Tigers Sniff the Rose - Chapter 154

Chapter 154

On a day of continuous spring rain, Wei Kai, the eldest son of the Wei family, furled his umbrella, lifted his robes, and stepped into a wine shop. A waiter had long been waiting expectantly under the eaves outside, and he promptly led Wei Kai into a private room.

Wei Kai raised his eyes to see a gold-splashed brazier emitting thin wisps of blue smoke. Yan Shang was sitting there, brewing tea.

With a smile, Yan Shang invited Wei Kai to take a seat, poured him a cup, and said, "My health has been poor lately, and I cannot drink alcohol. Although we are in a wine shop, I can only offer you tea. I hope you will forgive me, young master."

Wei Kai did not mind.

He observed Yan Shang carefully. He had no personal friendship with him; their connection relied entirely on the Wei family’s seventh son, Wei Shu, acting as a bridge.

However, Wei Shu was an anomaly in the Wei family—antisocial and solitary—and had never helped bridge the gap between Yan Shang and Wei Kai. Fortunately, Yan Shang was skilled at making friends, and Wei Kai had his own intentions of befriending the now-influential Yan Erlang, so he had come to accept Yan Shang’s invitation.

After three cups of tea and some idle chatter about recent court affairs, Yan Shang slowly broached the subject of cooperation with the Wei family. Compared to Wei Shu, Wei Kai was the true representative of the Luoyang Wei family’s stance. Yan Shang’s desire to cooperate with him was, naturally, due to the enmity he had incurred from the aristocratic clans during his recent investigation of the Northern Ward.

But the aristocratic clans were not an impregnable fortress.

He was suppressing the Hai family with the support of his teacher’s Liu clan, but he still needed another ally.

As he had expected, Wei Kai refused: "Since Yan Erlang is on good terms with my seventh brother, you should surely know that our Wei clan has never involved itself in these party struggles. You have found the wrong person, Yan Erlang."

Yan Shang retorted, "To never involve yourself in party struggles, to keep oneself untainted and offend no one—does that not mean offending everyone? If the Wei family truly stood for no one, you could not have survived for so long. When the aristocratic clans are reshuffled, as some fall, others must rise. I will be honest with you: in this matter of the Northern Ward, the Hai family will undoubtedly be the scapegoat. The Northern Ward involves too many interests. If the aristocratic clans do not have a leader, someone to stabilize the situation, and panic ensues, how can the Wei clan hope to remain unscathed?"

Wei Kai listened to the pattering of the rain under the eaves, and after a long moment, he replied slowly, "You wish to suppress the aristocratic clans, yet you seek cooperation with one of them. If the world were to know of this, the Wei family would be pointed at and accused of having no backbone or integrity."

Yan Shang asked, "Who said I wanted to suppress the aristocratic clans?"

Wei Kai was stunned, his eyelids twitching slightly.

Yan Shang continued: "The humble-born scholars have only recently begun to rise, and their success relies entirely on the support of others. It has been no more than twenty years since the late Emperor began the imperial examinations. Not even a single generation of officials has been replaced, and a child would only just have been raised to the age where they could sit for the exams. The foundation of the humble-born is shallow. Those who can participate in the exams now—while called 'humble-born'—are mostly from wealthy, influential local families. Even I, because my father was a jinshi and my family in Lingnan was not poor, had the opportunity to study.

"Therefore, I promote education and run private schools precisely because I want more people to study, to wash away the traces of control held by the aristocratic clans. Before the path to higher education and the imperial examinations is truly popularized among all the people, acting against the aristocratic clans is of little use. Even in the examinations, the number of successful candidates from aristocratic clans exceeds those from humble backgrounds... This is not because the imperial court favors the aristocratic clans, but because the channels and the century-old foundation they possess are truly enough to easily cultivate talented disciples.

"The talents easily cultivated by the aristocratic clans are skilled in both literature and martial arts, possessing broad vision and spirit in every respect. Yet students from humble families who have studied for ten or twenty years know nothing but books. The gap between them is so vast; how could it be eliminated in a mere ten or twenty years?

"The late Emperor was impatient to destroy the aristocratic clans and elevate the humble-born. But the late Emperor was far too hurried... This is not a task that can be completed in a mere ten or twenty years. It may require the efforts of several generations of emperors; perhaps it cannot be solved for decades. In governing the world, for these few short decades, we must rely on the aristocratic clans. Although I support the humble-born, I also know that one cannot destroy the aristocratic clans.

"Since both sides are scholars, they have not yet reached the point of life-and-death struggle."

Wei Kai listened quietly. An aristocratic family that had survived for over a hundred years naturally possessed a long-term perspective and would not block the rise of the humble-born. However, Yan Shang still caught him off guard.

Before coming, he knew that this man had a silver tongue and was extremely eloquent, so he had remained vigilant. Yet, Yan Shang’s argument still moved Wei Kai, who represented the aristocratic clans—who does not like to be praised for their family's abundance of outstanding talent? Who does not like to be praised for the integrity of their clan?

Moreover, Yan Erlang was so sincere and spoke from the heart.

Wei Kai began to understand why Yan Shang’s actions were always so intense, why everyone at court was wary of him, yet many officials could not help but like him.

Wei Kai said, "It seems you want a win-win situation, not to suppress either side."

Yan Shang gave a bitter smile: "My methods in my youth were radical, and I fear I have made people fear me. I hope that after you return, young master, you can tell the aristocratic clans that I do not intend to destroy them. It is only that families like the Hai, who are so close to the inner eunuchs, cannot be allowed to exist. Liu Wenji is busy grabbing money and land, running rampant; he is blinded by greed and his power is swelling daily. Aristocratic clans who associate with him like this cannot be allowed to exist."

Wei Kai asked, "I have heard that you and Liu Wenji are from the same hometown and are old friends. Why do you not cooperate with the inner eunuchs, but instead choose to cooperate with us?"

Yan Shang replied, "Because scholars naturally share the same stance. No matter how fiercely the aristocratic and humble-born fight, once they face the inner eunuchs, they will certainly unite against a common enemy. If one wants to eliminate the inner eunuchs, the two can cooperate at any time, but the opportunity to use the Northern Ward to reshuffle the three powers is not one that occurs often."

Wei Kai said coldly, "Reshuffle the three powers? I can see the aristocratic clans being reshuffled; I can see that the power of Liu Wenji’s faction is being damaged. But will the humble-born not grow even stronger because of your actions? Why can I not see how this will constrain the humble-born?

"As Yan Erlang’s power and reputation grow, the humble-born will become even more arrogant. We are unaccustomed to being suppressed by them in this manner."

Yan Shang said, "When this matter ends, I will resign from my post."

Wei Kai fell silent, and then he understood.

If Yan Shang resigned, the humble-born would lose their leader and would naturally need a period of stabilization. Or, if they lost Yan Shang’s control, the humble-born might grow arrogant... but if they lost Yan Shang’s control and the Princess’s support, how would the humble-born have the confidence to act arrogantly in front of the aristocratic clans?

Wei Kai gazed deeply at Yan Shang and said, "I thought you represented the humble-born. It turns out you do not side with them?"

Yan Shang smiled without answering, turning his face to look at the drizzle outside. He sided with no one; he sided with the justice in his heart. Whether he was right or wrong, he knew not, but he only sought to have a clear conscience.

After a detailed discussion with Yan Shang, Wei Kai politely said he would go home and think about it before giving an answer. Once back home, Wei Kai discussed the cooperation with the Wei clan members in Chang’an. Wei Shu was the only one absent; Wei Kai knew his younger brother was holding a grudge because of the Zhao Lingfei affair, so he did not take it to heart.

When they discussed Yan Shang’s actions, Wei Kai’s uncle asked what he thought of him.

After thinking for a long time, Wei Kai said: "Looking at him, he does not seem like an ordinary official; he is more like a Chancellor of the current dynasty."

Like a Chancellor, wishing to oversee the entire situation.

The Wei family members were thoughtful, and the next day, they took Yan Shang’s words and shared them within the inner circles of the major aristocratic clans. Only the Zhao and Hai families were excluded—

The Hai family was clearly being forced by Yan Shang to deal with the Northern Ward mess, but they obviously wanted to offend neither Yan Shang nor the aristocratic clans. They were gloating, watching the conflict between Yan Shang and the aristocratic clans from the sidelines. Once the humble-born were suppressed, or the aristocratic clans were suppressed, the winner would be the inner eunuchs. The Hai clan representing the aristocratic clans to build ties with the inner eunuchs was the perfect opportunity to re-enter the ranks of the great families.

Everything seemed to be under their control.

Just as the Consort Hai in the palace had imagined.

Consort Huo was weak and pitiable, and the Emperor was heartbroken over her miscarriage. She cried incessantly before him; the Emperor, burdened by the opposition between Yan Shang and the aristocratic clans in the court, felt a surge of husbandly pity when he saw his favorite consort so pitifully broken, and he vowed to investigate the matter thoroughly.

It turned out the First Prince had poisoned the medicine given to Consort Huo, causing the miscarriage. No one would blame a child, especially since he was an Imperial Prince. Everyone’s gaze turned toward Chunhua. They assumed she must have said something to the First Prince that led the child to take such a risk.

Mu Wanyao demanded a thorough investigation. The Emperor hesitated, but under the weight of Consort Huo’s tears, he agreed.

Chunhua sought an audience with the Princess, but the Princess refused to see her. She sought an audience with the Empress, but the Empress scolded her and ordered her to confess her guilt. She was separated from her son, and palace attendants were forbidden from letting her see the First Prince to prevent her from inciting him further. With nowhere left to turn, Chunhua went to beg the current favorite in the palace, Liu Wenji.

She, a Xianfei (Virtuous Consort), was so humble, weeping before Liu Wenji, lamenting her abandonment, expressing her concern for her son, and insisting she had never harmed Consort Huo. Someone must have framed her, but she could find no proof.

Liu Wenji wore bamboo-green robes; his face was clean-shaven and his frame tall and slender. Standing in the deep palace of the Xianfei late at night, he did not look like a eunuch, but rather like a young nobleman having a secret meeting with her.

He looked at this woman, whom he had once loved to the point of heartache, with an odd, complex gaze.

She was still beautiful and gentle. Yet, she was also a stranger... Her teary-eyed plea for help both pained his heart and stirred a cruel sense of satisfaction within him.

He stared at her, no longer able to find the traces of the servant girl who used to turn her head and smile at him. She was the Emperor’s consort and the First Prince’s mother; she was the only thing that was not Liu Wenji’s woman.

Liu Wenji’s tone was strange: "You beg me to help you? By what right do you beg me?"

Chunhua lowered her head, ashamed and speechless, tears falling.

Liu Wenji felt both satisfied and cold. He walked toward her, his expression frigid. Chunhua had sent away all the palace attendants; the silk curtains fluttered, and his oppressive momentum made Chunhua fearful. She backed away, step by step, until she hit a golden pillar with nowhere left to go.

She was terrified and flustered, yet forced to summon her courage.

She said: "I beg you to help me!"

Liu Wenji gripped her chin, forcing her to look up. Her face was deathly pale, clearly uneasy from her extraordinary actions. He watched her with a sadistic pleasure, his knuckles scraping her chin, almost drawing blood.

Liu Wenji said with hatred: "You gave your all to your Princess. When you entered the Jin Prince’s mansion for her sake, did you ever imagine she would abandon you one day? From beginning to end, I am the only one who never gave up on you! Only me! And yet today, you come to beg me... Why do you not go beg your Princess? Why do you not ask her why she used you as a pawn?"

Chunhua closed her eyes, trembling as she struggled to speak: "Her Highness must have her own considerations. Perhaps Her Highness feels Consort Huo is more useful than me..."

Liu Wenji interrupted: "And yet, you were abandoned anyway!"

Chunhua had nothing to say.

Liu Wenji looked down at this woman who had once haunted his dreams. He wondered why he had liked her so much before. She was just an ordinary woman of the deep palace—shallow, weak, pitiful, and humble... Liu Wenji muttered: "Why do you think I will help you?"

Chunhua whispered: "If you help me... I will do whatever you command."

Liu Wenji was stunned. He did not react at first, but seeing her face flushed red, he felt the burning heat of her skin against the fingers he used to grip her chin. He stared at her for a moment; having spent years in the deep palace, he understood her meaning in an instant... to do whatever he commanded meant anything.

Liu Wenji mocked: "Even sleeping with me?"

Chunhua was silent.

Liu Wenji: "What, do you look down on me, thinking I don't have that function?"

Chunhua suddenly raised her head, her breath coming in quick gasps: "I have never looked at you that way! You are no worse than anyone else; it is just your fate that was poor, I..."

Liu Wenji feared seeing her eyes—filled with warmth like a spring stream, brilliant like the stars—and he pushed her away: "Don't look at me like that! That look makes me want to dig out your eyeballs..."

Chunhua was stunned.

She was pushed forcefully to the floor, looking up at him, failing to recognize the man before her. She saw the malice in his eyes and suddenly felt that her decision tonight was a mistake. She should not have sought help from a changed old lover who humiliated her, looked down on her, and thought she looked down on him as well.

Chunhua’s hands trembled, her heart trembled, and her blood felt as if it were freezing. Shivering, she felt that all of this was too absurd and a grave mistake.

She suddenly said: "You should go. Pretend I said nothing tonight."

She would go question the Princess! Go beg the Princess!

Asking the Princess would be better than anything...

Liu Wenji looked down coldly, seeing her regret. His face twisted; the muscles in his face trembled with the distortion, and a shadow crossed his eyes. Feeling a sense of injustice, he mocked: "You have already made me despise you, made me feel sick! Now it is you who are unworthy of me... A consort who, behind the Emperor’s back, tells a eunuch she is 'at his command'—you are already filthy to the core!"

Chunhua felt as if she had been plunged into an ice cellar.

Trembling with rage, she pointed toward the door. She shivered and whispered: "Get out! Get out of here—"

Liu Wenji gave a cold laugh, flicked his robes, and turned without looking back, striding out of the palace. He walked so fast, as if by showing no mercy, he could discard all emotions. Emotions were obstacles; emotions were of no benefit to him. In the past, he had ruined himself because of Chunhua and had been cast aside for helping her...

What wrong had he done!

It was all because he was too emotional, too full of sympathy... He did not understand; he had failed his examinations in his youth, yet he had the heart to like a girl, to sympathize with her, to run after the Jin Prince’s carriage, begging that girl to turn back and look at him once.

All of it was vanity.

Only power was paramount.

Chunhua was truly foolish, a consort pampered into uselessness in the deep palace. She thought Mu Wanyao had abandoned her, so she came to beg him... but they were nowhere near that point! What Mu Wanyao wanted to handle was the Hai beauty, not Chunhua at all.

Mu Wanyao even wanted to see what Liu Wenji’s attitude would be.

To see if he would kick a man while he was down, or lend a hand.

Whether Chunhua could become Liu Wenji’s weak spot!

That was what Mu Wanyao wanted to see!

Mu Wanyao, that cold princess; Yan Shang, that hypocritical man holding the reins of power... they had all changed, all playing with human hearts and power as they pleased. They were throwing Chunhua away as if she were a pawn... If he helped Chunhua, would he not be handing a handle to Mu Wanyao?

Mu Wanyao would always hold his secret over him—having an illicit affair with a consort.

Either Chunhua would die, or Liu Wenji would die. Liu Wenji would not let himself die, but if he chose to let Chunhua die... why would he help her?

Detestable Mu Wanyao!

Liu Wenji suddenly stopped, standing under a parasol tree with a grim expression. He turned his head and looked toward the Xianfei’s palace. The eunuchs following him bowed their heads, not daring to ask what had happened to the Head Eunuch in the Xianfei’s chambers to leave him so disturbed.

Liu Wenji stared at Chunhua’s palace, at those black-lacquered doors—in his mind, he saw her face again.

She turned to look at him, smiling slightly, standing under the simple eaves of the Yan household, elegant and poised, laughing like a spring stream.

Liu Wenji closed his eyes and clenched his fists, forcing his face to tighten—the less he could have her, the more he could not stop thinking of her!

He was high and powerful; why should he remain obsessed with a woman!

With a dark face, Liu Wenji suddenly turned and strode back toward the palace he had just left. He ordered the eunuchs behind him to retreat, his robe sleeves fluttering as he walked. He was walking toward her, yet he was gloomy and murderous, no longer possessing the jumping, excited heart that used to flush red the moment he saw her.

Chunhua was sitting on the floor crying, wiping away her tears, hugging her knees, feeling herself pathetic and pitiful. She heard footsteps and looked up, eyes blurred with tears, only to see Liu Wenji returning.

Before she could speak, he had already crouched down, gripped her chin, and kissed her.

Chunhua was shocked, her face burning, her body paralyzed with fear. She pushed and hit him, terrified. She opened her mouth to bite him, wanting this hypocritical villain to let her go.

Liu Wenji finally released her; his thumb pressed against the bead of blood he had drawn from her red lips.

His expression remained grim.

But he said carelessly: "Fine, I will help you this once. I am going to hell anyway... Chunhua, come with me to hell."

Liu Wenji’s defection caught Consort Hai in the palace completely off guard.

At the same time, the aristocratic clans’ allegiances were divided; the Hai and Zhao families stood on the opposite side of the other clans. Due to Wei Shu’s protection, the Zhao family was not completely targeted, but the Hai family was forced to become the sacrifice. Yan Shang reformed the Northern Ward and investigated the officials who frequented it, including not only aristocratic descendants but also those from humble origins.

Of course, most were from aristocratic clans.

And this time, the aristocratic clans led by the Liu and Wei families cooperated. The clans with ambiguous stances just went along with it. The Hai clan was surrounded by the Dali Temple and the Zongzheng Temple on charges of plotting against the Imperial Prince.

Liu Wenji testified that Consort Hai had plotted against the Imperial Prince; he had betrayed his alliance with the Hai family, choosing to join forces with the humble-born and Mu Wanyao. With his help, the matter of Consort Huo’s miscarriage reached a conclusion.

The Emperor had been wavering, not knowing who to support, but Yan Shang and Mu Wanyao made the choice for him. He breathed a sigh of relief and immediately interrogated the Hai family.

Consort Hai in the palace could never have imagined that she had done nothing, yet Liu Wenji had forged evidence against her. Other than speaking a few words to Chunhua, where had she ever touched Consort Huo?

Mu Wanyao, the Emperor, and Liu Wenji held a joint trial. Chunhua knelt on the ground, telling them how she had been incited by Consort Hai, and how Consort Hai looked down on Consort Huo.

Consort Huo, dragging her weak body, stood behind Mu Wanyao. Supported by the Princess, she held her chest and sobbed, leaning into the Emperor’s arms: "Consort Hai, how can you be so cruel? You even harmed an unborn child... Yes, your family always likes to plot against Imperial Princes, your family..."

Consort Hai shrieked in collapse: "Nonsense! Nonsense! I would never dare to plot against an Imperial Prince! I would never dare!"

She cried, crawling on her knees toward the Emperor, clinging to his leg, looking up with tears streaming down her face: "How could I dare harm an Imperial Prince? Your Majesty, how could I? My Hai family bears such a charge; when we returned to Chang’an, we wanted to clear the charges against us, to clear the prejudice the world has against us!

"In the past, we harmed an Imperial Prince, and the whole family was exiled; the aristocratic clans looked down on us. Since then, the descendants of my family could not learn orthodox classics, and without classics passed down, we could not enter the mainstream.

"We lived in remote areas, with no hope of receiving recognition from the Central Plains; the official careers of our descendants were cut off. Just because we harmed an Imperial Prince!

"As for what happened back then, I will not say who was wrong; the world has already reached its conclusion! I only want to plead for my Hai clan... We have suffered enough punishment; we wanted to return to Chang’an, to re-enter the ranks of the aristocratic clans! Having finally won your favor to return to Chang’an, how could we plot against an Imperial Prince again, how could we walk that same path again?

"Your Majesty, please be clear! I could never have harmed the Imperial Prince! It was the Xianfei! It was clearly the Xianfei!"

Consort Hai knelt on the floor, crying like rain. All the other consorts watching felt a pang of sympathy; even the Empress sighed, feeling she was pitiful. The Emperor had wanted to end the matter quickly, but Consort Hai’s agitation made him hesitate for a moment. He cast a suspicious glance at Chunhua, and Mu Wanyao stepped forward.

Mu Wanyao stared at Consort Hai and said sternly: "You think that because you were exiled for a decade, your murder of my second brother is already punished? You still feel aggrieved? The Emperor’s grace covers the world; who does not know his benevolence? The Emperor wanted you to return, to pardon your crimes. You do not know how to be grateful and have plotted against an Imperial Prince again. What is your intention? How would I not know?

"Why would you plot against an Imperial Prince? Of course you would! Because you fear me holding the reins of government; you simply want to give birth to a child and use that child to tie the Emperor to you! You and Consort Huo entered the palace at the same time, and Consort Huo gave birth to an Imperial heir before you; you were worried your status would not be secure!

"The Hai family received the Emperor’s grace, and you wanted to use the Imperial Prince to take a step further! You used the Emperor’s tolerance to challenge him time and time again! It is thanks to Head Eunuch Liu’s foresight that he was on guard against you... but still, you managed to succeed!"

Consort Hai screamed: "That is not true! The evidence is fake! Ah, I know, you are trying to protect that servant girl who once came from your estate... Your Majesty, she has selfish motives! The Princess has selfish motives!"

Mu Wanyao remained unmoved, facing the Emperor.

The Emperor looked at Liu Wenji, then at Mu Wanyao, and finally at Consort Huo and Consort Hai.

Consort Hai knew she had been betrayed by Liu Wenji, meaning the Hai family had been abandoned. She was panicked, knowing her reliance was gone, so she cried doubly hard, clutching the Emperor’s leg, asking the Emperor to look at her weakness, asking the Emperor to spare her for the sake of the service she had provided.

The Emperor saw Consort Hai’s tears and thought of the warmth she had shown him on countless nights. He had never been able to interfere in court affairs and relied only on the consorts in the inner palace for comfort. When he was berated by court officials like a grandchild, Consort Hai was sweet and tender; he did not know how many times she had held him in her arms to comfort him.

They had often imagined a day when they could trample those officials underfoot and do whatever they pleased, freely and happily.

For a moment, the Emperor’s heart softened, and he actually asked Mu Wanyao: "Yao-yao, the Hai woman is but a housewife; what does she understand? It must be the palace servants who used her. I can vouch for her; she is very kind..."

Mu Wanyao interrupted the Emperor’s muttering: "Your Majesty, it was your heir that was harmed! If you do not mind, what can I say?"

The Emperor was stunned, and just as he was about to feel happy, Liu Wenji added coolly from the side: "If several of the ministers know that Your Majesty is letting Consort Hai go, they will likely come to see you."

The Emperor immediately wilted.

He was afraid of those powerful Chancellors, afraid of their endless nagging. He did not feel free as an Emperor—he stopped looking at Consort Hai, swung his sleeves in anger: "Do whatever you want! I don't care!"

Consort Hai screamed: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty—"

Her Majesty swung his sleeves and left. Mu Wanyao paused, gave a wink, and had Consort Huo follow to comfort the Emperor. Of course, Mu Wanyao could not bring herself to comfort the Emperor, but didn't the Emperor like tenderness? Consort Hai was tender enough, and Consort Huo, who came from a theatrical background, was even better at reading the room—

The Emperor did not have much peace, as Yan Shang requested an audience, once again to discuss handling the Northern Ward. Yan Shang wanted to restrict officials from entering and leaving the Northern Ward, saying that if they drank too much, they would leak too many secrets. If the enemy states learned of them, the country would be at risk of destruction.

The Emperor had just been lectured by Mu Wanyao, and now he was being pestered by Yan Shang.

He knew that Yan Shang and the aristocratic clans seemed to have reached a subtle reconciliation, which made him furious: "You might as well close the Northern Ward! Don't let anyone go, and it will be clean for everyone!"

Yan Shang was gentle as always: "The Northern Ward cannot be closed. According to my own heart, I would actually like to close it. I have never liked such places of dissipation. However, the Northern Ward is the symbol of all Chang’an’s prosperity, to the point that it is one of the representations of Chang’an’s prosperity in surrounding countries. Restricting officials from flaunting their association with prostitutes is already enough. If we go too far, the public backlash will be too great; this is not a good thing."

The Emperor mocked: "Yan Erlang truly makes a good point."

Yan Shang acted as if he did not understand.

The Emperor said: "In this case, you have solved the aristocratic clan issue, your wife has killed Consort Hai, and now you humble-born stand alone, and the aristocratic clans listen to you. Yan Erlang is truly glorious now. Why don't you just take my throne!"

Normally, with such mockery, Yan Shang should have been terrified, kneeling to plead guilty, saying he had overstepped his bounds, and saying he would constrain his wife. Yan Shang should have knelt to confess and make a petition to the Emperor. Only after Yan Shang had appeased the Emperor, and the Emperor was in a good mood, would he be given a sweet treat.

Between them, this model was very familiar.

But this time, it seemed different.

The Emperor did not wait for Yan Shang to remove his crown and kneel. Yan Shang stood tall, sleeves dangling, staring at the Emperor for a long moment, saying: "The humble-born will not stand alone because of this, Your Majesty, you may rest assured."

The Emperor looked at him.

Yan Shang said: "I am in poor health and would like to resign and return to Lingnan to recuperate. Her Highness the Princess will leave with me. Your Majesty, you may rest assured, the humble-born will not stand alone because of this."

The Emperor was stunned.

He was suddenly bewildered and felt angry: "What? How can you leave? If you leave, what will I do? Who will help me handle my affairs? You are the Chancellor appointed by the late Emperor; are you blaming me for not giving you the position of Chancellor directly? Are you threatening me, Yan Shuchen?"

Yan Shang looked at him.

He sighed, feeling incomparably exhausted.

This lord was not worthy of trust.

This lord was cowardly, suspicious, incompetent, narrow-minded, headstrong, clingy, and petty... This lord was not worth relying on; it would be better to withdraw and keep to oneself.

Yan Shang bowed to the Emperor, helplessly: "How could I dare to threaten Your Majesty? Does Your Majesty think of me this way? There are too many people who can help Your Majesty; I have recommended many people to Your Majesty... It is just that Your Majesty does not use them, Your Majesty just does not trust me. What else can I do?

"I am resigning and leaving because my body is truly failing, not because I have any opinion of Your Majesty."

In the deep palace, after the Consort Hai affair, Mu Wanyao finally met with Chunhua once.

Chunhua still could not believe Mu Wanyao would treat her this way, saying she gave her heart to the Princess, so why would the Princess help Consort Huo to harm her.

If not for Liu Wenji...

Mu Wanyao said coldly: "If not for Liu Wenji what?"

Chunhua fell silent. She suddenly remembered her deal with Liu Wenji, and facing the Princess’s ice-cold, overlooking eyes, she could not speak.

Mu Wanyao said lightly: "Is this how you see me?"

Chunhua bit her lip: "I don't want to think that Your Highness treats me so cruelly, but Your Highness would rather send another beauty to the Emperor than arrange anything for me, and now you treat me as a discarded pawn..."

Mu Wanyao: "Why don't you think that I didn't use you because you were never the gift I chose for the Jin Prince? I never wanted to send you away; your character was not something I tailored for the Emperor... Chunhua, I never arranged you, or thought about what you would do for me by the Emperor’s side.

"I chose more suitable people. You were not that person."

Chunhua’s voice was slightly urgent: "But this time, this time... if Liu Wenji hadn't stood up, the Emperor really would have removed me! Because I have no power, because I have been abandoned by Your Highness, I am already useless!"

Mu Wanyao said lightly: "So what? Being abandoned by the Emperor, is that a bad thing?"

Chunhua was stunned.

The two stood on the winding corridor over the lake, looking at the buds of the lotus flowers in the pond. Willow catkins flew onto their shoulders. Mu Wanyao turned toward her, her gaze quiet: "In the past, I could not decide your fate, forced you to be taken away from my side, and become a woman by the Jin Prince’s side. Now I have the ability to bring you out... I can let you be abandoned, and I have a way to let you live, to come out of the inner palace.

"I can bring you out of that world, but you already don't want to come out, right?"

Chunhua stared blankly at her beautiful Princess.

After a long time, she said with difficulty: "I am already married, I have a son, how can I leave..."

Mu Wanyao smiled.

She said: "So, you don't want to come out."

She walked toward Chunhua and stood before her. Chunhua’s attitude toward her was always that of a servant, always humble. Mu Wanyao gazed at her, and she instinctively lowered her head to let the Princess examine her. But Chunhua turned to think that she was already a Xianfei; facing the Princess, it seemed she did not need to be so low.

So she raised her head.

Mu Wanyao observed her change and smiled: "Vulgar."

Chunhua was stunned: "What?"

Mu Wanyao reached out, her cool fingers resting on her cheek. Mu Wanyao examined her, gazing at the once-spirited servant girl, and how she was forced into a vulgar and unbearable flower vase.

Mu Wanyao: "Chunhua, I ruined you. If you were still my servant, following me, I could have cultivated you with care. But now you have gone too far from me, trapped in the inner court, revolving all day between the Empress, the Emperor, and the First Prince.

"You are no longer the servant girl who followed me back from killing her way out of Wuman. Your heart, in nearly ten years of life in the inner court, has been worn away completely. You no longer have a discerning eye, no longer have dreams, no longer have any ideas of your own. You are trapped in the inner palace, losing yourself, becoming any ordinary, featureless, resentful woman in this world, waiting for her husband to turn back and look at her once.

"I feel that I destroyed you, ruined you. But perhaps you are still very satisfied with your life. I want to pull you out, but you have already given up.

"I will give you one last chance. Are you willing to leave the inner palace with me? I have a way to give you a new life and take you to see new sights. But do you have the courage to follow me?"