The Prime Minister's Beloved Wife

The Past

"Master, this servant thinks you should not go inside alone. Please consider taking me with you." Wei Min looked at Fan Li Wei with worry. He didn't understand why his Master insisted on going to the imperial cemetery alone. Although the guards at the gate did not notice the two of them enter, they were in Xin and not in Fan and if anything happened, they could be in huge trouble.

"It's alright. You stand guard here and don't let anyone come inside." Fan Li Wei nonchalantly replied.

It was almost dawn and they were standing at the gate of the imperial cemetery where the members of the royal family are buried after their death. Let alone a person, not even a single bird was around at this hour. The whole place was eerily quiet. It was the day of the death anniversary of Consort Ning. Wei Min couldn't see the reason for coming here this early instead of the morning.

Although he knew Fan Li Wei was in a heavy mood because the day reminded him of the death of his loved one, Wei Min still insisted, "But Master it's dangerous. Please take me with you."

"Wei Min! This is your Master's order!" Fan Li Wei's voice rose an octave as he ordered his personal servant with a solemn expression.

As soon as the command fell, Wei Min half kneeled and lowered his eyes to show his absolute obedience. Had it not been a concern of Fan Li Wei's safety, if he had to cut his own head, as long as Fan Li Wei ordered it, Wei Min wouldn't hesitate even a second.

Fan Li Wei turned to enter inside. The whole graveyard was at the base of a hill. Although it was a huge place, as a royal grave, it was regularly cleaned by the servants.

Fan Li Wei walked down the narrow path leading to the area where the tombs of the royal consorts were placed. A neat row of tombstones was arranged as per the hierarchy of the dead ones. He arrived in front of a tomb which didn't seem as old as the others. The green grass around was neatly trimmed and the whole place looked well tended to.

Before the break of dawn, being alone in the dark and gloomy graveyard would scare anyone to death but Fan Li Wei just stood there silently looking at the name on the memorial stone written Ning Jia Yi.

Ning Jia Yi was the younger sister of Fan Li Wei's mother. Although she was from the Fan kingdom, she was married to the current emperor of the Xin kingdom as a royal consort. Fan Li Wei was only four years old when Consort Ning passed away. But even if he was very young back then, he vividly remembered the time spent with her because they were the only happy memories of his life.

As he stood before the lifeless stone, there was no expression on his face. Many thoughts seemed to be running through his mind but none were reflected on the surface. After standing still for a long while, he slowly lowered himself and kneeled before the stone tablet. Positioning his overlapped hands on the wet grass, he bowed with his forehead resting on top of it with the utmost respect.

"Aunt Jia Yi" His gentle voice echoed in the empty grave. No one responded to his call. There was only a cold stone tablet in front of him, even then his eyes overflowed with warmth as he raised his head and looked at it.

Fan Li Wei remembered the beautiful lady who always had a kind smile on her face and unlike his Mother, she was patient with him even when he made any mistake which he didn't dare to commit in the palace. He, who never knew mother's love, wondered why Aunt Jia Yi was his aunt and not mother. Always treated coldly by everyone in the palace, he had begun thinking that he truly didn't deserve anybody's love and affection. While his Mother ignored him to run after the Emperor and his father didn't see any worth in him so never really cared for him, Fan Li Wei gradually forgot to raise his head in front of his family and became the stepping stone for his brothers. So Aunt Jia Yi's warmth of that time was like a warm fire lit in the cold winter. Later when the news of her death reached his ears, that fire that kept him warm was extinguished forever leaving him alone in the dark winter.

As he quietly sat there for a long time, the color of the sky started turning from dark to bronze hue with the ray of the early morning sun. Similarly, the light in his eyes also brightened up with the usual calmness.

Before standing up to leave, he whispered, "It seems in this world there really exists a person who is kind to me." Fan Li Wei took out the three silver taels from his sleeve pocket and put it in front of the stone tablet as if he was showing it to Consort Ning. Looking at it, he gave a self-deprecating laugh, "I thought the world had a grudge against me but it looks like it can also be merciful."

To him, rebirth was already a miracle that he had never even imagined. And now, introducing Bai Yu Yan to his grey life, it is showing him beautiful colors. The first time in the tavern, when she picked up the intentionally dropped silver taels, he was taken aback by her gesture where she didn't even leave a hint of herself and left without turning back. Although it wasn't anything special and his personal guards were just around, but to him, it was the first time someone had shown him genuine kindness which was without any ulterior motive, making him unable to forget that moment.

At the spring banquet, he was surprised to find that she was married to Prime Minister Lu. But even if she was already married to someone else, he knew what her fate would be like as the man would never cherish her after falling in love with someone else.

Fan Li Wei carefully collected the silver taels like some rare treasure and stood up after a final bow.

"Rest well, Aunt Jia Yi. I hope one day, I can come with her to pay respect to you."

The sky was slowly brightening up with the first light of the day. A new day was starting up. Fan Li Wei turned around to look at the breaking dawn as the memory of his past life ran across his head like all happened only yesterday. Like a layer of cold frost was settled underneath, his usual gentle eyes chilled remembering how terribly he had died previously at the hands of the people whom he called family. The pain, the suffering, and the grievance were well preserved in his mind, reminding him to be stronger day by day.

No longer was he a worthless prince, no longer was he a useless pawn.

Somewhere in a faraway place, a bruised man was kneeling with his head lowered. His whole body trembled but didn't dare utter a single word.

"Useless trash! You couldn't even do a single task properly. How could you let Lu Tong Xiao find you all?" roared a man with flaring anger as his eyes glowered at the kneeling servant.

"Do you think if Father Emperor knows about this, he will let you dogs live? Worthless scum!" he bellowed and directly kicked on the face of the servant.

The man's face was bleeding from the strike but hearing about the emperor, he didn't care for the pain on his face and scurried to bang his head on the cold floor, "Your Highness, this servant is sure that Prime Minister Lu hasn't found our identity yet. He only discovered our hideout yesterday and soon after we left that place, wiping out any trace of our presence. This servant swears to be careful from next time."

"Next time? Do you still think there will be next time?" the man scoffed as he stood up from the couch.

"N_No, no. This servant was wrong. There won't be next time." he hurriedly corrected himself before his head would fly off.

From the table, the man took a wine-filled cup he was sipping from and poured it on the other's head. "Lay low for now and tell your men not to act soon. Remember, one last chance. One mistake and you know the consequence."

After that, he tossed away the expensive-looking crystal cup like a piece of trash and walked away.