EMPRESS LIU

~THIRTY~

Liu Changsheng came back to the shabby courtyard in a daze. While removing all the makeup he kept repeating the same words of the fourth prince over and over again in his head. He could feel his impulsiveness melting away.

'Please forgive me Shengsheng. I know you remember.'

Why now?

Why are you apologizing now?

What good will it do?

I've already given up!

Liu Changsheng's mind raced around stray thoughts. He did not want to believe the person he loved so much. The person he can never stop loving.

Maybe slowly his rational mind was taking control, overruling his impulsive self.

Suddenly a story he heard in Sanshui appeared on the corner of his mind. The story of a certain merchant's daughter. Who fell in love with a foreign entertainer. Their tragic story. Why did it came to his mind, he didn't know. But somehow his mind accepted that story as something he could think of often.

Maybe because his own love wasn't successful that he thought that love was an unfortunate thing. Maybe that is why that story resonated familiarity in his heart.

He removed all his makeup and went back to his disguise of a maniac when a knock on his door brought him out of his reverie.

"Liu Changsheng."

It was Ying Lianying. She was a mysterious entity to him. She has saved his body when he jumped from the Xuanhua cliff. She has promised him a revenge. She has hidden him well. But still her voice kept coming back to his mind more than once.

The voice that asked him if he could garantee changing his fate. And it was true. She was right. In the end he wasn't able to change his fate. He had to succumb to it. He had to come back where it all started. He had to come back to a painful place where his suffering began. And he couldn't do anything about it.

"Did you find anything suspicious in the market? Anything about the rumour?"

He looked at her face coldly.

Just when she thought he won't answer he nodded.

"The first rumour started at the Fu laobai's teahouse."

The shadow guard frowns. She couldn't find any connection between the teahouse and the imperial family's affairs. The teahouse is run by a commoner. And in normal occasions not a single person related to the imperial family enters that place.

"How?"

Liu Gongzi just looks at his reflection on the mirror. He had so much on his mind.

"Ying Lianying?"

"Mn?"

"Is my revenge really worth it?"

Ying Lianying gets surprised for a second. But just like the shadow guard she is, she conceals it well. Then she sits on the chair by the younger man's side.

"Let me tell you a story."

She takes the comb from Liu Changsheng's hand and carefully just like a loving older sister starts running the wooden comb through the black waves.

"There was once a merchant's daughter. She was an outstanding beauty. Just like her mother. Her mother was the merchant's main wife. And they were a happy family.

"But happiness doesn't last forever. And their happiness didn't either. The merchant went to a foreign land to do business. And after he came back with lots of goods and revenue he was suddenly accused of treachery.

"After being accused of treachery his life was spared only if he left the country with his family. But then he had a second wife and from that wife he had a son too. And they didn't leave with him.

"In foreign land they started living as common peasants. Her father worked at the field the whole day and her mother helped him.

"But there too disaster came to their life. That lady fell in love with an entertainer. But being a daughter of the merchant and falling in love with an entertainer was considered disgrace enough.

"Even though they were common people, even though they were peasants, it still hurt their heart to see the young lady to fall in love with an entertainer.

"After some years both the merchant and his wife died of epidemic. The merchant's daughter came back to her old home again. But surprisingly the merchant's second wife has become a significant figure there. She went to the woman but wasn't welcomed warmly. She didn't hurt her but the cold treatment was getting intolerable day by day. The merchant's daughter decided to elope and find her beloved but even before she could do it she was sent to the imperial city and the emperor took fancy on her.

"She was forced to become the emperor's first wife. She gave birth to a daughter. But suddenly her old lover came back. She got to see him and her heart hurt for the love she once held dear.

"But you know what? Love is not a good thing you can hold onto. It destroys you in the end.

"And it destroyed her too. She fell out of the emperor's favour. And things got downhill. When the young princess was just two years, the merchant's daughter was thrown out of the palace with her daughter, the princess.

"The suffering they suffered before and after they were thrown out were unimaginable. You might know a part of it. The way you have suffered was similar."

After saying this much she stopped talking. Liu Changsheng looked at her. She told him the story he heard a lifetime ago in Sanshui. He looked at her and was trying to decipher the meaning behind her telling him this story.

"Liu Changsheng. Revenge is always worth it."

She stood up and kept the wooden comb on the wooden table. She took a dirty looking ribbon from the bed and tied a messy bun on his head. After the hair was done Liu Changsheng's disguise was complete.

She held his shoulder. Looked at his eyes through the mirror. For the first time her eyes showed something other than genuinity. She was the same Ying Lianying. But her eyes held a surprising cruelty that wasn't there before. She conceals it slowly this time. She lets Liu Changsheng see the honesty this time.

"Liu Changsheng. It was not your fault. They hurt you. They destroyed you. Take your revenge."

She gets Liu Changsheng's blue fan out of her robe. Gives it to Liu Changsheng, surprising him even more.

But unknown to even himself, he already believed her. His heart already strengthened enough to get his revenge.

Hello Hello Hello!! Here is the new chapter!! This got intense fast I know... The next chapter will have another revelation....

Let's wait for the next chapter!
Stay tuned.... See you in the next chapter...

All the love
C 💕

Also please don't forget to vote!! ⭐⭐