That voice gradually dissipated inside the room, and when it reached Ji Hengge’s ears, it left him slightly puzzled.
What did she say could be used?
This person did not seem to have come simply to assassinate him, Ji Hengge thought.
His hand hidden beneath the quilt tightened over and over again, yet in the end, he still refrained from drawing the blade hidden beneath his pillow.
Let him watch a little longer and see what on earth this imperial niece-in-law was trying to accomplish.
Ji Hengge did not move, and neither did Ji Hengge’s four imperial guards, merely exchanging silent glances in the dark.
Guard One’s gaze was cold and sharp: We shall remain motionless and bide our time.
Guard Two: Bide our time.
Guard Three: Time.
Guard Four: Motionless.
Meanwhile, Yan Lingyi had already stepped closer and closer to the bed.
Her gaze meticulously traced Ji Hengge’s brows and eyes.
Ji Hengge possessed refined bones and noble features. Even though his legs were crippled, his towering authority still tempted many noble maidens who wished to marry him. They were infatuated with his military achievements and admired his appearance, but when Yan Lingyi looked at him, she looked at him as if he were a broken blade.
She pitied him, she empathized with him, she felt regret for him, and she wanted to make this broken blade stand up for one final time.
To a certain extent, she was the person who best understood the Prince of Qi. Both of them had once risked their lives for the Great Jin, yet neither had managed to change its ultimate fate, leaving behind only maimed, diseased bodies and a ruined country, looking very much like a pair of defeated stray dogs.
However, not all defeated dogs were alike. Ji Hengge had departed in disappointment while harboring a chestful of smoldering rage, whereas Yan Lingyi bared her teeth, reddened her eyes, drooled with hostility, and roared back to her feet.
She had always treated others with kindness and tolerance, racking her brains and exhausting her every effort, yet that had not won her a good ending. Very well, then she would simply bite down hard on whoever displeased her! Anyway, the ending could not possibly get any worse!
Yan Lingyi was usually a master of strategic planning, shrewd and calm, but the very thought that this nation was about to perish made her ruthless, unhinged, and completely frantic to the point where she forgot her own name. She dared to snap at anyone and pull off any outrageous stunt. What Ji Hengge had observed about her earlier was entirely correct; she was now brazen to the extreme. Replacing the imperial heir in secret was not even enough for her; she was now set on committing an even more unthinkable act.
She wanted the Great Jin to prosper for ten thousand years, and she wanted to sit high upon the Empress Dowager’s throne, which means she needed a child.
Without a child, the position of Empress would remain unstable; only with a child could she firmly grip the lifeline of the Great Jin.
Just like how the Empress Dowager had given birth to a child and seized control of the imperial court in the past, she could walk down that exact same path. However, the child she gave birth to would certainly not be a useless waste like Emperor Wenkang.
Giving birth to Emperor Wenkang’s child was entirely out of the question since Yan Lingyi loathed his incompetence. Thus, the only remaining male of the Great Jin imperial bloodline was Ji Hengge.
An audacious, meticulous, and completely insane Empress was commanding a cross-dressing, clueless puppet princess who only listened to her sister-in-law’s words to pull off this stunt, coming after the Prince of Qi right after ruining Emperor Wenkang.
The agony of dying once and watching her country fall had burned away the very last shred of her hesitation and sentimentality. In her eyes, there was only the Great Jin, and as long as it was for the sake of the Great Jin dynasty, she dared to do anything.
She was upright to the point of being downright wicked.
By this time, Yan Lingyi had already walked right up to Ji Hengge’s bed and reached out to pull back his quilt.
She had mixed some sleeping powder into Ji Hengge’s wine, so she was thoroughly certain that Ji Hengge could not possibly wake up right now. Without the slightest hesitation, she reached out to untie Ji Hengge’s garments.
Her slender fingers, covered in light calluses, hooked gently at the silk sash, and his undergarment effortlessly slipped down from his chest.
The man lying on the bed possessed an exceptionally tall stature, with lean and powerful arms and a waistline covered by a thin layer of muscle. Because of his long confinement indoors, his skin was as snowy-white as fine jade.
The inner chamber was dim, and a cold stream of moonlight poured in from the half-opened window, casting its glow across his brows and eyes while lending a shimmering, crystalline luster to his pale lips.
Yan Lingyi’s hand brushed across his chest, feeling only biting coldness.
Ji Hengge had been afflicted with parasite poison for a long time; his legs were paralyzed and unable to move, his meridians were blocked, and it was difficult for his inner energy to circulate. His body was icy cold, feeling like an ice cellar even in the dead of winter, rendering him practically useless. All the imperial physicians had stated as much long ago, yet feeling it with her own hands still brought a trace of disappointment.
Could a body in this condition really still sire an offspring?
If not for the Prince of Qi, she would have no way to give birth to a legitimate heir of the Great Jin imperial bloodline.
If one called Yan Lingyi unhinged, she still knew she needed a child of the imperial family to guarantee the purity of the Great Jin bloodline. If one called her rational, she cared not which imperial family member it was, as long as it belonged to the imperial lineage.
A rational madwoman marching steadily toward her ideals, her moral bottom line bounced erratically according to her bizarre whims, making her actions utterly incomprehensible to others.
Yet she cared nothing for that; as long as she achieved her goal, she cared not who stood in her way.
She was a loyal subject, but whom she was truly loyal to was hard to say.
She was a capable general, but whose head she would take first was equally uncertain.
Amidst her reflections, Yan Lingyi’s gaze gradually drifted downward as she murmured, “The empire of Great Jin depends on you now.”
Ji Hengge, lying flat upon the couch, furrowed his brows deeply.
Who was she talking to?
He would soon find out.
The next moment, her hand slipped through a layer of silk trousers and landed right at Ji Hengge’s waist, giving him a solid squeeze.
Ji Hengge: !
If not for his paralyzed legs, he would have bounded straight up off the bed on the spot.
What on earth was this woman doing?!
A single squeeze was not enough, so Yan Lingyi furrowed her brows and massaged him a couple more times.
Unlike Ji Hengge, whose entire body was ice-cold, Yan Lingyi’s hands were scorching hot, brimming with the fiery, surging blood of a martial artist. The Yan family excelled in spear techniques; she had honed her spear skills since childhood, and a lifetime of practicing the Yan family spear had calloused her hands and hardened her bones.
This time around, she had not gone through the grueling ordeal of trying to rescue the runaway Emperor Wenkang in the mountains, so she was uninjured, nimble, and overflowing with strength. Her thin calluses scraped across his waist and abdomen with moderate pressure, making her feel less like she was touching a man and entirely like she was handling a trusty weapon.
For Ji Hengge, however, the experience was quite the opposite.
Not everyone could treat their own body and another person’s body as mere interchangeable containers. Although Ji Hengge had spent years fighting on battlefields, in certain matters, he truly fell short of Yan Lingyi. Yan Lingyi did not take his body seriously, nor did she care about her own; she touched him simply because she wanted to, but Ji Hengge instantly stiffened all over.
Her hand felt like a scorching branding iron, drawing a trail of burning heat that scorched his frame. Ji Hengge’s legs were crippled, but the rest of him was fully functioning; being rubbed in such a manner made his scalp tingle uncontrollably.
He had walked into danger on countless battlefields, but this was the absolute first time anyone had ever undressed him!
Pitiable Prince of Qi, who had spent the first half of his life fighting wars without ever touching a woman, only to be paralyzed in the second half and end up sexually harassed!
However, Yan Lingyi paid no attention to such thoughts. She urgently needed to confirm whether Ji Hengge was still usable.
She was no inexperienced maiden; she was well-versed in the matters between men and women, and testing it out would only take a couple of attempts.
Sure enough, Ji Hengge proved to be entirely functional, confirming it to Yan Lingyi within a mere two breaths.
“Oh,” Yan Lingyi remarked with slight surprise. “Quite impressive.”
Whether due to his martial arts background or something else, Ji Hengge was vastly, vastly superior to his good-for-nothing nephew.
Without wasting words, Yan Lingyi began taking off his trousers.
If he was usable, she had better use him right away! In a few days, this man might kick the bucket, and then he wouldn’t be usable at all!
While stripping off his trousers, Yan Lingyi righteously expressed her gratitude: “For the sake of the Great Jin dynasty, Your Highness, please hold on a little longer! The common folk of the Great Jin will remember you, and you shall not die in vain!”
With his eyes closed, Ji Hengge froze into a block of stone, his lips pressed tightly together as he clenched his teeth hard enough to nearly shatter them.
What did the Great Jin dynasty have to do with taking off his trousers?!
Was this thing of his supposed to pry open this vast empire?
What on earth was she thanking him for?!
He had come here harboring a bellyful of schemes to lie in wait for her, expecting her to draw a dagger and give him a clean stab, but he never anticipated that she would strip his pants off instead!
Let alone Ji Hengge, even the four secret guards hidden in the rafters, corners, behind screens, and along the wall margins widened their eyes in absolute shock.
They had followed the Prince of Qi across battlefields for over a decade, and what kind of spectacles hadn’t they witnessed? But then again, this particular spectacle was truly extraordinary.
The men exchanged silent glances.
The Prince of Qi’s prior instructions were that the moment Yan Lingyi made an assassination attempt, they were to strike as well; if Yan Lingyi showed no over-the-line behavior, they were not to alert the enemy.
So right now… did this count as over the line?
Should they charge out since their master was being assassinated, but what about now that their master was getting his pants pulled off?
Guard One contemplated for a moment and returned a look: We shall remain motionless and bide our time.
Guard Two lowered his head: Bide our time.
Guard Three lowered his head: Time.
Guard Four peeked out: We’re really not moving? His pants are about to be pulled all the way off! His Highness the Prince of Qi is still a pure virgin!
While the guards remained motionless, Yan Lingyi moved with blazing speed. She quickly stripped away Ji Hengge’s outer garments, observed him closely for a moment, and then prepared to take the field personally to settle the matter swiftly.
Oh!
Just as Yan Lingyi was about to slide down Ji Hengge’s underpants, the man on the bed suddenly stirred.
He shifted his arms across the silk couch, his sharp brows knitting tightly together as though he was about to wake up at any second, his peach-blossom eyes fluttering open!
Yan Lingyi was startled.
The drug she had administered was extremely potent; this man should have been fast asleep for the entire night!
She quickly reconsidered: Ji Hengge had fought battles in his early years, so he must have used plenty of medicinal drugs; perhaps some residual drug tolerance remained, counteracting her formula and rendering her medicine ineffective, as there were plenty of such wounded soldiers in the Yan army.
There was no time to ponder further. Yan Lingyi sprang backward like a nimble civet cat, her movements fluid and light as she lunged toward the window and soared right out through it with a soft whoosh.
As she vaulted out the window, Yan Lingyi cast one last look of deep regret backward.
She genuinely feared that if she didn’t use him now, Ji Hengge would drop dead in a few days.
After Yan Lingyi departed, Ji Hengge opened his eyes with a livid complexion.
Yan Lingyi truly owed this pair of legs her life.
After being paralyzed for a year, his decisive and ruthless temper had been forcefully tempered, cultivating a great deal of patience. If today’s events had happened to him a year ago, he probably would have snapped Yan Lingyi’s arms and pinned her to the floor for interrogation.
“Wunang,” Ji Hengge squeezed out a summon from between his teeth.
Wunang, Xueque, Silver Armor, and Purple Blade were the names of his guards.
The guard hiding in the rafters lunged downward swiftly, kneeling beside the couch as he reported, “This subordinate is here.”
The guards from the other three locations dashed out together, kneeling in order behind Wunang. The first three kept their heads bowed, while the fourth one, Purple Blade, emboldened himself to raise his head and peek.
And upon peeking, he happened to see Ji Hengge gritting his teeth while tying up his garments.
“Have Wunang investigate what Yan Lingyi was doing at Sanling Mountain.” Ji Hengge’s voice trembled with fury, causing Purple Blade to inwardly click his tongue in amazement.
Just how composed was their Prince of Qi? Years ago in the borderlands, getting stabbed three times by the enemy hadn’t made him blink an eye, and over the past year in Jianye, being plotted against by the Empress Dowager countless times hadn’t provoked his anger. But now? Today he had nearly been angered to death by the Empress.
“Investigate everything that happened recently regarding her,” Ji Hengge’s temples throbbed violently, every single word sounding as though he were chewing on Yan Lingyi’s flesh. “I want to know everything about her.”
Before Yan Lingyi went to Sanling Mountain, her interactions with Ji Hengge had been mediocre; the two of them could practically be called strangers, and during the year Ji Hengge spent recuperating in the inner palace, the number of times he laid eyes on Yan Lingyi could be counted on one hand.
Yet ever since Yan Lingyi returned from Sanling Mountain, she began this entire matter definitely had a cause. If they figured out what happened at Sanling Mountain, they could figure out the reason behind Yan Lingyi’s abnormal behavior.
True, Yan Lingyi had been reborn and held the advantage of foresight, but she hadn’t ascended to divinity on the spot; she still had to struggle through the mortal world and exhaust every effort to get what she wanted. Meanwhile, the other people in Jianye City were no fools. Yan Lingyi had her strategic plan, and Ji Hengge readily laid down stepping stones to follow along.
He needed to investigate everything about Yan Lingyi thoroughly.
“Your Highness,” Wunang reminded him in a low voice, “the matter of the scapegoat has already been planned out.”
In a few days, the scapegoat would be brought in, and they would be ready to leave according to plan.
Ji Hengge took a deep breath.
He had originally lost all interest in this Great Jin dynasty and intended to slip away quietly, but now, a Yan Lingyi had dashed out from the roadside and taken a ferocious bite out of his thigh. It didn’t hurt much, but it felt deeply humiliating.
He could not swallow this anger.
If he hadn’t pretended to wake up halfway through, Yan Lingyi probably would have really mounted him. What did she take him for? Did she think he was some sort of kept boy in a pleasure house?
“Once I figure out the truth,” Ji Hengge squeezed out a grim smile, “it won’t be too late to leave.”
This chess piece named Yan Lingyi had jumped off her designated square, bounced onto other squares on the chessboard, and even laid her hands on the other pieces, causing all the remaining pieces to temporarily suspend their own plans. Following Yan Lingyi’s footsteps, another smoke-free chess match began across the chessboard of the Great Jin.
Struggles between people were always like this; some played out in the open while others hid in the shadows, beginning the moment you stepped onto the board and lasting without cessation.
Naturally, Yan Lingyi remained completely oblivious to all of this.
Trapped by her memories of the past life, she was extremely certain of future events and never once imagined that the events of her past life might be false, which was why she did not suspect Ji Hengge at all right now.
At the moment, she was only scheming to find an opportunity to drug Ji Hengge once more.
After leaving Ji Hengge’s guest quarters, Yan Lingyi nimbly scrambled up the eaves, her gorgeous skirts blooming like a flower against the rooftop tiles. With a few agile bounds across the roofs, she slipped back into her own quarters.
When she returned to the room, absolute quiet greeted her.
Ning Yue was sleeping soundly, wrapped tightly in her quilt with plump, rosy cheeks. Yan Lingyi stood watching her for a brief moment, carefully smoothing out the rumpled quilt before undressing and lying down beside Ning Yue.
Ning Yue did not practice martial arts and remained unresponsive to subtle sounds. Having been plied with wine earlier by Yan Lingyi, her head felt heavy, and she had no idea who had come or gone, sleeping soundly without a care in the world.
Lying flat beside her, Yan Lingyi slowly closed her eyes.
Their sleeping postures were entirely different. Yan Lingyi lay rigidly straight without moving an inch, while Ning Yue tossed and turned, occasionally rolling over onto Yan Lingyi, whereupon Yan Lingyi would tuck the blanket back around her and clear out a bit of space.
The composed, gentle Empress and the sprawling, limbs-spread Princess spent the night in quiet tranquility.
An ice basin stood piled in the corner of the room, radiating chilliness that cooled the silk bedding. As one lay inside, the body gradually relaxed, and Yan Lingyi drifted deeply into sleep.
While Yan Lingyi and Ning Yue slumbered together, Ji Hengge’s two guards, Silver Armor and Purple Blade, had already set out, heading straight toward Sanling Mountain.
Tiny Sanling Mountain could now be considered a gathering place for crouching tigers and hidden dragons. The guards dispatched by Ji Hengge, the runaway Emperor, and the Zhilan dispatched by Yan Lingyi were all squeezed into the exact same mountain, and it was anyone’s guess who would die first.
Meanwhile, beneath the night sky, Sanling Mountain stood silently, generously welcoming every visitor.
Lu Family Village on the mid-level slopes of Sanling Mountain was quite lively today because it was the wedding day of the old Lu family’s daughter.
Speaking of this old Lu family, they were truly quite interesting.
They had only given birth to a single daughter, whom they raised like a boy, warping her temperament into one of extreme domineering selfishness. She practiced tyranny right at home, bullying whoever treated her well and constantly spewing ungrateful remarks like, “I am your only daughter, shouldn’t you treat me better?” or “If you hadn’t brought me into this world, how would I have ended up starving?”
However, Li Niang was unfailingly polite to outsiders; only the spineless old Lu couple suffered her constant reprimands daily.
Come to think of it, Li Niang and Ji Mingshan were equally favored, except that Li Niang grew up in the countryside while Ji Mingshan had at least received an education. When the two of them collided, it was truly hard to tell who was having worse luck.
Right now, the old Lu family’s daughter had brought back a man, announcing that they were getting married. No one knew where she had picked him up, but this man was remarkably generous with his money, instantly handing over a very expensive jadeite thumb ring and claiming it could be exchanged for plenty of grain and silver. The old Lu couple accepted it with half-doubts, hurried off to sell it, and returned eager to host a wedding banquet for the two of them. Yet whenever outsiders asked how much the thumb ring sold for, old Lu kept his lips strictly sealed.
Outsiders could only guess, never managing to nail down the exact sum.
Li Niang had secretly confided the truth to old Lu in private, claiming that this distinguished benefactor had fallen in love with her at first sight and eloped with her to get married. As for things like him being the Emperor, Li Niang kept quiet about them for fear of scaring her father.
Old Lu also sincerely welcomed this wealthy son-in-law. After all, since the son-in-law had forked over so much cash, old Lu busied himself hiring people to build a new house on one side and a theater troupe to liven things up on the other, kicking off the wedding celebrations amidst gongs and drums.
Night.
Within Sanling Village.
After Ji Mingshan and Li Niang completed their wedding rituals and shared their bridal chamber, the two of them collapsed together onto the heated brick kang.
There was no ice or charcoal to be found in the mountains; no matter how hot it got, they simply had to sweat it out. Ji Mingshan panted heavily, feeling as though the air was stuffed with suffocating, dry heat.
The brick kang was hard and terribly uncomfortable, the candlelight had to be used sparingly to save oil, there were no maidservants or eunuchs waiting outside the door, and all kinds of insects frequently roamed the room. He felt thoroughly miserable.
As the brief wave of novelty faded and he reexamined life in this place, he realized that this crude, backward backwater offered nowhere pleasant to step.
Aside from Li Niang, the emperor, accustomed to fine silks and luxurious delicacies, disliked every single thing about this place.
At that moment, Li Niang leaned over and muttered, “We have to go down to the river to wash clothes tomorrow, and you’re coming with me.”
Ji Mingshan suddenly felt a surge of irritation.
“Why do you need to wash clothes? Didn’t I give you silver?” he said.
He had given these people enough silver to last several lifetimes; why couldn’t they stop running around, enjoy themselves, and live a happy life with him?
“Just because you gave silver doesn’t mean we stop working! Silver runs out eventually, and you aren’t frugal at all. How are we supposed to live in the future? Since you married me, you’re part of our family now, so stop putting on aristocratic airs.” Li Niang chided him with a complaint. “You need to learn how to live properly, be filial to my parents, and take care of me. That is a man’s responsibility.”
Li Niang refused to pander to him. She simply turned her back on him and said, “Don’t you love me? If you love me, you should live the same life I do. If you refuse to work, it’s just because you despise poverty and love wealth! As expected, someone like you from a rich family can’t endure a single shred of hardship!”
Ji Mingshan was left momentarily speechless by her words.
Yes, he loved Li Niang, but loving Li Niang meant he had to suffer hardships and toil?
He had already abandoned the throne for Li Niang; how could Li Niang still accuse him of despising poverty and loving wealth? Did he really have to work himself to the bone like a beast of burden just to prove his love for Li Niang?
He felt rather aggrieved, turned away, and stopped talking.
Life running away with Li Niang was not nearly as wonderful as he had imagined.