by La Mi Tu
Wanyan Lie sat on the dragon bed and gasped for air. On his forehead was full of sweat. In his eyes were fear, “Jing De, I dreamed about him again?”
“Your majesty, who are you talking about?” Jing De cautiously poured water to let Wanyan Lie rinse his mouth. Then, he took a handkerchief and wiped his (WL) sweat.
“Zhen 3doesn’t know. Zhen couldn’t see his face, but he took away Yue er4! He took away Yue er!” Wanyan Lie felt very stuffy. He tried hard to recall the face of the man in the dream, but he couldn’t remember.
This dream had appeared many times. Could it be that this dream was a sign? Could it be that there really was such a person who wanted to take away Wanyan Ming Yue from him? Wanyan Lie’s heart jumped ‘boom, boom’ very fast. He didn’t dare to think about how the him without Wanyan Ming Yue will continue to live.
‘Shua…’ Wanyan Lie suddenly lifted the quilt. He got out of bed and put on his shoes.
“Your majesty, where are you going?” Seeing that Wanyan Lie wanted to go out only wearing unlined garment, Jing De quickly took out clothes and chased. He put on the clothes for Wanyan Lie.
“Zhen wants to go to Long Autumn palace. Zhen wants to go see Yue er!”
Wanyan Lie’s impulsiveness made Jing De anxious. It was already zishi (11pm-1am). Murong Qi Qi certainly had fallen asleep. Wanyan Lie may alarm Murong Qi Qi by going like this. By then, what should he say? “Your majesty, now it’s already late at night. princess Zhen Guo is already asleep. If you go now, would you not wake princess Zhen Guo up?”
“No, zhen needs to go see Yue er. Otherwise, zhen will feel uneasy!”
Wanyan Lie’s face showed anxiousness. The anxiety in his heart kept growing. He had to go see if Wanyan Ming Yue was still in the underground palace!
The emperor insisted on this. Jing De could only take a light and trotted beside Wanyan Lie.
Late at night, everywhere in the palace was very quiet. The sky was dark. Occasionally, one or two birds will shout. Jing De carriage an orange colored lamp and lighted the road in front of Wanyan Lie. This pair of master and servant, one in the front, one behind, went around half the palace and finally arrived outside Long Autumn palace.
The red palace door was already closed. It appeared that Murong Qi Qi already have slept.
“Your majesty, you see…should we let people open the door?” Jing De looked like he was in a difficult position at Wanyan Lie. Letting people open the palace door would be a big move. It was difficult for Murong Qi Qi not to know. Then, won’t the matter be exposed?
After blowing in the cold wind all the way, Wanyan Lie’s hot-blooded brain also gradually woken up. What was he doing? Could it be to smash the palace door and wake up the entire Long Autumn palace?
Wanyan Lie put his strong hands on the door. After being silent for a long while, he sighed. He turned and walked in big steps back to the road where he came from.
“Your majesty, are you not going anymore?” Although Jing De was saying that, but he let out a sigh of relief. If by chance, the emperor broke into Long Autumn palace at night and in the end, the matter of him hiding Wanyan Ming Yue was known, then what would the officials think? Wouldn’t Wanyan Lie’s image of a wise emperor be destroyed?!
“I won’t go anymore!” Wanyan Lie shook his head. What was the matter with him? If he went now, wouldn’t it let people be suspicious?! He should go back, have a good sleep and not think too much.
The next morning, when Murong Qi Qi woke up, Su Mei told her about Wanyan Lie.
“Oh? Last night, the emperor came to the palace but didn’t enter?” Murong Qi Qi frowned. Feng Cang was behind her doing her hair.
Presumably, it was practice make the skills. Now, Feng Cang was able to do a lot of hairstyles. This pair of -holding sword- hands was also very talented at doing hair. Those serpent knots and -flying to the sky- knots were a piece of cake for him.
“Cang, what do you think the emperor came for in the middle of the night?”
“It’s probably for mother-in-law.”
Feng Cang’s words made the hand which Murong Qi Qi held a hairpin pause.
“Cang, it’s time we cast the net. These past few days, there were a lot newer faces in my palace. It seemed that the last time, the emperor certainly found something strange when he came here. So, he changed new people to here. Those people knew martial arts. They obviously came to monitor us.”
Feng Cang agreed with Murong Qi Qi. These days, he secretly mobilized the most elites of the Eagle troop and let them station outside of the capital. Originally, the defense of the entire capital was in his hands. Now, he changed into the vigilance stand. It’s time to take action.
At the morning court, the officials discovered that the emperor wasn’t in the right state. To be more exact, since the day something happened to Wanyan Yi, Wanyan Lie looked a lot older. It was especially obvious in recent days.
“If something is the matter, then submit the report. If there’s no important matter, then retreat the morning court!” Jing De’s voice spread to throughout the hall. The officials had their head lowered slightly and stayed silent. The emperor was a bit irritable these days and his mood was not good. Before, he ordered the execution of an official who wanted to have an audience with the emperor, making the others tremble in fear. Under circumstances where nothing was the matter, they didn’t dare to say a word more.
After waiting for a while and no one had something important to report, Jing De shouted, “Retreat the morning court!” He left with Wanyan Lie.
“Jing De, what is princess Zhen Guo busy with recently?”
“Answering emperor, occasionally, princess will go out the palace to Nan Lin wangfu. Usually, she stays in Long Autumn palace or goes to Jinxuan palace to accompany the empress dowager.”
There was nothing unusual with Murong Qi Qi’s behavior, but she always occupied Long Autumn palace, making Wanyan Lie unable to see Wanyan Ming Yue. This was a big problem. The warning of that dream had been circling in Wanyan Lie’s heart. Now, he could only hope that the dream was wrong.
“Jing De, when princess Zhen Guo goes to Nan Lin wangfu next time, let people inform zhen. Zhen wants to go see princess Ming Yue.”
“Yes!” Looking at Wanyan Lie’s haggard face, Jing De sighed.
Everything was great about this master. Only in the matter of love, he was too different from ordinary people. If this obsession was on another woman, there would’ve been a happy ending. But, Wanyan Ming Yue is his biological sister, ah! From the beginning this crush was destined to end with tragedy.
Wanyan Lie’s chance came two days later. This day, Murong Qi Qi left the palace early in the morning with Su Mei and Su Yue and went to Nan Lin wangfu. After getting to know that Murong Qi Qi left, Wanyan Lie put down the document in his hand and went to Long Autumn palace.
After entering Long Autumn palace, Wanyan Lie’s heart got a lot more peaceful. His pace was slightly slower than a moment ago. Now, he wanted to determine if his dream did or didn’t happen.
Going down to the underground palace, following the familiar road, Wanyan Lie arrived at Wanyan Ming Yue’s warm jade bed. After seeing that in the warm jade bed lay Wanyan Ming Yue, Wanyan Lie sighed from relief.
“Yue er, it’s great that you’re here! It’s great that you’re here!” Wanyan Lie went forward and grabbed Wanyan Ming Yue’s hand. The heavy stone pressing his heart was finally put down. Wanyan Ming Yue was still here. His dream was really fake. Those worries and those depression disappeared after he saw the in deep sleep Wanyan Ming Yue.
Jing De stood at a side. After seeing such a Wanyan Lie, he shook his head. If there was something in this world that Wanyan Lie still cared about, then it would only be Wanyan Ming Yue. His (WL) whole life, the sovereign before his (JD) eyes would only fall on ‘love’.
“Yue er, recently I had a nightmare. I dreamed about someone taking you away. I screamed and rushed behind, but no matter what, I couldn’t catch up. Later, I woke up from being fr
ightened…” Wanyan Lie sat on the warm jade bed and looked at the peacefully asleep Wanyan Ming Yue. He told her all his worries.
“Don’t leave me, alright?” Wanyan Lie gently kissed the back of Wanyan Ming Yue’s hand. His voice was a bit hoarse, “The matter of that year at Yandang mountain was my fault! I was jealous of Feng Xie. I hated him for taking you away. So, I became muddleheaded from jealousy and handed the military intelligence to Li Qiu Shui who was in love with Feng Xie. Finally, it resulted in the tragedy of Yandang mountain.”
“You know, in fact, the moment I handed the intelligence over to Li Qiu Shui, I regretted it. Feng Xie was my brother. You are my little sister. No matter how jealous I was of Feng Xie, I couldn’t ignore the two hundred thousand soldiers.”
“But, but, I really couldn’t control myself! Seeing you smile like a flower in Feng Xie’s arms, Yue er, do you know, my heart was bleeding. I was so jealous, I nearly went crazy! Why do I have to be your big brother? Why am I your big brother?!”
Mentioning his pain, Wanyan Lie clenched his fists and severely hit the warm jade bed.
“If I wasn’t your big brother, I would’ve definitely been a pair like immortals with you. However, fate played with me like this. It let me meet you and also let me get along with you as brother. Could it be that I was just a chess piece of heaven? Letting me fall in love with you and also letting me unable to get you. Such a feeling is really bad, really bad!”
Wanyan Lie beat the clothes on his chest. His eyes were moist. His hand held Wanyan Ming Yue’s hand. A tear fell on Wanyan Ming Yue’s hand.
“I admit, I’m selfish. I was only selfishly loving you…Yue er, to me, the whole world couldn’t compare to the charm of your smile. You’re the only sun in my heart…So, no matter if the dream was real or fake, I beg you, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me alone! I beg you…”
* * *
Wangye/wang: the prince of first rank
Wangfu: residence of the prince of first rank
Zhen: I, used by the emperor
Er: tetm if endearment
Chapter 160: Exposing His Mask (2)
* * *
Inside the underground palace, there was only the sound of Wanyan Lie’s sobs. Jing De had only seen such a Wanyan Lie twice.
The first time was after Yandang mountain. Li Qiu Shui had handed Wanyan Ming Yue over to Wanyan Lie. When he saw the pale Wanyan Ming Yue who didn’t wake up, Wanyan Lie cried. The second time was now.
The emperor, who was unreachable in the eyes of the world, was now crying helplessly like a child. Jing De’s eyes got wet. He turned his face away and wiped his tears with his sleeve.
Following Wanyan Lie for so many years, Jing De had seen too many things. Even Jing De himself was bit confused. He didn’t know how to describe Wanyan Lie.
To say he’s a bad person, but he’s honest, upright and loved the citizens like his children. To say he’s a good person, but Yandang mountain’s two hundred thousand lives were destroyed by his hand. Even Jing De, who’d followed Wanyan Lie for the longest, didn’t know how to describe this emperor.
“Emperor, don’t be too sad. If princess can hear you, she will certainly not wish you to be like this.” Jing De came to Wanyan Lie’s side. He took out a clean handkerchief and handed it over. “If you’re like this, princess Ming Yue will also be sad.”
Jing De’s words let tears accumulate in Wanyan Lie’s eyes. It was like a broken river had poured down.
“Jing De, you don’t understand, ah! Yue er1 hates me! So, she would rather sleep than to wake up! She hates me from the bottom of her heart…,” Wanyan Lie gently patted Wanyan Ming Yue’s hand. He shook his head and his lips shivered a bit.
“Yue er, if I say that I know I am wrong, will you forgive me? Can you open your eyes and look at me once? Only once…,” Wanyan Lie raised his head. When he looked at Wanyan Ming Yue’s face, he was suddenly startled.
“Your majesty, what’s the matter?” Seeing that Wanyan Lie had quieted down, Jing De also walked over. When he looked closer, he saw that the red bean hairpin on Wanyan Ming Yue’s hair had disappeared.
“He came! He certainly must’ve come before!” Wanyan Lie jumped off the warm jade bed. He came to the front bedside. He carefully inspected once.
“That’s right! Jing De, that person had come! He took the red bean hairpin. He also changed Yue er’s clothes!”
The last words were almost shouted by Wanyan Lie. Aside from combing Wanyan Ming Yue’s hair, he asked palace maids to change her clothes. Every time, the palace maid who’d changed Wanyan Ming Yue’s clothes would be killed by him. So, no one ever saw Wanyan Ming Yue.
Now, the red bean hairpin in Wanyan Ming Yue’s hair was gone. The dress on her body had also been changed. How could Wanyan Lie not be shocked? How could he not be angry?!
The person, who he had never touched and was held in the palm of his hand like a baby, had been touched by another man. Wanyan Lie was so angry that his gritted teeth made sounds. He obviously had sent people over. The whole Long Autumn palace was defended like an iron wall by his people. Why did such a thing still happen? How did that person enter the underground palace? How was he able to do such a thing?!
“Jing De, quickly go investigate! Who was it that touched princess Ming Yue?! Find that person!”
The last sentence was completely roared out by Wanyan Lie.
He had never thought that such a person will appear and disturb his dream of sixteen years. Wanyan Lie had an intuition. This person would certainly take Wanyan Ming Yue away, just like his dreams.
No! He couldn’t let such a thing happen! He absolutely won’t allow such a person to appear again! Because of Feng Xie, his hands were already stained with blood. Although he didn’t want to, but he also wouldn’t mind his hands getting stained with blood again!
“Yes! Yes!” When Jing De saw Wanyan Lie acting so out of control, he was about to leave, but after seeing something, his mouth dropped open.
“Emp…emperor…,” Jing De’s expression was extremely strange. His finger pointed behind Wanyan Lie. Wanyan Lie’s gaze followed Jing De’s finger. He discovered that Wanyan Ming Yue had sat up and looked directly at him.
“Yue er…”
Wanyan Lie cried out from surprise. His expression wasn’t much better than Jing De’s. “Yue er, is it really you?”
Not waiting for Wanyan Lie to understand, Wanyan Ming Yue smiled slightly. The smile was still there, but the person disappeared. In just a moment, she appeared in front of Wanyan Lie and hit his pressure point.
At the same time, Jing De felt pain in his back. His pressure point was also hit.
“Yue er, Yue er, what do you want to do…,” Wanyan Lie was very shocked. After that, something more shocking occurred to him.
Dongfang Lan, Wanyan Kang, Feng Cang, Ming Yue Cheng, Jin Mo…many familiar and unfamiliar people appeared in front of him. What is going on? Wanyan Lie looked in disbelief at Wanyan Ming Yue.
“I disappointed you.” Wanyan Ming Yue right hand touched her face, tore down a transparent mask and revealed Murong Qi Qi’s face.
“It’s you…,” Wanyan Lie’s surprise turned into anger from being deceived. “Where did you hide Yue er? Where is Yue er?”
“You still have the face to mention Ming Yue?!” Dongfang Lan was so angry that her lips turned blue. Just now, they had been hiding in another secret lane. So, they had heard Wanyan Lie’s every word very clearly.
The truth had come out about what had happened sixteen years ago at Yandang mountain, but no one had ever thought that the secret was like this. It was actually Wanyan Lie, this country’s emperor, who’d sold the military intelligence to the enemy’s country. From this, he’d made two hundred thousand men of Bei Zhou die on the battlefield. Him being like this, how could he be worthy of Bei Zhou’s citizens?! How could he be worthy of the dynasty?!
“Empress mother…”
“Don’t call aijia2 empress mother!” Because of anger, the ruby in t
he phoenix mouth of Dongfang Lan’s phoenix crown trembled slightly. “Aijia doesn’t have a son like you! When your consort mother died and you were still a baby, it was aijia who’d brought you up. I treated you like my own, but how did you repay aijia? You ruined Ming Yue! Ruined Feng Xie! Ruined so many people! You’re not eligible to call aijia empress mother!”
Dongfang Lan was very furious. The son she’d raised was actually a thankless wretch. He’d actually did such a thing to her daughter, letting them be separated for sixteen years. All was thanks to this person in front of her.
Dongfang Lan’s words made a trace of guilt flash in Wanyan Lie’s eyes. Indeed, he had grown up under Dongfang Lan’s care. Dongfang Lan didn’t treat him as an outsider. Instead, she’d helped him when it was time to legalize a new emperor. All these good turns, he remembered them. It was just, he loved Wanyan Ming Yue. This matter of fact couldn’t be changed.
“Empress mother, where is Yue er?” At this time, Wanyan Lie was most concerned about Wanyan Ming Yue’s safety. After seeing Murong Qi Qi, Wanyan Lie understood that he had fallen into a net. Those who’d cast the net were the people in front of him.
Since they cast a net and waited to catch him, then did this mean that Wanyan Ming Yue had already woken up? Since it was like this, what he wanted most now was to see Wanyan Ming Yue!
“She left! She didn’t want to see you!”
Dongfang Lan’s words were like a bolt from the blue and made Wanyan Lie’s brain make a ‘weng’ sound.
“It couldn’t be! Yue er wouldn’t be like this!” Wanyan Lie shook his head. He didn’t dare and also didn’t want to believe Dongfang Lan’s words. The words he’d said for so many days at Wanyan Ming Yue’s ears, Wanyan Lie didn’t believe that Wanyan Ming Yue hadn’t heard them. If she understood his heart, she would certainly take pity on his difficulties and certainly wouldn’t heartlessly leave him like this.
“Empress mother, you are lying to me, isn’t it? Yue er is just angry and temporarily refused to see me, right?”