20demayo Chapter 57 Her Enemy
Chapter 57 Her Enemy
"Lianniang, why didn't you tell me that you have a little girl here? Whose child is she?" Lord Tang looked at his wife with a wronged expression, just like a little wife who had been abandoned.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" He Xiaolian impatiently shoved the man out the door and slammed him down under the wooden house with a single palm strike. Tang Qifei, the lord of Tang Fortress, used the force of the palm strike to flip over and regain his footing. As soon as he landed, the poisonous insects beneath his feet scattered in all directions as if they had encountered their natural enemy.
"Sigh!" He sighed and dusted himself off. He knew his wife was furious and could only wait for his son to return so he could relay a message and get the truth out of her.
Strangely enough, he hadn't seen Yi'er for half a month.
Lord Tang turned and walked towards the valley entrance. As soon as he turned, the helpless expression on his face vanished. His eyes instantly became deep and sharp, like those of a hawk, completely unlike the idiotic look he had just had on the wooden hut. His unhurried gait exuded a fierce aura, and his imposing presence inspired fear in those who beheld him.
Back at the cabin, after all that commotion, He Xiaolian was in a bad mood. She stared blankly at the wide-open door for a while, until a soft call brought her back to her senses.
“…Auntie…Auntie…”
She suppressed the melancholy on her face and looked at Fei Xi, who was calling her name.
She would treat the little girl in bed kindly, not only because the little girl caught her eye, but also because she saw a kind of emotional stirring called "obsession" in her son.
The word "love" is more poisonous than the most potent curse in the world. Countless lovers cannot understand or see through it, and have ruined their lives because of this word.
She wasn't sure if the little girl's existence was a blessing or a curse for her son. To fully understand someone's character, to control them, or to see if they are beneficial to you, you must first get them to open up to you, and appropriate kindness is often the key to breaking down their defenses.
It's hard for people to be wary of those who care about them, even if the other person is a stranger.
"Child, did I scare you?" He Xiaolian stepped forward and touched Fei Xi's forehead.
Fei Xi shook her head gently. She was in relatively good spirits, but she lacked strength and spoke weakly, only able to say in broken sentences:
"Auntie...don't be angry...hit me!"
He Xiaolian instantly understood Fei Xi's meaning and burst out laughing. She wiped away the tears that welled up in her eyes as she laughed: "Okay, Auntie won't be angry. Whoever makes Auntie angry, Auntie will beat them up. There's nothing that a beating can't solve!"
"...give them two beatings."
"Alright, alright, Auntie doesn't hold her anger in. If one beating isn't enough, she'll beat you up twice. Oh, how lovable you are." He Xiaolian smiled and pinched the little girl's cheek.
Seeing that Aunt He understood her meaning, Fei Xi smiled foolishly and nodded gently before closing her eyes in relief. Having just been on the verge of life and death again, her emotions had fluctuated greatly, and now that she was relaxed, she was really quite sleepy.
Seeing that everyone was asleep, He Xiaolian turned and walked towards the outside of the wooden house. She was as light as a swallow, like a butterfly dancing gracefully, and quickly arrived at the back of the valley in a few flashes.
Behind the valley flows a stream, its water sparkling and crystal clear, yet not a single fish can be seen. One side of the stream is teeming with poisonous insects, while the other side is completely devoid of any creature, making it all seem extremely eerie.
On this side of the stream, where there are no poisonous insects, stands a wooden hut. A refined and dignified man dressed in a blue Taoist robe is meditating by the eaves in front of the hut. Hearing a sound, he opens his eyes, looks at He Xiaolian who is approaching, and says:
"Young Master Tang is well today. May I ask what brings Saintess He here?"
“The little girl is awake. Tang Qifei saw her just now. I’m afraid some people already know you’re here.” He Xiaolian’s expression was solemn. Whenever it involved that bitch, she was always prepared for the worst.
"...Xi'er's survival this time is all thanks to the Holy Maiden and Young Master Tang's help, for which I am deeply grateful. This is not mere politeness; their target was Xi'er, and I would have risked my life to protect her. However, I truly cannot bear to implicate the Holy Maiden and Young Master Tang any further in this calamity..."
Before Yin Zhengyi could finish speaking, He Xiaolian raised her hand to interrupt him:
“Fellow Daoist Yin, there’s no need to be so polite. I’m not afraid you’ll laugh at me, but my nemesis is a fool who has brought me into trouble with a cunning and extremely vicious enemy. I’m afraid that he’s already colluded with the group that’s been hunting down Xi’er. His target isn’t just the little girl; my child and I have long been his targets, and he wants to get rid of us as soon as possible.”
"Is the enemy the Holy Maiden spoke of Princess Ruiyun from the previous dynasty?"
"Yes, it is her."
The woman before him was composed, showing no trace of the resentment one might expect from someone whose husband had changed his mind. This sight filled Yin Zhengyi with secret admiration.
He had heard some of the anecdotes about Tangjiabao.
For generations, Tangjiabao has intermarried with the Nanpu people. Since the founding of Tangjiabao, the position of fortress lord could only be inherited by someone with Nanpu blood. Therefore, while the successive lords of Tangjiabao may have had many children born to concubines, no matter how outstanding the children born to concubines were, the position of fortress lord was always inherited by the principal wife and her children.
After the previous dynasty was overthrown by Emperor Hua, when the army entered the capital, Prince Cheng of the previous dynasty, Shen Beiteng, knelt down without any backbone and shouted that Emperor Hua was a sage ruler who had been reincarnated and a wise and virtuous ruler chosen by heaven.
To demonstrate benevolence, Emperor Hua, who had slaughtered all the royal family members of the previous dynasty, did not harm Prince Cheng. Instead, he bestowed upon him the title of Prince Cheng'en. Prince Cheng'en's only daughter, Shen Mengrong, retained the title conferred by the previous dynasty and was granted the title of Princess Ruiyun.
Therefore, even though Shen Mengrong's status as a member of the former royal family was awkward, as long as she didn't do anything reckless and rebel, her title as a princess and the Emperor's kindness were enough to allow her to walk freely among ordinary people.
However, when Princess Ruiyun reached marriageable age, she entered the palace heavily pregnant and begged the Empress to arrange a marriage for her, without waiting for Emperor Hua to bestow a marriage upon her.
Princess Ruiyun, who was in the prime of her youth, didn't fancy any of the princes and nobles in the capital. Instead, she took a fancy to Tang Qifei, who was then in the capital on business and was the young master of Tangjiabao.
The two had sex while drunk, and the woman became pregnant overnight.
However, Tang Qifei had already married He Xiaolian, the holy maiden of the Nanpu tribe, and the family rules of Tangjiabao made it impossible for him to abandon his wife and marry someone else.
With the oath made at Mount Tai, even the Emperor Hua cannot openly interfere in the affairs of the Tang family. Besides, what kind of mess is it that an unmarried woman is entangled with a married man?
Before Emperor Hua could speak, He Xiaolian, who was also heavily pregnant, heard about this and rode into the capital alone, stripped Tang Qifei naked, and hung him on the city wall.
The elders of Tangjiabao, seeing that she had gone too far, and perhaps for other reasons, relented and agreed to let Princess Ruiyun enter the family as a secondary wife.
Although Princess Ruiyun was able to marry her beloved as a secondary wife, she was still classified as a concubine according to the laws of the Hua Dynasty and the genealogy of the Tang family.
"...The one who wronged me was my enemy. I didn't hold a grudge against my enemy and even considered divorcing her. However, as the Holy Maiden of the Nanpu tribe, I also had responsibilities that I had to bear, so the divorce ultimately failed. Who knew that my enemy thought that the Tang family, like other aristocratic families, respected the eldest son. In order to seize the position of the eldest son, she actually pretended to fall and give birth prematurely after seeing me under the pretext of serving tea, in order to accuse me of pushing her."
He Xiaolian still remembers the despair of no one believing she hadn't pushed the person. As a woman of the martial world, she had never witnessed the insidious schemes of the inner court. For such a ridiculous reason, they were willing to risk their lives to frame others.
In her opinion, this was utterly absurd and ridiculous!
"Later, although she gave birth to her eldest son as she wished, the child was born prematurely and was weak and sickly. She was convinced that the position of young master of the fortress was her child's for the taking. However, when my child was three years old and was officially recorded in the family genealogy as the young master of the Tang family, she lost her temper for the first time in front of everyone and made a scene in the ancestral hall. She was convinced that it was my Nanpu tribe that was preventing her child from becoming the young master. So she repeatedly sowed discord between the Tang family fortress and the Nanpu tribe and attacked my people. Only then did I realize that she had been after the Tang family fortress from the very beginning. It's ridiculous that my nemesis thought that his Rongrong sister loved him so much that she was willing to be his concubine."
"We, the people of the martial world, have always been quick to settle scores and seek revenge. The Holy Maiden has a magnanimous heart, which I truly admire."
After hearing He Shenggu's story, Yin Zhengyi felt great admiration for the woman in front of him.
The fact that the Holy Maiden could suppress her anger and deal with the other party for so many years is enough to show her magnanimity and wisdom. For the Holy Maiden, killing "Princess Ruiyun" may not be difficult, but the price of seeking momentary pleasure would be the annihilation of Tangjiabao and the Nanpu tribe.