The Morning After 3

"Sima Leibing will naturally be the brunt of a good many jokes when the news of your taking a concubine becomes public. But it is the end of Autumn now, and I would prefer that he doesn't get word of this until Spring. Well, at least Winter. Your father should hear of this first," Huang Fuyun's mother told him.

"There aren't many merchants making their way from Tangling City to the Lu Capital, and there will be hardly any movement once Winter sets in. So Madam can rest assured on that count. Provided, of course, Young Master can keep from boasting about it?"

The last was delivered by his mother's Companion, Yu Lian. From Huang Fuyun's memories, he learned that she had been Yu Baixi's chambermaid ever since she was ten or eleven, and had accompanied her when she married into the Huang Family. Indeed, she had been an orphan who had been granted the use of the Yu surname, for her long service.

And it seemed this was not the first time that she had teased the young man, in his mother's presence. Well, Huang Fuyun was not altogether comfortable with that, and had spoken to his mother about it in the past. But Huangfu Yun thought it safe enough to let that pass. After all, he could always blame his happy mood on what had just taken place the night before, on his own bed. That should give him an excuse to accept the Companion's teasing.

His grin seemed to be all the answer that Yu Baixi wanted. The middle-aged woman chuckled softly as she shot him a broad smile in return. "I thought that you might agree. After what Sima Qingqin had refused you, this should be the perfect riposte. I would have preferred something a little harsher, but I doubt that our First Royal Prince would care for it if we hurt his Commander of the Tangling City Training Grounds."

Huangfu Yun sniggered unabashedly when he saw his mother's evil smile at her chambermaid. Yu Lian was, naturally, smiling back at her. The pair nodded at each other with an air of relish, doubtless as they pictured the look of surprise on the General Sima's face.

It seems Huang Fuyun's mother had experienced some humiliation from the Sima Family. Well, Huangfu Yun was more than happy to take revenge on her behalf. After all, this had to do with his own good name, his own reputation.

Besides, who was this General Sima Leibing? Wasn't he just a small little general, a leader of five thousand men, in some petty Kingdom, far away from the Great Empire? Comparing what he knew to Huang Fuyun's memories, it was rather clear that the Lu Kingdom had been fighting against the Yi Kingdom and the Lei Kingdom for generations. And Sima Leibing came from a line of Generals who were in charge of supply and training the new troops for the moment, for all that he had won his rank and his reputation against the Yi Armies in the North.

Not that much of a surprise that he was taken off the frontlines. He had lost his left eye, and that had affected his fighting abilities somewhat.

There was also a rumour regarding the pain that he suffered from that injury, and how Huang Tiancheng was the alchemist who had saved him from that agony. Which resulted in their warm friendship and the reason behind the marriage contract between Huang Fuyun and Sima Qingqin, Sima Leibing's youngest daughter.

Something that Sima Leibing was regretting, it seemed.

To be fair, Huangfu Yun didn't really blame him. Huang Fuyun had turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, after all. He barely got accredited as an Ninth Ranked alchemist at the age of fifteen, when his father had gotten his ranking at thirteen. And that was after he had been pressured and pushed by his own father too.

Not to mention the fact that Sima Qingqin had turned out to become one of the most beautiful young women in Tangling City. At sixteen years of age, she had already gained the attention of all four of the Four Promising Youths of the West. So needless to say, she never really cared for Huang Fuyun, who was considered far too disappointing that he wasn't even fit to carry that quartet's shoes.

So it was no surprise, that Yu Baixi's suggestion that she marries into the Huang Family back when she was sixteen years old, was rejected by the Sima Family. With the excuse that the two of them were still young, and that her mother could not bear to be parted from her.

Which prompted Huang Fuyun's mother to try again, the following two years. In fact, the last attempt had just taken place during the Royal Prince's Summer Festival, barely three months ago. And the fact that Sima Leibing still rejected the match, in the presence of all those dignitaries of the Royal Prince's Court, was a tight slap in the face for Yu Baixi!

What made it worse was the fact that a good many of the other participants of the Summer Festival had mocked the matchmaker that Yu Baixi had leveraged on, the Steward of the Royal Prince's Chambers, who owed her, and Huang Tiancheng, a few favours as well. That fellow had ended up falling sick from the pressure that he had received, and would not talk to the Huang Family for almost six days, due to his anger.

Huang Fuyun had to bear the brunt of a good many insulting jokes too, during the festivities. Some of which had even gone too far. Like wondering if he could even find his own genitals under all that fat, and whether he could even sire his own children! If not for the Royal Prince showing his disapproval of the fun and games back then, it would probably have carried on for the rest of the Summer Season!

So naturally she was out for revenge!

But what was going on inside Huangfu Yun's head would have surprised Yu Baixi immensely, if she had any inkling of what he was thinking:

The humiliation that Huang Fuyun had to sit through was probably what prompted him to take that risk with the aphrodisiac that he had consumed, Huangfu Yun thought. And that was what resulted in his 're-birth' into the World. So, perhaps, he owed them his thanks for doing such a thing. Wiping them off the map was also likely to draw too much attention, and he had already decided to take things easy, and to just live a quiet life.

Not that he was going to reveal his intentions to Yu Baixi! As a mother, it was obvious that she wanted her son to be successful and his name to resound across ten thousand li*!

As her next words revealed:

"But I won't hold you back from kicking up a fuss once the Winter sets in. The scoundrel has a habit of visiting his troops in the Western Mountains, so he should be out of Tangling City then. Besides, I doubt that the Royal Prince here would care so much that he would try to save his idiot general's face. So you can make as much noise as you care to, when that happens.

"It would give all those other scoundrels a good face-smacking as well! They should know that they deserve it!"

Oh? Was that what she was after? Huangfu Yun was a little surprised that Yu Baixi only wanted him to smack those scoundrels in their faces for daring to insult him, and suspecting his ability to sire children. Probably in a public setting, to match what was done to Huang Fuyun! She probably thought that those who participated in mocking her son should be slapped until they ended up with swollen faces, with pig-heads!

Huangfu Yun, naturally, was in full agreement. That was considered a light punishment already, so it matched his intention to take a non-lethal stance in exacting his revenge for his host. And his host's mother.

All of a sudden, Huangfu Yun felt a sense of home. All this planning to take revenge was just like when he was alive, wasn't it? He had to come up with a variety of schemes, a multitude of ploys, back in his day, to keep his position in the Kingdom back then.

And wasn't this like what he had to do, to keep his enemies off balance, without losing the Kingdom any of its prestige and prowess? That had been a challenging game for him, to balance his so-called intimidation of his 'allies' and the decimation of those enemies from outside the Kingdom.

It seems this was the sort of game that Yu Baixi wanted him to play now!

How all of this brings back memories!

So he grinned at Yu Baixi, and nodded his head slowly. He would have to be careful here, since she had already told him that she didn't want too much trouble. That meant there shouldn't be any fatalities. Which added another layer of complexity to the situation. How long had it been since he had to exercise such restraint?

It seems figuring out just how to swat these flies without killing them was going to be a lot more fun than he had expected!

* * *

*a li is a Chinese mile, which is about half a kilometre.