Discussing The Correct Posture To Enjoy Dog Food

Chapter 139 - Grape Flavored Imperial Gong (18)

Translated by Hua Li ^_^

Thank you all for your wishes, I did my exams fairly well. Enjoy the chapter

The sudden encirclement of Marquis Boyang’s residence, the leading noble family, by the Imperial Guards and the summoning of all its male members to the palace caused an uproar in the capital, especially among the aristocracy.

Meanwhile, the Emperor, indifferent to the potential backlash and pressure from his decision, was punishing Gou Liang harshly in bed for knowingly walking into a trap. Only when Gou Liang cried and admitted his mistake, promising never to take such risks again, did the Emperor allow him a moment to catch his breath before continuing to exhaust him.

Afterward, the Emperor cleaned up Gou Liang and held him, soothingly stroking his back.

As he lulled him to sleep, the Emperor also calmed his own turbulent emotions through the rhythmic motions, though the deep look in his eyes betrayed a lingering fear.

No matter how remote, the Library Pavilion was still within the precincts of the Zhongyang Palace. Given Gou Liang’s frequent visits there, it had become the second most heavily guarded place after the main hall. It was impossible for someone to enter without being noticed.

Three days ago, when the Emperor accompanied Gou Liang to the Library Pavilion, he had already known the Empress was there before they entered.

Nevertheless, the Emperor remained unperturbed and acted as if the Empress didn’t exist.

By doing so, he might have intended to bait the Empress and use the situation to reorganize the harem.

However, the Emperor had little faith in the Empress’s intelligence and was concerned that the Empress would deliberately humiliate Gou Liang. Therefore, he leaned towards his already planned strategy of addressing the issue through the court to disperse the power within the harem.

He had been preparing for this for a long time, gathering comprehensive evidence of Marquis Boyang and other noble consorts violating the law. He only needed a proper opportunity to achieve his goal.

But the Emperor underestimated the Empress’s madness and malice.

He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if Gou Liang hadn’t detected the Red Dust Drunkenness in the tea. Would he have lost him…

Even though the Emperor had arranged for He Taiji and the Night Owl to watch over Gou Liang closely, in such a critical moment, neither He Taiji, the Night Owl, nor even the Emperor himself could guarantee Gou Liang’s safety. Even Gou Liang might not have been able to save himself as he did last time, narrowly escaping death.

Thinking of Gou Liang’s near-death state after mistakenly ingesting Red Dust Drunkenness before, the Emperor felt a stabbing pain in his heart and a bloodthirsty rage.

He had been too careless!

Even though the feared event did not occur, the Emperor was filled with remorse.

“Tian Zong…” Gou Liang, eyes still closed, snuggled closer to him, murmuring, “Can’t sleep?”

“Almost asleep, Xiao Keng’er. Be good and sleep; I’m watching over you.”

He gently kissed Gou Liang’s hairline and held him tighter.

Gou Liang chuckled softly, opening his eyes to look at him, “Are you still angry because I didn’t let you tear the Empress to pieces?”

The Emperor, forehead against forehead, squeezed the back of his neck and said in a low voice, “He deserves to die a thousand times over.”

He indeed felt Gou Liang had been too lenient with the Empress.

When Gou Liang suggested rewarding the Empress with a man, the Emperor had already planned to send the Empress to the brothels after dealing with the Marquis Boyang household, reducing him from the exalted Empress to the lowest, most despicable official prostitute, making him taste the humiliation of serving others!

But Gou Liang did not go that far; even after terrifying the Empress to the brink of a breakdown with words, he stopped there.

The Emperor did not overrule his decision, but his urge to kill had not abated.

Anyone who harbored thoughts of harming Gou Liang—even if they hadn’t acted on them—would be made to disappear without a trace by the Emperor.

Let alone the Empress, who not only thought about it but also acted on it!

Although the Empress did not know that Gou Liang was a ger and that Red Dust Drunkenness was like a deadly poison to him, he had schemed to make Gou Liang and a ger engage in scandalous acts, thus disturbing the harem.

Disturbing the harem was a grave crime.

It was tantamount to treason!

In his plot, the Empress intended to expose Gou Liang’s supposed scandalous behavior before the Emperor and everyone else.

If he had succeeded, even if the Emperor wanted to be partial, the slightest rumor would have ruined Gou Liang for life.

The aristocracy would seize the opportunity to destroy the Chu family they had long envied, plunging them into eternal damnation, never to rise again. Even if the Emperor protected him, he couldn’t silence the public. Scholars cherish their reputation, and Gou Liang, having reached his current position, revered as a paragon by the new generation of scholars, was no exception.

If Gou Liang’s reputation were tarnished, it would not only harm his career but also the future of the Chu family and even the century-long honor of Gou Liang’s mentor’s lineage.

The Empress might not have comprehended the enormous impact his scheme would have on the Chu family and the court, but his malevolent intent towards Gou Liang was crystal clear.

Not only did he aim to alienate the Emperor from Gou Liang, but he also intended for Gou Liang to die miserably.

After his plan failed, he first tried to have a cat disfigure Gou Liang’s face and then, in desperation, publicly tore his clothes to falsely accuse Gou Liang of molesting him.

The Empress was not a mere ger; whether or not Gou Liang succeeded, as long as it could be proven that Gou Liang had such intentions, it would be enough to ruin his career and even cost him his life.

The Emperor could not tolerate Gou Liang suffering the slightest grievance, let alone such malice.

Even though the Empress did not succeed, the Emperor still hated him so much that he wanted to implicate everyone related to him, making them all suffer a miserable fate!

Seeing the cold murderous intent in his eyes, Gou Liang wasn’t afraid at all; instead, he laughed.

Although he had threatened the Empress with malicious and deliberately disgusting words about gifting him a man, in the end, he had given him nothing but a fake.

But even a fake rod was enough to deal with the Empress.

Gou Liang glanced at the system monitor, where the Empress had completely abandoned his dignity. He was displaying the most lewd and debased behavior in front of the male members of the Marquis Boyang household, all the palace servants of Fengqi Palace, and the Imperial Guards. He was desperately pushing the rough wooden rod into his body, writhing like a bitch in heat, continuously begging the surrounding men for pleasure.

Dignity was the last thing on his mind; even basic human decency was discarded.

Gou Liang smirked.

Did the Empress love the Emperor?

Feelings that had never been reciprocated might be called undying love by some pure and persistent souls, but Gou Liang was certain that the Empress did not love the Emperor.

Back then, when he attempted to seduce the Emperor using Red Dust Drunk, his twisted possessiveness played a part, but the more significant reason was that he wanted an heir.

A prince who would allow him to become Empress Dowager legitimately, inherit the throne, and restore the glory of the Marquis Boyang household.

His goal was clear and straightforward.

Today, his scheme against Gou Liang was indeed driven by jealousy.

But this jealousy wasn’t because he loved the Emperor. It stemmed from the fact that as Empress, he had never owned the Emperor. As the most noble ger, he was furious and envious of losing to a “man,” a fury that had turned into perverse anger and jealousy.

He planned to use such despicable means to humiliate Gou Liang, to stain his reputation and make him fall out of favor with the Emperor. But he wasn’t naive enough to think that without Gou Liang, he could have the Emperor.

It was simply an obsession of “if I can’t have it, no one else should.”

And he dared to do this not only because of his status as Empress but also because he had the backing of the Marquis Boyang household.

The Marquis Boyang household was a large aristocratic family that had weathered several generations, deeply entrenched with widespread influence. When the Emperor ascended the throne, he decisively suppressed the aristocracy, but he had never made a significant move against the colossal Marquis Boyang household. Unable to shake its foundations, he eventually “settled” the matter by marrying him, the legitimate ger of the Marquis Boyang household, making him the Empress. In the Empress’s eyes, this was a sign that the Emperor had conceded to the Marquis Boyang household.

Like his father, Marquis Boyang, he was proud and arrogant about his family name and status. He naturally believed that if the Emperor couldn’t deal with the Marquis Boyang household back then, he couldn’t do it now.

Therefore, he believed that no matter what mistakes he made, the Emperor would at most confine him.

Thus, he did not hesitate to act against Gou Liang.

At this thought, Gou Liang refused to delve deeper into the mind of this ridiculously foolish ger. He patted the Emperor’s chest and said with a light laugh, “Training an Imperial Guard isn’t easy. Wouldn’t assigning one to the Empress ruin his future for no reason?”

After giving the Empress an aphrodisiac, Gou Liang did not assign him a man, not out of kindness, but because it was unnecessary.

Don’t think that performing the “execution” on the Empress was a job that would earn the Emperor’s trust and favor; on the contrary, it was a death sentence.

Even if the Empress were stripped of his title tomorrow, he was still technically a consort of the Emperor. Touching his body would be equivalent to violating imperial authority. Even if the Emperor didn’t care about the Empress and had a heart as vast as the sea, the “executioner” would never be favored by the Emperor.

Gou Liang had no intention of dragging innocent people into this, and the reason he didn’t want the Empress dead was quite simple.

“Killing someone is easy, but isn’t it too dull?”

Gou Liang said.

In fact, whether killing the Empress or making his live in misery, neither approach was more merciful.

Once hatred and revenge were confirmed between two people, a relationship with a -100 affinity score, it meant they could not coexist.

He simply disdained using the methods of taking life or insulting the body to exact revenge.

In his previous life in the transition world, Gou Liang had always fought desperately for survival, and later, he handled countless soul files at the Space-Time Management Bureau.

He had witnessed many different lives—tragic, happy, mundane, long, and short. To him, the body was merely a vessel for the soul, and life was just an accompaniment to the soul’s journey. He had never cared about these things.

I say “before” because after experiencing several lives with his target, both Gou Liang as the archivist of the Space-Time Management Bureau and his past self had changed significantly.

He still couldn’t feel reverence for life and destiny but had learned respect.

Because he genuinely felt that when people were alive, whether it was himself or others, they lived with such effort.

Life’s meaning might be humble, but it should not be underestimated or denied. It wasn’t as he once thought, that life and death were merely brief stops in the soul’s journey, records in the Space-Time Management Bureau’s archives that no one would read, starting and ending whenever without consequence.

Now, he still didn’t care about others’ lives, wasn’t moved by others’ birth, aging, illness, and death, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. But he wouldn’t rashly interfere with the fate of those unrelated to his target, treating them as toys.

However, when others showed killing intent towards him, Gou Liang wouldn’t remain passive just because of his indifference.

Therefore, whenever he took action, he would always destroy the enemy’s mental world, leaving an indelible painful memory in their soul mirror. Even after extracting the soul mirror, the time required for these souls to be purified was significantly longer than that of others.

This was the most effective and direct way of revenge that Gou Liang could employ.

Gou Liang continued, “Even before, you never wanted him or anyone in the harem dead, right?”

With just a few words, the once drowsy Gou Liang was now completely awake. Hearing the Emperor say, “That was before. Now, I can’t wait to kill him with my own hands,” he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Don’t be so quick to talk about killing and death.”

Gou Liang propped himself up, looked down at him seriously, and said, “Your Majesty, what are you planning to do now? Have I caused you trouble?”

Seeing that he was no longer sleepy, the Emperor simply sat up and held him in his arms, gently sharing his thoughts.

He said, “You’ve never caused me trouble. If anything, I’ve always been the one causing trouble for myself.”

As he spoke, he chuckled, finding it inexplicably sweet that the word “trouble” could make him feel this way.

“Even without the Empress, I had already decided. I won’t keep the harem, and the Marquis Boyang household has committed countless crimes. I only tolerated them before because the dynasty was in its infancy and needed time to recuperate.”

Judging others by himself, the Emperor absolutely could not tolerate anyone else around Gou Liang—even if it was just an ornament.

So, the moment he fell in love with Gou Liang, the instant he held him in his arms, he had already made up his mind to give Gou Liang the same pure, unreserved affection and status.

He hadn’t revealed his determination to Gou Liang because it wasn’t easy to accomplish, and he couldn’t be sure when it would be done.

Therefore, he hadn’t informed Gou Liang, unwilling to burden him with this pressure.

But now, with the situation at a critical juncture, the Emperor no longer hesitated to openly share his true thoughts with Gou Liang, leaving nothing unsaid.

The two talked until the early hours before finally falling asleep.

The next day, as he had for many years, the Emperor woke at the first watch of the morning. He got out of bed quietly and instructed the servants not to disturb Gou Liang.

While getting dressed, Eunuch Tong whispered, “Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager sent someone last night to inquire, asking you to send someone to explain the situation, otherwise, he will remain uneasy.”

Yesterday, the Emperor had taken the men of the Marquis Boyang household into the palace and kept them in Fengqi Palace for a night. Although the Empress Dowager didn’t know the reason, he knew it was definitely not a small matter.

He was very worried that if the Emperor suddenly clashed with the Marquis Boyang household, it would endanger his own position.

“No need.”

As the Emperor put on his imperial crown, he said, “He will know when it’s time.”

His biological father was a competent father but not a competent consort, let alone a competent Empress Dowager.

Due to his limited background, the Empress Dowager’s vision was narrow. Explaining it to him now might not make him understand. Rather than letting him overthink, it was better to present the results directly.

*

That day’s court session arrived with the ministers feeling anxious.

“Your subjects greet Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor, long live, long live!”

Because of their inner tension and fear, the phrase they were so used to shouting every day was shouted with particular force today. But surprisingly, this time, the Emperor did not tell them to rise. Instead, he said, “Everyone, raise your heads.”

The ministers’ already taut nerves tightened even more. They straightened up halfway and looked up.

Xu Fei was among them.

Given his understanding of the Emperor, Xu Fei knew from the moment the Emperor moved against the Marquis Boyang household yesterday that he would take significant action. However, he still couldn’t grasp the Emperor’s true intentions.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Xu Fei still tensed up when he met the Emperor’s gaze.

Even though the imperial crown veiled the Emperor’s expression, the memory of a particular scene was so deeply ingrained in Xu Fei that he immediately thought of the time when the Emperor had the former emperor take the “Ascension Pill” and left a will to abdicate.

Xu Fei, skilled at imitating handwriting to the point of forgery, had been brought along that day in case the former emperor’s hand was too weak from the cinnabar to write the will.

But that day, after hearing the Emperor’s request to “do one last thing for the empire and the ancestors,” the former emperor, as if in a final burst of energy, laughed heartily three times before writing the will and taking the “Ascension Pill.”

The former emperor said, “I never thought I could have such a son. Very well, you have done very well. I no longer fear facing the ancestors…”

The former emperor, acutely aware of his mediocrity and incompetence, had long considered abdication. When the time came, he felt relieved and satisfied.

And at the moment of the former emperor’s death, the Emperor’s expression, which had remained unchanged throughout, finally showed a hint of emotion—the same cold, solemn expression he had now.

The Emperor said, “Do you recognize this man?”

With his gesture, the officials who had been staring straight ahead noticed a person kneeling at the bottom of the Dragon Steps in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

“The Marquis of Boyang?”

“Is that really the Marquis of Boyang?”

Voices of surprise and uncertainty echoed through the hall.

Their astonishment was understandable. In all their years of service, they had never seen the Marquis of Boyang in such a disheveled state.

His hair was disheveled, without his crown, and streaked with gray. Overnight, his hair had turned completely gray, and he looked as if he had aged ten years. Not only that, he lacked the domineering and arrogant demeanor he had displayed yesterday when arguing with the Minister of Revenue. His back was hunched, and he knelt silently.

“So you do recognize him.”

The Emperor smiled rarely and then gestured for Eunuch Tong to proceed.

Eunuch Tong produced a memorial, opened it, and read aloud, “Where is the Vice Minister of Works, Xu Jinshui?”

Xu Fei’s eyelids twitched.

Xu Jinshui was his and the Imperial Noble Consort’s father!

When the named Vice Minister Xu heard his name, he nearly collapsed to the ground, trembling and barely managing to say, “Your… Your humble servant is here!”

“Step forward.”

Eunuch Tong pointed to the spot next to the Marquis of Boyang.

Even the dullest person could guess that the Emperor was going to deal with the Marquis of Boyang’s household. The shock hit the Vice Minister like a bolt of lightning. It wasn’t until a colleague kneeling behind him pinched him hard that he snapped out of it and scrambled to the front.

In the brief moment he had hesitated, Eunuch Tong had already called out two more names.

By the time Eunuch Tong finished reading the list, twenty-one people were kneeling at the front of the hall. Their official ranks varied, but they all came from noble families and were the current heads of their respective households.

Additionally, they all bore the titles of “Imperial Uncle” or “Imperial In-Law,” with seven out of ten of the Empresses’ and Consorts’ families kneeling there.

The ministers sensed that something was terribly wrong, yet they still didn’t understand the Emperor’s true intentions. Even Xu Fei could never have imagined that the Emperor intended to disband the harem.

Eunuch Tong then turned to the second page of the memorial and began to read:

“By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Since ascending the throne, I have governed the nation by law, upholding the principle that the Emperor and commoners are equally bound by the law. However, it has come to my attention that several officials have violated the law, abused their power for personal gain, and disregarded the legal system. These accusations have been verified as true. Therefore, I hereby announce to the entire realm!”

“Marquis of Boyang, Wang Yinhou, has accepted bribes of a staggering amount, receiving 109,800 taels of illicit silver in just the past year, and has engaged in the private buying and selling of official positions. To cover up his crimes, he has even murdered court officials…”

The court ministers were shaken to their core.

His Majesty had clearly come well-prepared!