Startling Dream

Jiang Xun had flipped through the county gazetteers of all the prefectures and counties in Hedong in his past life, and was crystal clear about the life events of all the officials. Even if there were only a few words in the historical records, he knew the general gist.

He explained all these twists and turns clearly to Shen Xiu, who nodded continuously.

When he was about done explaining, Shen Xiu folded the letters and tucked them into his clothes. He cupped his hands in obeisance to Jiang Xun: "Thank you, sir. Xiu has benefited greatly today. If there's anything I don't understand in Lianghu in the future, may I correspond with you via letters?"

He had originally wanted to recruit Master Xun for the Shen Family's use, but seeing Jiang Xun's extraordinary methods, he gave up on the idea of recruitment and instead decided to befriend him.

Jiang Xun naturally agreed.

Shen Xiu wasn't a bad person, but his thinking was erratic and he was unruly. If left to his own devices, he would be like a runaway wild horse; no one knew what kind of trouble he could stir up. If they could communicate in real time and pull in the reins a little, it would certainly be for the best.

So Shen Xiu asked: "Could Master Xun leave an address? Where do you live? If I want to contact you, where should I send the letters?"

"..."

—This humble one lives in the Imperial City's Qianqing Palace, right by your uncle's bedside.

Jiang Xun picked up his teacup and coughed.

This was an oversight.

Jiang Xun naturally couldn't have Shen Xiu send letters to the Imperial City. After considering for a moment, he said: "On the left side of the Imperial City, in Baili Hutong, there is a three-courtyard compound. A loquat tree is planted in the courtyard. You can send them there."

Jiang Xun had lived in the Imperial Palace for a long time and didn't know the Capital City as well as Shen Xiu did. This courtyard was the only one he knew.

The courtyard had long been deserted and dilapidated, uninhabited for a long time. When the dynasty changed, the master of the courtyard moved his entire family south to Jiangnan and left the courtyard with a broker to be sold.

The reason Jiang Xun knew about it was because Baili Hutong was adjacent to the Imperial Palace, separated from the Cold Palace only by the moat and the palace wall. When Jiang Xun was a child, he would sit in the parasol tree in the palace and look out, and he could happen to see this courtyard.

In early autumn, the clear yellow loquats would bear fruit, and then fall in late autumn. He had no status back then, and the head female official would often dock his meals. Jiang Xun would just stare at the loquats and imagine their taste.

They should be very sweet.

In his past life, after he became the emperor, he even specifically ordered Wang An to fetch the loquats from that courtyard for him. Wang An was baffled but still did as he was told. The eunuchs washed the fruits clean, arranged them neatly on a sandalwood tray, and knelt down to present them to Jiang Xun. Only then did Jiang Xun realize that the fruits were actually dry and shriveled, their skins covered in brownish-red spots, completely different from what he had imagined.

He took a bite and it was so astringent he couldn't speak.

Later, for whatever reason, Jiang Xun had that loquat tree chopped down. But it hadn't reached that point in time yet; the tree was still perfectly alive.

In this life, he wouldn't chop down the tree.

Nowadays, that entire area of Baili Hutong was uninhabited. Jiang Xun planned to ask about the title deed and buy the courtyard to use for communication.

Shen Xiu nodded in agreement.

The imperial edict required Shen Xiu to leave the Capital City within three days. After delaying at the restaurant, they had lingered until the sun was setting in the west. Shen Xiu stood up to take his leave and bid farewell to Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun, on the other hand, went out to find a property broker.

As usual, he took out the palace silver ingots as a deterrent, then used ordinary silver coins, and smoothly secured the title deed, becoming the head of the courtyard.

Jiang Xun estimated the time. There was still a while before the palace gates locked, and his two cousins were still immersed in the gentle embrace of the brothel. Jiang Xun pulled down his veiled hat and went to Baili Hutong alone.

This family used to be a wealthy household in the Capital City. The doors were painted with vermilion lacquer and gold powder, but now it was entirely mottled. Jiang Xun pushed open the door, stepped over the dead branches and rotten leaves littering the ground, and looked up at the loquat tree.

In the dead of winter, the leaves had all fallen off, leaving only bare branches.

But immediately after, his gaze suddenly froze. He raised his hand in a disguising manner and tightened the veiled hat.

Gazing far into the palace, there were clearly a few people in a pavilion.

Even from this far away, Jiang Xun still recognized him by his bearing.

Jiang Xun had no concubines; the palace was empty, so he wasn't afraid of men offending the inner quarters. Therefore, he didn't restrict Shen Que, allowing him to walk freely within the palace.

Wandering around, he actually ended up in the Cold Palace area.

Up in that pavilion, Wang An was accompanying Shen Que.

The chief eunuch wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "Lord Shen, you... sigh, how did you end up wandering over here?"

Shen Que apologized, "I originally intended to return to Yaoguang Hall, but I'm unfamiliar with the palace roads, and my mind was preoccupied with the memorials I was reviewing. I don't know how I strayed and ended up here."

Yaoguang Hall was right on the edge of the rear palace. The paths within the palace were winding and it was easy to get lost.

Wang An hurriedly said, "Let me guide you out. Sigh, you absolutely must not linger here!"

It was rare for the chief eunuch to look so agitated, so Shen Que couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

Wang An lowered his voice, "His Majesty considers this a taboo place and forbids anyone from coming here. If he knows you've come here, he will be offended by you."

Shen Que: "...Is there anything different about this place?"

Wang An clamped his mouth shut and made a gesture of sealing his lips: "I'm sorry, Lord Shen. This concerns the hidden secrets of the previous reign. You are an outer court official, so please, absolutely do not inquire too much. If this matter gets out, not only will this old servant lose his life, but you will also be in trouble."

The previous emperor was a philanderer and lecher, and the inner palace was a mess. With seventy or eighty consorts across the three palaces and six courtyards, stepping onto the stage one after another, none of them were easy to deal with. Every day was a grand drama, and these people caused quite a few scandals, both true and false. Later, the emperor, out of concern for his reputation, ordered that any official or commoner who discussed this privately would be clubbed to death. Since Shen Que prided himself on being an upright and pure official who never interfered with the emperor's family affairs, he stopped asking after Wang An said this.

Shen Que looked across rows of palace chambers, his gaze landing amidst the emerald roof tiles and crimson walls. He only felt that a certain palace chamber was exceptionally desolate. The vermilion lacquer on its walls hadn't been touched up for a long time, and weeds grew thick in the crevices of the tiles. Before he could clearly read the plaque of the palace, Wang An exclaimed, "Aiyo, Lord Shen, stop looking! Come along with this servant!"

Shen Que had no choice but to say, "Sorry to trouble you."

Standing in the pavilion, he inadvertently gazed far out beyond the Imperial City. His gaze suddenly landed on a certain courtyard. It was barren and dilapidated, the courtyard flowers and trees stripped bare, moss creeping all over the walls. Yet, a person stood within the courtyard, his entire body covered by a pure white gauze veil. One could vaguely discern his slender and tall figure. Just standing there, he appeared solitary and desolate.

From the slightly tilted angle of the veiled hat, he was also gazing in the direction of the Imperial City.

Shen Que suddenly paused without reason: "This person?"

Before his words even settled, the person had already pulled down his veiled hat and hurried away.

Wang An was burning with anxiety, only wanting to take the person away before His Majesty returned: "Aiyo, my Lord Shen, what person? There's no one at all. Hurry and come along with this servant!"

Shen Que watched as the person's back disappeared into the alleyway, concealed layer by layer by the blackish-green walls and cyan tiles, before he lowered his eyes: "Please lead the way."

That night, Jiang Xun summoned Shen Que for an audience.

According to the instructions issued by Lord 55, after Shen Xiu's incident, Shen Que had to stay in the emperor's bedchamber every night and sleep skin-to-skin with the emperor.

Jiang Xun originally had some reservations, but System 55 looked at his troubled expression, observed the constraints, poked and prodded on its built-in calculator for a long time, comprehensively referenced the scores of previous hosts who had cut corners, and after detailed and rigorous calculations, discovered that they didn't actually need much in-depth interaction. They only needed to sleep closely together for the night to meet the standard, which it joyfully relayed to Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun let out a subtle sigh of relief.

Living anew, he truly didn't know how to face Shen Que. He merely summoned the man into the palace, shared a section of the quilt with him, and then slept on his side.

However, he didn't sleep very peacefully that night.

Perhaps it was revisiting the old place and seeing that loquat tree, perhaps it was from overworking his mind for days, or perhaps it was neurasthenia, as he inherently had trouble sleeping. In a daze, Jiang Xun dreamt of his childhood.

Unfavored palace servants had no charcoal fire, nor, of course, any cotton wadding. If they fell ill or froze to death, they would just be wrapped in a straw mat and thrown out. Jiang Xun remembered a spring when an epidemic hit the Capital City. A palace maid who often did needlework with his mother contracted consumption. She lingered on for two days without dying, but the eunuchs, fearing she would infect others, wrapped her in a mat anyway.

Jiang Xun laid on the parasol tree and watched her being carried out of the palace. Jiang Xun didn't know where she was thrown, but he remembered that the female official had made him tiger-head shoes, altered the soles twice, and later, they were worn through.

The Capital City was as bustling as ever, with people coming and going and endless streams of horses and carriages. Back then, he stared at that rolled-up mat and thought, 'If only I could burn the Imperial Palace down to the ground with a fire. It would be even better if I could burn the Capital City down as well.'

Later, when he became the emperor, he still thought this way.

He didn't like the Imperial City, nor did he like the Capital City. He didn't like the emperor who was his so-called father, nor did he like this country.

He thought, 'It would be great if it all perished.'

Shen Que called him dead wood, and he admitted it. He just wanted to be dead wood, crooked and askew. It would be best if he could directly drag down this grand edifice.

And then, a great fire really did come, and it all really did perish.

So much agony circled in the sky above the Capital City, lingering on. The deepest suffering Jiang Xun experienced in his childhood was that older sister who was carried out of the palace, but now, he could no longer clearly remember what he saw.

It was probably blood, fire, and wailing.

The dream was like a recreation of that day, an overwhelming sea of red. Jiang Xun subconsciously curled deeper into the quilt. With a slight movement, he woke Shen Que up.

Shen Que lit the lamp, leaned over to touch Jiang Xun's forehead, and softly called out to him: "Your Majesty?"

There was sweat on his forehead.

Jiang Xun wasn't awake, so Shen Que gently squeezed his palm, only to feel a handful of cold sweat as well. He pulled the quilt over to wrap him tighter: "Your Majesty?"

Calling out several times in a row, Jiang Xun still didn't wake up. Instead, he rubbed up against Shen Que, his back pressing right against Shen Que's chest. Shen Que reached out to touch him; his back was also covered in cold sweat.

The back was thin, the shoulder blades slightly protruding. Only then did Shen Que realize that the emperor's body was truly excessively frail.

In fact, it wasn't like this at this time in his past life. Although Jiang Xun was thin back then, he was still healthy. But Jiang Xun's current body was brought directly from the modern era by System 55. In the modern world, Jiang Xun was going through his senior year of high school. His constitution was already poor to begin with, accompanied by many ailments such as neurasthenia and anemia. It was already not bad that he could walk and jump.

Feeling the sensation under his hand, Shen Que was secretly alarmed.

Jiang Xun seemed to feel cold, his back pressing tightly against him, but he refused to turn over. Shen Que tentatively wrapped his arms around him; there was no resistance.

The emperor had a slight fever.

During the day, he had sat by the window in the restaurant and caught a chill from the wind, and then he had walked around the courtyard alone. With Jiang Xun's broken body, if it weren't for the system's blessing, he would have ended up in the hospital long ago.

A cold in ancient times was no minor matter; it could take a person's life. Shen Que frowned: "Your Majesty, are you still awake?"

He raised his volume, and Jiang Xun groggily opened his eyes, but felt very dizzy, unaware of what day or year it was. He remembered that he was a student, in his senior year of high school, so he stared blankly at Shen Que and asked in confusion: "You..."

Are you still alive?

...After so many years, are you still alive?

Shen Que's brow furrowed even deeper. He put on his clothes and was about to get up, wanting to instruct Wang An to summon the imperial physician, but Jiang Xun reached out and grabbed Shen Que's lapel.

Like a small animal seeking a heat source, he leaned closer.