Chapter 80

Chapter 80

[The Male Chauvinist’s Victory – 21]

The moment the words fell, the archers behind Liu Che released in unison. The volley thundered straight toward the battlements.

Li Dongshan’s face was bloodless. Li Jiangxue looked even more incredulous, pain and shock filling her eyes. She could scarcely believe what she had heard. “Cousin…”

Liu Che did not glance at the city wall again. Only when the battle stabilized and the scales of victory tilted toward his side did he draw rein and gaze into the distance.

Southern Liang soldiers had surrounded Kuaiji. Chen Xian could not escape even with wings. In his panic, the long saber in his hand sliced across Li Dongshan’s neck, then stabbed into Li Jiangxue’s abdomen. He hurriedly pulled the blade free and led his trusted followers down from the battlements.

Two hours later, Kuaiji fell. Chen Xian and several confidants failed to escape and were captured without resistance. Liu Che rode into the city through blood covering the ground, his expression cold.

His trusted men took control of every major route through the city. One approached and reported quietly, “Governor-General, Li Dongshan is dead, but the Right Madam is still breathing. Should we find a physician for her?”

Liu Che asked, “Who is still breathing?”

The confidant froze, then replied with uncertainty, “The Right Madam?”

Liu Che asked, “What about the Right Madam?”

The confidant immediately understood. Sorrow appeared upon his face. “The rebel Chen was brutal. Lord Li and the Right Madam both died at the enemy’s hands. This subordinate has already gathered their remains. Would the Governor-General like to see them one final time and mourn?”

Liu Che looked desolate. He sighed, grief surrounding his entire figure. “Lead the way.”

The artery in Li Dongshan’s neck had been severed. Blood sprayed out, and he died on the spot. Li Jiangxue had been stabbed in the abdomen. Though she was suffering, she remained one step from death.

Carrying his saber, Liu Che slowly climbed the city wall. Li Jiangxue’s low, agonized groans reached him. In a faint voice, she repeatedly urged, “The physician… Why hasn’t the physician come?”

A soldier perfunctorily reassured her with practiced ease. “Soon, soon.” Seeing Liu Che approach, he hurriedly straightened and gave a solemn military salute.

Liu Che said nothing. He merely waved, signaling everyone nearby to withdraw.

The soldiers saluted and left. Pain had greatly delayed Li Jiangxue’s reactions, but at last she noticed him. Lying on the ground, she slowly turned. The moment her eyes touched the newcomer, her pupils suddenly widened.

Her face was filled with bitter grievance, faint hatred, and a measure of pleading. “Cousin, why…? Do you not care about me at all? The physician-when will the physician come?”

Liu Che smiled faintly and crouched beside her. In a gentle voice, he said, “You must feel terribly unwilling to accept this.”

Li Jiangxue’s sluggish mind produced a puzzled expression. “What?”

Liu Che reached out and gently smoothed her disordered hair, tucking it behind her ear. “You received such a tremendous opportunity and lived your life again. Why, then, did everything become such a mess-worse even than in your previous life? At least at this point in that life, you were still alive and well. Isn’t that right?”

Li Jiangxue’s lips parted. She stared at him in horror. Several strangled sounds emerged from her throat before she finally forced out the words, “You?! Could it be that you…”

“Is it so strange? It shouldn’t be.” Liu Che brushed the dust from her collar and smiled. “If something as poisonous and stupid as you can be reborn, why can’t I?”

So it was true. It was true!

She had not been the only one reborn. Yan Hongguang had been as well!

But if that was so…

What had he thought of the words she murmured in her sleep on the night they first met after her rebirth? What had he thought of their later declarations of love, of everything she had given him one-sidedly, and of her obsession that refused to turn back even after striking a wall?

With what feelings had he watched her approach him, flatter him, cast aside everything, and insist upon marrying him even as a concubine?

Had she been an absurd joke or a clown capering upon a beam?

Li Jiangxue’s pupils contracted. Her gaze shattered. She bit her lips fiercely and, for an instant, even forgot the violent pain in her abdomen. Her eyes remained fixed upon him as though she wished to devour his flesh.

“What is that look? Do you hate me?”

Liu Che spoke lightly. Smiling, he spread his hands. “But I never forced you. None of those choices were imposed upon you. Did I force you to be with me? Did I force you to marry me as a concubine? In the end, wasn’t it all your own choice?”

“But you deceived me!”

“Love.” Liu Che carefully tasted the word, then lowered his head and asked, “Jiangxue, do you love me?”

Li Jiangxue hesitated briefly and replied with guilty uncertainty, “Of course I love you. Why else would I have given so much for you? Do you think I am as hypocritical as you?!”

“Of course not. I think you are even more hypocritical than I am!”

With the air of a lesser witch meeting a greater one, Liu Che asked, “Do you truly love me? Do you love Yan Hongguang himself, the Yan Hongguang who became Son of Heaven in your previous life, or the supreme power and status he possessed?”
Li Jiangxue’s already deathly complexion grew even worse.

Liu Che finally sneered. “Love, you say? I have no right to use that word, and neither do you. On the night of your rebirth, did you sincerely intend to bring me medicine? Did you truly believe you had done wrong and wish to make amends? Or was bringing medicine merely a pretext, while your real purpose was to gain my favor so you could borrow my power later?”

The words struck the heart of the matter, draining the final trace of color from Li Jiangxue’s face.

She bit her lip until it bled and said viciously, “I never thought that! I didn’t! I went to apologize. I even brought you medicine. What more did you want?!”

“You speak as lightly as if you had eaten lampblack and farted air.”

Liu Che laughed. He patted her still-warm cheek and scoffed, “If I found an excuse to beat you every few days, then brought you medicine and offered an insincere apology, could you pretend nothing had happened? Were you born with bones fit for abuse, or without any sense of shame?”

He continued, “My father saved Li Dongshan’s life. How did that old dog repay me? How did you treat me? Do you even remember how many times you humiliated me in the past?”

Li Jiangxue grew angry and embarrassed. She barely managed to defend herself. “You speak only of how badly my father treated you. Why not mention that the Li Family sheltered you for years? At the very least, they did not let you starve in the street! My grandfather treated you better than his own legitimate grandsons!”

“Yes, that does make some sense.” Liu Che smiled. “So I have decided to kill only those within the Li Family who abused me. I can spare the others. After all, it is Yuanxin’s maternal family, isn’t it?”

At the mention of Yuanxin, Li Jiangxue inevitably thought of her mortal enemy Li Jiangyue. Hatred immediately filled her voice. “Yes, perhaps my intentions were bad. But do you think Li Jiangyue and that vixen of a mother are good people? If you have the courage, kill them too!”

Liu Che rubbed his temple and smiled. “Whether they are good or bad has nothing to do with me. What I know is that neither ever harmed me.”

Blood flowed steadily from Li Jiangxue’s abdomen, and her breathing grew weaker. Yet at these words, she suddenly flared with the desperate vitality of a dying flame. “Do you think that wretch Li Jiangyue is a good person? Do you imagine she truly wanted to help you? She only used me as a stepping-stone to curry favor with you!”

“But I did in fact receive her help several times. Whether she did it to step on you or for some other reason, she never harmed me. Madam Yu never harmed me either.”

Liu Che gave her an ambiguous smile. “You, however, are different.”

Hearing him mention Madam Yu, the malice between Li Jiangxue’s brows deepened. Then she recalled the muddled way she had lived these past years, breaking her own mother’s heart for an ambitious man. Before dying, she finally said something human.

Her tone softened into a plea. “Cousin, I know you hate me, and I will not live much longer. But my mother is innocent. Do not harm her…”

Liu Che smiled and shook his head. “No. She is not innocent.”

He watched Li Jiangxue’s face suddenly freeze and said slowly, “Could she truly have been unaware of the trouble you caused outside? Did she not know how you and your brother bullied me in the residence? She knew. She simply did not care. I was only the son of a humble family. If I was trampled to death, it was no great matter. Isn’t that so?”

Despair appeared on Li Jiangxue’s face. She suddenly seized his sleeve and screamed, “Cousin!”

“She was at fault, but her crime does not deserve death. I will not kill her, but neither will I look after her. Let her remain in the Li household and taste the life I once lived.”

Liu Che mercilessly pried her fingers away one by one and said softly, “Living beneath another’s roof, dependent upon their whims… Come to think of it, I was the son of Li Dongshan’s savior, yet I lived like that. She is my enemy, and I will treat her no worse. Am I not merciful?”

“Yan Hongguang, you are inhuman! How can you treat me this way? How can you?!”

Li Jiangxue suddenly raised a hand to strike him. Her expression was as crazed as a dying beast’s, and she ignored the agony that had nearly numbed her abdomen. “I gave so much for you, you bastard! Shameless wretch! You will die a terrible death!”

“See? This is exactly who you are.”

Liu Che smiled down at her. “You have never believed it was wrong to abuse the son of your family’s benefactor. You do not believe it wrong to stir up trouble without cause, or wrong to be vicious and domineering. Everyone above you is equal; everyone below you stands upon a carefully measured ladder. I am a bastard and a shameless wretch, but at least I possess some human conscience and remember the small kindness Old Master Li showed me. You are worse even than a shameless wretch like me.”

Liu Che rose and looked down at her. Smiling, he said, “You came to find me on the night of your rebirth not because you regretted anything or believed yourself wrong. You merely thought you had joined the wrong side, chosen the wrong man, and failed to obtain the greatest benefit. You only wanted to cling to a powerful thigh. Do not dress that up as kindness or love. I am no good man, but neither are you. Before you die, I must make that truth clear.”
Li Jiangxue could no longer speak. She gasped for breath, bloody foam spilling from the corner of her mouth.

Liu Che watched her coldly as she struggled and convulsed without cease. Even at the very end, those hateful eyes remained wide open and refused to close.

He clicked his tongue twice, bent down, and closed her eyes. “After causing trouble for so long, this woman has finally died. What a cause for celebration.”

Li Shimin said, “Scatter flowers.”

Emperor Gaozu said, “Congratulations.”

Zhu Yuanzhang said, “Watching her exhausted me.”

Ying Zheng said, “You seem rather emotional.”

“I am.” Liu Che sighed. “We were together for quite a long time, after all. We did have a few things in common!”

Ying Zheng frowned in disgust. “She was simply stupid and evil. You are morally bankrupt. How is that the same?”

The emperors giggled.

“…” Liu Che: “????”

Seriously, would they feel ill if they went one day without contradicting him?

Was there no warmth at all between emperors?!

Liu Che ordered his subordinates to clear the battlefield and gather the remains of Li Dongshan and Li Jiangxue for proper burial. Once everything had been handled, he closed his doors to visitors and began languishing in illness. The excuse was ready-made.

Yan Hongguang, General Who Conquers the South, understood the greater cause and put the state first. He had been forced to watch the father-in-law who raised him and his beloved concubine die at the enemy’s hands. Overcome with grief, he had fallen ill and required a period of quiet recuperation.

When the news reached Jiankang, the entire court mourned. The head of the Li Family of Lingnan was dead. Whatever he had been in life, he had to be granted some dignity. Numerous posthumous honors and rewards followed.

Li Jiangyue had already packed and prepared to move the entire household south. Upon hearing the news, she could no longer depart. She traveled with the women of the inner residence to Jiankang, then had Lady Lu lead the others onward while she went to the Li household to see her father off on his final journey.

After several years apart, Madam Wei had changed. The once-overbearing noblewoman now bore the marks of time and hardship. Her temples were gray. Supported by her daughter-in-law, she sat before the mourning hall as if bereft of her senses.

Concubine Dong represented the household’s women in receiving guests and managing domestic affairs. Outside, Madam Wei’s son received the male mourners, looking exhausted and haggard.

In the past, Madam Wei would have been the absolute center of the assembled women at a time like this. But circumstances had changed.

Concubine Dong’s daughter had married the year before, with Li Jiangyue arranging the match. Her husband’s family had a tradition of scholarship and an honorable pedigree. Though not equal to eminent surnames such as Li, Wei, Jin, or Wang, it possessed considerable heritage.

The moment Concubine Dong saw Li Jiangyue, she hurried forward to greet her. The surrounding women gradually gathered as well, making Li Jiangyue the center of the group. They softly consoled her, while some distant relatives asked about Yan Yuanxin.

“Why didn’t you bring the child? He must be fairly big by now.”

Li Jiangyue smiled. “He already came to kowtow. He has been coughing these past few days, so I sent him away with the nursemaids.”

As they left, even the matron could not help sighing. “Fortune truly changes with the years. Who could have imagined Madam would stand where you do today? And Concubine Dong-she spent so many years timid and submissive in the inner residence, such a small and skinny woman. Now she has put on some flesh and her face shines.”

Li Jiangyue replied, “The life a person leads is written upon her face. When one’s children prosper and one’s heart is at ease, one’s complexion naturally improves.”

A fine drizzle began outside. Female servants held umbrellas as they escorted her away. A gray veil hung over the Li Family that autumn, yet everyone could see that the Yan Family was striding toward a brilliant future.

With Li Jiangxue gone, the Yan household’s inner residence abruptly fell quiet. Even Lady Lu muttered while paying her respects to Li Jiangyue, “When she was here, I found her noisy. Now that she is suddenly gone, it feels as though something is missing.”

Li Jiangyue sighed lightly but did not respond. Instead, she changed the subject. “Are you accustomed to living here? We were in Shouzhou before and changed places so suddenly. Adults can manage, but I feared the children would have difficulty adjusting.”

Lady Lu smiled gently. “Does Madam not know our girl? She is like a little tyrant. She has always been strong, can run and jump, and adapts to anything.”

Her husband never mentioned her legitimate elder sister again, and neither did Li Jiangyue. Yet death canceled all accounts. On Li Jiangxue’s birthday, death anniversary, the Ghost Festival, and similar occasions, Li Jiangyue quietly had rites performed for her and burned paper money.

Liu Che knew but did not interfere.

With Chen Xian dead, the south temporarily settled into peace. Liu Che commanded military affairs across five prefectures and held immense power. How could he waste this opportunity to recuperate and build strength?

Moreover, the brothers Guan Pu and Guan Sheng needed enough time to grow.

After being repelled in the previous campaign, the three states of the Northern Dynasty remained quiet for two years before returning.

Liu Che once again assumed command. This time, however, he did not personally lead the army. He remained in the rear and sent Guan Pu to campaign, sharing principal responsibility with several other generals.

His Marquis of Changping did not disappoint him. Guan Pu returned with a great victory and countless spoils. Liu Che pressed the advantage, pushed the front north of the Huai River, and recovered seven prefectures in a single stroke. His prestige shook the realm.
After this campaign, Yan Hongguang, General Who Conquers the South, led his army back to court. He was appointed Chief Minister of the Secretariat, granted the additional title of General of Agile Cavalry, and entered Jiankang to wield power.

Over the following two years, Liu Che repeatedly led campaigns. He first conquered Northern Qi, then attacked Northern Wei. Northern Zhou saw the danger and tried to unite with its two neighbors, but it was already too late. All three were destroyed in succession.

After Northern Qi fell, Liu Che advanced from General of Agile Cavalry to Grand General and Duke of Shunyang Commandery. When the brothers Guan Pu and Guan Sheng destroyed Northern Wei and Northern Zhou, he was further appointed Grand Commandant and Governor of Yangzhou. He was also granted feathered canopies, ceremonial music, and twenty sword-bearing guards. Once north and south were united, he received the privileges of wearing a sword and shoes in the palace, entering court without hurrying, and being addressed by title rather than name. He had reached the highest station possible for a subject.

He had aimed for the throne from the beginning, and his followers also sought wealth and honor. The Southern Liang emperor was soon voluntarily persuaded to agree to abdication. Liu Che hypocritically declined several times before finally accepting with delight.

The court officials discussed the new dynastic name. Without a moment’s thought, Liu Che chose Han and proclaimed the era Jian Yuan.

Once an emperor ascended the throne, he naturally had to grant posthumous honors to his ancestors and reward meritorious officials. His birth father, Yan Gang, required no discussion and was posthumously honored as an emperor. His birth mother, Lady Xue, posed some difficulty.

She had remarried and, after death, was buried beside her later husband. Whether she should still be posthumously honored as Empress and reburied beside Yan Gang provoked considerable debate at court.

Liu Che had never cared about such empty titles. Otherwise, he would not have allowed Empress Dowager Wang to acknowledge the daughter she had borne her former husband after he ascended the throne. With a stroke of his brush, he bestowed favors upon Lady Xue’s natal family. As for moving her grave and granting a posthumous title, there was no need to disturb the dead.

Her husband had died young, while Lady Xue was still beautiful and in her youth. No one knew how much hardship a widow would suffer raising a son alone. What was wrong with remarrying?

She had not abandoned her son and run away with some stranger. With survival at stake, there was no reason to judge a vulnerable woman too harshly.

Her second husband had treated Lady Xue well and had also been good to his stepson Yan Hongguang. Yan Gang and the later couple were all buried now. There was truly no need for their descendants to continue agonizing over the matter.

Besides, Liu Che also had to consider his two younger brothers.

He enfeoffed his two maternal half brothers as princes. While rewarding his meritorious officials on a grand scale, he naturally did not forget the imperial harem.

Li Jiangyue had been his wife for years. She had worked diligently without error and borne him a son and daughter, so she naturally deserved the position of Empress. Lady Lu was the mother of his eldest daughter and had borne another son as well, so she could become Consort Shu. As for the ranks of his other concubines, the Empress could arrange them herself.

Li Jiangyue had always handled matters reliably, and this time was no exception. She drafted a list and presented it. After Liu Che nodded, she suddenly bowed. “This concubine ventures to ask Your Majesty about one matter…”

Liu Che asked, “What is it?”

Li Jiangyue paused before saying, “Your Majesty is granting titles to the women of the harem. Should those who passed away before entering the palace also receive posthumous titles?”

She was not a mistress incapable of tolerating others. Over all these years, only one woman had disappeared from the Yan household’s inner residence: Li Jiangxue. She could only be referring to her.

After so many years, Liu Che had nearly forgotten what Li Jiangxue’s eyes and nose looked like. He instinctively wanted to say, “Ignore her,” when Emperor Gaozu suddenly shouted inside the space, “No!”

The moment Liu Che imagined later generations speculating that Li Jiangxue had been his pure white moonlight or the cinnabar mole in his heart, gooseflesh rose all over him. He hurriedly shuddered and agreed solemnly, “What mature and prudent advice!”

Then he looked at Li Jiangyue with a puzzled expression. “Whom are you talking about? Who in the inner residence died before entering the palace?”

Li Jiangyue froze. Assuming he simply did not wish to mention that woman again, her brow twitched. She quickly smiled. “This concubine was mistaken.”

“No, you weren’t.”

“…” Li Jiangyue: “????”

Liu Che frowned, utterly perplexed. “What was her surname again? Jiangyue, do you remember?”

“…” Li Jiangyue had complicated feelings. “Li.”

“Oh, I think that was it.” Liu Che casually waved, entirely indifferent. “It is such an auspicious day. Mentioning a dead person is unlucky. Do not speak of her again. Just pretend we never found such a person.”

Li Jiangyue: “…”

Li Jiangyue smiled. “Yes. This concubine understands.”

Liu Che hurriedly looked at the court diarist. “Record that last exchange. Make the characters larger and bold!”

Li Jiangyue: “…”

The court diarist: “…”

His Majesty’s brain seemed to be broken.