Chapter 14: A Group of Grasshoppers

“Don’t be too sad; the Xuan King has already helped you investigate who spread the rumors behind your back.”

Zhuang Xian thought Zhuang Xiaoyu would be heartbroken, but unexpectedly, after a moment of surprise, she took a steamed bun, took a bite, then reached for a chicken egg, and continued eating and drinking without any further discussion.

“Oh, why aren’t you eating?”

“Sister, aren’t you angry?”

“Not angry, it’s just rumors. Look, did it interfere with my eating or my sleeping? Let’s eat.”

A group of grasshoppers; wait until I’m full before dealing with you.

Seeing her completely unconcerned, everyone felt relieved and proceeded to do what they needed to after having eaten and drunk enough.

Zhuang Xiaoyu finished her meal and read books in the study for two hours, first completing the tasks assigned by her father, then had lunch and went to sleep. After sleeping well during the day, she would be ready to deal with the grasshoppers at night.

Zhuang Xiaowan also felt that her sister had been acting strangely these past few days, sleeping soundly during the day and yawning continuously, as if she had stayed up all night. The only time she stayed awake all night was during the New Year’s vigil; the next day she would yawn, but her sister was yawning countless times in a single day—what was the reason?

Driven by curiosity, she secretly entered Zhuang Xiaoyu’s yard at night. The yard was quiet, and the lights in the room were on.

She tiptoed to the door, gently knocked, but there was no response.

The lights were still on, so someone should be inside. What on earth were they doing? She pushed the door to peek inside.

There was no one in the room; the bedding had already been laid out. She called out “Sister” a couple of times, but there was no response. Could she have gone to the bathroom?

So she sat on the bed waiting for Zhuang Xiaoyu to return. At fourteen, she was at an age of physical development, and before long, she became drowsy, yawned twice, and fell headfirst onto the bed and fell asleep.

Zhuang Xiaoyu waited until it was dark and windy, skillfully leaped over the palace walls, and entered Renxi Palace.

With a wave of her sleeve, she sent the guards flying out; it was almost as if she hadn’t scared the Empress at all. If that was the case, she’d give her something more tangible instead.

The Empress had not been well lately, unable to eat or sleep, restless like sitting on needles. At this moment, the entire Renxi Palace was still illuminated, and the palace maids and eunuchs hadn’t gone to sleep yet.

The patrolling eunuchs only felt a gust of cold wind pass by, giving them a shiver. Was it about to fog up?

In just a few days, the Empress appeared significantly haggard, no longer radiating the beauty she once had. It seemed her nephew hadn’t taken good care of her.

Suddenly, a sturdy old woman flew in from the doorway, crashed against the back wall, and just as she was about to slide down, she unexpectedly flew back again…

The old woman looked fearfully toward the doorway. Zhuang Xiaoyu raised a hand and pushed the old woman—who had just come close—out again, sending her crashing against the back wall. Then, under Zhuang Xiaoyu’s control, the nearly three hundred-pound woman was sent flying out and pulled back repeatedly, over and over again, until the old woman’s head drooped down…

“It’s over; I’ve gone too far; she’s dead.”

Then, with a wave of her hand, she sent the old woman smashing through the back wall and flying out.

Throughout this, apart from the initial horrified scream from the old woman, the Empress didn’t make a sound.

“Empress, is it fun? Do you want to play for a bit?”

The Empress shook her head in terror. This was a demoness; she truly was a demoness. She had not been wrong—she was here to overthrow the Great Zhou.

“Daring to let people create rumors about me, it seems your nephew has made you quite foolish.”

The Empress didn’t dare say a word, only shook her head. This demoness was here to kill her.

“Daring to say I’m a beauty that brings disaster, I look so decorous; how can you say I’m a calamity? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?”

Zhuang Xiaoyu’s face was merely considered handsome; if anything stood out, it was her figure—slender and tall, pale and beautiful with long legs. She could only claim one long leg. After being exposed to the wind and sun on the mountain, her complexion was a healthy wheat color. It was only when she arrived in the capital that she, along with Zhuang Xiaowan, started using makeup, which still didn’t reach the level of being as smooth as cream. With looks like these being called a beauty that brings disaster, it’s simply too outrageous—who would believe it?

“And you still say I’m here to overthrow the Great Zhou; you really are talking nonsense. Well then, you’d better get used to your stinky Empress.”

Then she pried the Empress’s mouth open and forced a pill into it, making her swallow it. Not long after, the Empress felt gas moving down into her belly, a tightness in her rear signifying that she needed to fart but couldn’t hold it back.

Zhuang Xiaoyu turned and left her room. This pill’s effect would last a while; by the time she returned to normal, the Emperor would probably have forgotten all about her.

She soared into the air, swiftly reaching the highest point of the palace, overlooking the entire palace, where the palace lights were dim, and occasionally shadows flitted by; those were the patrolling palace servants.

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P This should be the place where the Emperor holds court. Throughout history, how many people have struggled for the title of the master of this house, competing for fame and fortune, scheming endlessly, even harming their kin and committing patricide and fratricide? They engage in all sorts of sordid acts just for a few fleeting years of pleasure. In the end, when they close their eyes, aren’t they just a pile of bones?

How is it that so many people fail to understand this? What’s the point of competing to the death?

Zhuang Xiaoyu has come to terms with this. Live each day for itself. She is determined not to work herself to death like in her past life, where all her earnings merely supported a scumbag. In the end, the scumbag’s excuse for cheating was that she didn’t understand anything except work. It was the so-called lawful society that saved that bastard; otherwise, she would have killed him without hesitation.

If she had known she would have such a quick car accident, she should have killed him back then.

Having come to peace with it, she was able to follow her master to the mountain for eighteen years. With a heart as calm as still water, she was able to practice her skills faster than most, which allowed her to master the techniques her master had taught her at a young age.

Old Zhuang wanted to throw himself out there, but that was impossible; he never raised her since birth, so it would be too cheap for him.

She quietly returned to the Xiang residence. When she entered the room, she saw Zhuang Xiaowan lying on her bed, drooling as she slept.

The next day, after Zhuang Xiaowan got out of bed, she suddenly remembered visiting her sister last night. What happened afterward? How did she return? Why couldn’t she remember?

At breakfast, Xiao Wan asked Xiao Yu.

“Sister, did I come to find you last night?”

“No, I didn’t see you.”

“Right, I didn’t see you either. Where did you go?”

“I just slept, didn’t you sleep well, little sister?”

“Is that so? Did I remember it wrong?”

“Exactly, you remembered it wrong. Eat more rice to nourish your brain.”

Zhuang Xiaowan thought: Could it really be my memory is confused?

It was another day off when Zhuang Xun came back. As soon as he got home, he went to Zhuang Xiaoyu’s courtyard.

“Big sister…”

When he saw Zhuang Xiaoyu, he couldn’t say the words he had prepared.

The sorrow and heartbreak he had in mind had simply vanished. The large apple in his hand nearly covered half of his face as he mumbled, “Is it a holiday again?”

“Yeah, there’s a holiday tomorrow. I came to see you, big sister.”

“Here’s one for you, eat it; one apple a day keeps the doctor away from me.”

“Thank you, big sister. You’re great!”

“Yeah, I’m doing well.”

His concern had been exchanged for a big apple.

It was someone from the academy who told him that Zhuang Xiaoyu was a calamity star who caused her mother’s death and had now returned to disrupt court affairs. He didn’t believe those rumors. He wanted to hurry back to comfort his sister; he would always believe in her. Yet his sister seemed as if she didn’t need his comfort.

Elder sister told him that the one who bullied him, Xue Ziyan, had married off to a faraway place and wouldn’t come back easily.

She also said that the elder sister had taught her many things she had never heard of before. The elder sister must have had a particularly hard time these years; at such a young age, she understood so many great principles.

With such an outstanding and hardworking elder sister, it was too much that the small-minded people still insulted her and blamed her. Their father was just too weak and easy to bully. When he grew up, he would become someone who could suppress many; he would not let his family suffer even a little grievance, not even when bullied by the Emperor.

Zhuang Xiaoyu had no idea of the twists and turns in the boy’s heart. As the elder sister, trying to show some kindness, she for once made him a bowl of dumpling soup with her own hands.

This was the most delicious meal Zhuang Xun had ever had in his life, eaten with tears in his eyes.

Zhuang Xiaoyu looked at her useless brother with disdain, thinking, “Is it really that necessary? It’s just the simplest dumpling soup, something even the old man had enough of.”

Zhuang Xiaowan sat quietly to the side, watching the two of them with a somewhat complex expression, unsure whether she was looking down on her brother for being useless or envying him for having something to eat.

Zhuang Xiaoyu noticed that the Zhuang family had a similar mentality. They couldn’t tolerate others treating them poorly; if anyone treated them poorly, they would repay it tenfold, a hundredfold, manifesting the idea of “a drop of kindness repaid like a fountain” vividly.