On the other side.
When Emperor Qizhen learned that Jingrong had been carried out of the palace suffering from frostbite, he was extremely worried. He secretly sent people to Prince Rong’s manor to investigate, but fortunately, with Divine Physician Muruo there, and given Jingrong’s robust constitution, nothing serious happened, and only then did his mind ease.
Indeed, dragons beget dragons, and phoenixes beget phoenixes.
Jingrong’s temperament truly resembled his own to an extreme degree!
That night, Emperor Qizhen’s thoughts were heavy, tossing and turning sleeplessly.
Having just dozed off lightly in the deep of night, he had a terrifying nightmare. When he opened his eyes, he had actually returned to that night of thunder and lightning from fifteen years ago. The seventy-some people of Duke Yuguo’s manor, from top to bottom, were all standing in the courtyard. Everyone looked at him with incomparably fearful eyes—some knelt on the ground trembling, others huddled together in terror. He wore a black cloak with a hood that nearly hid his face in the shadows, and in his hand, he gripped a sharp sword.
Just as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, he drew his sword and fiercely thrust it toward someone’s throat.
Blood splattered, and a drop of scorching hot blood flew onto his face, penetrating his skin like poison.
At that moment, all the people in the courtyard screamed continuously, completely forgetting to beg for mercy.
In those screams was despair, and even more, the fear before death’s arrival!
Suddenly—Duke Yuguo emerged limping from the crowd, his clothes burned to tatters by fire, his hair disheveled and scattered messily, covering half his face. The eye visible on the outside contained bloodthirsty hatred, as if festering blood was flowing drop by drop from the eye.
Step by step, he walked toward him.
Closer and closer…
More and more distinct…
The hand gripping the sword trembled violently several times. He saw blood overflow from the corner of Duke Yuguo’s pale lips, his cracked lips curving into an eerily sinister smile. A great wind arose all around, lifting his hair and revealing the other half of his face. That half seemed burned by fire—blood vessels connected to flesh, eyebrows completely gone, dark red patches, all wrinkled. Even that eye was stuck together, and unless forced open with effort, it was difficult to see that it was an eye at all.
At first glance, it made one’s heart tremble.
Emperor Qizhen froze, his hand loosened, and the sword crashed heavily to the ground.
“Jingli!” He called out Duke Yuguo’s name in disbelief.
“Imperial Brother, Imperial Brother…” Duke Yuguo’s voice rolled out from a bottomless abyss, making one’s blood run cold.
His throat moved for a long time before he spoke: “It was you, you forced me to this!”
Through gritted teeth!
But Duke Yuguo actually began laughing uproariously before him.
The laughter penetrated the entire dark night…
In an instant, great flames engulfed the entire Duke Yuguo manor.
He retreated repeatedly, helplessly watching as the seventy-some people before him struggled and wailed in the fire.
Cries for help!
Weeping!
Howling!
Utterly tragic and inhumane.
Echoing throughout the entire dark night.
He staggered backward, but in the next moment, a figure wrapped in flames lunged toward him.
His neck was seized!
The flames instantly engulfed him.
Hot!
Hot!
“Ah?”
Emperor Qizhen sat up from his bed, already drenched in sweat!
So it was… just a dream!
Yet it felt extremely real.
He sat on the bed gasping for breath, unable to calm himself for a long time.
“Creak.”
The window in the room suddenly opened, cold wind rolled in, lifting the gauze curtains by the bed to flutter up. Against the dim light in the room, it confused his vision.
Emperor Qizhen, his lingering fear not yet dispersed, had just reached out to push aside the gauze curtain before him when he saw a figure land outside.
“Who?”
His nerves were abnormally tense.
He saw Zhang Quan bow and hurry in, “Your Majesty, it’s this servant.”
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, brushing his sleeve to wipe away his sweat.
“Has Your Majesty had a nightmare?” Zhang Quan asked.
He rose from bed with a heavy voice, dragging his somewhat hunched body as he walked out of the inner hall with difficulty.
Zhang Quan quickly brought clothes to drape over him.
“The night is already deep, Your Majesty should not go out.”
“I cannot sleep.”
Helplessly, Zhang Quan could only order someone to light a new lamp and bring a pot of hot tea to pour for him.
Emperor Qizhen had no mind to drink, however. He walked out of Fuyang Hall with measured steps. By now, the heavy snow had stopped.
He looked at the vast imperial palace with its bright red lantern light, his eyes inevitably deepening by several degrees.
This was his realm, his hands and feet.
Zhang Quan ventured to ask, “Is Your Majesty thinking of past events?”
He said, “He who knows me is none other than you.”
“This old servant has followed at Your Majesty’s side for many years, naturally I understand.”
Immediately after, Emperor Qizhen dismissed the several eunuchs keeping night watch at the door. Gazing toward the direction outside the palace, he said in a heavy voice, “Though the matter has already passed for so many years, every time I think of it, I feel immense heartache. Why? Why did Jingli and I come to that point?”
His tone was desolate!
And even more so, helpless. After a slight pause, he continued, “Every time I think of the years before I ascended the throne, when Jingli would often come to the Eighth Prince’s manor to play chess with me—his chess skills were exquisite, he won nearly every game by half a piece. The rare times I won were also because he let me. He often said that my mind was unsettled, my focus in chess unfixed, therefore I always lost. Yes, if my heart wasn’t in the game, how could I win? But if only I could return to those years, how wonderful that would be. This great realm, I would willingly lose it to him. Unfortunately, in the end I had no choice. Fate is determined from birth—it was so for the late emperor, it is so for me, and it will be so for the future crown prince.”
A bitter smile!
Zhang Quan, having followed at his side for many years, naturally understood. A thought suddenly arose in his mind, and he stepped forward to say, “This servant has a humble suggestion.”
“Speak.”
“Prince Rong is determined to investigate this matter and presumably will not give up. Your Majesty might as well tell the prince the truth of what happened back then. Perhaps…”
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted. “No!” Emperor Qizhen directly rejected the idea. “That is a scandal of the Dalin imperial family, something that would bring shame to our ancestors. If made public, where would my dignity be? Jingli was my imperial brother, Consort Zhao was my wife—this concerns the honor and disgrace of the imperial family. How could I be careless? The matter from back then has already passed. I am unwilling to reopen that wound. Moreover, the person is already dead—why add several more crimes to his name? If it weren’t for Qin Shiyu, I would not have agreed to overturn the case. Now it’s quite good—if the truth cannot be found, then there’s no need to continue investigating! What’s important is that the matter from back then must be concealed.”
Extremely resolute.
Zhang Quan nodded.
He spoke no more.
Whenever Emperor Qizhen thought of the matter from back then, his heart ached deeply.
At this moment, snow began falling from the sky again, dense and numerous, carried by the wind.
Zhang Quan said, “Your Majesty should go inside.”
He nodded and turned to go in.
However—
Having just sat down on the bed, he seemed to think of something.
“By the way, there’s less than a month until New Year. How has the Directorate of Imperial Clan Court arranged the ancestral rites?”
Zhang Quan replied, “Director Liang Zongzheng has already prepared a list, saying he has invited the great masters from Guang’an Temple to recite sutras at the mausoleum.”
“That’s good. Tomorrow summon him to come. I still have some matters to instruct him about.”
“Yes.” Only then did Emperor Qizhen’s mind ease, and he went to bed to rest.