237

Chapter 237: Untitled

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Zhan Beiye stared at her, the coldness in his eyes fading as he slowly retracted his hand.

… It wasn’t her?

Such a humble gaze, such a sharp tone, such a frail voice, such a foreign… expression.

Although she acted as a martial expert, whenever she looked at him, he had always felt his honest warmth and brightness. This expression… He wasn’t used to such an expression.

Just that at that moment, Xuanyuan Cheng had already arrived.

Zhan Beiye immediately pulled back his hand and covered his fingers with his sleeves. Xuanyuan Cheng’s gaze swept upon him, then upon the panic-stricken officials and representatives sent by the various nations, and paused for a moment before bowing slightly.

“I did not expect that the Emperor of Han would personally come to the aid of the Empress of Sui. The nation of Sui expresses our immense gratitude.”

Zhan Beiye briefly returned the greeting. He wasn’t really in the mood to waste time with the Regent King; despite being polite and cultured, he felt a general dislike for the man. “No problem, no problem, it was nothing at all,” he said dismissively.

He glanced at the dainty girl again and seeing the same arrogant and angry eyes, his expression darkened and moved away.

He moved away, but as he walked by he reached out and snatched a phoenix fan, which then he stuffed it into the arms of a flabbergasted eunuch. “Hold on to this. Now that it lacks an item, it’s not a full set anymore.”

His sudden action had surprised everyone; the phoenix carriage had already been dangling precariously, and now it toppled down instantly.

Meng Fuyao once again fell on her head, and with a loud thud, she hit against the carriage walls. “Zhan Beiye, I’ll XXXX you, you OOOO!” she screamed.

Upon seeing this especially unlucky phoenix carriage topple again, Xuanyuan Cheng suddenly reached out a hand and uttered something; instantly, his fingers turned into a metallic color as it held firmly onto the carriage. With a whoosh, the phoenix carriage was righted again!

All the onlookers cheered with awe, this time, the sound was even greater—what awe-inspiring coolness, truly fit to be the Regent King!

Zhan Beiye turned around and suddenly laughed merrily. “The Regent King has some good skills, worthy of respect! Respect!”

He reached out and patted Xuanyuan Cheng heavily on the shoulder. “Next time, when you are free, you have to teach me a thing or two!”

His pat caused Xuanyuan Cheng’s entire body to shake, and he felt a surge of warm energy shoot through his shoulder. Instantly, he felt as if his inner energy had been depleted by half. Since he wasn’t born with spiritual energy, he relied on sheer brute strength, and now that Zhan Beiye had patted him like this, his arm slackened. His inner energy would escape if he opened his mouth, yet he couldn’t ignore Zhan Beiye’s words. In the end, he could only grimace and reply, “I’m not worthy, not worthy…”

Bang!

The unfortunate phoenix carriage, carrying the unfortunate Meng Fuyao, after being righted, toppled again due to a certain someone and came into contact with the ground…

It was said that many years ago, the historians actually included the toppling of the phoenix carriage into the history of Xuanyuan, suggesting that it was inauspicious for the carriage to fall so brutally onto the ground during a national celebration, and that the Empress’ nose and face were bruised and inflamed, and the entire Xuanyuan was in chaos.

Actually, it was but a certain person throwing a tantrum…

However, at that time, when the phoenix carriage was finally righted with the effort of the guards, Meng Fuao was squatting in the carriage and cursing to Lord Yuan Bao, who had been flattened, “Dragons and old mice are the hardest to rear…”

After that, the end of the street slowly came into view. The carriage was supposed to continue for another two streets and enter the Qinsheng gate through the Changan gate, but due to the change in the situation, Meng Fuyao immediately gave an order to change the route and complete the marriage as fast as possible—she was afraid that His Majesty Zhan would pull something again. Moreover, Xuanyuan Cheng felt that this situation was rather strange as well. The new emperor’s personality was indeed boisterous and strange, so it was better to avoid him. Hence, Xuanyuan Cheng accepted her request and added another order—originally, he was supposed to settle the guest accommodations first, but now he issued an order to settle it after the ceremony.

The ministry of rites was launched into a flurry of activity with the new changes, yet Zhan Beiye stood quietly and watched the commotion, a slight suspicion rising in his heart—Was the fact that Meng Fuyao was the new empress just a wild guess by Ji Yu and himself? There was no evidence at all, so what should he do? Continue to attend the ceremony? Or gather more information in Kunjing first?

Behind him, a child holding a stick of candied fruit walked past him and bit happily into the fruit, leaving a huge bite mark…

A spiritual light suddenly flashed in Zhan Beiye’s mind!

He immediately raised a hand and looked at his fingers.

The bite mark was deep, and the teeth marks were visible.

Zhan Beiye suddenly started laughing loudly, his laughter traveling down the entire street.

His laugh was extremely sudden and shocked the surrounding onlookers. The child jumped in fright. Zhan Beiye swung his hand and threw down a gold ingot, laughing as he said, “Thank you, thank you, I’ll buy you ten year’s worth of candied fruit to eat!”

He picked up the horsewhip and with a swish of his robes, he led the Black Wind Calvary away. Behind him, the Minister of Rites clambered up and shouted, “Your Majesty, the ceremony has been canceled, you have to go to the palace…”

Just as Zhan Beiye was sprinting manically towards the palace gates, Meng Fuyao had already arrived at Qinsheng Palace and alighted from the phoenix carriage.

A fire was lit in front of the Qinsheng palace, awaiting the new empress to cross over it while carrying a golden bottle.

However, the empress lifted the curtain of the carriage herself and reached out a hand towards the lady-in-waiting and leaped out of the carriage, stuffing something at the lady-in-waiting. The lady-in-waiting took a look at the object—half a fruit pit, a pile of broken jade pieces…

Cold sweat dripping…

The fire burned brightly, and two ladies-in-waiting were waiting for her, but Meng Fuyao casually grabbed the golden bottle and stuffed it under her armpit, then with a hitch of her skirt she hurriedly ran ahead. Meanwhile, the two ladies-in-waiting were dumbstruck.

Cold sweat dripping…

Meng Fuyao ran towards the fire, rushing to “get married”—she had to hurry, or else the madman Zhan would appear soon.

Just at that moment, the Regent King had just finished welcoming the guests and was settling the arrangements, unaware. Apart from several officials, eunuchs and ladies-in-waiting, nobody knew that the “Empress” was hurrying so…

By then, Zhan Beiye had already reached the palace grounds. Although the Regent King had changed his orders and had it sent to the palace within the shortest time possible, the door guards had not yet received the message and thought that Zhan Beiye was here to attend the marriage, and happily welcomed him in.

The rule that no horses were allowed in the palace held no weight in Zhan Beiye’s eyes, and with a flick of his gold whip, the horse flew through as the guards’ and eunuchs’ voices trailed helplessly behind him, “Your Majesty, when there is a royal ceremony, no horses are allowed in the imperial palace…”

“I’ve never used my own legs to enter a palace! Every palace is the same!” Without turning back, Zhan Beiye continued his gallop forward.

The guard broke out in a cold sweat…

At that moment, in front of the Qinsheng palace, was a 1,200-step white marble stairway, shining majestically like a stairway to heaven under the sun.

As the chosen one to become the nation’s empress, while walking up this long road, full of glory, slowly moving with gracefulness, and according to etiquette, every step had to be accompanied with a slight pause.

However, in Meng Fuyao’s case, a fraction of a period was all it took for what was supposed to be a period-long ceremonial “ascension”.

Zhan Beiye followed the music from the ministry of rites and sprinted to the Qinsheng palace.

Meng Fuyao had just crossed the final step and had yet to enter the palace gates.

Zhan Beiye raised his head to see hundreds of ministers and nobles heading towards the palace gates, and at the top, the slim silhouette had vanished.

He hopped off his horse in an instant.

Yet someone suddenly shouted for him to stop.

“Your Majesty.”

The Empress’ carriage had been silently parked outside the Qinsheng Palace gates, and from the side window, the curtain was drawn open to reveal a beautiful lady’s face.

Zhan Beiye was getting anxious and didn’t have the time to bother with her. Although it was strange that this person immediately recognized his identity with a single shout, he didn’t care and prepared to leave.

“If you rush out now, you’ll ruin her plan.”

“Hm?” Zhan Beiye finally responded. “Why does she mind other people’s business again?”

The girl was naturally Shadow Blade’s disguise. He looked at Zhan Beiye, and after a moment, he said, “Probably the same as when she helped you previously.”

Zhan Beiye frowned deeply and snarled, “Who are you!?”

“Regardless of who I am, you just need to ask yourself, do you need to use force?” Shadow Blade glanced around the palace, his expression complicated. “A beauty’s heart is ever-changing, especially a girl like her. If you try to stop her, you’ll only incur her annoyance and wrath. Your Majesty, I didn’t want to say this to you, but now that I’ve said it, you should listen.”

“You’re asking me to stand by one side and watch her be someone else’s Empress?” Zhan Beiye snorted coldly.

“The royal ceremony is but a facade, they didn’t even bow to the heaven and earth, and a replacement had already been found for the bedroom. If she’s not willing, she doesn’t even need to enter the bedroom.”

“So what?” Zhan Beiye’s arms were crossed around his chest, and his expression darkened as he said, “Let me tell you, even if it is fake, I still don’t want her to stand beside someone else as husband and wife! She can only be my Empress!”

With a swish of his sleeve, he ignored Shadow Blade and strode out.

Shadow Blade watched his determined silhouette with a mixed expression in his eyes. After a long time, he leaned lightly against the carriage and mumbled, “Whatever… Much less you, sometimes even I want to stop her too…”

Meng Fuyao was standing in front of the altar.

The Minister of Rites picked up the book of rites and began to read. According to custom, this chant would continue until the ceremony ended. Given that there were several thousand words in the flower-embroidered book, adding on the old man’s reading speed, for it to take so long was understandable.