Chapter 87: The Free and Easy Young Marquis (20)
Amidst a flurry of panic and confusion, Du Hanxu and the imperial physicians all pitched in, but they were unable to save the Noble Consort.
Huo Xian’s face sank like water.
Modern TV dramas were not lacking in plots where someone died by smashing their head against a pillar or wall. However, dying by smashing against a pillar or wall, aside from distance, also requires considering aspects like speed and force. A violent impact could cause intracranial bleeding resulting in death, but the frontal bone is not that fragile, and a wooden pillar offers more cushioning than a hard wall surface. Yet the Noble Consort, a delicate and frail womanâexactly how much force did she possess to die upon impact?
“Motherâ” Xiao Jinli pushed through the crowd, stumbling forward. What met his eyes caused them to turn bloodshot in an instant.
Emperor Haoyuan, supported by Huang Yu, arrived at the door of the bedchamber. Seeing the floor covered in fresh blood and the Noble Consort, whose vitality was now gone, he staggered and was about to fall. Huang Yu hurriedly steadied him. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, take care of your dragon body…”
Emperor Haoyuan’s vision darkened, his breathing rapid. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Xiao Jinli roared loudly, “You are the ones who killed my mother! You forced her to her death! You will all die a horrible death, a horrible death!”
The Empress, who was originally panicking over the Noble Consort’s suicide by smashing against the pillar, hardened her expression upon hearing Xiao Jinli’s words, which could be considered treasonous. She shouted, “Insolent!” Immediately after, she ordered the Commander of the Imperial Guards, “Escort the Third Prince back to his residence and have him reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors!”
Huo Xian frowned. Regardless of the grudges between Xiao Jinli and the original host, right now he had indeed lost his mother. Not to mention comforting him, the Empress immediately wanted to ground him. Was she afraid Xiao Jinli hadn’t turned dark enough? Or… was she seizing the opportunity to make a big issue out of it?
“Release him.” Emperor Haoyuan barely recovered, ordering Commander Wen while panting heavily.
“Your Majesty?” The Empress’s heart tightened.
Emperor Haoyuan didn’t even glance at her, giving the instruction: “Transport the Noble Consort back to the Palace of Celestial Music. The Third Prince will accompany her.”
The guards and palace servants immediately acted nimbly. The Noble Consort had smashed against the pillar in front of the Emperor’s bedchamber and died on the spot. Naturally, her remains could not be left there for a long time.
Xiao Jinli had probably also calmed down temporarily. Pursing his lips without saying a word, he bowed to Emperor Haoyuan, then turned and left. His gaze swept over the Empress and Huo Xian, calm and rippleless, yet it was as if he was firmly etching their faces into the bottom of his heart, only waiting for revenge in the future.
Other palace servants brought buckets of water and quickly washed away the bloodstains on the ground. Huo Xian’s gaze swept past the glaring crimson blood, catching sight of a retreating figure.
[Yuan Yuan, when did Xiao Jinchi arrive?] Huo Xian asked Huo Yuan.
Huo Yuan didn’t know either; he hadn’t noticed the Fourth Prince, Xiao Jinchi, coming over at all.
“Yi’er, you stay. Keep Uncle company and chat for a while.” Emperor Haoyuan called out to Huo Xian. “Huang Yu, go to the rear palace and transmit Our decree. The Noble Consort has passed away into immortality. The concubines in the various palaces need not be disturbed. They only need to copy some scriptures in their respective palaces to pray for the Noble Consort.”
The meaning behind this decree was to tell the imperial concubines to behave themselves and go out less if they had no business.
As for the Empress, she was completely cast aside.
Huo Yuan watched as the Empress’s complexion changed back and forth. Finally, she barely managed to squeeze out the dignified demeanor belonging to an Empress and left the bedchamber.
He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart: Modern times were still better. No Emperor, everyone was equal, monogamy. There was no need to scheme against one another for a husband’s other women.
[There will be such a day.] Huo Xian’s voice transmitted from the sea of consciousness. Only then did Huo Yuan realize he had accidentally transmitted his sigh to Huo Xian.
[Huo Xian, are you preparing to do something big?] Huo Yuan rubbed his fists and wiped his palms eagerly.
Huo Xian: [Let’s watch and see first.]
Inside the bedchamber, it was only Emperor Haoyuan and Huo Xian. Huo Xian fed Emperor Haoyuan some soup and porridge.
With a bowl of porridge in his stomach, Emperor Haoyuan’s spirit seemed to have improved a bit.
He gazed at Huo Xian for a long while and let out a long sigh: “Yi’er, if only you were Our son, how wonderful it would be.”
The original host had heard these words no fewer than ten times. But every time, the original host just laughed it off, because the original host had no ambitions.
“Uncle, if I were to say right now that I want to be the Emperor, would you be willing to pass the throne to me?” Huo Xian suddenly said.
Emperor Haoyuan was stunned at first, then his pupils dilated. His breathing stalled for a few seconds. After a long while, he found his voice: “Yi’er, is what you say true?” Not only was he not infuriated by Huo Xian’s words, which could be called treasonous, but he actually tried his best to suppress his joy.
Huo Xian, however, didn’t continue this topic. He asked, “Uncle, do you still have any impression of what happened in recent months?”
Emperor Haoyuan actually wanted to pick up the previous topic, but thinking of his sudden poisoning and the Noble Consort’s death, he always felt that something was very wrong. Then he tried hard to recall, recall, recall… The more he thought about it, the more chaotic his thoughts became, as if someone had stuffed something into his brain, blocking his train of thought.
Seeing that he was having difficulty recalling, Huo Xian asked again, “Uncle, do you still remember what day it was when you fell into a coma?”
This time, Emperor Haoyuan still couldn’t give an accurate answer. However, he remembered one thing: “We remember that We had many dreams, many, many dreams. Dreams within dreams. We couldn’t even distinguish whether We were in a dream or reality.”
“Then your issuing a decree for my father to eradicate bandits…” Huo Xian spoke tentatively.
“Eradicating bandits?” Emperor Haoyuan was taken aback. “We know the Huo family wholeheartedly wishes to stay away from the imperial court. Siyuan has not led troops for many years. How could We…” Speaking of this, his expression couldn’t help but turn ugly, but he still asked with a glimmer of hope, “Did We truly issue a decree for Siyuan to lead troops to eradicate bandits?”
At this moment, Huo Xian also had a slight headache, because he found he couldn’t tell whether Emperor Haoyuan truly didn’t remember those things or if he was acting. If he was acting, it would be outrageous if these acting skills didn’t win an Oscar.
Harboring doubts in his heart, he gave a slight nod in affirmation.
“Eradicate bandits where? Has Siyuan gone? If We issue a decree now, is it still possible to recall him?” Emperor Haoyuan asked three questions in succession, his tone urgent.
Huo Xian: “Black Wind Mountain.”
“What?” Emperor Haoyuan turned pale with fright. Because his emotions were too agitated, he faintly experienced dizzy spells again.
Huo Xian hurriedly comforted him: “Uncle, please do not worry. Father has already returned, and the bandit menace at Black Wind Mountain has all been resolved.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Emperor Haoyuan was even more surprised: “H-how could that be? The bandit menace at Black Wind Mountain plagues the entire region. It is easy to defend and hard to attack. If a large number of troops are not dispatched, eradicating the bandits is utterly hopeless. Could it be that We dispatched a large number of troops and horses? What were the casualties like?” By the end, he was full of worry.
Huo Xian gazed deeply at Emperor Haoyuan, looking at him until he was full of doubt, before saying to Huo Yuan in his sea of consciousness: [If the mission in this world fails, it’s not because I didn’t work hard enough, but because they are too good at acting.]
Huo Yuan: […Ah?]
If Emperor Haoyuan was acting, Huo Xian felt that awarding him ten Oscars wouldn’t be excessive. But his intuition told him that Emperor Haoyuan was not acting.
He therefore briefly described the bandit eradication process to him. When he heard the “rumors” in Liangzhou City, he didn’t get angry over these words that were tantamount to mythologizing Marquis Huo. Instead, he said with a complex tone, “This world ought to belong to both the Xiao and Huo families. The late Emperor was greedy, and We were also greedy, which is why things have ended up in this state today.” Towards the end, there was already a sense of self-mockery.
Huo Xian couldn’t respond to these words, nor could he. The Emperor’s mind was unpredictable; he didn’t plan to take the risk.
Emperor Haoyuan seemed to have opened a chatterbox, starting to talk about his four sons. The Crown Prince was weak, and the Second Prince was foolish and simple-minded. The Third Prince… he mentioned his name, hesitated, and then skipped over him. Finally, there was the Fourth Prince, the child who looked the most like him, but because of his eyes, he was destined to miss the throne.
“Yi’er, the late Emperor and We have wronged too many people. We only hope that in the future, Our several sons can live peacefully until old age.” Emperor Haoyuan seemed somewhat tired. His voice also carried vicissitudes and exhaustion, sounding more like… he was leaving his last words.
This didn’t feel good.
Huo Xian hesitated again and again, but still spoke up: “Uncle, Yi’er has a question to ask.”
“Ask,” Emperor Haoyuan said.
Huo Xian pondered for a moment: “Back then, why did you… bring the Noble Consort into the palace?”
He knew clearly that involving Noble Consort Wang Yunjie might step on Emperor Haoyuan’s landmine. Although he had heard a version from the Eldest Princess where Emperor Haoyuan had wild ambitions and was ruthless and unjust, the contradictory feeling of sadness, guilt, and relief mixed together that Emperor Haoyuan displayed earlier when he saw the Noble Consort’s corpse made him feel very strange.
Emperor Haoyuan’s hand resting by his side twitched. He opened his eyes and looked at Huo Xian. From his eyes, Huo Xian once again saw the contradiction of various interwoven emotions. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and closed it again…
After a few times, he closed his eyes again, his voice sounding even more exhausted as he said, “Jie’er… We owe her a great deal.”
Huo Xian’s eyelid twitched: That was not what he wanted to hear.
“Since you feel you owe her, why didn’t you… show more partiality towards the Third Prince?” He actually wanted to ask why he didn’t consider Xiao Jinli as the heir to the throne… He already knew from the Eldest Princess that Xiao Jinli was highly likely not Emperor Haoyuan’s biological son. He wanted to know if Emperor Haoyuan would throw away his face and tell the truth. The most important thing was to understand what his attitude towards the Noble Consort truly was.
Emperor Haoyuan didn’t expect Huo Xian to change the topic so sharply. His expression became even more complex: “Back then, to ensure the purity of the Xiao family bloodline, all the imperial concubines who bore children were Our female cousins. The Noble Consort… was already a married woman before entering the palace.” He stopped exactly at that point.
Huo Xian naturally understood the meaning in his words. His eyelid twitched again: “The Second Prince, the Fourth Prince, and the two Princesses are all children of you and your cousins?”
Emperor Haoyuan was slightly bewildered by his sudden question. He said somewhat awkwardly, “The Second Prince’s mother, Consort Shuâyou even called her Cousin Aunt when you were little. Have you forgotten?”
Huo Xian: “…”
He knew it!
He had been wondering if Emperor Haoyuan had truly committed too many sins that half of his six children had problems. It turned out the root of the problem lay with the parents! Cousins marrying cousinsâthat was close-relative inbreeding. Inbreeding greatly increases the chances of children having problems. This was why inbreeding was strictly prohibited in modern times.
“Yi’er?” Seeing that Huo Xian’s expression wasn’t good, Emperor Haoyuan was somewhat confused.
Huo Xian shook his head. Emperor Haoyuan’s current mental state wasn’t very good; it was better not to add insult to injury.
“Uncle, try to recall again. What is the deepest event in your final memories?” If someone in ancient times had truly self-taught hypnosis, then only genuine face-to-face hypnosis could take effect. Huo Xian needed to use Emperor Haoyuan’s memories to make eliminations.
As soon as he said this, Emperor Haoyuan remembered Du Hanxu curing his poison, followed by the Noble Consort committing suicide because of the Empress’s words. He couldn’t help but defend the Noble Consort: “When We went to the Palace of Celestial Music, the Noble Consort dined together with Us. She would not harm Us.”
Verifying whether the poison was administered by the Noble Consort was also simple. Having Du Hanxu check if the Noble Consort was poisoned would suffice. But obviously, with Xiao Jinli’s temperament, whoever dared to touch the Noble Consort even once had to be prepared to lose their life.
Besides, the poison wasn’t the main point either. Mind-Bewildering Grass didn’t have strong toxicity. The main point was the method used to confuse Emperor Haoyuan’s memoryâwhether it was hypnosis as he guessed, or affliction with Gu as Medical Immortal Du mentioned.
“We remember, We heard that you entered the Court of Judicial Review due to a murder case. We ordered Tu Nan to quickly investigate the truth of the case and restore your innocence. Afterwards…” As Emperor Haoyuan recalled and recalled, his memory became blurry. “There were also many dreams.”
“Do you still remember what you dreamed of?” Huo Xian asked.
Emperor Haoyuan was silent for a long while before saying in an obscure tone: “You, killed Us; Siyuan, ascended the throne.”
Translator’s Note: Oscar (ĺ°éäşş): Used metaphorically here as an expression for phenomenal acting.
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