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

Vol.2 Chapter 2 - A King's Ruthlessness

Heyyo! I'm sooooo sorry for not posting for months. Real life happened (still is), and I was having a severe writer block. Yesterday I sat in front of my computer and decided, I'm going to do this! So here we go.

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Xue Junliang stared down at the prisoner on the ground and laughed cruelly, "Oh? Gu is overconfident? How confident of you to say Gu is overconfident? You must think you're so modest. Such a ridiculous, lowly guard like you."

Teng Yun laughed again and closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at Xue Junliang. His expression seemed to be disdainful, as if Xue Junliang wasn't worth looking at.

Xue Junliang said, "What? You're regretting something?"

Eyes still closed, Teng Yun said weakly, "To die in the hands of an opinionated king like you.. of course I'm feeling regret."

"Wondeful!" Xue Junliang sneered, "In this whole world, who else can be like me? Me who, presently, is merely one step away from grasping the entire world!"

"But this one step..." Teng Yun's laugh was cut short as he suddenly coughed blood, "Unfortunately, if you take this one step... You'll destroy all of your reputation! Xue Junliang, think about it, if Marquis Tengnan leads a rebellion from inside the prison... Instead of grasping the entire world, you'll be surrounded by enemies left and right. By then, will you be able to protect your land? Will you be able to protect the soldiers and the people who respect you and are willing to risk their lives for you?"

Teng Yun hands clutched his chest as he gasped for breath. Blood was spilling freely from his mouth; soaking into the study room's wool rug.

Xue Junliang froze, didn't expect someone like this could say such things. But he was quick to shake away his surprise and said disdainfully, "Anyone can talk big. You're just saying this only to make me withdraw my soldiers. If you still dare making insults like this, apparently I haven't tortured you enough!"

Teng Yun felt more blood rose to his throat and he could only struggle to suppress it. His sight had started to dim as he said, "You are not Teng Zhengxuan... You weren't born at his era. You can only bow down to him..."

[T/N : Teng Zhengxuan was the previous Teng Wang, beloved by his people and was respected by other kings. See Teng Yun first mentioned him in Chapter 43.]

By this point, Teng Yun's breath had gone so weak. Xue Junliang could only hear a faint whisper, "I have never been afraid of you..."

Somewhere in the end of the prisoner's sentence, Xue Junliang thought he heard the word 'arrows' but he didn't put much thought of it, because when the prisoner mentioned Teng Zhengxuan's name, his heart felt like it was crushed under a heavy stone.

Firstly, it reminded him that time the Late Empress told him a lot about Teng Zhengxuan. Secondly, this name was like a reminder that bring to Xue Junliang's mind the strategies he could do to defeat the oncoming threats.

Xue Junliang looked down and saw the prisoner had fainted. He turned to Jiang Yu and slowly said, "Call the royal physician. If this prisoner died, the entire royal hospital will have to pay for his life."

Xue Junliang's tone made Jiang Yu jump with scare. Since Xue Wang started favoring the Empress, he never had to talk using such tone. In fact, Xue Wang's mannerism had become somewhat warm and humane.

But now, seemed like Xue Wang had gone back to how he used to be: a king who was tyrannical, guarded and full of suspicions. Those characteristics were too commonly found in kings, and Jiang Yu was once again reminded that Xue Wang, unfortunately, was not exempted.