When Ye Weifeng reached the age of guan, the late emperor arranged a marriage for him with the concubine-born daughter of Wang, the Grand Secretariat. Given the Grand Secretariat’s immense power and high position, an unfavored prince like Ye Weifeng would normally never have been considered for such a match. However, since she was merely a concubine’s daughter from the Wang family, no one raised any objections.
Outwardly, Ye Weifeng showed not a shred of dissatisfaction, obediently accepting the imperial decree. Yet he repeatedly and purposefully appeared before the carefully nurtured legitimate daughter of the Wang family, exhausting every means to make her fall in love with him until she clung to the Grand Secretariat, insisting she would marry no one else.
Helpless, the Grand Secretariat had to swallow his pride and plead the case to the late emperor. After pondering the matter briefly, the late emperor ultimately granted face to this high-ranking official.
Consequently, the person matched with Ye Weifeng became the legitimate daughter of the powerful Grand Secretariat Wang family. Leveraging this backing, Ye Weifeng’s situation improved immeasurably compared to before, to the extent that some even listed him as a formidable contender for the throne, something that would have been unthinkable in the past.
The marriage was thus settled. Yet Xi Yu, still completely unaware of this news, was out on the battlefield fighting to earn military exploits and prestige for Ye Weifeng.
Knowing Ye Weifeng was unfavored, Xi Yu had abandoned his path as a civil official, picking up sword and spear to take to the battlefield, solely hoping that when the emperor rewarded him after winning victories, he could secure several favors and graces for Ye Weifeng. That was more than enough.
Everything he did was for Ye Weifeng, never for himself.
Yet just as he was bathing in blood, fighting his way out of encirclements, and capturing city after city for Daqing, he was suddenly informed that Ye Weifeng was getting married.
The saber and sword wounds left upon the battlefield could not make Xi Yu feel even a fraction of pain, but this news twisted Xi Yu’s internal organs into knots, aching to the point of agony.
“Lezhi, my good Lezhi…” Xi Yu could only repeat these words, utterly incapable of uttering even half a sentence of anything else.
A man who never drank alcohol drank for an entire night, getting so heavily intoxicated that his head split with pain, yet engraving this news firmly into his mind.
“Lezhi…”
Xi Yu returned to the capital the very day he received the news. The usually thoughtful and cautious Xi Yu acted with such uncharacteristic recklessness for the first time: he abandoned his battling soldiers and colleagues, deliberately ignoring the reality of the impending enemy threat, terrified that if he arrived even a step later, his Lezhi would no longer be his.
“Lezhi, is this true?” Without even taking off his armor, Xi Yu rushed straight to Ye Weifeng’s palace. He refused to believe a word anyone else said; he would only hear it from his own lips.
Ye Weifeng turned around, the expression on his face chillingly cruel. “It is true, Xi Yu. I am indeed going to marry her.”
“No room for maneuver?” Xi Yu asked first.
“No room for maneuver,” Ye Weifeng replied.
“Of your own free will?” Xi Yu asked second.
“Of my own free will.” Ye Weifeng looked straight at him.
The longsword that he always wielded with effortless familiarity suddenly became too heavy for Xi Yu to hold. With a heavy thud, the hilt dropped to the floor, it was no longer Xi Yu holding the sword, but rather the sword hilt propping Xi Yu up to keep him from collapsing.
How disheveled, can a general who cannot even hold his sword still be considered a general?
Can a Xi Yu who has lost his poise and calmness, wearing such a heartbroken expression, still be called Xi Yu?
“Xi Yu, you must understand me. Behind her stands the entire Wang family; this will provide immense assistance to our plan. She can help me…” The look Ye Weifeng cast his way seemed a mix of incomprehension and grievance.
“Then what about me? Lezhi, what are all the things I am doing for you right now considered?” Xi Yu could no longer hold back; he was unwilling to hide his feelings any longer.
Hearing this, Ye Weifeng looked as if he had received a massive shock. “Xi Yu, you are different. How can you compare yourself to her?”
He grasped Xi Yu’s shoulders tightly with both hands. “You are my companion, my comrade-in-arms, my best and most trusted friend. No one is closer to you and me.”
“Yet she will be your wife, Lezhi…” Xi Yu managed a smile, yet that smile was far uglier than tears.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t compare, but rather that I couldn’t measure up to her.
Xi Yu struggled to admit this fact, only to find that acknowledging it felt like all his healed wounds festering anew, untouchable and unscratchable, yet sitting right there, suffocating him with misery.
“Xi Yu, are you going to throw a tantrum over something like this with me? You clearly know this is our most critical moment. We are just one step away, just one step away from that position. Have you forgotten our shared dream?”
Ye Weifeng wore a look of utter incomprehension. “I as the sovereign, you as the chancellor, governing Daqing together so it remains forever peaceful and clear, allowing the people of Daqing to live and work in peace and contentment forever.”
Xi Yu repeatedly pried open Ye Weifeng’s hands gripping his shoulders. “Lezhi, do you know? That is your dream; it was never mine.”
That was the first time Ye Weifeng ever witnessed such a painful and sorrowful expression on Xi Yu’s face. The impression left by that scene was so profound that even many years later, Xi Yu’s expression at that moment remained fresh in his memory.
Yet rather than saying he was infected by Xi Yu’s pain to the point of remembering it, it would be more accurate to say… what Ye Weifeng wanted to retain was the sight of Xi Yu hurting for him. He wished for all of Xi Yu’s suffering to be born of him.
He wanted to monopolize all of Xi Yu’s emotions, just as Xi Yu had tyrannically controlled every aspect of his life growing up.
Ultimately, the marriage never took place. The reason, however, did not lie with Xi Yu, but rather because Ye Weifeng’s third older brother had whispered words into the late emperor’s ear via his birth mother. The legitimate daughter of the Grand Secretariat, what a formidable asset to court power; such a fat piece of meat was bound to catch the eyes of others besides Ye Weifeng.
In the end, he proved no match for the third prince, and the emperor rescinded his marriage arrangement, leaving the Wang family’s legitimate daughter to become Ye Weifeng’s third sister-in-law instead.
Yet it wasn’t a total loss; at the very least, Ye Weifeng had seized a weakness from the hitherto invincible Xi Yu.
As it turned out, Xi Yu’s weakness was him.
Xi Yu had always been the sharpest blade at his disposal, and from this moment onward, he would be a blade that would never betray him, because Xi Yu harbored expectations of him.
This time, the fact that Xi Yu had taught his own personal melody to Fuying dealt a heavy blow to Ye Weifeng. He was desperate to recover his sense of control over Xi Yu.
Thus, he planned to repeat his old trick, eager to witness Xi Yu agonizing and losing his mind over his marriage once more.
Only this time, the prospective bride needed to serve an additional purpose: she had to be someone who could be used to keep Xi Yu in check.
In this world, was there any target more suitable than Yue Xue Ling?
Everyone in the Xi family aside from Xi Yu was dead, and Yue Xue Ling was the last person he cared about. The current Xi Yu was becoming increasingly uncontrollable, and he needed leverage to hold him in check.
Yue Xue Ling was already on her way; very soon, she would arrive in the capital. At the mere thought of what expression Xi Yu would wear upon learning he was to marry Yue Xue Ling, Ye Weifeng trembled with exhilaration.
When Xi Yu received the news that Ye Weifeng intended to marry Yue Xue Ling, he panicked, precisely as Ye Weifeng had anticipated.
“Host, calm down. Whether the target object marries or has children does not affect the completion of your mission. Your objective is to reform him, not to be with him,” the system chimed in at the opportune moment. Seeing its host anxious for the first time, it hurriedly offered guidance.
Xi Yu gasped for breath. “Who gives a damn about Ye Weifeng? Even if he spawns ten or eight kids, what business is that of mine?”
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Xi Yu looked thoroughly enraged. “However, can that scumbag please stop dragging my cousin into this! My kind-hearted and beautiful cousin Xue Ling getting married to an insidiously shameless wretch like him, wouldn’t that ruin her life entirely? I absolutely forbid it!”
Hearing this, the system froze dumbfounded. It hadn’t expected the host’s anxiety to stem not from Ye Weifeng, but from Yue Xue Ling. Yet this was a matter it truly lacked the power to change.
“Host, have you forgotten you are still locked up in the Cold Palace? There is nothing you can do no matter how anxious you get!” The system blinked, deliberately rubbing salt into Xi Yu’s wounds. Seizing this golden opportunity, it attempted to persuade the host to find a way out of the Cold Palace and complete the mission.
Xi Yu stroked a pigeon he had been raising for quite some time, tucked an encrypted slip of paper into a pouch on its body, and patted the carrier pigeon, watching it fly off toward the outside of the palace.
Ji Qingzhou possessed exceptional operational efficiency. Once he received the signal from Xi Yu, it wouldn’t be long before he figured out a way to get him out of this Cold Palace.
Regarding Ji Qingzhou, both the original body and the present Xi Yu placed absolute trust in him; after all, it was nearly impossible to doubt the loyalty of a subordinate who constantly gazed at you with adoring eyes.
Soon enough, the capable Ji Qingzhou secured a method for Xi Yu to leave the Cold Palace.
That method was Wenren Yan, the chieftain leader.
As for Wenren Yan himself, he was actually the illegitimate son of the aging chieftain king. Though raised within the chieftain palace since childhood, he was treated as a mere slave and domestic servant, and upon growing up, was pushed onto the battlefield as cannon fodder by his own brothers, precisely the battle where he crossed paths with Xi Yu.
Xi Yu had been titled the Jade-Faced Asura; in any war where he commanded, victory for his side was a given, while survival for the enemy was a rarity. Wenren Yan’s brothers deliberately set a trap, waiting for him to march to his death.
However, Xi Yu appreciated his raw fortitude and pitied him for being framed to such an extent, so he unexpectedly spared his life.
Wenren Yan had grown up in a living hell of dog-eat-dog brutality, possessing a ruthless nature and an eye-for-an-eye vengefulness that made him a terrifying Asura of Slaughter.
Yet there was one trait, known to very few, that defined Wenren Yan above all else: he valued gratitude above all else.
The day Xi Yu spared his life, he etched that grace into his memory.
Now, having slain the brothers who had framed him and nearly cost him his life, he successfully ascended to the throne of chieftain leadership upon the old king’s death, dominating the entire Western Regions grassland.
It was time to repay Xi Yu’s grace.
The moment Ji Qingzhou delivered Xi Yu’s personal letter into Wenren Yan’s hands, the chieftain immediately packed his bags and set off for the Daqing capital.
He dispatched several missives to Ye Weifeng with a single demand: by the time he arrived in the capital, the person hosting the banquet for him must be Xi Yu.
With the chieftain state growing increasingly formidable and its strength not to be underestimated, Wenren Yan arriving personally in the capital under the guise of delivering tribute meant Ye Weifeng would naturally grant him this courtesy.
Furthermore, Ye Weifeng smiled faintly; he knew all too well that upon learning of his impending marriage, Xi Yu could never sit still.
After all, Xi Yu cared about him so deeply, didn’t he?
Ye Weifeng issued an imperial decree: release Xi Yu from the Cold Palace!