SEHE Chapter 96

Former Life’s Old Acquaintance

“Vice Chancellor Fang.” A student passing by bowed to the eavesdropping figure. “Why is the Vice Chancellor here? Are you not going in?”

“Just came out, was about to leave. Didn’t expect the sun to be so strong.” Fang Qingdu made a show of wiping sweat and resting for a moment. Hearing that the movement inside had stopped, he walked off in another direction.

After he had found his subordinates to discuss the general distribution of the Imperial Academy reform matters and returned to Gewu Hall, there were several erudite scholars gathered in twos and threes inside, joking about who would be the next Chancellor of the Imperial Academy.

Seeing him standing two steps away from the door, everyone fell silent.

“Where are Qi Daren and Vice Chancellor Pei?”

“They left together just now,” an assistant instructor said quietly.

Fang Qingdu snorted coldly, his expression unpleasant.

“They might as well consider the Imperial Academy their own private property.” Always mixing together, never informing him of any plans.

The surroundings fell silent for a moment.

“Vice Chancellor Fang, we all believe that the position of Imperial Academy Chancellor in a month’s time can only be yours,” an erudite scholar stepped forward and said quietly.

“That’s right, you’ve been at the Imperial Academy for six years, devoted yourself wholeheartedly to the students. That surnamed Pei has only been here for barely a month, knows nothing. Qi Daren understands this in his heart.”

These words received nods of agreement from everyone present, but Fang Qingdu’s expression only grew darker and darker.

****

While the Imperial Academy was busy with the Educational Affairs Bureau’s matters, drafting unified standards and regulations for government schools nationwide and standardizing office responsibilities, they also had to draft new admission and graduation regulations internally. Amid this intense atmosphere, Qi Xiang was about to retire.

Pei Yanci did plan to establish good relations with Fang Qingdu, but this person was like a stone in a latrine pit—stinking and hard. From beginning to end, he never gave him a pleasant expression, so he could only think of other methods.

The busy month of August was about to pass, and only then did Pei Yanci remember that he hadn’t seen Tang Xizhui for nearly a month.

Wiping his sweat, seeing that the Educational Affairs Bureau had gradually gotten on track and there was nothing particular to do in the afternoon, he had Wushu stay at the academy to help him grade students’ quiz dictations while he slipped out himself, mounted a horse, and leisurely made his way to Pingkang Ward.

The Chief Overseer’s mansion still exuded a gloomy, eerie atmosphere. Even the stone lions on either side of the entrance carried a faint scent of blood. He announced himself to the gatekeeper and, for the first time, saw a troubled expression on his face, saying he needed to report inside.

Pei Yanci sensed that Tang Xizhui’s attitude toward him seemed to have changed.

After waiting at the gate for about a quarter-hour, the gatekeeper respectfully let him in and led him to the main hall.

There were others in the hall.

Because Tang Xizhui knew he had previously been Gu Jiuqing’s person and was now with the Zheng family, they usually avoided outsiders when they met. Today, with others present, he hadn’t been informed, yet was allowed in.

Drawing closer, he saw that the person sitting beside Tang Xizhui was Fifth Prince Gu Wanchong.

For a moment, he couldn’t quite grasp what this person meant.

With his thoughts racing, he still politely bowed in greeting. “This official pays respects to Nine-Thousand-Years and His Highness Prince Qi.”

“Rise.” Tang Xizhui reclined crookedly between the armrest and chair back, his huge eyes half-closed, expression languid, not looking at him.

Beneath his loose purple robe, his entire body was tensed impossibly tight.

Seeing him bow, Gu Wanchong’s face flashed with a trace of discomfort. He instinctively wanted to stand, then seemed to remember something and sat back down.

How sharp were Tang Xizhui’s eyes—he saw through it at a glance. Looking at the person in the middle of the hall, he suddenly said, “Your Highness, Vice Chancellor Pei is one of our people.”

Gu Wanchong was somewhat surprised, looking at Pei Yanci who smiled at him calmly, his Adam’s apple unconsciously moving.

After a long while, he clasped his fists. “To gain a worthy minister is this prince’s honor.”

“To have the opportunity to serve Your Highness loyally should be this official’s honor.” Pei Yanci smiled, secretly shooting Tang Xizhui a glance.

What was this about? When had he ever said he would assist Gu Wanchong?

Tang Xizhui avoided his eyes. “This lord and His Highness still have important matters to discuss. You may leave first. Huo Cun.”

Huo Cun quickly stepped forward from behind him and led Pei Yanci away.

After the person left, Tang Xizhui asked, “Does Your Highness know Vice Chancellor Pei?”

“No.” He instinctively refuted, but after speaking, feeling it was too deliberate, he said, “I’ve seen him when visiting the Crown Prince’s mansion before, but perhaps he’s forgotten.”

“He has amnesia.”

“I see.” Gu Wanchong’s sharp eyes deepened. His hand gripped the round knob on the chair’s armrest. “Vice Chancellor Pei’s relationship with Nine-Thousand-Years….”

“Not close.” Tang Xizhui spat out these two words while holding back his anger.

“He’s someone from the Zheng family and the Crown Prince’s side. How did he end up seeking you out?”

“Naturally, this lord turned him.” Tang Xizhui said meaningfully. “Now he is loyal only to this lord.”

The fear carved into his bones faded, and a hint of savage hatred flashed across Gu Wanchong’s composed face before quickly disappearing.

“If Your Highness wishes to volunteer to return to the border, that’s fine. His Majesty will surely agree. Avoiding this place of conflict would also spare you from consorting with eunuchs and gaining a bad reputation for nothing.”

“This prince remembers that when you agreed to support this prince to contend against the Zheng family and Crown Prince, to help this prince seize the throne, your condition was…” Just mentioning that matter made Gu Wanchong feel nauseous. After steadying himself, he secretly clenched his fist. “He came to seek refuge with you. Have you made a move on him?”

“Why does Your Highness still remember that matter? It was just talk.” Tang Xizhui laughed until his whole body shook.

He had said this to many people—that he would force them to willingly lie in his bed for him to abuse at will.

But he found even a finger’s touch of a bed someone else had used disgusting.

This was merely a test of submission for certain nobles of high status, aristocratic clans, and imperial family members.

When those people crossed the threshold of what they could endure—the humiliation of a eunuch—and agreed to him, that was the moment they fell into his clutches.

When he made other demands of them afterward, it would become painless and trivial to them, and they generally wouldn’t refuse his requests again.

Besides making demands, he used many methods to train many people in the court into forms he found satisfactory. Doing these things came naturally to him.

None of this included Pei Yanci.

Just thinking of this person drove him mad.

His cold, beautiful eyes stared darkly and deeply at the person before him, as if also looking at someone else.

After Gu Wanchong returned victorious this time, for some reason, he began to disobey.

“Have you made a move on him or not?” Gu Wanchong was fixated on getting an answer to this question.

“Doesn’t Your Highness always know that those who can become this lord’s bed guests must be proud, strong men like Your Highness? Do you think this lord would fancy him?”

Gu Wanchong endured the hand slowly caressing up his arm. That cold, slippery feeling was almost no different from wringing his stomach.

Suppressing the nausea in his heart, his face darkened as he said, “What if this prince wanted you to fancy him?”

“What do you mean?” Tang Xizhui’s hand paused slightly, his eyebrow raising.

He was somewhat surprised by this answer.

His Xiao Pei’er—wasn’t he universally beloved and delectable?

“If you wanted to force him into bed, it would be easy, wouldn’t it?” Gu Wanchong said coldly. “This prince wants to personally witness you using the most humiliating methods to deal with him.”

“Isn’t Your Highness going to the border to face Great Xi?” Tang Xizhui covered his mouth with the back of his hand, concealing the coldness in his eyes. “In the short term, this lord may not be able to get him into my grasp.”

“If I go this time, I might only be able to stay there for half my life, certainly having no chance at the succession. How could this prince bear to give up half the kingdom that Nine-Thousand-Years worked so hard to secure?” Unable to bear it any longer, Gu Wanchong grabbed his increasingly presumptuous hand. That hand was boneless, smooth and tender, chilling to the core.

In an instant, he thought of vines creeping out from dark, damp, rotting earth. Fortunately, his reason remained, and he endured the nausea without flinging that hand away. He just hurriedly released it, as if holding it for one more moment would cause his hand bones to be corroded and rotted by this disgusting thing.

“As long as you make him wish he were dead, this prince can promise you—I’ll settle peacefully in Anjing City, no longer think about leading troops, until I sit on that throne.”

****

Pei Yanci sat idly in the courtyard of the living quarters. Seeing Huo Cun attending to him diligently, running about busily, he beckoned him over and asked, “Attendant Huo, I seem to remember that you once arrested Jiang Yi.”

Huo Cun’s expression changed slightly, his voice trembling with fear. “Vice Chancellor Pei, that was so long ago. This humble one was just following foster father’s orders, pretending to beat you but didn’t control my strength for a moment and injured you. Foster father nearly beat me half to death afterward. Please spare this humble one, I’ll kowtow to you if you want.”

As he spoke he was about to kneel, but just as his legs bent, his knees were blocked by a toe.

“I’m not bringing up old accounts.” Pei Yanci said. “Jiang Yi is the Fifth Prince’s person. Fifth Prince and Nine-Thousand-Years are allies. Why were you so blind as to arrest Jiang Yi back then?”

“We didn’t know about this at the time! Jiang Yi also didn’t understand court rules and didn’t reveal that he had a life-and-death bond with the Fifth Prince on the battlefield. After you got him out, we learned about it from the Fifth Prince.”

“Why didn’t the Fifth Prince demand that Nine-Thousand-Years release him at the time?”

“Well, his relationship with foster father… Let’s just say foster father needed a pretext to deal with the Zheng family and the Crown Prince. Whoever foster father arrests, he never informs him. Fifth Prince was still at the border handling some matters at that time, delayed for several months, so naturally no one told him.”

“The army had already returned in triumph. What was he doing staying at the border?”

“Said he was investigating some matters, but it was really just an excuse. He really didn’t want to return to court, because returning meant facing foster father and being at someone’s beck and call—how could a prince of royal blood endure that?”

“What family is his maternal clan?”

“A minor official from a small household, though better than the Crown Prince’s maternal clan. But he had divine strength since childhood and was considered an auspicious sign by His Majesty, quite beloved, with circumstances much better than the Crown Prince’s.”

“The few times I’ve seen him before, he always looked bitter and resentful. I thought his days weren’t going smoothly.”

“Quite so! Remember before? Who in the palace or outside didn’t greet him with smiles? Fifth Prince is also a natural-born military commander. Whenever he led campaigns, he won victories. His Majesty adored him. Back then, he didn’t even take foster father seriously, proud as anything. If not for what happened recently, he wouldn’t have his current lifeless, gloomy appearance.” Speaking of this, Huo Cun smiled smugly.

“Oh? What happened?”

Huo Cun’s voice carried a kind of hidden schadenfreude, excitedly saying, “His maternal clan—two hundred thirty-five people—in one night, all were convicted and imprisoned!”

“Hmm?” That number—how was it the same as an edict he had issued in his previous life?

Quite a coincidence.

Though that time it was the main family’s close relatives, not the maternal clan.

“This is the consequence of defying our Elu Bureau, of defying foster father!”

“Not one more or less?”

“All clearly recorded in the case files. Not one life wrongly accused.”

“What were they convicted of?”

“Insubordination, the crime of disrespecting the emperor.”

Really a coincidence.

Unfortunately, not from his previous life.

That great general wasn’t named Gu Wanchong and didn’t look like that either.

“Using clan members’ lives as hostages—even if you eventually help someone sit on that throne, they won’t remember any of your current kindness.” Pei Yanci said.

Huo Cun was about to respond when Tang Xizhui’s voice came from the entrance.

“You brat, taking advantage of this lord’s absence to cozy up to Xiao Pei’er again, are you?”