Chapter 49

On a cold winter night, before the hour of the dog had passed, every household in the capital had already shut its doors, leaving only the howling wind in the streets.

The road leading from the palace to the outer embassy was even more desolate, pitch black, with not even a glimpse of whether there were any potholes on the road.

Yiling stood in this desolate place, where any rustle or breeze would send a chill down her spine, her mind racing with thoughts.

The only advantage of this location was its secrecy, making it unlikely for anyone to see what she was doing.

After a long while, the sound of wheels rolling over the road finally reached the end of the alley, and Mama Cao, outside the carriage, whispered, “Madam, he’s here.”

Yiling immediately tightened the shattered jade in her palm and lowered herself to step out of the carriage.

But it was so dark here, and she hadn’t asked anyone to bring a lantern. Her nerves got the better of her, and she lost her footing on the horse’s saddle, almost falling.

“Madam, be careful!” Fortunately, Mama Cao, with her strength, caught her. “You didn’t fall, did you?”

Yiling shook her head, assuring she was fine, and cautiously stepped aside.

As the carriage slowly approached, Mama Cao arranged for a servant to stop it.

Today, the Suitong Palace had experienced an unexpected turn of events, and the faces of all the people accompanying them looked terrifyingly dark.

Just at that moment, someone suddenly appeared to block the road, and given the late hour, everyone immediately drew their weapons, assuming a defensive stance.

Yiling, standing at a distance, could only watch as the servant was scared back a few steps by the swords and blades of the Hu Ba people, then nervously said something.

Soon, a man stepped out of the carriage and asked the servant fiercely.

Yiling did not expect the Hu Ba people to be so jumpy in the Kyoto. Regaining her composure, she stepped forward and said, “It’s me!”

The man immediately turned to look at her.

Although the Hu Ba people in the front were carrying a lantern, the light was still limited, and Yiling could only make out a rough idea of the man’s appearance.

He did have thick eyebrows and large eyes, but if he were truly the most handsome man of the Hu Ba, it meant the Hu Ba really didn’t have many attractive men.

But now was not the time to judge the Hu Ba people’s sense of beauty. Yiling stood tall, stepped forward, and called out, “Come here; I have something to say to you.”

When the man remained still, Mama Cao stepped forward and asked, “What’s the matter? Hu Yanqi, you don’t recognize our young miss?”

As soon as she finished speaking, another man stepped out of the carriage. His attire and demeanor clearly marked him as the true prince of Hu Ba.

“Who’s calling me?”

Mama Cao: “?”

Turning to look at Yiling, she saw her awkwardly saying, “It’s too dark; I didn’t see clearly.”

In the time it took to say that, Hu Yanqi had already seen Yiling.

When she turned her head, their eyes met, and the deep emotions swirling in Hu Yanqi’s exceptionally dark eyes caused his chin to tremble.

Yiling knew that he had recognized her. She gave Mama Cao a signal and then moved toward a secluded area.

The moment she turned, Hu Yanqi almost charged towards her.

The surge of male aggression was overwhelming, and when he was about to reach out to hold her, Yi Ling quickly retreated to the corner of the wall, sharply saying, “Don’t touch me!”

Hu Yanqi’s hands froze just before they could touch Yiling.

Her resistance was so obvious; her voice even carried a hint of hostility; how could Hu Yanqi not notice?

Even her eyes were no longer the tender, affectionate ones they used to be, but rather, they seemed to look at him as if he were an enemy.

“Yiling…” Hu Yanqi didn’t understand why, upon their reunion, she was acting this way. “What’s wrong with you?”

Yiling had no intention of explaining anything to him. She went straight to the point: “I came here today just to tell you, I will never go to Hu Ba with you!”

In the cold, harsh night, Yiling’s words quickly vanished into the wind.

It took Hu Yanqi a long time to snap out of his stupor. He lowered his hands and carefully examined the woman before him.

It was still the familiar face, but her eyes held a determination he had never seen before.

He felt like he didn’t know this woman anymore.

“…Why?”

Did he really need to ask?

Yiling sneered, “What would I go to Hu Ba for? To become your concubine?”

So she already knew.

But Hu Yanqi had never planned to hide it from her. “You mind this? You know I only have you in my heart. The other women were just forced into marriage because of circumstances. If not for that, how could I have the ability to marry you? Now that I can protect you, you can be with me, so why should we care about anything else?”

That’s not how “two birds with one stone” is used; you illiterate!

Yiling was infuriated by his shameless thoughts. When she thought of the poem left by the Shang family, her head throbbed with rage.

“Before you acted, did you ever ask me if I was willing? Did you consider my feelings? You went and proudly brought a woman back home, but what about me? I not only have to bear the scorn of the whole world, but I also have to be looked down upon by my family, and in the end, go to the barbaric land of Hu Ba as your concubine? How could you even think of that? ”

In Hu Yanqi’s heart, Shang Yiling was gentle and kind, and she would never say such harsh words, let alone degrade Hu Ba as a barbaric land.

What had she gone through these past days?

Hu Yanqi’s gaze turned cold, and he looked at Yiling in disappointment.

“You’ve changed. You weren’t like this before. You promised me that you would wait for me to come back and marry you. Even after you married someone else, I never gave up. But as soon as I arrived in the capital, I kept hearing about how you and your husband were so in love and affectionate. Shang Yiling, have you already fallen for someone else? And now you’re accusing me of being heartless and ungrateful!”

Hu Yanqi spoke a long, angry speech, and the message was so complicated that Yiling didn’t know how to respond.

After a moment of dazed silence, Yiling suddenly came to her senses in his furious gaze.

She hadn’t come to reason with him today; she only needed to achieve her goal!

So Yiling raised her voice resolutely and said, “No matter what you think, just remember this—if you force me to go to Hu Ba, I will make sure that you’ll never have peace there. I’ll make you lose everything, both in reputation and life!”

As soon as the last word fell, she suddenly raised her hand and forcefully threw something from her palm.

In the dark, a sharp sound rang out.

Hu Yanqi turned his head towards the sound, but the ground was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything. Yet, he knew what Yiling had thrown.

When he looked up again, Yiling was so frightened by his gaze that she took two steps back, her back hitting the wall.

The people of Hu Ba were naturally rough-featured, and when anger filled Hu Yanqi’s brows and eyes, the wolf tooth ornament on his forehead seemed to come alive, and his whole face turned beastly.

Seeing him approach step by step, Yiling had nowhere to retreat. Sweat trickled down her back, and her fists clenched tightly in her sleeves, trying to hide her trembling as best as she could.

She had acted impulsively. She shouldn’t have thrown that broken jade pendant.

If she had angered Hu Yanqi here, in this desolate place, who knew what would happen…

Suddenly, a hand gripped Hu Yanqi’s shoulder from behind.

It was Li Chun.

Yiling’s heart suddenly began to pound wildly. She looked back and saw, not far away, Xie Hengzhi.

In the thick darkness of the night, his figure wasn’t clear, but he stood silently, watching her quietly.

Meeting his gaze, Yiling stiffened, and a single thought ran through her mind—

He couldn’t possibly think she was here for a late-night tryst with Hu Yanqi, right?!

Hu Yanqi hadn’t expected Xie Hengzhi to appear suddenly. His expression, along with his body, froze in the cold wind as he stared at Xie Hengzhi without moving, only his chest still heaving heavily.

At that moment, Yiling suddenly shoved Hu Yanqi away.

The sudden push made him stumble back a step. After regaining his balance, he saw Yiling quickly rush to Xie Hengzhi’s side, tightly grabbing his arm, and hurriedly explaining, “Don’t overthink it! It’s not what you think!”

Xie Hengzhi glanced at Yiling, his stern face showing no obvious emotions, and then nodded at Li Chun.

“Take the lady back to the carriage.”

Li Chun immediately released his hold on Hu Yanqi and turned to walk towards Yiling.

But Yiling didn’t let go of Xie Hengzhi’s sleeve. Her eyes stayed fixed on him, unwilling to leave just like that.

But Xie Hengzhi’s tone was so firm and unyielding that it was clear he did not want to hear Yiling’s explanation at this moment.

Yiling had no choice but to follow Li Chun and leave.

After walking a few steps, she turned back to glance at Xie Hengzhi before quickening her pace toward the carriage.

Once Yiling entered the carriage and her figure disappeared, Hu Yanqi’s gaze slowly shifted to Xie Hengzhi.

Compared to the resolute words Yiling had just spoken, Hu Yanqi found it harder to accept seeing her nervous and concerned about Xie Hengzhi with his own eyes.

He did not believe that the vows she made to him were so easily erased, and he certainly did not believe that she had turned to this man’s arms in such a short time of a year or so.

Moreover, today he had been humiliated by Xie Hengzhi at Suitong Palace, and before he had the chance to confront him, he was forced to leave the palace.

Now that they were face-to-face, both old and new grudges resurfaced. Hu Yanqi could not be bothered to disguise the coldness in his eyes, and even his voice was laced with resentment.

“Lord Xie, you have quite the audacity. You dare to publicly mock the Emperor of Great Liang today. Are you not afraid of losing your head?”

Xie Hengzhi did not hurry to answer, slowly walking over before speaking, “If one is not willing to take such risks, how can one be a husband?”

The word “husband” pierced Hu Yanqi’s ears like a thorn. He clenched his jaw and stepped in front of Xie Hengzhi, speaking each word with biting force, “Do you think His Majesty is that easy to fool? If he truly believes that I was behind the matter of Chiqiu, I doubt I would leave the palace alive today.”

Xie Hengzhi seemed to find something amusing and tilted his head with a smirk.

“Prince Hu Yanqi, I wonder where your confidence comes from in presuming to understand the Emperor’s will.”

While speaking, it seemed Xie Hengzhi stepped on something. Without even looking, he kicked it away and then gazed at Hu Yanqi before continuing, “Is this your Emperor, or is it the Emperor of Great Liang?”

Hu Yanqi understood his meaning very well.

It was because he understood that he became even more furious when Xie Hengzhi openly said it.

No one understood Great Liang’s Emperor better than Xie Hengzhi. He dared to say this, which meant he had it all planned.

“Why are you doing all this? Just to keep your wife, who’s barely been married for a year? Do you know that those love poems circulating about her were all written for me? Do you know that she didn’t willingly marry you?”

Originally, Hu Yanqi thought Xie Hengzhi would fly into a rage at these words, but instead he merely looked at him calmly.

“I know.”

“Know?”

Hu Yanqi’s heart was crushed by his nonchalant answer, and he almost blurted out in a fit of rage, “You don’t know anything! You don’t know about the vows she made to me! You don’t know that she was willing to betray her family for me, and you don’t know the two years we spent together on the mountain behind the Shang family. No one can replace that time!”

Their attendants were standing far off, and Hu Yanqi spoke without restraint.

In the silent night, every word was clear to Xie Hengzhi’s ears.

He remained silent as he looked at Hu Yanqi, but there was a ripple in his gaze.

Seeing this, Hu Yanqi finally felt that he had the upper hand.

He stopped being hysterical and spoke in a slow, yet provocative tone, “Oh, I suppose Lord Xie doesn’t know that those hands of hers, which only write poems, once cooked for me, stitched new clothes for me, and even braided my hair and embroidered sachets for me.”

“I taught her how to ride a horse and took her to the mountains to watch the flowers and clouds.

Oh, by the way, you must have seen the scar on her forearm, haven’t you? Did she tell you that she got that injury when she ran away with me?”

In the pitch-black night, Hu Yanqi clearly saw the slight twitch in Xie Hengzhi’s muscles beneath his gaze.

With these shared memories, Hu Yanqi knew that he was the one standing in an invincible position.

“And you?” Hu Yanqi smirked, asking mockingly, “What are you?”

“What am I?”

Xie Hengzhi shifted his gaze and met Hu Yanqi’s eyes directly. “I am her lawful husband, who has passed the six rites and is recognized by heaven and earth.”