Chapter 13

 

Pei Xiaoyuan had never been back since he left Chang’an when he was a child. He might not know much about some of the new figures that have emerged in the capital in recent years, but he still knew a little about Supervisor Yuan Zhi.

In the current Palace Office, he was the head of the eunuchs.

In recent years, there have been no major events in the country. It was said that the emperor’s old injury from the war to suppress the rebellion had recurred, and the dragon’s body had been in poor health. He had become more focus on the pursuit of Taoism, and the court meetings had also changed from every two days at the beginning of Qiande to every three days, five days, and ten days, and now it was even rare to have one every half a month. The usual court affairs were consolidated by various departments and submitted to the Palace Office. After the emperor read it, he then used the Palace Office to issue the decision. Sometimes, officials who wish to see the emperor must relay their messages through Yuan Zhi. As a result, some brazen officials have even started calling him ‘Little Lord’ just like the eunuchs do, reflecting the extent of his influence.”

The origin of this man’s fortune was also quite legendary. It was rumored that he was engaged in the construction of the palace in his early years. Although he was smart and capable, he was always unknown. Later, his luck turned when the emperor wanted to build Ziyun Palace, a tranquil retreat for Taoism meditation. Despite widespread opposition in the court, he seized the opportunity and volunteered for the task. Not only did he complete the construction in a short time and build the Ziyun Palace beautifully, he also found ways to minimized costs and efficiently managed the budget, repurposing beams and pillars from abandoned old halls. In the end, the palace was completed, and all the expenses came from the inner treasury, without using a single copper coin from the Ministry of Revenue, silencing the ministers who had originally complained about this matter. As a result, he was able to gain favor with the emperor and quickly rise to prominence, becoming a “little lord” in the palace.

Pei Xiaoyuan really didn’t expect that this eunuch would suddenly come out of the palace and come here at this time.

“Eunuch Yuan is still waiting for Master Pei.”

Through the door, Pei Xiaoyuan could also hear that postmaster’s voice was trembling slightly, as if he was trying hard to suppress some great fear.

Pei Xiaoyuan suppressed the doubts in his mind, got off the bed, quickly got dressed, opened the door and walked out.

The postmaster was still standing at the door holding a candle. He looked as if he had run into an evil spirit. His face was pale and his forehead was covered with cold sweat. When he saw Pei Xiaoyuan opening the door, he looked pleading and actually knelt down and begged in a low voice: “Please, Master Pei, save me!”

Pei Xiaoyuan was just about to ask him to stand up and ask the reason, but the postmaster didn’t say anything as if afraid of being seen. He just kowtowed heavily to him, then quickly got up from the ground, lowered his head and led him forward without saying a word.

Pei Xiaoyuan was full of doubts. He also found that he was not walking the way he entered the posthouse at night, but leaving from the back door. Half a mile ahead, next to a forest, there were several palace guards holding fire sticks. The flickering light of the fire illuminated a man in the middle. He was wearing a brown palace robe and a black belt around his waist. He was about thirty years old, with thin cheeks, a high and straight nose, and a face as sharp as a knife. His eyes were illuminated by the several fire sticks nearby, and he looked very capable.

This person must be Yuan Zhi, the eunuch in charge of the Palace Office.

Pei Xiaoyuan walked closer and stopped.

Although Yuan Zhi had a special status, he was a eunuch belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not the superior of the officials in the inner court, so he did not perform the saluting. Instead, he just bowed as was customary when people met for the first time.

“I heard that Eunuch Yuan had arrived, but I couldn’t come out to personally greet. I hope you can forgive me for that.”

The other party took a quick look at Pei Xiaoyuan in the light of the surrounding fire sticks, smiled, and returned the greeting: “Are you Captain Pei? I have heard of your name for a long time, and I finally got to meet you today. You are indeed a son of a prestigious family, handsome and talented. You don’t have to be polite to me! You have come a long way and must be exhausted from the journey. I specifically told the people here to entertain you well if they receive you. But they treated you so lightly. It is my fault.”

The postmaster standing on the side was silent as a mouse. Regardless of the muddy ground, he knelt down and did not dare to utter a word in defense, like an animal waiting to be slaughtered.

Pei Xiaoyuan now understood why the postmaster had behaved so abnormally just now.

In a puddle not far away, there was a person lying on the ground. His lower body was stripped naked, and his buttocks and thighs had turned into a blurry mass of rotten flesh. It looked like he had just been tortured with a mace. The person was motionless and must have fainted. Blood was still flowing out of the rotten flesh on his body, staining the entire pit red.

Although most of the man’s face was soaked in muddy water, it was not difficult to identify him. He was the posthouse servant who had received Pei Xiaoyuan tonight. If he was not removed from the muddy water, he would soon drown in this sewage pit.

Pei Xiaoyuan walked to the side of the pit, leaned over, grabbed the back collar of the posthouse servant’s shirt with his five fingers, and with one lift, he pulled the whole person, who was as soft as mud, out of the pit and placed him on the ground beside him.

“They are just small servants, why bother with them? I appreciate Eunuch Yuan’s kindness.”

“Did you hear that? You can’t even guard the door properly. If it weren’t for Captain Pei’s face, what’s the point of keeping you here?”

Yuan Zhi glanced at the postmaster and said coldly.

The postmaster’s surname was Hu. He had been reminded early on that if he received news that Pei Xiaoyuan had arrived at the posthouse, he should send the news immediately.

Normally, people coming from the Ganliang directions would go through the Kaiyuan Gate in the west. Changle Posthouse was in the east, so it was unlikely that he would receive the person here. But since he had been given the order, the postmaster did not dare to neglect it. He had been keeping an eye on the matter secretly, but had never seen the person coming. Seeing that the time was up, he thought that the person had gone directly to the capital, or had gone through another gate, so he relaxed for a while. However, he never expected that the person would arrive tonight, and that he would go in his direction. It happened that the posthouse servant on duty tonight did not know the inside story, and when the postmaster saw the name on the registration list and hurried to make up for it, it was already too late.

Yuan Zhi was only in his early thirties, but he had already climbed to such a position. Even the grand chancellors of the dynasty did not dare to offend him too much. In addition to his shrewdness and ability to please the emperor, the postmaster had also heard that he was ruthless and almost perverted. When the current Emperor faced chaos in Chang’an in his early years, a daughter of his was lost. When he first ascended the throne, he made extensive efforts to find her, but her fate remained unknown, and the emperor gradually lost hope. However, two years ago, someone sent a young woman of similar age, claiming she was the lost princess, causing a great sensation in the city. After investigation, it was revealed to be a daring scam by a group of people attempting to gain fame and fortune. It was said that in the end, all the people involved, including the imposter princess, were boiled alive in a cauldron by him. For him, killing a few minor posthouse officials like them was just like stepping on a few ants.

The postmaster originally thought that none of them, including himself, would survive tonight, but when he heard these words, he realized that there was still a chance of survival. He kowtowed to Yuan Zhi, then crawled on the ground and turned half a circle, turned to Pei Xiaoyuan. After kowtowing, he raised his head and cast a look of gratitude before mustering his strength to stand up. Dragging his legs, which had gone as limp as cotton, he barely managed to get up, called a few people, and quickly had the unconscious servant carried away.

“Captain Pei, follow me now.”

Yuan Zhi said with a smile.

Someone led a horse in from the dark. Its body was pitch black, its fur was shiny, and in the firelight, it looked like it was covered in black satin. It had a small head and a long neck, a body like a dragon, and strong limbs. It was a rare majestic horse. Not only that, there was a red mark on its forehead.

The whole body was black, except for this red spot, which looked very eye-catching.

Seeing the majestic horse in front of him, Even Pei Xiaoyuan couldn’t help but take a few more looks. Suddenly, his attention was drawn to the mark on its forehead.

Somehow, at this moment, he inexplicably thought of Miss Ye again.

He Jin should have returned by now. He wondered how the search was going over there, and whether they have found her…

Yuan Zhi took a look and saw that his eyes were fixed on the horse. He smiled and signaled his men to bring the reins and whip.

“Three years ago, our dynasty won the war in Xifan. The ruler of the Western Region took the initiative to offer fine horses to celebrate. This horse was the most majestic among them. Because there was a red mark on the horse’s forehead, which looked like the sun, it was named Jinwuzhui golden black horse.”

Pei Xiaoyuan collected his thoughts, climbed onto the horse, and Yuan Zhi also climbed onto his mount. The group then disappeared into the pitch-black night.

The guard on duty at Tonghua Gate was waiting on the gate tower. When he saw a group of people approaching from afar, he waved his torch and the other side also responded, he immediately opened the city gate.

Several straight thoroughfares run through the city from east to west and from north to south.

At the wee hours of fourth watch (1-3 am), the gates of the city were closed and everything was asleep. At this moment, the only things accompanying the city were the eternal moonlight and the shadows of a team of Jinwu guards occasionally patrolling the streets.

The road was smooth and unobstructed, and with the dull sound of horse hooves hitting the ground, Pei Xiaoyuan arrived in front of the palace gate in his memory. The palace gate was open at this moment, with no defenses for him. He walked in, passing through the seemingly endless multi-story palace halls and corridors that stretched in the night, and finally stopped at the place where he was going to be taken tonight.

The night was dark and the name of the palace was faintly visible on the plaque above the palace gate.

Ziyun Palace.

Yuan Zhi continued to lead him inside, and stopped outside the main hall.

At this moment, he was no longer the fierce man outside Changle Posthouse who made the postmaster tremble with fear. Across the tightly closed heavy palace door in front of him, he stood straight, his hands hanging down, and his expression became extremely respectful, as if the person inside this door was a supreme god with supreme majesty.

Pei Xiaoyuan continued to walk up the stairs alone and came to the palace door. He stretched out his hand, paused, and slowly pushed open the heavy door.

In front of him, a huge offering hall appeared. Inside the hall were two three-legged white copper incense burners that were taller than a person’s head. The bellies of the burners had been burned red by the incense inside, and white smoke was curling like clouds above them. In the center, on a cloud-dragon dantian altar made of white jade, there was a statue of Yuanshi Tianzunthe Celestial Venerable of the Primordial Beginning or the Primeval Lord of Heaven, is one of the highest deities of Taoism. The Venerable was dressed in luxurious robes and seated, flanked by two attendant immortals. Curtains hung down around the statue. From the depths of the hall, a young eunuch in his teens came out and led him through the front hall, through a passage, and finally into a side hall in the north.

The young eunuch continued to lead Pei Xiaoyuan to stop in front of a crystal curtain and quietly retreated.

He waited in front of the curtain for a long time, but there was still silence in his ears. No one appeared, or any noise was heard. It was as if he was the only one left in this huge palace.

But his intuition told him that at this moment, behind the curtain and the screen opposite him, there was a pair of eyes observing him.

He stood there waiting, waiting for the owner of those eyes to break the silence.

A stick of burning sandalwood that was inserted in a small incense burner in the corner of the hall had burned out. A cluster of white ash curled up on top slowly cooled down, then suddenly broke and fell off.

Almost at the same time, a voice rang out from the depths of the palace.

“You are the young man from the Pei family?”

The voice came from behind the curtain, old, hoarse and low.

Pei Xiaoyuan lifted the hem of his clothes and kowtowed toward the screen behind the bead curtain in front of him.

“Your humble servant Pei Xiaoyuan pays respect to Your Majesty.”

He finished his kowtow, but he never got permission to get up, so he could only kneel like this. After a while, the voice finally came from behind the screen again.

“‘In the world, there are mountains, Retreat. The gentleman distances himself from the petty, being stern without being harsh.’the sentence comes from the ancient Chinese text Yijing, also known as the I Ching or the Book of Changes, which is a divination manual that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics, dating back to 1000-700 BC Is this the origin of your courtesy name, Junyan? It’s quite suitable for today’s action. Zhenhow the emperor addressed himself thought that the Pei family was used to being noble, and even a little boy would look down on Zhen’s Jinwu Guard rank.”

The tone of these words was flat, sounding like praise, but the sarcasm almost penetrated the screen and hit him in the face.

Pei Xiaoyuan was stunned at first, but soon understood.

The appointment letter gave him nearly three months. After leaving Ganliang, there were two post roads to Chang’an, either the southern Qinzhou Road or the northern Huizhou Road. Either way was enough for him to set off to the capital, and he should not have arrived before the last day.

It seemed that his action of pressing the deadline angered the person behind the curtain.

This was indeed an unexpected event that Pei Xiaoyuan had never thought of before. Could it be that the person behind the curtain had been waiting?

“This minister dare not. Before this minister receiving the appointment letter, there was something urgent that needed to be dealt with, so this minister was delayed for some time.”

He explained.

After another period of silence, “You’re not afraid of Zhen?”

“Everyone calls Your Majesty the Saint. In front of the Saint, this minister is a frank and open, why be afraid.”

“Everyone calls the Saint, what about you?”

The voice followed up with another question.

Pei Xiaoyuan paused for a moment, “Naturally this minister, like everyone else in the world, regard Your Majesty as the Saint.”

The person behind the screen didn’t say anything at first, but after a moment, he snorted coldly.

“Zhen doesn’t think so.”

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