Chapter Thirty-Three: Heart to Heart

  Zhen Fei, after the previous sprint, was much more awake. I put her on the bed and she let out a cry of surprise. Yan Er lit the candle, and I saw that Zhen Fei's clothes were all torn to shreds, with blood staining what remained of them.

  On his body.

  The swallow hastily took off her clothes, and many places had been stuck with blood. I brought warm water, gently moistened it, and then helped her take it off.

  It took half a day's effort to finally get all her clothes off.

  As soon as I saw it, tears gushed out again.

  Zhen Er's past snow-white jade body is now all bruised and purple, with some places already having been beaten until the skin was broken and the flesh was split! No wonder she cried out just now!

  Swallow took a new towel to gently wipe her with water, and seeing her frowning, my tears flowed all over my face.

  Zhen Fei struggled to stretch out a small hand, wiping my face and crying: "Zhen Zhen is not good, Zhen Er let Wan Sui heartbroken! Zhen Er is too incompetent!"

  I grasped her hand and cried out: "It's not that Zhen'er is bad, it's just that old scoundrel is too wicked!"

  Zhen'er hastily said: "Can't say that, she's the empress dowager!"

  "No, she's not the Empress Dowager of a thousand years, we don't know this old turtle egg, old slut!" Yanner hugged Zhen'er in her arms.

  "But she's still an ageless auntie!" Jing Er said.

  I grasped her hand tightly and looked at her face, asking: "Zhen'er, do you love me?"

  "Darling, I never thought I'd love someone this much. I can't be away from you for a single moment. You are my sunshine, my rain, the most precious part of my life!"

  "I asked again: 'If I weren't Guangxu, would you still love me?'"

  She burst out laughing: "But you are Guangxu, you're Xiao Zhēnzhēn's Emperor Guangxu!"

  "I'm serious," I said, "I ask you to answer me directly!"

  She also solemnly said word by word: "I don't love you because you are the Guangxu Emperor, I love you because of your deep affection for Little Zhenzhen, making Little Zhenzhen feel warmth and care. I love this lovely and respectable big brother!"

  I gently stroked her soft hair and said, "Let me tell you, I'm not that Zaixiang Guangxu, I am Long Xiangyu from the future world. Your two sisters, Yaner and Feier, are also people who came with me from the future world!"

  She suddenly stiffened, and after a while, she pulled me in front of her, touched my forehead with her hand: "Master Wan, you're not talking nonsense because of the fever, are you?"

  "I said: 'This is true, this is a big secret I can't tell anyone!'"

  Zhen'er's big eyes stared at me, nervously asking: "Then how did you become Guangxu?"

  I said: "That day, we drove the car outside into the thick fog, and the car kept moving in the fog. Later, I suddenly felt like we hit someone. When we got out of the car, we found that the emperor had been killed by us!"

  Zhen'er grasped my hand tightly: "What if we got killed? Did they find out?"

  I continued: "Even we couldn't believe it, that dog emperor suddenly disappeared when I helped him up and was about to rescue him, leaving only a pile of clothes. And your Yan sister said I looked exactly like that dog emperor, so she had me put on the emperor's clothes, and they really took me for that emperor!"

  Zhen'er said with tears in her eyes: "It's great, no wonder Ama said you're not like before. She said you used to be like a sickly child, who would get blown away by the wind; that you stuttered when speaking and blinked your eyes constantly, were extremely timid, had no backbone, and would shiver with fear whenever Old Buddha glared at you! But that day in court, you suddenly became eloquent and majestic, leaving everyone speechless. Even Sun Yuwen was shocked, and he went back saying it was a strange occurrence, that you must have been pretending to be weak before, hiding your true abilities! Who knew Zhen'er had picked up a heaven-sent genius?!" As she spoke, she threw herself into my arms, tightly embracing me, her face pressed against my chest like a little kitten. After a moment, she suddenly lifted her head and asked: "Your Majesty, you're not deceiving Xiao Zhenzhen, are you? Xiao Zhenzhen trusts you the most!"

  "No, he didn't deceive you. The three of us indeed came from that world. In that world, we were already husband and wife. Originally, we didn't want to be emperors, but seeing the corrupt Qing dynasty now is really unbearable. We can't bear to let China be ruined by the stupid Empress Dowager Cixi, we can't bear to let the poor people suffer from the slaughter of foreign invaders again. So we forced him onto the throne, and he became Guangxu, taking on this burden!" Yanner said seriously.

  Zhen'er said excitedly: "Originally, I was told to marry that Guangxu, and I secretly cried dozens of times. I heard that he was a sickly person and nothing else, not even able to pass the husband-wife life. But what I saw was a majestic and heroic man, a great hero with excellent martial arts skills. And on the day we got together, you accompanied us three people for several rounds without feeling tired at all! I thought it was just rumors! It turns out that you are the heavenly god sent by heaven to pity China, pity little Zhen'er!"

  I hastily said: "No, I am not a god, I am just Zhen Er's husband, I am an ordinary person!"

  Bai Xue, who had just entered the room, also rushed over and tearfully hugged me, saying: "Wan Cai, it's really pitiful that heaven has taken pity on China, pitied us sisters, and sent a heavenly god to give us a good husband. From now on, you speak, we will definitely follow you and turn this corrupt Qing dynasty upside down!"

  "I whispered: 'This secret can't be made public yet, we still need to use Guangxu as a pawn, accumulate strength, mobilize troops, and prepare to overthrow this corrupt government!'"

  Bai Xue buried her voice and said: "Why didn't you just kill that old witch with one knife, and directly sit on the dragon throne?"

  "Sister, when you rush things, they don't go as planned. If Cixi dies too quickly, the high-ranking officials and governors will send troops to Beijing, and the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army will also cause trouble. China will definitely fall into chaos, and we'll end up fighting a civil war among ourselves. Then those foreign devils will take advantage of our turmoil and invade our country, occupying our rivers and mountains! Now that the old man has taken the throne, as long as we make our arrangements carefully, we can completely control the military forces across the country without shedding a single drop of blood." Yanzhu patted Baixue's shoulder and said.

  Bai Xue nodded and said: "That's the way it is, she has a lot of claws, none of which will honestly stick out their necks waiting for us to slaughter. So let's take down that old witch and make her listen to us, one by one, get rid of her fox and dog minions, and let Dragon Brother help us rule the world!"

  "Brilliant! Extremely brilliant! It's just like a shadow play, we're the ones pulling the strings from behind. Whatever she says, that's what we'll have her say! Today, we'll let him kill Ronglu, tomorrow, he'll kill Li Hongzhang, specifically targeting her trusted followers! And then, we'll have her issue orders to appoint our people as officials and take over all power. Isn't it wonderful? Hurrah!"

  Swallow smiled and said: "There's no such simple thing, that Cixi will not be our mouthpiece, and their counterattack will definitely be very fierce!"

  I said: "There are pros and cons, we just need to weigh how to use it! Where did that old thing put it?"

  Fei'er said: "In the house of Li Daguang in the west, a quilt was made for her and she fell asleep. The outside is handed over to Li Xianglin and others to watch!"

  Just then, the young fellow outside called out to me in a low voice: "Master Wan, Mr. Zhang has sent someone over. He says that the person with the surname Tan you were looking for has arrived and is still at his place. Should he be sent over?"

  Tan Sitong? Great, I'm just short of people now! I've been asking Zhang Dequan to find a few for me, including this "I laugh at the sky with my horizontal knife, and my liver and gallbladder are two Kunluns" Tan Sitong. But it's not that convenient to enter the palace in the middle of the night, so after thinking about it, I turned back to Yan'er and said: "Let's just go together!"

  I flew out of the Forbidden City's great wall with a swallow, leaping over houses and ridges, until I reached the large grid outside the front gate, where I stopped in front of Longxiang Silver Bank.

  The swallow knocked a few times on the door according to the agreed password. A low voice inside said: "Night falls, the mountain is far away..."

  "Wind and snow on a winter's night, returning home!"

  The door creaked open, and a burly man with a thick beard saw us and hastily invited us in. After closing the door, he said: "The boss is here, hurry up and go inside! Boss Zhang is discussing something with that person!"

  I pulled excitedly at the whiskered giant and set off: "Come on, take us to see him quickly!"