Relieved, Wanyan Xu gave a long exhale but he did not relax his grip on the sword, not did the blade move even an inch away from the woman"s jacket. Glacially, he asked: “What do you promise me [1]? Say it yourself for me to hear.”
As if all his strength had been drained, Su Yi collapsed in a pile on the floor, gazing at the blade in Wanyan Xu"s hand with a lifeless look in his eyes. His voice trembling uncontrollably, he said: “I promise to become your Empress... become your... Empress...” His voice gradually got softer as he spoke. Wanyan Xu was just beginning to feel elated when he heard a "plop" sound. Turning back to look, he saw that the cause was Su Yi --- unable to cope with the trauma inflicted on both his body and spirits any longer, he had fainted even before finishing his speech.
Wanyan Xu"s alarm was uncommon in its intensity, he hurriedly cast the sword aside and in a flash, he was by Su Yi"s side. Gathering Su Yi"s limp body in his arms, he could only sigh in relief after he had ascertained for himself that Su Yi"s breathing was even and steady. Openly displaying affection towards the man lying in his arms, he carefully wiped away the blood that had stained Su Yi"s forehead. When he saw that the wound on Su Yi"s neck had also split open and was dripping blood, he hurriedly sent for Zi Liu and said: “Quickly, bring him to the residence and attend to his wounds carefully, aii, I had become muddle-headed in my haste, I should have waited until he had recovered before extracting his promise."
Zi Liu approached and examined Su Yi"s wounds carefully before saying: “Your Majesty, please do not worry, his wounds are not serious.” Having said that, she called a few eunuchs over and had them bring a long bench. They lifted Su Yi onto it and then, together with Zi Nong, they hastily departed. A curious thing took place, the crowd of people who had been held as hostages ran over, and a lively discussion ensued with many asking: “How is Big Brother Su? Did he faint? Will he be alright?”
Wanyan Xu stood up, his face had long since lost the fierce and merciless expression it had been wearing and said warmly: “All of you can relax, he will soon be my Empress, I am more concerned about him than all of you.” The pregnant lady suddenly stepped forward, gazing at Wanyan Xu with luminous eyes, she said: “Will you treat him very well? If not, we will have forced him on the road to ruin. Our conscience will not rest easy in that case and we will surely curse you to come to a nasty end.”
Beside her, somebody immediately shouted: “You are too brazen, how dare you be so rude to the Emperor?” Wanyan Xu only smiled, waved his hand a few times and said: “Madam, I"ve gone to so much trouble just so as to crown an Empress, it is certainly not because I wish for him to suffer. You can be a.s.sured, after Su Su becomes my Empress, Jin Liao and Great Qi will be as one family. I will not favour the people of my ethnicity and oppress the people of the Great Qi."
At this, that young lady finally nodded and said: “If you haven’t already shown that to be true, we would not have been able to make peace with our conscience and colluded with you to deceive Big Brother Su. You have already given us your promise that you will treat Big Brother Su well, a monarch should never go back on his words, so you must do as you promised." So saying, she raised her hand and said: “Alright, you have also promised us a reward for putting on a performance, so please do pay up now.”
Wanyan Xu turned his head and called out to Zi Nan to go fetch silver pieces, only for Zi Nan to say: “Your Majesty, it would be better to wait. Zi Nong is the one who is in charge of all money matters, but she has gone with Zi Liu to attend to General Su.” Before she had finished, Wanyan Xu interrupted: “What does that matter; you can pay for it first. When Zi Nong has some free time, you can report it to her and be reimbursed. I know you can produce the silver required now.” After saying that, he told the “hostages”: “All of you should follow her.”
Zi Nan left in frustration. Wanyan Xu was finally able to wipe off the cold sweat that had gathered on his brow. A smile brightened his face and he said: “This approach was really effective, ah Su Su, I really did not misjudge you.” Before his voice faded, he could hear his son"s voice ringing out from behind him: “Humph, you should not be so happy. Although he has promised to become your Empress against his own wishes, since you used this method to compel him, he must hate you in his heart. In addition, I know that you will never tell him the truth. But even if you should tell him, he probably will not believe you. If I were in his position, I definitely would not believe you.”
Wanyan Xu laughed bitterly for a while before sentimentally saying: “So what if it is love, so what if it is hate, as long as he has me in his heart, and will never forget about me, that is enough. In his heart, he has seen me as his enemy from the start.”
Wanyan Shuo nodded his head, with a thoughtful look on his face he said: “So it is like this. If one cannot make their beloved love them, then they should make that person hate them. No matter what they must not remain indifferent to you and forget all about you after the pa.s.sing of a few years. Am I correct? Imperial Father.”
Wanyan Xu was just about to reply in the affirmative, when his mind suddenly became capable of rational thought again. He scolded Wanyan Shuo: “"What can you understand at such a young age? All you are interested in is matters like this, quickly go and attend to your lessons! If I ask the Imperial Tutor and find out that you have not improved in your studies, see how I shall punish you!" After hearing what Wanyan Xu had to say, Wanyan Shuo stuck his tongue out before swiftly scampering off. At this juncture, Wanyan Xu rushed over to the palace where Su Yi was residing.
Once he was in Su Yi"s bedroom, he saw Zi Liu and Zi Nong crowding around Su Yi. His wounds had already been properly cleaned and bandaged, but he was still unconscious. Upon Wanyan Xu"s arrival, the palace maids tactfully withdrew to the side of the room and Wanyan Xu seated himself besides Su Yi. Turning his head, he asked Zi Nong: “Were the imperial kitchens instructed to prepare more nourishing foods?”
Zi Nong answered: “your Majesty need not be concerned about that, your humble servant has already given them such instructions.” Wanyan Xu nodded and said: “previously, I let him starve to weaken his willpower, so that when coupled with that performance we put on it would be easier to make him comply. I had no better alternative, if he had really been able to harden his heart and ignore the plight of those people, I really would have run out of options in dealing with him. But n.o.body is to breathe a word of the truth to him. Aii, I can accept that he hates me, but I will not accept that he doubts me." After saying that, he noticed that Su Yi"s long eyelashes were beginning to flutter and he knew that Su Yi would soon wake. He spoke no further on that matter but said to Zi Nong: “Instruct the cooks to prepare his meal, remember, he should be restricted to plainer food for a while. His food needs to be suitable for someone who has not eaten for a few days.” Zi Nong agreed and left to convey his instructions to the imperial kitchen.