The riot waged by the Hong family came so suddenly that Xia City made a huge loss.
Three days later, Xia Houqi came to the throne. Soon after that, North Qing and Da Xia formed a marriage alliance. Xia Houqi and Princess Qingbi would tie the knot in half a year.
Xia Houqi lost his father and became much more mature.
He rapidly exterminated the remaining members of the Buddhist Monks Sect and punished the n.o.blemen who had colluded with the Hong family by either dismissing them or confiscating their property.
The result of the Imperial Contest was also shown to the public.
Ye Lingyue ranked first without doubt. Due to the betrayal of Hong Mingyue and members of the Buddhist Monks Sect, Ye Liuyun replaced the original and ranked among the top 3 together with another warrior.
On the day of awarding, the new emperor appointed Ye Lingyue as Marquis Yue due to her contribution to the fight against the Hong family.
What surprised Da Xia was that Ye requested dismissal on the same day of awarding.
In court was the girl kneeling on the ground. She spoke in a clean tone.
"Your Majesty, many thanks for your recognition. But I was born in the countryside and was not familiar with the court etiquette. Hence, I am not suitable for the position. I will greatly appreciate it if you can kindly dismiss me as Cauldron Manager in Moonshine City and allow me to go back to the countryside. "
The Hong family had already been exterminated. Hong Fang and his followers would be beheaded sometime after the interrogation. Moreover, the Ye family was ready to move to Xia City grasping the chance offered by the Imperial Contest.
Ye's longtime wishes had been fulfilled one by one. Then she could follow her will by requesting dismissal.
After Xia Houqi succeeded to the throne, he ordered the marriage of Nie Fengxing and Ye Huangyu. Ye would, after the marriage of her mother, leave Xia City for the Ancient Forest, where she could get together with A Guduo and others.
In court was the prolonged silence.
For long, there was no reply. Then Ye secretly raised her head and observed the expression of the new emperor.
The handsome young emperor looked sullen, gazing at the pretty face of Ye Lingyue. He seemed to have been stabbed in the heart, suffering from unceasing pains.
If she was not Ye Lingyue, he would surely kill her.
However, she was Ye Lingyue, the one he loved so much.
After quite a while, the emperor said in a low tone.
"Marquis Yue, I will not accept your resignation for the moment. Go to my royal study and meet me after the meeting."
Ye sighed and thought to herself: "What should happen will never be avoided." These days she was always trying to avoid meeting Xia Houqi.
After the meeting of officials, Ye walked into the royal study. Her mother, Lan Yingwu and others showed great worries.
In the study was Xia Houqi sitting at the desk. The papers were heaped up.
"Your Majesty, Marquis Yue asks for your meeting."
Xia Houqi did not raise his head. He beckoned the eunuch to leave with several other servers. Then the door was closed and left inside were only the emperor and Ye.
The room was filled with a heavy silence.
Ye only heard Xia turning the pages. After quite a while, Ye could not help but move her numb feet and asked：
"Your Majesty?"
Xia had no reaction.
"Little brother?"
Still no reaction.
Ye was somewhat annoyed. She strode forward and grabbed the papers before Xia.
"Xia Houqi, could you please talk to me?"
All of a sudden, Xia raised his head. The handsome face was full of anger and aggressiveness. He pressed Ye's hand grasping the papers and then pulled with great force.
Ye was unprepared for this sudden move and fell down into Xia's arms.
Ye's nose tip hit Xia's stone-like chest, and she felt a sharp pain.
"Ye Lingyue, I should be the one asking this question! You hated my father for treating you unfairly and offered no help when he was a.s.sa.s.sinated. I forgive you. You want your mother to marry Nie Fengxing. I have agreed. You don't want to marry me. I can accept it. I just want to see you, but you are so merciless as to dash my only hope. " Xia Houqi looked like a roaring lion, his eyes full of flames of fury.
Heaven knows that he seemed to have lost his hearing when Ye said that she was going to leave.
This time, his tone showed that he was not an emperor but an ordinary person in front of Lingyue.
After he came to the throne, the emperor killed a number of n.o.blemen in succession, including all in court who had been in league with the Hong family.
Now all the officials looked up to this young emperor.
But the girl before him showed no fear or awe.
She came and went as she pleased, upsetting Xia Houqi completely.
"You, you have known all about it." Ye was taken aback when Xia flew into a rage.
More surprisingly, Xia knew all about the things she had done deliberately.
She had known clearly that the Hong family was going to rebel, but did nothing to prevent the riot. She saw Hong Mingyue trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate the last emperor, but did nothing to save him.
She was by no means a good-willed person. She would never show any mercy to those who had treated her badly.
She knew clearly that Xia Houqi's enthronement was the guarantee for her smooth departure.
Xia Houqi knew about all her plans and could even forgive her for not saving her biological father...
"You wanted to take revenge and I let you do it. I have a marriage alliance with Princess Qingbi and cannot promise you monogamy. Hence, I will not force you to marry me. But why could not you stay and help me? Lingyue..." Xia Houqi was sobbing. He hugged Ye closely and would by no means let her go.
He was afraid that Ye would leave without hesitation once he let go of her.
Xia's tears dropped on the neck of Ye and they felt warm. He was crying like a big boy, all his domineering influence in court was nowhere to see. He kept on begging Ye not to resign.
Xia Houqi had just ascended the throne and had to deal with both internal and external conflicts.
At the very beginning, it was Ye Lingyue that had freed him from closeness.
For him, Ye was far more than a beloved girl.
Ye was embraced closely and could not free herself after trying several times.
"Your Majesty, Lord Feng of North Qing is waiting outside to meet you. "
Exactly at this time, the eunuch reported from outside.
Xia Houqi raised his head and looked severe. Then he hugged Ye even more closely.
"Feng Shen. Why has he come?"
"Lingyue has just requested dismissal and that man cannot wait to meet me."
"I am talking with Marquis Yue about something important. Tell Lord Feng to meet me some other day. " Xia Houqi said coldly.
"Your Majesty... Lord Feng, you must not break into the room."
Outside, the eunuch shouted in panic. Then the closed door was pushed open all at once.
Feng Shen walked in, followed by his warriors. He saw Xia Houqi holding Ye Lingyue closely in the arms and a sense of coldness was shown in his gaze.