Chapter 51

 

Wei Yinniang rode in a green painted carriage on a road built along the imperial city wall, heading towards the imperial palace in the north of the city.

The city wall road was narrow and deserted, but some noisy sounds from the nearby market town faintly drifted into the ears over the towering walls. However, these sounds, filled with the bustle of daily life as if from another world, only made the area inside the wall even more eerie and isolated from the world.

At a glance, the straight and narrow road ahead seemed to be leading her to a door of the underworld.

Finally, she reached the end. Blindfolded, she passed through a side door between the city wall and the palace wall, quietly entering the palace, and after many twists and turns, she was finally sent into an unknown place.

Just a moment ago, she heard the melodious and crisp bird songs from the branches, and felt the warmth and gentleness of the early summer sun and breeze touching her skin. However, when she entered this place, she only heard the heavy sound of boots landing on the ground, and her whole body was filled with chill that penetrated the bones. She felt as if she was in a cellar, and her nose was filled with a foul smell that was like a mixture of tar and blood that had fermented for a long time, which made her want to vomit.

Someone took off her blindfold.

She slowly opened her eyes.

The surroundings were dark, with only fire sticks lighting up the corners. The person who took off the blindfold seemed to be one with her surroundings, with only a few flickering lights in his cold eyes. After taking a deep look at her, he then turned around, bowed to the front, and then retreated.

Only then did Wei Yinniang see that right in front of her, there was a high chair that seemed to be set up temporarily. There was already a person sitting on the chair, with his face half hidden in the dim light. The gold embroidery on his robe reflected the light of the fire stick, flickered faintly in the dark.

The man seemed to be looking at her and did not speak immediately.

A feeling of déjà vu came over her, as if she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn’t remember where. While she was stunned, she heard the person opposite her ask a question.

“You are Wei Yinniang, the daughter of Wei Minghui?”

The voice was also old, and the words were mild.

In an instant, Wei Yinniang realized that the person sitting on the seat was the former Prince Ding whom she occasionally met when she was young and went in and out of the prince mansion.

She did not dare to look up again, and immediately bowed her head, knelt down, and kowtowed.

“The sinner, Wei Yinniang, the daughter of guilty minister, salute to Your Majesty.”

The emperor did not respond immediately. He just looked at her and nodded slowly.

“Zhen heard that Crown Prince had some contact with you over the years?”

When he spoke again, it was a sentence that made her guilty of a crime that was worthy of being beheaded, but his tone was like a casual conversation between elder and junior.

Wei Yinniang trembled for a moment, and kowtowed again, confessing her guilt: “It is all the fault of this sinner. The sinner seduced His Highness. His Highness is no to blame.”

“Sure enough, he’s a man of affection and righteousness.”

Wei Yinniang touched the ground with her forehead and heard the emperor in front of her say something softly, as if he was talking to himself.

From the first moment the emperor appeared before her, he was as kind as an elder. However, Wei Yinniang did not dare to move at all at this moment. She felt as if there was a thousand-pound stone pressing on the back of her head, almost suffocating her.

“The crown prince is not a good man, and Zhen know this matter has nothing to do with you. Don’t get involve with him anymore. If you want to get rid of the past and live a good life, or meet a good partner to entrust your life to, Zhen can let you get rid of your status as a slave.”

A moment later, the emperor’s gentle voice once again reached Wei Yinniang’s ears.

She knew clearly that the person sitting on the seat was the most noble person in the world, and it was impossible for him to show such a favor to someone as humble as her for no reason. However, she couldn’t control herself, and her eyes still turned red at this moment, and she thanked him in a low voice.

The emperor nodded slightly.

“Zhen summoned you here because Zhen has another question. On the night when the Jinwu Guards and Luwu Division searched Pingkang Lane, were there any outsiders staying at your house? Who were they?”

Wei Yinniang tried her best to calm down: “The sinner was inviting a painter to paint that night, and happened to meet Luwu Division searching for people.”

“Who is the painter? What is his relationship with you?”

“According to her own words, she was a painter serving the imperial court.”

“You are a famous courtesan, and the painter is not well-known in the capital. How did you recognize this court painter and invite him to paint for you?”

“Before that, the painter was painting for others in Ci’en Temple. It happened that the sinner saw it and liked it very much. After a lot of invitations, the sinner finally invited the painter to come to her home to paint.”

“Yeah?”

The emperor’s eyes swept across her face.

“You were not in the temple, so how did you see it? During the days when the painter was painting, there was no record of your name or the name of anyone from Jinfeng Tower in the merit book of Ci’en Temple.”

Wei Yinniang paused, “The sinner…”

“Unless you made a donation but deliberately refused to leave your name. But according to the monks in the temple, there were records of you coming to the temple to make donations last year, the year before, and for several years in a row. Tell Zhen, why have you always been like this, but suddenly refused to leave your name this time?”

Wei Yinniang’s face began to turn pale, she slowly lowered her head and remained silent.

The emperor waited for a moment and said, “Yinniang, when Zhen talking just now, not half a sentence asking about the matter between you and Li Yan. Zhen remember that you always been a smart child when you were young. You should know that Zhen has already considered our past friendship and don’t want to pursue you any further. This matter, Zhen personally met you to ask, how dare you not tell the truth?”

“The sinner really doesn’t know much about that painter…” Wei Yinniang bowed her head deeply to the ground. Her voice trembled slightly, but she still did not change her words.

At this point, the emperor’s patience seemed to be getting thin. He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice had turned cold: “Wei Yinniang, do you know that even if you don’t say it, Zhen has plenty of ways to make the painter speak out himself?”

“The sinner… the sinner knows nothing…” Wei Yinniang’s voice was choked with sobs.

“Zhen will ask you one last time, are you really not going to tell Zhen?”

Wei Yiniang did not move.

The emperor stopped talking and slowly stood up from his high chair.

“It seems that Zhen can’t get anything out of you.”

His voice was filled with fatigue and disappointment as he muttered. He then called out and Yuan Zhi walked in.

“Ask her in your own way! Ask until she opens her mouth.”

The emperor said this, and then he slowly walked out.

Two jailers stood on the left and right, and when they took one look at the girl who was still kneeling on the ground, their expressions were no different from those people who had seen some kind of livestock.

They were all veterans in charge of torture here. No matter if you were a prince, a general, or an unparalleled beauty, once you were sent here, you would become a piece of living meat waiting to be dealt with. They were already prepared and all looked at Yuan Zhi, who had just returned after seeing the emperor off. He only needed to give an order and the many torture instruments from the warehouse would be applied to this girl one by one.

Yuan Zhi walked back into the room and looked at Wei Yinniang lying on the ground.

Wei Yinniang was no longer in the posture with her forehead touching the ground as she had just when facing the emperor. Although she was still kneeling on the ground, she slowly straightened her body and looked at the person opposite her.

“Get out first, everyone withdraw.”

In this place, he was the supreme being who rules over everything.

The two jailers retreated without saying a word.

With a bang, the door was locked tightly, and only Wei Yinniang and Yuan Zhi were left in the room.

Yuan Zhi walked in front of her, slowly squatted down, looked at the face in front of him that was as fair as the spring moon, and said, “You should understand what His Majesty meant just now. Even His Majesty has personally asked about it. Now that things have come to this, I advise you to tell His Majesty whatever he wants to know. Otherwise, I’m afraid I can’t protect you.”

Wei Yinniang looked at the eunuch who was squatting very close to her, the one that was feared by many people in the capital, and making eye contact with him.

“My relationship with the crown prince, was it you who meddled with it and report it to His Majesty?” she suddenly asked.

“Yes.” Yuan Zhi replied.

“The madam of Jinfeng Tower has been spying on me for years. Even the crown prince has been kept in the dark. Did she do this at your behest?”

“Yes.” Yuan Zhi responded again.

With a “pa” sound, Wei Yinniang raised her hand and slapped him hard on the side of his face.

Yuan Zhi, caught off guard, had his head whipped to one side from the slap. When he turned back, he saw her collapse onto the ground from the force of the strike.

“His Majesty had completely forgotten me. I’m just a daughter of an old criminal minister, a whore in a music bureau. If you hadn’t planned this for a long time and done it on purpose, how could I have fallen into this desperate situation today?”

Yuan Zhi did not show any anger at all after being slapped by her. He just looked at her with a slight frown.

“Do you think since my affair with the crown prince has been exposed, and the crown prince can no longer possess me, and I have lost my backer, and my dealings with Li Yan have been exposed, then in order to save my life, I will throw myself into your arms and seek protection?”

She looked at Yuan Zhi, a sneer of contempt on her pretty face.

“Tell me, what were you going to do? You wanted me to fake my death and hide it from the emperor, so that I could hide my identity and become a bird in a cage you kept? You castrate man, you’ve already ruined everything for me, so why pretend to be some kind of savior in front of me? Just do whatever you want, do you think I’m afraid?”

Yuan Zhi’s eyelids twitched and his gaze slowly turned cold, but he still did not respond.

Wei Yinniang obviously hated this man to death, or perhaps truly resigned to her fate, leaned toward him with a cold sneer, continued to humiliate him: “Don’t you just want to sleep with me? What is there to hide? Many years ago, I was still a singing girl in the music bureau, the first time I met you, you looked at me as if you wanted to strip off my clothes. I knew you were attracted to me. Well, while there’s still some beauty left in me, if you’re able, take it. Right here is fine too. But let me tell you, no matter how powerful or feared you are outside, to me, you’re nothing but a castrate man! Not a real man!”

Yuan Zhi’s eyes seemed to be filled with undercurrents, and veins on his forehead were throbbing. He stood up from in front of Wei Yinniang, looked down at the woman on the ground who had her eyes closed.

He nodded slowly: “In that case, forgive me for my offense.”

“Come,” he called out. The two jailers then came back in.

“Torture.”

His eyes fell on Wei Yinniang’s slender and fair hands, and he said coldly.

In the evening, when the evening drum of the six streets sounded, Yuan Zhi once again entered Ziyun Palace. At this moment, Han Kerang had just come out. He was reprimanded by the emperor because he still hadn’t found the whereabouts of his subordinate Pei Xiaoyuan. Feeling dejected, Han Kerang pondered why the emperor was so anxious to summon this man and wondered where his usually reliable subordinate could have disappeared to. He met Yuan Zhi and saw that this person’s expression looked solemn. When stepping onto the steps, his eyes fixed to the ground, clearly preoccupied with his own thoughts. He didn’t even notice Han Kerang that had walked out of the palace gate, which was rare, so Han Kerang stopped. At this time, Yuan Zhi saw him. Since the two men had little interaction in the past, they simply nodded to each other and continued on their separate ways.

Yuan Zhi walked to the palace gate, turned his head, took another look at Han Kerang who was leaving in a hurry, then collected his thoughts and went inside to ask for an audience.

The emperor was sitting in the outer hall, putting on his robe and reading memorials. When he saw him coming, he stopped writing, looked up and asked, “Is she willing to speak?”

Yuan Zhi knelt down and kowtowed on the spot: “This servant useless. Heavy tortures had already been imposed, but still has not been able to get a single word out of her. The courtesan couldn’t bear it anymore and fainted. Afraid that Your Majesty is waiting for progress, so this servant suspended the torture and report to Your Majesty first.”

The emperor was silent for a moment, then asked: “What do you think about this matter?”

Yuan Zhi hesitated and said, “Since Your Majesty has asked, this servant will speak up. This woman may look weak, but she possesses an exceptionally strong will. We have already applied the finger presses, it’s an excruciating torture as the fingers are connected directly to the heart. Not to mention women, even most men would struggle to withstand it without giving in. In this servant’s opinion, she seems to be desperate for death. Even if we were to increase the punishment tenfold, afraid it will be useless.”

The emperor looked up coldly, “So that’s how it is. But have you forgotten? What did Zhen tell you before Zhen left?”

Yuan Zhi hurriedly kowtowed again: “How dare this servant forget what Your Majesty said. This servant just thinks that if this girl is still alive, she may be of some use for Li Yan’s affairs in the future.”

The emperor nodded, “Indeed. However, Zhen remember that you didn’t say that before. Before, you were the one who advocated execution, yet today, why you’re also the one that want Zhen to spare her life?”

Yuan Zhi paused suddenly.

“You have always been ruthless, which is one of the reasons why Zhen use you so much.”

The emperor put down his brush, with an expression of great interest on his face, “Why are you being so sympathetic to that woman today?”

A thin layer of sweat appeared on Yuan Zhi’s forehead. After a moment, he gritted his teeth and kowtowed heavily: “This servant is so stupid to even thought of hiding something from Your Majesty. This servant did have selfish motives in this matter, and he deserves death!”

“Speak!” said the emperor coldly.

“Many years ago, this servant was just a minor official in the Construction Office. This servant went to an official banquet with others and met this girl by chance. She was a popular singing girl in Chang’an at that time. When she finished her song, her voice moved the whole audience. At that time, this servant…”

He paused, unable to continue speaking. He was so ashamed that he kept kowtowing, sweating profusely.

The emperor looked at him for a long while, then said calmly, “Zhen thought it was something more, but it’s merely this. A man lives in this world, indulging in drink, women, wealth, or power—he must partake in at least one, or else, what’s the point of holding boundless power? It’s just a woman. If you fancy her, once Li Yan is dealt with, you can take her back yourself!”

Yuan Zhi was stunned. He had not expected that the emperor would just brush the matter off so lightly. When he came to his senses, his heart was still pounding with fear. He calmed himself and kowtowed again and again to express his gratitude.

The emperor waved his hands and said, “Go and call someone else for me.”

When it was dark, Pei Xiaoyuan and Xuyu finally returned.

When they went out this morning, he brought the divine horse, Jinwuzhui. During the day, he let her ride the horse and rode around the West Mountain for half a day. Eventually, hunger struck, and after some searching, they finally found a mountain temple. Knocking on the door, they requested a simple meal. The two of them called each other brothers and went into the temple to have a vegetarian meal. Although it was only gluten, taro sprouts, radish, and turnips, it was quite delicious and tasted very sweet. After the meal, they left payment for the meal. Seeing that the sun was setting in the west, he asked tentatively. She was silent, so he took her on the way home. Finally, at this moment, they arrived in Chang’an before the city gates closed.

He took her straight back to Yongning Mansion, and just like he had done a few days ago, he stayed with her all the way to the gate of the courtyard.

Xuyu stopped and said, “Thank you so much for today. You must have other things to do after being out for a day, so don’t worry about me. Go on!”

Pei Xiaoyuan saw that her expression had indeed calmed down. Although he knew that she must still be hurt, this kind of thing could only be slowly diluted with time, and it couldn’t be rushed.

He nodded: “You are tired too, go to bed early tonight.”

He called the Hu woman to help her go to bed. As he watched her walk in, he remembered that Qingtou, who was usually the most active, had not shown up yet, so he asked casually.

He had been in the north for many years and had learned the Hu language a long time ago. He heard the Hu woman say that Qingtou had gone out to buy stuffs in the market this afternoon, and as the gate lane was about to close, he should be back soon. So he didn’t care and walked out.

He hadn’t expected to be out the entire day. Thinking that something might happen at the government office, he hurried out. When he was about to ride over, he suddenly saw the palace eunuch Yang Zai’en coming out from behind a horse post at the door. He smiled and said respectfully, “His Majesty has ordered this servant to invite Chief Pei to the palace. He has something to ask you.”

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