Chapter 49 - 1#
The Honglu Temple Relay Station was a unique courtyard dedicated to accommodating foreign envoys.
After entering the court, Honglu Temple took over all affairs. All envoys could only reside here. Although their daily outings were not restricted, there were dedicated personnel to record their movements.
Outside Honglu Temple, there were soldiers guarding it. It was said to be for the safety of the envoys, but it was also a form of deterrence.
The Gaonan envoy, Aye San, sat in the room, looking at his subordinates on his left and right, speaking in the Gaonan language.
Although confident that no one could understand their conversation, Aye San was still very cautious, keeping his voice low.
“Emperor Helian, it seems he doesn’t intend to let us leave.”
“Has he noticed something?”
“Whether he has or not, it’s unsafe to stay in the capital. We must leave before October.”
“The Yueyu people are truly mad. If they hadn’t tried to escape, how could there be so many soldiers outside?”
Someone cursed in a low voice.
Two days ago, for some unknown reason, the Yueyu people went crazy and climbed over the wall to escape in the middle of the night. They only found out about this when the Yueyu people were escorted back by the guards.
Emperor Helian didn’t seem to care much about this matter, only sending a few officials from Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites.
They originally thought this was enough to see the Emperor’s attitude and that things might be more relaxed in the future. But they never expected that the next morning, the guards outside Honglu Temple, which were already present, would be doubled in strictness.
This really made people grit their teeth in hatred.
Among those present, one person suddenly looked up at the Gaonan envoy, his expression shifting slightly, and whispered something in his ear.
Aye San shook his head: “No.”
“But…”
“No.”
Aye San raised his voice, and the man had to retreat.
It wasn’t until they dispersed that someone caught up with the person who had just spoken and whispered: “Just now in the room, what did you want to say to the envoy?”
The man hesitated for a while before shaking his head: “Forget it. Since the envoy refused, it means it cannot be done.” After saying this, he went back to his room, keeping his mouth tight.
Inside the room, Aye San drank a cup of tea and sighed deeply.
What the subordinate said just now hit the hidden pain in Aye San’s heart. If he weren’t an old subordinate of Aye San, Aye San would definitely have lost his temper just now.
The reason Aye San came to the capital this time, besides the obvious reason, also hid another unknown secret.
He had a daughter in the capital.
…
Jingzhe received the news about the accident in the Huang family half a month later.
The person who told him this was Mingyu.
At that time, Jingzhe had just returned from Jiang Jinming’s place. The ink stains on his hands hadn’t been washed off yet. He was squatting outside scooping water when Mingyu came excitedly.
Jingzhe’s hands were still wet, but Mingyu didn’t care. He pulled him up, causing him to stagger a few steps, and Jingzhe got a small wet patch on the front of his clothes.
Jingzhe: “Mingyu, why are you so excited? Hey, my clothes are wet…”
“What does it matter if your clothes are wet? Do you know that something happened to the Huang family?” Mingyu’s voice was a bit excited, “And you’re still washing your hands so slowly here.”
Jingzhe was fishing for a handkerchief in his sleeve. Hearing Mingyu’s words, he didn’t quite understand: “Didn’t something happen to the Huang family a long time ago?”
At that time, Mingyu knew and was very happy, saying he wanted to drink wine and planned to steal Zhu Erxi’s wine jar. Jingzhe was startled by his overly excited words and hurriedly held him back to prevent him from really doing such a thing.
That wouldn’t just result in being whipped by Zhu Erxi’s rattan cane, but possibly getting beaten with boards.
Director Zhu never took the gentle route.
Now, how could Mingyu still come to him to talk about the Huang family? It’s not like everyone is gone…
Jingzhe’s face changed slightly. Could it be that they are really gone?
Exile was already a long and dangerous journey. The officers and soldiers suffered along the way, and the prisoners suffered even more, easily dying on the road. Moreover, this time it was a crime of treason. Although the Huang family wasn’t the mastermind, they were still implicated.
Although Emperor Jingyuan pardoned the side branches, the direct line was exiled for three thousand miles. With such a heavy sentence without amnesty, surely some weak people wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
For example, that Old Madam Huang.
It was heard that she was the only person who could make the Empress Dowager bow her head in the past. But at her age, such punishment was also a hardship.
However, Jingzhe didn’t pity the men, women, old, and young of the Huang family.
He might as well pity himself more.
It’s just that although Jingzhe was happy about their punishment, he never thought that all of them would meet with mishaps—after all, if it wasn’t such a big deal, Mingyu wouldn’t show it on his face—what exactly happened?
Mingyu dragged Jingzhe into the room.
He came here so often that he knew the way familiarly. Seeing them, Huiping smiled and subconsciously tried to get up.
Mingyu hurriedly said: “Huiping, it’s fine, you just sit.”
He didn’t know when it started, but Huiping developed a habit of going out whenever Mingyu came.
Although this made it convenient for the two of them to talk about things that couldn’t be known by others, it was a bit unfair to Huiping. Later, Jingzhe ran to the Imperial Kitchen more often.
After all, since Sanshun followed Zhu Erxi, he wouldn’t come back except to rest at night.
Huiping smiled: “Why is Mingyu so excited?”
Jingzhe: “We have to ask him.”
Mingyu went for the water pot on the table, poured himself a bowl of water and drank it first, then said: “You guys don’t know, today in the Imperial Kitchen, I heard people from Zhongcui Palace talking, saying that the Empress Dowager is sick from anger again.”
Huiping frowned: “What happened this time?”
The Empress Dowager had been sick for a long time. Ever since the accident in the Huang family, she couldn’t get out of bed. It wasn’t until recently that she gradually got up, and the palace concubines were able to visit.
However, it was said that the Empress Dowager’s hair had turned much whiter, and her spirit was not as good as before.
Mingyu: “Something happened to the Huang family. Huang Qingtian, Huang Bo, Huang Quan, and Huang Fu are missing. The rest of the Huang family seem to have caught the plague on the road and died one after another. I don’t know how many are left.”
Plague!
This is a word that makes people tremble with fear.
In any place, as long as the word plague is involved, the city will likely be sealed off. No one knows how many people have to die to completely end such a disaster.
If the Huang family really caught the plague, probably all of them would die.
Although Jingzhe had guessed, he never thought it would be so tragic.
“Did really that many people die?”
“Although people in Zhongcui Palace spread rumors, and I don’t know how much truth is left, it’s certain that something happened to the Huang family.” Mingyu said, “It’s just that we don’t know how serious it is.”
Jingzhe pinched the bridge of his nose, his expression unreadable.
Mingyu originally came excitedly to tell Jingzhe, wanting to make him happy, but he didn’t expect Jingzhe’s face to look a bit strange instead.
Mingyu: “Jingzhe, what’s wrong?”
Jingzhe: “I was just thinking, if this news is true, does that mean Huang Qingtian and the others were rescued?”
“Rescued?” Huiping asked subconsciously, “What does this mean?”
Jingzhe: “Huang Qingtian is the head of the Huang family, Huang Bo is his eldest son, and Huang Quan and Huang Fu are also of the most direct bloodline. It’s strange that others didn’t go missing, but these few did, don’t you think?”
On a long journey, it’s normal for something to happen.
But how could it be so coincidental that it was just these few people? Fathers and sons, the purest bloodline among the direct line, and not even a single female relative…
“…Someone rescued them and abandoned the remaining old, weak, women, and children?” Huiping just felt a chill run down his spine, “This is too…”
Jingzhe said calmly: “How do we know this isn’t Huang Qingtian’s choice?”
It’s not that Jingzhe has a grudge against him, so he deliberately speaks ill of him.
If they decided to escape from the beginning, bringing female relatives would indeed be a burden. Choosing only four men—the oldest, Huang Qingtian, is the head of the Huang family, so even if something happens, he has some rallying power; the others are strong and won’t drag them down.
From the perspective of the coldest interests, Huang Qingtian is the most likely to make this choice.
Even, Jingzhe was guessing whether Huang Qingtian had a backup plan from the beginning. Otherwise, in such chaotic times, how could the rescuers take away four people so accurately?
The room fell silent for a moment.
Jingzhe looked at the silence of the other two, realizing he had spoken too seriously. He knocked on the table with his bent finger and said with a smile: “Alright, even if something happened to the Huang family, we are far away in the inner court, and it has nothing to do with us. At most, we can say that the cycle of heaven is just.”
Huiping said firmly: “Good and evil will be judged by the public; those who do many injustices will surely die.”
Jingzhe smiled and didn’t speak.
Actually, he didn’t believe such words much.
What “those who do many injustices will surely die”? Was the Cen family the only one harmed by Huang Qingtian in so many years? Back then, Huang Qingtian appreciated Cen Xuanyin to the point of wanting to marry a daughter of his clan to the Cen family, yet he turned hostile just like that. So how many people offended him or were disliked by him during this period?
But he has lived peacefully for so many years until this year.
If Emperor Jingyuan hadn’t decided to eradicate the Huang family, if the Empress Dowager hadn’t gone crazy and instructed Huang Yijie to assassinate the Emperor…
Then now, Huang Qingtian would probably still be a pillar of the country about to enter the cabinet, an important minister of the court.
Who could bring him down?
Where does the retribution for good and evil come from?
These nobles turn their hands to make clouds and flip their hands to make rain. It’s just a matter of a moment, easily sacrificing the lives of those below for their likes, dislikes, and interests.
Emperor Jingyuan is like this, and Huang Qingtian is also like this.
There is no difference between the two.
Jingzhe easily changed the subject and didn’t talk about the Huang family anymore. Footsteps came from outside the room. Within a few steps, they reached the door, and then Shien poked his head in: “Is Jingzhe here?”
Jingzhe waved his hand.
Shien smiled at the others, then looked at him: “Come out for a moment.” He looked a bit serious. Jingzhe got up and went out, afraid that something had happened to him.
As soon as he went out, Shien dragged him to the corridor, and then walked a few steps to the shade of a tree, where there was no one around.
This posture looked somewhat similar to Mingyu’s just now.
Jingzhe was slightly stunned. Was Shien also going to talk to him about the Huang family?
Since people came from Qianming Palace, Jingzhe’s friends more or less knew about his family’s past.
He was just about to say he already knew, when he saw Shien press heavily on Jingzhe’s shoulder, look around to make sure no one was there, and then lower his voice: “Jingzhe, there’s a problem with Kangman, whom you asked about earlier.”
Jingzhe punched Shien on the shoulder and said grumpily: “Didn’t I tell you not to care about this matter anymore? Why did you still investigate?”
Shien chuckled: “Anyway, being idle is being idle.”
Jingzhe thought to himself, this isn’t a matter of being idle. If it weren’t because he had asked this question before, Shien would never have investigated Kangman now.
This was all because of him.
Previously, Jingzhe might not have understood Rong Jiu’s words well, but now, they rang an alarm bell for him.
His friends, even when he didn’t need it, would spontaneously do something because of him. He didn’t want this kind of power that Rong Jiu called exploitable.
Jingzhe knew the danger of that night. Those two people clearly had a conspiracy. Although their tone was flat, a hint of cruelty could be heard.
What they did couldn’t be anything good.
But Shien didn’t know.
He did it just because Jingzhe mentioned it.
“Shien, don’t do this again in the future.” Jingzhe said seriously, “You don’t know the danger.”
He told Shien what happened that night, and then said.
“I should have told you earlier, so I wouldn’t have gotten you into trouble.”
Hearing Jingzhe’s words, the smile on Shien’s face grew stronger. He shook his head and said: “No need to say that, Jingzhe. Even if you told me about this in advance, I would still investigate.”
He raised his hand to stop Jingzhe from speaking.
“Jingzhe, I told you before that I had heard of Kangman somewhere. That wasn’t just perfunctory.”
Shien’s memory has always been good. As long as he has heard of a person or seen an event, he will remember. Since he felt the name Kangman was a bit familiar, he must have heard it.
Finally, he really dug up such a person from the depths of his memory.
He had seen Kangman before, many years ago.
It was during an execution.
Kangman was once pressed down in the courtyard and caned for violating palace rules, beaten until his skin was torn and flesh gaped.
Shien is a few years older than Jingzhe.
He also entered the palace earlier.
That was something every palace servant would go through when they first entered.
There would always be one picked out as a troublemaker to warn the others, to dampen their spirits.
Kangman was such a person.
At that time, when Jingzhe entered, someone was also unlucky enough to be pressed down outside.