Chapter 51: Flowing Fire (I)

Li Heng suddenly opened his eyes and smiled coldly.
That Yang Guozhong—always trying to bring him down. Today, he finally got his chance. Even if it was under the pretext of national crisis, how could he let it slip away?
He knew all this, but this move had to be foolproof. If it failed, he might end up repeating his second brother’s fate.
“Your Highness, please don’t show mercy like a woman. Besides, it was An Lushan who was unkind first. Your Highness has already given him enough face. He’s indeed aggressive—Your Highness doesn’t need to tolerate him any longer!”
Li Fuguo gritted his teeth and said, “Since that scoundrel wants to go to Shu, let him go. But the imperial guards in the capital aren’t all under his control.”
Li Heng sighed and said, “In that case, convey a message to General Chen Xuanli. Tell him that I’m holding a family banquet in the Eastern Palace tonight and invite General Chen to come and see my sister.”
“As you command!”
Yu Chaonen bowed to Li Heng and stepped back out of the hall…
“Madam, should we take this gold-inlaid nine-dragon pearl bracelet and these pair of Liancheng jade earrings?”
The maid asked, winking at Lady Guo with a pitiful expression.
Yang Huahua took out a jewelry box from the wooden chest and scolded the maid, “We’re going to Shu to take refuge, not on a pleasure trip. We should bring as few of these trivial possessions as possible. After all, no matter how many jewels one has, one still needs a life to wear them.”
The maid stuck out her tongue and pointed at a treasure box, “But we must keep this butterfly-perched pink crystal peony hairpin and this phoenix-seeking phoenix jade hairpin. They were given to you by His Majesty on your birthday.”
“No, none of them! If we’re lucky enough to see the court recover lost lands, we’ll still have them when we return to Chang’an. If not, even if we carry them, they’ll eventually be taken from us.”
Yang Huahua impatiently put on a leather jacket and sighed, “Go tell the young master too. Let’s keep a low profile on this trip. He shouldn’t bring those strategy boards either.”
“Oh!”
Seeing that Yang Huahua was determined, the maid stopped arguing, stuck out her tongue, and bowed before leaving.
Sigh. Fame and wealth are but fleeting illusions. She didn’t understand this before, but now it seems the ancients were right. She had received so many gifts from the emperor—tens of thousands of acres of land by the Wei River—but what good was it? When An Lushan’s rebels attacked, wouldn’t she still have to hand over those fertile lands to him?
“Move aside, move aside!”
As Yang Huahua was deep in thought, she heard a loud shout and frowned.

“Lord Yang, you can’t enter. The lady said no one is allowed in without her order!”
A servant tried hard to persuade him, but Yang Guozhong pushed him aside. Immediately afterward, the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty kicked open the carved wooden door and strode inside.
“Oh, I wondered who it could be—turns out it’s Prime Minister Yang. Your visit truly brings honor to my humble abode. Huh? Shouldn’t Prime Minister Yang be discussing matters with the Emperor right now? How do you have time to come here and lose your temper?”
Yang Huahua’s sarcastic remarks made Yang Guozhong furious.
“Hey, don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what you’ve done!”
Yang Guozhong glared at her fiercely and spat out those harsh words.
“What have I done? What has this maid done?”
Angered by his words, Yang Huahua immediately arched her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “If Prime Minister Yang doesn’t explain things clearly to me today, don’t even think about leaving my house! A Lun, close the door!”
Bang!
As soon as she spoke, the carved wooden door shut instantly.
“You… you! Look at you—where’s the dignity of a noblewoman now?”
Yang Guozhong glared at her angrily and waved his sleeve in frustration.
“Oh, if I lack the dignity of a noblewoman, does that mean Prime Minister Yang has the dignity of a prime minister? So the Yang family is full of good-for-nothings?”
Still furious, Yang Huahua continued in a cold tone, “Stop pretending! Tell me—why has Hui become so close to Prince Guangping these days?”
Yang Guozhong felt suffocated and pointed at her nose, saying coldly, “Is that all it’s for? Just because of that, you come to my house and make a fuss? Hehe, I really don’t understand. It seems the Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty spends his time meddling in other people’s affairs. No wonder he can’t help the emperor with his troubles.”
Unwilling to back down, Yang Huahua took off her robe and stepped forward. “Is it really just an excuse for you, Prime Minister Yang, to come to my house and expect me to serve you?”
Her firm breasts pressed against Yang Guozhong’s body, forcing him to step back repeatedly.
“Look at what you’re saying! How could I ever think such a thing? That’s… that’s not human!”
“Oh, is there anything Prime Minister Yang can’t do?”
Yang Huahua sneered, “Was it human when you pushed me into Prince Liu’s arms? Was it human when you pushed me onto the emperor’s bed? Hehe, hehe…”
“Shut up! Be quiet!”

Yang Guozhong suddenly stepped forward and covered Yang Huahua’s lips, kneeling and pleading, “Even if I beg you, it was my fault toward you—please stop bringing it up.”
“Hmph, at least you have some conscience!”
Yang Huahua tightened her corset and waved her hand, saying, “Just speak plainly if there’s something to say. I’m tired and want to rest.”
Realizing how formidable this young lady was, Yang Guozhong dared not be stubborn any longer. With a pained expression, he said, “My dear lady, you’re well aware of the current situation. Your brother and I are now at odds with the crown prince. Now that the An Lushan rebels are rebelling and about to invade Chang’an, the emperor has decided to go to Shu for temporary refuge. Once there, it will be your brother’s territory. The crown prince will surely oppose this strongly, as it’s to his disadvantage. You must stand by my side now. You know who Prince Guangping is—he’s the crown prince’s eldest son and the emperor’s grandson. Even if our Yang family has to deal with other princes or imperial descendants, we must not get involved with Prince Guangping.”
Yang Huahua suddenly understood and sneered, “So after all this, it’s because you’re afraid I’ll hold you back and ruin your plans? But this isn’t something I can decide. Although Hui is gentle, he won’t give up on anything he decides. Previously, he was close to the Li family’s young man, who you sent to Yangzhou. He’ll have to find new friends, won’t he? Prince Guangping is his age and they get along well—what can I do?”
Hearing that she kept mentioning Li Kuo, Yang Guozhong felt suffocated.
“Four or five years have passed, and you’re still holding grudges against me over him?”
Lady Guo, hearing him bring up Li Kuo on his own, retorted clearly, “Heh, holding grudges against you? Do you even deserve it? Yes, at first, when you excluded the seventh son of the Li family, I thought you were doing it for my fourth sister, for the Yang family. Though it hurt me, I didn’t hate you. But later, I realized you were jealous of the seventh son’s talent and hated that he couldn’t serve you. How can I hate someone with such narrow-mindedness? Do you even deserve it?”
After a pause, Yang Huahua raised her eyebrows and said, “Fine, fine. Since you’ve made things clear today, I’ll also speak plainly! From now on, you’re you, and I’m me. Stop using those family-first excuses to disgust me—I can’t stand it!”
Yang Guozhong was pushed out by Lady Guo, utterly stunned.
She would argue fiercely with her own kin over a stranger? She would ignore the interests of her family for a naive boy?
“Only women and villains are hard to deal with!”

Yang Guozhong muttered an insult under his breath before waving his sleeve and leaving in anger.