Chapter 940: Vicious and Merciless
Bi Linglong felt wronged and confused, and at the same time, she also felt somewhat angry. She finally seized a moment to breathe and exclaimed, “What are you doing?!”
But Zu An didn’t reply to her. He looked at her with burning eyes and heavy breathing. The pretty dress Bi Linglong had carefully chosen was quickly ripped to shreds, fluttering around them like butterflies.
Bi Linglong was alarmed. She even wondered if someone else was impersonating Zu An. But she soon realized that he was indeed the one next to her. After all, the two of them had already had a physical relationship in the dungeon. She was already extremely familiar with him.
But she felt even more wronged when she realized it was him. I was waiting for him here, and yet this is how he treats me?
Zu An was full of negative emotions at that moment. His mind was filled with the information he had just investigated. Even though he had told himself that those events of the past had nothing to do with him, he still couldn't help but think about how Zhao Han and his father had mistreated the Meng Dynasty’s family members.
As such, he couldn't help but be filled with resentment. When he thought about how the woman before him was the Zhou Dynasty’s crown princess, he subconsciously felt the urge to make her cry. That was why he was so rough.
Bi Linglong felt like a small boat that was tossing and turning in a huge sea. She was battered and pounded again and again.
…
After a long time had passed, Zu An suddenly felt something cold on his face. Only when he raised his head did he notice that two streaks of tears were falling from Bi Linglong’s eyes.
Zu An was alarmed. What the hell am I doing? Even if there were any enmity, it would be toward Zhao Han and his father. What did it have to do with her? Furthermore, all of that was just speculation. Whether or not he was even a descendant of the Meng Dynasty was still uncertain. Why in the world did he suddenly feel as if he had been possessed?
He gently helped Bi Linglong wipe away the tears from her face. He then said apologetically, “I’m sorry!”
“Are you done venting?” Bi Linglong gave him a cold look. She could obviously tell that he had only shown lust for her, and not love.
Zu An didn’t know how to reply to that question. Bi Linglong pushed him away and reached for some clothing to cover herself. But who would have thought that the largest piece was only the size of a palm, so it couldn't cover up anything?
Bi Linglong felt her body suddenly become warm as a set of clothes was draped around her shoulders. Zu An helped her put on the clothes, then said apologetically, “I was in the wrong state of mind just now, and I’m sorry for hurting you…”
Bi Linglong coldly interrupted him before he even finished his sentence. “I don’t want to hear any of that right now. Leave. I don’t want to see you again.”
Zu An’s mouth opened. He wanted to say something, but Bi Linglong’s cool and elegant brow was already furrowed. “If you still don’t leave, I’m going to holler for help!”
Zu An knew that nothing he could say just then would help. He could only silently turn around to leave. When he was about to turn the corner, however, he suddenly thought of something and quickly said, “I didn’t have time to help you recover your life force yet. You should properly refine what I left inside of you, or else if you leave it untreated for a long time, it might leave some lasting problems.”
Bi Linglong was already by the entrance to the passage. Her entire body trembled when she heard that, and a look of embarrassment flashed across her face. She exclaimed, “Get lost!”
When she returned to her room, she suddenly stopped after taking a few steps. Her pretty brow furrowed. She became angrier and angrier. That scoundrel! She only recovered her composure after some time passed. Then, she called in some maids, saying, “Prepare some hot water for me. I want to take a bath and change clothes.”
“Understood.” The maid was about to leave when she suddenly voiced her surprise. “Crown princess, why is your hair in such a mess?”
Bi Linglong said indifferently, “It might have gotten messy while I was sleeping just now.”
“To be honest, the crown princess looks even more beautiful after resting than usual…” the maid said in praise. Suddenly, her eyes shifted to Bi Linglong’s clothes. She was stunned.
As one of Bi Linglong’s personal maids, she obviously knew that the crown princess was clearly wearing another set of clothes! More importantly, she was familiar with every single set of clothing the crown princess owned, and these didn’t belong to the crown princess.
As someone who had grown in the palace, she immediately thought of many possibilities. Her eyes narrowed, but she quickly covered it up. She said with a smile, “This servant will prepare a bath for the crown princess now.”
She turned around to leave, but a gust of wind suddenly brushed past her ears. She instinctively tried to dodge, but she was still too late. She slowly fell to the ground with no trace of life force left.
“Crown princess, what’s wrong?” Rong Mo rushed over when she heard the activity. What she saw first was the maid’s corpse. She was stunned. She quickly looked up at Bi Linglong, who was now in bed, and asked, “Are you okay?”
Bi Linglong was lying down in her bed, holding the covers tightly over her body to hide the clothes she was wearing. She said indifferently, “She was plotting something, so I killed her. Clean up the corpse, then investigate her background to see which faction sent her.”
“This servant has neglected my duty and didn’t notice ahead of time.” Rong Mo broke out in a cold sweat. If something ended up happening to the crown princess, the consequences really would be too horrible to imagine! She quickly apologized.
“You can leave. I’m tired.” Bi Linglong waved her hand.
“Understood!” Rong Mo quickly brought the corpse away and cleaned up the area.
Bi Linglong’s expression remained cold. That maid had been acting too calm, and only that moment of hesitation was out of character.
There was no way an ordinary maid could remain so calm in that kind of situation, and only a well-trained spy could. That was why she hadn’t hesitated to kill her. She couldn't let anyone know about her current state.
Of course, even if the maid hadn’t been a spy for someone, she had seen something she shouldn’t have, so she still had to die. As someone from the royal family, there was no way Bi Linglong would show mercy for something like that.
She wanted to call over someone else to prepare a bath, but she remembered Zu An’s warning. After some hesitation, she sat up on her bed and began to cultivate.
…
Soon afterward, she opened her eyes in shock. She sensed that life force was spreading through her entire body. The feeling of weakness she had experienced previously gradually disappeared, instead replaced with youthful vitality.
She reached out her hand and separated a lock of hair. She saw that her snow-white long hair had already begun to recover some of its previous color. Her cheeks gradually became rosy. “That rascal...”
Even though she was scolding him, her tone was no longer as angry as it had been before.
…
Zu An paid the Eastern Palace several visits in the following days, but each time, Bi Linglong refused to meet with him, citing various reasons. As the crown princess, it was completely natural for her to refuse to meet with normal subjects.
Zu An knew that she was upset, but he didn’t know what else he could do either. He could only play five-in-a-row with the crown prince out of boredom, defeating him so miserably he didn’t want to play anymore.
However, many things had happened in the capital in those few days.
The biggest thing was that news of Yu Nan frequenting brothels began to circulate among the capital’s civilians. The stories were vivid and lifelike, making one feel as if they were there in person. They spoke not only about how he had tried to gain Nan Xun’s favor, but also how he had been defeated several times by Zu An.
The commoners had loved such gossip about those of higher status to begin with. As such, those things soon became known to all.
After they had their fun with the stories, some people began to call the details into question. Wasn’t Yu Nan the Secretariat Assistant Director? Why had he been fighting with another man for a courtesan in a place like the pleasure quarters? He had even been completely embarrassed in that affair. How did Princess Changshan feel about this?
At first, Princess Changshan held back to protect her husband’s dignity. She couldn't really say anything either, for the sake of both of their mutual interests. But at that point, the rumors were getting more and more out of hand. There were some that began to criticize the princess for turning a blind eye.
There were all sorts of rumors. Some said that the princess was very ugly and couldn't keep her husband’s interest; others said that she had silently agreed to her husband’s affairs. There were even some who said that the princess couldn't have children… It really was getting more and more ridiculous.
Even though the Yu clan used all sorts of connections to try to keep the rumors down, and they had even caught some of the rumor-spreaders as an example to others, for some reason, not only did it not help, it instead only added oil to the fire.
Princess Changshan finally couldn't take it anymore. She stormed into the palace while crying, asking the emperor to bring justice to the matter.
The emperor then took advantage of the situation to discuss it in court. A group of officials that had already been prepared ahead of time denounced Yu Nan for offending public morals, saying that he had shamed the royal family’s reputation…
In the end, Yu Nan was dismissed from his post, and he was ordered to divorce the princess.
After the event, the Yu clan’s master, Imperial Secretariat’s Left Confidential Assistant Yu Xuanchong, took the initiative to resign as an apology for the offense, and yet he was stopped by the emperor. The emperor indicated that Yu Nan’s offense had nothing to do with him, and that the court still needed someone who could bear responsibility for the nation like him. The emperor did not agree with his resignation, and even punished a few people who accused Yu Xuanchong of misconduct.
…
Zu An found it rather strange. The emperor clearly wanted to deal with the Yu clan, so why had he let such a good chance go?
Was it for the sake of distracting and numbing them? Even so, it still didn’t make any sense. One would only go that far when dealing with high officials. But with the emperor’s current strength and prestige, as well as the timing, it shouldn’t have been difficult to bring down Yu Xuanchong at all. There was no need to go through such trouble at all.
But his puzzlement was quickly resolved.