Captured by the Emperor After a Successful Faked Death - Chapter 13

A massive tour boat leaned against the shore, looking, at first glance, like a modern cruise ship.

Xie Chengyun, dressed in white, walked slowly across the wooden plank onto the boat.

A branch of red plum blossoms held his ink-colored hair in place; whenever the wind stirred, a subtle fragrance wafted through the air. He had come alone today; Gu Minsheng had been dispatched by him to patrol Chang’an Street.

Xie Chengyun still didn’t believe they would abandon such a prime geographical location. A plague could take the lives of millions; being cautious was never a bad thing.

The tour boat was bustling with activity, with children holding peach blossoms skipping past. Xie Chengyun watched them, and inappropriately, he thought of Zhu Yunyin.

Was he eating well at Fahua Hall? He must be very sad after being scolded by me like that.

His heart was a tangled mess. Xie Chengyun leaned against the wooden railing and chanted silently: This is a novel; everything here is fake. I am just here to complete a mission. Once the mission is done, I can go home. Once I go home, Zhu Yunyin will have nothing to do with me ever again.

He is the male lead, after all; the world of the novel revolves around the male lead.

The boat was about to depart, and Xie Chengyun hurried into the crowd. A second later, someone wearing a conical hat ran onto the boat.

As soon as that person boarded, the great ship began to move out onto the Chu River.

The Chu River was the mother river of Shangliang; the upper reaches were mainly mountainous, while the middle and lower reaches were plains and hills. It spanned the entirety of Shangliang and the neighboring countries.

The crowds on both banks waved as they saw the tour boat, and the people on the boat did the same.

Zhu Yunyin kept searching for Xie Chengyun on the boat. There were so many people, mostly young ladies and gentlemen. Seeing him walking in a rush, they just assumed he had been separated from his sweetheart and needed to reunite before his beloved got angry. When they were bumped into or mistaken for someone else, they weren’t annoyed; instead, they teased him with a smile.

One young lady even tossed a few peonies into his arms, laughing: “Little young master, run slower. When you find your intended, you can give her the flowers. Tell her you didn’t mean it, and that being separated was for this surprise.”

Since it was all well-intended, Zhu Yunyin didn’t explain. He said, “Thank you,” and continued searching the entire ship.

Before arriving, he had already dispatched people to watch this ship. If anything happened, relief would arrive within a quarter of an hour.

The boat stopped in the middle of the river, and people began to release prayer lanterns one after another.

As countless fire-red lanterns carrying wishes flew into the sky, there was suddenly a loud “BOOM!”

A cluster of fiery red fireworks rose into the sky from within the capital city and bloomed.

Xie Chengyun stood in the cabin, looking at the sky; this was the secret signal they had agreed upon something had happened on Chang’an Street.

He knew it; that group of people definitely wouldn’t abandon Chang’an Street.

Xie Chengyun wanted to call for the boat to return to shore, but the vessel gave a violent jolt. Shrieks of terror erupted from the deck: “Fire! It’s a fire! Everyone, run!”

Following this came chaos, with countless people pressing against the wooden railings, waving their arms, and screaming, “Help!”

Children cried amidst the flames, and some held their lovers, attempting to rush to areas free of fire. Others leaped into the river, trying to swim to the shore.

Zhu Yunyin also leaned out to look at the banks.

For some reason, the people on the shore were entangled; some wanted to row boats over to rescue them, but the nearby boats were all on fire as well. A bunch of useless trash.

The fire had started from deep within the cabin, but strangely, a patch deep inside the cabin remained perfectly untouched.

Xie Chengyun’s face darkened, and he decisively grabbed a vase nearby. He tossed out the flowers, splashed the water over himself, and charged inside.

Zhu Yunyin had reached the cabin area by this time, just in time to see Xie Chengyun’s back as he headed inside.

Everyone else was running toward the areas without fire, but Zhu Yunyin resolutely followed Xie Chengyun’s footsteps. Someone grabbed him and said: “Are you crazy or do you not want your life? It’s full of smoke and fire inside; this isn’t how you seek death!”

Zhu Yunyin shook off the person’s hand and rushed inside.

The thick smoke made Zhu Yunyin cough violently, not to mention the wooden beams that could fall at any moment. He had gotten inside, but he couldn’t find his Prime Minister-Father.

Xie Chengyun navigated rapidly through the flames it was fortunate he had come early. In order to find clues and see if there was anything suspicious, he had explored the entire ship. So, he was very familiar with the layout, just like returning home.

Just as Zhu Yunyin lost his way, someone grabbed his sleeve and pulled him toward another place.

“The ceremony is about to start; why are you still here spacing out? If you miss the auspicious hour, you’ll be in for a rough time!”

Ceremony? Zhu Yunyin frowned. His Prime Minister-Father wouldn’t come here without a reason; was this the purpose of his arrival?

Amidst the roaring flames, the person dragged Zhu Yunyin to a room.

There was no fire here; a deity was being worshipped. People knelt one after another, leaving an open space in the middle.

The person told Zhu Yunyin to hold a saucer and pick up a brush, drawing something on the floor. Zhu Yunyin looked at the substance in the saucer—it wasn’t cinnabar, it was real blood.

Xie Chengyun knocked out a straggler and donned his clothes. Just as he finished changing, someone said the ceremony was about to start and told him to hurry up. He had no choice but to rush over, secretly wondering why Gu Minsheng was so slow.

On Chang’an Street, Gu Minsheng was struggling to maintain order with his guards.

It started with two old women arguing, but for some reason, it devolved into a brawl. That group of people had killed someone; having tasted blood, they were now even more determined to fight to the death.

The soldiers couldn’t injure people without cause, so maintaining order was extremely difficult.

Seeing the fire growing larger, Gu Minsheng shouted: “Press them all into the dungeon! Those who resist, kill without mercy!”

“They killed people from our family, why should we be the ones going to jail?”

“Exactly, why?”

Gu Minsheng ignored the crowd and shouted: “The yamen will decide who is right and who is wrong; take them all away! The rest follow me to the Chu River to save people!”

A foot soldier whispered: “But Captain Gu, the big ship is on fire, and the boats by the river have all been burned by them. How are we supposed to save anyone?”

Gu Minsheng rode across his horse: “Are there any boats in the fishermen’s homes?”

“Well, there are, but that’s how they make their living, I fear…”

“We can’t worry about that now. Pass my order: the government is requisitioning boats; all boat owners must comply. Sign and press your fingerprints; they can use that to collect silver later, consider it a government purchase.”

After speaking, he swung his whip and rushed toward the Chu River.

Xie Chengyun was mixed in with the believers, his head lowered.

A voice came from the front: “The Saintess has arrived! The Saintess has arrived!”

Xie Chengyun secretly looked up among the believers. He saw her with her hair tied in a bun, pinned with a knife-shaped hairpin. She was dressed in colorful brocade clothes, with mysterious totems painted on her face and hands; every step she took produced the sound of ringing pendants.

Xie Chengyun widened his eyes. Holy crap, isn’t this Yu Lianlian?

He had calculated a thousand ways but only managed to figure out that Yu Lianlian’s identity was not simple, yet he hadn’t known she was actually the Saintess of the Cuckoo Blood.

He cast a pitiful look at those fanatical believers: Dear ones, do you know that your Saintess also holds a part-time job writing erotic novels?

But the more he looked, the more wrong it felt.

Why did that person holding the saucer look so much like Zhu Yunyin? Wasn’t the little Emperor supposed to be kneeling in penance at Fahua Hall? How did he end up holding a saucer here?

Xie Chengyun widened his eyes, secretly thinking: Hallucination. This must be a hallucination.

Just as Xie Chengyun was comforting himself and praying it was just a coincidence, Zhu Yunyin made eye contact with him.

He saw the young man’s lips part slightly, silently mouthing the words: “Prime Minister-Father.”

Xie Chengyun couldn’t hold it together. Holy crap, it really is the little Emperor!

He was about to get up, but was pulled back by the person next to him: “Don’t kneel yet, the Saintess is about to start the ceremony.”

Forget it, forget it. At least he is right under my nose. Besides, there was the “Male Lead Immortality Law”; once something went wrong, he would just run toward Zhu Yunyin.

Yu Lianlian closed her eyes and took the hand drum handed to her by the person next to her. She began to dance.

Outside were the screams and cries for help from the people; inside were the devout believers kneeling on the ground waiting for the ceremony to begin.

By now, even a fool would know what they were trying to do.

This was a sacrifice taking the lives of everyone on the ship as offerings.

As Yu Lianlian’s dance began, she beat the hand drum and stepped forward to uncover the red cloth on the idol.

The idol had six eyes and three noses, but no mouth. To be accurate, the idol’s mouth was a hollow void quite terrifying.

Sister, are you worshipping a legitimate god?

Yu Lianlian did not stop dancing and began to chant a rhyme. Xie Chengyun couldn’t understand it, just assuming it was some folk dialect.

On the outskirts of the believers, someone stood there with a folding fan, watching all of this.

“Sect Leader, there are people rowing bamboo rafts and fishing boats outside to save people; what should we do?”

How did they come so fast? The ceremony had only just begun; it couldn’t end.

The man was silent for a moment and said: “Send people to stop them at all costs. Before the ceremony ends, no one can leave this boat alive.”

“Yes!”

Yu Lianlian danced faster and faster. Suddenly, she fell to the ground. Seeing Yu Lianlian fall, the person rushed forward two steps, his eyes full of worry.

But the next moment, Yu Lianlian crawled up, her waist rising first, folding her body into a bizarre angle. The chanting stopped, replaced by gurgling sounds, and blood flowed from her eyes.

“I see it, I see it…”

The believers below, hearing this, became even more fanatical.

They knelt on the ground trying to grab the hem of Yu Lianlian’s dress, shouting: “The god has come! The god has come! The cuckoo weeps blood, bringing eternal peace! Hahahaha, the god has given us a revelation!”

Xie Chengyun felt his scalp go numb; this place was full of madmen. He turned to look at Zhu Yunyin again; he was still standing there holding the saucer, expressionless.

Noticing Xie Chengyun looking at him, he immediately revealed a standard eight-tooth smile.

Holy crap, this is also a madman!

Just as Xie Chengyun was on the verge of a breakdown, Yu Lianlian suddenly spat out a large mouthful of filthy blood.

The blood splattered on the ground, mixed with hemp cloth and parasitic insects.

The believers finally showed expressions of fear. The man hurried to Yu Lianlian’s side, using a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.

It really is a small world. Wasn’t this Zhu Zhao, the Young Master Zhu from the Mingwei Garden? No, it should be Miss Zhu now.

Yu Lianlian pushed her away violently and looked up to the sky, laughing.

Zhu Zhao fell to the ground, and seeing her abnormality, she immediately realized the ceremony had gone wrong, kneeling on the ground and repeatedly wiping the totem spell she had just drawn with her handkerchief.

Yu Lianlian laughed and laughed, then began to cry.

While crying, she took off the knife-shaped hairpin on her head and slashed at her own body. In no time, she was covered in blood.

Black insects circled Yu Lianlian, clinging to her wounds, buzzing loudly.

Sharp and shrill, it was clearly Yu Lianlian speaking, yet the sound came from the idol itself.

“Human life between heaven and earth is but a grain of sand in the sea. I thought I could peek at destiny, but instead, it cost me my life. The lonely minister could not protect the collapsing mansion; throwing himself into the river to commit suicide. The general died at the hands of a villain; white banners covered the land. A doctor cannot heal himself; the loyal and chaste die. The monarch prays to gods and ignores national affairs—clearly there is no hope in this life, yet you stubbornly seek to cling to each other. It is said that riches and honors are enjoyed to the end, but disasters are also clear in an instant. The Hu horses drive straight in; you and I start an uprising. But he wants to bury the nation, just to meet again in the next life. Mocking you and me, our lives were nothing but mirror flowers and water moons, a skeleton’s phantom play.”

“Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

After Yu Lianlian finished speaking, she immediately slammed her head against the pillar, striking it several times. None of the believers present dared to stop her.

In the end, it was Zhu Zhao who crawled up from the ground to shield her in her arms, cradling Yu Lianlian’s face, telling her to look at her.

Yu Lianlian looked at Zhu Zhao, seeming to regain a bit of consciousness. She said a few incomprehensible things, then collapsed in Zhu Zhao’s arms, her life hanging by a thread.