Although Xue Junliang didn"t spoil him, the Crown Prince was still Xue w.a.n.g"s only son so he was always pampered. Naturally he grew up feeling he was above most people. An arrogant child being told that he was uneducated by an ugly woman, of course he got angry.

The Little Crown Prince was about trike back when they heard a chuckle. A man in black robes approached from a distance, followed by many attendants.

Teng Yun watched the man came over and suddenly his heart boiled. Since he was born, his father always told Teng Yun to be careful of Xue people"s ambitious nature. Later when he grew up, he fought with Xue Country for many years, he came to wear the advice on his skin like an armor.

Regarding Xue Junliang, Teng Yun admittedly also admired him. This man was a powerful opponent. He also led his country towards peace and prosperity. Teng Yun"s own country was inferior to Xue w.a.n.g"s in so many aspects.

But at the end of the day, Xue Junliang was the villain who had inflicted war and calamity to Teng Country"s innocent people.

Xue Junliang was still wearing the same clothing he wore when he killed Teng Yun, as well as the five-jade-stringed ta.s.sel crown. He walked over with a slight smile on his face, seemingly unperturbed by Ugly Empress" face.

Seeing Xue w.a.n.g, the servants present were both shocked and scared because they all heard that just now Her Majesty had ridiculed the Crown Prince. Everybody who had eyes could see how Xue w.a.n.g loved the Crown Prince above anyone. Everybody also knew this Ugly Empress was the mistress of the Imperial Harem in name only.

Xiu Yao quickly knelt down. From the corner of her eye she saw that the Empress was still standing; eyes glaring darkly…

Xiu Yao thought the Empress was frightened upon meeting His Majesty. After all this woman had been living inside the Imperial Harem for three years and this was the first time she saw His Majesty.

It was indeed a sad story, but Xiu Yao didn"t want to be implicated with trouble because of her Empress.

Xiu Yao tried subtly tugging at Teng Yun"s sleeves, indicating him to kneel down.

It wasn"t that Teng Yun didn"t know he had to kneel, but this man was not his king. Teng Country"s King was Teng Yun"s father. Moreover, Xue Junliang was his enemy, Teng Yun never knelt for him even when he was a prisoner.

A man had gold under his knees. He must only kneel for his own father and mother.

Xue Junliang swept his gaze around. Immediately the Crown Prince, Xue Pei went to him and hid behind his back. The rest were kneeling on the ground holding their breath. Only the Empress stood firmly in the middle.

Xue Junliang, or course, had no clue that his empress wasn"t the same person anymore, so he thought this empress refused to kneel down out of her high-standing as Feng Country"s Grand Princess.

Three years ago, Xue Junliang had accepted the marriage alliance with Feng. At that time, Xue wasn"t as strong as now, but had already had many wars coming. Then Feng w.a.n.g offered his elder sister in marriage and therefore forming an alliance between two countries.

When Xue and Teng fought, Feng w.a.n.g had sent a lot of troops to support Xue Junliang. Because of that, even if Xue Junliang found this Empress unsightly, he hadn"t thrown her off her seat.

But now, as the Crown Prince Xue Pei had said, Teng Country had already in the brink of collapse. The alliance between Xue and Feng was coming to an end.

[T/N : Jerk!]

Xue Junliang addressed the Ugly Empress, calmly smiling, “Aifei, you were saying?”

[T/N : Aifei (爱妃) means beloved wife. I"m going to use the pinyin just because it"s shorter. LOL.]

Teng Yun felt a sneer coming up so he fought to pull himself together. After all, he was now occupying the body of Feng Country"s Grand Princess; angering Xue w.a.n.g was not a wise move.

“Have Your Majesty ever heard that an army with strong willpower always win? Right now, Teng Country is at the last ounce of their strength. If they lose another city, the loss would affect their innocent citizen. On the other hand, Your Majesty had seized another city, but the city is still a Teng Country land. It could be a point of advantage if they want to launch an attack. Moreover, right now Teng Country is desperate to strike back, and Teng w.a.n.g has been sending request for help from Feng Country. We don"t know for sure if Feng Country won"t turn their back to us. Right this moment, they could be sending help to Teng, wishing to reap benefit from the side*.”

[T/N : *Standing to the side, then reaping benefit after the conflicting parties exhausted themselves.]

As Teng Yun finished his speech, Xiu Yao took a sharp breath. She couldn"t understand a single thing, but from the tone of it, sounded like the Empress was criticizing His Majesty, just as she did to the Crown Prince. This kind of crime wouldn"t end up with the beheading of only the Empress, but also every one under her.

Xue Junliang just silently stared at Teng Yun, and after a while he finally laughed and said, “I didn"t expect Aifei knew the arts of war. You surpa.s.sed my first opinion of you.”

Then he turned to look behind him and pat Xue Pei"s head, “Stay here and spend some time with your mother.”

Xue Junliang actually had slipped out of a palace banquet intended to celebrating the defeat of Teng Country. Xue Junliang, as the king, naturally had to be present. After encouraging his generals to drink wine, he"d slipped out to take a walk.

But a servant sent by Jiang Yu had come reporting that the Crown Prince had taken off saying he wanted to go to the Empress" palace. So Xue Junliang had gone after the little crown prince.

After telling the Crown Prince to stay with the Empress, Xue Junliang went back to the banquet. Hearing what the Empress had said, he not only didn"t punish her, but he"d started to see her in a new light.

Xue Pei didn"t want to stay with the Empress. What she"d said was reasonable, but almost everyone could talk theories of war. She was just speaking ignorant and wild guesses, it just so happened at the same time Father was being kind.

Xue Pei was unwilling, but he still respected Xue Junliang, so he could only stay behind.

—

In the Palace there were no secrets that weren"t known by everybody. Especially not a horrifying ‘secret" that Xue w.a.n.g had gone to visit the Ugly Empress.

The news that Xue Junliang stood at the same place with Teng Yun for one incense time traveled to the ear of every palace maids and eunuchs, and eventually to the ears of Imperial Concubines. Each time it pa.s.sed down, the story altered bit by bit.

[T/N : One incense time, the time to burn one stick of incense, it"s around 15 minutes of modern time.]

In the end, people thought that last night His Majesty had bedded the Ugly Empress. Also that Crown Prince had become very close with the Empress, just like real mother and son, he even accompanied her for lunch.

Teng Yun couldn"t help laughing when he heard this. He had seen himself in the mirrors; his looks really was so frightening. To consummate with this empress, Xue w.a.n.g had to be very brave.

The little Crown Prince had indeed stayed with Teng Yun, but it was only for lunch. Looked like the prince hadn"t wanted see Teng Yun"s face for too long, so Teng Yun sent him out.

Now Teng Yun felt he was quite fortunate that he had this face. Otherwise, he"d really have to sleep with Xue Junliang at some point…

He touched his face. It looked ugly but it was also painful, especially if touched.

Xiu Yao came in bringing dinner and saw the Empress staring at a mirror with a straight face. She thought the Empress was mourning about her own appearance.

“Your Majesty, please eat. Today, the kitchen had made your favorite fish soup.”

—