Yue Maiden was angry and jealous. She walked closer, and suddenly, she raised her hand and knocked off the guard.
Xi Shi was aghast.
"Fan Li is my husband," Yue Maiden said. "But he thinks of you, days and nights!"
"But in the end, you are his formal wife!" Xi Shi said in a low voice. "I'm just a woman…who sacrificed my love for the sake of my country!"
"And the future generations will curse you as a beauty who collapsed a nation!"
Xi Shi said nothing.
Yue Maiden raised her sword and said, "Let me kill you, to finish your agony!"
Xi Shi nodded and, with teary eyes, said, "Please take good care of Minister Fan! He's a good man! And he deserves to have a good woman who can look after him!"
Yue Maiden lightly touched Xi Shi's chest with her sword. Xi Shi closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate. She had betrayed her husband for her country. She deserved her punishment.
Xi Shi felt the cold sword on her chest. Yue Maiden didn't stab Xi Shi's chest and only pointed out her sword. But Yue Maiden's inner pure Qi energy penetrated Xi Shi's chest and did her some slight internal wound.
Xi Shi felt pain in her heart. She frowned and held her hands in front of her bosom. Even in her pain and grimace face, she still looked stunning.
In the next two thousand years, all people know that the most beautiful image of Xi Shi is when Xi Shi's holding her hands in front of her bosom.
Yue Maiden carefully observed Xi Shi. She saw how beautiful was the woman in front of her. The killing rage on Yue Maiden's face gradually disappeared, replaced with disappointment and self-pity.
"You are very beautiful! And you're doing all of these because of your love for your country and Fan Li!" Yue Maiden sighed, "No wonder Fan Li could not forget you after so many years!"
"I am just a lowly woman who betrayed my husband. I'm a spy who used my charm to kill loyal ministers like Wu Zixu and the others," Xi Shi said.
"Only Fan Li deserves to have a perfect woman like you!"
"I'm just a woman, who, because of my jealousy, had made Fan Li abandoned Ying to die in the hand of bandits!" Xi Shi said in her mind. She recalled all her deeds, and her conscience convicted her. Her tears started to flow.
Yue Maiden pulled her sword and said, "Take good care of Fan Li!" With her last word, Yue Maiden ran away and left the palace.
Xi Shi opened up her eyes and found out no one. Yue Maiden had left the palace.
Nobody had ever seen Yue Maiden again. She just disappeared after she realized that she could not win Fan Li's heart.
=======
Ying was glad to see Xi Shi was alive. Now she had to find out where Zheng Dan was. She searched all over the palaces but could not find her.
Therefore, Ying walked to the palace garden, which led to the nearby forest. She walked further and further until suddenly she heard a woman was singing. That woman was singing in Yue's language. Ying knew that, most likely, the woman was Zheng Dan. She walked to the hill's peak to find her.
Ying saw Zheng Dan was clutching her pipa lute and singing while she's crying. In front of him was a man, wearing his torn king robe with his desperate face and eyes. It was Fuchai.
Zheng Dan was singing a song in the Yue language, a language that Fuchai didn't understand. Ying understood the song, and she shed her tears as she heard Zheng Dan was singing.
The song was Zheng Dan's most profound feeling. Her parents and families were killed in a battle between Yue and Wu. She determined to be part of the beauty who destroy Fuchai - the king of Wu. And for that, she's willing to sacrifice her own happiness and her reputation. For generations, she would be cursed as someone who used her beauty to destruct a nation. And after so many years, after she lost her youth and prime time, the time had come. And now Yue King was coming with his soldiers to wipe out Wu. Her revenge had paid off. Now Fuchai had been in despair and would soon die. But then how could her heart feel happy? Twelve years as Fuchai's wife, although it started with the hatred in her heart, she could see the good things in him later on. After twelve years and two daughters, how could she be happy and cheer in joy to see her daughters' father died?
Ying stood still and observed them from afar. Then she saw Fuchai closed his eyes, raised his short spear, and used it to slash his throat. Blood spurted from his throat and splashed Zheng Dan's face. Zheng Dan began to weep.
Ying approached Zheng Dan. She patted her shoulder and said, "Zheng Dan, King Goujian, Mister Fan, and I come to bring you home!"
Zheng Dan turned her head and saw a face she's familiar with years ago. She sobbed, and Ying hugged her while stroking her hair. "Don't be sad!"
"He's my husband! And I betrayed him…" Zheng Dan wept again. "For generations, people will curse me as an evil woman!"
"This is your mission in life! There's nothing such as betrayal. You will be remembered as a virtuous woman who sacrifices your life and happiness for the sake of your country!" Ying said. "Fuchai's mission in his life was to be a good king. Yet he neglected his job. Therefore, he deserves his death. It has nothing to do with you or Xi Shi!"
Ying saw Fuchai's dead body on the ground. She felt pity for Fuchai. He was once a great king who thought that he was immune to beauty traps and political schemes. He didn't realize that when someone is inadvertent and takes things lightly, they would easily fall.
"Come, I will help you bury him!" Ying said.
Ying used Fuchai's short spear to dig a grave for him. There's no tombstone for him, as it's better for his grave to be unmarked rather than to be desecrated by those who hated him.
It's almost sunset when they finished with Fuchai's burial. "Let's go now!" said Ying.
"Ying, are you the same Ying like I used to know?" Zheng Dan finally opened up her mouth and asked.
Ying laughed, "Of course I'm still the same Ying. But I'm no longer that weak, stupid girl from Kuaiji. I'm now a powerful swordsman! Look at my sword, Zheng Dan! I will give you a fine sword! I still remember how you dance so gracefully with your swords!"
Zheng Dan laughed. "Finally, you got what you dreamed of! You have always dreamed of becoming a hero with a sword and a bow! Finally….finally….we all fulfill our dreams! Yue finally win and wipe off Wu from the map forever!"
Zheng Dan started to cry again. "Somehow, he was my husband…and we had two daughters!"
Ying was alarmed. "Then we should go back to the palace now, to make sure King Goujian spares your daughters' lives!"
The two of them rushed back to the palace where Goujian held a banquet to celebrate their victory.
Ying clutched Zheng Dan's left hand and made a salute reported to King Goujian.
"My king, Fuchai killed himself! And this is Zheng Dan. Finally, I could bring her back home!"
"Where's Fuchai's body?" asked Goujian.
"I've thrown his body off the cliff," Ying laughed. King Goujian was a bit surprised, "Why didn't you report to me first before you decided?"
"Honestly, because I forgot!" Ying said with an innocent voice. "He slashed his throat with his spear. And then I also stabbed his body with my sword to make sure that he's dead! Then I just kicked his body off the cliff!"
Zheng Dan didn't understand why Ying lied like that. But she trusted Ying did that for reasons.
"Here is the spear of Fuchai," Ying presented Fuchai's spear to Goujian.
Goujian took the spear and carefully examined it. It was a beautiful spear. "Ying, I heard that you have a good sword! I want to see how good your sword if compared to this spear!"
Ying stunned. She didn't know why suddenly Goujian wanted to see her sword. "My King, Fuchai's spear is forged by a grandmaster. How could it be compared to my sword!"
"We can't tell unless we compare it!" Goujian laughed. "Draw your sword!"