QT: LAC Chapter 154: Ninth World (19)

Chapter 154: Ninth World (19)
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Edited by Sulo

The Emperor wanted to have the witch doctor in the palace. The first reason was that there were so many treasures in the palace, some might be able to help expel the poisonous insect. The second reason was that he didn’t feel relieved about the witch doctor who was born in Miao nationality. He hoped that the court physician could supervise and avoid the witch doctor from harming him. The third reason was that he didn’t trust Cao YuYing, the ‘only’ prince left.

The Emperor was suspicious. Although Cao YuYing found that he was poisoned by the Gu insects and took the Miao witch doctor to the palace to heal him, the Emperor still didn’t believe that the motive of the other party was just filial piety — in his eyes, it was nothing more than Cao YuYing’s means of wanting to be next in line for the throne.

The Emperor acknowledged that Cao YuYing was indeed a good seedling of himself. Although he had not been educated by the Emperor, he had already possessed the skill of a king. Even if he didn’t have just one prince left to inherit the throne, even with a few more children, Cao YuYing was still the best choice.

However, there were two completely different concepts: one was to choose his next heir, the other was to have the throne taken away from him. The Emperor did not move Cao YuYing for the time being, just to prepare himself in case of an accident. But once he recovered his health and dealt with the affairs of the Enchantress and the Miao people, the next thing to do would be to severely suppress and restrict the son who made him feel threatened. After all, with the throne on the line, the father-son relationship was nothing more than a joke.

Now that Cao YuYing was regarded as a competitor, the Emperor needed to put an end to the possibility of the other party meddling in the process of getting the insect out, so he had to completely control the witch doctor. In order to achieve this goal, he would not hesitate to allow the witch doctor’s request to spare the lives of the whole Miao people. Even after knowing that the witch doctor and the Imperial Concubine were mother and daughter, he said that if she succeeded in repelling the insect, he could consider leniency on the Enchantress.

——Will these promises be fulfilled after he was healed? Hehe, the Emperor must let these Miao people know what it is like ‘the Emperor is angry, there will be millions of corpses, and thousands of blood’!

The poor witch doctor didn’t know that the Emperor had already sentenced the whole Miao people to death. She only heard of the saying ‘the Emperor does not joke around’, but she didn’t know that there was another saying that was ‘the temperament of heaven is unpredictable’. Once the Emperor turns his face, eight out of ten people will be killed!

However, Cao YuYing knew the Emperor’s ideas very well, but he didn’t care about them at all.

Perhaps the throne was more important than life for others, but in the eyes of Cao YuYing, who had experienced it so many times and did not know how many times he had been an Emperor, it was just a black pot that makes him avoid it.

The Emperor was on guard for his health and throne, but he didn’t know that Cao YuYing was more hoping for the survival of the Emperor than anyone else, Cao YuYing wanted nothing more but for him to continue sitting on the throne steadily for decades. As for Cao YuYing, he can continue to wear the skin of a Princess and play with his little husband in the mountains and rivers, and be free, instead of being trapped in the deep palace, and deal with documents day after day. Therefore, Cao YuYing was very pleased to cooperate with the emperor’s request and sent the witch doctor into the palace. He even ordered his contacts in the palace to fully cooperate with the emperor to block the news and blind the Enchantress. On the other hand, Bai Duan was more worried and uneasy when he saw that the preparations in the palace were coming to an end.

On the one hand, the loyal and patriotic education he received from childhood made him hope that the emperor could recover his health. On the other hand, he worried that his ‘wife’ would become an eyesore and thorn in the eyes of the emperor after he recovered.

These two emotions were constantly struggling in Bai Duan’s mind, but in the end, the fear of his ‘wife’ getting hurt overwhelmed the loyalty he had towards the emperor.

After a night of fighting in bed with Cao YuYing, Bai Duan lay on him, hesitated for a long time, and finally whispered, “the witch doctor will drive away the insects for the emperor in a few days, you… don’t you have to do something?”

“What am I going to do?” Cao YuYing was stunned for a while, but didn’t react for a while. But as soon as the sentence came to an end, he understood the meaning of Bai Duan. He could not help but chuckle happily and accidentally. “I said I don’t want to be the emperor, did you not believe it?”

Bai Duan was silent for a long time and nodded slightly, “I believe it. But it doesn’t matter if I believe it. Will your father and your future brothers believe it? You should know that since you are already in this position, it will be difficult to get out again.”

“Of course I know,” Cao YuYing raised his eyebrows, “so I want to ask you, would you like to continue to travel with me after the event? In more than a year, we have visited almost half of the country, but there are many places where we haven’t set foot. We can go to the grassland of the nomadic people in the north, travel to the western countries along the silk road, and even go to the sea eastward to explore the world beyond the sea…”

Bai Duan listened to Cao YuYing’s description. His eyes glowed faintly in the dark, and he couldn’t help feeling excited and worried, “we… Is that ok? ”

“Of course, I will let my father and the emperor believe that I have no intention of regaining the throne, or even that I can remain the emperor’s daughter for the rest of my life.” Cao
Yu Ying smiles, “once we’re tired, we can go back to the capital to have a rest. When my father-in-law retired, we can bring him with us…”

Bai Duan was eager to solve everything the next morning, and then he and Cao YuYing would like to “leap to the sea and fly to the sky”. However, they had to be patient. Before that, they first had to determine the emperor’s situation.

A few days later, the relevant matters of expelling the insects were finally ready. Bai Duan and Cao YuYing were also called into the palace and kept outside the emperor’s bedroom, he was closely monitored by imperial guards, even though they all seemed quite respectful.

At the same time, the house where the Enchantress lived was surrounded by heavy soldiers. After a period of calm before the storm, the long brewing storm finally hit the Enchantress’s head.

There were constant cries and screams from the Moon Palace. The lady’s lazy and charming face was now blue and white. She scolds the guard’s audacity. The maid who has been controlled by Cao YuYing for a long time was ordered to got to the Enchantress’ bedroom in the Moon Palace, then find the brocade box containing the female insect. She had already handed the box to the guards respectfully very early on. The female insect was fed with the Enchantress’ blood for more than ten years, they were very connected, and could play its due effect without being carried by the Enchantress.

When seeing this scene, the Enchantress’ panic expression suddenly calmed down – or rather it numbed. Although her hair was scattered and her clothes were disordered, she still held her head up high, not half embarrassed, but just as usual, she was arrogant, cold and distant.

“I have long thought that I will have this day…” the corners of her mouth twitched, the Enchantress knew that she was at a dead end. She gave up all resistance cleanly. The guards brought her to a prison without any pity.

The Enchantress suddenly fell down without any sign, which made the people in the harem panic. Although they had imagined taking revenge countless times, when it really happened, they found that they didn’t feel satisfied or enjoyable. They even felt that they were full of fear and uneasiness, and they understood why people say that ‘being with the emperor is like being with a tiger’.

The haggard and pale concubines who survived under the Enchantress’ hard hand looked at her who was sent to the prison. They were in a trance and uncertain mood. The two princes and one princess given birth by the Enchantress also heard the news and rushed to try and stop them in panic, but they were waved away by the leader of the guards, and were arrested as well.

Seeing her children involved, the cold and arrogant expression that the Enchantress had been maintaining suddenly collapsed. She struggled to protect her flesh and bones in her arms – but now, it’s too late. Even the emperor’s sons and daughters came to an end like this. It can be seen how angry the emperor was at the actions of the Enchantress, and even he no longer cared about his blood and family.

Perhaps, in his eyes, these three princes and princess are not his children, but his future enemies. The emperor has always understood the principle of cutting eliminating the roots, and will not allow these “future troubles” to continue to threaten his foundation.

Once upon a time, in order to vent her anger and satisfy her desire, the Enchantress tried to hurt the children given birth by the queen and other concubines, but now it’s her children’s turn. Maybe this is ‘what goes around, comes around’ – but in any case, it’s a pity that these children eventually became innocent victims.

Not to mention how much pain the Enchantress and their sons would suffer in prison. The female insect was sent to the emperor’s palace under the strict protection of the army and handed over to the witch doctor.

The witch doctor tried to stop herself from thinking about her daughter’s situation. She took a deep breath, steadied her trembling hands that were holding the brocade box, and stepped into the emperor’s bedroom together with the court physicians who were like her enemies.

What happened next? Bai Duan and Cao YuYing, who were locked outside, had no way of knowing. The only thing they need to do now is to wait quietly.

Finally, the witch doctor and the court physicians worked together to lure and kill the male insect that was in the emperor’s brain. The emperor suffered a lot for this. Until the end of the treatment, the whole man was as pale and tired as if he was pulled out of cold water.

Next, after three days of rest, he took good care of his body. The degree of recovery should be good. The only sequelae is that his right hand is always uncontrollable and spasmodic. Even the brush is hard to hold. Such a problem will not affect a person’s life, but it is a great trouble for the emperor who needs to read a lot of documents. Although he can find someone to write for him, it is easy to divulge state secrets, and it is also easy to lead to the loss of power, which is not a proper solution.

——If as a king of a country, he can’t even read the documents himself, how can he shoulder the responsibility of the whole country?

The emperor was furious about this, but he knew in his heart that a bug live in his brain for such a long time and crawl out of his brain, which would lead to brain damage.

How much damage is caused – only one hand spasms from time to time, which is the result of the efforts of witch doctor and the court physicians.

After resting for a few weeks without any improvement, the emperor finally had to compromise with reality. He locked himself in the imperial study for a whole day, and issued an imperial edict of guilt.

In order to avoid causing panic in the court and the people, he only said that he had been confused by the evil people for more than ten years, and now he is fully enlightened and repentant. Fortunately, some mistakes can be made up.

The Emperor gave praise and promotion to all the officials who had been demoted because of their “false belief and slander”; the Emperor gave generous rewards to the families of the injured queen and concubines; the Emperor gave the now retarded princes wealth, they now have plenty to live their rest of their lives freely; as for the heir which was also the most important matter for everyone, the emperor said that he had found the right person. He found the prince who had been secretly sent out of the palace by his mother in order to avoid falling into the evil hands of the Enchantress, and now he had already grown up.

From then on, the prince, who was called ‘YuYing’, would be brought up by the emperor himself and trained. Once he was confirmed to have the qualification to be the Emperor. He will officially make him the prince and stabilize the country.

As soon as the imperial guilt edict was issued, the world was in a state of uproar. At the same time, another imperial edict was secretly sent to the house of imperial counsellor Bai by the imperial eunuch.

After the imperial edict was read out, the eunuch respectfully kneeled in front of Cao YuYing, who was still dressed in women’s clothes. His voice was extremely excited, “Congratulations, your highness, you finally got what you wanted!”

As soon as he woke up today, he had his name changed from ‘Cao YuYing’ to ‘Cao YuYing’¹, from “the second princess” to “the exiled Prince”, “………………………………”

Bai Duan, who had just pictured travelling the world with his lover, now had his dreams broken into pieces, “………………………………”

Imperial counsellor Bai who knew nothing and was confused, “……………………………….”

——So don’t raise any flags anything. Reality is always very far from idea.