After Sixty Years Asleep, I Return at the Peak

In the Great Xiao Dynasty, Marshal of the Realm Xi Hualing had been asleep for a full sixty years. When she awoke, she discovered that her nephew had been framed for treason, her grandniece had been tortured to death, and the culprit was standing smugly beside her bed. The new emperor wanted her dead, the powerful ministers wanted her gone, and the entire court was waiting to laugh at her. They said, “Marshal, you’re old. Times have changed.” She smiled. The emperor bestowed poisoned wine upon her, and she exposed the plot to his face. The royal hunt was an ambush: three hundred arrows flew at once, then stopped in midair three feet in front of her. The entire court was shaken. The Imperial Preceptor asked the emperor, “Do you know what posthumous title the Founding Emperor once gave Marshal Xi?” “She isn’t dead. How could she have a posthumous title?” The Imperial Preceptor shook his head. “The Founding Emperor once wrote two words on her memorial tablet: ‘The Nation’s Foundation!’” Later, the emperor slumped on his throne and asked in a trembling voice, “What is it you want?” With one foot on the edge of the throne, she looked at the quivering man seated on it and said softly, “I don’t want anything, Your Majesty. I only want to ask: over these sixty years, who has laid a hand on the Xi family?” “It’s all right if you won’t tell me. I’ll ask them one by one, slowly.”