Chapter 99: The Big Dream
After the palace coup that shocked the world, he followed the emperor to the Changhua Palace to pay tribute, and when calculating the mausoleum, he proposed to consider the fate of the Changhua Prince's granddaughter.
Princess Gao's information was correct. The thirteen-year-old girl had just been injured. The wound on her face had scabbed and shrunk, causing the skin around her eyes to curl up. It looked like half of her face was crooked, which was very scary.
So he naturally judged her future fate based on the hexagram he had prepared - her appearance was broken, she had no relatives, and her husband would be in trouble.
Perhaps the conclusions drawn by the Grand Astronomical Bureau and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau were similar. It was just that the Grand Astronomical Bureau was concerned, and Luo Lingtai was sympathetic, so neither of them revealed it.
Therefore, after he exposed the truth, neither of them raised any objection, and her fate was sealed from then on.
Princess Gao was very satisfied with the result, and he finally understood her resentment towards the Changhua Palace - the heroic and extraordinary Prince of Changhua, for the sake of his wife who came from the countryside, rejected the princess in public, making her a laughing stock in the court.
And now, because of a small action he and she jointly did, the only remaining orphan girl in Changhua Palace became a laughing stock of the whole world.
Relying on the thirteen-year-old girl to rise to power, he made his mark in the Taibu Office and even the Guanglu Temple. He became more and more proficient in these imaginary matters involving gods and ghosts, and gradually took over all affairs in the Taibu Office, becoming the most trusted assistant of the Taibu Ling.
No one remembers that he became famous because of his looks anymore, and they only praise him for his intelligence and ability to handle things with ease.
He faithfully performed his duties, recording the sun's shadows, checking the star tracks, comparing good and bad luck, and recording them in the files, which were then sealed in the archives.
But he didn't know the meaning of what he was doing. What connection did the suffering of billions of people in the world have with the twinkling of a few stars?
After he became an official, his father asked someone to send his manuscripts of poems and essays from his hometown. The letter that came with the letter expressed his relief: No wonder the teachers all said that you are a child prodigy. You have the talent of literature. You became an official in Beijing when you were in your teens. You have brought honor to your family!
He looked through the things he had written in the past, and there was a poem he wrote when he was thirteen years old, reminiscing about the past in Mianchi.
The tragic songs of Yan and Zhao leave behind a shabby scene, while the lofty aspirations of the Three Qins remain in the humble alleys.
Those childish words now seem pathetic and ridiculous. There is no such thing as a sad song about a desolate scene, and how can a person living in a humble alley have lofty ambitions?
He did not write a letter to his father to tell him what kind of official position he held, and he did not dare to let others know that he was able to enter the court and gain a foothold because of a woman's admiration for his appearance and by pushing another girl into the abyss.
He exchanged the girl's life of turmoil and uncertainty for his own rapid rise to prominence.
Because of his deep depression, he took on the task of copying scriptures for the empress dowager and burned incense and prayed at the Da Ci'en Temple, as if this could eliminate all the sins caused by him.
Princess Gao found him. She sat beside him, watching him copy the sutras, praising his calligraphy, and gradually became closer to him.
The fragrance on her body was as strong and charming as the day they first met. The pear blossoms then and the sandalwood now were both pierced by this aggressive breath.
He eventually pushed Princess Gao away, telling her that life is illusory and that appearances and skin are of little importance. Penglai wishes to remain true to the Dao and stay out of the mundane world.
However, after returning to the Taibu Office, the Ministry of Rites sent a list.
That was the list of husbands chosen for the Princess of Lingling County.
The thirteen-year-old orphan had been granted the title of Princess of the County by royal support. However, due to his verdict, everyone in the world said that her appearance was horrifically damaged, and no one dared to marry her.
To comfort the spirits of her ancestors, the Emperor and Empress decreed that the best possible husband be chosen for her. The Imperial Court and the Imperial Secret Affairs Bureau selected a group of eligible men of good family background and character, first submitting them to the Imperial Divination Bureau for horoscope comparison. If the bureau found a candidate with a similar fate to the County Lady, they would be considered for inclusion.
The Grand Ascension Officer clearly understood the Ministry of Rites' intentions. He accepted the letter and handed it to Yan Penglai, saying meaningfully, "I'll leave this matter to you. See if these candidates are suitable. If you think there are others who would be suitable for the position of Lingling County Master, you can add them. We won't stop you."
Yan Penglai accepted the document, but he had not yet calculated it.
He looked through the young men listed above. They came from different backgrounds and had different personalities and appearances, but their goals should be the same.
His original action not only improved his own future, but also helped Princess Gaoguo spread the evil reputation of Princess Lingling.
For a county lady with such a dangerous and disfigured appearance, even if we search all the young men in Chang'an and even the whole world, who would be willing to sincerely come forward to be a candidate?
He thought of the young Princess Lingling, and the horrific scars on her eyebrows and eyes, the wrinkled eyelids, the drooping corners of her eyes, the crooked half of her face that he had seen in the fleeting glimpse of her in the mourning hall...
He was the one who treated her badly. She was used by him and her life was ruined.
And now, she can become his chess piece to resist Princess Gao and escape from the predicament.
Princess Gao, who has great power in the court, wants to get him. How can he have the ability to escape and resist?
But if he had another identity, for example, he became the court's candidate for the husband of Princess Lingling, was put on the list and submitted to the government office, then at least during the three years of mourning for Princess Lingling, he would have the protection of the court, and could hide under the name of a candidate husband and become a barrier against Princess Gao.
Even if Princess Gaoguo had any feelings for him, she could not snatch the candidate husband designated for Princess Lingling from the list published by the court.
That night, he was facing the list at the Sitian Terrace, listening to one or two cries of night owls in the distant and silent cold night, which were shrill and sad.
Princess Lingling, the girl who was trampled into the abyss by him.
Their fate has been sealed in this life.
The desolate wind on the high platform blew day and night, whistling through the air like the future he had longed for in his youth, scraping sharply against his skin and shooting off into the distance, an unknown destination.
Until the sky was slightly bright and the dawn broke. The light of the sky enveloped the Sitian Tower, casting a shadow on his face and illuminating the file in front of him, making the four words "Lingling County Princess" shine brightly in his eyes.
He finally picked up the pen, dipped it in the half-dried ink, and wrote his name stroke by stroke at the end of the list of candidates for the husband of the Lingling County Lady.
Yan Penglai.
He is willing to pay for the evil he has done with his whole life.
If she is willing to choose him in the end, then no matter what she becomes, no matter what her future holds, or what her character is, he will accept it calmly, because he has decided to treat her as his own destiny.
When Princess Gaoguo learned about this, she was furious and instructed the palace maids to desecrate the scriptures he had copied for the empress dowager. She also made him kneel before the Buddha for seven days and seven nights, crippling his knees.
He fell into the mud of the rainstorm at Da Ci'en Temple and watched the figure of Princess Gaoguo disappear in the rain under the blood-red umbrella.
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