Wish You All the Best - Chapter 109

Chapter 109

The scene within the city of Tangyi was harrowing. The soldiers stationed there were mostly auxiliary troops recruited by the Prince’s manor, with the remainder being mercenaries gathered by the Zhang family. The two brothers of Zhang Fengtong wandered the city, spreading rumors that the imperial court had suffered a crushing defeat beyond the passes and was critically weakened, while their own reinforcements were supposedly on the way. They demanded that everyone defend the city with their lives, promising that if they eventually conquered the imperial capital, every man would be granted titles and nobility. If they were defeated before the reinforcements arrived, however, they warned that the city would be razed, and everyone would meet a miserable end.

In the streets and alleys, one could frequently stumble upon the decomposing corpses of soldiers who had died during the recent infighting. No one had the time or inclination to deal with them, so they were simply shoved into corners and haphazardly covered with straw or tattered mats. The soldiers looked as if they had not eaten a proper meal in days; every pair of eyes was bloodshot, filled with a mixture of terror and the hysterical gaze of a cornered beast. The air was thick with the foul stench of pus and blood.

The Prince of Changle’s manor had now been occupied by Xiao Yintang. The manor, with its sprawling grounds, front courts, and rear gardens, was decorated with luxury. Beautiful handmaidens stood with hands at their sides, waiting to do his bidding. Inside and outside the gates, it was as if two different worlds existed.

No sooner had Jiafu entered than she saw a figure in ornate robes standing within the doorway. Her posture was exceptionally straight, stiff almost to the point of rigidity.

This woman was Zhang Fengtong.

After several years of absence, her appearance had changed drastically. The round, opulent face Jiafu remembered was gone; she was now gaunt and withered. Though only in her twenties, she looked like a middle-aged woman. Her expression lacked its former composure and stability, with all her bitterness and acerbity laid bare in her protruding cheekbones and dull, dark gaze.

She stared at Jiafu with those two eyes, unblinking from the moment she entered. Suddenly, her pupils shifted slightly, turning toward Xiao Yintang.

Xiao Yintang acted as if he had not even seen her. He walked past her, led Jiafu inside, and pushed open a door.

Jiafu slowly removed her cloak and turned to face Xiao Yintang, who had followed her in.

Xiao Yintang did not speak. He merely looked her up and down for a moment, his eyes flickering, before he lifted his feet and walked slowly toward her.

Jiafu did not retreat. She met his gaze. "Xiao Yintang, if I am not mistaken, you have me brought here at this moment for no other purpose than to use me as a hostage against my husband. Even if you achieve your wish and your father hands the throne to you, you will still fear him. Since I am here, I do not fear death. You know better than I do which is more useful to you: a living me or a dead me."

Xiao Yintang stopped before her and gazed at her for a moment; his eyes gradually narrowed. "Since you know, why did you come? What did the Emperor say?"

"He fell ill. When I left, he had not yet awakened—"

Jiafu stared into his eyes. "How did you know I was in the capital? If I had failed to arrive within ten days, would you truly have spared nothing and destroyed everything?"

"Guessing you were in the palace? How hard could that be? On his birthday, my father carried a child up to the Meridian Gate tower. Do I not know who that child is? The so-called descendant of the divine woman..."

He gave a cold laugh.

"He intends to pass the throne to Pei You'an’s son! Since that child has entered the palace, I figured you were nearby. Driven to this point, what do I have left to lose? I was born a Crown Prince, yet my father is so partial, and Pei You'an has harmed me deeply. In those years imprisoned behind high walls, I wept tears of blood day and night; life was worse than death! Rather than living like a dog for a lifetime, it is better to fight to the death today!"

"If I had not come, and General Liu had breached the city, how would you have spread the news? Who in the world would have believed your words?"

"I will tell you the truth: I knew my father would not easily agree. I cannot hold this city for much longer either. Since I have made the threats, I have naturally made full preparations. Today is the tenth day. I have long since arranged for people to act. If you had not come, or if news of my death had spread, within a few days, every clan prince and regional lord would have received news of this matter!"

His expression grew agitated, a flush of excitement rising to his cheekbones. "Those clan princes and regional lords have lost lands and power over these years, all pushed to the brink by my father. Now, if they learn that the Emperor committed adultery with the late Empress Tianxi and that Pei You'an is a child of incest, how do you think they will react? What does one fake Xiao Yu matter? By then, there will likely be fake Xiao Yus everywhere! As long as my father remains on the throne, this world will know no peace! Even if he dies, the scandal between him and the late Empress will be known to everyone! By then, I wonder what face Pei You'an will have to live on in this world!"

He laughed wildly. "It does not matter if I die. I want to make my father and Pei You'an suffer a fate worse than death! Even in death, they shall not find peace!"

Even before she came, based on her knowledge of Xiao Yintang from her previous life, Jiafu had concluded that with his paranoid personality, the words in that letter were definitely not mere empty threats.

But upon hearing such things spoken from his own lips, the horror in Jiafu’s heart was uncontrollable.

She stared at the nearly insane man before her, cold sweat breaking out on her back, her heart beating so hard it felt as though it would jump out of her throat.

"Xiao Yintang, how do you know this? Besides you, who else knows?"

Xiao Yintang stopped laughing and stared at Jiafu. A strange, eerie smile that made her skin crawl slowly spread across his lips. "Afu, to tell the truth, your willingness to come here today was beyond my expectations. Are you fishing for information? You truly disappoint me. You do not know that, in this life, you were originally destined to be Xiao Yintang’s woman, and I was meant to be the Emperor of this world. But since you are here now, I will not hold it against you..."

He gazed at her, his eyes suddenly becoming infinitely gentle. He said softly, "Afu, from this day forward, forget Pei You'an and stay by my side, will you?"

Jiafu felt a chill run down her spine. Suddenly, she understood everything.

From the moment Xiao Yintang addressed her as "Afu" for the first time, that familiar tone had brought back memories of her previous life.

She opened her eyes wide, staring in terror at the man before her.

So, he was just like her!

"Afu, you do not know, in the last life, you were already Xiao Yintang’s. In this life, if I can still be Emperor, you shall be my lucky star. I will certainly fulfill the promises I once made to you. In this life, I must make you my Empress. I will treat you very, very well..."

He reached out a hand to Jiafu and walked slowly toward her.

Jiafu retreated, retreating continuously, until she hit the wall and had nowhere else to go. Suddenly, she said coldly, "Xiao Yintang, in my past life, I was imprisoned by you, without name or status, never seeing the light of day. You died in this very war beyond the passes, and even when you died of your wounds, you would not let me go, forcing me to be buried with you. Being buried with you was one thing, but do you know how I died in the end? I was still alive, yet I was nailed into a coffin!"

Xiao Yintang froze. He stopped in his tracks, the softness in his eyes vanishing instantly, replaced by horror.

"You need not be so surprised. You remember the events of the past life; I remember them too."

After a long moment, Xiao Yintang seemed to finally react, grinding his teeth. "That vile woman! How dare she treat you like that! When I escape this, I will surely avenge you; I will never let her off! Whatever she did to you before, I will return to her in kind!"

Jiafu shook her head. "I have long since stopped caring about the past life. I only ask you: was it your poison that killed Pei You'an in Suye City? After he died, you ascended the throne, and the next year, you encountered this war beyond the passes. You were jealous of him. Even after he died, even when you were Emperor, his brilliance still eclipsed yours. To show your ministers, and to let the world know you were no lesser than he, you led the army yourself. But the heavens did not help you, and you died in this battle. It was karma."

"I still remember that before you died, even in your dreams, you feared his heroic spirit. It was like that in the past life, and it seems to be the same in this one. As a woman, since I have come here alone, I have cast everything aside; at worst, I will die. But Xiao Yintang, you are a man; you talk repeatedly of treating me well, but besides coercion, what have you done?"

A look of surprise and frustration flickered in Xiao Yintang’s eyes. His expression slowly cooled, and he remained silent.

Xiao Yintang stared at Jiafu for a long while before saying coldly, "I am the true Son of Heaven; he was never my match. It won't be so easy for him to beat me in this life!"

With that, he turned and walked out of the room, locking the door behind him.

The sky gradually darkened. That night, a serving woman came to attend to Jiafu. Xiao Yintang did not appear again, and Zhang Fengtong was nowhere to be seen. Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Jiafu was confined to that room and knew nothing of what was happening outside. Late on the third night, Jiafu lay on the bed, eyes closed, tossing and turning in meditation, when she suddenly heard a faint, strange noise outside. It sounded like people shouting loudly, a sound that was particularly jarring in the silent night.

Jiafu climbed off the bed and ran quickly to the window. Through the gaps where the window had been nailed shut, she saw a large fire raging in the direction of the manor’s main gate. There was another wave of clamor, as if someone was forcibly charging inside.

Jiafu quickly scanned the room, pulled down a candle, and gripped the sharp-tipped, brass-based candlestick she had eyed long ago, hiding the handle up her sleeve. No sooner had she hidden it than she heard rapid footsteps outside. The locked door was kicked open by Xiao Yintang. With a gloomy expression, he stepped inside, saw Jiafu hiding in the corner, grabbed her, and headed toward the back courtyard.

The imperial army had not yet broken in, but chaos had already erupted within the city. Over the last two days, no one knew where the news had come from, but rumors spread everywhere that the imperial court had won a great victory beyond the passes and was moving heavy reinforcements this way. The talk of "reinforcements" in the city was all a pack of lies. The hearts of the people were in turmoil, and the Zhang brothers could not suppress it. A group of starving auxiliary soldiers in the manor had combined their forces that night, killed one of Zhang Fengtong’s brothers, and broken into the inner manor. Zhang Fengtong’s other brother was leading his own men to resist, and the situation had spun out of control.

Xiao Yintang said nothing, forcibly dragging the stumbling Jiafu as they rushed toward the back garden. They passed through a flower-draped gate and ran to a rockery. He pushed with all his might; a door was revealed behind the rockery. Xiao Yintang went to push it, but it would not budge. He lowered his head and, in the moonlight, saw an iron chain locked across it.

Xiao Yintang seemed enraged. He immediately raised his foot and kicked it violently, but the door was sturdy. He drew the long sword from his waist and slashed at it with all his might. The blade clashed against the iron chain, sending sparks flying in the night.

"Crown Prince, where do you intend to go?"

A voice suddenly came from behind.

Jiafu turned back and saw a figure slowly emerge from behind a cluster of tree shadows. The moonlight shone on the person’s face, revealing the countenance of Zhang Fengtong.

She was still dressed in ornate palace robes, her head adorned with a phoenix crown that sparkled in the moonlight. Her eyes were fixed on Xiao Yintang, her expression a mix of smiles and mockery; it looked extremely eerie.

Xiao Yintang glanced back at her and continued to hack at the chain with all his strength. With a loud clang, the sword in his hand snapped into two pieces.

"You want to escape through this secret passage to make a comeback? This iron chain is forged from black gold; you cannot cut it," Zhang Fengtong said with a smile.

Xiao Yintang roared in anger: "So it was you, you vile woman! You ruin everything you touch!"

He spun around and strode toward Zhang Fengtong. Reaching her, he grabbed her by the collar.

"The key!"

He barked the order, but suddenly, his body stiffened as if struck by a heavy blow. Slowly, his waist began to hunch over.

With a soft thud, Zhang Fengtong pulled out the dagger she had just plunged into his abdomen.

Xiao Yintang collapsed to the ground, clutching his lower belly, his face twisted in pain as he stared at Zhang Fengtong in disbelief.

"You... vile woman..."

Zhang Fengtong stepped back, staring at Xiao Yintang struggling in agony on the floor, and sneered: "Crown Prince, ever since I married you, I have given you my heart and soul. I have never once wronged you. After you were deposed, I worried about you day and night. In order to have a chance to save you, I did not even hesitate to harm my own daughter; I acted insane and foolish. To cover my tracks, I even swallowed my own excrement. After I left the palace, I persuaded my family to run errands for you in secret, finally managing to save you. Yet how did you treat me? Because of the empty lies of that woman, you were going to bury me alive? And you were going to promise her the position of Empress? How could you be so heartless!"

She laughed hoarsely: "I will tell you the truth: the rumors in the city these past few days were all my doing! You want me dead, so how could I let you live alone? If we are going to die, we should all die together."

Having finished, she abandoned Xiao Yintang and walked toward Jiafu, the dagger in her hand gleaming.

Jiafu had been stunned by the sudden turn of events. Seeing Zhang Fengtong walking toward her with eyes burning like a ghost’s, she turned and ran, fleeing back to the flower-draped gate, only to realize that it, too, had been locked by Zhang Fengtong. There was no way out.

Zhang Fengtong had caught up. She raised the dagger and stabbed fiercely at Jiafu.

Jiafu clutched the candlestick tightly, turning the sharp end outward. Before Zhang Fengtong could lunge at her, she swept her arm across. Zhang Fengtong was caught off guard and let out a painful cry as her wrist was gashed by the sharp tip, blood spurting out instantly.

"Bitch! You bitch! I will kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

Zhang Fengtong clutched her wounded hand, hopping with rage. Her phoenix crown had gone crooked, but she was ferociously tenacious, still clutching the dagger as she staggered after Jiafu.

Jiafu was terrified. She could only desperately dodge around the courtyard, eventually using the darkness to hide in a recess within a section of the winding rockery.

"Bitch! Come out!"

Zhang Fengtong was like a madwoman, cursing shrilly while wildly stabbing at the bushes and rocks with the dagger, making ding sounds.

Jiafu held her breath, not moving a muscle.

"Bitch! Bitch!"

Zhang Fengtong’s voice grew closer and closer. Seeing that she was about to reach her, Jiafu felt a chill in her heart. She turned to flee again, but suddenly, she heard a tragic cry.

Peering through a crack in the rockery, Jiafu saw that Xiao Yintang had somehow managed to crawl up from the ground.

He had stopped behind Zhang Fengtong. The broken sword in his hand had been thrust straight through her back and out through her chest.

Zhang Fengtong’s figure froze, and the dagger in her hand dropped to the ground with a clang.

The moonlight illuminated her twisted face. Her eyes went blank, and she turned slowly, murmuring softly: "Crown Prince, you..."

Xiao Yintang’s expression was icy. He pulled out the broken sword with a wave of his hand. Zhang Fengtong collapsed at his feet. A moment later, she slowly stopped struggling, one hand still tightly clutching his ankle.

Xiao Yintang shook his leg in disgust, kicking her corpse aside. He then tore a piece of fabric from his own robe, wrapped it around his abdominal wound, and glanced around his surroundings. "Afu, where are you? Come out. I will take you away from here."

A faint sound of slaughter suddenly erupted outside again, and flames soared into the sky; nearly half the manor was on fire.

Xiao Yintang’s expression became restless as he continued to call out while searching everywhere.

"Afu! You cannot hide! If you do not come out, when I find you, I will not be so polite..."

His footsteps drew closer.

Jiafu curled her body into a ball, hiding in the recess, not daring to draw a single full breath.

Just then, rapid footsteps came from outside the flower-draped gate, and then, Liu Jiushao’s voice rang out: "Deposed Crown Prince! This place is already surrounded by my men! If you surrender now, there may yet be a way to live!"

Xiao Yintang’s figure froze. He braced the broken sword against a piece of rockery, turned his head slowly, and stared blankly at the torchlight outside the gate for a moment before bursting into wild laughter: "Liu Jiushao, what kind of thing are you? Do you have the qualifications to speak to me? I am the Crown Prince! Go and call the Emperor! If he comes in person, I will let him do as he pleases—whether he wants to kill me or torture me! Otherwise, do you know who that woman sent into the city the day before yesterday is? She is in my hands right now. It won't be a loss for me to die with her!"

A series of loud crashing sounds came from outside the gate as it was forcibly hacked open. In the light of a line of torches, Xiao Yintang saw a sedan chair stopped outside, with the eunuch Li Yuangui standing beside it.

The guards retreated one after another, and Liu Jiushao also stepped back, leaving only Li Yuangui.

Li Yuangui lifted the sedan curtain, and a figure slowly stepped out. The man wore plain green robes and cloth shoes. His eyes fixed on the stunned Xiao Yintang, he walked inside step by step.

Xiao Lie had arrived.

"You vile beast! Still refuse to kneel for the Emperor?"

Xiao Lie stared at Xiao Yintang, his presence commanding without the need for anger, his voice low and heavy.

Xiao Yintang’s eyes went wide. His hands began to tremble. With a clang, the broken sword fell from his hand to the ground, and he slowly knelt.

"Father—"

He cried out, tears welling in his eyes.

"You vile son! First you attempted to kill me; I spared your life out of fatherly love. You were unrepentant, conspiring with others to create chaos. That would be one thing, but today you have even..."

Xiao Lie stopped.

Xiao Yintang, who had been bowing his head, slowly looked up and gritted his teeth: "Father’s lesson is well-taken, but why don't you talk about your own partiality! Pei You'an is your son, and I am not? You think of him in everything; everything good must go to him! Back then, I wanted the Zhen woman first; you clearly had already agreed, but the moment Pei You'an spoke, you immediately changed your mind! Father, you are so biased—where is there any room in your heart for me as a son?"

Xiao Lie said coldly: "The greedy heart can swallow an elephant; that is the perfect description of you! When I ascended the throne, I made you Crown Prince. If you had maintained your station and fulfilled your duty, why would I have ever considered deposing you? I deposed you and sent you back to the ancestral land in Geng Prefecture, hoping you would contemplate your mistakes, but you refused to repent. Now you have committed this crime and brought about your own destruction. What can the heavens do?"

Xiao Yintang stared fixedly at Xiao Lie: "Father, does this mean you want your son to die?"

Xiao Lie closed his eyes.

Xiao Yintang’s eyes brimmed with tears. He knelt-walked forward, prostrated himself on the ground, and wept painfully for a moment. Suddenly, he looked up and roared sharply: "Father, I was born into the imperial family; I am the Emperor by birth. I am not reconciled, I am not reconciled—"

He stood up abruptly and lunged at Xiao Lie. Before he could reach him, Li Yuangui drew his blade with a swift movement. With a muffled thud, the blade pierced Xiao Yintang’s chest.

Xiao Yintang’s tall body slumped to the floor without a sound. His body twitched for a moment before it stopped, blood slowly spilling from his mouth, his eyes wide open for a long time.

The vast courtyard was silent. Jiafu remained hidden in the rockery, her heartbeat so loud she could almost hear the thumping sound.

Li Yuangui knelt to Xiao Lie.

Xiao Lie slowly opened his eyes, his expression desolate. He did not look at the corpse of Xiao Yintang on the ground, but instead murmured: "You found the Zhen woman, and went back..."

He turned and walked forward slowly on his own. He reached the flower-draped gate, stopped, and slowly tilted to the side, leaning helplessly against the doorframe.

The rebellion of the Prince of Changle, which had lasted more than half a year, was finally quelled.

When the Emperor left the capital, Imperial Physician Hu accompanied the imperial entourage. On the physician’s advice, the imperial party stayed in Tangyi in secret for several days to recuperate. The next day, they prepared to return to the capital.

In the evening, Jiafu brought medicine into the room and, with a palace servant, served the Emperor his medication. Li Yuangui hurried inside, a faint look of joy on his face. He bowed and whispered to the Emperor: "Your servant has just received a report; we have tracked down the remnants of the deposed Crown Prince’s party that were arranged outside months ago, all of whom have been captured without a single one escaping. The secret guards are also strictly monitoring every manor. All matters are secure."

After Li Yuangui finished his report, he glanced at Jiafu, nodded at her with a slight smile, and then stood to the side.

The Emperor seemed to have drifted off to sleep.

Jiafu closed her eyes and let out a long breath. Just as she was about to quietly withdraw, she heard the Emperor call her name and stopped.

The Emperor opened his eyes, gazing at the patch of golden sunset sunlight streaming through the window lattice. After a moment, he said: "You'an will surely arrive here soon as well. You do not need to accompany me tomorrow; stay here and wait for him. When you see him, tell him: Xiao Yu has been imprisoned on Golden Dragon Island all these years. If he wants to go, he may go at any time."

After the Emperor finished speaking, he closed his eyes once more.

Jiafu slowly knelt and bowed her head solemnly to the Emperor on the couch.