Chapter 2 Chapter 2 - Aftermath
After I passed out, I was carried back to the Zichen Palace and placed in a courtyard for palace maids outside a side hall.
I woke up once in the middle of the night. When I opened my eyes, I saw a palace maid decocting medicine for me. She caught my gaze, turned her head away silently, and seemed not to want to communicate with me.
It just so happened that I didn't want to say anything. The huge grief had shattered my soul. For the whole day, I stared at the ceiling of the tent without a trace of life, letting the palace maids, eunuchs, and imperial doctors come and go, turning me over, changing my dressings, and wrapping me with bandages.
I couldn't tell whether my body was recovering or just running out of fuel; it seemed like there was no difference between the two to me.
In the evening, Xia Fugui came to visit me with a bowl of ginseng chicken soup that had a strange smell.
The first time this jerk saw me, he put his hands on his hips and started cursing at me: "Yingzi, are you crazy or are you crazy? You dare to mess with His Majesty. You know his temper. It's a blessing from my ancestors that I'm alive this time. Don't do this again!"
I was so angry that I laughed. I raised my newly reattached arm and pointed at his brand new crown and said sarcastically, "I was wondering who it was. It turns out to be Lord Xia. Congratulations. Look at this hat. You must have been promoted to the head of the Internal Affairs Bureau."
He lowered his voice: "It's the chief steward of the palace."
My strength suddenly returned. I grabbed the porcelain cup on the bedside table and hit him on the head with it, cursing loudly: "Fuck you! You bastard, you still have the nerve to come to see me, your grandfather? Wear this hat and be a dog for Li Siyan! I was blind to be friends with you for several years. It's disgusting!"
Xia Fugui howled as he dodged the cup I threw at him, saying aggrievedly, "How could I have known that His Majesty would kill your family? Eunuchs like us working in the palace have no idea what our masters are calculating. Yingying, don't be angry. The situation is settled now. If the editor knew about this, he would definitely hope that you would live a good life, get married, have some sons, and live a peaceful life..."
"Get out!" I picked up the palace maid's sewing basket and smashed it into his face.
He hurriedly put down the chicken soup he had been offering me and ran away like a rabbit: "Yingying, you're feeling unstable right now. I'll come back to see you when you've figured it out."
"Fuck you! Get out of here!" I yelled.
After I finished cursing, there was silence all around. I gasped and lay back on the bed weakly.
Xia Fugui is my only friend in the palace. I met him when I entered the palace as a child. At that time, he was just a low-ranking eunuch in the Yunting. He was a colleague of the young Li Siyan and had taken care of him several times unintentionally. Li Siyan was very grateful, so as soon as he took office, he rewarded Xia Fugui with a high-ranking official position.
The past is like lingering smoke, gone forever. Who would have thought that the skinny and fierce little boy with eyes like a wolf cub would suddenly become an emperor?
He was also a dog emperor who loved to kill historians.
Not long after Xia Fugui left, a thin palace maid walked in quietly and silently picked up the needles and thread scattered on the ground.
I said to her, "Tell your master that I have something to say to him."
The maid reported to the steward, the steward reported to the chief steward, and the chief steward reported to the emperor. Suddenly, everyone in Zichen Palace knew that Miss Shen was so bold that she dared to summon the emperor.
The emperor himself did not take my rudeness to heart.
It was getting dark. Li Siyan finished his government affairs and came directly to my room. He looked at the bandage on my head and chuckled, "Mr. Shen Qiju is in good spirits. I wonder if he has figured it out?"
There were two thick blue-gray spots under his eyes, and he looked very haggard.
In fact, seizing power and usurping the throne is also a physical job. It requires planning at the beginning, execution in the middle, and finishing at the end. After going through the whole process, he probably hasn't slept for several days.
I remained calm, didn't bite his neck, and didn't curse. I said directly, "I want to leave the palace."
"Okay," he said, "Is one day enough?"
"Not enough, I need two days."
"Two days? I'll suspect you're trying to escape." He smiled, stretched out his injured right hand, and made a number nine gesture to me.
You bastard, you're threatening me with house confiscation again.
I said expressionlessly, "I'll be out of the palace for two days to take care of some household chores. When I come back, I'll start working as your attendant. Fifteen years will begin from that day."
He gradually stopped smiling, stared at me gloomily, and said, "Chen Ying, no matter what you do out there, I advise you not to try any tricks. I've said before that if you dare to commit suicide or escape, I'll kill your relatives. I mean what I say, so you can decide for yourself."
I also responded: "Li Siyan, I am insignificant now and cannot touch you, but sooner or later, I will make you regret sparing my life."
"Okay, I'll wait." His tired look gradually turned into excitement, like a little boy teasing a bad-tempered raccoon.
He leaned over and whispered in my ear in a reptilian, cold voice, "Since I dare to keep you by my side, I'm not afraid of your little revenge. Editor Shen, do you know that I love to trample on you pedants who talk about morality and justice. The more proud you are, the more I want to break your spine and watch you lie on the ground crying."
"You can give it a try." I stared into his eyes coldly, filled with hatred. "Good and evil will be rewarded, and the law of nature will prevail. People like you will eventually receive retribution. I'll wait and see."
"I'll wait and see." He laughed contemptuously, "I'll see if Heaven will punish me."
I didn't want to get entangled with him anymore, so I turned my head away and closed my eyes in disgust.
He reached out, pinched my chin and lifted it up. I felt a pain in my jaw and it was almost dislocated.
I gritted my teeth to stifle a cry of pain and glared at him.
He pinched my chin and said lazily, "Since there's nothing wrong with you, don't lie there like a dead person all day. It's really unlucky to look at you."
I shook his hand off without saying a word.
"Get up, follow me out to do something." He smiled and said, "Maybe after this is done, you can be more lively like before."
He called the eunuchs and palace maids, stuffed me into a half-new eunuch uniform, and pushed me out of the room.
I stood in front of the temple, frowning in confusion, and asked him, "What do you want to do?"
He turned over and mounted a sturdy Wusun horse, looked down at me and said, "Get on."
I took a step back with great caution.
He was very patient and just reached out and grabbed me onto the horse like a chicken. However, he didn't put me in the correct riding position, but just casually put me on the horse's back. Before I could react, he pulled the reins and rode away.
I was lying face down on the horse's back like a rag, completely dazed.
Li Siyan's voice came from above: "Hold on tight, don't fall and become paralyzed."
“Wait… wait… ah!”
The horse galloped and my screams echoed in the night sky of Chang'an.
──I even made a miserable trembling sound because the saddle kept hitting my soft belly.
Li Siyan showed no mercy to the woman and shouted loudly: "Go!"
This was a good horse, running at lightning speed. I was hung on the horse's back in a humiliating posture, being thrown up and down, which made my stomach churn. I accidentally hit my right cheek on Li Siyan's saddle, and the night wind blew, and the entire right half of my face lost consciousness.
──I have lived for fifteen years and have never been treated so rudely. I was so angry that I opened my mouth to curse, but it turned into a dry heave.
The ground in front of him was moving rapidly, first the blue brick ground in the palace, then the mud ground outside the palace. Chang'an had a strict curfew and there was no one outside the streets. Li Siyan galloped on his horse on Tian Street and finally stopped in front of a government office.
I raised my eyes with all my strength, and my gaze fell vaguely on the plaque on the door, which had three large characters written on it: Censorate.
He let go of my hand, and I immediately slipped off the horse. My legs were weak and I couldn't stand steadily. I fell directly to the ground and vomited with a "wow".
I haven't had a drop of water today. I wanted to vomit but nothing came out. I could only vomit bile. The bile was bitter and not only made me feel nauseous, but also burned my throat.
Damn dog emperor!
I gasped for breath and stared at Li Siyan with great hatred.
He was also looking at me, as if he was enjoying my embarrassment. Seeing me glaring at him, he didn't get angry. Instead, he narrowed his fox eyes and said with a leisurely smile, "Are you sober now?"
I cursed hoarsely, "You..."
I was halfway through my words when I felt another wave of overwhelming discomfort. I covered my mouth and began to dry heave in pain.
Li Siyan said calmly, "Just spit it out slowly. I have plenty of time."
Spit slowly? I want to spray the acid in his face!
"What's wrong with you, Li Siyan?" I struggled to squeeze out each word: "I didn't do anything wrong... Why do you... humiliate me like this!"
Li Siyan was surprised and said, "You want to reason with me? Do I need to find a reason to punish you?"
I was almost fainted from anger, my face pale as I pointed at him and said, "You..."
He raised his fox-like eyes, which were rimmed with dark circles, and said lazily, "Although I have time, I am not in the mood to wait for you all night. If you can't finish vomiting in one cup of tea, don't go home to take care of the housework tomorrow."
He paused halfway through his speech and said maliciously, "I don't think it's interesting to go back. There aren't many people left in your family anyway. Why don't you beg me and I'll send some incense and candles to your house..."
Before he could finish his words, I raised my head suddenly, rushed forward, and spat on his robe with precise and neat movements.
The robe was made of the finest jacquard satin. A weaver in Luoyang would take a whole year to weave ten feet of it. Now, I spat a mouthful of unknown liquid on it and it was completely ruined.
Li Siyan's face turned pale with rage. He attacked me like lightning, strangled my neck and pushed me to the ground. I didn't give in, bared my fangs and bit his arm viciously.
A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated. Fuck you, you dog emperor! I’ll bite you to death!
Li Siyan hissed, and I thought he would press my head to the ground and bang it a few times to vent his anger, but unexpectedly, he didn't do anything to me. Instead, he just loosened his grip and let me go.
I rolled to my feet, stepped back several feet, and stared at him vigilantly.
He looked down at the bloody teeth marks on his arm and waved at me, "Come here."
I didn't move.
His reaction was a little too calm, too calm to be normal. He looked like he would laugh and twist my head off and use it as a football.
"Come here, or you'll lose your aunt's life." He said with a smile.
Shit, he threatened me.
I used my stubborn brain to think over things over and over again, and finally closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and walked forward.
There aren't many things in this world that would make me risk having my head twisted off, and my aunt's life happens to be one of them.
I showed an expression of ready to be killed, and Li Siyan smiled: "Oh, you still know how to be afraid."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I'm strangling you to prevent you from biting your tongue and committing suicide," he patted my chubby face. "I still want to keep you for fun, how could I just chop you off so easily?"
I kept silent, thinking you might as well kill me.
He casually wiped his bleeding arm, pointed at the Censorate and motioned me to go in.
I endured the severe dizziness and moved forward with difficulty, but Li Siyan had no patience. He lifted my collar with one hand and threw me into the threshold.
"Hurry up." He said, "I don't have much time. If I dawdle any longer, I don't know what I will do to your brother."
Threats and threats again!
I gritted my teeth and quickened my pace angrily. I accidentally bumped into a pillar and the wound on my forehead began to bleed again.
Li Siyan ignored it and said calmly, "Turn left, cross this courtyard, and go to the Censorate Prison, the torture chamber."
"The Imperial Censorate Prison?"
I immediately understood why he brought me here. I turned around and grabbed Li Siyan's sleeve. "Who...who are you taking me to see? You locked up my friend?"
"Let go." He raised an eyebrow.
As I stared in horror, Li Siyan waved his hand to signal the jailer to make way, and said to me with a faint smile, "I hate your arrogant and unyielding look the most. Now your expression is a little ugly, but it is much more pleasing to the eye."
"But you guessed right," he said, "If I remember correctly, this person does have some connection with you."
When I heard the definitive answer, I felt the blood run cold. I ignored the dizziness and stumbled down the stairs of the prison.
The jailer tried to stop me, but Li Siyan's voice drifted from behind: "Don't stop me. It's a rare opportunity for her to come to the Censorate. Let her wander around."
I was extremely anxious and ran wildly on the wet ground of the prison. Suddenly, my feet slipped and I fell to the ground. I rubbed my knees, stood up shakily, and rushed to the deepest part of the prison regardless of anything.
The files had written that the lower level of the prison was a place for interrogation and torture, and anyone who entered would be in great danger, with only one or two out of ten being spared.
The underground space was extremely cold, with small animals such as snakes, insects, rats and ants running all over the ground. I suppressed my nausea and found the execution room with the help of my vague memory. With trembling hands, I pulled the iron door.
The two jailers guarding the door were dozing off when they saw a little girl rushing in from nowhere. They rubbed their eyes in disbelief. When they saw me approaching and about to open the door to the torture chamber, they quickly stopped me and said, "What are you doing! This is the Censorate Prison!"
"Nonsense! Can't I read?" I yelled, "Open the door!"
"you……"
"Let her in." The lazy voice came again.
Li Siyan walked towards me confidently as his footsteps approached from afar. The saliva I spat on the corner of his robe was particularly eye-catching, but he looked calm, as if he didn't care about this little bit of dirt.
Yes, he grew up in the imperial palace and had seen dirtier things than this.
He ordered the jailer, "Light the fire and let her see clearly."
The jailer was confused, but since the emperor had spoken, he let me in respectfully and lit the fire in the wall.
I pushed the door open with force, and the strong smell of blood hit me in the face, making my heart skip a beat.
This is a typical torture chamber, cold and damp, with countless old iron tools hanging on the walls, emitting a bright luster under the firelight.
My throat was churning and I felt like vomiting again, but I tried my best to hold it back. I looked up and saw a middle-aged man tied up with iron chains in the room. His clothes were torn and his body was covered with bruises. His head was hanging low and his hair was messy.
I cried out, "Mr. Guo!"
Li Siyan smiled behind me and said, "It seems you really recognize him."
Of course I recognized him. His name was Guo Xin. He was a Huangmen Lang in the previous emperor's dynasty. He was loyal and upright, and full of knowledge. He was a classmate of my father in the Imperial College. My father asked him to teach me calligraphy for two years, so I called him Mr. Guo.
Li Siyan closed the door of the torture chamber and locked it skillfully.
There were only three of us left in the room.
My hair stood on end, and I stood in front of the middle-aged man like a hunched cat, shouting in shock and anger, "What do you want to do to Mr. Guo?"
"Nothing." Li Siyan took off a long whip and smiled maliciously at me. "I just brought you out for some fun."
"How could you attack Mr. Guo!" I panicked and, like a hen protecting her chicks, I stopped the middle-aged man behind me. "...Back then, you weren't favored by the late emperor, and Mr. Guo couldn't bear it, so he secretly helped you many times. It's fine if you don't remember his kindness, but how could you...how could you..."
Li Siyan paused his grip on the whip and taunted, "Chen Ying, your playful talk of justice and morality might be something my good brother might listen to, but I won't."
His expression turned cold, and he looked at me and said, "After the palace confinement incident, Guo Xin took advantage of the chaos to leave the palace and inform on the matter, helping the deposed Crown Prince's two sons escape the imperial capital. Accompanied by the deposed Crown Prince's retainers and assassins, this is a grave crime of collusion between insiders and outsiders. I, out of gratitude for his past kindness, spared his execution on the spot and promised him that if he would reveal the whereabouts of my two good nephews, I would spare his life and reinstate him. Isn't that merciful enough?"
I said in disbelief, "You...the two little princes are only a handful of years old, why are you not even sparing children?"
Li Siyan asked curiously, "Aren't you a historian? You should know better than me how the plot to usurp the throne will end."
I was speechless for a moment.
Yes, the struggle for imperial power has always been about eradicating the roots, but even so, I cannot accept the idea of wielding a knife towards two young children.
"Is it... Yingying?"
When I was in a daze, a weak voice suddenly came from behind me.
I immediately shifted my attention, turned around hastily, grabbed Guo Xin's hand, and said, "Mr. Guo, it's me. What did they do to you?"
Guo Xin sighed weakly, "Don't ask. He's just an old man. If he wants to tear it apart, then let him do it."
"Yingying?"
Li Siyan repeated the way Guo Xin addressed me: "What's your nickname?"
Mr. Guo and I had no time to bother with him.
Guo Xin coughed and said, "Your Majesty, since you have already gotten what you wished for, why bother to kill them all... Whether it's the two little grandsons or Yingying, they are both pitiful people who have nothing to do with this turmoil. Your Majesty... why are you so unwilling to let them go... cough cough!"
He was too weak to utter complete sentences.
Li Siyan said calmly, "The deposed Crown Prince spared my life out of a moment of kindness. But it was this same womanly kindness that led to him being beheaded by my despicable and shameless brother. Guo Qing, do you think I will repeat his mistakes?"
His expression gradually grew colder. "I'm different from him. He's been raised high and mighty, pampered to the core, so he's naturally soft-hearted and pedantic. But I have no choice but to rob what I want—and if I do, I must persevere and eradicate it completely."
What a fight to the death.
This was the first time I faced Li Siyan’s distorted values. I was really shocked. I felt extremely indignant, but also a little confused. What kind of environment could produce such an indifferent, cruel, and unscrupulous person?
I said sternly, "You must know that power over the world does not come from military force. Those who are righteous will have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous will have few. You act so tyrannically and ruthlessly. Even if you gain power, there will be resentment and rebellion. It will not last long."
"That's not your concern." He probably found my righteous and reasonable manner amusing. The cold light in his eyes disappeared, and he said condescendingly with interest, "Okay, shut up and wash off this sour Confucian smell of yours. It's giving me a headache."
I was furious: "You..."
Guo Xin said softly, "Yingying, don't be willful. This matter has nothing to do with you. Get out."
"Mr. Guo, he wants to kill you!" I panicked: "I couldn't protect my father, so I can't protect you too!"
Li Siyan sneered, "...What are you going to use to protect him? That little mouth of yours?"
I was pissed off again. I suppressed my anger, calmed myself down, stood up, walked up to him and said, "If you let Mr. Guo go, I'll... I'll tell you a secret of the late Crown Prince!"
Li Siyan said "oh", narrowed his fox eyes slightly, and looked me up and down several times.
I was afraid he wouldn't believe me, so I said sternly, "My family has been historians for generations, and our family precepts forbid falsehood. I won't lie to you."
He looked unconvinced, but still said lazily, "What a great secret it is, worth exchanging for Guo Xin's freedom. Whether it's true or not, tell me about it."
I said cautiously, "...If you don't let Mr. Guo go, I won't tell you."
Li Siyan smiled and said, "Very good, then don't say anything."
I saw a sinister cold light flashing in his eyes, and he raised the whip with a smile on his face, and whipped Guo Xin while I screamed in panic.
The long whip scratched across his flesh, making a crisp sound. Guo Xin groaned in pain, leaving a bloody whip mark on his ribs.
I stood there blankly, shaking uncontrollably all over.
Seeing him raise his hand again, I came back to my senses with a start. I rushed over, grabbed his whip, and shouted, "The two young princes who ran away are not the prince's sons. He adopted them from the second prince's mansion!"
"Yingying!" Guo Xin interrupted me in shock and anger.
Li Siyan looked at me in surprise, frowning his long eyebrows, and looked at me as if he was examining a cunning criminal.
"Speak clearly," he put the whip back to its place, took out a huge stick with iron nails, and said softly, "You'd better not lie. Guo Xin is weak and can't bear such a punishment."
I decided to go all out. I steeled my resolve and confessed, "This matter is a secret, and very few people know about it. The late Emperor feared that something might change in the future, so he had my father secretly record it. I... I wasn't supposed to know, but I once peeked at my father's notes..."
Got a sneak peek...some juicy royal gossip.
For example, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince may appear to be in his prime, as graceful and elegant as jade, but actually… actually, the things underneath are just as good-looking as jade, but useless…
I looked at Guo Xin out of the corner of my eye guiltily.
Mr. Guo was gasping for breath like a broken bellows, his face was pale and his eyes were dim, but he didn't scold me. I thought dejectedly that he was probably so angry with me that he became speechless.
I closed my eyes and said with a guilty conscience, "It was wrong of me to peek at Father's notes, but...but the Crown Prince and the Second Prince are both dead. This secret isn't a big deal anymore, right?"
"And Mr. Guo, whether you tell him or not, he's the emperor. He'll find those two children sooner or later. If he knew they weren't the Crown Prince's biological children, maybe... maybe he'd let them go."
Guo Xin hissed, "Shut up! You're so naughty at such a young age, and you don't even realize you've caused such a huge mess. You...ah..."
I stood at attention and took the scolding. I whispered to Li Siyan, "I'm telling you, can you release Mr. Guo and those two little princes?"
Li Siyan put down the iron rod.
"Where are the notes you mentioned?" he asked calmly.
"It's in the History Museum, in the secret compartment on the third bookshelf after the entrance. My father and the Prime Minister each have one key."
He turned his head silently, stretched out his bleeding arm, knocked on the prison door, and ordered an old eunuch who had appeared at some unknown time and was waiting outside, "Send someone to search Shen Zhen's body and call the Prime Minister."
Shen Zhen is my father's name.
My nails dug into my flesh, causing pain.
This matter was of great importance, and Li Siyan no longer had the mood to take care of me. He put down the torture stick and left in a hurry, leaving me alone in the torture room, with Guo Xin and I looking at each other in silence.
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