Chapter 36: A Complete Failure

Proofreader: Prof. Zhu Yuan

No one could stop Princess Changle who had been engulfed in grudge and lost her mind.

She rushed out like blowing wind and disappeared in no time. Empress Xiao, livid with rage, smoothed out her knitted eyebrows, and turned to Ruan Qingqing, with cold look in her eyes.

“Ruan Qingqing!”

“Your Highness!” Ruan Qingqing knelt down with a flop on the ground.

“Before you hit a dog, find out who’s its master. I would let your sordid thought and bad behavior go unchecked as long as you do not offend me. Don’t forget Changle is my daughter.” Ruan Qingqing bent over, having her heart in her mouth. Seeing that, Empress Xiao continued coldly: “I believe you perfectly understand why I helped you acquire such high status. And I can also deprive you of your title at any time.”

Ruan Qingqing trembled with fear.

Empress Xiao had touched her sore spot.

She couldn’t bear the thought of going through her past sufferings. Now she was Infanta Lianhua, Beiming Ting’s fiancé. She hated to live a hard life like that in the past.

“Your Highness, what I did is for the benefit of the princess. I know it upset you that she carried a torch for Beiming Xuan. What I did could meet your wish.”

“How come?” Empress Xiao cast a frosty stare.

Ruan Qingqing raised her head and answered immediately: “The princess is an impetuous young lady. She turns a deaf ear to criticism. All our persuasion would be of no use. She would never give up until she comes to her tether’s end.”

They tried in vain to talk Changle out of that. She was more than “deaf-eared.” She must be brainless!

As her mother, Empress Xiao definitely knew how Changle conducted herself. However, she was afraid that Changle would ultimately reach the end of her “heavy chain” instead of her tether! She would be heavily battered!

Ruan Qingqing said in high-sounding words. Barely could she conceal her intention to make use of Changle.

Empress Xiao flew into a fury. She was about to reprove Ruan Qingqing when she saw a maidservant rush in, panting heavily. The maidservant ran towards Empress Xiao, knelt down and said: “Your Highness, things are not going well! The princess is brought into the Imperial Study!”

“What happened?” Empress Xiao felt she was almost plagued to death. She asked immediately: “Who took her there?”

She was Changle’s personal maidservant. After running back and forth between the Phoenix Palace and the place where Changle was caught, she had been exhausted. Kneeling in front of Empress Xiao, she answered immediately without daring to stop for breath: “It was the Emperor’s bodyguard. The Princess, the Princess…”

“What did she do? Tell me!” Empress Xiao frowned, gripped by a sense of impending doom.

“After leaving the Phoenix Palace, the princess kept yelling that she was going to the Yun Palace to meet the prince. And she kept screaming abuse. Then…she ran towards the Imperial Army and asked the general to dispatch some soldiers at her command. And then…then…”

“Silly girl!” Empress Xiao was too angry to retain her dignified manner. How she wished she could take Changle back!

Empress Xiao had explored every avenue to keep Changle’s improper conduct a secret. However, it was so shameless of Changle to be her own muckraker. Every member of the Imperial Army was the Emperor’s bodyguard. Was she courting her death by resorting to them?

“Somebody here! I’m going to the Imperial Study!” She had to take her silly daughter back before it was too late. She would not be able to remedy the situation if the Emperor got pissed off.

Empress Xiao was about to leave the Phoenix Palace when Ruan Qingqing came to stop her：“Your Highness, you should not go.”

“Why?” Empress Xiao was in a bad mood, expressing her dissatisfaction with Ruan Qingqing.

Ruan Qingqing stopped her and said: “Your Highness, please think twice before you go. The Emperor definitely knows that the Princess had no sense of propriety. What she did is not entirely unexpected by him. However, if you go to the Imperial Study right now, the Emperor would get you wrong. He might think of you as lacking sense of propriety just like the Princess.”

Empress Xiao got butterflies in her stomach as she understood the overtones in Ruan Qingqing’s words.

What Princess Changle did would damage her reputation as a respected empress. People might accuse her of failing to provide guidance, a relatively small misdemeanor. However, if now she rushed to the Imperial Study and got implicated in the incident, the consequences could be serious.

Her marriage was virtually a dead one. That was the reason why her son, legal wife’s child, had yet to be appointed as the crown prince.

It didn’t matter to her if Princess Changle had done something wrong. She would remain indifferent even if she herself was condemned for Princess Changle’s wrongdoings. However, she would brook no obstacles placed on Beiming Ting’s career path. If that happened, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Empress Xiao would do everything to secure the future position of crown prince for Beiming Ting, even at the expense of her silly daughter.

“Your Highness, please stay calm. The Emperor knows fully well Princess Changle’s temperament. She would only be scolded by the Emperor, no more punishment. If you worry about her, just send someone to ask around. If something serious happens, you can figure out solutions in light of different situations.” Ruan Qingqing said cautiously as she tried to fathom out Empress Xiao’s real intention. Empress Xiao followed her advice, and sat back slowly.

“The silly princess helped me out of the predicament.” Ruan Qingqing said to herself silently, puckering her face with a smile.

She knew perfectly well that Empress Xiao was by no means caring about Princess Changle and was merely afraid of implicating herself. After weighing up the pros and cons, she would definitely put Princess Changle aside.

What truly concerned Empress Xiao was Beiming Ting’s future.

In order to help Beiming Ting achieve his ambition, Ruan Qingqing had to rack her brains in scheming. She would seize every possible opportunity.

She stroked Empress Xiao’s shoulders and comforted her in a soothing voice. As expected, Empress Xiao sent someone to see what happened in the Imperial Study and shelved the plan to go personally.

Peace was restored in the Phoenix Palace. However, there was trouble brewing in the Imperial Study.

The Emperor had already known how Beiming Xuan was attacked and saved. He learned about that from a letter instead of the widespread news.

The letter was from Beiming Xuan. Beiming Xuan had given a detailed account of how he was attacked and how his guards had suffered. He also expressed his anger and anxiety.

There was nothing wrong with Beiming Xuan’s account. However, the Emperor got irritated at the sight of the words “safe and sound”

Beiming Xuan wrote that he was safe and sound.

That really upset him. He didn’t expect to kill Beiming Xuan, but it really pissed him off that Beiming Xuan was not even slightly injured.

This assassination attempt was to signal Beiming Xuan’s attitude and test his fighting skills. However, neither of the two goals was achieved.

His attitude? Except for anger, Beiming Xuan expressed nothing. Nothing could be inferred from the text. Beiming Xuan disguised his real intention, which the Emperor was desperate to decipher.

What’s worse, the annihilation of all the assassins made it impossible for him to learn about Beiming Xuan’s fighting skill. Nobody would return to tell him about that!

This assassination attempt turned out to be a complete failure!

Failing to get him assassinated was not the major disappointment. With extraordinary fighting skills, Beiming Xuan could protect himself from attacks. So the Emperor didn’t expect to kill him. However, someone suddenly appeared and saved him, which really upset the Emperor.

The Emperor clenched his teeth in bitter hatred. Why would Beiming Xuan have such good luck?