After the Retired Emperor Abdicated - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Xuan Yun was stunned too. She clearly hadn’t expected this guy’s self-destruction to come with a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

Blame it on time and distance for making everything look prettier than it was. Three years had passed, and all I remembered was that he had been an innocent young man. I had forgotten that he had now evolved into an unhinged innocent young man.

Pei Jun, you really do deserve to die. I was right to be a scumbag to you back then!

So now came the question: what was Xuan Yun supposed to do with the two of us? If she really had us both chopped up, then she might as well spend the rest of her life buried in the dirt with me and Pei Jun.

But if she did nothing at all, then Xuan Yun would absolutely become the greenest, longest-haired turtle in the imperial garden pond. At the very least, that was how Pei Jun would see it.

Xuan Yun was silent for a long while. Then, all of a sudden, she began laughing in relief, laughing so hard her face turned red.

The moment her face turned red, mine went white. Because I knew she was definitely cooking up nothing good.

Although Xuan Yun was not the Retired Emperor’s biological child, when it came to being wildly unreliable, the two of them were absolutely cut from the same cloth.

“Beloved Minister Pei Jun, you are indeed sincere, loyal, and brave. Congratulations. You have withstood the test that I and the Imperial Noble Consort set for you! Back then, I saw everything that happened between you and the Imperial Noble Consort. But from this day forth, I will never harbor any suspicions toward either of you again.”

Pei Jun froze in place. Only after a long time did he slowly lift his head and look at me. He gave a self-mocking smile. “A test? The Imperial Noble Consort and Your Majesty certainly have refined tastes. It seems I was the only one who took anything seriously…”

Judging from his expression, he probably thought he had become a toy for this “married couple” to amuse themselves with in some little flirtatious game.

No, brother. I admit I intended to use you as a tool, but not like this.

After Pei Jun left without another word, Xuan Yun wiped hard at her sweat. “I was really afraid we’d push that honest man too far and he’d skewer the two of us, one stab each!”

At that moment, my eyes went wider than a cow’s. I wanted nothing more than to poke Xuan Yun’s tiny brain out with one finger. “An emperor uses his own Imperial Noble Consort to test a general? Listen to yourself. Does that sound reasonable? I don’t even dare imagine what kind of person I am in his mind now!”

Xuan Yun’s face was more bitter than a bitter melon. “What else was I supposed to do? If you can make up a better excuse, then fine, I’ll throw this old face of mine away right now, stop him, and explain it to him personally.”

I was still trying to figure out how to turn the situation around when Xuan Yun started undermining morale. “Did he really want to drag you down with him just now? If this won’t work, forget it. I can’t sacrifice you just for the sake of a child. What if his love turns into hatred and he does something to hurt you?”

“He won’t do that.” I lowered my head. At that moment, both guilt and inferiority rose to their peak. “He’s a good person. Whether it was back then or now, I only bullied him because he’s a good person…”

From Pei Jun’s perspective, I was a ruinous temptress who first toyed with his feelings, then clung to power and kicked him away.

He was gone for three years and hated me for three years. After coming back, he discovered that I actually wanted to keep playing with him!

Even after all that, the cruelest thing he could think to do to me was not verbal humiliation, physical harm, or emotional revenge, but the laws of Great Chu.

Not only would he punish me, he would drag himself into it too. Pei Jun might be insane, but compared to those lunatics in storybooks who gouged out eyes, dug out hearts, and bled people at the drop of a hat, Pei Jun was so upright it was practically deranged.

Xuan Yun was still uneasy. “If it won’t work, forget it. I’ll definitely think of some other way. The mess left behind by the previous generation can’t always be yours to clean up for me.”

I refused her suggestion. Because I knew better than anyone that if Xuan Yun could really think of another way, she would not have been deadlocked for these past three years.

The key to cleaning up this mess was not me. It was Pei Jun. After all, he was the Retired Emperor’s only bloodline.

To maneuver around court politics, the emperor could rely on imperial tactics and checks and balances. To ward off foreign enemies, a general had to intimidate the borders. But if we wanted to temporarily put a stop to those vassal princes’ thoughts of internal rebellion, then we really could only rely on the belly of me, the Imperial Noble Consort.

Early the next morning, I rallied myself and carried a box of plain congee and side dishes I had made myself to the palace where Pei Jun was temporarily staying.

Ignoring Pei Jun’s gaze, so cold it could drip water, I continued with the lines I had memorized the night before. “You drank a lot yesterday. Eat something light. Your stomach will feel better.”

In the past, whenever I occasionally did something especially awful, I would pretend to be considerate the next day, then take the opportunity to act pitiful in front of him and make peace.

Unfortunately, only now did I realize that those little tricks I thought had never failed were actually only successful because he had deliberately indulged me.

So my visit today was less seduction than a gamble. I was betting that he still liked me.

Pei Jun saw that there was no one behind me and understood that I still had not given up my wicked schemes.

He did not drive me away, nor did he speak. He simply laid out the food I had brought, sat across from me, and chewed one bite at a time.

Then he sat there quietly for a while longer, eyes closed, as if waiting for something.

When the result he expected did not seem to come, he raised his eyes to look at me, his tone carrying a hint of surprise. “I originally thought the Emperor was still wary of the two of us, so you came today to kill me. It seems I overestimated you after all. Something like murder… you still can’t bring yourself to do it.”

??? So he thought I had poisoned the food, and just now he’d been sitting there with his eyes closed, blissfully waiting to die?! Just how deranged was this man’s train of thought? Was his will to live really that low?

I was so shocked that for a moment, I did not know how to respond. To prove that I absolutely had not poisoned anything, I snatched his bowl of congee and gulped down a huge mouthful.

Then the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I simply smashed the bowl and started cursing him out. “Is there something wrong with your brain? You thought I was going to kill you, so you just let me kill you? Pei Jun, you are the craziest and stupidest person I have ever met! Just how little do you value your own life?”

Pei Jun looked at me throwing a fit and actually smiled. “Imperial Consort, what excellent acting. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you cared about me so very much. What is the purpose of today’s performance? Does the Emperor still have suspicions, or did Imperial Consort simply not have enough fun yesterday?”

“Pei Jun, I regret it…” Since our reunion, only this sentence was the truth.

“Back then, it was Prince An’s people who drugged Xuan Yun. I was accidentally dragged into it, and that was what led to everything afterward. But I never liked His Majesty, and I was never able to forget you.”

I concealed the secret of Xuan Yun’s female identity and only told him the truth of what had happened back then.