MLIAM Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Intimate Person. Such a handsome face, what a pity he is mute…

Yu Shuli’s face flushed crimson, and he retreated repeatedly. “Wei… Wei Yan? Why are you here!”

“Why? Can’t I come?” Wei Yan entered without explanation, closing the door in one smooth motion.

He placed the hot water bottle on the table, moving closer to Yu Shuli. “Wasn’t it you who invited me with that kind of painting?”

Yu Shuli looked up at the sky: “What painting? Not me, don’t remember, don’t know.” His main strategy was to deny it to the death.

Wei Yan chuckled in amusement, wrapping his arm around him, gently encircling him, and turning his head to look at Dong Siwen: “Miss Dong has good taste, music, a warm pavilion, and a beautiful woman, it’s like heaven on earth.”

Dong Siwen smiled, stood up, and said, “With Prime Minister Wei here, it truly is music, a warm pavilion, and a beautiful woman.” She ignored Yu Shuli’s pleading gaze, pushed open the other window, and looked out at the sky. “It’s getting late, and I have other things to attend to, so I won’t disturb you any longer.”

She winked at Yu Shuli: “I hope you enjoy your heaven on earth?”

Yu Shuli frowned slightly: “Siwen, it’s late, where are you going?”

“To see my mother.”

Yu Shuli was surprised. Wasn’t her mother dead many years ago…?

Could she have been stimulated and gone crazy?

But Dong Siwen seemed quite normal…

Yu Shuli shrank back, hesitating to speak.

Dong Siwen guessed what he was thinking as his eyes darted around. She rolled her eyes and wanted to gently pinch Yu Shuli’s face, but froze and put her hand down stiffly after meeting Wei Yan’s gaze. “Please, haven’t you been to my mother’s grave? Now that the state governor’s mansion has been raided, I have to go see her grave. What if someone maliciously stirs up trouble?”

“That’s true.” Yu Shuli finally realized something, looked Dong Siwen up and down, and cautiously said, “Siwen… have you ever thought about moving your mother’s grave?”

Dong Siwen was stunned, her voice hesitant: “After all… she’s already at peace, I don’t want to disturb her.”

“Leaving Quzhou might not be a bad thing.” Wei Yan stopped Yu Shuli, who was eager to persuade Dong Siwen, and explained for him: “With the turmoil imminent, Quzhou will be the first to suffer.”

Dong Siwen’s face paled: “You… have you really decided?”

Wei Yan nodded: “Miss Dong doesn’t need to do anything, you can go to The Capital City with Ji’an, we will guarantee your safety.”

“Why?” Dong Siwen raised her eyes, “Helping me like this, there’s no benefit for you. I am Dong Lingqing’s daughter, shouldn’t I be better off dead in your eyes?”

She sneered: “You say such nice things on the surface, you all say I went to the theater for Yu Shuli, but any fool knows I was forced to go by my dear father and a few older brothers.” She laughed, but it was a bitter laugh, “If I were truly shameless, I could just latch onto Ji’an and enjoy wealth and fortune for the rest of my life… Why save someone like me?”

“It’s not like that! Siwen, don’t say that.” Yu Shuli’s voice was a little hoarse: “To me, you are just my friend Dong Siwen, you wouldn’t do anything to betray me. Whether your father and brothers forced you or not, I know you would have gone.”

“Miss Dong, I said, you don’t need to do anything.” Wei Yan’s voice was clear and calm, “Which means, you don’t need to come forward to testify which high-ranking officials were at the scene at the time. The things in the future have nothing to do with you.”

Dong Siwen turned her head to look at him, her eyes complicated: “Prime Minister Wei, you and the rumors about you are really not the same.”

Wei Yan raised an eyebrow: “How are they different?”

“Too human.” Dong Siwen’s voice was ethereal, “The rumored Prime Minister Wei is inhuman to the extreme, like a wooden statue, best at watching the fire from the other side.”

Wei Yan chuckled: “The rumors are not wrong.”

Dong Siwen frowned: “So I don’t understand… What benefit is there for you to protect me like this? It only increases the Emperor’s suspicion. On the contrary, it hinders your plans.”

“It’s not a hindrance.” Wei Yan pulled Yu Shuli’s wrist, his fingertips casually tracing it, and slowly said, “At least it improves our marital relationship.”

Yu Shuli: …

He pushed away the ever-horny Wei Yan, gritting his teeth, “Be serious.”

Wei Yan blinked innocently, spreading his hands: “I won’t touch you now, alright?”

Yu Shuli glared at him, ignoring him, and instead looked at Dong Siwen, concerned: “Siwen, if you want to see your mother, take Thirteen with you, don’t be alone.”

Dong Siwen lowered her head slightly, and after a long time, she gave a soft “Mm.”

As she was about to leave, she suddenly looked back.

“Prime Minister Wei, I think I should still come forward to testify.”

Yu Shuli and Wei Yan were both stunned.

She smiled: “The excitement of that day, how could it be only court officials? Once the list is out, it will be enough to overturn the Dynasty.”

Yu Shuli and Wei Yan exchanged glances.

Wei Yan said in a deep voice: “Miss Dong, I know who was there that day, we have other means to bring them down even if you don’t come forward.”

“But don’t you want The Crown Prince Party to step down sooner? To avoid unforeseen circumstances, this matter must be judged as soon as possible.”

Dong Siwen clenched the door frame tightly, her knuckles turning white: “Not only the entire Ministry of Revenue, but even the Ministry of War, few can escape. The first to bear the brunt is Marquis Xunyang, Jiang Wenhe.”

“We know that.”

“No, you don’t know.” Dong Siwen suddenly widened her eyes: “You only know that Jiang Wenhe is a member of The Crown Prince Party, but you don’t know… that he is a Xizhao spy. And our Da Liang’s dignified Third Prince, is Xizhao’s rightful successor, he switched out the Third Prince Zhao Xuan, and has been lying dormant in Da Liang for many years. These years of war between the two countries cannot be separated from his operations.”

Yu Shuli was speechless upon hearing this: “You’re saying… Marquis Xunyang is seemingly a member of The Crown Prince Party, but in reality, he is the Third Prince’s person? And the Third Prince is not the real Third Prince, but the soon to be Xizhao emperor? Marquis Xunyang is actually a turncoat?” He clicked his tongue: “Too… too outrageous.”

The explosive news caught even Wei Yan off guard.

He frowned: “Are you sure?”

Dong Siwen smiled bitterly: “That day… they thought I had taken the medicine and fainted, but in reality, I secretly made myself throw up after discovering the clues, and I was awake most of the time… When they were high on Wushisan, they said everything.”

“Does Chou Jia know that Marquis Xunyang is a traitor?”

“Chou Wanshan knows, that day it was him and Chou Wanshan in…”

Yu Shuli clenched his fists in hatred: “Are these old bastards going to ruin the entire foundation of Da Liang?!”

“So… if you are going to take action, The Crown Prince is just a scapegoat. As far as I know, he is just a lecherous man, used to extravagance and debauchery, indulging in alcohol and women is common, but he has the intention to be a traitor, but not the guts, he wouldn’t collude with the enemy and betray the country.” Dong Siwen’s hands and feet were cold: “Marquis Xunyang and Chou Wanshan are in cahoots, and the mountain behind them… is even unreachable.”

“What’s so unreachable about it?” Yu Shuli raised his head and said: “He is on my Da Liang’s land, he is my Da Liang’s hostage. I can beat Xizhao back once, I can beat them back a second time! It’s not the first or second time that Xizhao has surrendered and given up cities. He is also the one who is negotiating peace this time, he should be the one who’s afraid!”

Dong Siwen moved her lips slightly, a barely perceptible fragility on her face: “If it weren’t for the fact that the person guarding me was Chou Dongshuo’s man, and not capable, I wouldn’t have been able to survive and protect myself from such a place, and I would not have had the opportunity to meet you. I get scared just thinking about the fact that if that Third Prince wasn’t stuck on the Imperial Examination’s scandal, and unable to come to Quzhou.”

She looked at Yu Shuli: “Ji’an, I deduced from the chat between their lines that he is definitely a dangerous person, you must be careful.”

Yu Shuli nodded silently.

Wei Yan said: “In that case, you don’t need to go to The Capital City either.”

He made a new arrangement decisively: “I will send someone to send you to a small southern county town to settle down, you can consider moving your mother’s grave. From now on, everything in Quzhou and The Capital City has nothing to do with you.”

Dong Siwen shook her head: “Since I have decided to tell you this, it means that I will support you unconditionally.”

“Even if…” she raised her face: “Even if I risk my reputation, risk my life, I will not hesitate.”

“There are too many women trapped in the world, I don’t ask to be able to save each and every one of them, but I ask to be able to encourage each and every one of them to stand up and resist. We shouldn’t be a permanently disadvantaged group, nor should we be submissive and bullied by others. Only by daring to resist can we change the world’s consistent contemptuous view. I want to walk on the street in broad daylight, instead of pitying myself and hiding because of the mistakes of others.”

Yu Shuli nodded: “You’re right, women should also be free, their status should be equal to men, and they should not be trampled and bullied by men.”

Dong Siwen smiled when she heard him agree: “I knew I didn’t misjudge you, Ji’an. I always knew that you are not a rigid and feudal person, that’s why I befriended you. Now that Xizhao is extremely vicious, trying to use a prescription to completely disrupt the order between men and women in my Da Liang, and trying to break up the hearts of our Da Liang people. We must overthrow the huge black shadow they brought. Wushisan is a major poison used to destroy Da Liang, and it must be eradicated.”

Her eyes lit up, she looked at Yu Shuli, the corners of her eyes were red, seemingly with tears: “Ji’an, you will support me, right?”

Yu Shuli’s throat choked: “Siwen… you can think like this, I’m ashamed of myself.”

Dong Siwen shook her head: “I can only do what I should do, and the road to saving Da Liang and putting it on the right track has to be taken by you.”

Wei Yan was also a little speechless, he bowed and saluted: “Miss Dong, don’t worry, Wei will do his best and spare no effort.”

Dong Siwen was about to reach out to stop his actions, but was interrupted by Wei Yan: “Miss Dong deserves this bow.”

Dong Siwen laughed through tears: “Alright.” She turned around: “Then I’ll borrow your handsome mute, to prevent anyone with ulterior motives, it’s best to move my mother’s grave overnight.”

Yu Shuli said “Ah”: “Moving a grave doesn’t always require finding a master to calculate the feng shui or something?”

Dong Siwen waved her hand: “That’s my own mother, wherever she’s moved will definitely be good. She definitely wants to be with me forever.”

Wei Yan smiled: “Naturally.”

Dong Siwen pushed the door open and went out, Thirteen stood guard outside the door, and when he saw her come out, his expression also moved slightly, hesitating to speak.

“Heard everything?” Dong Siwen raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

Thirteen nodded gloomily.

“Going to dig a grave with me?”

He nodded obediently again.

Dong Siwen “Tsked” in disgust: “Such a handsome face, what a pity he is mute.”

Thirteen moved his lips, finally glanced at Dong Siwen, and still said nothing.

Wei Yan raised his eyes and gestured to Yu Shuli. “Since Miss Dong has intentions towards Thirteen, and she happens to be short of an intimate person to protect her, I think Thirteen is quite suitable. I am also familiar with Thirteen, and I can guess some of his thoughts. Looking at it carefully, I believe he doesn’t reject Miss Dong, right?”

Thirteen’s slightly lowered eyelashes trembled, revealing some of his thoughts.

Yu Shuli then realized belatedly.

“Thirteen, you will follow Siwen from now on, you don’t need to report to me anymore.” Yu Shuli said.

Dong Siwen turned her head with a smile, and smiled ambiguously at Thirteen: “That’s great.” She beckoned to Thirteen: “Are you willing? I never take advantage of others.”

Thirteen nodded gloomily, his eyes flickering slightly: “I am willing.”

Dong Siwen was shocked: “You’re not mute?!”

“Who told you he’s mute?” Yu Shuli laughed: “He usually talks a lot!”

Dong Siwen looked Thirteen up and down, and asked suspiciously: “That’s not right… From the last time he rescued me, until today, I have hardly seen him say a word.”

Yu Shuli looked at Thirteen inexplicably, and was about to ask when he was stopped by Wei Yan: “Let them handle their own affairs.”

After sending Dong Siwen and Thirteen away, Wei Yan lowered his eyes and looked over, facing Yu Shuli who was retreating step by step, his smile a little dangerous: “Now, let’s settle our score.”