Fangirl
"General, why don't you ask me why I came to visit you at this time?" Yuan Ming asked.
"I believe Your Highness must have a reason and will definitely come to explain. Asking further will be nonsense." Zhong Yingqi answered seriously.
Yuan Ming reacted and realized that when she just woke up and went to find Zhong Yingqi who was baking steamed buns, she seemed to imply that he had said something nonsense.
Tsk, why does Yuan Ming feel so uncomfortable after hearing what Zhong Yingqi said?
"Thank you for your trust, General Zhong. Sometimes it's harmless to say a little nonsense. I can be a bit harsh, and I've punctured people's lungs quite a few times before. General Zhong, don't worry about it."
As a dignified general, he remembered every word of a fallen princess. If things continue to develop, how will Yuan Ming be able to do it again in the future?
Zhong Yingqi sat down calmly, like a statue that could only smile faintly.
Yuan Ming no longer dwelled on this point. After all, no one could stop her from returning to the throne. She would kill anyone who stood in her way, even if it meant killing Buddha. She was also an incurable lunatic, and her only hope of survival was revenge.
Yuan Ming smiled bitterly. Now she was increasingly confused about the purpose of her rebirth. To save herself, to fight fate? Fate was unpredictable, and besides, was someone like her worth saving?
The self-destructive emotion that had always accompanied her once again occupied her heart, and Yuan Ming's mood fell to the bottom.
"Your Highness, are you in a bad mood?" Zhong Yingqi asked.
Yuan Ming was too lazy to pay attention to him and lowered his head sullenly.
Zhong Yingqi stayed by Yuan Ming's side silently, waiting for her to come out of her depression. Since they had been together, Zhong Yingqi had also figured out some tricks to get along with Yuan Ming.
Perhaps due to her emotional distress, Yuan Ming's mood swings were noticeable, sometimes high and sometimes low. If anyone disturbed her during these moments, she would attack them. For example, she would directly attack her enemies, only calming down after seeing blood. With her own people, verbal clashes were inevitable. As she herself said, she'd often pierce someone's lungs, and Jiang Kai suffered the most from them.
Yuan Ming came back to his senses after half a minute. Seeing Zhong Yingqi, a smile flashed in his eyes again. "I came here today to tell you about Zhang He's situation."
Zhong Yingqi smiled back, "Your Highness, please speak."
"When Zhang He dragged you to the inn for a drink, I went to his mansion, sneaked in, and found something interesting."
Two hours ago, Yuan Ming sat in a corner of the high wall of Zhang He's luxurious mansion, confidently observing the movements of the residents. A breeze blew her hair, and she curled her lips. With a nimble leap, she jumped down the wall and slipped into the shadows of the house.
Zhang He's concubines, who were fighting each other out of jealousy, had no idea that unwelcome guests had sneaked into their huge mansion.
Yuan Ming jumped from room to room, glancing at them. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, a prefect's residence is almost as big as the imperial palace. It must be brimming with wealth."
Yuan Ming went into Zhang He's study and rummaged through the drawers and cabinets with light hands and feet. He found many land deeds, a dozen or so paintings and calligraphy by famous artists, four large boxes of silver bills, some valuable jewelry and a list of officials.
Yuan Ming suddenly had an idea. If she killed Zhang He, wouldn't these things belong to her?
That's it! Yuan Ming thought for a few seconds, and a plan came to mind. However, the biggest obstacle now was Zhong Yingqi, and it was probably unrealistic for him to take all of Zhang He's money.
Yuan Ming sat at Zhang He's desk, fingers clasped together and resting her chin on it in annoyance, examining the gold, silver and jewelry she had looted.
At this time, Yuan Ming glanced at a small porcelain brazier in the upper right corner of the desk. There was a small piece of unburned white paper in the ashes in the brazier.
Yuan Ming picked up the white paper, its edges scorched and curled, and examined it carefully. Sunlight streamed through the window, across the white paper, and onto Yuan Ming's cheek.
The dark eyes suddenly widened, and Yuan Ming gritted his teeth and said, "You are so audacious, Zhang He, if the King of Hell tells you to die at three o'clock in the morning, I will never let you live until five o'clock."
Without any hesitation, Yuan Ming climbed over the window to take Zhang He's life, but she found a delicate girl with messy skirt and hairpin squatting in the corner, looking at her with moist eyes.
Time seemed to stand still. Yuan Ming continued to climb over the wall, staring at the girl without blinking. She wondered how this girl could be hiding here without making any noise.
The girl pointed at Yuan Ming tremblingly and cried, "You... thief."
Yuan Ming tilted her head back slightly, her fair skin glowing in the setting sun, her eyes twinkling like stars. The girl in the corner was startled and stared at Yuan Ming blankly.
Yuan Ming raised his lips and smiled, saying, "Have you ever seen a thief as beautiful as me?"
The woman came to her senses and asked softly, "Who are you?"
Seeing the girl give in, Yuan Ming quickly glanced at her. Her dress sleeves were torn, her hair was tangled, and there were small cuts on her hands, as if scratched by a hairpin. Especially the red handprint on her face, it seemed the slap was from a small hand, but the force was quite strong. Furthermore, judging by her clothes, she didn't look like a maid; she must be one of Zhang He's concubines.
Yuan Ming thought that when she just sneaked in, she happened to see several women pulling their hair in the yard. She guessed that this woman was the first one to be eliminated, and then hid in the corner and cried and wiped her tears.
Yuan Ming walked briskly to the corner, leaned close to the girl who was shaking like a sieve, and said, "Little girl wiping her tears, how about we make a deal?"
Yuan Ming made a gesture to silence the girl, and she nodded with tears in her eyes.
Of course she had to nod, because Yuan Ming had already put a knife to her neck.
"I'm just preventing you from accidentally attracting other people here. Don't worry, I won't kill you." Yuan Ming smiled brightly, not realizing there was anything wrong with doing so.
If they were in other positions, Yuan Ming would probably just call this behavior sick, saying that holding a knife to someone's neck and then emphasizing the grace of not killing is pure and insane. But since it was Yuan Ming herself holding the knife, it didn't matter much; she was really sick anyway.
"What's your name?" Yuan Ming asked.
The girl's eyes were filled with tears as she weakly replied, "Fang'er."
"Oh, Miss Fang, who bullied you? I'll help you teach them a lesson. In exchange, you can't tell anyone you've seen me. Isn't this a good deal? After all, I'm not here to kill or rob. I just saw how magnificent this mansion is and couldn't help but come over to take a look."
Yuan Ming and Fang'er looked into each other's eyes. What Yuan Ming didn't know was that whenever she was in a playful mood, her beautiful eyes would become seductive, tempting others to admire her and be curious about her expression afterwards.
Fang'er could only sigh how she could have met such a wonderful person today. She didn't know how many times she had stared at Yuan Ming in a trance.
In fact, Yuan Ming could have simply threatened Fang'er not to tell anyone about his meeting with her. After all, Fang'er was clearly timid and vulnerable. Yuan Ming was confident that a scare would scare her into passing out. When she woke up afterwards, she might have thought it was all a dream.
But Yuan Ming chose to help Fang'er. In Yuan Ming's opinion, as long as the other party wasn't extremely vicious or cunning, when someone did her a favor, she would definitely waver before doing something "bad" and ultimately act in accordance with the benefactor's wishes. In short, if you give them a little benefit, those who are not too bad will not harm the benefactor as much.
This was Yuan Ming's experience. Moreover, Yuan Ming couldn't stand seeing a weak and helpless girl being bullied. It would make her feel very unhappy, so Yuan Ming reached this forced transaction.
Fang'er swallowed her saliva and finally asked bravely, "Really?"
"Really? Can you tell me now who bullied you?"
Fang'er said slowly, "I'm a commoner girl that Zhang Taishou abducted. Zhang Taishou likes to collect all kinds of beauties. He loves to see women scheming against each other for his favor. If you don't please him, you'll have to clean toilets and eat slop. If you're unlucky, you'll be beaten to death by other women who want to live."
Fang Er wiped her tears and asked, "Can a fairy bully someone like Zhang Taishou?"
Yuan Ming narrowed her eyes and cracked her knuckles. But the frightening expression vanished in an instant. Her brows relaxed, and she said to Fang'er, "Of course you can. But I'm not a fairy. I'm a ghost from the underworld."
Yuan Ming covered Fang'er's eyes with his slender fingers, leaned over, and breathed softly into Fang'er's ear: "Close your eyes and remember that you have never seen me."
The slight warmth in her palm gradually faded away, but Fang'er still kept her eyes closed until the golden sunset completely fell. Then she suddenly opened her eyes, but Yuan Ming was no longer around.
…
Zhong Yingqi picked up a small piece of white paper from Yuan Ming's palm. The paper was only the width of a thumb. Puzzled, Zhong Yingqi asked, "This is a letter. The contents are probably confidential. The recipient chose to burn it after reading it. What did Your Highness discover from it?"
"This isn't ordinary paper." A clear light flashed across Yuan Ming's eyes. "This is the jade paper unique to the Liang royal family. It's a kind of fine white, firm paper. When you tear it open, you can even smell a faint scent of ambergris. It's not circulated among the people, and only the princes and nobles of Liang use it."
Zhong Yingqi murmured, "Zhang He's study has special paper for the Liang royal family..."
"Zhang He has most likely earned himself a charge of treason and collaboration with the enemy. We cannot keep him here any longer."
Zhong Yingqi's tone was clearly hesitant. "Zhang He is the prefect of Yanmen County, on par with the nine ministers in the capital, and he has the power to appoint officials. We are now severely weakened. If we rashly kill this local tyrant, his officials will not accept it. What if, at this critical moment when the Liang army may attack Qi State, our own people start fighting on the border? Wouldn't that be Liang's fault?"
"Zhang He must be eliminated." Yuan Ming said indifferently, "We must also put all the wealth he has embezzled into our pockets. As for his officials who are in cahoots with him, we will investigate them briefly and execute those who should be executed or dismissed from their posts. If you have any concerns about this matter, why not let me handle it."
Zhong Yingqi paused, and the previous gentleness in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a sharp scrutiny.
Yuan Ming was not afraid to look Zhong Yingqi in the eye at all, and even winked at him playfully with her right eye, like a naughty painting, full of charm.
Zhong Yingqi was the first to give in. He coughed lightly as if to cover up his mistake and said, "Your Highness, this is a serious matter. Let's take a long-term approach."
Yuan Ming chuckled, a hint of amusement flashing across his eyes.
"It seems the general has other plans. I was just being sentimental. Goodbye."
Yuan Ming turned around without hesitation, his smile disappeared in an instant, leaving only a hint of anger on his face.
Zhong Yingqi didn't see Yuan Ming's expression change in an instant, she only felt that the pressure emanating from Yuan Ming gradually dissipated. As expected of the emperor's daughter, the playful look in her eyes made people shudder.
Zhong Yingqi thought, she is not the kind of person who will sit and wait for death, what will she do next? He held his forehead and smiled bitterly, His Highness really makes people love and hate him.
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