Chapter 186 – The Concubine’s Counterattack: The Most Favored Empress – From Love Rival to… Love Rival (16)
The fire raged fiercely, and the thick smoke was suffocating.
Inside the burning palace, Luo Dai could hardly see anything. But relying on his familiarity with the layout, he groped his way to the window—exactly the spot where the black beam had fallen earlier, blocking the path. Bai Tang lay unconscious against the wall.
“Tang Tang…”
Luo Dai rushed over, tore a piece of his clothing, and used it to cover Bai Tang’s mouth and nose. But no matter how loudly he called, there was no response.
Outside the hall, people were throwing water to put out the flames. Inside, those trapped were searching for a foothold.
Carrying Bai Tang on his back, Luo Dai kept dodging the burning debris around them. “I’ll get you out of here. I promise.”
Suddenly, Luo Dai felt a weight lift from his back—the boy he was carrying had vanished, as if something small had slipped down his spine.
He turned quickly, and just in time, caught a small squirrel falling into his palm.
With yellowish-white fur—it was the same little squirrel from earlier.
Faced with this bizarre transformation, Luo Dai wasn’t shocked. Instead, he had a feeling of confirmation—as if everything made sense now.
It was better this way. As a squirrel, it would be easier to escape.
Luo Dai placed the little squirrel close to his heart, ensuring it wouldn’t fall. Then he tore down a curtain that hadn’t been entirely burned. Wrapping it around the fallen beam that blocked their path, he infused it with inner energy and flung it aside. The beam shifted, revealing an opening just big enough for them to slip through.
Cradling his chest to protect the squirrel, Luo Dai leapt through the gap and escaped the burning palace.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty, where is the Queen Consort?!”
As Luo Dai emerged, many people rushed up, asking about Bai Tang.
Luo Dai wasn’t sure whether they knew about Bai Tang’s transformation into a squirrel, so he kept silent.
It was Consort Hua who reacted quickly and silenced the other consorts’ shouting. With so many people and guards around trying to put out the fire, if news of the Queen Consort being a squirrel spirit spread, it could cause big trouble.
Luo Dai took out the little squirrel and held it in his palm to let it breathe.
The tiny belly of the squirrel rose and fell—it was clearly still breathing.
Once that was confirmed, not only did Luo Dai breathe a sigh of relief, but all the consorts present also relaxed, their worry finally easing.
Ma Aoshan had planted explosives around the palace perimeter. Although she was stopped before they could be detonated, the fire still raged throughout the night.
No one had expected that the daughter of a mere county magistrate could cause such chaos—nearly burning down half the imperial palace. Fortunately, Bai Tang was unharmed; otherwise, Ma Aoshan wouldn’t have lived to see the dawn.
Even so, Ma Aoshan wasn’t faring well.
She had taken a blow from Prince Zhuang, which left her internal organs damaged and her body in severe pain. Luo Dai had gone to fight the fire and had no time to deal with her for the moment. She was imprisoned alongside Prince Zhuang, and she mocked him relentlessly throughout the night.
Prince Zhuang was no ordinary man. Before Luo Dai rose to fame, he had once been the commander leading troops into battle. Losing to Luo Dai was one thing—but being tripped up by Ma Aoshan? That was a humiliation he couldn’t bear.
Once Bai Tang had transformed back into human form and the imperial physician confirmed that his life was not in danger, Luo Dai finally turned his attention to the rebellion.
Prince Zhuang, resentful of Luo Dai becoming emperor, confessed to his plans of usurping power. He even revealed all his secrets himself. He knew Luo Dai wouldn’t kill him—he had once saved the late emperor and had been granted a special privilege: no matter what happened or who became emperor, Prince Zhuang’s life was to be spared.
Enraged that he had been toyed with by a woman, and knowing he had no chance of recovery, Prince Zhuang realized his fate would only be imprisonment in another location. So, he offered a trade—his power in exchange for Ma Aoshan.
Luo Dai accepted without hesitation. Ma Aoshan was no significant figure in his eyes. According to the law, she should have been executed at the Meridian Gate. This exchange with Prince Zhuang had, in a way, saved her life.
When Ma Aoshan was brought forward and heard the decision—then saw Prince Zhuang’s sinister smile—she instantly refused.
She screamed almost hysterically, “Your Majesty, you can’t do this! I’m your woman! I’m carrying your child!”
In the original version of the story, the female lead was the only woman to bear the male lead’s child. Her son became the crown prince and later the next emperor.
But no one paid attention to Ma Aoshan’s madness. Luo Dai waved his hand and summoned her personal maid.
What the maid said shattered Ma Aoshan.
“My lady, His Majesty has never once spent the night at Ganquan Palace. Everything was just your fantasy. I saw… I saw you were alone…”
The words were spoken in front of everyone—there was no denying it. Everyone heard it. Ma Aoshan lost all dignity, both inside and out.
She stared blankly at her maid, murmuring, “Impossible… impossible… His Majesty clearly came to favor me every night…”
“My lady,” the maid knelt on the ground and revealed the truth, “His Majesty only ever sat with you for a short while before leaving. After that… you would fall into your own fantasies…”
“It’s all gone… everything’s gone…” Ma Aoshan’s beautiful dream shattered. Even the imperial physician later confirmed that she was merely unwell and that her delayed menstruation was due to stress—she was never pregnant at all.
It was because she believed she held a trump card that she dared to challenge both Luo Dai and Prince Zhuang. Even if she failed, she thought the child in her womb would serve as her shield.
In the Great Zhou dynasty, pregnant women were not executed. And if she was carrying a royal heir—Luo Dai’s child—then should he die, her child would become the next emperor.
With the new emperor’s ascension would come a general amnesty, and all criminals would be pardoned. Even if she couldn’t become empress, she could still become empress dowager.
But Ma Aoshan never considered that even if all her schemes had succeeded, the Luo clan was far from extinct. There was no way the throne would be handed to a baby still drinking milk.
In the end, Prince Zhuang was placed under house arrest, and Ma Aoshan was taken away by him—subjected to endless torment day and night. From a modest courtyard, not too big or small, came the piercing screams of a woman, echoing day and night. Those passing by, unaware of the truth, thought the place was haunted and hurried past, afraid to linger.
Bai Tang finally woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Luo Dai’s face—worn and filled with despair.
“Tang Tang.” The moment he saw the boy awaken, Luo Dai’s first instinct was to embrace him tightly, showering him with kisses—on his forehead, his cheeks, the corners of his lips…
“A Dai, about the rebellion…”
“It’s all been taken care of. Didn’t I tell you to stay put in the villa? Why didn’t you listen…” As soon as the topic came up, Luo Dai started settling scores. He couldn’t let a certain little squirrel get too used to sneaking around just because he was small and nimble. What if one day he got tired of him and decided to leave the palace? That thought unsettled Luo Dai deeply.
A wave of panic rose in Luo Dai’s heart. “Tang Tang, you’re not going to leave me… right?”
“Hm? Why would I leave A Dai?” The boy looked confused. Then he seemed to remember something he had heard after returning to the palace. “Wait… did you fall in love with Ma Aoshan? Are you going to abandon me?”
Tears began to well up in the boy’s wide eyes, glistening like crystals—ready to fall with just a single blink.
Luo Dai: !!!
Tang Tang’s thoughts jump way too fast—I can’t keep up. What does this have to do with Ma Aoshan…?
Then Bai Tang burst into tears with a loud waaah, convinced now that A Dai had fallen for someone else.
“If she stays, I go! If I stay, she goes!” Even the little squirrel’s claws were sharp—Bai Tang spat out the ultimatum fiercely, then flopped onto the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and turned his back to Luo Dai.
“Tang Tang, I—”
“Woof woof woof~~~”
Luo Dai’s words were drowned out by a husky’s barking. He turned his head to see the husky waddling up onto the bed with its chubby body. It snuggled up to Bai Tang affectionately and barked angrily at Luo Dai.
“Tang Tang,” Luo Dai sat at the edge of the bed, scooped Bai Tang up—blanket and all—into his arms. “My feelings for you are real. Ma Aoshan rebelled with Prince Zhuang and has already been punished. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you to see for yourself…”
He rubbed his chin gently against the top of Bai Tang’s head. The boy was small, and he fit perfectly in Luo Dai’s embrace.
“But about you being a squirrel spirit…”
Bai Tang’s mind exploded in panic. A Dai had found out! What if he thought he was a monster? It was all Xiao A’s fault…
“I—I’m not a monster, A Dai! I’m really not…” Bai Tang hurried to explain, pouring out the whole story about Xiao A.
Xiao A didn’t have time to stop him. Originally, it was the female lead’s system and only had a contractual relationship with Bai Tang, so revealing the truth wasn’t punishable.
Even Qiu’er was stunned after hearing the truth—his mind flashing through a hundred thousand “what the hells.”
To think someone dared to snatch his host from him! That system from the original female lead was clearly bad news. “Xiao A”? What kind of name was that anyway? Not nearly as classy as his own!
Luo Dai yanked the jade pendant off the husky’s neck. This was the thing that had nearly ruined his kingdom—and his Tang Tang.
What Bai Tang said sounded outrageous, the kind of tale no ordinary person would believe. But Luo Dai believed it—if Bai Tang said it, he’d believe it no matter what.
Turning the jade pendant in his hand, Luo Dai hugged Tang Tang and asked, “Will this thing affect you in any way?”
Bai Tang shook his head. “Xiao A said, as long as I don’t ask for help on my own, it won’t intervene.” That was exactly what it had told him.
If Xiao A hadn’t helped save Bai Tang this time, Luo Dai would’ve had both the pendant and Xiao A destroyed.
Qiu’er knew the pendant was Xiao A’s hiding place. Though he despised it, his body instinctively wanted to get close—he even wanted to lick the pendant.
Xiao A had suffered deeply from Qiu’er’s slobbery affection. The two systems couldn’t have had it worse.
Luo Dai observed all of this, and though he didn’t expect the husky to also be a rival system trying to steal Bai Tang, a little scheme formed in his mind. He lengthened the string on the pendant and hung it back around the husky’s neck, letting the dog carry it around in its mouth like a toy.
“Tang Tang,” he said gently, “be my one and only Emperor’s Consort.”
“Hm?”
After everything that had happened, Luo Dai issued an imperial edict to the consorts of the harem: they were free to leave the palace, marry whomever they wished, and all dowries would be covered by the royal family.
The edict stunned the court. Was Luo Dai really dissolving his entire harem for the sake of his consort?!
Consorts like Lady Hua had already prepared for this outcome. Now with an official decree granting them freedom to remarry, they wouldn’t be pressured by their families to immediately wed again. It wasn’t a bad deal at all.
But the world had never been fair to women—leaving the palace would surely subject them to gossip and scorn.
Luo Dai had thought of that too. If they wished, they could remain in the palace as court ladies—official positions with ranks, just like civil servants. They would no longer be discarded women of the royal family, but valued members serving the empire.
Lady Hua and the others were very satisfied. Upon learning that this idea came from Bai Tang, their gratitude to him only deepened.
Soon after, Luo Dai realized his rivals didn’t end with a husky and the Empress Dowager—he now had to compete with all the beautiful former consorts who had chosen to stay and serve as palace officials. They were everywhere… and Tang Tang was so kind to all of them. His heart could barely take it.
For Bai Tang, the hard days ended with Ma Aoshan’s downfall. The second half of his life was spent surrounded by affection and care.
When Luo Dai attended court, Tang Tang was cared for and chatted with by the Empress Dowager and former consorts turned officials. When Luo Dai returned, his beloved was there waiting for him.
The only regret was that they never had children. In the end, Luo Dai carefully chose a talented child from among the royal relatives—someone capable of shouldering the empire.
Once the boy had grown and matured, Luo Dai abdicated the throne and moved with Bai Tang to a private villa, escaping the crowd of “love rivals” to enjoy a peaceful life for just the two of them.
Author’s Note:
This world has come to an end! A new one begins tomorrow—double updates! Stay tuned!!! 💫