Chapter 70: The Truth of the Past Life

Chapter 70: The Truth of a Past Life

The wind picked up in the afternoon, and rain began to fall before dusk. In the cold palace on the western side of the imperial city, the air hung heavy with the scent of decay. Though still within the palace walls, this place felt like a world apart, isolated from the magnificent palaces. Since the previous dynasty, it had served as a prison for deposed concubines. Now, with the new dynasty barely established, Xiao Chen had only ordered the renovation of the main palaces, neglecting even the imperial harem, let alone this long-abandoned cold palace.

Weeds ran wild in the courtyard, and the yellowed palace walls were thick with moss. Vines crept up the walls and windows. Under the wind and rain, the rusted palace gates and hall doors groaned ominously. Even the imperial guards on their routine patrols would only pass by on the main thoroughfare, never venturing in for a closer look.

Xu Jing had been imprisoned here for over half a month. Each day, a young eunuch brought him but one meal, and he saw hardly another soul. All he could see were the mottled walls enclosing him. From initial anxiety and panic, he had now descended into a state of mental confusion. At night, the well in the courtyard seemed to echo with a woman’s cries, and the vines clinging to the windows, stirred by the wind, resembled a woman’s hair swaying in the darkness.

He pounded frantically on the hall door, which was locked from the outside:

"Let me out! Let me out! I need to see the Marquis! Everything I did was for his sake! The Emperor is using him! I want to see the Marquis! Let me out!"

Ling Yehan left the villa in the afternoon and went to the Ministry of Personnel’s duty office. Seeing the sky darken and sensing an impending storm, he left early to return to the palace but was caught in a downpour halfway. By the time he reached Zichen Hall, he was drenched.

Just as he was about to enter, he overheard a conversation inside:

"Your Majesty, Xu Jing is shouting and making a scene in the cold palace, demanding to see the Marquis. He also said..."

The imperial guard responsible for secret surveillance hesitated to continue.

Xiao Chen set down the memorial in his hand and looked up:

"Said what?"

The guard lowered his head and replied:

"He said everything he did was for the Marquis’s sake, that Your Majesty is using the Marquis, and that one day you will eliminate him."

Xiao Chen’s expression darkened, but before he could say anything, the hall door was pushed open from the outside. There was no need to ask—no one but the Marquis of Jingbian would dare to be so reckless in the Emperor’s residence. Ling Yehan stood at the doorway, dripping wet, his footsteps leaving puddles. The guard and the palace attendants inside turned to look at the drenched figure at the entrance.

Seeing Ling Yehan, Xiao Chen said nothing but waved his hand to dismiss the guard. He had been sitting and reviewing memorials all afternoon, and his lower back was stiff and aching. Leaning on the desk, he stood up. The weight of the child pressed down heavily, causing a sharp pain in his sacrum. He couldn’t help but frown. Ling Yehan instinctively strode from the doorway to behind the desk and reached out to support his arm. His emotions were complicated at that moment. Xiao Chen pulled his hand away disdainfully:

"Why are you drenched like a drowned rat?"

"I saw the sky darkening and was afraid it would rain, so I thought to return early. But I still got caught in the rain halfway."

Xiao Chen, supporting his lower back, walked to the divan in the inner hall and leaned back. Ling Yehan pursed his lips and spoke:

"Brother, is Xu Jing imprisoned in the palace? I want to see him."

His feelings toward Xu Jing were indeed complex. In the army, Xu Jing had saved him. Over the years, Ling Yehan had trusted and relied on him, allowing him to handle all affairs in the marquis’s residence. He couldn’t understand why Xu Jing would deceive him in such a matter, even going so far as to risk forging a royal decree. He knew that everything in his past life was his own fault, but without Xu Jing’s instigating words, he and Xiao Chen might not have reached their final breaking point.

Xiao Chen, recalling the years when Xu Jing had "taken charge" in the Marquis of Jingbian’s residence, felt displeased. At this moment, he showed no kindness toward Ling Yehan:

"What? Hearing that he acted for your sake, your heart softens again? Indeed, serving a ruler is like living with a tiger. Whoever I favor, I ultimately destroy."

Ling Yehan knelt beside the divan, took one of Xiao Chen’s fingers, and gently shook it:

"Brother, I just want to clarify things. You know I’ve never thought of you that way."

Regardless, Xu Jing had deceived him, but he had also saved him. Ling Yehan needed to settle this matter with Xu Jing personally. Previously, turning Xu Jing over to Xiao Chen to deal with had been an escape from reality.

Xiao Chen shook off his hand:

"Zhang Fu, escort the Marquis to the cold palace."

With that, he closed his eyes. Ling Yehan, wanting to resolve the matter quickly and return to console him, left without delay, not even changing out of his wet clothes.

The moment he left, the atmosphere in Zichen Hall grew frosty. No one in the inner hall dared to make a sound. Whether it was the oppressive weather outside or the growing weight of the child pressing on his abdomen, Xiao Chen felt as if something were blocking his chest, making it hard to breathe. He had to sit up with effort and catch his breath.

Ling Yehan was no stranger to the path to the cold palace. The last time his token was confiscated, he had slipped into the palace through this area. The further he went, the more dilapidated it became. Many palace servants weren’t even aware that such a desolate, crumbling place existed within the palace grounds.

Just as he turned off the main palace path, Ling Yehan heard yelling from within. The rusty hall door was chained shut. Ling Yehan slightly lifted his chin, and an imperial guard stepped forward to unlock it:

"I’ll go in alone. Wait outside."

It had been over half a month since Ling Yehan last saw Xu Jing. The man before him was unkempt, his clothes filthy, his expression deranged and dazed. He bore little resemblance to the deputy general from the army or the capable steward of the marquis’s residence. Holding an umbrella, Ling Yehan stood in the courtyard and called out to him:

"Xu Jing."

Xu Jing rushed toward him instantly. Ling Yehan stepped aside quickly to avoid him.

"Marquis! Marquis, you’ve finally come! You’ve finally come to see me! Marquis, it was the Emperor who locked me up here. I don’t know how I offended him. At night, there’s a woman crying here. He’s torturing me! Marquis, back in the army, even if I had no great achievements, I still served you loyally. The Emperor is heartless—he’s not someone worthy of trust!"

Xu Jing’s gaze fixed greedily on Ling Yehan. A sudden suspicion arose in Ling Yehan’s heart, one that both shocked and frightened him.

"Xu Jing, there’s no need to pretend nothing happened in front of me anymore. You know exactly what words the Emperor left that night. You know the severity of the crime of altering a royal decree. The fact that you’re still alive here is already an act of great mercy from the Emperor."

The rain grew heavier. A flash of purple lightning illuminated the sky, casting Xu Jing’s face a ghostly pale. He stumbled back two steps. He knew better than anyone what had happened in the room that day. A warped jealousy hardened his expression into one of obsessive madness:

"I did all this for you, Marquis! By the side of an emperor lies extreme danger. Throughout history, which favored founding general has met a good end? You think your loyalty to the ruler, his partiality toward you, is out of care? If he truly cared for you, he wouldn’t have enfeoffed you as a first-rank marquis, nor would he have let you retain military power after the dynasty was established. Among all the mansions, all the meritorious officials, whose residence is allowed to maintain private soldiers? Only yours! Not only did he allow it, he even bestowed upon you imperial black armor and iron helmets.

You think this is special treatment, that you’re different? He’s making you a target! He’s using your hand to purge the court, to eliminate those he can’t easily remove himself. And in the end, what fate awaits such a weapon? Marquis, wake up! The Emperor has never had genuine feelings for you."

Xu Jing’s face grew increasingly distorted and excited as he spoke. His certainty didn’t sound like an excuse; he seemed to have long convinced himself with these words. Ling Yehan’s pupils contracted. The person before him felt strangely unfamiliar. His voice was colder than the autumn rain:

"The Emperor has never had genuine feelings for me? Then are yours genuine?"

In both his past life and this one, he had never suspected Xu Jing of harboring inappropriate feelings for him.

Xu Jing ripped open his clothes in the rain, revealing a scar on his lower ribs. He gazed obsessively at Ling Yehan:

"Marquis, I would give my life for you. In this world, only I am willing to do anything for you."

That scar, which had once filled Ling Yehan with guilt, now seemed painfully obvious. Ling Yehan took a deep breath:

"This wound—I do owe you half my life for it. Now, for forging the imperial decree, the punishment is death. I will plead with the Emperor to spare your life, repaying the debt for saving me. From now on, we are quits."

Xu Jing lunged forward to grab him, but Ling Yehan seized his wrist, using inner strength to prevent escape. His gaze was hawk-like, fixed on the man before him:

"'By the side of an emperor lies extreme danger'—those are not words you could have come up with. Tell me, who said that to you?"

Ling Yehan knew Xu Jing well. The man had little education, couldn’t read military texts, and had only learned characters later while managing accounts in the residence. A suspicion dawned on him: Xu Jing was originally a mere warrior, not someone well-versed in court politics. After becoming steward, he rarely left the residence. The idea that the Emperor was using Ling Yehan to eliminate political enemies—that wasn’t something Xu Jing could have conceived on his own. Who, then, was the puppet master behind this?

Xu Jing’s eyes darted away nervously. Ling Yehan laughed coldly:

"This is what you call 'willing to do anything for me'? What you did was send me to Yongzhou, to fight the Western Barbarians to the death, where I might end up wrapped in a horsehide shroud one day. Steward Xu, could it be you’re a spy for someone, trying to use this opportunity to eliminate me?"

Xu Jing also remembered the major battle that erupted after Ling Yehan went to Yongzhou and knew how difficult it had been. Panicked, he immediately denied it:

"No! I just wanted you to leave the capital, to get away from the Emperor. I truly didn’t know you would go to Yongzhou."

When he learned Ling Yehan was going to Yongzhou, he had regretted it, but no amount of persuasion could change Ling Yehan’s determined mind.

"If not, then tell me who said those words to you. Xu Jing, don’t be a fool, used as someone else’s weapon without even knowing it. If you don’t tell me, I’ll eventually be harmed by the person behind you."

Xu Jing grew agitated, shaking his head repeatedly:

"No, I don’t want to harm you! I don’t want to harm you! It was Lord Zhao! Lord Zhao said that although you seem to be in the Emperor’s favor now, it’s actually full of danger. But your eyes are only on the Emperor. As long as he’s there, you see no one else. With just one word from him, you’d risk your life to fulfill it. I just wanted you to stay away from the Emperor. I had no other choice. That day... that day was the best opportunity, so I took the chance."

He hadn’t been mistaken. Ling Yehan loved Xiao Chen. The way he looked at Xiao Chen wasn’t that of a subject to a ruler or a younger brother to an elder brother. No matter how much Ling Yehan restrained himself, Xu Jing had seen it. So he gambled. He bet that Ling Yehan wouldn’t dare confront Xiao Chen, that hearing a single word of rejection from Xiao Chen would keep him away forever. He had won the bet. Xu Jing’s expression turned hysterical; he even laughed wildly in the rain:

"I won the bet! I won! You didn’t dare ask him, you didn’t dare see him!"

Ling Yehan’s heart grew cold. Yes, he had won. Not just in this life—in the previous one, he had won completely, so completely that Ling Yehan hadn’t even seen Xiao Chen one last time. His eyes seemed to turn sharp as knives:

"Zhao Mengxian." Ling Yehan couldn’t remember how he walked back. He felt like crying, and also laughing. How absurd. In his past life, Xiao Chen had died with regrets, Zhao Mengxian had reached the height of power, and Xu Jing—until Ling Yehan’s death—had remained the steward of the marquis’s residence, shown respect by court officials. How laughable. He had been manipulated by these two for an entire lifetime.