The Prisoner of Beauty - Chapter 150

Chapter 150

Xiao Qiao slowly opened her eyes.

Wei Shao suddenly took her hand and led her down from the bed.

Xiao Qiao was brought into his study.

He stepped inside and lit the lamps.

Xiao Qiao watched with slight confusion. She saw him retrieve a box from a secret drawer.

It was precisely the box she was so intimately familiar with, the one she had just glimpsed outside the door several nights ago.

Wei Shao set the box upon the desk, seated himself behind it, and skillfully opened the lid, motioning for Xiao Qiao to come closer.

Xiao Qiao walked over with slow steps.

Inside, as expected, was that remnant war flag she had peered at from outside the door that night.

It was folded neatly and placed within the box.

"Manman, did you not always wish to know what was kept inside this box? It is my father's command flag from those years. The blood upon it was stained just before my father died. For many years, I have kept this relic in my collection..."

Wei Shao's gaze remained fixed upon the old flag as he spoke in a slow, measured voice.

Xiao Qiao held her breath, slowly lifting her eyes to look at Wei Shao.

His gaze was distant and hollow, as though he had plunged deep into the memories of past events.

"In those years, my father and your grandfather received orders from the imperial court to jointly launch a campaign against Li Su. Li Su's forces were immense. Both sides swore a pre-battle alliance as a vow, agreeing to launch a simultaneous attack from the east and west sides. Out of complete trust in your grandfather, my father deployed his troops and arranged his formations entirely on the premise that reinforcement would arrive. When the appointed hour came, after my father deployed his troops according to plan, he still fully believed your grandfather would arrive as agreed..."

His gaze fell upon Xiao Qiao's face, his hands slowly tightening into fists as several veins gradually bulged and protruded along the backs of his hands.

"The true culprits behind the slaughter of my father and brother were Li Su and his men; your Qiao family merely broke faith and violated the covenant. In war, there is no righteous battle; to be killed because one is outmatched requires no resentment toward others. But do you know—if, at that time, your grandfather had sent even a single message stating that he was withdrawing before the battle, my father could have altered his strategy on the spot. Even if he ultimately met with defeat, it would by no means have been as wretched and tragic as it was that day! My father and brother were isolated and without aid, dying within an ambush of chaotic arrows. The fifty thousand Wei family soldiers who accompanied them were nearly annihilated in their entirety; those who returned in the end were nothing more than a mere few thousand shattered remnants."

He closed his eyes, letting out a long, heavy breath.

"Manman, putting yourself in my shoes, as a son—if you were the one in my position, could you truly remain indifferent?"

He enunciated each word deliberately.

Xiao Qiao slowly walked toward him, kneeling beside his daybed. Grabbing his hand, she murmured, "I am sorry, I am sorry—"

Wei Shao's originally clenched fists slowly unfurled.

"It has nothing to do with you; you have no need to apologize."

He fell silent for a brief moment.

"Manman, I do not wish to deceive you. I know the events of those years had nothing to do with your father. It is just that even to this day, I am still unable to dispel the hatred I hold toward your Qiao surname. Even on that day when I ordered Wei Liang to deliver a congratulatory gift to Yanzhou for your father in your name, what I thought of most at the time was simply to bring you joy..."

"The architect of the tragedy back then, your grandfather, is already dead. I surmise that Grandmother must have discerned that my heart was consumed by malevolence and that my obsession was far too deep. She hoped I would become a broad-minded person, and since your Qiao family happened to seek an alliance through marriage, she agreed to the match back then."

"Regardless of whether my surmise is correct or if there is another hidden truth, Manman, my nature is to seek the fulfillment of gratitude and revenge, to do exactly as I please. For you, I can endure. But to ask me to completely cast aside this hatred—you must know that for me, this is far too difficult. Throughout the entirety of my life, I may not necessarily be able to achieve a state of mind as magnanimous as Grandmother's."

He pulled his hands away from Xiao Qiao's grasp and stood up.

Xiao Qiao's hands slid from the backs of his, her gaze following his figure. She stared blankly as he walked to the window, pushing it open and standing with his back toward her.

"Manman, I am not your ideal match. I know that ever since you married me, you have constantly strived for perfection, and you have already done everything flawlessly. In these recent days, you have suffered immense fright and grievance. I also know in my heart that if I cannot lay down this hatred for a single day, you and I can never truly be without walls between us for a single day."

"Grant me a little more time to think things through slowly."

He turned his head back, watching Xiao Qiao as he spoke slowly, the light in his eyes austere and grave.

...

Wei Shao departed from Yuyuan the following day.

At the end of the seventh month, Wei Shao appointed Li Dian as the Commander of Mount Tai Military Affairs, stationing troops in Zhangqiu to point toward Qingzhou; Li Chong and Zhang Jian were appointed as Joint Commanders of Pei District Military Affairs, pointing toward Xuzhou; he himself personally commanded Qiao County, directing his blade straight at Langya. The forces were divided into three routes, intended to strike simultaneously from separate directions to crush each target individually.

When the news spread, the entire realm shook in collective shock. No one had expected Wei Shao would actually launch a public offensive against the Langya Han imperial court in such a manner.

The Langya court hurriedly mobilized its troops and dispatched its generals. Aside from countering with full military force, Wang Ba, Dong Cheng, and others incessantly issued proclamations. They flaunted their rhetoric and adorned their phrases, their literary talent exceptionally brilliant as they announced to the world, bitterly cursing Wei Shao for acting against the heavens, branding it as open rebellion. They denounced him as a traitor no different from the lineage of Xing Xun, calling upon the warlords of the realm to serve the Emperor and jointly launch a campaign against him.

While the proclamations of the Langya court were being distributed throughout the realm, in the middle of the eighth month, Li Dian captured Changyi, swiftly severing the connection between the Langya court and Qingzhou.

By the end of the eighth month, Li Chong and Zhang Jian along the southern route seized Xuzhou.

In the first ten days of the ninth month, Wei Shao breached Yangdu, his military spearhead pointing directly at the Langya court itself.

The final battle was on the verge of breaking out at any moment.

...

This war taking place across the ancient lands of Qi and Lu sent shockwaves through the nine provinces.

Defenders of orthodoxy bitterly cursed Wei Shao as a rebellious official and a treacherous son, claiming heaven would surely smite him.

In the south, Gai Zhao of Yuzhou, Song Ling of Lujiang, Liu Quan of Jiangxia, and Wu Fan of Changsha—numerous local warlords, within the short span of a single month, emulated Lezheng of Hanzhong and seized the opportunity to successively declare themselves emperors and establish their own kingdoms.

The plague in the south had not yet passed when Huangzhou and Pengze were struck by famine once more. A single picul of white rice could not be bought even for ten thousand coins, and the people had no means of livelihood. Consequently, a Yangtze River water pirate named Chen Ying leveraged the sorcery of demonic Taoists, claiming to be the reincarnation of a Heavenly King. Hoisting the banner of the Heavenly Way, he gathered displaced refugees. Whichever region they captured, it was like locusts passing through; anyone who did not submit was slaughtered under the guise of violating heavenly decrees. Furthermore, they used human corpses as military rations, using the slogan "attack the city by dawn, eat meat by dusk" to inspire the subordinates. Within a few short months, they actually gathered a multitude of over a hundred thousand people. Styling himself as Heavenly King Chen, he crossed the Yangtze River and pressed toward the wealthy Huaiyang region with an aggressive momentum.

The south was plunged into grand chaos.

Yet in Yuyuan, everything was no different from usual. The populace went out to work at sunrise and rested at sunset, merely engaging in a few casual conversations over tea or after meals regarding the Lord's campaign against Langya.

The influence of the so-called orthodox Liu surname of the Han imperial court had long since plummeted to rock bottom in the north.

Among ordinary civilian households, who cared to what surname the realm belonged? Their only pursuit was a full belly and warm clothes.

During these years in which Wei Shao unified the north, local government appointed the virtuous and capable, abolished harsh laws, and reduced or exempted taxes and corvée labor. In the midst of a chaotic world, he sheltered them so they had a morsel of food to eat and could live a stable life; thus, they recognized the Lord of the Wei family as heaven.

It was an entirely simple truth.

...

Within Daming Temple in Luoyang, there lived a renowned, eminent monk named Gatan. In his youth, he had come to Luoyang from India, remaining for several decades to engage in translating scriptures and preaching Buddhist doctrine.

After Wei Shao occupied Luoyang last year, Lady Xu caught wind of Gatan's reputation and dispatched specialized personnel to invite him to Yuyuan to propagate the teachings, and Gatan cheerfully accepted the invitation.

The fifteenth day of the ninth month happened to coincide with Jinlong Temple's annual Buddhist assembly. The eminent monk Gatan opened the altar to preach the dharma, making the grand occasion even more spectacular than in previous years, continuing for seven consecutive days.

Lady Xu took Lady Zhu to Jinlong Temple to listen to the teachings.

Xiao Qiao did not go, remaining at home to tend to Feifei.

Feifei was already six or seven months old and had grown her baby teeth. Starting from last month, Xiao Qiao arranged for her to gradually be weaned from milk and begin eating complementary foods.

Feifei was extremely resistant at first, but after a month had passed, she had now gradually grown accustomed to her new food.

Tonight, when it was Feifei's feeding time, Chun Niang brought over a bowl of minced meat porridge blended with goat's milk. After feeding Feifei until she was full, Xiao Qiao accompanied her to play for a brief moment.

During the evening hour, seeing that the baby was gradually growing drowsy, Xiao Qiao coaxed her to sleep. Feeling exhausted herself, she dismissed the wet nurse and maidservants, closing the doors to climb into bed. Only Chun Niang was kept inside the room to attend to the night.

She slept for a while, and it was already the middle of the night when she woke up.

The surroundings were dead silent.

Her daughter was sleeping very securely, and the sound of Chun Niang's even breathing drifted clearly into Xiao Qiao's ears.

Xiao Qiao closed her eyes, wanting to continue drifting back to sleep, yet she simply could not fall asleep no matter what.

When Wei Shao attacked Langya, although he initially bore the infamy of rebellion, such condemnation had gradually settled into silence alongside his smooth advance and the self-proclamation of numerous warlords in the south as emperors.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, by the end of this month at the latest, the Langya court would surely be destroyed at Wei Shao's hands.

By that time, out of the ten portions of the realm, seven or eight would fall into Wei Shao's purse.

What else could possibly obstruct his imperial ambitions?

Compared to the past life within her dreams, where Wei Shao declared himself emperor when he was nearly thirty, in this lifetime, it truly had been accelerated by many years.

The day he would invest Feifei as a princess was surely not far off.

He would not make a move against the Qiao family either. Yanzhou was even more secure now. Even if the city gates were flung wide open without a single soldier or horse guarding them, no one would dare to invade.

Although her father remained blind in both eyes, judging from their previous correspondence, he viewed the matter very open-mindedly and was exceptionally magnanimous.

There was also her younger brother, who was currently in Bingzhou, where everything was also unfolding smoothly.

Xiao Qiao felt she was entirely content.

She had obtained Wei Shao's love and the tolerance born from that love, sheltered her family, and possessed a lovely daughter. Given the situation they started with, to be able to walk to where she was today—she could not fathom what more she could possibly ask for.

Yet tonight, waking up in this manner, just like many previous nights, although she still felt fatigued,

She could not, under any circumstances, fall back asleep.

In the end, she climbed down from the bed, slipped into a pair of soft-soled embroidered shoes, and using the pale moonlight filtering through the window, approached her daughter's small crib. She checked the quilt she was covered with, pulling it up for her slightly, before silently walking to the window and gently pushing it open.

A bright moon hung high overhead, its clear radiance thoroughly illuminating the mortal world. The trees and flowers within the courtyard were sparse yet elegant, their dark shadows interlocking. From some unknown corner, the occasional murmur of autumn insects drifted over, making this autumn night seem doubly serene and profound.

Xiao Qiao leaned diagonally against the window frame, lifting her face to gaze at the moon within the Toad Palace overhead. Gradually, a chill seeped into her jade-like arms, and only then did she suddenly realize she had forgotten to throw on a robe when she got up. She crossed her hands over her arms, lightly rubbing them. She extended her hand, just about to close the window, when her gaze suddenly froze.

Barely ten paces away from the window, in the southeastern corner, a sweet osmanthus tree was planted.

Beneath the shadow of the osmanthus tree, at this moment, the faint silhouette of a person seemed to be standing there.

It was only because the light in that corner was dim that she had failed to perceive it just now.

Lady Xu and Lady Zhu had gone to Jinlong Temple and would not return until a few days later. As for the security at home, Jia Si performed his duties with extreme thoroughness, arranging for guards to keep watch during the night.

Yet at such a midnight hour, in a place like the inner courtyard of the western quarters, it was absolutely impossible for guards to enter.

This dark silhouette was bound to be an outsider.

The hairs all over Xiao Qiao's body instantly stood on end. Just as she was about to call out in a loud voice, she saw the dark silhouette sway slightly, actually advancing toward her with rapid strides.

In almost the blink of an eye, he arrived right before her.

The moonlight illuminated a man's face that was half-lit and half-hidden in shadow, his eyes deep and his bone structure sharp.

Although she had not seen him for several years, she still recognized him at the very first glance.

It was actually Wei Yan!