Chapter 247: What Can You Do To The Emperor?
“There are countless Han Women in the world, why must the Emperor marry a Devil woman?”
Su Xiaoman, who had originally been sitting quietly on the bed waiting for the bridegroom to return, heard Sheng Rong talking to another woman about the Emperor taking a new concubine, and anger immediately surged to the top of her head. She got up and questioned Sheng Rong.
Sheng Rong pressed her back onto the wedding bed and said: “That has nothing to do with you. You are the bride today.”
“I just want to know, why would the Emperor do this? Doesn’t he know that there are countless righteous men at Iron Enclosure Pass still fighting bloody battles against the Devils?
And Brother Liu, who killed three hundred and three Devils at the risk of his life, and now he himself is being pursued and killed by that Shen Tingyu. Who is the Emperor worthy of by doing this?”
Looking at Xiao Man who was overly agitated, Sheng Rong whispered something in her ear. Xiao Man, who had been angry, burst out laughing upon hearing Sheng Rong’s words, without any of the poise of a bride.
“Yeah, Shen Lexi… over twenty large fish maws… hahaha, it’s killing me. If the Emperor knew, would he be so angry he’d die on the spot.”
Sheng Rong, who had been married not long ago, looked at Xiao Man’s strange expression and said: “Fish bladders, huh? You have some in your new room too.”
“No!” Su Xiaoman retorted loudly.
“It’s in the wooden box that your mother secretly stuffed for you. Although you newlyweds won’t need it yet, there will come a day when you do.”
1 “No!”
1 “Yes!”
1 “I just wonder what Brother Liu is doing now. Is he riding his red date horse Thunder Smoke Beast in the Northern Territory to ambush and kill Devils again?”
1 “Don’t think about it. Your Brother Liu is an eagle in the sky, and we are just little sparrows on the haystack. We can’t be together. You’d better think more about your husband Xue Qi, and how he’s going to torment you tonight.”
1 “I really want to follow Brother Liu in the Northern Territory, galloping on horseback and killing Devils.”
1 Su Xiaoman looked at the women in the room all dressed in wedding clothes, let out a long sigh, sat back on the wedding bed, placed her two hands overlapped on her knees, lowered her eyes and straightened her posture, once again becoming a poised bride-to-be.
1 In Chang’an, Wu Tong opened a pair of blood-red eyes and looked at Transport Commissioner Zhang Zeng: “So you’re demanding money, and you’ve come to Panxing Tower?”
1 Zhang Zeng said indifferently: “So, Panxing Tower has no money?”
1 Wu Tong said: “Should Panxing Tower have money?”
1 Zhang Zeng waved his sleeve: “This official has heard that you just paid two hundred thousand taels of gold in provisions to Iron Enclosure Pass?”
2 Wu Tong sneered: “Shouldn’t I have?”
2 Zhang Zeng sighed: “His Majesty wishes to make peace with the Gui Fang, turning weapons into jade and silk. This official knows you harbor deep hostility toward the Gui Fang, but times have changed. When Great Han’s might shook the four directions, it was fine to be tough, but now is not the past. Continuing enmity with the Gui Fang will only make the already chaotic Great Han splinter into pieces.
2 Now, Great Han’s deep-seated trouble is within, not without. I think you won’t fail to understand this principle.”
2 Wu Tong gritted his teeth: “Do you really think that?”
2 Zhang Zeng lifted his eyelids: “His Majesty thinks that way.
2 “I’m asking if you think that way too?”
2 “Does it matter what this old man thinks? Since the Grand Marshal failed to kill the Emperor, the Emperor has the power to issue decrees. We officials, no matter what we think, it doesn’t matter.”
2 A piece of green money shot from Wu Tong’s hand, spun a few circles on the ground after landing, and finally stopped in front of Zhang Zeng.
2 Zhang Zeng picked up the green money, held it in his hand, and said: “Very well, at least that’s an attitude.”
2 With that, he stood up and slowly walked out.
3 Wu Tong’s face turned iron-blue as he said to his deputy Chen Rong: “How can the ruler of a country be so shameless?”
3 Chen Rong sighed: “Panxing Tower can’t come up with the money, so His Majesty will sell offices and ranks. The rank of Marquis of Thoroughness, for ten thousand taels of gold, His Majesty has already sold three.”
3 “Kill them!”
3 “You mean the Emperor?”
3 “No, those who dare to spend money to buy ranks.”
3 “That doesn’t make much sense. After all, it’s His Majesty selling the offices and ranks. If there’s selling, there’s buying. You don’t kill the seller, only the buyer—that’s so unreasonable.”
3 “You didn’t buy one too, did you?”
3 “Bought a minor Wu Da Fu for my son. Laughable, laughable…”
3 Inside Divine Dragon Hall, as usual, it was dry and warm. The Ancestral Fire slowly wandered in the fire pit, with four hundred and ninety-nine Shehuo the size of candle flames forming a cluster following behind the Ancestral Fire, drifting slowly.
3 Just outside the fire pit, there was another candle flame quietly bobbing up and down. Liu Changsheng flicked his finger to send this candle flame into the fire pit. The candle flame bounced on the Ancestral Fire, then left the fire pit again, guarding a corner alone, continuing to float and sink.
4 Compared to the Ancestral Fire, this candle flame was undoubtedly weak, but compared to the other candle flames, this one was undoubtedly strong. Many times, Liu Changsheng had seen this seemingly harmless candle flame swallow other candle flames when he wasn’t paying attention.
4 Liu Changsheng pinched the Shehuo with his fingers, looked at the dark blue candle flame, and said: “Must you take a different path?”
4 The dark blue flame immediately burst into a yellow glow.
4 “You’ve already disdained to be with them, haven’t you?”
4 The candle flame left Liu Changsheng’s finger and wandered unhurriedly along the edge of the fire pit, like a wolf guarding a sheep pen.
4 Yu Heng had been kneeling outside Divine Dragon Hall for a long time, with a timid little girl following behind her. Divine Dragon Hall was on high ground with strong winds. Yu Heng knelt firmly at the gate, her eyes fixed intently on the gate, letting the wind tousle her long hair.
4 A middle-aged Taoist priest came out of Divine Dragon Hall and said to Yu Heng: “The High Priest sees no guests.”
4 Yu Heng said calmly: “Please inform the High Priest that my son is dead, and King Huo’s son is dead.”
4 The middle-aged Taoist priest smiled: “Life and death mean nothing in Divine Dragon Hall. Moreover, that child was your child, not King Huo’s child. You must make that clear.”
4 Yu Heng looked up at the middle-aged Taoist priest and smiled: “So, I’ve been abandoned by everyone?”
5 The Taoist priest still wore that amiable smile: “Because of your obsession, and because of your ambition, you broke the agreement between the High Priest and the Gui Fang High Priest. Now, your replacement has come. Go back.”
5 Yu Heng smiled: “Now that I’m neither human nor ghost, where can I go?”
5 The Taoist priest still smiled gently: “Don’t you still have one child? That is your place to return to.”
5 Yu Heng turned, grabbed the timid little girl with both hands, and said: “Why weren’t you born male?”
5 With that, she raised her hands high and slammed the little girl onto the hard steps. The little girl didn’t even have time to let out a scream before her head was smashed bloody and mangled on the steps.
5 Yu Heng slowly stood up, bowed to the Taoist priest whose face still maintained a pleased expression, and said: “Yu Heng will return now.”
5 The middle-aged Taoist priest watched Yu Heng leave. He shook his head at the pool of blood and flesh on the ground, then turned and went back into Divine Dragon Hall. Moments later, another Taoist priest in similar attire came out, gathered up the small corpse, washed the bloodstains from the steps with clean water, carefully fanned them dry with a fan, and then carried the small corpse away from Divine Dragon Hall.
5 Liu Changsheng turned a deaf ear to what happened outside the hall. His gaze never left the candle flame outside the fire pit until the middle-aged Taoist priest entered, and only then did his gaze shift away.
5 “Emperor Liu Mu killed Yu Heng’s son, and Yu Heng just killed her own daughter. It seems she’s telling us that we killed her daughter.”
5 Liu Changsheng was about to speak when he suddenly saw the candle flame suddenly dive into the fire pit, wrapping tightly around a candle flame like a small beast, as if to devour it.
6 Liu Changsheng chuckled, stretched out his finger again to flick the candle flame away. Seeing it still reluctant and looking for a chance to devour that Shehuo, he laughed: “Taizhou, is your target this time Taizhou?”
6 The middle-aged Taoist priest was about to speak but saw Liu Changsheng wave at him, so he bowed and backed away.
6 Liu Changsheng fondly said to the flickering Shehuo outside the fire pit: “Little one, can you swallow it?”
6 Yun Ce stood in front of Taizhou City’s city gate. Before he could marvel at the high walls and deep moats, he was surrounded by a group of merchants riding small elephant pigs and escorted into the city. Yun Ce didn’t understand why Taizhou allowed such giant beasts into the city. Weren’t they afraid this thing would suddenly go mad and flip the entire city?
6 Wanting to ask, he noticed that the people around showed no surprise or dissatisfaction at the small elephant pigs entering the city, so Yun Ce shut his mouth. After all, when he entered the city earlier with the red date horse, they hadn’t even charged an entry fee.
6 Taizhou City was different from all the cities Yun Ce had seen in Great Han. How to put it— the spirit of the people here was vastly different from those in Pingzhou and other cities.
6 Mainly, the people here seemed worldly and experienced. No person, animal, or thing could surprise them.
6 Even if Yun Ce had groomed the red date horse to look like a dragon colt, no one here gave it a second glance. Even those who had to look treated it like a donkey.
6 If the red date horse got that treatment, Yun Ce, groomed like a super noble son, naturally fared no better. Such a peerless beauty, and even the women selling fruit by the roadside didn’t give him a second look.
6 This was clearly abnormal. When Yun Ce stopped a woman, cupped his fists in salute, preparing to ask where the guesthouses were, the woman opened her mouth and shouted loudly… Yun Ce didn’t have time to ask or figure out why; he just took off with the red date horse. At that point, explaining was pointless—they clearly didn’t want to hear it.
7 Finally spotting a guesthouse, whether the shopkeeper or the shop assistants, they looked at him like he was a monster.
7 Fifty taels of gold for one night’s stay was outrageously expensive, but Yun Ce generously paid. Only after the shopkeeper and assistants all bowed and left the guesthouse did Yun Ce realize he had bought the entire place.
7 The guesthouse wasn’t large, just a front courtyard and back courtyard with a dozen or so rooms. Considering this was a prefectural city, fifty taels of gold was unfair but not far off.
7 With only himself, what was the point of running a guesthouse? Yun Ce took down the guesthouse sign, closed the gate, and began inspecting his first industry acquired in Taizhou City.
7 Chapter 1
