Chapter 1: Pei Ji. I Have Wronged Him

“Dong—”

“Dong—”

“Dong—”

The Dengwen Drum beside the imperial court was pounded with a resounding dong dong dong. The person striking it wore a crimson official robe and a jade crown on his head. With each strike of his drum, his broad sleeves kept sliding down, and the water-pattern embroidery on the hem of his robe rippled like a rising tide.

The drum mallet of the Dengwen Drum was quite heavy. With every strike, his jade-like face grew a few shades paler, even the red mole at the center of his brow fading considerably. The webbing between his thumb and index finger had split open from gripping the mallet so tightly.

Yet those clear, luminous eyes remained stubborn and resolute, as if he could keep striking forever until the person inside appeared.

No one dared to stop anyone who struck the Dengwen Drum, but the people sent in to announce him changed one after another, and still there was never any response.

He Zhiliao parted his dry, cracked lips. His upper and lower lips were stuck together, and when they opened, they brought out a film of blood beads.

“Young Master He, according to the rules, you must now undergo the court beating and the finger press.”

A brocade-robed eunuch holding a horsetail whisk walked out from inside. His form of address had changed from before, and the look he gave He Zhiliao carried helplessness and pity. No one had expected this young master could actually go this far.

Anyone else, upon hearing such a punishment, would likely have turned pale with fright and fainted long ago. But He Zhiliao was overjoyed. He knelt and kowtowed toward the imperial court, then quickly rose and laid himself over the prepared long bench.

Before striking the Dengwen Drum to lodge a complaint with the emperor, one had to endure punishment first. Only then would His Majesty hear the case.

He had just lain down when two guards, holding thick wooden clubs, smashed them hard against the area behind his waist. One blow after another, the pain made him bite his lower lip until it bled, yet he did not even let out a grunt.

His lower back was quickly beaten into bloody welts. The person applying the finger press immediately clamped his ten fingers after the court beating ended. The ten fingers were connected to the heart, and the pain made him whimper aloud as he watched his own fingers swell under the press.

“Enough, we still need his hands to write.” Eunuch Peng frowned almost imperceptibly and called for it to stop.

He Zhiliao’s gaze was unfocused, tears sliding down from the corners of his eyes, and the blood in his mouth overflowed as well. But none of this mattered. He would soon see His Majesty, soon be able to argue a word or two on behalf of the Pei family.

He was supported inside by two guards and gently placed in the court hall.

He Zhiliao propped his upper body up on his elbows, trying to kneel, but after trying for a long while he could not succeed. He could only collapse again and again, tears spilling out as well. He could not be so useless. He could not offend His Majesty again.

“Forget it, let it be as it is.” His Majesty spoke in a low voice, and as if remembering that he could not speak, he signaled Eunuch Peng to help him kneel upright.

He Zhiliao knelt enduring the pain and raised his eyes to look directly at His Majesty. His clear eyes held eagerness and hope that he would immediately read the petition he had submitted.

His husband’s family had not rebelled, his husband’s eldest sister had not plotted against the legitimate eldest son, his husband had not laid hands on the imperial prince… every single matter was a false accusation.

The one seated above said not a word. He lightly tapped the petition before him and said in a deep voice, “I have read what you submitted. But I only showed you leniency out of consideration for your father’s loyalty to the country and pity for your physical affliction, allowing you to divorce and remarry. Yet you are so ungrateful. Is this not wasting my goodwill?”

Hearing this, He Zhiliao immediately kowtowed with loud thuds, then urgently grabbed the brush and ink beside him to write, ignoring the swelling and pain of his blood-congested fingers, his whole heart set on explaining.

[This subject did not mean to defy Your Majesty. It is only that the Pei family’s matter is truly a false accusation. Your Majesty is a wise ruler. This subject begs Your Majesty to investigate clearly.]

His handwriting was sloppy, but Emperor An still read it clearly.

Yet even having read it clearly, the imperial edict had already been issued, and the Pei family had already been taken into custody and were preparing for execution.

How could a court order be changed overnight?

Would that not make the whole world mock him for being untrustworthy?

Moreover, the matter of the Pei family’s rebellion and treason was already set in stone, beyond doubt.

The letters, transfer orders, waist tokens regarding the Pei family’s treason, as well as the witnesses and evidence of his consort Pei Yueting’s plot to harm the legitimate imperial prince—all were complete. These were far more substantial than this so-called paper petition.

As the Son of Heaven, he naturally had to control the court and purge the traitors. Otherwise, his vast imperial capital would be overthrown by such treacherous villains!

“Forget it. I saw you today merely out of pity. But if you remain obstinate, I will certainly hold your maternal family accountable!” Emperor An said in a low voice. As if thinking of something, he said to Eunuch Peng beside him, “Hurry and take Young Master He away for treatment.”

Hearing this, Eunuch Peng immediately raised his hand to summon the little eunuchs waiting outside. Just as they were about to approach He Zhiliao, he shook his head and continued writing quickly on the paper while enduring the pain.

[Your Majesty is merciful. Might I be permitted to visit the prison once? After all, we were husband and wife. I beg Your Majesty’s permission.]

Eunuch Peng hurriedly handed the paper to Emperor An. Emperor An looked at it and was silent for a moment, then said, “I know you are deep in affection and loyalty. Go and take a look, then.”

He Zhiliao’s face lit up with joy, and he immediately kowtowed again and again in apology.

Two little eunuchs hurriedly took him out, fearing that if he stayed even a breath longer, his blood would dirty His Majesty’s study.

Chun Jian, his personal servant, was shocked to see him carried out still with all his limbs intact. Then, seeing his tragic state, tears fell as well. He hurried forward to support him.

“Young Master, let us go home…”

He Zhiliao shook his head. The little eunuch beside him immediately said, “His Majesty’s grace is vast. Young Master He is permitted to enter the imperial prison for a visit. Young Master He, take care.”

He Zhiliao nodded, then looked at Chun Jian. He pointed at his clothes, and Chun Jian immediately understood. “This servant will change you into clean clothes right away.”

Leaving the palace gates, with no time to treat his injuries, they directly drove the carriage toward the imperial prison. Along the way they saw some shops and deliberately bought many things to bring along.

The imperial prison was a place specifically for holding criminal officials. The Pei family’s main household was temporarily imprisoned here, while the servants below had already been executed when the imperial edict first came down and dragged to the mass grave to fill the pits.

Hurrying anxiously to the imperial prison, He Zhiliao’s face was pale, completely drained of color. With only a single breath, a breath that would see Pei Ji even in death, he forced his way into the prison.

“The Pei family’s, someone has come to see you.”

With the jailer’s neither-light-nor-heavy call, all the Pei family members in the prison raised their eyes to look, and saw that it was He Zhiliao who had come.

They knew perfectly well whom he had come for.

The once glorious Pei family had become prisoners overnight. Even if Pei Ji’s spirit was once proud, by now not even half of it remained.

He lifted his eyelids to look at his former principal wife. Perhaps ravaged by the rumors and gossip outside during this period, the other had not been living well either. His face was pale, his frame much thinner, no longer as adorable as before.

“What are you doing here? You have already been granted divorce. Must you still pester endlessly?” Pei Ji said harsh words in a hoarse voice, as if unwilling to spare him even a single glance.

He Zhiliao shook his head frantically, anxious to explain. He gestured at him continuously, wanting him to understand that he had not come to gloat, that he was not truly the kind to fly away separately when disaster struck.

But Pei Ji had never paid him any mind in the past. How would he know what those jumbled gestures of his were saying?

It was nothing more than this mute flirting.

As if greatly irritated, Pei Ji leaned his tall frame against the wall, looked at him faintly, and said impatiently, “Stop waving your hands around. Do you expect me to make out anything from that?”

He Zhiliao froze in place as if struck by a heavy blow.

Chun Jian’s heart ached for his young master, and disregarding his young master’s previous instructions, he immediately said angrily, “Young General Pei, one must have a conscience. Our young master struck the Dengwen Drum just to clear the Pei family’s name. You cannot treat him like this!”

At these words, every Pei family member in the prison looked at him in shock.

Everyone knew of the Dengwen Drum, and everyone knew that to strike the Dengwen Drum to see His Majesty, one must first endure punishment, especially that finger press—ten fingers connected to the heart, pain piercing to the bone!

In the several hundred years of Tianqi, those who struck the Dengwen Drum were exceedingly few, and without exception, all of them died after the punishment.

“Why did you have to do this?” Pei Ji’s rugged, weathered face was full of unbearable pain. He had not treated He Zhiliao well. In the Pei household he had always treated him as if he did not exist. He did not deserve this from the other.

[Whatever I can do, I must try my utmost. I do so willingly. You need not feel guilty.]

He Zhiliao wrote word by word on the ground with his swollen hand. He knew well that the Pei family would not commit rebellion. Thus everything he did was, first, to speak for the Pei family, and second, to tell Pei Ji that his feelings were such.

“You think that just because you do this, I will like you? I advise you to roll back home immediately and never appear before me again. The Pei family’s affairs are none of your concern, and you need not worry about them. Making such a show—do you want me to repay you with my body?”

“What I said before, I will say to you again. I have never been moved by you. If not for you making a scene of dying and living and insisting on marrying in, I would not spare you even a glance. Let alone now that you are not a Pei family member, and I do not need you to do anything for me. Everything you have done seems to me nothing but hypocrisy.”

“Roll back to your marquis estate. If you come again, I will simply dash my head against this wall and die, to put an end to your unrealistic ideas!”

These words were spoken with exceptional harshness, not only to cut off all of He Zhiliao’s hopes, but also to make clear his own stance.

Every word said that there was absolutely no possibility between him and the other.

He Zhiliao shook his head in panic, looking at him with a pale face, tears welling in his bright eyes. He tried to pull out a smile to respond, tried to explain that he did all this willingly and sought nothing in return. But meeting Pei Ji’s utterly cold eyes, he could do nothing at all.

“Still not rolling out?!”

With Pei Ji’s roar, the jailer guarding outside came in as well and urged, “Young Master He, you must go. Staying longer will not be good for you either.”

“Young Master, let us go!” Chun Jian helped up his light, weightless body, his face written all over with anger. Young General Pei was simply not worth his young master’s running about like this!

He Zhiliao only looked at Pei Ji with bright, watery eyes. He would go back and beg his father again. What the Pei family had not done should not be pinned on them.

Pei Ji quietly watched that frail figure leave. Even though a thousand thoughts turned over and over, those untimely words would never have another chance to be spoken.

“Harsh as the words were, they were right.” Pei Ji’s mother sighed softly. In their family’s current state, to speak any more words of true affection would truly harm He Zhiliao.

The Pei family’s situation was now awkward, an inescapable death. Anyone touched by them was as good as dead. The reason the He family and He Zhiliao had been spared was simply that His Majesty knew the Pei and He families had always been at odds, and moreover pitied He Zhiliao, this mute.

But the Son of Heaven was always moody. Today he might pity him; tomorrow, if he did not, a single imperial edict would directly sentence him to death.

The fewer people entangled with the Pei family, the better.

“It is I who have wronged him.” After Pei Ji said this, he closed his eyes.

No matter how He Zhiliao begged his father to speak for the Pei family, all he received was coldness and disregard. No one would wade into the Pei family’s murky waters.

Add to that his severe injuries, and under repeated blows, he could no longer hold on and fell completely unconscious.

When he awoke again, it was already the day of the Pei family’s beheading.

The entire capital cheered and beat drums, as if eliminating the Pei family was saving all of Tianqi.

More than ten members of the Pei family’s main household knelt in the execution ground with straight backs. Even the young children were not spared, quietly waiting for noon to arrive.

Pei Ji kept staring fixedly at the road by which they had come. He was hoping, and he was also afraid.

“Noon has arrived. The traitorous Pei family, execute!”

As this voice rang out, a frail figure stumbled and crashed into the crowd. He shouted excitedly, ah ah, but could not say anything.

By the time he broke through the crowd to the front, the executioner’s blade had already fallen on Pei Ji’s neck.

“Ah!!!”

Pei Ji!!!

He screamed in collapse, tears bursting out. He went mad, wanting to rush forward, but was blocked by the guards in front.

Pei Ji!!!

But Pei Ji no longer frowned as before. He seemed to be smiling faintly. It was he who had wronged the little mute. If he had known earlier, if there were a next life, he should have sooner…

Blood splattered everywhere. He Zhiliao, with blood beads splashed onto his face, vomited a mouthful of blood.

Author’s note:

New story, new story~ I will post ten thousand words directly! Please comment a lot! [rainbow]