Chapter 37

Under the pavilion, Tu Shanjin told Yun Yaoyao about the paper packet from the day before.

“I had the accompanying imperial physician examine it. The powder is harmless, but its effects are unknown.”

Yun Yaoyao studied the packet, wicked ideas bubbling up inside her. “Didn’t Tushan Ze say he’d be rekindling an old romance with you tonight? Slip it into his drink then. You’ll find out what it does.”

“I’ll teach you a trick. Spread a thin layer of syrup around the mouth of the teapot and stick the powder to it. That way, the first cup poured will contain the powder, while the second one won’t.”

Tu Shanjin nodded. “That should work.”

“I’ll leave this matter to you. Right now, I have something more important to take care of!”

With a mysterious smile, Yun Yaoyao hurried out of the courtyard.

Before long, she stopped furtively at a certain spot and hid behind a tree.

The original novel had mentioned an episode at Mingguang Temple. On the surface, Tushan Ze had brought Yun Yanyan there for a sightseeing trip, but in reality, he was trying to win over an important character.

Ning Ying, the only daughter of the Minister of War.

Whenever Yun Yaoyao thought about the novel she had transmigrated into, she had so many complaints she didn’t know where to begin.

The original male lead was Tushan Ze, and the female lead was Yun Yanyan. There were multiple secondary heroines, and the story mainly followed Tushan Ze as he bided his time, endured humiliation, won over ministers, built a harem, and eventually ascended the throne as emperor.

If it had been written for male readers, it would have been a textbook harem-and-conquest power fantasy. But the author had refused to follow convention and had instead started the story from Yun Yanyan’s perspective, publishing it for female readers.

It was no wonder the readers had torn it apart.

The pitiful author had continued updating the novel while taking abuse, all the way to the eve of the finale. Then she suddenly won the lottery—one of those jackpots so enormous that even the taxes alone would have been enough to support an ordinary person for the rest of their life!

At once, the author completely let herself go. She furiously typed out replies to all the readers she had once been too scared to contradict.

I finally don’t have to slave away writing every day just to earn this miserable pittance!

You said my writing is dog shit? Fine! I’ll show you what real dog shit looks like!

And so, on the second day after Tushan Ze ascended the throne, the Xiongnu army breached the imperial capital, destroyed the Yanchi Dynasty, and hung Tushan Ze and all the women in his harem from the city walls.

Just as Tushan Ze had endured humiliation and was finally able to contact the private army he had hidden outside the capital, turning the tables against all odds…

A ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‍planet collided with Earth, bringing about the end of the world!

Everyone died!

After finishing the novel, Yun Yaoyao had only one thought:

Sometimes, you really do feel like calling the police.

But she was getting off track. Yun Yaoyao quickly refocused and continued watching the two people beneath the pavilion.

First, Tushan Ze melancholically played the qin to attract the woman’s attention. Then he pretended to have only just noticed her and struck up a conversation. The distance between them gradually shrank, and before long, the atmosphere had turned positively flirtatious.

Yun Yaoyao grew tired of spying and waved over the Dragon Shadow Guard hiding nearby to bring her a stool. She picked some apricots and watched while eating, sighing with admiration.

“What a master of time management. Flirting with noble young ladies during the day, fooling around with my beloved consort at night, dealing with Yun Yanyan—the drama queen—in between, and keeping an entire harem at home. Tushan Ze is the true communal cucumber.”

She went through one handful of apricots after another. By the time she finished, Yun Yaoyao felt as if her mouth was covered in blisters. Only then did the two people finally part, clearly reluctant to leave each other.

Seeing this, Yun Yaoyao tossed aside the apricot pits, wiped her juice-stained hands on the tree bark, and headed toward the woman.

Ning Ying was fiddling with the jade pendant Tushan Ze had left her and failed to notice the person in front of her. She walked straight into Yun Yaoyao.

“I’m sorry!”

Ning Ying quickly apologized and looked up. A noble, handsome, and coolly distinguished face met her gaze.

Ning Ying froze for several seconds before showing open admiration. “My name is Ning Ying. May I ask who you are, brother?”

While Ning Ying sized her up, Yun Yaoyao was sizing Ning Ying up as well.

She was bold and spirited, with an uninhibited manner of speaking and carrying herself. A straightforward woman, then. That meant Yun Yaoyao could take a straightforward approach.

“You may call me Jin Shantu.”

Ning Ying clasped her hands. “Brother Jin.”

Yun Yaoyao pointed at the jade pendant in Ning Ying’s hand, her brows knitting together in confusion. “That pendant belongs to someone I know. How did it end up in your hands?”

Ning Ying told her everything that had happened moments earlier, then asked eagerly, full of anticipation, “Brother Jin, could you tell me his name and identity? He only left me this pendant and said that if we were fated to meet, we would meet again.”

After hearing this, Yun Yaoyao hesitated, looking as though she had some unspeakable secret to reveal. “Ah… this…”

“Ah, I can’t tell you!”

Ning Ying’s curiosity was instantly piqued. She looked at Yun Yaoyao anxiously. “Brother Jin, don’t stop halfway through! If there’s something to say, just say it all!”

Yun Yaoyao’s expression twisted with inner conflict. “But this… he… Ah… forget it!”

“Brother Jin! I beg you!” Ning Ying was thoroughly frantic now.

Only then did Yun Yaoyao put on an expression of great difficulty and slowly begin, “That jade pendant he claimed was one of a kind was actually made by the crate-load. He had an entire chestful of them carved by craftsmen.”

“Whenever he met a woman who caught his fancy—or one he thought might be useful—he would give her one.”

“There are at least a dozen women in his household, if not twenty.”

Ning Ying’s face went pale. She stared at the jade pendant in her hand in utter disbelief.

Yun Yaoyao continued, “He likes delicate, fragile beauties. Since you don’t fit his aesthetic, that means you must be useful to him somehow. I’d say your family background is probably quite impressive.”

Ning Ying’s face paled even further.

Her father was the Minister of War, and her eldest brother was a general who would soon be returning victorious from the battlefield. Both were important figures in the imperial court.

Five years ago, she had secretly followed her brother into battle. This year, because she had grown too old, her father and brother had joined forces to drag her home and urge her to find a suitable husband and marry as soon as possible.

She had thought that few people in the capital would recognize her. Who would have guessed that the men here were even more calculating!

“Thank you, Brother Jin!” Ning Ying clasped her hands gratefully, though a glimmer of tears and fury simmered in her eyes. “Could you tell me this man’s full name and address? I’ll go ask him for an explanation!”

Yun Yaoyao shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t reveal anything more.”

“Let me tell you a story.”

“Once upon a time, there was a woman named Wang Baochuan. She waited in a cold cave for eighteen years for the man she loved, surviving by digging up wild vegetables… Then she became empress for eighteen days and died.”

After telling Ning Ying the ancient tale of Wang Baochuan, Yun Yaoyao was just about to tell her the story of Xu Qin from the modern era when Ning Ying’s eyes had already cleared.

“Thank you, Brother Jin, for comforting me. I won’t go looking for him. Today, I’ll just consider myself bitten by a dog!”

With that, she threw the jade pendant onto the ground, shattering it into pieces.

And just like that, the chance encounter Tushan Ze had so carefully arranged was thoroughly ruined by Yun Yaoyao.

Yun Yaoyao loved dealing with people who knew exactly what they wanted and never wavered in matters of love. If she ran into a hopeless romantic, she could talk until her mouth was covered in blisters, and the other person would still only reply, “I know, but he loves me!”

Yun Yaoyao consoled her. “There are plenty of fish in the sea. If one doesn’t work out, we’ll find another.”

Ning Ying met her gaze head-on and nodded. “All right!”

“Does Brother Jin have a woman he likes? If not, I’m unmarried. How about we pair up?”

The blunt proposal made Yun Yaoyao’s pupils contract in shock.

What? She’d moved on to Yun Yaoyao herself?

To completely put an end to that idea, Yun Yaoyao said solemnly, “Sister Ning, you deserve someone better—not someone as perfect as me.”

Ning Ying: “???”

“Just kidding. I already have a fiery wife at home, so I’m afraid I’m not that fortunate,” Yun Yaoyao added with a smile.

Ning Ying felt envious. “That’s all right. Brother Jin, having someone you love is truly a blessing.”

Yun Yaoyao asked in puzzlement, “Sister Ning, are you in a hurry to get married?”

Ning Ying nodded and slowly shared her troubles. “I’m already twenty-five this year, and my family has been putting a great deal of pressure on me. I don’t want to listen to my father and marry some man I’ve never even met, especially when he already has concubines in his household. So I thought I’d find someone myself. I came to Mingguang Temple to pray that I might meet my ideal husband soon.”

Yun Yaoyao sighed.

It seemed that whether in the modern world or ancient times, pressure to marry was unavoidable!

Ning Ying continued, “Brother Jin, to be honest with you, I don’t actually want to marry. I’d be trapped in some inner residence, dealing with a whole group of women—and besides, men aren’t necessarily reliable.”

“My parents and elder brother all tell me that a woman relies on her father and brothers when she is young, her husband when she grows up, her son after she has children, and her descendants when she is old. If I keep refusing to marry, they say I’ll eventually be left with no one to rely on at all.

“I don’t entirely agree with them, but I’ve tried every method I can think of, and nothing has worked. I’ve been terribly troubled these past few days…”

As she listened to Ning Ying’s complaints, Yun Yaoyao’s expression gradually grew serious.

Through Ning Ying, Yun Yaoyao saw a noble young woman who had already developed a sense of self, yet remained tightly bound by the great net that feudal society had woven around women. She was struggling with all her might to break free.

“Brother Jin, thank you for listening to me. I—”

“Enter government service!”

Yun Yaoyao suddenly thought of an excellent solution. “The imperial court already has its first female official, and His Majesty is very much in favor of women serving in government. A proper balance between men and women is a good thing. Find a way to gain real authority in your own hands, and you won’t have to be bound by society’s conventions!”

The more Ning Ying listened, the brighter her eyes became. “Yes!”

“Brother Jin, I don’t know why, but although you’re a man, I feel as if I’ve met a kindred spirit!”

“From now on, if I have a bowl of soup, you’ll have a piece of meat, Brother Jin!”

Yun Yaoyao was deeply moved. Meeting her sincere gaze, she replied, “Good. From now on, if I have a bowl of soup, Sister Ning, you’ll have a bowl to wash!”

“Brother Jin!”

“Sister Ning!”

The two of them poured out their hearts to each other once more. The longer they talked, the more Ning Ying felt that their views were perfectly aligned. Yun Yaoyao’s manner of speaking also broadened Ning Ying’s confined way of thinking, as though she had opened the door to an entirely new world.

Thus, beneath the apricot tree, the two of them each cut off a lock of hair and buried them beneath the tree, formally swearing brotherhood as siblings of different surnames!