Villain Lady

The sky had long brightened.

Wei Liuying didn't know how long she slept, but she didn't wake up for a long time. By the time she opened her eyes, she realized that it was already past midday. She must have slept for a long time.

"You're awake?"

Turning her head to the door, Wei Liuying noticed that Yang Xian was standing there with several bamboo strips on his hands. She corrected her body to a sitting position and looked back at the strategist.

"Yes. Thank you very much for allowing me to stay here last night, Strategist Yang."

"You can call me with my name," Yang Xian said and walked forward. He poured a cup of water from the pot and handed it to Wei Liuying. "I don't have tea here, so you should drink water first. After you wash up, I'll bring you to the dining room to eat."

"Thank you."

Wei Liuying drank the water and cleared her throat. Now that she was no longer as tired as before, she could feel the pain from her arm clearer. At the same time, she noticed that there were several other bruises on her hand. It seemed that the result from shooting arrows and fighting with sword were not that mild.

"Is there anything wrong?" Yang Xian asked when he saw Wei Liuying stared at her own palm.

"No. I'm just surprised there's mark from last night."

"Even though you have trained in martial arts ever since you were young, this was a different case. I don't think you used your martial arts a lot for a long period of time," Yang Xian said and looked at Wei Liuying's hand. "Don't worry, the mark will disappear and your skin will harden."

"I know."

"Your expression looks troubled."

Wei Liuying arched her eyebrows slightly. "This is my usual expression, Strategist Yang. You'll need to get used to it."

"Alright. Here is the report of what had happened in the past few hours you were sleeping." Yang Xian handed the bamboo strips he was holding to Wei Liuying. "I was about to leave them on the table, but you wake up."

"Thank you."

Looking at the sentences written on top of the bamboo strips, Wei Liuying understood that Yang Xian was also using code. However, he was only using the simple ones that would allow others who read it understood as long as they knew the context.

In short, there were several events that occurred.

The princes were called to the palace for some questioning and the power fell on the fourth prince, who was asked to conduct investigation.

There was chaos in the capital city, but the execution took place as expected.

Wei Family Household stayed silent about Wei Liuying as if they wished to cover up the incident. There were no other movements from them at all.

The execution had finished, so there was no one alive anymore. The family members have already taken back the bodies of the killed officials.

Wei Liuying read the contents and frowned. "It's rare for the Emperor to forgive the family of the wronged officials."

Usually: kill all seven generation of the family.

But this time, the Emperor only made a move against the officials who were wrong and have them killed. The rest of the family members were released as if it was nothing more than a warning to them.

"There are too many of them this time," Yang Xian said lightly. "And the Emperor is not stupid enough to drag those people when he already knew that this was only a plot. If you pay close attention, only two officials have their family members alive because the rest no longer have any family members."

Wei Liuying could feel chills running down her spine when she heard what Yang Xian said. She was not that familiar with all the nobles in this kingdom, so she hadn't paid close attention. What she knew was that her uncle, Wei Lu, no longer had any immediate family members and only had one brother.

"You mean… they're all those with no affiliation?"

"Most of them no longer had direct family members anymore, which meant that it's harder to control them," Yang Xian replied. "You see, there are many people who cared for their family, so those in power will make use of this weakness to control them."

"I see." Wei Liuying looked at the information in her hand and realized that even those family members who picked them up were nothing more than siblings with no good relationship. It was clear that these officials were mostly alone because they don't have children and their wives have died. Some still have a few concubines, but without the family head, those were useless.

However, many of them were old officials who were loyal to the Kingdom.

It was a pity that they picked the wrong person and the Emperor also found them hard to control. That was what caused this incident to happen.

"There are a lot of struggle for power," Yang Xian added. "This is just a small portion of it that outsider can see."

Wei Liuying nodded. "Will His Highness the Third Prince get involved?"

"That's something for the future."

"How about you?"

Yang Xian smirked. "A lowly person rise into high position is already rare enough. There was no need to push myself into deeper trouble."

"Would I be able to meet with His Highness?"

"Soon enough you can. He's still resting after visiting his mother, and there might be some others who want to meet with him."

Wei Liuying pursed her lips. She only knew very little about the matter of the Imperial Family. Regarding the third prince and his mother, there was very little that was known about them. However, she would also not pry when it was unnecessary.

Knock! Knock!

"Yang Xian, His Highness the Third Prince is here," Shi Yan's voice could be heard from outside.

Wei Liuying glanced to the door with bewildered expression. Never in her wildest dream would she expect to see a prince got close with an 'ordinary' merchant. It seemed as if Prince Ji Sheng was exceedingly peculiar to have so many people from low background to get close to him.

Yang Xian noticed Wei Liuying's gaze and chuckled. "I'll be going there soon, Yan. There's no need to be so surprised, Liuying."

"Hmm?"

"You should know that His Highness's position in the court is tricky. It's not easy for him to get close to people with power. Besides, what kind of image do you think he's trying to build?"

What kind of image?

Wei Liuying didn't have much impression of the third prince. Aside from the fact that she had heard news of his victory in the battle, she only knew him from seeing him a few times. Even then, she never truly talked to him about what he actually wanted.

Yang Xian took out a set of male clothes. "You should change to this first. I'll be waiting outside."

"Alright."

It was ordinary people's robe that she could see on the street frequently. Wei Liuying quickly changed her clothes and realized that her previous robe was tattered. One will wonder where she had gone to if she didn't change her clothes first.

The clothes were dark blue in color and didn't seem to be that special. Wei Liuying scrutinized her appearance in the bronze mirror for a moment before she walked out. Her hair was tied into a small bun, which was common for males at that time.

"You don't look that bad. Come on, you'll act as my attendant."

"I understand, Master."

Yang Xian walked to the main hall with Wei Liuying behind him. From the way they looked like, they were no different from master and subordinate. Only those close to Yang Xian would know the plot because Yang Xian was unwilling to have servants. As a former commoner, he preferred to prepare for his own needs by himself.

The exception would be on the battlefield where everyone has their own roles.

"Your Highness, Strategist Yang and his attendant is here."

"Tell them to come in," Prince Ji Sheng ordered.

���Yes, Master."

Yang Xian and Wei Liuying walked to the main hall. There were many other servants there from various palaces. Wei Liuying could see from the various different clothes they have that they all belonged to different place.

His Majesty.

Madam in the harem.

First prince.

Second prince.

And fourth princes.

All of their servants gathered in the hall right now. Wei Liuying tried to keep herself natural and ignored them by staying behind Yang Xian and kowtowed along with him. It was the customary bow especially when commoners met with a high ranking prince.

Prince Ji Sheng frowned when he saw Yang Xian bowed so deeply. "You're no longer a commoner, Yang Xian."

"It's a subject's duty to honor their Master," Yang Xian replied.

"You may rise."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Yang Xian had the proper expression on his face, but his lips were twitching. It was clear that he actually wanted to put on his usual smirk and annoying face upfront. Too bad that there were too many servants in the hall for him to act normal.

"Eunuch Zhang, I already heard the message from Imperial Father. Please tell him that I'll do my duty well," Prince Ji Sheng said with a lighthearted tone.

Eunuch Zhang cupped his hands and bowed to Prince Ji Sheng. "Replying to Your Highness, this servant will send the message to His Majesty. May you rest well here, Your Highness."

"You may leave."

Prince Ji Sheng quickly sorted out the things that the servants there wanted one by one. Wei Liuying listened from the side and felt stiff from all the greetings and words they exchanged from one another. Even though she had already faced it a lot back in her residence, this was the first time she realized that those from higher rank had to deal with it at even more intense rate.

The number of servants were much more than what she had ever seen. At the same time, he had to make sure that he didn't offend any of them. 

It was both amazing and tiring.