The Grand Hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation was vast and open, feeling thoroughly chilling despite the burning stoves.
An armchair was positioned next to the throne beneath the plaque reading “Justice and Honesty.” A luxurious and refined matron leaned back in it, cradling a dozing, blue-eyed, jade-faced cat.
The matron looked aged and lean, yet her gaze remained sharp and piercing. She merely glanced casually at Lu Bingqiu standing below, and a chill ran down his spine, prompting him to instantly lower his head.
Only two individuals possessed the power to strike such fear into Lu Bingqiu: one was the Emperor, and the other was the Empress Dowager.
Ever since Emperor Hongqing inaugurated the Great Jin dynasty, imperial authority had fallen into a state of thorough decay.
Hongqing was a puppet chess piece personally raised by reigning Empress Dowager Xiao Shu. The dragon throne should never have fallen to him by any calculation, but Xiao Shu cleared away the obstacles with her own hands and forcefully hoisted him up onto it.
Xiao Shu had believed she was raising an obedient little lamb. Yet as the lamb gradually matured, she discovered how profoundly mistaken she had been: he was nothing less than a wolf cub draped in sheep’s clothing, constantly scheming to claw away the supreme authority resting in her hands.
Due to her own oversight, the wolf cub had sharpened his claws and fangs, establishing a dedicated intelligence network answerable solely to him the Embroidered Uniform Guard (Jinyiwei).
By the time she awakened to reality, the wolf cub had already grown into a mature wolf with blindingly obvious ambitions. He intended not only to drag her down from the high platform, but also to purge her natal family entirely.
The Xie family corruption case was a trap engineered by Hongqing. From the very beginning, he had been fully aware that both the Xie and Xiao clans were embezzling military funds. In other words, the corruption scandal had unfolded under his deliberate connivance; he was willing to pay the price of military defeats and ceded territories simply to ruthlessly suppress the Xiao clan and herself.
In the past, Xiao Shu had foolishly imagined that no matter how Hongqing thrashed about, it amounted to nothing more than childish tantrums. But this time, she had nearly tumbled into his trap, leaving her with zero margin for tolerance toward him.
Look at how intimately the two of them were seated now: the armchair stood flush against the dragon throne, yet the gulf between their hearts was already as deep as a chasm.
If the puppet refused to obey, one simply replaced him with a compliant alternative.
On the hardwood shelves of the Grand Hall sat four copper-bodied, wire-inlaid enamel incense burners in neat rows, white wisps of sandalwood smoke curling steadily through the interior.
Below the high platform of the hall stood Lu Bingqiu, Commander of the Northern Administrative Office, and Jiang Haihe, Grand Eunuch of the Eastern Depot. Kneeling on the stone floor before them was another figure, hands and feet manacled in heavy shackles. Having knelt there for an unknown duration, his face was drained of all color.
“The Xie family fugitive is tender in years, yet preternaturally cunning he actually managed to slip past Lu Bingqiu’s eyes. Who knows what trickery he employed?”
Stroke by stroke, the Empress Dowager caressed the jade-faced cat’s head as she addressed Emperor Hongqing seated beside her. “Fortunately, Yue’er happened to capture him a few days ago. Hearing he was severely injured… seeing him now, the injuries are indeed grave. That arm of his is said to be crippled.”
Emperor Hongqing cast a cold, indifferent glance toward Lu Bingqiu. “Mother is right. Lu Bingqiu couldn’t even capture a mere adolescent; he is utterly useless.”
He had woven this elaborate chessboard over such a prolonged period, willing to gamble away entire cities and the life of his second son, only to see the entire scheme unravel because of a teenager. How could he not be furious?! He wanted nothing more than to flay Xie Zi’an alive and pull out his tendons!
Yet before the Empress Dowager, he dared not display a single shred of emotion. Consequently, this inner rage transferred itself onto Lu Bingqiu.
Many matters went unsaid, but that did not make him a fool. Even he held the Empress Dowager in deep trepidation how could his lackey not be terrified?
Hearing this, Lu Bingqiu raised his head in panic to look at Emperor Hongqing, whose expression upon the dragon throne remained bleak. A sudden jolt of terror seized his heart. Dropping straight to his knees with a loud thud!, Lu Bingqiu kowtowed and cried out: “This subject is incompetent! This subject deserves a thousand deaths!”
“You do deserve to die, but your turn hasn’t come today,” Hongqing replied coldly.
The implication behind his gesture could not have been clearer. Kneeling upon the cold floor, Xie Zi’an was instantly drenched in a cold sweat. From the moment he entered the palace and stepped into the hall, he had not relaxed his vigilance for a single fraction of a second, his entire being locked in a state of extreme, coiled tension.
Now the Emperor wished to execute him to vent his spleen, while the Empress Dowager maintained a stance of absolute detachment, offering no indication that she cared about the ledgers at all.
Life and death hung entirely upon a single instant, upon a single sentence.
Human life was truly worthless in this era! Especially the life of a fallen official’s son; the person he had offended was not merely anyone, but the most authoritative figure in the entire feudal realm.
If he wanted to survive, he had no choice but to struggle and gamble.
“Xie Zi’an, lift your head,” Emperor Hongqing commanded. “Look at Us and answer Us a question.”
Everyone present knew precisely what Hongqing intended to ask.
Cautiously raising his head, Xie Zi’an lifted his gaze. The man seated upon the golden dragon throne possessed a lean, stunted frame with a sallow, ashen complexion. He looked even frailer and smaller than the Empress Dowager beside him, his eyes deeply sunken into their sockets.
Suddenly, a spark of ferocious madness flared within those eyes. Slamming his palm furiously against the armrest, Hongqing bellowed: “Rat-faced wretch! We ask you: where are the ledgers?!”
Hongqing was asking a question whose answer he already knew, doing so purely to fabricate a charge against Xie Zi’an and claim his life.
Stroke by stroke, the Empress Dowager smoothed the cat’s fur, casting a calm, indifferent look toward Hongqing. Hongqing’s performance was utterly comical unable to locate the ledgers, he resorted to putting on such a grandiose display merely to intimidate a useless boy.
She was genuinely curious how Xie Zi’an would respond. Word had it that his spine was exceptionally rigid; she was rather eager to witness firsthand just how unyielding it truly was.
The youth on the stone floor kowtowed and answered: “This criminal does not know.”
Hearing this, Hongqing did not fly into a rage. Instead, he maintained an even, unperturbed tone: “Lu Bingqiu searched the entire Xie Mansion from top to bottom without finding a trace of the ledgers, and you are the sole survivor. You claim you do not know? We recall that Xie Yuan cherished you, his youngest son, above all others. If you obediently disclose the whereabouts of the ledgers, We are willing to spare your life.”
What manner of preserved life was this? A life with intact limbs constituted a spared life, but a life with severed hands and feet was equally termed a spared life.
Even if he confessed, Hongqing had no intention of letting him draw breath; only the Empress Dowager could rescue him now.
Tightening his grip around his finger joints, Xie Zi’an quietly cast a glance toward the matron seated behind the screen and gritted out: “This criminal truly does not know!”
Seemingly awakened by Xie Zi’an’s raised voice, the jade-faced cat lazily stretched its front paws, batted lightly at the Empress Dowager’s palm, turned over, and curled back up into a tight ball in her lap.
Lifting a hand to stroke the cat’s head once more, the Empress Dowager asked in a casual, unhurried murmur: “Look at that—you’ve woken Ugly Slave up with your shouting. We ask you once more: where on earth are the ledgers? Speak the honest truth, with the Emperor and Us here to back you up.”
Drip.
A bead of sweat rolled down the youth’s forehead, splashing against the stone bricks. Inside his wide sleeve, his sole undamaged hand clenched into a tight fist. An invisible boulder seemed to crush down upon his fragile spine, making even the act of drawing breath an agonizing trial.
Raising his head in silence, Xie Zi’an locked his pitch-black eyes upon the matron hidden behind the screen. The Empress Dowager demanded absolute loyalty, so he would rip open his chest and display it to her.
Lowering his torso until he pressed flat against the floor exhibiting the exact same stubborn defiance he had shown while enduring Lu Bingqiu’s brutal tortures he resolved that once he committed to a stance, he would refuse to retract his words even if it cost him his life.
“This criminal does not know.” The four unyielding words struck the floor with a resonance that could be distinctly felt.
While his answer satisfied the Empress Dowager’s underlying wishes, it simultaneously provoked Emperor Hongqing’s fury to its absolute peak. The Dowager’s line of questioning served essentially to humiliate Hongqing.
Without waiting for the Empress Dowager to speak again, Hongqing pointed a shaking finger at Xie Zi’an and roared: “Insolent wretch, cease your prevarication! Lu Bingqiu, drag him out and execute him with the heavy staff beating immediately! We command you to administer the punishment with your own hands!”
The enraged roar echoed through the pillars and rafters amidst an atmosphere thick with slaughter.
Receiving the order, Lu Bingqiu seized Xie Zi’an by the collar and dragged him backward toward the hall exit.
His strides were lightning-fast, his grip immense. Xie Zi’an possessed zero capacity for resistance; the Emperor commanding Lu Bingqiu to carry out the execution personally meant zero chance of survival was being left to him.
Terror, panic, and helplessness washed over him.
Faced with this predetermined fate, he felt like a microscopic mayfly adrift in the vast cosmos.
In that fleeting fraction of a second, countless memories of his alcoholic father beating him senseless during childhood flashed through his mind.
Covered in blood, he would curl into a pathetic ball in the corner while his abusive father’s fists and boots rained down relentlessly one punch after another, kick after kick. He was on the verge of dying, yet he refused to accept perishing in such a wretched manner.
That was why he had snatched up a shattered beer bottle from the floor and driven it viciously into his father’s thigh!
“Agh—!” He could still vividly recall the piercing shriek his father had emitted.
Drawing upon some unknown reservoir of strength, Xie Zi’an broke violently free from Lu Bingqiu’s grasp, scrambling forward like a madman across the floor. His wounds tore open instantly, fresh blood soaking straight through the thick gauze bandages.
Lifting his head with fierce stubbornness, his eyes blazed with a desperate, burning light as he stared up toward the high platform: “Even if this criminal dies, he still does not know where the ledgers are! Not knowing means not knowing!”
Every person present froze for a fraction of a second.
At this point, did knowing or not knowing even matter anymore?
Recovering his wits, Lu Bingqiu felt a flicker of genuine admiration for the boy’s staggering will to survive. If he could somehow live. Regardless, escaping execution today appeared impossible. Striding forward, Lu Bingqiu reached out once more to grab Xie Zi’an’s collar.
“Stop.” A single word rang out.
Hearing the voice, Lu Bingqiu instantly halted his movements, stepping back two paces to stand respectfully at attention.
Left sprawled upon the floor, Xie Zi’an squeezed his dry, smarting eyes shut as a stream of liquid leaked down his cheeks, incapable of distinguishing whether it was blood or tears.
“We judge that this child is not lying. What does the Emperor say?”
Turning her head, the Empress Dowager pinned her gaze upon Emperor Hongqing. Hongqing’s face alternated between shades of livid green and bruised purple, and he offered no intention of replying to her query.
In truth, the Empress Dowager had never harbored any genuine intention of saving Xie Zi’an. Once the ledgers were secured, Xie Zi’an’s life or death became entirely immaterial to her; furthermore, sparing him risked directly alienating Hongqing.
Yet the intense, desperate hunger for survival burning within Xie Zi’an’s eyes, coupled with his unyielding backbone, had genuinely stirred a sliver of emotion within her.
Had Xie Yuan conducted himself with the same competence rather than attempting to play both sides, the Xie family would never have been relegated to the role of scapegoats.
What a pity, he had simply been too clever, clever to a fault, attempting to offend neither faction, only to culminate in the total annihilation of his clan.
Still, Xie Yuan had performed no small amount of service for her over the years. Preserving this sole remaining child could simply be reckoned as honoring the remnants of the Xie family’s past loyalty.
“The Xie family rendered distinguished service alongside the founding Emperor back in the day, and now only this solitary seedling remains. The Emperor should likewise recall past ties and spare his life,” the Empress Dowager pronounced. “Xie Yuan’s embezzlement of military funds was indeed capital offenses, but uprooting every branch and leaf leaves our imperial house looking utterly devoid of human warmth. His Majesty must take care not to chill the hearts of the noble aristocratic clans.”
Emperor Hongqing slowly closed his eyes.
If he stubbornly insisted on executing Xie Zi’an right now, how would the Empress Dowager respond?
“Everything We have spoken flows solely out of consideration for the royal house. The final decision, naturally, rests with the Emperor.” The Empress Dowager’s tone dropped a fraction lower into frostiness.
Opening his eyes, Emperor Hongqing swept his gaze across Xie Zi’an’s broken frame, his voice freezing: “We yield to Mother’s decree.”
“However, while capital punishment may be remitted, inescapable punishment remains.”
The youth’s frail frame trembled involuntarily. Whether he rejoiced at surviving or grieved over the trials yet to come, no one could fathom only he understood the truth within his own heart.