Cunning General Si Ning
Chapter 287: Future

Chapter 287: Future

When they arrived at Xiu, the whole city celebrated and this news got to every part of Xiu and even Xiu’s allies celebrated with them. Si Ning had to go home after seeing to the whole celebration in the palace while wearing fake smile everywhere he went and accept all the greetings and gifts that his store got so filled to the extent that the gifts had to be stacked in a spare room, when Si Ning got to the Si residence he discovered that Si Nan had renovated the house beyond recognition and she had also taken over the family trade, she had also done the funeral for their mother according to Si Ning’s wishes, it was a relieve for Si Ning that their mother was now fully able to rest and Si Nan explained that the doctors sew the head to the neck and covered it with bandages that it was almost like the head was never cut off, the house was filled with new servants and new guards so Si Ning sent the reserved forces back to their base leaving Jiang ChenMu to oversee them even Yueqing came back to help Yanlin and Shi Zhuxue as she became one of the most sort after dancer while Shi Junhao became the personal guard of Si Nan along side Wei but Jiang Yi had to come and join Xiao Pei in the palace while Yi Chen went back to Xilie to see Lan Zhang and Lan Wan about the next step to take about the Ge household and the army because Si Ning was busy and wouldn’t have time for the Ge household and family army.

After the celebration died down, a lot of preparation followed about how to go about turning Xilie into a state of Xiu, It was such a long preparation that Si Ning didn’t get to rest neither the whole court nor Xiu Zhicheng and Qiu Bai’s sister who was the only Imperial family of Xilie was ready to corporate and showed her sincerity that she doesn’t want anything to do with the throne because her brother lost his vision to make Xilie great and became too greedy and she was someone who wanted to live a quiet peaceful life.

The first thing Si Ning did when he got to Xiu was to send for the pills of all poison that Ah Dai made, he gave it to Xiu Zhicheng, the Emperor consumed it but later threw it up so Si Ning had to take another pill and this time he crushed it into powdered form and gave Xiu Zhicheng hoping it would get rid of the residue of the poison, the antidote was already made and was given to Xiu Zhicheng a few days later but neither the antidote nor the pills Ah Dai made were able to get rid of the dark blood in Xiu Zhicheng’s heart and it was known only to a few numbers of people in the palace that the Emperor’s heart was failing and instead of him using his time to rest, Xiu Zhicheng decided to be out there and make sure every repair and compensation about the effect of the war was going well.

Ran Chunhua was taken out of prison, she had lost a lot of weight having the appearance of a walking skeleton that made Si Ning feel guilty a bit that the punishment might have been too harsh on her, she was demoted from her position so she went back to her home leaving Xiu Yuan and the boy was still little and wasn’t close with his mother so his mother that disappeared from his life was just like she never existed as the boy carried on with his life. The Yang tribe were given part of Xiu’s land that was under development in one of the states of Xiu that is nearest to Zhonghua and the reserved forces that were treated at the Yin mountain came down with them and the Yang tribe people were already learning the general language from the reserved forces they treated, they were each registered and given a citizen of Xiu’s identity card and Shang Jin cried for a long time when he left Si Ning to go back to his people and help them rebuild on the land given to them.

Lin Fan was still in a coma while Xiu TianZhao went along with his business while always mumbling about how his twin guards betrayed him because Qiu Bai promised them an Official governmental post and saying he doesn’t need any personal guards and this time it was Si Ning that sent Jiang Yi to his side to take care of Xiu TianZhao for the time being.

Every night Xiu Zhicheng made sure he spent a little time with his family, Xiu Junjie and Xiu Yuan were happy to spend time with their father and sometimes Concubine Ling and Concubine Liu would also join but the Queen Dowager only join whenever Si Ning didn’t join them and after Xiu Zhicheng would stay at the Jasmine Palace to eat dinner and sleep for a short time while holding Si Ning, they would talk and after Xiu Zhicheng thought Si Ning was asleep he would stand up to go outside to cough silently and also spat out black blood, Si Ning pretended not to know but he suspected Xiu Zhicheng knew he knows but none of them talked about it.

Xiu Zhicheng started to take an overdose of his drugs when it got worst that he kept losing weight and kept coughing out blood many times a day while breathing heavily, it started with only once but started increasing and Si Ning was with him, ready to give him medicinal water and each time he made sure he doesn’t cry because Xiu Zhicheng doesn’t like him crying then one day at the court assembly Xiu Zhicheng sat there on the throne while Si Ning sat next to him and he had a kind of determined look that Si Ning had never seen before.

"I can see I have capable loyal Ministers since you Ministers of my court were able to contain it that my health is deteriorating so I have made steps about Xiu’s future and also put it into writing." Xiu Zhicheng told the whole court in a mild gentle voice as he spoke slowly to avoid erupting into a cough.

The Imperial Tutor stepped forward, him and Song Ouyang being in charge of the court for the short time made the Imperial Tutor able to eradicate all the traitors in the court so the number of the Ministers reduced, he cut a lot off and make sure their salaries and wages went into the National budget and Song Ouyang had to close his eyes and complied while arranging for the funerals of those that lost their lifes in the palace because Xiu Zhicheng was a capable Emperor but he had to keep the power balance in the Nation so for that he had to keep the Ministers happy but the Imperial Tutor was ruthless and it was what the court needed and when Xiu Zhicheng saw what the Imperial Tutor had done, he as the Emperor had the power to bring the demoted Ministers back but he chose to look at the other way since the Imperial Tutor was ready to bare all his actions so no one could say anything against it or plead with Xiu Zhicheng because the Emperor acted like he was ignorant about what transpired in the court when he wasn’t around and he also had the aftermath of the war to look into so he had no time to organise the court.

The Imperial Tutor rolled out a decree. "Here is an Imperial edict which states that if anything happens to the Imperial Dragon, the son of heaven seated onnn the throne then our beloved Empress General Si Ning of Xiu who proved that his leadership skills and loyalty were on the Dragon level and who won the war for our beloved Nation Xiu would take over the throne until the Crown Prince Xiu Junjie comes of age that his coronation will take place."

Si Ning was shocked as he turned to see Xiu Zhicheng nodding and smiling at him, he couldn’t believe Xiu Zhicheng trust him so much that he would willingly give him the throne and also trust him that when Xiu Junjie would come of age he was going to hand over the throne to him. Tears willed up Si Ning’s eyes as he tried to blink them away when he stood up, like a weightless person he collected the edict from the Imperial Tutor.

"Long live Your Majesty!" The whole court bowed.

The edict Si Ning was holding was light yet the weight was much like a whole Nation was placed on his hands, he had always wanted to get power and be above everybody but the price he paid and the price he was still paying was something he never expected and now that power was his but he doesn’t want it nor was he happy, if he was strip off his position and had no power or riches as long as Xiu Zhicheng would keep being with him then he would accept it.

That night whenever Si Ning wants to scoot or move, he was held tightly by Xiu Zhicheng as if he was going to disappear.

"Si Ning I want to make love to you."

Eh?