Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

Li Lingyue gave a wry smile. "Go ahead! If you need any help, just let me know."

Xue Wei walked to the door, then stopped and asked, "Mother and Wu Youji are separated. Does he also suspect that I killed Wu Liankun?"

Li Lingyue smiled coldly: "How could that idiot possibly guess that someone wanted to use Wu Liankun's case to attack you? As for me and him, it was just a political marriage. We've always been husband and wife in name only. We've wanted to separate for a long time. Wu Liankun's death was the catalyst."

"My mother said someone is trying to cause trouble for me. Is it Wu Chongxun?"

"It's him. You need to be careful of this person. He harbors a deep grudge against you because of Li Guo'er. Now that he has failed in the competition for the Hidden Guard, he will never let it go. However, he doesn't dare to openly deal with you now, but he will use others, such as the Wu Liankun case."

"I understand, thank you for reminding me, Mother!"

Xue Wei bowed and left.

Li Lingyue escorted him all the way to the courtyard, a smile appearing on her lips. Although there was still a hint of awkwardness in their conversation, it was no longer like before, when they would argue and fight every time they met.

She recalled what her mother had told her yesterday: "You are Li Wu's bridge, and Wei'er is the guardian of that bridge!"

The mother's decision to have her eldest son become her bodyguard was truly heartening.

The thought of her son spending a whole year in the Blackwater Prison broke her heart, but there was nothing she could do. It was her mother who ordered him to be put there and forbade her to interfere, so she could only swallow her anger.

Watching her son suffer in hell is incredibly painful for a mother. Yet, she can't tell anyone, and even today, she can't tell her son the truth.

..........

Xue Wei went to Princess Taiping's residence, and Yuan Min also returned to the Yuan residence. Her grandfather sent someone to deliver a letter to her, asking her to return to the residence no matter what.

"Min'er, tell your grandfather the truth, what's the deal with Xue Wei's imperial gold token?"

It had only been two days since he last saw Yuan Chen, but he seemed to have become much more haggard. He had ruined the birthday banquet the day before yesterday, not because his grandson's birthday banquet had turned into his granddaughter's birthday banquet, but because the person he was trying to get rid of had a gold medal of the emperor fall from his body, making him the laughing stock of the entire Guanzhong aristocratic circle, who laughed at him for being blind.

"That was his mother's gold medal. The emperor admired Xue Wei's poetry and praised him for winning the polo championship, so he allowed him to use the gold medal three times under special circumstances."

This was, of course, a fabrication by Xue Wei. Yuan Min could not possibly tell her father that Xue Wei had become a hidden guard of the Tang Dynasty.

"Ah! So that's how it is!" This explanation was truly unexpected for Yuan Chen, and it also made him secretly breathe a sigh of relief. He was afraid that he had offended someone he shouldn't have.

However, he did forget that Xue Wei was Princess Taiping's son, and always treated him as a fallen nobleman's son who had just been released from prison, had no fixed abode, and had been forced to raise horses.

He despised Xue Wei to the core, but the gold medal clattering to the ground completely jolted him awake.

"Well... I won't force you about Young Master Cui's matter. You can think about it yourself. Also... also..."

Yuan Chen found it difficult to speak, but finally sighed and said, "Please apologize to Xue Wei for me. I went too far at the birthday banquet."

"He wasn't angry. He said he wouldn't hold a grudge against his elders."

Yuan Chen breathed a long sigh of relief. "That's good. I'll write the invitation myself next time."

"Then the granddaughter went to see her mother first."

Go!

Yuan Min performed a full curtsy and then turned to go to the backyard.

.........

The next morning, Xue Wei rode his horse to Yingtian Gate. Yuan Min was interviewing several chief stewards that day and didn't have time to accompany him, so he came to the palace by himself.

At the gate of Yingtian, an old eunuch had been waiting for him for a long time. He stepped forward with a smile and said, "The Emperor is waiting for you at the Qilin Pavilion, young master. Please follow me!"

"Excuse me, sir, do I not need to bathe and change clothes?"

The old eunuch smiled slightly, "Only a formal audience requires bathing and changing clothes. This is a private audience with the Emperor, so there are no such formalities."

Xue Wei followed him all the way to the Qilin Pavilion, handed the sword and throwing knife to the guards, and went straight inside.

Just like last time, he entered a dimly lit room with the huge curtains drawn tightly, and the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You've come!" Wu Zetian's gypsy-like old woman's voice rang out again.

"Grandson greets His Majesty the Empress!"

Since the old eunuch told him it was a private audience, he didn't need to perform the courtesies between a ruler and his subject.

"Xue Wei, I know what you want, but I'm sorry, I cannot grant your request."

Xue Wei's heart sank. "Why? Can't even the Emperor make an exception for a righteous break?"

Wu Zetian gently shook her head. "No, I could cancel the severance of ties with just a word, but I simply don't want to."

Xue Wei was stunned. The emperor was unwilling to make an exception for him. He suddenly felt something was wrong, and a sense of foreboding arose spontaneously.

Wu Zetian's gaze sharpened as she looked at him. "Last year, your breakup with Yuan Min was my instruction. How could I possibly go back on my own decision? Xue Wei, I have been very lenient with you. Last time, two people died from the same incident: your father, Xue Shao, and Wu Youji's wife. This time, I am only allowing you to divorce."

Xue Wei's heart pounded. He gradually saw a huge conspiracy: his mother's marriage to the Wu family had broken up two marriages for political purposes, and now history was repeating itself. His imprisonment and divorce were also for the emperor's political purposes.

"Grandmother, I don't understand."

"You don't need to understand. I've already made arrangements for you. Your wife is Wu Suisui, and it will never be Yuan Min."

"Buzz!"

Xue Wei's mind was in complete chaos, as if a hundred bees had suddenly swarmed in. How could he possibly marry Wu Sui Sui?

"Is this the price to pay for being a hidden guard?"

"This is not a price to pay, but a necessary condition. When you were thirteen, I included you in the list of candidates for the Hidden Guard. You, Wu Chongxun, Wu Yanji, and Li Chongrun will be chosen from among the four of you."

When you were sixteen, I decided to arrange your marriage with Wu Suisui. When you were eighteen, the Crown Prince wanted to betroth Li Guo'er to you, which disrupted my plans. Yuan Min was the tool I arranged to block your marriage with Li Guo'er.

Now that Yuanmin's mission is complete, your marriage with the Wu family should proceed as planned. As for Yuanmin, I am indeed grateful to her. That bluestone slab was my oversight, but fortunately she made a timely correction.

But I have already repaid her. Without my intervention, she wouldn't have been able to acquire those shops at all. I gave her the opportunity to control hundreds of shops, which is more than enough for her.

The truth was revealed at this moment, shocking yet incredibly cruel. Xue Wei gritted his teeth and said, "So Zhou Yinfeng was also arranged by the Empress Dowager?"

Wu Zetian smiled with narrowed eyes, "You are very clever. Li Guo'er has been pestering you, but Zhou Yinfeng is a veteran Plum Blossom Jade Guard, more than capable of seducing you."

Xue Wei shook his head. "What if I don't agree?"

"You won't refuse. If you dare refuse, Yuan Min will die."

"If you do this, I might be forced to agree, but I will hate you for the rest of my life. Aren't you afraid that after you pass away, I, your hidden guard, will take a different path? Aren't you afraid that the scheme you've set up will be ruined by me?"

Is it worth it for a woman?

"She is my wife, the love of my life, Xue Wei. I am willing to give up everything for her. Grandmother, haven't you ever had someone you loved deeply?"

"Insolence!" Wu Zetian slammed her hand on the table.

Xue Wei took out two gold medals and placed them on the table. "I quit! Just kill me! I'll just reincarnate again!"

Wu Zetian seemed to have been struck a heavy blow. She stared at Xue Wei for a long time, and with difficulty uttered those two words, "Reincarnation!"

At this moment, Xue Wei went all out, revealing his full sharpness.

"Grandmother, you don't really think I suddenly learned to write poetry after spending a year in the water dungeon, do you? Why do you think I forgot everything? Let me tell you, it was the Meng Po soup on the Bridge of Helplessness. I crossed life and death, reincarnated for a thousand years, received the forgiveness of the god of death, and am standing before you again."

Xue Wei stared sharply at Wu Zetian. He was gambling that Wu Zetian would not have time to choose another hidden guard. He was gambling on Wu Zetian's fear of death. A person who had returned from the brink of death would bear the mark of death.

A hint of fear finally appeared in Wu Zetian's eyes, not at Xue Wei, but at the Grim Reaper. The sharp gaze in her eyes could no longer withstand Xue Wei's aggressive attacks and gradually became shattered.

She suddenly let out a long sigh. "Alright! Let's find a compromise."

Xue Weixin breathed a sigh of relief; he had won his gamble.

"How do we compromise?"

"The sorcerer Hu Chao has examined Wu Suisui's face. She cannot marry before she turns fifteen, otherwise she will suffer a bloody disaster. She has three years left. During these three years, I will allow you to be with Yuan Min, but after three years you must marry Wu Suisui. As for Yuan Min, I can give her another choice: either become a concubine or leave. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Xue Wei quickly weighed the options in his mind. He still had three years left. Three years later would be the first year of the Divine Dragon Era, and the Divine Dragon Revolution would take place at the beginning of the year.

He gazed at Wu Zetian. "I agree!"

Wu Zetian smiled slightly. "Put the gold medal away! In the past thirty years, you are the first person to dare threaten me."

"I also hope my grandson will be the last one."

Xue Wei put away his gold medal again, his brilliance completely concealed.

Wu Zetian pointed to the file bag on the table, "This is your first task: investigate something for me. It's my personal commission. The bag contains the task, as well as your new identity."

At this point, Wu Zetian pulled a jade hairpin from her hair and snapped it in two with a snap. She handed one half to Xue Wei, saying, "Later, I will send someone to find you. The token will be this half of the jade hairpin in my hand. It's the hairpin that matters, not the person."

Wu Zetian lowered her voice again and said, "If the person who comes cannot produce this half of the jade hairpin, whoever it is, kill him on the spot!"