Chapter 79: A Qualified Empress (7)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

As I was thinking, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Zhao wang had always been an unlucky man, one that saw through everything but couldn’t do anything about it.

After a few days, Zhao wang came to visit me with limped feet.

I was lying on the rocking chair while he came in and I didn’t get up to greet him. Instead, I told him to grab a seat and instructed Xie Yi to get him a cup of tea.

Zhao wang looked around and sat on the stairs dejectedly. He then opened his mouth, “Your Majesty, let’s not fight the Emperor anymore, OK?”

I was amused by his remark and then stole a look at the maid standing at the distance with her head held low. I sat straight on the chair and leaned towards Zhao wang, “Hey, if I ever get out of this place, let’s travel to all corners of the world, shall we?”

Zhao wang subconsciously lean backwards and replied in a low voice, “Your Majesty, do you really think we two can take down the Emperor?”

If this is not defeatism, I don’t know what is.

I smiled bitterly and then replied, “Of course not. No one in this world will be able to take him down. I wanted to ally with Chu wang, but he showed me that men are not to be trusted. I wanted to partner up with those women, and he showed me just how hypocritical women can be with a small Ji Qiu competition.”

Zhao wang remained silent for a while and replied in a soft voice, “Knowing his intention, she still wanted to stay by his side.”

I paused and said, “You mean Jiang shi?”

Zhao wang looked up and replied, “Do you hate her?”

I thought for a while and then shook my head.

Zhao wang smiled bitterly and said, “I do. I hate the fact that she willingly throws away my affection in favor of a false love.”

He looked at me and suddenly asked, “Do you know who placed that needle under the saddle?”

That year Jiang shi fell off the horse because of a needle and suffered multiple bone fractures. Because of that incident, Zhao wang got to stay in Sheng City and that eventually led to the event over at River Wan… I didn’t reply, because the one who perpetrated this thing wouldn’t asked something like this.

Zhao wang put on a bitter smile and said, “It’s her. Shocking, right? She did that to herself. I wouldn’t do that to her, no matter how much I hated her. She did that in order to force me to turn on the Emperor, and to persuade me into giving up on her.”

I was shocked by how perverted these people were. They were such a bunch of ruthless liars who would go so far as to do such cruel things to themselves.

I was suddenly reminded of Qi Sheng’s look when he had found out that it was Zhao wang who was behind that incident. The painful look on his face seemed as if he had seen through it all.

Zhao wang remained silent for a while and then said in a low voice, “Your Majesty, ever since that incident, you have changed completely. But, His Majesty likes the way you are now. You are not like us, not matter how ferocious you might look from the outside and how harshly you speak or how cruel some of your deeds are, you never harm anyone. We grow up in a rotten environment where we have to do evil things and take lives. You, on the other hand, still keep your innocence and purity, something that we aspire to… So…” He paused and looked at me, “So long as you stand by his side, His Majesty wouldn’t harm you no matter what. He would always be there to protect you.”

I was rather amused by what he said, but I still kept a calm face and asked softly, “When we have a conflict of interests and he threatens to root out the entire Zhang clan, would he still be able to protect me?”

Zhao wang sighed and replied, “There is no such thing as not being able to protect you. Even the most incompetent husband would willingly stand between a swing axe and his wife. It is all about priority, and nothing else.”

I was stunned by what he said and it took me a while to come back to myself, “Why are you saying these things?”

Zhao wang smiled and replied, “So you could see what a despicable man I am. Because I want you and His Majesty to love each other so that Jiang shi could feel what it is like to have her heart trampled like dirt. I want her to watch while her lover falls in love with another woman.”

I stared at him with goggled eyes, trying to figure out what made him say those things, but I soon gave up as I couldn’t find any trance of doubt in his eyes.

Zhao wang laughed heartily and said, “Your Majesty, I suggest you go easy on yourself. Do you really think you could read my mind? Then tell me, of all those things I said, which are real and which are pure lies?”

Seeing him mocking me, I wanted to kick him right in the face. Don’t you know the saying that a person of great wisdom often appears slow-witted?

Getting no reply from me, he smiled and continued, “If you can’t tell, then what makes you think you will know who is telling the truth?”

Realizing that Xie Yi was coming out with a cup of tea in her hands, I took a deep breath and leaned towards Zhao wang, “When Jiang shi was still your wife, did she ever sleep with Qi Sheng?”

On hearing this, Zhao wang froze for a bit.

Without waiting for his response, I leaned close to his ear and whispered in a flirtatious voice, “Do you want to get back at him?”

After finishing those words, I noticed that Xie Yi’s hand holding the tea cup trembled a bit.

Zhao wang, on the other hand, sprang up from the floor and started walking out, not at all appearing to be limp. Then, he stopped, and said, “Your Majesty, this kind of talk will get people killed.”

What I lack in the fields of strategy, treachery, and cruelty, I make up for with my thick-skin.

I felt much better now and then waved at Zhao wang, beckoning him to come over for tea.

Though there was a terrified look on Zhao wang’s face, his eyes were beaming with smile. He waved his hands and said, “Thanks, but I have to visit the Grand Empress Dowager. Maybe some other time?”

Then, he walked away with limped foot.

When he was up on the corridor, I suddenly shouted, “Wrong, wrong!”

Zhao wang turned back with a baffled look. I pointed at my feet and then his, and then I shouted in a lowered voice, “Wrong foot. Earlier it was another foot!”

Zhao wang lowered his head, and after a while, he changed to his another foot and continued to limped his way out.

Seeing what happened, Xie Yi covered her mouth while laughing.

I asked her nonchalantly, “Xie Yi, how long has it been since the Emperor’s last visit?”

Xie Yi stretched her hand and started calculating.

It took her a while before replying, “Five days. It has been five days since that game.”

I had thought that she would say something else, but surprisingly, all she gave me was a number.

Xie Yi asked, “Your Majesty is planning something?”

I smiled. Planning something?

After all this time biding my time, it’s time for me to strike.

The saying goes, that man conquers woman by conquering the world, and woman conquers the world by conquering man.

Even the great female Emperor Wu Zetian (TN: alternatively named Wu Zhao, was the sole officially recognized empress regnant of China over more than two millennia.) has to climb her way to power through men.

Those things Zhao wang said to me was simply meant to tell me that I have to depend on Qi Sheng for survival now.

I don’t need him to tell me that.

I know that Qi Sheng still has a thing for me, and even if he doesn’t, I will find a way to make him take an interest in me!

As I was thinking, I stood up from the rocking chair, stretched my back and then instructed Xie Yi, “Tell the kitchen to prepare a pot of super nutritious soup. We will take it to the Emperor.”