Chapter 252: Sunny Day Chapter 228: Imperial Uncle Possesses the Realm

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Before New Year's Day arrived, the entire Jingji region was shrouded in the misty snow-fog of the renewed review of the two Ling cases.

Guo Shi, who had always cherished his life and wanted to live well, had feasted on mountain delicacies and fine wines for years, only to fall into a winter prison cell one day and plunge into a purgatory called karmic retribution; under the burning of karmic fire, no futile persistence of enduring torture without confessing appeared on him.

He confessed without reservation to the crimes of colluding with Rui Ze to plot regicide and inciting Deposed Crown Prince Cheng to rebel, and in the face of this capital crime, he also intermittently confessed to the process of colluding with Zhu Zhi years ago to frame Crown Prince Liu Gu.

According to Guo Shi's confession, he had dared to conceive the thought of taking the opportunity to remove Crown Ling Taizi because he had learned of Ling Ke's treasonous evidence first and seen it secretly presented to the Emperor, taking advantage of the shift in the Emperor's mind.

The Emperor was obsessed with longevity, and Guo Shi had contributed greatly to this; many of the Taoist priests and shamans in Xian Tai Gong had been recommended by him. When Crown Ling Taizi entered Xian Tai Gong to pray for the state and his Sovereign Father, Guo Shi had someone plant framing and curse objects in advance at the Crown Prince's lodging.

The Dragon Countenance was greatly angered, and he quickly ordered a search of Wuzhang Palace.

Although Ling Empress and Crown Ling Taizi were benevolent, they had not neglected governing their subordinates; the servants in Wuzhang Palace were mostly loyal and vigilant. Guo Shi did not have reliable spies capable of participating in such a major matter. The curse bronze man engraved with the Emperor's Eight Characters under the peach tree was not buried in advance but was brought by Zhu Zhi, who was responsible for the search, creating the illusion of being dug up on the spot.

During that period, the Emperor was ill and took many elixirs. Upon hearing the news, he vomited blood in grief and anger and immediately issued an edict to punish Crown Ling Taizi.

Guo Shi took the imperial edict to Xian Tai Gong, and Zhu Zhi led the Brocade Guard to arrest people. For Crown Ling Taizi and his people, this was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue. The Crown Prince's accompanying officials vouched for the Crown Prince's virtue, but before they finished speaking, they were stabbed through the chest by Zhu Zhi with a blade, blood splashing onto Crown Ling Taizi's face. He saw the ferocious and excited killing intent in Zhu Zhi's eyes, and he also saw that if he surrendered and followed this evil creature away, he was destined to be unable to escape.

Crown Ling Taizi insisted on meeting Imperial Uncle and asked how Imperial Uncle was at this moment. Guo Shi's half-smile, half-not smile remark, "Your Highness, you have no fate in this life to meet your Sovereign Father again," made Crown Ling Taizi and his people generate suspicious speculation that the Sovereign Father might be seriously ill from vomiting blood and unable to handle affairs, or even that the situation was more serious.

Meanwhile, Ling Empress in the palace had long been unable to see the Emperor as she wished. The situation in the Emperor's Bedroom Palace was unclear, and the Empress could not confirm whether the Emperor was unconscious or awake, or even alive or dead.

The standoff in Xian Tai Gong could no longer be delayed. Ling Empress made a quick decision and used the Empress Seal to open the Armory.

For Crown Ling Taizi, obeying his mother's order was not rebelling against his father. What he wanted to resist was the evil creature who framed him, wanted to prevent him from meeting his Sovereign Father, and wanted to take his life directly. And if Imperial Uncle truly had an accident, these people could not be allowed to control the situation. This act was for himself, for those behind him, and also for the Imperial Court and the realm.

After Marquis Ling Ke returned to the capital, his Tiger Talisman had been taken back. Even if he tried his best to resist, the number of people who could be mobilized in time was limited. The Emperor, who came from the military, had already secretly made various response preparations after seeing that treasonous secret report. Guo Shi knew clearly in his heart that even if Ling Ke truly chose to rebel, it would only shed more blood and kill more people, without being able to turn this hopeless situation around.

Unexpectedly, Ling Ke seemed to have foreseen the doomed ending long ago. His attitude was extremely firm and decisive, with no confusion or struggle in panic. He actually chose another path that no one had ever thought of. He fought to the death to protect Crown Ling Taizi to outside the Palace Gate, cut off his own arm to eliminate future troubles for the Emperor, in exchange for the possibility of the Crown Prince meeting the Emperor.

Those who followed Ling Ke and Ling Empress and her son in the fierce battle that night were all close confidants who originally could not escape being liquidated. It was an extremely desperate night. The Empress wanted to control the situation from within the palace and at least not sit and wait for death. Ling Ke protected his nephew outside the palace, hoping to awaken the Emperor's heart with his severed arm.

Guo Shi often couldn't help but think: if the Emperor had not been unconscious at that time and missed the news of Ling Ke cutting off his arm...

"Heaven's will, it's all Heaven's will..." Guo Shi, covered in wounds from punishment, huddled in the corner of the prison cell, sighing in a low voice.

"Think carefully. Are there any other accomplices? Confess them all, so you don't have to suffer more fleshly pain." He Pingchun said in a deep voice.

"Still interrogating? Other accomplices..." Guo Shi's voice was weak. He barely raised his eyes to look at He Pingchun, but revealed a self-pitying smile: "Commander He, Guo Shi is just an ordinary locust. Without taking advantage of the natural disaster, how could I have the ability to destroy the most fertile fields under heaven..."

"Only when encountering a natural disaster can locusts cause a locust plague."

"This locust of mine just wants to live, afraid of being stepped to death by others, so I inevitably wanted to fly higher. The higher I flew, the hungrier I got. When hungry, I wanted to eat..." Guo Shi choked with tears, huddled in the shadows. His dirty, tattered clothes and rapidly thinning body truly looked like a starving, wing-broken locust.

He Pingchun's mind was filled with the words "natural disaster." Looking at the eunuch who cried more and more tears, and listening to him speak what could be called honest and sincere words: "To be honest, I have never hated that Empress or Your Highness the Crown Prince. It's just that to live, there was really no other way..."

The first time he presented the longevity method he had heard of to the Emperor, it was just a sudden inspiration. At that time, he had no vision or grasp of the big picture. He was just a eunuch; who would think so much? But once he had this meal to eat, he became hungrier the more he ate, and his appetite grew. He relied on this skill to win the Emperor's favor, but he offended that Crown Ling Taizi's taboo. By the time he reacted, he could not turn back.

"To be honest, Zhu Zhi is the mad dog who loves to hate people the most, only seeking today without thinking of tomorrow..."

Ling Empress and her son's political views with the Emperor were increasingly diverging. The Crown Prince did not approve of the Emperor seeking longevity, and the Empress also disliked cruel officials running rampant. Zhu Zhi was arrogant and cruel, with only the Emperor as his master in his eyes. Because he had been reprimanded by the Crown Prince once, he had always borne a grudge. Since then, he often actively made things difficult for the Crown Prince's faction.

"To speak of villains, this mad dog is a natural-born villain and bad seed, but he ended up dying happily! That resentful brat full of poisonous schemes deliberately spared my life, just for this day, just to make me spit out this paper full of locust urine and excrement, mad dog saliva..."

Guo Shi cried: "His wish has finally come true. Spit, this old servant will spit it all out. Let's suffer retribution together. Down there, there will at least be company!"

He Pingchun listened, distinguished the truth, and finally asked: "As for the charge of Marquis Ling Ke colluding with the Xiongnu, was it also calculated by you people?"

Guo Shi, gritting his teeth one moment and wailing the next, exhaled tremulously and closed his eyes: "I've answered thousands of times. It's not related... This old servant only saw that secret report, but never knew who forged it..."

He Pingchun turned and left, leaving people to continue torturing and interrogating Guo Shi.

The two closely connected major cases, investigated to the end, were not committed by the same group. Guo Shi, Zhu Zhi, and their faction acted against Crown Ling Taizi because they saw the momentum of the fire and took the opportunity to add fuel to it.

Two great fires burned into one scene of bloodshed, but those who added fuel and lit the fire were different.

He Pingchun still insisted on secretly interrogating Guo Shi, to thoroughly investigate and check everything, not letting go of any suspicious point. What Guo Shi did not know was that there were already leads regarding the case of Marquis Ling Ke colluding with the enemy.

After leaving this prison cell, a Brocade Guard covered in the smell of blood quickly came: "Commander, the strategist Ji Xu has confessed the details as well."

He Pingchun quickly left and saw the man covered in blood on the torture rack. This person's consciousness was nearly unclear, muttering words in his mouth, repeatedly chanting something.

This person was named Ji Xu, the strategist most valued and trusted by Du Shulin in his household.

Du Shulin had once studied under Ling Ke in his early years and showed his talent early on. He was a rare brave warrior, established many military achievements, and was one of the quite famous deputy generals. But he was arrogant and proud by nature. Once in battle, to kill more enemy heads, he violated Ling Ke's military regulations, left the formation without authorization to charge, causing his subordinates' formation to scatter, resulting in many soldiers being injured by side attacks. Ling Ke governed the army strictly. Du Shulin was punished by military law for this. After offsetting his merits of slaying enemies, he still received a military flogging.

Du Shulin felt his prestige was ruined. Afterwards, he left the Ling Family Army and remained in the capital's Northern Army Great Camp, serving as Vice Commandant.

Ji Xu had once served as a clerk in the Ling Family Army. This person had a sister. Long before Du Shulin was a deputy general in the Ling Family Army, his sister had already been Du Shulin's concubine.

During the confession process, Ji Xu claimed that because he was related by marriage to Du Shulin, after Du Shulin was punished and left the Ling Family Army, he was coldly treated in the army. After half a year like this, his father at home passed away. He returned to his hometown for the funeral. After more than a year of going back and forth, due to personnel changes in the army, he had no place to stay. He also had anger in his heart. Afterwards, he followed Du Shulin to plot things.

Afterwards, his sister gave birth to a daughter and a son for Du Shulin. Their relationship became even closer. Whatever Du Shulin said, he naturally had every reason to do his best to handle it.

According to Ji Xu's confession, when he was in the army back then, he often saw documents written and sealed by Ling Ke himself. This person possessed the secret skill of imitating others' handwriting and was good at carving seals. That treasonous secret letter from Ling Ke was written by his hand.

In the secret letter, Ling Ke sold two pieces of Northern Border defense military intelligence to the Xiongnu in exchange for warhorses. After the Emperor investigated, those two pieces of military intelligence were indeed true. Ji Xu claimed that he spent a lot of money to inquire from a general in the Northern Border garrison troops. Those two pieces of military intelligence were not top-secret secrets. But the secret letter revealed signs that "Ling Ke" wanted to use this to test the Xiongnu's attitude of cooperation, so as to consider further transactions in the future—

As for that Northern Border general who was exposed, according to Ji Xu, not long after Ling Ke's death, he was silenced by assassins sent by Du Shulin. He Pingchun immediately verified it, looked through old records, and indeed found this person's name on the Witchcraft List. The cause of death was recorded as drowning after drinking. Combined with the time of death, it matched the characteristics of being silenced.

Not long after, the Brocade Guard also found several boxes full of imitations of others' handwriting, and even imitations of famous calligraphy and paintings from the Qian Chao dynasty, in a secret room in Ji Xu's residence. His writing indeed had the ability to make fakes look real. Liu Qi also personally examined and identified them for several days.

The whole truth was only confessed by Ji Xu after being tortured several times. Afterwards, what he murmured and chanted in his mouth was exactly the content of the secret letter he wrote imitating Ling Ke's handwriting back then. Regarding that secret letter that few people had seen with their own eyes, he could recite it almost word for word.

He said that over the years, he had not been without torment. He often had nightmares at night, repeatedly writing that secret letter in his dreams, with no possibility of forgetting.

Besides this, he confessed many other details. For all those that still had traces to follow, the Brocade Guard repeatedly verified them and found them all correct.

By now, motives, testimonies, physical evidence, and even details all matched. The mastermind Du Shulin, after fleeing to Shanglin Park and falling off a cliff, had been found more than ten days later, with his remains and broken armor gnawed by wild beasts.

The two Ling cases spanned too long a time. Those involved, from palace attendants to the Brocade Guard, Xian Tai Gong, and people in the border defense army, all had to be interrogated repeatedly.

After the truth appeared, the Emperor's attitude completely changed. He issued an edict again to thoroughly investigate and dig deep. Even the officials who took the opportunity to echo and stir things up, and who pushed from the side to make him deal with Crown Prince Gu and Ling Ke back then, would be investigated and punished together.

The matter had not yet concluded. Everything had to be completely settled before being officially announced to the world. The hearts of the people in Jingji were unsettled. In the deep palace, cries mourning Ling Empress and her son began to appear. One thing led to another, and baseless rumors secretly arose that the Empress's wronged spirit had been summoned back and was wandering in Jiaofang Dian.

On the day before New Year's Day, according to custom, shamans entered the palace to perform the Nuo Ritual to expel demons.

The Nuo procession departed from Chengxiang Hall in the palace after the sacrificial invocation, led by the great shaman, heading to the various palace halls to expel evil spirits.

Crown Prince Liu Qi personally participated in the sacrifice at Chengxiang Hall, and after seeing the Nuo procession off, he went to Weiyang Palace to visit the ailing Emperor.

The officer in charge of sacrificial offerings, Cheng Wu, along with other shamans and officials not participating in the exorcism, remained outside Chengxiang Hall to await the end of the Nuo ritual.

Taoxi Township had a warm climate, but Cheng Wu had stood in the cold wind outside the hall for a long time; although she secretly wore the fur cape Shaowei had given her, she still had to suppress the urge to shrink her neck and stamp her feet, her jaw muscles tensing so that her face looked slightly round and dull.

Not long after, a palace attendant came looking for Officer Cheng; Cheng Wu walked over quickly, and just as she asked what the instructions were, the attendant handed her a hand warmer, smiling that it was entrusted by Young Official Yan Chu.

Yan Chu was witty and cheerful; as a court official moving about the palace, he got along with many people, and because he was the son of the Xiang Gong, he inevitably received even more favor and preferential treatment.

He did not have to report for duty today, so he had asked this attendant, who was on duty at Chengxiang Hall today, to deliver the hand warmer in advance.

The attendant, fearing delay in other errands, stuffed it into Cheng Wu's hand and left; Cheng Wu called out to him in a low voice, but he did not stop. Holding the hand warmer, she stood blankly for a long time.

When she came back to her senses, Cheng Wu was still bent over, gently placing that warmth, which seemed out of season, by the corridor, then turned and left, letting it burn out on its own.

In Weiyang Palace, charcoal basins were placed one after another, the charcoal fires within always replaced in time, with a perpetual, vigorous warmth that never went out.

As the sky gradually darkened, besides the charcoal basins, candles were lit in the Bedroom Palace; the Emperor leaned against the bed, thinner than during the autumn hunt, his body narrow and withered, his complexion murky yellow like wax, his eyes reflecting the firelight like candle wicks; he had become a human candlestand, faintly and weakly burning his own torso.

Looking at his son kneeling on the floor beside the bed, his tone carried a not-too-severe reproach: "After finishing your business, you still have to leave the palace; tomorrow is New Year's Day, you want to make me spend the night alone?"

The youth raised his eyes, a bright smile on his face, still as before: "Imperial Uncle, you possess the whole world; how could you be alone?"

The Emperor's body stiffened slightly, and the sound of wind rang in his mind; the wind blew back to the years of old, turning a page of past events.

It was the seventh year of his reign; he had followed his father to conquer the land and establish a new dynasty, with countless achievements, and after ascending the throne, he made the world show signs of peace; that year he also drove back the Xiongnu, and the court was jubilant, so a minister proposed that the Son of Heaven go to Taishan for the Fengshan ceremony.

This was the highest glory for a monarch; he declined three times, but as more and more officials petitioned, he decided to follow the will of the people and the mandate of Heaven.

Not long before departure, Ling Empress fell ill and could not accompany him; secretly, someone with ulterior motives claimed that Ling Ke had committed too many killings, and Heaven was displeased with Ling Empress participating in the Fengshan ceremony. To stop these rumors of sowing discord, he ordered a strict investigation into the source of the rumors and insisted that Crown Prince Gu and Ling Ke accompany him.

Liu Qi was originally to be brought along, but that seven-year-old son, who had previously been eager for the trip to Taishan, had to stay behind, saying he wanted to accompany Huanghou in her illness, so that with Imperial Uncle and his elder brother and uncle all away, no one would take the opportunity to bully Huanghou.

He feigned displeasure and asked: "So you would ruthlessly make Imperial Uncle go alone?"

The child embraced his legs, raised his face to look at him; on his childish face was actually quite an air of determination: "Imperial Uncle possesses the whole world; how could you be alone!"

New and old images overlapped; seemingly nothing had changed, yet everything had changed.

Meeting those eyes that still faintly held a smile, the Emperor's lips moved slightly, wanting to ask something, but in the end he did not broach it.

He merely lowered his eyes and waved his hand, seeming somewhat impatient: "Enough, go on, so as not to be an eyesore..."

Liu Qi rose to take his leave, exiting the Bedroom Palace; as he turned, the smile in his eyes faded, while behind him he heard the Emperor instructing the attendant: "The weather is cold and the road is frozen; have someone prepare a palanquin for him to leave the palace..."

After leaving Weiyang Palace, Liu Qi smilingly refused the palanquin prepared by the attendant: "My leg ailment has healed over the years; I should walk more, to get acquainted with this good leg."

The attendant smilingly replied "Yes."

The Nuo ritual had ended, and the shamans left the palace in an orderly fashion.

Liu Qi walked behind, stepping with the leg Shaowei had permitted to be healed, walking the road she had just walked; on New Year's Eve there was no moon, but Liu Qi gazed quietly at his feet and felt a clear, glimmering light, as if she had cast a spell, scattering moonlight along the way.

After the shamans finished this year-end exorcism, they could lay down all their duties and freely celebrate the New Year.

The carriage procession stopped before Shen Ci Shrine; Shaowei jumped down from the carriage and saw the house slave waiting with the carriage and Mo Li not far away.

Shaowei, who had taken off the great shaman's robes on the way, pulled Cheng Wu and jumped onto her own carriage.

After driving not far, noticing the house slave slowing the carriage, Shaowei pushed open the carriage window with one hand, poked out half her head, extended her other hand, and made a "follow" gesture toward a carriage waiting at the alley mouth to the front side; then she immediately drew back her head, closed the window, and urged her wanted-criminal coachman: "Zhao Shu, let's go faster!"

The house slave's "yes" had not yet faded when the carriage shot forth like an arrow from a bow; inside the carriage, Cheng Wu suddenly embraced the motionless Shaowei, while the carriage to the side soon followed rumbling along, both heading toward the lively scene.

?? Almost didn't write it into next year, Wu Dance.

? (The aftermath of moving matters hasn't completely ended; tomorrow's update is uncertain, everyone don't wait.)

? Continuously organizing the remaining plot; this month should be able to finish, won't be as many as 260 chapters (also related to every chapter's word count exceeding hhh)