5.12 – And then, you will leave
Now that the basic strategy had been established, and Xue Ling had a plug-in he could make use of, it became much simpler to act on many things.
Probably because the love that Zhan Shaoxi showed towards Wenren Hong was so strong, after the Emperor had married his sister to Zhan Shaoxi, he was much less guarded around the General. All the tasks that the Emperor had arranged for him were convenient and easy to accomplish, and it could be said that this Princess" husband was a favorite in recent days.
The Prince’s movements has slowed down a lot during this period of time as Xue Ling would occasionally go to the palace to send the Emperor dishes to eat, and the poison that had acc.u.mulated within the Emperor"s body had basically been neutralized. His Highness watched as his father the Emperor grew stronger and stronger day by day, and his frown became deep enough to kill flies.
Once their plan was delayed, the person who needed to do the most became Bai Changyan. During this period, he was so busy that his feet practically did not touch the ground. He always returned to the Prime Minister"s residence late at night, and was even criticized by the Prime Minister for not being home all the time. Of course, some of this came about as a result of Zhan Shaoxi"s actions.
What Zhan Shaoxi was doing was totally different from what he had said before. He was devoted to eliminating potential rivals like a furious storm. Since he currently had no way of making a move against Bai Changyan in the open, he could only find more things for him to do. It would be best if the other party was too busy to visit Xue Ling’s shop.
Xue Ling was a person who already knew what businesses the heroine would attempt to do later on, and now that he no longer needed to deal with people personally, he was too lazy to go out and stayed holed up in the Manor. He plotted, and went out of his way to help people who were completely unrelated to him to earn money by teaching them new skills and technology to start new businesses before the heroine could come up with the same idea.
Although these new businesses and products all appeared in the Capital over a short period of time and seemed to be the result of someone"s machinations, regardless of who it was that investigated, no trace of common ground could be found.
If the heroine could make money by taking advantage of her knowledge of modern society, then Xue Ling could also teach people from the ancient era some simple skills a little early. In a sense, this completely accelerated the progress and development of this world, but it was still better than letting the female protagonist become stronger and more influential.
It needed to be said that the task that the system had given Xue Ling was not only to change the heroine"s love life, but also to completely, at 360 degrees with no dead angles, change all the protagonists" life course in order to regain the luck that belonged to this world.
Because of his previous intervention, the heroine currently had no way to continue doing business, and her connection to the Prince was very weak. She had never even met with Bai Changyan and Xia Yang, so they had no feelings for her at all. What remained to be done was to prevent the plot inertia from giving the heroine a chance to recover and randomly hook some businessman, Demonic Sect Leader, Emperor of Lin Country or some such.
Based on the original plot, at this point in time the Emperor of Lin Country was about lose his throne as the Princes were preparing to launch a crazy and dangerous war in order to seize power. The heroine"s seventh man, the cruel and tyrannical yet somewhat sickly Emperor, was currently still a Prince that was hiding his power, and would not be able to ghost his way over to Xi Country in the near future. Xia Country was also not peaceful now. With Xia Yang"s return, the country would change dramatically, and the imperial family there was expected to be in chaos for some time.
This is a good time for the development of the Xi Country. Xue Ling needed to spend a lifetime here, and he was not about to allow the country he lived in to exist in a tentative balance with other countries. Only with true strength would he have the right to speak out and remain untouchable, able to live a life of complete ease for the latter half of his life. Xue Ling was not so crazed that he wanted to be Emperor, but it was not a difficult thing to help Xi Country become stronger and stronger.
This body of his resided in the Capital, and carried the ident.i.ty of a Royal Princess. He frequently went to the palace, and his relationship with his brother the Emperor was very good. He would occasionally use hypnotism to influence the Emperor to make some more forward thinking decisions that would allow them to become more powerful without triggering any suspicion. In fact, in part because his sister"s recent intimacy and care, he even began to have more and more confidence in Zhan Shaoxi.
Thanks to Xue Ling"s cosmetic products, the Empress" appearance had changed a lot in recent years, and her affection and love for Xue Ling had reached deep into her bones. She often invited him to come into the palace to chat with her, which made things difficult for Xue Ling, and he took pains to imply every time he went that he did not like the imperial concubines who acted like snakes in the dark at all.
The Empress probably noticed his dislike of them towards the end, and asked him to spend time with the imperial concubines less frequently. Instead, she often had snacks and refreshments sent to him. Every time Zhan Shaoxi entered his wife’s room, he would find that the refreshments on the table were different, and they were all from the imperial dining hall.
Although Wenren Yingyue"s soul had changed, because she had been suppressed everywhere by Xue Ling, there were not many places where she could make a difference. Her small business was still alive, but she could only use it to support her own Palace, and things were comparatively more humble elsewhere. Regardless of what new idea she came up with, she would somehow be able to find the same thing in the street, which rather frustrated Wenren Yingyue. When she carefully thought back to when things began to become difficult, she suddenly discovered a very key point.
So, one morning, Xue Ling was stopped by Wenren Yingyue just as he came out of the Emperor"s Palace and pa.s.sed by the imperial garden.
It had been half a year, and he had shot up quite a lot. He had matured, and the temperament revealed in his eyebrows and eyes was a bit more prominent. As a person who was bent but still maintained a normal aesthetic and was not a transvest.i.te, Xue Ling had become lazier after getting used to life in this world and occasionally would not bother with make-up even in the Imperial Palace. The imperial concubines occasionally asked him about it, and he always laughingly said that women dressed up for the eyes of others, but since General of his family was so sticky, he liked to dress simply in order to make him a little less ardent.
This ** naked showing off of their love made many people feel their teeth ache, but the concubines soon recalled that they had different statuses and did not ask further, and even held back from making a sarcastic remark or two.
After all, she was the Royal Princess, and her ident.i.ty was completely different from the imperial concubines that they were, with a much more dignified position. And even without make-up, Her Royal Highness"s appearance was superior to theirs. She was at her peak blooming years, and also knew how to maintain her skin, making it appear so tender that it seemed one could pinch out water from it. Looking at it that way, whether or not the Royal Princess wore make-up did not seem to affect her life at all.
Not to mention that it would not affect her husband"s love for her.
Wenren Yingyue saw this person again after six months, and all the anger she had held bottled inside disappeared in an instant.
Clearly the other side had just given her a very ordinary glance, calmly, practically emotionlessly, but she found herself subconsciously weak-kneed, and could not help but want to smile at the other party for no reason other than because this person was too beautiful. Even if Wenren Yingyue found herself beautiful when she looked in a mirror, she was still defeated by Wenren Hong when she saw her.
As a woman, she was fascinating but not flattering, and even carried a subtle heroic spirit. Her movements were not gentle and elegant, but it strangely did not create a dissonance. All kinds of contradictions appeared on this person, but it did not make people curious about why, and instead made them unable to dislike him.
Wenren Yingyue was trying to curb her positive feelings for Wenren Hong because she always felt that her unluckiness was due to a pair of hands pushing against her from behind the scenes, and this person was likely to be Wenren Hong who had initially caused her to lose a good opportunity to cooperate with the Prince.
She wanted to come and ask questions today, but when she met with the other party"s eyes, the words she had prepared before did not dare to come out.
“Mingyue Princess?” It was Xue Ling who beat her to it and smiled at her. "What a coincidence. Did you also come today to give respects to the Empress?"
Wenren Yingyue shook her head and said, “I heard that the Royal Princess would enter the palace today, so I wanted to invite the Royal Princess to have a chat.”
Xue Ling narrowed his eyes, and thought of the news he had just received from the Empress. He chuckled and said, "That"s perfect. I also wanted to talk to you about something.”
Wenren Yingyue was surprised, turning around as she spoke, “There is a water pavilion there. Why don’t we go over there?”
The maid who served Xue Ling hesitatingly spoke up, “Madame, the General is still waiting outside the palace gate.”
“It"s fine. Send someone to let him know that I will return a bit later. He should go back and work first."
The maid thought in her heart that even if they sent someone over, they all knew that the General would not agree, but she was somewhat helpless against her mistress" temperament and could only use her eyes to signal another person who followed them, hinting for her to be a bit more clever when she spoke of the matter to the General so that he definitely would not be left with the impression that his family"s Princess was spoiled and arrogant.
The person nodded her head to show that she understood before turning around and going out to inform the General that the Mingyue Princess had insisted on having a chat with the Royal Princess. The Madame tried but could not push her off, and therefore could not come out.
Zhan Shaoxi knew more about Xue Ling’s character than they did, and guessed that he had probably discovered some news that he could use to make things difficult for the heroine. His laugh was somewhat meaningful, and scared the maid to the point where her heart sped up, afraid that she might have said something wrong.
Zhan Shaoxi did not leave. Instead, he told her to go back and send word that he was waiting outside to send her back to their place before going to work.
The maid did not know how many times she had already lamented the General’s infatuation with his wife, and then was incredibly glad that their trouble-seeking mistress had met such a husband.
Xue Ling leisurely sat down in the water pavilion, and even had the time to wave his hands and tease the carp swimming in the water. He smiled as he said to Wenren Yingyue, "My other brothers all left the world early, and even nieces like you are older than me. You don"t have to be so considerate of things like courtesy to elder generations in front of me, if you have something to say, then just speak it out."
Wenren Yingyue pulled herself back from that smile, and said, “Actually, it is not a big deal. It"s just that there was something that I couldn"t figure out, and wanted to ask the Royal Princess to clarify."
“Yes?”
“Back then, why did the Royal Princess want to do… the rouge powder business?"
Xue Ling looked a little surprised, and then his laughter rang out. Hearing it, Wenren Yingyue was stunned in place, somewhat not knowing where to put her hands and feet as this had not been the reaction she had expected. She then listened as Her Highness the Royal Princess said, “That small shop, in fact, was just a sudden idea. The General felt that there was some meaning to it, and found someone to manage the shop. That was just something that the imperial hospital made after consulting some G.o.dly doctors from the martial arts world. They said that it was just something small that they fiddled with and created to amuse me."
“I thought that the effect was not bad after giving it a try, and gave some to the Empress. The ladies of the Palace also liked it, and I came up with the idea of making some money to subsidize the family income. I didn’t expect the General to find someone so capable. I still find it strange when I look at the account books every month.~"
Wenren Yingyue almost had broken a mouthful of silver teeth from gritting her teeth furiously. Hearing her say it that way, it seemed that wrecking her plans had been completely unintentional, and it sounded like a misunderstanding that could be laughed away. But to Wenren Yingyue who was now in such a difficult situation, it was extremely uncomfortable no matter how one looked at it.
She was a person from the modern era. Losing to a Princess from the ancient period because of such ridiculous reasons?
A Princess who had no business sense, and rather had just done it out of interest?
A Princess who, because she was attractive and married well, could eat and drink well, and did not have to worry about anything?
Even if the person was even better looking, Wenren Yingyue could no longer care about her appearance. Her heart was full of the feeling that she had lost for a bunch of mysterious and inexplicable reasons; all her plans had died before they bore fruit at the hands of an innocent little girl. How was she supposed to accept this?
Seeing her face turn red, Xue Ling took advantage and added some fuel to the fire. “Why is the Princess asking about this? Could it be that you also like those things?" He blinked his eyes and added, “The Gongqin Palace only has the Princess and Princess Consort left, it must be hard. If the Princess really likes it, I can send the Princess a few more sets of the things.” He opened his mouth and spoke slowly, seeming to be concerned, but in fact adding a sentence of provocation, "It could also be considered as compensation for my guilt over ruining the Princess" business."
At this moment, Wenren Yingyue was even more angry. This person was clearly not someone who knew nothing about her affairs. This expression, and this look, in what way did it resemble a clueless little white flower?!
Wenren Yingyue felt that she had been led around by the nose by a black hearted lotus. She gritted her teeth, “No, I don’t need it. Although it is difficult to make ends meet, I can still buy the things I really want.”
“That’s good. Come to speak of it, if the Princess can pull together a good dowry for yourself, the Empress would also have one less worry."
“What dowry?”
“Oh, right. Princess doesn"t know yet." Xue Ling laughed innocently, looking like a perfect little angel from all 360 degrees without any dead angles. “The delegation from Western Regions will soon arrive in the Capital. This time they came to find and marry a Princess from Xi Country in order to create an alliance with the Moran Country."
Wenren Yingyue suddenly had an ominous foreboding, and a chill began to climb up her spine.
“The Emperor and Empress consulted for a while, and felt that among the Princesses of suitable age, you, the Mingyue Princess, would be the best candidate for an alliance." Although he was smiling, his eyes were cold. “Now that the Princess knows, you can go back and tidy up, before preparing to receive the decree. And then, you will leave."
Wenren Yingyue felt everything in front of her go black.
unedited because i am late and ran out of time ;__; will update to an edited version later today~