The Attack of the Wastrel

How could these two matters be possibly comparable to each other?

Yuan Zheng could only silently accept it as Rong Yuan vented his anger on him. If Yuan Zheng tried to explain himself again, he would only cause Rong Yuan to become angrier. Who knew, he might end up having to clean the latrine pits for a month instead. It was better for him to keep quiet before Rong Yuan had given him any punishment.

When Gu Lingzhi came out from her sleeping quarters and was met with this situation, she immediately felt ashamed and wanted to return to her room.

She was stopped by Rong Yuan the moment she turned around. He pulled her into an embrace, and he whispered into his ear, “Why are you going back in? Follow me.” Then, he nested his head between her neck and her shoulder and took a whiff of her scent.

Yuan Zheng, who had just turned around to look at Rong Yuan immediately turned back as soon as he saw what was going on.

For goodness sake, he was still single and he had to witness something like this every day.

“Your Highness, please hurry up, the Emperor is waiting for you at the gates,” the guard waiting outside the Ronghua Palace asked, on the verge of tears after Yuan Zheng had not gotten back to him for so long. He did not think that he would be met with such a scene when he ran inside to find out what was going on.

If he knew that he would have accidentally disrupted the Third Prince and his Consort, he would not have accepted such a task. He would definitely be punished for this later on!

Ever since Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi had gotten married, the Imperial Guards in the Royal Palace had already made their own set of rules internally.

Before Rong Yuan had gotten married, he would wake up at dawn every morning to train and these Imperial Guards had to take turns to train with him. Now, no one dared to wake the Third Prince up at dawn anymore.

In the past, Rong Yuan slept only at around midnight. Now, he would go back to his sleeping quarters the moment the sky had turned dark. He used the excuse that it was good to go to sleep early and wake up early as well. They would have believed him if it were not for the fact that the servants had to run a bath for them every midnight.

Ever since their marriage, many things had changed. Basically, one could bother the Third Prince as long as he was not having alone time with Gu Lingzhi.

Rong Yuan looked at the guard for a moment and saw the changing expression on the guard’s face, which he found funny.

It seems that he had made the guard impatient and nervous whilst embracing Gu Lingzhi. What a pity, because he was not going to change.

As he brought Gu Lingzhi to the palace gates with him, he patted the guard on the back and said, “I’ll leave the cleaning of the latrine pits in the Ronghua Palace to you for half a month.” He then walked off.

A minute later, they reached the palace gates.

The gates were filled with Imperial Guards and people that Wei Guoping had brought together with him. The air was filled with tension. Rong Han also looked incredibly bitter whilst Wei Guoping continued to demand for the Empress non-stop.

“The only reason why I’m still talking to you courteously here is because I respect you as the Emperor. Give my sister back to me, or else no one gets to leave the Palace!”

“Advisor Wei, you sure are big with your words. I would like to see you stop me from leaving the Palace!” Rong Yuan laughed coldly as he walked nearer to the gates. He took one step out of the gates as he looked at Wei Guoping with disdain. “I’ve stepped out now, what are you going to do?”

“Your Highness, you…you…” Wei Guoping stammered, Rong Yuan’s actions surprised him.

It was like a slap to his face. How could he not even bother to discuss matters with him first before pushing his luck like this? Wasn’t he worried of what the people would think of him?

“Your Highness, don’t push your luck!” Wei Guoping finally managed to say something after a few seconds of deliberation. As his eyes swept across the people who had heard of what was happening and came over to take a look, he tilted his chin up and said to Rong Yuan, “How dare you be so daring even after holding my sister hostage? Aren’t you worried about what the people would think?”

Rong Han knitted his eyebrows, “Advisor Wei, I’ve already told you, the Empress is not in the Royal Palace.”

“Not in the Royal Palace?” Wei Guoping gave a bitter laugh. “Where else would she be, then?”

“How would I know that?” Rong Han retorted, “The Empress colluded with the North Qiu Kingdom to betray our country. On the account that she was the Empress, I let her continue to stay at the Yonghe Palace whilst being served by people, yet she has suddenly disappeared. As her brother, were you aware of what she was doing behind my back?”

“What are you talking about? She has always been loyal to you. Even though you have always favored Consort Rong, she has taken care of your harem without any complaints whatsoever. Why would she do anything to betray you? On the other hand, even before the Third Prince has returned from the North Qiu Kingdom, my sister has told me that you had already planned to strip her of her Empress title and give it to Consort Rong instead. Did you hurt my sister just because you wanted to give the position to Consort Rong?” 

The hurtful expression on Wei Guoping’s face had fooled many people into believing that what he was saying was the truth. Furthermore, it was not a secret that the Emperor had always favored Consort Rong. Even the ordinary people of the Chiyang City were aware of this fact. Ever since Consort Rong had entered the Royal Palace, Rong Han had never gotten any more concubines. For those consorts that had entered the Palace before Consort Rong, their titles were as good as an empty shell too. Following this train of thought, it was not completely out of the question what Wei Guoping had suggested.

“You’re extremely funny. If the Emperor wishes to make someone the Empress, he can just do it outrightly, why would he have to go through such underhand means?” Rong Yuan bellowed in laughter.

The Tianyuan Continent was split into different countries, but people in the Royal Palace were in actual fact, not very different from the people who had no royal status. Many royal families required the support of big Clans to stay in power. This was also the reason why Wei Guoping could stand outside the palace gates and disrupt the Royal Family for so long without being detained by the Imperial Guards.

Similarly, the rules in the Royal Palace were not extremely strict as well. The Empress had been chosen as the Empress back then precisely because she was the Emperor’s only official wife. Later on, even though the Emperor had fallen in love with Consort Rong, he had never once thought of stripping the Empress of her position. However, this did not mean that he did not have the power of doing so. He did not do so because he cherished his old friendship with the Empress.

Wei Guoping was furious with how Rong Yuan’s actions had insulted him earlier on. He turned his head abruptly to the people who were watching the commotion, “Do all of you see this? This is the Third Prince that all of you adore, he has no respect for the Empress whatsoever. Even though my Wei Clan isn’t the most powerful one, the advisors from my clan have contributed significantly to the country. We’ve been loyal for centuries! Now that my sister is missing, they are dismissing me just by telling me that they don’t know where she is. They’re even telling me something as ridiculous as the Empress colluding with the North Qiu Kingdom! How could I not be upset? Just because we are ordinary folks, does it mean that the Royal Family can treat us like this?”

“That’s right, hand over the Empress and give the Wei Clan a clear explanation!” someone from the crowd immediately agreed with Wei Guoping. Then, more and more people started to do the same as they all looked at Rong Yuan and Rong Han with disdain in their eyes.

Rong Yuan smiled as he leaned against the gates, looking at the people who were shouting at him. “So many of you are supportive of the Empress colluding with the North Qiu Kingdom. Tell me, are all of you his accomplices?”

Suddenly, the calls from the crowd diminished in volume. The people who had come to witness the commotion immediately fell silent, afraid that they would be taken away by the Imperial Guards.

“Slander! My sister is the Empress, what is there that she wants but can’t have? How could she possibly collude with the North Qiu Kingdom? Stop damaging her reputation!” 

“All of you can decide whether it’s slander once you’ve taken a look for yourself,” Rong Yuan said as he took a stack of letters from Gu Lingzhi that was written by the Empress and addressed to the King of the North Qiu Kingdom.

He handed the stack of letters to Yuan Zheng so that he could hold it out in front of him. Martial Artists had good eyesight, so it did not take much effort for the crowd to read what was on those letters.

More uniquely was the imprint of the Empress’ spiritual power on the letters – there was no way that it could be replicated.

Even if that were the case, after Wei Guoping had panicked for a moment, he clenched his teeth and told Rong Yuan off, “This is not my sister’s imprint. You must have replicated it using some sort of method. Without her body, it’s easy for everyone to believe what you say. Do not be fooled by him, all of you!”

“This is troublesome,” Rong Yuan merely shook his head and sighed. Whilst the whole crowd was still shocked at what they had just read, Rong Yuan turned to one of the Imperial Guards and ordered him, “Detain him. Betraying the country is a crime and whoever is guilty of it should be thrown in the dungeons.”

“What?” Wei Guoping’s eyes widened in surprise, unable to believe that Rong Yuan had given such an order. The crowd looked on as rows of Imperial Guards shuffled out of the Palace and surrounded Wei Guoping.

“You can’t detain me! My sister is the Empress, you can’t do this! Aren’t you afraid that tongues may wag?” The crowd was too afraid to react. Wei Guoping could not understand how things had turned out this way. Wasn’t he the one who had the upper hand? How could Rong Yuan detain him?