The Ugly Empress by Yun Guo Shi Fei / 丑娘娘 by 云过是非

Chapter 44 - A Worthy King Could Bring Peace to His People

--

Xue Junliang was perplexed that the Empress would bring up this topic. Sometimes, some problems might look very complicated, but they were actually very simple. This was one of them; with the Empress mentioning just one name, Xue Junliang suddenly found the answer to what he'd been thinking was actually very simple.

Teng Yun saw the moment Xue Junliang's head cleared. He slowly said, "Your Majesty, do you know why Teng Shang swore his loyalty to Teng? Why did Teng Shang agree to marry another man just so he could stay alive and continue serve his country? It's not because Teng Shang was a fool, it was because he wanted to repay a huge debt of kindness."

Teng Yun continued, "That year, Teng Zhengxuan had many battles with many enemies. Wherever there was a war, naturally many people would be injured or catch a disease. No matter what the purpose of the war was, the ones who suffered the most were the innocent people. Teng Zhengxuan never hesitated to come see and tend to the patients. He even personally served them food. Once, he rescued a dying child. He saw the child very pitiful so he took the child in as his own. The child only asked Teng Zhengxuan for a set of clothes to keep warm in cold days. Teng Zhengxuan then named the child Teng Shang."

[T/N : Shang (裳) from yishang (衣裳) which means clothes.]

Xue Junliang listened quietly and sighed, "No wonder."

"Since Your Majesty has obtained the whole world within your hands," Teng Yun continued, "This time, why don't you use your hands to bring peace to your people?"

Xue Junliang thought for a long time before finally nodded. He went out of Yunfeng Palace and returned to his residence. He told Jiang Yu to summon the officials to start discussing the disaster relief plans.

Chen Yi guessed that maybe General Teng Yun had convinced Xue Wang. He smiled and bowed down, "A worthy king could bring peace to his people."

Managing a disaster was a matter of emergency and had to be done immediately, but going on a journey would take some time. Even if Xue Junliang ordered the preparation to be as simple as possible, it would be a while before he could arrive at the site. Therefore, Xue Junliang ordered Chen Yi to bring a group of people and go to Teng first to open food centers.

Chen Yi immediately accepted the order. Xue Wang didn't have to give detailed instruction for Chen Yi to understand what he had to do. As soon as he went out of Xue Wang's residence, he ordered people to prepare a few items he would need and soon, he set off.

This time, Xue Junliang would be going somewhere quite far from the capital city. He arranged Xue Houyang to supervise the overall situation. Any military troops would have to be made known to Xue Houyang and approved with his official seal before they could be moved or transferred.

A few days later, the preparation for Xue Junliang's journey was finally completed. His scheduled departure was already right before his eyes yet the Empress never once took the initiative to come see him. Helpless, Xue Junliang had to go to Yunfeng Palace and spend his last night there.

Knowing Xue Wang would depart tomorrow, Xiu Yao figured tonight he would not be merely sleeping. She tactfully ordered the other palace maids to leave the room. Teng Yun didn't suspect Xiu Yao's schemes because his thought never once went into that direction.

Teng Yun and Xue Junliang had been having less intimate times lately, especially since that time Xue Houyang and Teng Shang went to Teng to subdue Teng Xin. Xue Junliang was eager for something to happen between them, but in the end he didn't make any move.

On the other hand, although Teng Yun was now inside a woman's body, his mind was still that of a man. Sure, Teng Yun didn't hate Xue Junliang as much as he did before; even admitting again and again how Xue Junliang was a good king, Teng Yun never spared a thought about what the relationship between him and Xue Junliang really was.