Chapter 16: Innocence Why should she, a victim, prove her innocence? ...
Tear marks still lingered on Yuwen Zhao's face, but she had long since dried them. She smiled softly and said, "Since you all say I'm crazy, I might as well go completely crazy." She pounded her chest with one hand and pointed at Xiao Chengjing with the other, laughing bitterly, "I'm the dignified Princess Jingning of Jin. Isn't it enough that you send these slaves from a conquered nation to humiliate me? You even want to massacre my people to please her? How ridiculous!"
Finally, she flicked her sleeves, pointed at Shu Yao, and said coldly to Xiao Chengjing: "Open your eyes and take a look. Has she ever shown any sign of appreciation?"
After saying that, he rushed towards the pillar of the temple.
Xiao Chengjing's face was cold and hard, and his jaw tilted slightly towards Yuwen Zhao.
Then a guard suddenly jumped out from the shadows at the side of the palace and pounced on Yuwen Zhao.
Yuwen Zhao tried to snatch the guard's sword, but the guard grabbed his wrist and pushed him away.
The blade fell to the ground with a clang.
"Want to die for your country?" Xiao Chengjing looked down at him, with an invisible pressure, "Do I approve?"
Shu Yao knelt silently in the same place, her knuckles clenched white, pressing tightly against her knees.
She understood that she could not save those palace maids, nor could she save Yuwen Zhao, who was proud and wanted to die.
Just at this moment, another guard came to report that those palace maids had been beaten to death.
Shu Yao's heart trembled suddenly, and she almost sneered out loud.
She really didn't want to stay in this cannibalistic place any longer...
On the way back, the wheels rolled over the palace road, making a rumbling sound.
The dim light from the sky filtered through the car window, shrouding the two people sitting opposite each other in a state of semi-brightness and oppression.
Xiao Chengjing pretended to close his eyes and rest, tapping his knees lightly with his knuckles.
Yuwen Zhao's words made him feel uneasy.
What is her relationship with the Crown Prince of Jin?
He wanted to find out immediately, but was afraid that the truth would be too unbearable to hear.
After a long pause, he spoke, as if just chatting, "I've been a hostage for fifteen years. I'm sure it must have been tough." He opened his eyes, his gaze tracing Shu Yao's features. "Besides reading, do you have any other pastimes?"
Shu Yao raised her head and looked straight into those deep eyes: "Your Majesty, do you want to ask about the matter between me and the Crown Prince of Jin?"
This question, like a sharp knife, pierced through his composure directly.
She was always like this, always seeing through his temptations at a glance, always rejecting him with words as sharp as thorns.
He fixed his eyes, leaned forward slightly, and the majesty of the royal family silently enveloped him: "Are you trying to figure out what I mean?"
A faint smile appeared in Shu Yao's eyes, laughing at herself and at him.
Why should he, Xiao Chengjing, ask her to prove her innocence?
Why should she, a victim, be asked to prove her innocence?
So, she straightened her back, her words laced with poison. "Even if Your Majesty knew, what would it do? Could you prevent the Crown Prince of Jin from ever summoning me, or the Third Prince from ever following my carriage, or those dandies from aristocratic families from ever blocking my path in the corridor?" She spoke slowly, but each word was clear, laying out the unbearable past before him, bloody and stained. "The past is over. If Your Majesty truly sympathizes with my plight, then why can't I even leave the gate of the Secretariat?!"
Xiao Chengjing's eyes darkened, and undercurrents surged.
How dare she... compare him with those bastards?
His brows knitted together, and a dark flame flickered in his eyes. "In these troubled times, do you think your little cleverness can protect you? If you fall into the hands of Jin Nie, how can you survive?"
Shu Yao's lips curled up in a piercing sneer, "Then I really have to thank Your Majesty." She paused, her mockery growing stronger, "After all, in Your Majesty's eyes, for someone like me, being alive is a blessing..."
Xiao Chengjing's voice suddenly dropped, carrying with it an inexplicable sting of pain, as if he was trying to pull her into some unspoken understanding: "Why did I keep you..." He raised his hand, his fingertips brushing across his heart and caressing the wound on his left arm, "You...really don't know?"
Shu Yao just looked at him quietly, watching the complex emotions in his eyes, watching his fingertips brush across the old wound.
She felt a little confused. She was questioning him one second, and then suddenly making affectionate hints the next.
Shu Yao frowned slightly and used his words to stop him: "I dare not speculate on the will of heaven..."
Suddenly, the wheels came to a standstill and the rumbling sound stopped abruptly.
Shu Yao stood up, said goodbye, and ran away.
As soon as he stepped over the threshold of the clerk's villa, he heard a loud bang from the carriage behind him, which made his heart jump.
She paused slightly, but did not look back, and walked straight into the yard.
Soon, the horses neighed softly, and the carriage with green curtains drove straight to the Liang army camp.
The carriage stopped in front of the golden-roofed tent with coiled dragons.
Xiao Chengjing got out of the car and walked into the tent.
The soldiers on both sides knelt silently, with their heads lowered, not daring to look directly at the emperor.
Inside the tent, candlelight flickered.
Xiao Chengjing took out the Yumen Military Report presented by Zhao Yan from the mountain of memorials on his desk.
The report said that the medicinal materials were cut off and Yuwen Bo was trapped in an isolated city.
There was no joy on Xiao Chengjing's face.
After all, in his heart, Yuwen Bo should have been dead long ago.
He gathered his five fingers together, crumpled the military report, and said to Cui Jinzhong, who was standing by, "Call Zhao Yan."
Cui Jinzhong's eyelids twitched. This morning, when the emperor went to pick up Madam Jiang, he was in high spirits. Why was he so gloomy after sending her back?
Shaking his head secretly, he turned and walked out of the imperial tent.
Soon, he led Zhao Yan into the tent.
Seeing that Xiao Chengjing had a bad look on his face, Zhao Yan bowed respectfully and waited for the emperor's will.
After a while, Xiao Chengjing finally raised his eyes from the memorial. His cold gaze pierced Zhao Yan, and he asked in a cold voice, "How many troops does Yuwenbo have left? How much of his food and fodder has been depleted?"
Zhao Yan clasped his hands together and reported, "The defenders have less than 3,000 men. Having run out of food, they have already killed their horses for food. I'm afraid they will collapse within ten days."
Xiao Chengjing's eyes darkened, and a sneer slowly curled across his lips. "A fleeing army is even more dangerous! Immediately set up checkpoints along the official roads, recruit the hungry civilians and build camps on the spot. Anyone who dares to attack the passes—behead them! As for those parasites in the Jin capital who are secretly in contact with Yuwen Bo..." The imperial pen paused on the memorial, cinnabar dripping, and circled the names of several old Jin nobles. "Invite them and their entire families to Liangdu for resettlement under the pretext of courtesy."
Zhao Yan replied, "I will obey your orders."
After settling the matter of Yuwen Bo, Xiao Chengjing's brows relaxed slightly, and he felt like confessing something. He raised his hand to hold Zhao Yan back.
Cui Jinzhong immediately bowed and left the tent silently.
Finally, don't forget to close the curtain carefully.
Only the king and his minister were left in the tent.
Xiao Chengjing rubbed his eyebrows and leaned back in the chair.
"Zi Yan." He called Zhao Yan by his courtesy name, a rare hint of weariness in his voice. "There are no outsiders here."
This call brought Zhao Yan's thoughts back to many years ago.
At that time, he was not yet the famous general of Liang State, and Xiao Chengjing was not the founding ruler who unified Liang and Jin. They were just two down-and-out teenagers struggling to survive in the Liang State military camp.
"Your Majesty." Zhao Yan still adhered to his duties as a subject, but the coldness in his tone had melted away.
Xiao Chengjing looked at him with a serious gaze: "If you have something to say, just say it directly. There's no need to hide it."
Zhao Yan was silent for a moment, then he looked directly at the emperor and answered frankly, "Your Majesty seems to treat the hostage differently than others. I'm afraid you are not fully in charge of the government. There is much discussion in the court and the public. Why do you..."
He paused slightly, staring into the hard-to-ignore paranoia in the king's eyes.
In a trance, he saw again the scene when he first met Xiao Chengjing many years ago.
The boy was covered in dirt, except for his pair of eyes, which were frighteningly bright. They were filled with alertness beyond his years and a desire to survive that was almost like that of a beast.
Xiao Chengjing said nothing, his fingertips tracing the smooth wooden surface of the imperial desk, as if recounting a past he didn't want to touch. "Zi Yan, do you remember when I first went to the military camp for training... I couldn't sleep at night, always suspecting someone would rush in and throw me back to Jin."
Zhao Yan's heart trembled, and he murmured: "I remember."
How could I not remember? Those days were not only difficult, but also like licking blood on the edge of a knife.
"During those years in Jin, I lived worse than pigs and dogs." Xiao Chengjing lowered his eyes slightly, looking at the unique old image in his heart. "Everyone thought I couldn't make it, even I didn't think I could make it." His voice was low, and it seemed to contain a very faint sigh, "But she came..."
"Even if the hostage has done Your Majesty a favor, you should treat her with some courtesy, allow her to sort out the documents, and then..." Zhao Yan's brows were furrowed, but he didn't dare to speak out. He only said solemnly, "The disadvantages of this move far outweigh the advantages."
"How could I not know what you're worried about?" Xiao Chengjing chuckled and shook his head. "My biological mother is from Jin. Since the invasion of Jin, all our policies to win over the old clans and provide relief to the new people have been criticized by Feng Shizhong and other upright officials as being pro-Jin and partial." His eyes were dark and unfathomable, holding an indescribable weight. "Her status is special, so we've appointed her as a guest official to sort out some insignificant old documents. The upright officials have focused on this special case and argued endlessly, which has actually helped to ward off many attacks."
Although Zhao Yan was straightforward, he was not stupid and could hear the half truth and half falsehood in Xiao Chengjing's words.
I thought that if I missed this opportunity, I would never be able to get His Majesty to tell the truth again, so I argued, "What about the assassination? I know you want to accomplish your goal in one fell swoop. But shielding a hostage from the sword... I simply cannot understand."
Xiao Chengjing lowered his eyelashes and said calmly, "It was just an accident. I know my limits." When he mentioned the word "limit," his Adam's apple rolled slightly, and he continued, "I kept her only to mediate with the Li Kingdom."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yan's brows furrowed even more, and his heart sank.
Your Majesty has repeatedly tried to cover up the hostage girl issue, but it only makes things more obvious. Is it because you are not aware of your own feelings, or are you unwilling to face the truth?
It's not that he doesn't tolerate the king's private affairs, but the hostage girl is smart and capable, and she is of a foreign race, so she is not a good match.
He was unwilling to see the reputation of a wise ruler, earned through hard work, suffer a flaw just because of a hostage girl, so he asked, "Since this is the case, after the peace talks, how will Your Majesty arrange for the hostage girl?"
Xiao Chengjing casually picked up a memorial and stared at it for a moment before saying, "She's been a hostage in the Zi Mansion for fifteen years. She's seen the world's coldness and indifference, but she hasn't lost her heart. Such a heart is rare, even among men. After the affairs of state are settled, she will have her own place to return to." He threw the memorial back on the table and said, "Zi Yan, don't worry."
Zhao Yan lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "I understand."
The author has something to say:
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I'm so happy to have a list this week. I have enough drafts saved. From the 13th to the 17th, I will update the list every day. You can keep growing [let me check it out]
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