Capital’s Imperial Palace, secret dungeon.
An emaciated figure hung suspended in midair by heavy iron chains—if such a thing could still be called human.
The foul stench of decay permeated the air, the scent of rotting flesh from festering wounds. There wasn’t a patch of healthy skin left on this person’s body, with white bones faintly visible through the decay. Yet somehow they still clung to life, head hanging limply, neither dead nor truly alive.
Boots embroidered with golden patterns stepped through pools of blood, bringing in gusts that made the dim candlelight flicker and dance. A dark dragon robe settled as the visitor lazily took a seat in the chair.
The hanging person was awakened by cold water splashed on their face.
Jian Ling struggled to open his eyes, and upon recognizing the visitor, let out a hoarse but exultant laugh. “Liang Ye…..it took you this long to dare see me… One cut each day yet not allowing me to die, you must hate me deeply, don’t you? Hahaha!”
“Presumptuous!” Chong Heng raised his torture whip, but Liang Ye stopped him with a raised hand.
“Zhen killed Cui Yuxian and wiped out the Jian family, the person you should kill is Zhen.” Liang Ye casually picked up a small, exquisite knife from the table, lowering his eyes as he played with it in his hands. After a long silence, he asked, “He saved you, so why did you kill him?”
“…Ha, you can’t even bear to say Wang Dian’s name?” Jian Ling wheezed with laughter. “Wang Dian wasn’t necessarily a good person either, but he was my savior. He also saved my two nephews’ lives. I…cough cough…..I had no use for the Jian family’s intelligence network anymore, and I was genuinely grateful to him… I never planned to harm him.”
“But my nephews died in Huadong Prefecture.” Jian Ling widened his eyes, glaring at Liang Ye. “I know you sent people to kill them! I recognized their methods too well! It was those secret guards of yours who killed my nephews!”
“Zhen did it,” Liang Ye slowly raised his eyes, which seemed infused with ice, devoid of any warmth. He continued deliberately, “Zhen doesn’t leave loose ends for himself.”
“Hahahaha… But I survived by sheer luck. Even with my martial arts crippled, I wasn’t caught by your men!” Jian Ling gripped the iron chains tightly, his eyes bulging with rage. “Liang Ye, you beast! I wish I could tear you into a thousand pieces!”
“Then you should have killed Zhen!” Liang Ye suddenly slammed the knife in his hand onto the table, which instantly shattered under his force, sending countless wood splinters flying.
“Yes! I should have killed you! Even in Suixue Garden when both of you wore dragon robes and looked identical, I could tell at a glance which one had martial arts skills and which didn’t!” Jian Ling said through gritted teeth. “But I promised him!”
“Who did you promise? What did you promise?!” Liang Ye’s eyes blazed red as he grabbed the man, actually tearing the iron chains that bound Jian Ling from the wall. “Speak!”
The more he cared, the more Jian Ling laughed with satisfaction. “Liang Ye, oh Liang Ye, I never thought someone like you would care about another person… You like Wang Dian, don’t you? Hahaha, but he was always on guard against you, even risking himself to save me… If you hadn’t gone after my nephews, I would never have set foot in the Capital or the palace again in this lifetime. But you had to take things to the extreme! Now you’re reaping what you’ve sown! Self-inflicted! Self-inflicted, hahaha!”
“What did you promise?!!!” Liang Ye seized his throat and smashed his head against the wall. The thick bricks instantly crumbled. As Jian Ling collapsed to the ground without strength, Liang Ye violently twisted and broke one of his arms.
Liang Ye grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up, fixing him with a sinister gaze, speaking softly, “If you don’t tell me, Zhen will dig up your entire Jian family’s ancestral graves. You’ll watch your brother and parents’ bones ground to dust, never finding peace in the afterlife.”
Jian Ling struggled violently, his howls nearly drawing blood. “Liang Ye—you beast!! May you die a terrible death!”
“Zhen never planned to die peacefully.” Blood spattered across Liang Ye’s face looked gorgeously crimson as he smiled brilliantly. “Speak.”
Jian Ling raised his head with difficulty, and seeing Liang Ye’s smile, began to laugh deliriously. “Fine, I’ll tell you… Liang Ye, listen carefully… Wang Dian rescued me and after our transaction forced me to take a poison oath—
He made me swear that from then on, no matter what happened… I would never harm your life.”
The smile on Liang Ye’s face suddenly froze, the upturned corners of his mouth slowly flattening. He turned his neck rather unnaturally, his black pupils focusing on the barely human Jian Ling, his voice extremely soft. “What did you say?”
“Hurts, doesn’t it, Liang Ye?” Jian Ling laughed with extreme satisfaction. “Wang Dian—your precious Wang Dian, the Wang Dian you schemed against relentlessly—Wang Dian saved your mortal enemy to protect himself, and made him swear never to harm you! But look what you’ve done! Ah!! You suspected him, you guarded against him, and you secretly cut off all loose ends! I only promised Wang Dian not to kill you, but I never promised not to kill him… It doesn’t feel good when the one you love dies in your arms, does it, Liang Ye? You deserve it! You deserve it, Liang Ye! Hahahahaha!”
Liang Ye’s face went blank for a moment.
“Master?” Chong Heng beside him wanted to silence Jian Ling but was violently pushed aside by Liang Ye.
Liang Ye gripped Jian Ling’s head tightly, his five fingers digging deep into his skull, using almost all his strength to smash him against the wall, again and again, each time harder than before. Red and white fluids splattered onto his distorted face, making him look ferocious and terrifying, like a vengeful ghost filled with boundless hatred.
“Master! Master!! He’s already dead!”
Chong Heng got up from the ground trying to stop him, but the enraged Liang Ye allowed no one near him. Only when Jian Ling had been reduced to a pile of pulp on the wall did Liang Ye finally stop, his gaze fixed on the iron chains for a long while before suddenly letting out a laugh.
“…Master?” Chong Heng called out to him, terrified.
Liang Ye slowly exhaled a heavy breath, turned his head with a face full of blood and smiled at him. His laughter grew louder, until his entire body shook violently.
“Master, Master, don’t listen to Jian Ling’s nonsense!” Chong Heng reached out to grab his arm. “He-he must have said that deliberately! How could someone as calculating as Wang Dian not think of himself first? Don’t be fooled by Jian Ling! Brother! Don’t believe him!”
Liang Ye gradually stopped laughing and said softly, “Qi Ming revealed that Wang Dian had saved Jian Ling and his nephew and niece. Zhen personally ordered their deaths while in Anhan Prefecture, and confirmed they were dead. After arriving in the Capital and capturing Wei Wanlin, Zhen used that as an excuse to confront him. If I had just honestly asked him one question after Qi Ming’s confession…”
He looked at Chong Heng with empty eyes. “Would he still be alive?”
Chong Heng looked at Liang Ye’s blood-covered face, opened his mouth, and finally could only offer pale, clumsy comfort, “Brother, no one could have known at the time.”
“I should have known.” Liang Ye lowered his eyes, murmuring, “Self… inflicted.”
He walked out of the secret dungeon in a daze and saw the assassin who had always followed Wang Dian.
Chang Ying ignored the blood covering him, kneeling halfway and saluting, “Your Majesty, Chang Ying has come to bid farewell.”
“Farewell?” Liang Ye looked down at him, a sharp pain shooting through his temple, momentarily unable to recall the man’s name.
“At Zhangmu Mountain, the young master already granted me permission to leave with Chang Li.” Chang Ying said in a deep voice. “But I was worried and thought I should escort the young master back to the Capital first… Even though Chang Li died, he still helped redeem our death contracts from Feixian Tower, giving us our freedom. The young master was the best person I have ever met in this world.”
Liang Ye stared at him rigidly, finding he could barely understand the words coming from the man’s mouth, only hearing “leave” and “death.” He slowly frowned.
Of course Wang Dian was the best person in the world, Wang Dian…
“The young master left instructions for me before.” Chang Ying took out a thick stack of contracts and numerous private seals and stamps. “If anything should happen to him, all his possessions were to be handed over to Your Majesty for disposal. This is the seal of the Nine Star Pavilion, these are the three gold mines in Huadong Prefecture. The business in Northern Liang he had already given to you before going to Zhao. These are the businesses in Southern Zhao, these are from Eastern Chen and Loufan… And there are many shops, estates, and granaries the young master purchased in various countries. Several estates have developed new seeds that will soon be sent to the Capital… This is the young master’s private seal.”
Chang Ying left, leaving behind several large boxes full of keys, seals, contracts, and documents.
Liang Ye looked down at Wang Dian’s private seal in his hand.
It was nearly identical to the private seal he had once given to Wang Dian. The wood was extremely rare, and who knew how long he had spent having someone find it and carve it in the likeness of Liang Ye’s private seal. Even the tassel was the same color and material. Anyone could see they were a pair.
Wang Dian always had some strange habits that somehow perfectly matched his own.
Liang Ye looked at the private seal and couldn’t help but smile, but then found he could smile no more.
“Lock it in the treasury.” He threw Wang Dian’s private seal into the box and left without a backward glance.
The next day at morning court, Liang Ye sat listlessly on the dragon throne, listening to officials present their reports and pay respects.
The official system reform led by the Prince of Danyang had begun to show results, the civil service examination reform proposed by the Prince of Danyang was imminent, disaster relief grain for Anhan Prefecture had been distributed, the Hexi merchant group organized by the Prince of Danyang had successfully established trade with Southern Zhao, the gold and silver treasures confiscated from noble families had filled the national treasury that had been empty for decades, someone had presented new seeds, the tax system drafted by the Prince of Danyang was being tested, the free schools implemented by the Prince of Danyang were highly praised, the Prince of Danyang…
Liang Ye laughed wearily.
All the civil and military officials knelt trembling on the ground, the spacious council hall so quiet a dropped pin could be heard.
Liang Ye leaned back against the cold dragon throne, looking down at the officials and the square sky pressing down outside the hall, and lazily called for them to rise.
Immediately, deafening shouts of “Long live the Emperor” filled the air.
Long live, long live, for ten thousand years.
He suddenly remembered that cold snowy night when he and Wang Dian had evaded the guards to come to the council hall to see the snow. Wang Dian had stopped in the empty hall, tilted his head to look at the dragon throne, and smiled as he pointed it out to him.
[That chair is somewhat uncomfortable.]
He tapped the armrest of the dragon throne, thinking it was indeed cold and uncomfortable. In his mind appeared the image of Wang Dian touching his stomach, eyes bright: […Your little treasury is half empty again. When we get back, let’s fill it up.]
How did Wang Dian manage it? Even though he was gone, he still appeared before Liang Ye’s eyes at every moment.
He didn’t want to see Wang Dian anymore, so after court, he went to Suixue Garden to plant flowers.
Yu Ying and Yun Fu followed behind him, handing him a hoe and flower seedlings.
“Tsk.” After planting two, he frowned, brushing the dirt from his hands and complained, “The fragrance of these flowers is giving Zhen a headache.”
Yu Ying and Yun Fu exchanged glances, hesitant to speak.
“If you have something to say, say it.” Liang Ye impatiently threw the flowers aside, looking at Wang Dian who kept smiling as he crouched before him, and irritably averted his gaze.
“Your Majesty, the begonias in Suixue Garden….have always been scentless.”
Liang Ye looked up in shock. The garden was full of begonias blooming vibrantly, their fragrance rich and intense.
At last, he could no longer see Wang Dian.
