Looking over at Helian’s direction just in time to catch him sneaking a glance at her, Zhi Wei sighs silently again and thinks this grand queen is sure not an easy job… Still, she does have some lingering questions so it will be fine to let Hong Jile and his daughter stay alive for the time being. 

Flashing her trademark gentle smile, Zhi Wei speaks up “All you honorable leaders could rest easy. The King is only trying to be respectful to me. I can’t interfere in the matter of Gold Roc’s compensation to the royal court but Miss Nata’s future is something I do have a say over.”  

The tribe leaders’ eyes all light up with approval. Yes, this woman might be a bit on the ugly side but she does seem to be brave and knows her place. Indeed, as the queen she does have the right to accept women on the king’s behalf. 

“Zhi Wei.” Helian “hurriedly and with anger for her sake” interjects with, “how can I have you suffer like that!” 

Keep pretending! Zhi Wei wants nothing more to give him a glare but has to keep her gentle smile firmly in place “To marry into the wild grassland is to keep the rules of the wild grassland. I don’t feel like I have been wronged at all, not at all.” 

“That’s the truth, what suffering is there.” Someone piped up, “Whose household doesn’t have multiple wives and concubines. Your majesty, are you really only going to have just the queen? Is she going to be able to handle your appetite?” 

“How can I accept the daughter whose father killed my father!” Helian yells angrily. 

“The father’s sin should not carry over to the children, especially not in the case of the royal offspring.” Zhi Wei diligently carries out her persona of the “very understanding Han Queen” Zhi Wei turns to Helian and says “Your Majesty, you have suffered.”  

“I swore in front of the royal army to bring back the enemy’s head!” a very “determined and unrelenting” King Helian declares. 

“My king can distribute the compensations from the Gold Roc tribe to the soldiers.” Queen Feng gently urges “This matter concerns the royal offspring so the warriors will understand.”

“Yes, yes. The Queen is indeed benevolent…” The tribe leaders all nodded with approval. 

“Your Majesty.” Zhi Wei tenderly and lovingly takes hold of Helian’s hand, “The Gold Roc tribe’s crime can be determined a bit later but this concerns your offspring so please allow your humble wife to make a call here.” 

Helian looks down at the delicate hands over his own. This is the first time Feng Zhi Wei had taken the initiative to hold his hand. Despite knowing full well that this was all an act for their audience but he couldn’t help it but felt a surge of fervor in his heart that he almost used this rare opportunity to pour out all the words that have been suppressed deep down inside. 

Zhi Wei immediately noticed when his hand tightened around hers. Her smile unwavering, she discreetly extracts her hand. Staring at the hand that left as soon as it touched his, Helian stopped, pushed down his instinct to reclaim it and regrettably rubbed his fingers against his own palm, savoring the memory of the soft silky touch. 

While Helian is busy savoring, Zhi Wei has already walked away to greet Nata with a smile, “Welcome to the royal family.” 

Staring back at Zhi Wei, there was no joy in Nata’s eyes but a strange expression of surveying instead. Standing by his daughter’s side, a cold expression flashed across Hong Jile’s eyes. 

Paying no heed to the father and daughter, Helian guiltily rubbed his hands together before giving Zhi Wei a discrete look that says “My little aunty, thank you for getting me out of this. I will crawl on my knees and obtain whatever you want!” 

Zhi Wei gives him a look in return that says “Oh my big nephew, this is not a big deal. It’s not like this is the first time I have to take on a mommy role.” 

Oblivious to their King and Queen’s silent jabs, all the tribe leaders let out a sigh of relief. Compared to killing Hong Jile and starting a war on the wild grassland this is a much better outcome. The Gold Roc tribe is quite wealthy so their compensation will eventually trickle down to benefit most of them that are in the tent.  

The King’s willingness to relent is all thanks to the Queen. Hutu laughs heartily and says “Congratulation to my King. The queen is indeed wise and intelligent, that is a blessing to the wild grassland!”

“Yes,” Helian immediately replies with feeling “I too hope my blessing will be forever long!”

Zhi Wei smiles and changes the subject “Your majesty, now that we have settled this, let’s take care of the rest of the matters.” 

  • After gaining the support of the leaders of the two big tribes, Helian soon gains the support of the remaining leaders once they find out he is planning to share the Gold Roc’s “compensation” and land with them as well.
  • The Wolf tribe leader who is good friends with Hong Jile did eventually bring up dryly that Helian had already blown up the only exit so they are all trapped anyway. Peony immediately jumps out and explains with a big grin that while the explosion sounded epic but it was mostly for show and only a small part of the mountain pass has been blocked.

Much relieved, Hu En of Leopard tribe (one of the two tribe leaders Helian had won over using their past histories with his father) says “My king is wise and brave, Hu En is full of admiration!” This is the first time Hu En used the word “King” and it formally expressed the usually rebellious Leopard tribe’s attitude towards Helian. 

  • Helian walked out of the tent and immediately looked for Kelie but Peony ran over and whispered to him “Don’t look anymore, he ran off. Don’t make a scene. Kelie has ingratiated himself with the tribe leaders so they all like him. Him being the traitor is only my suspicion. That night by the river, I wasn’t sure I would survive so that’s why I notified you in that manner. Anyhow, this is not the time to talk about this. When we get back home then we will deal with him!” Hearing Peony’s words, Zhi Wei finally realizes the reason Peony had drawn Kelie out of the tent right at the beginning was because she was trying to prevent Helian from jumping the gun. 

—————————————–

(I am adding a small part from last week to help this part make more sense.) 

That day, he paced around the Capital gate for a long time until he finally turned back in silence. He couldn’t catch up to her nor should he try. What could he say if he caught up to her? Say that he wasn’t the one that made the order? Say that Xin Ziyan went against his wishes and did it on his own? Or say that he has never wanted to get rid of her? All these explanations, she wouldn’t believe it, even he himself wouldn’t believe it.

Back when they first met in Qiu manor, he was there to meet with the concubine (that’s the uncle’s concubine our heroine killed) to get her to steal Feng siblings’ birth dates. After so many years of investigations, the Gold Feather Guards had tentatively put their focus on the Feng siblings. The Gold Feather Guards had initially suspected Feng Hao to be the one since he seems to be especially precious to Madam Feng. He had made the same assumption until he met her by the small pound and began to notice her. That kind of chilling decisiveness and silent calculation all harkens to a royal bloodline. Madam Feng had raised Feng Hao, the one with such a heavy burden of bringing back the former empire into a useless dandy. She then raised the daughter she didn’t care about into an extraordinary woman. Just going by his instincts, he doesn’t believe it. He ordered his men to get the other spoiled noble brats to befriend Feng Hao. Their purpose was to use Fang Hao’s greed to entice him into stealing things from his house and pawn them. All members of the royal bloodline will have something to signify their identity. Feng Hao is quite foolish and being short on money he will certainly resort to stealing things from his home. They would’ve hit the jackpot if he ended up stealing something he shouldn’t. The trap was set for Feng hao but his attention had been on Feng Zhi Wei.

Their meeting in the brothel, the chance meeting in the academy, the crown prince’s case, Shao Ning framing him, the palace feast– with every single step he watched her, watched her struggling like a baby bird chirping in the wild. He was on full alert but couldn’t stop himself from getting closer. He has no idea since when his gaze following her every move has gone from the initial surveillance to an inability to look away. It’s fate, it’s destiny, it’s ill fated destiny. He couldn’t avoid jumping into the whirlpool that was hidden deep in her gaze and by the time he tried to extract himself, it was too late, the water had already suffocated him. 

The February late night breeze cannot penetrate the heavy curtains. Both of his hands leaning on the desk, Ning Yi crumbles up the ink stained paper. Spreading out another clean piece of paper, he picks up his pen again and slowly lowers it. “To the honorable Queen Shunyi:”

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

Related Posts