Unruly Phoenix Xiaoyao

Chapter 105: His Majesty Ning wants to take a trip

Lou Zigui inexplicably smelled that fragrance of grasses and trees again as Ning Xiaoyao continued to count Lou sheep. Eventually, the Lou sheep became Lou lamb chops until Supreme Commander Lou fell asleep. Ning Xiaoyao pinched Lou Zigui’s straight nose to make sure he was really unconscious before wiping her lips. After counting 1,500 lamb chops, she was almost drooling.

She gently released her hand from Lou Zigui’s grip and tucked him under the covers, before running to the window. Big Boss Black was perched on the sill, his fur damp all over. He told Ning Xiaoyao, "Oil Jar’s arrived. He says he has something very important to tell you."

"Is the empress dowager up to no good again?" Ning Xiaoyao asked. Oil Jar lived at the empress dowager’s palace, so anything very important had to be related to that woman.

Big Boss Black turned until his butt was facing Ning Xiaoyao. "How should this cat know?"

Ning Xiaoyao stuck out her tongue and made a face at Big Boss Black’s butt. Then she gave the sleeping Lou Zigui a parting glance before jumping out the window.

"Hurry," Big Boss Black said as he led the way.

--

"Xiaoyao." Inside Ning Xiaoyao’s bedroom, Oil Jar cried out as soon as she entered. His eyes were round and wide, his hairs standing on end from his head to his tail. It seemed like he’d been greatly frightened.

At the sight, Ning Xiaoyao picked up Big Boss Black and smacked his bottom indignantly, "Did you bite Oil Jar?"

"Miaow!" Big Boss Black twisted in Ning Xiaoyao’s hands, viciously baring his claws at her.

Oil Jar jumped onto the tea table before the window and cried, "Xiaoyao, it’s possible that Supreme Commander’s older brother is still alive!"

Plop.

Ning Xiaoyao loosened her grip, and Big Boss Black tumbled to the ground.

"It’s true, oh," Oil Jar said as he lifted his front paws. "Oil Jar heard it with my own ears at the Hall of Punishment."

"Why did you run over there?" the little gyrfalcon asked as he flew onto the windowsill.

"Shut it!" Ning Xiaoyao and Big Boss Black chorused. That isn’t the point right now!

Oil Jar said, "Supreme Commander asked that Northern Hu woman and that’s what she said."

Ning Xiaoyao pulled her chair until it was facing the window and sat down. Quietly, she said, "The volume of this information is pretty massive. Let me think it over first."

Although Oil Jar didn’t know what ‘volume of information’ meant, he still nodded his head obediently. Big Boss Black jumped onto Ning Xiaoyao’s shoulders and said, "That’s impossible. Supreme Commander’s father and older brothers are all dead."

"But the Northern Hu woman said Supreme Commander’s big brother isn’t dead." In order to prove his words, Oil Jar added, "And then Supreme Commander killed that woman. He must have wanted to make sure no one else knew his big brother was still alive. That’s what they call silencing the witness."

"Makes sense," the little gyrfalcon nodded.

Big Boss Black was doubtful. "Really? Why doesn’t Supreme Commander want others to know his big brother’s still alive?"

"How should I understand how humans think?" Oil Jar spread out his front paws helplessly.

Human thinking. The three animals present all looked as one to the only human in the room. Ning Xiaoyao had her head in her hands. It’s a good thing if this older brother’s still alive. Why silence the witness? I don’t understand how the humans of this world think!

Grandfather Sparrow landed on the sill at this moment and asked Oil Jar, "What else did that Northern Hu woman tell Supreme Commander? You should tell us their entire conversation."

Oil Jar nodded before he pinched his throat and imitated the Northern Hu woman’s voice to cry out, "Hahaha!"

"..........." said all the animals and one human watching the scene.

"You don’t need to copy her laugh," Grandfather Sparrow covered his face with his wings. The mice of the empress dowager’s palace really do get worse with each generation. Every single one is stupider than the last.

"Oh, okay," Oil Jar pinched his throat and continued. "Lou Zigui, so what if you come from a clan of martyrs? Your family members were nothing more than sacrificial pieces!"

Oil Jar alternated between speaking like Lady Xiang and speaking like Supreme Commander Lou as he jumped and pranced about on the tea table. He revealed everything he had heard in the torture chamber over the span of half an hour while Ning Xiaoyao and the little animals listened on in silence.

As the spring thunder rumbled through the skies, the drizzle outside soon turned into a heavy downpour.

"My God," Ning Xiaoyao looked blankly outside the window.

Grandfather Sparrow sighed. "Xiaoyao, a son has to pay the debts of his father."

Ning Xiaoyao jabbed a finger at her nose, and the little animals all nodded.

"I’m not a son," she said seriously.

"The daughter pays the debts of her father, then." Grandfather Sparrow said ruthlessly. "Moreover, you’re the emperor now, Xiaoyao. You’ve inherited the family calling already."

"........." said Ning Xiaoyao. So I have to bear the burdens from that stupid bastard?

"Supreme Commander must be heartbroken," Big Boss Black didn’t want to get even at Ning Xiaoyao right now because he was lying listlessly by her feet. "Xiaoyao, Supreme Commander has to hate you to death."

Ning Xiaoyao grew emotional. Why is it so hard to live a peaceful life in a world without zombies?!

"Supreme Commander probably killed that Northern Hu woman so no one would know it was the late emperor who sent his family to their deaths," Grandfather Sparrow analyzed calmly. "If people knew, then he’d have to decide whether or not he seeks revenge for their sake."

"Vengeance must be paid!" the little gyrfalcon cried immediately. A real man would definitely do it.

"If that’s the case, then he has to kill Xiaoyao," said Yellow Great Immortal, who’d somehow appeared on the windowsill during the course of the narrative.

The little gyrfalcon stopped talking.

"Xiaoyao, what are you going to do?" Oil Jar looked sympathetically at Ning Xiaoyao. "Supreme Commander even spat up blood in the torture chamber."

Ning Xiaoyao could finally understand why Supreme Commander Lou had said he wished she wasn’t the late emperor’s daughter. If she wasn’t that bastard’s child, then the two of them could still be friends. But now... Ning Xiaoyao sat crestfallen in her chair. Now I’ll have to thank the Heavens if Supreme Commander doesn’t kill me.

"What are you going to do?" Big Boss Black asked as well.

Ning Xiaoyao wanted to fight back a bit longer, so she asked Grandfather Sparrow, "Did the late emperor really do such a thing?"

Grandfather Sparrow said, "I’ll ask old A’Gui, the gecko from the imperial study, to come over."

Old A’Gui arrived very quickly and crawled up the windowsill before turning his eyes to Ning Xiaoyao. "Doesn’t look much like the late emperor," he observed.

Ning Xiaoyao felt her own face. That was good news. Who wants to look like that old bastard?

"Old Sparrow told me what was going on," old A’Gui added. "I remember this. It was that old wretch Xie Wenyuan who came up with the idea and proposed it to the late emperor."

Ning Xiaoyao gritted her teeth. Great. Without exception, Grand Preceptor Xie’s been involved in every dastardly scheme of the late emperor.

"Grandfather A’Gui, could you have remembered wrongly?" Oil Jar asked. "It’s already been six years since the incident."

Old A’Gui pointed at his head with a claw. "I keep all of the late emperor’s bad deeds stored up here."

A little sparrow asked, "All of his bad deeds? Grandfather A’Gui, you’re that impressive?"

Old A’Gui glanced at Ning Xiaoyao and said, "The late emperor didn’t do many good deeds. Is it a good thing that he died young?"

"........." said Ning Xiaoyao.

"I’ve told my grandchildren all about the late emperor’s bad deeds," old A’Gui said a little smugly. "None of my descendents want to be a human."

Now it was the little animals’ turn to be speechless. He remembered all of the late emperor’s bad deeds just for a reason like that? Grandfather A’Gui’s really given his all for his children’s sake.

Ning Xiaoyao laughed hollowly as she nodded in acceptance. "That’s true. With a stupid bastard like him as the emperor, humans would’ve suffered a lot. Not being human is pretty good, too."

Old A’Gui said, "Xie Wenyuan originally planned to have Supreme Commander killed off too, but in the end it was His Highness Crown Prince who begged the late emperor to spare his life. That’s why Supreme Commander survived."

Ning Xiaoyao asked, "Then can I tell Supreme Commander about this to praise the crown prince?" Maybe it’d reduce some of his hatred?

Big Boss Black’s dark green eyes widened. "Have you forgotten? His Highness Crown Prince was killed by your mother and grandfather."

Another knife seemed to stab her in the heart. Ning Xiaoyao wore a bitter expression as she slammed her head against the tea table a few times. She was beginning to entertain the idea of slipping away under nightfall instead. This wasn’t a joke anymore, because she couldn’t spend her days happily now!

Yellow Great Immortal stroked his whiskers and said, "Xiaoyao, you told me to look into Little Peach Blossom, so I did. I have some bad news, do you want to hear it?"

Ning Xiaoyao’s face wrinkled, but she steeled herself. "Great Immortal, just say it. Whether I die now or later, death is still death. I’ll hear for myself how bad it is."

Yellow Great Immortal said, "I’ve read that little court lady’s face and it’s no good. She’s got the face of a widow."

Ning Xiaoyao sucked in a breath. She wanted Yellow Great Immortal to investigate Little Peach Blossom’s moral integrity and see if she was a good girl. But he actually knew the art of reading faces, too?

"Are you serious?" the little gyrfalcon was floored. A woman who was destined to be a widow fancied his master?

Yellow Great Immortal said, "I’ve never been wrong with human face readings before. When Empress Dowager Xie first entered the palace, I could tell she was a bad woman."

Grandfather Sparrow and old A’Gui nodded their heads in assent. That’s right, that’s exactly what Great Immortal said back then.

"More importantly," Yellow Great Immortal said as he observed Ning Xiaoyao, "She’s one of the empress dowager’s people. The reason she’s getting closer to Windy is because the empress dowager’s trying to snare him with a beautiful woman."

Ning Xiaoyao and the little animals were stunned once again. Oil Jar asked, "How come I don’t know this even though I live in the empress dowager’s palace?"

Yellow Great Immortal explained, "A mama from the empress dowager’s palace delivers messages to her. Little Peach Blossom never enters the empress dowager’s palace on her own. It’s only natural that you wouldn’t know, Oil Jar."

Ning Xiaoyao felt like dying.

"Awoo awoo awoo," the little gyrfalcon chirped angrily, "I want to bite that bad woman to death!"

"Don’t," Ning Xiaoyao grabbed the little gyrfalcon as he spread his wings.

"Xiaoyao, my master’s so pitiful," the little gyrfalcon looked like he was about to cry.

Ning Xiaoyao held onto one last thread of hope as she asked Yellow Great Immortal, "Then aside from issues with her face and status, how is she as a person?" Ning Xiaoyao didn’t believe in face readings. And as for the girl being the empress dowager’s subordinate, it didn’t mean she had to be bad, right?

Yellow Great Immortal said, "The empress dowager promised that she’d be your concubine when things were over, Xiaoyao. That Little Peach Blossom only dreams of being an imperial concubine, then giving birth to a son so she can be empress."

"........" said Ning Xiaoyao.

"......." said the little animals.

"I heard she even vowed to the gods," Yellow Great Immortal added.

Ning Xiaoyao fell silent for a long time, feeling bitter all over. "She really believes the empress dowager’s words?"

Grandfather Sparrow summed it up aptly, "In the end, the empress dowager’s the worse one of the lot."

Yes, Ning Xiaoyao and the little animals all agreed. If we’re talking about absolute wretches, no one’s worse than Esteemed Empress Dowager.