The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Chapter 37: Lady Chef (36)

Tang Jiu lost a lot of weight after many days of interrogation and torture. His eyes that were originally as bright as the stars had become dull and lifeless. His neck and hands were in shackles and he was unable to move an inch. He remained silent all the time, but Tang Peng, who was kneeling behind him, yelled, "We are wrong, everything is my fault! Kill me if you want but not my family! Jiu, my brother, its all my fault! Im sorry for not listening to you when you asked me not to get myself involved with Yan Langqing, all of these are caused by me! I didnt expect Yan Langqing to borrow the token from me to release the King of Xiongnu! I really didn't expect it at all!"

The execution officer heard him spouting nonsense about a concubine in the palace, and quickly asked another guard to stop him from talking.

Lin Dan stood in the crowd and listened for a moment. She seemed to have understood what had happened. No wonder the entire capital was under the martial law several times last month. It was to hunt for the King of Xiongnu who made an escape with the token of the Marquis Yongdings family. So what if Yan Langqing is involved? Lin Dan thought. The Emperor was not interested to find the truth, but an excuse to bring the family of Marquis Yongding down. He transferred Tang Jiu, who was known as the god of war, back to the capital, he kept the son of Lord Dianqian under house arrest and wanted to marry the princess of Dianqian. He also called back Marquis Weiyuan and made him stay in the capital using his health as an excuse. The Emperor made all these measures to consolidate his power and eliminate all rebels. 

He probably had the idea of destroying these people a long time ago but did not find a chance to take action. Since Yan Langqing created an opportunity for him, he was more than happy to take it.

Lin Dan roughly understood what was going on after thinking it through briefly, but she did not have any ability to save Tang Jiu and others. Seeing that the execution officer was preparing to issue a signature, she hurried to the platform and shouted, "Please give me some time, sir. Im here to see them off." She said, raising the food container in her hand.

Prisoners would typically be given a chance to enjoy a full meal before execution so that they would not turn into hungry ghosts after death. The execution officer was especially superstitious in such things as he took many lives on the execution ground and granted the request. He immediately waved his hand and said, "Time is almost up, just do it quickly."

Lin Dan nodded and quickly laid out the food from the box. As the prisoners were all in shackles and unable to eat the food themselves, she instructed Xiaozhu, Shaoyao, and Dujuan to feed them one by one, while she knelt in front of Tang Jiu with a bowl in her hands.

Tang Jiu had remained composed even when people were hurling nasty words at him or when Tang Peng was yelling to seek justice. He had been keeping his eyes half-closed and kneeling on the same spot without displaying any joy or sorrow on his face. But the moment when Lin Dan appeared, he lifted his head suddenly. He could not believe she came and looked at her with passionate eyes. His dark pupils glistened in an instant.

"Others are busy cutting ties with me, but youre the only one who came." He muttered, "You shouldn't have come."

"I wouldnt be able to convince myself not to come." Lin Dan tore the chicken thigh into strips and added some rice and pickles, before feeding it to Tang Jiu mouth by mouth. She slowly said, "Is it delicious? I raised this chicken myself and killed it when its only two months old. My mother felt so bad that she yelled at me."

Tang Jiu chuckled even on the verge of his death. He asked, "Do you still remember what I said?"

"Yes, you said that you would never get tired of eating young chickens and can even eat it every day." Lin Dan wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and whispered, "I killed all my young chickens so that you can eat to your heart's content today.

Tang Jiu fixed his gaze at her and started chomping down a big mouthful after a long time. His eyes started to water. Time flew and the sun was already above their heads. It was almost noon. Tang Jiu swallowed the last bite of his meal and said in a low voice, "If you can't get out of the capital later, wait at your hometown kitchen. I have bought the store and you can settle down there temporarily. Someone will come and pick you out of the capital later. Lin Dan, please take care in the future."

Lin Dan was shocked, but she did not show it on her face. She put away the food box and bowed to the other people from the Marquis Yongding residence. She then left and disappeared into the crowd. Tang Peng's shout came intermittently behind her, "Manager Lin, I'm sorry, please forgive me!" It's a pity that he understood it too late because he had already ruined himself and the whole family just because of his greed.

After leaving the execution ground, Lin Dan thought about what Tang Jiu said as she felt that he had hinted at something. What did he mean when he said if I can't get out of the capital? Why can't I get out of here? Unless the whole city is under martial law again to search for the important criminals of the court, just like when the King of Xiongnu Wait, does this mean that someone would be coming to stop the execution and save them?[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ ]

Thats right, all the female members of Marquis Yongding's residence have committed suicide, including Concubine Tang. Without them as hostages, Marquis Yongding would have no other concerns and would definitely send someone to rescue his only son. But he would only rebel against the Emperor if he had been driven into a corner. Lin Dan thought.

But will Marquis Yongding rebel? Lin Dan knew that she had gotten the answer from what Tang Jiu had said earlier, so she immediately made a turn and went to the Three-Fork Alley. She was afraid that it would already be too late to leave through the city gates. There would be people appearing to save the Young Marquis before the execution, and things must be chaotic over there at this point.

Lin Dan hit the nail on the head. As soon as she left, Tang Jiu broke the shackles, rescued his family, and rushed towards the city gates after meeting with several men in black who came to help. They kept charging forward and were unstoppable. Soon, they managed to escape from the capital. In just another half a day, people discovered that the son of Lord Dianqian and his sister were gone, and the capital was soon in a mess.

The eight city gates were all closed, and the streets were full of guards searching back and forth, creating a terrifying atmosphere within the capital. Since Lin Dan and Tang Jiu were old acquaintances, she would be taken away for interrogation to find out the whereabouts of Tang Jiu if she had stayed in the capital. She was about to dismiss her servants and bear the consequences alone when someone knocked on the door of the store. A strong man took out a letter and asked Lin Dan to leave the capital with him.

The letter was written by Tang Jiu, who also wrote about the interesting childhood stories that both of them shared. Lin Dan confirmed the authenticity of the letter and left with the man. They boarded a luxury carriage and left the capital without being inspected. Just when they were leaving, Lin Dan realized that the man who was escorting her was actually the prince of Mongolia. He was entrusted by Tang Jiu to escort her.

"Before he was about to go to jail, he told me that things would likely take a turn for the worse. If you were to come and see him for the last time at the execution ground, he asked me to protect you and take you away. Otherwise, he wanted me to give you this box." The man took out a heavy box before cupping his hands and left on his horse.

Lin Dan was moved when she opened the lid of the box and found that it was covered with gold and jewelry. Ten years ago, it was also at the Ten Mile Pavilion outside the capital that Tang Jiu sent a servant to give her a small box full of money, but she refused to accept it. Ten years later, facing the same circumstances, she actually wanted to accept it this time around. It made her feel that she did not come and leave this world alone after all, since there would always be someone who would remember her.

After this day, Lin Dan left the capital and went from place to place. The once prosperous and thriving Kingdom of Chu was in war. First, the Lord of Dianqian started a movement to remove subjects that were close to the Emperor. Then, the King of the Xiongnu led an army to invade the Kingdom of Chu. Since the military supplies and wages of the Marquis Yongding were all cut off by the government, the Kingdom of Chu stood no chance against the Xiongnu and was forced to start a rebellion.

The war lasted for several months. The Lord of Dianqian was suddenly found dead in his tent and his son took over his place. He joined forces with Young Marquis Yongding to fight against the Xiongnu's. Now, the Kingdom of Chu which was in a precarious position finally had a chance to take a breather. Unexpectedly, at this crucial moment, the Emperor issued an imperial decree, ordering Marquis Weiyuan to lead an army to carry out a pincer attack on the two forces from the back and eliminate the rebels.

This order was an undoubtedly ridiculous one. Once these two forces were defeated, the Xiongnu army would be able to march straight ahead and threaten the hinterland of the Central Plains. The Great Chu had successively lost its northwest and southwest army, and the remaining army could no longer fight against the Xiongnu's cavalry. Once the situation got out of control, the Great Chu would cease to exist.

However, the Emperor seemed confident and sent three imperial decrees to order Marquis Weiyuan to begin the attack. The great war could happen at any moment which could bring unimaginable consequences.

At this moment, Lin Dan, who was hiding in the mountains, had a dream. She dreamed that the young Lin Dan felt so ashamed and angry to have lost the competition that she threw the golden knife, recipe book, and the grandmasters tablet into the fire. Tang Jiu and Yan Langqing who came in a hurry saw what happened and were disgusted with her actions. Although Marquis Yongding tried to protect her and kept her in his residence, nobody acknowledged her presence and even walked away once they saw her. The more Tang Jiu hated her, the more she clung on to him, and she even thought of all sorts of vicious tactics to frame Yan Langqing. Originally, the Yan family slandered her father, but because of Lin Dans recklessness, Lin Baotian was eventually convicted of deceiving his master and brought shame to his ancestors, and his reputation was absolutely tarnished.

Gradually, Lin Dan became more extreme. She pushed Tang Jiu farther away from her, and Marquis Weiyuan eventually did not want to protect her any further. On the contrary, Yan Langqing gradually gained recognition from the old marquis and developed a deep affection with Tang Jiu in times of adversity before finally getting married to each other. The happier they were, the more pain Lin Dan felt.

As time went by, Yan Langqing gradually became a qualified wife of the marquis and was often praised by the others. Even the Emperor had developed a special affection for her, and often summoned her into the palace under the pretext of accompanying Concubine Tang. As she often entered the palace, Yan Langqing was soon being made used to frame Concubine Tang, who had a miscarriage after drinking a poisoned soup.

The Emperor investigated the matter and found Yan Langqing responsible for it. However, he did not bear to punish her and decided to let Lin Dan, who always competed with her, become the scapegoat, and ordered to beat her to death in public. Lin Dan's short life ended in this manner, but Yan Langqing's story continued.

As the Emperors desire for Yan Langqing grew, he transferred Tang Jiu to the battlefield and assassinated him before disposing of Concubine Tang with the help of the other concubines. He summoned Yan Langqing into the palace where she became his favorite lady. A few years later, the King of Xiongnu, who was unintentionally rescued by Yan Langqing, launched an attack at Great Chu and repeatedly threatened to take Yan Langqing away to be his queen. The two countries had fought for many years and both had suffered from significant losses, but Tang Jiu miraculously came back at this moment and joined the war. The Lord of Dianqian took advantage of the chaos and started a rebellion before seizing the throne and proclaimed himself to be the Emperor. The Great Chu enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity but had become a hell on earth. As for the son and daughter of Lord Dianqian, they took poison during the escape in their earlier years and committed suicide after being found by Tang Jiu.

The fate of everyone seemed absurd yet miserable at the same time, but all of these happened just for one woman.

After waking up, Lin Dan was amused at her dream. She believed that if she had not come to this world, that was probably the fate of the original owner of this body and the destiny of this world. Just for one woman, families, countries, and the lives of the people were all ruined. If this was God's will, it would be absolutely ridiculous, Lin Dan thought.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ ]