Chapter 120

 

At dusk, the sun was as red as blood in the wilderness outside the city. On the side of wild forest stream, Chengping sat casually on a large rock with a grassy ground. Not far behind him, in the forest, there was a sound of a whip hitting human flesh. Along with the painful cry for mercy, Shiduo’s scolding also drifted out faintly with the wind.

“Do you think my orders are just empty words? Didn’t I warned you before that you can rob people if you want, but you’re not allowed to rape, or kill people at will?”

He stared at his men on the ground with a ferocious look, and swung his whip again, slammed it into the man’s face. Blood splatted everywhere with the whip. The man screamed again and rolled on the ground with his head in his hands.

Last night, this man led a group outside the city to raid a carriage that had hurriedly left before nightfall and had been traveling through the night. The owner of the carriage was a distant relative of the Wei family. Though they had narrowly escaped being implicated in recent events, the head of the household was still in a constant state of fear. Unable to bear the anxiety, he gathered his valuables and took his family, hoping to flee Chang’an. However, at the city gates, they were spotted by Shiduo’s men. Having been restricted by the authorities for some time, they hadn’t had the chance to engage in such activities, and their hands were itching for action. Knowing that this family was fair game, they followed them out and, with practiced ease, made their move.

“Hasn’t it always been this way? Why should it be different now? Besides, when the time comes and we succeed, we’ll sack Chang’an for three whole days and nights! What’s the harm in taking a woman now, in killing a few people…”

Another subordinate who was kneeling beside him finally mustered up the courage and spoke in a low voice.

Chengping looked ahead with indifferent eyes, raised the wine jar in his hand and took a sip.

Shiduo looked back at the figure beside the embankment and turned away.

“The past is the past, and the future is the future! Now, we must do whatever the young master tells us to do!”

He drew his sword, stepped forward and grabbed the man’s ear. With a sharp sound, a blood-stained ear that seemed to be still throbbing fell to the ground.

“Considering this is your first offense, this is merely a small punishment! Young Master’s grand plan is at a critical moment, and no accidents can happen! If you can’t control your hands or what’s between your legs, I will take care of it for you!”

Shiduo’s eyes, embedded in a face twisted with whip scars, were as fierce as a beast’s. He swept his gaze over the people around him, sending a chill down their spines. Even the subordinate who had just had an ear cut off didn’t dare to tend to his wound—he struggled to his knees, pressing his forehead to the ground in remorse.

Shiduo walked out of the woods and knelt down towards the figure.

“It’s my fault for not disciplining them properly. Please forgive me, Young Master!”

His eyes were no longer as fierce as they were a moment ago. In addition to fear, there was also a hint of confusion.

For them, it was natural to kill people indiscriminately after robbing money or to assault before killing people when they were in a good mood. Since they came to the world and could understand the first words, they were taught that if they won the fight, they could kill the men of other tribes, steal their cattle and sheep, and make their women to bear children for themselves. If they lost the fight, others would kill them and steal their cattle and sheep, and their mothers, daughters and sisters could only bear children for others.

Moreover, compared with the common massacre of the captured city during wartime, what happened last night was simply insignificant. The people robbed were related to the Wei family case, and the matter was handled very cleanly afterwards. There would be no problems at all.

However, this time, for some reason, it touched the young master’s reverse scale. When he found out, he was furious. This was truly an unexpected surprise for Shiduo.

Could this be the consequence of the young master getting too close to some people from the Holy Dynasty who were so particular about etiquette and rules, which in his eyes were almost pedantic? He couldn’t help but speculate in his heart.

Chengping acted as if he hadn’t heard it. He just turned his head and looked at the yellow dusty road leading to Chang’an under the sunset, frowning slightly.

“Why hasn’t the person arrived yet? Have you delivered the message?”

Shiduo immediately stood up and looked around.

“It was indeed delivered, and I told him to come,” he replied.

Chang’an had yet to lift the strict curfew that was implemented due to the series of earth-shaking changes that occurred before. Recently, another shocking rumor had gradually spread among the officials in the Southern Court of the imperial palace.

That day in the Forbidden Garden, it was actually prince consort who seized the opportunity to kill Prince Kang. His purpose was to pin the crime on the crown prince, forcing the crown prince’s faction into a desperate situation, compelling them to act rashly and fall into a trap—thus overthrowing the Liu family and avenging his father. Though he successfully deceived everyone and achieved his goal, no secret remains hidden forever. His actions did not escape the emperor’s insight.

On the morning when the emperor woke up, after the court officials had withdrawn, he summoned prince consort alone to confront him about the matter. It was said that prince consort could not deny it at that time, so he confessed everything. Furious, the emperor drew his sword to kill him, and the commotion even reached the doors outside the hall—those passing by with keen ears could catch faint traces of the disturbance. In the end, due to the princess’s intervention, the emperor refrained from taking his life and tolerated him for the time being, but it was certain that he would not escape punishment.

After that day, the princess went to the palace and stayed with the emperor. In addition to taking care of him, she also conveyed various orders between the emperor and the officials. She never went back, leaving prince consort under house arrest in Yongning Mansion. The mansion looked the same as usual from the outside, but in fact, there were secret guards at the corners of the four gates and in the dark alleys around, day and night, and traffic in and out of the mansion was strictly prohibited.

Although the emperor had always valued the prince consort, but after such a thing happened, who could really tolerate a son-in-law who killed his own son? Moreover, he was the emperor.

In the end, no one among the ministers could predict how he would deal with prince consort, whether he would choose another man for the princess or let the matter go. It was only known that Cui Daosi entered the palace to plead for justice on behalf of his nephew, but he never even got to see the emperor. He knelt outside the palace from morning to night, only to be carried away by Zhao Zhongfang’s men. He was then demoted three levels, stripped of his official duties, and reduced from a high-ranking third-rank official to a mere sixth-rank proofreader at the Hongwen Academy. His fall from grace became the subject of ridicule among those who had never been get along with him. They mocked him, saying that thanks to his nephew’s “blessing,” he had now fulfilled the three great dreams of scholars of this era: passing the imperial examination, marrying a woman from the Five Surnames, and, now, compiling the national history.

Shiduo knew that the young master had been secretly running around for many days for this matter, asking acquaintances everywhere to see Pei Xiaoyuan, but to no avail. He even sent letter to the palace to ask to see the princess, but it also fell on deaf ears—many people had already spread rumors that the princess was also very disappointed with her husband and did not care.

This time, prince consort’s actions were too horrific. In the final analysis, he was not only responsible for the death of an imperial prince, but also for deposing the Crown Prince. The emperor lost two sons in a row because of him, cutting off his lineage. How could he be pardoned so easily?

Just yesterday, Shiduo was ordered to secretly search for Chen Shao.

The reason why this person surfaced was because the young master had sent someone to the Eastern Capital a few days ago to tell Pei Ji about the matter and seek a solution. Pei Ji was shocked and had no good plan for the time being, but He Jin, who had already returned to the Eastern Capital, secretly passed on this name, which led to today’s meeting.

“Someone’s coming!”

The sun set below the horizon and the sky suddenly turned dark. Shiduo suddenly shouted softly, jumped down from a high place, and went up to check.

Soon, he brought a man over and bowed, saying, “Young Master, the person is here.”

“Even if the Prince hadn’t come looking for me, I would have come to find you. On the orders of Master Pei, I have something important to tell you.”

Chen Shao bowed and spoke respectfully.

—

Late at night, by the waters of the same marshland, Chengping sat alone beneath the moon.

It was the Eleventh Month, and the night wind brought a bone-chilling chill. Outside Chang’an, the moon seemed larger than within the city, its cold, frost-like light pouring down, covering the vast wilderness in a pale sheen. The third watch bell from a wild temple hidden in a corner of a nearby mountain rang. After a while, accompanied by the faint sound of footsteps, someone finally emerged from the forest, stepping through the tangled wild grass.

“You want to see me?”

The moonlight reflected a pale man’s face with straight sword marks on it. He looked at the back of the person in front of him and spoke.

Chengping tilted his head back, took a last gulp of wine, waved his arm, and threw the empty jug far away.

“Your Highness has been here for a long time. Is it fun to hide in the forest?” He said coldly without turning his head.

The person who came was Li Yan. He naturally heard the irony in Chengping’s words, mocking him for being too cautious, but he didn’t care and just smiled indifferently.

Chengping turned around, looked at him in the moonlight, and nodded.

“It seems you have another powerful protector in Chang’an, hiding this well. Sitting comfortably like a fisherman, and reaping quite the harvest.”

“Why did you suddenly look for me?” Li Yan didn’t waste a single extra word, only responding with a question of his own.

“Pei Er was assassinated before his marriage. Was it you who did it?”

Li Yan was silent for a moment, then nodded: “Yes. He has no hope of being of any use for me. If he is alive, it will only give me another formidable rival. Even if I don’t want to, I have no choice but to do it.”

A glint of moonlight, like shattered ice, flickered briefly in Chengping’s dark eyes before vanishing. He leapt lightly down from the rock.

“At least you had the sense not to touch Lord Pei. Otherwise, you two would turn into mortal enemies and wouldn’t have this luck.”

“Lord Pei is renowned, upright, and benevolent. He poses no harm to me—why would I—”

He suddenly seemed to understand something, his eyes flickered slightly. He stopped and looked at Chengping.

“What do you mean by that?”

Chengping walked up to him under the moonlight.

“Your luck has come,” he said.

“You should know that Pei Er was placed under house arrest by the emperor, right?”

Li Yan nodded slightly. “It is said that he was the one who killed Prince Kang in the Forbidden Garden?”

“Do you believe it?”

Li Yan’s eyes flickered and he fell silent.

“Let me tell you, I was the one who actually killed the person. The emperor must have been suspicious of me and summoned him for questioning. In order to cover up for me, he confessed this crime in front of the emperor.”

There was an expression of shock on Li Yan’s face that was difficult to conceal.

He looked at Chengping for a long time, then slowly said, “I envy you for having such a friend who is willing to protect you with his life. And this friend is Pei Er no less.”

Chengping chuckled. “I’ve been telling him for years to think more for himself. If he had listened to me earlier, I would have had no need for anything else—I would have served him instead, helped him conquer Chang’an. And it would never have been your turn.”

Li Yan tugged at the corner of his lips in a faint smirk, “Why did you call me here tonight? We agreed before—unless it was an urgent matter, we would not meet in Chang’an.”

He looked around with a bit of caution. In the wilderness, besides the sound of the wind, there were a few intermittent, sometime long sometime short, strange cries of night owls that made people’s backs shiver.

“He has been placed under house arrest. Fortunately, his people found a way to help him pass the message to me.”

“He has changed his mind and is willing to discuss with you what you mentioned before.” Chengping said this word by word.

Perhaps he didn’t want the person opposite him to have the chance to see what he was thinking through his expression, so Li Yan turned his head away and looked in the direction of Chang’an. After a while, he slowly turned back.

“Can I believe it?” He just asked this question and nothing else.

“You only know one thing, but not the other.” Chengping said calmly.

“Wei Juren is on the run, you should know that, right?”

Li Yan looked at him.

“Wei Juren actually fell into Pei Er’s hands. In order to save his life, he confessed everything. Pei Er already know the cause and effect of the Battle of Beiyuan. It was the current Emperor himself who gave the order. Liu Ceye and Feng Zhenping were just executioners who followed his commands. The emperor was the real culprit. He married the princess to him just to cover up the past and try to win him over.

“But what kind of man is he? It’s a blood feud—one should not live under the same heaven with the other! His original purpose in coming to the capital was to find out the truth about the Battle of Beiyuan. It would have been fine if he didn’t know, but now that the truth is out, how could he just let it go?

“He sent his confidant to tell me that Your Highness had told him before that the emperor was the culprit, but he didn’t believe you at that time. Now he knows you are right. He wants revenge, but he refuses to bear the name of a traitor. First, he doesn’t want to disobey his uncle Pei Ji. Second, if he were to personally lead a rebellion, it would tarnish the Pei family’s legacy of loyalty and righteousness—something he absolutely cannot do. But now that the deposed Crown Prince and Prince Kang are both dead, Your Highness is the legitimate descendant of Crown Prince Jingsheng and the Imperial Grandson of the old emperor. The current Empress Dowager is Your Highness’s great-grandmother. In terms of rightful succession, no one is more legitimate than you. If Your Highness were to rise, neither his name nor the Pei family’s reputation would suffer. So he asked me to find Wei Yinniang, saying that the woman should know where you are. He asked her to pass along a message—once he finds a way to get out, he is willing to meet with Your Highness to discuss the grand plan again.”

Chengping glanced at Li Yan opposite him.

“I don’t need to look for Wei Yinniang. I’ll just call you here. What do you think? Calling you here to meet me for this matter is not considered disturbing Your Highness, right?”

Various expressions intertwined on Li Yan’s face in an instant: ecstasy, surprise, and suspicion.

He lowered his head and did not speak for a long time. Seeing Chengping staring at him, he finally said hesitantly: “If he is truly willing to serve me, then even if he demands that I kneel and apologize for the assassination, I would not refuse. However…”

Chengping understood, sneered sarcastically, and stepped back a few steps.

“Forget it! Just pretend I never called you here! I’ve never seen anyone who hopes to achieve great things yet so timid! Even if one plans flawlessly, what use is it? Go ask the heavens if they are willing to grant you success!”

“I, Ashina, am no coward who clings to life out of fear of death. Originally, this life has always belonged to my people and my land. Since Pei Er is willing to take the blame for me, how can I disregard loyalty and honor? I will go back and confess my crime—end it all once and for all!”

He turned around and walked away.

“Stop!” Li Yan immediately spoke out to stop him.

“This is a serious matter. Let me think about it. I will give you an answer tomorrow.”

Chengping knew that he was going to verify the credibility of those words, so he twisted his lips and turned away.

Li Yan stopped and pondered for a moment, then called out his followers hiding in the dark, whispered a few words to them, and the group disappeared into the night.

Late at night the next day, at the same place, Li Yan’s man Li Meng showed up on time in his place.

He was once a fierce and valiant general under the former Crown Prince Jingsheng and a member of the imperial clan. Back then, it was he who escorted Li Yan and led his men out to meet General Shenhu. Failing to make contact and learning of the upheaval in Chang’an, he then protected Li Yan in his flight and has remained loyal to him ever since.

Li Meng said that Li Yan was willing to meet Master Pei Er, but not now.

“The matters in Chang’an are more or less settled. His Highness will be leaving for another place to continue his planning. Besides, it will be more beneficial for Master Pei Er to meet outside. After all, there are eyes everywhere in Chang’an.

“Also, His Highness asked me to ask about the progress of the Prince’s marriage. Now that you have been cleared of suspicion, I hear that things between the Prince and County Princess Lu have been settled as well. Given how the rumors had been spreading wildly before, if a marriage decree can be secured, the Prince could escort County Princess out of the capital and return to Beiting. Arranging a meeting along the way to discuss important matters would be the most suitable course.”

Chengping suddenly raised his eyes and smiled coldly.

“Why, for this meeting, His Highness still need to take a noble lady as a hostage in order to feel at ease?”

“His Highness is different from the Prince. He has experienced many ups and downs over the years and has survived many life-threatening situations. It is always a good idea to think more about everything.”

Li Meng’s tone was quite respectful, but he did not give in at all.

“Besides, isn’t it the purpose of the Prince’s trip to the capital to marry the princess of the Holy Dynasty and bring her back to Beiting to intimidate and control the surrounding tribes? In the past, the Jinzouyuan should have secretly bribed many officials for this matter. Why? Presumably they will all speak for the Prince.”

Chengping suppressed the sinister look in his eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, “I’ll try. But whether it succeeds or not depends on Heaven’s will!”

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