Chapter 21 - 1#
Capture - Eh, it turns out he wasn’t caught!#
—Yanzhi ran away! Yanzhi escaped! Yanzhi flew away!
It wasn’t until he saw Yanzhi’s name, written in Yanzhi’s own hand on the palace departure roster, that Xiao Cuan finally understood—
Why had Yanzhi been neither cold nor warm toward him lately?
Why did Yanzhi insist on doing the work of copying the roster a few days ago?
Why had Yanzhi been taking his medicine obediently, sleeping obediently, and even having a larger appetite lately?
Because he was gathering strength!
He had already thought it through, he had already planned it, he had already made up his mind.
Yanzhi had long wanted to fly away from him, and yet he was completely unaware, still thinking that the future was long, wanting to appoint Yanzhi as the Empress and preparing for the grand wedding ceremony.
How dare he?
How dare he!
In an instant, the world changed drastically.
Like mountains collapsing, like the sea roaring.
Xiao Cuan was so angry that he suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His tall figure swayed twice in the wild wind, and finally, as if pushed by someone from behind, he fell straight down from the Heaven Sacrificing Altar.
“Your Majesty? Your Majesty!”
The palace servants and soldiers nearby hurriedly reached out to support him, but they were too late.
Below the high platform, the civil and military officials saw the bad situation and stepped forward one after another.
“Your Majesty!!!”
In the next moment, with a loud “clack”—
Xiao Cuan pressed the long halberd in his hand against the ground, heavily inserting it into the gap between the stone bricks, arched his back, lowered his head, and finally stabilized his body when he landed.
“Your Majesty…”
The civil and military officials stopped their steps, crowded in a place three steps away from the Emperor, and after regaining their senses, hurriedly knelt and saluted, bowing their heads to the ground.
With a few “thumps,” the ministers almost buried their heads in the ground.
“Your ministers deserve ten thousand deaths!”
They dared not look much at such a matter that damaged the imperial majesty.
What if… what if His Majesty remembered this matter in the future, then…
Xiao Cuan didn’t care how they looked at him.
He just clenched the long halberd in his hand, lowered his head, forcefully swallowed the fresh blood in his mouth, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and suppressed the churning anger in his chest.
While standing up, he called out several names.
“Bian Ying, Liu Xun, Chen Qun, Wang Xin—”
His voice was too low and was covered by the wild wind, and the ministers didn’t hear it clearly at first.
Until he suddenly raised his head, and his fierce wolf-like gaze swept across them.
The four ministers whose names were called finally reacted, and hurriedly stepped forward, bowing and saluting: “Your Majesty…”
“Each of you lead a hundred imperial guards to blockade the four palace gates in the east, west, south, and north.”
“Yes…” The four ministers exchanged a look and answered in unison, “Yes!”
Xiao Cuan ignored them and called out again: “Liu Zhen, Chen Yuan, Wang Xing, Jiang Yi—”
Four burly military generals stepped out, cupped their fists, and saluted: “Your ministers are here!”
“Each of you lead two hundred imperial guards to blockade the four city gates in the east, west, south, and north.”
“Yes!”
“Qi Jin, Cheng Yuan, Zhu Cai, Gongsun Yang, each lead five hundred imperial guards to search from the four corners of the capital in the east, west, south, and north, and surround inward.”
“Xue Yan, Xie Ji, depart immediately for the Xishan Camp, pick out five thousand elite soldiers from the Huben Camp, and rush back to the capital. There must be no delay.”
“Wang Qing, Feng Zhao…”
Xiao Cuan didn’t stop for a moment and actually called out the names of dozens of ministers in one breath.
Quickly issued orders and deployed in turn.
In his eyes, there seemed to be a complete and detailed map of the Daliang capital.
As Xiao Cuan issued orders one by one, the ministers accepted the orders one by one.
In an instant, the entire Liang City was surrounded by the copper wall and iron bastion built by Xiao Cuan.
Even the freest bird in the sky couldn’t fly out of his palm.
After making all the deployments, Xiao Cuan instinctively added a sentence.
“Without my imperial decree, no one is allowed to leave the palace or the city without authorization. If there is a violator, kill—”
No, no, can’t kill!
Xiao Cuan’s words stopped abruptly before he finished.
“Can’t kill him.”
“If he doesn’t resist, just bring him back properly.”
“If he resists, use hemp rope… just knock him unconscious…”
Xiao Cuan changed his words several times and finally said: “Tie him up with silk. Don’t hurt him.”
The ministers bowed and accepted the order: “Yes.”
Just then, a minister said in a low voice: “But Your Majesty hasn’t said yet who it is that we are looking for.”
“The Empress.” Xiao Cuan carried the long halberd in one hand and clutched the palace roster firmly in the other, passing through the civil and military officials, and walking forward without looking back—
“Yanzhi is the Empress.”
*
When Yanzhi just came out of the Taiji Hall, the sky was still good and the sun was shining brightly.
He had a package hanging on his back and was holding the “little dog” in his arms, running all the way toward the palace gate.
He was not tired, only feeling more and more excited and more and more agitated as he ran.
His steps ran faster and faster, and his body ran lighter and lighter.
He had already seen the team of palace servants leaving the palace! Just ahead!
Yanzhi stopped his steps, hid at the corner of the palace wall, and forcefully pressed down the “little dog’s” head peeking out from his arms.
“You hide first, don’t be found by others. We’ll come out after we leave the palace, do you understand?”
The wolf cub “wu wu” whined twice, but didn’t struggle, letting him manipulate it.
While pressing its head, Yanzhi complained in a small voice: “Why are you growing so fast? In just over a month, you’ve grown so big that you can’t be hidden anymore. But it doesn’t matter, luckily I thought of several ways in advance.”
He took out a piece of blue cloth from his chest and wrapped the wolf cub directly, pretending it was also a small package.
Before covering the package, Yanzhi raised his index finger toward it and made a shushing gesture.
“Shh—from now on, you’re not allowed to move around or whine.”
“Wu wu—”
“Let’s go.”
In this way, Yanzhi carried a package on his back and also held a “package” in front of him. When he came out from the corner of the palace path, he happened to see the team of palace servants leaving the palace move.
He was shocked, afraid of being left behind, and hurriedly jogged forward.
—Wait for me! There’s also me! I’m coming!
The people in the queue were all palace servants over forty years old. Yanzhi was a bit conspicuous at the very end of the line.
Yanzhi also knew he was conspicuous and originally wanted to lower his head to avoid being found by others, but on second thought, in such an occasion, the more he hid, the more suspicious he would be, and the more obvious he would be.
So finally, he still held the package, endured the feeling of wanting to tremble from nervousness, held his head high, and tried his best to stand properly.
His name was on the palace departure roster!
He also had the deed of manumission written by His Majesty himself!
He wasn’t afraid! He wasn’t afraid of anything!
Yanzhi gathered his courage, puffed out his chest, and by the way, peeked his head out to observe the situation at the front of the queue, and see what the process was for palace servants leaving the palace.
Only to see two rows of soldiers holding weapons, standing outside the palace gate. These were the soldiers guarding the palace gate, present at all times.
An official held a brush in one hand and the roster in the other, standing on one side.
The palace servant who was reached reported their name and took out the deed of manumission.
After verifying it was correct, the official nodded slightly to indicate release, and another official took out a silver ingot from the box and handed it to the palace servant.
Finally, the palace servant took the silver, pressed their thumbprint on the roster, and left the palace city.
The whole process was very simple and took only a few breaths.
Before long, only the last silver ingot remained in the box.
Yanzhi, who was originally standing at the end of the line, also reached the very front.
He pressed his heart, which was beating violently, tried to calm down, and following the look of the palace servants in front, took out the deed of manumission from his chest and handed it to the checking official.
“Yanzhi.”
“Mm.” The official didn’t raise his head, just looked down at the roster.
But at this moment, a gust of wind suddenly blew, messing up the papers in the official’s hand.
He seemed to sense something, raised his head, squinted his eyes, and looked at Yanzhi.
Yanzhi’s heart skipped a beat, thinking he was recognized, and instinctively wanted to explain: “I am…”
“You don’t look like forty.”
“I…” Yanzhi nervously said the words he had rehearsed many times, “I made a mistake in the palace and was originally going to be beaten to death. Just happened to meet His Majesty’s appointment of the Empress, the palace is joyful, and His Majesty didn’t want to see blood in the palace to make the Empress unhappy, so he spared my life and let me leave the palace.”
He really wasn’t very good at lying. After saying this, he hurriedly handed the deed of manumission in his hand forward a bit: “I have the deed of manumission written by His Majesty himself, and it also has the imperial seal.”
Yanzhi pursed his lips and stared at the other party nervously.
Fortunately, the official took a glance and finally nodded.
This was indeed a deed of manumission, and it was written clearly on it.
—Now there is a criminal slave Yanzhi, with an ugly appearance, crude behavior, and poor service. He is specially pardoned to leave the palace.
The official asked again: “Where is your name? I saw it just now, but it was messed up by the wind.”
“Here, here!” Yanzhi hurriedly leaned forward, turned to a page of the roster, and pointed to his name.
“Alright, put a thumbprint here.” The official nodded, “Take the silver and leave the palace.”
The decree he received was like this: as long as the name was on the roster and the deed of manumission was in hand, he could release the person.
As for why this person left the palace, whether the deed of manumission said “specially pardoned to leave the palace” or “gracefully leave the palace,” it had nothing to do with him.
Yanzhi dipped his thumb in some ink and pressed it on his name.
At the moment he let go, he looked at his deep red thumbprint, and a few sincere smiles finally appeared on his face: “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The official put away the roster, looked up at the sky, and kindly reminded him, “You are the last palace servant to leave the palace this time. It looks like it’s about to snow, go quickly. Take the silver and buy an umbrella at the shop ahead.”
“Okay, thank you, Lord.”
Yanzhi took the silver, tucked it into his package, and walked quickly toward the palace gate.
The two officials packed up their things and were also ready to go back to the government office.
Yanzhi held the package, and because of tension and agitation, he was still trembling slightly.
His mind was blank, he didn’t dare think about anything, and he didn’t think about anything. Only the instinct of his body told him to alternate his legs and walk forward, moving forward continuously.
Until he turned a corner, he took one last look back.
Looking at the high palace walls and gate towers, confirming that the guarding soldiers could no longer see him, he dared to take his steps again, ran in big strides, and breathed the outside air in big gulps.
He was out!
He was really out!
Yanzhi ran onto the street and into the crowd.
Like a small bull calf, charging straight ahead!
Just then, the sky changed suddenly, the wild wind rose, and the white snow descended suddenly. The people either hurried home one after another, or ran to the tea houses and wine shops by the road to avoid it.
Yanzhi mixed in the hurried and anxious crowd, which was not strange.
He didn’t listen to the official’s reminder to take the silver and buy an umbrella at the shop.
Even when he passed the Yang family shop he had been thinking about, he didn’t stop his steps to go in and buy sugar cakes.
In the past, he always carried His Majesty’s bow and arrows, held His Majesty’s weapons, and ran behind His Majesty.
But now, he was carrying his own package, holding the “little dog” who was closest to him, and following his own heart, manipulating his own feet, running wherever he wanted to run!