“Young Master Mu, wake up, wake up, it seems the guards in the death cell have changed!” The little monk leaned in and shook Mu Qingbai awake.
Mu Qingbai drowsily struggled to sit up, forcing his eyes half open. “Mm~? Jade feet? Where are the jade feet?”
“…I feel like what you’re talking about and what I’m talking about are two completely different things.”
Mu Qingbai lay back down and drifted off again, still muttering, “Silly, this isn’t a brothel, where would jade feet come from?”
“Mm, confirmed. Definitely not the same thing. What I meant was that there seem to be more guards in the cell now…”
“Stop making a fuss. This is the death cell. I just got busted out, the higher-ups must’ve heard about it and are increasing security, obviously.”
“Young Master Mu, you clearly escaped. Why did you come back?”
Mu Qingbai was too annoyed to sleep with all the chatter. He sat up and said, “Monk, I’ve always been an unlucky man.”
The little monk nodded in deep agreement. “Indeed. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been implicated.”
“I told you, I wasn’t implicated! Sigh, I’ve never had a good ending in my lives. It was hard enough to find a clean, simple way to die. Let me have a bit of peace, will you?”
The little monk looked puzzled, clearly struggling to understand. “But you’re so talented. Why don’t you want to live a good life?”
Mu Qingbai replied with a trace of sorrow, “I wanted to live well too, to achieve something big! But no matter how sharp a young man’s edges are, they can’t withstand the harsh winds of the world…”
The little monk felt a bit of sympathy. Though he didn’t know what kind of hardship Mu Qingbai had suffered to end up so lifeless, it still moved him.
“Sigh, every time, I lose miserably. No matter how fiercely you fight against fate, it always ends in a beating! This damned Heavenly Dao! It’s just toying with me!”
The little monk looked at him pitifully and said, “I really wonder what you’ve been through to become like this, all mad and broken.”
Mu Qingbai didn’t feel like explaining anymore. He found a comfortable position and leaned against the wall.
“I have no other wish now. All I want is a quick and clean death.”
The little monk still felt it was a pity. “But the flourishing age of the Great Yin Empire is just beginning. Don’t you think it would be a shame not to witness it with your own eyes?”
Mu Qingbai let out a soft chuckle. “Flourishing age? You think the current state of the Great Yin Empire qualifies as a flourishing age?”
The little monk was surprised. “What do you mean ‘qualifies’? Isn’t it one?”
Mu Qingbai shook his head. “You’ve never seen what a true flourishing age looks like, so you take today’s relative calm as one.”
“Wait, you’re saying it’s still an era of chaos?”
“If I have to define it, I’d call it a peaceful chaos.”
The little monk was astonished. “Peace and chaos… those words can go together?”
“The flourishing age in my mind is when everyone has clothes to wear, food to eat, and books to read. No one starves or freezes to death. Can the Great Yin Empire really achieve that?”
The little monk had no answer.
“The Empress only quelled the wars and built an empire upon the ruins left by flames of war.” Mu Qingbai sighed lightly. “Yet natural disasters still rage, and people still die of hunger every moment. And you want me to open my eyes to see this so-called prosperous age?”
Mu Qingbai lay down again and stretched lazily. “You go ahead and look at this flourishing age. I won’t. In two days, I’ll be heading back.”
“Back? Back to where?”
“A better world.”
Neither of them knew that their entire conversation was being clearly recorded, word for word, by a spy in the neighboring cell.
…
Old Huang returned to the manor with some men and saw Yin Qiubai sitting blankly on the steps.
Thinking she had sat there through the night, Old Huang couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow. Was an unknown nobody really worth the General’s unwavering devotion?
“Miss, everyone from the General’s Manor spent the whole night searching the city for Young Master Mu, but we didn’t find him.”
Yin Qiubai finally came to her senses and realized the servants were still out.
“Old Huang, tell everyone to come back. No need to keep looking.”
Old Huang felt a spark of joy in his heart. Had the General finally come to terms with it?
“General—”
Yin Qiubai frowned. “I’ve told you, call me Miss.”
Old Huang’s heart sank. Had he guessed wrong? If Young Master Mu was really out of the picture, why was she still hiding her identity?
“Miss… does that mean you found Young Master Mu?”
“Mm. I found him.”
Old Huang pointed inside. “At home?”
“In the prison.”
Old Huang sighed. “Miss, forgive my bluntness, but that man truly had it coming. If only he had listened to you and stopped running around, he wouldn’t have been dragged back to the prison.”
Yin Qiubai shook her head. “He wasn’t captured. He returned to the prison on his own.”
Old Huang was stunned.
When Old Huang heard those two lines of parting poetry, he instantly felt deep respect.
“Such a man who wishes to leave his innocence behind in this world! Such steadfast and upright spirit, like clear snow and pine winds. If he dies just like that, it would truly be lamentable.”
“He would rather die standing than live kneeling. But I don’t understand… a whole night has passed, why hasn’t His Majesty issued a pardon yet? Old Huang, should I go to the palace and ask?”
Old Huang shook his head. “Miss, I advise you not to go. His Majesty must have her own reasons. If she doesn’t want to tell you, you shouldn’t ask either. Just wait patiently.”
After a pause, Old Huang added a word of precaution. “Miss, you’ve done everything you could. Now, it’s up to fate.”
After all, the will of the monarch is unpredictable. If Her Majesty hasn’t personally issued a decree of pardon, there must be some variable yet to unfold.
“Miss, you haven’t slept all night. Go rest for a while. Who knows? Maybe when you wake up, Young Master Mu will already be released.”
“Mm. If Young Master Mu is released, wake me up.”
“Yes.”
…
“He really slept through the whole night?”
Yin Yunlan asked in disbelief.
“Replying to Your Majesty, Mu Qingbai slept soundly in the Imperial Prison. When I left the place, he was still dreaming.”
“Hmph. Slept that soundly? He must be pretending.”
“Your Majesty instructed us to observe signs of fear before issuing your imperial decree, but…”
“Speak.”
Yin Yunlan’s voice was calm and frosty.
“But if Mu Qingbai shows no fear at all, even at the moment of execution…”
Yin Yunlan shook her head. “Then let him remain unpardoned.”
“What about the General of National Stabilization…”
That question was bordering on insolence.
But Yin Yunlan wasn’t angry.
With her hands clasped behind her back, she paced slowly. “You know what I’m suspecting, don’t you?”
“Your Majesty suspects whether Mu Qingbai is truly so resolute, and also questions his intentions in approaching General Yin Qiubai.”
“It’s like a horse, the finest in the world. But the more fierce and unyielding it is, the harder it is to tame, and thus cannot become a sharp blade in my hand.”
Yin Yunlan paced a while longer and said coldly, “On the day of his execution, I’ll go to oversee it myself. I refuse to believe that he won’t show even a shred of anxiety before death.”