Chapter 67 The Arrogant Young Minister Xiao Yinshi, I want to make a deal with you...
The Golden Palace became dim, as the candlesticks in the hall were not enough. Eight eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs passed by the back of the hall and lit the new candles they had brought, which restored some light to the hall.
When officials meet the emperor, they must perform the grand ceremony of three kneelings and nine kowtows. After the tedious rituals, Emperor Chongming did not sit on the throne, but walked step by step towards Feng Tan. The aura of a superior was imposing. He stared at Feng Tan's unyielding figure with a sinister expression.
Bathed in golden light, the spot where the young man stood shone brightly like the rising morning sun, its brilliance surpassing even the flickering light of the recently relit candles. Yet, the defiant gaze fixed upon him was reminiscent of the indomitable look in Feng Youming's eyes during his joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices. Emperor Chongming found him as hateful as Feng Youming—no, he was even more hateful than Feng Youming.
Emperor Chongming walked up to Feng Tan, his voice full of authority, "For the sake of so-called justice, you defy your own opinions, defy authority, and raise your sword against the entire court. Who do you think you are?"
Everyone breathed very softly; in the confrontation between the emperor and his ministers, no one wanted to attract the attention of the supreme ruler.
Feng Tan met Emperor Chongming's gaze and said, "I dare not retreat from my humble life. I do not understand why the rise of Emei would disrupt the order of the Great Huang. All things in the world have their own laws of operation. Men and women are born, and there has never been a rule that men should be in charge of external affairs and women should be in charge of internal affairs. The order of male superiority and female inferiority was established by later generations to consolidate the patriarchal system. Since it is man-made, there is room for improvement. As long as the reform is done properly, I do not think it will disrupt the operation of the Great Huang. On the contrary, the Great Huang court will be injected with a new batch of vitality."
Emperor Chongming gazed at the face that bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Feng Qinghuang, a fleeting sense of déjà vu passing through his mind, too quick to grasp, before continuing in a deep voice: "What a straightforward and resolute minister! Even court debates cannot sway the officials' minds; do you think that releasing Feng Youming and having him continue his reforms will convince the entire Great Huang? Let me tell you, the Great Huang will not defy the rules established by our ancestors. Feng Tan, you are a man too; how can you not understand that the foundation of a nation should be the leadership of men?!"
A thunderous roar erupted, and Feng Tan's eyes burned with a ghostly fire. Provoked by Emperor Chongming, she raised her voice, "Because I despise those who exploit others for personal gain! Which of the girls in the Red Sleeve Pavilion is guilty? They are merely relatives of officials implicated by their families, yet you force these educated girls into prostitution; the girls of Evil Spirit Island were not born guilty either, but after being judged as evil spirits, they were thrown onto an island where they would never see the light of day to serve the powerful and be played with half to death! The powerful oppress and tyrannize the powerless with such cruelty, don't they deserve a little freedom from you? Feng has a life, she is innocent!"
"Heh." Emperor Chongming laughed in anger at Feng Tan's fierce words. A violent emotion surged in his eyes. He reached out and presented Shi Weishengxian with a gleaming, sharp longsword.
Emperor Chongming gripped his long sword, pointing it directly at Feng Tan's throat, his voice low, "I now ask you, is Feng guilty or not?"
Feng Tan didn't look at the sword, but only at his eyes, and said, "Innocent."
The sword moved slightly to Feng Tan's neck, and Emperor Chongming questioned again: "Is Feng guilty or not?"
The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. A sharp sword pressed against his neck, its icy temperature making Feng Tan feel immensely threatened, yet he still said, "Innocent."
The surging ferocity in Emperor Chongming's eyes was like a winter wind sweeping across snow, striking Feng Tan's face. He slashed a wound across his neck with his sword, and one last time, he demanded sharply, "Does Feng have a life or a crime?!"
The sharp pain brought out the stubbornness that was ingrained in her bones. She slowly clenched her fist, and the reckless and desperate spirit in her heart broke through her reason. "Innocent, innocent, innocent! Ask me a thousand times, ten thousand times and I'm still innocent!"
Emperor Chongming's blood boiled, and he was about to slash the boy's neck with a flick of his finger when Sheng Honghai quickly grabbed the sword. Blood gushed from where their hands met. "Your Majesty, please calm down! Lady Feng is young and unruly, and it's understandable that she doesn't obey rules! She has a petition written in the blood of the people. Taking action in the palace would damage Your Majesty's reputation and is not worth it... There is thunder and rain today, so Your Majesty should punish her by making her kneel at the Meridian Gate. If she is struck by lightning, it will be divine retribution!"
Having served as the chief eunuch of the Twenty-Four Directorates for so many years, Sheng Honghai was exceptionally skilled in diplomatic maneuvering. With just a few words, he skillfully defused most of Emperor Chongming's murderous intent while subtly protecting Feng Tan. He knew that His Majesty and Feng Tan shared the same lineage, and he absolutely could not afford to make a grave mistake here.
Just then, a series of lightning bolts streaked across the sky, followed by several deafening claps of thunder. The torrential rain intensified in response to the thunder. Emperor Chongming looked at the white curtain of rain pouring down rapidly outside the latticed hall and said, "Very well, Heaven above, if it has taken a liking to you, it will send lightning to strike you down and take you away."
He removed the longsword from Feng Tan's neck, returned to his throne, and looked at the court officials. He said, "Nine years ago, out of consideration for the Empress and the Princess, I granted Yunfeng the order to be executed ten years later. There are still six months left until now. It seems that we cannot wait any longer. Sheng Honghai, convey my decree to the whole world."
As if thunder and lightning had truly struck Feng Tan's entire body, Emperor Chongming's majestic voice resounded throughout the court, "Feng Youming, the mastermind behind the female calamity case, has caused countless harms. Now that the princess has returned to court, the execution date will be moved to the fifteenth of next month! The executioner... will be Feng Tan of the Ministry of Justice."
As for what's in that little, shimmering box in Feng Youming's hand... it probably wasn't anything too intimidating since she'd been imprisoned for eight years without causing any casualties in the imperial prison.
In the silent court, Feng Tan let out a cold laugh, her voice exceptionally clear. Outside the hall, a dark thunderstorm raged, marking the darkest night Feng Tan had ever experienced. Eight years... the goal she had strived for for eight whole years. Those nights spent studying day and night were sustained by the thought of rescuing her teacher. As long as she thought of restoring her teacher's freedom, she didn't find studying bitter at all. Eight thousand miles of journey had passed, each step filled with hope.
She naively believed that as long as she had solid reason and evidence, changing the law would give her enough leverage to save Feng Youming, and that proving his innocence would overturn his case. She was far too naive. Even if they cried out in despair, they wouldn't listen to their pleas. Her expectations of this group were too high. A gender oppressed for thousands of years, historically serving the patriarchal system with utmost deference, those who benefited from it would never allow them to escape its grasp; therefore, Feng Youming was guilty.
Emperor Chongming looked at Feng Tan and said, "As for what you said at the end of your complaint, 'When the way of Heaven is lost and the way of humanity is lost, great chaos will follow,' I tell you, the greatest upheaval that has occurred in Dahuang since its founding was the case of the female calamity. Only without the malignant tumor that is Feng Youming can we have a peaceful and harmonious society."
Having said that, he waved his hand, and the Imperial Guards stepped forward to hold Feng Tan's arm. Standing in the hall, looking at this group of people dressed in beastly official robes, she suddenly understood how grief-stricken and helpless her master had been back then, because they could never step out of their own position, think about the women of the world, and give them justice.
Feng Tan looked at Emperor Chongming and said something that made him feel both absurd and vaguely uneasy: "When the world is governed by the Way, one should sacrifice oneself for the Way; when the world is not governed by the Way, one should sacrifice oneself for the Way... Everyone should be content with their place and follow their own path... Success or failure... is not determined at this moment."
As Xiao Yinshi watched the boy's disheveled figure leave, a hint of amusement flickered in his dark eyes, and he subtly curved the corners of his lips into a smile.
......
This was Feng Tan's second time being punished at the Meridian Gate, and she was already quite familiar with the process. She was drenched in a downpour shortly after leaving the palace. The Imperial Guards ordered her to kneel under the stone lions in front of the Meridian Gate, which were visible to all the officials after court. This was a different kind of humiliation inflicted on her by Wei Shengxian.
Two Imperial Guards on official business went to the corridor to take shelter from the rain, and no one was watching her anymore. The emotions that had been suppressed in the hall for a long time overflowed her chest, causing Feng Tan's eyes to redden. She had failed to overturn the case for her master, and instead caused him to die prematurely.
Raindrops pattered on her face, and it didn't matter if a few tears welled up in her reddened eyes. She just pretended that the rain had blurred her vision. She lowered her head and cried silently. The next moment, the rain that was falling on her stopped. She looked up and saw Xiao Yinshi holding an umbrella, looking at her with a half-smile.
What an infuriating face... Feng Tan looked away; she was in a bad mood and had no intention of dealing with him.
Xiao Yinshi squatted down, his gaze level with Feng Tan's. He looked at the boy, who was soaking wet, his Adam's apple bobbing, and his voice became low and hoarse, "Your eyes are so red, have you been crying?"
It's natural to cry while wading through water; the redder the eyes, the more captivating they are, and the more they ignite a person's sadistic desires... Xiao Yinshi's eyes were filled with undisguised aggression and malice. Holding the bone umbrella, he leaned closer to Feng Tan and said, "In this dog-eat-dog world, the weak can only be devoured. Shouldn't you have known these truths long ago?"
Feng Tan raised her eyes, her long-held doubts lingering, "Why do you people have no conscience at all?"
“Conscience…” Xiao Yinshi chewed on these two words, looking at the boy’s genuinely innocent yet doubtful eyes, and chuckled softly, his tone wicked, “Conscience is a gift, I was born without it.”
Feng Tan looked into those eyes that were raging with a black storm, as if he were about to be sucked into his world. "If you respect Confucianism, why don't you care about even a single word of 'benevolence and love for others'?"
She knew Xiao Yinshi had no allegiance to anyone, and this was a way of asking him to answer on their behalf. Xiao Yinshi chuckled briefly, the sinister black mist swirling in his eyes growing even more intense. "The benevolent love their own people."
Feng Tan closed her eyes; she had nothing to say.
Lightning flashed across the dim sky, illuminating the area under the umbrella for a moment. A thin line of blood ran along Feng Tan's neck, and much of the blood that had flowed out had been washed away by the rain, leaving only a thin layer of pink. Xiao Yinshi touched it with his fingertip, causing Feng Tan to tremble.
A sliver of life returned to her eyes, mixed with a hint of offended anger. She frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"
Xiao Yinshi's voice was low as he said, "You're usually so submissive, so why were you forced to lose control of your emotions by Emperor Chongming today?"
Xiao Yinshi was usually indifferent, but when Feng Tan shouted "Innocent, innocent, innocent! Ask me a thousand times, ten thousand times and I'm still innocent!" in the Golden Palace, he was truly shocked. Facing the highest authority of Dahuang, Feng Tan was instead provoked to show his fighting spirit. He was truly an unyielding wolf cub.
In addition, Xiao Yinshi keenly sensed that Feng Tan seemed to harbor some complex feelings for Emperor Chongming. When Feng Tan first met Xiao Yinshi, she was afraid but also proceeded cautiously, with reason always prevailing over emotion. However, when Feng Tan confronted Emperor Chongming today, she showed no fear, and after her reason crumbled, resentment was revealed.
Resentment... Feng Tan had only met Emperor Chongming a few times, so how could she harbor such uncontrollable resentment? Or was it because of Feng Youming that Feng Tan resented Emperor Chongming?
Upon hearing this, Feng Tan's eyes flashed, avoiding the man's probing gaze. Just as she was about to speak, Xiao Yinshi covered her lips with his finger, saying, "In the end, you can't tell the truth."
"..." Feng Tan slapped his arm away and sneered, "Wouldn't it be simpler for Lord Xiao to just not ask such questions in the future?"
Seeing that the spirited and eloquent young man had returned, Xiao Yinshi smiled slightly and said, "It's more interesting this way. If you just take and take whatever you want, it's not as interesting, it's not exciting enough."
The man's malice was obvious, his eyes and brows concealing a cold indifference. He was pushed away by the boy at the slightest touch, but the soft touch on his fingertips had not yet faded. Looking at Feng Tan's lips, he had an urge to press his fingers inside and tease her tongue.
His eloquent lips deserve to be touched by his softest, smoothest red tongue, which should be used to suppress the tongue that would shame the entire court of officials, and to be played with at will.
As Xiao Yinshi pondered, his eyes darkened, and he unconsciously felt desire for Feng Tan again.
The man's eerie and malevolent aura spread to Feng Tan. Looking at his extremely handsome face and feeling his murderous and ruthless aura, she was terrified, but it also stirred up her determination to resist once again.
Despite her defeat today, Feng Tan's dejection vanished considerably under the malicious provocation of Xiao Yinshi. Her indomitable spirit seemed to grow stronger with each setback. Looking into Xiao Yinshi's dark eyes, she said, "Xiao Yinshi, I want to make a deal with you."
Xiao Yinshi curled his lips slightly and said, "A transaction of power and sex?"
Author's note: Lord Feng, that's not murderous intent, that's the desire to devour you whole.
Concepts such as death, survival, terror, and fear cannot penetrate his mind, so he is not afraid of anything.
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