AEGA CH4

On the day of the enthronement, before the sky had even brightened, the palace servants were already waiting outside holding copper basins and towels. They only waited for the new Emperor to rise before streaming in one after another to attend to him.

Lu Xuechao personally changed Xie Chongjin into his imperial court robes, smoothing his attire and straightening the crown of twelve jade tassels that symbolized the Son of Heaven upon his head. As he raised his eyes, he inadvertently met the other’s gaze.

Separated by the twelve strands of jade beads and dressed in full imperial regalia, the silhouettes of his childhood friend, his youthful confidant, and the lover beside his pillow suddenly felt distant and unfamiliar, transforming into the majestic and solemn sovereign standing before him.

Lu Xuechao was momentarily dazed, a strange sense of unease abruptly rising in his heart.

Yet when Xie Chongjin lowered his eyes to meet his gaze, his eyes were brimming with gentle light and filled with smiles. The familiar expression overlapped with the figure of the past; it seemed nothing had changed after all.

Perhaps he was just overthinking.

The two looked at each other and smiled, everything understood without a word.

“Today is Your Majesty’s enthronement,” Lu Xuechao suppressed his stray thoughts, curling his lips into a blessing. “Your servant wishes my Emperor a long life of ten thousand years, boundless joy, eternal prosperity for our nation, and well-being for the myriad citizens.”

Xie Chongjin clutched his hand, saying with a smile, “Only with the Empress accompanying my side, working together for the country and the people, can I truly find long-lasting joy.”

The enthronement ceremony was convoluted and tedious, and because it had to be held concurrently with the Empress’s investiture ceremony, the rituals were grand, exhausting, and time-consuming. Preparations had begun during the Yin hour before dawn, and even as the fierce sun rose high in the sky, the ceremonial official was still grandiosely reciting the congratulatory speech for the new Emperor’s ascension.

The young monarch atop the high platform was so bored he wanted to yawn. Beside him, Lu Xuechao gently pinched his hand, reminding him in a low voice, “Your Majesty, mind your decorum.”

As the voice, clear as a spring, entered his ears, his drowsiness and irritation were swept away. Xie Chongjin instantly composed his expression and steadied his tassels, straightening his posture a fraction as he coughed lightly, “Many thanks to the Empress for the reminder.”

“However, this ceremonial official truly spouts far too much nonsense… This court robe is heavy, and the sun is fiercely scorching. Can your body handle standing here for so long?” Taking advantage of the vast distance between the high platform and the officials standing below, which ensured their voices wouldn’t reach anyone else’s ears, Xie Chongjin openly whispered sweet nothings to Lu Xuechao in such a solemn setting.

“Your Majesty…” Lu Xuechao spoke helplessly, “It is a once-in-a-lifetime ceremony. Just endure it, and it will pass.”

Xie Chongjin kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, though his mouth refused to stay idle: “Then talk to me, Qingshu. Only when I hear Qingshu speak do I not find this unbearable. This sun is baking me until I’m burning up.”

Lu Xuechao pondered slightly, “…Then, does Huaiyun want to have some lotus seed soup for lunch to clear the heat?”

Xie Chongjin said delightfully, “Is it made by Qingshu’s own hands again? If it’s something made by Qingshu, I naturally want to eat all of it.”

…

The civil and military officials below were still being ravaged by the blazing sun, painstakingly remaining completely motionless for fear of making a wrong move on such an important occasion. Little did they know that the Emperor and Empress on the stage were already chatting about what to eat for lunch.

The two youths chatted idly back and forth, and time flew by swiftly. When the ceremonial official finally finished chanting his prose, Xie Chongjin accepted the Imperial Jade Seal and received the grand prostration of the officials. From that moment on, they were officially the Emperor and the Empress.

After the ceremony concluded, the officials all waited for Xie Chongjin to issue his imperial edicts.

According to custom, the first edict issued by a new Emperor upon his ascension was a grand amnesty across the realm to demonstrate the new ruler’s benevolence and virtue.

Inside the Imperial Study, Xie Chongjin was currently drafting the edict.

A grand amnesty was something every new Emperor would do—pardoning all prisoners in jail and erasing their criminal records to give them a fresh start in life. Xie Chongjin did not intend to break this tradition, but he intended to make some modifications.

If it were truly a blanket pardon without distinction, it would be merciful to the criminals but a form of cruelty to the victims who had been harmed by them. Xie Chongjin was currently drafting the Three Non-Pardons—those who committed heinous crimes would not be pardoned, those who showed no remorse would not be pardoned, and those who had not served at least half their sentence would not be pardoned, ensuring that crime still carried a price.

He finished drafting the edict and handed it to Yun Luo to propagate. However, Yun Luo, who had always faithfully executed his orders without question, revealed a look of hesitation for the first time before immediately kneeling down: “Your Majesty, please think twice.”

“My mind is made up.” Xie Chongjin knew that his modifications to the grand amnesty had no precedent, but once he set this precedent, wouldn’t future generations have a rule to follow? Since ancient times, grand amnesties had released countless vicious criminals and left countless victims with grievances and no place to seek justice. He had long felt it was time for a change.

Yun Luo was usually one whose joy or anger never showed on his face, yet the astonishment in his tone at this moment could not be hidden: “Are you truly… going to depose the Empress?”

…What?

Xie Chongjin failed to understand for a moment.

“Yun Luo has served Your Majesty for many years and does not believe you harbor no sincerity toward the Empress,” Yun Luo rarely spoke much, but today his words were exceptionally numerous, also feeling that His Majesty’s actions were truly preposterous—preposterous to the point of exceeding his comprehension. “If you were merely using the Prime Minister’s faction behind the Empress to ascend the throne, you could have simply skipped the investiture ceremony today. Why invest him as Empress at noon and depose him by late afternoon? Doing so is simply too humiliating. Your Majesty… Prime Minister Lu is a loyal minister.”

The more Xie Chongjin listened, the stranger it felt. He snatched the imperial edict back from Yun Luo’s hands and looked closely at it. His expression shook violently, his eyes filled with absolute disbelief.

It was actually an edict of deposition.

Written upon the edict was that the Empress lacked virtue and conduct, and was thus stripped of his title, demoted to a commoner, and banished to the Cold Palace…

What on earth was all this?

What he had written was clearly an edict for a grand amnesty.

Xie Chongjin wanted to tear the imperial edict apart, but the supple silk felt as tough as solid steel; even when utilizing his inner qi, he couldn’t damage it in the slightest.

Seeing that he couldn’t destroy this edict, Xie Chongjin simply decided to write another one. He hadn’t noticed earlier, but this time he discovered that while his mind was thinking of a grand amnesty, the moment he put brush to paper, what he wrote was an edict to depose the Empress.

Refusing to believe in such witchcraft, Xie Chongjin wrote one imperial edict after another, his heart growing increasingly terrified. The result did not change at all.

What he wanted to write was clearly not this, yet it was as if an invisible force had taken control of his body, forcing him to only write the edict of deposition. Xie Chongjin’s hand holding the ink brush trembled violently. He exerted all his strength to write the words “Grand Amnesty Across the Realm” character by character, but in the end, what appeared on the paper was…

Banish to the Cold Palace.

Xie Chongjin was both shocked and enraged. Fury surging into his chest, he swept his sleeves and flung all those imperial edicts to the ground.

Seeing the edicts of deposition scattered all over the floor, Yun Luo knit his brows slightly.

From the looks of it, His Majesty truly harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Empress, wishing nothing more than to depose him immediately.

Could it be that in the past… His Majesty’s affection for the Empress was all an illusion?

If so, His Majesty’s acting skills were far too genuine; he hadn’t seen through even a single fraction of it.

Yun Luo fell silent for a moment, then slowly picked up one of the imperial edicts, speaking softly, “Understood. This servant shall head to Chongxue Palace to proclaim the edict to the Empress… no, to Commoner Lu.”

He was loyal only to His Majesty. Even though His Majesty’s command this time was truly beyond his comprehension, he would simply carry it out.

Xie Chongjin was still caught in the shock of his sudden loss of bodily control. Seeing Yun Luo pick up the edict to leave, he instantly wanted to bark a refusal—You are not allowed to go!

Yet that shout was strangled completely in his throat, and Xie Chongjin heard his own calm voice speak out:

“Go proclaim it.”

…

Xie Chongjin was practically driven mad by this sudden, bizarre occurrence, his heart filled with a fury that had no outlet.

Just who exactly had suddenly taken over his body?

Yun Luo worked efficiently and followed his orders explicitly, which was originally a merit. But now, Xie Chongjin hated this trait to the core.

Unable to make a sound, he could only follow Yun Luo toward Chongxue Palace, attempting to stop it.

Upon seeing him, Lu Xuechao walked forward with a bright smile to greet him.

If it were normal times, Xie Chongjin would have already stepped forward to catch him; there was never any need for such empty courtesies between them.

But now, his footsteps were rooted to the spot, making him look like a cold, indifferent bystander.

Yun Luo unfurled the imperial edict, hiding his complex expression: “The Empress shall receive the edict.”

Lu Xuechao cast a slightly curious glance at Xie Chongjin, cooperatively kneeling to receive the decree.

What kind of surprise was this? How great of a reward must it be to trouble him to draft an imperial edict specifically for it?

However, upon hearing the contents read by Yun Luo, Lu Xuechao’s expression grew colder and colder.

He stood up and walked forward, stopping right in front of Xie Chongjin. He stared at him fixedly for a moment, then suddenly smiled: “Your Majesty, jokes shouldn’t be played this way. This joke… has gone a bit too far.”

He was waiting for Xie Chongjin to give an explanation.

Xie Chongjin had no way to explain. His body could not move, his tongue could not speak, and even putting brush to paper was beyond his control.

The two stared at each other in silence for a long time.

Realizing that Xie Chongjin showed no intention of joking, Lu Xuechao froze slightly.

He lowered his head, his eyes gradually reddening. After a long while, he asked softly, “What crime has your servant committed?”

At that time, Lu Xuechao was merely a seventeen-year-old youth.

Having been spoiled and pampered by Xie Chongjin since childhood, no matter how profound his calculation, he couldn’t hide his own grief and grievance.

Nor did he want to hide it. His reddened eyes stared stubbornly at Xie Chongjin, the brilliant water in his eyes holding unshed tears, which made Xie Chongjin’s heart ache terribly, his mind thrown into utter chaos.

Lu Xuechao was naturally guiltless. Xie Chongjin also didn’t know why things had turned out this way. Clearly, everything had still been perfectly fine yesterday, and they had been envisioning a bright and brilliant future together. Yet today, they were struck by a sudden disaster, shrouded in gloom, utterly absurd.

Lu Xuechao never received an answer. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and he was taken away to the Cold Palace without another word.

Xie Chongjin was fraught with anxiety and followed him once more.

He discovered that even if he chose not to walk, this body would automatically head toward the Cold Palace. It was as if not only did he want to go to the Cold Palace to see Qingshu, but that invisible controller also wanted to go there.

But what was the controller going to the Cold Palace for?

Xie Chongjin didn’t dare think deeper.

The Cold Palace was a dilapidated building where the bedding was damp, the food was spoiled, and the consorts of the previous dynasty who had stayed here for too long were mostly insane.

Lu Xuechao had never suffered such grievances in his entire life. Yet even after entering the Cold Palace, he remained calm. He was utterly baffled by Xie Chongjin’s behavior, but he didn’t believe he would stay here for long.

Ten years of deep affection… how could it be false? If it were false, how could he fail to distinguish it?

Xie Chongjin rushed over. He had ten thousand words he wanted to explain to Lu Xuechao—to say his body was beyond his control, to apologize for scaring him, to hold him, kiss him, and comfort him.

…To love him properly.

The reality, however, was that his form didn’t move an inch. Looking down at Lu Xuechao from a height, the words he spoke also turned into an emotionless:

“Bestow death upon him.”

Xie Chongjin and Lu Xuechao’s bodies stiffened simultaneously.

Lu Xuechao looked up, asking softly, “Is Your Majesty truly… this heartless?”

Xie Chongjin couldn’t describe what kind of grief and helplessness that was. He suddenly understood that the mastermind controlling him behind the scenes had come to the Cold Palace specifically to bestow death upon Lu Xuechao.

He almost wanted to turn around and flee in panic, but his feet were nailed to the spot, unable to move a single inch.

Even Yun Luo hadn’t expected His Majesty to be this cruel—deposing his pillow partner the moment he said so, and killing him just as easily.

But Lu Xuechao was already a commoner. For an Emperor to kill a commoner was as easy as turning over his hand.

The palace servants quickly prepared poisoned wine, a dagger, and a three-foot length of white silk, requesting Xie Chongjin to decide which one to use.

Xie Chongjin didn’t want to use any of them; he only wanted his Qingshu to be safe and sound. Looking at those three fatal implements, a look of sheer terror almost leaked from his eyes.

He watched as his own hand lifted.

How would that person behind the scenes choose?

Using his hand, forcing him to kill his most beloved person.

How could there be such a cruel thing in the world?

I beg of you, don’t choose.

Qingshu is the person I want to treat well for a lifetime.

You cannot kill him.

The young Crown Prince was proud by nature. On this very day he became the Emperor of Changli, it should have been his most triumphant and unbridled moment. Yet within a single day, his dignity was swept away, his proud bones completely shattered, as he humbly begged the controller he hated to the very bone in his heart.

Begging him to show mercy.

Whether it was because his prayers had taken effect, he suddenly heard himself say, “Forget it, spare his life for now.”

Leaving the Cold Palace and seeing the sun that was still bright and warm in the sky, Xie Chongjin suddenly shuddered, a bone-chilling cold piercing through his very core.

He let out a sigh of relief that was half-laugh and half-cry, as if the person who had just escaped death was himself.

…Today’s events were simply too absurd.

But the absurdities were far from over.

Those invisible large hands didn’t withdraw after this. He was like a puppet on a string being manipulated, forced to commit even more absurd acts. Xie Chongjin watched coldly as he summoned male favorites, aggressively held imperial selections, and spent day and night lingering in the inner palace, gradually neglecting court affairs. From a virtuous sage monarch, he slowly degenerated into an unprincipled foolish ruler, criticized by his ministers and condemned by the myriad citizens.

He also went from anger, resentment, and despair to indifference and numbness.

The Kingdom of Changli didn’t have true castrated eunuchs; the palace servants who entered to serve all consumed a medicine that temporarily rendered them impotent. Once they reached the age to be discharged from the palace, or if they were favored by the Emperor and brought into the inner palace, they could be granted the antidote. The male favorites arranged in the palace all came about this way.

There were many beautiful palace servants, but Xie Chongjin had never thought of touching them. Even casting a single glance felt like a betrayal to Lu Xuechao, yet the controller accepted them all on his behalf without any courtesy.

He was viewed as a plaything by others, wantonly humiliated and teased. His heart was filled with extreme resentment, yet he had absolutely no solution.

The only saving grace was that the controller couldn’t manipulate his body to actually favor others sexually. Every time after flipping a name tag, when Xie Chongjin was in the same room as the one serving him for the night, he would feel an unbearable heat and an evil fire rising in his abdomen, desiring pleasure as if drugged, yet he remained unable to take a single step out of the bedchamber. But this urge wasn’t entirely impossible to forcefully endure. Every single night, Xie Chongjin would sleep on the bed while the one serving slept on the daybed, and nothing had ever happened.

Despite enduring it with extreme discomfort, Xie Chongjin was unwilling to touch anyone other than Lu Xuechao. Beside the Emperor’s pillow, only Lu Xuechao had ever slept soundly.

“Though in the eyes of Qingshu and outsiders, I have long been a faithless man,” Xie Chongjin thought mockingly to himself.

This life of indulging in dreams and wine passed for three whole years.

The bright youth who was once lighthearted, proud, and utterly arrogant had also finally become increasingly despondent, filled with resentment, and brooding with hostility.

Over the past three years, Xie Chongjin had wanted to visit Lu Xuechao in the Cold Palace countless times, missing him to the point of madness. Yet the controller seemed to have forgotten about Lu Xuechao, never visiting the Cold Palace even once.

Xie Chongjin both wanted to see Lu Xuechao and feared seeing him.

He feared seeing the hatred in Lu Xuechao’s eyes, not daring to face it.

He feared that on a whim, the controller would visit the Cold Palace again to bestow death upon Lu Xuechao; if so, he would rather they never meet.

Xie Chongjin could only instruct Yun Luo time and again to extensively renovate the Cold Palace, sending ice blocks in the summer and charcoal fires in the winter. Food and drink could not be lacking, and clothing had to be constantly replenished, his allowances no different from when he was the Empress. Fearing that Lu Xuechao would be bored, he even sent a massive pile of precious book collections, practically turning the Cold Palace into a second Zhongxue Palace.

To the extent that the fine ladies and beauties of the three palaces and six courtyards didn’t even have it as good as a deposed Empress in the Cold Palace regarding food, clothing, and expenditures.

Some things were not restricted by the controller; this was an experience Xie Chongjin had slowly figured out over time. His movements were restricted—the controller didn’t allow him to go to the Cold Palace, didn’t allow him to attend court, and didn’t allow him to bring Qingshu out of the Cold Palace to reinstate him. However, it was permissible for him to improve Qingshu’s living conditions, summon ministers to his study to discuss matters, and move the memorials to his bedchamber for review. If not for sustaining things with such effort, Changli would have likely collapsed long ago.

Yun Luo truly couldn’t resist asking, “Since Your Majesty cannot let go of that person, why not bring him out of the Cold Palace?”

Xie Chongjin wanted very much to go with the flow: “Then let’s do exactly that.”

However, this touched upon the restriction again, leaving him unable to speak.

His thoughts had never been important to the controller. He was being played like a toy in the palm of someone’s hand. He had also wondered whether he had been inadvertently targeted by a foreign country and struck by a parasite years ago, causing him to become a plaything. The alliance between him and Qingshu was the greatest threat to foreign nations, which was why the other side had resorted to such despicable methods…

He swore to hunt down the person behind the scenes and tear them into thousands of pieces. However, despite secretly ordering Yun Luo to investigate for a long time, they had yielded absolutely nothing, still completely unaware of who controlled him to this day.

The consorts in the palace grew more numerous, and another batch had been selected to enter the palace this year. The more bustling it became, the more desolate Xie Chongjin felt.

Having been controlled by someone for these three years, lingering among the flowers and summoning people to serve every single day, he was in truth fighting against that evil fire every night. He hadn’t slept peacefully in a very long time, and with deep melancholy long knotted in his heart while still having to prop up the tottering Kingdom of Changli, his complexion had grown visibly worse to the naked eye.

He lived like a walking corpse.

Wanting to flip whose name tag wasn’t up to his will either; his will had only ever held a single person named Lu Xuechao.

Looking at the green head tags before him, Xie Chongjin had absolutely no intention of flipping one. But he knew that afterwards, his body would automatically lift its hand to make a choice. As for who it would flip, Xie Chongjin didn’t care in the slightest.

But this time, his body didn’t make an automatic choice.

A look of mockery surfaced in Xie Chongjin’s eyes. Had that pleasure-seeking controller finally grown weary, uncharacteristically choosing to sleep alone tonight?

“Tonight, I shall handle administrative affairs,” Xie Chongjin said coldly.

Yun Luo said, “Understood.”

Looking at the memorials, Xie Chongjin suddenly covered his mouth and coughed heavily several times.

“Does Your Majesty wish to summon the imperial physicians?” Yun Luo asked immediately.

“No need.” Xie Chongjin closed his eyes slightly, “It is merely a buildup of melancholy and fury attacking the heart. You may leave.”

As long as he didn’t break free from the grasp of that mastermind behind the scenes and meet with Lu Xuechao for a single day, this heart sickness of his would not heal for a single day.

Yun Luo could only say, “Understood.”

In an instant, only Xie Chongjin was left inside Zichen Palace. He casually pulled a memorial, but thinking of Lu Xuechao, he couldn’t read a single character.

Losing himself for a moment, his gaze dropped, and his vision suddenly froze.

He saw that what was written on this memorial was neither any major matter of the state nor the remonstrances he had long grown accustomed to that fiercely criticized his foolishness.

It was some incredibly bizarre text.

Xiangjianhuan.

Game Forum.