As night fell, the stars in the Milky Way wandered about.
The King's Mansion in the middle of Qinghe Square was decorated with
red silk and lanterns early in the morning. Once the sky darkened, the lights
were immediately lit, and from afar, they projected a bright golden red. The
busy servants went in and out of the threshold and the thick layer of
firecracker debris in front of the steps were all illustrative of a festive
atmosphere.
When the soft breeze of early spring coming from the south of the Yangtze
River blew, the red candles in the lanterns flickered, shaking the auspicious
characters on the lanterns.
There was a joyful event taking place at the King's mansion today. The
third day of February was an auspicious day appointed by His Majesty.
His Majesty said that on February 3rd, everything was suitable, especially
marriage.
As for whether this day was indeed an auspicious day, it didn't matter. The
most important thing was that the emperor must let the King marry on this
day. Even if a funeral was underway at the King's mansion today, they must
put the coffin on hold and first finish marrying the person into the
household.
A word from the emperor was as powerful as tens of thousands of pounds.
Even if this emperor, who was assailed by a rebel army two years ago in
Yecheng, the capital of the country, fled like a drowning dog with officials of all ranks all the way south in distress and dragged out an ignoble
existence in Yuhuang.
Despite this, the emperor was still the emperor, even if he resembled a stray
dog. What was more, this emperor won a huge victory just a few days ago.
He was now riding on the crest of success, like a cat that swallowed the
canary.
After all, who in this world did not know that His Majesty caught the
invincible and fearsome General Huo of Northern Liang and broke both his
legs?
It was indeed a great joy.
There was grand jubilation in Jing, as in the King's mansion. This double
happiness spread to the King's mansion, but the people in the mansion
couldn't cheer. Instead, each of them were grief-stricken as if bereaved of
parents.
After all…
Captured generals were commonly killed or mutilated.
However, a general dressed in a wedding dress to be married into their
King's mansion as a concubine….This, what the hell was this!?
Therefore, although the King's mansion was beating drums and blowing
trumpets today, gay with lanterns and festoons, and had been lighting off
firecrackers for most of the day, none of the faces in the King's mansion
bore a trace of a smile.
Everyone bustled about and watched the excitement, but each tacitly bowed
servilely and dared not speak.
This kind of silence permeated amidst the joyful atmosphere, making the
atmosphere in the King's mansion a little depressing. The further you went
in, the drearier the atmosphere became.
Especially in Anyin Hall.
Anyin Hall was where His Highness lived, and the word "Anyin" was the
name that the great master in the palace gave him from the Lotus Sutra.
This wasn't unusual. After all, His Highness was born sick and weak from
the womb, and his body had never been very healthy. The fact that he had
lived to this day in such a sickly manner was thought to be because he had
borrowed some of the Buddha's light.
At present, the silence in Anyin Hall was ablaze with lights.
The entirety of the King's mansion was hung with red silk, but there was no
red silk in Anyin Hall. Under the curtain of the night, the courtyard was
filled with candlelights with a warm breeze blowing. Several tall, century-
old birchleaf pear trees scattered white fallen flowers in the wind to the
ground.
The maids in the courtyard shuttled in and out, acting invisible with bated
breath.
Everyone knew that His Highness was in a foul mood today. His Highness
has always been reticent and rarely smiled. He always looked gloomy and
utterly unfathomable. They couldn't guess what was on his mind.
And even more so today.
All things considered, although His Highness was homosexual, he was also
a man who feared no one. When has there ever been a crippled general of
an enemy country bestowed to a King as a concubine?
Regardless of how dangerous the man was, he was akin to a trapped beast.
The Emperor's decree alone was beyond absurd. It was like writing
humiliating words into an imperial decree and slapping the King in the face.
Hence, it was only natural that His Highness was in a terrible mood. They,
the servants, only had to serve cautiously, lest they'd court bad luck and end
up losing their heads at this moment.
The room was quiet.
Because His Highness married a concubine, he did not have to welcome her
personally, but the nuptial chamber was necessary.
Therefore, His Highness cleaned up early in the morning, changed into a
gold and red wedding robe, and bound his jet-black hair with his jade
crown.
He was sitting on the couch, holding a book in one hand.
People stood by his side silently, and no one dared to disturb him.
A young maid who was waiting in the courtyard entered cautiously. She had
been ordered by the chief concierge to come in and take away the basin of
water by the dressing table.
She kept her head down with her hands clasped in front of her, not daring to
let her eyes roam around. The atmosphere in the courtyard was already
suffocating enough, but she didn't expect the King's room to be even worse.
The incense was quietly burning in the furnace; the furnishings were simple
and solemn; and the lamps were as bright as daylight. It should be an
elegant and tranquil place, but it was like the netherworld surrounded by
demons, making her legs tremble in fear.
She tried hard not to make a sound while giving a silent salute to the King
on the couch, and then flew to carry the copper basin on the floor.
But because she didn't always get to serve inside the house, she was not
very skilled. When she got up with the basin, the rim of the basin
accidentally hit the edge of the ebony table, made a muffled sound, and
splashed some water out.
The thud broke the dead-like calm.
The young maid's hand shook; her body tensed up, and she hastily raised
her eyes to look at her master on the couch.
She saw King raising his eyes, and his gaze fell on her quietly.
How beautiful those eyes were. The shape was long and narrow, and the
tips of his eyes lazily tilted upward. Combined with his long eyelashes and
a slightly raised long eyebrows, he appeared languid and enchanting, the
embodiment of the androgynous devil in books who could suck souls.
There was a small scarlet mole adorning the tip of his beautiful eye. In the
flickering of the lights, it was almost as if one's soul would be taken away.
However, the young maid felt chilled to the bone.
His eyes were so dark, they were bottomless. Beneath the beauty, they were
haughty and ice-cold, as if looking at a dead soul.
Her legs went weak, and she fell to her knees. The copper basin also
crashed to the ground with a bang, splashing water all over the floor.
—
Jiang Suizhou stiffly waved his hand, motioning for the young maid to
retreat.
As if she had received an amnesty, she incessantly kowtowed to him and
apologized for her offense. She then picked up the wet copper basin on the
floor and stumbled as she fled away.
Jiang Suizhou looked after her fleeing helter-skelter and felt somewhat
confused deep inside.
…Who am I? Am I so scary?
However, he dared not ask this aloud. Naturally, no one could explain it.
He remembered that he had just finished replying to the student's message
and turned off the computer in preparation for sleep. For him, it was just an
extremely ordinary day – except for the paper he received today, which was
just a little too amateurish.
After all, he had been a lecturer at J University for several years, and also
taught graduates. He had seen all sorts of odd papers, so he believed he had a wide range of experience. When he was dealing with students, he could
always keep calm and be good humored, answer them with ease, and
maintain a benign countenance.
…But it was the first time he saw a history student, based on unofficial
records, writing his thesis like a commentary on the ups and downs, singing
it with a beautiful voice and rich emotions.
He wrote that Huo Wujiu, the founding General of the Liang Dynasty and
the Marquis of Dingbei, had an unspeakable secret in leading the army to
destroy Jing. The whys and wherefores of this was that when he was held
captive in South Jing, he was once taken as a concubine by a sickly King
whose name was untraceable and whose title was "Jing" in South Jing. He
endured three years of humiliation, Therefore, when he returned to Northern
Liang, he raised an army to swiftly destroy Jing. It was also because of this
that he harbored a grudge.
As a result, the King of Jing, who died prematurely due to illness in the few
entries in the official history, also died an unnatural death.
He did not die of illness, but was beheaded by the Marquis of Dingbei. To
avenge those years, the Marquis of Dingbei even hung his head on the walls
of Lin'an and left it hanging there for three whole years.
Jiang Suizhou felt at that time that the kid probably chose the wrong
profession. He should have been a screenwriter.
For history majors, it was basically the same as using My Fair Kings to
study the history of the Qing Dynasty.
Hence, Jiang Suizhou criticized the paper mercilessly, and finally gave his
own suggestions for revision: change the topic and rewrite the thesis.
That student was also quite stubborn.
"How do you know that an unofficial history is false? You can't say that my
paper is a fabrication just because of this! Even if you have studied a lot of historical materials, you have not personally experienced and seen it with
your own eyes!"
After receiving this reply, Jiang Suizhou sneered.
I study history, so do I have a need to experience it myself? If I were to
study paleontology, then would I still have to go into the mountains and
become a monkey?
He coldly pushed his glasses up and replied, "Fair enough, but the paper,
rewrite it."
After sending the reply, he rubbed his sore shoulder and neck with a smile
and turned off the computer.
And at that very moment, the surroundings went abruptly black.
…Power outage?
But it was dark all around. There wasn't even a faint light that would
normally come through at night.
Jiang Suizhou froze and tried to reach out to find the power source on the
table.
But before he could stretch out his hand, the surroundings suddenly lit up.
There was a lamp, but it was jumping and flickering.
Lamps illuminated the area around him.
He found himself sitting in a room, under a warm yellow light. The
surrounding furnishings were all ancient, with screens, partitioned treasure
display shelves; a place of charm and beauty, noble and dignified. Although
there were no bright colors around, and it looked ancient, the shine reflected
by those objects was of a reserved and solemn luxury.
The house was extremely spacious. There were a lot of maids standing
around, seven or eight of them at a glance, and each was standing with their eyes downcast. It was not crowded at all.
Jiang Suizhou was a bit confused.
…Illusion?
He lowered his eyes.
At this time, he was actually wearing a bright red robe with wide sleeves.
The silk draped on him felt luxurious to the touch, and the gold silk
embroidery with intricate cloud patterns glittered under the lamp.
Based on this, Jiang Suizhou concluded it was late Jing and early Liang.
The book in his hand was printed from right to left in vertical rows, in
traditional Song characters. Looking at the ink traces, they were still in the
stage of engraving and printing.
The low table beside him was Chinese rosewood, and he had seen the tea
cup on the table in the museum.
[Sweet white glaze cup with camellia pattern from the tomb of the King and
Marquis at the end of Jing.]
Jiang Suizhou's gaze was vacant.
…Who am I? Where am I? How did something dug up from the ancient
tombs end up on my desk?
It was also at this time that the reckless maid bumped and produced a thin
sound, drawing his attention to her.
But as soon as he glanced over and before he could think about what to say,
the girl about ten years old fell on her knees in fright. She spilled water all
over the floor and kept kowtowing.
On the contrary, Jiang Suizhou was dumbfounded.
He tried to remain calm and raised his hand, signaling her to retreat.
He watched the little girl gratefully clutch the basin and run away. After
running only a few steps, she nearly slipped by the water underfoot, and ran
right into the man coming in.
"How dare you! Get out, now!" the man scolded.
A eunuch's voice.
Jiang Suizhou raised his eyes to look at him, and saw this man trotting all
the way over, with a clean face and a smile on his face.
His smile was quite sincere, with a trifle of ingratiation.
"Master." He skillfully saluted in front of Jiang Suizhou, approached his
side, and bowed down to whisper in his ear.
"That bridal sedan chair has arrived, Master. Don't let the auspicious hour
slip by."
Jiang Suizhou looked at him quietly, and the hand hidden in his sleeve
pinched himself severely.
He did not believe that he suddenly crossed over in time.
Also, without fully understanding who he was and his circumstances, he
was about to have…
A wedding night.