The Courtesan's Crown - Chapter 10
With the north’s rebellion, water bandits in the south and mountain bandits in Sichuan also declared independence. People suffered under Jin. The struggle for supremacy began.
War raged for three years. Countless people were displaced, everywhere was devastated. Some ignorant scholars cursed Shen Huinian for starting war, calling him a traitor whose crimes filled bamboo slips. Shen Huinian just laughed, saying the Jin Emperor was a cancer requiring drastic treatment.
Shen Huinian fought at the front; I managed the rear-supplies, logistics. I countered propaganda skillfully.
Within half a month, public opinion shifted, praising Shen Huinian as a hero saving people from suffering.
In the fourth year of Tianqi, Shen Huinian captured the capital, seizing the Jin Emperor.
“You traitor overthrowing the throne! Aren’t you afraid of being vilified by history?”
“Future criticism is better than present slaughter! Did you never think sparing me would let me return from the north?”
Shen Huinian’s aura was imposing, his gaze contemptuous on the pretending calm young emperor.
I spotted the official who humiliated Shen Huinian four years ago. His fat face trembled, his robes wet with unknown fluid, nearly fainting.
“Stop now, and I will make you a Duke, grant you wealth!”
Shen Huinian laughed disdainfully. “How can a Duke compare to Emperor?”
Amusing. At this point, the emperor still dreamed.
Then, a lavishly dressed woman approached from the crowd, looking at Shen Huinian yearningly: “Third Brother…”
I knew her-Princess Changle, famed as Jin’s greatest beauty, childhood friend of Shen Huinian. Her wedding to him was on the eve of the Shen family’s execution.
“Shen Huinian, I offer one last chance. Surrender, and I will give you Changle!”
“A woman slept with by many? Would I want her?”
Shen Huinian told me about Changle. Vain, she had many male friends. Shen Huinian disdained her, which sparked her conquest desire. Pregnant with another’s child, she demanded marriage. Shen Huinian planned to marry her for the family’s temporary safety, but the child was her own brother, the Crown Prince’s.
The Crown Prince’s jealousy led him to frame and execute the Shen family. They spared Shen Huinian to humiliate him. Even the scar on his brow was from Changle.
“Am I not nobler and prettier than that whore beside you!”
“You’re not fit to mention Jiangwan!”
Over the years, many slandered me, but Shen Huinian dealt with them ruthlessly. As he spoke, Changle’s head was severed.
The emperor was terrified, trembling speechless.
“The Pei family is virtueless, unfit to rule. I, Shen Huinian, receive the Mandate of Heaven, end this chaotic era, rebuild the dynasty!”
With Shen Huinian’s proclamation, the Pei rule ended.
“As for Pei Zhonghou, grant him waist-cutting. Aren’t you thankful?”
The words they said to Shen Huinian four years ago were returned in full.
