The Ugly Empress by Yun Guo Shi Fei / 丑娘娘 by 云过是非

Chapter 10 - The Welcoming Delegation

I see you all guess correctly who the spy is. Excellent, guys. XD

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Teng Yun slept very well. It might be because of his tense nerves these last few days, he actually fell into deep sleep.

All the time Teng Yun was sleeping, Xue Junliang moved to the warm room to review some official reports, also to reply Zhao Lu's letter before ordering Jiang Yu to re-send it.

When he came back to the couch, Xue Junliang found the Empress was still asleep. He then ordered the royal physician to send another jar of soothing balm to Yunfeng Palace.

Without waking the Empress, Xue Junliang made a maidservant go find him a blanket which he used to cover the Empress. Although the soft couch was very comfortable, if someone slept on it all night with only a cloak, they would surely catch a cold.

Teng Yun woke up disoriented and realized in alarm that he had actually fallen asleep; a very sound sleep at that.

Jiang Yu stood beside him, as if he'd been waiting for him to wake up. He said, "Empress, you woke up? Da Wang had already gone to attend the morning court, he said to inform Your Majesty not to go back yet and to have breakfast with Da Wang."

As Teng Yun got up, a line of palace maidservants came inside to help him freshen up and change his clothes. Because he slept for a long time, Teng Yun's head was still a bit groggy, so he just let the servants fuss over him.

These maidservants were Xue Junliang's close and trusted servants, naturally they understood what kind of style that Xue Wang liked. They combed the Empress' hair into a regal and sweet-looking hairstyle, adorned her person with simple yet elegant jewelries.

Xue Junliang wasn't gone for too long and soon came back. At the morning court assembly, there were not much to discuss; mostly it was about the marriage with Teng Wang's daughter, also about the necessity to be on guard against Feng Ming.

Feng Ming had always been known to be vicious and ambitious; he had many cunning tricks on his sleeves. That was why the court officials felt the need to be more cautious. However, they didn't know that Xue Junliang was prepared. He had put a loyal and well-trained subject inside Feng Country. The spy was deeply loved by Feng Wang, even managed to make the king bow down to him.

Xue Junliang was very proud of his own accomplishments. His two enemies, Teng Wang and Feng Wang; one was a coward, one was a big trouble. Teng Country right now could be considered finished, there was only an empty shell left there. Feng Country, on the other hand, was now completely under Marquis Zhulu's reign, it was no longer a threat for Xue Junliang.

When Xue Junliang came back to his residence, Jiang Yu immediately prepared the meal. Teng Yun silently accompanied Xue Junliang for breakfast; from start to finish he never said anything. This made Xue Wang very confused.

People said that women's heart were difficult to read, and he wholeheartedly agreed, especially this Ugly Empress' heart. Even Xue Junliang, who had come as winner in every battle he had, couldn't understand what she was thinking.

After the meal, Xue Junliang called people to prepare a jade carriage, and personally put on a cloak for Teng Yun. Today was the day Marquis Wannian, Xue Houyang's departure to the border. Officially, he was to personally welcome Da Wang's awaited new consort, but in fact, he was delegated because Xue Junliang wanted to scare Teng Shang.

Xue Junliang helped Teng Yun as they climbed the capital city tower, Marquis Wannian, Xue Houyang followed a little behind them.

Under the city gate stood five thousand soldiers. They were all Xue Houyang's loyal and personal army. They uniformly wore silver armors, each holding the rein of a big horse. Seen from the high tower, the ground looked like it was covered in white snow.