SEHE Chapter 150.1

The Funeral Procession

He was Tangxi Zhui, yet not the Chief Overseer of the Elu Bureau…

In the early morning of the twenty-sixth day of the third month of the sixth year of Qingning, the Emperor of Great Yu passed away during the chaos in the capital at the age of fifty-three, posthumously known as Emperor Xiaoming.

His death marked the beginning of this chaotic situation moving toward an ending that no one at the time could have anticipated.

The next day, Qi Lan’s remnant forces fled north and encountered Xu Xiangqian’s troops, being captured in Xiangzhou.

On the eighth day of the fourth month, Zhang Dongqin went to Shuangfeng Pass to negotiate peace talks with Great Xi. The Great Xi envoy was attacked, with both sides accusing the other of orchestrating it, causing the negotiations to collapse. As news of Anjing’s brief fall and the Emperor’s death became known to the world, indignation surged throughout the court and the realm. Pei Yanci seized the opportunity to reform the military registration system, with enlisted troops numbering in the millions.

On the tenth, Jiang Yi led five hundred thousand troops to the border, bringing with them an imperial edict summoning Xu Xiangqian alone back to the capital.

With Great Xi forces reaching the imperial city and causing the Emperor’s death, he bore tremendous guilt.

His return to the capital was merely a small stone thrown into a lake—the court had long been churning with hidden currents and treacherous waves.

Who would be the dynasty’s next emperor?

This matter concerned Pei Yanci, Cui Ya, and Gu Jiuqing even more so.

Emperor Xiaoming had died too suddenly, without even having time to write an edict.

Before the forty-nine day mourning period had passed, Jian Ji’an, as the Crown Prince’s foremost subordinate, had already secretly contacted Crown Prince faction forces, proposing preparations for Gu Jiuqing to perform the heaven sacrifice and ascend the throne.

First and foremost, Cui Ya opposed it.

Gu Wanchong now controlled the Northern Yamen Imperial Army. If he directly killed Gu Jiuqing and became emperor himself, at most he would have the reputation of an illegitimate succession—this was common throughout history. What mattered was obtaining the realm in the present.

Gu Jiuqing’s disadvantage was obvious—he had no military power.

The Ten Commands of the Eastern Palace were merely nominal. The Emperor had never given him a single soldier, leaving him with a favorable political situation in court but suffering from lack of military support.

“He is the Crown Prince; his ascension follows the Mandate of Heaven,” Huo Cun said, standing by the desk. “Adoptive father, what should we do now?”

“What about Gu Wanchong?” Pei Yanci took a sip of tea and asked.

He had always been skeptical of this man’s allegiance.

“He’s been rectifying discipline in the Northern Yamen Imperial Army lately. Many soldiers deserted during the city defense battle, severely damaging morale and causing chaos in their own ranks. He’s killed quite a few people these past days. If he keeps killing, the historians will curse him to death.” Huo Cun wailed, though a gloating smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“And Cui Ya actually hasn’t stopped him?”

Huo Cun bent down, covering his mouth as he whispered, “He’s been getting rather close to Princess Zhangping lately.”

Pei Yanci was not surprised.

“Plant a few more people in the Northern Yamen Imperial Army. If he makes any unusual moves…”

“Understood.” Huo Cun loved doing this sort of thing most.

“Also, arrange a meeting for me with Peng Chulang.” His eyes grew contemplative. “The people I asked you to find—Cui Nan and Gu Xing—what’s their current status?”

“Cui Nan has been promoted to sixth-rank Xiaoqi Commandant, and Gu Xing is a Xiaowei. Additionally, the Lu brothers have become Jiang Yi’s deputy generals.”

Pei Yanci looked at the map of the realm on his desk. Great Xi and Great Yu were divided north and south—he could only hope that using Emperor Xiaoming as a sacrifice to heaven would awaken the fighting spirit of Great Yu’s sons.

After all, it was the Son of Heaven’s blood.

“Daren, Qi Lan has been brought,” said an Elu Bureau guard outside the door.

Huo Cun perceptively left, and even more perceptively immediately reported this matter to Tangxi Zhui.

Tangxi Zhui was about to go out when he heard this and paused mid-step, saying, “I’ll go and come right back. Don’t tell Xiao Pei’er I went out.”

Huo Cun frowned but still obediently remained silent.

In the tea room, Pei Yanci looked at the trussed-up Qi Lan and laughed aloud. “Good nephew, tell me, of all things you could learn, why did you have to learn the Zheng family’s rebellious nature?”

Qi Lan’s hair was disheveled, the brown hemp rope cutting into his bulging honey-colored skin. He raised his head defiantly, and seeing it was him, his wolf-like eyes filled with indescribable wildness.

His gaze slid from Pei Yanci’s clear and handsome face down to the wooden clogs visible beneath the hem of his snow-white loose robe, noting five round toes of varying sizes tinged with pink, as if they had just been sucked not long ago. His sharp eyes caught several translucent red tooth marks on the toe tips.

“Pei Daren is certainly living a pleasantly amorous life,” Qi Lan said, standing up from his muddy prone position. Ignoring his hands bound behind his back, he sat opposite him. “I’m dying of thirst—pour me some water.”

“You’re certainly not shy,” Pei Yanci scoffed, but still poured him a cup of tea.

“You dare to be alone in a room with me, so why shouldn’t I be bold?” Qi Lan’s lips touched the celadon cup as he asked, “Have you taken up with Great Yu’s Crown Prince?”

“What makes you say that?”

“When I left, you and the Crown Prince were already all over each other. Now that he’s about to ascend the throne, you’re definitely eagerly cozying up to him… Ah, slow down!”

“Using my tea to wash your mouth is truly a waste,” Pei Yanci said, having force-fed him the tea before setting the cup down heavily in front of him.

“I hit the mark, didn’t I?” Qi Lan leaned back against the chair, looking perfectly at ease, his eyes never leaving him for a moment. “You deliberately had someone tip me off back then, didn’t you?”

“Good nephew, given our relationship, would I need to be deliberate about saving you?” Pei Yanci smiled lightly.

“Bullsh*t! You’re black-hearted! And here I was grateful to you before.” Qi Lan cursed furiously. “You would tip me off in advance and help me escape Great Yu—I thought you were doing a good deed for the day. But after coming to Great Yu this time, I learned that one of your subordinates had been in the process of handing military authority back at that very time. I rushed back to Great Xi, rallied my old troops to rebel and claim the throne, then killed my way back to Great Yu, intending to rescue my imperial mother, but it also allowed your subordinate to obtain military power.”

“Not completely stupid after all.”

“What do you take me for!” Qi Lan jumped up.

“A defeated opponent, a fool who acts on emotion,” Pei Yanci said. “You treat her as your imperial mother, but you should see whether she acknowledges you. The imperial family has never been sentimental—just wait and see.”

“Don’t try to drive a wedge between me and my imperial mother.”

“Unweaned brat,” Pei Yanci threw him a mocking look.

Qi Lan looked at him like a wolf cub, eyes wide with fury, ready to tear the person across the table to shreds.

“You’re even younger than me—what right do you have to say that!”

“The right that you still listen to your mother,” Pei Yanci teased him.

Qi Lan actually lunged to bite his wrist, but Pei Yanci was quick-eyed and grabbed the nearby teapot to smash against his head.

Scalding tea splashed over his face as he cried out in alarm. “Pei Yanci, nothing good ever happens when I meet you!”

“As if meeting you is a good thing for me!” Pei Yanci said irritably, rubbing his wrist.

The two cursed at each other, then suddenly stopped with tacit understanding, and inadvertently, their eyes met.

Both faces looking at each other couldn’t help but smile simultaneously.

“Such a pity I couldn’t face you blade-to-blade on the battlefield,” Qi Lan said, leaning back against the chair and propping up his feet casually. “I would have definitely beaten you into a pulp, and then I’d be the one dragging you off to the Great Xi palace.”

“Dream on. The political arena is also a battlefield without visible smoke—lose just once and it’s enough to cost you your life and your friends’ and family’s lives. You’re a defeated opponent because you’re inadequate.”

“How are you so infuriating?” Qi Lan slapped the table.

“I thought after returning to Great Xi your skills would have declined too. Someone come,” Pei Yanci called out. “Take the Great Xi Emperor back to the Elu Bureau prison, and while you’re at it, pierce his collarbone too.”

“How can you be so vicious… Wait, I still have something to say.” Seeing he was serious, Qi Lan broke out in cold sweat and hastily spoke up.

****

Pei Yanci had Qi Lan taken away, then met with several more people. Only when everything was nearly done did he realize he hadn’t seen Tangxi Zhui at all.

“Where’s your adoptive father?” he asked Huo Cun.

Huo Cun hemmed and hawed. “This… this… this slave doesn’t know either.”

It had been most of the day—how had he not returned yet?

Pei Yanci’s eyes narrowed slightly as he took a step closer.

Huo Cun’s hands clasped in front of him trembled uncontrollably, his eyes darting about in panic.

“Big brother, this is bad.”

Wuli rushed in. Ever since he’d participated in the battle on the city walls, he’d been unable to eat or sleep well for half a month, getting nauseous at the sight of meat, which had made him lose a considerable amount of weight and become much lighter.

Huo Cun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“The eunuch working for that eunuch beside the Crown Prince just arrested that dog eunuch on the street!”

“Who did you say?!” Huo Cun’s voice immediately rose in a shrill shriek.

Pei Yanci pulled him behind himself. “Speak slowly.”

Wuli recounted the events in a disjointed manner, concluding, “Big brother, you’d better go save him quickly, or you’ll be a widower soon enough.”

“Shut your crow’s mouth.”

Even if something happened to Tangxi Zhui, it wouldn’t come to widowhood.

“No rush, I’ll first call the Elu Bureau—with more people it’ll be easier to rescue adoptive father,” Huo Cun said.

“Don’t make things worse,” Pei Yanci stopped him. “Calling the Elu Bureau—can we threaten the Crown Prince to release him?”

“Then what do we do?” Huo Cun asked anxiously.

“They haven’t made any moves yet, so we can’t panic first,” Pei Yanci said calmly. “The Crown Prince captured him but won’t directly kill him.”

When Gu Jiuqing had learned Tangxi Zhui was still alive, he’d used this to threaten him. The current situation was likely as the Crown Prince had described.

“Huo Cun, first send people to find out where Tangxi Zhui is being held, then we’ll make plans.”

“Yes, this son will do it right away.” Though Huo Cun had thought of this too, he couldn’t help but worry. “What if aadoptive father is tortured? He and the Crown Prince are bitter enemies—being tortured to within an inch of death still counts as alive, and all kinds of humiliation also count as alive.”

“Torture is inevitable; our worrying won’t help,” Pei Yanci said. “The urgent matter is to first understand Gu Jiuqing’s intentions.”

“That’s true…” Huo Cun murmured. “Aren’t you worried about adoptive father being harmed?”

“Worrying won’t help.” Pei Yanci paused, then gave him a reassuring smile. “I will rescue Tangxi.”

“This son knows.” Huo Cun’s expression remained unchanged, but his mood fell somewhat.

As a fellow eunuch, he empathized even more deeply—the moment they lost favor, what awaited them was mockery and abuse a thousand times worse than ordinary people.

He’d once seen a disgraced eunuch whose pants were maliciously stripped during a public parade, forced to stand in the prisoner’s cart with legs spread wide. In the eyes of the world, they weren’t human, so naturally they had no such thing as dignity.

Pei Yanci probably didn’t understand this either.

Huo Cun urgently mobilized people to search. The places where Gu Jiuqing could hold someone were nothing more than the Dali Temple under that commoner Jian Ji’an, or his Eastern Palace.

Soon, he received news that Tangxi Zhui was being held in a secret dungeon at the Dali Temple.

For several days in a row, Pei Yanci received no messages from Gu Jiuqing’s side, and his heart began to grow uneasy.

The day of the late emperor’s funeral procession was sunny.

The sunlight was bright, shining on people’s bodies, but the early summer breeze carried a certain coldness.

With the sovereign’s death, all subjects throughout the realm wore white.

All the court officials gathered, silent and sorrowful, their expressions controlled to perfection—not a fraction more, not a fraction less.

“Raise the coffin!” Daoist Yimiao called out, followed by ninety-nine and eighty-one neatly arranged Daoists.

“Wait.” With a single word from Gu Jiuqing, everyone successfully stopped in their tracks.

Pei Yanci raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking to himself that it had finally come.

He wanted to see what tricks this person could pull.

“Your Highness, don’t miss the auspicious time,” said a clan elder.

“A few days ago, this prince witnessed a strange thing—someone already dead appeared alive and well before this prince’s eyes.” Gu Jiuqing said leisurely, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, his eyes revealing a trace of satisfaction.

Wherever he looked, the entire court of civil and military officials belonged to him.

“When the imperial father was alive, he pursued the Great Dao of longevity. If he knew of this matter, he would surely be delighted—it would fulfill the imperial father’s last wish.”

“How could such a mystical thing exist in this world?” The crowd didn’t believe it.

“Come, bring him up.”

Behind Yunsheng, a dozen soldiers escorted a blood-covered person who slowly walked before the spirit hall of the great hall.