At that moment, it was the height of a midsummer evening.
A pale moonlight drifted in through the half-open window lattice. Next to the low couch, a twined-branch floral lamp cast a bright, glowing radiance upon the Empress, while the ice basin in the corner quietly rotated. As the insect-repelling herbs placed atop it were steeped by the icy water, they emitted a faint, refreshing botanical fragrance. Amidst this herbal scent, the Empress sketched a flawless dreamscape for Ning Yue.
“You can be a princess if you wish, or an emperor if you so desire. But since you are already the emperor, why can’t you make the princess even happier?”
“If you marry into another family, even though you are a princess, you must still abide by the old mother-in-law and daughter-in-law customs. Though you won’t be overly bullied, the laws of ethics and human relations remain fixed. Your mother-in-law naturally holds the upper hand over you, and moreover, your husband will inevitably have concubines. Since ancient times, has a husband taking concubines ever been rare?”
Yan Lingyi continued, “The people listed in this catalog are all sons of civil and military officials in the court. Every single one of them over the age of sixteen has had worldly-wise maidservants stuffed into their chambers. Once you enter their doors, if your temperament is strong-willed, these maids might be driven away. But if your temperament is soft, these maids will inevitably become concubines or secondary wives.”
“Ning Yue, you have made such a massive sacrifice for the Great Jin, impersonating your brother to hold the reins of government. If not for you, the Great Jin would have descended into utter chaos long ago. Since you have done so much, why can’t you be a little kinder to yourself?”
“If you become a grand princess who establishes her own household, you will no longer have a mother-in-law. You will have countless handsome men and endless wealth, doing whatever you please. That should be your life.”
“You possess a heavenly ladder. Why must you insist on stepping down one step at a time?”
Why not live freely with multiple partners every single day like a man, enjoying ease and pleasure, instead of lowering yourself to serve others?
Handling Ning Yue was second nature to Yan Lingyi. First, she stirred Ning Yue’s greed, and then she began instilling a sense of responsibility rooted in the idea that without Ning Yue, the Great Jin would be doomed. At this juncture, with just a gentle nudge from Yan Lingyi, Ning Yue would naturally continue to occupy the imperial throne.
As for Ning Yue, this little girl was so bewildered by the clever persuasion that she sat holding the name list in her hands, completely speechless.
She belatedly thought to herself: Indeed, why on earth must I marry someone?
In the past, she had to marry because the Empress Dowager demanded it, and Emperor Wenkang forbade her from being too unconventional in order to safeguard the royal family’s reputation. But now, she was Emperor Wenkang. Why on earth should she still have to marry?
The young girl was rather simple-minded. Having served as emperor for nearly a month, it was only now that she realized she could utilize Emperor Wenkang’s power to plan for her own future. Given how slow-witted she was, it was no wonder Yan Lingyi dared to push her onto the throne.
Ning Yue harbored no malicious intentions; even if she truly sat firmly as emperor, she would not be any more difficult to manage than the Empress Dowager and Emperor Wenkang.
Under the current circumstances, Ning Yue was undoubtedly Yan Lingyi’s optimal choice.
To reiterate, Ning Yue was the sharpest blade in Yan Lingyi’s hand, though Ning Yue herself remained entirely unaware of it.
Yan Lingyi stopped right at the proper limit, without placing excessive pressure on Ning Yue. Instead, she gently steered the conversation in another direction: “Of course, if you happen to find a man you truly love, rolling up your sleeves to cook for him, showing filial piety to his mother, bearing his children, and raising the children of his concubines, viewed from that perspective, such a life might also be quite pleasant. After all, love can conquer all hardships.”
Ning Yue shivered.
The young princess remained silent, merely quietly putting away the name catalog in her hands and dropping the subject entirely.
That night, the two of them went to sleep together.
As usual, Yan Lingyi washed, bathed, and fell fast asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, while Ning Yue, lying right beside her, found herself wide awake.
She tossed and rolled, clutching the blanket; she wedged the blanket between her legs and rolled; she wrapped herself tightly in the quilt and rolled back and forth across the mattress, utterly unable to fall asleep. In the end, she had no choice but to prop herself up on her elbows at the edge of the bed, peering out past the canopy curtains.
Beyond the curtains lay the quiet side chamber. With its windows left unlatched, anyone lying on the couch could catch a glimpse of the dim scenery outside.
Gazing out at that dusky landscape, the Empress Dowager’s words flashed through her mind.
Marry into a good family.
Do have a couple more children.
Your brother will protect you.
She thought to herself that she no longer had an imperial brother, and therefore she perhaps did not need to follow her mother’s instructions anymore.
However, the marriage arrangement recently decreed by the Empress Dowager was growing imminent.
Over the past two years, the Empress Dowager’s health had steadily deteriorated, and recently the decline had become exceptionally severe. According to confidential hints dropped by the trusted wet nurse by the Dowager’s side, the Dowager did not have much time left.
For the Dowager to insist on selecting a consort for her right before her dying breath was undoubtedly driven by lingering anxiety. If she flat-out rejected the Dowager’s decree, would it cause the dying woman immense grief?
Lying propped on her arm beside the mattress, Ning Yue recalled that ever since she returned to the palace and took on the role of her imperial brother, she had hardly taken the time to visit the Dowager. A sudden pang of sour melancholy squeezed her heart.
Perhaps tomorrow, I should carve out some time to visit the Dowager.
Meanwhile, what was the mother Ning Yue was reminiscing about currently doing?
Night.
Inside the palace side chamber.
The wet nurse was attending to the Empress Dowager, helping her take her medicine.
Unlike the feigned weakness deliberately projected by Ji Hengge, the Empress Dowager was genuinely old and fast approaching death’s door. This time, as she journeyed here, she was merely clinging to a single breath of willpower, consuming potent, drastic medicinal concoctions daily solely to sustain herself until Prince Qi met his end.
As the Empress Dowager lay upon her couch, the flickering candlelight cast a glow upon her face, yet it failed to impart even a shred of vibrant radiance. She resembled an ancient corpse just hauled out from a frozen lake, curled up on the mattress with an aura of bone-chilling frost so intense it practically assaulted anyone who came near.
The wet nurse hurriedly handed her the medicine spoon.
The decoction tasted sharp, bitter, and burning. The moment it slid down her throat, it suppressed the chilling agony by three parts, restoring a measure of warmth to her body. Her turbid eyeballs rolled slowly within their sockets before coming to rest upon the wet nurse, staring at her unblinkingly.
The Empress Dowager’s vision had grown too blurred to clearly make out people’s faces. To her, the wet nurse who had served her for many years appeared veiled behind a layer of gauze. Staring intently for a moment, the Dowager suddenly asked, “Have the arrangements been completed?”
Her voice sounded as though it drifted up from the netherworld, sinister, icy, and laden with a damp, moldy stench that burrowed straight into the wet nurse’s ears.
“Everything is arranged,” the wet nurse replied as goosebumps erupted across her arms. Lowering her head, she reported, “One hundred elite death-squad warriors have all donned Northern Zhao attire and are lying in ambush within the mountains. The operation is set for tomorrow evening.”
The Empress Dowager slowly closed her eyes.
For this single day, she had waited far too long.
Tomorrow.
Everything would be settled tomorrow.
It is all worthwhile, the Empress Dowager thought to herself. All of this is for the sake of my son.
Once Prince Qi perished and her son returned to Jianye, he would reign as the undisputed, sole monarch.
The Empress Dowager remained completely oblivious to the fact that the son she yearned for was not even inside the imperial city.
Where, then, was her beloved child currently located?
Night.
The Sanling Mountains.
After finishing her evening meal at home, Li Niang walked all the way toward their family’s root cellar.
Along the way, Li Niang crossed paths with several fellow villagers. She cheerfully greeted them and happened to overhear a piece of fresh gossip.
A few days prior, two peddlers had come into their mountains. For reasons unknown, a local hunter surmised that the pair might have been mauled by wolves upon entering the wilderness. At any rate, one had gone missing while the other was left unconscious. The unconscious peddler had been discovered lying right on the mid-mountain path with two bleeding puncture wounds on his body, blood gushing out continuously.
Fortunately, the village chief had previously rented out property to them, and the villagers recognized their faces. Instead of casting the peddler out to die, they brought him into the village to be treated.
However, the man refused to wake up. The village’s barefoot doctor had administered several herbal poultices, declaring that he had been poisoned, though what kind of poison remained a mystery. Given the primitive conditions of the village, they could only let him fend for himself and muddle through.
After exchanging a few words with the villagers, Li Niang turned on her heel and headed straight toward the root-cellar door in the backyard of the Lu family estate.
Lifting the cellar hatch, a beam of moonlight streamed down from above, illuminating Ji Mingshan, who lay sprawled on the earthen floor below.
Ji Mingshan had been locked inside this root cellar for many days. Whenever Li Niang felt charitable, she would toss down some provisions; when she was out of sorts, she would ignore him completely, leaving him trapped here to reflect on his actions in solitude.
“Hey!” Today, opening the hatch, Li Niang squatted down and peered down at Ji Mingshan.
Ji Mingshan lifted his head with extreme difficulty.
Having spent a prolonged period trapped within this wretched cellar, a man who had once been as pristine as a gentle breeze and as polished as jade now appeared drastically emaciated and sunken-cheeked. As he crawled pathetically against the ground, gazing upward with a wretched expression, his features even twisted into a ferocious scowl.
“Li Niang.” His voice was raspy to the point of breaking as he squeezed out a plea: “I apologize to you. It was entirely my fault. Please, let me out.”
Li Niang let out an amused, rising-toned “oh”, and remarked, “I honestly thought you could hold out a bit longer.”
Previously, Ji Mingshan had constantly thrown around phrases like “I am the Son of Heaven,” lifting his chin toward the heavens with an arrogant, haughty demeanor. Despite already being married to her, he still refused to settle down and live an honest life, which had thoroughly displeased her and prompted her to teach him a lesson. She had never imagined his spine was so frail that it would snap the moment she pressed down on him.
Propped against the cellar floor, Ji Mingshan continued to utter flattering, submissive pleas.
He had no other choice.
Trapped inside the dark cellar for so long, Ji Mingshan had convinced himself multiple times that he was going to starve to death. He had never been a particularly strong-willed individual; lacking martial arts and any means of escape, after enduring days of starvation, he had no choice but to lower his noble head and apologize to Li Niang.
As long as she let him out, he would agree to do anything at this point.
Seeing him so docile, obedient, and completely cleansed of any arrogance regarding his status as emperor or her identity as a farm wife, the knot of resentment in Li Niang’s chest finally untied.
“Fine,” Li Niang said, picking up a wooden ladder from the side and lowering it into the pit. Tipping her chin upward with an air of haughty triumph, she commanded, “Come up.”
Ji Mingshan hoisted himself up from the ground and slowly climbed the long ladder.
Li Niang remained squatting above him with the same superior posture, hugging her knees and hurling sarcastic taunts.
“Calling yourself an emperor, indeed! Which emperor in the world is as utterly useless as you?”
“If not for me taking a liking to you, who else on earth would ever put up with someone like you?”
Yet, regardless of what she spewed, Ji Mingshan offered no retort, simply climbing upward step by step. Seeing him submit so thoroughly to her discipline, Li Niang finally felt completely satisfied.
She had successfully broken Ji Mingshan in.
It wasn’t that she disliked him; on the contrary, she was deeply enamored with Ji Mingshan.
However, she simply could not stand his swaggering, holier-than-thou attitude, always looking down on her from on high. That was why she had deliberately provoked him, forcing him to bow his head.
Did Ji Mingshan not love her? Since he loved her, he ought to accommodate her, obey her every command, feed her every morning, wash her feet every night, and pamper her attentively every single day.
Treating Ji Mingshan in this harsh manner was actually for his own good. Given his unbearable personality, he would undoubtedly make enemies everywhere if left unchecked. By training him now, she was molding him into someone people could genuinely adore, she was simply teaching him how to behave.
As Li Niang’s internal monologue raced through her mind, Ji Mingshan finally reached the top of the ladder.
He raised his head, bringing his gaunt, hollow face and turbid eyes directly before Li Niang.
Before Li Niang could react or step back to give him room to climb out, Ji Mingshan suddenly lunged forward. With brutal force, he locked his arms around her neck and violently dragged her down into the dark depths of the cellar.
Li Niang’s piercing shriek was instantly stifled within the gloomy underground pit. Amidst the pitch-black darkness, Ji Mingshan clamped his hands relentlessly around her throat.