NOVEL WEB Chapter 4
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Wang Xiangjun bowed respectfully, “I am Wang Xiangjun, at your service, Your Majesty!”
“Unveil your face and let me see!” Lin Beifan said with a smile.
“As you command… Your Majesty!” Wang Xiangjun hesitated slightly, then slowly lifted the veil from her face, revealing a visage as exquisite as a jade plate, a beauty that could topple empires.
Lin Beifan laughed, “Truly a delicate and lovely face! With your charm, you indeed deserve the title of the foremost beauty in the Mo Kingdom! However, what puzzles me is how you, born a commoner, managed to be unmarried?”
As the saying goes, a beauty can be a source of trouble!
Being beautiful is not a fault, but without sufficient means to protect oneself, such beauty can attract calamity!
“It’s because this humble girl is… born under the ‘Heaven’s Doom Star’!”
Wang Xiangjun said with a sorrowful expression: “Since my birth, my mother passed away due to complications in childbirth! When I was three years old, my father also succumbed to illness, leaving me to rely only on my grandmother and two older brothers for support!”
“But alas, fate did not favor this humble girl! When this humble girl was 7 years old, her grandmother passed away from illness! At the age of 11, her second brother went into the deep mountains to chop wood and was ultimately killed by a huge black bear!”“When this humble girl was 12 years old, her elder brother arranged a marriage for her, but within a few days, a disaster befell her family. A passing bandit robbed them of their wealth and silenced them by killing them!”
“When this humble girl was 13, her elder brother arranged another marriage for her, and within two days, that family also met with misfortune! Unconvinced by superstition, her elder brother arranged yet another marriage, and once again, that family suffered a calamity!”
“Moreover, from her childhood, any man who intended to get close to this humble girl met with trouble!”
“It was so, everyone started saying that this humble girl was a ‘Heaven’s Doom Star,’ a harbinger of disaster, and they avoided her as if fearing for their lives! Fortunately, she still had her elder brother, who never left her side. But then, two years ago, her elder brother also…”
Wang Xiangjun wept sorrowfully: “He too left me after succumbing to a serious illness!”
Lin Beifan listened and was filled with sympathy.
Such a tough fate indeed, jinxing everyone she meets; no wonder she has managed to live safely up to now.
After all, in this rather feudal era, everyone is a firm believer in destiny. Who would want to provoke a calamity star for no reason?
Beauty is important, but life is even more so!
Lin Beifan helped Wang Xiangjun up: “So that’s how it is, you’ve suffered for so many years! From today onwards, you shall be my Consort, and I shall be your only kin in this world!”
Wang Xiangjun was shocked: “But Your Majesty, this humble girl is born under the Heaven’s Doom Star, I fear I might bring you…”
Lin Beifan burst into hearty laughter: “I don’t believe in such things! I want to see whether it is your fate that is tough or if mine is tougher!”
After speaking, he picked up Wang Xiangjun.
“Your Majesty!” Wang Xiangjun’s face turned red with shyness, she stammered.
“Hold on, there’s one more thing to take care of!”
Lin Beifan’s mind stirred, and the Empire Sandbox appeared in his thoughts.
Then, he excavated all the iron ore beneath the Huazhou iron mine and transported it to another mountain range.
“Now that the task is done, let’s continue!”
Lin Beifan held Wang Xiangjun in his arms and rushed towards the dragon bed.
“Please, Your Majesty… have mercy!”
That night, the sounds of the guqin and se harmonized, and the dragon and phoenix were dancing auspicious.
…
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Xiao Guoliang and Grand General Chai Yulang were drinking in their respective studies.
Prime Minister Xiao Guoliang, with a slightly flushed face and a blurred gaze, spoke with deep sorrow, “I never imagined that one day I would be dismissed from my post, and by His Majesty no less! Yet, I have been wholeheartedly devoted to the state and have done no wrong! For the sake of a woman, he is willing to forsake not just the realm but also to dismiss me… Ah, my heart aches!”
Grand General Chai Yulang shook his head and sighed, “It can only be said that His Majesty is young and impetuous, momentarily blinded by passion, unable to appreciate our genuine intentions! However, as his elders, we should give him more time, he will understand eventually!”
“Let’s hope so. Enough talk, let’s drink!”
“Yes, to drinking! One drunken bout dispels a thousand worries!” the Grand General exclaimed loudly.
Just then, Liu Eunuch arrived.
Both the Prime Minister and the Grand General were very surprised, with the Grand General asking, “Why have you come? Shouldn’t you be in the imperial palace attending to His Majesty?”
“It is His Majesty who sent me!” Liu Eunuch said with a beaming smile.
“His Majesty sent you?” Both of the old ministers were baffled.
Still, it was the Grand General who asked, “His Majesty sent for you, for what matter?”
“It’s nothing serious, Your Majesty just summoned me over to have a drunken bout with the Prime Minister!” Eunuch Liu said, holding a jar of fine wine and sitting down on a stool to one side, looking at the tipsy Prime Minister with a smile.
Grand General, puzzled, said, “Is that all? There’s no other meaning?”
“Tsk! You big oaf, can’t you hear what it means?”
The Prime Minister suddenly burst into laughter, stroking his beard contentedly, “To have a drink with this old man… actually, His Majesty’s intention is to ‘apologize’, understand now?”
“Ohh~ so that’s what it means. This old man didn’t catch on for a moment!”
The Grand General suddenly realized and burst into hearty laughter, “It seems His Majesty still cares about you, knowing he was in the wrong, so he specially sent Eunuch Liu to make amends! Old Xiao, you can rest easy now, right?”
Eunuch Liu nodded repeatedly, “That’s exactly what His Majesty meant, but some things are not good to say outright!”
“It seems His Majesty still has me in his heart, now I can be at ease! It’s just that back then in court, I contradicted His Majesty, and with His Majesty being young and impetuous, he couldn’t step down, which is why I had this calamity! I was indeed in the wrong; if only I had known, I should have chosen another method!” The Prime Minister said, somewhat ashamed.
Grand General called out, “Old Xiao, indeed the approach needs to change. After all, His Majesty has grown up and has his own opinions! Now that you’ve been dismissed and are at home, just take a good rest for a few days! Who knows, in a few days His Majesty might call you back!”
“You’re right, let’s drink!”
“Drink!”
The three of them embraced the wine jars and had a grand drunken spree.
Since the Mo Kingdom had already delivered all the promised supplies to the Xia Kingdom’s Capital City, fulfilling the trade agreement, the Xia Kingdom troops and laborers stationed at the iron mine immediately withdrew, and the Mo Kingdom promptly sent an army of 200,000 to take their place.
Given the importance of this matter to the Mo Kingdom, the current Crown Prince was dispatched to oversee the affair.
The Crown Prince of Mo Kingdom, gazing upon the long-coveted iron mine that had finally fallen into their hands, ambitiously declared, “With this iron mine, our Mo Kingdom will surely rise swiftly and become a great power! And the Xia Kingdom will ultimately be trampled into dust beneath our iron hooves!”
“Your Highness speaks the absolute truth!” The generals of Mo Kingdom revealed joyful smiles.
“Begin the excavation immediately!” the Crown Prince of Mo Kingdom commanded loudly.
“Yes, Your Highness!” everyone responded in unison.
Thus, the Mo Kingdom’s army and soldiers took up positions in the mine and began the bustling work of extracting the iron ore.
However, just at that moment, the ground began to tremble.
Boom, rumble, rumble.
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