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Nangong Lieye, with his pale lips, wrathfully stared at Hua Yueling’s loathsome face and the pain in his shoulder made his forehead sweat.
“Third Brother, you’d better apply some ointment and bind up your wound,” said Nangong Yixuan in a much worried tone as he propped up Nangong Lieye. Never had he expected that Hua Yueling had such a power.
“It won’t kill you. Nangong Lieye, if you were dissatisfied with my divorcing you, we can appeal to the Emperor!” sneered Hua Yueling. She then turned around to those startled officials, “Your Excellencies, please excuse my offense. I am not utterly unreasonable. Anyhow, as the daughter of the Prime Minister, the niece of the Queen Mother and the cousin of the Emperor, I could not stand such insults. Even if I was utterly wrong, he should at least pay some respect to my father, my aunt, and my cousin! Your Excellencies, how can a husband treat his wife like this? I’ll show it to you, then I believe you can judge the affairs fairly by yourselves.” Upon finishing her words, Hua Yueling, with her back to everyone present, swung her long hair to her breast, unfastened her belt until her dress dropped to the waist.
“Oh, my god!” All people exclaimed in astonishment. It was too horrible to look at: her fair back was black and blue, red and swollen.
“My lady…” Having cried many times for this, Ping’er hurried to pull up her lady’s dress, for she was sure that everybody had seen it.
“Nangong Lieye, you bastard!” Seeing his daughter have suffered so much, Hua Tieying felt so heartbroken that he nearly fell down. Fortunately, an official behind propped him up.
Hua Yueling got dressed and turned around slowly, saying rather calmly, “Please forgive my abruptness, but this is the evidence! I just want to tell all of you that handsome as the Third Prince is, he is worse than a beast. In the boudoir, he is so violent without any consideration to me. I, Hua Lingyue, am determined to divorce my husband, for this beast deserves nothing from me!”
The sudden narration invited an immediate outcry again. Everyone looked at Nangong Lieye with undisguised contempt and quite a few shook their heads and sighed.
Nangong Lieye coldly watched this play directed by Hua Lingyue, having no intention to explain anything because he thought he did nothing wrong.
“Forth Brother, give me the paper and pen! I will write her a certificate of divorce!” Nangong Lieye knew that it was useless to defend himself in front of such a large crowd. Never had he expected that Hua Yueling had the audacity to undress herself in public. Obviously, he was no match for such a crafty woman now. But one day he would pay back the humiliation tenfold! “Your Highness, you are mistaken about the matter. It is YOU not Me who are divorced. You’re not my husband anymore.” Hua Yueling showed no respect for his feelings. What she wanted most was to humiliate him as much as possible.
“You!” Nangong Lieye was trembling with anger again.
“You what! There is no slight relation between you and me. You’d better stay away from me! Humph! Castaway! Dad, let’s go!” Glaring at Nangong Lieye, Hua Yueling walked straight towards her father and dragged him outside the palace.
“That’s all?” Looking at Nangong Lieye’s pale face and trembling body, what the crowd present could do was to throw a few consoling words and leave one after another.
“Third Brother, don’t be angry. It’s bad for your health.” Nangong Yixuan did not leave. Although he had never subscribed to his brutality, Nangong Lieye was his brother after all.
“Hua Yueling! You and I are at daggers drawn!” Nangong Lieye clenched his hands so tight that his fingernails stabbed his palm and his angry eyes released the macabre killing intention.
The next day, the gossip that the Third Prince was impotent and his wife divorced him spread all over the capital city, and it had become the chitchat among every tea house. By adding more out of their fantasy, the storytellers brought the house down.
In the Imperial Study, the Emperor Nangong Tianyu had a headache about the argue between his uncle and his Third Brother. And his mother, Queen Mother, exercised her rights to hush the royal affair. In the end, Nangong Lieye left the Imperial Study in rage with a flick of a sleeve, which made Hua Tieying feel quite satisfied with his nephew’s (the emperor) way of addressing the matter.
Seeing his Third Brother so wronged, the Emperor had to send his confidant, the Grand Preceptor Liao Chengying, to comfort him, which stemmed the tide of Nangong Lieye’s anger. Nangong Lieye knew that the Emperor was filial, thus, holding on to the matter was not a wise decision. Since the Emperor had a clear conscience, how could he dispute with him? Anyway, Hua Yueling was just a woman, and he was quite confident of next-round success in the battle between them two.
Besides, his mother, the Queen Dowager Su, had also told him to let it go. His value to the Kingdom of Dayue was no greater than businessmen. Compared with the Hua’s who enjoyed the privilege of military power, he was nothing. Speaking of Hua Yueling, she even didn’t deserve to be his princess. No matter who brought it up, the divorce itself was a good thing.
However, Nangong Lieye didn’t expect it to become a national joke. Fortunately, people laughed not only at his impotence but at her lasciviousness, which in turn comforted him a lot. Nonetheless, impotence was a great shame for a man. So he had to hide himself in Yueman Chamber every day partly to avoid gossip, partly to recuperate, for the stab in his arm, though not fatal, pained for rather a long time, which increased his hatred toward that woman.
***
The Prime Minister’s mansion had eight carved and painted doors facing the street, in front of which stood the stone lions on both sides. It looked very luxurious and imposing. Guards in fine uniforms stood erect at the door, safeguarding the whole place.
Inside the mansion, there was a grand central court with many courtyards around where meandered countless long verandas. Pavilions and bridges spread across and stood very close to each other. Layer upon layer of rockeries were delicately-arranged. What a wonderful scenery!
The backyard was the resting place for the whole family. There were eight separate courtyards, which were tranquil and comfortable.
Hua Yueling lived in Mingyue Pavilion that was on the southeast side of the mansion. There were a lot of lush green bamboos planted in the courtyard, and also a pond full of lotus and playful koi under it. Blossoms of flowers dotted along the pool.
Hua Yueling was drinking scented tea leisurely and reading books about Dayue Empire by the pond, feeling at ease and comfortable.
Her black hair, thick, long and smooth, drifted with the breeze. A cluster of hair was decorated with a beautiful jade hairpin of flying phoenix, which made her look elegant and pretty. Her delicate and fair face looked smooth and fine, full of the quality of grace and purity. Her smart slanted eyes were expressive and enchanting, tantalizing people’s minds.
“My lady, the Lord has had all the dowry brought back.” Ping’ er happily ran in to report.
Looking up, she said lightly as a glimmer of smartness flashed across her eyes, “Dad is so efficient.”
“Of course. We can’t let them fall into the hands of that bastard Third Prince. My lady, you are awesome this time!” Ping’er adoringly looked at her young lady. She used to be angry about Hua Yueling’s infatuation; however, to her surprise, her young lady had finally come back to her senses.
“Am I?” Hua Yueling smiled brightly and thought that although she was free again, the mean man wouldn’t let her go easily. What concerned her urgently right now was her own weak strength, for her acquired fighting skill through rigorous training was not so sufficient to challenge those superiors, thus, her top priority was to become stronger and stronger.
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“Ping’er, does my younger brother excel in martial arts?” Hua Yueling thought of her brother, Hua Yujin, who was one year younger than her.
“Yes, our young Lord works in the Ministry of Penalty, specializing in catching bad guys. And the one best at that is Fourth Prince. He has been appointed as vice minister of the Ministry of Penalty.” Ping’er replied after some ponderation.
“Hum, he?” Immediately the easy-going, handsome man reappeared in her mind, “Senior to him, is there a minister? Forth Prince is just a vice minister?”
“My lady, the minister is a senior official Liao, whose duty is to judge not to catch. Forth Prince and our young Lord both are the best constable for catching criminals granted by the emperor. There is great possibility for them to take over the position later.” Ping’er rolled her eyes and uttered.
“I see. It seems His Majesty is a wise monarch who appoints people by merits.” Hua Yueling smiled and thought for a while before she continued, “Ping’er, is the mansion of Forth Prince just next to us, right?” There was a sly gleam in her beautiful slanted eyes.