Chapter 231: Return Of An Old Friend (Part 4)
Now Xie Jing Xing’s identity was known to Fu Xiu Yi and naturally he knew about Shen Miao’s identity. Upon mentioning of Shen Miao, Fu Xiu Yi’s face became uglier. In his entire life, he was used to hold all matters in his hands. However it was only Shen Miao’s matter that went wrong. He had initially thought to use the love Shen Miao had for him to bring the Shen family over but there was a setback with Shen Miao and the Shen family was not controlled, making hime going through one big circle. Now the Shen family went against him and made his head ached. In addition to these, Shen Miao gave up on him and in a turn found someone who looked even better and it was as if she was slapping Fu Xiu Yi’s face in front of the entire world.Fu Xiu Yi was extremely angry about it. Now hearing Ye Mei bringing it up, it was poking at his injuries.
“I had originally thought that Rui WangFei just had a little luck and was born a little better thus she could be able to become a Prince Consort and live an envious life. Now it seemed that she is smarter than I had originally thought. Perhaps she had long known that by staying beside Your Majesty’s side, no matter if she is loyal or not to Your Majesty, at the end, the result would be the same. And that would be not even having a good death.” Ye Mei said.
“Impudent!” Fu Xiu Yi said.
“I have lost to Your Majesty.” Ye Mei said, “Your Majesty was still in love with me not too long ago but could now make me become like this. One odviously know how precious one’s appearance is but made one feel so grieved as to one wish one were dead. But Your Majesty, let me tell you that you are not better off than me. You have pushed all your wrongdoing onto me but do you think that you would have a good ending?”
Fu Xiu Yi’s expression became bluish green, no matter who was it was cursed like this, no one would be happy. Moreover now he was extremely adversed towards Ye Mei and the hatred was as deep in one’s bone. For Ye Mei to anger him at this time, it made him even angrier.
“You would not have a good ending as you are not their opponent. The fact that Shen Miao did not choose you but chose Xie Jing Xing had proven that in her eyes, you are not worth a hundredth of Xie Jing Xing. So take a look, now even though I do not have anything and ended up as a prisoner, your ending would not be any better than me. You will also lose. The thirteen mounts of You Zhou was just a start and after that you will keep on being defeated. This Ming Qi empire would collapse in your hands and at that time, you are just a Monarch of a fallen nation! I will hereby wish you that your troop would fall like mountains falling and your Fu family’s dynasty would end in your hands and would not appear in hundreds of lifetimes!”
Fu Xiu Yi stared at her coldly, “Are you finished? Zhen had already given you your last chance.”
Ye Mei gave a long sigh and no longer speak.
There was an air of hatred stuck in her heart as she had never hated someone like this before. Fu Xiu Yi ruined her appearance and she knew that there was no hope of turning things around for her thus she poured out all her anger and hatred before she died. However after that pleasure she woke up. She had forgotten what kind of person Fu Xiu Yi was…
However it was already too late to regret it. Moreover Fu Xiu Yi was never a person who gave another a chance to regret. That year he did not lose anything due to Pei Lang but he treated him like that. Now because of Ye Mei, he lost thirteen mounts of You Zhou and after hearing Ye Mei cursing him like this, Fu Xiu Yi would definitely not let her die that easily.
He said, “Since you care about your appearance that much, Zhen would help accomplish it.”
He said to the jailor beside, “Cut off her four limbs and make a Beauty Basin. Place her in the East of the city for thousands of people to appreciate.”
“Great Liang’s spy that has such talents for singing and dancing. Zhen would fulfill you and make you a plaything to bring others joy and let you have a good life.” After he finished speaking, he turned around and strode away, not caring of the heart-rending cries behind.
Beauty Basin. That was a plaything for the nobles of the previous dynasty. One would choose a beauty to rear at home and they would be squatting at the corner of the room. If the master wanted to spit or dump the discarded tea, they would pinch the beauty chin and let the beauty’s mouth swallow everything down. It was like a living spittoon.
This was treating a person as an animal, actually even worse than an animal. Because it was too cruel, these kind of beauty would generally not live long thus the previous dynasty’s Emperor and Empress abolished it.
Now Fu Xiu Yi brought out this already abolished method and used it on Ye Mei. A beauty basin without four limbs was the most inferior of all as they would have lost their beauty.
Commoners would be afraid of such strange things and would definitely come to scold and slam it. This was even more tomenting to Ye Mei than death as she had always regard her appearance more important than life. As for her who always wanted to climb up, she was even lower than the civilians that she looked down upon that she was not even considered ‘human’. Fu Xiu Yi really knew her well.
Thus dealing with her would be beating a snake seven Cun (1 Cun = 1 Inch), aiming for its heart.
The once famous Mei Furen who was respected in the Imperial Court and Inner Palace was ruined like this. Her appearance, abandonment and demised was just too fast and what remained was her reputation of a beauty and being Great Liang’s spy.
But what about Fu Xiu Yi?
Ye Mei’s curse had been fulfilled.
Even though he had pushed all faults to Ye Mei, everyone under Heavens looked at him like one was looking at a joke. As a Monarch, one had a spy beside but did not discover her due to the beautiful appearance and at the end lost the thirteen mounts of You Zhou. The reputation of ‘fatuous ruler’ gradually spread among the commoners.
The commoners did not see the process and they only look at the results.
Fu Xiu Yi had become a complete joke, from the beginning to end. The worst was that just like everyone predicted, from when Great Liang obtained the thirteen mounts of You Zhou, they became more courageous and kept on winning. Ming Qi kept on retreating and continuously lost, like the previous victories were just a dream. Great Liang’s strength was indeed just too fearsome.
When it rains, it poured. At this time, Qin country started to gradually take up the route of self preservation. It seemed that they had the intention to surrender to Great Liang and currently Great Liang’s spearhead was now aimed at Ming Qi, making Fu Xiu Yi’s head beaten and brow schorched.
It was thoroughly awful.
*****
The situation of the war was always changing.
Great Liang had gained the thirteen mounts of You Zhou and using the thirteen mounts of You Zhou as the base, they started to counterattack. They chose not to confront the Qin country but started with Ming Qi.
The Qin country had chosen to protect themselves when Great Liang launched an offensive attack against Ming Qi and even sent messenger to try to negotiate, willing to compensate instead. Qin counter was weaker in terms of military affairs and dragging the war for so long had emptied the Qin country’s treasury and the taxation for the commoners made them start to be chaotic.
The Qin country was aware of the seriousness of it. Compared to the collapse of a country, compensating through land naturally did not matter.
For Qin country to pick such a time to flip, it was not a good thin for Ming Qi. However irregardless of Fu Xiu Yi’s soft or hard approaches, Qin country did not pay any attention to it.
This naturally had to be credited to Xie Jing Xing. First he drew a big biscuit for Qin country and let the Qin Emperor think that Great Liang did not have the extra energy to deal with Qin country and currently only wanted to take Ming Qi down. Xie Jing Xing did it seamlessly.
It was necessary to break them apart and this method was played well.
Great Liang’s troops quickly fought all the way to Ming Qi’s Ding capital.
And in Wei Yang Palace in Long Ye, Empress Xian De instructed the palace made to pour wine.
This was a ‘palace banquet’ but there were no hundreds of civil and military offices, no consorts of the Inner Palace. There was only Shen Miao, Luo Tan, Emperor Yong Le and Empress Xian De. Empress Xian De said, “Tak this as a family banquet and consider it that a celebration for Jing Xin’s accomplishment.”
Once Xie Jing Xing take Ding capital down, it would be considered as setting the dust for Ming Qi. Naturally Xie Jing Xing would not let Qin country off. To remove the weeds, one had to eliminate the roots thus getting it done once and for all was the best policy. Without Ming Qi to support Qin country, it was like an arrow at the end of its flight. Xie Jing Xing had dragged the battle for so long and only used strength now because this was the moment.
It would not be long before this long and cruel war end. At that time, the four seas would be stabilise, there would be peace under Heavens and it would be truly the realisation of everyone’s wishes.
“Youngest Biao Sister, drink this.” Luo Tan placed the plum juice in front of Shen Miao and looked at Shen Miao’s small abdomen and said, “The Imperial Physican had said that that it would be time for birth in two months. One do not know it would be a little nephew or little niece.”
Shen Miao’s eyes hang down and her lips widen, “Very quiet, most likely a female.”
“That may not be true.” Empress Xian De said, “There are also sons that are quiet and daughters that are naughty. But when Jing Xin returns and discover that he had become a Father, one do not know how much ruckus he will cause.”
When Shen Miao thought abt that scene, her head did not ache. If Xie Jing Xing knew that she had hid it from him for so long, he would throw a tantrum.
But… One would take a step at a time.
Just as they were chatting, Emperor Yong Le walked in from outside.
Shen Miao did not see much of Emperor Yong Le and most likely Emperor Yong Le still did not like her as his attitude towards her was not good. However lately because of the child in her womb, he had warmed up to her a lot. Perhaps it was also Empress Xian De’s persuasion that he would instruct others to send over any good medication when he gets it.
Luo Tan was somewhat afraid of Emperor Yong Le and immediately sat up in alarm.
Four people were sitting at the table eating. Luo Tan was in a somewhat predicament but Shen Miao was alright. Emperor Yong Le had a cold expression and it was Empress Xian De that was the happiest. She said, “This time Jing Xin had achieve a big meritorious deed. When he return in triumph, one have to celebrate it well. From BenGong’s view point, just give WangFei a title of ‘Gao Ming’. Their Prince residence is not short of anything so it is good to have a ‘Gao Ming’ title.”
Emperor Yong Le paused and made an “En” sound.
Empress Xian De asked, “Don’t you think it is good?”
Shen Miao, “…”
How could this be answered? If one said “yes”, Emperor Yong Le would obviously not be happy. If one said “no” then wouldn’t it be like slapping Empress Xian De’s face in front of everyone? These Emperor and Empress were indeed interesting to give her such a question to answer. Shen Miao smiled and said, “About all these, it is better to talk about it when His Highness returns.”
“That is also true.” Empress Xian De nodded her head, “Perhaps he has other ideas.” She then looked at Luo Tan, “About Young Lady Luo’s side, when Gao Yang returns, is it good for BenGong bestow a marriage for you both?”
Luo Tan almost choked on the cakes in her mouth. If it was others, she would have gone back but she was facing the Empress and could only look at Shen Miao pitifully.
Shen Miao suppressed her laughter, “Your Ladyship, these are not in a rush. It is better to wait for Gentleman Gao to return. Perhaps Gentleman Gao has other plans.”
When Luo Tan heard Shen Miao helping her speak, she felt relief but she felt strange after Shen Miao finished. What were those words? It seemed that Gao Yang was not attracted to her. She was a young lady that was like a flower and jade, she was also a Young Lady of the Luo family of Xiao Chun City… That was wrong. Why was there a need to compare? She did not have any intention towards this side of matters.
Emperor Yong Le looked at Empress Xian De and said deeply, “Eat.”
Empress Xian De started blaming, “Already mention that it is a family banquet so it should be carefree. Why so serious?”
Ever since Xie Jing Xing started reporting frequently, all the high ranking officials in the imperial court were settled down, seeming to see clearly the ambitions and methods of the young Emperor. Even though there are only two brothers in the Xie family, but neither brother were kind hearted. One was good at balancing the courts, one was good at expanding the frontier. As for the hearts that were filled with awe, it made the court much quieter.
Even the memorandums criticizing Emperor Yong Le having no descendant were only a few.
Empress Xian De had a rare quiet day and there were some subtle changes with her feelings of Emperor Yong Le. It seemed that the formally Emperor and Empress that treated one another as honoured guests had started becoming a pair of ordinary couple. Emperor Yong Le was a very principled person and he would always be rule abiding towards his treatment to Empress Xian De. These days, Empress Xian De would occasionally make some willful actions and Emperor Yong Le would go along with her. Although it was not intimate, it was rare.
It was always said that the observer saw things the clearest. Shen Miao felt that Emperor Yong Le was very affectionate to the Empress. It was like everything was headed towards the correct direction and upon Xie Jing Xing’s return, perhaps for a long period of time, one would be this fortunate.