Chapter 132

Chu Fei shoved open the courtyard gate, tossed the pair of hammers in his hands to the ground with a loud clang, then ripped off the fake beard stuck to his face. Rubbing his belly, he boomed, “Who’s grilling meat that smells so good? Chief Chu happens to be starving. Grill a few plates for me too!”

Instead, he was met by two pairs of somewhat unfamiliar, utterly bewildered eyes.

Startled, Yun Yaoyao blurted, “You want some pancakes or what?”

Chu Fei hurriedly stuck his fake beard back on. “Why are you two here?!”

Damn it all! This was like dancing naked in his own room, only to discover halfway through that guests had arrived!

As long as he wasn’t embarrassed, then the embarrassed ones would be everyone else.

Chu Fei snorted coldly and plopped himself down in the seat of honor. He reached out to snatch the skewers Yun Yaoyao had just finished grilling.

But she was quick-eyed and quicker-handed, shielding them before he could get so much as a bite. He didn’t manage to steal a thing.

Damn it!

In a fit of rage, Chu Fei turned around, grabbed the entire plate of grilled meat in front of the Big-Headed Maid, and began wolfing it down.

After burning ten plates before finally managing to grill one plate of golden-brown, tender meat, Niu Xiu’er shouted, “You—!”

Afraid Xiuer would lose her temper and smash the man’s skull, Yun Yaoyao hurriedly stopped her and shoved a skewer of meat into her mouth.

Xiuer: “Moo?”

Yun Yaoyao cast a teasing, knowing glance at Chu Fei. “So Chief Chu’s beard is fake. Is it meant to make you look more intimidating?”

“What the hell does it have to do with you?” Chu Fei’s face shifted from green to black with anger. He had discovered that wherever this loudmouthed empress appeared, nothing good ever followed.

“Don’t forget, you were captured and brought to Whitewind Stronghold. Did you think you were here to enjoy the scenery and have a barbecue in some leisurely mountain retreat? In a moment, I’ll have you locked in the woodshed and starved for three days and three nights!”

Hearing that, Yun Yaoyao had no choice but to bring up the five lives and five lifetimes of Whitewind Stronghold once more.

Three sentences were all it took to leave the Chief of Whitewind Stronghold speechless and make him immediately abandon whatever ill-advised thoughts he had been entertaining.

Completely outmaneuvered, Chu Fei felt as if he could neither swallow nor spit out the breath lodged in his chest. After suppressing his anger, he put on a solemn expression and said, “Empress of Yan Chi, I know why you’re here.”

“The imperial army and the rebel forces in Shu are locked in a stalemate. You want me to send troops to help, turning the tide of the battle. But that is absolutely impossible.”

His tone was laced with mockery. “Why did the rebel army rise up? I trust that someone as clever as Your Majesty knows the answer.”

“Before I resolved to rebel, I swore to myself that I would wipe out every corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical official under Heaven. And as for those great clans that commit every kind of evil, exploiting the people to the point of stripping them bare and grinding their bones for marrow, I would not spare them either…”

“Our goals are the same…” Yun Yaoyao began.

Chu Fei cut her off, a cold light flashing in his dark eyes.

“No. Our goals are different. You want to stabilize your rule. But once things are stabilized and peace returns, ambition will grow. Ambition will breed new evils, and in the end, the ones who suffer will still be commoners like us, people of low standing.”

“If we want to live well—and keep living—then power must be placed in our own hands!”

“This is the last time I’ll advise you: give up while you still can.”

“If you want to go down the mountain, I’ll escort you. If you want to stay here, then stay here on your own.”

“No matter what, the rebel army will never be used by the imperial court!”

After dropping this final declaration, Chu Fei strode out of the courtyard.

Watching his determined back, Niu Xiu’er muttered, “Miss, why is he so stubborn? He’s so crude and rude. And both you and His Majesty genuinely care about the people…”

Yun Yaoyao wasn’t angry. She simply smiled faintly and plucked a withered leaf from Xiuer’s shoulder.

“Our positions and experiences are different, so naturally our views will be different. That’s normal.”

“Besides, a war of hearts isn’t won quickly. It depends on persistence.”

Their first confrontation ended unpleasantly, with neither side getting what they wanted.

After night fell, an oil lamp illuminated the room in the small courtyard. Yun Yaoyao kept her eyes closed, lightly tapping her fingers against the table.

“Three… two… one.”

The instant she said “one,” the window creaked softly. A lithe black figure then vaulted inside.

The black robes of the Dragon Shadow Guard’s all-purpose wild card were still damp with fresh dew. He respectfully presented the letter he had been carrying in his arms.

“Your Majesty, His Majesty’s letter, delivered today.”

Yun Yaoyao hurriedly opened it and read it from beginning to end.

The more she read, the more impossible it became to suppress the smile curving across her lips.

Damn it, her head was starting to itch. Her hopeless-romantic brain was about to grow back!

Yun Yaoyao raised a hand and gently smacked herself on the head, trying to beat the hopeless-romantic thoughts back down. Then she picked up her brush and wrote her reply.

[I’ll stay for two more days and return the day after tomorrow… Yes, yes, I know… Stop telling me that “those who work themselves to death need not sleep long in life, for they’ll sleep forever in death” is wrong… At the Hour of the Tiger three days from now, whether or not the rebel army has been brought under our command, attack Guangyuan immediately and advance into Shu!]

At the end of the letter, Yun Yaoyao didn’t forget to send her regards to both the big one and the little one. She wrote eight characters:

[Greetings to Consort Tu and Little Tu Bird.]

[Missing you, Qiang. ʘᴗʘ]

The next morning, Yun Yaoyao was jolted awake by the thunderous sound of military drills.

“Roar!”

“Ha!”

“Roar!”

“Ha!”

The shouts seemed to shake the heavens themselves, like drumsticks pounding relentlessly against her heart. Yun Yaoyao struggled in her blankets for a while before resigning herself to getting up and facing this beautiful—wrong, utterly hellish—day.

Life wasn’t hard. Her fate was.

After breakfast, Yun Yaoyao planned to take Xiuer around to explore the various parts of Whitewind Stronghold.

But the moment they reached the courtyard entrance, they were stopped.

“The chief has ordered that you are not to leave the courtyard! Unless you’re going down the mountain!”

Yun Yaoyao was just preparing to refresh their memories on the five lives and five lifetimes of Whitewind Stronghold when someone hurried over and whispered a few words into the ears of the twin brawny men.

The two men froze, then said to Yun Yaoyao, “You may look around nearby, but you are not to enter any important areas of Whitewind Stronghold!”

And so, Yun Yaoyao and Niu Xiu’er strolled ahead while the twin hulks followed closely behind. The four of them toured Whitewind Stronghold together.

Along the way, Yun Yaoyao discovered that, aside from young and sturdy men, the stronghold was filled with elderly people, the sick, the disabled, and women—and there were quite a lot of them.

The intelligence reports had already stated that Whitewind Stronghold was a special sort of stronghold, with an equally unusual rebel army. Its chief was said to be an extraordinary man.

Now, Yun Yaoyao felt she was beginning to understand why.

At the same time, countless pairs of eyes followed Yun Yaoyao wherever she went.

An old man leaning on a cane, his cloudy eyes darting about; busy women; children hiding behind adults, revealing only a pair of dark, gleaming eyes…

Whenever Yun Yaoyao looked over, they immediately turned away and pretended to go about their business.

But the moment she looked elsewhere, they all poked their heads out from the kitchens, main rooms, vegetable gardens, and behind the walls, their expressions wary and their eyes brimming with curiosity.

Yun Yaoyao looked over.

They immediately turned away.

Yun Yaoyao withdrew her gaze.

They immediately looked back.

Yun Yaoyao: Very well, so this was a game of “don’t make eye contact.”

No matter. She would make the first move!

Half an hour later, Yun Yaoyao sat in a chair in the middle of an open space. People surrounded her on all sides, some carrying over little stools to sit on, others simply sitting on the ground.

They all rested their chins in their hands, absorbed in the speech of the woman seated at the front, whose voice rang out with force and rose and fell in a captivating rhythm.

“I was once nothing more than an ordinary mortal, until the Heavenly Dao came to me in a dream and entrusted me with saving the fate of Yan Chi. From that moment on, I became a goddess, shouldering a grave responsibility…”

“Within the court, I assist the Son of Heaven in putting the government in order, eradicating corrupt officials and restoring justice… First, we eliminated Lou Jianshan, a parasite of the court who had ruthlessly extorted the people. Then came Yun Liang, who abused his position and caused countless impoverished scholars to lose their futures. After that, there was the traitor Tushan Ze, who colluded with the Xiongnu. And now, the two conspirators, Du and Ruan, who intended to rebel…”

“Beyond the court, I have devoted myself to developing Yan Chi and strengthening the nation, introducing many measures to benefit the people… Museums to warn future generations, papermaking and printing to serve the country and improve people’s lives, libraries and literacy schools to enlighten the masses and promote culture… And now, there are also many advanced technologies and crafts I have entrusted to the Ministry of Works…”

“With an enlightened Son of Heaven and the aid of the goddess, the future of Yan Chi will surely become brighter, and its people will live in greater peace and prosperity…”

“Not only ordinary citizens, but women and other vulnerable groups will also enjoy better lives in the future. Take the capital, for example. The capital has schools for girls, where women can study. There are already thirty-one female officials serving in the imperial court, and women may also enter government service. Women seeking work cannot be discriminated against. Yan Chi’s laws further stipulate that no woman may be harmed in the name of so-called chastity…”

“…”

With every sentence Yun Yaoyao spoke, the people below let out another gasp of amazement. By the end, Whitewind Stronghold had become a place where they spoke of bumper harvests and the people cried out in wonder!

Whether old people, women, children, or the disabled, all of their eyes shone with light, filled with longing.

Had Yan Chi truly become so politically upright and peaceful, with the nation prosperous and the people living and working in contentment, as though everything were flourishing?

“She’s lying! Officials are all wicked. They’re best at coaxing and deceiving people. In their eyes, our lives are cheaper than firewood! If we believe them, they’ll smash our bones and boil them into soup!”

A young, angry voice suddenly rang out from the crowd, dragging everyone back from their beautiful fantasies into the harshness of reality.

Yun Yaoyao followed the voice and saw a child barely old enough to be called a girl. She had round, wide eyes, and the woman beside her was already covering her mouth.

When the woman saw Yun Yaoyao looking over, the girl tore herself free and demanded, “If it’s really so wonderful outside, then why was my father killed by a wicked official? Why did I lose my home? Why are all of us here leading a rebellion… Mmph!”

The woman hurriedly covered her mouth again, but the girl continued to glare stubbornly at Yun Yaoyao, her eyes red-rimmed.

No one spoke again. They only looked at Yun Yaoyao—some with calmness, some with resentment, some with confusion, and some with anger.

They were looking at the Empress of Yan Chi, the goddess sent by the Heavenly Dao to save the people of the world.

They were waiting for her answer.

If Yan Chi was truly as good as she claimed, if the Son of Heaven was wise and diligent, if the officials were honest and compassionate, if the people lived in peace and the nation prospered, then why had they felt none of it?

If they were living good lives, who would willingly abandon home and family? Who would risk their lives to come here and rise in rebellion?

The Son of Heaven’s grace, the goddess’s favor—why had neither been willing to grant even the slightest bit to the people of Shu?

They were merely common folk struggling to survive. They did not understand the endless conflicts of the imperial court or the shifting balance of power. All they knew was that the sky over Shu was terribly dark, and their lives were unbearably hard.

Yun Yaoyao looked at those faces, her heart aching and stirred with emotion.

She did not answer them directly. Instead, she slowly began to tell them a story.

First, she told them about Tu Shanjin.

He had risen from an unfavored prince to the throne of a new emperor. The late emperor had left him an almost fatal mess: a corrupt court, vicious factional struggles, officials plotting to kill him, princes preparing to rebel, and the Xiongnu watching the borders like hungry wolves.

In the early days, when his power was thin, he had been forced to fight alone, taking one step at a time. Slowly, he purged corrupt officials and established laws, restoring order to the imperial court and preserving a dynasty already on the verge of collapse.

Only after he had brought the court under control could he move on to policies that benefited the people, investigate their circumstances, and show concern for their lives.

Though he was the Son of Heaven, his path had been filled with hardship and difficulty.

That was the reality of the situation.

Then Yun Yaoyao spoke of Shu.

Since ancient times, Shu’s advantageous terrain and abundant resources had made it a constant battleground. Local warlords had maintained deep roots there, and the region had never truly been brought under the formal control of the imperial court.

During the late emperor’s reign, the rebellion in Shu had only barely been suppressed. An army of two hundred thousand had been sent to put down the unrest, yet its commander, Ruan Xiangsong, had secretly colluded with the local gentry. Together, they had nursed ambitions of rebellion.

That was the influence of history and the burden of what had been left unresolved.

Finally, Yun Yaoyao spoke of the three days she had spent living at the foot of the mountain—of everything she had seen, heard, and thought during that time.

She called many members of the rebel army by name, recounting the stories behind their suffering, giving voice to their hardships and sorrows, and expressing her understanding and compassion.

“You have suffered.”

The cold wind lifted Yun Yaoyao’s hair and carried her gentle, earnest voice into the ears of everyone present.

“Saving the people of the world cannot be achieved in a single day.”

“Now, the time has come to save the people of Shu. That is why we have come.

“If you trust me, and if you trust the Son of Heaven of today, then he and I will devote ourselves wholeheartedly to restoring peace to Shu, and to giving its people a life of security, prosperity, and justice beneath a clear and shining sky.”

After these words, spoken with complete sincerity, the scene fell silent for a long, long time.

No one knew how much time had passed before a sob rose from the crowd. One person began to cry, and then the weeping spread from one to another.

As they cried, they looked toward the figure seated at the center.

At that moment, she was no longer the lofty Empress, nor the untouchable goddess.

She was a ruler who truly loved and served the people.

And at that moment, they truly bowed their heads to her as their ruler.

“Your humble subjects thank Her Majesty the Empress for her wholehearted devotion!”

“Your humble subjects thank the Goddess of Yan Chi for her promise to save the people!”