moon

At daybreak, the drizzle that had lasted for several days finally gave way to the sunshine, but the fog had not completely dissipated. The rising sun, hidden by the clouds, seemed to be testing something.

When Yuan Ming woke up from a nightmare, she saw Zhong Yingqi holding a box of peach cakes for her.

"Eat it. It's not as good as the expensive pastries in the imperial city. It's not as delicate or exquisite, but it's sweet enough."

Yuan Ming, sweating coldly, gently took the crisp peach cake and commented, "It's too sweet."

Zhong Yingqi laughed out loud: "Life on the frontier is hard. Most soldiers drink strong liquor to stimulate their taste buds. Of course, some people also eat sweets. Perhaps this is not just a taste enjoyment, but also an emotional sustenance."

Yuan Ming lowered his eyes: "The general seems to have something to say to me."

"I asked the little girl Rulan next to you and learned some things about you. What are your plans for the future?" After saying that, Zhong Ying also ate a piece of peach cake, staring at Yuan Ming vaguely.

Yuan Ming's features were haggard, but he didn't look listless. Instead, he had a rekindled fighting spirit: "Revenge will be taken, blood debts will be repaid with blood."

Zhong Yingqi's eyes grew heavy. "How will Your Highness seek revenge?"

How to take revenge? In the previous life, Yuan Zi saw Yuan Ming fall into oblivion and became complacent, letting down her guard, giving Yuan Ming a chance to make a comeback. This is one of the reasons.

Secondly, corruption in Qi State was a well-known problem, with the treasury devoured by corrupt officials. If the new emperor lacked the resolve to confront the corrupt officials, he would be doomed along with the nation. The empress was aging, and she had no time to retrain Yuan Zi, who had been confined to the inner palace. Consequently, Yuan Zi failed to recognize the deep-seated problems of Qi State, and as its helmsman, she was destined to be unable to shoulder the responsibility.

Yuan Ming vaguely remembered returning to the imperial city with her former troops, their march unstoppable. It wasn't because her men were particularly formidable, but rather because Yuan Zi's soldiers were powerless—like pieces of tofu, shattered at the slightest touch. Yuan Zi couldn't suppress corrupt officials, so no one took her, the would-be empress, seriously. She could only sit on the throne, heartbroken, watching Yuan Ming chop off her head with his sword, unable to rest in peace.

Occasionally, Yuan Ming would wonder if Qi State's luck was destined to continue, so she could endure all that torture and pain, and stand before the world in an almost inhuman appearance to delay Qi State's destruction, allowing it to welcome a new emperor and a new life.

After all, Yuan Ming was already madly insane by then. The corrupt officials from the aristocratic families whom the Empress dared not touch and whom Yuan Zi could not suppress were nothing more than nameless souls in her eyes. Yuan Ming was so mad that she slaughtered the entire imperial city with the lives of corrupt officials, becoming a significant figure in the history books of the Qi Kingdom. However, this also cemented Yuan Ming's reputation as a vicious killer. Who wouldn't be afraid of her reckless killing?

This is indeed the case. Tyrants rarely have a good ending.

"Your Highness, why don't you listen to me?" Zhong Yingqi said after a moment of contemplation. "Your Highness's place of exile has been tampered with. Those behind the scenes will surely not let Your Highness off easily. If Your Highness leaves Northern Frontier now, you'll likely face numerous attacks. It's best to stay in the Northern Frontier military camp and slowly make plans later. Besides, Li Quanyu has been executed, and the Empress has pinned the crime on Your Highness. You can no longer explain yourself. The throne requires legitimacy. Without the Empress's intervention, Your Highness is now unjust and unjust. This is definitely not a good time."

Yuan Ming remained silent for a long time, so Zhong Yingqi could only say softly, "Your Highness, please consider this carefully. I will take my leave now."

Zhong Yingqi stood up to leave, but Yuan Ming stopped him and asked with a puzzled look in her heart, "Why are you helping me? I'm the deposed princess, aren't you afraid that I'll stir up a bloody storm and make the people live in turmoil?"

Zhong Yingqi sighed softly, "Because I can't bear to see the bright moon in the sky fall into the stinking ditch."

…

Inside the Imperial City, by candlelight, Yuan Zi held a brush and gently sketched the ripples on the lake on rice paper. Her eyes were fixed on the painting, and she painted with great care.

The lake in the painting is the famous Xingyue Lake in the Empress's Mountain Resort. When Xiao Yuanming once asked her why the lake was called Xingyue Lake, the little girl replied, "The stars and the moon keep it company, so it's called Xingyue Lake."

As night fell, Xiao Yuanzi and Xiao Yuanming sneaked past the palace maids and guards and arrived at Xingyue Lake. There was only the reflection of the moon in the lake. Xiao Yuanming said, "The moon is so clear, like the heart of the lake. The moon is here, so why aren't the stars here?"

Xiao Yuanzi pouted and said, "The moon is too bright, so you can't see the stars. But I'm different. I can see those stars that are not so bright. Look, aren't there stars by the lake?"

Xiao Yuanming opened his eyes wide, looked at the lake, then looked up at the sky, and wondered, "There are no stars in the sky, so how could there be stars in the lake?"

Xiao Yuanzi was very angry when she was refuted: "What are those glowing spots by the lake? They are not stars, are they fireflies?"

As soon as the words fell, small dots of light began to move in front of the two sisters and flew to the other side of the lake. They were indeed fireflies.

In the dark night, Xiao Yuanzi's face flushed with anger. She pointed at the bright moon in the sky and said, "It's all because the moon is too bright. Why can't the stars be seen when it's bright? I hate the moon the most!"

Xiao Yuanming didn't agree with her sister. Instead, she looked at the bright moon and said, "The moon is so beautiful! With the moon, people can see the road at night."

The more Xiao Yuanzi listened, the angrier she became. She yelled at Yuan Ming, "If you like the moon, spend the night with it!" After that, she stormed back to the palace, leaving Xiao Yuanming at a loss.

Late at night, lying in bed, Xiao Yuanzi couldn't fall asleep. Thinking about her sister not coming back yet, she struggled for a moment before putting on her coat and heading back to the lake to look for Yuan Ming. She searched everywhere but couldn't find her. Little Yuanzi, increasingly nervous, ran around Xingyue Lake, calling out her sister's name.

The night wind blew Xiao Yuanzi's hair, blurring her vision. She stumbled and fell into the lake. The splashing water shattered the moon's reflection in the water. Xiao Yuanzi felt dizzy, and the sky became blurry in her eyes, with only the bright moon shining brightly.

The moon illuminated the way home for little Yuan Ming. The little Yuan Ming stumbled and finally returned to the palace covered in dust. When she looked up, she saw the empress admiring the moon at night. The empress discovered that the two sisters had sneaked to the lake, and Yuan Zi, who was drowning, narrowly escaped death.

Fate likes to play tricks on people. Perhaps Yuan Zi ran too fast, and Yuan Ming was too tired. On that wide road, the two missed each other, and the friendship between the two royal sisters was cut off.

Yuan Zi collected her thoughts, took a deep breath, and added another bright moon to the painting. She admired this night scene with satisfaction, a smile on her lips. At her feet, there were a dozen other paintings like this, the difference being that there was no moon in them.

Yuan Zi's body couldn't stand for long, so a maid helped her cough back to a chair. Ever since she fell into the water that day, her body had been plagued by illness. She could no longer study martial arts and archery with Yuan Ming, and the empress ignored her. Her youthful pride was like a bright star, obscured by the moonlight...

Yuan Zi looked at the painting in front of her calmly, waiting for news about Yuan Ming.

The trembling secret guard reported the news of Yuan Ming's disappearance to Yuan Zi. The previously calm Yuan Zi's eyes seemed to be filled with poison. She directly threw the brush on the painting. The bright moon in the painting happened to be smeared with ink, and the picture became very abrupt.

The palace maids knelt down and, together with the secret guards, endured the princess's wrath.

"You're a bunch of trash! Didn't you beat her like a dead pig? Her skin was torn and bloody, and you still let her get away!" Yuan Zi snorted softly, her voice low, "Just finish yourself. I don't want to keep trash here."

The secret guard who had brought the news trembled all over, begging for mercy, but Yuan Zi dismissively waved him away. After the guards dragged the secret guard away, the surroundings became eerily quiet.

Yuan Zi walked to the damaged painting by herself, touched the undried ink stains with her fingers, and wanted to bite the corners of her mouth to make them bleed. She said angrily in her heart: "Yuan Ming, you really can't find peace wherever you go. I will make you live a life worse than death!" Yuan Zi nervously tore the drawing paper with her fingers, and the paper scraps fell like snowflakes.

Yuan Zi gritted her teeth and shouted, "Someone come!"

A group of men in black knelt in front of Yuan Zi. These were the secret guards that Yuan Zi inherited from the empress. The empress was old, and she would never have thought that her newly appointed princess would use her power to disobey her imperial order, kill her own daughter, and force her to abdicate in the future.

Yuan Zi said, "Search the entire northern border area thoroughly. Once the person is found, there's no need to leave the body intact."

The guard took his orders and left. Yuan Zi opened the window, looked up at the moon, and thought to herself, "I won't let you ever return to the sky again. Stay in the stinking ditch and rot to death."

Yuan Zi laughed crazily. Although there were some incidents, she was still immersed in the joy of defeating Yuan Ming. This joy also included her calculations against the empress.

After years of painstaking planning, Yuan Zi understood the Empress better than Yuan Ming did. She knew the Empress still cared about Yuan Ming and was not entirely satisfied with her, so she tampered with Yuan Ming's place of exile and, while the Empress was bedridden and unable to care, staged a scheme to completely obliterate the Empress's choice of Crown Prince.

The empress seemed to have noticed something, so she stopped drinking the medicine that Yuan Zi brought her personally.

Seeing that the empress refused to take the medicine the day before yesterday, Yuan Zi wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with her mother for the first time. It is really not easy for a mother and daughter like them who are pursuing the path of imperial power to have a heart-to-heart talk. Even though they have the same blood and are the closest people in the world, there are always calculations and trade-offs when they come into contact.

After all, compared to Yuan Ming, Yuan Zi is the daughter who is more similar to the empress.

When she was a child, Yuan Ziru lay at the head of her mother's bed, like a simple and harmless little lamb, telling her mother about her growth. Of course, Yuan Ming played an indispensable role in it.

From her childhood pride to her resentment after falling into the water, and then to her silence when she hid her edge, her hatred and jealousy towards Yuan Ming grew day by day, gradually forming her flesh and blood. She also hated the whole family and had a deep grudge against the empress.

The Empress commented: "What a heartless person."

Yuan Zi just sneered and did not refute.

The flickering candlelight illuminates the silent figures of the mother and daughter, one lying down, the other sitting. At first glance, the picture is full of delicacy and filial piety.

The empress said weakly, "How could I not know that Ah Ming was framed? But I still punished her because she was plotting a rebellion. I will not allow anyone to meddle with the imperial power. For this position, I will do anything. Ah Zi, you are more ruthless than your sister, but you may not be able to hold on to this position."

The empress trembled as she took out the tiger talisman that symbolized military power from the secret compartment of her bed and threw it to Yuan Zi, saying, "The time left for the Qi Kingdom's fortune to flourish is short. You should make plans early."

Yuan Zi was puzzled: "Mother, don't you hate me? I've hurt you a lot."

The empress suddenly laughed. "To hold this position, one must be ruthless. If you want power, fight for it yourself, don't expect others to give it to you. Remember, your mother emerged as the empress from the previous emperor's battle for the throne. There's nothing I can't afford to lose. Besides, are you sure Ah Ming won't make a comeback? After all, she was once my favorite princess. Let me see which of you two sisters will have the last laugh."

Yuan Zi tightly gripped the tiger talisman and said with a half-hearted smile, "Sometimes I really think my mother has gone crazy."

"You can go now." The empress turned her back to Yuan Zi and issued an expulsion order.

Yuan Ziyou stood up and left a message before leaving: "Yuan Ming will never make a comeback, because I will crush her to death in the stinking ditch. Mother, just wait and see."