"You're just saying that." Meng Xizhi, having been bitten so hard by her, sobered up and realized how incredibly boring he really was.
The weight on her body suddenly lightened, and Jiang Yuan hurriedly grabbed her clothes and scrambled to her feet. She rolled to one side in a fluster and leaned tightly against the corner of the bed, her eyes still brimming with tears.
Under the hazy moonlight, Meng Xizhi gazed blankly out the window, thinking, "There are so many women in the world, but my bright moon is hard to find."
"Would Yuan Yuan be willing to be my moon?" He didn't ask that question. He feared that one day she would be like that green jade flower, planted by his own hands and then given away by his own. A beloved thing, destroyed once, was enough. The bright moon hung high; he didn't want it to become a second green jade. Meng Xizhi felt that he, occasionally, was a person with a conscience.
That night, everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts, and no one in the entire Marquis's mansion slept soundly.
Jiang Yuan had a thick shadow under her eyes as she looked at Lü Qiong, who was sitting upright in front of her. She had never seen Lü Qiong not smile before; this was the first time.
When she's not smiling, she exudes a coldness. Just like her name, the green jade flower blooms like fire, opening and closing in an instant; most of the time, she's just a single green branch, standing against the wind.
"I can help you leave." Without further ado, the woman got straight to the point.
"Where is Meng Xizhi?" Jiang Yuan didn't elaborate.
"Silly girl, do you really think I'm a parasitic plant?" Green Jade shook her head with a smile, her eyes sharp as knives. "Let alone letting you go, even killing you wouldn't be difficult for me."
Jiang Yuan just watched her silently without saying a word. After a long while, Lü Qiong smiled and covered her lips, her eyes sparkling, "You're not afraid at all."
"Why did you let me go?" Jiang Yuan waited for her to finish laughing before speaking. "If it were me, I would never have done that."
"You can be a flower, you can be the moon, but you can't be a wound. I won't kill you because I can't let you become a scar in his heart." Flowers will wither, the moon will fall, but wounds will never fade.
"Won't you feel resentful about this?"
"So what if it happens? I'm still the biggest winner."
Jiang Yuan understood. This was the biggest difference between her and Lü Qiong. In her previous life, she was covered in wounds, while her position as empress was as solid as a rock. However, only Lü Qiong herself knew the true meaning of it all.
The night Jiang Yuan left, Meng Xizhi was in the palace. His relationship with Huo Zidu was already on the verge of collapse, and Lü Qiong's pregnancy made the extreme emperor even more irritable.
"Are you really alright?" With her hair tied up, Jiang Yuan held a pile of items that Lü Qiong handed her: aphrodisiac powder, aconite, silver notes, loose change, the hundred-flower red she had secretly slipped in, and the official pass that allowed her to leave Wei Kingdom openly.
Green Jade subtly covered her still-flat stomach with her sleeve and laughed, "He'll just think someone's trying to kill me."
Chapter 38 A passionate and unforgettable love affair
Jiang Yuan had no interest in Wei Guo's private affairs. "Thank you."
“Go back to your Southern Liang.” Lü Qiong turned her head away from her, her beauty even more radiant in the dim candlelight. “I know you are not an ordinary woman, and I don’t care who you are. I only wish that we will never meet again.”
"Very good." Jiang Yuan replied without lingering, then crouched down and hid in the prepared carriage, and was secretly sent out of the An Sui Marquis's residence under the moonlight.
Just as Jiang Yuan stepped out of the mansion and was figuring out how to get out of Yongming City, the clamor of the people pierced through the wooden planks and reached her ears: "The Marquis of Ansui's mansion is on fire!"
Jiang Yuan's heart skipped a beat. After being taken to a safe place, he looked up to the south and saw a fiery dragon soaring into the sky, burning most of the sky red. The tightly closed city gates were quickly opened, and the troops stationed outside the city instantly assembled and entered the city without any orders.
At this critical juncture, the fire... the flames reflected on Jiang Yuan's face. She silently tightened her clothes, buried her face in her collar, and followed the bewildered people out of Yongming.
"Report—" The servant rushed into the main hall, kneeling on both knees. The atmosphere in the hall was extremely tense. Huo Zidu's eyes were bloodshot, and Meng Xizhi stood coldly in the center, surrounded by shattered Ru porcelain. The servant had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "The Marquis of Ansui's residence is on fire!"
"Your Majesty!" Meng Xizhi was furious. The candlelight shone through the window lattice onto his face, making him appear chillingly cold.
"What kind of look is that? You doubt me?" Huo Zidu pointed at his nose, his fingertips trembling slightly with intense anger. "I wouldn't go so far as to kill her."
His appearance seemed genuine, and although Meng Xizhi had doubts, he still turned to look at the servant who came to report the news, asking, "How is the fire?"
The servant, kneeling on the ground, dared not even lift his eyes. Now, seeing Meng Xizhi asking him, he broke out in a cold sweat and stammered, "The city gates have been opened, and there are... there are troops coming to... to rescue us, and it should be very fast..."
"Get out!" Huo Zidu was furious after hearing this and kicked the servant, who rolled half a circle on the spot. The servant hurriedly took his leave and scrambled out of the palace. After the palace doors closed, he looked back at Meng Xizhi with a half-smile and said, "You have quite the nerve!"
Huo Zidu was truly enraged this time, while Meng Xizhi regained his usual composure and sneered, "Now that things have come to this, why don't we each take a step back?"
"A compromise? That's a nice way to put it, young marquis." Huo Zidu's chest heaved, and he forced the words out through clenched teeth, "Do I even have a choice?"
"It was you who welcomed Lüqiong into the palace, and it was you who proposed such an absurd idea. For so many years I have served the emperor faithfully, but now that the second young master is gone, the emperor wants to abandon me. How can I not be on guard?" Meng Xizhi squinted, his back straight, looking directly at him.
The emperor before me was irritable and easily angered, and the root of all this lay in his incompetence, even when faced with the most beautiful woman.
This was a secret, a secret known only to a few, when he was still a prince.
At that time, Huo Zidu's marriage was brought up again and again. In the end, the late queen gave him a dirty trick and tricked Lü Qiong, the woman who had grown up with them since childhood.
Newlyweds, a time of great anticipation for many women, but no matter how beautiful Lüqiong was, Huo Zi was impotent and naturally had no interest in her. So he left her alone in the bridal chamber, letting her cry until the red candles burned out all night.
Afterwards, Lü Qiong's intentional or unintentional contact made him increasingly disgusted. Huo Ze somehow discovered the truth and even suggested to Lü Qiong that she test him. This test went wrong, and Lü Qiong was heartbroken. Huo Ze also meticulously uncovered Huo Zidu's affair of keeping male concubines and reported it directly to the late emperor. The late emperor was furious, but out of consideration for the royal family's reputation, he couldn't speak directly. Instead, he secretly ordered all of Huo Zidu's male concubines to be killed in one fell swoop, and the choice of the crown prince naturally favored Huo Zidu.
But Huo Zi was not willing to give up. He insisted that he loved both men and women, and whether Lü Qiong could get pregnant became the most important piece of evidence.
Meng Xizhi would never forget that rainy night. The usually proud Lüqiong knelt at his feet, her hair disheveled and her body covered in dirty mud. She clung tightly to his robe, tears mingling with the rain as she cried, "Cousin, save me! He actually made me serve that dying prisoner!"
Huo Zidu's plan was shrewd. He only wanted Lü Qiong to have a child, regardless of whose it was, and a death row inmate was the best choice, since once a person dies, they have nothing left.
Then, Meng Xizhi became her first man and possessed the green jade flower he had always dreamed of.
His sudden intervention quickly reversed the situation in which Huo Zidu was being suppressed, and an unspeakable and strange relationship was formed between the three of them.
He personally put him on the throne, and now Huo Zidu actually says he doesn't want to play anymore? There's no such thing as a free lunch.
When Meng Xizhi returned to the Marquis of Ansui's residence, the fire had already been extinguished. Lü Qiong was frightened, and almost everyone in Duoyue Courtyard perished in the flames. The people in Dengyun Pavilion, however, were unharmed due to his special care.
Jiang Yuan, however, has disappeared without a trace.
Meng Xizhi guessed that she had run away; she wanted to go home so much, how could she let this opportunity pass by?
The fire was strange, and he couldn't figure out if it was Huo Zidu's doing. Since Lü Qiong was pregnant, Huo Zidu had already backed down, so he couldn't continue investigating. He could only report the accident and secretly send another group of people to look for Jiang Yuan.
He was still somewhat reluctant to part with that bright moon.
The upheaval in Yongming City shocked the entire city and completely exposed the secret between Meng Xizhi and Huo Zidu. Jiang Yuan wanted to escape Wei State, while Lü Qiong wanted to openly bring her son into the imperial palace. Everything seemed so ridiculous, yet perfectly reasonable.
Yongming was not at peace, and Longdi, a thousand miles away, was clearly not tranquil either.
Song Yansi pursed his lips slightly, the imperial edict from Lin'an lying flat on the table. His prolonged inaction had aroused Li Sheng's suspicion, who had practically given him a death order to retake the border city.
Mu Qing leaned back in his armchair, coldly watching Song Yansi, who seemed caught in a strange struggle. Mu Qing didn't understand; having come this far, what was there for him to hesitate about?
“This person is from Lin’an. Even if I didn’t say it, you should know what His Majesty means.” Mu Qing tapped the table with his fingers in a slight circle. “He already suspects you. If you don’t do anything, it’s uncertain whether you can even return to Lin’an alive, let alone Jiang Yuan.”
As his fingertips traced each drop of ink on the imperial edict, finally landing on the vermilion seal, Song Yansi felt a strange, inexplicable pain in the white mark embedded in his chest.
Four months was the most time he could buy for her.
In early August, Liang Jun beat the drums.
When the news reached Yongming, the two armies were engaged in battle on the Shuobei Plain. Meng Xizhi stared at the battle report in his hand, momentarily lost in thought.
“Cousin.” Green Jade looked at him with concern. She had peeled the skin off the purplish-red grapes, revealing the green flesh, which made her skin look even whiter.
Meng Xizhi lowered his head and ate a grape from her fingertips. It was a bit sour and astringent, making him frown. After a moment, he spoke, "Which of those two from Dengyun Pavilion do you like, cousin?"
"Le Rong and Le Yi?" Lü Qiong asked, then hesitated after seeing Meng Xizhi nod, thinking about what had happened before. "Le Yi, I suppose. Le Rong really has a bad temper, but why is my cousin asking about this?"
"It's just a matter of who my cousin wants to live."
“My cousin is joking again.” As he spoke, he stuffed another freshly peeled grape into his mouth.
In the same month, Meng Xizhi returned to Shuobei, accompanied by a beautiful woman.
Watching the figure disappear joyfully into his carriage, Lüqiong seemed to suddenly understand something. The green leaves swayed in the wind, and she felt a pang of sadness, even her mood somber as she watched the warhorses depart. Meeting Lin Leyi's slightly disappointed gaze, Lüqiong unusually spoke first, "Don't be envious. You should thank me for letting you stay."
The woman from Nanliang stood before her warhorse. This departure might be her last.
Meng Xizhi was unrestrained throughout the journey. His carriage was large enough to be covered with a thick black fox fur carpet, and Lin Lerong would entwine with him on it almost every day.
The sounds drifted intermittently out of the car. Meng Xizhi hugged her from behind, his lips gently tracing from her back to her snow-white neck, and finally whispered in her ear, "Do you like me?"
"I...I like it." Lin Lerong was pinned down by him and had no strength to think.
"How much do you like it?" The kiss deepened. "What can you do for me?"
"Anything is fine."
"Even death is acceptable?"
Lin Lerong was completely bewildered by his demands, her face buried in the fox fur blanket, utterly unaware of what she was saying, "I'd even die for you."
The black fox fur blanket against her snow-white skin was so alluring that it was impossible to look away. Meng Xizhi smiled and kissed her earlobe, silently saying, "You said it yourself."
He then took a cup and brought it to her lips, coaxing her to drink. The woman, who had been lost in ecstasy, gradually calmed down, her eyes closing slightly as if she had fallen asleep. He lay on top of her, kissing her back, "Goodbye, Yuan Yuan."
So noisy... So sleepy... Why is someone playing drums... These damn lackeys...
Lin Lerong frowned and opened her eyes impatiently. Just as she was about to curse, she saw a figure in silver-white armor opposite her.
She just stared blankly at the man in the distance, his silver robe and long spear dazzling her. She opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly realized that she seemed unable to make a sound. This realization quickly brought Lin Lerong back to her senses.
Warhorses neighed, two armies clashed, but she was tied high to a long pillar.
Goosebumps covered her entire body. She struggled desperately to open her mouth, screaming incessantly from the depths of her heart, but no sound came out! What was happening! Just a moment ago, she was in Young Master Meng's carriage, and he was holding her tightly, passionately entwined with her, not like now.
She caught a glimpse of the clothes on her body out of the corner of her eye: a tight-fitting waist and a crossed collar, without any ribbons! This was not clothing from the State of Wei!
Meng Xizhi's familiar voice pierced her eardrums, "General, what has your decision been? Whether Madam Song lives or dies is entirely up to you."
"Madam Song? Who is Madam Song?" Lin Lerong asked in astonishment.
Chapter 39 A Sea of Mysteries
"Zhong Li," Mu Qing whispered. He didn't show it on his face, but he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He couldn't make a mistake, he absolutely couldn't make a mistake at this time, or everything would be over!
The little figure, hanging high above, struggled violently. Song Yansi gazed at the high platform from afar, and suddenly felt a moment of disorientation.
His intuition told him that this was not Jiang Yuan. His A Yuan was never one to fear death; her back was straighter than anyone else's, and her heart was more ruthless than anyone else's. She was such a proud and resolute woman that she would never allow herself to fall into such a state.
But what if we're wrong?
Swish—
The silver arrow pierced the sky, penetrating Lin Lerong's throat. Blood gushed out, and she was left with her eyes open, nailed to the pillar alive.
Meng Xizhi was taken aback. His eyes, which had been slightly narrowed, suddenly widened. He abruptly looked up and stared intently at the distant silvery-white figure.
The longbow was still suspended in mid-air, Song Yansi's fingertips trembled slightly, and his voice was unusually steady, "My wife is now safely in Nanliang. I don't know where Young Marquis Meng found this fake, who dares to pretend to be my wife."
A fake is a fake. No matter how similar the figure and appearance are, it's still a fake. His A-Yuan, even in death, will hold her head high with pride. That was true then, that's true now, and that will likely remain true in the future.
“Zhong Li…” Mu Qing breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the man’s confident look did not seem to be fake. He looked up at the woman hanging high up and found her to be exactly the same. Then he glanced at Song Yansi without leaving a trace.