The assembled ministers were puzzled by how easily the Emperor agreed to the Northern Rong Prince’s request. After all, those close to him knew well the Emperor’s concern for face and status – such a self-diminishing action seemed quite out of character. Whatever others might think, Yelü Ye was quite pleased with the Great Chu Emperor’s agreeableness. He turned to raise his cup in a salute across the table, laughing heartily, “In that case, I look forward to receiving much guidance from Ding Wang Fei in the future.”
Ye Li raised her head with a composed smile, “I wouldn’t dare presume to give guidance. Prince Yelü comes from noble birth – surely he would never do anything untoward to offend our Great Chu’s young ladies.”
Yelü Ye smiled without speaking and sat down to drink.
The Empress sat beside Mo Jingqi, glancing sideways at the Emperor and the snow-robed, cold-as-pear-blossom Liu Guifei beside him. She frowned slightly and said softly, “Liu Guifei usually shows no interest in affairs of state, yet today she’s suddenly concerned about the marriage alliance princess?” Liu Guifei lowered her gaze to the wine cup before her and replied faintly, “This humble consort has overstepped. I ask the Empress’s forgiveness.” Mo Jingqi looked between his wife and beloved consort, smiling at the Empress, “Guifei is merely concerned about diplomatic relations between our nations. Empress, please don’t blame her.” A flash of anger crossed the Empress’s brow but quickly smoothed away. She said calmly, “Very well. I hear the Liu family has a young lady among the candidates this time. Liu Guifei’s dedication to the nation – I’m not one to ignore what’s important. However, Your Majesty… Tianxiang has been keeping me company in the palace these days and won’t participate. If Your Majesty selects her for the alliance marriage, a single imperial decree will suffice. Neither the Hua family nor I will have any complaints.”
Mo Jingqi started. In nearly ten years of marriage, the Empress had never spoken to him with such obvious anger. Thinking it through, he understood she was angry about her only niece’s reputation. Reflecting on their decade together – while not deeply passionate, a proper wife was different after all. Mo Jingqi couldn’t help doubting whether his idea of sending Hua Tianxiang for the alliance marriage was going too far. The Empress had only this one niece, and Changle only this one cousin. In truth, Mo Jingqi knew clearly that having Hua Tianxiang marry Northern Rong would do little beyond annoying the Hua family – it wouldn’t even succeed in driving a wedge between the Hua family and the Ding Wang府. Having just embarrassed the Empress for Liu Guifei’s sake, making it up to her wasn’t unreasonable. Looking at the Empress’s dignified features tight with suppressed anger, Mo Jingqi’s expression softened slightly. He patted her hand, “Don’t worry, I’ll have Tianxiang’s name removed from the list.”
The Empress lowered her gaze, showing a faint smile, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Below, Ye Li casually withdrew her gaze from above and turned back to whisper to Mo Xiuyao with a smile, “It seems we needn’t worry about Tianxiang.” Mo Xiuyao raised an eyebrow. Ye Li smiled, “The Empress appears to have already convinced His Majesty on Tianxiang’s behalf.” Though the Empress had neither favor nor sons, she had maintained her position as Empress for many years amid strong rivals in the palace. Even one as favored as Liu Guifei dared not easily offend her – clearly she was no simple character. Just now, when Liu Guifei overstepped the Empress to speak out of turn, the Empress needed only show slight displeasure for the Emperor to yield. However, Liu Guifei… Ye Li’s clear eyes swept over the snow-robed woman on the dais, frowning thoughtfully.
“The Empress’s wisdom has never been less than anyone else’s – she simply lacks interest. As for Ah Li, you seem to have some unusual abilities,” Mo Xiuyao said softly with a smile. Though they sat in the front, they were still quite far from the dragon throne above. While they could see the expressions and gazes of those above, Mo Xiuyao himself couldn’t hear their whispered words in the crowded, noisy hall. Ye Li pursed her lips, gave him a look, and said straightforwardly, “That’s right, I can read lips – is that not allowed? Do you want to learn?”
Mo Xiuyao smiled, “No need – it’s enough that my wife knows how.”
Ye Li glanced at him, then lowered her head to examine the wine before her. She knew she had shown too many inconsistencies in front of Mo Xiuyao all along. At first, it was occasional, unintentional slips that she could attribute to letting her guard down after over a decade of peaceful life. Later it became a gradual unwillingness to hide herself from him – sometimes she would deliberately reveal aspects that set her apart from ordinary people. This was also a kind of test, but Mo Xiuyao had never shown any unusual reaction to her differences, as if this was simply how she should be. This both surprised Ye Li and gave her a secret pleasure – after all, not everyone enjoys living their whole life wearing a mask and hiding themselves.
Since this was a welcoming banquet for the Northern Rong Prince, the night feast didn’t end after the evening banquet in the great hall. Instead, the Emperor led all the imperial consorts, princes, princesses, and ministers up to the palace’s highest tower, the Star-Plucking Tower, to enjoy specially arranged fireworks and large-scale song and dance performances. Sitting high in the tower, Ye Li watched the enthusiastic Emperor in front and raised an eyebrow disapprovingly. This kind of deliberately grand welcoming feast, if meant to intimidate an ambitious Northern Rong prince, was pure wishful thinking – it would more likely inspire his ambitions to rule the Central Plains. After all, Northern Rong was arguably the most barren of the four nations – they absolutely would not feel anything like awe toward Great Chu, who occupied the most fertile lands of the four nations. Their harsh environment and fierce temperament would only make them want to plunder without restraint.
“Ding Wang Fei… Uncle Wang…” The Star-Plucking Tower was much more relaxed and casual than the great hall. After sitting for just a short while, Princess Changle had already quietly made her way to Ye Li’s side. Many people’s attention was on the fireworks in the sky and the performances below, so few noticed her. Ye Li looked down at her with a gentle smile, “Why has the Princess come here?” Princess Changle blinked and leaned close to whisper in Ye Li’s ear, “Mother Empress asked me to tell you to be careful of Liu Guifei.” Ye Li started, looking up toward the Empress not far away. The Empress’s lips curved in a faint smile as she gave a slight nod. Ye Li nodded in thanks and patted Princess Changle’s head with a smile, “So you came to relay a message from the Empress – thank you, Princess.” Princess Changle waved her little hand generously, “No need for thanks. This Princess also dislikes Liu Guifei.”
“Why?” Ye Li asked curiously. Liu Guifei had a cold personality, but surely she hadn’t offended even a child of a few years? Liu Guifei had helped her twice before and hadn’t shown any hostility, but this time… Ye Li sensed that Liu Guifei’s attitude toward her seemed somewhat different after their last meeting in the palace. It was a very subtle change, completely imperceptible on the surface – just an intuition. And Ye Li had always trusted her intuition, as it had saved her life countless times on the battlefield.
Princess Changle pursed her little lips and said, “She always looks like she’s displeased with everyone, but Father Emperor always listens to everything she says. She’s not nice at all – she ignores Zhenning even when she cries. Mother Empress would never treat me that way. Mother Empress loves Changle the most.” The last sentence was showing off.
“Zhenning?” Ye Li looked questioningly at Mo Xiuyao. Mo Xiuyao said flatly, “The Emperor’s second princess, Princess Zhenning, Liu Guifei’s daughter.”
Ye Li looked forward and only then noticed something seemed missing besides the snow-white Liu Guifei. The Emperor had granted all imperial consorts permission to bring their princes and princesses to watch the fireworks, so basically all ranked consorts with children had brought their princes and princesses to their side. If the earlier banquet’s etiquette had prevented bringing children, now even two one-year-old little princesses and princes were being held by wet nurses. So it was rather strange that Liu Guifei’s two sons and one daughter were nowhere to be seen. Especially since the second princess should be seven or eight years old now – not too young to understand proper behavior. Was it true as Princess Changle said, that Liu Guifei didn’t like her children?
“Does the Princess often play with Princess Zhenning?” Ye Li smiled.
Princess Changle shook her head, saying somewhat gloomily, “Zhenning doesn’t like to play with me either. She only likes to play with her brothers, but she won’t let me go see the brothers either. Mother Empress says it’s because I’m still little and don’t know how to take care of my brothers. But… Zhenning is even younger than me.”
Ye Li pinched Princess Changle’s little face, sighing inwardly. The Empress truly protected Princess Changle very well.
“Assassins!” Suddenly a sharp cry rang out as several black shadows sprang from the night, leaping straight toward the tower. Ye Li rolled her eyes somewhat exasperatedly and pulled Princess Changle to her side. The Star-Plucking Tower instantly fell into chaos as large numbers of guards rushed toward where the Emperor, Empress, princes, and princesses were. The officials and ladies below scattered in panic, each seeking a place to hide. Just one glance and Ye Li could see these black-clad men were no comparison to the useless ones she’d encountered that night. Each was a one-in-a-hundred expert – at first contact, the tower guards were already at a disadvantage. A flash of blood frightened the ladies into screaming, and the entire tower descended into chaos.
Princess Changle hid beside Ye Li, only poking out her little head to peek. Ye Li patted her forehead, “Don’t look – you’ll get scared.”
Princess Changle quickly ducked back, asking worriedly, “Ding Wang Fei, will my Mother Empress and Father Emperor be alright?”
Ye Li smiled, “Don’t worry – even if everyone else here is in danger, they won’t be.” With so many guards surrounding them, if they were in danger then everyone on this tower would have been killed by the assassins. Those ministers who knew martial arts also stepped forward to meet the black-clad assassins – this was not only for their own and everyone’s safety but also an opportunity to perform in front of the Emperor. Mo Xiuyao sat calmly beside Ye Li, with shadow guards who had appeared from nowhere steadily defending their surroundings. Even the occasional one or two who broke through were dealt with by Qingluan and Dark Two and Dark Three standing at the side. Amid the chaos of the tower, their area displayed an eerie calm.
“I say, my lord, shouldn’t you go forward to protect His Majesty?” Ye Li asked Mo Xiuyao teasingly in a soft voice. Mo Xiuyao raised an eyebrow and smiled, “If I went now, His Majesty wouldn’t think I was trying to protect him – he’d probably suspect I was trying to assassinate him.”
Ye Li tilted her head to look toward Mo Jingqi’s direction, shaking her head in disinterest. They say the Emperor was once accomplished in both civil and military arts – how cowardly must he be to have half the tower’s guards surrounding him? While watching the assassins he was still dividing his attention to watch their side – probably not just Mo Xiuyao, but anyone related to the Ding Wang府 who went over now would be treated as an assassin.
“Oh my, isn’t it inappropriate for the Wang ye and Wang fei to be so leisurely in such chaos?” Not far away, Yelü Ye dealt easily with assassins while still finding time to smile at Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li.
Mo Xiuyao smiled faintly, “If mere assassins can’t be handled, what use are the palace guards?”
Yelü Ye laughed heartily, “Wang ye speaks truly – such minor thieves indeed aren’t worth the Ding Wang personally dealing with.”
“Prince Yelü, please move aside a bit. You’re drawing all the assassins over here,” Dark Three said expressionlessly as he casually dealt with an assassin standing in front of Ye Li. Yelü Ye raised an eyebrow, his gaze lingering on the assassin who had fallen before Dark Three, and smiled, “My apologies – this prince doesn’t know why these assassins keep clustering around me. The Ding Wang府’s guards truly have remarkable skills.” The fallen assassin’s body bore not a single wound except for an extremely fine cut on his neck – it hadn’t even bled much, but the assassin had collapsed and died without even struggling. Such skill – even professional killers might not do better. The man before them wore only ordinary guard’s clothes, yet displayed complete ease and composure amid the bloody chaos.
Watching the melee before her, Ye Li raised her fine brows and asked softly, “Are the assassins targeting Yelü Ye?” A large portion of the assassins were heading toward Yelü Ye – this could be because he appeared to be the strongest, but these assassins couldn’t fail to recognize Yelü Ye’s attire so different from Great Chu’s.
Mo Xiuyao watched the handsome man who kept drifting near them and said, “It might have something to do with him, but… the assassins are all Central Plains people. Neither Yelü Ye himself nor Yelü Hong would send Northern Rong people to cause trouble in the palace. Yelü Ye deliberately drawing assassins this way is probably to test your abilities.” Mo Xiuyao’s abilities were known throughout the world – there was no need to verify them with a few assassins. Yelü Ye certainly couldn’t hope to kill him with a few assassins, so it could only be for Ye Li sitting beside him.
Ye Li smiled gracefully, “In this situation, do I need to take action?”
Dark Three in front replied softly, “Of course, not – mere assassins requiring Wang fei to personally act would suggest we servants have no use at all.” Ye Li raised her eyes to look at Dark Three and smiled, “You’re now this Wang Fei’s right hand, not a shadow guard – please don’t rush to charge into battle, alright?” Hearing this, Dark Three’s face immediately fell – he still preferred his days as a shadow guard. When enemies came, he could rush forward and beat them till they scattered like fallen flowers. Not like now, having to wait for the small fry that slipped through the shadow guards’ hands. Yet the Ding Guo Wang府’s shadow guards were quite competent – nothing slipped through.
Mo Xiuyao smiled, “I think he’s not trying to test Ah Li’s martial arts, but rather trying to test Ah Li’s courage.”