Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen The Lioness from Hedong Roars

Sometimes, rumors spread very quickly. Such as the new rumor of the love and hate between Dai Rong Princess and Jia You Emperor. The main idea was that Dai Rong Princess coveted the prosperity of Da Long, and not wanting to return to the poor country of Jing, tried all she could to become one of the Emperor’s feiqin. Even more extreme was that Dai Rong Princess recommended herself in front of the Emperor and Empress. But who knew that she was rejected multiple times by the Emperor. Due to her actions, the Emperor became dissatisfied with the country of Jing and even rejected the request from the Crown Prince of Jing for an audience.

There were others that said it was previously Dai Rong Princess who targeted the Empress and the honorable officials because she wanted to enter the palace as fei, so she specially spread rumors to blight the Empress’ reputation.

In the subconsciousness of the people in the Jing City of Da Long, they looked down at the kind of small country that was Jing. Previously, when they gossiped about how exceptional Dai Rong Princess was, no one ever said that Dai Rong Princess was better than the Empress, they were only speculating that the Emperor wanted something fresh and fancied Dai Rong Princess.

When what had happened in the Imperial Palace reached the ears of the people of Da Long, there was an explosion. The princess of Jing was shameless, the Emperor didn’t even want the princess when she recommended herself, she couldn’t compare to a finger of the Empress. Maybe she had nothing inside, and wanted to grab onto their Da Long. Furthermore, others started to say that this princess of Jing had ulterior motives and wanted to enter the Imperial Palace of Da Long to give birth to a son and take Da Long’s throne, to conquer Da Long’s lands.

When Tu Er, wearing the attire of the country of Jing, came back to the guest palace from the outside, his face was extremely nasty. He angrily burst into Jiao Xiang Yuan and saw Dai Rong venting her temper at a maid. He shouted: “You still have the time to be angry, our Jing has been completely humiliated by you!”

“Don’t shout at me, you aren’t the ruler of Jing yet,” Dai Rong had been embarrassed by He Heng and hadn’t calmed down. After hearing Tu Er use a critical tone whilst speaking to her, the embarrassment inside turned into anger, “Don’t think that because you are now the Crown Prince, you can order me around. It’s too early for that!”

“I don’t want to order you around,” Tu Er angrily kicked aside the bench in front of him, pointing at Dai Rong, demanding, “But think of what you have done since you came into Da Long’s Jing City. Has the prosperity of Da Long really blinded your eyes?”

“Yes, what’s wrong if I’m blinded by Da Long’s prosperity?” Dai Rong defended with red eyes, “I am the most beautiful woman of Jing, the most favored daughter of mother. Why can’t I live the most luxurious life? The feipin of Da Long aren’t as beautiful as me, why can’t I enter the palace?”

“Because the Empress is stronger than you!” Tu Er shouted. Seeing his meimei refusing to change, his voice was frigid as he continued, “I already told you. The Imperial Couple of Da Long are deeply in love. The feipin in the hougong is nothing more than decorations. Comparing yourself to the feipin, that means you also know that you can’t compare to Da Long’s Empress.”

“Where can I not compare with her?!” Dai Rong was furious, her voice growing in pitch, “Because she’s from Da Long’s nobility?”

“You’re wrong. The Empress isn’t Da Long’s nobility,” Tu Er scornfully looked at his meimei who thought herself clever. “When you and the Qin Clan allied to scheme against the Empress, didn’t you ask about the Empress’ birth? The Empress’ mother died early, her father and stepmother were not loving and have been demoted and lost their home. Her family is a stain on her. But even so, the Emperor treats her the same. Even to the point, that on the coronation decree, he wrote that the Empress was peerless in the world and to have the Empress was a blessing from the heavens. But you, where did you get the confidence to think you were better than the Empress?”

Dai Rong shook her head as she rejected: “No, the Qin Family said that the Emperor treats the Empress well only because of the Tian Family, so it’s impossible!

“The Tian Family has a good reputation but no real power. All they have was given to them by the Emperor. Did you think that Da Long’s Emperor is a useless and stupid ruler?” Tu Er snorted, “My pitiful meimei, you were tricked by the Qin Family.”

Dai Rong froze. A beat later, she looked in disbelief at Tu Er: “Why do you know so much about Da Long, you ……” Did he already scheme for the position of Crown Prince beforehand, so that’s why he knew so much about Da Long?

“You are finally smart for once,” Tu Er saw that she had finally reacted and smiled as he walked in front of her, “I’m not like you, so spoiled by mother that I can’t distinguish important matters from other ones. I understand better than you what is called circumstances, what is putting effort on crucial matters. Therefore, you lost, my pitiful meimei.”

Dai Rong staggered. For what seemed to be the first time, she looked at her useless and average gege, but after looking at the other’s slightly smiling face, she couldn’t say anything.

In Tian Qi Palace, Qu Qing Ju smiled as she looked at the men and women kneeling by her feet. One of those in a worn sky-blue robe was a woman she was familiar with. She played with a jade scepter in her hands and sighed, lamenting: “Ben gong hadn’t thought that your Qin Family was also involved in the rumors around Jing. If it wasn’t for the Emperor’s investigation, perhaps ben gong would still be in the dark.” Speaking thus far, she turned to smile at He Heng sitting by her side, “Bai Lu at least was zhouli for two years with ben gong. The Qin Family is too ruthless.”

“If the Empress wants to kill or torture, you don’t need to say these things ……” Before Qin Bai Lu could finish, her mouth was covered by a matron beside her. The matron kowtowed with a pale face, “This criminal woman hasn’t taught her daughter properly. Please, Emperor and Empress, forgive her.”

Qu Qing Ju watched as Qin furen kowtowed to plead for her daughter, yet Qin Bai Lu was still staring at her with a face full of hatred. She couldn’t help but sigh; “Qin Bai Lu, ben gong just doesn’t understand why you would hate ben gong. Ever since we met for the first time, it was always you who deliberately made things difficult for ben gong. When has ben gong ever schemed against you?”

Qin Bai Lu took away her mother’s hand, and smiled scornfully: “It’s natural that you don’t understand why I hate you. But that year, if xiandihadn’t suddenly changed his decision when he decreed the marriages, our positions would be switched. The person sitting would be me, the person kneeling at the bottom would be you.”

By this time, the members of the Qin Family were so frightened, their faces were the color of dirt. Qin furen didn’t dare to stop her daughter’s mouth anymore, and could only tremble as she knelt at the side.

When Qu Qing Ju heard something this hilarious, she instantly laughed out loud. She didn’t have any more interest in talking with Qin Bai Lu. How strange was her brain that she would push all the misfortunes onto her. Qu Qing Ju did not believe that she herself had such great abilities. Or was it also her who’d ordered He Yuan to divorce Qin Bai Lu?

How xiandi decreed the marriage, it was xiandi who made the decision. Could she have forced xiandi to make a decision?

“Once, zhen only thought that the present Qin Family was just vulgar, but didn’t think that they even didn’t have no brains at all,” He Heng, who had been silent the entire time, glared icily at Qin Bai Lu, “Just a thing like you dares to compare to Empress, it is laughable.”

“But that year, if xiandi didn’t marry her to Emperor, then she would be Rui Wang Fei. Even if I couldn’t enter Emperor’s eyes, she wouldn’t be your woman,” Qin Bai Lu’s smile carried hate and insanity, “Do you think that I’m the only person like this? You’re wrong. Even He Yuan is regretful about the decreed marriage. Right now, he’s thinking about Emperor’s good Empress!”

By now, the members of the Qin Family wanted to strangle Qin Bai Lu. If it wasn’t for the furen of the head of the family, who was strong in her conduct, they wouldn’t have tolerated a divorced woman living in their ancestral home. If they knew beforehand that she would say such insane things, do insane things, even if they had to start a conflict, they would have sent her away rather than let her drag down the entire clan.

He Heng’s face was frigid as ice. No man was willing to hear about how his beloved woman was being thought of by another man. Furthermore, this man had nearly taken over his position.

“Have you ever heard of destiny?” Qu Qing Ju calmly looked at Qin Bai Lu, as though she was looking at a stray dog. “You said that xiandichanged the partners that we were decreed marriage to. That means, in xiandi‘s heart, I was the person most suited to Emperor, I am the woman fated for the Emperor. You can be jealous of ben gong, hate ben gong. Ben gong just received the Emperor’s love. What can you do to me?”

Qin Bai Lu had pushed all of their conflicts onto He Yuan. Then, Qu Qing Ju would purposefully distort it into Qin Bai Lu being jealous of her receiving the Emperor’s affections. The two matters seemed to be the same matter, but the feeling it gave others was quite different.

She wanted He Heng to know. The person she wanted to capture was him. The person she paid attention to was him. Only like this would there be no danger left hidden. It would even increase the trust and affection He Heng had towards her.

“Even the heavens helped ben gong, what do you have that can compare to ben gong?” Qu Qing Ju turned to look at He Heng. As expected, she saw that he was already smiling. She glared at him, mouthing “womanizer” before turning to declare at Qin Bai Lu, “You are discontent that you lost to ben gong, and cooperated with the princess of Jing to purposefully spread rumors to malign the reputations of me and the officials of Da Long. Such malicious aims. It’s no wonder that even the heavens helped ben gong become the woman of the Emperor. If you had become the Empress of Da Long, wouldn’t have the world fallen into chaos?”

“You!” Qin Bai Lu hadn’t thought Qu Qing Ju would give such a speech. She opened her mouth to start cursing but Qin furen by her side unexpectedly threw a heavy slap on her face, throwing her onto the ground.

“Shut up!” Qin furen sobbed, “You faithless, unfilial daughter. Do you want to kill our entire family?”

Other than the crying of Qin furen, there were no other sounds in the hall. Qin Bai Lu covered her face, not looking at her own mother, but at the Emperor and Empress sitting in front of her, her eyes full of hate. Grabbing out the sharp silver hairpin out of her hair, she suddenly stood and rushed towards Qu Qing Ju.

“Niangniang!” On the side, Mu Jin was so frightened that she threw herself from behind Qu Qing Ju to halfway across Qu Qing Ju. There was a sound of porcelain breaking, and then she heard a smothered grunt from nearby. Then the entire hall started to make a racket.

Raising her head in puzzlement, she saw Qin Bai Lu lying on the side in a sorry state, the Emperor in front of the Empress, one of the corners of his robe creased.

“Emperor, are you alright?” Qu Qing Ju stood, her face fearful as she examined He Heng from top to toe. She released a breath, and then in a voice filled with anger, she shouted, “What are you doing, there’s so many people, what are you doing in front of me?!”

The entire hall instantly became silent, all those that were shocked, that had been pushing Qin Bai Lu down, been asking for mercy. At one point, it was as though their necks were being strangled so that they were unable to make a sound.

“There’s so many people in the hall, who let you go in front of me, showing off how long your legs are?! Ah! Do you not have regard for your life, who needed you to save me, I’m not an idiot, would I have just sat for her to stab?! Do you have brains?! Ah!”

Mu Jin stared with wide eyes and mouth at the Empress flipping out. As she watched the Emperor unconsciously step back as the Empress ranted at him, her shoulders couldn’t help but shake as she swallowed.

At the side, Qian Chang Xin, Ming He and the others also stood with dumbstruck eyes. Who had seen the Empress be so valiant?! Who had even seen the Empress scold the Emperor? As the personal attendants of the Emperor, they should stop the finger that the Empress was poking onto the Emperor’s chest, should reproach the Empress for her disrespectful conduct, but …… for some reason, they didn’t dare speak, and didn’t dare to even breathe loudly.

“Go away!” Qu Qing Ju kicked aside the head of the Qin Family who had been kneeling at the very front, scolding, “They all said your Qin Family is an educated family, but look at what you’ve done. No sense of propriety, uncivilized conduct, disloyal, and immoral. Calling the Qin Family an educated family, it brings shame to the word educated! Qin Bai Lu’s outrageousness, it was all because of how you all spoiled her!”

After the Qin Family was criticized, they finally managed to react. All of them banged their heads on the ground, begging for the Emperor to spare their lives. For their family to have someone who’d tried to kill the Empress, that was a serious crime worthy of killing off their nine generations.

“Qing Ju……” He Heng reached out to hold Qu Qing Ju’s hands and discovered  her hands were slightly trembling. He gave an ingratiating smile, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. Anger is bad for your health.”

Qu Qing Ju pushed away his hand, directly sitting back on the chair. She picked up a teacup and lowered her head to drink, not looking at him again.

Qian Chang Xin and Ming He silently retracted their left foot which they had mustered up the courage to extend out. Since even the Emperor who had been scolded was full of smiles, as servants, what could they say?

But the Empress when she was angry was really too frightening. Not even the roars of the lioness from He Dong could compare.

“The daughter of Qin Family is of ill conduct and dared to kill the Emperor and Empress. Heaven itself will not tolerate such behavior. Capital punishment will occur in three days.” He Heng saw Qu Qing Ju was refusing to acknowledge him and sat down beside her, ordering in an icy voice, “The Qin Family didn’t teach their daughter well, reckless and dared to slander Empress and officials of court. All are to be jailed and sentenced at a later date.”

“Spare us Emperor!” Before the members of the Qin Family could plead for mercy, others covered their mouths and dragged them down. As for Qin Bai Lu who tried to kill Qu Qing Ju, she had been kicked unconscious by He Heng and didn’t stir when she was dragged off.”

“Leave,” He Heng looked at the interior of the hall and waved his hand. After everyone else had left, he gathered Qu Qing Ju in his arms, “Don’t be angry, I know that you were worried about me.”

“Who’s worried about you?!” Qu Qing Ju pushed him. Seeing that it was futile, she didn’t waste any more energy, allowing him to embrace her.

“A silver hairpin, even if it entered the body, wouldn’t be fatal. Furthermore, as I once said to you, I practiced martial arts. Would I have no way of dealing with a woman?” He Heng gently patted her back, “You already scolded me, so don’t be angry, alright?”

“What would have happened if it hit your organs?” Qu Qing Ju frowned as she declared, “I don’t want to be a widow so young!”

“Alright, I know I was wrong. Don’t be angry. Let’s go see Tun Tun, he’s certainly missing us.” Even though he had been scolded, He Heng felt happy. If it wasn’t out of concern for him, based on Qing Ju’s normal behavior, she wouldn’t have acted so inappropriately.

It was somewhat useless point, but this feeling was still really …… refreshing.

“All of you take care to control your mouths,” Qian Chang Xin looked at the palace maids and taijian who’d came out of the hall. Even if they were all close attendants of the Emperor and Empress, he still had to say the words, “If there is the slightest leak of what happened, you don’t need what’s on your necks any more.”

Everyone gave their agreement. Mu Jin looked with trepidation at the hall behind her, and couldn’t resist wiping the fine sweat on her forehead.

Empress was really very ……amazing!