The Empress Wants It All: The Empire and Me - Chapter 43.2

Chapter 43.2

Lin Yanran actually harbored a slight hope that Wang Shouchun would go live with Gu Yuwan. That way, she could return to the bedroom and sleep on the bed. Who would want to sleep on a floor mat every day, especially while constantly being watched by a villain?

However, seeing the earnest look on Wang Shouchun’s face, Lin Yanran thought for a moment and understood. At Liu Zhenzhen’s home, her master was present, making it quite inconvenient for Wang Shouchun to move in. As for Gu Yuwan, her place was, after all, a temporary boat. It was crowded and bustling with people. Living there would feel like being a dependent guest, and she would eventually have to move back anyway. In that scenario, Wang Shouchun would be like a rootless duckweed, drifting from place to place.

Thinking of this, Lin Yanran turned her eyes toward Youqin Mingyue.

Only if Youqin Mingyue allowed Wang Shouchun to hit the floor in her room could she justify letting her stay.

Youqin Mingyue sensed that little look and immediately understood her thoughts, feeling a surge of secret smugness in her heart. This commoner defers to me in everything; she really knows how to flatter.

She spoke up, “It is only right.”

Wang Shouchun still had to return to the boat to discuss matters with Gu Yuwan, so she took her leave along with her.

After seeing them off, Lin Yanran checked the sky. It wasn’t completely dark yet, so she resumed working on her fence and the garden plot. Youqin Mingyue went back to the room to practice her calligraphy. Later, even after the sky had turned pitch black, she still hadn’t seen Lin Yanran enter the house. Looking out, she saw Lin Yanran holding a lantern, squatting by her newly dug vegetable patch, studying the seedlings.

So, Mingyue resumed her practice.

Tonight was the first time her private soldiers would see action; it was destined to be a sleepless night.

Later, when Wang Shouchun returned from the boat, she saw Lin Yanran still squatting motionlessly by the vegetable patch. She approached out of curiosity and found the other woman lost in thought over the sprouts and seedlings, occasionally muttering strange, novel terms.

This Savior is truly interesting, she thought.

She cleared her throat and said, “My Lord, Sister Gu and I have reached an agreement. We will break ground tomorrow.”

Lin Yanran froze for a moment, not quite catching her meaning. Wang Shouchun explained, “Village Elder Lin has already sent over a stack of land deeds. Tomorrow happens to be an auspicious day, so we can begin construction. Sister Gu worked through the night to arrange everything needed for the groundbreaking ceremony. Tomorrow, we would like to invite you and the Matriarch to cut the ribbon together.”

Lin Yanran asked in shock, “So soon?”

Wang Shouchun smiled. “Naturally. Speed is essential in war, and the way of business is the same. Besides, Sister Gu said that since she has received great kindness from you and Sister-in-law, and since you both value her so highly, she must naturally get ahead of things. Now that we have the right timing, the right place, and the right people, every day delayed is a day’s worth of silver lost. It is best to start early for good fortune.”

Lin Yanran still hadn’t quite processed it. She had only mentioned the land-share system to Lin Dahai yesterday, and after just one day, they were starting major construction? She felt a bit dazed, feeling a sense of admiration for the speed of the ancients for the first time.

Wang Shouchun called out a greeting and went to bathe and head to bed.

After a long time passed, the main gate was suddenly knocked. Lin Jianghe shouted from outside, “My Lord, I’ve brought the man back.”

Lin Yanran looked at the sky, the moon was at its zenith—it was the hour of the Rat.

Suppressing her intense excitement, she walked out quickly. After a few steps, she remembered something and hurried back to change into a long robe and draped an outer cloak over her shoulders before going to open the door.

Seeing her bleary-eyed look, Lin Jianghe said apologetically, “My Lord, it’s too late. Why don’t you go back to rest?”

Lin Yanran waved her hand, asked for a general overview, and followed him to see Ji Yue.

Sure enough, Ji Yue was talking excitedly with a tall man. Hearing the noise, the man immediately turned around. He also had a majestic square face, a short beard, and a rugged appearance. His thick brows were tightly knit, and an aura of slaughter radiated from him.

His eyes locked onto Lin Yanran’s face as he asked in a deep voice, “Are you the one who saved my brother?”

Lin Yanran glanced at him, pulled her cloak tighter, and pretended to be someone who had just woken up. Yawning, she asked, “Are you Ji Yue’s brother?”

Ji Yue hurriedly grabbed Ji Xuan’s sleeve. “Brother, this is the Savior I told you about. Without her rescue, you would be looking at my corpse right now.”

Ji Xuan scrutinized Lin Yanran carefully, then suddenly stepped forward and bowed deeply. “Thank you, My Lord, for saving my brother. I, Ji Xuan, will surely repay this great kindness in the future!”

Lin Yanran waved it off. “No need for such formality. I just lent a hand since I saw it. Since you brothers have reunited, have a good talk. My wife is at home, so I must head back immediately—please bear with me. By the way, if you don’t mind, you can rest here at this neighbor’s house. He went to Shimen County to buy supplies and hasn’t returned yet.”

Ji Xuan and Ji Yue offered their thanks again and watched her leave.

Returning home, Lin Yanran immediately barred the main door and hurried into the bedroom.

“Mingyue—” After waiting all day, she could finally claim her credit.

Youqin Mingyue stopped her brush and looked at her. Lin Yanran lowered her voice and said, “Ji Xuan is here. He’s catching up with Ji Yue right now.”

A flash went through Youqin Mingyue’s eyes. “Truly?”

Lin Yanran said firmly, “I just saw him with my own eyes before coming back to tell you.” She then recounted how she had met Ji Yue that morning and agreed to help him contact his brother.

Youqin Mingyue hadn’t expected her to actually use Ji Yue to help her. She couldn’t help but ask, “Does Ji Xuan plan to leave immediately?”

Lin Yanran replied, “He just saw his brother, so they’ll have to talk for a while. Moreover, the distance from Phoenix Town to the Black Dragon Stronghold is long, and it’s all steep mountains. Even if he sets off now, it would take him at least four hours to get back.”

Youqin Mingyue rejoiced inwardly!

Ji Xuan was the commander of the elite troops. As the saying goes, ‘to catch the bandits, first catch their leader.’ With Ji Xuan absent, her private soldiers could more easily steal the gold. If things went well, they might not even lose a single man. This truly was the icing on the cake!

In her excitement, the brush in her hand pressed hard against the paper. Looking down, she saw the final character had been ruined by a blotch of ink. She simply set the brush aside and said solemnly, “You must not do anything else, lest he becomes suspicious.”

Lin Yanran nodded. “Don’t worry, I know.” She added, “You should rest easy too; everything will go smoothly.”

Then, remembering the groundbreaking ceremony Wang Shouchun mentioned, she told her about that as well. She finished with a cheery tone, “Mingyue, look at these two happy events happening at once. It’s truly a double blessing!”

Youqin Mingyue stared at her fixedly, her mind whirling with a thousand thoughts. She couldn’t describe the feeling, but in the end, she simply said calmly, “Go to sleep.” With that, she went to the bed.

Lin Yanran breathed a sigh of relief. From the moment she woke up this morning, she had been on edge, fearing Youqin Mingyue would settle the score with her later. She had spent the entire day desperately earning favor. Looking at Mingyue’s expression and tone now, the terrifying gloom from that morning had vanished.

She felt a surge of encouragement. It seemed her efforts to earn favor had worked. However, she couldn’t help but wonder: her pills clearly had no issues, so why did they have the opposite effect? She didn’t dare mention it or ask; she could only rack her brain in silence. Where did I go wrong?

She spread out the bedding, and after crawling into her makeshift bed on the floor, she was still pondering the question.

Early in the hour of the Rat, Black Dragon Stronghold.

The mountainside, which should have been shrouded in darkness, was now a scene of fire, slaughter, and shouting. A group of soldiers, led by County Magistrate Qi Zhong, had split into two groups and were attacking the peak of the Black Dragon Stronghold.

However, the terrain was treacherous—easy to defend and hard to attack. The elite troops disguised as bandits were hiding at high vantage points firing arrows. For a while, the soldiers suffered one casualty after another.

The Head Constable, Wang Chong, came to report panting, “My Lord, the bandits are putting up a desperate resistance. They fight as if they don’t care for their lives. We don’t have enough men and simply cannot push up. Please, go to the General and ask for reinforcements!”

Qi Zhong’s face was livid. After discussing with that old fox Zhao Liang the other day, the man had actually suggested he send troops to stage a fake attack to fool the Prefectural Office and the Night Watchmen? Did he think he was an idiot? Expecting him to risk his own life just because the Black Dragon Stronghold gave him benefits was the act of a backstabbing bastard!

After returning to the yamen and thinking it through, he had come up with a strategy. If he attacked the stronghold overnight and wiped them out in one fell swoop, not only would the case be solved, but the evidence of his collusion with them would be gone. Once it was a done deal, even if Zhao Liang tried to hold him accountable, he could do nothing. After all, attacking the stronghold was a legitimate act of office and what the people wanted!

Once the plan was set, he gathered all the forces of the county yamen and moved out overnight. But he hadn’t expected that scoundrel Lu Yunpeng would also come to interfere! This dog had been at odds with him since his first day as County Magistrate, all because his superior—the Phoenix City Governor Sima Liang, was the arch-enemy of Qi Zhong’s own mentor, Wang Han, the Minister of Rites.

Qi Zhong feared Lu Yunpeng would discover something, so he took the lead in attacking the mountain. But he hadn’t expected these bandits to be so arrogant. Not only did they refuse to surrender, but they resisted so fiercely that he lost many men. If the Prefectural Office held him accountable, he would be implicated. His only option now was to urge Lu Yunpeng to send his troops immediately. As long as the Black Dragon Stronghold was eradicated, his official career would be saved no matter how many people died!

Determined, he scrambled down from the mountainside to find Lu Yunpeng, who was hiding with his troops in the dense forest of the valley. To his surprise, when Lu Yunpeng heard his words, he spat viciously on the ground.

“Lord Qi, the county yamen is the county yamen. Your yamen attacks the stronghold to capture criminals, but this General attacks the stronghold to suppress bandits for the Imperial Court. What do your official yamen affairs have to do with this General?” He mockingly cupped his hands. “I wouldn’t dare steal the credit for your capture of criminals. Please, Lord Qi, proceed—”

Qi Zhong nearly vomited blood in rage. After a perfunctory reply, he turned away with a face as dark as ink. He took Wang Zhong to find the two Night Watchmen who had followed, as well as the group brought by Chen Bing from the Prefectural Office. After much persuasion, he finally got these two groups to act, at least managing to repel a small wave of the bandits’ offensive.

Lu Yunpeng listened to the latest battle report from his scouts, his shrewd little eyes darting about. Wang Li, a minor commander of the border army beside him, said eagerly, “General, if we don’t send troops soon, Lord Qi will take all the credit for taking the Black Dragon Stronghold.”

Lu Yunpeng kicked him irritably. “You idiot! Does this General need you to teach me how to do things?” He pulled the scout over. “Tell me, how many of Qi Zhong’s men are dead?”

The scout hurried to report, “Lord Qi has already lost at least twenty men, and even his own left arm was hit by an arrow. He begged the Night Watchmen and the Prefectural Constables to act, and they only managed to kill three bandits!”

Lu Yunpeng burst into laughter, feeling incredibly refreshed. “That dog Qi Zhong finally has his day. I’m just waiting for him to come beg me a second time. For today’s battle, I won’t just win—I’ll make Qi Zhong beg me on his knees!”

Wang Li couldn’t help but ask, “Lord Qi’s men are mostly yamen runners, but they shouldn’t be this useless. Did you see how those bandits were fighting?”

The scout replied, “I saw clearly. They are all hiding in high places or trees firing arrows. Moreover, their arrows are poisoned.”

Wang Li was shocked. “What? How dare these bandits be so reckless? Do they have no regard for their lives?”

Lu Yunpeng said, “Since they chose to be bandits, they’ve already gambled their heads. Why wouldn’t they be reckless?”

Wang Li was about to say something more, but Lu Yunpeng raised a hand to stop him. Qi Zhong was coming back again.