Chapter 467: Bonus Chapter Song Que (6)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
As was known earlier, my wife had admitted it in the past. She fell in love with me at first sight because of my appearance.
Although Liu Ling was not as good-looking as me, his temperament was more gentle and frail.
Perhaps my wife liked men who appeared more gentle and frail.
Thus, after Liu Ling went to my wife’s side, I paid a lot of attention to her situation.
Then, when the Second Prince came to me and said that it would be difficult to continue covering for me, I agreed to meet my wife.
1 had no choice but to meet her.
My wife had been asking people to help look for me. If she continued to look for me, I was worried that my identity would be exposed.
At the same time, I was worried that my wife would really be attracted to Liu Ling.
So, we met at the Ministry of Rites that day.
Initially, I was worried that she would lose control of her emotions when she saw me.
In the end, my worries were unfounded.
She was calm all throughout. She even pretended that she was meeting me for the first time.
Only after the peace talks between us and the envoys of the Liao State were over did she ask me to stay and talk to me.
True enough, she was very angry and even asked me about Shen Rong.
1 hurriedly updated her on the situation and calmed her down.
She was really a good wife. Not only was she understanding toward me, but she also expressed her wish to help me.
I knew that refusing was useless, so I could only agree.
However, I only promised her verbally and did not tell her about the agreement between me and the Second Prince.
After that, we began to meet and date in secret.
1 had secretly bought a small courtyard house and arranged for an old servant who worked for the Song family before to stay there.
Thereafter, I would meet my wife here.
Even though I knew that if we met in private, there would be a risk of getting exposed, I still couldn’t resist the urge to go and look for her.
We cherished dearly every opportunity to meet. We couldn’t wait to spend the whole day together in each other’s arms.
My wife even wanted to give birth to a child for me.
However, the fact was my body was not in good condition.
Perhaps it was because I had committed too many sins in my previous life. In this life, although the mountain bandits did not cripple my body, I still found it hard to impregnate my wife.
When we were in Mountain Spring Town, my wife had mentioned the matter of having a child to me many times.
I knew that she liked children very much.
She loved the child of Liu Daniu and Big Girl Li from the village and even took the baby in as her goddaughter.
If we could have a child, she would definitely like her own child even more.
However, it was very difficult for me to fulfill her wish.
After enduring for a long time, I finally told her about this matter after she sensed that something was not right.
In the end, my wife didn’t despise me.
She even said that she wanted a child because she loved me.
If it was not with me, she wouldn’t even want to give birth at all.
1 almost cried when I heard that. Eventually, I could only hug her tightly and thank the heavens for bestowing her on me.
After that, we met more often and became more attached to each other.
For her sake, I changed my plan and instigated Minister Shen’s daughter, Shen Rong, to get close to her ex-fiance, Meng Xuan.
1 also urged Meng Xuan to take revenge on Minister Shen and make use of Shen Rong’s guilt to lure her into falling in love with him and giving herself to him.
Yes, Meng Xuan had a grudge against the Shen family. The decline of the Meng family was due to Prime Minister Shen.
After the Meng family declined, Prime Minister Shen regretted his daughter’s engagement to Meng Xuan. He even intentionally made things difficult for Meng Xuan.
Meng Xuan hated Prime Minister Shen to the bone, so he naturally agreed to my suggestion.
Soon, Shen Rong became pregnant secretly.
Following that, I arranged for the two of them to escape by faking their deaths.
Right under Minister Shen’s nose, I helped them stage a cunning disappearance act that allowed the two to leave the capital.
After Shen Rong’s “death,” a rift soon developed between Mrs. Shen and Prime Minister Shen.
In addition, Prime Minister Shen brazenly proposed to bring his illegitimate daughter into the Prime Minister’s residence to replace Shen Rong and marry me. At that point, Mrs. Shen fell out with Prime Minister Shen completely.
This also meant that the alliance between Prime Minister Shen and the Jia family was about to collapse.
Later, Empress Jia stepped forward to mediate in this matter.
Prime Minister Shen made a concession and agreed to execute his mistress, the mother of his illegitimate daughter. He also agreed to let me take a daughter of the Jia family as a concubine.
Hmph! I was not interested to marry the Shen family’s daughter, and I was even less interested in the Jia family’s daughter.
For the rest of my present life, the only person I wanted was my wife.
In order not to make my wife sad, 1 found the Second Prince who had already been conferred the title of Prince Huaiyin, and suggested bringing forward the plan.
I could tell that Prince Huaiyin was hesitant, but he still agreed to my request eventually.
Next, I sent people to save the life of Minister Shen’s mistress and hid her secretly.
Whether it was Meng Xuan and Shen Rong, Mrs. Shen who stood behind them, or this mistress Madam Han, they would all be witnesses in my plan to overthrow Minister Shen.
Yes, in the hands of these few people, they all held evidence of Prime Minister Shen’s crime or clues that could prove his crime.
Minister Shen’s coercion and abandonment only served to push them to stand on the opposing side. In this way, 1 was able to turn them into a blade in my hand that would take his life.
Initially, 1 thought that after my wife knew that Prince Huaiyin and I would act soon, she would continue to give me time and wait for me.
To my dismay, she could not wait any longer.
She once again offered to help me and even sought out Prince Huaiyin and pressured him to accept her help.
Left with no choice, Prince Huaiyin revealed his working relationship with me.
After my wife found out, she was very angry. She blamed me for breaking my earlier promise to her.
That was right. She said that we were a couple and thus, should shoulder burdens together.
However, what 1 was doing was extremely dangerous. How could 1 let her take the risk with me?
She was genuinely angry, but she still couldn’t bear to lose her temper with me. In fact, she forgave me very easily.
My wife…How could I not love her?
After that, my wife officially joined our plan.
With her help, our plan was indeed able to proceed more smoothly.
On the day of the Emperor’s birthday, we would execute our plan as scheduled.
Firstly, we made use of Jia Kun to get rid of Minister Shen before getting rid of Jia Kun subsequently.
Thereafter, we forced the Emperor to redress the injustice for the Song and Liu families and exonerate them.
We also forced the Emperor to depose Empress Jia and abdicate the throne.
The Emperor was indeed caught up in his infatuation. He actually agreed to depose the Empress and abdicate.
Just like that, the control of the Imperial Court fell into the hands of Prince Huaiyin and us.
The outcome had been determined. Over the next few days, regardless of what happened in the palace or how many matters Prince Huaiyin had to deal with, I followed my wife back to the Marquis’s residence and holed up there.
I didn’t care about anything and kept my wife company for several days.
It was only when the Palace began urging me more frequently that I left the Marquis’s residence and entered the Palace to render my service.
The first thing I did when I saw Prince Huaiyin was to inform him of my wish to resign.
I could see that Prince Huaiyin didn’t want to let me go and didn’t consent right away.
However, I would make him consent.
Thus, I executed the same series of actions that I was so familiar with in my previous life and became the ruthless and cruel official in my previous life again.
Hah! My methods were cruel, and I killed people like killing flies…
Who in the court doesn’t fear and hate me in this form?
If Prince Huaiyin wanted the courtiers to submit to him, how could he retain me?
As for me, I had my wife and her subordinates to protect me, so 1 didn’t have to worry about my own safety.
Once 1 was far away from the Imperial Court, there would be no more stakes involved. Even if there were still people who might try to assassinate me, how long could they persist?
A few months later, we left the capital without hiccups and returned to Mountain Spring Town.
I was prepared to leave all the fame and glory behind me. For the rest of my life, I was only contented to keep my wife company.
My wife wanted to develop the economies of Anding County and Xiaoyao County, so I helped her.
She also wanted to go to the border to slay enemies, so I accompanied her.
In short, wherever she was, I would be there.
When my wife got pregnant, we finally had the fruit of our love.
As I hugged my wife, I felt that my life was complete..