The Road to Glory

Chapter 31: "I Dislike My Woman Having Others in Her Heart..."

Fengyang.

Maidservants in slate-blue jackets filed into the hall carrying lacquered trays laden with either exquisite gowns or hairpins and ornaments, creating a dazzling display. After entering, they lined up on both sides, leaving a pathway wide enough for two people to walk abreast.

The matron in charge, hands tucked in her sleeves, spoke expressionlessly to the beautiful woman inside the hall: "Beauty Jiang, bathe and change quickly. Do not keep the Lord waiting."

Jiang Yichu shielded her three-year-old daughter in her arms, her almond-shaped eyes red from crying glaring angrily as she declared with hatred: "Get out! I am the wife of Changlian Wang's heir! Not some 'Beauty Jiang' you speak of!"

The matron lifted her eyelids, looking at her coldly: "I advise Beauty Jiang to be more sensible. Changlian Wang and his son are dead. Since you've entered this Star-Picking Tower, you are merely a beauty awaiting the Lord's summons to serve."

Her gaze fell upon the exquisitely lovely little girl in Jiang Yichu's arms, saying coldly: "The Lord spared this Wen remnant only because Beauty Jiang threatened suicide and evoked his pity. Has Beauty Jiang considered the consequences of angering the Lord?"

Jiang Yichu held her daughter tighter, gritting her pearly teeth as two clear tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes. Finally she said: "Leave. I will change myself."

The matron said arrogantly: "Then we shall await the beauty outside."

With a gesture, the women behind her placed down the lacquered trays before withdrawing one by one.

Little A Yin, still too young to understand, wiped the tear stains from Jiang Yichu's face with her chubby hands, saying in her childish voice: "Mother, don't cry. Bad people gone."

Looking at her utterly innocent daughter, Jiang Yichu remembered how her son had been lifted and dashed to death before her eyes. Grief overwhelmed her as she held the child and began sobbing aloud.

Not understanding why her mother was crying so bitterly, little A Yin seemed frightened and started crying too.

Jiang Yichu tearfully patted her daughter's back before handing her to the nursemaid nearby.

The nursemaid also had reddened eyes: "Heir's wife..."

Jiang Yichu wept: "Jun'er is already gone. I cannot let anything happen to A Yin too."

Covering her face with her hands, she wept as she leaned against the screen and entered the bathing chamber.

The nursemaid held little A Yin, seeing the tear droplets on the child's flushed, crying face - such an innocent and pitiful sight - and couldn't help but lift her sleeve to wipe her own tears: "My poor young mistress..."

Jiang Yichu immersed her entire body in the bathing pool, wet hair clinging to her pale cheeks as tears continued to flow uncontrollably from her eyes.

She wasn't a stunning beauty like Wen Yu, whose single glance could cause lovesickness. She possessed more of the subtle elegance and tenderness of Jiangnan's misty rains - from her appearance to her temperament, she was as refreshingly beautiful as an ink-wash painting.

From outside, she could still hear little A Yin's intermittent crying. Leaning against the edge of the bathing pool, she also broke into choking sobs, repeatedly murmuring: "Heng lang, Heng lang ah..."

Her husband Wen Heng lived up to his name, being an upright and refined gentleman of virtue.

Even after years of marriage, he would still often blush upon seeing her.

Whenever he traveled, his letters would always begin with the deeply affectionate words "My wife A Chu."

Such a sincere and clear-minded man, who wholeheartedly sought to support the state and benefit the people, had ended with the fate of being beheaded and having his corpse exposed.Jiang Yichu wept until she could no longer control herself. Remembering how her father-in-law and mother-in-law had met tragic ends, and that A Yu, who had gone to Southern Chen for a political marriage, was also facing an uncertain fate, she realized she alone could protect her young daughter. Suppressing the overwhelming sorrow in her heart, she finally stepped out of the bathing pool.

The matron waiting outside the hall heard the door open and turned to look. She saw Jiang Yichu, now dressed and made up, with only a faint redness lingering at the corners of her eyes from crying, which blended with the rouge to accentuate her delicate beauty. Satisfied, the matron said, "Lady Jiang, follow me."

After Pei Song captured Fengyang, he occupied the mansion of Changlian Wang.

Led by the servant woman, Jiang Yichu traversed winding paths and secluded lanes until she reached the courtyard where she had once lived with Wen Heng. Despite the makeup covering her face, her complexion paled instantly.

She halted at the courtyard gate, refusing to go further. The servant woman leading the way glanced back at her and said, "The master is waiting inside for you, Lady Jiang."

Jiang Yichu’s feet felt as if they were weighed down with lead, unable to move.

This was the place she had shared with her late husband. Every brick, stone, plant, and tree held memories of their time together.

She could sacrifice herself to serve the treacherous villain for her daughter’s sake, but she could not bear to do it here.

Seeing her still unmoved, the servant woman raised her slanted eyes and scolded, "What are you hesitating for, Lady Jiang? The master’s patience is not limitless."

A tear fell from the corner of Jiang Yichu’s exquisitely made-up eye. Trembling, she forced herself to step into the courtyard.

Two maids were stationed at the entrance of the main room. Upon her arrival, they opened the door. Stiffly, Jiang Yichu walked step by step into the room she had lived in since her wedding.

The room was warmed by underfloor heating, filled with a comforting, fragrant warmth.

Like a walking corpse, she knelt on the thick carpet embroidered with large peonies and said, "This guilty woman, Jiang, pays her respects to the Minister Over the Masses."

Pei Song had once been a member of the Party of Ao, the maternal relatives’ faction, repeatedly obstructing Changlian Wang and his son’s reforms and new policies. Leveraging the authority granted by the Party of Ao, he gradually rose to the position of military governor of Ezhou and was later enfeoffed as Minister Over the Masses.

Although Fengyang had fallen and he had slaughtered the Wen imperial clan, he was not the sole power in the land. To the north, Wei Qishan, descendant of a surrendered general from the previous dynasty, guarded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. To the south, Southern Chen, which had split off even before the previous dynasty, had established its own sovereignty.

As a turncoat general from Liang, proclaiming himself emperor before unifying the north and south would be unjustifiable and illegitimate. Thus, his subordinates addressed him as Minister Over the Masses.

After Jiang Yichu spoke, the person seated above remained silent for a long time. The only sound was the faint rustle of an object being toyed with in his hands. She knelt until her legs grew numb before he finally spoke indifferently, "Raise your head."

When Jiang Yichu looked up, her first sight was not the face of the wicked man but a carved jade pot he was playing with. The pot, made of warm, smooth white jade, was exquisitely carved, with a few red agate beads strung on a black cord attached to its handle. It was an artifact her late husband Wen Heng had cherished most.

He had often said, "A heart of ice resides in a jade pot," referring to his pure intentions toward her and the nation.

Perhaps her distraught expression had caught his eye. The man above let out a faint, ambiguous chuckle, leaning forward slightly. He hooked his finger through the thin cord on the pot’s handle and said leisurely, "This jade pot looked exquisite, so I picked it up to admire. But it seems I’ve touched upon something dear to you, madam?"The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he tilted his fingertips, letting the thin cord slip from his fingers under the weight of the jade pot below. He said with a smile, "Pei Song returns this to you, Madam."

But Jiang Yichu’s eyes welled up with tears again. Ignoring the numbness in her legs, she lunged forward: "No—"

Yet she failed to catch it. The lustrous, translucent white jade pot struck the steps and shattered into pieces.

The last memento Wen Heng had left her was gone. Jiang Yichu wept so hard she could barely catch her breath. As she reached to pick up the shards of the jade pot, a brocade shoe embroidered with intricate golden patterns stepped firmly on the fragment she intended to retrieve.

Jiang Yichu raised her tear-reddened eyes and met Pei Song’s cold, cruel face.

He said slowly, "That spineless Wen is already dead. I don’t like my woman holding another man in her heart—not even a dead one."

Leaning in, he wiped away her tears with his rough knuckles, his gaze almost tender for a fleeting moment. "Seeing you cry for him makes me want to dig up his corpse and whip it a few more times, Ah Jie."

Jiang Yichu shuddered, her tear-filled eyes fixed on him in terror. "You... who are you really?"

A hesitant yet urgent voice came from outside the door: "My lord, urgent news from Youzhou!"

Pei Song withdrew his hand and stood up, looking down at Jiang Yichu. "Don’t remember? Ah Jie, think harder."

With that, he draped the cloak hanging nearby over his shoulders and strode out, leaving Jiang Yichu alone, shaken and weeping over the shattered jade pot fragments on the floor.

The Chief Clerk waiting outside immediately presented the letter from Youzhou as Pei Song emerged. Walking briskly beside him, he reported, "My lord, as soon as word spread that you had taken Fengyang and executed Changlian Wang and his son, Youzhou issued a proclamation vowing to march south and punish you!"

Pei Song sneered contemptuously. "That old fox Wei Qishan sat idly by while I besieged Fengyang. Now that Fengyang has fallen, he’s using righteous rhetoric to attack me on behalf of Wen Shi? He’s just after a share of the empire."

As they spoke, they entered the main hall.

The Chief Clerk worriedly added, "Even so, Wei Qishan now has a just cause for war, which puts you at a great disadvantage, my lord."

In the center of the hall stood a long table over ten feet in length and half as wide, bearing a detailed sand table.

Pei Song looked down at the troop deployments of various factions on the sand table, unconcerned. "Does a just cause guarantee victory? Changlian Wang and his son had far greater repute among the people, yet they still became spirits under my blade."

Resting his hand on the exquisitely engraved sword at his waist, his gaze fixed on Youzhou, marked with the Wei banner, his eyes filled with arrogance. "Let him come."

The Chief Clerk, however, remained uneasy. "My lord, your swift capture of Luodu and the fall of Fengyang were possible because Changlian Wang and his son had not yet consolidated power, and the Great Liang had exhausted its vitality under the influence of the Party of Ao among the imperial in-laws. Had Changlian Wang ascended the throne and implemented sweeping reforms to purge the court’s deep-rooted ills, the Great Liang—this hundred-legged insect not yet dead—might have revived."

Pei Song responded with a cold laugh. "You must understand, sir, the most precious and lamentable thing in this world is timing. Clearly, that timing did not favor Wen Shi."

The Chief Clerk fell silent. Indeed, when Pei Song rebelled against the Liang, he had seized precisely that moment when heaven no longer sheltered the Wen clan.Had he rebelled just one day earlier, the Party of Ao would have joined forces with Changlian Wang. Like a centipede that refuses to die, their counterattack would have made the outcome of the Battle of Luodu unpredictable.

Had he rebelled one day later, the news of Changlian Wang's ascension to the throne would have been announced alongside the implementation of new laws. The people, long suffering under heavy corvée labor and taxes, would have found hope—who would then follow him in rebelling against Liang?

That Pei Song seized this opportunity was perhaps heaven's will to destroy the Great Liang.

The Chief Secretary asked, "Will my lord now dispatch troops to Dingzhou to block Wei Qishan's southern advance?"

Pei Song's gaze swept over the undulating terrain on the sand table, pausing at Yongzhou. He smiled faintly, "No rush. I heard Huo Kun is dead?"

The Chief Secretary replied, "That Yongzhou Governor Zhou Jing'an is stubbornly unyielding, bound by foolish loyalty. Likely, Huo Kun's repeated attempts to persuade him to surrender made him suspicious, so he preemptively eliminated the threat. With such resolve, if he could be persuaded to surrender to you, my lord, he would be a significant asset."

Pei Song twirled the black flag representing the Pei family between his fingers and planted it on the Yongzhou territory. "Then send troops to Yongzhou. Deliver a surrender ultimatum to Zhou Jing'an. If he opens the city gates and surrenders, I'll let him remain as Yongzhou Governor. If not..." He chuckled lightly, "We'll make an example of him to show the other prefectures that haven't yet surrendered."

The Chief Secretary hesitated, "Yongzhou isn't a military stronghold. South of the Wei River and north of the Guan River, among the prefectures yet to submit, Xiangzhou is the toughest nut to crack. If my lord wishes to establish authority, Xiangzhou would be the better choice."

Pei Song rotated the iron archer's ring on his finger, his smile cold and bleak. "Just follow my orders. There's an old acquaintance in Yongzhou I ought to visit."

Yongzhou.

The red sun rose high, its countless rays piercing the thin morning mist, dyeing both the banks of the Wei River and the frost-covered reeds with a pale crimson hue.

Wen Yu gazed at the eastward-flowing torrent, her long hair streaming in the wind, robes flapping loudly. She spoke calmly to the person behind her, "Take me back."

Xiao Li led over the horse that had been nuzzling for tender grass in the frosty riverside soil. As he helped Wen Yu mount, she looked at his outstretched arm offering support and remained silent for a moment before saying, "I'll be heading south today."

Xiao Li said, "I know."

Wen Yu pressed down on his hand to swing onto the horse's back. Once seated, he unexpectedly mounted behind her, his arms encircling hers as he tightened the thick cloak around her. Taking the reins, he said, "The morning wind is cold. Hold onto my clothes from behind. If your hands freeze and you can't maintain grip, you'll fall off."

With that, he spurred the horse's flanks and shouted, "Hyah!"

The horse suddenly broke into a gallop. Wen Yu squinted against the cold wind, looking toward the distant overlapping mountain ranges.

The vast expanse of morning light dispersed the gray mist that had shrouded their incoming path as the horse's hooves carried them back through the dawn.

When they returned to the Governor's residence, Zhou Jing'an and his wife had just discovered Wen Yu's disappearance and were anxiously pacing. Upon hearing reports of her return, they hurried out to greet her.

Before approaching the couple, Wen Yu glanced back at Xiao Li and said, "Thank you for taking me out of the city."

With that, she turned and ascended the steps.

Xiao Li watched her receding back and the hair flowing like heavy satin over her cloak in the wind, suddenly feeling this might be the last time he would ever see her.

Madam Zhou, upon seeing Wen Yu, was nearly moved to tears by anxiety, "Where did you go, my lady? When the maid reported your disappearance this morning, my husband and I... we feared you might have done something rash."

Wen Yu said, "I apologize for causing you and His Excellency concern. I went outside the city and forgot to leave word with the maid."Zhou Jing'an repeatedly urged: "It is good that the Princess has returned, but you must not be shortsighted..."

The fragility from last night had completely vanished from Wen Yu's eyes, as if all the pain and despair had flowed away with her tears by the Wei River this morning, carried eastward by its currents. She said calmly: "Until Pei Song is dead, I dare not take my own life to face my parents in the underworld."

Hearing these words, Zhou Jing'an finally felt completely at ease. His weather-beaten eyes remained red even today as he said: "It is good that the Princess has such resolve. I just learned this morning that the Marquis of Shuobian, Wei Qishan, has issued a proclamation to crusade against Pei Song!"

He cursed vehemently: "That mere lackey of the Party of Ao, how dare he commit such treason against his rightful lord! Let's see who in this world would submit to him! Once the Princess borrows troops from Southern Chen and joins forces with the Marquis of Shuobian, the day of executing Bandit Pei is within reach!"

Upon hearing about Wei Qishan's mobilization, Wen Yu's eyelashes lifted slightly before understanding dawned on her. Wei Qishan's decision to send troops at this moment was merely to seize the empire under a more righteous pretext.

Nevertheless, with the Wei family's forces keeping Pei Song occupied, his gradual conquest of the Great Liang's territories would inevitably slow down.

For her sister-in-law, for A Yin—the sole remaining bloodline of her elder brother, and for the blood debt owed to the entire Wen family, she must depart immediately.

Her path to survival, the sharp blade of revenge she could wield—all lay in Southern Chen.

There, long ago, her father the Prince had laid the groundwork for reclaiming Southern Chen.

She bowed respectfully to Zhou Jing'an with clasped hands: "I trouble you, Minister, to prepare a carriage and send me southward."