Volume 5, Chapter 38 – Hidden Yao

At the same time, a telegram from Zhengyuan Palace had already been sent to Dongzhou.

In Dongzhou, in the western corner of the city nearest the interior, there stood a Western-style building surrounded by hedges and flowerbeds. After a screech of brakes, a fair-skinned youth in a white suit with streaked, curly hair tumbled out of a car in a panic, ran all the way into the manor, burst into the study, and shouted, “Father!”

“This is bad, Father! That little bitch wants you to take the whole family to Xiajing to report for duty!”

Smack!

The man at the desk had just been slowly taking off his glasses. At those words, his expression instantly tightened, and he rose to his feet and slapped the youth hard enough to send him sprawling to the floor.

“Father!”

Half sprawled on the ground, the youth stared at the man in disbelief.

“I came to warn you, and you hit me?”

“And who are you to call her ‘that little bitch’?” the man said coldly, baring his teeth slightly. “Walls have ears. If that gets out, what do you think will happen? Do you want this enormous Tao family buried with you?”

“What difference does it make!” the youth shouted indignantly, eyes wide. “You can’t possibly not understand what she means, can you? Since when does a normal summons for duty require bringing your family? She’s obviously planning to wipe out our whole clan!”

“Shut up!!” the man roared, kicking the youth several times before angrily calling for servants.

“Men!”

“Lock him up! No one is to let him out without my permission!”

“Father! How can you do this?”

“You… you let go of me!”

“The family’s on the brink of destruction! What’s left that can’t be said?”

“Father! We have to strike back! We have to strike back!”

The youth’s cries gradually faded into the distance, only making the helplessness on the man’s face stand out more starkly.

“He’s already eighteen, and still this stupid.”

“With brains like that, I don’t think he can compete for the inheritance.”

“What do you think?”

He turned his head and looked toward the long desk, where no one seemed to be sitting. “This is all because you spoiled your precious little brother!”

“That hardly seems like my fault~”

Under his gaze, a pretty young girl in an old-style long dress crawled out from under the desk. Her brows and eyes bore some resemblance to both the man and the youth from before.

She deliberately crawled forward a few more steps on all fours like a dog, watching the man with a provocative look. Only after noticing his breathing grow ragged did she lick her lips in satisfaction and slowly rise to her feet.

“You…!”

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The man had obviously grasped her intent and wanted to flare up, but the moment he caught that lip-licking gesture, the anger vanished from his mind. Instead, certain forbidden images surfaced in his head of their own accord. His face flushed red, and he looked profoundly awkward.

“Don’t be angry, Daddy.” Tao Sicheng walked gracefully over to the man’s side and pushed him back down into his chair.

“Even if this were to get out, it would still be your daughter who seduced you first. I would rather ruin my own reputation than place Daddy in a position of dishonor.”

“You…” The man enjoyed the constant massage of her small hands, and his irritation gradually drained away.

“There are times when I really do think, Sicheng, how good it would have been if you had been born a boy.”

“If you were a boy, our Tao family would surely rise again in your hands. Who knows—after another hundred years, perhaps we might even dare ask how many could truly uphold the 鼎 of this world…”

“Does Daddy really think so?” The girl obediently crouched halfway down, tilting up her pretty face to look at him.

“If I were a boy, how could I possibly share this kind of bond with Daddy?”

“That’s enough.” The man shook his head, his gaze turning a little colder. “A little playacting now and then is one thing, but do not ever take it seriously.”

“Yes.” The girl lowered her head. “Sicheng listens to Daddy in everything.”

“Mhm.”

Hearing that even the way she referred to herself had changed, the man—Tao Xianghao, current head of the Tao family and also the acting supervisor of the Dongzhou Prefectural Office—nodded inwardly.

Though he was always troubled by how “mischievous and uncanny” this daughter of his was, with no taboo she did not dare test, her strengths were equally obvious. She was simply too intelligent.

She could speak at three, write at five.

At seven, she could compose poetry; at nine, she could ride.

And now, in the full bloom of eighteen, she was already a widely celebrated gifted beauty throughout Dongzhou Prefecture. Her talent and beauty were both unmatched, and even the people of Xiajing had heard of her. Every so often, Tao Xianghao would hear of scholars and nobles outside fighting and competing for Tao Sicheng’s favor.

Yet Tao Sicheng had never wanted to be a woman.

She had said it to Tao Xianghao herself: her ambition in this life was not to become the wife of some great clan, but to seize power and enter politics.

To Tao Sicheng, this beautiful body was nothing more than a tool. What she wanted was not romance and moonlit sentiment, but to be like High Emperor Ancestor Xia himself—holding great power, ****.

And she really did have the ability for it.

Because they were close enough, Tao Xianghao would sometimes share the difficult problems the family faced with Tao Sicheng, and he often received excellent suggestions from his daughter. More often than not, those suggestions solved the issue once carried out.

That was why he found it such a pity.

For all Tao Sicheng’s brilliance, she had been born with blocked meridians. She could not practice martial arts. She could not cultivate.

A woman like that, no matter how clever, was unlikely to end well in the future. At times, Tao Xianghao even wondered whether his indulgence toward Tao Sicheng was actually harming her.

“So what does Daddy plan to do?” Tao Sicheng guided the conversation back. “Given the current situation, this summons for duty is practically equivalent to imperial favor. Does Daddy intend to obey the order and take all of us with him to Xiajing?”

“I plan to wait another half day first, until word comes back from your Third Granduncle Tao,” Tao Xianghao said with a frown, his face covered in gloomy worry.

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“Third Granduncle Tao is one of the Three Excellencies, yet he still hasn’t contacted the family after all this time,” Tao Sicheng said in a coaxing tone. “He may already have…”

Tao Xianghao said nothing. Clearly, he had not yet made up his mind.

“The Imperial Court is obviously resentful that Daddy indulged them,” Tao Sicheng continued. “Kangyuan may be foolish and unruly, but his analysis is not entirely wrong. This time, they very clearly intend to punish us harshly.”

“The newspaper offices weren’t entirely under my control.” Tao Xianghao shook his head.

“And her return happened far too suddenly.”

“There simply wasn’t enough time to notify anyone.”

“Otherwise, if it had been left to me to restrain them, they would never have made such a mistake.”

Tao Sicheng smiled. “Some people, after living in peace for too long, lose their reverence for those above them.”

“If you ask me, Daddy might as well sell them all out and use that to clear your own name.”

“It’s already too late.” Tao Xianghao sighed. “All the institutions are attached to the State Chancery. When accountability comes, I will inevitably be the first one they look to. As for the others… they simply don’t carry enough weight.”

“What I mean is…” Tao Sicheng narrowed her eyes. “Use another matter to cover this one up.”

Hm?

Tao Xianghao froze. “What do you mean?”

“The Imperial Court is clearly planning to make an example of us.” Tao Sicheng smiled faintly. “To them, killing our chicken to frighten all the restless monkeys is their top priority.”

“But all things have degrees of importance.”

“If someone were suddenly exposed as plotting rebellion…”

What?

Tao Xianghao stared at her, eyes wide.

Could this really be handled that way?

“After all, all the Imperial Court really wants is blood,” Tao Sicheng said, her smile growing colder and colder. “‘Bloodshed’ is the key. As for whose blood is shed, the Imperial Court does not actually care.”

“What does Daddy think?”

“Send people out right now to kill them and confiscate their households. Leave none of the relevant nobles alive. Then forge some traces and accuse them of colluding in rebellion. Make the whole thing look substantial enough. After that, Daddy can take us to Xiajing, and the Imperial Court definitely won’t be able to lay a hand on you.”

“Especially since, according to my information, there will be a wave of demon tide after the start of spring.”

“Other than us, no one can properly defend the entire eastern front.”

That really did seem workable.

Tao Xianghao began to think it over.

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Someone would still have to govern Dongzhou. If all the others were killed and only the Tao family remained, then whether for defending the eastern front or keeping Dongzhou stable, the Imperial Court should hesitate.

And most importantly, the Tao family really had no other path left.

Back when that one had not returned, when they only had to face a single governor-general, the nobles of Dongzhou could resist so long as they joined together.

But such methods were useless against a true emperor.

Her claim to the throne was too legitimate.

No matter how many people she killed, no one would dare refuse to submit.

“So we bind ourselves to the eastern front…” Tao Xianghao sighed. “Very well. It can only be this way.”

“Sicheng.”

“Daddy?”

“Is your source of intelligence truly reliable?”

“Rest assured, Daddy.” Multicolored light flickered in Tao Sicheng’s eyes. “It is absolutely reliable.”

Ten minutes later.

Tao Sicheng emerged from the study, caught sight of her own reflection in the window glass, and smiled at it while licking her moist red lips.

Returning to her room, she locked the door, then shut herself inside the bathing room and stripped off her dress to bathe.

Splash!

Her pale body sank into the water, then rose again.

But if anyone had been present, they would certainly have screamed in horror, because when Tao Sicheng surfaced, her face had already split down the middle. Only the left half remained intact. The right half, however, had been forced upward by blood and flesh as though it were the cap of some fungus, drooping in midair and swaying slightly.

The deformity reached into the marrow itself. It was not only the flesh that had been portioned out, but also the teeth, the bones, and even the brain.

“I hope your scheme works.”

The monster on the right side of her face suddenly spoke on its own.

“Bai Zhuqing has the ability to identify our kind. If I absolutely have to go to Xiajing, then I absolutely cannot let her run into me!”

“Relax.” A soothed expression appeared on the left side of Tao Sicheng’s face. “As long as you cooperate and command the voidfiend army to attack the eastern front at the same time, putting enough pressure on them, then this trip may not even be necessary.”

“Doesn’t that make this a complete betrayal of Eastern Xia?”

The monster on the right side of her face turned the half-face around to look directly at Tao Sicheng’s left face in midair.

“You may have helped me with some things before, but it has never gone this far.”

“If you’re discovered, your fate will be miserable.”

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“Hmph.” Tao Sicheng’s expression darkened. “That is only because she didn’t die.”

“If she had died, then all things could have grown freely.”

“Just as Great Xia needs Northern Yu and the Federation to keep applying pressure, so that people like us can continue to be entrusted with important responsibility by the Imperial Court, so that we can continue to have value.”

“But the moment she returned, she planned to slaughter all the nobles of Northern Yu. She never intended to leave us a way to live!”

“Well said.” The monster on the right side of her face gave a crackling laugh.

“I think very highly of your future.”

“Once this matter is over, I will petition the Mother Sovereign to come personally from the Northern Sea to receive you.”

“Be at ease~”

“When the time comes, we will surely give you a body with complete and unobstructed meridians, one that will let your ambitions fully unfold…”

“Is that so?” Tao Sicheng smiled seductively as well.

“Then I am very much looking forward to it.”

Their crisp laughter gradually overlapped. In midair, the shadows of two forked tongues, split into twin petals, crossed together, then were gradually obscured by the mist of steam.

After finishing her bath, the young woman dressed herself again and emerged, her fair face flushed red, so tender it seemed water could be pinched from it.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Miss, you have letters.”

“I know. Just leave them on the rack outside the door.”

She straightened her appearance in the mirror, then opened the door. As expected, the rack outside was piled high with envelopes in all kinds of wrapping.

“More of this trash again…”

A look of impatience crossed her face. As usual, she intended to take them all away and burn them.

But the moment she picked them up, one kraft-paper envelope slipped out, revealing a line written in large characters across it.

[May I win one heart, and never part till white of hair.]

Signed: Shenming Sword Dao, Bai Chenyu.

“Oh~” Tao Sicheng narrowed her eyes, her tone suddenly turning meaningful.

So it was that one.

This, at least, was worth giving a little more thought…