Chapter 173

Chapter 173

Before Su Huaijing's coronation ceremony, the Ministry of Rites secretly held a very small-scale coronation.

Lu Jiaxi was stunned for a long time upon receiving the order, repeatedly confirming with the eunuch from the palace who delivered the decree, only to receive affirmative answers.

Thus, under the witness of the eunuchs of the Internal Affairs Department, the Ministry of Rites officials, and a group of jailers, Dayu witnessed the most bizarre and inexplicable coronation ceremony in its history.

The emperor didn't even have a proper dragon robe, just a few of the late emperor's clothes that hadn't been damaged in the palace upheaval. The ceremony was hastily arranged, with no regard for auspicious times or settings, and was carelessly conducted for Sheng Chengli.

Even the person involved was confused and terrified, and after realizing what was happening, he burst into hysterical laughter, coughing violently until it seemed his heart would leap out of his throat.

After coughing, he began to cry, laughing as he wept, blood and tears streaming down his face onto his clothes, staining the already crumpled dragon robe even more pathetically – an attire unworthy of an "emperor."

Sheng Chengli, with only one functioning hand, was so enraged he wanted to tear off the dragon robe, but the ceremony wasn't complete, and the jailers didn't permit him to move, propping him up to listen to the entire emperor's coronation procedure recited by the Ministry of Rites.

Only after Sheng Chengli nominally became the emperor of Dayu did the jailers step away. He furiously tore off the dragon robe and threw it on the ground.

The eunuch who announced the decree hurriedly picked up the robe, draped it over his arm, gently brushed the dust off, and said in a soft voice, "Why so angry, Your Majesty? Isn’t this what you’ve always longed for?"

He patted the robe, bowing deeply, "Long live Your Majesty, forever and ever!"

This was sheer irony, like stripping Sheng Chengli's dignity and trampling it underfoot.

Unable to hold back any longer, he spat out with hatred, "Where is Su Huaijing? Bring him to me!"

"Oh dear, Your Majesty still doesn’t grasp the situation? How dare you call the name of the Seventh Prince so casually? Aren’t you afraid of having your tongue cut out?" the eunuch sneered disdainfully.

Sheng Chengli glared at him, his eyes like daggers, his hatred so tangible it seemed he might pounce and bite off the eunuch's neck at any moment.

But this was a seasoned eunuch who had spent years in the palace, well-versed in human affairs – how could he be frightened by an "emperor" whose title was neither legitimate nor acknowledged?

The eunuch stepped back, waved his hand, and the jailers moved forward to pin Sheng Chengli to the ground, stripping off the clothes that had just been put on him.

"The Prince said these clothes are of fine quality, they shouldn’t be gnawed on by rats and worms in this cell."

Talking about rats and insects, he was clearly referring to Sheng Chengli.

Pinned to the ground, unable to move, his eyes nearly bursting with rage, blood and tears streamed down from his empty eye socket, a terrifying sight like a tormented ghost from hell.

Lu Jiaxi felt a shiver down his spine as those eyes swept over him, involuntarily stepping back.

He was... somewhat afraid.

But before he could leave the cell, footsteps sounded behind him. Turning around, he saw Su Huaijing entering the dungeon with a group of people.

Seeing Sheng Chengli's wretched state, he even frowned and said in a deep voice, "How did he end up like this?"

The eunuch who had been mocking and provoking Sheng Chengli just moments ago suddenly went weak at the knees, hastily kneeling down to admit his fault: "I am wrong, it’s all because this prisoner was disobedient..."

"What prisoner," Su Huaijing interrupted him, "this is His Majesty."

The scene fell into silence, and no one dared to respond immediately. Shen Feiyi brought him a chair, and Su Huaijing sat down leisurely. With a casual wave of his hand, everyone in the dungeon retreated.

Sheng Chengli, still in the state of being stripped, lay on the ground, glaring viciously at Su Huaijing, making a beast-like growling sound.

Su Huaijing leaned back in the chair, a fresh and raw red bite mark on his neck, giving him a decaying beauty that was startling and captivating.

Such beauty, in others, might invite disaster, but when it belonged to Su Huaijing, it only instilled fear, like a poisonous flower atop a high mountain, holy and rare, yet deadly.

Su Huaijing, his phoenix eyes not quite focused, laughed lightly and asked indifferently, "Do you know what your father, the Emperor, looks like now?"

Sheng Chengli was startled, as if recalling something terrifying, his body uncontrollably shivered for a moment, momentarily forgetting to maintain his deep-seated look of hatred.

Su Huaijing nodded, "It seems you remember."

"I hung him from the beam for a day and a night, his hair fell to the ground, I chopped off his limbs and his manhood, gouged out an eye, and cut off an ear," Su Huaijing enumerated calmly, untroubled by the extreme torture he inflicted on an emperor, and softly counter-questioned, "Compared to him, don’t you think you’re lucky?"

Without missing limbs and even having been made Emperor for a day, fulfilling his dream of many years.

Su Huaijing said, "What more could you possibly be dissatisfied with? Hmm?"

His tone carried a hint of indulgence, gently rising, casually asking as if he would genuinely fulfill any desire Sheng Chengli expressed.

Sheng Chengli, biting his teeth, spat out a mouthful of blood, his emotions too turbulent, causing his blood to surge to his throat.

Su Huaijing tsked lightly, commenting, "How can you be so lacking in manners? Didn't your nannies in the Cold Palace teach you the decorum of a gentleman?"

Sheng Chengli, seething with anger, asked word by word, "You speak of a gentleman’s manners to a condemned prisoner?"

The words fell, and the air held its silence for a few seconds before Su Huaijing lowered his head and laughed. He looked at the person on the ground, smiling, but the smile never reached his eyes, nor did it warm the words he spoke.

Su Huaijing said, "How amusing that your focus is on being a prisoner."

Sheng Chengli's voice was hoarse, but he did not respond.

Su Huaijing leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him, softly asking, "How can you consider yourself a gentleman?"

He personally questioned Sheng Chengli about not learning the manners of a gentleman, and yet, it was he who coldly stated: How can you consider yourself a gentleman?

Su Huaijing said, "Lately, I keep thinking about who is responsible for the suffering I've endured."

"I initially thought it was Sheng Xuyan, but even after I chopped off his limbs and turned him into a human pig, I still felt an emptiness inside. It seemed like revenge, but I was still unsatisfied. So, I wondered if I had been wrong about my target."

Sheng Chengli's heart jolted. Although there was no change in the dungeon, an oppressive feeling suddenly overwhelmed the space.

He swallowed hard, propping himself up on one hand, about to sit up, but Su Huaijing impatiently said, "Don’t move."

Those two clear and light words made Sheng Chengli inexplicably stop his movements.

Su Huaijing's impatience vanished as he leaned back into his chair, exuding an effortless, lazy charisma that drew extra glances, like a beast sated with a delicious meal.

He took out a sandalwood waist plaque from his side. When he first received it, it was new and clean, but years of handling had smoothed its edges and brought out a warm luster in its grain.

Su Huaijing said, "Later, I thought, if Tang Tang came to save me, then the hardships I experienced must have been to meet him."

Sheng Chengli let out a sarcastic chuckle.

As if anticipating his reaction, Su Huaijing said, "But he isn't."

The smile on Sheng Chengli's face froze. Su Huaijing spoke slowly, without any intense emotion, just calmly stating a fact: "He isn’t. He came to save you. So, can I understand that all the past miseries I endured were actually because of you?"

Sheng Chengli froze on the spot, not daring to move, staring fixedly at Su Huaijing.

Su Huaijing, nonchalantly playing with the waist plaque, said slowly, "But if I became miserable because of you, clearly you are the aggressor. Why then would Rong Tang come to save you?"

Sheng Chengli bit his teeth, not daring to make a sound, feeling a chill in his heart. His right hand, with severed tendons, trembled uncontrollably, showing his panic and fear.

Su Huaijing glanced at him, then looked away, changing the subject casually, asking, "Did you know Tang Tang loves reading storybooks?"

Sheng Chengli: "I..."

"You wouldn't know." Su Huaijing interrupted him, seemingly not expecting a definitive answer, "You're so foolish, Rong Tang must have exhausted all his effort just dealing with you, probably didn’t have the energy to read storybooks, maybe listened to a few operas occasionally—"

He paused, his thoughts drifting for a moment. Then, lowering his head, he chuckled softly, much more gently than before, murmuring, "So that's how they became acquainted..."

He had been curious about how Ke Hongxue, who clearly had no intention of really helping Sheng Chengli, ended up allying with him. It turned out to be here.

Shaking his head, Su Huaijing looked at Sheng Chengli, continuing, "Storybooks, dramas, pingtan, the tales told by storytellers under the sky bridge, are essentially stories written by others. Conceived in the mind, put down on paper, then spread through word of mouth, with either one protagonist or a group."

Sheng Chengli felt colder the more he listened, looking at Su Huaijing as if seeing a ghost, finally finding his voice, hoarsely asking, "What nonsense are you spouting?"

Su Huaijing asked, "Do you know what the commonality of those stories is?"

Sheng Chengli didn't answer, so Su Huaijing did: "It's that the protagonist, no matter what they do, is always right. Even if they were wrong at some point, in the end, they must be right. And opposite the protagonist, there must be an antagonist. Regardless of whether the antagonist is good or bad, their inner thoughts, or any untold backstory, to contrast the righteous, kind, brave, talented, and handsome protagonist, the antagonist must be portrayed as bad, wrong, and despicable."

Su Huaijing's expression remained unchanged as he said this, a faint mockery in his tone, indifferently looking at the person lying on the ground.

"After realizing this, it struck me that if you are the protagonist of this story, and I am the antagonist opposing you, all my tragic past is just to enrich the character setting, serving as a natural reason for my enmity with you," Su Huaijing paused, smiling, "I was supposed to be defeated by you time and again. Unfortunately, you were too inept and lost to me. So, the creator of your character, or the entity bound to your fate, out of necessity, found someone—or perhaps a reader—to come here and defeat me."

His voice was soft, echoing in the deadly silent dungeon, like a spark in a barren field, initially startling, then followed by endless dread and confusion.

Su Huaijing, head lowered, did not look like he was facing his arch-enemy. With a mere glance, imbued with a bit of mockery and ridicule, he said, "With this, doesn’t everything make sense now?"

Sheng Chengli's teeth began to chatter, and he was unable to utter a word for a long time.

Su Huaijing watched his pathetic state for a while before standing up, looking down at him with a grant of mercy: "I won't kill you for now. Since you need to be the emperor, I'll let you be emperor for a day. I won't chop off your limbs. You can go and take care of your father every day. As for seeking death, I advise against it. You should know me well enough by now; I have many more ways to make someone's life a living hell than just killing them."

Su Huaijing smiled slightly: "Oh, and since you'll be serving Sheng Xuyan, don't let him die, or I'll turn you into a human pig and take his place. After all, you and your father have always been of the same kind, coveting each other's positions, haven't you?"

Sheng Chengli could hardly feel his teeth anymore. Clenching his fists with such force that his fingernails dug into his flesh, he seemed to forget his fear. Struggling, he got up and staggered to his feet, staring intently at Su Huaijing: "Why? Why won't you kill me?!"

In the dim and deep dungeon, where daylight never seemed to reach, Su Huaijing reattached the waist plaque and casually touched the bite mark on his neck, his expression soft, speaking softly, "Probably because I've found you quite useful."

He said, "Your curse was interesting, too. Tang Tang has been very indulgent with me these days. I'm happy, so I've decided to let you live a little longer."

Sheng Chengli, in disbelief and almost incredulous, stared with his remaining eye at Su Huaijing: "You know... all about it?"

Su Huaijing laughed: "Was that poem hard to understand?"

— "The star of Shen rises in the West, the star of Shang in the East, never to meet in one's life, moving like Shen and Shang."

It was nothing more than a curse for him and Tang Tang never to meet again in this life.

Sheng Chengli, trembling, asked: "Aren't you afraid?"

"Afraid?" Su Huaijing repeated, his laughter filled with irony: "Do you know what my initial thought was?"

"At first, I thought, the world is full of fools, there is no goodness in this world. After taking my revenge, I planned to set the world ablaze, burn it clean and be done with everything."

He said, "If you are the protagonist and someone sends Tang Tang here to save you, I can use the threat of setting the world on fire. Do you think I can keep Rong Tang tied to my side?"

Sheng Chengli shook his head desperately: "No, you wouldn't..."

"I would," Su Huaijing nodded, kindly explaining, "Without the power of gods or spirits, Rong Tang won't leave my side; and if such powers do exist, then this world is nothing but a few lines on a piece of paper. Why should I hesitate to destroy it?"

"After all... I'm just a villain," Su Huaijing smiled amiably: "Go ahead and curse, I always find a way to make your curses fail."

He said, "To me, that's the only use you have."

Because of this vague and elusive curse, Rong Tang had been indulging him these days, and Su Huaijing felt that it wasn't too bad.

He curled his lips into a smirk, stepping out of the dungeon. This absurd coronation ceremony had finally come to an end.

-

At the Western side of the Imperial Palace, on the Ask-the-Sky Tower.

A white-haired monk was watering a pot plant. Sensing something, his body suddenly froze. Just before the water could overflow, he lifted his wrist, and not a single drop of water fell elsewhere.

He shook his head, smiling warmly, not so much indulgent as helpless.

In the pot was not a plant, but a small white cloud.

Hui Mian reached out, gently caressing the cloud, speaking to himself, as if in conversation with someone else: "Do you think Master Rong knows that my seventh brother is actually a black and white sesame bun in disguise?"

When Rong Tang brought this 'system' cluster, it was an inanimate object that couldn't speak or move. Now, the little thing trembled violently under Hui Mian's palm, its entire body shaking, obviously furious, almost floating out of the pot to complain to Rong Tang's ear.

Hui Mian released his hand, feigning surprise, "Oh, you find it dangerous?"

The clouds trembled violently up and down! Extremely dangerous!

Hui Mian pondered deeply, then decisively said, "Then this poor monk must leave, otherwise if Xiao Qi finds out I tried to persuade his husband into Buddhism..."

The high monk thought and grimaced slightly, hissing, "Not good, not good, it's better to travel early. This child, when angry, doesn’t care if you're his brother or not."

"...After all, I’ve never even caught a rabbit for him."

Hui Mian chuckled softly, clearly teasing, yet his expression was exceedingly gentle.

He turned around, began packing the scriptures he needed for leaving. Outside the loft, the great land of Da Yu was welcoming a vibrant vitality, with every passing cloud and breeze being gentle.

Author's Note:

Big Brother runs, Big Brother runs, after Big Brother, it's Tang Tang's turn to run!

Tang Tang runs, Tang Tang runs, after Tang Tang runs, he gets caught and brought back — beep—! OvO