The Prisoner of Beauty- Novel Ending Part 2

The Prisoner of Beauty Novel Ending Part 2

• Our hero’s timely arrival saved the day. Overjoyed and much relieved, our heroine promptly fainted from fatigue after she saw with her own eyes that her brother’s injury was not severe. 
• When Xiao Qiao came to, she was informed that something had happened to her mother-in-law. Rushing off before she had time to even see Wei Shao, Xiao Qiao went to her dying mother-in-law’s bedside. Turns out, after seeing her heroine ignore her own safety and ride back to help defend the sorely outnumbered city, Mama Wei was beset with jealousy at the thought that if they were lucky enough to survive this, then her son would surely become even more besotted with his wife…to the point that there would be no more room for his mother. The thought ate her night and day until Mama Wai became obsessed with the idea of saving her husband and her father-in-law’s memorial plaque so she too could prove her worth. Deep in her heart, she harbored a terrible wish that the city would fall. Then that awful daughter of Qiao Clan’s evil plot would fail, and she would forever be carved into her son’s memory as the protector of Wei Clan (for saving the memorial plaques) The novel doesn’t explain exactly what happened, it just said that a crazed Mama Wei ran into the memorial hall and a fire soon started after. 
• The severely burned Mama Wei opened her eyes and saw Xiao Qiao in front of her. Immediately flying into a rage, she wrapped her hands around Xiao Qiao’s throat, and it took four people to save our heroine from being choked to death. Wei Shao burst into the room as our heroine was still trying to catch her breath on the floor. Running right past Xiao Qiao, Wei Shao went to his mother and tried to comfort her. Mama Wei told her son how she protected the Wei memorial hall with her life, then started to scream in anger the moment her gaze landed on Xiao Qiao, and accused her of being a Xiongnu. Seeing the pleading in Wei Shao’s eyes as he turned to look at her, Xiao Qiao left without another word. 
• The next morning, by the time Wei Shao went to their room, Xiao Qiao had already left, leaving words that she was off to take care of Madam Wei and for Wei Shao not to worry. Two weeks later, news reached Madam Wei and Xiao that Mama Wei had passed. Hearing the news, Madam Wei was silent for a long moment before saying “A foolish one, but also a pitiful one.” 
• Our two leads finally had the time to be together alone to rest after the funeral was done. Wei Shao apologized to Xiao Qiao for everything she had been through and the burden of taking care of the funeral. Xiao Qiao assured Wei Shao that as his wife, she had only done what she should have done, including being on that city wall, hitting the drums to cheer on the soldiers. As she nestled in Wei Shao’s embrace, Xiao Qiao heard him whisper by her ear, “I am blessed to have you as my wife.” 
• The next day, our hero was both surprised and dismayed when Xiao Qiao asked Madam Wei for her permission to go visit her father. Ignoring her grandson’s obviously look of dismay, Madam Wei gave her permission and told Wei Shao to escort his wife to Yanzhou. Wrecked by the irrational feeling that Xiao Qiao was leaving him, Wei Shao escorted our heroine to Yanzhou and, much to her surprise, agreed to personally escort her into the city. Overjoyed to see that Wei Shao was actually willing to enter the city, Daddy Qiao invites Wei Shao to stay the night and drink with him. Much to our heroine’s surprise again, Wei Shao agreed. 
• His irrational fear of Xiao Qiao leaving him slowly receded as he spent time with her in her childhood home, but fear was soon replaced by a dull ache as Wei Shao saw a carefree side of Xiao Qiao he had never seen as she laughed and giggled with her cousin while their young children played around them. 
• When it was time for Wei Shao to leave, Daddy Qiao personally escorted him out of the city and took the opportunity to thank Wei Shao for his willingness to be such a good husband to his daughter despite the deep grudge between their two families. 
• Wei Shao started to leave with his men, but suddenly turned and rushed back into the city. Finding his wife, our hero poured out his heart to her “Manman, I have always wanted to ask grandmother something. I wanted to know why she had made the decision for me back then to take a daughter of Qiao Clan for wife. But later, slowly, I lost the desire to ask. Nor does it matter anymore what grandmother was thinking. Now, I just want to thank grandmother. If she had not insisted, then how could I, Wei Shao ever be worthy enough to have you as my wife, who treats me thus? I have told you a long time ago that you are in my heart. I didn’t lie to you. But at the same time, no matter how much you relented, gave what effort, once it got to me, it became a matter of course. All this was because Qiao Clan owed Wei Clan. And you married me, it was due to Qiao Clan wanting something from Qiao Clan. Thus, even though I married you and also have you in my heart, I never thought of your feelings. Even if you are good to me, I thought it was a privilege I gave you. You should be grateful, repay Wei Clan, all was a matter of course. But now I think back on it, I, Wei Shao, what a jerk I was!” Our hero went on to explain that his mother died with hatred and selfishness filling her heart, and he was no better than her. “Manman, at that time (when she asked to go home), I suddenly had a feeling that you were distancing yourself from me. It seemed as if you wanted to leave me. I knew clearly that you would come back, but that feeling would not leave me, to the point that I couldn’t eat or sleep. When I brought you back to Qiao Manor, and yesterday, I saw how you were with your family, it added to my anxiety. Wei Manor was not a prison, but to you, perhaps it was no different from a prison. You have been in my home for several years, but when have I seen you this carefree? When I left today, your father sent me out. At parting, he solemnly gave you to me and asked me to take care of you for the rest of your life. While I was on the road, I asked myself again and again, if that day, the city was breached, I lost my grandmother, and also lost you, then even if I wiped out all my enemies, take possession of this world, had all the beauties in my arms, but there would not be another you, nor another person would could call me husband like you do, then what joy would be left for the reminder of my life?” Like in the drama, this confession did the trick, and the seemingly deep chasm between our two leads finally disappeared. 
• Within the Xiongnu leadership, some understandably and correctly suspected that Liu Yan had leaked their plan to Wei Clan. To everyone’s surprise, Liu Yan killed the man (a very important man) who had dared to confront him. Chaos ensued, but ended to Liu Yan’s father’s advantage. Despite his father’s plea for him to stay, Liu Yan didn’t see the point of staying since he had already helped his father to become king. Seemingly feeling he didn’t belong either in Wei Clan or with the Xiongnu tribes, Liu Yan rode off into the sunset, obviously still in love with our heroine. 
• Both back in Wei Manor, Wei Shao finally asked Xiao Qiao to tell him her nightmare. Seeing that he truly would like to know, Xiao Qiao told our hero everything that happened in their previous lifetime. Stunned when he heard that he would marry Madam Yulou, the woman who had also successfully caused his grandmother’s death in the dream, Wei Shao could not imagine a world where he would have nothing to do with Xiao Qiao other than being the man who killed her family and indirectly caused her death. Holding our very disturbed hero in her arms, Xiao Qiao told him, “It doesn’t matter what happened in the dream, this is our reality now. You once said you were blessed to have me as your wife, but I am also blessed to have you as my husband.” 
• Wei Shao wiped out Liu Yan’s troops and forced him to run away from his palace. Escaping into a small island with only a few of his closest subordinates, his empress and Madam Yulou (who had made up a lie about knowing some hidden treasures somewhere), Liu Yan seemed to start going crazy like he did in his previous life. In a fit of craziness, Liu Yan killed his own empress while calling out our heroine’s name, repeating the same words from his previous life “Manman, you go first, and I will follow you after.” 
• Wei Shao caught up to Liu Yan on the island. Still obsessed with the belief that he is strong enough to beat any man who has our heroine, Liu Yan challenged Wei Shao to a duel…and failed miserably. 
• Liu Yan died after Wei Shao plunged his sword through him. Madam Yulou begged for mercy. We are not told what happened with her, only that Wei Shao personally crushed the golden mask she had…which was probably a more cruel fate than killing her. 
• Later that day, Wei Shao had a dream that showed us what happened after Qiao Man (the real Xiao Qiao in the previous life) died. Wei Shao walked into Liu Yan’s palace to find him and his empress both dead. Wei Shao glanced at Qiao Man’s beautiful but dead corpse without emotion, only absently noting the resemblance between Qiao Man and his dead wife. With all his foes defeated, Wei Shao didn’t feel any sense of excitement for his accomplishments, instead, he just felt a numbing emptiness. Ever since he became the emperor, his empire had never stopped fighting. The people were taxed to support his armies until he finally forced the Xiongnu to retreat far far away. His Palace Harlem was full of beauties, but no woman held his interest for long. He watched with indifference as his empress (Madam Yulou) competed with other women for power and his attention. He knew in his heart that his grandmother wouldn’t want him to live like this, but nothing was left in this world that would soften his heart. The only thing that made his heart beat was endless conquests and killings. The people and land were exhausted from the constant war. One year, the Yellow River flooded, completely wiping out fertile lands and villages. His most trusted advisor, Gongsun Yang, worked tirelessly to help fix the water issue and ended up dying of illness. The death of his last remaining trusted friend (the generals who fought with him either died in battle or no longer dared to say anything to him) caused Wei Shao to realize he needed to follow Gongsun Yang’s plea that he must allow the people to rest and focus on solving the water issues. Unfortunately, just before Wei Shao was about to issue the edict, a refugee crisis broke out and soon a group of 100,000 people had gathered, led by a greedy-eyed general. Ignoring the pleadings of his subordinates, Wei Shao decided to go out on a final battle before he would let the people and the land rest. It was in this battle that Wei Shao was shot through the throat by an arrow that came out of nowhere. (I am assuming it was shot by Bi Zhi). 
• Wei Shao woke up with a start and was immensely relieved to see Gongsun Yang standing in front of him, trying to wake him up. Grabbing Gongsun Yan in a big hug, Wei Shao blurted out “You are still alive! That’s so great!” 
• Rushing home to Xiao Qiao, Wei Shao took her hand and promised “Manman, I have finished fighting. I have come for you and Fei Fei. From this point on, I don’t want to be separated from you anymore!” Gazing into his eyes, there were tears glistening in Xiao Qiao’s eyes. Taking his hand, she said, “I will take you to Fei Fei. She can already say mommy. Do you want to hear her call you daddy?”  
• The novel never directly addressed why our hero’s grandmother wanted him to marry a daughter from the Qiao Clan, but from all the hints dropped along the way, my personal opinion is that Madam Qiao knew that hatred was and would consume her grandson. She hoped that a daughter from Qiao Clan could be the means of softening and eventually erasing the hatred in Wei Shao’s heart.
• Wei Shao becomes the emperor. The new emperor promptly lowered the taxes on the people, encouraged farming and water management, paying special attention to the danger of flooding. 
• On Wei Shao’s recommendation, Xiao Qiao sent Daddy Qiao to Gongsun Yang’s master to help with his eyes. After becoming emperor, Wei Shao and Xiao Qiao (now the empress) went to Gongsun Yang’s master and asked for his advice on water management. (The master’s family was not only famous in medicine but also well known for their skills in water management.) Gongsun Yang’s master was too old to leave the secluded mountain he lived on, but he recommended a little-known official to Wei Shao, who would later become a great help to the empire on water issues.  
• The following year, after Wei Shao became the emperor, he started the “Imperial Examination” giving all the chance, regardless of family background or wealth, to prove their worth and be granted the opportunity for employment as court officials. It was said, that this examination was first suggested to the emperor by his empress. 
• All those who helped Wei Shao, including Wei Liang and Bi Zhi (he was given the title of duke) were all well rewarded with great positions in this new nation. 
• No one knew where the rumor came from, but there was a widespread rumor that the emperor was afraid of his empress…and that was why he would not take any royal concubines. The rumor was so widespread that even the commoners had heard of it. Most court officials, especially those who were closest to Wei Shao knew not to touch the subject with a ten-foot pole, but there was always that ignorant, brave one. One day, a court official submitted an official scroll asking the emperor to fill the imperial harlem since the emperor only had a princess. The next day, the official scroll was sent back, there was only one sentence on it, “You all are cursing me that I can’t produce sons?” The brave official promptly apologized for daring to suggest such a thing. From that point on, no one dared to bring up the subject. According to some rumors, the emperor even used the whole incident and how he dealt with it as a way to score some points with the empress. 
• The first emperor and empress of the Yan Empire would be widely known as wise rulers who brought on a glorious time period for the people. 

The END!