Thunder boomed, and the rain poured down in sheets.
Streams of water fell like curtains from the Auspicious Beast-Patterned Eaves Tiles, pattering down and bending the Orchid Grass Plants under the eaves.
“Your subordinate dares to speak bluntly. Ever since the late Emperor fell gravely ill and Your Highness became regent, rumors have been spreading. They say the Princess holds the Son of Heaven hostage, controls the court, and lives a life of extravagant debauchery, wielding power for her own gain. They say you have engaged in mass slaughter to eliminate dissenters and have harmed loyal officials. They say you desire to monopolize power, have slaughtered your brother, poisoned your mother, and imprisoned your cousin, acting with cruel inhumanity.” He Yichen, the subordinate who had braved the rain, looked up at Yuan Fuyu. “As Your Highness’s husband, for the Imperial Son-in-Law to sign his name to a memorial requesting that the Grand Princess return political power to the Idle Prince—is that not telling the world that Your Highness is exactly as the rumors describe!”
Yuan Fuyu stood before the open Glazed Window, her gaze fixed on the swaying Hexagonal Corridor Lamps under the eaves of the gallery. She casually tossed the memorial, which her subordinate had rushed from the capital to deliver, onto the low table. Her expression was as indifferent as frost on snow.
“Where is Xie Huaizhou?” Yuan Fuyu asked.
Yuan Fuyu’s personal guard, Pei Du, said, “Your Highness, the Imperial Son-in-Law came to deliver your medicine a quarter of an hour ago. He is waiting outside the door.”
“Let him in.” Yuan Fuyu turned and gestured for her subordinate to withdraw.
Soaked to the bone, He Yichen, a subordinate of the Princess’s manor, exited the room. He brushed past Xie Huaizhou, who was dressed in a casual Raven-Blue Robe and holding an oil-paper umbrella and a food box. The look He Yichen gave Xie Huaizhou was filled with resentment.
Pei Du followed close behind and cupped his fist in a salute to Xie Huaizhou. “Imperial Son-in-Law, Her Highness invites you in.”
The flickering lamplight reflected in Xie Huaizhou’s handsome features. He leaned the oil-paper umbrella against a Vermillion-Lacquered Red Pillar in the corridor and, carrying the food box, unhurriedly stepped into the main room.
Yuan Fuyu sat composed behind the low table, leaning lazily against a Hidden Cushion. The gaze she directed at Xie Huaizhou was arrogant and mocking.
Xie Huaizhou’s appearance was as picturesque as an ink painting, as stunning as his talent.
When they first met, Yuan Fuyu had been sitting atop the Book Collection Tower north of Chongfu Temple, looking down as scholars sat before a Winding Stream, speaking their minds freely, debating and critiquing.
Some scholar had brought up Yuan Fuyu, claiming that her current role in assisting the new emperor would one day lead to her usurping the throne. He then spoke of the disasters brought by women meddling in politics throughout history and proposed that the Idle Prince should be invited to assist in governance, earning frequent nods from the small groups of scholars.
Beneath a splendid camellia tree, a solitary Xie Huaizhou rose. He bowed to the host of the Pure Talk Gathering before turning to the scholar who had just spoken so insolently. “In my humble opinion, I dare not concur…”
To this day, Yuan Fuyu still remembered how Xie Huaizhou, while maintaining a refined and proper demeanor, had spoken with razor-sharp words, enumerating her achievements as the founding princess.
At thirteen, she had led two thousand Manor Troops to quell rebellions and suppress bandits. At fifteen, when her father, Duke Zhao, was forced to take up arms, she had gone on campaign with her father and brother, accumulating countless military merits.
In the south, she forged the Yuexi Alliance with Shu.
In the west, she pacified the crisis of the Da Rong invasion.
When Great Liang invaded, Yuan Fuyu followed her elder brother into battle. After her brother fell, she led the army straight to the capital of Great Liang.
During the peace talks between the two nations, Yuan Fuyu defied her father’s orders and personally led a hundred-thousand-strong army to the outskirts of the Great Liang capital. She ordered her confidants to block the Great Liang king’s escape route with ten thousand troops, forcing Great Liang to submit to Great Zhao and completely incorporating its territory into the empire.
He had said that the Grand Princess had only rendered meritorious service to Great Zhao, never fault.
He then detailed the deep affection and loyalty Yuan Fuyu held for her brother and sister-in-law, expressing his firm belief that she would certainly relinquish power once their only child came of age.
At that time, the sharpness in Xie Huaizhou’s eyes had been almost naive, foolish even, yet it made Yuan Fuyu feel that his sincerity was the youngest, most vibrant life force in Great Zhao.
She preferred his sharpness over his current steady and docile nature.
“When we first met, I merely thought you were a man like a Jade Tree, someone who could be supported as a model for scholars. Even after I learned you were from a merchant family and had exploited a legal loophole to pass the imperial examination and enter officialdom, and even though I despise merchants, I still accepted the marriage decreed by the late Emperor.” Yuan Fuyu’s voice was light and dismissive. “You have been the Imperial Son-in-Law for two years. If not for my protection, could you have reached where you are today? Your own foundation is not even stable, yet you’re already thinking of burning the bridge after crossing it?”
In recent years, although Yuan Fuyu held sole power, she was often constrained by the aristocratic families she worked with. She needed to support a young, stubborn man like Xie Huaizhou, who dared to challenge the aristocracy in court, to achieve her goals.
In her two years of marriage to Xie Huaizhou, she had feigned deep affection for him, all to make the aristocratic families hesitate and not dare to take his life when he stood against them.
After two years of acting, did Xie Huaizhou truly believe she was devoted to him and couldn’t bear to kill him?
“Your humble servant would not dare,” Xie Huaizhou said.
“‘The Emperor is young and weak, the Grand Princess’s regency has brought inauspicious celestial phenomena, she should follow the will of Heaven and return power, inviting the Idle Prince to be regent’?” She nonchalantly tossed the memorial at Xie Huaizhou’s feet. “Today, you dragged me to this estate just so that in court tomorrow, the Imperial Censor could smoothly submit this memorial?”
Xie Huaizhou bent down to pick up the blood-stained memorial from the floor. He knew in his heart… the Imperial Censor had likely already been silenced.
And the other officials who had signed their names to this memorial probably wouldn’t meet a good end either.
“Yes,” Xie Huaizhou admitted frankly, looking at Yuan Fuyu. “That was the original plan.”
“What did the person behind this promise you?”
“Minister of Personnel.”
“Minister of Personnel, a position equivalent to Vice-Chancellor.” Yuan Fuyu sneered. “Deep down, you truly are a profit-seeking merchant’s son. On the surface, you feign aloofness and pride, but inside, you harbor wolfish ambitions. You used me to rise through the ranks, and in just two years, you’ve formed cliques for personal gain, eliminated dissenters, won over court officials from humble backgrounds, curried favor with the Emperor’s attendants, and used jianghu forces to influence the regions. Now that you have a shallow grasp of power and money, you dare to disrespect the imperial family and make an enemy of me. If you were to attain great wealth and status, would you not bring about the same disaster that caused the fall of the previous dynasty?”
Xie Huaizhou’s spine was as straight as a pine tree, his voice solemn. “Your humble servant has never had any presumptuous thoughts! Does Your Highness not know the state of your own body? If you refuse to part with your power, you will burn out in a year or two. How many times have I advised you? Have you ever listened? I fought for power only to show you my capabilities, so you could set aside court affairs and recuperate in peace.”
Yuan Fuyu rarely saw Xie Huaizhou so agitated. She raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Is it so hard to give up power? Is it more painful for you than giving up your life?” Xie Huaizhou forced himself to suppress his ragged breathing, closing his eyes to calm his exposed emotions. After setting down the food box, he lifted his robes, knelt, and kowtowed. “For the crime of overstepping my bounds, I will accept whatever punishment Your Highness decrees.”
He and Yuan Fuyu were husband and wife. As a husband, he cared about his wife’s health and her life.
He had already tried his utmost to save her several times, but Yuan Fuyu stubbornly refused to relinquish power and recuperate. In that case, he could only divorce her and never interfere again.
The room was silent for a long while.
“Do not let something like this happen again.” Yuan Fuyu’s voice was indifferent, as if she did not take the matter of the memorial to heart. “Bring me the medicine.”
Hearing this, Xie Huaizhou looked up. He brought the food box to Yuan Fuyu, opened it, and took out the medicine bowl.
Taking the bowl, Yuan Fuyu smelled that the decoction was sweeter than usual. “Did you change the medicine?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Hearing Xie Huaizhou’s reply, Yuan Fuyu frowned and drank the entire bowl of medicine.
“I changed Your Highness’s medicine, and you don’t suspect me?” Xie Huaizhou asked.
Yuan Fuyu handed the medicine bowl back to Xie Huaizhou and picked up a handkerchief from the table. She folded it twice and languidly wiped the corners of her lips. “Why should I suspect you?”
After all, she was Xie Huaizhou’s only foundation in court.
Besides, in Yuan Fuyu’s view, a memorial jointly signed by this group of civil officials could not make any waves with her.
From ancient times to the present, only those who wielded the sword could rebel; it was unheard of for those who wielded the pen to overturn the heavens.
Xie Huaizhou clearly misunderstood Yuan Fuyu’s meaning. The corners of his eyes reddened. He caught the hand she was using to wipe her lips, feeling ashamed of the thoughts of divorce that had been plaguing him these past days.
His gaze roamed her face, direct and filled with tender affection. “Your Highness, your servant dares to offend.”
His hot breath fell on the corner of her lips.
Yuan Fuyu sat on the soft couch covered in White Fox Fur. She neither cooperated nor refused, merely remaining motionless, watching him piously kiss her lips. She was like a sculpture of ice and jade, her features sharp.
Their eyes met. Yuan Fuyu did not hide the condescending scrutiny and speculation in her gaze, but she was startled to find that in the darkness, Xie Huaizhou’s eyes were infatuated and fervent, threatening to pull her in.
A cool wind suddenly slammed the half-open window shut. The layers of gauze curtains hanging from the sandalwood beams were sent flying wildly by the wind. The bronze crane lamp standing before the twelve-paneled screen of red coral, green jade, and gold-inlaid nanmu wood dimmed and never lit up again.
In the darkness, only the intertwining of breaths and a reckless, fervent intimacy remained.
Before the lingering, romantic atmosphere in the room could dissipate, the sound of armor clashing against swords came from outside, amidst the rumbling thunder.
Torches wrapped in oilcloth illuminated the courtyard in the downpour, making it as bright as day.
Yuan Fuyu awoke with a start.
She threw open the bed curtains, pulled out the shortsword from under her pillow, and stepped barefoot onto the Ground Cover to look outside.
“Pei Du.”
Pei Du, who was usually almost inseparable from Yuan Fuyu, was not outside the door. There were only the footsteps of a large contingent of men, advancing toward this door like rolling thunder.
The enemy was numerous and her own side few, and the situation outside was unclear. Yuan Fuyu calmly took a step back.
Sensing someone approaching from behind, aiming for her neck, Yuan Fuyu’s phoenix eyes turned cold. Acting on instinct, she flipped her wrist without a second thought and thrust the sword into the person’s abdomen.
As the blade sank into flesh, Yuan Fuyu saw that what Xie Huaizhou had been placing on her shoulder was not a weapon, but his wide outer robe.
Yuan Fuyu turned in astonishment. Xie Huaizhou just looked calmly at the shortsword buried in his abdomen. He gripped her hand as she tried to pull the blade out and, enduring the intense pain, wrapped the outer robe around her with one hand.
The partition screen behind them was kicked open, and the killing intent of a long saber slicing through the air rushed straight at Yuan Fuyu.
Xie Huaizhou looked up, his dark pupils lit by the firelight, preparing to grit his teeth and shield Yuan Fuyu behind him.
But to his surprise, Yuan Fuyu pulled the shortsword from his body first and pushed him away.
Xie Huaizhou clutched his wound and fell powerlessly to his knees.
The clash of blades rang out. Yuan Fuyu pressed down on the long saber with her shortsword, seized the wrist of the armored soldier wearing an Ogre Mask, and deftly disabled his sword hand.
Amidst a scream, Yuan Fuyu’s shortsword, which could slice through iron as if it were mud, slit the throat of the soldier before her.
Outside the door were only black-armored soldiers holding oilcloth torches and wearing Ogre Masks. It was impossible to tell who was in charge.
“Elder Sister! Don’t you hurt my sister! Let me go!”
Her younger sister Yuan Fuqu’s terrified screams came from outside.
Yuan Fuyu gripped her shortsword and had just taken a step forward when an arrow, carried by the fierce wind and rain, shot into the room and pierced through her chest… sending her flying backward.
“Your Highness!” Xie Huaizhou, half-covered in blood, lunged forward to catch Yuan Fuyu, and they fell together.
Soaked to the skin, Yuan Fuqu broke free from her captors and stumbled into the room. “Elder Sister!”
Blood gushed from Yuan Fuyu’s mouth in great mouthfuls. She struggled with all her might to get up, wanting to see clearly who wanted her dead.
But her vision was gradually blurring.
To think that she, Yuan Fuyu, had dominated battlefields for years, only to capsize in a ditch, dying an obscure death on this estate.
Even in death, she could not be an enlightened ghost, not knowing who had taken her life.
She was not resigned.
In the moment before her consciousness faded, Yuan Fuyu’s mind was filled with worries about the court.
The aristocratic families were as steady as old dogs; no matter who was in power, the court would not fall into chaos.
But the Emperor was only six years old. Once she died, no one would dare to use an iron fist to contend with the aristocratic families. The empire of their Yuan family would no longer be decided by someone named Yuan.
“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
“Elder Sister! Elder Sister…”
In her ears, Xie Huaizhou’s urgent calls and Yuan Fuqu’s anguished cries grew fainter and fainter, but the sound of the cataclysmic rain pounding on the roof tiles, the tall trees, and the puddles grew louder and more urgent, merging into a sharp, continuous ringing in her head.