The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 220
by Little PandaI Love It Here, I Love Sheng’er
Since Qu Sheng had ascended the throne as Emperor, the officials below had been secretly plotting, colluding with the powerful aristocratic clans, vassal kings, and feudal lords. It wasn’t that she lacked evidence; she had simply wanted to sweep them all up in a single stroke.
Dealing with them one by one would take too long and inevitably spark panic, which would harm public morale.
Disposing of the marquises and vassal kings wouldn’t require much effort, but the officials from the aristocratic clans made it hard for Qu Sheng to find a starting point.
Now that she’d obtained the conspiracy list, however, such a charge wasn’t something they could wash away so easily.
Inside the Court Assembly Hall, two rows of soldiers clad in silver armor stood with long sabers in hand. The atmosphere was as terrifying and grim as the halls of the underworld.
The hall was deathly silent. After a long while, Qu Sheng rose to her feet, her gaze first drifting to the Left Chancellor.
He’d once been utterly loyal to the Qu family. Qu Sheng had previously wanted to execute him but had been stopped by Lin Xizhao. She’d never expected him to let himself be used by others, allowing his title to be leveraged for treason.
Qu Sheng slightly raised her eyes to look at the palace eunuch standing beside her.
The eunuch bowed his head in obeisance, then looked down at the conspirators below. “The Emperor decrees: All who participated in this treason shall face the yimie jiuzu1, and their family assets shall be confiscated. Yet by imperial grace, those who redeem their crimes with meritorious service may have their sentences commuted. Respect this!”
As the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, many of the shivering ministers and members of the aristocratic clans below raised their heads, but none dared to speak.
Qu Sheng waited a moment, then waved her hand. The soldiers on both sides stepped forward and dragged them all outside.
Those inside the hall were the heads of their respective households, but surrounded by soldiers and guards outside the hall were their families residing in the Capital City.
Executioners stood in neat rows. Once the crowd had emptied from the hall, Qu Sheng walked over to Qu Yu’s side and said in a gentle tone, “Fourth Brother, come outside with me.”
Outside, the dragon throne and the Prince Regent’s chair had already been brought out. Qu Yu had no peace of mind to drink tea after stepping out; this place was about to become a river of blood.
When the two stepped outside, the soldiers acting as executioners already held heavy broadswords in their hands. Having followed Qu Sheng through countless campaigns and battles, not a single one of them had fewer than dozens of lives on their hands; to them, a scene like this was only exhilarating.
Qu Sheng cast a cold glance over them and ordered the executions to begin.
The officials were the first to go under the knife.
Blades rose and fell, sending countless heads rolling across the ground. Blood splattered everywhere as the metallic stench began to spread, instantly draining all color from the faces of those who had been rounded up for the rebellion.
The soldiers nearby deftly dragged the headless corpses away, piling them haphazardly in one spot, while the severed heads were left scattered right where they had fallen.
Soon, the palace eunuch began to announce the next batch of treasonous officials and their families. “Bring forth the criminal Jiang Jichang and his clan!”
At the call, the soldiers cast icy glares at Jiang Jichang. Before he could utter a word, they swiftly dragged his family forward and forced them to their knees, binding them tightly. Instantly, wailing and screaming filled the air.
“Behead!” Qu Sheng’s vice general ordered, showing not a shred of mercy.
As the blades fell once more, some of those awaiting their turn fainted on the spot.
None in the crowd dared to make a sound; they simply knelt on the ground in desperate, helpless terror.
Qu Sheng looked at the fainted official, then glanced at her vice general, who raised his hand to have the man dragged forward.
“Kill this one first. Wake him up,” the vice general’s gruff voice rang out again, causing several conspirators near him to tremble violently.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Please allow this guilty subject to look at the list! This guilty subject is willing to redeem my crimes with meritorious service!” one of the conspirators cried, scrambling on all fours toward Qu Sheng.
As the soldiers moved to block him, Qu Sheng waved her hand, ordering them to clear the path.
The palace eunuch walked over and held the list before the man’s eyes. In the flickering light of torches whipped by the night wind, the man scanned the names rapidly, then knelt and looked up at Qu Sheng in a frenzy. “Your Majesty, the Qiao family of Nanxing! They aren’t on this list, but they’ve entered the Capital this time too! I have their letters as proof!”
A nearby eunuch holding an ink brush recorded his words, and the soldiers dragged him out toward the palace gates to retrieve the evidence.
Soon, the letters were retrieved, and the Qiao family was dragged into the imperial palace as well.
Qu Sheng looked over the correspondence, glanced at the Qiao family head and his dependents, and handed the letters to her vice general.
The vice general walked over to the Qiao family patriarch and shoved the letters before his face, asking roughly, “Do you admit to this?”
The Qiao family patriarch cast a look at the letters, then raised his eyes to glare at the man who had betrayed him, before lowering his head in defeat.
Having received confirmation, the eunuch read aloud Qu Sheng’s command: “Chen Haikun has redeemed his crimes through meritorious service. His sentence and those of his family are hereby commuted to exile and military conscription, and their assets shall be confiscated by the state.”
Upon hearing this, the soldiers hauled Chen Haikun and his family up, leading them to another area to sit apart from those destined for the blade.
Once the decree of commutation was delivered, it took only a moment for the other officials and sons of the aristocratic clans to begin turning on one another, frantically pointing fingers.
Qu Sheng sat and listened, directing her scribes to record the names. Once solid proof was secured, she issued orders to arrest those remaining conspirators who had slipped through the net.
In dealing with this rebellion plotted by the gentry officials and powerful clans, Qu Sheng’s original intention had never been to simply slaughter them. Her true objective was to drag these deep-seated, festering threats into the open and detonate them within a scope she could control.
Almost all who redeemed themselves were sentenced to exile and military conscription, while several key offenders were locked away in the imperial prison.
The two leaders of the conspiracy, Qi Jinfu and Gong Lianlang, were sentenced to be paraded through the streets and publicly beheaded in a few days’ time.
When the news reached Nanting Courtyard, Qu Jixian felt no displeasure. Although Qi Jinfu was a rare and capable official who had genuinely worked for the livelihood of the common people, treason was a crime that could not be pardoned. If they didn’t make an example of him to warn others, it would only encourage more loyal ministers to walk down the same self-destructive path.
By the time Qu Sheng returned to Nanting Courtyard, it was already the afternoon of the following day.
The moment she arrived, Cheng Xi brought over her medicine. As soon as Qu Sheng drank it down, Lin Xizhao hurriedly poured her a cup of tea to rinse her mouth.
After Cheng Xi departed, Lin Xizhao looked at Qu Sheng’s exhausted face and asked softly, “Do you want to rest for a bit?”
A warm smile touched the corners of Qu Sheng’s lips as she nodded. “I’ll bathe first.”
Having not closed her eyes for two days and one night, she wasn’t particularly sleepy, just deeply weary.
“Then I’ll have someone prepare hot water,” Lin Xizhao said, stepping to the door to summon a maid to make the arrangements.
Having given her instructions, Lin Xizhao turned around, only to find Qu Sheng already standing right behind her. The moment she turned, Qu Sheng pulled her into a tight embrace.
Qu Sheng buried her face in the crook of Lin Xizhao’s neck. Feeling her partner’s deep reliance, Lin Xizhao raised her arms and held her close in return.
As they held each other, a maid soon approached and stood outside the door. “Your Majesty, Junzhu2, the hot water is ready.”
Qu Sheng kept her head nestled against Lin Xizhao’s neck, reluctant to let go, so Lin Xizhao could only turn her head toward the door and call out, “Understood.”
Lin Xizhao waited patiently until Qu Sheng had held her fill. Only when Qu Sheng finally loosened her embrace did Lin Xizhao smile, lifting her slender fingers to caress her cheek. She pressed a tender kiss to Qu Sheng’s lips and said with curving, affectionate eyes, “Let’s go bathe.”
Qu Sheng followed Lin Xizhao to the washroom. Inside, the maids had already laid out a fresh set of clothes.
Lin Xizhao helped Qu Sheng unfasten her robes, then took her hand and guided her into the large wooden tub.
As Qu Sheng sat in the water, facing her wife who stood just outside the tub to wash her, her gaze traced the other woman’s features. She could already picture how Lin Xizhao would look clad in the imperial phoenix robes.
Sensing the steady gaze, Lin Xizhao met her eyes with a soft curve of her lips. When Qu Sheng was young, Lin Xizhao had offered to help her bathe, but Qu Sheng had stubbornly refused. Though she eventually grew accustomed to it over the years, she had always retained a trace of bashfulness. Now, she accepted it with complete ease.
Once she had finished bathing, Qu Sheng felt a wave of relief ease her body. After sharing a light meal with Lin Xizhao, she went to check on Qu Ting and Qu Jinian.
According to Liu Wuxiang, Qu Ting was likely to regain consciousness within a month, which meant her father should also wake before long.
When night fell, Lin Xizhao was the first to retire to the bed. Once Qu Sheng climbed in beside her, Lin Xizhao nestled naturally into her arms.
Lin Xizhao looked up at Qu Sheng, her eyelashes fluttering slightly as she met those bright, shining eyes.
Qu Sheng seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood tonight. As she stared down at Lin Xizhao, it did not take long for her thoughts to turn to more intimate desires.
Qu Sheng leaned down to kiss her, and Lin Xizhao tilted her head back to meet her lips. After only a few brief moments of pressing their lips together, Qu Sheng parted Lin Xizhao’s teeth, deeply tasting the sweetness of her soft tongue.
Shifting her weight, Qu Sheng slowly rolled over to rest gently atop Lin Xizhao, her hands beginning to trace warm paths across her body.
Lin Xizhao responded to the touch, her fingers sliding along Qu Sheng’s waist until she found the sash of her inner robes, deftly untying it.
As the sleeping robes parted, Lin Xizhao naturally slid her fingers beneath the hem of Qu Sheng’s inner camisole. The gentle touch sent a sudden shiver through Qu Sheng’s entire body.
“Wife…” Qu Sheng breathed. She had clearly been the one taking the initiative, yet her wife had somehow beaten her to the punch.
Lin Xizhao let out a soft laugh. Ignoring Qu Sheng’s mock grievance, her eyes, dark with desire, curled in a smile as she said, “I love it here. I love Sheng’er.”
Gazing into Lin Xizhao’s luminous eyes, Qu Sheng was not sure whether she had been thoroughly captivated by her beauty or simply stunned by such uncharacteristically bold words. Her gaze softened as she looked down at the woman beneath her, completely surrendering to her gentle mischief.
Qu Sheng rolled onto her side, and Lin Xizhao shifted downward, untying the straps of Qu Sheng’s camisole. Replacing her fingers with her lips, she took the sensitive peak into her mouth, her soft tongue swirling over it while her other hand remained delightfully active.
Qu Sheng let out a soft whimper, shivering at the warm, wet sensation. When she looked down, she caught Lin Xizhao peering up at her from below.
Watching that tender red tongue tease her skin, a fierce, unprecedented possessiveness flared up within Qu Sheng’s chest.
Lin Xizhao had been taking her time, but that single look had completely undone Qu Sheng. Catching Lin Xizhao’s chin in her hand, Qu Sheng leaned down with ragged breath, sealing their lips together and tangling their tongues in a deep, demanding kiss that brooked no resistance.
Within moments, their robes were discarded over the edge of the bed, followed by a trail of fiery, passionate kisses that spread across their skin.
The soft, muffled whimpers echoing in the room only spurred Qu Sheng on, taking Lin Xizhao again and again.
The air in the room grew heavy and humid, thick with the sweet, musky scent of their coupling.
By the time their passion finally subsided, Lin Xizhao was too exhausted to move. She curled into Qu Sheng’s embrace, as compliant as she had been at the start, though her damp, trembling eyelashes betrayed how deeply she had been affected.
Qu Sheng tenderly kissed her brow and eyes, her own eyes curving into warm crescents as she drew Lin Xizhao even closer.
“Wife, I want to formally crown you Empress once terms of state allow, right after Bingying and her bride hold their wedding.” Preparing for an imperial coronation would require countless arrangements, but Qu Sheng was determined to make everyone in the Quzhao Dynasty envy her wife.
“Mmh,” Lin Xizhao murmured softly, her voice filled with a lazy, content warmth. “But let’s not make it too extravagant.” She had entirely accepted Qu Sheng’s resolve to crown her Empress; she knew this was not merely a matter of state, but Qu Sheng’s deepest, lifelong obsession.
Furthermore, at the founding of a new dynasty, a hundred tasks remained to be done, and it was no time to indulge in wasteful extravagance.
“I’ll do as my wife wishes,” Qu Sheng murmured, pressing kiss after kiss onto Lin Xizhao’s thoroughly swollen lips, causing her to shrink back in mild alarm.
Meeting Lin Xizhao’s pleading eyes, Qu Sheng let out a soft laugh. “I’m only kissing you, Wife. Nothing more.”
Lin Xizhao remained half-suspicious, but when Qu Sheng’s lips descended once more, her resistance gradually softened. Yet it was precisely this lack of resistance—along with her faint, unconscious responses—that caused the embers of desire Qu Sheng had just managed to suppress to roar back to life.
The gentle kisses lasted far too long, slowly shifting in nature. By the time Qu Sheng parted her teeth once more, it was already too late for Lin Xizhao to regret…
One month later.
Back when Qu Sheng had led her troops into the imperial palace, the military forces she had pre-arranged had already crossed into the Haichao Kingdom, rounding up and capturing every single rebel belonging to the Ge family in one fell swoop.
Having dealt with the traitors and reorganized the royal court, King Cheng Feng soon received an imperial decree of marriage from the Quzhao Emperor.
The newly appointed Commander of the Imperial Guards, Zhao Bingying, was decreed to wed Princess Cheng Xi of the Haichao Kingdom.
The author has something to say:
Lin Xizhao: “Well, shouldn’t I see how you’d react, whether you like it or not?”
Qu Sheng: “Go ahead and look. Look all you want, and look what happens—you get eaten.”
Lin Xizhao: “…”
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