Chapter 101
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On the way to meet the Emperor, escorted by the imperial guards, the Xixia envoys had already figured out the reason for their predicament.
Li Angshun maintained a composed expression, not struggling at all. As he entered the palace, he saw the assassins he had sent to merely bring Chu Wei over to talk were now kneeling in disgrace, their clothes stained with blood.
Seeing them, Li Angshun’s expression finally changed dramatically. He wished he could grab them by the collars and shout: How dare you draw your swords against him? Who told you to attack the Emperor?!
But in the end, he said nothing, kneeling with a sullen face.
Gu Yuanbai’s usual gentle demeanor when facing envoys was gone. In a deep voice, he called, “Seventh Prince of Xixia, Li Angshun.”
Li Angshun looked up, relieved to see no injuries on him, confirming that his men hadn’t harmed the Emperor.
Good, he thought.
The Emperor of Great Heng seemed calm as he recounted Li Angshun’s attempt to assassinate him. The ministers standing by were even colder than when discussing the treaty. Once the Emperor finished, an official stepped forward, harshly accusing Xixia of treachery and demanding compensation.
Xixia, at a loss for words, had no idea how to argue back. But when they heard the amount Great Heng demanded, their faces turned green.
The assassination incident dragged on until nightfall. The Xixia envoys were placed under house arrest at Mingsheng Relay Station. They wrote letters pleading for help, which, along with the compensation terms, were sent to Xixia.
Just as everything was wrapping up, Li Angshun suddenly requested to speak with the Emperor. Gu Yuanbai, lying back on his throne and fiddling with his jade ring, looked at him for a moment before saying coldly, “Come forward.”
With the imperial guards following, Li Angshun stepped forward. His gaze on Gu Yuanbai was complex, “Your Majesty, I did not order anyone to assassinate you.”
Not denying it earlier, but denying it now?
Gu Yuanbai couldn’t understand his reasoning. Already in a bad mood, he became even more impatient, “Oh? So, the blades those assassins aimed at me were just my imagination?”
Li Angshun: “I did order these men, but believe it or not, I didn’t instruct them to harm you.”
The Xixia prince was indeed strange.
He didn’t seem to harbor any hatred toward Gu Yuanbai.
Gu Yuanbai remained unmoved, “Take him away.”
Li Angshun left with a grim face, cursing Chu Wei for bringing him to this situation.
The Great Heng Emperor clearly didn’t believe a word he said.
After everyone left, Gu Yuanbai asked, “What time is it?”
“Almost the hour of the dog (7-9 pm),” Tian Fusheng replied.
Gu Yuanbai stood up, noticing that Tian Fusheng had already collected the letters, ready to send them to the northern border at dawn.
The Emperor remembered something, “All those handkerchiefs, notes, anything unrelated to border matters, return them all.”
Tian Fusheng immediately responded, “Yes, I will prepare them at once.”
Gu Yuanbai’s brows lowered as he made his way back to his chamber.
Using the Xixia envoys as a punching bag had been satisfying, and his anger had subsided. But in the deep, silent night, the feeling of being played with surged again.
Xue Yuan’s every move seemed heartfelt towards Gu Yuanbai.
But now, looking back, ha.
Gu Yuanbai rarely got played, whether in the past or now. As the Emperor of Great Heng, Xue Yuan was the first to do so.
The highly suspicious Gu Yuanbai had almost believed that Xue Yuan genuinely liked him. But now, the connection between the original novel’s gong and shou exploded in his mind, reminding him with a jolt that he was living in a book.
In the original text, the two protagonists seemed destined for each other.
Interesting.
Xue Yuan is really something.
That night, Gu Yuanbai slept fitfully, his anger simmering. By the time he woke up the next morning, his throat was sore from the pent-up rage, making it difficult to swallow tea. But as he laid in bed, resting with his eyes closed, Gu Yuanbai suddenly had an epiphany.
It’s fine, it’s good that those two are destined for each other.
But Xue Yuan had better have some self-awareness, knowing what he can and cannot do. Since he’s already showing interest in Chu Wei, he should stay away from Gu Yuanbai, not playing games and pretending one thing in private and another in public. Is it fun to toy with Gu Yuanbai?
Gu Yuanbai is a decent young man, and more importantly, he’s been the one exploiting Xue Yuan. He doesn’t deserve to be played with and then pursue revenge. But Xue Yuan should give Gu Yuanbai an explanation. If he doesn’t, and if he dares to openly send those love letters to Gu Yuanbai again, then Gu Yuanbai clenched his hand tightly.
He wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
Tian Fusheng was tidying up and nervously asked, “Your Majesty, about the jade ring Lord Xue sent—”
“Send it back,” Gu Yuanbai’s expression was hidden by the tea’s rising mist, “Throw it to him, tell him to save it for his future wife.”
Gu Yuanbai had decided he was done with Xue Yuan.
No more games.
***
Winter passed quickly, seemingly in the blink of an eye.
In January, the coldest month, just over twenty days before the New Year, the last batch of letters from the capital reached the hands of the northern frontier generals.
Covered in snow, the postman’s layered clothes couldn’t keep out the cold. Shivering, he told Old General Xue, “General, this is the last delivery before the New Year. Any further letters will have to wait until after the New Year when I’ll come to collect them.”
These letters were routine correspondences, not military reports. Old General Xue chuckled, “Alright, we’ll take note of that.”
After the postman left, someone checked the letters, surprised, “Why are they all addressed to Xue Jiuyou?”
Xue Yuan had been standing idly by, completely not expecting to receive a reply. When he heard this, his eyelid twitched, and he took a big step forward to see. Indeed, on top of the largest bundle was a note with the name “Xue Yuan” written on it.
Was this entire large bundle sent to him?
Xue Yuan felt a bit uncertain. It was already surprising enough for Gu Yuanbai to send him a letter in return, but with this many items, could it be that he had also sent along the personal item Xue Yuan had been longing for to the northern border?
Everyone gathered around, mixing jealousy with admiration, “Lucky guy, your family must miss you a lot to send so many letters!”
Old General Xue, holding only two or three thin family letters, felt embarrassed and glared at Xue Yuan, “Did your mother send these?”
Xue Yuan’s heart raced with a mix of disbelief and elation. He grabbed the bundle and walked out, “I’ll go check.”
He quickly returned to his tent, shut the door tightly, and excitedly unwrapped the bundle. Gu Yuanbai couldn’t have sent him so many letters. Was it possible that even Gu Yuanbai’s clothes were included?
Was there a used handkerchief? Chopsticks he had used?
Before opening the bundle, Xue Yuan could almost smell Gu Yuanbai’s scent.
Long-lasting, rich, and regal, Xue Yuan felt he could drown in that fragrance.
This must have come from the palace.
Xue Yuan’s mouth curled into a smile, his eyebrows raised in high spirits. As he opened the bundle, a jade ring rolled out first.
Xue Yuan’s gaze sharpened, following the ring as he swiftly caught it.
This jade ring looked very familiar—wasn’t it the one he had sent to Gu Yuanbai?
A bad feeling arose in Xue Yuan’s heart. Clutching the jade ring, he rummaged through the bundle and recognized everything—they were all his letters to Gu Yuanbai.
There was an item of clothing, but it was Xue Yuan’s own, the one Gu Yuanbai had borrowed on a rainy day at the Xue residence.
Xue Yuan tightly grasped the clothing, his brows furrowed deeply. He buried his face in it, trying to catch a whiff of Gu Yuanbai’s scent and the cool, clean smell of that rainy day.
Why were all his gifts sent back?
Was it the head of Xiwandan that had scared him?
Maybe. Xue Yuan recalled how Gu Yuanbai had once rejected his hand, calling it dirty, when he tried to peel a lychee after touching the head.
As he thought about it, the anxiety in his heart grew. Xue Yuan’s jaw clenched in frustration as he rummaged through the bundle again.
Finally, at the bottom, he found a letter from Tian Fusheng.
Tian Fusheng had written down the Emperor’s words verbatim, conveying two messages to Lord Xue. First, Lord Xue was forbidden from sending any more letters unrelated to frontier affairs. Any mention of romantic matters would be punished. Second, since Lord Xue had once asked for the jade ring back, the Emperor had it sent back, instructing him to give it to his future wife.
Tian Fusheng had tried to be diplomatic in his letter, but the Emperor’s original words were quoted directly.
Xue Yuan was stunned after reading the letter.
Holding the clothing worn by the Emperor and looking at the scattered letters expressing his feelings, he was utterly bewildered.
He read Tian Fusheng’s letter over and over, ten, fifteen times, back and forth, even reading it backwards, but he couldn’t understand why Gu Yuanbai would say such things.
Could it be that his words in the letters were too bold, angering Gu Yuanbai?
But he had always been bold. When he had rushed back to the capital, hadn’t he been intimate with Gu Yuanbai? He had touched and kissed him, and Gu Yuanbai had let him serve him. How could such a person be so angry over a few audacious words in letters?
On the way back, he had been escorted for miles, and now what was happening?
The more Xue Yuan thought about it, the darker his expression became. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, and the jade ring in his palm made a strained creaking sound.
This sound snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked down, opening his hand. The jade ring was fortunately intact, still clear and dense in his palm.
Xue Yuan slipped the jade ring onto his finger. His palm was larger than Gu Yuanbai’s, and his finger bones were slightly bigger too. The jade ring, which was loose on Gu Yuanbai’s thumb, fit snugly on another of Xue Yuan’s fingers.
Xue Yuan stood up, his expression suppressed.
Who had spoken to Gu Yuanbai?
Who had badmouthed Xue Yuan to Gu Yuanbai?
What exactly had been said to make Gu Yuanbai go to such lengths to send everything back?
A storm brewed in Xue Yuan’s heart, growing deeper with every thought.
Who?
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