Xue Yuan's hands suddenly tensed up.
But the young Emperor didn't seem to have fainted.
After spitting out the blood, Gu Yuanbai quickly calmed down. Before him, the eunuch who had come to report was already trembling. Gu Yuanbai's face sank, and he said, "Zhang Xu, grab him and put him under strict supervision. Then send people over to the hamlet as fast as possible to see if what he said is true."
The eunuch went weak and the robust guards dragged him out of the hall.
Gu Yuanbai wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve and patted Xue Yuan's arm. "Put Us down."
Xue Yuan put Gu Yuanbai down with a stiff face. Gu Yuanbai sat on the main seat with grandeur, his eyes looking gloomily towards the door.
Someone had already ran off to call the Imperial doctor, but Gu Yuanbai was still in a bad mood.
He shouldn't be so easily affected.
There was a person from the Supervision Office next to Grand Imperial Concubine Wan. If she were really ill, there wouldn't be just an eunuch like that reporting to him, and Gu Yuanbai hadn't received any news.
A palace attendant offered him a towel, Gu Yuanbai took it and wiped the blood from his hands and the corners of his lips. Suddenly remembering something, he looked up at Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan's neck, the trim of his clothes and his hair were stained with some of the blood that Gu Yuanbai coughed up. His face was dark and sullen, staring at Gu Yuanbai.
Gu Yuanbai said, "…give him another towel."
As the gong lead in the original book, Xue Yuan's appearance was naturally not bad. He had sharp eyebrows, thin lips and a high nose. He had the sort of looks and mannerisms that carried a sense of danger that made people feel wary.
He looked too sharp, and fighting in the battlefield would only make his fiery aura heavier. With such a look and the blood covering his face and neck, it made the palace maid who handed him the towel tremble.
Xue Yuan took the towel and wiped his neck with it. He cleaned his neck while looking at Gu Yuanbai. Suddenly, he paused his hands and asked, "Your Majesty, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Gu Yuanbai said, "We're alright."
Xue Yuan's expression became even more strange. Just a moment ago, Gu Yuanbai had vomited blood from receiving a shock. Now looking at him, the way he looked made him think that his entire body felt ill and that he might vomit blood again if he moved.
The sticky blood on his neck was smeared on the towel. Xue Yuan's expression became more and more livid as he wiped it off. Needless to say, his current appearance, just from watching the palace maids next to him it'd be clear how scary it looked.
Gu Yuanbai said warmly, "Someone, take Guard Xue to clean up."
It was the first time Xue Yuan heard him speak so softly, and it made him feel strange for a while. The palace maid walked up to him. "Guard Xue, shall we go?"
Xue Yuan regained his senses, and threw the scarf over his shoulder. "Let's go."
After Xue Yuan left, Gu Yuanbai smiled. He closed his eyes and knocked on the table, the tapping sound from his fingertips as terrible as a fatal sickle.
Before long, a sweaty guard ran and knelt in front of Gu Yuanbai. He said, "Your Majesty, Grand Imperial Concubine Wan is fine. She said she misses Your Highness, and sent someone to invite Your Highness to go to Beijing's outskirts to visit her."
With that, the guard handed a letter to Gu Yuanbai. The young eunuch checked the letter paper, and then carefully handed it to the Emperor.
This was a secret letter from the Supervision Office that cleared up the cause and effect of the whole ordeal. The person who had deliberately transmitted the wrong information had been arrested by the Supervision Office and was now being tortured to extract a confession.
Gu Yuanbai was very satisfied with the speed they had handled things with. After burning the secret letter and wiping out the last remains of the paper, the Imperial doctor also rushed in.
"Investigate," Gu Yuanbai said. "Investigate within the clan."
The captain of the guard felt a chill run down his spine, and bowed his head in response. "This servant obeys."
The remaining forces of the powerful minister, Lu Feng, had been frightened by Gu Yuanbai and fled all the way to Jinghunan and Jiangnan. After Gu Yuanbai had cleaned the court and the inner palace, the second thing was to uproot the chess pieces that Lu Feng had buried in the military.
But while for these three places he could use thunderous means, he couldn't forcefully pull out by force the people Lu Feng had buried in the houses of other ministers and clan members.
There were advantages and disadvantages to it. He couldn't catch the people who were in hiding, but these people were also unwilling to follow the bigger part of the forces and flee the capital.
No, some people were starting to get anxious.
Gu Yuanbai had placed people to supervise the manors of ministers and relatives from his clan. The first goal was to dig out these malignant tumors, and the second was to deter the people who received a salary from the court but whose ideas were becoming confused.
Gu Yuanbai's own ideas were very clear. After the Imperial doctor treated him, he asked Tian Fusheng, who waited on the side while wiping his tears, to come forward, saying" "It's time to move."
The important ministers from the Great Heng were not stupid, and stupid people couldn't be important ministers. They knew who to follow and to whom it was best to remain loyal. But there were always some whimsical clan relatives who thought that, since the current Emperor was in poor health and had no children, perhaps, if the current Emperor died, they, or their children, might gain support to get to the throne.
Those who had good heirs in the family, or those who had a reputation for being wise, were more likely to do stupid things.
The capital was calm, but dozens of eunuchs rushed out of the palace holding Imperial edicts in a hurry.
These eunuchs were sent to the palaces of various princes to announce the Imperial will.
Gu Yuanbai gave them a chance to confess and receive a lenient treatment.
The language of the Imperial decree was concise, but the eunuchs read it out loud with a fierce, harsh tone, asking them to hand over the remaining people of Lu Feng hidden in their mansion, the malignant tumor that had encouraged them to be disrespectful to the Emperor. As long as they handed them over, the Emperor would be lenient.
Everyone in the Prince's mansion was trembling and terrified, but, no matter what they asked, the eunuch only replied that there was still half an hour.
After half an hour, if those who had dared to do such a thing did not dare to be honest on their own accord, they would have to accept the Emperor's thunderous means of dealing with them.
During this half an hour, the eunuchs stood in front of the clan's families mansions with their hands together, looking coldly at the innocent or worried faces of the Emperor's relatives.
It was hard to tell just whose heart was beating faster and faster, hiding in the crowd with sweat on their face, cold sweat slipping from their chin to the ground.
Fearing, dreading, but still not believing what the Emperor might do.
As time passed, it seemed as if the capital knew what was going to happen. The officials closed their gates, and there was no one on the street in front of the palaces of the clan's princes.
The setting afternoon sun gradually moved westward.
The legs of the clansmen who had done something became weak and they didn't know if it was because they had been kneeling for half an hour or because of some inexplicable fear. After time passed, no one in the Prince's mansion stood up and pleaded their guilt, and finally, the half hour went by.
Heavy footsteps sounded in the Imperial palace. Thousands of black armored Imperial guards ran out and went straight to the clan prince's palace in close formation.
Their footsteps sunk so heavily that they made the ground shake, and their shields and swords gleamed with bloodthirsty rays. The general in charge yelled, "Following the Emperor's will, we will clear out the rebellious forces! Make way!"
On the street, the doors of every household were closed tight. Through the gaps in the windows, they watched as the troops in black armor ran past their door. Their sharp blades, reflecting the light of the setting sun's glow against the ground and their doors with a terrifying shine.
Gu Yuanbai had spent a lot of money to raise these Imperial troops. Their daily training and drills had given them a strong body, and the daily rations of good quality meat and rice had given them the strength required to bear their armor and take up their swords and shields.
Many clansmen saw through their wide open gates, their thighs shaking, how this group of Imperial troops ran past. Only then did the clansmen feel alive again and able to breathe and they fell softly to the ground, as well as their servants. It was only now that they realized that the Emperor's words were true.
Someone really had made a mistake that the Emperor could not tolerate.
The black armored Imperial guards ran past the gates of these mansions. They spotted an eunuch who had been standing in front of a gate suddenly smiling like a chrysanthemum and enthusiastically helping up the master of the house who had fallen to the ground. The eunuch apologized. "Don't resent this little one, I was just following orders. Now that the Imperial army has run past your door, that proves your innocence! His Majesty will send a reward later, so as a great man you shouldn't take something like this to heart."
The joy and fear had yet to dissipate from the clan head who was helped up. He had a clear understanding of the Emperor's temper now, how would he dare say anything?
It was terrifying, terrifying.
They felt terrified even though it wasn't them.
Thousands of forbidden troops finally surrounded the mansion of Prince Qi.
The eunuch who was waiting in front of Prince Qi's gate walked down the steps with a smile, and said hello to the general who led the Imperial troops. "General Cheng, is this the place?"
The general nodded and said with a serious expression, "I'm sorry for troubling you, eunuch."1
The eunuch exchanged a few polite words with him and then stepped aside, leaving the people of Prince Qi's mansion to face the encroaching Imperial army. Prince Qi, a middle aged man,2 was supported to walk to the door, his hands trembling. "What are you trying to do?!"
The people inside the mansion saw this black and imposing Imperial forbidden army. Some of them already had their eyes roll inside their skulls and faint. Panic spread, and finally someone couldn't help but let out a low sob.
General Cheng said coldly, "Us officials have been ordered to eliminate the rebels. If there is any resistance, kill them!"
King Qi couldn't breathe, and he almost keeled over. He stared at the armored soldiers in front of him with wide eyes, his legs under his robe trembling more and more.
He also had a young child beside him. It was the prince's youngest son, who was quick witted and intelligent since he was a child, and had been known as a child prodigy since his childhood. At this moment, the child was holding the hand of a servant next him, crying and calling for his mother.
In which way was such a child, still unweaned, "as wise and benevolent as the current Emperor"?
Like hell!3 General Cheng's eyes seemed to be on fire, and the soldiers at his back were also ready to start trouble.
Prince Qi was the brother of the late Emperor. He was about a dozen years younger than the previous Emperor, and, when he had been proclaimed emperor, Prince Qi hadn't been a big threat. Prince Qi had also been a respectable and proper, peaceful lord, so he had gained a good reputation.
But when Gu Yuanbai came to power, he, who was weak and unlikely to have children, gave Prince Qi a chance for his ambitions to swell. When the powerful minister, Lu Feng, was around, Prince Qi received many gold and treasures and got a name from Lu Feng. When the other relatives of the Emperor were acting obsequious and servile, he was already dreaming bigger.
Lu Feng didn't dare offend the heavens and support the prince's claim to the Imperial throne. He only dared to wait for Gu Yuanbai's passing to support a puppet emperor after he died. Prince Qi was old, and Lu Feng didn't feel reassured about it, but Prince Qi had a son.
He had many, many sons.
Prince Qi was angry and frightened. He looked at the Imperial soldiers outside his gates and, looking at the swords and shields in their hands, he realized that what the eunuch had read earlier had been true.
But how did Gu Yuanbai discover it?!
How dared he?!
Prince Qi was his uncle!
Prince Qi's voice shook as he said: "This prince wants to meet with His Highness!"
The guards blocking the door stared at him in silence.
Prince Qi's upset mood turned worse. He grabbed the arm of a young servant next to him and pushed the young man violently. "Go! You go and report to the Emperor! Say I want to see His Highness!"
The young servant ran, staggering, towards the Imperial palace. However, after just a few steps, a deputy general chopped off his head. The bloody head rolled down the steps of Prince Qi's mansion.
The bloodstain spread all the way. The deputy general snorted coldly and said, "We're rough people with heavy hands. The Emperor told us to clear up the rebel forces, and that there was no need to hold back. This little servant just now tried to run away in front of the royal army. Perhaps he was trying to inform the enemy and ask for reinforcements?"
Prince Qi's eyes widened, his hands trembling and pointing at him. "You, you, you—"
Inside the large hall, Gu Yuanbai had personally ordered General Cheng and his deputies. The Emperor, with a light tone, said only five simple words. "We want to see blood."
Unless there was blood, there'd always be people who wouldn't feel afraid.
The crowd in Prince Qi's mansion stared at the head at the bottom of the steps. It took a long while for the earth-shattering screaming to start.
The eldest son in the Prince Qi's mansion forced himself to remain calm and, supporting his mother, he said, "They won't dare to do anything to us."
No matter what, they were still the Emperor's relatives!
General Cheng told the soldiers to put away their swords and replaced them with long and thick clubs. He invited the eunuch beside him to step forward, and the eunuch said in a loud voice: "Prince Qi, are you really not going to confess and hand over the rebel forces?"
Prince Qi answered loudly: "You dare threaten the Emperor's relatives?! Do you also dare to make a move against this prince?!"
All the masters in the Qi mansion cursed loudly. "We want to meet with the Emperor! You said that you want to clear the rebels, so what are you doing around our residence?!"
More and more people joined the yelling, feeling supported, and more and more of them became excited and, while pointing at the Imperial guards, cursed them out.
It wasn't until some son of Prince Qi's family got hit on the head with a cane and fell to the ground, covered in blood, that all the sounds suddenly stopped.
Big groups of Imperial guards rushed into Prince Qi's mansion. The cries and howls reached the sky, the servants lay down on the ground, and the mansion seemed to be hell.
The masters were beaten, and the servants were beaten too. However, while the servants could be beaten to death, the masters had to remain alive.
Prince Qi fell softly into a pool of blood. He watched as the black armored Imperial guards found their way to the study, and even quickly caught a few of Lu Feng's men.
They were so fast that it seemed as if they already knew who these people were.
Prince Qi was dizzy, and his anger had long since turned into shivering panic.
Gu Yuanbai, Gu Yuanbai… He was crueler than the previous Emperor, too cruel, too terrifying.
His Highness was too terrifying.
New Year's dinner is going to be awkward. I know they don't get the entire clan together for dinner but just let me
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Footnotes
公公 Gongong, literally a form of address specifically for eunuchs.年已不惑 literally age when you're no longer confused, it's traditionally considered that when you reach a certain age you also reach greater understanding and it's a somewhat common description of people's ages rather than of Prince Qi's actual mental capacity.呸 'pei' an onomatopoeia for spitting, not a literal description of their actions in this case.
Until things calmed down, the high-ranking officials and powerful people in the entire capital stayed behind closed doors, unusually well behaved.
Meanwhile, ordinary civilians weren't affected. After all, the residences of the Imperial relatives and nobles were far away from the regular people, and Gu Yuanbai deliberately tried not to create a big disturbance. His actions intended, at most, to scare those few streets full of powerful people and the courtiers and officials close to them.
The smart people knew that this was both a crackdown and a show.
The Emperor had known what was going on. He used this chance to make the Imperial army sneak around to curtail it and to tell others, "We have the ability to decide whether you live or die. Do not try to provoke Us. The only thing you should do is behave and follow Our orders."
This Emperor was completely different from the late Emperor. He said, he did it, and he did it with great fanfare. In the eyes of the noblemen, it was chilling, but in the eyes of his fanboys, the Emperor was really dashing!
In the palace, Gu Yuanbai, who had just finished listening to General Cheng's report, was presented with the poems that Chang Yuyan and Tang Mian, the son of the Minister of Revenue, had composed for him. When he received them, he couldn't help but laugh.
Both Chang Yuyan and Tang Mian were smart people. They had different styles of poetry and writing, and each had its own good points. Now with these two poems, one wanted to announce the Emperor's Imperial might, and the other wanted to promote the Emperor's love for the people. The two poems were excellent and easy to read and remember. At this point in time, using something like that to present a false image of peace and prosperity and calm the hearts of the officials, it seemed that the two of them had spontaneously developed a talent for public opinion.
The literati circle worked like that, one person would lead others. After Chang Yuyan and Tang Mian took the lead, since they started from above, the bottom naturally followed. The Emperor sending the Imperial army and spilling blood from the clan seemed to have been forgotten by everyone.
Gu Yuanbai thought for a while, smiled and set the poems aside. He asked Tian Fusheng, "Why aren't you lying down and resting?"
"This one wanted to rest for two days," Tian Fusheng said with a worried expression, "but, Your Highness, after I was away for half a day, so many things have happened. The day has been really long, long enough that my old waist has stopped hurting."
Gu Yuanbai thought, it hadn't been just half a day.
However, Gu Yuanbai was very satisfied with how efficient it was. In half a day, everything that had to be solved was solved, and all possible trouble that might have arisen from that had been nipped in the bud.
"Didn't Princess Wan say that she missed me and wanted to see me?" Gu Yuanbai smiled. "In a few days, when there's no morning court, tell the people from the Weather Bureau to see what the sky looks like. We remember that there's an Imperial family temple outside of the capital that was conferred by the late Emperor, it'll be good to take Grand Imperial Concubine there and relax."
Tian Fusheng respectfully replied 'yes'. Gu Yuanbai glanced at him and said, "You don't need to go, just rest in the palace."
"…" The Emperor's compassion made Tian Fusheng's eyes fill with tears, but his heart was full of worry thinking that something might happen when he wasn't around. He felt so torn for a while that he couldn't speak.
Xue Yuan, who had already finished cleaning himself at the side, said just at the right moment, "I will also be by His Highness's side at that time."
He smiled gracefully. "Eunuch, don't worry anymore. This official is strong and energetic, I'm very useful."
Tian Fusheng said politely, "With Master Xue and Master Zhang together, what would I have to worry about?"
Xue Yuan felt excited all over.
He smiled slightly at Tian Fusheng, and the excitement hidden deep in his eyes made his smile seem a little off.
In fact, Xue Yuan was almost going crazy with excitement over the Emperor's actions.
Xue Yuan was bloodthirsty and, when he was eleven or twelve, he already had the courage to kill deserters running away from the battlefield. He enjoyed the battlefield, enjoyed killing, and enjoyed making people subservient.
The most noble person in the world was undoubtedly the Emperor before him. However, right before his eyes, the sick and weak Emperor had used methods as loud as thunder. Wild enough and with enough fanfare to make Xue Yuan's breathing become heavy, as he saw the group of black armored imperial troops running out of the Imperial city in formation after he came out of the bath.
The most noble person in the world also had the ruthlessness proper of the lord of the world.
Between subjugating a large plot and subjugating the Emperor, at this moment, the latter made Xue Yuan feel even more invigorated.
Ever since the start all the way to the present, besides the times being ill, Xue Yuan had never seen other expressions on the face of the young Emperor. Gu Yuanbai seemed to be calm and composed all the time. When being ruthless, he was ruthless, when he was cold, he was cold. Despite his obviously weak body, he never showed a vulnerable look.
What would it be like for him to look vulnerable?
Xue Yuan didn't know.
But Xue Yuan's provocation that day hadn't been fully in vain. He at least discovered that the young Emperor disliked being touched. The more intimate the touch, the more disgusted the young Emperor felt.
This was a really invaluable discovery.
Gu Yuanbai suddenly raised his head to look at the color of the horizon. "Is it time to change shifts?"
The guard captain, Zhang Xu, said, "Your Highness, it is indeed time for the shift change."
The only one whose shift was ending here was Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan stepped forward and respectfully bowed to Gu Yuanbai. "This official retires."
Gu Yuanbai stared at Xue Yuan's back as he left. Tian Fusheng followed suit and exclaimed, "This one remembers the first time I saw Young Master Xue, when he was completely drunk and smelled of alcohol. Isn't he talented when he doesn't drink? He's handsome and brave, the son of General Xue, as the saying goes a tiger father doesn't have dogs for sons. This one has heard that Young Master Xue isn't afraid of killing enemies in the battlefield, and that he's very good at leading soldiers."
Gu Yuanbai said, "He has some military merits. General Xue is the one suppressing his son's military pursuits now to make him go back to being calm and steady."
"Yes," Tian Fusheng said with a smile. "It is also an honor for Master Xue to be an imperial guard by Your Highness' side now. With time, he will become a capable general of Great Heng."
In his heart, Gu Yuanbai said he will indeed become a capable general, to the point of threatening the throne.
Xue Yuan looked very obedient nowadays, but, when looking closely at him, he was actually full of rebellious spirit. If it weren't for his role as the future protagonist and his future work for the country, Gu Yuanbai would have made him learn what Imperial power was.
But a mad dog being a mad dog, it was interesting to tame him like this. If he were scared and obedient, it would make Gu Yuanbai look down on him.
After dinner, Gu Yuanbai met again the two generals in charge of overseeing the Imperial Army in the side hall from the Xuanzheng Hall building.
General Cheng said, "Your Highness, among the people working for Lu Feng that we arrested in Prince Qi's Mansion, there have been several who have offered to trade secret information in exchange for their lives."
Gu Yuanbai laughed and said, "No deal. What I want is their lives."
No one in the world could have more information than Gu Yuanbai. These people had been thrown into the capital, and they could only survive through subterfuge. Gu Yuanbai didn't believe that they could have any sort of valuable information in their hands. Rather than anything like that, what he needed were their heads, displayed in the mansions of a number of ministers and noblemen, so as to scare away the people working under Lu Feng that hadn't been discovered yet.
After this battle, Gu Yuanbai believed that the prince's mansion and the ministers of each clan would cooperate.
After the hidden malignant tumor became visible and their misdeeds were revealed, Gu Yuanbai would personally send those people who had been left behind in the capital to Jinghunan and Jiangnan, to send them to meet with the remnants of Lu Feng's forces.
At that time, he'd get a good show of dog-eat-dog.
So, no matter how one looked at it, their heads would have the best effect. After these heads were done terrorizing a number of official residences, Gu Yuanbai could also give them as a gift to the remaining forces.
After bearing such a benevolent gift from the Emperor, hopefully they would feel inspired, getting scared and fearful quicker. Then, they'd fight with the powerful magnates in the two locations and take their wealth, farmers and fertile lands.
Stamp them out, and then wait to be stamped out by Gu Yuanbai.
The Emperor had caught a cold and, on top of that, he had coughed up blood. All the doctors in the Imperial hospital were busy. After taking his pulse many times, they finally came to the conclusion that the Emperor was vomiting blood because of his anxiety attacking his heart. In order to take care of his body, he should not think too much.
He followed the advice of doctors and set aside a working time for himself every day. He would do as much work as possible within those hours, and he would spend the rest of the time strolling around the Imperial gardens, reading books, and writing down some modern knowledge he remembered, so as not to forget it before he needed it.
After a few days of this, his cold gradually healed. After sending the Weather Bureau Supervisor to predict the weather, Gu Yuanbai added the matter of going with Grand Imperial Concubine Wan to the Imperial family temple to his agenda.
Early the next morning, the carriage drove out of the palace.
Xue Yuan followed next to the window with his horse. He was full of energy and handsome. When he saw Gu Yuanbai open the window of the carriage, he smiled slowly and asked, "Does Your Highness feel cold?"
Since it was April, the morning was no longer cold. Gu Yuanbai took off his heavy clothes and, wearing a green crown on his head and a soft smile on his face, he gave the feeling of a beautiful and valuable jade.
A white butterfly flew by the carriage, and the Emperor's gaze followed the butterfly unconsciously. Suddenly, a big hand stretched out and quickly and accurately took the butterfly into his hand.
Xue Yuan smiled and placed his clenched fist in front of Gu Yuanbai's eyes. "Your Highness, are you interested in this thing?"
Gu Yuanbai had some interest in his eyes. "So what?"
Was Xue Yuan going to dedicate this butterfly to him?
Xue Yuan smiled slightly, and slowly opened his hand. There was a bloody butterfly in the middle of his palm. The white butterfly wings were stained with yellow blood. The butterfly that had just been flying around a moment earlier had been crushed to death by Xue Yuan.
"I can't believe it died," Xue Yuan said with pity, taking the blame. "It's this official's fault for using too much force. Asking Your Highness for forgiveness."
Gu Yuanbai said lightly, "Throw it away."
Xue Yuan threw the butterfly on the ground, took out a handkerchief and wiped his hand. As soon as the blood was wiped off, he showed his clean palm to the Emperor, and smiled. "Your Highness, how does it look?"
Gu Yuanbai raised his eyes lightly. "Not good."
"This official thinks it's clean." Xue Yuan withdrew his hand. "It's easy to clean the blood with just wiping it. After that, except for Your Highness, who else would know that this official accidentally crushed a butterfly?"
"We are not interested in butterflies." Gu Yuanbai raised his eyebrows, thinking it was interesting to chat with Xue Yuan. "We are interested in the horse you have under."
The corner of Xue Yuan's mouth went up. "This official has also carried Your Highness, steady as can be. Compared with the horse, aren't I better?"
Gu Yuanbai said, "Always more communicative than a beast."
The corners of Xue Yuan's mouth stiffened. When his eyebrows were pressed down, his entire face looked gloomy and sharp, but soon again he laughed and said, "If your Highness is interested in the horse below me, wouldn't it be better to get out of the carriage and ride this official's horse?"
Gu Yuanbai lost interest, said "No", and closed the window.
Xue Yuan glanced at the carriage and smiled darkly.
He hadn't been really planning to invite Gu Yuanbai to ride a horse, but, now that the young Emperor had refused, Xue Yuan felt that he had to get him out of the carriage and make him do it.
Gu Yuanbai opened a book, and the young eunuch next to him asked, "What kind of tea does Your Highness want to drink today?"
"A pot of Shuangjing Green," Gu Yuanbai said, "brew it light."
The young eunuch carefully took out the tea, saying, "Yes."
Shuangjing Green was a tea that the Emperor enjoyed drinking lately. When brewed in water, the color was clear and translucent, the flavor mellow, and the lingering fragrance remained in the mouth for a long time. The young eunuch was making tea cautiously, and, just as the Emperor next to him turned a page of the book, the carriage suddenly became unstable, and the entire thing shook.
Gu Yuanbai held onto the wall of the carriage and asked sharply, "What happened?!"
The tea in the carriage got spilled all over, and the layers of soft blankets were soaked completely. It was impossible to find a clean place to sit, nor stand straight, the carriage was simply unusable.
A noise came from the outside, and Gu Yuanbai stepped out of the carriage right away, holding onto his robe, going to take a look with his eyebrows furrowed. It turned out that a deep sharp stone had been plunged into the leg of the horse leading the carriage, and the horse had knelt on the ground, howling.
Gu Yuanbai's eyelid twitched and he turned to look around.
There were indeed a lot of fine stones along the roadside, and some of them were sharp. But it was just quite a coincidence that one of the stones would be inserted in the horse's leg at such a tricky angle, and for the entire carriage to be covered in tea.
Gu Yuanbai smiled coldly. "Zhang Xu."
The guard strode over and said, "Your Highness, I will send someone to transport the injured horse away. It's not possible to ride the carriage anymore. Your Highness, why don't you ride this official's horse, while I walk in the front?"
"No," Gu Yuanbai said, "that's too slow, Grand Imperial Concubine Wan is still waiting for Us."
At this moment, Xue Yuan walked over, leading his horse. He stroked the mane of his mount and asked leisurely, "Your Highness, why not try riding this official's horse?"
The guard captain frowned, and, as he was about to refute, he heard Xue Yuan speak slowly. "The owner of this horse is a little more communicative than a beast, so the horse must be more clever than some people.
"This official carries Your Highness," Xue Yuan said sarcastically, "and this official's horse will also carry Your Highness."
Gu Yuanbai looked between the two, squinted, then said, "Xue Yuan will ride with Us. Zhang Xu, you take Our eunuch."
Xue Yuan respectfully turned sideways and said, "Your Highness, if you please."
Gu Yuanbai gave him a meaningful look, stepped on the stirrups and straddled the horse. Although his body wasn't in good condition, it didn't mean that he wasn't able to ride and shoot. His endurance was poor, but his basic skills weren't shameful.
After he mounted the horse so smoothly, Xue Yuan, still holding the reins, was about to jump on the horse as well. However, unexpectedly, Gu Yuanbai suddenly clamped his legs and raised his whip. "Move!"
The horse began to run, and Xue Yuan was dragged on the ground for more than ten meters. Then, relying on the strength of his arms, he mounted over the horse, sitting behind the young Emperor.
His entire body was covered in dust, and he had blood stains on his hands. Half of his body felt as if it was on fire, and he cut a sorry figure. Xue Yuan's eyes were full of fury, and, tasting blood in his mouth, he asked, "Your Highness, what are you running for?"
"Xue Yuan," Gu Yuanbai whispered, "Do We look easy to fool?"
Xue Yuan stretched a hand past the young Emperor's waist and held tight onto the reins in the young Emperor's hand. His hand was bloody and bruised because of getting entangled and dragged, but it was still very vigorous, without shaking in the slightest.
" "
"I1 ruin one of your horses," Xue Yuan said with a bloody breath in Gu Yuanbai's ear, "and you'd let me die?
Your Highness, how can you be so cruel?"
Important notice:
Hello everyone! As you might have seen, this novel's update schedule has been moved to once every two weeks. This is a temporary change because I have very big exams coming! I didn't want to go on a hiatus but I simply don't have time to translate as much as my previous schedule, so I've just decided to slow down releases. There will still be regular releases, just slower ones!
I'll go back to weekly updates after my exams are over, in a month and a half or so! (don't have all the official dates yet!)
Thank you everyone for your patience, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
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Footnotes
Addressing himself as 老子 laozi in this sentence, which sounds arrogant and implies the speaker to be in an authority position as an elder.
Xue Yuan, speaking into his ear, sounded like a hungry wolf or a mad dog.
The dangerous, bloody smell rushed to his head. Looking down, Gu Yuanbai saw several wounds on Xue Yuan's hand.
Ordinary people, after being dragged for such a long time, would have died. Xue Yuan was very strong and healthy, and the strength he used to hold the reins now was terrifying. Except for the scent of blood and those wounds, he looked no different.
Gu Yuanbai's face remained expressionless.
Just now, he had really wanted to kill Xue Yuan. Kill this man, who kept offending him and would take away his power in the future. As he dragged Xue Yuan behind him, Gu Yuanbai felt a moment of satisfaction.
How nice it'd be to have Xue Yuan die, to kill the future regent.
But when he came back to reason, he knew that he couldn't be killed like that. Ordinary means wouldn't be enough to kill him.
Xue Yuan's whole body was tense. As he held the young Emperor in his arms, his fury ran deep, and the bloody scent and the pain made him angry. The madness hidden inside his depths appeared once again, and his expression was horrible, but he did nothing to hurt the young Emperor.
He sneered with a dark expression. "I'm right, am I not?"1
"'I'm'?"2 Gu Yuanbai looked calm and composed. He turned his head and glanced at Xue Yuan, and smiled slightly. "So it turns out, Guard Xue, that you hurt the horse."
He recriminated him leisurely. "You ruined one of Our good horses and damaged some of Our good blankets. Even if it won't help matters, We still have to punish you, Guard Xue. Three months of salary, to set an example."
Xue Yuan sneered. Raising his hand with the whip, he made the horse shoot out like an arrow from a string.
"Your Highness!"
The guards exclaimed at their back, and shouted angrily, "Xue Yuan, stop!"
The scenery at their back disappeared quickly, and the jolting of the horse gave him vertigo. Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand to pull the rein, but Xue Yuan continued to stubbornly hold onto it, and Gu Yuanbai wasn't able to take it away.
Damn it.
Gu Yuanbai's body felt uncomfortable all over, and he shouted angrily, "Xue Yuan!"
Xue Yuan said out loud, "Your Highness, after seeing you speed up so much, this official thought that you wanted to gallop! Isn't that right?"
Gu Yuanbai: "—We command you to stop!"
Xue Yuan pulled the reins harshly. The horse's forelegs left the ground and it reared, making Gu Yuanbai's back fall towards Xue Yuan's arms. Xue Yuan's chest and abdomen were hard, and after hitting it, his back hurt all over.
The base of his legs hurt more than his back. Gu Yuanbai, after a moment, laughed coldly.
Very well, very well.
It clearly wasn't easy to make a mad dog feel pain.
His anger and desire to conquer rose harshly. Gu Yuanbai had an adventurous spirit, but his body wasn't in a good enough condition that would allow him to take risks.
However, the process of taming Xue Yuan seemed to be another kind of adventure in itself.
Killing wouldn't be exciting enough, it wouldn't be a successful adventure. A successful adventure would be making him obedient, making him obediently prostrate at the Emperor's feet.
Seeing him so angry, Xue Yuan smiled instead. He adjusted the hold around the young Emperor with one hand, allowing him to be comfortable in his arms, and he acted as the Emperor's backrest. The horse slowed down, and it seemed to be leisurely walking.
"Your Highness," Xue Yuan offered, "Today you're going to accompany Grand Imperial Concubine Wan to visit the temple. It is really not suitable to ride a horse. Your Highness's body is soft, it won't be good if you wear out your skin."
Gu Yuanbai, "Hah."
"Of course, this official must keep it in consideration for Your Highness." Xue Yuan pulled up his sleeve and let Gu Yuanbai see the scrapes at the hem of the fabric from being dragged for dozens of meters. The abrasions covered his entire arm, with blood oozing from the skin and flesh. It clearly looked painful. "Look, this official has such wounds on his body, and the blood on his back is still sticking to his clothes. It hurts to death to change the bandages. Your Highness, after you treat me like that, I've only wanted to take Your Highness to ride a horse for a moment. Am I not being thoughtful enough?"
The Emperor's lips went up and he said slowly, "We have punished you once, and you remember it and retaliate. You're really a good guard."
"Your Highness must be joking again," Xue Yuan said slowly. "Just like only a moment ago this official thought Your Highness was going to kill me. What retaliation? Your Highness is mistaken. Your Highness is the son of heaven and the Emperor of the Great Heng, how would this official dare?"
Next to them, many white butterflies and small insects fluttered above the grass. The most common one in the spring was the white butterfly. Gu Yuanbai glanced at them and thought to himself, you crushed that butterfly because no one was looking. Of course, you get to say whatever you want to say.
You retaliated against me because no one was looking. Now that your mouth is full of loyalty and integrity, it just makes me laugh.
Gu Yuanbai had no regrets about having tried to kill Xue Yuan. He was angry because of Xue Yuan's temper. He dared to act so bold towards the Emperor, forcing him to act impulsively, and he also dared to do so openly and sincerely. What else did he dare not to do?
The guards at the rear chased them, and were relieved when they saw that Gu Yuanbai was alright. The guard captain glared at Xue Yuan for a moment and said abruptly, "If you don't know how to ride a horse, don't be imprudent."
Xue Yuan was in a bad mood. When he heard the words, the corners of his lips twitched, and he said with a smile, "Mind your business."
The guard captain went red with anger. "You—"
"That's enough," Gu Yuanbai said. "We command you all to shut up."
No one dared to speak anymore. Gu Yuanbai straightened his back with no expression on his face. The atmosphere was oppressive and strange,and it stayed like that all the way to the outskirts of the capital.
Grand Imperial Concubine Wan had been looking forward to that day. The weather was good and the elderly woman was also very energetic.
Gu Yuanbai supported Grand Imperial Concubine Wan and walked slowly to the temple.
The Imperial temple was called Chengbao Temple. It covered a huge area and it had a pagoda dozens of meters tall. The winding roads were secluded, and the temple was hidden among the vegetation, giving it a special feeling of calmness.
"Your Highness." After a while, Grand Imperial Concubine Wan could not walk anymore. She was aided to go sit in a pavilion by the side and she looked at Gu Yuanbai with a smile. "I can't keep walking. Your Highness, please go on ahead, and burn an extra stick of incense for me."
Gu Yuanbai smiled and said, "Then, I will go up first."3
Grand Imperial Concubine Wan nodded with relief. She smiled and wiped the sweat from her forehead after watching the Emperor's figure disappear among the vegetation.
Chengbao Temple was built on the mountainside, and the abbot and many monks on the mountain had already heard the news about the arrival of the Emperor and Grand Imperial Concubine Wan. When Gu Yuanbai finally arrived at the temple, he saw that it was full of monks with bald heads.
The monks, wearing uniform monk garments, were led by the abbot to salute Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai's warm voice told them to get up, and his eyes swept over the monks in the temple.
He estimated that there were over two thousand people.
Gu Yuanbai narrowed his eyes, said nothing, and was led by the abbot to wander around the temple.
The abbot sighed. "When the late Emperor was there, he also brought Your Highness to come worship the Buddha. However, Your Highness was still young at that time, so you likely do not remember it."
Gu Yuanbai smiled and said pleasantly, "Abbot, you have lived among the beautiful scenery of the mountains and rivers all year round, and the wild mountain forests are far from the noise of the world. From your perspective, WeI fear that those times seem just like yesterday."
The abbot laughed and said, "Your Highness is absolutely correct. Now that I see Your Highness again, there's a real dragon4 protecting your body. Even if this old monk seldom steps out of the temple, I know that the land will definitely become more prosperous under Your Majesty's rule."
During this talk, the group had already reached the pavilion towering on the side of the mountain. The wild wind in the mountain made the Emperor's clothes swell up with air, and the abbot continued talking about some wonderful things, all of which were very profound and contained Buddhist principles.
He kept talking, and the Emperor only continued to listen with a smile. After talking for a while, the abbot's mouth became dry, and he couldn't help but follow the Emperor's gaze and look down the mountain. He asked, "What is Your Highness looking at?"
"We're looking at this greatly treasured temple," the Emperor replied.
The abbot couldn't help but smile. "If Your Highness wants to look at the landscape, there's a viewing platform a bit ahead. The scenery there looks more beautiful, it makes people linger for a while."
"I'm not looking at the scenery."
The moment he said this, it wasn't just the abbot that felt strange, but also the guards who followed them.
Xue Yuan, who had fallen back towards the end of the group, wiped the last bit of dirt off his robe. When he heard these words, he looked up and saw a small section of the Emperor's face.
Blue silk flew with the wind, and, occasionally, a small section floated towards the side of his face. Xue Yuan looked at it for a while, then looked away. After a while, he gazed back again. His eyes didn't want to look away, so he just stared openly at the Emperor.
When speaking with a smile, the corners of his lips went up slightly, and his skin looked good. The color of his lips was also light. Seeing his appearance, he probably had yet to eat a woman's rouge.5
He was a ruthless person, neat and tidy, but his skin was very fragile.
Needless to say, Xue Yuan intuitively felt that the young Emperor would end up doing something to scare people off.
Gu Yuanbai took the initiative to ask, "Abbot, do you know what We are looking at?"
The abbot respectfully said, "Please enlighten me, Your Highness."
"Unlike you, abbot, We are a layman," Gu Yuanbai said. "What Our eyes see is not the scenery, but the dense fields at the foot of the mountain."
The abbot suddenly realized. "It's the spring sowing season, the people from our temple will also be busy."
"The cultivated land at the foot of the mountain is all within the boundaries of Chengbao Temple," Gu Yuanbai said with a smile. "Looking from up here, there must be hundreds of acres of land."6
The abbot smiled without saying a word, his expression faintly proud.
Gu Yuanbai didn't say much. After finishing the Buddha ceremony at Chengbao Temple, they ate a vegetarian meal, and then walked leisurely with the group down the mountain.
The abbot accompanied the Emperor on his way out. When the Emperor's group disappeared, he turned around and he was about to send the monks away. Suddenly, something flashed in his mind. His entire being froze in place, and his face changed drastically.
" "
The Emperor's expression when he saw the number of monks, and the words the Emperor had said on the mountain flashed in his mind successively.
'What We see is not the scenery, but the dense fields at the foot of the mountain.'
'There must be hundreds of acres of land.'
Beads of sweat dripped from the abbot's forehead, and the abbot, breathing heavily, exclaimed, "Not good!"
There was no land tax on the fields in the temples, and the monks in the temples were also exempted from corvee.7 The meaning of the Emperor's words were to imply that those monks were useless!
Layers of cold sweat appeared on the top of the abbot's head, and instantly he thought of the Three Disasters of Wu.8
There were so many idle monks in the temple and so many fields that didn't have to pay taxes. The late Emperor had turned a blind eye to this, because he had worshipped Buddha. But the current Emperor wasn't the same as the late Emperor. His words had been so obvious, and the abbot hated that he was only reacting to them now.
No, Chengbao Temple couldn't be the one that was punished as a warning to others!9
"Quickly," the abbot pulled someone over, trembling, and hurriedly said, "Quickly, check the number of the fields at the foot of the mountain, and then donate them to the government! Go!"
Make sure to hurry, hurry and let the Emperor see our sincerity.
When the fist of the Emperor came down, none of them would be able to hold it up.
Idle monks… persecuting Buddhism…
The abbot shuddered. If it was as he thought, then this would be another tragic situation for the monks. The Emperor's hints just now were just for the sake of the dignity of the Chengbao Imperial temple.
There were over 2,000 monks in the Imperial temple, and there were hundreds of large and small temples around Great Heng. How many monks would there be altogether?
Gu Yuanbai, who was going down the mountain, was also pondering about this same question.
But before he thought about it for too long, he heard the sound of a waterfall not far away.
"Let's go and take a look." Gu Yuanbai set aside his work with a smile. "It's rare to come to the mountains, how could We not go and look at the landscape?"
The group of people walked towards the water. As soon as they approached the water source, Gu Yuanbai heard a faint sound. He felt curious and walked a few steps forward. Suddenly, he was enlightened.
The water was flowing, and, on the opposite shore among the bushes, came a warm, lingering sound that made people's ears grow warm. The guards' faces turned red first, and then darkened. The Emperor was there, how could they let His Majesty hear such filthy sounds?
The guard captain stepped forward with a dark expression. "Your Highness, this is the Imperial temple's location. To think that there are people doing such a rude thing here! This official will go and arrest them!"
The people on the other side of the river seemed to have heard the noise, and a bare-chested man raised his head and looked towards the group carelessly.
There was still a red dudou10 wrapped around his wrist. Gu Yuanbai stepped back, turning to the side without looking at it.
The jade pendant on his waist got stuck in the branches and leaves on the side of the way. Gu Yuanbai didn't notice, and, after taking a step back, the jade pendant was torn away.
Standing on the side, Xue Yuan bent over in time to catch it. The delicate and smooth jade pendant fell into his hand. It felt more pleasant to the touch than a fine silk fabric.
Xue Yuan tossed the jade pendant around and kneaded it a couple times. While thinking that the jade pendant was not as soft as the feet of the young Emperor, he said, "Your Highness, you lost your jade pendant."
Gu Yuanbai glanced at him and stretched out his hand towards Xue Yuan.
The meaning was very clear, but Xue Yuan acted as if not understanding the hand that the young Emperor had extended. He kneaded and played with the jade casually and said, "Your Highness, are you cold? Do you want this official to cover your hand?"
The left hand held the young Emperor's jade pendant, and the right hand held the young Emperor's cold hand. Xue Yuan said to himself, this jade pendant is not as pleasant to touch as the young Emperor's hand.
It's cold and strange.
Because of Xue Yuan's kneading, the skin on Gu Yuanbai's hand was half red again, and he withdrew his hand silently. "What We want is the jade pendant."
What kind of mental problem did Xue Jiuyao have?11
Apologies for the delay, as I announced in the discord my phone broke and I've been busy~ I hope you enjoy the chapter!
If you enjoyed this chapter, remember to vote for this novel on NU and add it to your reading list here!
And if you want to support my work, check out my ko-fi!
Footnotes
Still addressing himself as 老子 laozi as uses 我 in this line instead of the imperial 朕.The dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, hence all the dragon boots and , eating someone implies sex, Xue Yuan seems to be extrapolating pale lips = not having a woman's rouge = not having had sex with women.亩 Mu in the raws, equivalent to 60 square zhang or 0.165 acres; the number is undefined.A day's unpaid labour owed by a vassal to his feudal Four Buddhist Persecutions in China was the wholesale suppression of Buddhism carried out on four occasions from the 5th through the 10th century by four Chinese emperors. The first three are collectively known as the Three Disasters of Wu, named as such because all three emperors who carried out the persecutions had the character Wu (武) in them. Source.杀鸡儆猴 In the raws it says "the chicken that gets punished to warn the monkey", but it doesn't make as much sense in English. The meaning is just to serve as deterrent.A traditional undergarment, more info here.I'm 99% sure that Jiuyao is his courtesy name at this point.
General Xue's family had been loyal and upright for three generations.
What did "loyal and upright" mean? It meant that the continuity of the bloodline was more secure than the imperial family's, with high ranking generals in every generation. It also meant that the common people, soldiers and cavalry were all familiar with them.
The family's good reputation only kept strengthening as time went on. Their loyalty and righteousness was widely known. On the outside, their glory was great. On the inside, it was a scythe.
Xue Yuan's madness was due to these three generations of loyalty and righteousness. The madness he developed from his father's lap, the madness of leadership, the madness from the countless lives taken by his bloody hands.
No matter how respectful a general from the family might be after three generations of being loyal and upright, it wouldn't make the Emperor lower his guard against him. After three generations, with the general that had opened the borders, the Xue family, was unshakable. Xue Yuan's wild behavior, the madness of the general and his madness when groveling, they all made sense.
Because he was afraid that We would punish his son, because he was afraid that his son would hurt his family.
After three generations of loyalty, such a good reputation couldn't be killed so easily. Killing so coldly, it'll make his name go down in history as a synonym of infamy. Xue Yuan was quite talented, just very arrogant, and it was better to be openly mad than to be shrewd and hard to read.
Since ancient times, most wise rules have been known to be tolerant of all sorts of people.
Gu Yuanbai, of course, knew what the Xue household was thinking, and he didn't plan to force this loyal family to die. And, as it turned out, Xue Yuan's madness was always right below the limit.
Gu Yuanbai had originally wanted the protagonist from the novel to take over his legacy and create a prosperous Great Heng with calm seas and clear livers. He could also take advantage of Xue Yuan's bad behavior by using the carrot and stick method to restrict General Xue as well as Xue Yuan in the future, and even show the soldiers how magnanimous the Emperor was.
However, Gu Yuanbai was really annoyed by Xue Yuan.
He took the jade pendant from Xue Yuan, and the couple across the river who had been having a tryst in broad light, seeing they had been found out, attempted to escape. "Catch that boy and send him to the abbot," Gu Yuanbai said.
The guards moved at the command, jumping across the stream like a gust of wind. The man that had stuck his head out was startled and got up, wanting to escape. However, he was a step too slow, and he was immediately captured by the guards who rushed over.
"What are you doing?!" As the man struggled, his red dudou1 fell off. "This is Chengbao Temple! I am a lay disciple2 from the Chengbao Temple. Why are you still arresting me?!"
The guards pursed their lips, frowned, and dragged the man away. As for the woman, leaving her with a garment to cover her body was already benevolent and righteous.
Gu Yuanbai heard the man's yelling across the river, and, when someone dragged him over, he discovered that this lecherous monk still had a clean and proper appearance. He asked, "Are you a lay disciple of Chengbao Temple?"
The man was pressed down onto his knees, knowing that anyone who could enter and leave Chengbao Temple freely would not be an ordinary person. Obediently, he stopped struggling, but he said with a bitter face, "This evildoer hasn't cultivated enough to take the vows, so a man loving a woman doesn't break the law. Sir, I have been suffering in the temple for over two months, and now I can't help myself, I can't… everywhere around me are men, and looking at monk faces all day long, I just can't stand it anymore."
They were all men, so of course, Gu Yuanbai understood how he felt. Those that weren't yet angry at him before now were a bit jealous.
Look at that, look at that, a lay disciple, halfway through becoming a monk, and he still got laid more than him.
Gu Yuanbai asked uncomfortably, "Even if you are a lay disciple, you should still realize that you are in Chengbao Temple. If you defile the holy grounds of a buddhist temple, are you still a lay disciple?"
The man looked straight ahead. "My lord, if Chengbao Temple were really a sacred buddhist temple, of course, I would not dare to do something like that."
Gu Yuanbai squinted and asked slowly, "What do you mean?"
The man laughed and said, "My lord, it doesn't take much thinking. What I mean is that there are many monks in Chengbao Temple, and their vegetarian diet is very rich.3 They get a full stomach and get stained with oil. As such, this disciple also becomes more daring."
As he spoke, the man shook his head. "As the saying goes, if the upper beam isn't straight, the lower beam gets crooked."
"It looks like Chengbao Temple is already rich and prosperous," Gu Yuanbai murmured, and he couldn't help but laugh. "Good. Very good."
The man looked at him strangely, then looked at the group of guards behind Gu Yuanbai, and finally turned his eyes to Gu Yuanbai again. He looked at him carefully, and, finally, he showed a bit of nervousness.
Gu Yuanbai asked, "Who are your parents?"
The man lowered his head cautiously and replied, "This one's father is Jingxi Zhang."
The families of Jiangnan Yu, Huainan Lu, Henan Yang and Jingxi Zhang.
These four were all great merchants, great enough to do business with the Imperial family. Out of the four, Huainan was the one closest to the southern Jinghu region. The families of Jiangnan Yu and Huainan Lu were part of the powerful forces that Gu Yuanbai intended to use to break his enemy's hands.
Gu Yuanbai could tolerate merchants, and he even looked forward to the emergence of more honest merchants that would push the social and economic development. But he couldn't tolerate collusion between merchants and local officials. What was a despot? Someone who was stubborn and arrogant and had power would become a despot. The powerful scholar clans from the Qin and Han dynasties had only weakened after the imperial examination system was created. However, in the Qin and Han dynasties, conquering land and population, the scholarly clans had planned everything to their advantage as much as they could, and, at the end, they managed to become a hereditary family.
When they did business, they just did business, but they wanted to have power and collude with officials. After colluding with officials, both the officials and merchants would become very powerful.
The Yang family in Henan was careful and meticulous, and the Zhang family in Jingxi was not far from the Imperial capital. They were used to acting right under the Emperor's eyes. These sort of merchants were the ones Gu Yuanbai liked.
However, he didn't expect to meet someone from the Zhang family right there by coincidence.
"In that case, why did you come to Chengbao Temple and become a lay disciple?" Gu Yuanbai asked.
At this time, with the sun high in the sky, Xue Yuan looked at Gu Yuan's white face and saw that it was turning red from the sun. He said in a particularly considerate manner, "Why don't we find a pavilion to speak without hurry?"
As soon as he spoke, the kneeling man glanced at him, looked shocked for a moment, and spoke suddenly without thinking. "Young master Xue?!"
Xue Yuan raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile.
The kneeling man figured it out in an instant. His breathing suddenly became heavy, and he looked up at Gu Yuanbai subtly, filled with anxiety and excitement. He swallowed suddenly and opened his mouth, but he didn't dare say a word.
His upper body was still bare, and there were scratches and red marks from branches and leaves on his body. When looking at the young emperor, it was easy for his expression to be misunderstood.
The guard captain shouted, "Shameless!"
The man shook violently and quickly bowed to the ground, "Your servant Zhang Hao pays homage to the Emperor!"
Before Gu Yuanbai could speak, Xue Yuan sneered and asked, "Greeting the Emperor without clothes?"
Zhang Hao's face went red and he was unable to say a word.
At this time, the guard who had gone ahead to look at the route came back. "Your Majesty, there is a pavilion ahead. This official also met someone sent by Grand Imperial Concubine Wan who informed me that she was tired and had already returned to the village ahead of time."
Gu Yuanbai nodded and followed the guards to the pavilion. Xue Yuan followed at the end, with his hand on Zhang Hao's neck. Zhang Hao was trembling, looking very afraid of Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan asked, "Do you like women?"
Zhang Hao cautiously replied, "Master Xue, I only like women."
So don't take my head, I'm scared.
Xue Yuan smiled slightly. "Have you been with many women?"
Zhang Hao smiled. It was the smile of a smug man. "I am too lecherous, and I only came to the Chengbao Temple because my father forced me to."
"Oh," Xue Yuan suddenly realized something. He stretched out his hand and drew closer to Zhang Hao, asking him in a low voice, "Look at the color of the little Emperor's lips. Does it look like he has never eaten a woman's rouge?"4
Zhang Hao broke in a cold sweat immediately. "This evildoer doesn't know, this evildoer didn't look at it."
Xue Yuan let go of him with a smile, and didn't say anything else. He stepped forward and caught up with the young Emperor.
Zhang Hao breathed a sigh of relief, stroking his frightened chest and catching his breath slowly.
He didn't dare talk about the Emperor, but the face of the elder5 Xue was easy to see. With thick eyebrows and a high nose, he was tall and broad, and he certainly had to have a lot of energy! The point here was that he had never heard of young master Xue having any confidant, or a beauty in the spring boudoir. He was obsessed with training soldiers and fighting, and he had such an energetic look but still no woman. How terrible would it be for him to have one?
The pavilion was fairly clean, and an attendant spread a blanket on the seat. After Gu Yuanbai sat down, the attendant took a towel dipped in some cold water to wipe off the slight sweat on the Emperor's face.
After getting refreshed, Gu Yuanbai felt more comfortable. As he was about to speak to Zhang, Gu Yuanbai glanced at Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan's clothes had been dragged to the point where they now had a few holes. Although he had cleaned up the mud and sand on them, Gu Yuanbai could guess how many injuries he had suffered from the state of his clothes.
Feeling suddenly happy, Gu Yuanbai raised the corners of his lips, and a gentle breeze blew. He instantly felt the joy of traveling around the mountains, and he smiled as he spoke to Zhang Hao. "How far do your father's trade routes reach?"
Zhang Hao was shocked when he heard the question, and thousands of thoughts poured into his mind. The Emperor's expression was normal, and, when he heard the question, Zhang Hao felt excited, and a faint bold idea came to his mind.
He detailed sincerely and thoroughly all the business routes used by his father one by one, from Henan in the north, down to the south of the Yangtze River, to Lizhou in the east, and Shandong in the west.
Gu Yuanbai listened carefully, sometimes pondered, and then asked a few sharp questions.
After some conversation, the sweat on Zhang Hao's face was already heavy, and a guard returned to the creek and came back with his clothes. He hurriedly put them on and then wiped off the sweat on his forehead with his sleeves.
The Emperor's thoughts were clear and distinct to the frightened man, and he startled Zhang Hao several times. If it wasn't for the fact that Zhang really didn't have those sort of plans, he feared what words the Emperor might say back.
For many generations, the Zhang family in Jingxi had been talented at business, but for scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, when they did many businesses they would also get abused a lot. The amount of money that the Zhang family had lost at the hands of all sorts of powerful people was so large that it was scary. One after another would come to take it, one layer at a time, and, since they all thought that the Zhang family from Jingxi was rich, they couldn't complain about their suffering.
For example, the Jiangnan Yu family and Huainan Lu family both had backers behind them, and filial piety was enough to honor one. The Zhang family had had enough of all these struggles, and they wanted to find a backer. Looking around, they found news that the Emperor wanted to build a road for commerce.
In the winter, the Emperor had also released an announcement saying that border exchanges would be opened, but in the end it did not happen. After receiving this news from the Emperor, Zhang Hao's father returned to the capital from the provinces.
Zhang Hao had vaguely heard of the family's plans, talking about using a certain official's power to show the Emperor their sincerity. However, he didn't expect that, at the end, he would run into the Emperor at Chengbao Temple.
After Gu Yuanbai asked all the things he wanted to ask, he had a general idea in his mind. He kept his face calm, and, after nodding, Zhang Hao stepped back.
The palace attendant asked softly, "Would Your Majesty want some refreshments?"
Traveling with the Emperor, of course, had many requirements. Gu Yuanbai nodded, and the palace attendant took out a delicate small wooden box, set out some soft, smooth and delicate pastry from it, and prepared tea with warm water.
Ignoring anything else, the little blanket that Gu Yuanbai sat on was a blanket from the palace. The wool used was the most velvety hair from lambs, woven in addition with soft silk, and then dyed with juice squeezed out of plants several times over and over, until each strand was dyed evenly. Finally, the finished product would still carry the delicate fragrance of the flowers and plants for a long time.
The carpets covering the palace floors were also made in the same way. Imperial luxury was always about the small details. This was part of the Emperor's dignity and the ultimate enjoyment pursued by the common people.
If the Silk Road was rebuilt, even just such a small blanket would sell at a satisfactory price to Gu Yuanbai's standards.
The treasury stored the national revenue, and Gu Yuanbai also kept many luxurious and delicate items such as these, just waiting for real money to be funneled from abroad in the future.
Gu Yuanbai drank the tea in the pavilion, thinking about how to use the Zhang family in Jingxi to form a fixed business route with the border nomads. While his thoughts were flying, he listened to the guard captain say reluctantly, "Your…"
Gu Yuanbai remembered that the imperial doctor had told him that he shouldn't worry too much. He pursed his lips and smiled. "Well, We don't want to."
It was a rare occasion for him to come out to play, so he didn't want to think about these things.
"You all should take a break, too," Gu Yuanbai said. "After resting, let's go down the mountain. Although the meals at Chengbao Temple are delicious, they lack a bit of meat."
The guards each found a place to sit down, and the breeze in the mountains passed by. Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes and leaned on the backrest to relax. After a while, he suddenly heard several bird calls coming from a nearby area. He opened his eyes and saw a few birds that had landed on the stone table in the pavilion, pecking at unused refreshments with their heads lowered.
Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand and picked up a remaining piece of the pastries, placing it in his palm to feed the birds. However, he overestimated himself. After a few birds bowed their heads and pecked at it, Gu Yuanbai felt that his palm hurt so much that it should have certainly turned red.
He put down the scraps in his hand, looked around, and shouted, "Xue Yuan."
Xue Yuan, who was standing by the pillar, raised his head and glanced at him. He walked over. "Your Majesty?"
Gu Yuanbai motioned for him to stretch out his hand. Xue Yuan glanced at the birds on the table and suddenly smiled.
Obediently, he stretched out his hand, obediently he let the Emperor put the shredded food in his hand, and obediently he remained motionless as the wary birds thought about stepping forward.
In the end, his humanoid bird feeder gained their trust, and the birds pounced head first and pecked at his palm.
The palms of Xue Yuan's hands were covered in all the wounds from getting dragged by the horse, but the light pecks of these birds did not make him feel any pain. Instead, he just felt rather itchy.
"Your Majesty," Yue Yuan asked, "isn't this official obedient enough?"
Gu Yuanbai replied, "An obedient official wouldn't hurt my horse."
"This official has already been punished by the Emperor."
"You dared put Us in a gallop."
Xue Yuan smiled. He clenched his hand shut and the birds flew away. One bird, too slow to fly away, was directly caught in his hand. Xue Yuan touched the crying bird with his other hand, revealing its head under his palm." "This bird has soft feathers. Your Majesty, do you want to try it?"
Gu Yuanbai lazily raised his hand and abruptly patted the top of the bird's head a few times. "It's alright."
The jade-like fingertips touching the gray bird feathers were even more delicate. Xue Yuan looked down and the evil spirit inside his heart came out again.
So, the young Emperor dislikes being touched?
It's been so looong, exams kicked my ass but I'm BACK now baby. And we're back to updates every Sunday! Enjoy~
Footnotes
A form of ancient Chinese underwear, info here.A (shaolin?) monk that would be a temple disciple but not shave off his hair. monks traditionally eat vegetarian food only, the raws have a double meaning, "it has a lot of oil and water" but oil and water can also mean a lot of profit. The entire sentence goes with this double meaning.I think this has been mentioned before, but it's a double meaning for either being with a woman or being painted like a raws literally say grandfather, but, in this case, it's just Zhang Hao acknowledging him as his senior/superior and doesn't actually imply age or family relation.
Going up the mountain was easy, but going down was difficult. On their way down, Xue Yuan was very respectful, actively protecting Gu Yuanbai. On occasion, when the ground was uneven, he'd directly hold Gu Yuanbai's hand to guide him down to safety.
Although Xue Yuan was injured, he was still very strong and familiar with the mountain and the forests. The guard captain kept an eye on him, but, since Xue Yuan was acting so proper, he resigned himself to staying behind the Emperor just in case.
As a matter of fact, Xue Yuan's mood was rapidly getting better.
He didn't like men, but it wasn't as if he didn't know how to appreciate the good things in life either. The young Emperor's hands were soft and white. In that April weather, Xue Yuan's entire body felt warm, and the shade in the forest was not cool enough for comfort. However, the young Emperor's hands were as cold as a piece of jade, and he could hold onto them to cool off.
When he held the Emperor's hand, his skin was soft enough to slip between his fingers, and he felt that he could become addicted to those hands.
Most of the evil ideas and hostility that had been in his heart dissipated. Sure enough, the young Emperor was the one that had upset him, and in the end he was the one that made him feel comfortable again.
Gu Yuanbai was really an inflexible straight man and didn't notice any issue. It was only after getting down from the mountain and into the carriage that he noticed his hand was red.
Gu Yuanbai sighed. After just getting helped out a bit his hand was like that, it really wasn't very masculine at all.
The palace attendant washed Gu Yuanbai's hands, and the layers of soft cushions in the carriage had been changed. With the swaying of the carriage, Gu Yuanbai started to feel a bit drowsy.
When he woke up, the carriage had reached the palace.
Unhurried, Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes, and he heard Tian Fusheng's question coming from outside the carriage. "Is the Emperor asleep?"
The person who replied also spoke in a low voice, saying, "He's asleep, it was a tiring day."
After some rustling, no other noise came from the outside for a while. Gu Yuanbai, still feeling sleepy, rested his head on his palm. The scent of the incense in his nose was heavy and intense, and it made him feel languid and tired. He breathed out slowly and, as he was about to doze off for a while more, the curtain in front of him was raised.
Gu Yuanbai asked lazily, "Who is it?"
Carefully, Tian Fusheng replied, "Your Highness, the people from the Engineering Department have come to present the improved crossbows and farming tools they've newly developed."
Gu Yuanbai opened his eyes suddenly and, with a wide smile, he said, "Take Us to see them!"
The Emperor walked towards the palace energetically, followed by a group of people. When he reached the outside of the building, Gu Yuanbai spotted Chu Wei and the official historian waiting at the side. Only then had he remembered that the vacation time for the new imperial scholars had just ended and that they were now supposed to be on duty.
Chu Wei, as the highest scoring scholar, had received a posting at the Xiuzhuan academy.1 The Xiuzhuan academy was a 6th rank posting, and the main responsibilities it held was to keep track of the history of the country, record the words and deeds of the Emperor, register events and draft ceremonial texts.
It was not a surprise for Chu Wei to be there, but it was a surprise for him to go to Gu Yuanbai as soon as he took office.
Gu Yuanbai glanced at him briefly and paid it no mind, instead looking at the two officials from the Engineering Department. Xu Ning was one of them. When they saw the Emperor walk in, they hurriedly went to salute him with a bow.
Gu Yuanbai helped the two of them up and said with a smile, "We heard that the Engineering Department came up with some new things."
Xu Ning smiled and said, "Your Majesty, they are military weapons and farming implements."
In just a dozen days or so, Xu Ning seemed to have changed a lot. He looked a little fatter. The food in the Engineering Department seemed to be very nourishing. In addition to the flesh on his face, the biggest change in Xu Ning was the radiant expression on his face. He looked very energetic, very motivated, and his spirit appeared cheerful. Seeing that change made Gu Yuanbai feel extremely satisfied and relieved.
"Very well." Gu Yuanbai smiled. "Hurry and let Us see what they are."
The official handed him a crossbow, and Gu Yuanbai placed it in his hand and took a closer look. Bows and arrows had to be shot by humans, but crossbows worked through a mechanism. The user only needed to aim, and the range depended on the way they were constructed. The advantage of the crossbow was that it had a long range, great shooting strength, and it didn't strain people's physical strength, but having to wind up the small pieces was troublesome and time-consuming, so it wasn't practical on the battlefield.
The most powerful crossbow —the king of crossbows in the Northern and Southern Dynasties— the ballista, was extremely big. It was also known as the bolt thrower. The ballista was very powerful and it had a long range, capable of firing large scale projectiles. Gu Yuanbai remembered that it was a good tool for a siege. During the Song Dynasty, the technology reached its peak, and its range seemed to have gone over 1.5 kilometers.
However, while the ballista was great, sometimes it couldn't beat the small hand crossbow.
The crossbow, now improved by the Engineering Department, was not the same as the one that had been trampled on before. The materials had been changed and improved. There were three short and thick bolts on the top. Gu Yuanbai checked the thickness and found that the bolt was only 6 to 8 centimeters long.
Although the bolts were small, it didn't mean that this weapon wasn't lethal. In the short range, a bolt like that was more powerful than a long arrow.
There was something else hard to spot at the bottom of the crossbow. Xu Ning stepped forward and split it apart, showing that there were more short, neatly placed bolts on the inside.
Xu Ning smiled, somewhat embarrassed. "Us officials tried to make a lot of different designs, and this was the most convenient one. However, it can only fit fifty bolts."
"Fifty?" One of the civil officials at the side gasped. "If the fifty bolts hit, won't that mean fifty lives?"
"How could it be that accurate?" Another official from the Engineering Department replied. "But even if only five out of the fifty hit, it's still a useful portable crossbow."
Gu Yuanbai looked at it for a while, and the more he looked, the more he liked it. He turned his head and told a palace attendant, "Go to the Government Office and ask the Minister and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of War to come over."
The palace attendant hurried away and, just a moment later, the Minister of War and his Deputy Minister, as well as the Minister of Industry rushed over, their feet barely touching the ground.
Gu Yuanbai looked at the Minister of Industry and laughed. "Why did you come all the way here?"
The Ministry of Industry bowed to salute and, with a shy expression, he said, "This official heard that the Engineering Department had invented something good, so I came over to take a look."
When the Engineering Department was first founded, the Minister of Industry was actually extremely troubled. Wasn't the Ministry of Industry the one in charge of engineering? Did the Emperor intend to establish two engineering departments?
During those days, the Minister of Industry wasn't able to eat well or rest properly. Then, the Emperor took the Minister of Industry to look around the Engineering Department, and then the Minister of Industry understood.
The Ministry of Industry was very different from the Engineering Department. One was broad and complex, focusing on developing specific things, while the second was focused on brainstorming and creating new things, without dealing with official affairs or social events. It was strictly a research department, and it didn't diminish the powers of the Ministry of Industry. After that, whenever the Minister of Industry was free, he went to take a look, getting excited every time.
Seeing that everyone was coming, Gu Yuanbai passed the crossbow to the guard by his side. The guard stepped forward and pulled the crossbow, shooting towards the open space far ahead. With only a swishing sound, three bolts flew towards the distance.
The crossbow allowed one to fire the three bolts all at once or one by one. When the bolts hit the ground, Gu Yuanbai couldn't resist taking a step forward, and, next to him, the Minister of War was already shocked. "That was over two hundred steps!"
Just eyeballing it, Gu Yuanbai guessed it to be about a hundred meters away.
The Minister of War looked as a man went ahead to measure the distance, muttering, "Back in the day, the repeating crossbow was able to fire ten bolts in a row with a lot of power, but sadly, since it was too heavy, it was restricted to being used for defense. Our dynasty has ballistas, the only thing that was missing was a crossbow like this that could be picked up easily."
The Deputy Minister added, "This crossbow has such a long range, and it shoots three bolts at once! It looks very powerful!"
Everyone was very happy, especially the people from the Ministry of War, who had already begun to question the people of the Engineering Department about whether the crossbow could be mass-produced.
The smile on Gu Yuanbai's face couldn't be concealed. Usually, he was already radiant without a smile, but now he couldn't suppress it. Chu Wei was recording the words and deeds of the Emperor, staring at him intently, and as he watched the brush in his hand couldn't help but stop.
Next to him, the official historian was also thinking of the crossbow, and he said, "If such a powerful weapon can be developed, the one to do so will become famous through history."
" "
Chu Wei came back to his senses and replied with a low hum. He hated having such a reaction. He disliked when other people stared at him the most, and now, he was the one staring at the Emperor in a daze.
He didn't like men and he was no Longyang.2 Even if the Emperor was good looking, it was just a superficial appearance. If the reason he wasn't able to look away was the Emperor's face, well, Chu Wei was equally good looking, and he had never been spellbound by a bronze mirror before.
Chu Wei's mind was busy with a thousand thoughts, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing towards the Emperor. However, when he looked up again, he saw the unpleasant man who had been sitting next to Chang Yuyan the day the Imperial Examination results were published.
Chu Wei frowned slightly.
Xue Yuan had been looking at the crossbow casually at first, but his distracted mind slowly became more serious. He had seen out of the corner of his eye that the young Emperor was holding the hands of the two officials from the Engineering Department and was now showering them in praise.
Xue Yuan's smile froze, and his eyes were cold.
He was able to fight and lead soldiers, and he didn't shy away from killing or from blood. If discussing military achievements, his merits were stacked high enough to make anyone's jaw fall slack. It was precisely due to him being excessively popular and having such high military achievements that General Xue now wanted to push him down, fearing that at his young age his military merits would make the Emperor wary of them.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a prodigy, but, despite all of this, the young Emperor had never treated him kindly. Instead, he was now being nice to these two scholars that weren't strong enough to tie down a chicken.
He was punished so harshly that he had to go out of his way to be able to touch the young Emperor's hand comfortably. But with these two people, the Emperor even took the initiative to hold theirs.
Ha ha.
After seeing the farming implements, Gu Yuanbai happily gave out rewards. The Engineering Department had even figured out the rice seedling horse.3 It was too late to use it on a large scale for that year's spring planting, but, once the rice was mature, it should be ready for use.
Gu Yuanbai handed the farm tools to the Minister of Industry and asked him to take people to contact the Department of Engineering. The two military officials went directly to Xu Ning, wanting to ask more questions.
As soon as he returned to the palace, he had received such a big gift. Gu Yuanbai felt that it was even more enjoyable than climbing a mountain and feeling the wind blowing in his hair. He smiled all the way back to the Xuanzheng Hall. Even when dealing with government affairs, he felt as if the wind was the one pushing his brush. Chu Wei stood to the side, carelessly looking at the Emperor, and then, without thinking about it, with a wave of his brush the words 'full of nonsense' appeared in big letters on the palace memorial.
Chu Wei felt a bit startled, and then amused.
He guessed that, if the officials that were approved to look into the memorial took a look at the words 'full of nonsense' in it, they'd practically fall to the ground in fright.
Chu Wei dutifully recorded the words and deeds of the Emperor. There were also rules when doing that work. The officials needed to know clearly what could and could not be remembered. The best aspects of the Emperor should be praised, and there would be no proof left of the rest.
Since he was in a good mood, Gu Yuanbai was able to go through the memorials very quickly. Once he finished reviewing the government affairs in one sitting, it was not yet time for dinner.
Then, Gu Yuanbai asked Chu Wei, "Official Chu, has your father sent word from home?"
Taken aback, Chu Wei closed the document he had in his hand, and bowed respectfully towards Gu Yuanbai. "My father didn't send a single word."
Gu Yuanbai sighed and said, "Seems like there are enough issues at the Yellow River region to keep him very busy."
Chu Wei opened his mouth, and, at last, he managed to push out, "My father is fortunate to have the Emperor share his worries."
Gu Yuanbai smiled slightly and said jokingly, "It's good that you don't mind that We haven't let you see your family for two months, Official Chu."
When Chu Wei heard those words, the corners of his lips twitched, and a small smile appeared on his peerlessly handsome face.
His appearance was that of a man in his prime. When he wasn't smiling, it was radiant like the sun and the moon, and when he smiled he was similar to Pan An and Wei Jie. Gu Yuanbai observed this, then glanced at Xue Yuan. Xue Yuan was equally sharp and handsome, and perverse beyond words. If the two of them stood together, regardless of their gender, they looked like a heavenly pair.
" "
Xue Yuan saw that the Emperor was looking at him and he was about to smile, but, before it could come out, the Emperor looked away again.
Xue Yuan: "…"
He frowned and, suddenly, he smiled coldly.
So he didn't want to look at him?
Someone outside suddenly announced, "Your Highness, Prince He has sent some people to bring an Akhal-Teke horse."4
"Oh?" Gu Yuanbai stood up with interest, and walked outside the building. "Where is it? We will go and see."
In the ancient times, with few entertainment opportunities, Akhal-Teke horses were sought after by the rich and powerful just like modern luxury cars. There were many good horses in the Imperial palace, but, because Gu Yuanbai had never shown a particular interest in horses, there wasn't any of the legendary Akhal-Teke breed.
Outside the building, there were a few people struggling to lead a handsome martial horse with its head up tall. The horse had a beautiful body, slender limbs, a tall head and a thin neck. It was very pleasing to the eye.
Before Gu Yuanbai could walk closer to it, other people stopped him, telling him anxiously, "Your Majesty, this horse is wild and unruly. It starts fighting whenever anyone approaches it. Don't get close!"
Gu Yuanbai stopped and looked at the good horse from the distance, with a sorrowful expression.
It was said that the Akhal-Teke horses had very thin skin, and the blood flowing under the skin could be seen when it galloped. And, since it had many sweat glands, the sweat from the galloping would soak its red-brown fur, producing a color similar to blood.5
Gu Yuanbai really wanted to get on top of that horse and ride it, since he had an adventurous personality. If he were healthy, he would try to conquer the horse even if he was thrown off its saddle. However, the young Emperor's body was too weak, so he could only stay a safe distance away and look at the horse.
The newly crowned Emperor's expression had some of the energy of his youth.
Suddenly, someone next to him walked past Gu Yuanbai, approaching the surrounded horse. Gu Yuanbai looked at him again and realized that it was Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan pushed away the people that were blocking him from approaching the horse. Taking a few more steps, he got to the side of the horse. The horse seemed to sense danger and brayed at him multiple times.
Xue Yuan slowly rolled up his sleeves. There were still wounds on his arms from being dragged by the Emperor that morning. However, his strong muscles flexing made the wounds seem of no consequence.
Once he was ready, Xue Yuan threw his sword aside, took a few steps back and blew a loud whistle towards the horse. The horse's eyes were fixed on him, and he was staring at Xue Yuan intently.
Xue Yuan grinned and then he ran aggressively, getting to the side of the horse in a few steps, and then suddenly he jumped over the horse.
Gu Yuanbai stared firmly at Xue Yuan, who was now lying on top of the struggling horse.
The man's arms were very powerful and he encircled the horse's neck, his legs tightly holding onto its back. A wild and untamed horse versus a wild and untamed man that couldn't be reasoned with, each more ruthless than the other.
Pushing strength against strength, the horse fought energetically, constantly rearing at a terrifying angle. No one had dared to approach it, but Xue Yuan just had.
He put the reins over the steed's head, but the horse broke free and ran forward, making Xue Yuan fall to the ground and dragging him for a while. Xue Yuan smiled darkly and pulled from the reins, getting onto the horse's back once more.
"If I6 don't tame you today," Xue Yuan yanked from the reins so violently that the horse's front hooves left the ground, "I won't fucking go to the battlefield!"
There were some footnotes in the raws at some point with additional clarification regarding the water horse but the links were broken. Anyway, I'm now taking bets to see how long until Chu Wei, Xue Yuan and Prince He start fighting for Gu Yuanbai's attention.
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Footnotes
翰林院修撰 literally compiling imperial academy, it just doesn't roll off the tongue very one from the famous story the term cutsleeve comes from. Source.A traditional farming implement, I don't think it has been used in the west, it looks like this.A horse breed from Turkmenistan known for having a metallic sheen, they're also known as golden horses for that reason. They were a popular import in Imperial Chinese name of the breed is literally "sweat blood".Using the more arrogant 'laozi' form. Xue Yuan pls the Emperor is right there.
In Gu Yuanbai's eyes, Xue Yuan looked like a disobedient, aggressive beast.
A crazy beast like that aroused Gu Yuanbai's thirst for adventure and danger. He didn't have the physical condition required to tame an Akhal-Teke horse, but Xue Yuan was different.
Gu Yuanbai was interested, and even determined to conquer his will. As he watched Xue Yuan tame this horse, his desire to conquer, which had been growing over the last three years, made him ponder about how he could tame Xue Yuan as well.
The best scenario would be for Xue Yuan to become obedient and admit his defeat, his madness smoothed out by Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai thought that would be a successful conquest.
It took Xue Yuan two quarters of an hour to crush the proud Akhal-Teke horse with his body.
The horse was so exhausted that it couldn't rear back to toss him off, allowing Xue Yuan to hold the reins and direct him towards the young Emperor.
Gu Yuanbai watched the fierce horse approach. Xue Yuan, sitting on the horse, smiled condescendingly. "Your Highness, this official has succeeded in taming the horse."
After such a hard struggle, the horse's neck was sweaty, and the soaked fur had a luxurious gleam like blood. Gu Yuanbai was extremely happy. He stroked the horse's neck, and he could faintly see the blood running under its skin.
"Good horse," praised the Emperor. "It's worthy of its reputation of being worth a thousand li."
The Akhal-Teke neighed and swished its tail.
Xue Yuan grinned, leaned down from the horse and stretched out a hand towards Gu Yuanbai. He asked respectfully, "Your Highness, why not come for a ride with this official?"
The guard captain asked with a serious face, "Official Xue, are you sure that the horse has been properly tamed?"
Xue Yuan smiled slightly, too lazy to pay him any mind.
Chu Wei frowned, disapproving of the man's wild attitude.
Gu Yuanbai was happy with the opportunity, and he said with a smile, "We have a good horse before Us, how can We not give it a try?"
The only issue was that this was a newly tamed horse, without a saddle or stirrups, so Gu Yuanbai just took Xue Yuan's hand directly. Xue Yuan held it and pulled him onto the horse's back just with his arm's strength.
Gu Yuanbai sat steadily, stroked the mane of the horse with a smile, and grabbed the reins in Xue Yuan's hands without hesitation. The young Emperor was so domineering that Xue Yuan had no choice but to stretch out his hands around the Emperor's waist to maintain hold onto the rein as well.
"Your Highness." He smiled unpleasantly. "Will you throw me away after using me?"
He didn't have the reins, and there was no saddle on the horse. The moment the horse began running, Xue Yuan might fall off the horse.
Gu Yuanbai's lips twitched and he didn't reply. Instead, he held onto the horse with his legs, snapped the reins and said, "Go!"
The Akhal-Teke horse that was worth a thousand li let out a bray and ran off.
The palace attendants at the sides ran in a panic, watching the Emperor and Official Xue driving towards the wide horse paddock.
Sitting behind the young Emperor, Xue Yuan held onto Gu Yuanbai's waist, and the Emperor's black hair hit him in the face. Xue Yuan turned his face away, but he didn't avoid it.
Even though the black hair was hitting his face, Xue Yuan didn't feel uncomfortable. It was probably because the young Emperor was too clean, so even his hair smelled nice.
Xue Yuan inhaled the scent for a minute, and he felt like it cleared his heart and calmed the air, making his previous dark mood disappear.
Chu Wei had good eyesight. He spotted Xue Yuan's actions clearly, and it made the bile rise in his throat.
He stared at Xue Yuan coldly, gripping the brush firmly in his hand.
Since he was handsome, many men favored Chu Wei. Chu Wei had always thought their gazes were disgusting, like a sticky insect crawling all over his body. Chu Wei hated cutsleeves1 the most, and he hated people who only paid attention to his appearance.
Although he wasn't homosexual, he knew about the concept because he had been approached in the past. The Emperor wasn't like him. He had the power, the status, and the identity as the Lord of the Great Heng dynasty and master of the Imperial palace. Who would dare to look at the Emperor with eyes like that?
This Xue Yuan clearly felt safe thinking that the Emperor wouldn't suspect him, and for that reason he was acting this bold and reckless.
He was clearly hiding nefarious intentions towards the Emperor!
Chu Wei had a dark look in his eyes.
The guard captain was still worried and sent someone to bring them some horses. Before he could get to one of the horses, however, he saw the newly appointed scholar from the Xiuzhuan Academy suddenly set his paper and brush aside, come over to grab a horse and jump on it, his robes flying around him. After he got on the horse, Chu Wei apologized to the guard captain. "I'll go on ahead."
And he spurred the horse to start galloping. After a moment of confusion, the guard captain also mounted his horse quickly and chased him, heading in the Emperor's direction.
The palace horses were also good, but they had been raised to be docile and were carrying heavy saddles, so, naturally, when galloping they were inferior to the thousand li horse.
Gu Yuanbai was galloping against the wind, as if flying with it. The spring sunshine covered the area, and the warm yellow afternoon glow made the Imperial city look golden. The Akhal Teke horse ran between the high walls, but Gu Yuanbai felt as if he were riding across grasslands.
With clouds hanging low in the sky and thousands of miles of grass all around them, the horses in the grasslands were strong and powerful. Gu Yuanbai had been there before, riding horses across the field, but it had been too long since that time, so long that he suddenly felt the need to go there to see the grasslands again.
The lands of the border nomads would sooner or later become part of the Great Heng's territory, and their horses would run on it.
After the horse stopped, Xue Yuan took the reins. "Your Highness?"
Gu Yuanbai came back to his senses, and then noticed a slight pain between his legs. After thinking about it, he decided he was probably worn out.
"Send for an imperial doctor." Gu Yuanbai admitted his weakness frankly. "We think Our skin was damaged."
Xue Yuan frowned and immediately got off the horse. He reached out and held Gu Yuanbai to help him down. After the Emperor stood on firm ground, Xue Yuan knelt down on one knee and tentatively brushed his fingers across the Emperor's thigh. "Here?"
The inner thighs had the most delicate skin.
Xue Yuan had wide fingers, and they were long and rough. Gu Yuanbai tried to feel them and shook his head. "No."
It wasn't a convenient way to figure it out. Xue Yuan was about to lift up his robe when Gu Yuanbai pressed his head. "Official Xue, what are you doing?"
Xue Yuan smiled. "I'm inspecting Your Highness' wounds."
"And what will you do after inspecting the wound?" Gu Yuanbai felt that Xue Yuan, in trying to be diligent, was a bit stupid. "Could you possibly treat Us with your bare hands?"
Xue Yuan's position, with his head being pressed down, made Xue Yuan feel uncomfortable. "If Your Highness doesn't want me to look, this official will get up obediently."
Gu Yuanbai replied, "That's not what We asked."
The young Emperor was really delicate and didn't have much strength. The palm that he was holding Xue Yuan's head with was, in fact, weaker than a wolf cub pouncing at him. However, Xue Yuan still enjoyed the young Emperor's superficial weakness hiding a strong interior. It made him interesting and fun.
Therefore, even if it was a bit uncomfortable, Xue Yuan was very helpful. "Of course, this official can't bandage Your Highness' wound. But, at least, after seeing the wound, this official will know the extent of the injury and not feel too guilty."
Gu Yuanbai was amused by the word 'guilt'. "We are the one who got on the horse, and We are the one injured. Official Xue has no reason to feel guilty about it. We are not someone that would wrong others for no reason."
"It is as the Emperor says," Xue Yuan replied. "Your Highness, can you still walk?"
Gu Yuanbai let go of Xue Yuan. He attempted to walk a couple steps. His legs were steady and he didn't look any different from usual, so he said lightly, "It's acceptable."
The Emperor's appearance could have fooled him, but the fine sweat on his forehead didn't. Xue Yuan suddenly felt a little helpless. He stood up, rolled up his sleeves, walked towards Gu Yuanbai in two long steps, and then suddenly bent over, picking up Gu Yuanbai in his arms.
Gu Yuanbai was startled, and then his face went blue in anger. "Xue Jiuyao,2 put Us down!"
"Your Majesty," Xue Yuan said helplessly, "This official will walk slowly and steadily, and take ten short steps instead of a long one. I have already been a horse and a mule for Your Highness, and there are no beasts of burden available right now, isn't Your Majesty just looking for trouble at this point?"
Gu Yuanbai stopped speaking, his face gloomy.
When he had asked Xue Yuan to be a beast of burden in the past, Xue Yuan had been one. But Xue Yuan couldn't take the initiative before he had opened his mouth.3
But Xue Yuan was right. It did hurt to walk. He couldn't ride a horse or walk, the only painless option was to be carried by Xue Yuan.
The Emperor was very light. For Xue Yuan, even though he had been dragged by powerful horses twice that day, it was extremely easy to carry him.
Xue Yuan didn't forget to wrap the reins of the Akhal-Teke around his wrist, holding the Emperor and leading the horse at the same time. Gu Yuanbai thought that he was strong and energetic beyond the capacity of ordinary people. Most people would have to lie down in bed for half a month if they were thrown off a horse once, let alone twice like Xue Yuan had. But Xue Yuan was still alive and well, without needing to recover at all.
When someone like that went to the battlefield, he might make the opponent just die from the fear of fighting him.
Not long after Xue Yuan had picked up the Emperor, they heard the sounds of horses gradually approaching. Gu Yuanbai frowned. "Help Us get on the horse."
As a man, of course, Xue Yuan understood what he was thinking. He did not want to make the young Emperor lose face. After helping him mount the horse, he also got on.
Looking at Gu Yuanbai's sitting posture and tense back, Xue Yuan frowned, troubled. He put his arm around the young Emperor's waist, lifted him off the horse for a moment, rolled up his robe and then let the Emperor go.
When the young Emperor sat down, he sat directly on Xue Yuan's robe.
Gu Yuanbai's eyelid twitched angrily. "Xue Jiuyao?"
Xue Yuan held the reins with his left hand. His robe was firmly stuck, so he couldn't move. He frowned, and then said patiently, "Your Highness, this is for your own sake."
Gu Yuanbai's thunderous methods carried a terrifying force. However, no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't conceal his weakness from Xue Yuan's eyes. It wasn't that Xue Yuan looked down on the young Emperor, but it was a fact that the Emperor was so delicate that he could be damaged by anything. It was more comfortable to sit on multiple layers of cloth than directly on horseback.
Fortunately, the young Emperor was very light, so he could keep paying attention to him on the ride back.
Gu Yuanbai said in a light voice, "No need, pull them away."
"Your Highness, don't try to be strong," said Xue Yuan. "Now that this official is protecting you, you don't need to suffer."
The reasoning was obvious, but how could a masculine man ride a horse with a pile of clothes under his ass? Gu Yuanbai stopped talking.
Xue Yuan glanced at him and took the initiative to say, "Your Highness, someone is coming."
He raised the reins and kicked the horse fiercely. Gu Yuanbai fell backwards into his arms from the inertia. Xue Yuan protected him and drove the horse towards the sound of approaching horses not too far away.
The horse was much slower on the way back than before. The young Emperor kept his back straight. Xue Yuan looked at him and wondered why he was so stubborn. He stretched out a hand and held Gu Yuanbai with his arm, letting him lean back into his body. "Your Majesty, you can also lean on my chest."
Being guarded by a man like this made Gu Yuanbai feel embarrassed. He asked Xue Yuan to let go, but Xue Yuan didn't listen. At this point, Gu Yuanbai's face was completely dark.
Chu Wei and the guard captain arrived. They stopped their horses and turned around. "Is Your Highness alright?"
Xue Yuan said, "His Highness suffered some minor injuries."
Gu Yuanbai didn't say a word, and got off his horse with a cold expression. Xue Yuan followed behind him. Just as he was about to say something, he heard the Emperor say in a cold and stern tone, "Kneel."
With a plop, all three people present knelt down.
Eyes down, head down, they knelt in a disciplined, submissive way.
Up until that point, Gu Yuanbai had punished Xue Yuan many times and showed him pain many times, but he still was not afraid of him.
" "
"Xue Jiuyao, why are you so brave?" Gu Yuanbai's tone showed neither joy or anger. "With such courage, We wonder, will you extend your hand to Our government affairs next time?"
Gu Yuanbai didn't let him hug him, and Xue Yuan dared to hug him. After being told to let go, he pretended not to hear.
What sort of dog would be so disobedient?
Xue Yuan's expression tensed up. He frowned and bowed deeply. "This official dares not, this official was wrong."
The atmosphere was tense, almost as if frozen, and no one dared to even breathe loudly.
Xue Yuan repeated his plea.
"Official Xue," the Emperor said in a light tone after a long time. "The horseshoe marks on this path are an eyesore. We punish you to sweep the path clean. You can come back inside when there are no marks left."
"Yes." Xue Yuan pressed his head down, making it impossible to discern his expression clearly. "This official will clean up the path."
Xue Yuan said this thinking that he'd be done after a quarter of an hour or so.
The Emperor then sent someone to get the palace attendants to take the horses to go back and forth on the path. They had something on their hooves, either mud or horse dung. Xue Yuan stood blankly by the side, staring at the mud on the ground in silence.
The Emperor's actions were so clear that it was obvious he didn't worry about Xue Yuan understanding his purpose. He was telling Xue Yuan: We are not happy, We are not happy at all.
We can't be bothered to punish you in any other way, so, since you don't fear pain, then you can go and roll around in mud and horse dung.
" "
His body might be soft, but his temper was iron solid.
Xue Yuan raised his right hand and looked at it for a while. Just when he was about to let it down, he noticed a light scent lingering on his hand. It was actually the same scent as the one coming from the handkerchief and the shirt that the Emperor wore, noble as well as extravagant. The scent of the palace incense, a pleasant scent that only aristocrats could use, would last for a long time after impregnating clothes.
My hands are now scented with the fragrance, just from the young Emperor sitting next to me for a while and bumping up and down against me a few times. Is the incense in the palace this powerful?
And the young Emperor who wore these clothes today, won't his flesh smell equally fragrant as well?
Xue Yuan thought nonchalantly as he picked up the broom.
Gu Yuanbai, back in the bedroom, was not privy to these thoughts. The imperial doctor sent him the medicine and he applied it himself. After applying it, he put on his clothes and stood up again, the scent of the ointment expanding around the palace. Tian Fusheng, who had been standing by, asked in worry, "Your Highness, how is your injury?"
"It's just a little bit of skin, when have We even suffered from such a minor wound?" Gu Yuanbai sat down casually and asked, "What did Prince Qi say?"
Tian Fusheng said, "His Highness Prince Qi has been begging to be granted an audience."
Gu Yuanbai smiled slightly. "So he still has the guts to face Us?"
After giving the members of his clan a scare, the mansion was searched thoroughly, and, with people from the Supervision Office helping in the dark, the family really found some of Lu Feng's supporters hiding there. The incident made the entire clan break into a cold sweat, and they burst into tears when they received a reward from Gu Yuanbai.
Prince Qi and his family4 were imprisoned mercilessly. Gu Yuanbai never held back from shaming those with hidden ambitions higher than the sky5 but no real power or ability to back them up.
However, he couldn't go too far. Therefore, Prince Qi's family enjoyed private cells, with delicious food and drinks every day and performances to see right before their eyes.6
Xue Yuan is a sub, change my mind.
This chapter's title is actually His Highness eats a watermelon but the expression refers to just watching a show, kinda like saying "His Highness eats popcorn", except popcorn doesn't fit the setting whatsoever.
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Footnotes
The raws say 龙阳之好 used as a metaphor for homosexuality. Long Yang was the lover of the Emperor who cut off his own sleeve to avoid waking him up, so I went for the better known expression since it references the same 's Xue Yuan's courtesy name, it might have come up before, but I always forget so I don't expect anyone else to remember heheThe "beast" used in the raws is a term used for animals kept for profit in a household and currently used as an insult, it's hard to come up with an equivalent term in the entire clan is Gu Yuanbai's extended family/dynasty (distant relatives that could potentially get to the throne at some point), those punished here are just Prince Qi's immediate family or line here is also from Dream in the red chamber. It must be the most quoted book , I can't tell if this line is sarcastic or not.
It wasn't as if Xue Yuan, as he cleaned the horse dung and horseshoe prints, hadn't thought of making the palace attendants sweep for him instead. However, Gu Yuanbai's Imperial orders couldn't be disobeyed. When these palace attendants saw Xue Yuan, they hid far away as they led the horses to walk through the area.
Even the son of a dignified general, under the Emperor's orders, would still be forced to obediently clean horse dung as punishment.
Besides the stink and the inconvenience, Xue Yuan didn't feel anything.
As someone who crawled out of a mountain of corpses and sea of people1, Xue Yuan had been soaked in foul smelling blood, so now he seemed just indifferent, as if his mind was elsewhere.
When Gu Yuanbai took Chu Wei walking with him, Chu Wei knew that the Emperor had gone out to check on Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan had bad intentions towards the Emperor, and Chu Wei wanted to stop him from having too much contact with Xue Yuan. However, he was in no place to say that sort of thing, so he could only do his best to prevent Xue Yuan from approaching the Emperor.
Gu Yuanbai looked very happy to see the future regent sweeping horse dung, a smile on his lips. Chu Wei caught a glimpse of his smile out of the corner of his eye, and he pursed his lips to say, "Your Highness, this place is dirty, we should not stay here for too long."
Chu Wei was like the moon during a clear night, clean and immaculate, so Gu Yuanbai thought that he was uncomfortable about the smell and said, "In that case, walk with Us towards a spring garden instead, Zhuangyuan."2
The spot where the medicine had been applied was now wrapped in soft cotton cloth. Gu Yuanbai, walking a bit slower, didn't feel any pain.
The Emperor turned and left and Chu Wei followed behind him, footsteps echoing across the empty palace road. Xue Yuan looked up when he heard the sound.
Chu Wei seemed to sense something. He turned his head and glanced at Xue Yuan with indifference, then gently raised his hand. From a distance, it seemed as if his arm were wrapped around the Emperor's waist.
"Emperor," Chu Wei whispered, "did the official bother Your Highness?"
Gu Yuanbai laughed when he heard him say that. He turned his head to look at Chu Wei and asked with a smile, "Why? Can't it just be that We find watching official Xue sweep horse dung very interesting to watch?"
The corner of Chu Wei's lips twitched and he also smiled lightly.
Both of them had beautiful faces, too good to be drawn. But in Xue Yuan's eyes, he just saw that Chu Wei had his hand on the Emperor's waist, and the Emperor turned his head and smiled at Chu Wei.
Xue Yuan's eyes became cold.
What's this?
When Xue Yuan finished his task and went back home, the crescent moon was already hanging high in the sky.
He went straight to the study and sent someone to call the manor's retainers to go see him. Due to the time, most people were already in bed, but when Xue Yuan called for someone, they wouldn't dare not come.
Xue Mansion didn't have many retainers, but they were all very talented. Some of them worked under General Xue, but, when Xue Yuan arrived, they showed up at his doorstep. Xue Yuan was ruthless, and there weren't many retainers that didn't fear him. Having been called over, they showed up before Xue Yuan.
Under the dim candlelight, young master Xue smiled darkly, as if a ghost had possessed his soul. "Go and investigate the new Zhuangyuan."
The retainers replied carefully, "What do you want to know about the new Zhuangyuan?"
"Anything bad about him," Xue Yuan replied in a deep voice. "Does he like men? What sort of bad things has he done? I want to know everything."
The retainers replied, "Understood."
Xue Yuan continued, "Also, go find some nice gifts tomorrow."
The retainers looked at each other, and someone boldly asked, "Your master, who are you going to give gifts to?"
Xue Yuan grinned. "Of course, I need gifts to give to the Emperor."
The retainer simply thought that he wanted to please the Emperor. "Don't worry, young master, I will find a good gift tomorrow."
"If it is to be given to the Emperor, it cannot be something ordinary," someone else said. "It's better to choose something expensive or rare as a gift, at least you can't go wrong with that."
"Exactly," the retainer replied. "What do you have in mind, young master?"
Xue Yuan stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes.
In mind?
Xue Yuan's hand twitched and he suddenly said, "Send something soft that is pleasant to touch."
Retainers, "Ah?"
In the inner palace, Gu Yuanbai was looking at all the suspicious items that the Imperial guard had taken out of Qi Mansion.
There were people that were hidden behind Prince Qi who were involved in the matter, but they hadn't expected Gu Yuanbai to do things so thoroughly. It had been useless to try to destabilize Gu Yuanbai's physical condition with the matter of the Great Imperial Concubine Wan. Instead, it had allowed Gu Yuanbai to find their tail and grab it, pulling them out of the mud.
" "
Even though they knew Gu Yuanbai had a cold that day, they hadn't dared to do anything directly, and, instead, they just sent a false message to test the waters. They were really pathetic and mediocre.
Not just underestimating Gu Yuanbai, but also overestimating themselves.
The Imperial guard had rummaged through Prince Qi's mansion for several days, and, finally, they found some hidden information.
"Your Majesty," said General Cheng, "A soldier among the two teams I led found this letter inside a hollow piece of jade. The soldier was very brave, I was shocked when he took the jade piece and slammed it to the ground."
When General Cheng heard that the Emperor wanted to select a group of elite soldiers for the Imperial Guard, he wanted to recommend soldiers he valued. This soldier under his command was very courageous and daring. Even if he was illiterate and unable to understand military books, he was born with a keen mind and had a great talent.
The great general of the Han kingdom, Wang Ping, could not write, the most he could write was X,3 but he had been born extremely skilled at military combat, and he was capable of winning many battles even without reading military books. General Cheng didn't dare compare his soldiers to Wang Ping, but he was also unwilling to hide their talent.
Gu Yuanbai was more interested in talents such as these rather than in spelling. He asked, "Where's that man now?"
General Cheng chuckled twice, apologized to Gu Yuanbai, and walked out to the hall to bring back the person. When the man came in, Gu Yuanbai focused his eyes on him. The man was extremely tall, all tendon and sinew, with slender and powerful limbs with good proportions, looking both impulsive and collected, looking like a cultured general.
"I, Qin Sheng, am here to see Your Majesty." His voice was bright, neither humble nor arrogant.
Gu Yuanbai asked, "How did you discover this secret letter?"
Qin Sheng bowed and gave Gu Yuanbai a clear and thoughtful account of what happened. Gu Yuanbai nodded slowly, deep in thought, and said, "Stand down."
Qin Sheng retreated silently. General Cheng wanted to ask the Emperor about how he felt about Qin Sheng, but he didn't dare to ask without permission, so he had to remain silent.
Gu Yuanbai was quite mean, pretending not to see the anxiety that was clearly visible on General Cheng's face. The secret letter that had been hidden inside the jade pendant was checked to ensure it was harmless by an eunuch that stood to the side, and then it was placed into Gu Yuanbai's hands.
But, when Gu Yuanbai opened it, it turned out to have no words on it.
General Cheng frowned and said vehemently, "How can this be?!"
Gu Yuanbai checked the front and back, and confirmed that there were no scratches or multiple layers. He pondered for a while, and suddenly said, "Bring water."
The palace attendant brought water and Gu Yuanbai soaked the hidden letter in the water. Handwriting slowly appeared in the water.
General Cheng was speechless. "—How?!"
When writing with alum water, after it dried out the writing became invisible. Gu Yuanbai remembered well that the Song Dynasty had started to use alum, and the Great Heng dynasty was in the same time period. Alum water was not unusual, but it was strange that the person who had written with Prince Qi knew of the method.
They were a wise person, but a wise person would be capable of reading the situation. Prince Qi was as stupid as a pig. Why would such a person help Prince Qi?
They were all adults, and this kind of work was all about vested interests. Gu Yuanbai took the letter out of the water and carefully dried out his hand with a towel, asking Tian Fusheng, "Who's the mother of the youngest son of Prince Qi?"
Tian Fusheng thought for a while and said, "I believe it's the Imperial Censor deputy's daughter."
The Imperial Censor's department in the Great Heng dynasty was the central supervisory authority, supervising all the levels of central and local officials to ensure they complied with the nation's laws and fulfilled their duties. It also supervised the Ministry of Justice and the Board of Punishments.
The Imperial Censor's deputy was the second rank in the Imperial Censor's department, and above him was only the Imperial Censor. At that time, the Imperial Censor was approaching retirement age, and Gu Yuanbai was looking for a successor.
It seemed logical that his deputy would take over the position.
Gu Yuanbai held the silk towel and flattened the secret letter. The handwriting on it was tiny, and it was trying to persuade Prince Qi not to be impulsive.
"Look," Gu Yuanbai said, "how can Prince Qi not listen to this advice?"
There was also a line of small characters at the bottom of the secret letter, telling Prince Qi to destroy the letter the moment he finished reading it. However, Prince Qi seemed to believe that no one else would know how to make the handwriting visible in this wordless letter, so he decided to proudly display it in the open.
Most people in the Imperial dynasty had mediocre skills, like Prince Qi, and they just indulged in their prosperity and wealth.
But there were still some that were obedient and sensible. After seeing Gu Yuanbai send troops to swarm Qi Manor, they became as obedient as sheep that had been sheared.
But even with this obedience, Gu Yuanbai decided to change the system of inheritance of nobility titles in the future.
The rank of the titles would be lowered by one step with each generation, so a family would disappear if their offspring were useless.
The hidden letter gradually dried and the handwriting on it disappeared again. General Cheng asked, "Your Majesty, what should I do now?"
Gu Yuanbai smiled and said, "General Cheng, no need to worry about it any more. We have Our own plans. But We have one more thing to ask of you. Together with the Military Affairs bureau, you should select two thousand elite soldiers from the Imperial Guard."
General Cheng bowed. "Understood!"
After the discussion of political affairs, Tian Fusheng waited on the Emperor as he dressed and freshened up. Since the last time that he had been punished for tying Chu Wei to the imperial bed without authorization, he no longer dared to speculate about the Emperor's intentions. Even if he didn't understand why the Emperor wanted to stop the conversation there, he didn't dare ask more. The most important thing was to simply serve the Emperor sincerely.
Since the last time he had vomited a mouthful of blood a few days ago and caught a cold, Gu Yuanbai hadn't shown any symptoms of disease as of late. The spring days were becoming longer, which was also causing warmer weather.
"Your Majesty," said Tian Fusheng's young apprentice, massaging Gu Yuanbai's arm, which had been hard at work evaluating memorials all day. "Is this strength fine?"
Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes and nodded slightly.
The people serving the Emperor had already developed the skill to read people. Seeing the Emperor's relaxed face, the young apprentice guessed that he was in a good mood, so he thought it'd be good to talk about something interesting.
He spoke about the newest Zhuangyuan.
"The Zhuangyuan is still not married. On the day when the list of the Imperial exam results was released, he was almost claimed to be someone's son in law," said the eunuch. "I heard that the servants of multiple families rushed to go see the Zhuangyuan that day, and, when they tried to jump him, they ended up fighting each other instead."
The corners of Gu Yuanbai's lips went up. Those people didn't need to worry. Chu Wei would be Xue Yuan's close friend in the future.
After a while, the Emperor grew tired, so Tian Fusheng led the servants to put out the candles and quietly slipped away.
On the next day, Xue Yuan took the generous, valuable gift and carried it in his arms. He felt apprehensive in the morning, and he was stiff like a corpse.
He was wearing a brand new guard uniform, all pressed and clean, without any rips or dust from getting dragged on the floor nor any horse manure on it. However, as soon as he arrived at the palace, the guard captain told him, "His Majesty wants you to go take care of the Akhal-Teke horse."
The Akhal-Teke horse had been dragged into the stable, but it was too strong, and the usual palace servants that fed and washed the horses didn't dare approach it. When they reported the situation in the morning, Gu Yuanbai directly ordered Xue Yuan to take care of it.
Xue Yuan: "…"
He had really been used and thrown away.
Xue Yuan turned around lazily and followed the palace servant to the stable. After walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, turned to the side and asked, "What's the horse's name?"
The guard captain was taken aback momentarily. "The Emperor hasn't named it yet."
Xue Yuan raised the corner of his lip and tilted his head in a sneer. "Then I'll give it a nickname. A bad name is good to raise a kid, so I'll call it Little Ungrateful."4
The chief guard did not listen to that sentence clearly, so he just noted it and, after the Emperor finished his breakfast, he brought up the matter. "Your Highness, you haven't named the Akhal-Teke horse yet."
Gu Yuanbai thought for a while, and then said mediocrely, "Call it Red Cloud."
"Good name," Tian Fusheng said, eager to praise him. "Elegance brings banality and banality brings elegance, and between the two of them the color and speed of the Akhal-Teke is illustrated concisely. Your Majesty is so wise."
Gu Yuanbai rubbed his eyebrows. "Shut up."
The Emperor would go to the Xuanzheng hall and the Military Affairs bureau that day, and then go to the Hanlin Academy, particularly to check on the new official with Xixia blood, the one with the ability to make Xixia start a war against the Great Heng and conquer five or six cities in a row. Gu Yuanbai didn't have any brain power to spare.
But after eating breakfast, before Gu Yuanbai had enough time to get up, he was told that Prince Qi had started a hunger strike.
Gu Yuan frowned. "When did he start the hunger strike?"
The informant bowed his head in embarrassment. "To answer Your Majesty, Prince Qi refused to eat this morning and has been crying in prison about going on a hunger strike."
"Then let him die," Gu Yuanbai sneered, annoyed and with a headache. "From today onwards, don't deliver food to Prince Qi for three days. So he doesn't want to eat? Don't let him waste my food if he doesn't want to eat it."
So bold, did he think that he had suffered such a great punishment that it was enough to have redeemed his sins? Enough for Gu Yuanbai's anger to be assuaged?
Gu Yuanbai then realized something.
Mental torture was no more useful than physical torture.
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Footnotes
The raws say it this way but the normal expression is "a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood".鸟语花香 'A place where birds sing and flowers scent the air' more or less, but it refers to a spring scenery as a say that he could only write a number 10, which is 十.Giving kids shitty nicknames was a custom in Ancient China because it was supposed to be better to raise them when they were young by making them unappealing to spirits that might want to kidnap them.
On the way to the two government offices, Gu Yuanbai's mind kept buzzing with thoughts.
In the palace, the Emperor had both horse-drawn carriages and litters1 as a way of transport. Gu Yuanbai was riding in a horse carriage. The Xuanzheng hall and the Military Affairs bureau both had their own buildings, and the Emperor would inspect them in person from time to time. Therefore, when he visited, the officials didn't panic. Gu Yuanbai asked them to keep working on their affairs, and the military affairs commissioner was the only one who remained by the Emperor.
Gu Yuanbai walked slowly as the commissioner reported on recent events, while on the other side good tea was being prepared.
"Don't bother yourselves," Gu Yuanbai said. "Official Zhao, We plan to establish an Eastern Feather Guard2 from the Imperial Army."
Although the Military Affairs bureau was in charge of major military decisions, the most important executive powers were now in the hands of the Emperor alone. If the Emperor decided to establish an Eastern Feather Guard, he had no need to consult the Military Affairs bureau.
The military affairs commissioner asked, confused, "What do you mean, Your Highness?"
"We have instructed General Cheng." Gu Yuanbai smiled. "The northern and southern wings of the Imperial Army have over 200,000 soldiers in total. We want to select two thousand from them. This is not a simple task. Moreover, We don't want simple people, either. Since the Military Affairs bureau is in charge of confidential military issues, border defense and the Imperial Army, you and your officials should assist General Cheng in this matter."
The commissioner bowed and saluted. "This official will obey His Majesty's orders."
After that, the military affairs commissioner also discussed with Gu Yuanbai matters related to military defense, border fortifications and cavalry affairs. The Great Heng Dynasty lacked horses and cavalry men, and few people were proficient in horsemanship and equipped with good blades and spears. Heavy cavalry was indispensable.
Gu Yuanbai smiled when he heard the words and said profoundly, "Official Zhao, We believe the issue with the horses will be resolved soon."
After saying that, he smiled as he watched the commissioner try to make sense out of it.
Once he had enjoyed Official Zhao's worrying, the Emperor left the Military Affairs bureau at a leisurely pace. The commissioner and the people around him looked at his back, not knowing how to feel. "His Highness has plans in his mind, but he refuses to tell us. It makes an old man like me feel as disturbed as if a cat were scratching at my heart."
The people around him laughed and said, "The Emperor has grand designs planned."3
No matter whether it was recruiting or training soldiers, the Emperor had a tendency to fight against the world… The infantry, the cavalry and the Military Affairs bureau were getting busier, much more than with the late Emperor. However, it was the sort of busy that gave people a sense of being important and indispensable.
The commissioner thought that if the Great Heng annexed Western Xia and Mongolia and conquered the nomads in the grasslands… it would be really amazing.
And Gu Yuanbai had already arrived at the Zhengshi Hall.
The Zhengshi Hall dealt with many affairs at a high pace. After the officials' shift was over, sometimes they would take work home to keep dealing with their duties, but they were all very satisfied, busy but happy.
Among the various offices in the Great Heng, the officials of the Zhengshi Hall and Military Affairs bureau enjoyed the best treatment. This could be seen in the edicts: they ate plentiful meals and got fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables. Occasionally, they would also receive refreshments sent by the Emperor. Just in the dining hall, the difference in quality was enough to make people jealous.
Everyone in the Imperial court knew that the Zhengshi Hall and the Military Affairs bureau were places where only favored officials that the Emperor relied on could enter. And, if they entered these offices, they would surely rise to great heights in the future, just like the former Chancellors, who were the officials the Emperor valued the most.
The talents from the Hanlin Academy and the talents from the six ministries all wanted to squeeze into these two offices.
After Gu Yuanbai inspected the Zhengshi Hall, he still felt that there were too few people working there, and that there were too many political affairs for them to handle. The officials in the Zhengshi Hall all had their heads bowed down on their desks, buried in government affairs. These were the talents Gu Yuanbai had selected to handle government issues, and Gu Yuanbai, naturally, cherished them. Now seeing them like that, he feared that they would get spinal problems from spending all day long hunched over their desks.
From the moment he had entered, they hadn't lifted their heads at all except for raising it when saluting Gu Yuanbai.
Gu Yuanbai thought worriedly that, if the situation continued, they would break either their eyes or their spine. How could I fix this?
"How many more people do you need in the Zhengshi Hall?" Gu Yuanbai asked.
The executive official of the Zhengshi Hall smiled bitterly. "To answer Your Highness, naturally, the more the better."
Gu Yuanbai nodded slightly. "There are many talents among the newest officials. There are also people from the Hanlin Academy who want to join the Zhengshi Hall, as well as talents from the six ministries. Discuss a list later with the other officials and submit it to Us for review."
The executive official beamed. "Can we choose them first?"
Gu Yuanbai smiled and replied, "That also depends on whether the other officials are willing to let them go."
Before leaving, Gu Yuanbai spoke to the rest of the Zhengshi Hall again. 'Work when it's time to work, eat when it's time to eat, and sleep when it's time to sleep. You can handle government affairs better if you have enough energy. A lunch break is essential, and even if you just lie on the table and rest for two quarters of an hour, it'd be an improvement.'
"You're all the best officials of the dynasty," Gu Yuanbai said. "Good health is more important than government affairs."
Those who heard this were so moved that they wished to serve the Emperor without sleeping or eating. They were frighteningly enthusiastic. Seeing that his persuasion had only managed to get these people even more energetic,4 Gu Yuanbai could only laugh, and he shook his head helplessly and left the Zhengshi Hall.
It really didn't work. The Imperial hospital would have to start physical examinations. Since they were so unwilling to move, Gu Yuanbai would have to hold another Great Heng officials games.5
There was a pond in front of the Zhengshi Hall. Half of the pond was covered with green moss. The water was black. At that time of the month, the lotus leaves had yet to grow.
Gu Yuanbai rubbed his eyebrows, tilted his head and asked, "Where is the carriage?"
After he asked, someone brought the carriage over, and the guard captain helped the Emperor to get into the carriage. Tian Fusheng was waiting outside, and, once the door's curtain was let down, the scorching sun could no longer shine on the Emperor.
Gu Yuanbai took off his pants and applied medicine, touching the smooth and tender skin on the palm of his hand, and sighed again. By the time he had set his clothes straight, he had arrived at the gate of the Hanlin Academy.
In the Hanlin Academy, Chu Wei was playing a board game6 with Kong Yilin.
One of these men was the top scholar of the examinations, and the other was the runner up. At that moment, there were many people watching with excitement, both those that had just entered the Hanlin Academy and older officials that were slowly sipping tea.
The two players were engrossed in the game, and Chang Yuyan stood aside, with his hands behind his back, looking at the board with a serious expression.
When Gu Yuanbai stood by and watched the game, some young officials who were standing by the side glanced at him casually. Suddenly, they froze, then quickly averted their eyes, not daring to look back again.
Where did this youth come from? How could he be more handsome than Master Chu from their Hanlin Academy?
The people around were still watching the game, but their heads were not on it anymore. Gu Yuanbai was very refined, and every movement he made was extraordinary. Even if his aura was calm at the time, no one dared to look at it.
How many ordinary people could come in and out of the Hanlin Academy at will?
Part of the guards stood in front of the door, and part of them had followed the Emperor in. The guard captain was afraid that these people would bump into the Emperor, and he kept watch. Gu Yuanbai noticed it, and he turned his head to the loyal guard and smiled slightly in appreciation.
The guard captain's extraordinary heroic face turned red, and he stood straighter, not daring to slack in the slightest.
Quietly outside, Tang Mian, who was walking there with his tea cup, spotted the Emperor at a glance. His eyes widened, and the cup in his hand fell abruptly with a loud, crisp sound.
"Emperor?!"
The shout made the entire Hanlin Academy go up in an uproar. Chu Wei and Kong Yilin, who had been sitting and playing the game, threw down their pieces when they looked up and saw the smiling Emperor. They saluted the Emperor together with their colleagues.
" "
Kong Yilin bent his head low and saluted respectfully. After hearing the Emperor say, "Get up, everyone," he stood up with the rest.
But, even though he had his head lowered, he was still very noticeable. Gu Yuanbai scanned the crowd and walked up to the board. He sat in Kong Yilin's spot and smiled. "You play well."
Chu Wei replied, "I just have a bit of skill."
"A bit?" Gu Yuanbai laughed. "Well, how could Our two best scholars of the year only play with 'a bit' of skill?"
Chu Wei was taken aback.
Gu Yuanbai pointed to the opposite seat and said, "Sit down, you will play with Us."
Chu Wei sat down, and Gu Yuanbai looked around and said, "Everyone else is dismissed, except for the runner up scholar."
The crowd answered "Yes" and saluted, quickly dispersing. When everyone was gone, Kong Yilin muttered, "What are your orders, Your Majesty?"
Gu Yuanbai raised his eyebrows and said leisurely, "Half this game has already been played, and We will play the second half. However, We want you to remain as a strategy adviser."
Tian Fusheng moved a chair for Kong Yilin, and Kong Yilin thanked him again before sitting beside the emperor.
It is said that a person's character can be seen by playing with them. In the first half of the game on the board, Kong Yilin, who seemed like a calm man, moved aggressively forward. There were multiple risks and opportunities at the same time. Making a wrong move could mean losing the entire game. He looked honest and quiet, but, from his playing style, it was clear that his personality wasn't as low key as his looks. He was full of aggression and courage, and he would even risk gambles when doing things.
That was not to say that he was unstable. On the contrary, Kong Yilin was sober and rational, and he would gamble steadily, step by step.
" "
Compared to Kong Yilin, Chu Wei's style also showed a lot. All the paths seemed to be blocked on the surface, but underneath there was a knife revealing its sharp edge. Gu Yuanbai's hands couldn't help but itch when seeing such a board.
Chu Wei followed closely with the white pieces.
Gu Yuanbai didn't hesitate when playing. He always took one step thinking ten moves ahead, and every time he took a piece, he was quick and ruthless. This made him seem very confident and daring, and such a clean way of playing was likely to make his opponent play chaotically.
Chu Wei's lips became thinner and thinner, and he hesitated longer and longer before every move. When he was uncertain, Kong Yilin, on the side, suddenly said, "Here."
He stretched his hand to point to an uncovered corner of the black pieces that Gu Yuanbai held on the board.
Chu Wei's slight frown relaxed, and he cautiously said to Kong Yilin, "Thank you."
He pinched the round white piece with his fingertips and placed it lightly on the missing corner.
As soon as the piece was placed, Gu Yuanbai suddenly smiled. After a while, the corners of Kong Yilin's lips went up slightly, and he couldn't hold back a little smile.
"Official Chu, the runner up scholar is Our strategy adviser." The Emperor held a black piece with his white fingertips, and said with a smile, "This could be called 'the sheep walking into the lion's den'."
As soon as he finished the sentence, the piece in the Emperor's hands was placed on the board, and the originally matched situation instantly switched to Gu Yuanbai's favor. There was no need to continue the game, the winner and loser had already been determined.
"…so it turns out the spot was left deliberately by Your Highness," Chu Wei said, sighing clearly. "Your Highness said that scholar Kong was the strategy advisor. I can definitely believe it."
Kong Yilin said, "It's all due to the Emperor's excellent skills."
Hearing this, Gu Yuanbai looked up, and he happened to spot the color of Kong Yilin's eyes. Mixed with Eastern Xia blood, Kong Yilin's eyes weren't typical of the people from the Great Heng Dynasty. However, the color of his pupils was good. It was a lighter brown, and, even though it was lighter than that of normal people, at least it would not cause surprise.
Even ignoring that, just seeing the game Gu Yuanbai determined that Kong Yilin's temperament was unsuitable for either being an official or for the battlefield. He was too aggressive, it wouldn't be a good fit.
But Kong Yilin's actual talents couldn't be left unused… Then, Gu Yuanbai suddenly thought of the Supervision Office.
Compared with Chu Wei, Kong Yilin was almost too well suited for the Supervision Office. The Supervision Office was originally a secret department, walking always on the edge of a blade.
However, Kong Yilin's loyalty and attitude towards the Great Heng Dynasty were still unclear.
Gu Yuanbai put down the pieces and stood up. Chu Wei and Kong Yilin, behind him, did the same. After the Emperor walked out, the two of them stood not too far away, watching his back.
The Emperor stepped into the carriage, and, when the curtain was about to drop, Kong Yilin suddenly moved. He lifted his robe and stepped towards the Emperor's carriage. The guards took out their swords and stopped him, not too far away. Kong Yilin said loudly, "Your Highness! This official has something to say!"
Gu Yuan frowned, lifted the curtain of the carriage and said, "Let him come over."
Kong Yilin approached with long steps, breathing heavily. Like a mountain, he projected a big shadow before Gu Yuanbai.
He was very excited, and he even dared to look up towards the Emperor. The excitement completely swept away his usual composure and calm demeanor. "Your Highness…"
Kong Yilin looked nervous, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. When Gu Yuanbai finally thought that he was so nervous that he wouldn't be able to speak at all, he said firmly, "This official does not wish to hide this from Your Majesty. I have Western Xia blood."
Gu Yuanbai was taken aback, then calmly said, "We know."
" "
Kong Yilin pursed his lips, then asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, can you rest assured with such an official staying in the court?"
Gu Yuanbai asked unhappily, "Do We not have the same capacity for tolerance as the Tang Dynasty?"
The city of Chang'an from the Tang Dynasty, then called the world's largest international metropolis, was open and tolerant. Many foreigners studied and served as officials in the Tang dDnasty, and over a hundred reached the fifth grade ranking.
Gu Yuanbai had placed Kong Yilin at the top of the list. In addition to Chu Wei and the third ranked scholars, he had also taken many things into consideration.
The first reason was that he wanted to shut the mouths of some of the pedantic, conservative officials at court. The second was that he wasn't certain of the reason for Kong Yilin's rebellion in the original novel. Was it because of the Imperial examinations, or was it hatred for the Great Heng? He could frighten Kong Yilin and also give him hope that he can progress with hard work. The third reason was that Kong Yilin was of Western Xia blood, and, in this situation, while the policies were clear, it would be easy to become a target of public criticism.
Gu Yuanbai, naturally, felt uncomfortable about a man that would rebel in the future. However, he was an Emperor. Even if Liu Bang7 stood before him, Gu Yuanbai wouldn't look up or down to him. In his eyes, even if the Great Heng Dynasty didn't exist in history, before Gu Yuanbai, the famous emperors of the past were just his equals.
Before everything happened, as long as he was under his dynasty's control, living in the land of Great Heng, he was one of Gu Yuanbai's people.
So Gu Yuanbai overcame the knot in his heart and gave Kong Yilin the second position.
He had to press it down.
When Kong Yilin heard Gu Yuanbai's words, an indescribable pain appeared in his chest. He solemnly said, "Your Highness, this official went to Western Xia two years ago. In the border zone, I found a strange flower."
Gu Yuanbai's left eye twitched. "What flower?"
"White cotton," Kong Yilin muttered. "The people over there call the flower white cotton. The white cotton quilt that this minister used was much warmer and lighter than the ones stuffed with withered straw. More importantly…"
He paused and added, "This white cotton should be easy to grow. The white cotton occupies a large area at the border of the route I took. It seems that with just one acre of land a lot can be produced."
Gu Yuanbai told himself, I run into all the good stuff.
He laughed quickly, patted Kong Yilin on the shoulder happily, and said with great relief, "Scholar Kong, if that's the case, where can that flower be found?"
Before cotton became available, the rich had different ways to keep warm, but the poor could only stuff their clothes with catkins, reed flowers, and withered grass, and cover in hemp fabrics. Cotton began to be planted in the Song Dynasty, but it was not widely spread. It was not until Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor,8 ascended to the throne. He had been a poor man who knew what it was like to be cold, so he vigorously promoted cotton cultivation and solved the problems with cold for the common people.
Now, was this so-called white cotton that same cotton?
Kong Yilin didn't expect that the Emperor would believe his words so easily. For a while, he couldn't react, and in the end he said in a daze, "This official still has seeds at home."
Gu Yuanbai nodded and laughed loudly. "If your words are true, Scholar Kong, this white cotton can solve the common people's struggles with cold. We will strongly support it and take some of your credit. If the day comes, Scholar Kong, you will save many lives."
Kong Yilin's hands shook as he bowed and said, "This official cannot accept Your Highness' words."
"If We say you deserve it, then you deserve it," Gu Yuanbai said, allowing no discussion. "Why should you be so self deprecating?"
Kong Yilin was silent for a long time, then took a step back, knelt on his robe, and bowed exaggeratedly to Gu Yuanbai.
This salute was a salute to the spine that, after being crushed and insulted over and over, would stand up again, and a salute to the Emperor.
Kong Yilin had been forced to leave Great Heng and go to Western Xia. However, people from Western Xia didn't acknowledge him. He was alone in Western Xia, and he couldn't adapt to the language and culture there. When he found about the white cotton on the border, he realized that it was an opportunity.
So he returned to take the examinations, and, if he passed, he wanted to be able to offer something like that to the Great Heng Emperor. If he didn't pass, then it wouldn't be enough.
But he was talented, he really managed to pass the examinations. He had been ranked second, and his position was excellent.
Kong Yilin should be satisfied. However, the Emperor's open mindedness made his ambition greedier.
The white cotton seeds were a way for the Emperor to remember him, and a set of stairs for him to climb up.
However, the Emperor was even better and more enlightened than he had thought.
Therefore, Kong Yilin's salute was mixed with some feelings of guilt.
After instructing Kong Yilin to bring over the cotton the following day, Gu Yuanbai returned to the palace. Inside the palace, he remembered something after finishing his meal. "Hasn't Xue Yuan returned yet?"
Tian Fusheng was taken aback, then turned to look at the young eunuch next to him.
A court lady stood up and said, "Your Highness, Official Xue returned before you came back, but he looked extremely messy, so he was taken away by an eunuch to tidy up."
Gu Yuanbai laughed out loud. "He's the son of a great general and a good Imperial guard, but now he has done some dirty work."
Isn't that right?
Tian Fusheng wiped the sweat off his forehead, and wondered how had the Xue heir provoked the Emperor. His life was not good, day after day.
" "
As they were talking, Xue Yuan arrived. He was surrounded by moisture, his black hair scattered with drops of water draping over his back. It could be said that Gu Yuanbai had gotten his hair down to soften his face, but instead Xue Yuan only looked even more forceful.
His sharp eyebrows reached towards his temples, with a horrible, unsmiling expression. Xue Yuan spotted Gu Yuanbai when he arrived at the hall, and the gesture at the corners of his lips was perfunctory, revealing a false smile.
Very false.
Surely he was angry because of the dirty work?
Xue Yuan walked up to Gu Yuanbai to salute, then looked around the hall and asked, "Your Majesty, where's that scholar from yesterday?"
Xue Yuan snered over and over after seeing the top ranked scholar place his arms around the young Emperor's waist, and seeing the young Emperor smile back at him the night before. When he had touched Gu Yuanbai's feet, he was kicked into the water. To touch Gu Yuanbai's hand, he had to be sneaky. What sort of stinky scholar could place his hands on the Emperor's waist and have Gu Yuanbai smile at him?
But after a while, Xue Yuan calmed down.
Because the young Emperor didn't like to have too close of a contact with anyone.
After thinking about it, the scholar had just raised his hand behind the young Emperor, pretending that he had touched him.
After figuring it out, Xue Yuan said, very good.
Obviously, this scholar had been deliberately showing off before him, he was deliberately provoking him. Although he didn't know what the scholar's move meant, he had successfully angered Xue Yuan.
All the people who provoked Xue Yuan were dead, except for the young Emperor.
Forget about that. The young Emperor, the lion of the world, was interesting.
But what is this Chu Wei?
Gu Yuanbai didn't smile at me even a handful of times, but he smiled so nicely at this thing?
Screw him.
Gu Yuanbai smiled suddenly when he heard Xue Yuan's words. He gave Xue Yuan a meaningful look and said casually, "Historian Chu is, of course, at the Hanlin Academy."
So it turned out that Xue Yuan had already noticed Chu Wei at this time.
Gu Yuanbai was meant to witness with his own eyes how they would engage in socialist brotherhood, and witness with his own eyes how they would fall into a pit without children.9
He could also follow the current and make the two of them fall in love with each other as soon as possible.
Now that he had finally spotted the signs, Gu Yuanbai was in a good mood. He asked Tian Fusheng to bring two good inkstones and handed them to Xue Yuan, saying, "Go give these two inkstones to Official Chu at the Hanlin Academy and to Official Kong, tell them We rewarded them for their good game."
Brother, I created a chance for you, you should go make a move yourself!
Come on, quickly go talk to Chu Wei about socialist brotherhood, don't dangle it in front of my eyes, I will get annoyed when I see you.
Xue Yuan, who was holding the inkstone, narrowed his eyes. After listening to Gu Yuanbai's words, he grinned coldly. "Your servant obeys."
He could beat someone to death with an inkstone.
I know, I'm late, but in my defense this chapter is over 4000 words long oh sweet Jesus X_X anyway here you have Xue Yuan's boner for the Emperor intensifying almost as much as Gu Yuanbai's obliviousness.
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Footnotes
Also called a palanquin, it's a carriage carried by people with no wheels like previous translation, this is a special guard that Gu Yuanbai had been planning to establish back in chapter 3. Wild.胸中有丘壑 'The Emperor has hills in his chest', it refers to someone having the entire layout and design of a future work already raws refer to them having received "chicken blood therapy", which was a traditional Chinese medicine therapy that supposedly made people "highly aggressive and strong".In the Olympic games character here can mean chess or any other board game, but I didn't want to make something up. However, something like Weiqi seems of Han Dynasty, info say "the mud legged Emperor"; he grew up as a beggar. The expression can refer to someone being shrewd as well, according to here just means gay.
Xue Yuan wanted to go directly and kill Chu Wei, who had been provoking him, with the inkstone. However, if he beat Chu Wei to death, he feared that the young Emperor would be really angry.
The young Emperor getting angry wasn't scary. Xue Yuan dared to do anything as long as he could survive and keep breathing. He could bear the young Emperor's means of punishment, no matter the torture or ordeal he might be put through.
The only thing he couldn't endure was repressing his own anger.
However, Xue Yuan, who didn't fear anything, didn't want to see the young Emperor's angry look directed at him. The young Emperor had given him a bad look many times, and, at first, he didn't care. But now Xue Yuan couldn't stop thinking, how come even that thing gets a happy look from the Emperor?
He walked all the way to the Hanlin Academy while thinking about why the young Emperor wouldn't smile at him.
If he smiled at him, he wouldn't just wash the horses, even sweeping horse manure daily wouldn't be a problem. If he gave him a better look, it wouldn't be impossible for Xue Yuan to spend an entire day underwater.
The more he couldn't get it, the more he wanted it. Xue Yuan was very bitter, and couldn't endure being discriminated against. The more the young Emperor treated him so coldly, the more he punished him, the more Xue Yuan desired to see him smile at him.
So very bitter.1
When Xue Yuan arrived at the Hanlin Academy with the two inkstones, Chu Wei and Kong Yilin, who were the ones being rewarded by the Emperor, hurriedly walked out, and they saw him first.
Kong Yilin didn't know Xue Yuan, but Chu Wei's face became cold as soon as he spotted him, and he didn't even bother to mask the expression of disgust on his face.
"And who would you be?" Kong Yilin asked, stepping forward with his hands folded in a salute.
Xue Yuan showed a cordial smile. "Are you the one His Highness mentioned? Scholar Kong?"
" "
Kong Yilin nodded and lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on the carved wooden box in Xue Yuan's hand.
Chu Wei stepped forward with no expression on his face, his hands cupped as well. "I'm sorry to have troubled you making you complete this errand, Official Xue."
"How could it be any trouble to help the Emperor?" Xue Yuan replied, with a fake smile. "Every official should do just that."
Kong Yilin didn't seem to notice anything wrong between them. "Official Xue, I wonder, what has His Highness rewarded us with?"
Xue Yuan threw the two wooden boxes into his arms. "Inkstones."
Kong Yilin smiled. "Many thanks to His Highness for the reward."
Chu Wei glanced at the wooden box in Kong Yilin's hand and smiled.
In Xue Yuan's eyes, this smile was evidence of Chu Wei's desire for the Emperor. Xue Yuan smiled, gave Chu Wei a cold look, and then turned around to leave, full of killing intent. Chu Wei gave him an equally disgusted glance towards his back. Both looked repulsed.
When Xue Yuan walked to the Emperor's palace, his expression was still ugly.
As he walked to the bedroom with a calm face, the 'great gift' that Xue Yuan was carrying in his arms suddenly jumped out and ran away quickly.
Xue Yuan was caught off guard, and he furiously gave chase in the direction his 'great gift' had run off to, his eyebrows set.
The maid waiting in the hall felt something soft at her feet. When she looked down, her complexion suddenly changed and she screamed.
The little thing by her feet was frightened by the scream and floundered in a panic. One by one, all the maids in the palace turned pale and began to shake with fright, their formation all messed up.
Tian Fusheng called out, "What are you all screaming about?"
A lady of the court cried and said, "Chief Eunuch, there's a mouse here!"
Where would people who served in the palace, especially those serving the Emperor directly, have ever seen such a thing?
Gu Yuanbai continued to eat his dinner calmly and ordered the guards to catch the mouse. Most girls were afraid of such things. If the mouse wasn't caught, some would cry.
The guards ran around in a rush, and the entire hall was boiling in chaos. Gu Yuanbai suddenly heard a small squeak. He paused, put down his chopsticks, and looked under the table, running into a pair of small, black bean-like eyes.
"Little one," Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand and laughed. "You sure know how to hide."
No one in the hall dared to come searching towards the Emperor.
The little mouse, covered in gray fur, sniffed at Gu Yuanbai's hands. Probably because of the scent of the food in his hands, it kept sniffing and crawled onto Gu Yuanbai's hands.
Gu Yuanbai lifted his hand and stroked the little one's fur. Its fur was bright and smooth, and the chubby soft body made it seem like a domestic pet.
Tian Fusheng spotted the thing in the Emperor's hand and physically jumped. "Your Majesty!"
When the guards looking for the mouse looked up, they were also startled. The guard captain hurriedly took two steps forward and said anxiously, "Your Majesty! This official will catch the thing!"
"No need." Gu Yuanbai placed the little mouse on the table and took a piece of meat with his chopsticks, placing it in front of the mouse. After watching the little mouse nibble the piece of meat, he leisurely slid his fingertips along the little mouse's fur. "It's just a small thing, it feels nice to pet."
Tian Fusheng saw that the mouse didn't seem like it would bite anyone, so he straightened out the servants in the palace. The maids wiped away the tears on their faces, suppressed their fear, and went back to their positions with a disciplined attitude.
Xue Yuan walked in while he was eating. As soon as he came in, he saw the mouse eating meat on the table. His eyelid twitched. So here it was.
Gu Yuanbai saw him come in. "Did you deliver the items?"
Xue Yuan said, "Yes."
Gu Yuanbai also wanted to ask him if he had taken a fancy for Chu Wei, but then he thought better of it and decided he couldn't be bothered to ask, so he nodded lazily and asked him to stand to the side.
However, Xue Yuan didn't move and instead said, "Your Highness, this little pet is something I raised."
After hearing these words, Gu Yuanbai paused for a moment and looked up at him. "Official Xue, you raised it?"
Xue Yuan nodded. "This official thought that the little ingrate might feel lonely in the palace, so I brought a small pet to give it company."
Little ingrate? Gu Yuanbai was surprised. "Who's the little ingrate?"
"It's the Emperor's Akhal-Teke horse," Xue Yuan replied honestly. "That horse has no conscience. This official has fed it and bathed it, but in the end, not only did it not appreciate the work, it even whined and kicked me some."
Gu Yuanbai, amused by the mental image, said, "The horse is called Red Cloud."
Xue Yuan suddenly understood. "This official will remember it."
Gu Yuanbai touched the mouse and said, "What is this thing called?"
Xue Yuan said, "I have not named it yet."
Seeing that the little mouse was done eating the meat, Gu Yuanbai grabbed it by the neck and lifted it up, throwing it at Xue Yuan. "Since it's for Red Cloud to play with, give it to Red Cloud."
Official Xue Yuan managed to catch the mouse and asked, "Does Your Highness not like it?"
The Emperor was wiping his hands with a handkerchief. Even the exquisite embroidery on the fabric didn't look as nice as his hands. He glanced at Xue Yuan and said, "Compared to this little thing, We prefer the wolves raised in Official Xue's mansion."
Xue Yuan said, "Your Majesty, wolves can bite people."
The Emperor wasn't afraid and simply stated, "After a few beatings and skipping a few meals, won't it become obedient?"
Xue Yuan smiled. "It's as Your Majesty says."
The remains of the meal were taken away by the palace servants, and Gu Yuanbai went out for a walk with some people to aid his digestion. He walked in front, wearing darker clothes that day. The dark patterns became visible as he walked. The darker the clothes, the more delicate the skin at his wrists and neck looked.
Xue Yuan followed behind, took a look at his back, and then at the little mouse in his arms.
"Useless thing." His lips snarled in barely suppressed disgust. "You can't even attract someone."
The little mouse blinked its beady black eyes back at him, unable to understand Xue Yuan's words.
The Imperial gardens were dazzling and colorful, with all sorts of flowers and plants. Gu Yuanbai walked slowly for a while, and finally arrived at a lush tree.
Tian Fusheng looked around, then he suddenly pointed at the top of the tree with a smile. "Your Majesty, look."
Gu Yuanbai looked up and saw that, on the top of the tree half-hidden between the leaves, the small yellow corner of a kite was peeking out. Tian Fusheng smiled and said, "This kite looks old. A concubine of the late Emperor must have been the one that put it there."
Gu Yuanbai just looked at it for a couple seconds before Xue Yuan stepped forward. "Your Majesty, should I go take it down?"
The way he looked at Gu Yuanbai now, his expression was extraordinarily attentive, as if he had been domesticated. Gu Yuanbai knew that he wasn't tame at all, but he was actually quite satisfied with Xue Yuan's attitude.
It gave him the satisfying feeling of a successful conquest.
Gu Yuanbai nodded. Xue Yuan raised his head and glanced at the tree, then he threw the little mouse to the ground, and, with forceful steps, he rushed towards the tree.
He was a tall man, with long arms and legs and extraordinary strength. He managed to climb the branches in just two or three movements and reached the kite, making it look easy and like he put no effort into it at all.
The people around, seeing him like that, determined that Xue Yuan would be fine. However, Xue Yuan, after having such an easy time climbing up the tree, unexpectedly jumped down, landing next to the Emperor. Gu Yuanbai, startled at the sudden appearance next to him, took a step back and his balance failed. Xue Yuan also followed and fell towards Gu Yuanbai.
Gu Yuanbai's back hit the trunk of the tree and Xue Yuan pressed him against it. Xue Yuan barely managed to brace himself with both hands against the tree to avoid pressing him against it. After steadying his balance, he apologized. "Your Majesty, it seems I stepped on a small stone and lost my balance."
His warm breath hit Gu Yuanbai, and the delicate, soft skin of the Emperor became red from the heat of Xue Yuan's body. The Emperor was too delicate. At such a close distance, the white skin on his face looked just like a cloud, as if it could melt in Xue Yuan's mouth.
Gu Yuanbai tilted his head, his neck stretched, and he frowned impatiently, saying, "Back off."
Xue Yuan was about to step back when he spotted a hive of hornets suddenly rushing over. His expression changed immediately and he pressed the Emperor's head into his arms, lowering his own head to bury his face in the young Emperor's dark hair.
"Where did so many hornets come from?!" Tian Fusheng asked in horror.
"This isn't good, guards!" The guard captain's face changed. "Eunuch, someone from the back accidentally ran into a hornet's nest!"
Everyone gathered around Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai's eyebrows jumped, his face buried in Xue Yuan's arms.
Steaming hot air rose from Xue Yuan's chest. Gu Yuanbai thought to himself, what did this man eat when he was growing up? How can he be hot like a stove?
"What's going on out there?" Gu Yuanbai's voice sounded muffled. "Who was so reckless?"
Xue Yuan frowned and pressed the young Emperor tightly. "Don't talk."
A blue vein bulged on Gu Yuanbai's forehead. Xue Yuan, as if he knew he was angry, looked up and spotted a bush. Holding Gu Yuanbai, he rolled there, just barely managing to avoid the hornets.
When Gu Yuanbai came back to his senses, he could no longer hear any hornets.
He got up and saw that the area outside the bush was full of people running around after being stung by hornets. Hornets from the past were wilder than the ones in the modern era. They stung angrily when touched, they stung when they saw people, and they were more toxic. It was possible that simply a palace attendant stumbling into a nest had been enough to cause such a situation.
Xue Yuan stood beside the young Emperor, and asked casually, "Your Majesty, what incense do you use? How come even your hair smells so nice?"
Gu Yuanbai was focused on watching the situation not far away, giving it his full attention, and he did not hear clearly. "What?"
Xue Yuan didn't repeat the question. With a casual glance, he spotted a hornet that had landed on a blade of grass to the side. He grabbed the young Emperor's waist with his arms, pulling him in, and then quickly took a few steps back.
Gu Yuanbai felt dizzy for a while, and then, just after coming back to his senses, he noticed that Xue Yuan had already started talking nonsense behind him.
"Your Majesty, in the past, you scolded me for being impudent. This official feels that it wasn't fair to call that impudence, and I felt wronged," Xue Yuan said without moving, with his hands still on the young Emperor's waist. "Emperor, now this is called being impudent."
Do you understand?
If any man dares to do something like this to you in the future, they're being impudent.
—For example, Chu Wei should be dragged outside and decapitated.
But it was different if Xue Yuan was the one touching him.
Xue Yuan wasn't attracted to men, so, if he did something like that, it would be fine.
Kabedon :O
It's so nice to translate a chapter without 23 government buildings and 9 unique titles for once :')
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Footnotes
I just want to note that the dictionary kept suggesting "bitchy" for this.
Gu Yuanbai's eyebrows furrowed together, almost cursing the word 'impudent'.
What was even more unbelievable was that he could actually notice that Xue Yuan was lecturing him.
Bullshit!
Gu Yuanbai said coldly, "Release Our hand."
The young Emperor's soft skin was trapped in his palm, and it was very pleasant to touch through his clothes. Xue Yuan let go of his hand obediently and, without forgetting to prove his good intentions, he pointed to the hornet not far away and said, "Your Highness, I fear that the hornet might sting you."
Gu Yuanbai's complexion cleared up slightly. "This better not happen again."
After half an hour, the absurd, chaotic situation calmed down. The people who had been stung by the hornet were sent to the hospital. Gu Yuanbai originally thought that the guards, since they were all tall and strong, would be fine if they got stung, but out of them all, the one who reacted the most dramatically was his loyal guard captain.
Gu Yuanbai gave him a holiday right away to let him rest at ease. When he got better, he could go back to active duty. And so, the only one who stood close to Gu Yuanbai's side was now Xue Yuan, who had come through the back door.
However, as long as Xue Yuan remained obedient, he was very easy to order around.
And now, Xue Yuan was really happy to listen to Gu Yuanbai's orders.
Gu Yuanbai had ordered to starve Prince Qi for three days, and so he really was not fed for three days. Over the past few days, there were courtiers getting anxious, trying to ask Gu Yuanbai to find out how Prince Qi was doing.
Of course, the ones that were most anxious, and also the ones that had the most patience in restraining their impulse to ask, were the Imperial ministers.
" "
Each person looked out for their own interests in the Imperial court. In order to get in, people needed to have a lot of experience beforehand. After they became part of it, they had to be careful as well.
The longer they stayed in and the more they got involved, the more they would dissociate from those in power despite being involved in Imperial Court was like a bottomless pit of muddy water: the surface was calm, but in fact the mud inside was stirred up.
This was still the central governing body of the state, but what was the point of a government if Gu Yuanbai couldn't get his hands on it?
The Imperial Historian was getting old and it was time to start looking for a replacement. Originally, Gu Yuanbai had planned to use that as a chance to make a move, but now Gu Yuanbai had better options.
In the court, there were some members of the clan who were worried and frightened by the Emperor's cruelty. They spent a lot of money trying to ask some officials about how Prince Qi was doing.
It was such a good deal, it was just a question and it wasn't a banned topic. Why wouldn't they accept the money?
As such, during morning court, these officials who dared to ask after Prince Qi discovered that, except for other middle-level officials that had accepted the money just like they had, no one else said a word.
Everyone stared far off into the distance, as if they hadn't heard their question.
At that point, the average officials, with their average IQ, realized that something was wrong.
Why hadn't a single high official stood up? With the tactics that the members of the clan had been using, it should be easy for them to win over some high officials, wasn't that right?
It wasn't right.
When they asked about Prince Qi, the Emperor still smiled and even replied in a gentle tone. But afterwards, their close colleagues that they usually got along with began to avoid them.
They were the only ones confused, unable to understand what was going on.
Sometimes, it was okay to be a bit stupid, and it was okay to be a bit greedy. The only thing that they should be worried about was being unable to read the political situation. If they weren't able to be sensible in that matter, they shouldn't open their mouth.
Prince Qi's youngest son had a good reputation ever since he was a child. The reason for storming Prince Qi's mansion had been to 'remove the rebel forces'. Therefore, they had foolishly asked the Emperor at court 'Are the rebels alright? When will they be released? How are they eating and sleeping? A lot of people are concerned about these rebels, so please, Your Majesty, could you release the rebels a bit sooner?'
Shit, get far, far away from us, don't drag us down with you!
In Xuanzheng Hall, Gu Yuanbai received General Cheng and his lieutenant.
The imperial army cooperated with various officials from the clan and found many spies who had been hidden by Lu Feng. These spies could be male or female, and some had originally been servants of the official's houses, becoming Lu Feng's people after being bribed by him.
These people were unearthed one by one, and now he had a 'gift' prepared and he had these Imperial Ministers. Only Chu Wei's father, Chu Xun, had yet to come back.
Gu Yuanbai would have to wait calmly for Chu Yun's return.
After the report was over, General Cheng couldn't resist asking, "Your Majesty, since Prince Qi's incident may be related to the Imperial Censor from Taichung, why don't you order for his arrest?"
Gu Yuanbai said, "We have other plans."
General Cheng couldn't figure them out, but he didn't ask any more, electing to put his full trust in the Emperor.
Gu Yuanbai was in no hurry, and the imperial army followed the Emperor's example and was equally in no hurry. They just obeyed the Emperor's orders and imprisoned the spies found in the Prince's mansion, as well as those in other officers' homes. Some of these spies were resentful and desperate, but most were crying and wailing, kneeling and begging the Emperor to spare their lives.
But no matter how much they begged for mercy, Gu Yuanbai would not soften.
They wouldn't be eliminated at that point, they still had the chance to live for a while. The Emperor said that all these matters should be discussed at Chu Xun's return.
However, Prince Qi wouldn't last without eating until Chu Xun returned. In fact, on his second day of fasting, Prince Qi, who was old and had never encountered any trials and tribulations in his youth, was already completely weakened from hunger.
Gu Yuanbai rewarded the jailers with a hearty, delicious meal full of meat. The jailers swallowed it down hungrily, and their oily mouths were hard to look at for Prince Qi, who had to watch them eat.
On the third day, Prince Qi succumbed to hunger pangs. With a straight face and a weak voice, he ordered the jailer, "Bring this Prince a meal."
Why make his own body suffer to give Gu Yuanbai a hard time?
Gu Yuanbai was ruthless and Prince Qi was now a bit scared of him. However, he was still the Prince of Qi, how could the two jailers even compare?
After keeping him locked up, Gu Yuanbai's anger should have dissolved as well, right?
Prince Qi didn't know, but he had been afraid, and, once the fear went down, his lofty attitude, which had been developed for over forty years of luxurious lifestyle, returned.
But the jailers, after hearing Prince Qi's words, ignored him completely and continued to eat their meat, taking big bites with their oily mouths.
Prince Qi had already decided to go on a hunger strike, so how could they intervene, being so below him?
About a dozen or so of Prince Qi's men watched the jailers eating with relish, feeling hungry. By the third night, someone finally couldn't bear it. They took their own meal behind Prince Qi's back and hid in a corner, gobbling up their meal. Even if they had someone being tortured next to them, it wouldn't have stopped them from gulping it down.
He looked like a pig like that. Some of Prince Qi's sons, who were older than the Emperor, were also eating, with tears coming out of their eyes.
Most of them had been dragged down by their father's ambition. At this point, they didn't dare complain before the Emperor, and they were unable to stop thinking, Why?
Why couldn't Prince Qi behave like an obedient, peaceful prince?
They didn't have big ambitions, they just wanted to live out their lives in wealth and comfort. But now, the youngest son, who Prince Qi favored the most and wanted to seat on the throne, got to live in the palace, eating delicious food and drinks, while they were in prison. Why?
The scent of the food spread through the prison and Prince Qi's weak eyes opened wide. He moved to the front of the cell with the last of his strength and shouted, "What are you all eating?!"
But none of his sons replied to him.
Their hearts were full of resentment and their stomachs sounded like a drum after being hungry for two days and a half. After seeing their father's stupidity, his descendants had a clear idea about what they could and couldn't do.
If they answered, they wouldn't be able to eat.
After Gu Yuanbai finished dealing with government affairs, the capital city government Yin handed over a message to the Emperor saying that the Chengbao Temple, in the outskirts of the capital, had returned many fields to the Imperial court. At the same time, there were 1,500 monks who had returned to a civilian life, registering their information at the government offices.
Such trivial matters did not need to be handed over to the Emperor, but Chengbao Temple was an Imperial temple, and the prefect felt a little uncertain about it.
When he heard the news, Gu Yuanbai raised his lips in a smile and set down the memo on the table very happily, humming an out of tune song with his mouth. Then he said: "Chengbao Temple's abbot knows how to read people."
Xue Yuan looked at his smiling face from the side, and he thought Even I1 don't get you to look at me, let alone a monk. Who are they to make you look this happy?
The Emperor played with a white, high quality jade piece on the desk, his face a bit flushed. His excited expression was a bit contagious, and the people around him couldn't stop themselves from smiling.
Gu Yuanbai stood up, walked out from behind the table, stretched out his arms and legs in the hall, and said, "Those who went back to being civilians, let them, We will have use for them soon. As for the temple fields, send the prefect to return them."
Someone went immediately to fulfill these tasks, Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand, his wide sleeves slowly falling from his forearm, revealing his small, pale wrists and a bright yellow sleeve underneath. He rubbed his wrist while thinking, Master Chu, now you're the only one left.
Once you get here, everything else can begin.
Chengbao Temple had just returned the temple fields to the Imperial court. Before the abbot could breathe a sigh of relief, he heard that the Imperial court had rejected these fields.
The abbot of Chengbao Temple felt dizzy, barely capable of maintaining the composure proper for a high ranking monk. "Master Fu Yin, why weren't the temple fields accepted?"
The prefect himself didn't know either, so he smiled and politely accompanied the abbot of Chengbao Temple out.
This silent smile terrified the abbot.
The Chengbao Temple was an Imperial temple, and it owned all the fields that covered the entire hill. These fields didn't get any taxes, and the monks in the temple didn't have to pay any sort of tax to the government, either. Living like that was just too luxurious, and thinking of their abundance, the abbot shuddered, thinking of Emperor Wuzong exterminating the Buddhists.
Those that visited the Chengbao Temple were all members of the Imperial clan and dignitaries. After Gu Yuanbai scared them, the members of the clan came often to worship and get some peace of mind.
The abbot also learned information from them.
The Emperor was able to strike against his own clan, so what would he do to some monks? Now that it turned out that the Imperial government didn't want his temple's fields, the abbot was terrified. After returning to Chengbao Temple that day, he took stock of the fields again and made a harsh decision. They would only keep the acres required to get enough food for the temple monks to eat, and the rest, 90%, would be sent to the court!
However, this second offering was equally rejected by the Emperor.
As he walked out of the office again, the eyes of the abbot of Chengbao Temple changed from dull to determined, and, when he returned to the temple, he ordered solemnly, "Bring me paper and ink."
A young novice monk brought him both, and, after taking a deep breath, the abbot's hand became steady and he began to write a document.
He started out praising the Emperor's virtue and benevolence, and Chengbao Temple requested, under Buddha's guidance, for His Majesty to accept the temple's fields so that they would contribute to the welfare of the common people and fully realize Buddha's compassion. After he finished writing these words, his hands shook more severely, but he continued, determined, to write the last paragraph.
Chengbao Temple called on the other compassionate temples of the land to donate their own fields as well.
The abbot sent this document down the mountain, almost in tears.
He could almost imagine how many people would grind their teeth and curse his name after the other temples read the document.
The people in the land would praise him immensely, and the temples, under the pressure of public opinion and interests, would hate him.
The only one that wouldn't be looked at, after gaining the most benefit, was the Imperial court.
After the third time Chengbao Temple offered its fields, Gu Yuanbai looked at the letter the abbot sent, read it, and laughed openly.
The person who came to the report asked, "Your Highness, should we refuse them again?"
"Ever since antiquity, it's always been 'three refusals and three offers."2 Gu Yuanbai shook his head and laughed. "We didn't plan to do anything. The abbot of Chengbao Temple got into this mess himself."
Many dynasties used Buddhism to rule the people's minds. The existence of temples and Buddhism had many advantages. Gu Yuanbai didn't even mind unnecessary monks too much. Moreover, Chengbao Temple had been granted Imperial temple status by a previous Emperor. How could Gu Yuanbai act in an unreasonable manner?
The only thing to see here was that the abbot had scared himself.
Thinking a bit more about it, it was a bit troublesome. Gu Yuanbai said, "Talk to the abbot in private and tell him that We are very satisfied with this article that he's written."
With that sentence, even if the temple fields were returned once more, the Chengbao Temple abbot would be able to settle down.
Compared with the hundreds of acres of fields in the temple, Gu Yuanbai was now more concerned about the white cotton.
A few days ago, Kong Yilin had offered him cotton seeds. Gu Yuanbai had not planted them before, so he transferred Kong Yilin out of the Imperial Academy to work with officials from the Ministry of Industry to study the small seeds.
He vaguely remembered that cotton had to be planted in March and April. Gu Yuanbai didn't know the specifics, but, even though it was a bit late at that point, he thought it was possible to catch up.
If cotton could be planted that year, it'd save the lives of many peasants and soldiers.
Just when Gu Yuanbai was thinking about it, Tian Fusheng, while serving him some tea, said, "Your Highness, there's been news from the stables just now. The people there said that Red Cloud has kicked someone again."
Gu Yuanbai returned to his senses and smiled bitterly when he heard these words. "That thing has come to the palace to eat Us. Let's go and see it."
They headed to the stables. In the stables, Gu Yuanbai spotted the little mouse holding some fruit it was nibbling on in a corner. He felt amused, since he hadn't actually expected that Xue Yuan had actually brought the little mouse to play with Red Cloud.
It was a shame that Red Cloud didn't seem to be interested in mice.
The Akhal Teke was taken care of very well, but it didn't want to wear any harnesses. There was only one bridle on it. As soon as Gu Yuanbai walked in, the intelligent horse hissed at him.
Its red hair was glossy. Gu Yuanbai looked, fascinated, and turned around to look at Xue Yuan. "Take Us for a ride on the horse."
Xue Yuan raised his eyebrows and said, "Your Majesty, are you feeling alright?"
Gu Yuanbai replied, "Just do as We said."
Xue Yuan did. He took out the horse. Without stirrups. Gu Yuanbai couldn't get on top by himself. A palace attendant next to them was going to bring out a stool, but Xue Yuan thought it was too troublesome, so he just held the young Emperor's waist and placed him on the horse.
After Gu Yuanbai got on the horse, Xue Yuan turned over and sat behind him, holding the reins in his hand. "Your Highness, should I direct the horse?"
Gu Yuanbai leaned back and said comfortably, "Let's go."
As soon as the whip was raised, the horse ran out like the wind.
Gu Yuanbai's robe and hair fluttered around. Xue Yuan looked down at him, and the corners of his lips turned upwards, with his sharp eyebrows struck by the harsh winds. After riding the horse with the young Emperor for a while, Xue Yuan slowed down thoughtfully.
"How is Your Majesty feeling?"
Gu Yuanbai hissed faintly and said, "It's alright."
However, his body was just too weak, and his inner thighs still felt a bit irritated and warm.
Xue Yuan heard the hiss and raised his hand to slow down the horse. Although he thought that the young Emperor might get injured, after seeing it happen, he still felt moody.
How can you be so delicate?
Xue Yuan found an unoccupied spot in the shade and asked Gu Yuanbai to get off his horse. Before getting on the horse, Tian Fusheng had handed Xue Yuan a bottle of ointment, just in case the Emperor got injured.
"Your Majesty," Xue Yuan knelt on one knee in front of Gu Yuanbai, who was sitting down, and parted Gu Yuanbai's legs. "I have to apply medicine."
Gu Yuanbai looked at him with interest. "Guard Xue, are you going to apply the medicine yourself?"
Xue Yuan said slowly, "Your Majesty, I was the one who brought you out to ride the horse. Since you got injured, of course, I feel worried."
Gu Yuanbai snorted, not believing that he would really be so well-behaved, so he lifted his robe and said, "Apply the medicine."
I just realized today that the ko-fi extra chapter goal was met! I didn't realize it had been at 60% before my hiatus ;;; so next week, there'll be a double IROB update! Please look forward to it ^^
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Footnotes
He's using the more prideful 'laozi' pronoun, we'll forgive him since it's his inner monologue.三辞三让 seems to have a lot of historical context, this poor translator is unqualified.