The Rebirth of Han Yuxi

Chapter 0781 Sigh

The night was like water, making Yuchen feel somewhat cold.

Momo Gui quietly entered and lit the tung-oil lamp. She asked, "Niangniang, what did Wangye say to you?" Seeing Yuchen in such a state, she knew it could not have been good news.

Yuchen replied, "He said he wants me to become his Ce Fei. His Majesty's corpse and bones have not yet grown cold, so how could I possibly agree?" If she agreed, then even leaving aside the fact that after she died and entered the afterlife, she would be unable to face her husband, she would also be too ashamed to face her son again for the rest of her life.

Momo Gui asked, "Niangniang, if you refuse, where else can we go?" In Yuchen's present circumstances, anywhere they went would be dangerous.

Yuchen replied sorrowfully, "The world is so vast, yet there is nowhere that can offer me shelter." She could not return to her maiden family, nor could she enter a religious order. She truly did not know where she could go.

In a voice that only the two of them could hear, Momo Gui whispered, "Niangniang, it would have been better if you had left with His Highness the Crown Prince at the time." On the night the Emperor ascended to Heaven in death, Yuchen had ordered the Dragon Guards to take Zhou Yan away. To outsiders, they claimed that Zhou Yan had developed a high fever that night. Yan Wushuang had also gone to the outskirts at the time and therefore did not learn of it. Even now, Yan Wushuang still believed that Yuchen and Zhou Yan had separated only after leaving the palace. As Zhou Yan had left one day earlier, he was already outside the capital by dawn the following morning. As for where he had gone, Yuchen herself was not entirely certain.

Yuchen shook her head. "Had I left with Yan-er at the time, perhaps Yan-er would already have been captured." Given Yan Wushuang's ruthlessness, he would certainly have killed her Yan-er.

Momo Gui did not know what to do either. She could not bring herself to persuade Yuchen to remarry. Yet if she did not persuade her, what awaited Yuchen would be a road of no return. Momo Gui had never felt so conflicted.

One day later, Yuchen gave Yan Wushuang her answer. "I must observe a year of mourning for my husband. If you still wish to marry me after one year, I will marry you." A year was a long time. Surely she would be able to think of a solution by then. This method could at least temporarily allow her to avoid the danger.

Yan Wushuang chuckled softly. "Are you thinking of going to Lingshan Temple or Huangqi Temple to eat vegetarian food and recite Buddhist scriptures, supposedly for Zhou Chaijin, and then escape from the capital? Han Yuchen, there is actually a way to eliminate all future trouble. Once you do it, not only will you not have to marry me, but you will no longer need to fear being captured." The solution Yan Wushuang proposed was actually very simple: she could disfigure herself. Once Han Yuchen had ruined her face, she would become an eightfold ugly freak, and he certainly would not marry her. No other man would want her either. After all, no normal man could bring himself to touch an ugly woman.

Yuchen was no fool. How could she not understand what Yan Wushuang meant?

Yan Wushuang's patience had run out. He continued, "From today onward, you are Han Ce Fei of Yan Wangfu." In the eyes of outsiders, Han Yuchen was already his woman. Today, he was merely making the matter public.

Yuchen bit her lip hard and said nothing.

Yan Wushuang had many matters on his hands and did not have the time to drag things out with Yuchen. After leaving those words behind, he walked out.

Sitting before the dressing table, Yuchen held a golden hairpin in her hand. Its tip was extremely sharp. If she stabbed it downward, it would certainly slash her face.

When Momo Gui entered, she saw Yuchen holding the golden hairpin against her face, which was smooth and flawless as jade, although her hand was trembling uncontrollably. Momo Gui experienced a moment when all of her seven souls and six spirits left her body. She lunged forward and snatched the hairpin from Yuchen's hand. "Niangniang, how could you do something so desperate?"

Yuchen collapsed over the table and wept loudly. She was useless. She clung to life and feared death. She could not bear to give up her beauty, and that was why she had to endure this humiliation.

Momo Gui said nothing. She merely held Yuchen and cried with her. After they had cried for a long while and exhausted themselves, Momo Gui helped Yuchen into bed. That night, Momo Gui did not dare sleep and remained beside Yuchen until daybreak.

News of what had happened in the capital reached the northwest three days later. Since occupying Haocheng, the husband and wife had worked hard to improve the delays in their intelligence network. After more than a year of effort, news now reached them much more quickly.

Xu Wu informed Yuxi that Yan Wushuang had taken Yuchen as his Ce Fei. In truth, when they first learned that Yan Wushuang had captured Han Yuchen, they already knew she would become his woman. Now, the matter had merely been publicly acknowledged, and she had been given an official status.

Yuxi could not help thinking about her previous life. In that life, Yuchen was the Empress, a motherly figure to the entire realm, when Yuxi died. In this life, however, she had become Yan Wushuang's concubine. Yet, when Yuxi recalled the drought in Jiangnan, where the ground was covered in corpses and rebellions were breaking out everywhere, she shook her head. At the time, vicious criminals who murdered people and robbed their property had appeared even beneath the Son of Heaven's feet. Yet, the Imperial Court was powerless to capture them. That alone demonstrated the corruption and incompetence of the Imperial Court. Had Yuxi not died, she would have witnessed the Zhou family's realm breaking apart. Yuchen was famous for her beauty, which was said to be capable of toppling a city. Once the dynasty collapsed, her fate would not have differed greatly from her present one. The only difference was that it had happened earlier in this life.

Xu Wu saw Yuxi sink into deep thought and did not dare speak, afraid of interrupting her train of thought. In fact, Xu Wu found this trait rather interesting. Their Wangfei often became so absorbed in her thoughts that she completely forgot the people around her.

That evening, the husband and wife took a walk through the garden. When Yuxi mentioned Yuchen's situation, she sighed. "Yuchen is so proud by nature. Now that she has to give herself to Yan Wushuang, she must be suffering greatly."

Yun Qing said, "If anyone is to blame, it can only be Zhou Chaijin for being too incompetent to protect his wife and child." If Zhou Chaijin had gotten rid of Yan Wushuang, none of this would have happened. Now that Yan Wushuang had taken him out, his wife and child were the ones who had to suffer.

Yuxi felt that his statement was rather biased. She remarked, "If he had lived in a time of peace and prosperity, he would probably have been a wise ruler." Unfortunately, he lived in chaotic times, and Zhou Chaijin was unable to stabilise the Imperial Court or change the situation.

Yun Qing commented, "Had the late Crown Prince not died and instead ascended the throne, the realm would have looked very different. Unfortunately, there are no '*what-ifs' in this world."

Yuxi became very curious when she heard this. She asked, "What kind of person was the Crown Prince, for you to have so much confidence in him?" She had been very young at the time, and the Crown Prince had been very discreet, so there were few stories about him. Therefore, Yuxi had almost no impression of the late Crown Prince, Zhou Kang.

Yun Qing said, "Grandpa once told me that the Crown Prince was a man with hills and valleys within his chest and harboured great ambitions. At the time, all the honest and upright ministers at court supported him. Moreover, with Marshal Yan serving as his rear shield, the Emperor could not shake his position no matter how much he disliked him. Unfortunately, the Song family removed the firewood from beneath the cauldron by eliminating the entire Yan family." Without Marshal Yan as their supporter, the Song family's power rapidly expanded. As a result, the Empress and the Crown Prince fell into the lower wind.

Yuxi understood. "Even after the Yan family fell, the Crown Prince held on for another six years. Come to think of it, that was indeed remarkable. He probably knew at the time that he had no road on which he could walk, which was why he attempted to force the Emperor to abdicate."

Yun Qing shook his head. "How could someone as intelligent as the Crown Prince not have known that his attempt to seize the palace was doomed to fail? It was merely because he could not accept defeat in his heart that he chose this road of no return." Since he was going to die either way, he might as well die grandly and spectacularly.

Yuxi sighed emotionally. After a while, she said, "Herui, do you still remember the nightmare I once had? Yan Wushuang now holds power, and I am afraid that the nightmare will become reality."

Yun Qing took Yuxi's hand and assured her, "Do not worry. I won't allow anything to happen to you or Zaozao." Even if he had not wanted to do it, matters had already reached this point. For the sake of his wife and children, he had no choice but to act.

Yuxi held Yun Qing's hand tightly. "We will work hard together." When husband and wife united their hearts, their sharp edge could even cut through gold . She refused to believe that they could not defeat Yan Wushuang together.

The following day, Han Jianming deliberately brought the matter up with Yuxi. "Yan Wushuang must have some other purpose for marrying Yuchen." Yan Wushuang was the kind of person who would never rise early without the promise of profit. Why would he suddenly, for no apparent reason, marry Yuchen?

Yuxi replied, "Why could it not simply be that Yan Wushuang values Yuchen's beauty?" Back then, even Yuxi herself had often become distracted while looking at her, let alone a man.

Han Jianming asked in surprise, "You think Yan Wushuang is after Yuchen because of her beauty?" He did not believe that Yan Wushuang was such a superficial man. Han Jianming believed that Yan Wushuang wanted to use Yuchen against them.

Yuxi responded, "Any man who sees Yuchen would want to marry her and bring her home. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that he has another motive for wanting to marry her." It would naturally be even better for Yan Wushuang if he could shoot two eagles with a single arrow.

Han Jianming stated, "Yuxi, Yan Wushuang will become our greatest enemy." Yan Wushuang was both courageous and resourceful, able to bend and able to extend, and ruthless and vicious. Han Jianming was deeply worried about becoming enemies with such a man.

Yuxi nodded. "Yes, Yan Wushuang is indeed formidable, but he has two fatal weaknesses." She knew Yan Wushuang's weaknesses, so they had a chance of defeating him.

Han Jianming asked, "What are those two fatal weaknesses?"

Yuxi answered, "First, his methods are far too vicious. It is one thing for him to be ruthless towards his enemies, but he is equally ruthless towards those who risk their lives in his service. This will create endless future trouble. Second, he is excessively suspicious. His suspicion has reached an abnormal level, leaving all his subordinates uneasy." She had learned of the first weakness through the matter involving Xinrong. She had inferred the second from what had happened to her uncle, Ning Hai.

After hearing Yuxi's words, Han Jianming smiled and said, "So you understand Yan Wushuang this well." The fact that Yuxi knew so much about Yan Wushuang showed that she had already taken precautions against him.

Yuxi did not conceal the truth from Han Jianming. "The person who nearly caused Liu-er and me to lose our lives was Yan Wushuang." From that moment on, they were enemies who would fight to the death.

Han Jianming's expression changed when he heard this. "You had never even met him before, so why would he try to k!ll you?" Regarding the assassination attempt back then, Han Jianming had always believed that Zhou Chaixuan was behind it. He had never imagined that Yan Wushuang was actually the mastermind behind the curtain.

Yuxi briefly mentioned her speculation, then sighed. "I heard that before the Tong City Incident, Yan Wushuang was a wise, courageous, kind, and honourable man. Yet now, he has become someone who will stop at nothing to achieve his objectives." Yan Wushuang's life had been destroyed single-handedly by the Song family and Zhou Chaixuan. That was probably why he hated them with a passion.

Han Jianming shook his head. "You can't explain it entirely that way. Didn't your husband also suffer the destruction of his family and the deaths of his relatives, leaving him the sole survivor? Yet he did not become like Yan Wushuang."

Yuxi countered, "That is different. Yan Wushuang personally witnessed his family being killed. Anyone who has not experienced that personally could never understand that grief and despair." Yun Qing had also been deeply traumatised by what happened back then. Otherwise, he would not frequently have insomnia, which caused him to lose control of his emotions. Fortunately, she had discovered it in time. If not, he might have become someone with an ingrained compulsion to kill, as he had in her previous life.

Han Jianming smiled. "You speak as though you experienced it yourself."