Summer winds blew across the Sanling Mountains, carrying Yan Lingyi’s lingering thoughts into the countryside.
The Sanling Mountains during the day were breathtakingly beautiful.
Thousands of folds of white silk mountains stretched along the river, their floating peaks layered with emerald like clouds and mist. As golden sunlight poured down, the smoke and clouds dispersed while the mountains remained steadfast. Amidst the vibrant greenery, a crystal stream tumbled down from the mountain summit, rushing merrily toward the distance.
Under normal circumstances, if Ji Mingshan had laid eyes on this rushing stream, he undoubtedly would have found its surging, refreshing flow quite delightful. Right now, however, as he squatted by the stream doing laundry, he felt entirely differently.
The blazing sun overhead made him dizzy. Squatting by the water for too long had left his legs completely numb, his lower back felt as though it were about to snap, and the heavy washing paddle left the bones in his hands aching with fatigue. A layer of damp sweat clung to his scalp, soaking his hair thoroughly. His scalp itched furiously, so after sitting by the side to rest for a moment, he said to Li Niang, “Li Niang, help me wash my hair.”
“Help you wash your hair?” Li Niang was in the middle of wringing out a freshly washed garment. Hearing this, her voice pitched higher as she retorted, “Don’t you have hands of your own? Why are you always expecting to be waited on by others? Can’t you act like a man for once? What kind of man is always waiting around to be served!”
Ji Mingshan had been enduring it since yesterday, but today he finally reached his breaking point. Raising his voice, he shouted, “Li Niang, I have been tolerating and accommodating you all this time. Why can’t you accommodate me?”
“You’ve been accommodating me? I’m the one who’s been accommodating you this whole time!” Li Niang grew even angrier, her pretty face etched with stubborn defiance. She sprang to her feet with a start and yelled right back at Ji Mingshan, “How many women have you had in the past? How many imperial concubines have you touched? Did I ever look down on you for that? By being with you, I’m the one who got the short end of the stick! I never had any other man before you!”
Ji Mingshan had never encountered a woman like this in his entire life!
How could a man and a woman possibly be compared in the same way?
He hollered back, “How can you compare yourself to me? Aside from me, you couldn’t find anyone better! But I can be with any woman I want! Do you have any idea how many women out there are devoted to me?”
“How can those women compare to me?” Li Niang shouted back, tears of fury welling in her eyes. “I love you for who you are, while they love your power and status! If you weren’t the Emperor, would any of them be willing to live a hard life with you?”
“No matter what, I am the Emperor! I cannot do these kinds of menial tasks!” Ji Mingshan was far too pampered and spoiled; the moment he suffered even a tiny bit of hardship, he refused to bear it.
“That’s right! You’re noble, you’re extraordinary! Then leave! Who forced you to stay behind?” Li Niang was utterly enraged. Back when she and Ji Mingshan were first falling in love, she had made it clear that she wanted a lifelong monogamous devotion, a completely untainted man. The fact that Ji Mingshan had shared a past with other women had always deeply bothered her.
Even after Ji Mingshan abandoned his wealth and prestige to follow her back to her mountain village, she still could not accept it; every time she thought about it, it felt like a fishbone stuck in her throat.
The only way she could feel compensated was by demanding more, and more, and more from Ji Mingshan, making him perform endless tasks for her.
Pushed past his limits of fury, Ji Mingshan roared, “Then I’ll leave! Do you think I actually wanted to stay here with you? The moment I return to Jianye, I am the Emperor, while you will remain stuck in this wretched mountain village as a mere farm wife for the rest of your life! You’re only fit to wash clothes here until the day you die!”
As the two of them quarreled furiously, completely consumed by their rage, they remained entirely oblivious to Zhilan, who was crouching in the nearby bushes and slowly tightening her grip on the sword at her waist.
The command the Empress had given her was clear: if the Emperor refused to return, she was to keep a watchful eye on him here; if the Emperor attempted to return, she was to send him on his final journey.
Since Ji Mingshan clearly harbored thoughts of leaving, it was time for her to kill him.
At times, Yan Lingyi resembled a starved wild dog, while Zhilan acted like a Gu-creature cultivated by Yan Lingyi. Yan Lingyi at least possessed a shred of intellect to weigh her directions, whereas Zhilan’s mind was completely blank, devoid of any complex thoughts. The moment her master raised a hand, Zhilan would dart forward like an arrow without a single ounce of reason, entirely unconcerned with whether the target before her happened to be the Emperor.
Just as Zhilan readied herself to step forward and finish off Emperor Wenkang, Li Niang made her move first!
Snatching up a heavy stone that had been used as a makeshift stool, she caught Ji Mingshan completely off guard and smashed it down hard against the back of his head!
The blow was so forceful that Ji Mingshan’s legs instantly went limp, and he collapsed onto the ground, staring up at her with a look of utter disbelief as he stammered, “Are you out of your mind?”
Not only Ji Mingshan, but even Zhilan was completely taken aback.
Hesitating for a moment, Zhilan slowly slid her sword back into its scabbard. Judging by Li Niang’s aggressive stance right now, she might not even need to dirty her own hands.
Amidst the metallic sound of the blade sliding in and out, Zhilan heard Li Niang shriek at the top of her lungs, “You really are fickle and inconstant, fickle and promiscuous! You barely married me before you started wanting to get rid of me! In your dreams! Let me tell you, you’re staying with me for the rest of your life!”
Ji Mingshan was left utterly dumbfounded.
How could he have ever imagined that Li Niang was such a lunatic! True, he had wanted someone to love him, to love him alone, above all others, and with utter devotion for a lifetime, but he had never bargained for this kind of suffocating madness!
In the past, whenever Li Niang threw her tantrums, there were always other people around to bear the consequences. For instance, when a princess from the Southern Snow Kingdom had died, it was the Empress Dowager who had to deal with the fallout, the country that faced destruction, and the frontline soldiers who died first. Ji Mingshan himself had never suffered any direct devastation; all he ever had to do was stand off to the side, display a heartbroken expression, and embrace Li Niang while cursing the injustice of a world that refused to let them be together.
After all, none of it was ever his fault, it was always those other people forcing his hand.
Back then, Li Niang had been easily persuaded by that kind of flawed logic. Instead of hating him, she had directed her hatred toward other women, resenting Yan Lingyi and any female who dared approach Ji Mingshan or attempt to seduce him.
Look at how things stood now. Ji Mingshan had actually abandoned the imperial city with Li Niang and come out to these remote mountains where there was absolutely no one else to blame, leaving Li Niang to vent all her pent-up fury directly onto him.
Ji Mingshan simply could not handle this treatment!
He was supposed to be the most revered person under heaven, yet he had stepped down from the dragon throne for the sake of true love, only to be degraded and trampled into the dirt like this. He genuinely loved Li Niang, yet for some incomprehensible reason, every interaction made him feel as though he had committed some unforgivable crime against her.
Any other woman in this world ought to have fallen on her knees in tearful gratitude just to receive a fraction of his affection. Why on earth did Li Niang treat him like an irreconcilable enemy after finally winning his love?
Ji Mingshan could not make sense of it. The truth was that Li Niang genuinely loved him, she loved neither his imperial throne nor his worldly wealth, but loved him as a man. In Li Niang’s eyes, they stood as equals, or rather, because Ji Mingshan had previously been involved with other women, he actually ranked lower than her. Her mindset was as simple and overbearing as that.
Grief, indignation, and burning anger warred within him, but it was already too late.
Lifting the heavy stone high once more, Li Niang struck Ji Mingshan until he passed out cold. Then, dragging and hauling his unconscious body all the way back to the village, she locked him straight inside the root cellar, shouting down at him through the hatch, “Until you admit your wrongs and learn to obey, you won’t get a single bite of food from me!”
The cellar had been dug out by the villagers themselves; it was dark, damp, and crawling with insects, with various wooden racks and farming implements piled haphazardly in the corners. Tossed unceremoniously inside, Ji Mingshan was immediately enveloped in a heavy, humid stench of wet earth.
“How dare you treat me like this!” Blood trickled from the wound on his head where Li Niang had struck him, and he roared in furious disbelief.
He was the Emperor!
His only response was the loud, resounding bang of Li Niang slamming the cellar door shut above him.
Disobedient people needed to be taught a lesson, and a few missed meals would make anyone obedient.
That was how the villagers in Li Niang’s hometown trained the women they brought home as brides, and she was applying those exact methods to Ji Mingshan now.
Inside the empty, stifling cellar, Ji Mingshan’s furious roars echoed off the earthen walls.
After shouting himself hoarse several times, Ji Mingshan felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. Whether it was from the open wound on his head or the oppressive, airtight atmosphere of the cellar, his strength finally gave out as he slumped against the wall. At that moment, all the novelty and romance he had associated with their love were completely washed away by Li Niang’s erratic actions, leaving behind only bitter resentment and anger.
For the very first time, Ji Mingshan found himself yearning for Yan Lingyi.
Yan Lingyi would never treat him this way. Whenever he suffered even the slightest scrape, Yan Lingyi would immediately tend to it herself. If Yan Lingyi were to find out that Li Niang had dared to bully him like this, she would undoubtedly have had Li Niang executed to vent his anger.
It turned out that Yan Lingyi’s previous insistence on teaching Li Niang proper court etiquette had been entirely correct. He should never have let himself be blinded and run away with Li Niang in the first place.
Ji Mingshan regretted it.
He wanted to return to the Sanling Mountains and resume his role as Emperor. As for Li Niang, this unhinged madwoman, Yan Lingyi could dispose of her however she saw fit; he wanted nothing more to do with her.
Clenching his fingers into fists against his knees, Ji Mingshan gritted his teeth and thought to himself that he just needed to hold on a little longer.
Yan Lingyi would never give up searching for him. The moment Yan Lingyi found him, he would still be the Emperor!
Once he got back, he vowed he would never lose his temper with Yan Lingyi again, so the young emperor resolved as he sat alone in the dark cellar.
Meanwhile, Silver Armor and Purple Blade, tasked with investigating the events unfolding within the Sanling Mountains, had already arrived at the village.