Chapter 32
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After pondering for a moment, wavering conscience was resolved in an instant. Fu Nian quickly came to a decision. The grievances of the past life had been completely settled at the moment of his death.
In this life, except for his benefactor who had planted the gu for him, others were not worth considering at the forefront of his thoughts.
In the end, Fu Nian looked around, confirming that there was no one around, and then carefully stuffed the half-torn bright yellow silk into his sleeve. He pushed it in forcefully and even added some gauze to prevent any mishaps. This way, even if it were to accidentally fall out or be discovered, there would be some cover.
After tidying up, he carried the remaining discarded drafts toward the direction of the incinerator.
After burning the drafts, Fu Nian didn’t have time to return to his room to store the half-torn decree. He hurriedly went back to the room where he was supposed to receive palace training and sat obediently at the table.
During the palace rules and etiquette training, Fu Nian struggled to suppress a yawn, tried to sit up straight, and feigned attentive listening.
As he watched people passing by the window from time to time, Fu Nian began to calculate how far it was from the Chengyuan Hall to the Imperial Attendants Bureau.
There were files he needed to see at the Imperial Attendants Bureau, and the security there wasn’t particularly tight. He didn’t want to waste money asking Fu Zhen for help in this regard.
“Lian Nian, have you memorized what I told you earlier?”
While his mind wandered, he suddenly heard the aunt, who was teaching palace rules, call his name.
“I’ve remembered everything,” he lied, his face showing no sign of guilt.
“Good. If you’ve memorized it, then start copying it down. If you don’t recognize the characters, just imitate them.”
Copy what?
Fu Nian paused for a moment. Actually, he hadn’t heard a single word earlier, let alone knew what he was supposed to write. Moreover, handwriting wasn’t something that would change with rebirth.
Luckily, his adaptability was quite good. After a brief silence, he immediately responded, “I originally recognized a few characters, but…” He deliberately left the sentence unfinished, lowered his gaze, and looked at the prosthetic limb on his right arm. Then, he pretended to struggle as he awkwardly grasped the pen with his prosthetic hand, inadvertently causing ink to spill all over the table.
In his peripheral vision, he saw the aunt purse her lips, clearly displeased.
Fu Nian didn’t say anything and began clumsily cleaning up the spilled ink on the table.
During this stalemate, suddenly, a palace maid’s voice came from the entrance, “Aunt, the Weaving Bureau has finished embroidering the new dragon robe and sent it over. They said the design has already been reviewed by His Majesty; only the quality of the stitching needs your inspection.”
“I’ll go now.” The aunt quickly set aside the “Palace Rules” in her hand upon hearing there was something to attend to. Then, she turned to Fu Nian, who was cleaning up the ink stains, and said, “If you can read, read it through a few more times. Memorize it well, understood?”
Fu Nian nodded.
“Even if your memory isn’t that good, it shouldn’t take half a month to teach these palace rules…”
“Don’t chatter on. Who decided how long it would take to teach them?”
“…”
As he listened to their footsteps and their voices fading away, Fu Nian finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Once he was certain they were completely gone, Fu Nian didn’t spend another moment in the room. Taking advantage of the lack of people outside, he quickly slipped out.
It was just past noon at this moment. In his memory, during past noon hours, Chu Zhaoyi would have a brief rest after his meal, and he wouldn’t stay in the Imperial Study the whole time.
Fu Nian calculated how many decrees he still needed to collect before he could report to Fu Zhen. Finding half a decree among the discarded drafts today was already fortunate, but it might not be so lucky tomorrow or the day after. If he continued to wait passively, it might take months to gather them. Considering that Fu Zhen might come to look for him at any time, Fu Nian decided to take the initiative.
In his previous life, most of the time when Chu Zhaoyi handled government affairs, he would quietly wait on the side, ready to assist at any time. He was naturally familiar with the layout of Chu Zhaoyi’s study, including where the practiced characters were placed and where discarded writings were kept. He could find them even with his eyes closed.
Regarding the imperial decrees, those without the emperor’s seal were considered drafts in Chu Zhaoyi’s eyes, while those with the seal were the ones he personally burned.
Silently sneaking towards the vicinity of the Imperial Study, Fu Nian wanted to first ascertain if anyone was inside. After confirming it was empty, he intended to find the small passage he often used before to see if he could slip in.
The midsummer noon was scorching, and Fu Nian took advantage of the guards’ laxness to easily make his way to the back of the study. He crouched down, shielding himself from outside distractions as best as he could, and listened carefully to detect any signs of movement inside.
Just as he had crouched down, Fu Nian heard the sound of fragile porcelain breaking on a table and then falling heavily onto the ground. Even with a carpet to cushion the fall, he could still feel a slight vibration from the outside.
At this time, wasn’t Chu Zhaoyi supposed to be eating? Fu Nian wondered.
If Chu Zhaoyi stayed in the study all the time, he would never get a chance to sneak inside.
“Can’t you heed some advice? You went to the outskirts of the city again yesterday… You clearly know that you’re practically guaranteed to fall ill after going out once. I witnessed it this time, but were there even more times when I didn’t see you sneak out? The other day, the Daoists and diviners were all called back to the palace. They’ve roughly determined the location of his reincarnation. As long as there’s life born in that village, whether it’s a person or an animal, they’ll bring it back to the palace…”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
“Lu Yi! Go get the medicine…”
The main hall had good sound insulation. Even with Fu Nian’s well-trained hearing, he could only catch fragments of the argument while pressing his ear to the ground.
He only knew that Chu Zhaoyi had apparently gone out again. Looking at where he had coughed and seeing signs of a recurring old ailment, he couldn’t help but feel concerned.
Fu Nian stayed crouched on the ground, listening for a while. He could only hear Ze Wang venting his anger unilaterally. Chu Zhaoyi, on the other hand, didn’t seem interested in arguing back; he barely even spoke, aside from occasional coughs.
It seemed that Chu Zhaoyi and Ze Wang wouldn’t be leaving the Imperial Study anytime soon. Fu Nian stood up somewhat begrudgingly, intending to first assess the situation at the Imperial Attendants Bureau.
The Imperial Attendants Bureau had a mixed flow of people, as long as you had a waist token, there was no issue entering.
At the entrance, Fu Nian looked at the constant flow of people and attempted to blend in.
“Hey, you there, what’s your role? Waist token?”
Fu Nian honestly presented his waist token and calmly said, “I’ve been ordered to retrieve something. Specifically, I need to find a certain note.” As he spoke, he pretended to search his sleeve.
“Alright, alright, you can go in.”
Receiving his waist token back, Fu Nian lowered his head and quickly adjusted his sleeve to conceal his prosthetic arm. He then walked into the Imperial Attendants Bureau.
Getting inside wasn’t difficult, but each storage room entrance was guarded by guards. You had to present relevant evidence to gain entry, and most palace maids just came to pick up items or ask questions, rarely lingering.
Fu Nian walked around and realized that there were no plaques indicating records or archives. Several storage rooms were locked, and there were courtyards behind them that were not open to the public.
After lingering for a while, Fu Nian noticed that a guard had been observing him the whole time. He decided to leave the Imperial Attendants Bureau, following the crowd out.
It seemed that the records regarding the Emperor were likely kept in those locked storage rooms and courtyards.
With many people around during the daytime, Fu Nian decided to try his luck again in the evening.
Returning to the Imperial Study, Fu Nian had initially planned to check if anyone was inside, but before he even reached the study, he saw a line of people carrying food containers heading towards the study from the direction of the kitchen.
Seeing this, he decided not to waste his efforts and turned around, heading back to his room to hide the half decree he had obtained earlier.
Although his residence in the Imperial Palace was more spacious than before, privacy was not as strong. His room was to the east, and his colleague’s was to the west. Although there was a main room in between, only a folding screen served as a partition. During the day, the doors had to be kept open to prevent any secret storage.
As Fu Nian was lifting the bedding to stash the half decree in the mattress, he suddenly sensed footsteps outside. He instinctively put the bedding down and turned around warily.
After a few seconds, Fu Nian saw someone entering the room.
“Li Gonggong.” Seeing that it was Li Gonggong, Fu Nian quickly lowered his head.
“Apologies for disturbing you, Guard Lian. His Majesty has summoned you to the main hall. He heard that you just left the Imperial Hospital…” Li Gonggong’s expression became somewhat troubled as he spoke.
Fu Nian immediately realized that this might be related to the incident involving the banned book. Chu Zhaoyi’s vengeful nature couldn’t possibly overlook it. He couldn’t help but bow his head and say, “I understand. Thank you, Li Gonggong.”
“His Majesty has always been compassionate. He has investigated similar matters before. If you’ve only hidden banned books without any evidence of collusion, you’ll likely receive a minor punishment. It’s an opportunity for you to mend your ways. Take this chance to improve yourself.”
“Thank you, Li Gonggong.” Fu Nian continued to speak with his head lowered.
As Fu Nian followed Li Gonggong towards the main hall, he clenched his fists.
The events of that day were still vivid in his memory.
Most importantly, he didn’t know the full content of that banned book. Apart from the disturbing content… it probably wouldn’t contain anything that could reveal Fu Zhen’s identity, right?
When Fu Nian had knelt in the main hall awaiting judgment, he had been worried about his connection to Fu Zhen being exposed.
It wasn’t that he feared punishment; he was afraid of being expelled from the palace as a result, making it impossible to untangle the mysteries and heartaches from his previous life that had remained unsolved even in death.
While kneeling in the main hall, Fu Nian had continually heard the sounds of commotion from the study, although he couldn’t make out the details of the argument.
Staring at the ground, he listened to the background noise of the study’s commotion and recalled the two phrases he had overheard earlier.
It seemed that Chu Zhaoyi had truly not forgotten about him.
Chu Zhaoyi who had never believed in superstition and the fact that Chu Zhaoyi had gathered all those Daoist and fortune teller practitioners and had been searching for his reincarnation… even visiting his “place of death” frequently and placing a wooden statue carved to resemble him in his sleeping quarters, seeing that Chu Zhaoyi was intentionally preserving traces of his past existence left an indescribable feeling in Fu Nian.
It wasn’t clear what kind of sentiment it was, but it was a vague mixture of bitterness and even some sympathy for Chu Zhaoyi.
There were even times when he looked at Chu Zhaoyi’s pitiable, insane appearance, that Fu Nian had considered walking up to him and openly admitting, “Look, I’m living well. I’ve returned.”
However, those superfluous, pitiful feelings and other complex emotions dissipated when he remembered being confined like a dog in the sleeping quarters last lifetime, tied down and treated as nothing…
He had knelt for an unknown amount of time when Fu Nian finally heard the argument from the study growing louder as it approached the main hall.
As before, Ze Wang was angrily speaking while Chu Zhaoyi remained silent.
The topic of the argument always circled back to Chu Zhaoyi’s health and advice for him to take a concubine as soon as possible.
The argument reached the entrance of the main hall. Seeing that there were outsiders present, Ze Wang seemed to rein in his temper. “Regardless, the matter of taking a concubine must be settled quickly. I’ve suffered through these hardships while you’re still alive. If your elders truly pass away, you’ll become the ruler of a fallen state.”
Taking a concubine? Fu Nian heard this phrase loud and clear.
That made sense too. Chu Zhaoyi was already of age, and his earlier unmarried status was due to his foundation not being stable yet. After all, he had “married” a puppet and it seemed more like a method to silence gossip.
Although Fu Nian understood that this was the duty of a sovereign and not something he should concern himself with, hearing the phrase “taking a concubine” still gave him an involuntary pang in his heart.
The author has more to say:
The author has nothing more to say:
Child Nian, have you forgotten that you’ve long held a ceremonial marriage and even consummated your marriage with him? =-= You’re already enough; how could there be room for anyone else?
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