The Number One Treacherous Minister [Rebirth] - Chapter 1

The marketplace, whose gates opened early each day, was usually bustling only in the mornings and evenings. Yet despite the scorching midday sun, a crowd of commoners had gathered at the execution grounds by the market entrance, chattering with even greater fervor than when they haggled over prices that morning. They had gathered for one reason alone: the current prime minister and his entire family were about to be beheaded!

A small number of the commoners did not know why the prime minister’s family was being executed, but most clapped and cheered at the news, proving just how deeply unpopular the current prime minister truly was. And the one capable of bringing the once all-powerful prime minister to such an end was none other than the exalted emperor himself, who had planned everything from behind the scenes.

At that moment, the man dressed in an imperial robe embroidered with a nine-clawed golden dragon stood atop the city wall, gazing from afar at the figures on the execution platform, a smug expression on his face. When he heard the gong, he knew the third quarter of the noon hour had arrived. The thorn in his side was finally about to be removed!

On the execution platform, the presiding official tossed down an execution token and shouted coldly, “The time has come. Execute them!”

The executioners raised their broadswords, took mouthfuls of wine, then violently sprayed it over the blades in an attempt to make them even sharper. At the sight of this, the men and women kneeling on the platform immediately became so terrified that they nearly lost control of their bowels, crying out, “No! I don’t want to die! Father, I don’t want to die…”

Compared with them, the man kneeling at the front in the center was much calmer. Of all the condemned prisoners, his appearance was the neatest and most presentable. His meticulous appearance was precisely the face of the prime minister with which the commoners were so familiar. The reason he did not look as wretched as the others was partly because the jailers remained wary of him, but also because the man in the imperial robe deliberately wanted to humiliate him. There was no greater indignity than having everyone on the execution grounds see his face clearly.

“Jing’er, are you afraid?” The man turned his head slightly and looked at the young face beside him, half-hidden beneath disheveled hair.

She slowly raised her head, but the emptiness in her eyes betrayed her feelings. Although her hair hung loose, her face bore a striking resemblance to the man’s, with similarly sharp contours and a hint of handsome elegance. The crowd could see none of her former vigor or grace. All they saw was the misery and devastation of someone who had brought ruin upon her entire family by disguising herself as a man.

Only after a long while did her unfocused gaze gradually sharpen again. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment before replying in a low voice filled with remorse, “I’m not afraid. I only regret that I couldn’t drag them down to hell with me.”

“Yuan Jing, this is all your fault! Yours! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here!” a man behind her shouted in fury and terror.

“Father, I’m sorry.” Tears rolled down her face, leaving two distinct trails behind them.

The man gave a grim smile. “Jing’er, never regret anything. Do not regret this moment either. Your father has no regrets.”

The broadsword rose into the air, then came crashing down the instant the man finished speaking. Bright red blood sprayed across Yuan Jing’s face. She went rigid, feeling the still-warm liquid stream down her skin along the same paths as her tears.

“Ah—!” Yuan Jing released a heart-rending roar. Blood ran down the corner of her mouth and into her mouth, its metallic stench filling her heart and lungs.

When the dragon-robed man atop the city wall saw the foremost man’s head severed from his body, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Gazing out across the land, he felt that throughout the entire realm, there was no longer any towering mountain capable of standing in his way! He wrapped an arm around the beautiful woman who slowly approached him and, unable to contain his excitement, planted a kiss on her lips.

At that moment, dark clouds slowly gathered before a torrential downpour descended with astonishing speed. That furious roar abruptly ceased.

Rainwater washed over the bloodstained execution platform, but the blood seemed to have seeped into it, refusing to be washed clean no matter how heavily the rain fell.

Some said that Prime Minister Yuan had served as an official for decades, amassed countless ill-gotten riches, formed factions for personal gain, and even allowed his son to commit every sort of wrongdoing and bully the local commoners. This fate was nothing more than the retribution he deserved. Others said that, on the surface, Prime Minister Yuan’s death was caused by his daughter disguising herself as a man, placing first in the imperial examination, and disrupting the order of the imperial court. In truth, however, the emperor whom the prime minister had helped place upon the throne had repaid kindness with ingratitude, painstakingly plotting to remove the thorn that prevented him from realizing his grand ambitions. Still others said that the emperor’s favored consort, Noble Consort Zhang, had orchestrated the entire affair. Before entering the palace, Noble Consort Zhang had already bewitched Yuan Jing and led her step by step into her trap, until Yuan Jing had even attempted to assassinate the emperor for her sake.

But the truth was not something ordinary commoners like them could ever hope to uncover.

Yuan Jing remembered the night the Imperial Guards surrounded the prime minister’s residence. She had sat on the roof all night, watching the servants strip the estate bare and the expressionless Imperial Guards kill anyone who attempted to escape. Only then did she understand that all of it had been done by the woman who once claimed to love her and said she was willing to enter the palace for her, becoming a spy planted at the emperor’s side. How laughable that Yuan Jing had only awakened to the truth when death was already upon her.

Meanwhile, the father she had always hated and despised had not blamed her in the slightest. He had even extended a hand to her. “Jing’er, let us go together as father and daughter.”

From the moment she was old enough to remember, she had been a “boy.” When she had nearly exposed the secret of her identity time and time again, her father had beaten her mercilessly. Because of that, she felt nothing toward the man but fear and hatred. She hated him even more because, despite knowing that the money and grain intended for disaster relief were the commoners’ lifeline, he could still pocket half of it for himself. She had watched him commit so many unconscionable deeds, only to rise steadily through the ranks and soar ever higher.

Just as the conflict between her and her father grew increasingly intense, she encountered a woman who had wandered there. Whether out of sympathy or a desire to retaliate against her father, Yuan Jing brought her back to the residence and asked her to put on an act with her to anger him.

But later, Yuan Jing gradually fell in love with that woman. When she learned that the woman was the daughter of the Pingyao County magistrate whom her father had caused to die, she did not feel threatened in the slightest. Instead, some inexplicable sense of justice compelled her to help the woman oppose her own father. She wanted only to help the woman avenge her parents and resolve the hatred in her heart, so that she could finally have her wish.

In the end, Yuan Jing got exactly what she wanted. The price, however, was that she betrayed her own family—and the woman betrayed her.

In truth, Yuan Jing had brought her own destruction upon herself. She knew perfectly well that helping this woman meant betraying her family. Yet for the woman she loved, and to retaliate against her father for forcing her to live disguised as a man and denying her the life she should have had, she allowed herself to become foolish—utterly, irredeemably foolish!

For the first time, Yuan Jing realized just how ridiculous the notion of doing something “for love” truly was. She realized how exhilarating it could be to toy with others in the palm of one’s hand. She realized… she realized… There were so many things she understood only now that she could not stop herself from bursting into bitter tears.

Bitter tears?

Yuan Jing slowly opened her eyes. The dampness at her temples and the sensation of liquid streaking across her face made her deeply uncomfortable, but she knew with perfect clarity that she had been crying. She raised a hand and touched her face, only to find her palm wet with tears. She shot upright and discovered that she was lying in bed—and her head was still attached to her neck!

She could still remember the sensation of losing consciousness in an instant, and she could never forget the pain she had felt at that moment. But her head had clearly been cut off, so how could she still be lying in bed, alive and well? Had she returned from the dead?

Looking again at the bed and the furnishings inside the room, she realized that this was unmistakably her own bedroom from before the family estate had been confiscated!

She jumped out of bed, only for a sudden pain in her thigh to send her crashing to the floor, knocking over the washbasin beside her. The empty basin landed over her head. Before she could recover from her dizziness, a piercing scream assaulted her ears so sharply that her eardrums ached. She climbed up from the floor and propped up her upper body. Her thigh still hurt, but she had no time to think about it before she saw the familiar face at the doorway. She instinctively shouted, “What are you screaming for?!”

“Second Young Master, my name is Hua Rui,” replied the source of the scream, a terrified girl of fifteen or sixteen.

Yuan Jing rolled her eyes. “Of course I know your name is Hua Rui. I was asking why you—” Her voice abruptly stopped as she suddenly remembered something. “Are you new here?”

Hua Rui nodded desperately. “I—I was bought by the master to take care of Second Young Master…”

Yuan Jing’s head spun. If the pain in her thigh had not prevented her from fainting, she feared she truly would have fallen into darkness once more. Yuan Jing inhaled deeply, then exhaled heavily, repeating the process several times. Only when she saw that Hua Rui was still standing timidly at the doorway watching her did she say coldly, “Why aren’t you coming over to help me up?!”

Hua Rui finally reacted. As though she had done something terribly wrong, she hurried over in fear and trepidation, helped Yuan Jing back onto the bed, and laid her down. After pulling the blanket over Yuan Jing, she stood helplessly beside the bed, not knowing what to do. Yuan Jing sighed and muttered, “So it really is…”

“What did Second Young Master say?” Hua Rui asked, having failed to hear her clearly.

“I said, pour me a cup of water.”

“This servant will go at once!” Hua Rui hurried over to the table to pour some water, only to discover that the teapot was empty. She looked anxiously at Yuan Jing. Only after Yuan Jing waved a hand did she run outside to fetch some water.

Yuan Jing pressed her temples. She had already guessed that she had probably returned to four years ago. Four years earlier, she had once been injured when someone had “accidentally” shot her with an arrow during the spring hunt. Although the wound was not life-threatening, it had taken many days before she could walk again. The person who shot her was Zhang Jinhou, the son of the Minister of Personnel and a member of the Crown Prince’s faction.

Hua Rui had also been the maid Yuan Ye purchased to take care of her after she was injured. On the surface, she was a muddleheaded young girl prone to absentminded mistakes. In reality, however, she was an expert from Shadowmoon Tower whom Yuan Ye had paid an enormous sum to hire for Yuan Jing’s protection. That was also one of the reasons Yuan Jing had never suffered physical harm again afterward. Unfortunately, Yuan Ye had anticipated injuries to her body but failed to consider wounds to her heart, which lay beyond Hua Rui’s capabilities.

If she truly had returned to four years ago, then Yuan Ye should still be the Vice Minister of Works at this time. Although the Ministry of Works was also one of the Six Ministries, its status could not compare with the highly valued Ministries of Personnel, Revenue, and War. Those three ministries were firmly under the Crown Prince’s control. As a result, even though the Minister of Personnel’s son had shot Yuan Jing, that bastard had merely sent someone to their residence to apologize and deliver a few nourishing supplements.

In her previous life, Yuan Jing had always believed that she had suffered this calamity because Yuan Ye had offended the Minister of Personnel. Therefore, when Yuan Ye bought a maid to take care of her, she showed him no gratitude whatsoever. Instead, she petulantly ran away from home—and then encountered that woman…