SEHE Chapter 99

Old Matters

Pei Yanci was no match for someone who had trained in martial arts for years, especially one with such natural divine strength. He only managed a startled cry before being pressed down onto the carriage floor, both hands twisted behind his back.

A rough hand reached into the back of his neck, calloused knuckles sliding across the smooth skin, causing him to tremble all over. “Let go!”

This angry shout carried the majestic authority of an emperor that brooked no refusal. Gu Wanchong’s entire body shuddered with a chill, his hands pausing for a moment, then without hesitation he tore open his collar even wider.

On the right side between the back of the neck and shoulder, the character “slave” (奴) was revealed.

The skin there appeared more tender than elsewhere, having been branded, bearing a faint peach-pink scar.

His rough fingertips traced over that “slave” character, carefully outlining it stroke by stroke. The slightly uneven texture was completely different from the surrounding smooth and delicate skin.

In his memory, there should have been a red birthmark shaped like four bamboo leaves there.

But this place had been branded with hot iron—what the original skin had looked like was now unknowable.

He pondered this, and inadvertently raised his eyes. Pei Yanci’s half-bound hair was somewhat disheveled, his left cheek pressed against the ice silk mat. Through his scattered hair, his upturned round nose tip was slightly red, his crescent moon-shaped eyes moistened with a haze, reddening the rims. Even in his extreme anger, he could only endure it with wronged forbearance.

Thinking of something unknown, his face flushed red, becoming somewhat awkward. “Apologies, I was discourteous.”

His hand had just loosened its force when the person beneath him twisted his body and raised a fist to strike at his face.

“Hiss——” The next moment, it was Pei Yanci crying out in pain again.

By the time Gu Wanchong realized it, he had already grabbed the man’s hand again, twisting it behind his waist and pressing him back down to the floor.

“Let go!”

The summer garment was thin. Pei Yanci’s collar had been torn open, and after several struggles, one side of his clothing had slipped to his upper arm, exposing his snow-white rounded shoulder, half his chest, and a curve of collarbone. He glared at him with defiant, unyielding eyes.

“Is this how the dignified Fifth Prince humiliates his subjects?”

Pei Yanci cursed inwardly. It seemed his skills still weren’t good enough—after today, he’d have to practice twice as hard!

“This prince—I—I didn’t mean it like that.” Seeing those familiar eyes reveal an expression of wanting to cut him into a thousand pieces, Gu Wanchong’s spirit wavered, his imposing manner dissipating instantly, becoming somewhat weak.

“Don’t make any moves, let’s talk this through properly.” He spoke calmly and reasonably.

“Have you been speaking properly to me!”

Getting on the carriage and immediately pressing him down and stripping his clothes—was this a normal attitude for having a conversation?

“My apologies.” Gu Wanchong felt he was in the wrong and slowly released his grip.

Without hesitation, Pei Yanci kicked him squarely in the chest. The unrestrained force made him crash into the back wall of the carriage and bounce back, causing the entire carriage to shake.

The driver stopped the carriage, and hearing coughing sounds from inside, called out anxiously, “Your Highness?”

“Continue on.”

The carriage started moving again.

Pei Yanci felt much better in his heart. He sat up and swept back all the disheveled hair sticking to his temples with his fingers, then methodically straightened his open collar.

When his fingertips passed over the back of his neck, he paused.

That person had seemed to be staring at this spot just now.

Besides the official slave brand, what else was there?

Pei Yanci looked at Gu Wanchong with an inscrutable expression.

His Highness Prince Qi sat leaning against the inner side, coughing lowly several times before he could catch his breath. His hand rubbed his chest where he’d been kicked, but his gaze lingered on him.

Was it him, or wasn’t it?

Better to kill wrongly than let him go.

Right now he was just a sixth-rank minor official, born of slave status, with no one to rely on, while he himself was an exalted prince. Killing him would be as easy as turning over his hand.

Once this thought arose, it refused to leave his mind.

Looking up, he discovered that Pei Yanci’s gaze was cruel and compelling.

That familiar, inescapable nightmare began to stir.

Pei Yanci’s fingers smoothed his collar, and looking at him, he slowly revealed a smile.

“What was the Fifth Prince looking for just now?”

“Nothing.” Instinctively, Gu Wanchong’s voice took on a tremor.

“Didn’t you already touch it? This subordinate has an official slave brand on the back of his neck.”

He said nothing.

“But before being branded, there was also a birthmark there. The eunuchs who attended to this subordinate knew of this birthmark, the ministers who found me and brought me back to the palace knew of it, the imperial clan knew of it, and besides them, I only showed it to one other person.” He knelt on the cool mat in the carriage, his upper body slowly leaning forward, appreciating how his face gradually turned deathly pale, further confirming his suspicion.

“Chang Shuangchong, you have disappointed this lord greatly.”

Hearing that familiar name, Gu Wanchong’s face completely turned ashen.

That nightmare had become real.

“What are you afraid of?” Pei Yanci straightened his body, looking at him with amusement.

This was also something that had puzzled him throughout his previous life.

He had already given this person the greatest power, yet he still feared him.

Gu Wanchong didn’t know why either—why he feared him so much.

Especially those eyes.

He was terrified of them.

Those weren’t eyes—they were mirrors that could peer into the secrets of his heart at any time, the sharpest and most merciless swords in the world.

This person was the nightmare that caused all the suffering and pain in his past and present lives.

He called it a nightmare because before today, he still didn’t know whether it was real or not.

Returning to Anjing this time, at Jiang Yi’s residence, the instant he first saw this person, a segment of memories that didn’t belong to him surged into his mind.

The memories of another person’s life of ups and downs.

He couldn’t distinguish whether he had actually experienced it himself or not. His previous life—that man named Chang Shuangchong—was completely different from him in height, appearance, age, and family background, yet he could deeply feel all of that person’s suffering and joy.

That was his previous life; he himself was its present incarnation.

After encountering this man named Pei Yanci, his clan—his maternal family—all ended up in prison as well.

And in his previous life, he ultimately died in battle in a war that followed closely after the emperor’s death.

In his previous life, Chang Shuangchong both hated and feared this person, to the extent that those intense emotions still controlled him in this lifetime.

“You used yourself as bait, fabricated charges of great disrespect, framed Chang Shuangchong’s entire clan and had them thrown into prison, forced him to go die on the battlefield, and now you ask me what I’m afraid of? What do you think I could be afraid of!” His eyes were bloodshot, almost ready to kill him on the spot. “And to think he trusted you so much.”

“Trusted this lord?” Pei Yanci’s smile was cold, as if he’d heard the world’s greatest joke. “If he truly trusted me with all his heart, he wouldn’t have attempted rebellion, wouldn’t have attempted to overthrow the Great Tao imperial family.”

Gu Wanchong’s expression condensed slightly. Thinking carefully, there truly was such a memory.

Under the emperor’s instigation and indulgence, the Chang family’s ambitions grew ever more inflated, attempting to raise troops in rebellion. However, the mastermind was summoned into the palace by Pei Yanci the day before the plan, leading to that drunken night.

At the moment when the two embraced, with one inadvertent murmur, Chang Shuangchong keenly realized that he and the Chang family’s plans were entirely within the grasp of this young emperor.

When your opponent knows everything from start to finish, when even your power and methods were secretly planned and cultivated by him—in that moment, no one’s heart could muster even a shred of courage.

The emperor knew of his rebellion.

And indeed this was true—Pei Yanci acknowledged it in that moment.

Yet Chang Shuangchong knew nothing about the emperor he wanted to overthrow. In that moment, he didn’t even know whether the people around him and his subordinates were loyal to him or to the emperor.

Thinking himself brilliant with unparalleled strategy, carefully planning and gambling the lives and futures of his entire clan, only to discover in the end that he was merely a canary the emperor toyed with for amusement, never even touching the edge of the cage.

Who wouldn’t be afraid?

“I…” Gu Wanchong was at a loss for words.

Pei Yanci shook his head and sighed. “It seems you’ve remembered. Shuangchong, tell me honestly—did this lord ever treat you unfairly? Your family—did this lord wrong them?”

“Then in this lifetime, my family, this prince’s maternal clan—why were they arrested by the Elu Bureau? He was your accomplice!” Gu Wanchong shrieked with sharp desperation.

“You’ll have to ask Nine-Thousand-Years about that. It has nothing to do with this lord.” Pei Yanci chuckled lightly. “Perhaps it’s because you repeated the same mistakes, and again harbored thoughts you shouldn’t have.”

Gu Wanchong had indeed conceived thoughts of breaking free from Tang Xizhui’s pursuit and turning against him.

“The crime of treason—this lord merely imprisoned your family and waited for news of your successive victories before giving you another chance at forgiveness. Being so lenient and kind—are you still not satisfied?”

Pei Yanci looked at him as if he were a living, breathing “ungrateful wretch.”

Gu Wanchong was rendered speechless by his words.

As a military general, he—or rather Chang Shuangchong—was not skilled in rhetoric.

The carriage stopped. “Vice Chancellor Pei, which way exactly should we go?”

Pei Yanci lifted a corner of the door curtain and saw it was the alley entrance near his small courtyard—a remote location where no one passed by.

“Thank you for the trouble. I can get off here.” He smiled, his voice clear and bright.

“Wait.” Gu Wanchong saw him get off the carriage and chased after him. Just as he lifted the door curtain, the driver fell stiffly at his feet, eyes wide open in death, still staring at him. Blood still spurted from his neck, splashing his robes like blood-stained plum blossoms.

He stood frozen for a moment.

“The Fifth Prince may need to hire another carriage to return.” Pei Yanci wiped the blood from his dagger clean and calmly tucked it back into his long boot. “There are always a few unlucky souls in the world who accidentally hear things they shouldn’t. Your Highness, give his family a generous burial fee—we owe him that much.”

Two taels of silver fell from the dead body’s sleeve, rolled on the carriage shaft, and fell to the ground, no longer of concern to anyone.

****

Huo Cun delivered the investigation results on Fang Qingdu and Qi Xiang to Pei Yanci overnight. Pei Yanci flipped through them without much interest. As expected, they hadn’t even done anything like collecting a few extra taels of silver from students—they were quite clean.

The next day, he still went to see Qi Xiang, directly stating that Fang Qingdu still disliked him.

“Daren, I think it’s better to have different voices in an office.” He tried to persuade him from another angle. “If everyone’s opinions are uniform, it’s easy to form a situation where one voice dominates, making it easy to be deceived. When Fang Daren and this subordinate disagree, in the future when we encounter matters we can debate more, and solutions are found through such debates.”

“That’s the principle.” Qi Xiang nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier? I already submitted the recommendation memorial yesterday.”

So fast.

“Who did daren recommend?”

“You.”

This old rascal was deliberately keeping him in suspense.

Qi Xiang was amused into hearty laughter, with the mischievous air of successful teasing. “Actually, if I followed His Majesty’s intentions, I should recommend Qingdu. He has proper background, experience, and honestly speaking, his abilities aren’t bad either. He does things with principles, and his character and nature have remained consistent for decades. Everyone at the Imperial Academy respects him—which is why I wanted you to improve your relationship with him, so that in the future when conducting business, people will listen to you. But at this critical juncture, his uprightness makes him unsuitable. What’s needed now is someone with more diverse methods, someone more radical, to carve out a new path for the Imperial Academy, which has already begun heading toward its end.”

“This subordinate is unworthy.” Pei Yanci bowed.

Qi Xiang smiled warmly. “Yanci, you have strong ambition, and for it you’ll even use any means necessary. Qingdu and I can see this clearly. The Imperial Academy may just be a stepping stone for you, but I hope that for my sake, you won’t at least let it down.”

“Remember—education is the foundation of a nation’s rise and fall.”