the a.s.sa.s.sins wouldn"t say anything. Later, under torture, they confessed they were sent by Feng w.a.n.g. But then, some of them revised their confession and said… They said they were sent by a former subordinate of Teng Country"s Minister Shang.”

Xue Junliang pondered, “Hmm… Teng Shang.”

Xue Houyang hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, Chen-di thinks there is something fishy with their confession. Teng Shang is very clever and careful. If he wants to kill someone, he will never send people to do it so recklessly, also…”

Xue Junliang raised a hand to stop him, and said, “I know, Teng Shang is your wife. You care and is worried about him, that I can understand. But since the a.s.sa.s.sins named Teng Shang, you should not get involved in this case, lest you attract people"s criticism.”

Xue Houyang knelt back down with determination clear on his face. He said, “But Chen-di personally thinks it is unfair to hand this case to other officials.”

“You"re afraid they will deliberately make things difficult for Teng Shang?”

Xue Houyang only nodded.

“I have also thought about that, so I"ve found an excellent solution. This way this case will be handled without bias.” Xue Junliang said with a smile, “That is… To let Teng Shang take full charge over this case. He has to find out who the real culprit is and prove he is innocent. If he can"t… Then I"ll just accept the a.s.sa.s.sins" confession as fact.”

Xue Houyang could not find words to argue.

Xue Junliang"s solution was indeed very brilliant, but for Teng Shang, it would be a heavy pressure. Teng Shang had to let go of his own dignity by marrying a man. The only thing he hadn"t let go was his own country. Now, by ordering him to investigate a case, Xue Junliang could bind Teng Shang within Xue Country"s imperial court.

It was like being stuck in a mud; Teng Shang would not be able to get out.

—

All the way back to the Palace, Teng Yun"s head was aching, and he"d exhausted himself to sleep.

In his sleep, he dreamed he was swaying gently back and forth while sleeping with his head rested on Xue Junliang"s lap. At some point in the dream, Teng Yun didn"t know what happened with Xue Junliang, because he suddenly pushed Teng Yun onto the couch and leaned down to suck at Teng Yun"s lips and neck.

And then Teng Yun fell into deep sleep and forgot what he had dreamed about. He only had the impression that Xue Junliang was interested, but seeing that Teng Yun was very exhausted, Xue Junliang gave up.

Teng Yun surfaced from his sleep very slowly. Because he"d slept for a very long time, his head felt wooden and his body was stiff. One cheek near his ear felt painful and when he touched it, he found it was covered with a bandage.

Xiu Yao saw that her mistress had woken up and immediately came over crying, “Empress, you finally woke up. You scared me to death!”

Teng Yun struggled to get up, but his movement was very slow. Xiu Yao helped him to get up and lean against the head of the bed. Teng Yun said, “What happened?”

Xiu Yao said, “Empress, you don"t remember? We almost died! Not long after we split up, I met Marquis Wannian. I led Lord Marquis to follow Your Majesty"s trail but we couldn"t find you. Apparently, His Majesty had found you. When Lord Marquis found the two of you, you had already fallen asleep and His Majesty"s hand was injured.”

As Xiu Yao told him what happened, Teng Yun"s memory came back. He remembered he was saved by Xue Junliang and they"d hid together inside a pit. Then he fell asleep. The gentle swaying he felt must be when he was on the carriage.

Teng Yun cautiously touched his lips and then his neck, his face turned bright red and then slowly switched to pale white. He said, “I want to bathe.”

“Bathe?” Xiu Yao was puzzled, “Are you feeling sweaty? When we came back to the Palace, I already cleaned you up. Also, the physician said you have so many small wounds and you should avoid getting them wet.”

Xiu Yao"s words ‘clean up" was making Teng Yun nervous.

Of course, Teng Yun didn"t know that at that time, Xue Junliang had been considerate and didn"t do anything to Teng Yun. But Teng Yun, on the other hand, only remembered that he was half-awake when Xue Junliang pushed him down onto the couch…

Xiu Yao saw her mistress" face darken and carefully asked, “Your Majesty, are you feeling unwell? Do you want to call the royal physician?”

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