Chapter 941: Anonymous Letter

The deposition of an empress was no small matter. It could not be concealed.

On the stone bridge over the stream outside the Maolu Annex, Niu Youdao looked at the report in his hand and sighed. "A lofty Elder of Tiannü Sect suddenly becomes the wife of a rebel general, then suddenly becomes the empress of a state, and in the blink of an eye becomes a prisoner. This sworn elder sister of mine has truly had a turbulent fate."

The news that Song had deposed its empress had caught his attention as soon as it spread. He immediately sent people to find out exactly what had happened. The paper in his hand was the latest report.

"The Empress catches her husband in adultery red-handed, and the Emperor actually deposes her for it. Absurd. Wu Gongling really is capable of anything." Guan Fangyi, standing beside him, gave repeated cold snorts, feeling deeply that Hui Qingping had been wronged. "Without Hui Qingping, how could Wu Gongling possibly have what he has today? Wolf-hearted, dog-lunged bastard."

The paper in Niu Youdao's hand shattered into fragments and drifted beneath the bridge, carried away by the current. He answered casually, "Without Hui Qingping, there could have been some other Qingping. Even without another one, Wu Gongling might still have reached where he is today. Whether Wu Gongling rose this far was not something Hui Qingping could decide. She failed to understand that, which is why she ended up where she is now."

Guan Fangyi gave him a cold look. "So you mean Wu Gongling was right? Looks like all you men are the same kind of trash. Not one of you is any good."

"..."

Niu Youdao was speechless. How had he gotten dragged into this too? Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he said, "That's not what I mean, and I never said Wu Gongling was right. There's an old line: 'She regrets having urged her husband to seek a marquisate.' Whatever road you choose, you pay the price for walking it. Once a man becomes emperor, how can there possibly be only one woman in his inner palace? If a woman became emperor and faced ten thousand handsome men, there wouldn't be only one man behind her bed curtains either. On whatever mountain you stand, you have to look at the scenery of that mountain. You can't stand at the foot of the mountain and imagine what the summit ought to be like. Reality has to be faced. Hui Qingping should never have caused a scene like this. When the time comes to close one eye and leave the other open, that's what you have to do. If you refuse to accept the reality at the summit and charge about recklessly, you may tumble all the way back down and have to face the reality at the foot instead. If you don't want to look at the scenery from the mountaintop, then either close your eyes or get off the mountain. That's reality."

Guan Fangyi snorted. "In other words, if you ever get the chance, you'll be just like Wu Gongling."

"..."

Niu Youdao was speechless again. This was his own fault. Had he been so bored his balls hurt that he had decided to explain this sort of principle to a woman? Was there something wrong with him?

He immediately changed the subject. "Send a letter to Wu Gongling in my name. Warn him that Hui Qingping is my sworn elder sister. If he dares touch so much as one hair on her head, he'd better watch his own. Tell him to hand Hui Qingping over. Otherwise, Yan will immediately send troops against Song!"

Guan Fangyi's attention was indeed diverted. She stared at him. "What do you mean?"

Niu Youdao said, "What do I mean? Was I not clear enough?"

Guan Fangyi reminded him, "Forget touching one hair on her head. Hui Qingping has already been thrown into the imperial prison."

Niu Youdao shook his head. "It isn't as simple as you think. Imprisoning Hui Qingping is only temporary. Wu Gongling is ruthless. Once he turns against someone, he'll show no mercy. If he has no scruples, sooner or later Hui Qingping will meet with an 'accident' inside that prison."

Guan Fangyi looked at him suspiciously. "You really intend to attack Song for Hui Qingping? That's not exactly something you can decide by yourself."

Niu Youdao fell silent for a while. She was right. This was not something he alone could decide. His influence over Yan's military was considerable, but the Yan forces nearest Song were not under his faction's control. And even setting the State of Yan aside, Zijin Cave would never permit him to act recklessly.

"We'll take it one step at a time and think of a way slowly. First stabilize him and keep him from doing anything rash to Hui Qingping." Niu Youdao frowned as he said it. Saving Hui Qingping truly would be troublesome.

Guan Fangyi could tell now that he was not merely talking. He genuinely intended to save Hui Qingping.

She did not know what to say. In truth, she felt there was no need. It was not as though she had never seen the letters exchanged between this side and Hui Qingping. Hui Qingping had never really treated the sworn sibling bond as anything important. Why press a warm face against a cold backside and go looking for trouble yourself?

"Fine. I believe a decision from someone like you isn't made on impulse. You must have thought it through." Guan Fangyi sighed, turned, and left to carry out the order.

Niu Youdao remained on the bridge, one hand resting on his sword and the other stroking the stone railing as he watched the fish swimming below, thinking.

He had no idea how much time passed before Guan Fangyi returned and reported that the letter had been sent. Wen Mo'er arrived as well, carrying another letter.

"Master Dao, someone delivered a letter outside the mountain gate and said it was for you." Wen Mo'er presented it.

Guan Fangyi took the letter first and inspected it, asking, "Who delivered it?"

Wen Mo'er said, "The person didn't reveal an identity. They left the letter and departed. We don't know who sent it."

After confirming there was nothing wrong with the letter, Guan Fangyi handed it to Niu Youdao.

Niu Youdao finished reading, then smiled at Wen Mo'er. "You've gone to some trouble."

Wen Mo'er smiled and withdrew. Niu Youdao handed the letter to Guan Fangyi. "Now this is getting interesting."

Only after Guan Fangyi read the contents did she understand what he meant.

The letter concerned Hui Qingping's current predicament. It said the sender knew that Niu Youdao and Hui Qingping were sworn siblings and offered a plan: saving Hui Qingping would be extremely difficult unless Yan brought an army to Song's border and threatened the country. Only under such military pressure, with Song's national strength still depleted, might Song release Hui Qingping.

The letter explained the reasoning behind this in considerable detail.

Broadly speaking, however, its proposal was rather similar to what Niu Youdao had already been considering.

More interesting still, the letter gave no clue whatsoever to the sender's identity. The signature at the end read:

An Admirer of Dao Jun.

"Dao Jun..." Guan Fangyi looked thoroughly intrigued. "Who would call you that? Who do you think sent this?"

"You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?" Niu Youdao was puzzled as well. He truly had no clue, though the goodwill expressed in the letter was obvious.

He mentally sorted through everyone he knew who had some connection to Hui Qingping, yet still could not imagine who might have written such a letter. He kept feeling there was something in the letter he ought to be able to grasp, but every time he thought carefully, the impression vanished and left him with nothing. The letter felt mysterious.

He took it back and read it carefully once more. At last he shook his head. "If one particular person saw this letter, he might be able to make something of it."

Guan Fangyi asked curiously, "Who?"

"Shao Pingbo!" Niu Youdao named the man and handed the letter back.

Guan Fangyi was surprised. "A letter with no clues at all, and Shao Pingbo could figure out who wrote it?"

"I even suspect Shao Pingbo himself wrote it. But after leaving in defeat, he's still lying low. Until he has the strength to contend with me again, he shouldn't deliberately come provoke me." Niu Youdao gave a bitter smile, mocking his own state of mind. Whenever something strange happened, he could hardly stop himself from suspecting Shao Pingbo first.

At last he sighed. "There are things even now that I still don't know how Shao Pingbo managed to arrive at the answer. After Chen Guishuo returned and I questioned him in detail, I realized that Shao Pingbo's inferential judgment in certain areas is frighteningly strong, almost abnormal. Give him enough conditions and almost no trace escapes his eyes. In that respect, I'm far inferior to him. I suspect he already knows the answers to some things I've done and is only keeping quiet because circumstances leave him no choice. He's a future danger, but under Jin's protection there's nothing I can do to him."

Niu Youdao himself did not know that Shao Pingbo had once said he was inferior to Niu Youdao, while Niu Youdao now said he was inferior to Shao Pingbo. Yet the two men were determined to fight each other to the bitter end.

Guan Fangyi was startled. "He's really that formidable?"

"Not as formidable as you're imagining. No one is perfect. Everyone has weaknesses. Whatever Shao Pingbo's other weaknesses may be, he has at least one fatal one."

Guan Fangyi did not understand. "Fatal?"

Niu Youdao chuckled. "According to Chen Guishuo, Shao Pingbo often coughs blood. With so many cultivators helping nurse his body and he's still like that, no amount of spirit pills and miraculous medicine can sustain him forever. A nag's frame is being consumed by a qilin's intellect. It cannot bear such a burden, nor endure such strain. He's destined to die young! His own mind is his fatal weakness. No matter who wins or loses, even if I lose, he still won't win. He's destined to fail himself."

Guan Fangyi was still considering his words when Niu Youdao sighed again. "Interesting. Things really have been interesting lately."

He was not referring only to this letter.

Earlier, he had anonymously sent a letter to Tianhuo Sect. Now someone else had anonymously sent one to him. One turn deserved another.

His letter to Tianhuo Sect had achieved its purpose, yet Yuwen Yan had left him lost in the clouds and fog. Now this anonymous letter had once again left him unable to make head or tail of things.

He had discovered that once he stepped beyond Nanzhou and began facing a larger board, the opponents emerging around him were indeed no longer the same. He would have to summon every bit of his attention to deal with them.

...

In the imperial palace of Song, Wu Gongling had spent several thoroughly enjoyable days after deposing Hui Qingping. All the beauties he had hidden outside were openly brought into the palace for his pleasure.

He made no attempt to conceal it. One official could no longer bear to watch and offered remonstrance, saying several things he should not have said. Wu Gongling had long wanted an opportunity to kill a chicken to warn the monkeys. Now that the chance had presented itself, the court official was charged with insulting the sovereign and executed outright.

After sneaking around and holding himself back for so long, Wu Gongling naturally intended to enjoy himself properly now.

Although those beauties had all been consorts of the former Song emperor Mu Zhuozhen, not everyone could be like Mu Zhuozhen's empress, who had killed herself after suffering humiliation. Far from committing suicide, most of them instead yielded and tried to please Wu Gongling. They could preserve their lives and regain wealth and splendor. Whether the man was Mu Zhuozhen or Wu Gongling did not matter much to them. Mu Zhuozhen was already the past, someone they might occasionally remember when a familiar sight stirred old memories.

Relatively speaking, Wu Gongling was also far more frightening than Mu Zhuozhen. His habit of killing people at the slightest provocation was no empty threat. They served him with far more care than they had ever served Mu Zhuozhen. Little coquetries or petty tempers they had once dared show before Mu Zhuozhen were things they would never dare try with Wu Gongling.

Yet he had barely enjoyed himself for two days before trouble arrived. Niu Youdao's letter came.

"He's gone too far!" Inside the Imperial Study, Wu Gongling finished reading and flung the letter away.

His Imperial Study had its own distinctive character. Apart from the Four Treasures of the Study, official documents, and similar necessities, almost every scholarly ornament had been cleared away. Maps covered the walls, along with all manner of sabers, spears, and other weapons.

Shan Dongxing, Sect Leader of Tongxian Pavilion, picked up the letter and read it. He too could not help frowning.

Wu Gongling suddenly stopped in front of him, baring his teeth and gesturing wildly. "What does he take me for? What does it have to do with him if I discipline my own wife? Warning me is one thing, but he actually threatens me to hand my wife over to him. Isn't that a little too damned arrogant? Who does he think he is?"

[End of Chapter 941]