Chapter 32
Chapter 32
When Qingwan Xie saw Shengsheng Zhou return unharmed, she nearly ground her teeth to pieces.
How had the woman survived?
Had His Majesty softened at the last moment?
Qingwan and Lord Liu had devised the calamitous-star accusation together. Yet Shengsheng was now alive and lively beneath her very nose.
Qingwan had already realized that of the two women Siran Ming brought back, Shengsheng was the one he truly kept in his heart–not Zhiyu Jiang, despite her resemblance to Yanyan Yu.
Qingwan had finally persuaded him to sacrifice Shengsheng, only for the wretch to come back alive.
What spell had she cast over an emperor devoted to his country?
“Your Majesty.”
Qingwan offered a graceful salute.
Siran ignored her and sat down.
Unable to contain herself, she said, “Your Majesty, a messenger has arrived from the Zhu Kingdom.”
Only then did he react.
“Someone sent by the Noble Consort?”
Of course.
His thoughts were filled with that wretch Shengsheng.
Qingwan’s smile stiffened.
“No. The messenger bears a letter from General Huaide Jiang of the Zhu Kingdom.”
Siran accepted it.
Although General Jiang was a military man, his calligraphy was excellent. The letter itself was short and direct: he wanted his unfilial daughter, Zhiyu Jiang, returned.
Siran remained silent for so long that Qingwan wondered whether he had fallen asleep.
At last, his cold, emotionless voice sounded.
“Issue the order. Tomorrow, Shengsheng Zhou will escort Zhiyu Jiang out of the Yong Kingdom.”
Qingwan could barely suppress her delight.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
***
“Shengsheng, are we leaving?”
Zhiyu lay beside the bed, staring without blinking at the golden-fish wind chime swaying overhead.
Shengsheng had made it especially for her.
“Mm.”
She continued packing, distracted.
Among her things, she found the heather hairpin Fusheng Duan had given her.
As she turned it between her fingers, Pecky flew out from whatever corner he had been sleeping in and landed on her hand. He stared intently at the pin.
Lately, he had grown even sleepier than before. Entire days passed without Shengsheng seeing him open his eyes.
Noticing his interest, she stroked the heather ornament.
“Pretty, isn’t it? Another version of you, somewhere else in the world, gave it to me.”
The actual “other version” stared at her in silence.
After a moment’s thought, Shengsheng placed the pin in her hair.
She hoped the coming plot would proceed smoothly.
It did not.
Not remotely.
Masked assassins advanced with swords raised, and Shengsheng nearly screamed from frustration.
Where was the hero who was supposed to save the beauty?
Where was the brave young guard who would betray his master’s intent and sacrifice himself to protect the heroine?
Someone in the Jiang household clearly did not want Zhiyu to return safely to the Zhu Kingdom.
Their carriage had barely left Yong territory before the killers struck.
In the original novel, Zhiyu was saved at the critical moment by her father’s secret guard, a teenage boy who had long loved her in silence. He then escorted her all the way to the Zhen Kingdom.
They had reached the life-or-death moment.
Why had the key character still not appeared?
Shengsheng could vomit blood.
Supporting characters had missed their cues far too many times. Could this world still function?
Apparently, she would have to act herself.
*A-Pang! Give me a gun!*
A-Pang sounded helpless.
*Shengsheng, firearms cannot be redeemed.*
*Then what am I supposed to do? I don’t know how to use cold weapons!*
Just as despair took hold, inspiration struck.
Shengsheng urgently tugged Zhiyu’s sleeve.
“Xiaoyu, swear an oath. Quickly!”
Zhiyu stared back in terror.
Zhiyu Jiang did not understand.
The nearest assassin was already bringing down his blade, so Shengsheng Zhou shouted, “Repeat after me! I swear to heaven: if these people intend to kill me, may lightning strike them dead!”
Zhiyu remembered the rain in the Yong Kingdom’s imperial palace and understood at once. She hastily repeated the oath.
The assassins looked at them as though they were idiots.
Then clouds massed across the previously flawless sky.
Thunder rolled.
Lightning crashed down.
The place where the lead assassin had stood was suddenly empty. Only a scattering of gray and white ash remained, carried away by the wind.
The survivors stared at Zhiyu as though she were a monster.
Good heavens.
They fled as if fire had caught beneath their feet.
Shengsheng planted her hands on her hips and laughed.
“Mere mortals dare insult heaven’s chosen daughter? You must be tired of living!”
So this was what it felt like for a fox to borrow a tiger’s power.
Magnificent.
Truly badass.
Like a sparrow pecking a bull’s backside: quite literally, bird meets badass.
When the villains fled, Zhiyu laughed happily too.
“Shengsheng, what is heaven’s chosen daughter?” she asked with foolish innocence.
Shengsheng stroked her confused little head.
“The incarnation of heavenly lightning.”
Apparently, Shengsheng would have to play the missing guard herself.
The carriage horse was thoroughly dead, rendering the vehicle useless. The only surviving animal was the lazy bird inside Shengsheng’s sleeve, and she certainly could not expect him to pull a carriage.
She inventoried their belongings, packed what remained, and led Zhiyu toward the Zhen Kingdom.
It was not yet time to return to the Zhu Kingdom.
In the original novel, Zhiyu went home only after winning the love of Weiqing Song. With both Siran Ming and Weiqing supporting her, she humiliated everyone in the Jiang household who had mistreated her.
“Shengsheng, where are we going?”
Zhiyu walked hand in hand with her, speaking indistinctly around another piece of candied fruit.
Shengsheng gazed at the clearing sky.
“The Zhen Kingdom!”
“But the Zhen Kingdom isn’t that way.”
Shengsheng whipped her head around.
“Did your memories return?”
Zhiyu shook her head.
“Then how do you know this is the wrong direction?”
Zhiyu swallowed her snack.
“I don’t know. I just feel like we should go that way.”
She pointed in the exact opposite direction.
Shengsheng frowned.
Hadn’t Zhiyu been hopeless with directions in the original novel?
Even so, Shengsheng followed her suggestion.
Putting the heroine first was the basic professional discipline of good cannon fodder.
***
“Your Majesty, this servant is innocent!”
A woman knelt before Siran, hair disheveled and body covered in blood. Nothing remained of Qingwan Xie’s once-cold, noble beauty.
Rong Li sneered and threw a stack of letters at her feet.
“You were the female court official responsible for the imperial household, yet you conspired with a court official to frame another person. The evidence is irrefutable. What can you possibly say?”
Qingwan laughed bitterly.
“Yes, Lord Liu and I plotted to accuse Shengsheng Zhou of being a calamitous star. But was I wrong? The moment she arrived, plague broke out at the border. If she isn’t a calamity, who is?”
Seeing her utter lack of remorse, Rong kicked her away.
“What do you understand? The calamitous star you despise saved countless soldiers of our great Yong!”
Qingwan’s eyes widened.
Shengsheng had cured the plague?
Impossible.
“Impossible… impossible…”
She repeated the word like a madwoman.
The emperor looked coldly at the woman who had remained by his side since he ascended the throne.
“Beat her to death.”