Chapter 1138 – Cutting Down Xu Pei, First Kill of the Feudal Lords (Part 8)
With no one around, Jiang Pengji deliberately lowered her voice, a playful smile dancing on her lips as she teased him.
“With such a virtuous husband, what more could one ask for?”
Suddenly, a warmth crept from Wei Ci’s collarbone to his ears, making him fidget awkwardly.
Jiang Pengji always loved seeing Wei Ci in such a flustered state; it never failed to lift her spirits.
Not wanting to overstay her welcome, she smoothly changed the subject.
“It’s a pity for Han Mei; if it weren’t for that monster causing trouble, he might truly be the pride of this world by now.”
What a life winner, only to be ruined by a clueless time-traveler!
Xie Qian suffered, Li Yun suffered, and the real Wang Huijun was even more wronged than Dou E herself.
Jiang Pengji had seen Wang Huijun’s manuscripts; her talent was on par with the most renowned figures of the time.
Perhaps hundreds of years from now, she would still be celebrated as a gifted woman.
But as for now—
They would probably just remember her as “the possibly talented seductress,” right?
Without any reason, she went and cheated in her marriage, attempted to kill her husband and child, acted crazy trying to seduce the royal trio, dated the eldest brother and then the usurping second brother, and finally had a fling with the third brother, Changshou Wang. She even risked her family’s wrath to be his concubine, making it impossible for future generations to clean up her reputation for a drama adaptation.
Jiang Pengji couldn’t decide if it was the time-traveler’s lack of brain or the system’s sheer disgust that was to blame.
The model couple in blissful love, now separated by the other side of the grave, and their family of three completely shattered.
If something like that happened to her, she would make that time-traveling girl pay—no matter how far she had to go!
While she felt sorry for Li Yun’s family, Wei Ci’s words left her stunned.
“Monster? What monster?”
He looked genuinely puzzled.
Jiang Pengji realized that Wei Ci was still unaware of the time-traveling girl’s troublesome antics.
Furrowing her brows, she generously decided to share this juicy gossip with him.
By the way, she was also curious if Wei Ci had any system interference in his past life.
For some reason, she felt like something was off, as if a few important pieces were missing from the puzzle.
“During her birth, Han Mei’s mother, Wang Huijun, had her body taken over by an unknown monster. Xie Qian noticed that his partner had changed, attempting to seek Master Liaochen’s help to expel the monster. However, the monster was quite cunning, detecting trouble ahead of time, and laid traps for Xie Qian and the swaddled Han Mei. Xie Qian narrowly escaped but unfortunately lost his memory; he and Han Mei ended up in Wanzhou. The monster took advantage of Wang Huijun’s body, serving two lords and one king, producing a son and a daughter. The son is the fourth prince of Dongqing, Wu Ma Jun, and the daughter is Liu Huan, whom my father later adopted. After that, the monster climbed into the bed of the Zhong Zhao emperor, abandoning her position as a noble consort to take over the eldest daughter of the Du family, becoming the empress—oh, and she even wrote that famous ‘Book of Four Women.’”
The gossip left Wei Ci completely dumbfounded.
Fortunately, Jiang Pengji had closed her livestream beforehand; otherwise, wouldn’t his bewildered expression be a treat for other little monsters?
After a while, Wei Ci finally regained his composure.
The idea of monsters taking over—it didn’t seem so impossible to him, especially since he had come back to his youth from the future.
Wei Ci reflected carefully on what he knew about Li Yun, responding firmly, “As far as I know, there’s no trace of such a monster. It seems there’s indeed a hand called ‘Fate’ moving everything along… Changing one’s destiny isn’t just a piece of cake—”
Jiang Pengji sensed something was amiss.
“What you mean, Zixiao… even without the monster messing things up, the trajectory of Han Mei’s life hasn’t been altered?”
Logically, without the monster’s interference, shouldn’t Li Yun rightfully be recognized as the Xie family’s scion?
“Indeed. As far as I know, Han Mei has always been ‘Li Yun’ rather than ‘Xie Yun,’” Wei Ci confirmed Jiang Pengji’s speculation, nodding, “This started with Han Mei’s previous generation; even without the monster, the fates of Xie Qian and his wife were still fraught with misfortune.”
In his past life, Wei Ci hadn’t been affected by any time-travelers or systems.
The prestigious family remained prosperous, but the Dongqing royal family was rotten to the core.
What was the tradition of the Dongqing royal family?
There was nothing they wouldn’t dare to do—only things others might not think of.
Killing brothers, seizing sisters-in-law, defiling minister’s wives—
How could one summarize such chaos with just one word?
However, the emperor only dared to bully the poorer officials.
Against imperial power, what resistance could commoners muster?
Even if their wives were sullied, they could only endure quietly.
One year during the evaluation selection, Changshou Wang hosted an Elegant Gathering, and Xie Qian and his wife were in the capital at the time, receiving an invitation too.
Coincidentally, the emperor, decked out in white dragon robes, fell head over heels for the stunning Wang Huijun at the gathering.
From then on, he couldn’t eat or sleep, tossing and turning.
Unfortunately for him, the Xie couple had a strong backing, making the emperor hesitant to act impulsively.
A eunuch who sought the emperor’s favor secretly suggested a terrible idea.
Hold a hunting event to draw Xie Qian away, and trick Wang Huijun into attending by the royal consorts and sedating her to bed.
They thought Wang Huijun would stay silent for the sake of her family’s reputation, but little did they know she was fiercely proud.
The emperor accidentally killed her, and when Xie Qian realized the truth, he lost his mind and set an ambush at the hunting grounds to assassinate the emperor.
Though he cleaned up well afterward, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t come to light eventually.
To protect his family, he had to fake an accident that sent him and his son plummeting off a cliff, hiding in the mountains.
After the emperor’s death, he was given the posthumous title of Emperor Qingyang.
The second brother of Emperor Qingyang—the Hejian King Wuma, killed his own nephew to usurp the throne.
The Dongqing royal family fell, thanks to the contributions of both the Xie and Wang families.
Even with that time-traveling girl meddling, the fates of the Xie family didn’t differ much from their previous lives.
If that weren’t the case, Wei Ci wouldn’t have been unable to notice the differences between Li Yun and his previous life for so long.
“Xie Qian really had it tough—”
After listening to Wei Ci’s words, Jiang Pengji felt a bit more sympathy for him.
“Where does that monster, the one you mentioned, reside now?”
Jiang Pengji chuckled, quite amused, and asked, “Why do you want to know that? You can’t be thinking of going off to exorcise it, right?”
Wei Ci honestly nodded, “I have some knowledge of the mystical arts, though I can’t compare to greats like Master Liaochen or Master Liu Ru… but—”
Jiang Pengji couldn’t help but visualize Wei Ci brandishing a peach wood sword and carrying talismans to chase after ghosts and monsters, bursting into laughter.
“Zixiao, you’re better off sticking to being my strategist! That monster has already been dealt with by me—there’s no need for you to be the hero saving the damsel in distress!”
Jiang Pengji wasn’t aware of Wei Ci’s proficiency in the mystical arts, but since he hadn’t even noticed the abnormality of the yin-yang pendant, he probably only had the skills of a novice. If he ran into that time-traveling girl, he wouldn’t just fail to exorcise her; he’d likely end up getting crushed by her!
She’d handle her own frogs, and no one else was allowed to touch them—not even with a thought.
Wei Ci wore a sheepish expression, looking rather wronged as he glanced at Jiang Pengji.
After a moment, Jiang Pengji, with a curious child-like demeanor, asked him, “Is there really such a thing as mystical arts in this world?”
She believed in science but also found the supernatural interesting.
“Of course, there are,” Wei Ci answered, seeing through her thoughts. “If you believe, it exists; if you don’t believe, it’s nonexistent.”
Jiang Pengji: “……”
