EWRN - Chapter 37
Chapter 37: The Consort Selection Controversy (IX)
In the grand hall, a stunning woman in white knelt on the floor, the hem of her dress spread around her. Her arms were wrapped around the "man" in front of her, who wore a yellow robe edged with gold thread. They clung to each other, sitting in the hall for a long time.
After a while, Huo Jinyu finally came to her senses. She looked down at the small hands around her waist with a complex expression, a hint of struggle flashing across her face.
She shifted slightly, and Yan Xi behind her seemed to startle awake, pulling her hands back. Huo Jinyu quickly stood up and turned around. "Xi'er, get up quickly. The floor is cold."
Huo Jinyu helped Yan Xi to a chair with both hands. "Xi'er, I'm truly sorry. I didn't frighten you just now, did I?" Huo Jinyu said apologetically.
"It's nothing, it's nothing. Jinyu, how are your hands?" Yan Xi asked with concern, taking Huo Jinyu's hands. Sure enough, the skin on several of her fingertips was broken, and thin trickles of blood ran down her fingers. "Jinyu, wait here. I'll go get some medicine for you." As Yan Xi started to rise, Huo Jinyu pressed her shoulder to keep her seated. "You should sit and rest for a while. I've found an itinerant physician and brought her into the palace. I'll have her take a look at me in a bit. It's nothing serious."
With that, Huo Jinyu summoned a palace maid to take good care of Yan Xi, then waved goodbye and strode quickly out of Jinxiang Palace.
How humiliating, Huo Jinyu thought. And Yan Xi saw everything.
As for Yan Xi's feelings, she, Huo Jinyu, was no fool. But it was impossible between them! Setting aside whether Yan Xi could accept her identity, the mere fact that they were both women already made it impossible.
Huo Jinyu gave a self-mocking laugh and walked slowly toward her Hall of the Slumbering Dragon. Yan Xi... sooner or later, she would have to let her return home. Yan Xi would eventually go back to the Northern Kingdom, and she, Huo Jinyu, would eventually lose her kingdom and become a ruler of a fallen state. When the Great Yuan Kingdom fell into turmoil, what right did she, Huo Jinyu, have to keep Yan Xi by her side, to drift with her through this floating world? Besides... besides, she, Huo Jinyu, didn't even like her. She would not allow herself to develop feelings. She, Huo Jinyu, was destined for a life of solitude, destined to wander without a place to call home.
Huo Jinyu returned to the Hall of the Slumbering Dragon, tended briefly to her fingers, and then headed for the study. Compared to the pain of being torn apart by chariots back then, this little ache was nothing.
Jinxiang Palace.
News traveled fastest in the palace. In less than half a day, word that Bai Qing had been sentenced to death by drowning in a pig cage had spread throughout the entire rear court.
"You're saying Noble Consort Bai is to be drowned in a pig cage?" Yan Xi asked, looking at the palace maid in astonishment.
"From what this servant has heard, it's that Noble Consort Bai Qing. Ever since entering the palace, she's been secretly carrying on with a man from the outside. His Majesty never favored her again after their wedding night, yet she somehow became pregnant. Today, in the throne hall, His Majesty exposed her in front of all the civil and military officials. They even dragged her lover into the hall." The palace maid chattered on.
"So, it was quite a spectacle, then," Yan Xi said with disdain. She despised such unfaithful people the most.
"Indeed, Your Highness. I heard from the palace eunuchs that the Noble Consort was all dressed up today, just waiting for His Majesty to finish with court and get busy with official duties so she could sneak out of the palace to meet that dog of a man. I heard that every time she left the palace, she would take Bi Luo, the head palace maid of Biluo Palace, with her. At court this morning, Bi Luo acted as a witness and exposed all of her sordid affairs." A flicker of contempt showed in the maid's eyes before she quickly concealed it. "They say that when the Noble Consort first entered the palace, that maid accidentally hurt her and was punished by being forced to kneel for a long time. She's hated the Noble Consort ever since. She kept all the letters the Noble Consort exchanged with that dog of a man. I hear they're full of filthy words."
Listening to the maid's report, Yan Xi's expression grew even more scornful. To put it nicely, such a woman was an adulteress. To put it bluntly, she was a common cheat! She had utterly disgraced the reputation of all women.
Yan Xi waved a hand, cutting the palace maid off. The maid took the hint and stepped aside.
Huo Jinyu didn't seem like a deeply emotional person. She would never fly into such a rage and suffer so much over a cheating woman. So, what was Huo Jinyu truly upset about today? What had happened in her past that she, Yan Xi, didn't know about?!
What Yan Xi didn't know was that there were some things she didn't know now, and would never know in the future. Perhaps she would never understand them in her entire life.
Two days later, by the moat.
The banks of the river were crowded with onlookers. This was the first time anyone in the imperial city had heard of someone being sentenced to drowning in a pig cage.
"First time seeing a pig cage drowning. A little scary."
"What's to be scared of? It's not you being drowned. Don't worry, I'm here."
"Did you hear? The one being drowned today is His Majesty's consort, Noble Consort Bai!"
"Your news is out of date. Besides being the Noble Consort, she's also the Prime Minister's second daughter, the once-famous talented lady of the imperial city, Bai Qing!"
"That's Bai Qing? She's not much to look at."
"Nonsense. A few days in a cell and you wouldn't look so good either!"
"What did you say? Am I not good-looking?"
"You are, you are!"
...
For the past two days, the imperial city had been buzzing with the news. The great Prime Minister Bai had been stripped of his office, and his second daughter, Noble Consort Bai Qing, was to be executed by drowning in the moat for the crime of adultery. The two days passed quickly.
Outside the city gates, by the old moat, many commoners had gathered, bringing with them eggs and rotten vegetables. It was rare for someone to be executed in the imperial city, so naturally, they had to join in the spectacle.
The people had all heard that this harlot Bai Qing had violated The Seven Grounds for Divorce, with lewdness being the foremost offense. As a noble consort of the kingdom, she had committed adultery with a commoner, utterly tarnishing the virtuous reputation of the women of the imperial city. To think the people of the city had once respectfully called her a talented lady; now it seemed she was just a wanton woman.
Bai Qing and Wang Jiachang were brought to the execution ground early. They were locked in cages placed by the river. This spot was downstream, chosen so the execution wouldn't affect the city's water supply.
Standing in the cages, Bai Qing and her lover were already trembling with fear. Their faces were pale, and their legs shook visibly. Outside the cages, the onlookers relentlessly pelted them with rotten eggs and vegetables, chanting things like "drive out the evil" and "be gone."
The two had no time to worry about such things; they screamed in terror, begging for mercy. The execution guards, having seen many such scenes, remained unmoved.
"The noon hour has arrived! Carry out the execution!" one of the guards shouted.
The two trembled even more violently. Their entire bodies were shaking.
"We beg His Majesty to spare us!"
"Help!!! Aaaah! I don't want to die!! Help!!!"
Seeing the two wailing so wretchedly, the guards merely frowned and slid the cages along the bamboo poles at their base, slowly lowering them into the water.
The icy water gradually rose past their ankles, their calves, their thighs, their buttocks, their waists, their chests.
Slowly, it reached their mouths. The two desperately tried to stand on their tiptoes, but it was useless. The cages had been built to their exact height, making it impossible.
Gradually, the water submerged their nostrils. Though the tops of their heads were still above the surface, they could no longer breathe. At this point, the guards pulled the ropes tied to the cages, halting their descent.
Inside the cages, the two began to struggle violently. The lack of oxygen made them writhe frantically. Their hands began to claw at their own bodies, tearing at their flesh until blood flowed freely. Finally, they lost their strength, drowned alive while trapped in the small cages. The blood stained the river's surface, making the onlookers uncomfortable.
The guards pulled hard on the ropes, hoisting the two cages out of the water. They still had to dispose of the bodies. The two corpses rested, twisted, inside the cages, sparking a new wave of discussion.
"This pig cage drowning is fucking terrifying!"
"Yeah, yeah, to die like that! Ugh."
"I shouldn't have watched! What bad luck."
"Right, bad luck! Yuck."
"Ugh, she clawed her face so much it's about to fall off."
"Let's go, let's go! Don't look anymore!"
"So disgusting."
...
The crowd gradually dispersed, faces filled with revulsion. They had thought drowning in a pig cage wouldn't be as gruesome as beheading, but they had been wrong.
Both were gruesome.
The next day. In the throne hall.
Huo Jinyu leisurely took her seat on the dragon throne.
After the ministers had completed their salutations and straightened up, Huo Jinyu, all smiles, brought up the matter of taking a consort again.
"We acquired a beauty some days ago. Our beloved ministers are surely aware of this?" Huo Jinyu said slowly. She waited a moment, and seeing the ministers holding their tongues, she continued, "We are greatly pleased with this beauty and wish to name her a consort. Does anyone have any objections or suggestions?"
The ministers all lowered their heads, not daring to say a word. What kind of Great Yuan Kingdom joke was this! The Prime Minister Bai who had previously opposed His Majesty had already been stripped of his office! The entire Bai family had been exiled to the southwestern border! Who the hell would dare to raise the slightest objection now?! Did they have a death wish, or were they just itching for a beating?
"Beloved ministers, is there anything else to say?" Huo Jinyu asked, drawing out her words, her voice full of mirth.
This sovereign is truly a smiling tiger! How did we not see it before? the ministers grumbled inwardly.
"Since that's settled, let it be so! Eunuch Wang, draft the decree! Today, as the Great Yuan Kingdom flourishes, We have been blessed with a woman of virtue and grace. She is to be named a Noble Consort! Grant her Yuzhe Palace and a thousand taels of gold!" Huo Jinyu clapped her hands happily, and the matter was decided. Di An finally had a true place to call her own.
Half a month later, Prime Minister Bai's family had long been exiled to Southwestern Dian Prefecture. The ministers at court heard that the old Prime Minister's body was frail, and upon his arrival in Dian Prefecture, he could not withstand the thirty "deterrent" blows and unfortunately perished. The ministers all sighed with dismay. Everyone knew that a mere thirty deterrent blows, with a little silver to grease the right palms, would be delivered lightly and would not be fatal—unless someone wanted him dead!
The ministers at court all looked at their sovereign, Huo Jinyu, in terror. They kept their heads down, not daring to make a sound, all thinking the same thing: in the future, they could offend anyone, but they must never, ever offend His Majesty, Huo Jinyu!
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