(Li Changle’s Past Life)

The room burned with orchid sandalwood incense, elegant and warm. Yuan Lie was reading the secret report in his hand, occasionally lifting his eyes to glance at Li Weiyang reclining on the beauty couch, quietly reading.

Her eyes were slightly lowered, her face serene, a smile at the corners of her lips. Like an elegant lotus under moonlight, she carried a kind of solitary pride and coldness, holding a scroll of books and reading with complete absorption.

He smiled slightly.

Her outward appearance seemed gentle, yet she was the fierce wife known to everyone in Yuexi.

Domineering, severe, arrogant.

Like docile water—appearing very calm, but when raising waves, able to devour everything.

Everyone said Yuan Lie’s greatest fear was this Princess Consort.

Because he wielded great power and held a distinguished position, everyone revered him, yet only Li Weiyang’s words had to be obeyed. That one time when he fell ill, burning with such high fever he couldn’t get up, he still remembered he needed to inspect the troops. The physician desperately tried to persuade him, yet he insisted on going. Li Weiyang slapped him back onto the bed with a book. At that time everyone was stunned. The deputy general who had followed him for years thought he would become angry, but who knew he would instead brazenly pull the covers over his head and curl into a ball, pretending the embarrassment wasn’t his.

If he dared oppose Weiyang, she was quite capable of stripping him naked, hanging him up, and beating him.

Later, an official sent twenty beauties without prior notice—each with a graceful figure and beautiful face, like celestial maidens delivered to the Prince’s residence. This person was even foolish enough to run to court to curry favor with him. Upon hearing this, he indeed changed color, fearing Weiyang would misunderstand. He rushed home in haste, only to discover the twenty beauties had all been dismissed by the Princess Consort. Each delicate, charming young lady had been sent to work the newly purchased estate the Princess Consort had just bought.

Thus, Weiyang became famous overnight. Everyone was greatly shocked. Originally they only thought Yuan Lie was a ruthless character, but hadn’t expected his Princess Consort to be even more formidable than him. To be jealous to such an undisguised degree—truly a remarkable person.

As could be imagined, Yuan Lie nearly became the laughingstock of all Yuexi.

Many people said it was all because this Princess Consort came from the meritorious Guo family, such that the Prince had no choice but to tolerate her this way.

Others said the Princess Consort had been childhood sweethearts with the Prince since youth, inseparable companions, which was why the Prince feared her so.

Yuan Lie: “…”

You are not a fish—how can you know the joy of fish?

Not everyone in this world would like tender, water-like beauties. These mediocre types could only be matched with vulgar women. Who could understand Weiyang’s goodness? They didn’t understand, so they had no qualification to comment.

When Lady Guo tactfully reminded Weiyang to pay attention to outside gossip, Yuan Lie glanced over: “Mother, they’re jealous.”

Lady Guo: “…”

Since the parties involved didn’t mind, other people’s opinions simply weren’t important.

Yuan Lie had originally smiled lightly, but thinking about the pile of official documents he still had to process, his handsome face immediately became worried and distressed. He quickly grabbed a sheet of paper and began reading at ten lines per glance.

The environment was too quiet, the atmosphere too warm. Li Weiyang unknowingly fell asleep leaning on the soft couch.

Hazily, she dimly saw a palace. In flourishing light and mist, rows of solemn, magnificent vermillion walls, golden glazed tiles gleaming brilliantly in sunlight, the coiled dragons on the flying eaves seeming ready to fly out, further setting off the sky’s wash of azure blue. On the yard-wide green brick road, every ten-plus steps palace maids passed with lowered heads and held breath, yet even the floating of their skirt hems made no sound.

This familiar scene made Li Weiyang’s heart suddenly turn cold with a shudder.

She stood before that window, watching the beauty inside arranging her appearance. Golden sunlight enveloped her body. The familiar dragon birthday incense floated through the hall. In the bronze mirror, the beauty had handsome eyes and elegant brows. When she glanced around, her spirit soared. With a slight smile, it was like spring dawn flowers blooming, like the mid-autumn moon revealing its face. All around seemed to have elegant music playing softly, immortal birds circling in flight. In confusion, it seemed half her three souls and seven spirits had been seized.

This face—Li Weiyang would not forget.

This was her older sister Li Changle, legitimate daughter of the Li residence, beautiful as a celestial maiden. Only the corners of her eyes and brows were no longer like when she was young. Though carefully adorned, they were still covered with dense fine wrinkles. Those corners of her mouth that always tilted slightly upward had now drooped slightly.

These were signs of aging. Even if she was a beauty surpassing all under heaven, she still couldn’t be spared.

Li Changle looked at herself in the mirror with dissatisfaction, ordering palace maids to pluck out a white hair showing at her temples, before finally lifting a phoenix hairpin to try against her head.

At this moment, palace maids filed in carrying trays displaying countless brilliantly golden hairpins and rings, presenting them layer by layer for her to see. Nearly half an hour was consumed before she was barely satisfied with her adornment. She rose and began putting on her outer robe. The long sleeves were embroidered with dark thread forming pheasant patterns, the skirt hem also embroidered with lifelike phoenixes. Under sunlight it was like a mass of golden flames, carrying a kind of dazzling beauty.

With a boom, something seemed to explode in Li Weiyang’s mind.

Until now, she had truly seen Li Changle. But not in this life—rather the past life. She hadn’t thought about previous events for a very, very long time… Was this a memory from the past, or was this life’s obsession still continuing?

Just then, a palace maid came to report: “Your Ladyship, Lady Kanghua and Miss Feiyue have arrived.”

Li Changle’s face changed, her voice suddenly turning cold: “Let them enter!”

When the two entered the hall, Li Weiyang clearly saw that mother and daughter’s faces. The middle-aged woman was her fifth younger sister Li Changxi. Though her face had aged considerably, with white hairs among her temples, she wore luxurious clothes and carried herself arrogantly, the spoiled air between her brows unchanged in the slightest. The younger one was a girl with a willowy figure and charming face. Entering the hall, she seemed to bring in a breath of fresh air.

“You still have the face to see me?!” Li Changle’s face was ice-cold, rarely showing such harsh severity.

Li Changxi hurriedly pulled down her daughter: “Your Ladyship, I’ve brought my daughter to apologize to you. I beg your mercy—spare her this once!”

Li Changle seemed to have her painful spot suddenly struck. She stood up from her chair abruptly and cursed angrily: “You sent this precious daughter of yours into the palace, saying it was to accompany me, but actually you’d already calculated everything, wanting to obtain His Majesty’s favor! Just from seeing him once at a banquet, you’ve already set your sights on His Majesty, haven’t you…”

“Your Ladyship, I… I absolutely had no such thoughts. It was His Majesty who…” The young girl’s cheeks flushed. For a moment she was extremely embarrassed.

Sparks of fire scattered in Li Changle’s eyes. That gentle, amiable manner cultivated deep in her bones from a life of privilege had long since vanished. She laughed coldly with a sinister tone: “Shameless little slut! He’s your uncle by marriage. To do such things violating human ethics, and causing such an uproar outside—you’ve completely lost all my face!”

Li Changxi’s eyes rolled uneasily. She hurriedly said: “Your Ladyship, you can’t say it that way. Whomever His Majesty wants to favor, you cannot prevent!”

“I gave you a title and helped you care for your daughter—is this how you repay me? Without me, you’d be nothing but rats on the streets. How would you have such glory and wealth! Truly ungrateful! Saying His Majesty favors her—what is she? If she hadn’t deliberately flattered and pandered, how would His Majesty look at her twice?!” The more Li Changle thought about it, the angrier she became. The veins at her temples throbbed faintly. She gasped for breath in large gulps, clearly enraged to the extreme. “Sluts, you two sluts!”

Her exquisite beauty began to distort from excessive anger, becoming even more aged, further reflecting the youthful beauty and blossoming prime of the young girl opposite.

“Your Ladyship, of course your kindness to us mother and daughter is as heavy as mountains.” The young girl began crying pitifully. “But Father died early. We mother and daughter have no one to rely on. If His Majesty insists on favoring me, how can I, a mere woman, resist? I beg Your Ladyship to give me a path to live. Don’t let the flesh and blood in my belly have no one to rely on… In the future, I will certainly repay Your Ladyship’s kindness with my life…” She didn’t finish her last sentence, but the meaning was clear—she had already conceived the Emperor’s child and must be allowed to enter the palace.

“Utterly shameless!” Li Changle almost wanted to rush forward and tear apart the other’s false mask.

Li Changxi couldn’t hide her heart’s pride: “Your Ladyship, you’ve enjoyed exclusive favor for so many years—you should be satisfied! His Majesty is in his prime years. How could there be any reason for him not to love young women? Our Feiyue is born so beautiful—that His Majesty would deign to favor her is human nature. Why don’t you think more openly? If someone else entered the palace, they might oppose you openly and secretly. But our Feiyue is different. You’re her own maternal aunt. Even if she gains favor, she won’t forget your kindness…”

Li Changle was enraged by these sentences. Li Changxi was basically mocking her for being old and faded, increasingly unable to keep Tuoba Zhen’s heart—better to think openly sooner and stop monopolizing the Empress position. Fine! This pair of ungrateful mother and daughter—look at these two ingrates she’d raised! Even more infuriating was Feiyue still putting on an appearance of innocent purity without the slightest guilt, as if she were completely blameless. Li Changle endured and endured, exerting all her strength to control herself from losing composure on the spot.

Seducing the Emperor equaled betraying Li Changle, this maternal aunt. Feiyue was already grown—of course she knew what she was doing. But now she still acted before her as if nothing was her fault. This girl was clearly base to the extreme. As for Li Changxi, harboring ulterior motives in instigating her daughter to approach Tuoba Zhen—utterly shameless to the extreme!

“You say human nature?” Li Changle’s teeth ground continuously, gnashing.

Her tone carried malicious intent and venomous hatred. Feiyue became somewhat panicked and glanced at Li Changxi. But Li Changxi remained very composed: “Your Ladyship, don’t be so angry. I haven’t said a single wrong word. Loving the new and abandoning the old—this truly is human nature.”

An old person? She, Li Changle, who had received endless favor, actually had a day when she too became an old person?! A raging flame rushed into Li Changle’s mind: “Boasting shamelessly! I’ve assisted the Emperor for so many years, expending countless effort. Yet your daughter, relying only on a delicate face, wants to snatch His Majesty from my side, and still dares say such things before me—outrageous!”

Li Changxi also became angry: “Elder Sister, how do you have the face to say this! Back then you snatched His Majesty from Third Sister’s hands. Her wronged spirit is still floating in this palace. Don’t call the kettle black—Feiyue is merely imitating you!”

Mentioning Li Weiyang, Li Changle seemed to have been violently slapped. Her entire face turned red, her heart’s fury rising high. She opened her mouth to refute, but couldn’t say a single word. That’s right—this husband was snatched from her own younger sister’s hands. This Empress position was the same. She had even forced Li Weiyang to her death, making her die miserably in the palace. Everyone said the Cold Palace still had her lonely spirit even now…

But this matter—no one had ever dared mention it before her. Today, being exposed all at once, she was forced into complete madness. “Someone come, come immediately! Drag this mother and daughter out and beat them to death with rods!” She screamed loudly, her face stiff and deathly cold, her entire person flying into a rage.

However, at the critical moment, a man dressed in dragon robes strode rapidly into the great hall. The traces time left on him approached zero. At this moment he remained handsome as before, his expression cold and stern: “I am here. Let’s see who dares touch a single hair on Feiyue!”