Chapter 66 - 1#
Continuous blizzards had submerged the entire Imperial City in pure white. Various relief institutions like the Beitian Court, Juyang Court, and the Civilian Pharmacy had all made ample preparations under the court’s orders.
If this continued, the common people would surely suffer.
The guards responsible for city defense strengthened their patrols, inspecting houses throughout the capital and urging the clearing of accumulated snow to prevent houses from collapsing. Thanks to such measures, the situation had not yet spiraled out of control.
On this day, Shen Zikun ventured out into the snow, followed by eight guards outside his carriage.
Ever since Shen Zikun was attacked, the Wu clan changed their previous low profile and recruited many retainers, including martial artists with high skills.
Whenever Shen Zikun went out, he had to take these people with him.
Even when attending court, it was no exception.
The Shen family’s move naturally attracted side-eyes.
However, given Shen Zikun’s previous attack, although there were some complaints, it was not incomprehensible.
This time, he was going to visit a Hanlin scholar.
Shen Zikun and the current Hanlin scholar, Liu Chengru, were friends. They bonded over literature, their friendship transcending generation and politics. Every month or so, they would meet to chat, finding joy in it.
Even in such heavy snow, if Liu Chengru felt inclined to send him an invitation, and it happened to be Shen Zikun’s day off, he would also feel inclined to go.
In the heavy snow, the carriage moved very slowly.
The cold wind blew so hard that one could hardly open their eyes, and even the carriage curtains were blown about wildly.
The person inside the carriage was not feeling much better.
Shen Zikun sat on his heels inside the carriage. The warmth emitted by the charcoal basin in the corner was swept away by the cold wind blowing in before it could even warm up the space.
Frowning, he looked at the letter in his hand over and over again.
Shen Zikun and Liu Chengru were very familiar with each other.
Their friendship went back decades, to when they were classmates.
Shen Zikun had seen Liu Chengru’s handwriting countless times, but the letter sent today, although in his handwriting, looked very strange no matter how he looked at it.
It was as if every word and sentence had been copied.
In fact, the post sent by Liu Chengru was not to meet Shen Zikun, but rather to postpone their scheduled meeting.
That was to be three days later.
It was because Shen Zikun sensed something wrong that he decided to travel in the snow. Otherwise, no matter how good his relationship with Liu Chengru was, how could he insist on traveling in such a blizzard?
He was not a harsh person who insisted on tormenting the guards under him.
After finally rushing to the Liu residence, the guards went up to call at the door. They knocked for a long time before someone came to answer.
The servant who answered the door looked panicked. He tried to send the guards away with a few words, but then he saw Shen Zikun, wrapped in a cloak, getting off the carriage into the snow.
In that instant, his face turned pale, and he reflexively slammed the door shut.
Shen Zikun’s face darkened, and he said sternly, “Kick it open.”
The Liu family servants had never dared to be so disrespectful to him.
How could Shen Zikun not realize something had happened?
He had brought many guards, including several fierce martial artists from the Jianghu. Upon hearing the order, they immediately stepped forward. A few burly men kicked a few times, and the gate crashed down halfway, revealing the messy courtyard behind it.
The servant who answered the door wanted to run but was caught by the guards. The rest followed Shen Zikun and barged in.
The Liu residence was a mess. On the way to the main courtyard, a corpse was lying on the ground.
At a glance, it was clear that a major incident had occurred.
Soon, the scattered guards brought back a man and a woman from the backyard and searched out a lot of valuables, gold, and silver from them.
Shen Zikun looked closely and could hardly believe his eyes.
The man was Liu Chengru’s only son, Liu Haoming.
“Lord Shen, we found the bodies of Lord Liu, Madam Liu, and the Young Madam in the main courtyard.”
Shen Zikun’s figure swayed, almost losing his balance.
Liu Haoming’s voice, in the ice and snow, was even more shrill than the wailing of evil spirits: “I didn’t mean to do that, that wasn’t me, wasn’t me… It must be an evil spirit possessing me, making me do such cruel things!”
Restrained by the guards, he acted like a madman, still一心 wanting to pounce on the other woman.
Upon investigation, she was a concubine Liu Haoming had recently taken.
She was much more beautiful than Liu Haoming’s legitimate wife and had easily bewitched Liu Haoming’s heart, so much so that he had thoughts of divorcing his wife.
However, the Young Madam was well-liked by the two elders. They absolutely did not agree to this matter and had argued with Liu Haoming several times about it.
This morning, it was originally the same.
As a result, whether Liu Haoming was provoked or the ground was too slippery, during the fierce quarrel between father and son, Liu Haoming shoved Liu Chengru’s shoulder hard. He lost his balance, fell to the ground, and never got up again.
Madam Liu heard the commotion from inside the house and came out with the Young Madam, witnessing this tragedy.
In her rage, the Young Madam broke out into a fierce conflict with Liu Haoming and was strangled to death by him alive. Suffering these successive blows, Madam Liu could not catch her breath and was angered to death by Liu Haoming.
In an instant, the death of three people in succession terrified Liu Haoming as well.
“I really… Lord Shen, Uncle Shen, believe me, you watched me grow up, you should know how much I respect and love my father, I never thought of killing him…”
He cried until snot and tears flowed out, looking wretched and pitiful.
Shen Zikun walked up to Liu Haoming, squatted down, and looked into his frantic eyes.
“Your father’s matter might indeed have been an accident.”
A trace of hope rose in Liu Haoming’s eyes, and he nodded desperately.
“However, you strangled your wife, angered your mother to death, killed the old housekeeper who tried to report to the officials, and copied your father’s handwriting to send a post to me… Zichun,” Shen Zikun called Liu Haoming by his courtesy name, his voice filled with grief, “I watched you grow up, how could I not know what you are thinking?”
Blocking news, postponing the meeting, packing valuables.
He wanted to flee the capital with his concubine, not even caring to collect the bodies of his old parents.
How could there be such a person, worse than pigs and dogs?
…
Shen Zikun had left hurriedly in the morning, but when he returned, it was already evening. By this time, the tragedy of the Liu residence had spread throughout the capital.
Killing his father, mother, and wife; it was simply against all human relations.
Madam Wu came up to him, wanting to speak but stopping.
She knew that Shen Zikun had a deep relationship with Liu Chengru. Now that such a major event had happened in the Liu family, Shen Zikun’s usually straight back was somewhat bent.
Not to mention that he handled this matter personally. The evidence was conclusive. Although the sentence could not be passed immediately, the person had already been thrown into prison.
Madam Wu rarely saw Shen Zikun so despondent. Having been married to him for so many years, she had only seen it twice.
Once was now.
The time before that traced back to over ten years ago.
Shen Zikun said wearily, “I want to drink some wine.”
“I’ve already had someone warm it up,” Madam Wu said softly. “I made a few side dishes for you. Do you want Xian’er to accompany you?”
Shen Zikun did not really love drinking.
But when he was depressed, he would drink to relieve his sorrow.
Occasionally, he would seek his eldest son, Shen Xian, to accompany him.
Shen Zikun put his hand on Madam Wu’s shoulder and said in a low voice, “No need, you just drink two cups with me.”
He said he wanted company, but Shen Zikun poured it down cup after cup by himself, burning so much that even his heart felt on fire.
Shen Zikun was very angry.
He hadn’t been this furious for a long time.
At the Liu residence, if he hadn’t retained a few shreds of reason, he really would have wished to kill Liu Haoming.
Madam Wu couldn’t bear to see Shen Zikun pouring it down like this and hurriedly held his arm: “You can’t drink like this anymore, have you forgotten last time…” Her words stopped abruptly before she finished.
This was almost a taboo in the Shen residence.
Shen Zikun originally wanted to drink more, but hearing Madam Wu’s words, he could only smile bitterly and let Madam Wu take the wine cup from his hand.
He murmured, “That kid Liu Zichun, I watched him grow up with my own eyes. When he married that little girl from the Che family back then, he swore in front of Che Ze that he would only have this one wife in his life… How many years has it been?”
Calculating it, it was only four or five years.
Madam Wu said faintly, “Human hearts are fickle. Promises made easily become a joke instead.”
For women, this was almost the most common thing. Men could seek flowers and ask willows, but they had to assist their husbands and educate their children; this was already a fact they had to resign themselves to.
Empress Dowager Cisheng was like this back then, and the current Young Madam Liu was the same.
Shen Zikun smiled bitterly and shook his head, whispering, “Madam, I don’t understand. If it can’t be done, why promise in the first place?”
Madam Wu: “You are a gentleman. Gentlemen value promises, so promises to you are as heavy as life. But there are few people like you in the world. If everyone were a gentleman, wouldn’t the world be a utopia?”
Shen Zikun was silent for a while: “I am not a gentleman.”
If he were, he wouldn’t have the impulse to kill someone in his rage, like now, like back then.
What happened today made him recall the past.
Thinking of this, he actually became somewhat entranced.
Shen Zikun back then was once the Grand Tutor to the late Emperor.
He relied on the Shen family’s foundation, Dean Shen’s fame, and his own abilities.
That was why he had such status at a young age.
Later, his sister Shen Si married into the Imperial Family. Shen Zikun originally thought this was a rare and harmonious marriage. At least the two liked each other, which was much better than a blind marriage.
As for wealth and glory, he didn’t think much about it.
Who would have thought that such a delusion would become a joke in just a few years?
This was also very painful for Shen Si, but Shen Zikun absolutely never expected that his consistently gentle and lovely sister would eventually turn into that appearance.
If she no longer loved the Emperor, whether she wanted to leave the palace or take revenge on the Emperor, Shen Zikun would have done his best to help her.
But she shouldn’t have done that.
The Emperor had many children. The prince born to Shen Si was only ranked ninth.
Since she didn’t love him, how could the Emperor value him? Her abuse only made that child’s situation worse like adding snow to frost.
Shen Zikun still remembered that the first time he spoke to that child was at an Imperial banquet.
In the few meetings before, there hadn’t even been time to speak.
Halfway through the banquet, the Emperor wanted to find him.
Shen Zikun got up to follow. Not long after, the palace servant leading him suddenly stopped, looked at the child opposite, and bowed, saying, “Ninth Prince, why are you here?”
Immediately, there was a fairly crisp voice: “I lost something, I’m looking for it here.”
Ninth Prince?
Shen Zikun looked past the palace servant at the child opposite.
He looked very thin, not very old, and seemed to float inside the ill-fitting prince’s attire.
It was just that on his right face, there were red and swollen marks.
Five distinct finger marks, freshly slapped.
The slap mark on the Ninth Prince’s face was so obvious that Shen Zikun couldn’t ignore it, but neither the Ninth Prince nor the leading eunuch turned a blind eye to it, as if they didn’t see it at all.
That eunuch actually wanted to lead Shen Zikun forward.
How could Shen Zikun endure it? He said in a low tone, “This Gonggong, please stay.” He looked at the Ninth Prince, “I have a few words I want to say to the Ninth Prince.”
The leading eunuch looked troubled: “But, Lord Shen, His Majesty is still waiting for you…”
“Then let him wait.” Shen Zikun said coldly, “If he feels what I’m doing is improper, let him come personally to arrest me.”
Once Shen Zikun said this, how could the leading eunuch not sense the anger in him? He lowered his head abruptly, daring not to speak again.
Shen Zikun dared to say this, but he didn’t dare to repeat it.
Shen Zikun left those words and strode toward the Ninth Prince.
He saw the child stop in place, not retreating, staring at him with a pair of bright black eyes: “Shen?”
Shen Zikun: “I am your, Uncle.”
Saying those last two words, Shen Zikun actually felt a strange sense of shame.
“Who hit you?”
After the Empress gave birth to the Ninth Prince, the Emperor’s favor for the Central Palace returned to the beginning. However, it was known to everyone that the relationship between this resentful couple was bad.
Only Shen Zikun never expected that someone would be so bold as to humiliate the son of the Central Palace like this.
“It was Mother.”
The Ninth Prince said flatly, “I went to visit her just now. Mother was very angry when she saw me. She slapped me and ordered someone to take me to the lotus pond to soak in the water for a few hours.”
He ran away halfway, and in his anxiousness, he lost something.
Now, he was just coming back to look for it.
Shen Zikun almost didn’t understand the meaning of the words he heard. Clearly, he knew every word, but combined together, it was so absurd and ridiculous.
This was early winter!
The Empress made a young child go soak in water; wouldn’t this take his life?
The Ninth Prince looked at the thin anger on Shen Zikun’s face, looking puzzled: “Mother wants me dead, isn’t this a secret known to the entire palace?”
His calmness was so cold it chilled one to the bone.
Shen Zikun could no longer recall what kind of expression he had at that time.
But he firmly remembered the indifference on Helian Rong’s face.
At that moment, a hatred for the Emperor inexplicably rose in Shen Zikun’s heart.
“That year, I also hated him so much I almost wanted to kill him.” Shen Zikun murmured, “I hate that he didn’t keep his word, I hate that he forced Shen Si into that state, I hate that he didn’t protect that child well.”
Whether as a husband or a father, the late Emperor was undoubtedly derelict in his duties.
Madam Wu grabbed Shen Zikun’s arm and said softly, “But now, His Majesty is also living very well, so don’t think about the things of the past anymore…”
Shen Zikun smiled bitterly and shook his head: “Living very well? Madam, you haven’t seen him when he was young, so you naturally feel he is well. But, His Majesty being like this now, in no way counts as very well.”
What kind of good?
Becoming the Emperor, in this position above one person and below ten thousand, was naturally very good.