The Splendid Brocade of the Painting Physician – Chapter 179

Chapter 179: Princess Liyang’s Lesson, Yubi Peace Talks

For several days in a row, there were visits to Prince of Lanling’s Residence from palace attendants, which made A’xiu somewhat afraid. Although the Xianbei boy by the Princess Consort’s side had taught her some disguise techniques, she could barely disguise her appearance to resemble the Princess Consort. However, the Princess Consort’s bearing and charm, even without revealing her true face, were unforgettable. This kind of aristocratic upbringing and charm that was ingrained in her bones was something she could not imitate.

Just as she was feeling anxious, another personal troop came to report, saying that someone had come to visit outside Prince of Lanling’s Residence.

“Who is it?” A’xiu asked, slightly panicked.

“Two women, however, Steward Liu has already gone to greet them!”

“Good, good!”

As soon as Steward Liu opened the mansion gate, he began to drive away the guests with displeasure.

“My Princess Consort is ill and it is inconvenient to see anyone. No matter who it is, please leave!”

Before he could finish his words and close the mansion gate, a slender hand reached out, a bright red mole clearly visible on the wrist.

“Steward Liu, am I also not allowed to enter?”

A familiar female voice came from beside him. Steward Liu turned his eyes and saw the woman lifting her veil, revealing a face that was originally breathtakingly beautiful but now bore traces of hardship.

Steward Liu’s eyes immediately filled with tears. His knees went weak and he knelt down, trembling as he said, “Princess, you, you’re back?”

“Quickly let us two in!”

“Good, good!”

Steward Liu repeatedly agreed. Seeing that there was no one else outside the mansion, he led the woman in black and the maid beside her inside.

After entering the mansion gate and arriving at the main hall, Steward Liu again knelt down with a thud and kept crying, while chattering on and on:

“After you left, the Prince searched for you for a long time, he kept searching, never giving up. He always felt that you had your reasons for leaving him. The Prince was not favored since he was a child and suffered a lot. At the age of nine, he went to the military camp for training and has been fighting alongside General Duan or General Hu Lu ever since, making many contributions both big and small, before finally earning the title of Prince of Lanling and having his own residence…”

By the end of his words, he was both sad and overjoyed.

“Princess, are you finally willing to come back and acknowledge the Prince?”

The woman in black seemed to be suppressing her emotions as well. After a long while, she said, “Get up!”

“How is the Princess Consort that the Prince married? Is she really sick or pretending?” she asked directly.

Steward Liu was a little stunned and hurriedly explained, “Princess, the Princess Consort is very well. She treats the Prince very well. I have seen it all this time. The Prince also likes her very much. The two are inseparable, like a pair of immortals…”

“I know, I have heard the rumors about them. Where is she now? Take me to see her!”

When it came to seeing her, Steward Liu hesitated, but he couldn’t disobey the wishes of his former master, so he led the woman in black and Lady Wei to the bedchamber of the Prince of Lanling and Xiao Jinyu with some trepidation.

Seeing the arrival of strangers, A’xiu quickly covered her face with a veil, coughed lightly, and leaned against the couch.

“Madam is here, the Prince’s mother…” Steward Liu reminded her.

A’xiu was so startled that she sat up from the couch and saw a woman in black with a noble air, accompanied by a woman in red, enter the room. To her surprise, the woman in red was actually an old acquaintance from Jiankang.

“Lady Wei, aren’t you the proprietress of Apricot Blossom and Misty Rain Tower in Jiankang? Why are you here in Qi as well?”

Lady Wei looked A’xiu up and down, her eyes full of doubt. “You are not that young lady, are you? That young lady is always calm and collected, her face wouldn’t change even if a mountain collapsed in front of her. You are not like that at all…”

A’xiu couldn’t help but smile wryly. “I knew it, no matter how I imitate the Lady, I can’t imitate her… Since you have seen through me, I won’t hide it anymore. I only ask that you two must keep this secret for our Princess Consort!”

“Then tell me, what is going on?”

This woman in black was the Prince of Lanling’s birth mother, Princess Liyang. A’xiu actually felt that this woman and the Princess Consort had quite similar temperaments, both noble and aloof, unattainable. However, the Princess Consort would be approachable and kind to her loved ones and family, and her coldness and arrogance were only directed at enemies or irrelevant people.

But this woman in black was like a rose blooming on the edge of a cliff, so cold and arrogant that people dared not approach her.

Under Princess Liyang’s questioning, A’xiu revealed that the Princess Consort was Xie Zhen. Lady Wei gasped in astonishment, then immediately recalled that when they were in the Southern Dynasty, the Prince of Lanling had inexplicably called her to the embassy and made her drink tea for two whole hours before letting her leave. Now that she thought about it, he must have been trying to cover up the other identity of this young lady!

“This young lady, she is really… so bold!” Lady Wei couldn’t help but cover her mouth and sigh. “But she also truly makes people look at her in a new light again and again!”

Princess Liyang, however, said, “If this matter is known by those treacherous officials, they will definitely whisper in His Majesty’s ear and accuse her of deceiving the emperor. Did the Prince not try to stop her?”

Facing Princess Liyang’s cold gaze, A’xiu felt a little frightened and dodged her eyes, saying euphemistically, “The Prince probably tried to stop her, but the Princess Consort said that the Prince has no one on his side in the court, so she would use the identity of Xie Zhen to block those open and hidden arrows for him!

To clear the court for him!”

These words moved even Lady Wei to tears. She didn’t know what the Princess was thinking, because of the past that had left deep pain in her heart, she had given up everything to pursue freedom, and was even unwilling to acknowledge her own son.

It had been so many years, she had always been worried that the Princess would be trapped in the hatred of the past and never wake up.

Hearing these words, even a heart of stone would be moved, right?

“Is a man of the Gao family worth her doing this?”

Princess Liyang sighed and then smiled. “She is indeed good, and worthy of being ‘her’ daughter!”

A’xiu couldn’t understand what this cold and noble woman was talking about. The few of them remained silent in the room for a long time, then suddenly heard this woman speak to her in a commanding tone:

“No need to disguise yourself as her anymore. The pride in the blood of a Xiao Clan daughter, you cannot imitate it. It will only backfire!”

“Yes!” A’xiu said ashamedly.

As soon as she finished speaking, Steward Liu came running in, knocking on the door in a panic. Princess Liyang walked out with Lady Wei and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Princess, someone else has come, it’s that… that Lady Lu. A few days ago, this Lady Lu was sent to the Imperial Court Prison for interrogation by His Majesty’s decree for attempting to assassinate Xie Zhen. She has been locked up for some time. I don’t know why His Majesty released her today.

The first thing she did after she came out was to run to our Prince of Lanling’s Residence, saying she wants to see the Princess Consort!”

Princess Liyang only pondered for a moment, and a mocking smile appeared on the corner of her lips. After so many years, she never thought that the once inconspicuous Lu Clan girl would become so arrogant!

“Don’t panic! Then let me go see her!”

Her words calmed the anxious hearts of Steward Liu and A’xiu.

This time, Lu Lingxuan didn’t bring any mansion soldiers, but only a few guards and her son Mu Tipo. Just as they arrived at the gate of Prince of Lanling’s Residence, a woman in black walked out first, her aura imposing and even somewhat familiar.

“You are not the Princess Consort of Lanling? Where is the Princess Consort at this moment? His Majesty wants to summon her, why does she repeatedly disobey the imperial decree with the excuse of illness?”

“Lu Lingxuan, you only know how to bully people with His Majesty’s oral decree. It’s been years, and your ambition hasn’t diminished at all. You even managed to reach the status of Lady of a Commandery, which is only for the imperial family’s women?” Princess Liyang said sarcastically.

“Who are you?” Lu Lingxuan asked sharply.

Princess Liyang lifted her veil, revealing a pale but stunningly beautiful face.

Lu Lingxuan’s pupils instantly dilated. She naturally remembered this face, the former number one beauty of the Southern Liang Dynasty. Twenty years ago, when Chen Xu presented her to Gao Cheng, her beauty was already famous in Jinyang. Later, she was favored by Gao Cheng and soon became pregnant. Gao Cheng even wanted to depose his principal wife and make her his official consort, but fortunately, the ministers opposed it and the matter was dropped…

“Liyang?”

✿✿✿

“Yes, it’s me. I heard that on my son’s way back to Yecheng from the Southern Dynasty, you kept sending people to assassinate him, and even tried to kill him at the Yecheng Post Station by falsely claiming an imperial decree!

Lu Lingxuan, how did my son offend you? It’s fine that you manipulate the emperor, but why do you have to frame my son?”

Lu Lingxuan smiled and said coldly, “Your son’s biggest mistake is that he shouldn’t have repeatedly saved that lowly servant girl Xiao Jinyu, and even married her as his Princess Consort…”

Princess Liyang walked up to her without a word, and before she could finish her sentence, she raised her hand and slapped her without warning.

This slap was so sudden that it stunned her. Mu Tipo angrily wanted to call for someone, but unexpectedly, two tall personal troops behind Princess Liyang strode forward, standing in front of him like two walls.

These two personal troops were very tall and strong, their imposing manner silencing Mu Tipo.

The mother and son heard Princess Liyang scold angrily, “The daughter of the Lanling Xiao Clan, how noble is her status, how can you, a lowly servant girl, insult her?”

“Lu Lingxuan, when you were young, you actually wanted to climb into the bed of the then Eastern Wei powerful official, the Prince of Bohai, Gao Cheng, right? It’s a pity he didn’t fancy you and gave you to the surrendered general of the Western Wei, Luo Chao.

It seems his taste in women is still good. You are so ambitious that even after the death of Emperor Shenwu, Gao Huan, you wanted your husband to rebel against the Eastern Wei and become emperor!

Do you think, if I tell His Majesty about these things, what will happen to you?”

When Princess Liyang said this, Lu Lingxuan’s expression was no longer just anger and shame, but fear that more people would hear it. She even turned around and wanted to run away!

Unexpectedly, another sharp question came, “And the death of my husband, Gao Cheng, did you also participate in it?”

Lu Lingxuan clenched her fists, holding back her anger.

Princess Liyang, who had slapped her, seemed to be still angry and continued, “Go back and tell His Majesty that the Princess Consort of Lanling, due to missing her husband, has already left Yecheng and followed the Prince to Zhou State’s Yubi. There is no need to send one decree after another to summon her to the palace.

Moreover, there haven’t been any unusual phenomena recently, and even if there were, she, as the Female Director of Astronomy, would report to His Majesty immediately. When there is nothing going on, there is no need to summon women of the court to the palace, right?”

This arrogant and domineering princess of a fallen state!

Lu Lingxuan gritted her teeth and also mocked, “Liyang, you are just a princess of a fallen state, and you were even played by an enemy who killed your grandfather and father, short and ugly as he was. The Gao family wouldn’t even give you a proper title, what qualifications do you have to lecture me?”

After saying this, Lu Lingxuan smiled triumphantly and left in a hurry with Mu Tipo and her guards!

On the way, Mu Tipo still asked with some confusion, “Mother, that woman… what she said, is it true?”

Although he was her son, Mu Tipo never felt his mother’s love. He was always scolded harshly and even treated like a servant.

Lu Lingxuan stopped and glared at Mu Tipo fiercely.

“Some things you shouldn’t hear, don’t listen!”

“Yes!”

Mu Tipo lowered his head timidly.

“Then what happened today…”

“I will report it to His Majesty truthfully!”

✿✿✿

After Lu Lingxuan left, Lady Wei immediately went to support Princess Liyang, comforting her, “Princess, don’t listen to those foul words, don’t be sad, everything is in the past, it wasn’t your fault…”

“You are not only a daughter, but also a mother now. The past cannot be changed, but the future can still be pursued. Let everything in the past go, you still have the Prince, he misses you, he has been looking for you, you know that…”

Before she could finish her words, Princess Liyang had already taken her hand and said in a deep voice, “Don’t say anymore, I know, since I decided to come back here, I can’t avoid hearing those foul words, I’m used to it!”

“It’s fine, let’s go in!”

Lady Wei nodded with tears in her eyes and supported her hand, walking into Prince of Lanling’s Residence together.

✿✿✿

Half a month later, Xiao Jinyu and the Prince of Lanling arrived at Yubi City in Zhou State with their envoy team. It was already autumn, with clear skies, falling leaves, and the season of harvest.

Seeing the towering and naturally fortified Yubi City ahead, Xiao Jinyu couldn’t help but marvel at its natural geographical advantages. No wonder this place was the bridgehead for the Northern Zhou Dynasty’s Hedong region, both offensive and defensive. It was said that Wei Xiaokuan cleverly used these geographical advantages to successfully defeat Gao Huan.

“Wei Xiaokuan, skilled in using spies, is the biggest spymaster of the Northern Zhou Dynasty!”

“This man also loves to offer strategies. No matter whether it’s a war he personally participates in or not, he will present his strategies to the Emperor of Zhou. But whether they are adopted or not depends entirely on Yuwen Hu’s whim!”

“Speaking of this, we have to mention his relationship with Yuwen Hu. He should have been ostracized by Yuwen Hu, so he has been guarding Yubi and hasn’t participated in any wars. A generation of famous general, but idle here, it’s enough to see Yuwen Hu’s fear of him!”

“Even for this peace talk, although Yuwen Hu specifically named him as the negotiator, he still sent the Director of the Secretariat, Yin Gongzheng, to Yubi, which should be to supervise Wei Xiaokuan’s negotiation!”

Along the way, Ling Ye received intelligence from Xie Yuxuan from Zhou State and reported everything about Wei Xiaokuan to Xiao Jinyu and the Prince of Lanling.

Gao Yanzong couldn’t help but be surprised. “You also have spies in Zhou State?”

“Not spies, but my clansmen!” Xiao Jinyu replied in the identity of Xie Zhen.

Gao Yanzong looked at Xiao Jinyu for a long time, seemingly understanding but not quite. He couldn’t help but sigh in admiration, secretly praising that after this fourth sister-in-law put on men’s clothing, her behavior and mannerisms didn’t show any of the gentleness and charm she had when wearing women’s clothing. She truly had the decisiveness and boldness of a man.

“Is this Yanzong’s first time as an envoy to another country?” Xiao Jinyu asked suddenly, seeing him lost in thought.

Gao Yanzong nodded and replied, “Yes, but last time, it was also Fourth Brother’s first time as an envoy to Chen State. If I had known that Fourth Brother would have such a wonderful encounter, I should have gone with him to Chen State! But it’s too late to say anything now!”

“It’s not too late, you didn’t miss it this time, did you? However, the peace talks involve the interests and relationship between the two countries, so we have to be very cautious. Therefore, Yanzong, just watch us from the side, you don’t need to say much!”

“Fourth… uh, yes! Minister Xie! I’ll listen to you, Fourth Brother listens to you, I will definitely listen to you too!”

Xiao Jinyu couldn’t help but look at Gao Changgong and smile, and he smiled back.

“We’re almost there, Yanzong, be on high alert!” Gao Changgong suddenly said in a serious tone.

Several luxurious tents gradually came into view ahead. Xiao Jinyu and the Prince of Lanling spurred their horses and sped towards the location of the tents.

They were quickly stopped by a group of soldiers. “Who are you?”

The Prince of Lanling took out the staff representing the Qi envoy. “Envoys from Qi State, requesting an audience with Grand Commandant Wei of Zhou State!”