Heroic Wife Reborn

“Princess,” the Eternal Life Temple monk1 couldn’t wait any longer to ask his question. “Where did the lightning strike?”

“Oh,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied, “Just a few kitchens and some pill furnace buildings. Imperial Father, so monks refine pills too?”

Hearing Yu Xiaoxiao’s question, Xianzong asked back, “Why can’t they?”

The Eternal Life Temple monk only blanched after he heard of the destruction of the pill furnace buildings. Ignoring the father and daughter pair, he dashed for the northwest section of Safeguard Temple.

“Nobody was hurt!” Yu Xiaoxiao called after him.

“Forget about him,” Xianzong said, “Did you finish the task? Is it all over now?”

Yu Xiaoxiao waved a hand and said, “The houses aren’t even standing anymore, so how could there be any proo–”

“Enough,” Xianzong cut her off. “It’s fine if everyone’s alright, we can return to the palace now. Urk, that is, Zhen will return to the palace and you and Gu Xinglang can go to the Gu Estate. If there’s nothing else, don’t come to the palace as you please; just keep Imperial Father in your thoughts.”

“It’s over just like that?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.

Xianzong smiled. “Even divine punishment showed its face, so isn’t it perfectly reasonable for the Junior Master to suffer a shock and fall ill as a result?”

“And the poison?” Yu Xiaoxiao pressed.

“The buildings fell down,” Xianzong emphasized while looking at his daughter. Why is she so stupid? Without any proof, can Wen Fenglin accuse anyone as the perpetrator?

The head guard chose this time to point at the western wall. “Your Majesty, the wall’s collapsed over there.”

Xianzong glanced over and did see a missing chunk of wall.

“It was probably rocked to pieces by the aftershocks,” Yu Xiaoxiao observed.

“All of the other walls are fine, so why did this one collapse?” Xianzong asked.

Yu Xiaoxiao glanced between the guards and Xianzong before offering, “Maybe it was inferior quality compared to the others?”

As long as the palace walls falling apart, Xianzong wouldn’t bother with architectural questions. He dismissed the subject and told the head guard, “When we return, have the Board of Revenue allocate some silver here so the State Preceptor can fix his walls. We can’t have them hurting people now, can we?”

“This subject accepts the decree,” the head guard hastened to say.

“Done,” Xianzong told Yu Xiaoxiao. “Let’s go pick up Gu Xinglang and then get ready to go home.”

“Help–!”

“Help, ah!”

The group was about to leave when a female cry from the west wall caught their attention. In the heavy rain, the voice sounded especially sad and shrill.

“A woman?” Xianzong’s first reaction wasn’t to help her, but surprise. “Is Safeguard Temple open for visitors today? Zhen didn’t think it was.”

“There’s a woman in the temple,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, “I spotted someone in a dress not long ago.”

Xianzong looked at his head guard and asked, “What’s going on?”

The head guard was expressionless. How was he supposed to know why Safeguard Temple had a woman?

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Actually, monks are men too. Imperial Father, you should understand.”

“Enough, you be quiet,” Xianzong retorted. “Don’t go learning from that army riffraff Gu Xinglang all day. Who taught you things like ‘monks are men too?’”

All of the palace guards felt sympathy for Third Young Master Gu. Just what did this have anything to do with him?

“That woman’s still crying for help,” the head guard reminded, “Your Majesty, your orders?”

“Go save her,” Xianzong said. He was a sagacious and compassionate emperor, so how could he leave someone to die? Moreover, he was very curious to find out why Safeguard Temple would have a woman. Urk, that was the main reason, actually.

The head guard ordered his men to start a rescue mission, but they didn’t seem in much of a hurry. By the time the head guard brought Xianzong and Yu Xiaoxiao to the wall, the other guards had just started moving away the pile of bricks.

Yu Xiaoxiao wanted to help. With her strength, clearing the rubble would be a piece of cake. But Xianzong pulled her back and said, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to save someone,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied.

“Why are you saving anyone?! Status!” Xianzong rebuked her. He was reminding her that as no royal princess would brave the rainstorms to help a bunch of guards move bricks about. But the implications of “status” fell on deaf ears to the ignorant Yu Xiaoxiao.

She said, “You wait here, I’ll be right back.”

Xianzong tried to drag her back again, but failed. He could only roar at the guards, “Are you lot just going to stand around and watch?!”

The guards quickly rushed forward to block Yu Xiaoxiao’s way.

“There’s a…” Yu Xiaoxiao wanted to point out a person she’d spotted beneath some bricks, but the various guards had already stepped onto the rubble.

One of them turned to ask, “Your Royal Highness, do you have any instructions?”

Yu Xiaoxiao could hear breathing sounds coming from beneath the guard’s feet, but all she could say now was, “There’s a person down there. No matter whether they’re alive or dead, just start digging.”

Xianzong gave a snort. “How great could a woman in the monk’s temple be? Just shovel them out with spades.”

None of the guards dared to speak. Where were they supposed to find spades at a time like this?

Yu Xiaoxiao saw that she couldn’t join the frontlines and returned to Xianzong’s side. “So much effort. I could get them out in a few seconds.“

“If you do the work, are they supposed to go home and spend their days drinking plain water?” Xianzong scolded his daughter. “You have to give others a chance to live their livelihoods!”

Yu Xiaoxiao stood thinking for a while but failed to connect why her rescue efforts had anything to do with the fatuous ruler’s guards. She was about to press him for more details when a guard reported, “Your Majesty, it’s an old matron.”

Instantly, Xianzong felt disappointed. He had wanted to find something that might have painted Cheng Guan as a joke, but what could an old matron do? Even if monks were men, they wouldn’t make their moves against her, right?

“Your Majesty, princess,” Gu Xinglang’s voice called out from behind them. Yu Xiaoxiao quickly turned and saw a few guards carrying her Little Gu over. One of them was in charge of holding an umbrella over his head while another held an even bigger umbrella over his feet. Even so, Xianzong grew furious at the sight of him.

He scolded his son-in-law, “Do you not want your feet anymore?! Who let you come?”

“Why are you being so fierce?” Yu Xiaoxiao grew unhappy as she looked askance at her father. “If you can come, why can’t Little Gu?”

“Your Majesty, princess,” Gu Xinglang said, “Something’s happened with Junior Master.”

Hm? Both father and daughter’s eyes lit up. Is Wen Fenglin finally dead?

“Your Majesty,” a guard from the excavation team hollered from the wall, “There are two young women here.”