The Empress’ Livestream

Shangguan Wan hesitated internally, a flustered look on her face.

The Second lady said, “Wan’er, although you despise the Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women, you eventually still approve of them.”

Shangguan Wan’s facial expression stiffened. She hurriedly denied, “No way!”

How could she possibly approve of those books that were full of fallacies and absurdities?

The Second lady asked her rhetorically, “If that’s the case, why do you doubt yourself?”

Shangguan Wan was struck dumb and left speechless.

After a while, with a firm look in her initially hesitant eyes, she bowed to the Second lady.

“Thank you for your advice.”

The Second lady continued, “With your stepmother in the Shangguan family, you won’t be protected. The Liu family can’t protect you all the time either. If you want to break away from the Zhang family for good, you can only rely on yourself. Good luck, and remember to take care of yourself.”

Shangguan Wan got teary-eyed and nodded, gritting her teeth. “Thank you, Madam.”

She had also once thought of it. If her mother had not died of a sudden illness, she would not have fallen to where she was now, at least she would not be tortured like this. However, what was the point of resenting?

There were no ifs in this world. Reality was reality. Instead of dwelling on the past, it was better to think about one’s future.

The Second lady secretly shook her head upon Shangguan Wan’s departure.

If she was the Shangguan Wan in the past, why would the Second lady need to point those things out for her?

However, upon being tortured by her stepmother and the Zhang family, her lofty and unyielding character was crushed in just a year or two.

The Four Self-accomplishment Classics for Women which Shangguan Wan despised had also influenced her subtly… Now, the Second lady hoped that the child could be reborn and have an exciting life. Thinking of this, the Second lady smiled gently like a lovely flower mirrored in the water.

“You love to be nosy…” Madam Hu spoke somewhat lazily from behind her.

The Second lady responded unperturbed. “I just see myself in the little girl’s shadow.”

She had her sister to stand up for and protect her, but Shangguan Wan had no one. She could not help but feel tenderhearted.

She was helping her own shadow, more than she was helping Shangguan Wan.

Unconvinced and resentful, Zhang Zhaoshi left the Liu residence. She heard that a troop of the Liu family was about to leave Hejian County.

She tensed up and a trace of malevolence flashed across her face. She ordered harshly after a while, “Go after them!”

Her instincts told her that Shangguan Wan must be among the troops. That brat wanted to fish in troubled waters and flee Hejian County.

Seeing that she was about to leave the territory of Hejian County, Shangguan Wan was excited, but the close-packed sound of horses trotting was heard from behind them.

“Don’t be afraid.” Jiang Nongqin retained her composure and appeased Shangguan Wan with a low voice, “I’ll deal with them.”

The hundreds of people who chased after them were the retainers of the Zhang residence. A galloping carriage was right behind them.

The curtain of the carriage was lifted. Zhang Zhaoshi was sitting inside with a grave look on her face.

“Hand over Shangguan Wan.”

Zhang Zhaoshi had no respect for the troops at all because they were just slaves. They did not even have the right to talk to her.

Jiang Nongqin snorted. She raised her hand suddenly and shouted with a hoarse voice, “Array yourselves and fight the enemy!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the troops who were originally carrying loads and hurrying on with their journey formed a defensive formation at top speed.

Hundreds of bows were pulled and the arrows were aimed at the people from the Zhang residence.

Upon seeing the situation, Zhang Zhaoshi looked so grave that ink could have trickled from her face.

Jiang Nongqin was considered to be Jiang Pengji’s half-apprentice. Whenever a dispute rose, she would not waste time talking when she could fight.

A weak person like Zhang Zhaoshi would at most act like a tyrant by relying on her retainers to flash their fists. Jiang Nongqin was not daunted by her.

She asked Zhang Zhaoshi with a hoarse voice, “Mrs. Zhang, is the person you’re looking for here?”

Zhang Zhaoshi’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat. She gripped the door rails tightly.

Even if she felt that a gang of slaves would not dare to hurt her, the suffocating murderous intention still frightened her out of her wits.

In the face of the hundreds of arrows pointing straight at her head, she felt that if her answer was dissatisfying, a nest of hornets would probably be stirred up the next second… She almost stopped breathing, fearing that the slaves in front of her would harm her.

She was irritated on the inside. The slaves of the Liu residence actually dared to be this arrogant.

“Mrs. Zhang, is the person you’re looking for here?” Jiang Nongqin asked again with an unruffled look on her face.

After a while, Zhang Zhaoshi swallowed the insult and replied with an agitated face, “She’s not. It’s my mistake.”

Upon hearing what she said, Jiang Nongqin smirked. She raised her hand and ordered the troops to lower their bows.

Seeing Jiang Nongqin’s clothes, a trace of contempt flashed across the bottom of Zhang Zhaoshi’s eyes.

In her opinion, Nongqin was the most dissolute woman. She was the one who should be kept in pigs’ cages and ride a wooden donkey.

“Let’s go!” Jiang Nongqin ordered a troop to follow behind them to prevent Zhang Zhaoshi from a sneak attack. The others retreated in an orderly manner.

Shangguan Wan waited in the back, breathless. Upon seeing the situation, she slowly let out a sigh of relief.

“A woman who bullies the weak and fears the strong is the easiest to be brushed off,” Jiang Nongqin deduced and returned, her expression aloof.

Shangguan Wan chuckled. Her nervousness had disappeared.

“I suddenly realize that you and Brother Lanting have a very similar way of doing things.”

“How can I compare to Langjun?” Jiang Nongqin shook her head and got onto her horse. “Let’s go.”

Shangguan Wan had learned horse-riding and archery when she was still at home. After that, she was kidnapped, so her family hired a martial artist. She knew how to kick and punch, not to mention that she had stayed in the troops’ camp for half a year…

If she were to fight seriously, some of the male soldiers might not even be a match for her.

Of course, if Shangguan Wan was engaged in a life-and-death struggle, she would definitely be the one who died because she had never seen blood on her hands.

The journey to the north was quite tough. Not only were the surrounding refugees meddling with their clothes and food, but they were even lusting after the women in the camp.

By the time they were nearing the border of Wanzhou, even Shangguan Wan had killed a few people.

“The current political situation is unstable. There’s a war in the north. The Tsing Yi Army and the Red Lotus Group are fighting so much that they’re blue in the face…”

After two weeks, the 2000 troops had lost a lot of weight.

Shangguan Wan who had always been pampered had also become thinner. Her skin became twice as dark, but she had grown to become more capable and experienced.

A blade was hanging from Shangguan Wan’s waist. She was wearing clothes that could barely fend off the cold, with a coarse cloak over her body.

“Even so, most of the people implicated are still the innocent commoners.”

Shangguan Wan had a somber look on her face. She really could not feel relaxed at the sight of a purgatory-like scene.

Along the way, the reality that grew harsher and crueler taught her a brutal lesson.

A luxurious life and pavilions could not be found in the outside world. There were countless corpses of the people who had frozen to death and died of illness on the streets.

Birds that could not find food in winter fed on the bodies, pecking the intact bodies till they were deformed.

If the fights between the women in their chambers were said to be a needle hidden in silk floss and that quarrels were the most powerful weapon, wars in the outside world were a different story.

The blades could go in clean and come out red. There were too many factors that could threaten the lives of the people.

The cold winter, the shortage of food, the bandits who murdered indiscriminately, the two insurrectionary armies who fought everywhere and hurt the commoners…

Besides all that, they had to guard against their comrades.

Shangguan Wan had once seen a few people tending some food over a fire. The food prepared was actually a person who had died!