After the whimsical Luo Wushuang dismissed the scheming crowd, she began to “distribute rewards according to merit” to those by her side.
First was Yueying, whose performance had been quite exquisite when she turned against her masters at the critical moment.
Considering her competence and her ability to read the room, Luo Wushuang transferred her to Shangguan Liqian’s side. She was promoted to the leader of the secret guards tasked with protecting her elder sister.
Leaping from a standard secret guard to a leader in one go made Yueying so giddy she nearly lost her bearings. She didn’t forget to bow and offer her profuse thanks to both her masters.
As for Leng Yu, who had been acting as the temporary leader, that spiteful push she had delivered earlier had struck a chord deep within Luo Wushuang’s heart.
With a grand wave of her hand, Luo Wushuang announced that Leng Yu would receive a year’s worth of salary as a bonus, along with a week of paid leave.
For Leng Yu, who already enjoyed a schedule of working only a dozen or so days a month, this was an unexpected windfall.
She already had her usual time off; with the addition of the week granted by Her Majesty, wouldn’t that mean she only had to show up for a few days next month?
To work for a few days and receive a full month’s salary—life couldn’t get any better!
Then there was Ling Feng, whose “minor assistance” also earned her a generous reward.
Once everyone had withdrawn, Luo Wushuang took Shangguan Liqian’s hand and asked softly, “Sister, you must be exhausted today.”
Shangguan Liqian lightly raised her delicate hand, her gaze meeting Luo Wushuang’s eyes which were filled with concern. She chuckled softly. “I’m fine. You finally vented your frustrations today, didn’t you?”
Luo Wushuang nodded with delight, then asked with a hint of lingering unease, “Sister, you won’t go soft on them, will you?”
Under Luo Wushuang’s wide-eyed, expectant gaze, Shangguan Liqian shook her head and said earnestly, “No, I won’t.”
Though she had only received the Letter of Severance today, in her heart, those people had ceased to be her family long ago. There was no “soft-heartedness” to speak of.
Their eyes met, and Luo Wushuang found herself drowning in her sister’s tenderness. She lowered her gaze, a hidden smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Now that the ties with the Shangguan family were severed, Sister belonged to her and her alone. It was wonderful…
As if she could read the Empress’s thoughts, Shangguan Liqian let out something between a sigh and a promise. “From now on, Sister belongs only to Wushuang.”
Luo Wushuang’s heart skipped a beat. She instinctively looked up at Shangguan Liqian.
The older woman was smiling at her tenderly, her eyes curving like crescents. The warmth and affection in those eyes were like a scorching flame, searing itself into the depths of Luo Wushuang’s soul.
Luo Wushuang’s smile widened bit by bit. Emboldened, she pressed further. “Then, how about I help Sister take revenge by uprooting the Shangguan family entirely?”
Shangguan Liqian smiled and raised her hand. Seeing this, Luo Wushuang obediently lowered her head.
As her hand rested upon that crown of silken black hair, Shangguan Liqian sighed faintly. “Why should we dirty our own hands?”
She leaned back slightly, reclining against the daybed as she spoke indifferently. “We only need to wait. They will descend into chaos all on their own.”
Seeing the exhaustion on her sister’s face, Luo Wushuang thoughtfully placed a soft pillow behind her waist. “Mm, I’ll listen to whatever Sister says!”
Looking at the obedient smile on Luo Wushuang’s face, Shangguan Liqian lowered her eyes and smiled…
However, no one else shared her pleasant mood.
Shangguan Qinglan had been dragged to the palace path between the Imperial Garden and the palace gates for her execution.
Before the blade fell, the Commander of the Golden Guard had thoughtfully woken her up. He gave her a detailed account of how the Shangguan family and the Heir of the Marquis of Dingyuan had reacted after she fainted.
Amidst Shangguan Qinglan’s disbelief and despair, the Commander of the Golden Guard swung his blade with practiced ease, and then…
Perhaps his strength was slightly off. The result was a lot of blood, but the head remained attached.
A nearby member of the Golden Guard saw this and hurried forward with his own heavy blade. “Boss, let me do it. You must be getting old; your grip is far too weak.”
The Commander, who was in his prime, shot the young brat a look but said nothing, silently yielding his position.
The younger guard gave a shy smile and swung his blade with equal decisiveness…
His strength was certainly sufficient, but his precision left something to be desired. He missed the neck and struck the shoulder instead.
One entire arm was severed at the root. Shangguan Qinglan screamed until she lost her voice. Her eyes rolled back, and just as she was about to succumb to the darkness, an Imperial Physician who “happened” to be passing by tossed over an aged ginseng root, barely keeping her breathing.
“Move, let me! Your aim is terrible.”
“Your aim isn’t any better! You can’t even tell a head from a backside…”
“My turn! Let me…”
Under the competitive “performances” of the Golden Guards, Shangguan Qinglan was hacked into a gruesome mess. Set against the backdrop of the majestic imperial architecture, it possessed a certain visceral, twisted aesthetic.
Suddenly, someone shouted, “Boss, she looks like she’s stopped breathing!”
The Commander of the Golden Guard, who had been standing a short distance away with his eyes closed to avoid being splashed with blood, had been enjoying the “musical” sounds of the execution. Upon hearing this, he couldn’t slack off any longer and hurried over.
“Quick, move aside! Her Majesty ordered a decapitation. It’ll be a hassle if she dies completely before the head comes off.”
The Commander, whose strength had been mocked earlier, struck with speed, precision, and ruthlessness. With a single flash of his blade, a blood-stained head rolled across the ground.
The eyes on the severed head were wide open, as if unable to rest in peace, but no one cared.
They carelessly grabbed a straw mat, rolling up the mangled body and the head together.
Perhaps because the Flower Viewing Banquet had ended so abruptly, or perhaps because the Golden Guards were too slow, they hadn’t finished cleaning the scene before the guests began to pass by.
Seeing the “friendly,” toothy grins of the Golden Guards and the blood-stained blades in their hands, the more faint-hearted guests nearly died of fright on the spot.
Hadn’t Her Majesty’s order been for a simple decapitation? Why was there blood on so many blades? How many times had they struck? She must have been turned into mincemeat—why else was the ground still soaked in blood after all this time?
The cowardly didn’t dare look, simply lowering their heads and quickening their pace to leave. Those with courage had questions, but they didn’t dare ask.
However, every guest who attended the banquet today learned a vital lesson: even a dragon has a reverse scale, and so does a sovereign. That “reverse scale” was the girl from the Shangguan family living in the Phoenix Hall—the woman the Empress had personally acknowledged as the future Empress Consort.
Anyone who bullied the Empress’s person would pay a devastating price.
The family of Chancellor Shangguan was the ultimate example.
By relying on this daughter, the Shangguan family could have sat securely among the four great families of the Imperial Capital. Yet, those fools had been blinded by their own idiocy, insisting on bullying Lady Shangguan.
Did they never stop to think? Was someone tucked so carefully into the Empress’s heart someone they could afford to provoke?
