When I told Fu’er to send a message to Zhang Chacha in secret now, she squarely answered yes, then instructed the maids that were waiting outside to come in and help me get dressed as if nothing had happened. After I was dressed, Fu’er was nowhere to be seen. Not till noon, Chacha came to the palace, saying she wanted to visit her cousin.

I didn’t have time to talk to her in detail, only asking her to seek Zhang Fang in person and ask him whether there was any abnormality with Qi Sheng’ north tour army, whether he knew the name of every general, and whether he had seen anyone he didn’t know.

After realizing what I wanted her for, Zhang Chacha was a bit surprised. She sipped her tea and asked me in a composed manner, “Big sister, is it important?”

I was so anxious that my lips were going to have herpes. It was indeed very important, which concerned whether you were going to be a widow or I would!

“It is very important and you can’t let anyone else know about it.”

As I finished, Zhang Chacha put the cup down and turned around to leave.

I stopped her immediately and asked, “Where are you going?
She turned to look at me, “I’m going to find the eldest uncle.”

I sighed, and put the cup back into her hand, “You have to remember, no matter what happens, you can’t get panic, otherwise they will know something’s wrong. You just came and now you are leaving, everyone will know you are here as a messenger.”

Zhang Chacha blinked and asked, “Then what should I do?”

I replied, “Stay here for lunch.”

I instructed Xie Yi to take Qi Wei and Qi Hao inside, and had a lunch together with Zhang Chacha, then allowed her to leave.

Before I received Zhang Fang’s reply, new victory news travelled back from Jiangbei. The former Marquis Yang Yu led an army of 100 thousand soldiers and headed west to Xihu Paraire, passing through Ge City, Mao City, and Liangzhou. They secretly sneaked into the realm of the Northern Desert, then marched thousand miles through vast gobi and into the hinterland of Northern Desert. They secured several key cities before people of Northern Desert could realize it, and now they were less than a hundred li away from the south of the Northern Desert capital, Shangjing.

It was said that Yang Yu took the route where the Norther Desert General Chang Yuqing took fifty years ago. Only then he took it from the north to the south, and now Yangyu was marching from the south to the north. Though it was from different directions, the effect was more or less the same.

Everyone in the imperial court was shocked at hearing the news.

So did I. I sat in trance on the stairs outside the place for half a day, then instructed Fu’er to send Yang Yan a message.

Yang Yan came to visit me that night. It seemed he had lost some weight, which made him look taller. He looked like a strained string. He stared at me with gleam in his eyes and asked, “Are you sure my father now works for Qi Sheng?”

Candles were not lighted in the palace. With the help of the moonlight outside the window, I looked at his eyes, which were as bright as light bulbs, and smiled bitterly, “This is what was written in the report. When your father was squashing rebellion in Yunxi, he was a general and had so many people by his side, so how could he sneak back to Sheng City without being caught by Qi Sheng’s informers? A general left the army without permission. How could he make it without Qi Sheng’s acquiescence? Look at how silly we were. You, me, and your ninth brother, who appeared to be smart. The three of us are only clowns to Qi Sheng.”

Yang Yan bit his lips and after a long while, then he finally spoke, “What should we do now?”

I actually had an idea, but I was afraid that he wouldn’t listen to me. So I pretended to be in deep thought. Then I suddenly grabbed his hands and exclaimed in a low voice, “Yang Yan!”

A trace of delight flashed on his face and he quickly asked, “You’ve got an idea?”

I looked at him as sincerely as I could and answered, “Let’s run away.”

Yang Yan twitched his mouth and after a long while, and he was finally able to force out a smile, “Look at what situation we are in. How can you joke now?”

I shook my hand, “I’m not joking. I’m serious. Qi Sheng has to fight the war and in the meantime be careful of Lord Ninth, so he has no time for us. Let’s take the chance and run away! Take Qi Wei and Qi Hao with us, in that way, not only will you have wife, you’ll have a son and a daughter. It is such a bargain for you…”

Yang Yan took a step back and pointed at the tip of his own nose. His pitch rose and he stammered, “You, you, you… want to marry me?”

I nodded, “Since we have to run together, we have to pretend to be a married couple. Don’t worry, I have money. As long as we arrive at some place safe, livelihood wouldn’t be a problem. And I am a good wife. I can manage such a big harem, so it won’t be any problem for me if you have ten or so concubines in the future.”

Yang Yan was suddenly enraged and shook off my hand. He said angrily, “What are you talking about? You are the Empress. As long as Qi Sheng’s still alive, how can you ever run away? Let alone bring a prince and princess with you! If I eloped with you, Qi Sheng might only kill me. If I run away with the three of you, he will eradicate my whole family.”

I was deeply relieved at hearing his words.

I was afraid that he might lose his mind and agree to elope with me. Luckily, he still had some senses as it was impossible to run away with an empress.

I pretended to be numb from his scolding, looked at him blankly, and then lowered my eyes.

My years spent with Qi Sheng had made my acting more solid. Not a while after, Yang Yan reached his hand towards me hesitantly, then he drew it back. After a while, he whispered, “Sorry.”

“No need for apology,” I replied in a low voice but my smile seemed to grow bitter.

Yang Yan only had briefly learned about acting, which wouldn’t do any good. He was increasingly guilty looking at my face. As if he would be abandoning his wife and kids if he didn’t take me away. He carefully asked me, “Is there anything else we can do?”

I took a deep breath and restored myself. I asked, “Do you know when Lord Ninth is going to make his move towards Qi Sheng? What is he planning to do?”

Yang Yan shook his head, “He didn’t tell me.”

“Does your father know?”

After some thought, Yang Yan answered, “No. He only told us that he had arranged a death warrior. I was planning to kill Qi Sheng myself, but the ninth elder brother won’t allow me.”

“Good, then there are two ways for us. First, you head to the Northern frontier and stop you ninth elder brother. Then you run away together, as far as you can.”

Yang Yan interrupted me, “What about you?”

“Me?” I smiled and asked him, “I want to run, but you’ve said it yourself, I won’t make it.”

Yang Yan stared at me quietly and asked after a long while, “What about the second way?”

I was delighted and answered, “Or we wait. If your ninth elder brother succeeds, there’s nothing to worry about. If not, we wait for Qi Sheng’s return. He returns with a victory, and believes that he has seen through our conspiracies, imagine how complacent he will be. Maybe he’ll seek us and brag about it. You can kill him then.”

Yang Yan was a bit surprised, “Kill him here?”

I asked, “Why not? He calculates everything at every time. Should I just sit and wait for my doom?”

Yang Yan hung his head and thought for a while. Then he replied, “Then the second way it is.”

I took such a long way and put a long time of acting only to seek his agreement. Now I finally got it, and I was deeply relieved.

I told it to Lv Li the next day, who immediately jumped out of the chair and exclaimed, “Your Majesty, are you out of your mind? Even if you want to do it, you should ask him to do it alone in Jiangbei, then no one will ever find out about it. If he does it here in the palace, if anything goes wrong, you will be killed.”

After several years in the palace, I was already able to keep my face straight even a mountain collapsed right in front of me. Lv Li was so agitated and I only shot her an indifferent glance, “If you can think about it, Qi Sheng can as well.”

Lv Li was taken aback.

Everyone believed the best place to assassin Qi Sheng was in Jiangbei, so I had to do it the other way around, and wait till his return to the palace.

I kept my head low and peeling the pomegranate. I patiently told her, “Calm down. Since we are already where we are now, there is no turning back. I bet Qi Sheng won’t kill me at the moment he returns, which makes it easier for us.”

Lv Li stood in a daze for a while, then sat down soullessly. After a while and asked, “So all we can do now is waiting?”

I nodded, “You should contact our family, and ask them to keep an eye on the guards of the capital. If anything happens to Qi Sheng in the palace, we’ll be counting on them to stabilize the situation in Seng City.”

Lv Li asked again, “And?”

“And? We wait!” I replied.

All we could do now was to deal changes with constancy.

Lv Li paced around anxiously for a while in my palace and could not think of anything else. She took a deep breath and forced out a delightful expression, then she left, as if nothing had ever happened.

The war was fierce in the north, which made it heated in the imperial court, and the harem was still as serene and placid as ever.

Without Qi Sheng, there was nothing for the concubines to fight over for, which made the harem a peaceful place. Everyone called each other elder sister or little sister, or visited each other for a chat when they had time. Seemingly, they were in a more intimate relationship.

I thought if I was captured by Qi Sheng, I would be banished with simple food and clothes even if my life could be spared. So I cherished the good time I had now. Every day I ate, played and admired the beauties, or I would play with Qi Wei and Qi Hao.

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