“As you command,” Xiao Huaiyan responded with a bow.
An ancestral worship grand ceremony what an exceptionally solemn and reverent occasion yet he was instructed to keep watch outside the hall doors with this wolf cub to which he had casually given a dog’s name? The little emperor was probably up to something again.
Having gone through these past several days, he had roughly figured out what kind of temperament Shen Chaoqing possessed. If one did not provoke him, he was actually quite easy to talk to; but whenever someone provoked his anger, the consequences would be exceptionally brutal and fierce.
Such a person was entirely different from the tyrant he had heard about.
The smile on Shen Chaoqing’s face had not yet completely faded when he suddenly broke into a violent fit of coughing.
“Cough, cough, cough…” He quickly turned sideways, using his wide sleeve to cover his mouth and nose.
That muffled and profound coughing sound still echoed abruptly within the empty hall. Shen Chaoqing’s shoulders trembled slightly from the violent fit of coughing, and the flush upon his cheeks—brought on by the wine and the warm hall—rapidly drained of color, revealing a nearly transparent pallor while fine beads of cold sweat even seeped onto his temples.
Wangcai was startled by the sudden sound, stopping its low growls to stare at him in confusion and vigilance.
Xiao Huaiyan furrowed his brows slightly. Almost instinctively, he stepped forward half a step, his arm lifting slightly.
“Cough… cough, cough…” Shen Chaoqing’s cough subsided slightly, but his breathing remained hurried and unstable.
He obviously perceived Xiao Huaiyan’s unauthorized approach, able to sense the extremely strong presence of the other’s gaze directed toward him even through the fabric of his sleeves.
A furious surge of anger at having his wretched and vulnerable state exposed instantly welled up within his heart, overwhelming his physical discomfort. “Step back.”
Xiao Huaiyan’s movement froze halfway.
All emotion was forcefully suppressed, and the churning ripples within his eyes returned to dead silence in an instant.
“Understood.”
Xiao Huaiyan no longer cast another look at that figure who stirred up such unsettling emotions, turning away decisively as the dark hem of his robes swept through a cold and rigid arc, leaving behind that sound of coughing and heavy solitude.
The hall doors slowly closed behind him. Standing in the corridor, Xiao Huaiyan felt the New Year’s Eve cold wind blowing against his face, yet it failed to blow away the trace of inexplicably sluggish shadow lingering within his heart.
Listening to the faint and gradually subsiding coughs from inside the hall, his fingers slowly tightened into fists within his sleeves.
Barely past the hour of Yin, with the sky still unlit, the area outside the Ancestral Hall was already shrouded in a murderous chill. The cold wind whipped up residual snow, fluttering the hems of the guards’ robes beneath their iron armor. Officials lined up according to their ranks in utter silence, save for the sacrificial banners snapping fiercely in the wind.
As the heir of the Marquis of Jing’an, Li Jingchen occupied a position near the front. Rubbing his somewhat frost-numbed fingers, his gaze wandered idly and listlessly before finally landing upon the conspicuous figure in the shadow on the right side of the hall doors, alongside the precision iron cage covered with black cloth by his feet.
Xiao Huaiyan? For such an important occasion, what kind of thing had he brought along?
Li Jingchen narrowed his eyes to look closer. He saw that Xiao Huaiyan was actually squatting halfway down, reaching one hand into the gaps of the cage.
The cage emitted a brief sound of impact, and immediately the noise subsided.
Before he could examine it closely, a gust of wind blurred his vision; while Li Jingchen was rubbing his eyes and opened them once more, Xiao Huaiyan’s original spot was already completely empty.
On the other side, Xiao Huaiyan was stroking the back of the little wolf’s neck. His movements carried a peculiar, rhythmic pressure and scratching, his fingertips occasionally brushing past the wolf cub’s ears or swiftly and steadily pinching the loose skin at the back of its neck.
A low purring sound emanated from deep within the throat of the cage, resembling the instinctive submission of a beast when its vital point is seized.
If Li Jingchen could have witnessed this scene, his heart would certainly have skipped a beat in terror.
Xiao Huaiyan’s gaze was not that of someone looking at a pet, but rather cold, focused, and carrying a cruelty-bordering scrutiny, as if he were testing a weapon. Those were the exact eyes and techniques of veteran hunters who had guarded the northern frontier across generations and dealt with wolf packs within the Li family.
Inside the hall, incense curled upward while bells and chimes rang melodiously.
Attired in intricate and heavy imperial crown-dress bearing the twelve embroidered symbols and wearing a crown with twelve hanging bead-strings, Shen Chaoqing stepped through the ancestral worship proceedings step by step amid the ritual officer’s resounding chants.
“Your Majesty, please.”
The water in the golden basin was exceptionally clear, reflecting Shen Chaoqing’s cold and rigid profile. Gazing at the emperor in the water, crowned and standing supreme, he suddenly experienced a vision of his past self clad in coarse hemp with a pale complexion.
Shen Chaoqing scooped water from the golden basin to purify his hands; he accepted the lit sandalwood incense and inserted it into the massive bronze censer; he picked up the jade libation cup filled with fragrant herbal wine and poured it slowly before the sacrificial altar.
That pair of eyes concealed beneath the pearl fringe gazed past the rising smoke at those rows of spirit tablets representing the successive emperors of the Great Jin, passing over the tablet at the very center belonging to his nominal father, the Emperor Xiande.
The old man had toiled for an entire lifetime, only for his wife to arrogate power and his sons to perish entirely in the end, still failing to escape the destiny of his nation perishing and his lineage being extinguished.
Shen Chaoqing could not muster half a shred of reverence within his heart; there remained only a vast expanse of barrenness and mockery.
Hoisting him onto this dragon throne was no bestowal of grace, but rather the need for a puppet still capable of breathing to temporarily fill the vacuum of power.
Awe? Filial piety? Shen Chaoqing sneered inwardly, watching that curling blue smoke as a violent impulse even welled up within him: I truly want to set fire to this hypocritical hall, burning these cold spirit tablets along with all those sanctimonious “ancestral regulations” thoroughly to ashes!
Yet in the end, he merely lowered his eyelids slightly, concealing all emotion deep within as he completed the grand ritual of three kneelings and nine kowtows amidst the ritual officer’s chants.
If the day ever came when Xiao Huaiyan truly annihilated the Jin State and killed him, Shen Chaoqing would definitely applaud and cheer for him; but prior to that, he was determined to eliminate the Empress.
Standing beside him and watching his movements, Xiao Huaiyan remained expressionless, revealing nothing of what he might be thinking.
Fu An kept his eyes fixed entirely on Xiao Huaiyan, terrified that having never participated in a Jin State ancestral worship grand ceremony, he might make a fool of himself and bring disgrace to His Majesty’s face.
“Later on, Your Majesty and the officials need to partake of the sacrificial pork. When you present it, remember to steady the tray, otherwise it will be a capital offense,” Fu An lowered his voice, speaking to Xiao Huaiyan using pure breath.
He had repeatedly given this instruction before the ceremony began, and now he was repeating it once more.
Xiao Huaiyan glanced sideways at him.
It seemed Jin and Liao were quite similar regarding ancestral worship. This sacrificial pork consisted of unseasoned, unsalted pork, which tasted utterly terrible. The little emperor was so delicate that the dishes served to him had to be of the highest grade, with each dish withdrawn after merely three bites of sampling, yet he was actually willing to obediently consume that sort of stuff.
He shifted his gaze toward Shen Chaoqing not far away. He saw him draped in bright yellow imperial robes, the oversized court attire pressing upon his person without appearing ill-fitting at all, instead emanating a somewhat enchanting shade of beauty.
Following the most crucial ritual segment came the “scattering of blessings,” where attendants distributed the sacrificial pork used in the rites among the imperial clan and high-ranking officials as a symbol of sharing the ancestors’ grace.
A young eunuch holding a tray covered with bright yellow silk delivered a portion of sliced sacrificial pork right before Xiao Huaiyan. According to regulations, Xiao Huaiyan was required to bow deeply in reception before passing it onward to members of the imperial clan or nobility of higher status.
Complying with the rites, Xiao Huaiyan received the tray and walked toward Li Jingchen.
Li Jingchen stepped forward, appearing as though he intended to reach out and receive it, yet the hand seemingly poised to take the tray harbored hidden strength, shoving violently and covertly toward the edge of the tray.
If not for this fellow repeatedly stirring up trouble, his aunt would have long since accomplished her grand enterprise.
He had even kicked his dog to death!
Li Jingchen calculated the angle and force with absolute precision, enough to cause an off-guard Xiao Huaiyan to lose his grip and send the sacrificial pork crashing to the floor.
“Lord Xiao had better steady that tray; this sacrificial pork carries the ancestors’ grace. If it gets knocked over during the ancestral worship grand ceremony, that is an act of extreme disrespect—a crime punishable by decapitation.”
Yet, the tray did not budge in the slightest.
The hand supporting the bottom of the tray remained as steady as if cast in iron. Li Jingchen felt as though his fingers had crashed against a solid slab of rock; not only did he fail to shake it by a fraction, but the counter-shock force also sent a slight numbness tingling through his fingertips.