EMPRESS LIU

~THIRTY-ONE~

Just like every other day Liu Changsheng woke up exactly at dawn. And then freshened up and completed his disguise. And after that he got out of his room to see a warm bowl of poridge sitting on the wooden table. He lets out a contented sigh and digs in.

Today is a new day! He thought.

He was planning on visiting the inner court area of the palace today. And find out more about how such rumours got out of the palace walls. And maybe when he gets caught blame it on his sick head. This much he was ready to do. But what he wasn't ready to do was seeing the youngest brother of the third marquis Luo Guang come to the emperor's study when he was walking aimlessly around the area.

Instantly his eyes burns with fire of revenge. He may not have come to terms with what happened to him all those years back, but revenge doesn't really follow a particular reasoning. All he felt was waves of rage crushing through his soul making his memories come back one after another.

He followed the young boy who looks as young as just coming off age. His hands balled in a fist as he followed the young man out of the courtyard, then out of the palace.

He followed the boy to a distinct mansion in an ally that screams riches and then into the mansion. He hid himself behind the scattered bushes that grew up indistinctly around the side of the boundary walls.

From his hiding place he could see the entrance to the inner courtyard and the ancestral shrine very well.

He kept observing until it was late.

He knew Ying Lianying would get very angry if she can't find him. But at that moment he didn't think straight. He was contemplating going back second guessing his decision to follow a child on a whim when he saw marquis Luo Guang's wife entering the shrine.

He questions himself following the lady. But follows her in the end.

Given how the old lecker's character is, you would think he would have more than one wife. But contrary to that belief, he does not. He has only one wife and he's quite famous for being a doting husband. But no one gets to know the actual character of that old man.

He enters the shrine after the marquis's furen exits the shrine. But he sees something he didn't expect to see.

He found that his culprit has already died.

A surge of pain and dissatisfaction runs through his body.

On the other side, in the small courtyard Ying Lianying was worried and furious. How can Liu Changsheng just take off and not tell her. Does he think he's safe anywhere here?

She couldn't tell anyone or ask anyone and not raise suspicion.

But maybe to her rescue came the concubine Duan of the fourth prince.

"Ying Lianying?"

"My lady."

"You can't find him."

Ying Lianying was surprised. But just like any other times it wasn't hard for her to conceal what was going on in her mind. But this lady in front of her is way more smarter than she looks.

"Yes. My lady."

"Don't worry. Xiang Wangye is following him."

She was about to leave when she came face to face with the furen of the emperor's household. The first princess consort. The future empress.

"Furen." The concubine Duan greets.

"What is the Xiang Wang's furen doing here?"

Concubine Duan had a smirk plastered on her lips all the time.

"Of course to make sure of the identity of the brother of your maid." She looks at the face of the furen. Her face still held some of the fat after the childbirth. It made her look a little arrogant but childish. Duan Jiali got closer to the furen and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Do you think if he really is Liu Changsheng, either the emperor or the Xiang Wang would look at us anymore? You'd be a fool to believe that man. You're the furen. Still not an empress. How long has it been that you've had that title? Does furen still think the emperor is sure about making you his empress? If he did not have had anyone else in mind, you'd have had the empress title long ago!"

She backs up. And then brings up a mocking smile to her face. As if she knew what she can do to make sure her husband did not go astray.

"Solidify your position in the empire, your ladyship. You'd know better." She looks sideways to find the Xiang Wang bringing Liu Changsheng back to their humble courtyard. "I'm a mere court official's furen. But you are the people's future empress. It'd be more disgracing if you do anything."

The emperor's furen left the courtyard fuming with anger. How can that mere court official's wife disgrace the future empress of the empire was what she thought. But she knew better. She knew Duan Jiali was right. And she would do anything for Liu Changsheng to not take the emperor away from her. She would do anything to have the title of empress only for herself.

Liu Changsheng saw the whole encounter with his own eyes and his hatred towards the concubine Duan solidified even more.

Maybe because he went to Luo Guang's mansion that he vividly remembered the day Luo Guang molested him. He remembered how that day the palace owner went to the morning court to greet the elder officials and announce the concubine Duan's first wife title.

He wasn't happy with the fact that concubine Duan would have nearly the same power in the household after him. And the sulking Wangfei was waiting in his and the prince's shared chembers.

That is when Li gonggong came to announce the presence of the third marquis.

As the owner of the household, in the absence of the fourth prince Liu Changsheng was responsible to accept guests, and he did so with pure heart.

But he was but a naive young man. And his nativity costed him his honour. His position as a Wangfei wasn't jeopardized somehow as the disgrace of the fourth prince's palace was supressed between the four walls. But that day he saw his husband's wrath. He saw his husband turn his head away in disgust and let him beg on his knees all night to be let into the chambers. That was the first day he questioned himself, his love for the said prince.

Brought out of his reverie by Ying Lianying's sudden outburst of worry, he looked at the three people looking at him with expectant eyes.

"Why did you go there?"

The fourth prince questioned.

"Why did you go to Luo Guang's mansion?"

He did not answer. He could not answer. Rage was blocking his airways to utter a single word. He could not answer without braking down.

The three people was still in distress. They realised Liu Changsheng was the same impulsive man after all. No matter how much he grew up, he still was the same man they all knew.

Yayyyyy!! Double update as promised!! This is going to be even more intense and have more confrontations! But the story is still not over yet... So stay tuned and hope for the best....

See you in the next chapter...
All the love
C 💕

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