The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

61

Edited and Proofread by KitKat

It is said that whatever's in your thoughts during the day will come back to you in your dreams.

That night, An Chang Qing dreamt about his last life. There were many things that he had forgotten and the dream this time was like a reminder. He could clearly tell that he was dreaming.

In the dream, Xiao Zhige was still in Yanzhou and he was left alone in the Wang Manor. He was reading in the study when he heard the servants chatting idly outside. Back then, the servants were careless and inattentive towards him but An Chang Qing did not care. He continued to read until soft sobs were heard some distance away.

He followed the sound and found that it was a young maid crying, covering her face when she spoke, "So many... so many have died. My hometown is near Sishui River. No one dares to deliver my letter. I don't know if my family is still alive..."

Two other maids said nervously, "Do you want to die! Steward Wang specifically told us not to talk about this!"

The crying maid became furious, "There are thousands of people living in the Sishui area. Not everybody has joined the rebellion but the Third Prince has poisoned them indiscriminately! And now we can't even talk about it!"

"Stop talking!" Another maid covered her mouth and looked around with vigilance, "His Majesty has declared that everyone in the Sishui area belong to the Common Man's Army and... they all deserve their deaths."

"... If your family is really in the Sishui area... we can only mourn for them in secret."

The young maid could only cry in despair...

An Chang Qing knew he was in a dream and tried to wake up but instead, he was warped to somewhere else.

He was standing inconspicuously in a bookstore picking out some reading materials. Nearby were some scholars speaking in whispers.

"They say the Third Prince was assassinated by the rebels. Do you think it's true? Some people said it was actually The Northern Warlord who did it."

Another scholar looked around and said in a low voice, "It's got nothing to do with the Northern Warlord. The way I see it, it's retribution."

"How so?"

 The scholar gave a disgusted look and elaborated, "Do you remember the uprising two years ago? My family lived not too far from the Sishui area. To wipe out the rebellions, the Third Prince poured poison into the upstream of the Sishui River. The rebellion army drank from the river water and fell seriously ill. The Third Prince took advantage of this and massacred everyone in the Sishui area."

One scholar said, "This method was absolutely cold hearted."

Someone else said, "All is fair in war. It's excusable given the circumstance."

"Excusable?" The scholar from before sneered, "You only say that because you don't know the other half of the story. The Sishui River doesn't end in Suzhou, it branches out and extends across the southern provinces. The Third Prince pouring poison into the river not only killed the rebels but also polluted it along with the soil. The crops harvested were infected with poison, causing many people living along the lower reaches of the Sishui River to fall fatally ill!"

He continued with indignation in his voice, "Later when the court found out about this, instead of providing aid, the higher ups decreed that these people had supported the rebellion. Troops were sent to round them up for beatings guised as interrogations. The villagers were either killed by the poison or beaten to death by the soldiers. In half a month, the Sishui River banks were lined with corpses. If my family hadn't managed to escape, we would've been killed as well!"