Chapter 1230 - 906: Aren’t You Afraid I’ll Run?
In the blink of an eye, the Lantern Festival had passed.
The entire Changa An City was festooned with lanterns and streamers. With the curfew lifted, almost half the people in the city had poured out of their homes. The broad Vermilion Bird Avenue was packed with people, shoulder to shoulder, heel to toe. On the wooden posts set up every dozen steps along both sides of the road were strung long ropes, from which hung countless lanterns and riddles, drawing passersby to stop, admire, and guess the riddles, their laughter and chatter unending.
Shang Ruyi had originally planned for Yu Wenye to take her out of the palace that night for a stroll, but Yu Wenye did not agree; he only took her up onto the city tower to look down at the dense sea of people below, swarming like ants.
Then he said, "If we go down there like that, our feet will be flattened in no time."
Shang Ruyi watched the bustle below, still a little shaken. "Why are there so many people?"
Yu Wenye said, "After Father Emperor ascended the throne, even though we celebrated the New Year, the plague was rampant and we couldn’t celebrate grandly. This year we finally have some measure of peace, so he lifted the curfew for tonight. Of course everyone will come out of their homes to stroll."
As he spoke, he lowered his head to look at her. "Do you still want to go?"
Shang Ruyi immediately shook her head, saying repeatedly, "Let’s just watch the fun from here."
Yu Wenye laughed.
Holding the excited Little Yuanzi in their arms, they stood on the city tower and looked at the jubilant scene below. Although the weather was still very cold and fine snowflakes drifted down from time to time, the festive mood dispelled all sense of chill.
Only, the multicolored lights shimmered and blurred, making Shang Ruyi’s vision a little hazy.
She grew absentminded, as if she were seeing another scene of lanterns, radiant and resplendent.
It had been prepared by that man, just for her alone. Although so much time had passed, although that fierce, blood-soaked memory she thought she would never forget had not visited her dreams for a long time.
She still remembered him.
She remembered his Immortal-like, otherworldly beauty, remembered his exquisitely perceptive heart, remembered his arrogant gaze that lorded over the world, and remembered his stubbornness, unrepentant even unto death.
If he could see a scene like this before her eyes now, would he feel even the slightest twinge of regret?
Just as Shang Ruyi was drifting off in thought, Yu Wenye’s voice suddenly sounded by her ear: "Ru Yi, what’s wrong?"
"Mm?"
Shang Ruyi snapped back to herself at once. Her gaze, dazed by the glow of the lanterns, cleared. She hurriedly turned her head to look at him, only to see Yu Wenye saying with concern, "The snow’s getting heavier. Let’s go back."
Shang Ruyi looked up and saw that the snowflakes were now falling thick and fast, indeed much heavier than before. Little Yuanzi in her arms was so excited he kept reaching out to grab at them, but once it snowed, the wind carried a knife’s edge; they could not let the child stay in it for long. She nodded immediately. "Let’s go."
So the two of them soon returned to the Qianqiu Palace.
After washing up, they went to bed. The inner hall was pitch-black, but Shang Ruyi felt no trace of sleepiness. She didn’t know whether the lively scene just now had left her mind overly excited, or whether it was because tomorrow...
Her clear, even breathing also drew Yu Wenye’s notice. "Why aren’t you sleeping yet?"
In the pitch-dark night, his warm, broad hand reached out from beneath the thick, soft quilt, gently wrapped around her, and softly stroked her back, coaxing her to sleep as if he were soothing a cat. But Shang Ruyi only grew more awake. She scooted closer to him, leaned to his ear, and said, "Father Emperor is summoning Pei Xingyuan tomorrow, isn’t he?"
"Mm."
"Can we see him?"
"No."
In truth, she had more or less expected this. Yu Wenquan had not even allowed her to return to the Shen Family to visit her uncle and aunt during the New Year; one could see how deep his suspicions ran.
Before Shang Ruyi could dwell on it further, Yu Wenye murmured by her ear, "Tomorrow I’ll take you out of the palace. You wanted to go out tonight but couldn’t, so if we go tomorrow, you can still see some excitement."
Shang Ruyi immediately lifted her head to look at him. Although it was utterly dark and she could only barely make out his outline, Yu Wenye’s pair of cold, restrained eyes seemed to gleam brightly before her.
Shang Ruyi said, "All right."
Yu Wenye seemed to smile, then wrapped his arms around her. "Sleep."
The night passed without incident.
The next day, the snow had finally stopped and the clouds had parted. A rare winter sunlight spilled down from the lofty sky, carrying a scarce warmth for such a cold season, making Pei Xingyuan, just out of the Ministry of Justice Prison, squint against the glare—and then suddenly shiver.
Because his case involved treason, the place where he had been held was exceptionally deep. Walking out from the long, narrow prison corridor, he even felt as if he had just crawled back to the world of the living from Hell.
The sunlight felt like a gift from another world.
He couldn’t help saying, "Oh my, has spring come?"
The two prison guards escorting him exchanged a look, and one of them laughed. "Lord Pei has forgotten the days. It’s not spring yet. We’ve only just finished the New Year."
"If the New Year just ended, then yesterday was the Lantern Festival?"
"Yes. Didn’t we send you a bowl of yuanxiao?"
"Ah, listen to this memory of mine."
Pei Xingyuan lifted a hand and slapped his own forehead. "I only remembered how delicious it was. Thank you, both of you."
"We don’t dare, we don’t dare."
The other prison guard smiled. "There’s a bath barrel and hot water ready in that room over there. You can go wash up first. There are clean clothes inside as well. Once you’ve changed, the carriage from the palace will come to fetch you."
Pei Xingyuan said cheerfully, "Good, good, good, hurry and take me over. If I don’t wash, I’ll choke myself to death with my own stench before I even see the Emperor."
The two of them immediately led him into a wooden hut to bathe.
In fact, given his ’crimes’, he absolutely should not have enjoyed such treatment. Even if he was allowed to bathe and change clothes before an audience with the Emperor, it would not have been so comfortable. But after Pei Xingyuan was imprisoned, the upper ranks of the Ministry of Justice had ordered that he was not to be treated harshly, and King Qin had sent people to speak on his behalf. On top of that, he himself was generous with his Silver, so the prison guards ended up treating him like an honored guest. After all, if he were truly to be publicly executed and beheaded in the future, they would already have pocketed his money and wouldn’t be losing anything.
As for Pei Xingyuan, he seemed not the least bit worried. Soaking comfortably in the bath barrel, he took a leisurely bath, even humming a tune as he washed.
The two prison guards standing at the door listened to his cheerful voice, exchanged a look, and both smiled wryly in silence.
They themselves did not understand. Why was it that a powerful Assistant Minister, suddenly entangled in such a major case as an assassination attempt, with his head in danger at any moment, showed not a trace of panic, dejection, or despair, but instead spent his days in prison cheerful and carefree? And yet they could not shake the feeling that there were things about him—things perhaps even greater than the Emperor’s assassination—that were about to come to light.
Before long, Pei Xingyuan finished bathing, changed into a set of relatively clean clothes, and stepped out.
The carriage had already arrived at the entrance.
At this point, his status was no longer that of a Minister, but of a suspect. The carriage sent to fetch him was naturally very crude. Pei Xingyuan walked up, patted the rather flimsy carriage wall, and laughed. "This carriage is a bit too simple, isn’t it? It doesn’t even have bars." As he spoke, he slanted a glance at the two prison guards behind him. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll run?"