Rebirth as the General's Wife

37: Simply A Play

The Emperor watched Ye Yuan's illness get worse at an accelerating rate. Plenty of physicians were brought in to check on his conditions but none could diagnose his illness. They would walk in with arrogance, confident that they could cure the prince's sickness, but they came out feeling nervous and somber. Feeling lost and hopeless, the Emperor sat back in his golden chair absentmindedly.

Days passed and the whole nation waited with held breaths. Tension grew extremely thick in the ministry and between both sides of the court house. Ye Feng supporters and Ye Yuan supporters often had heated arguments while the Emperor would rub his temple in frustration.

At last, Ye Yuan had died quietly. The officials were bustling with somberful discussions about the dilemma. Some maidens had cried for the prince. Chu Ran, the Gui Fei, weakly crawled out of her courtyard with crystal-like tears streaming down from her sickly pale face. It was the first time she had stepped out of her living quarters. She begged the Emperor to let her see her son for one last time.

"Gui Fei! Please, don't do this to yourself. You're still ill and it's currently fall so you're more susceptible to the cold. Please head back inside! This servant will beg in your stead so please, return with me!" her personal maid pleaded Chu Ran.

"No, I must see Yuan-er! I must see Yuan-er!" she sobbed with a cracked voice, brokenhearted.

Seeing how pathetic she was, the Empress smiled evilly behind her handkerchief.

It was said that the Fourth Prince was deemed at fault and suspected of poisoning his imperial brothers to acquire the throne. Now, he was banished from the country.

The Empress lowered her smiling eyes at the current misfortunes. The Third, Fourth, and Gui Fei is now out of her path to pave a way for Ye Feng. No one shall interfere with his succession to the throne. If she has to kill innocent people to achieve her goals, then so be it.

By night, the Emperor spent his time grieving in his study room, refusing to see anyone. Only a small candle light lit his cold, dark room. He had lost another son.

"Your Majesty! No good, an insanely large army of men with weapons are charging towards the palace!" the eunuch cried aloud as he broke into the imperial study room.

The Emperor did not yell or ordered a punishment for the eunuch for breaking into his studies without permission. Instead, his hands were folded in front of him as his stoic eyes darkened. He let out a disappointed sigh and painfully closed his eyes.

Outside, Ye Feng sat on his horse in an arrogant stance as he lead his army of men into the palace. Ye Zheng stood by his side with a haughty smirk. He glared hard at the palace he once called home before raising his hand up, signaling his men to attack.

It was finally time. Soon, he would be sitting in that golden throne. Ye Feng gently whispered with a delighted smile, "Soon, the world would be mine."

A high-ranked general raised the military token in his hand and commanded the imperial army to attack. The men were set loose to defend the palace and many were slaughtered that night. Blood from both sides painted the floor while corpses scattered around like broken shards of porcelain.

The Shu corp. were simply too strong compared to the imperial army, in terms of quantity and strength. Unfortunately, many of the soldiers are still camping in the Southern, Eastern, and Western bases so they only have half as the whole army. Moreover, these weren't the same soldiers that went through the tough training of Xu Jun. Shu soldiers cornered them into the imperial hall, where the empty throne resides in.

Just when the Shu corp. were advancing, all of a sudden, a new abundance of men roared from the distance. Their war cry brought a frown to Ye Feng's lips and a small trace of fear entered his icy, cold heart. He whipped around to find the source.

An army of men in purple armors showed up, each supplied with newly made weapons. Ye Feng scrutinized the bunch when he finally noticed who was leading them. Shock filled his eyes for the first time.

Ye Yuan charged on his horse in the front line with a spear in his hand. With a strong throw, he flung the spear at a nearby Shu soldier, piercing his heart in one go.

"Ye. Yuan!" Ye Feng gritted his teeth with anger as insanity filled his once gentle eyes.

Ye Zheng took a small step back and stumbled on his words, "How did you—"

"Little brothers, you thought you got rid of me, didn't you?" Ye Yuan coldly smiled, "Are you wondering how I'm alive and how did I get these men?"

"Well, unlike you, I did not gain my men from foreign countries through trades and bribery. Instead, I have this..." Ye Yuan teased as he pulled out a customized token from his robe. On the golden surface, a single character was engraved: 'Xu.'

Their eyes bulged before it became red with anger. Xu Jun was forced to return the military token to the Emperor last month to subdue his growing power and influence. Without the token, he could not command the imperial army. Little did they suspect, Xu Jun secretly raised his own army.

A day before, Xu Jun had tossed the 'Xu' token to Ye Yuan and told him to handle his own affairs while he sat back to spoil his wife, Chen Jufen.

The purple army charged like madmen, attacking every Shu soldier like they were the worst kinds of scums on the surface of earth. Taken aback, they were either forced to retreat to a corner, or succumb to death.

Ye Feng disregarded his gentle demeanor and roared in fury as he slashed through men after men. No matter what, it was one man against the world.

In an instance, Ye Feng and Ye Zheng were surrounded as they were both covered in heavy wounds.

"You're supposed to be dead!" he spat with a murderous tone.

"Oh, but I'm not. You're too young to test me. You thought that I couldn't detect what was wrong with the food? Fortunately, I had contacted the Xia Duke in time for help," Ye Yuan replied.

In that moment, the Emperor in a golden robe slowly walked out. His expression was gloomy and filled with disappointment. Behind him, the so called 'banished' Fourth Prince followed along with a similar expression.

Ye Feng glared harshly with deep hatred at his Imperial Father as he realized that they had made a fool out of him. They created a play and he was the joke.