Reborn Before My Husband Ascends the Throne

Pei Ze stood with hands clasped behind his back, looking on as Ye Suijin cleared the doorway. His expression was cold and stern.

Ye Mancang's surname was Ye. Zhao Jingwen served under the Ye clan banner in Deng Prefecture.

Pei Ze had always assumed Ye Mancang was a scion of the Ye family.

The man was undignified, but great households had their poor relations too. Pei Ze thought little of it.

Xiang Da and Ye Mancang were Zhao Jingwen's right and left hands. To honor his son-in-law, both men were seated at today's homecoming banquet.

Little did he expect Ye Mancang was but a household slave.

Given the Ye surname, he was likely homeborn.

That a homeborn slave would have the gall to sit at his Pei clan banquet so boldly!

Pei Ze's face betrayed nothing, but rage boiled within.

"Jingwen," he said without turning his head, "sort yourself out."

With that said, he looked to the corner of the gallery, "Dingxi, come greet Master Ye."

Hearing from his wallside vantage point, Pei Dingxi had gone and told Pei Lian, who insisted on horning in. Too small to hold her back, he didn't dare step forward, lingering in the corner of the gallery instead.

He had watched with perfect clarity as Ye Suijin and Xiang Da stood a body's width apart, watched just as clearly as Ye Suijin silently cleared the doorway.

From his spot he saw even more vividly than the rest.

As Ye Mancang's corpse fell backwards, spurting blood horizontally, it sprayed in his direction.

Fortunately, the gallery floor stood higher than the courtyard, sparing him from the spray.

Lost in thought, he heard his father call for him and hurried over.

Pei Ze formally introduced Ye Suijin and Pei Dingxi, "Master Ye, this is my youngest, Dingxi. Dingxi, greet Master Ye."

Well-bred, Pei Dingxi gave Ye Suijin the proper obeisance, "Greetings, Master Ye."

In theory, as Pei Lian saw it, Ye Suijin should address her and her brother as peers.

But Ye Suijin dispensed entirely with matters of age, interacting solely on the basis of status.

Bearing the credentials of a Regional Commander, she owed Pei Dingxi no courtesy whatsoever.

Now looking at children and youths, she found them all charming.

Seeing him afresh, Pei Dingxi had a handsome face and quick witted eyes, altogether a child one delighted in at first sight.

Yet his bearing was peculiarly mature, in an amusingly endearing way.

She asked, "Young master, how old are you now?"

Face taut, Pei Dingxi answered, "Nine years old."

Ye Suijin nodded and sighed, "Hurry up and grow."

Both Pei Ze and Pei Dingxi looked at her.

Pei Ze said, "Jingwen, see to Lian'er. Dingxi will accompany me to see off Master Ye."

Pei Dingxi said, "Yes, sir."

Ye Suijin and Pei Ze deferred to each other. As guest, Ye Suijin stepped first.

After two paces she suddenly halted and turned around.

Zhao Jingwen's heart leaped with wild joy. He took a eager step forward.

"Oh, right," Ye Suijin suddenly recalled she hadn't told him, "I've taken River Mouth. Your men are all here, outside the city now. I'm returning your people to you, I won't rob you of them. Later, have Master Pei bring them back to you."

With that said, she turned and ascended the manor gates' stairs alongside Pei Ze and son.

That was it?

She was leaving just like that?

Zhao Jingwen's heart trembled. He blurted out, "Suijin!"

Ye Suijin had just stepped out the gates. She didn't look back, only waving a hand behind her.

Then she disappeared from the entrance.

Pei Ze also didn't look back, passing through the gates together.

Pei Dingxi did turn to look back, hesitating a moment before hurrying after his father out. His little legs moved quick, catching up to Pei Ze.

Xiang Da stood there dumbly gazing at Ye Mancang's corpse on the ground.

Having clung and wept on her maid's shoulder, Pei Lian looked up when she heard Zhao Jingwen call out "Suijin." She saw the murderous woman's wave as she left, then vanish alongside Pei Ze and Pei Dingxi.

Yet her husband still stood there, seeming petrified.

Releasing the maid, Pei Lian went over and grabbed Zhao Jingwen's sleeve. "Husband..."

Zhao Jingwen was distraught and stupefied.

Frowning, Pei Lian barked, "Master Zhao!"

Zhao Jingwen jerked alert and turned to her. Staring blankly, he suddenly burst into tears.

Pei Lian was stunned.

Zhao Jingwen suddenly embraced her, crying out, "Thank heavens! We can finally be together! No one stands between us anymore!"

Only then did Pei Lian heave a long breath. "Mm!"

Oddly, she didn't feel the imagined elation.

She knew in her heart she should be glad, yet inexplicably felt apathetic.

Clasping Pei Lian, Zhao Jingwen closed his eyes.

Much remained to be done.

Making arrangements for Ye Mancang's remains.

Comforting Xiang Da.

Most important of all was mollifying Pei Lian...and Pei Ze.

The men Ye Suijin returned, alongside those he'd brought over himself, needed reintegrating. They were his diehard followers now. Ye Suijin hadn't robbed him of them, so he couldn't let the Pei clan swallow them up.

Clearly so much, so very much remained demanding care and action.

A man should stand tall between heaven and earth, not muddle in petty schemes. He should aim for great deeds.

Yet why, why...did his heart feel empty?

Why such distress?

Ye Suijin had only brought her personal guards into the city, leaving the rest outside.

As ruler of the land, such audacity made even Pei Ze glance askance.

"Master Pei need not worry for me," said Ye Suijin. "I am of the Deng Prefecture Ye clan, with near a thousand clansmen. I've uncles and brothers aplenty. Should anything befall me, there are those who would take my place. I've arranged the order for them already."

Everywhere, succession was a precarious matter. In noble households, it stirred up storms and seas of blood.

Yet she spoke of it so breezily, utterly careless.

Silently Pei Ze thought, is it because she herself cannot bear children, hence her nonchalance about posterity?

In any case, just the fact of "near a thousand clansmen" was enough to make Pei Ze green with envy.

The Pei clan of Jian Nan Dao had been slaughtered.

Later in Fang Prefecture Pei Ze sired three children, yet only Pei Dingxi survived.

"These are all Jingwen's men. I've brought them for him," Ye Suijin circled her whip once, pointing to a square formation outside the city. "Please take them in for him, Master Pei."

Pei Ze asked, "The others are yours?"

Ye Suijin nodded, "My personal guards. Master Pei...would you inspect them?"

Pei Ze likewise saw no need to stand on ceremony. He rode out and took a general look, then returned to Ye Suijin's side with a nod. "Passable."

Ye Suijin smiled wryly.

Of the five hundred she'd brought, at least half were new recruits who'd only followed her these past six months. Though they too had joined her on raids great and small to purge bandits and seize land, such a short time simply couldn't compare to Pei Ze's elite troops.

In military matters she admired Pei Ze.

"My foundation is shallow. For Master Pei to call these men 'passable' already does me too much honor." She laughed.

Pei Ze snorted. "To take Xiang Prefecture would be a daydream."

"What is man if he dares not even dream, no different from birds or running beasts?" Ye Suijin said. "It is in daring to dream that man is man."

You are indeed one who dares to dream, Pei Ze thought to himself.

He flicked his reins once. "Let me see you off."

Leaving Zhao Jingwen's hundred men behind, Ye Suijin took her five hundred men and departed Fangling, traveling east.

After five li, Ye Suijin reined in her mount. "This is far enough, Master Pei. Stay your steps."

Spring winds blew from the crevices between hills.

Ye Suijin's loose hair fluttered as she sat astride her horse and cupped fists. "I'll await Master Pei's men at River Mouth."

Pei Ze also cupped fists. "They will arrive within five days."

Ye Suijin looked once more at Pei Dingxi and laughed ruefully, "Young master, hurry up and grow."

She'd said it a second time.

Pei Dingxi blinked.

Pei Ze watched as Ye Suijin and her men traveled into the distance.

Turning his horse around, he headed back.

Pei Dingxi couldn't resist asking, "Father, do I grow slowly?"

He said, "He Lian also told me to hurry up and grow."

Hearing him mention He Lian, Pei Ze's hand tightened almost imperceptibly on the reins. He made a sound of acknowledgement.

After traveling a stretch, he turned and saw Pei Dingxi's pouting face all scrunched up.

He'd been scrunching the whole way.

Pei Ze asked, "Angry?"

Pei Dingxi: "Mm!"

"Angry at whom?" Pei Ze asked.

But Pei Dingxi wouldn't say, as his anger excluded only Ye Suijin.

Pei Ze understood: "Angry at me?"

"Sister said Father guessed that Sister...Zhao Jingwen already had a wife. Yet though you knew, you did nothing." Pei Dingxi said.

Pei Ze asked, "What did you want me to do?"

Pei Dingxi said: "Since other people already have wives, how can they marry my sister?"

Pei Ze asked: "So what?"

Pei Dingxi was stunned.

Pei Ze said: "So what if Wang Rong conquered my territory and exterminated my whole clan because I was weak? Can I go to him and say you did wrong?"

Pei Dingxi's mouth fell open.

"If Ye Suijin from Deng Zhou is really just a village woman, she wouldn't even have the ability to come to Fang Zhou. Your sister would never worry about her. What if she got married anyway?"

"If she were just a village woman and truly came, your sister could just have her killed. Would Zhao Jingwen fall out with your sister over a mere village woman?"

Pei Dingxi had no response.

But the answer was in his heart.

"If the village woman died, no one would speak of her, no one would remember her, no one would even cry injustice or seek vengeance for her."

"But Ye Suijin came before me and spoke with me, and I received her as an honored guest. By what right? By right and wrong? By the fact that she is whose wife?"

Pei Dingxi lowered his head.

He was a clever boy, and by now he understood.

He raised his head again: "But I'm still angry. Even if I'm not angry at Father and Sister, I'm still angry at Zhao Jingwen."

"If we speak of strength and weakness, then we are strong and he is weak, right? As Father said, how dare he deceive us?"

Pei Ze looked ahead: "Because our weakness is grasped in his hand."

Pei Dingxi suddenly deflated.

What was their father and son's weakness? Naturally it was Pei Lian.

Pei Ze gazed at the road ahead, and suddenly gave a long sigh: "Dingxi, I regret it now."

Pei Dingxi: "Zhao Jingwen?"

"No." Pei Ze said, "Your sister."

"I was born in Jian Nan Dao, as the son of a military governor, my status was precious, and the women I saw were all gentle and well-behaved virtuous ladies. Including my mother and sisters."

"My wife came from the capital, the legitimate daughter of a first-rank Duke. "

"When she arrived, she outshone all the famed beauties of Jian Nan."

"I always thought daughters should be raised like that." Pei Ze said, "So when your sister reunited with me, I doted on her, indulged her in everything, thought there was no problem with daughters being delicate and pampered."

"I didn't expect that other families...could raise their daughters like this."

Pei Dingxi also let out a breath: "She drew that blade so fast, I couldn't have drawn a blade that quickly."

The young boy was easy to impress, and Ye Suijin's slash had won the little boy's admiration.

But Pei Ze said: "Blades and spears are just her least important things."

Pei Dingxi looked at him.

"She has more precious things on her, which you will appreciate and learn later."

"Okay."

"Still frowning, still angry at Zhao Jingwen?"

"Hmph."

"Given your status, it's right for you to be angry at him. Go back and you can hit him."

"Ah, I can?"

"You can, sometimes you have to remember you're just a child."

Pei Ze said: "When you hit him, he surely won't dare hit back. He'll say a lot of explanatory words, you don't need to listen, just go ahead and hit him."

"He'll certainly keep apologizing and trying to please you. When he takes out something you actually like, then take the opportunity to forgive him."

"After that, no matter how you feel inside, don't show it on your face. From then on, be affectionate with Zhao Jingwen."

"Until your sister tires of him and won't go to such lengths for him anymore."

"Ah," Pei Dingxi asked, "Do we have to do it this way?"

"Mm." Pei Ze said, "I chose the wrong brother-in-law for you, sorry to put you through this."

Pei Dingxi sighed: "It would be better if it were He Lian. I like He Lian."

Pei Ze said: "My mistake."