The shattering cup of tea caught the imperial doctor off guard. Hearing this,
he promptly replied, "Naturally not! His Majesty ordered me…"
"Did Royal Brother tell you that we are at odds, and that I am reluctant to
go to his birthday banquet?"
This was naturally the truth. However, having a mutual understanding about
this truth was enough, and it must never be laid outright on the table.
Whoever expressed it first would be unfilial and unbrotherly. But if the
underlings underneath said it…it would be equivalent to provoking the
relationship between their masters.
The doctor did not dare to admit it. He knelt in place and kowtowed, and
then hurriedly denied, "His Majesty naturally did not! It's just that I…"
Jiang Suizhou laughed icily.
"Of course, my royal brother will never say such things. It's obviously your
self-assertion as a servant," he said, "Since my royal brother has asked you
to come treat me, you should perform your duty as a doctor properly. Don't
speak out of turn and tarnish my royal brother's reputation. I also must
punish you on behalf of my royal brother."
The imperial doctor was flustered and quickly attempted to defend himself.
Inside and outside the palace, was there anyone who thought highly of this
unpopular King Jing? Even the powerful man, who sent him to treat his
illness, instructed him to beat him.
From the start, King Jing remained silent and submitted meekly to his
insults, so he took him as a soft persimmon. It never occurred to him that he
was gathering momentum, waiting for the right moment.
Jiang Suizhou did not give him a chance to speak.
"Meng Qianshan." He opened his mouth and ordered.
Meng Qianshan, who was waiting at the door, hurriedly came forward.
Then the doctor heard Jiang Suizhou say, "Beat him and personally send
him back to the palace. Say that this man deliberately provoked the
relationship between me and my royal brother. I've already punished him,
so the rest is up to my royal brother."
Meng Qianshan had viewed the doctor as an eyesore several times before,
so upon hearing Jiang Suizhou's command, he was so happy that his
eyebrows danced with pleasure. He quickly called in the manservants
outside the room to drag the doctor out.
Jiang Suizhou gently added, "Drag him far away before beating him. Don't
dirty my ears."
Meng Qianshan nodded repeatedly and commanded the servants to drag the
doctor out.
When the room quieted down, a maid stepped forward, carefully cleaned
the floor, and poured a new cup of tea for Jiang Suizhou. Jiang Suizhou
picked up the teacup.
He was well aware that Pang Shao sent the doctor. After Jiang Suizhou sent
the doctor back, the doctor would not lose his life, though he would
certainly be deprived of his official position and expelled from the palace
just to spare someone's feelings.
As a university teacher, he had never even executed corporal punishment to
his students, much less let someone take a beating because that person committed a mistake and provoked him. He would have gotten sacked from
his official post without Jiang Suizhou's interference, anyway.
Yet, he must do it.
Those people pressed hard on his heels and picked on him. If he didn't
retaliate at all, they would become more aggressive and unscrupulous. He
was caught in the dilemmas of the original owner, so if he couldn't bear to
hurt his opponents, it would definitely be him who would die.
Jiang Suizhou raised his eyes and looked out the door.
Under the gloomy sky, the exquisite and gorgeous eaves spread out layer
upon layer, seemingly trapping him in a chess game.
Jiang Suizhou slowly sighed and once again picked up the book he placed
on the table.
He had long been used to Huo Wujiu's living in his room, so he didn't
notice that Huo Wujiu had captured all his emotions in his eyes.
Sickly man; it was just giving a man an overdue beating, yet he was the first
who couldn't bear it.
Fortunately, he was born in a beautiful and peaceful place. He didn't see
blood and didn't go to the battlefield. Otherwise, if he really witnessed a
murder, how scared would he be?
Huo Wujiu looked down and collected all these emotions in his eyes.
…He deserves to be pampered in a lifetime of prosperity.
——
February 24th was the birthday of the emperor.
Early that morning, it was drizzling outside the window.
Raindrops continuously pattered until dusk, and the rain outside the window
didn't stop even when the time to enter the palace arrived.
The lamps were lit up early in the room. Jiang Suizhou was waited upon as
he put on a winding and complicated imperial robe. When he turned around,
he saw Meng Qianshan pushing the properly dressed Huo Wujiu out from
the back room.
Because of Huo Wujiu's special status, Jiang Suizhou had instructed Meng
Qianshan not to dress him too ostentatiously. However, despite his lavender
blue robe and a simple hair crown, the man's awe-inspiring aura was still
outlined. There was no hiding the noble aura that shone from his head to
toe.
The candlelights were shining brightly all around, but the man seemed to
have a natural glow.
Jiang Suizhou stood riveted for a moment, and it took him a lot of effort to
barely withdraw his gaze. He cleared his throat to cover up his gaffe.
"When we enter the palace later, be smart," he glanced at Meng Qianshan
and instructed.
Meng Xiangshan naturally knew what he meant. Jiang Suizhou was asking
him to take care of Huo Wujiu.
Meng Qianshan nodded.
The two went all the way out of the royal residence and got into the carriage
waiting at the entrance of the residence.
The carriage was not too spacious, and Huo Wujiu's wheelchair was a bit
bulky, so once it was placed on the carriage, the two were extremely close
to each other.
As soon as the curtain of the carriage was lowered, silence suddenly settled
over the four corners, and only the sound of their breathing remained.
This kind of breathing in a narrow space where one breath fell and another
rose gave off the illusion of intertwined breathing. It was particularly
audible in the silence when nobody talked.
In such an atmosphere, Jiang Suizhou suddenly and inexplicably felt
cornered.
He was sitting beside Huo Wujiu, and with just the two of them so close to
each other, he suddenly did not know where to put his hands. He wanted to
speak to break the silence, but had nothing to say. He only heard Huo
Wujiu's steady breathing, one after the other, bringing his heartbeat to a
slower pace.
Jiang Suizhou urged himself to think of something, such as what the
emperor might say once they arrived at the banquet, and how he should
respond…
But at that moment, the carriage suddenly lurched forward.
Jiang Suizhou was distracted, and in his inattentiveness, the carriage jostled
him askew, and he fell aside.
He happened to pitch headfirst onto Huo Wujiu's shoulder.
The bones and muscles on his shoulder were firm and hard, and with the
sudden lurch, they collided with Jiang Suizhou's eyes.
After a brief period of dizziness, a hand gripped Jiang Suizhou's arm.
The hand was quite strong, so the moment it gripped Jiang Suizhou, he felt
pain in his bones. Immediately after, he was lifted steadily and placed into a
stable seat.
"Sit still." He heard Huo Wujiu's voice close to him.
Jiang Suizhou rubbed his temples with some embarrassment and cleared his
throat.
"Sorry." He tried to keep his voice as calm and indifferent as possible.
Huo Wujiu answered with a faint muffled grunt.
When the carriage started, the wheels rattled. The sound echoed in the four
corners, and the wind gently blew on the curtains, making the atmosphere
seem less awkward.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Suizhou secretly glanced at Huo Wujiu.
He was sitting beside him with his head turned slightly sideways, looking
calmly out the window. The curtains were slowly lifted, and the rain
drizzled in. A few strands of light from outside shone on Huo Wujiu's face,
dropping warm patches of light on his cheeks.
Jiang Suizhou didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that Huo
Wujiu's lips were a little white, which was absolutely abnormal.
But the light in the carriage was too dim, so for a while, Jiang Suizhou
couldn't tell if he had seen it wrong.
He couldn't help but glance again.
Coincidentally, Huo Wujiu turned his gaze back and looked at him.
Caught in the act, Jiang Suizhou faltered and asked a bit stiffly, "Are you
cold?"
He shouldn't be. It was now past early spring. The rain outside was a bit
cool, but it was certainly nothing to Huo Wujiu. After all, not everyone was
like him, a paper-mache body.
Huo Wujiu slowly opened his mouth and replied, "No."
Huo Wujiu's eyes swept across his legs without a trace.
From this morning when it rained, his legs began to tingle. The pain, which
he was accustomed, suddenly became more severe after they had left the
house.
Like an iron saw or a blunt axe, the pain cut into his meridians, little by
little, tugging at his legs like an endless torture. It was so painful that his
scalp was numb. His hand that was resting on his lap clenched tightly into a
fist.
Naturally, he would not tell Jiang Suizhou about it, because he neither felt it
necessary nor wanted to scare him.
…However, King Jing seems quite bent on chatting with me.
From the time Jiang Suizhou got into the carriage, he was distracted, and
was even stealing glances at him just now.
Huo Wujiu casually glanced at Jiang Suizhou.
"Are you cold?" he fired back.
Jiang Suizhou shook his head: "I saw you…you've been looking outside, so
I thought it was because the wind was too cold."
Huo Wujiu softly chuckled.
"Why didn't you suppose I was planning an escape?" he asked. The corners
of his mouth were somewhat arched. The curtain stirred slowly, so that the
light in his eyes was extinguished. For a moment, they seemed to contain
dashes of humor.
Jiang Suizhou was stunned, then inexplicably a little flustered. He hurriedly
turned his eyes to the window.
"You can try to run and see if the emperor has sent someone to spy on you
in the shadows," he retorted coldly.
…I just said a few words. Why did you panic?
Huo Wujiu withdrew his gaze, and the smile on his lips deepened more.
——
The carriage stopped outside the Kaiyang Gate.
Jiang Suizhou was assisted off the carriage. He found that many carriages
had been parked around him, and the officials and female relatives kept
shuttling to and fro. It was especially lively.
As soon as he disembarked from the carriage, he felt a lot of eyes falling on
him; other people also had their eyes behind him – Jiang Suizhou knew that
these people were waiting to see Huo Wujiu.
With an indifferent and arrogant expression, he stood by the carriage while
servants hurried forward to move the wheelchair in place for Huo Wujiu.
Seeing the crowd slow down, Jiang Suizhou frowned impatiently.
Want to see the fun, do you? Okay, let me show you.
He swiftly turned around and sternly said to the servants, "Be quicker. How
long do you want me to wait?"
The few servants hurriedly bowed to their waists to apologize and hurriedly
brought Huo Wujiu out from the carriage.
Jiang Suizhou withdrew his gaze, and his piercing eyes scanned the
ministers around him.
His exceedingly irritable appearance gave off the impression that innocent
bystanders might get caught in the crossfire at any time. Everybody
withdrew their eyes in succession. It was as if they saw nothing, and they
walked away respectively.
Jiang Suizhou readjusted his gaze with satisfaction, put his hand behind
him, and walked directly through Kaiyang Gate.
Meng Qianshan hurriedly pushed Huo Wujiu and quickly followed after
Jiang Suizhou.
Because His Highness King Jing was in a foul mood and seemed he would
fly into a rage at any moment, the ordinary courtiers dared not strike up a
conversation, despite wanting to approach him and exchange pleasantries.
Hence, Jiang Suizhou's trek went a lot smoother.
However, all sorts of scrutiny, explicit or implicit, fell on him and especially
on the man behind him.
Huo Wujiu.
In the past, this name was like a fatalistic evil spirit to them.
This was the man who had led the troops all the way from Yangguan to
Yecheng, driving them out of their centuries-old ancestral foundation and
all the way to the south of the Great River. Late last year, he was the same
person who suddenly rose up with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses
gathered by the river, looking to cross the river and kill them all.
Fortunately, the Great River was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Also,
the advanced troops of the Northern Liang somehow crossed the river, the
troops afterwards did not follow. That was how the generals guarding the
river picked up the slack and surrounded Huo Wujiu with more than a
thousand soldiers and horses.
Even so, that battle lasted for seven to eight days, all the way until their
enemies ran out of food and ammunition. Only then was Huo Wujiu barely
captured.
What did this mean to the Great Jing?
It was simply like placing one foot into the jaws of death, but was killed by
the Impermanence1
instead.
Now, this Impermanence's legs were crippled, and he was being pushed
around, following His Highness King Jing. He came to His Majesty's
birthday banquet as a part of His Highness's family.
More or less, the crowd wanted to see what the legendary General Huo
looked like, with a green face and jagged teeth like a saw.
However, he didn't resemble the black faced, round eyed, and bearded man
they had in their minds.
Footnote:
1 Impermanence – described as the messenger of the soul in death