Chapter Forty-Five: Martial Emperor: I’m Furious!
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“Am I not even allowed to die?”
The blind girl let out a soft sigh and released the dagger she had been gripping tightly. Her expression serene, she asked, “For the sake of Your Majesty’s grand ambitions, a hundred-household officer in charge of punishments may die. Why, then, can’t a useless cripple like me die?”
Emperor Wu forcefully suppressed his fury, which seemed capable of scorching the heavens. “He willingly entered the trap. I granted him that wish…”
“Then let Father know that your daughter, too, willingly entered the trap. I even became betrothed to him. Once we reach the Yellow Springs, we can be husband and wife among the dead and raise a whole brood of little ghosts.”
The blind girl tilted her head back, her vacant eyes fixed upon the emperor. “If I cannot die today, I’ll think of another way to descend into hell and reunite with him tomorrow.”
“You! You’re utterly mad! How could My daughter possibly be compared with a mere hundred-household officer?”
“Every person has only one life.” The blind girl remained perfectly calm. “Imperial Father, all the subjects of Great Wu call you the Ever-Living One. Can you truly live for ten thousand years?”
Emperor Wu was rendered speechless. Only then did he realize that his palm was throbbing with unbearable pain.
He hurriedly released the dagger.
With a clatter, it fell to the ground. Chief Steward Li’s eyes filled with tears of distress as he sobbed and bandaged the emperor’s left hand. Turning his head, he screamed hoarsely, “Summon the imperial physician at once!”
Emperor Wu truly feared pain, but with so many people present, he was too ashamed to make a sound. He endured it until cold sweat had broken out across his forehead.
Gritting his teeth, he said, “Back to the palace!”
Once he reached the carriage, everything would be fine. Then he could groan as much as he liked without anyone hearing him.
“Imperial Father!”
The blind girl cried out.
Unable to bear it, Emperor Wu turned back and forcibly restrained his anger. “Return to the palace. Stop being obstinate.”
“I want Li Wenxuan to live. I don’t want him to die. I want to marry him!”
“You—”
Emperor Wu was both furious and in agony. Tears were nearly spilling from his eyes, and he could no longer tell whether they came from pain or from being driven to the verge of tears by sheer rage.
The blind girl said, “I was the one who asked whether he was willing to marry me and support me. At the time, my face was covered in pockmarks, and I was ugly, yet he still said yes… He even said he wasn’t marrying me merely because he was about to die.”
“He… is different from all those men Imperial Father chose for me.”
“Those men flatter me openly, but I can see it clearly. Deep down, they are all disgusted that I am blind.”
The blind girl suddenly felt that the whole world had fallen silent. After a moment’s hesitation, she asked, “Imperial Father, are you listening?”
“You truly wish to marry him? He is only a son born to a concubine,” Emperor Wu demanded coldly.
At that moment, everyone present felt a suffocating pressure surge toward them, as though even the air had been sucked away.
The blind girl had a talent for striking where it hurt most. Without the slightest hesitation, she said, “Imperial Father was a son born to a concubine as well!”
Chief Steward Li saw that the hand he had just bandaged for His Majesty had begun to tremble, blood seeping through the wrappings once more…
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“Your Highness, please, no more! His Majesty’s wound is very deep. His Majesty loves you, Your Highness!”
Chief Steward Li pleaded, trembling.
“What are you afraid of? Imperial Father is in the prime of life. Losing a little blood won’t kill him.” The blind girl “glared” at Chief Steward Li.
He saw the emperor’s face twitch several times in rapid succession before His Majesty managed to stop himself from bursting into tears on the spot.
The emperor… did, in fact, cry sometimes.
After the blind Imperial Noble Consort threw herself into a well, His Majesty wept for three whole days and ordered every maidservant and eunuch in her palace to be buried with her.
Fortunately, the little princess had escaped unharmed. Otherwise…
Chief Steward Li shuddered, not daring to imagine what would have happened.
The princess “looked” at the emperor. “I want a man who truly loves me. I don’t want those noble young masters who find me repulsive in their hearts while flattering and placating me with their mouths!”
“And besides, you are the emperor. There is nothing beneath heaven that you cannot accomplish. I want him to live. I don’t want him to die. If he dies…”
The princess summoned her courage. “Even though I am terribly afraid of pain, I will find him by the most direct means possible.”
Emperor Wu trembled with rage. He now needed Chief Steward Li’s support merely to remain standing.
“Let him live!” Emperor Wu ground out through clenched teeth. “You and that fellow surnamed Li are both insane!”
The princess replied calmly, “The mad are a perfect match for one another. We’ll make an ideal couple. Next year, we’ll have a whole brood of little madmen. Imperial Father, remember to subsidize our household. A hundred-household officer’s salary isn’t very high!”
“Go! Go! Leave at once!”
Emperor Wu howled. He had completely lost his composure.
He feared that if he stayed any longer, he truly would be unable to restrain himself from slaughtering everyone in sight.
Chief Steward Li hurriedly helped him out of the room and onto the imperial carriage.
Once seated inside, Emperor Wu was already on the verge of breaking. He drew in several sharp breaths, barely stopping himself from crying out.
“Go watch over her. I’m fine!”
Chief Steward Li understood. His Majesty intended to hide inside the carriage and scream.
“Your Majesty, shall I remain outside and attend you?”
Emperor Wu was about to reprimand him, but then something occurred to him. A hesitant expression crossed his face. After pondering for a moment, he said in a low voice, “Tell her everything that happened back then. Don’t let her keep believing that her mother’s death was all her fault.”
“Your Majesty… if that is truly what happened, the princess will hate you to death…”
Chief Steward Li seemed to recall the events of that time, and his face went pale.
“It is better for her to hate me as her father than to live forever in guilt.”
The pain in his hand made the muscles of Emperor Wu’s face twitch repeatedly.
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“Do ordinary people not often say that all parents beneath heaven are to be pitied?”
“Though I am the emperor, she was right. You call me the Ever-Living One every day. Does that mean I cannot die? Can I truly live for ten thousand years?”
Chief Steward Li was drenched in cold sweat by these words.
Throughout the entire Great Wu Empire, perhaps only this princess would dare speak to His Majesty that way.
“Go.”
Emperor Wu waved a weary hand.
Chief Steward Li dared not say anything more and immediately withdrew. He could hardly let His Majesty scream in agony in front of him.
“Your Highness!”
After stepping down from the carriage, Chief Steward Li saw the princess emerge with the support of a palace maid. She held a yellowing bamboo staff in one hand and cradled the broken-stringed lute in the other.
“What happened to the people who were watching the spectacle here?”
“They have been driven away by the imperial guards.”
“The deputy commander of the imperial guards is the younger brother of the Second Miss of the Cui family. Will they reveal what happened here today?”
The moment she said this, every imperial guard present dropped to his knees in terror.
A sheen of sweat appeared on Chief Steward Li’s forehead as well.
“Your Highness jests. The imperial guards belong to His Majesty, not to the Third Young Master of the Cui family. Naturally, they will not reveal a single word.”
“Go and find my husband. I want him alive, not dead. If he dies, Chief Steward Li, send them all to accompany my husband in death.”
At the words “my husband,” Chief Steward Li felt an indescribable awkwardness.
He even began to understand how the emperor had felt when he was on the verge of collapse.
“Your Highness, His Majesty has already made arrangements for this matter.” Chief Steward Li chose his words carefully before continuing. “Before this hundred-household officer in charge of punishments entered Qingcloud Tower, our people were already waiting nearby to receive him. We would never allow him to truly die here.”
The princess felt a sudden flutter of panic. Could he have known that he would not die?
“Then… did he know?”
“Officer Li had no idea. He truly went there intending to die. Once he died, the Western Pacification General’s residence and the Cui clan would inevitably suffer a devastating blow,” Chief Steward Li replied honestly.
The princess breathed a sigh of relief. Then his words had not been a lie, nor had they been part of a trap arranged by her imperial father against her.
“Then who was it that took him away?”
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