Chapter 015: The Gift

Wang Bo looked at this man and, combining the remnants of An Lushan's memories, immediately recognized his identity.

Yang Guozhong!

The chancellor of the Great Tang, or rather, a treacherous chancellor.

Yang Yuhuan's distant cousin!

This fellow was a ruffian and scoundrel who rose to power after Yang Yuhuan gained favor, climbing up by currying favor with Li Linfu, and after Li Linfu fell, he took over the position of chancellor.

Like An Lushan, he was a new noble of the Tianbao era, both favored by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. However, Yang Guozhong's rise to prominence came much later than An Lushan's.

When Yang Guozhong had not yet held high office, An Lushan had already been promoted to Military Governor of Pinglu in the first month of the first year of Tianbao, and later concurrently held the posts of Military Governor of Fanyang, Hebei Inspector, and Censor-in-Chief, and later also Military Governor of Hedong.

Later, this fellow became chancellor and wanted to suppress An Lushan.

But An Lushan had never taken this ruffian seriously.

Seeing that he could not subdue An Lushan, Yang Guozhong often told Li Longji that An Lushan had ambitions and signs of rebellion, but Li Longji thought it was just discord between the general and the chancellor and ignored him.

When that plan failed, Yang Guozhong devised another: he petitioned to have Geshu Han, the Military Governor of Longyou, also serve as Military Governor of Hexi, in order to exclude and contain An Lushan.

An Lushan saw all this clearly, and his murderous intent toward Yang Guozhong grew day by day.

So much so that later, when An Lushan rebelled, his pretext was... to execute Yang Guozhong and purge the side of the ruler!

From this, one can see An Lushan's murderous intent toward Yang Guozhong.

Although An Lushan had now been replaced by Wang Bo, Wang Bo had no goodwill toward Yang Guozhong. After this fellow rose to power, he became chancellor and was enfeoffed as Duke of Weiguo, holding over forty concurrent posts. During his tenure as chancellor, he monopolized power, misled the state, and corrupted the court—he was absolutely a top-tier cancer of the Tang dynasty.

Wang Bo felt that although Yang Guozhong was neither emperor nor hero, nor sage nor madman, he was still a figure worthy of being recorded in history.

If he sold his soul to Lady Gremory, he might fetch a good price.

Perhaps even higher than Sloan's price—who could say?

After Yang Guozhong approached, he cupped his hands and said, “General An has come to the feast today. I wonder what gift you have brought for the Imperial Consort? Why not show it and let everyone feast their eyes?”

His tone seemed polite, but inwardly he was deeply jealous of An Lushan and had already decided that if An Lushan's gift was not good, he would seize on it and harshly rebuke him.

Even if he couldn't do anything to this bastard, he would at least make him lose face.

Wang Bo chuckled a few times and said, “I have already prepared the gift. I await the Imperial Consort's inspection. I believe she will surely like the gift I have brought.”

Yang Guozhong said, “Oh?” with a meaningful tone, “General An is so confident; this gift must be extremely precious.”

Wang Bo couldn't be bothered with this petty man and ordered his men to bring his gift.

Li Longji saw the two at odds and didn't mind; after all, these two never gave him a moment's peace. But he was also very curious about An Lushan's gift.

So he ordered Yang Yuhuan to be summoned.

It was at this moment that Wang Bo saw this Imperial Consort who would be famous for millennia.

Without a doubt, Yang Yuhuan was very beautiful.

Otherwise, there would not be timeless verses like “Born with natural beauty too hard to hide, a smile and a glance a hundred charms beget, all the powdered ladies of the six palaces fade by her side” passed down through the ages.

Because the Tang dynasty valued plumpness as beauty, Yang Yuhuan was not a slender beauty; on the contrary, she had a full figure, skin as delicate as white snow, hair as black and shiny as a waterfall, eyebrows like crescent moons, and eyes like autumn waters.

She was indeed a rare beauty, even one in a hundred thousand.

Wang Bo had to admit that Yang Yuhuan was indeed beautiful, but she was not so beautiful that Wang Bo felt stunned. The reason, perhaps, was that Wang Bo had seen too many beauties.

Whether it was Bud or Chun-Li, both were rare beauties.

Even Wu Zetian was not inferior to Yang Yuhuan in appearance.

More importantly, Wang Bo had also seen a two-dimensional beauty, Vermouth, whose beauty was no less than Yang Yuhuan's, and even slightly surpassed it.

Not to mention Lady Gremory in hell. She was a demon who surpassed countless humans, peerlessly enchanting. If she appeared in the human world, she would cause countless people to suffer from lovesickness.

So for Yang Yuhuan, Wang Bo was merely surprised, not stunned.

Seeing Yang Yuhuan approaching gracefully, Yang Guozhong's face showed a hint of smug malice, and he said relentlessly, “General An, your mother has arrived. Why don't you quickly kowtow and pay your respects?”

These words were heard not only by Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan but also by those around them.

Everyone's gaze involuntarily shifted to An Lushan.

Everyone knew that An Lushan, to curry favor with Yang Yuhuan, had once acknowledged Yang Yuhuan as his mother. So many were curious whether An Lushan would kneel.

After all, An Lushan was now the military governor of three towns and Li Longji's confidant; his status was no longer comparable to that of earlier days.

If he knelt today, it would surely become a laughingstock in Chang'an.

But if he didn't kneel, wouldn't that mean he had deceived the emperor by claiming her as his mother?

Wang Bo looked at Yang Guozhong with dark eyes and nodded. He decided that when he found an opportunity, he would kill Yang Guozhong and sell his soul to Lady Gremory.

Yang Guozhong, momentarily unnerved by Wang Bo's gaze, felt his scalp tingle and his body grow cold.

Seeing the atmosphere turn tense, Yang Yuhuan said slowly, “Today is the Feast of Ultimate Joy. His Majesty has decreed that today, the whole realm celebrates together. At the Feast of Ultimate Joy, everyone is equal, with no distinction of rank. Brother, your words are inappropriate. General An, please do not take offense.”

Wang Bo smiled slightly and said, “You are too kind, Imperial Consort. Today I have a gift for you. Please take a look. This item is rare in the human world, and I believe you will surely like it.”

At that moment, one of his guards, holding a box, crossed the hall and approached.

Wang Bo took the box, slowly opened it, and took out the item inside.

It was a gem the size of a human head.

For a moment, gasps of surprise were heard.

Greed appeared in the eyes of many.

Even Li Longji was greatly shaken; this single gem was surely priceless.

His royal treasury held many treasures, but none could compare to this head-sized gem.

The largest gem in Wang Bo's fourth-dimensional pocket was only fist-sized, not as large as a human head. But Wang Bo had thrown a fist-sized gem into the Woodcutter's Spring, and the Spring Goddess had given him this large gem.

Wang Bo made a copy, put the original back into the fourth-dimensional pocket, and handed the copy to Yang Yuhuan.

After all, there was no difference between the two.