Chapter 57
Xiao Cheng’s assassination was something Lin Qingyu needed to accomplish in his life. When Gu Fuzhou was still Lu Wancheng, they had also tried but it ended in failure. But things were different now. One of them was the head of the military generals, and the other was a close official of the Emperor. Things were unlike before, when he couldn’t even enter the palace. He has also gotten to know the key person — Shen Huaishi. This time, he had a 50% chance of success.
If the plan was successful, Lin Qingyu would try to save the Emperor’s life before Xiao Cheng dies and Gu Fuzhou would also pull Xiao Jie on board during this period. When Xiao Cheng dies, the Emperor will be deeply saddened and he would have no time to think about Gu Fuzhou’s marriage. And even if he did, Lin Qingyu would let him go to heaven before he decreed the marriage. At that time, only Xiao Jie would be left to inherit the throne.
If the plan fails, Xiao Cheng and the emperor will live well but Gu Fuzhou will inevitably get married. Seeing how he was so opposed to marry someone else, it wasn’t completely out of the question for him to block this marraige for Gu Fuzhou… And unless the emperor is tired of living, it was impossible for the emperor to dismiss him while he was still ill. Even if he gets married to Gu Fuzhou again, it won’t prevent him from continuing to study medicine in the Imperial Medical Office.
It wasn’t the first time they got married anyway. As for who to would be taking on a wife and who would be taking on a husband, that was a matter to consider later.
The two had more or less agreed and it was already zishi. Gu Fuzhou sat cross-legged on the lower bunk and yawned. “Qingyu, it’s so late. The General’s Mansion must be closed by now. Can I stay overnight here in your place?”
Lin Qingyu smiled lightly. “If you were to go back, would the people of the General’s Mansion dare not open the door for you?”
Gu Fuzhou smiled and said, “Then I must just be finding excuses.”
Lin Qingyu said, “You can stay but you’ll have to sleep on the top bunk.” In the past, when Lu Wancheng was in poor health, he always slept on the top bunk. Going up and down, up and down had been really annoying.
Gu Fuzhou immediately stood up and tidied up the bed put into disarray by his sitting. “Please.” After saying so, he put his hands on the upper bunk and pulled himself up to sit easily.
One was on the top bunk and the other was on the bottom bunk. It was as if they were back in the past when they were still in the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion. Back then, they would occasionally chat before going to bed. Sometimes Lu Wancheng would talk about his hometown and teach him a bit of his hometown dialect; sometimes they would discussed how to do bad things together; sometimes Lu Wancheng would wake up because of the poison acting up, Lin Qingyu would then get out of bed and gently hug Lu Wancheng in his arms.
After Lu Wancheng’s death, Lin Qingyu slept alone in the bottom bunk for a long time. He never slept well, his heart feeling empty. Tonight, there was finally someone above him, and his heart now seemed filled.
He had clearly just been conspiring to kill the emperor just a while ago, but he was surprisingly calm. Even if there were wolves around and the road ahead was unclear, you were likely to lose your life with the slightest carelessness, but as long as he had this person to accompany him all the way, he had nothing to be afraid of.
Gu Fuzhou turned over, making a lot of movement. Then, he stuck his head out from the upper bunk to look down at him. He asked, “Qingyu, are you asleep?”
Lin Qingyu had his eyes closed. “I’m asleep.”
Gu Fuzhou smiled and said, “Okay. I just thought of one thing — have you and Shen Huaishi seen the secret code I left for you?”
In the original plot, Lin Qingyu had also been able to join the Imperial Hospital after Lu Wancheng’s death using the prescription for the epidemic. He had also met Shen Huaishi at the Imperial Medical Office. But the Lin Qingyu of the original plot didn’t have the benefit of Lu Wancheng pointing things out for him and so he hadn’t paid much attention to Shen Huaishi, meeting his end by suicide in the Eastern Palace.
“I see.” It was because of this code that he and Shen Huaishi gradually became familiar with each other. “He said that this was a secret code only people from the Heavenly Prison Sect know.”
Gu Fuzhou said: “Shen Huaishi cares only about two things in this life — Xiao Cheng and the Heavenly Prison Sect. The destruction of the Heavenly Prison Sect is his biggest weakness, and it is also the key to opening Xiao Cheng’s pursuit of his wife.”
That’s why he engraved the Heavenly Prison Sect’s secret code on the medicine box he gave to Lin Qingyu. So long as Shen Huaishi saw this code and thought that Lin Qingyu was somehow related to the Heavenly Prison Sect, he wouldn’t let Lin Qingyu die in the East Palace.
Lin Qingyu pondered and said, “So, the destruction of the Heavenly Prison Sect was caused by Xiao Cheng?”
Gu Fuzhou put his hands behind his head, his tone carrying a rarely heard seriousness, “Tianji Camp and the Heavenly Prison Sect, one bright and one dark. They are both the Emperor’s fangs and talons. However, in private, they never got along. The patriarch of the Heavenly Prison Sect was surnamed Shen and he was Shen Huaishi’s father. The Heavenly Prison Sect has been suppressed by the Tianji Camp for a long time and the head of the Shen Family felt very unwilling. Because of Shen Huaishi and Xiao Cheng’s close relationship as childhood friends, the head of the Shen Family cast their lots with Xiao Cheng, secretly looking after him, even doing a lot of things for him. They were hoping that once Xiao Cheng ascends the throne, the Heavenly Prison Sect would then be the ones to hold power. At the time, Xiao Cheng was nothing more than just another prince.”
The shadow guard organization and the prince were too close. This was a great taboo in the emperor’s eyes. The head of the Shen Family thought that he’d been doing a job hiding it, but he still left clues. The Tianji Camp found evidence and presented it to the emperor. By that time, the battle for the succession was coming to an end, and Xiao Cheng was only one step away from being named crown prince.
The emperor recognized Xiao Cheng’s ability. He knew that Xiao Cheng was the only actual candidate for crown prince, but he could not tolerate Heavenly Prison Sect’s actions, secretly helping the prince to seize the position of heir. The emperor presented Xiao Cheng an edict establishing him as the crown prince and told him: As soon as the Heavenly Prison Gate is destroyed, my jade seal will be be stamped on this edict.
Lin Qingyu said: “So, Xiao Cheng was the culprit behind the destruction of the Heavenly Prison Sect?”
“To be fair, the culprit should be the Emperor. At the last moment, Xiao Cheng’s heart softened because of his childhood friendship with Shen Huaizhi. Unfortunately, it was too late. The Tianji Camp, as per the Emperor’s orders, arrived just in time to help Xiao Cheng what he didn’t have the heart to. It was precisely because Xiao Cheng wavered that he almost lost his position as crown prince. Therefore, when Princess Jingchun was favored by the King of the Northern Realm, in order not to lose the Emperor’s trust, he had no way to ask his love to stay. He regretted his soft-heartedness and blamed it all on Shen Huaishi.” Gu Fuzhou sneered and said, “Shen Huaishi only lost the lives of his entire family, while Xiao Cheng lost his love!”
Lin Qingyu couldn’t help but ask, “How on earth did you find out about these things? In your hometown, are these recorded down in historical documents?”
“It’s hardly historical material.” Gu Fuzhou said leisurely, “All of this—whether it’s your fate or the love-hate entanglement between Xiao Cheng and Shen Huaishi, is all written in a novel called “Huai’s Refusal of the Monarch” And I was fortunate enough to finish reading this extraordinary book.”
“Huai’s Refusal of the Monarch?” Lin Qingyu sneered, “No wonder Xiao Cheng and Shen Huaishi are the protagonists.”
“Yeah, this book revolves around the two of them.”
Hearing Gu Fuzhou say this much, Lin Qingyu had something he was puzzled about, “If you weren’t gay in the past, why would you read this kind of book?”
“If we’re going to talk about this, I’m going to lose all thoughts of sleep.” Gu Fuzhou sat up, looking like he’d been deceived, “My older female cousin recommended me this book, saying it was about a shadow guard’s leveling up and counterattacking. I had a good feeling when I saw the title of the book. So, I flipped through a few pages and it opened the doors to a whole new world for me.”
Lin Qingyu was puzzled, “You saw there was something not quite right when you were reading it. Why did you finish it?”
“It certainly wasn’t quite right. But Shen Huaishi was really miserable. I wanted to scold him. I was so looking forward to the day he rises up.” Gu Fuzhou complained, “Do you know that feeling? That feeling like you just can’t stop? I was cursing him the entire time I was reading it. I couldn’t stop and before I knew it, I had reached the end.”
Lin Qingyu didn’t quite understand the feeling of being unable to stop that Gu Fuzhou was talking about. If he had been the one to read this novel, he definitely wouldn’t have read more than a page. “So, in “Huai’s Refusal of the Monarch”, what was their ending?”
“Shen Huaishi blackened after learning the truth – I explained the word ‘blackened’ to you, right?”
“En.”
“He was going to avenge the Shen Family. But just as he was about to succeed, Shen Huaishi’s heart grew soft. He abandoned his sword and fled, leaving the Eastern Palace. He then began wandering the world. When he left, Xiao Cheng realized that he cared about him in his heart. Heedless of everything, he wanted to pursue him back. He even dissolved the harem for him and staged a scene of imprisonment. One day, Shen Huaishi found an opportunity to assassinate Xiao Cheng and Xiao Cheng, who was already the emperor by then, presented his chest openly and delivered that classic line — ‘Kiss me and my life and country are yours’. Then — Shen Huaishi was moved! Can you believe that? He was moved! He accepted Xiao Cheng once more and became the first male empress of the Dayu. The two lived happily ever after.”
Gu Fuzhou still remembered how he felt when he read that book.
After Lin Qingyu heard the whole story, he quickly arranged his thoughts. If they wanted to get rid of Xiao Cheng before the emperor’s decree of marriage could be delivered, they would need to do two things. First, they had to let Shen Huaishi know the truth about the destruction of the Heavenly Prison Sect as soon as possible. Second, Shen Huaishi must not be allowed to let his heart soften.
