LYIPhSAA (lxxxvii)
t/n: Happy New Years everyone!!! 🎉🎉
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Edited: 12.31.2023
The little gray sparrow was awakened by the bumps. He was lying in the center of a soft and warm cushion. His increasingly round body slightly sunken as his fluffy feathers rose and fell with his breath, trembling slightly.
The little gray sparrow opened his round eyes and blinked when he saw Gu Xuan who was sitting beside him.
“A Xuan……where are we?” They were in a carriage but this carriage was different from the Crown Prince’s Imperial carriage. There were no fine soft cushions, it wasn’t equipped with exquisite tea and snacks, and the interior was slightly simple. It was exactly the ones commonly used by commoners.
Gu Xuan didn’t answer. He reached out to the little gray sparrow and brought him into his palm. Then with his fingertips, he helped him comb his soft fur.
The little gray sparrow gradually came to his senses and asked in confusion: “Weren’t we in the barracks, where are we going, no more fighting?”
Gu Xuan looked at him with downcast eyes and answered: “Mnn, no more fighting.”
“We’re going back to Chang’an?”
Gu Xuan seemed to be hesitant. He paused for a moment and asked tentatively: “If I say we aren’t going back to Chang’an……..”
The little gray sparrow tilted his head and looked at him: “If we don’t go back to Chang’an, where are we going?”
Gu Xuan said: “To a place of blooming mountains and beautiful water.”
The little gray sparrow seemed to understand and nodded: “Then when will we go back to Chang’an?”
Gu Xuan said, “In the near future……Maybe we won’t go back for a long time.”
The little gray sparrow lowered his head and thought for a moment: “Okay, if we aren’t going back, then we won’t go back.”
Gu Xuan sighed in relief: “You don’t want to see Princess Consort Rui anymore?”
“I want to, but didn’t you say, if I miss him, I can always fly back to see him?” The little gray sparrow pondered a bit more and assured: “But don’t worry, I won’t leave often.”
The little gray sparrow said in a serious manner: “There are often such stories in the storybooks. After the husband goes out of town, his wife is left alone at home suffering from lovesickness. I can’t bear to let the same happen to you.”
Gu Xuan: “……”
Gu Xuan closed his eyes and whispered: “If you really don’t want me to be like this, you might as well change back soon.”
The little gray sparrow asked: “What did you say?”
“……Nothing.”
“Nothing? But I heard it all.” The little gray sparrow huffed, “Do you not like my current appearance? You even praised me for looking good before, was that all a lie.”
“It wasn’t——”
“It wasn’t?” The little gray sparrow’s wings unfolded as he raised them towards Gu Xuan, “Is it because you want me to change back soon and that’s why you’ve been feeding me so much lately? But eating doesn’t help at all, instead, it’ll cause me to get so fat that I can barely fly, so I can’t change back at all.”
Gu Xuan looked at the small round ball in his hand whose neck was almost invisible and the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but raise slightly: “……You’re not fat.”
“Then what are you laughing at?”
“I wasn’t.”
“What do you mean? You just laughed!”
“……”
When the news that the Crown Prince had lost his entire army and had disappeared was sent back to Chang’an, it was still dark. The eunuch who came from the palace to deliver the message finished the news in tears. Gu Yan held in his anger from being woken up and pacified him calmly before ordering his servants to send him out of the Prince’s manor.
Gu Yan returned to the bedroom and Ye Zi was hugging the quilt in a dazed sleep.
They were just talking about this in the courtyard and the eunuch was crying so hard that onlookers could even hear him, but they wouldn’t be able to understand the content clearly. Sensing Gu Yan’s return, Ye Zi nudged inward and complained vaguely: “Who was mourning this early in the morning?…..”
Gu Yan lowered his head and kissed his forehead, coaxing him softly: “No one, go back to sleep.”
“Mnn.” Ye Zi waited for Gu Yan to lie down before closing his eyes and drilling into his arms, finding a comfortable position to fall asleep again.
Gu Yan, however, wasn’t that sleepy. He wrapped his arms around Ye Zi in a daze as he ran through his thoughts.
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When Ye Zi woke up, the sky was already bright.
He stretched out contentedly, nuzzled into Gu Yan’s arms, opened his eyes, and found Gu Yan looking down at him tenderly.
“Good morning, Zicheng.” Ye Zi went up to kiss Gu Yan’s cheek and asked: “Is there no business to attend to in the palace today?”
Gu Yan said: “There is.”
Ye Zi turned his head to look at him: “Then why are you still here?”
Gu Yan stroked his messy hair and sat up: “Seeing that you were sleeping well, I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“You……” Ye Zi said, “Fortunately, you are only a Prince. If you really become the ruler of this world and act like this, I’m afraid I’ll be pointed at and scolded as a demon who brings disaster to the country and the people.”
Gu Yan also laughed: “Whoever dares to scold you will be punished by me.”
Ye Zi smiled nonchalantly, got out of bed, and went to the washroom to get water to wash his face. Ye Zi cupped some water and patted it on his face, finally waking him up a little. Then he remembered something: “Did someone come from the palace this morning? Did something happen?”
Gu Yan was pushing the door open and telling the maids to prepare breakfast. After hearing his question, he closed the door and turned around: “Something happened. It seems the troops Gu Xuan was leading yesterday tried to sneak attack the enemy camp but they fell into a trap and the entire army was wiped out.”
Ye Zi was stunned and the handkerchief in his hand fell into the water basin.
Water droplets on his face slid down his chin and he looked dumbfounded with a few moments of ignorance and bewilderment in his eyes.
Gu Yan loved this cute look of his and reached out to wipe the water droplets on his face: “A Zi, what’s the matter, scared silly?”
Ye Zi grabbed Gu Yan’s wrist, his voice trembling with anxiety: “This……is Gu Xuan dead? T-Then——little sparrow, he…….”
“Don’t be anxious, listen to me finish.” Gu Yan wiped his face clean, pulled him out, and went to comb his hair: “Gu Xuan had sent someone to send me a letter not long ago and he spoke to me about his intentions.”
Ye Zi looked up at him: “His intentions? You mean……”
The corners of Gu Yan’s mouth raised in an arc and he helplessly said: “He, this is making a problem for me.”
Gu Yan said: “Emperor Jinghe’s days are numbered, this world can’t be without a ruler for a day, and sooner or later, Gu Xuan is going to ascend to the throne. As a matter of fact, if he wants the empire to be stable, this period of time when Emperor Jinghe is sick and dying is the best time for him to perform.”
“He put the life of Emperor Jinghe into my hands and turned a blind eye to what I did. I originally thought he was repaying me for my help to him, but now I understand that he might already have a plan to escape.”
Gu Yan meticulously helped Ye Zi tie up his hair and laughed in a low voice: “That guy, he threw a mess at me and went off on his own with his sweetheart.”
After hearing Gu Yan’s words, Ye Zi realized: “So……he faked his death?”
Gu Yan nodded: “Yes.”
“It turns out that Noble Consort Yu’s sudden madness wasn’t a coincidence. Gu Xuan asked me to find Pei Ge for medicine.” Gu Yan said, “Gu Xuan poisoned Emperor Jinghe using Noble Consort Yu as a scapegoat and used the same trick to drive Noble Consort Yu crazy so that he could destroy the evidence and get away cleanly.”
Ye Zi still didn’t really understand: “Gu Xuan went through so much trouble to get to the Crown Prince position and he just gave it up so easily?”
After Gu Yan tied up his hair, he put down the wooden comb: “A Zi, do you still remember what I said to you earlier. It’s difficult to have everything in this world, Gu Xuan has made his choice.”
“Then……” Ye Zi pursed his lips and asked, “What do we do next? The former Crown Prince was demoted and Gu Xuan ran away. Emperor Jinghe’s days are numbered, this……”
“That’s why I said, Gu Xuan is taking revenge on me.” Gu Yan smiled, “I’m afraid he still resents the fact that I used him to poison Emperor Jinghe before so he threw this troublesome mess at me.”
“Zicheng, you……” Ye Zi was stunned for a moment, vaguely understanding what Gu Yan meant.
Gu Yan didn’t say anything more: “Let’s save the conversation for later, I’m going to the palace. The old thing, Emperor Jinghe, has been getting worse and worse in the past few days. If he is angry to death at this juncture, the world will really be in chaos.”
Gu Yan paused and said in a low voice, “At the very least, we have to let him leave behind an Imperial edict before he dies.”
Ye Zi said: “I’ll go with you.”
Gu Yan wanted to refuse, but Ye Zi added, “I’ll just wait for you outside. The closer I am to you, the more at ease I can feel.”
At this moment, Chang’an City was already in a state of depression.
Chang’an seemed to have entered Winter overnight. The cold wind wandered around in the streets and alleys and there weren’t many people on the streets, revealing a dreary silence.
Ye Zi lowered the curtain of the carriage and let out a shallow sigh.
Something big seemed to be coming.
This country had been in turmoil for a long time. Prince Jing was well prepared this time and his army was unstoppable. Originally, with Gu Xuan’s obstruction, they could have brought some time.
But now, maybe within five days, Prince Jing would arrive in Chang’an.
The carriage from the Prince Rui Manor arrived outside the palace. The two got off the carriage and walked towards Emperor Jinghe’s palace. When they reached the door of his chambers, Gu Yan paused for a moment and frowned imperceptibly.
Noticing his abnormality, Ye Zi turned his head and asked: “What’s wrong?”
Gu Yan shook his head and said nothing.
The guards outside Emperor Jinghe’s chambers had long since been replaced with Gu Yan’s men and he looked to the guards: “Does His Holiness know the news?”
“Not yet.” The guard replied, “His Holiness went to bed early last night and has been in poor spirits today. After drinking his medicine this morning, he laid down and did not allow anyone to go in and disturb him. Just now, this subordinate had someone go in and look around and it looked like he was still asleep so I didn’t dare disturb him.”
Gu Yan’s gaze became more skeptical. He was about to push the door in when Ye Zi suddenly said: “I’ll go in with you.”
Gu Yan nodded and the two of them stepped into it together.
In the inner chamber of the bedchamber, Emperor Jinghe was lying on the bed. His back was facing the outside and it looked like he was sleeping soundly. The bedchamber was silent and the two of them looked at each other as they silently walked toward the bed.
Gu Yan lifted the bed curtains and suddenly, there was a flash of silver light in front of him.
A long sword stabbed towards Gu Yan head-on from the bed curtains.
“Zicheng!” Ye Zi exclaimed. He pushed Gu Yan away, stepped forward, passed the sword, and grabbed the hand of the man holding the sword. The bed curtain fell down during the dispute between the two and Ye Zi finally saw clearly that the person in front of him was not Emperor Jinghe at all.
This person was wearing Emperor Jinghe’s dragon robe. He had a young face and strong skills and was obviously a dedicated assassin. He flipped his wrist and broke away from Ye Zi’s hand before turning the sword and aiming at Ye Zi.
Ye Zi didn’t have a sword with him and fought with his bare hands, however, he was not at any disadvantage. Gu Yan only took one glance and could tell that the man was no match for Ye Zi. He didn’t step forward to help, but quietly folded his arms and waited on the spot.
His thoughts were racing, as if he was pondering something.
As the man gradually lost the upper hand, Ye Zi took advantage and seized the man’s sword, aiming the other party in the throat.
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The sound of fighting in the chamber attracted the attention of the guards outside. The door of the room was pushed open and a group of guards rushed in. Seeing the situation, the guards drew their swords and surrounded the assassin.
Ye Zi seemed to have not heard anything as he turned his head and asked: “Who are you? Where is His Holiness now?”
Seeing that the situation was over, the man grabbed Ye Zi’s sword and stabbed himself in the neck.
“You——”
There was a sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh and before Ye Zi had time to pull away his hand, the man had already cut his own throat with the sword. His body slowly fell to the ground as the blood stained the dragon robe on his body red.
Ye Zi threw away the sword and raised his eyes to Gu Yan: “It’s a sacrificial soldier.”
Gu Yan responded and ordered the leader of the guards: “Spread the news. His Holiness has been kidnapped and his life or death is uncertain. Immediately send people to search inside and outside the Imperial city, and don’t miss any place. Also, from now on, it is strictly prohibited for anyone to enter or exit the Imperial city without permission.”
“Yes.” The guard accepted the order and looked at the gradually cooling corpse in the center of the bedchamber, “Then this…….”
Gu Yan glanced at the corpse and said indifferently: “Drag it down and check where he came from.”
He paused and said: “To think such a big living person could mix into the palace and also break into His Holiness’s bedchamber without you guys noticing……If anything happens to His Holiness, you all will have to accompany him in death.”
“Yes.”
At the same time, in a secluded bedchamber in the Imperial city, Emperor Jinghe coughed lightly and sat up. Someone immediately brought a bowl of warm water to his side. Emperor Jinghe drank from the person’s hand and waved his hand.
The Empress’s face was unpowdered and her expression held a little unfeigned sadness, “Your Holiness, it’s only been a few days, how come you are this sick?”
Emperor Jinghe glanced at her and shook his head: “This disease is meant to be like this, it wasn’t easy for Us to survive until now.”
Tears welled up in the Empress’s eyes: “Your Holiness……”
Emperor Jinghe was unimpressed by her appearance and asked: “You said earlier that Sheng’er got the cure for this disease?”
“Yes, Your Holiness.” The Empress replied and turned her head to look outside, “Sheng’er, your father is awake, why don’t you come in?”
As her words fell, the former Crown Prince Gu Sheng walked into the room.
Gu Sheng was the same age as Gu Yan, but he looked tougher with a bit of valor between his eyebrows, and he was also the tallest among his brothers. Unfortunately, he looked depressed at this time and didn’t even dare to look at Emperor Jinghe. He seemed to have low morale and was a bit cowardly.
Gu Sheng was appointed as the Crown Prince several years ago, but he had been criticized for his mediocrity and incompetence, making it difficult for him to take on a big role. Not long ago, Gu Sheng was accused of lining his own pockets and misbehaving, which finally angered Emperor Jinghe, who demoted him as the Crown Prince and left him in his palace to ponder his mistakes.
Since then, he hadn’t shown his face in front of others for a long time.
He walked over to Emperor Jinghe and bowed towards him: “This son greets Father.”
Emperor Jinghe snorted coldly: “Raise your head and speak.”
“Yes.” Gu Sheng raised his head and first looked at the Empress beside Emperor Jinghe, then dropped his gaze on Emperor Jinghe, “Father, I have indeed found a cure for your illness and as long as that medicine is used, not only will your disease be cured, but it will also cure all of your age-old illnesses.”
Emperor Jinghe asked: “What kind of medicine is it that has such a marvelous effect?”
Gu Sheng was about to answer when the Empress took the lead and interrupted him: “Just now, when Your Holiness was asleep, I have already fed Your Holiness a bowl of it. Does Your Holiness feel more comfortable now?”
Hearing her say this, Emperor Jinghe felt that his body had indeed become lighter and more comfortable and even his fever had subsided.
A few moments of surprise appeared in Emperor Jinghe’s eyes as he asked: “Is it really due to that medicine?”
“Exactly.” The Empress nodded her head and smiled: “That medicine was something that Sheng’er obtained unintentionally. It is said to be able to cure all poisons and heal all diseases. If we hadn’t obtained this medicine, how would we have dared to take the risk of secretly transporting Your Holiness from your chambers?”
Emperor Jinghe seemed to have thought of something and his expression calmed down slightly.
The Empress added: “Your Holiness, Prince Rui’s ambition was so great that he kept you in his chambers for treatment in name, but in reality, it was no different from house arrest. In order to transport you out, it took me and Sheng’er a lot of effort.”
Emperor Jinghe said calmly: “We know that you have put in a lot of effort to treat Our illness. When We recover, We will naturally reward you.”
The Empress’s brow frowned imperceptibly but she quickly collected herself and said calmly: “Yes, thank you, Your Holiness.”
She paused and then added: “It’s just that it’s not that easy to completely cure Your Holiness’s illness.”
Emperor Jinghe turned his head to look at her and asked: “What do you mean by that?”
The Empress’s eyes narrowed as she said in a low voice, “Although the bowl given to Your Holiness was an antidote, the potency of the medicine wasn’t enough to completely detoxify your body. If you want to completely detoxify your body, you’ll need to take a few more doses.”
Emperor Jinghe vaguely understood what she meant and the corner of his mouth curved: “What do you want?”
The Empress looked like she had prepared for this and signaled Gu Sheng to walk over to the side of the table to take something out. Gu Sheng presented that thing to Emperor Jinghe, who glanced at it; it was a blank Imperial decree.
Emperor Jinghe faintly said: “What are your intentions, Empress?”
The Empress rose to take the Imperial decree in Gu Sheng’s hand and smiled at Emperor Jinghe, “As long as Your Holiness is willing to write an edict on this Imperial decree, voluntarily abdicating the throne and letting Sheng’er become the next Emperor, I will definitely present the antidote in person and root out Your Holiness’s old illness.”
Emperor Jinghe suddenly sneered. When he spoke again, his voice was already hoarse: “So what if I don’t write it?”
The Empress’s expression changed and she held her voice steady as she urged: “Your Holiness, why are you unwilling? Think about it, at this point in time, if you don’t establish Sheng’er as the Crown Prince, your kingdom will be taken away by Prince Rui or Prince Jing. Are you willing to give the world away like this?”
“……Although my Wen family’s lineage is weak, we are also unwilling to let the kingdom fall into the hands of rebellious rebels. If you promise, we will definitely do everything we can to save the world from destruction.”
Emperor Jinghe laughed hoarsely: “Saving the world from destruction? Haha, in the end, you just want to get that world and be the Empress Dowager, no?”
“The Wen family is powerful, do you think We don’t know anything? Do you think We really are a waste of space who can be slaughtered by others?”
The Empress’s expression went completely cold: “Your Holiness, are you truly unwilling?”
Emperor Jinghe closed his eyes and did not answer.
After a long time, the Empress said: “I know why Your Holiness is unwilling. It’s because His Holiness has already established a new Crown Prince and even if His Holiness were to die now, the throne would still belong to the Crown Prince, right?”
The corner of the Empress’s mouth slowly hooked up as she softly said: “Your Holiness doesn’t know yet, does he, that his Imperial Majesty the Crown Prince raided the enemy camp last night, fell into a trap, and is now dead without a body.”
Emperor Jinghe snapped his eyes open and said in a daze: “What did you say?”
The sky was darkening, but the Imperial city was ablaze with lights.
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When the Emperor suddenly disappeared from his chambers, everyone was shaken. All the Imperial guards were sent to search everywhere, but Emperor Jinghe’s whereabouts were still unknown.
Ye Zi stood on top of the high pavilion, looking at the foot of the Imperial city which was illuminated by torches as if it was daytime, and for a while, he actually felt as if it was a lifetime ago.
In his previous life, he had also stood here and watched as the enemy troops fought their way into the Imperial city and the firelight burned the magnificent palace into a ruin.
“What are you doing here?”
Gu Yan’s voice came from behind him. Ye Zi turned back and smiled at him: “Waiting for you.”
Gu Yan walked over and circled him into his arms, saying in a warm voice: “Are you worried?”
“A little.” Ye Zi truthfully said, “Emperor Jinghe hasn’t been found yet and Prince Jing is watching from outside, I can’t calm down my heart.”
Gu Yan hugged the person a little tighter: “No need to worry, it’s just a fight between caged animals.”
Ye Zi was silent for a moment and whispered: “Zicheng, have you…….not made up your mind yet?”
Gu Yan’s movements paused as he slightly closed his eyes.
“I understand.” Ye Zi said: “You said before that it is difficult to have everything in the world, so if you want to get one thing, you must give up the other. In fact, the most correct path has been laid out in front of you, but you have been unable to make up your mind, causing you to be unwilling to take it.”
Ye Zi paused for a moment and then added: “In fact, you don’t have to worry about me, I understand what you want to do, and also support your idea. Not to mention you, even if you want me to let go of all this, I can’t let go.”
He once told Ye Zi that he didn’t want to have anything to do with Imperial power in this life, let alone the life and death of this world. But when faced with a crisis, none of them could let go.
Gu Yan’s fingertips trembled slightly for a moment and he whispered: “A Zi, I……”
Before he finished his words, a guard’s voice suddenly came from behind him, “Your Majesty, there is a discovery, we……”
Halfway through what he was saying, the guard realized what position the two people in front of him were. His cheeks turned red and he couldn’t speak clearly: “That…….we d-discovered…….”
Gu Yan frowned and was about to speak when Ye Zi grabbed his sleeve and tiptoed to kiss him softly: “Go take a look first, we can talk about other things after it’s been settled.”
Gu Yan’s expression eased a bit and he nodded: “Wait for me to come back.”
On the other side, Emperor Jinghe leisurely opened his eyes, only to feel a buzzing in his head. Only then did he realize that after he heard that news just now, he had fainted in a moment of anger.
Beside him, the Empress was pouring water and smoothing out his breath with a rare anxious look.
Seeing him awake, the Empress was about to say something but was interrupted by Emperor Jinghe waving his hand.
He gasped twice and said in a deep voice: “Help Us up.”
“Your Holiness?”
Emperor Jinghe barely raised his eyes to look at her: “The Imperial decree……We will write it at the table.”
A hint of a smile showed on the Empress’s face as she helped Emperor Jinghe up towards the table. Over this period of time, Emperor Jinghe’s old age had shown and his bones had been reduced to a state of decay. Just the act of walking from the bed to the table made him breathless.
The Empress was beside him grinding the inkstone. Emperor Jinghe spread out the Imperial decree, picked up the brush tremblingly, and started writing slowly on the paper. Emperor Jinghe wrote very slowly and the Empress watched intently as her expression gradually relaxed.
Suddenly, a noisy rattle came from outside the door.
The Empress’s face changed: “Could it be that Prince Rui’s people found us?”
Gu Sheng instantly panicked and hurriedly said: “Mother, what should we do? I……I will go out and stop them.”
“No, let me go.” The Empress quickly calmed down and turned her head to Emperor Jinghe, “Your Holiness, the Wen family is now waiting outside the Imperial city, as long as I give the order, they will rush into the Imperial city to protect Your Holiness’s safety. I will go out and cover for you first so finish this edict quickly, Prince Rui is simply not enough to fear.”
“Fine, go ahead.” Emperor Jinghe didn’t raise his head and replied leisurely.
The Empress opened her mouth as if she still wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn’t say anything. She only instructed Gu Sheng to wait here and turned her head to go out to deal with the guards.
Only Gu Sheng and Emperor Jinghe were left in the bedchamber. Gu Sheng looked uneasy as he stood in front of the table with his head hung low, not even daring to look at Emperor Jinghe.
Emperor Jinghe looked like he was in poor spirits. He stopped writing and looked up at him: “Sheng’er, raise your head up, We want to talk to you.”
Gu Sheng’s eyes averted for a moment before slowly raising his head.
Emperor Jinghe tried his best to smile and said in a low voice: “The Wen family has produced military generals for generations and Our Empress is the eldest miss of the Wen family. Her courage and skills are not inferior to those of the men. But you…….why haven’t you inherited your mother’s tactic at all?”
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
Thank You for the new chapter (•‾⌣‾•)و ̑̑♡ Happy New Year ! Wishing You all the best in 2024~! (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡
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