Chapter 79: Troops at the City Gates

“Miss Yu Ji, the Prime Minister hasn’t returned yet after discussing matters with the Imperial Clan all day,” a young servant dressed like a page said as he appeared silently in the dungeon. He found Nian Zhi’an, who was fiddling with the torture instruments, and relayed, “A Shuang asked me to pass this message on to you.”

Lately, Nian Zhi’an had practically taken over the entire space in the Prime Minister’s Dungeon. Even the people Meng Congyun had locked up had been obediently moved out for her—all except King Su and his wife. The rest were almost all from the Meng Family.

They might have been a bunch of good-for-nothings, but even losers like them could be squeezed for some value. For instance, she could pry out how much they’d sold to the Vassal Kings or how many secrets they’d leaked to the enemy.

That meant Nian Zhi’an had been quite busy recently. If no one could find her outside, they were guaranteed to locate her in the dungeon.

Meng Congyun had been as busy as ever these past few days too. A few days earlier, the court had received a battle report from the front lines. The Vassal Kings’ infighting had left them badly weakened, allowing Zhao Kingdom’s forces to swoop in and take advantage.

With half of Liang Kingdom’s territory on the verge of falling, the imperial relatives and ministers were in a panic, urging the Prime Minister openly and covertly to lead the campaign herself.

If the Duke of Zhen Guo were still alive, he might have shouldered the burden and fought on the front lines. But Liang’s usable generals had either perished in the infighting or were Meng Congyun’s people, who would stage a few battles before fleeing.

Sending a couple of good-for-nothings to the front would only make them lose cities even faster.

So who else on the entire court could lead troops into battle? After some discussion, it seemed the only option left was the Prime Minister.

Back then, if not for the Prime Minister blocking the Eldest Princess and King Su’s armies, Liang Kingdom’s ruler would have changed long ago. Apart from her, no one else seemed more suitable.

That was why people kept harassing Meng Congyun these days.

Besides leading troops, selecting a new emperor was another huge problem. Picking a child from the Imperial Clan or one of the two Eldest Princesses would have worked fine. But the Prime Minister’s stunt had thrown the Vassal Kings into chaos. In the end, wasn’t this whole situation her own doing?

The Xiao Clan fumed silently. The grass on the graves of their cautionary tales hadn’t even grown yet, and the soil on the new ones was still fresh. With Zhao Kingdom’s army closing in, they had to beg the Prime Minister instead.

The imperial relatives gathered every few days, stuffing the Prime Minister’s Residence with invitations like snowflakes. Meng Congyun hadn’t torn into them yet, so out of every ten invitations, she’d attend one or two.

But today, the Prime Minister had gone to the Imperial Palace and hadn’t returned by the expected time. Not a single one of her Dark Guards had come back with news either.

Normally, if she was running late, she’d send someone to tell Nian Zhi’an so the household wouldn’t worry. No message at all was unusual.

Nian Zhi’an gave up tinkering with her little toys and frowned as she asked, “What time is it now?”

“It’s already the hour of You.”

“The hour of You?” It was indeed far too late. When Nian Zhi’an looked up, she noticed two flickering gazes among the Meng Family prisoners.

~~~

Nian Zhi’an smiled. She opened the dungeon door and asked the trembling group, “Does anyone know what’s going on? If you speak up with accurate information, I’ll let that person out. How about it?”

The moment she finished speaking, those two flickering gazes turned to panic. In the next instant, one man scrambled over on all fours and hugged her leg. “I think I know what’s happened! I know!”

Nian Zhi’an didn’t mind that he was filthy and reeking. She even crouched down to help him sit up, a mildly warm smile on her face. “Go ahead.”

“It’s them! Those two gamble, whore, drink, and owe a fortune! To pay off their debts, they sold out the Princess’s identity! The Princess is late coming back, right? Because the Liang Kingdom Imperial Clan got a tip-off?” No one from the Meng Family dared act out now. They all respectfully called Meng Congyun “Princess.”

“You’re talking nonsense! Slander! Pure slander!” The two accused lunged forward to tear the informant apart, but Nian Zhi’an waved her hand and sent them flying back to the corner.

“So that’s it. You’ve been banking on hope all along, counting on the Liang royal family to rescue you?” Nian Zhi’an towered over the pair. “Your fathers and grandfathers were so clever—how did they produce you idiots? Even a fox giving birth to piglets would be a miracle for the ages.”

“If you’d behaved, for the Old Master’s sake, as long as she lives, she’d guarantee your family’s wealth and honor. But no, you had to court death. You threw away a chance at lasting merit to play the disloyal mole neither side wants. Looks like I’ll have to visit your Old Master’s grave and hammer a couple more nails into his coffin lid, lest he can’t rest in peace and climbs out to strangle you himself.”

Nian Zhi’an snorted, found a clean cloth, and wiped her hands.

“Meng Congyun is actually a princess of Zhao Kingdom? Ha… hahahaha!” From a quiet corner of the dungeon, a hoarse male voice suddenly burst into laughter.

~~~

Nian Zhi’an had almost forgotten about that couple in the dungeon. She had her men drag out the man she’d just promised to release, locked the door, and went to their cell.

King Su had probably never looked this wretched in his life. His legs had been truly broken, and he was covered in grime like a beggar. This wasn’t Nian Zhi’an’s or Meng Congyun’s doing—it was all his wife’s handiwork.

The Female Lead looked rather unhinged now too. When she saw Nian Zhi’an approaching, she instinctively shrank into the corner. A dungeon filled with screams day and night, pitch-black and sunless, could indeed drive anyone mad.

“Are you happy?” Nian Zhi’an crouched beside the sprawled King Su. She could tell his smile held genuine delight.

“Naturally.” King Su opened those eyes that always made her uncomfortable, his expression one of sickly satisfaction. “Emperor Wen was so paranoid, yet he trusted the Meng grandfather and grandson above all. He fancied himself clever, but he handed the kingdom and his son to a princess of the previous dynasty. Don’t you find that laughable?”

“Indeed, very laughable.” Nian Zhi’an nodded. Putting the Male Lead and Female Lead together to torment each other was truly effective—better than if she’d done it herself.

“But even more laughable is that Meng Congyun was betrayed by her own people, failing at the last step! Hahahaha…” King Su roared with laughter.

“Sigh… After all these years of losses at the Prime Minister’s hands, why haven’t you learned your lesson?” Nian Zhi’an sighed helplessly.

King Su’s laughter cut off abruptly.

“Fine, those fools being played for suckers is one thing, but you… well… your head has at least a bit stuffed in it.” Nian Zhi’an gestured at his skull. “She knows every move the Imperial Clan makes, down to what you ate the night before your rebellion and which maid you slept with.”

King Su’s face turned ashen in an instant.

So did the Female Lead’s expression.

The two had both cuckolded each other—no one was nobler.

“Open the dungeon door,” Nian Zhi’an ordered the men behind her.

The dungeon door was made of special material with excellent soundproofing. It blocked screams inside from reaching the outside, and vice versa. “Listen, what’s that sound outside?”

King Su’s internal energy was sealed, but his hearing was still sharper than a normal person’s.

He seemed to hear the thud of hooves on the ground—not one horse, but an army!

“The imperial relatives think Liang Kingdom has only lost half its land, so they’re still carousing night and day. But they don’t know even the battle reports are fake. The Prime Minister long ago cut off their eyes and ears. They believe Zhao Kingdom’s troops are still thousands of li away, but in truth, they’ve already arrived at the city gates.” Nian Zhi’an stood up. It was time for her to go pick up her wife.

“Liang Taizu murdered the emperor and usurped the throne, slaughtering Zhao Kingdom’s imperial family. The Prime Minister reclaiming her country is far more legitimate than Liang Taizu. Your Highness King Su, Liang Kingdom falls today.”

King Su’s vacant eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. Nian Zhi’an figured the blow was too much. As she turned to leave, he suddenly said, “Back then, perhaps I shouldn’t have killed Xiao Shuan.”

He’d mentioned her again, so Nian Zhi’an paused, wondering what ivory might spill from this dog’s mouth.

“If my cousin were still alive today, do you think Meng Congyun could sit the throne so smugly? Haha… I shouldn’t have killed her. No, Xiao Shuan should have lived to see this, to face her blood feud with Meng Congyun—how would they handle it then? Hahaha… cough…” King Su choked on his own saliva mid-laugh and coughed on the floor.

“But even if Xiao Shuan were alive, she’d hand the kingdom to Meng Congyun. She has no interest in the throne.” Nian Zhi’an stood outside the cell. She’d changed her mind—she had to needle the Male Lead one last time before leaving!

King Su looked at her like she was an idiot. “No interest in the throne? Then why did she raise an army in rebellion?”

“That was, of course… for Meng Congyun.”

King Su shivered, but the dark, damp environment of the dungeon didn’t rust his brain. Instead, it spun even faster.

“She already knew that Meng Congyun was the Princess of Zhao?!”

Nian Zhi’an knew that the Male Lead’s imagination would not disappoint her. She only needed to keep smiling.

“Hahaha… So that’s how it is. So that’s how it is! My poor cousin—for the sake of her fiancée, she ended up dying a miserable death. A few years later, Meng Congyun found new love and even wants to seize the throne of my Liang Kingdom! Hahaha! Poor thing!” King Su laughed that his cousin had only romance in her heart, squandering a winning hand so badly in her play.

If he ever got the chance to walk out of there, he would definitely write a letter and burn it for Xiao Shuan. He wanted her to see just what kind of heartless person Meng Congyun was!

“No, you have it wrong.”

As King Su looked over in confusion, Nian Zhi’an revealed a sinister smile. In a low voice, she said, “The Prime Minister is deeply affectionate. It was my good cousin brother who disregarded our sibling bonds with those two arrows at North Birch Slope.”

“When I saw you, you missed with the first arrow. But you quickly followed up with the second, striking my heart dead center. It hurt like hell. Back then, I thought that if I ever got the chance, I would pay you back a hundredfold.”

Nian Zhi’an tilted her head and smiled at King Su. Since she didn’t explain any further, she trusted that King Su’s imagination would take things far beyond what she had expected.

“You!” King Su’s eyes flew wide in horror.

Nian Zhi’an turned to leave, but at that moment the Female Lead suddenly spoke up. “When are you going to let me out?”

“Don’t worry. When the time comes, we’ll naturally let you both go.”

Once this world was no longer subject to interference from their life or death, she would give the couple even more space to torment each other.