Xie Lian got woken up by soft caresses on his naked abdomen.
Even better, he was comfortably cozy and warm and he could feel his alpha lying right behind him. Xie Lian hummed contendly, and tried to turn around to face Hua Cheng. However, by attempting to move, he realised his lower back and butt were protesting any sort of movement, and he stopped before he even made it onto his back, grunting in confused discomfort.
"Gege?", Hua Cheng asked worriedly.
"I feel like I got overrun by five horses and three carriages", Xie Lian sighed, and moved only his head to finally get a look at his alpha.
Hua Cheng hadn't put his eyepatch back on yet, and was still just as naked as Xie Lian was, both of which Xie Lian was rather delighted to see.
His alpha looked a little amused at hearing Xie Lian's words, but he didn't laugh, and instead gave him a slow and drawn out good morning kiss. It had Xie Lian purring.
"Gege, we're both filthy. Let's take a bath together, shall we?", his alpha suggested afterwards, which Xie Lian was very strongly in favour of. After all, he had a rather crusty feeling between his legs. He also felt stiff, as if he'd battled a small army only by himself. So, a hot bath to soothe his aching muscles sounded absolutely heavenly right about now.
Since Hua Cheng had long noticed that Xie Lian was a bit of a heap on the bed right now, he readily gathered him in his arms, like he used to do when Xie Lian had first twisted his ankle, and carried him into the bath chamber, where he sat him down on a stool, before his alpha cleaned him thoroughly. Xie Lian felt a bit shy again when Hua Cheng was cleaning the inside of his thighs, as well as his private parts, which was why he had a bright red head once his alpha was done cleaning him. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed the tender attention though.
Hua Cheng made a quick process of cleaning himself as well, before he picked Xie Lian up, and got into the bathtub with him. Though, instead of putting Xie Lian down beside him, he just kept him on his lap, and hugged his waist to keep him securely in place. Xie Lian wasn't complaining in the slightest, and cuddled up against his alpha's chest.
In this moment he truly felt like was in heaven; the hot water felt like it was already doing wonders for his aches, and Hua Cheng's arms gave him the same feeling a security blanket gave to a toddler.
They didn't talk much in the bath, but Hua Cheng stroking his waist and back and arm was a more than enjoyable way to pass their time there. Of course Xie Lian tried to repay those affections as well, by nuzzling into his alpha's embrace and pressing soft kisses against the part of his collarbone that Xie Lian could reach easily every once in a while.
Eventually, they had to leave the bath, and while Hua Cheng was ready to carry him again, Xie Lian felt like he should be able to walk now. And he was. Though only in a rather undignified manner. As much as he tried to hide it, he had a limp, and his lower back still protested some of his movements. Thus, when he walked back into the bedchamber, with his hand clutching his back, as well as a limp, he felt like he was an 800 year old ancestor more than anything, and wondered if Hua Cheng had a walking cane lying around somewhere to complete the image.
While they were in the bath, Yin Yu had apparently brought in breakfast, much to Xie Lian's delight. He felt like he was starving.
While they were eating, Xie Lian suddenly remembered something.
"Shouldn't that Qi Rong be in your throne room by now?", he asked Hua Cheng, who finished slurping on his spoon of congee before he answered.
"He most likely is. But that doesn't matter. Since your back is giving gege trouble, I suggest we lie back down in bed while I tell you my story", his alpha smiled.
Xie Lian threw a doubtful look at said bed.
"Isn't it still dirty?", he asked, and blushed.
"I checked just now, but Yin Yu already changed the blankets and everything. It's clean, don't worry about it."
"But… didn't you say the story was long? Shouldn't San Lang be taking care of official business first?", he asked, but couldn't help feeling a bit amused at Hua Cheng's nonchalance regarding this Qi Rong character.
"No. My promises to gege are much more important than dealing with scum like that trash baker. He can wait there until nightfall for all I care."
Xie Lian didn't quite know whether to laugh or cry at such an attitude, but he also couldn't help the fondness spreading through him at hearing that he was a priority to his alpha.
After they had stuffed themselves full with breakfast, Hua Cheng had mercy on Xie Lian's 800 year old back, and carried him to the bed, before climbing in himself, and hugging him.
"Where would dianxia like me to start?", he asked, and pressed a quick kiss to Xie Lian's forehead.
"At the very beginning of course", he replied, and cuddled deeper into his alpha's arms.
Hua Cheng sighed, but dutifully started to tell him everything.
Apparently, Hua Cheng's father had abandoned his mother once he found out she was pregnant with Hua Cheng. She had to get through the pregnancy in poverty, because she had no family left that could take her in, and eventually died during childbirth.
Luckily, an elderly lady, who had always made sure to bring his mother food every day, had found Hua Cheng shortly after he'd been born, and took him in despite the scare she got upon seeing his right eye. The elderly lady herself wasn't exactly well off either, since she was a widow, and because she was an omega she wasn't allowed to work as per law under the previous dynasty. She could only live off the inheritance her husband had left her with, but after so many years, it had started running thin. Still, she managed to bring up Hua Cheng until he was five, calling him Hong-er, because he'd been covered in so much blood when she first found him, and, among other things, kindly taught him why he should keep his eye hidden from everyone else's sight.
After she'd died, Hua Cheng had no other choice but to survive on his own, becoming a street rat, stealing in order not to starve, and getting into fights with other homeless people, kids and adults alike, who saw him as a further threat to their own survival. By the time he was seven, he'd managed to make a name of himself on the streets.
Hua Cheng himself hadn't said it like that, but Xie Lian figured that he must have been quite the genius in picking up fighting techniques to be able to fend off even adults at such a young age, and without proper training.
However, one day, when he was on the lookout for unsuspecting vendors to steal from, he came across a scene in a side alley that he couldn't ignore. There was a girl surrounded by five royal guards leering at her. Disgusted by those animals, Hua Cheng had rushed to stand in between the guards and their target, bellowing at them to scram.
But even though Hua Cheng was strong, he wasn't a match for fully trained guards, who didn't hesitate to use their weapons on children either. While Hua Cheng's interference had been successful insofar that the girl had been able to escape, the guards were utterly enraged by having lost their initial target, and let their anger out on Hua Cheng. While they had only beaten him with fists at first, he'd still been able to hold his own, and even landed a few punches on them himself. Though predictably, they started using their swords soon enough, and managed to inflict quite a few wounds on him. Hua Cheng was sure he would die when one of the guards finally had enough, and aimed his sword straight at his heart, when suddenly someone else interfered.
This someone also had a sword with him, and despite being only half the size of the guards, was incredibly proficient with its use. The movements of his saviour were precise and quick, cutting crucial tendons and leaving the guards incapacitated within only a few short moments.
Hua Cheng could only watch on in wonder when the guards retreated, bleeding and cursing and utterly humiliated. He didn't know what he'd expected his saviour to look like, but it hadn't been the gentle eyes and soft features he saw when he eventually turned around to ask if Hua Cheng was okay, with genuine worry in his bright eyes.
It was at this point in the story that Xie Lian froze, the scene sounding incredibly familiar to him. However, there was one thing that didn't add up.
"San Lang… when I was allowed to visit WuYong together with my parents on their state visit… I wasn't allowed inside the palace, because I was an omega, and had to spend my time exploring the city with a few of our own guards accompanying me. I-... I remember coming across a scene where five guards were attacking a child around my age with swords. I remember going in to save him and driving the guards away. But his name… his name was WuMing."
"WuMing", Hua Cheng said at the same time as Xie Lian did, nodding with a soft, adoring smile.
"I've always regretted not doing more for him- but- that- that was you? Right, I remember he had bandages around his head that covered his right eye, too-!", Xie Lian said, feeling rather shocked.
"Will gege let me continue my story?", Hua Cheng asked gently, to which Xie Lian could only nod mutely. This was a revelation he really hadn't expected! To find WuMing again- to find out that WuMing was Hua Cheng- how had he not connected the dots earlier?!
Hua Cheng pressed a kiss to his temple before he continued.
When his saviour had asked him if he was okay, Hua Cheng was so stunned by his previous display of strength that he could only stutter in a rather unintelligible way. However, his saviour had the patience of a saint, and waited until Hua Cheng eventually nodded hesitantly.
"I'm glad. I'm just sorry I didn't come sooner. What's your name?", his saviour asked him. It was a simple enough question under normal circumstances, but he knew by now that 'Hong-er' was by no means a real name, and he felt embarrassed to call himself that in front of someone like this.
"W-WuMing", he said instead, because he couldn't come up with a proper name on such quick notice either.
His saviour frowned momentarily at hearing the name, but he went back to smiling soon enough.
"My name is Xie Lian. I'm staying at an inn just down the street. Come with me so I can have someone treat your wounds", he demanded easily, as if he was used to commandeering people around.
Hua Cheng thought that because of his mannerism alone, surely Xie Lian must be of noble descent, and he didn't want to get him into trouble by having him associate with some street rat like him.
"That's not necessary. But thank you fo-"
"What do you mean it's not necessary? Of course it's necessary! If those wounds get infected you'll die, and then my efforts will be wasted. I don't want my efforts to be wasted, so you can't die, and you have to come with me."
Hua Cheng could only blink, and had nothing left to say to that.
The adults around Xie Lian weren't happy with his presence, he could tell, but oddly enough they didn't attempt to dissuade him either.
Once at the inn, Xie Lian ordered someone to fetch a doctor, before he proceeded to drag Hua Cheng into his room, and forcefully sat him down on a divan. Then, as if just realising what he'd done, he looked at Hua Cheng sheepishly.
"I'm sorry for being so rude. But you really need your wounds cleaned, and I-... I'm lonely. So can you spend some time with me? My parents are busy inside the palace, but I'm an omega so I'm not allowed in there. Which is really mean! My mother is an omega, too, but she's still allowed to enter! Isn't that unfair?"
Hua Cheng could only agree with his saviour's outrage. And he really did agree that it was unfair, but he was much more preoccupied with being blown away by the fact that an omega could be this strong. He'd grown up thinking omegas were weak, and needed protection at all times; he'd never even heard of an omega- a child no less- taking on and defeating five royal guards! This was insanity to him. Maybe it could have been plausible if Xie Lian was an alpha child of overachieving parents, but with this revelation, suddenly Hua Cheng's entire world had flipped upside down.
"I- I didn't know omegas could be so strong", Hua Cheng had stammered, and felt rather intimidated all of a sudden.
Xie Lian had humphed, and gone on a bit of a tirade.
He'd explained to him that it was only because WuYong as a country was very backwards, and the societal beliefs about as old fashioned as his great great grand parents had probably been. Xie Lian told him about how things were back home in Xian Le, a place WuMing had never heard of, and said that omegas could be just as strong as alphas, if not even stronger, and that Xie Lian himself was training in the army already, and that his goal was to become the highest ranking general there was.
Hearing Xie Lian talk about how things were in Xian Le was indeed mindblowing and beyond interesting to Hua Cheng and he'd soaked up every word the omega spoke. It was as if a whole new world of much less misery had opened just before his eyes. However, despite his fascination with the things Xie Lian was telling him, he didn't miss the nostalgic and sad look in the omega's eyes when he spoke of his homeland, and thus made it a mission for himself to at least distract him from his homesickness.
For the rest of Xie Lian's stay, they were nearly inseparable, the only time they weren't together was at night, when Hua Cheng had pretended he had a home he needed to go back to. Though he felt bad about lying to his saviour, the shame of being a street rat was too great to bear sharing, but he thought he was making up for it rather well when he started calling Xie Lian respectfully as 'gege'.
This was the only time during his childhood that Hua Cheng experienced what it was like to have a real friend, the few days he'd truly enjoyed being alive from the bottom of his heart. Though he knew Xie Lian would only stay for a limited amount of time, he'd vowed to make the best out of it.
However, when a baker Hua Cheng used to steal from, saw the boy scurrying around the streets at night, he'd unceremoniously chased and caught the unassuming boy, dragging him towards his house to punish him in order to make up for all the losses he'd caused him.
The punishment was a severe whipping, that left him immobile for several weeks. The only reason he'd survived that time, was because the girl he'd attempted to save from the guards had found him, and nursed him back to health as repayment.
By the time Hua Cheng was mobile enough to visit Xie Lian again, his friend was no longer in the city. The innkeeper, who knew of their friendship very well, had told him that Xie Lian had been depressed since Hua Cheng had stopped visiting him, before he threw Hua Cheng out of his inn.
It was at this point that Xie Lian interrupted Hua Cheng's story once more, however this time there were tears in his eyes.
"That's why you never returned. I should've known something had happened to you… I was too much of a brat back then to even consider you could have been prevented by something to come see me. I thought you were simply fed up with me. I- I did go looking for you once, but I couldn't find you anywhere. San Lang, I shouldn't have given up so easily… I'm so sorry", he said, and hugged his alpha as tightly as he possibly could.
"There's no need to apologise. I've never blamed gege. The only one guilty was that trash baker", he said, before he continued with his story.
After having missed the chance to not only see his saviour again for a last time, but also the chance of a proper goodbye, Hua Cheng was beyond fed up with his own weakness. He knew he was strong for a seven year old, but he was not nearly strong enough. After a blunder such as this, he wasn't even strong enough to deserve his gege's friendship, he told himself. What sort of friend didn't even say goodbye when it was uncertain if they would ever see each other again!? He vowed to himself then and there that he would become someone worthy of Xie Lian's favour.
At first he wasn't sure where to start, but the more he thought about it, the clearer at least the goal became.
He was embarrassed to live in a country his gege had such obvious distate for, and after his friend's lectures, he himself had to admit that it was stupid to suppress people's talents just because of something trivial as their dynamic. However, he knew that if he wanted to change the way omegas were treated, and if he wanted to create a country his gege would be happy to return to someday, he needed to get into a position where he could really make that change happen. Which meant he needed to become the king.
He'd always despised the current king to begin with. After all, he didn't care about his subjects, he let his guards punish and kill and rape the people how they wanted without retribution, and Hua Cheng had already seen too much of those things to not be utterly disgusted by the man in charge.
It was why he'd never wanted to join the army itself, because to him it seemed like it only consisted of wild animals that had never been taught basic decency. But it was also the least suspicious way of working his way into the palace.
While Hua Cheng could read fairly well, thanks to the elderly lady that had raised him, he couldn't write to save his life, and thus, any other ways of working in the palace were blocked for him. And he certainly didn't want to become an eunuch.
Therefore, he eventually gave himself a proper name in remembrance of his gege, who loved flowers, and to keep his goal in mind, to change this wilted place into a blooming city that could be proud to be visited by his gege again. Then, he joined the army when he was still seven years old. At first they had laughed at him for wanting to join at such a young age, but after demonstrating his fighting skills, they were impressed enough to accept him.
In the army they finally taught him how to fight with all sorts of weapons, though his favourite soon became the scimitar, and he was incredibly talented at wielding it.
By the time he was ten, General Pei Ming had taken an interest in him, and even taught him advanced skills privately. Over time, something like a friendship had developed between them, and they even had dinner at the general's residence every once in a while.
At one of those dinners, Hua Cheng intentionally made Pei Ming drunk in order to have him talk without inhibitions. He'd asked him why he served a man such as Jun Wu, and if he wasn't disgusted at all by the way the palace guards behaved. Pei Ming was also a womaniser, Hua Cheng had understood this very well, despite his young age, but from what he saw, the women he put his attention on were more than welcoming of him, and didn't mind his advances.
Pei Ming had gone on tirade about the guards' behaviour, that they should go for willing people only, and that it ticked him off that the king tolerated such beast-like behaviour. However when it came to the king himself, he just shrugged his shoulders, and said that there was nothing to be done about it, no matter how much he disagreed with some things the king was doing.
Hua Cheng saw that conversation as a success, and from then on continued to manipulate the general into subconsciously disliking the current king more and more.
It was during another dinner between the two of them, that Pei Ming asked him why Hua Cheng refused to climb up the ranks any further, like he should want to. By that time, Hua Cheng was already very certain that Pei Ming would help him overthrow the king if he played his cards right, and so confided that he had different plans, that he didn't want to make the military his ultimate career, and that he dreamed of improving the country through more peaceful means than war.
Pei Ming told him that it was an honourable dream, and to let him know if he ever figured out how to make that dream a reality.
When Hua Cheng was 13, he told Pei Ming of his plans in detail for the first time. He'd been appointed the Senior General only half a year previous to that, and had gained insight on rather disturbing inside information regarding the king. Hua Cheng knew that, because he was still in the habit of getting Pei Ming black out drunk from time to time, and going through his files after he passed out.
At first Pei Ming was apprehensive when he heard with how much meticulous detail and foresight Hua Cheng had planned the assassination of Jun Wu, but he wasn't completely put off by it, Hua Cheng could tell that much.
So he gave him time to mull it over, and by the next time they met up for dinner, Pei Ming had invited Ling Wen and Shi Wudu to join them. The two were good friends with Pei Ming, and fellow court members, which was a crucial step in Hua Cheng's plan.
Still, it was their first meeting, and he could tell they were looking down at him, simply because he was too young in their eyes to overthrow the current ruler successfully.
However, Hua Cheng had trained incredibly hard over those past five years, not only in combat, but also in military strategy, and had used the little bit of time he had left to cram as much as he possibly could of all important literary pieces into his head. He used all the knowledge he'd gained from it to try and impress them, in addition with his natural wit and charm and it had made the evening rather successful for him.
He could tell that Ling Wen and Shi Wudu weren't entirely sold on his capability of usurping the throne quite yet, but he'd already made more progress with them than he'd initially thought to be possible in just one evening.
Soon after, an unexpected fourth person had joined their dinners.
Hua Cheng had always thought Yin Yu to be loyal to the current king, and was apprehensive about him joining, thinking him to be a spy at first. Though it turned out that Yin Yu couldn't bear Jun Wu's way of ruling anymore. There was too much injustice, too much inequality, too much death and horror under his rule, that Yin Yu felt rather strongly about supporting Hua Cheng's vision of rebuilding their country into something much better.
Apart from Hua Cheng trying to get the majority of the ten inner court members on his side, he also kept an eye out for guards that weren't despicable trash, but he wasn't quite as lucky in that endeavour.
However, it was a few months later when he realised that luck had never left him, and only bid its time. Because after Hua Cheng had told Pei Ming the next step of his plan during another one of their private dinners, Pei Ming had just grinned at him wolfishly, and told him to wait until their next meeting.
True to the general's word, and much to Hua Cheng's disbelief, the next ones to join their cause were two of the six personal bodyguards of the king, Feng Xin and Mu Qing.
As it turned out, the two had initially been in the military as well, and trained under Pei Ming since they could remember, and thus, viewed him as somewhat of a father figure as well as a mentor, and were therefore more loyal to Pei Ming himself than Jun Wu.
The fact that the most trusted bodyguards of the king were now backing his cause, caused Hua Cheng to reevaluate his plans accordingly. Though Jun Wu would go to visit XianLe on a state visit and naturally take Feng Xin and Mu Qing with him, Hua Cheng was still feeling rather confident that those two wouldn't mess up his plan in the meantime.
He'd been right, and they hadn't, but during their next dinner with everyone in attendance, when Hua Cheng had just been shy of turning 16, Feng Xin was talking about the king's latest obsession; the royal omega of Xian Le, who had just turned 15 a few months ago. He was going on about how distasteful it was, and that he was embarrassed to serve someone like him, but Hua Cheng couldn't shake off that feeling in his gut, which eventually made him ask for that royal omega's name.
Upon hearing it, he flew into a blind rage, and it took Pei Ming, Feng Xin and Shi Wudu to restrain him, to make sure he wouldn't rush up to Jun Wu's quarters in a livid frency.
Hua Cheng officially presented as an alpha that night, and spent his very first rut in Pei Ming's basement turned cell, an experience he never wanted to relive.
Once his head was mostly clear again, and he was capable of rational thought once more, he took his time to readjust his plan once again. He had sworn to himself that he wouldn't die anytime soon, because his gege had asked him not to when he first saved him, so he knew he needed to plan carefully. And so, despite the urgency of the situation, took his time to be as meticulous as usual.
It was the middle of October when Pei Ming informed him that while meeting the inner court, Jun Wu had let it slip that he would announce his intention of marrying Xie Lian the following day. And thus, Hua Cheng decided to act this very night. After all, he wouldn't be able to bear the consequences an announcement such as this would have, especially for his gege.
Luckily, Feng Xin and Mu Qing's shift were overlapping perfectly with the timing of his plan tonight, and Ling Wen had already been done preparing the poison since last week, and there was nothing else significant that was holding them up. There was only the disadvantage of still having only four out of the ten court members on his side, but at this point, he was willing to take the risk. His priority right now, was to kill the king as soon as possible, changing the country into something more presentable could wait another few years if it came to it.
Thus, the plan commenced, and during the first hour of zi shi, Pei Ming made his way to the king's private chambers with a seemingly tied up Hua Cheng in tow. Pei Ming told the guard at the gate that this soldier had committed a severe crime, and was hard to restrain, even with three grown men, and therefore he needed immediate instructions on how to deal with him, all the while taking advantage of the well known fact that Jun Wu enjoyed to personally torture feisty prisoners.
Seeing the deathly glare Hua Cheng was shooting at the guard, he didn't doubt Pei Ming's words, and told them to wait while he went to ask for the king's permission to let them in.
A few moments later, they were allowed in, and walked towards Jun Wu's private office chamber, in front of which Mu Qing was standing guard. His eyes widened when he saw him, and Hua Cheng couldn't blame him. There had been no time to inform him that they would make their move tonight after all. Still, he got his face under control quickly, and announced their arrival to the king, before reassuming his post in front of the door.
Jun Wu levelled a nasty look down his nose on Hua Cheng, and he knew he needed to act fast. He broke out of his much too loosely tied restraints, and although the king was confused at Pei Ming's inaction at first, he reacted much quicker than Hua Cheng would have liked, and called for the guards.
By the time Mu Qing stuck his head into the room, Hua Cheng was already behind the king, pressing his hand over his mouth and nose roughly, effectively muffling him. Of course Jun Wu tried to struggle, but he was only a middle aged beta, and no match for an alpha in peak physical condition.
Recognising the situation for what it was, Mu Qing closed the door, and went back to standing in front of it, pretending everything was normal. The guards arrived the moment Pei Ming had locked the door from the inside. Since the king was still struggling somewhat noisily, Hua Cheng got his scimitar out, and held it closely to the king's neck with the dull side. He couldn't risk leaving marks on the body after all, but it was enough for Jun Wu to still.
Thus, the room was quiet, and since the personal guard was standing outside despite the king's call, the guards that had just arrived were rather confused, asking Mu Qing what was going on. Mu Qing told them that it was nothing; a stray cat had gotten in, and startled His Majesty. Incredibly enough, the guards believed it, and left.
Once Hua Cheng was sure the air was clear, he deigned to explain to Jun Wu exactly why he had to die tonight, just to make sure he wouldn't be confused if he returned as a ghost. Then, he proceeded to force poison down the king's throat, which Ling Wen had personally prepared for this occasion. It was a fast working poison, attacking all the muscles in a person's body, including the heart.
Jun Wu tried to struggle of course, but he was unsuccessful against Hua Cheng's iron grip, and true to Ling Wen's word, it only took a few minutes until Jun Wu had turned still once more, this time forever. Still, Hua Cheng kept waiting with his fingers pressed on Jun Wu's wrist, making sure that there was no pulse whatsoever for quite a while, before he straightened up, and heaved the older man into his arms.
According to Mu Qing, Jun Wu's bed chambers were located just across his office, and thus they had no trouble moving his corpse there. They dressed him down to his inner robes, and while Pei Ming folded them and put them away in an orderly fashion, Hua Cheng positioned the former king into a sleeping position on the bed, before pulling the blankets over him, and finally closing his eyes.
Before they left, Hua Cheng whispered to Mu Qing to go on like normal and pretend nothing had happened, to which he nodded.
In the morning, Feng Xin took over Mu Qing's post, with Mu Qing telling him that nothing apart from a stray cat had entered the king's chamber, as well as a supposed criminal, who had received comparatively light punishment for the crime he commited.
Of course Feng Xin had already been told by Hua Cheng what had really happened, and how to proceed. Thus, it was only when He Xuan came to inquire about the king's absence for the grand announcement, that Feng Xin entered the room with him. They both discovered that the king had died at some point during the night, without alerting Mu Qing, nor Feng Xin, and since there was indeed not a single scratch or outer influence to be found, the doctor declared it a natural death, and the only announcement that happened that day was that of the sudden passing of the king.
The court didn't waste any time discussing about who the next ruler should be, since Jun Wu had no offspring and no family left, and Pei Ming was the first to throw Hua Cheng's name into the room. He told them his reasoning behind it was that, since Jun Wu had died so suddenly, it was important to make sure the next king would be in great physical condition, and that Hua Cheng was that, as well as a brilliant strategist. After his speech, the court decided to have a look at Hua Cheng, who was in the middle of training when they called to see him.
They were sceptical at first, because they had never heard of this soldier before, and it was unheard of to put a soldier, not even one of high rank, on the throne. However, they put Hua Cheng up to debate against Ling Wen, and had to admit that Pei Ming had indeed not lied to them, that this unknown soldier was indeed quite smart and had a witty mouth. Then, they had Hua Cheng duel against Pei Ming, which was an intense fight, since both of them were on the same skill level at this point. It ended in a draw, but since everyone knew how strong Pei Ming was, and considering how young Hua Cheng was to already be able to take the Senior General head on, six out of the ten members voted in favour of Hua Cheng becoming the new ruler.
It turned out that the fifth vote had been casted by He Xuan, and the last one had simply been in hopes of making Hua Cheng into a puppet for the court.
After the period of mourning for Jun Wu was over, Hua Cheng wasted no time in having his coronation. Once that was done, he dropped his polite facade to the court members, and built his own court, which of course still included Pei Ming, Ling Wen, Shi Wudu and, after some evaluation, He Xuan. However, Yin Yu had opted out of continuing as a member of the court and asked Hua Cheng for a position of less importance. After building his own court, Hua Cheng took the time to have every single palace servant presented in front of him, and decided on each individually if he would keep them in the palace, and later, where he wanted them to work.
The palace guards that loved to behave like beasts were imprisoned, or killed, depending on how grave Hua Cheng decided their sins were, and only the few of them that were innocent were let go. After having rid himself of the foul palace guards, he put Pei Ming in charge of assigning new guards straight from the military, and finally proceeded to work towards his ultimate goal, and put one reform after another out.
Despite his young age, he already managed to rule with an iron grip, and the protests at elevating omegas to an equal status with alphas and betas, did die down once the protesters realised that, not only were they in the minority, but the punishments of not following the new laws were severe. In the beginning, Hua Cheng had guards paying visits to the homes of his citizens, to check if there were signs of people disobeying. He was criticised a lot for his ruthlessness and tactless behaviour, but he didn't care, and only mellowed out a bit once he'd established total control over everything, and nobody dared to doubt his coldhearted ferocity anymore.
Rebuilding the court and inner working of the palace, as well as the laws and customs had taken quite a great deal of time, and by the time he turned 17, there had only been a short period of stability, before he decided to move the capital westward. As an official reason, he stated that it was because it was the part of the country that had the most trouble abiding by the new laws, but in reality, he didn't want to walk along the same paths in the same palace like a disgusting person such as Jun Wu did before him.
Thus, Hua Cheng, and all of his hundreds upon hundreds of servants, as well as the military headquarters, left the previous capital behind, and moved to Banyue.
The city of Banyue was big and had a population of several hundred thousand, but it was poor, due to bad education and inability to profit off of its surroundings. And eventually it turned out that the main problem hadn't been rebellion from the people, but the fact that they had more important matters to pay attention to than politics.
Hua Cheng had the ruins of an ancient palace rebuilt and extended into his current palace, providing work in several areas of expertise, and invested in better and cheaper education, by declaring that the kingdom itself would fund it.
Even then Hua Cheng found that the taxes were still incredibly high, and asked his head accountant about the issue, and, after many meetings and much discussion, the taxes were lowered, and the general standard of living skyrocketed.
It was at this point, when everything had stabilised, that Hua Cheng had decided to put together a harem for his ruts, because it had become quite the pain to single out willing alphas or betas every time a rut hit him. Once the harem had been settled in, Miss Fang, the favourite dancer of the previous manor lord who used to live in the ruin before it had been abandoned, came to him with the idea of reinstalling the dancers quarters in an effort to provide a place for young girls who had no other significant skills to help their families earn money. After mulling it over for a few days, Hua Cheng had made a trip into town, and found that there were indeed a disproportionate amount of female beggars on the streets. And thus, he gave Miss Fang his permission.
Once everything in Banyue had turned around for the better, Hua Cheng had the mind to refine his initial new laws, to make sure there were no grey areas nor loopholes, and slowly started replacing the heads of the provinces of his country with people he came to trust over the past few years.
He'd been in the middle of a meeting with one such future province leader, when news of Xian Le having been blitzed by Yong An reached him. He was devastated by the news, and the only thing that kept him from going berserk was the assurance of his spy that Xie Lian himself had survived, and was on his way to being brought to him by the King of Yong An himself.
"Wait", Xie Lian interrupted his alpha. "San Lang, you had spies? In Xian Le?"
Hua Cheng grinned at him sheepishly.
"Not for malicious reasons. I just wanted to know how you were doing, gege."
Xie Lian shook his head in exasperation.
"What's with you being such a worrywart?", he asked his alpha, and pinched his side, making him yelp indignantly.
"I was right to worry though, wasn't I?", Hua Cheng asked with a frown while rubbing his abused side.
"But then… if you knew it was me all along, why didn't you say anything and pretend to be a stranger? Why didn't you come visit me in the infirmary?", Xie Lian asked, and felt somewhat hurt in hindsight.
"I didn't want to force my company on you. I figured you needed some time to yourself after everything that had happened. It was enough for me to know that you were safe, and to be able to check on you from time to time."
"I see. I wish you had told me you're WuMing when I got here… I feel like an idiot for not recognising you", Xie Lian mumbled, feeling a bit upset.
"I'm sorry, gege. I honestly didn't expect you to remember an insignificant person like that", Hua Cheng explained, and looked very sincere.
"How could I ever forget someone like WuMing? He was the only friend I ever had who sincerely wanted to spend time with me for only myself", Xie Lian chuckled fondly, unable to stay angry at his alpha.