Captured by the Emperor After a Successful Faked Death - Chapter 12

Xie Chengyun stood in place, something having flashed across his mind just a moment ago, his eyes dark and unfathomable.

Gu Minsheng stood behind him, looking at the bustling, crowded street.

“Minsheng, go check the identity of the young lady who spoke to me in the pavilion just now.”

Gu Minsheng was somewhat surprised: “Young lady? Wasn’t that a young gentleman?”

Xie Chengyun smiled as he boarded the carriage, saying, “No, that is a young lady. By the way, also go check on Yu Lianlian to see what exactly their relationship is.”

Zhu Yunyin knelt before the ancestral tablet of the late Emperor; he had already been kneeling there for a whole night.

His legs were numb, and only eunuchs came to deliver meals. Xie Chengyun hadn’t come to see him even once.

Is he disappointed in me? Or does he think I’m not worthy of being Emperor? That’s right, my father was already a winner of the throne at twenty.

The former Crown Prince was demoted to Ganzhou, never to enter the capital again. At thirty, his father selected talent, creating the “Dragon and Tiger List” that would leave a name in history. He also pushed through the Mingzhao Reforms, reducing taxes.

There wasn’t a soul among the common people of Shangliang who didn’t respect and love his father, and after his death, they spontaneously went into mourning.

But it doesn’t matter if I don’t compare to my father, Zhu Yunyin thought, slamming his hand hard against the floor, blood flowing from his hand. After all, he was still young, and his “Prime Minister-Father” was also young; there would be countless opportunities in the future to prove himself.

The sky had turned dark, and only the eternal lamps were still lit here. The wind howled past, feeling rather frightening.

“Zhu Yunyin.”

“Zhu Yunyin.”

Someone in the night was calling his name.

Zhu Yunyin stood up vigilantly and looked around.

“Who? Come out!”

The great hall was empty, with only candles flickering.

“You must stop him.”

Zhu Yunyin frowned: “Stop whom?”

After a long silence, the voice appeared again: “Xie Chengyun! You must stop Xie Chengyun from boarding the ship!”

For some reason, Zhu Yunyin heard a trace of desolation in this voice.

“What a joke. Prime Minister Xie is staying perfectly well in the capital. Why would he run onto a ship?”

But this person had reminded him: tomorrow was the Flower Festival. He must seize this opportunity to go out; perhaps his Prime Minister-Father would soften his heart, and they could even go stroll the streets and admire the Flower God together.

The Flower Festival!

Zhu Yunyin remembered; last time at the Star-Picking Pavilion, he seemed to have heard someone say that there would be tour boats for this Flower Festival.

Chu River tour boats worship the Flower God, day and night, year after year of peace.

Before being imprisoned, the Imperial Guards had told him that his Prime Minister-Father seemed particularly concerned about this Flower Festival.

“Who on earth are you! Why are you telling me these things?” Zhu Yunyin shouted, but there was no response.

But tomorrow was the Flower Festival; how was he supposed to get out?

Xie Chengyun sat in his chair, receiving the information Gu Minsheng handed him.

Zhu Zhao was indeed a woman, and the fact that she lived with Yu Lianlian was not a lie.

Yu Lianlian had lived in the capital for a long time writing books, while Zhu Zhao had only arrived a few days ago.

Gu Minsheng watched Xie Chengyun flip through the files and whispered: “Prime Minister, what is there to investigate about those two? It is quite inconvenient for two young ladies to be together, and fearing they might be bullied, pretending to be a married couple isn’t anything strange.”

Xie Chengyun looked at him and said: “Do you know about Wujin Powder?”

“I have heard of it.”

Xie Chengyun picked up the lamp shade, lit the documents, and watched the paper slowly turn to ash, carried away by the wind: “Aren’t you curious where this Wujin Powder came from?”

Gu Minsheng frowned: “The Prime Minister means?”

“Isn’t it a coincidence? As soon as this Zhu Zhao arrived, Wujin Powder became a trend among the literati in the capital. Even Yu Lianlian’s books praise Wujin Powder to the skies.”

“This subordinate understands.” Gu Minsheng was a smart man; hearing Xie Chengyun’s words, he immediately turned and left.

Xie Chengyun leaned back in his chair, praying inwardly that his deduction would not become reality.

“The cuckoo weeps blood, help me inherit a peaceful age!”

On the big ship, the crowd chanted slogans and knelt down in unison. Their foreheads touched the ground, showing extreme devotion.

Incense smoke curled around, worshipping a deity covered in a red cloth. The deity’s face could not be seen; it had six arms and three feet, sitting on a crane.

A woman with totems painted on her face and wearing five-colored brocade clothes stood beside the idol.

People worshipped the deity and also worshipped her; the red cloth covered her eyes, and the ship was full of fanatical cultists.

Xie Chengyun’s eyelids had been twitching for two hours. He kept comforting himself that this timeline did not yet have the “Cuckoo Blood.”

Or perhaps, the Cuckoo Blood had not yet grown into a real threat at this time.

In the original story, the Cuckoo Blood first spread a plague.

Then, when the plague arrived, they widely distributed “talisman water”—though it was unclear how they managed to do it. But after the people drank the talisman water, the symptoms did indeed alleviate.

Added to Xie Chengyun’s own iron-fisted methods, the number of people joining the Cuckoo Blood was countless.

The Flower Festival was crowded; it was a good time to cause trouble.

The source of the plague must be placed where the most people were. If it were him, what would he do?

The night was silent, with only the faint chirping of insects.

Xie Chengyun snapped his eyes open, thinking of the nursery rhyme on the street.

Second day of the second lunar month,

Flower Festival.

Everyone comes to pretend to be a Hundred Flower Fairy,

The Hundred Flower Fairy comes to the Chu River.

There are big boats on the Chu River bank,

Releasing lanterns together on the boats.

Flames are blazing to show a miracle,

Goddesses and fairies welcome the Flower King.

No one likes being dragged out of bed to work overtime at night, and Li Xunguang was no exception.

But in the next second, his mind cleared.

“What? You’re saying the Flower Festival forbids crowds and tour boats?” Li Xunguang widened his eyes, thinking he had auditory hallucinations.

Xie Chengyun set down the teacup and nodded slowly.

“Prime Minister Xie, this is impossible.” Li Xunguang looked at his face and said: “The custom of dressing up as the Flower God during the Flower Festival has been passed down for thousands of years. Moreover, this is an activity organized by the common people themselves; you and I have no position to stop it.”

“What if we must stop it?” Xie Chengyun knitted his brows.

“Public grievances will be sky-high, and neither the top nor the bottom will have peace.”

Xie Chengyun watched Li Xunguang leave, supporting his head.

He actually didn’t expect to stop the Cuckoo Blood by forbidding crowds; after all, he could stop it once, stop it twice.

But there were so many holidays throughout the year; he couldn’t keep people from celebrating every time.

The best way was to take advantage of the fact that the Cuckoo Blood had not yet formed a real threat and cut off the source of the trouble forever.

But why gather people on a ship? Were they so confident the plan was foolproof?

They didn’t fear him sending people to surround the ship; the Chu River was vast, and once there, there would be no way to escape.

After all, if he had to choose a place to spread a plague, he would definitely choose Chang’an Street.

Crowded and accessible from all sides, it could be retreated from or defended.

Then, quietly incite some wind and light a fire in the crowd, and there might even be unexpected surprises.

Although he said that, what needed to be arranged still had to be arranged.

Early the next morning, guards in civilian clothes infiltrated the crowd. On the surface, they were strolling and playing, but in reality, they used fireworks as a signal; once something was discovered, they would act with the fastest speed possible.

In a dark alley, someone reported this news to a young man in green.

That young man counted bricks casually, saying nonchalantly: “It doesn’t matter, carry on as usual. As long as you don’t stop people from participating in the Flower Festival, let them do whatever they want.”

The person wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by the young man in green: “Don’t let a small matter delay our important task. If we miss this node, the next time will be five years later; we can’t afford to wait.”

After speaking, he snapped open his folding fan and swept away.

Zhu Yunyin leaned against the pillar of Fahua Hall, knocking on the floor rhythmically.

Calculating the time, it should be about time.

Sure enough, a moment later, Eunuch Li came to deliver a meal to Zhu Yunyin.

Today, Eunuch Li was followed by a little eunuch, who was keeping his head low, carrying a food box.

The guards at the door saw it was Eunuch Li and immediately opened the palace door.

In the past, he would always put down the food box and leave, but today, Eunuch Li clearly had things to discuss with His Majesty. The guards at the door looked at each other and closed the palace door.

After all, hearing things that shouldn’t be heard would cost one their head.

No matter how powerful Xie Chengyun was, the person locked inside was the current Sage Emperor.

The Sage Emperor was willing to be locked up, that was why he was locked here. If one day the Sage Emperor wasn’t willing, the one in trouble would be Xie Chengyun. They, these little underlings, didn’t need to get involved in these rights and wrongs.

As soon as the door closed, Eunuch Li knelt down immediately and said: “Your Majesty.”

“Did you handle the things I told you to pretend to do?”

“Everything is handled.”

Seeing that things were handled, Zhu Yunyin stood up and gestured for the little eunuch to take off his clothes.

Eunuch Li remained kneeling on the floor, his face against the cold stone bricks.

After changing his clothes, the little eunuch knelt under the ancestral tablet of the late Emperor in Zhu Yunyin’s place.

Zhu Yunyin adjusted his hat, kicked the food box casually, and said: “This is a reward for you.”

Eunuch Li stood up, and with the palace door opening and closing, Zhu Yunyin went out.

He followed behind Eunuch Li, and the Eunuch escorted him all the way to the palace gate. Once outside the palace, there was indeed someone waiting to meet him.

The insider only said that this was a noble person, but didn’t say who it was.

The person waiting didn’t dare to speak recklessly, fearing to cause trouble for himself. After taking the person to the inn to change clothes, he wanted to take his leave.

He didn’t expect to be stopped by the noble person before he could even open his mouth.

“I heard there are tour boats for the Flower Festival today?”

The noble person’s voice sounded like he hadn’t yet reached the age of twenty, quite youthful. But in the tone, one could still hear the arrogance of having been in a high position for a long time.

The person didn’t dare to be slow, and hurriedly said: “Yes.”

“When does this tour boat start?”

“There is no specific time, but it should be after dark.”

“Are there many people on the boat in the past?”

“There weren’t many in the past, but there will definitely be a lot this year. The commoner heard that this year’s Flower God is being judged on the tour boat; there should be many people going to watch the fun.”

Zhu Yunyin frowned: “Dismissed.”

In the past, stages were set up to judge the Flower God; why did it have to be on a tour boat this year?

The sky was just getting dark, and Zhu Yunyin put on a bamboo hat and walked out of the inn.

The folk customs of Shangliang were open; the Flower God could be male or female.

Vendors on the street were also setting up stalls, selling all kinds of flowers; seasonal ones were fresh flowers, and out-of-season ones were velvet flowers.

Although the bamboo hat covered his face, one could still tell through his clothes that he was a young master of a wealthy family. The vendors began to shout one after another, trying to attract his attention.

But Zhu Yunyin walked in a hurry; he had to go find Xie Chengyun.

He had a dream again yesterday; ever since he left Fayuan Temple, he had been having nightmares day after day. That feeling was too real, so real that it made Zhu Yunyin suspect whether it was a dream.

The hustle and bustle and joy on the street didn’t belong to him; Zhu Yunyin didn’t know when his hurried walking had turned into running, and the surrounding scenery changed.

Once, Zhuang Zhou dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased! He didn’t know he was Zhou.

Suddenly, he woke up, and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhou. But he didn’t know whether he was Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhou.

A white garment drifted past the corner; Zhu Yunyin wanted to grab it with all his might.

Was it the Zhu Yunyin in the dream dreaming of the present, or was the current Zhu Yunyin dreaming?

He couldn’t tell, but the only thing he knew was the Zhu Yunyin who had Xie Chengyun was the lucky one.