After My Death, The Villain Blackened Again: Chapter 35

ARC 1: THE EMPEROR SCHEMES TO GRAB A MAN’S WIFE (32)

When he saw Eunuch Su looking flabbergasted, Emperor Yuan emphasized the impatience in his voice: “Right this instant! Immediately have Luo’s third daughter enter the palace as soon as possible!”

In the dead of the night, people rushed out through the nine palaces with the emperor’s decree and spurred a horse straight to Minister Luo’s residence.

Emperor Yuan was incapable of waiting. After a brief period of confusion, he immediately asked Eunuch Su where he arranged Song Wei in tow.

He personally went to the side room to visit him.

Song Wei's body was covered with numerous injuries as if he had been through several great battles. He was still in a coma and an imperial physician was cleaning his wounds.

The sight of those rotten and putrid wounds was ghastly.

"Find a way to wake him up. Zhen has something to ask him." Emperor Yuan looked at the densely packed flesh wounds on Song Wei's body and he felt like had swallowed countless slabs of ice.

Was she also riddled with scars like this?

The imperial physician accepted the order and hurriedly pricked Song Wei’s body with needles. Song Wei gradually regained consciousness and shouted in a hoarse voice: “I have an urgent report for His Majesty. Make way, make way!”

The man must have thought he was still on horseback.

When the surrounding people heard his words, they were moved with emotion and were in awe of this soldier before them.

"Zhen is here. When did you leave Fengcheng? How much provisions were left in the city when you left? How many soldiers and horses were there?”

Song Wei looked at Emperor Yuan with bright eyes: "Your Majesty, Fengcheng's provisions have already been exhausted. Please send rations and reinforcements to Fengcheng, Your Majesty. Wucheng’s general will not raise a hand to save Fengcheng from peril."

His dry mouth cracked from the few sentences. It was immediately filled with blood, however, he did not stop, but instead struggled to get up and salute: “Your Majesty, General Ming has not colluded with the barbarians. Your Majesty should not listen to these nonsensical rumors. General Ming is wholeheartedly dedicated to the nation. She has never had a contrary heart.”

When he spoke up to this point, tears began to fall down his face: "The soldiers at the border have concentrated all their efforts on guarding Fengcheng, yet all this humble servant heard on the road to Jingcheng were discussions about the general's treason. Your Majesty, please perceive down to the finest hair. The general would never commit treason, especially the soldiers and officers. Everyone just wants to hold down Fengcheng.”

Emperor Yuan stepped forward and squeezed Song Wei's outstretched hand to indicate that he should not move: "What day did you set off and how long were you gone? Tell Zhen the details regarding Fengcheng’s situation once through.”

Eunuch Su entered quietly and spoke a few words in Emperor Yuan’s ear.

Emperor Yuan explained to Song Wei who could barely speak clearly: “First rest. Zhen will ask for you later.”

He got up to leave when Song Wei suddenly shouted in a manner like the last radiance of the sun¹: “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this humble servant has something to say.”

He swept a glance at the surrounding palace servants and then gave Emperor Yuan a pleading look; Song Wei had something to say in private.

Emperor Yuan was urgent about seeing the so-called ‘Third Lady Luo’, but once he saw Song Wei like this, he stopped in his tracks and ordered the palace servants to withdraw.

“Your Majesty, there is no male in the current generation of the Ming family. Ming Lan is a daughter. She and I grew up together since childhood. I guarantee with my life that she would never assemble a private army or conspire against the state, and she most certainly would never collude with those barbarians. Your Majesty, if anything I have said is false, then may lightning strike me down.”

Song Wei knew that his words were too outrageous. Not to mention His Majesty, not even the Ming Army that followed Ming Lan would believe his words. However, he was not willing to give up if there was even a sliver of hope of washing Ming Lan's reputation back to white.

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1. Last radiance of the sun (辉光返照—huí guāng fǎn zhào)figuratively means terminal lucidity. It’s that sudden energy or strength a person can have right before they pass away↩︎

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I should probably have mentioned this before. In Chinese, the pronouns he/she/it sound the same when spoken out loud. So, if you ever read a dialogue where people seem to be using different gender pronouns without noticing a discrepancy, that's the reason.