Would You Like to Have a Drink

The Great Yuan Imperial Palace had always been a symbol of solemn majesty.

 

Every morning, when the ministers rose early for court, the sky was just faintly bright. Looking at the tall palace columns catching the dawn light, casting dim shadows on the smooth paving stones, one couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable fear.

 

This fear had intensified since Emperor Yuan ascended the throne.

 

The old ministers who had experienced the turbulent changes of that year knew well that the land they measured under their feet had once been soaked with fresh blood during the palace uprising.

 

The young Emperor Yuan, clad in armor, carrying a blood-stained long sword, fought his way into the palace from outside its gates.

 

He stepped over the corpses of his own brothers, his expression as cold and sharp as a knife, like an enraged sword, climbing step by step up the white jade stairs in front of the great hall, leaving behind a trail of crimson footprints.

 

No one knew what exactly happened inside the great hall.

 

All they knew was that Emperor Yuan walked out of it.

 

From then on, he began a tyrannical rule with harsh governance and strict laws.

 

However, tonight, the vast imperial palace was finally lively, with a bit more human warmth.

 

Last year, due to the incident with the Third Prince, the nation mourned, and the Great Yuan had not held such a large-scale, high-standard palace banquet for a long time.

 

Everyone’s faces were adorned with corresponding joy, a picture of harmony, as the servants carried bright lanterns, illuminating the entire palace as if it were daylight, guiding everyone towards the great hall.

 

Just after hearing Zong Ruichen’s words, Zong Luo’s pupils shrank suddenly, and he was about to ask in a low voice when he suddenly heard the time being announced ahead. So, he pulled an attendant aside and walked towards the palace interior with Ye Linghan and Zong Ruichen.

 

As they walked, he asked in a low voice, “Is there anything else in your dream? What are the specific details?”

 

Zong Ruichen hesitated and said, “Third Brother, don’t worry, it’s just a common nightmare.”

 

He looked up at his Third Imperial Brother and saw his face full of seriousness and gravity. Although he didn’t understand, he realized that Zong Luo attached unusual importance to it, so he quickly suppressed the fear in his heart and spoke, “It’s like this.”

 

It’s strange to say, it was a dream from a few days ago, which left him in a cold sweat and unable to sleep afterward. But when he thought back to it today, only a vague outline remained, and he had almost forgotten the details of the dream.

 

The dream began with Zong Ruichen’s daily life in the Cold Palace.

 

Perhaps because his daily life was too monotonous and dull, he also failed to realize he was dreaming in his dream, and instead repeated the routine.

 

“I don’t remember this part of the dream very well, it seems that something happened in the middle, it seems that Zong Hongjiu was talking about Third Brother, and I was particularly angry at the time, pretended to be crazy, then rushed up to beat him.”

 

Zong Ruichen said with a smile, “I was so happy when I dreamed of this part, it was so satisfying.”

 

The next scene he remembered was a bustling palace banquet.

 

As for why he knew it was a palace banquet, it was because Zong Ruichen was wearing ceremonial robes in his dream.

 

He was the invisible man in the palace, even during the New Year’s Eve vigil, Emperor Yuan never remembered the Eighth Prince in the cold palace. The only time he wore ceremonial robes was on Emperor Yuan’s birthday every year.

 

“In the dream, it seemed that I wasn’t standing with Third Brother and was still pretending to be crazy and stupid,” Zong Ruichen tried to recall the scene in his dream, “To avoid attention, I went to a quiet corner of the Imperial Garden where no one was around and squatted down, and saw Zong Hongjiu walking over with Ye Linghan.”

 

As he said this, Zong Ruichen looked back and saw Ye Linghan silently following behind them, at a not-so-short distance, and then he continued with relief.

 

“Then Ye Linghan exposed me in public. Zong Hongjiu was furious, saying that I dared to pretend to be crazy and deceive him for so long, and that I had beaten him last time, so he ordered his servants to catch me. I don’t remember much in the middle, only that they made me drink a cup of water, I felt very uncomfortable, and they threw me on the ground.”

 

Even in the dream, Zong Ruichen could clearly recall the discomfort.

 

He wanted to scream for help, but his throat hurt as if it was burning, and he couldn’t make a sound, so he could only futilely tear off his clothes.

 

Struggling in the haze, he suddenly heard a noisy commotion.

 

Zong Ruichen heard a servant questioning him in a sharp voice why he was so bold, behaving improperly in front of the emperor, causing chaos in the court, and unnecessarily offending everyone’s eyes.

 

Yuan Jia seemed to be trying to save the situation, quickly summoning the guards for questioning, with a few people hesitantly saying they had seen the Ninth Prince come by. Others said they hadn’t seen him, and some said they had seen the Fourth Prince, but ultimately there was no consensus.

 

Then there was an extremely indifferent voice.

 

“Who is this?”

 

Zong Ruichen stammered, “I recognized it, it was the voice of Father Emperor. Father Emperor asked who this was. A servant answered that it was His Highness the Eighth Prince, and added that it was the beloved younger brother of His Highness the Third Prince.”

 

Immediately after, Zong Ruichen heard the surroundings fall into dead silence. Everyone knelt down with a rustle.

 

The emperor’s voice suddenly changed, icy cold to the bone.

 

“No need to investigate.”

 

He coldly ordered. “What are you standing around for, are the rules of the palace just for show?”

 

According to palace regulations, improper behavior in front of the emperor would result in death by flogging.

 

A prince could be shown leniency, with only thirty strokes of the rod.

 

“After saying that, the servant raised his voice to announce the emperor’s departure, and Father Emperor left,” Zong Ruichen said. “I, along with that talkative eunuch, were all dragged down.”

 

It’s just that he had always been malnourished, and his body had been tampered with in some unknown way.

 

Each stroke from the executioner’s rod felt like it penetrated deep into the bones of such a sensitive body, a pain that could be felt even through the dream. Fortunately, he didn’t endure all thirty strokes and woke up in a daze.

 

The white-clothed prince clenched his hands inside his sleeves, digging into his palms.

 

After a while, he comforted Zong Ruichen by patting his head with his other hand, “It’s alright, it was just a dream, it can’t be taken as reality.”