Black Belly Wife

Feng Cheng arrived at King Sheng's residence in Yanzhou, and a graceful, half-aged woman came with him.

"I haven't even allowed you to enter the Chu family door yet, so how come you're pregnant?" Fairy Yaoyue asked incredulously as she glared at Murong Yunshu with her pair of beautiful eyes.

They should not have reminded those four straw men, North, South, East and West, regarding such a person as the Fairy Yaoyue in the first place! When they asked those four not to be alarmed, they invited the said person instead.

The quadruplets really did have a penchant for interpreting the phrase 'not good enough to accomplish anything, but more than enough to spoil things' through their action!

A headache Murong Yunshu sighed in her heart, but her expression was still as if one saw how pale the clouds were and the light breeze was blowing. She said, "Firstly, I will not enter the door of the Chu family. It is your son who will enter the door of my Murong Mansion. Secondly, you will have to ask your son about the pregnancy. I am not quite sure how I got pregnant."

"……"

"……"

"……"

Before everyone could return to their senses, they heard Chu Changge say, "Ask Feng Cheng. He knows."

The corners of Feng Cheng's mouth trembled slightly, and a few black lines flashed across his pale face. "Why would I know how you conceived your son?"

"You're a physician!" Chu Changge had an expression that told others that his answer was logical and natural.

The corners of Feng Cheng's mouth couldn't help but twitch some more. Fine. He was the one who thought too much. But who said that a physician should know how a person conceived a baby? It wasn't like he had ever conceived one before!

At that moment, a calm voice came from the doorway, "Your family looks so lively. Truly makes others envy."

As soon as King Sheng appeared, the chattering crowd immediately quieted down.

When Murong Yunshu heard this, she looked at Chu Changge in disbelief and asked with her eyes, you didn't tell him you were brothers?

Chu Changge shook his head slightly and whispered, "For him, it is better not to have any brothers."

Murong Yunshu got the message. Yes, an Emperor was supposed to be alone. One more brother meant one more burden. For King Sheng, who was deeply hurt by the same family, the generals who fought with him must be more worthy of his trust than the brothers who were connected by blood.

"Am I interrupting your conversation?" King Sheng asked with a smile.

Fairy Yaoyue laughingly responded, "There's no such thing. If we knew King Sheng would come here, we would have welcomed you. How can your appearance be a disturbance? Your Highness has business to discuss with Ah Chang and Yunshu, right? Then we will not disturb you people any longer." After saying that, she waved her hand and yelled for South, East, North, West and the others to go out.

"Elder Yue." King Sheng suddenly turned his head and called out to Fairy Yaoyue. When he saw her pausing her steps, he continued, "You seem to be afraid of seeing me." She always avoided his gaze. It happened while he was in Murong Mansion, and now, it also happened in his royal residence.

Fairy Yaoyue's body stiffened. Then she turned around and laughed cheekily. "You're overthinking it. I, Fairy Moon, have never been afraid of anyone at this age. You may be a king, but in my eyes, you are just a young gongzi who does not know martial arts. So why should I be afraid of you?"

"Is that so?" King Sheng's eyes slightly sank as he stared at her for a moment before a gentle smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. He said, "Then, I must have been overthinking things again."

"It must be." Fairy Yaoyue smiled and walked away afterwards. [+]

That swaying figure looked like a total desperate flee in Chu Changge's eyes. He looked thoughtfully at Fairy Yaoyue's back for a long time before withdrawing his gaze and ask King Sheng, "Is there anything wrong?"

"Can't I come and sit here if I have nothing to do?"

"You can't."

"......this is my royal residence." King Sheng emphasised his position as the master of the residence.

"But I live here now." Chu Changge said it as if it ought to be.

King Sheng knew that reasoning with Chu Changge, well-known for his unreasonableness, would only be a waste of time. Thus, he just let him be. As long as it did not hurt him, he could draw a circle and occupy the land wherever he wanted. "The situation in the Central Plains is now basically settled. With the Chu River as the boundary, Emperor Shenwu, Hua Lingtian, occupies the east of the Chu River. King Liang Jr, Hua Yeli, occupies the west."

Chu Changge commented, "I'm a bit surprised that Hua Lingtian can compete with Hua Yeli."

"He has been pretending to be a pig just to eat the tiger." Murong Yunshu hit the mark with a single comment. Hua Lingtian was her green plums and a bamboo horse older male maternal cousin. Although she could not say she knew him thoroughly despite growing up together, she could guess eighty to ninety per cent of his thoughts. He was not a weak man. Let alone one who was willing to be mediocre. With his talents, it was no surprise that he had reached the position he was in today. But that was all. What Hua Lingtian wanted was supreme power. While what King Sheng wanted was a peaceful world for the people.

"I decided to land at western province port on the fifteenth next month and formally compete for the Central Plains." King Sheng Wang declared.

Chu Changge frowned at his words and asked unkindly, "You want to cooperate with Hua Yeli?"

King Sheng put it across to him. "Between Hua Yeli and Hua Lingtian, I must choose one to work with, or they will join forces to fight against me. And from Yanzhou, I must pass through Hua Yeli's territory."

Of course, Chu Changge knew this. But working with Hua Yeli――it went too much beyond his bottom line.

King Sheng added, "I know about the problems between you and Hua Yeli, which is why I came to speak to you first. If there were no other way, I would not have taken this step."

"I have sworn not to coexist with Hua Yeli." Chu Changge made his position clear.

King Sheng looked at Murong Yunshu awkwardly, hoping she could persuade Chu Changge. He saw Murong Yunshu smile as she slowly said, "If you have made up your mind, just follow your plan."

"You agree?" This took King Sheng a little by surprise. Although Murong Yunshu was a little more fair and reasonable than Chu Changge, she was neither this fair nor reasonable person. At least, in his expectation, it was going to take quite a lot of words.

Murong Yunshu explained, "Marching to war and fighting for power is your business, and you do not need to seek my approval. Whether or not I continue to provide you with financial pillars is my business." The implication was, it was none of my business regarding who you wanted to work with. But if that person was someone I don't like, then don't ever think of getting another coin from me.

Seeing that King Sheng didn't speak, Murong Yunshu added, "I am a merchant. Everything I do is interest-oriented. It is also one of my interests to spend my money happily. If you cooperate with Hua Yeli, I will not be spending my money happily. I usually don't do unhappy things."

King Sheng said, "A man who has achieved greatness does not have to be a stickler for small details. My cooperation with Hua Yeli is only temporary; the day I defeat Hua Lingtian is the day the alliance ends."

Murong Yunshu countered, "It's a shame we're just ordinary people. It's typical of us ordinary people to haggle over every penny and be vindictive."

King Sheng argued, "I don't think you are ordinary people."

The corners of Chu Changge's mouth curled up into a cold smile. His eyes held a chilly light as he said indifferently, "That's right. We are not ordinary people. We haggle much more over every penny than ordinary people. If others hurt me for a moment, I will destroy them for a lifetime."

King Sheng's heart was shocked. He was appalled by the murderous aura Chu Changge released at that moment. "What exactly is your disagreement with Hua Yeli?" He had heard many rumours, but judging from the hearsay, it should not be that bad. There must be some inside story that he did not know about. [+]

Chu Changge coldly snorted as he said, "The grievances between Hua Yeli and me are not something that others can clearly describe with the word 'disagreement'. All you need to know is that if he doesn't die, I won't be able to live comfortably and joyfully. And he thinks the same way too."

King Sheng stated, "But according to my ambassador's report, Hua Yeli is not averse to cooperate with me."

"Because he wants to be an Emperor, but I don't." Chu Changge added, "I don't want fame or profit. I just want to live happily. If you say one more word on this matter, my heart will be unhappy. If I am not happy, I will do something that makes my heart happy, such as burning the army provisions on Xuanyue Island."

Xuanyue Island was the closest island on the sea to the land, only a quarter of an hour away by boat. King Sheng had quietly stockpiled army provisions there several months ago.

Although King Sheng had a broad mind, he did not like to be threatened. His face immediately sank as he said, "You sure knew a lot."

Chu Changge stated, "If I don't know such a trivial matter, how can I be comfortable letting my wife and child live here?"

It dawned on King Sheng that he should have known that even the wealthiest people would be concerned about where others spent their money. Murong Yunshu had never bothered to ask or to listen to him. He should have sensed that there was something fishy about this. It turned out that they already knew everything about his every move.

No one was happy to be watched, and King Sheng was no exception. "I will think of another way on this matter. But you will have to tell your men to retreat. I don't like having an eye on me all the time."

"Just right, so do I." Chu Changge said as he looked at him meaningfully.

King Sheng was slightly flabbergasted. "What do you mean by that?"

Chu Changge pondered for a long time and said, "It means, please remove all the eyes around this guest courtyard."

It turned out that he knew everything but said nothing. A few moments of gloom flashed in King Sheng's eyes as he said, "I will remove them." With that, he turned and left.

When King Sheng walked to the entrance of the guest courtyard, Chu Changge suddenly said to his back, "I have confidence in you."

King Sheng paused at his words, but he did not turn around, quietly waiting for him to continue.

Chu Changge continued after a few seconds, "But you have failed to live up to my confidence in you." The night before they left the Island of the Missing Moon, they hadn't talked much. But they had long since exchanged their trust in each other. He had made up his mind to help King Sheng take the throne as an outsider. But when King Sheng returned to the royal residence, he planted eyes around the guest courtyard.

King Sheng stood still, clenched his fist, unclenched it again, and left without a word. He unknowingly had ruined it all! But he could not repeat his father's mistake. He could not!

*

"It's nothing personal. What happened to him as a child has long since robbed him of the ability to trust people." Murong Yunshu tried to comfort Chu Changge.

Chu Changge curled his lips in a smile. His smile looked somewhat bleak in Murong Yunshu's eyes. "Is a person who cannot trust others qualified to become a wise monarch?" How could one win the people's hearts if one did not trust them? How could one win the world without obtaining people's hearts?

Murong Yunshu didn't know how to continue. She was silent for a long time before saying, "Perhaps, an Emperor is supposed to be like that."

Chu Changge was gloomy. Was this how an Emperor should be? Then he would rather not be an Emperor.