Chapter 74 - 73: The True History! Xie Qingshi Asks to Meet
Chapter 74: Chapter 73: The True History! Xie Qingshi Asks to Meet
When the Hong Clan people finally came to their senses, they screamed for her blood. One thrust of a blade wasn’t enough; then came another. She was stabbed so many times she resembled a pincushion.
Yet, she had still won, because she had killed a Hong Clan general.
And precisely because of this, even more blades were buried into her body.
"A weak woman, yet you dared to assassinate the general!" The Hong Clan vice general’s eyes bulged with fury as he roared. "Kill her! Chop her to pieces and feed her to the dogs!"
A Hong Clan general had been slain in broad daylight by a lowly performer—to them, this was an absolute humiliation!
"This weak woman you speak of... she isn’t even afraid to die." Qingyuan spat out a mouthful of blood, but her smile was wildly defiant. "So, who else would be afraid?"
At these words, the Hong Clan and Tiele invaders stared at her in shock and anger.
It was true!
This woman was no general. She was utterly powerless; she couldn’t wield a spear, nor could she lift a scimitar. She possessed no martial skills, only knowing how to sing and dance. She should have been nothing but a delicate flower nurtured by an era of peace, the very first person to surrender to the enemy in times of chaos, begging for the protection of the strong.
Yet, she showed no fear of death, remaining fiercely unyielding to the bitter end.
"Do you think you can change anything?" The Hong Clan vice general laughed out of extreme anger. "Your Empress Taichu is dead, your Great General is dead, and now you are going to die too! All of you will die!"
"One of me is insignificant, but in Jiuzhou, there are millions more like me. You... will never be able to kill us all." Qingyuan coughed up more blood, but a sudden surge of strength burst from within her, allowing her to take a step forward. She laughed loudly. "Tiele, Hong Clan... bring it on!"
Her life had always been as cheap as grass, yet she had been privileged to be one of the founders and witnesses of the Taichu Golden Age. Ten years after the Empress passed away, the court collapsed. There were enemies outside and traitors within.
She was not the Empress; she could not shoulder the heavy burden of this empire. Now that the nation was on the brink of ruin, how could she possibly survive alone?
Taking one down with her meant breaking even, let alone killing one of their leaders.
The sharp blades actually retreated, as if frightened by her mutilated chest.
The Hong Clan vice general grew even more infuriated. "Kill her! Kill her! Make her die!"
Amidst the furious howls of these red-haired, green-eyed Hong Clan people, sharp blades pierced through her heart, repeatedly pulled out and thrust back in.
She couldn’t march into battle and slay enemies like a general, but she could die like one.
Someone muttered, "Are none of these Jiuzhou people afraid to die?"
Qingyuan merely sneered coldly.
These barbarians couldn’t comprehend why she would choose death when she could have lived simply by surrendering. It was because they had no history at all. They didn’t understand the profound significance and temptation of leaving a name in history—a history that was a glorious scroll spanning five thousand years.
Should she drag out a cowardly existence for a lifetime, or strive for a name that would echo through eternity?
The history of Jiuzhou was far too long. She was a vain person; if she could leave a single stroke in the annals of history, if future generations ever saw her name on a page of those historical records, even if it was just a single sentence...
She would have no regrets.
On the brink of death, Qingyuan seemed to hear a song. It sang, "Golden palaces gleaming, bells and drums ringing, send me to a faraway place, never to wander again..." The singing grew fainter and fainter until it completely faded away.
Her body became lighter and lighter, as if she were about to take flight, just like a real bird.
That Taichu Golden Age was, in the end, nothing but a dream.
Now, it was time to wake up.
She only wondered if the Yellow Springs Road was long, and if she could still catch up to her former master who had departed ten years ago. If she could catch up, then the two of them, sovereign and subject, could catch up on old times. If she couldn’t, then she would simply quicken her pace and wait for their reunion in the next life.
Now, in the present, her wait had finally been rewarded.
"They were infuriated by my dying words, but looking back, they must have mocked me for being utterly ridiculous, because the Hong Clan ultimately succeeded." Qingyuan laughed self-deprecatingly. "They established the Jiang Dynasty. Even though the Jiang Dynasty lasted for less than a century, they slaughtered more than a hundred million Jiuzhou people."
Shi Changying said nothing. After a very, very long silence, she softly said, "I have read about this period of history."
When she said she didn’t care about what happened after her death, it only meant she didn’t care how future generations would curse her. It didn’t mean she didn’t care about Jiuzhou, nor did it mean she didn’t care about the people living on this land.
It felt as if a sharp blade had gouged out a piece of her heart, allowing cold wind to pour in, making her chest ache with a piercing pain.
Shi Changying closed her eyes. A moment later, she spat out coldly, "Is this what you call being vain?"
Her stern tone startled Qingyuan. She let out an "Ah," before saying, "Your Majesty, isn’t wanting to be recorded in the history books a form of vanity? I managed to kill an enemy leader, but in the end, I didn’t make it into the history books. That makes me quite sad, too."
After being reborn, she had naturally searched for history regarding herself, but there was nothing. Her name had indeed sunken to the bottom of the long river of history. Perhaps it had already rotted away, or perhaps it simply hadn’t floated back to the surface yet.
"What a vain desire, to die as a martyr for your country!" Shi Changying’s gaze suddenly swept over her. "I never knew you had such backbone."
Qingyuan replied meekly, "I was wrong."
"Where did you go wrong?"
"I shouldn’t have let you know."
Shi Changying pressed her temples, suppressing her churning emotions, and said flatly, "You have indeed grown much bolder."
"Your Majesty, I’m a massive star now." Qingyuan blinked. "I’m very famous, so of course I’m bold. I wouldn’t have made it this far if I were a coward."
Shi Changying didn’t mind her retort. Her eyes darkened. "But A Yuan, why is your name missing from the history books? You are the Qu Xian I personally appointed, one of the Twelve Masters of Mingjing... I even had a palace built specifically for you. What on earth..."
Qingyuan remained silent for a moment before speaking in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, apart from Miss Pei Jiang, none of the Twelve Masters of Mingjing made it into the history books. It isn’t just me."
Shi Changying didn’t speak. She remained very quiet. But Qingyuan could feel the heavy, oppressive aura radiating from her, so suffocating it made it hard to breathe.
"It’s nothing, really. I don’t care about these things anymore." Qingyuan coughed a few times and smiled. "Your Majesty, I didn’t achieve anything monumental. If my name is gone, so be it. But your name, your achievements... they shouldn’t have been erased and tampered with."
Shi Changying didn’t respond to that. Instead, she said, "It’s very strange. I want to know exactly what happened. If it were merely the work of humans, the erasure wouldn’t be this clean."
"Your Majesty, four hundred years is a long time. Too much could have happened." Qingyuan sighed. "I’m the one who saw you with my own eyes, yet I can’t produce a single shred of evidence to clear your name. Don’t you think it’s ridiculous?"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
A knock on the door interrupted them. It was Ming Chengli. "Changying, may I come in?"
Shi Changying snapped out of her thoughts. "Come in, Dad."
Qingyuan also quickly composed her expression and stood up.
The door opened, and Ming Chengli walked in cautiously. "I’m not interrupting you two, am I?"
"No," Shi Changying replied lazily. "We were just talking about you."
"Talking about me? How did I come up?" Ming Chengli paused in surprise.
Qingyuan smiled. "We were discussing history. I didn’t realize Uncle Ming was such an outstanding historical archaeologist."
"Outstanding? Sigh, let’s not mention it." Ming Chengli shook his head and waved his phone. "Changying, Master Xie Lin just asked to meet with me. Do you want to come along? After all, when I was helping my old classmate this time, I was only able to discover that the Green Lotus Jade Pendant belongs to the Young Master of the Linsu Xie Family thanks to your sudden stroke of genius."