Ch60 - Soulless husk

Close to moving day, court sessions were suspended. In the study of the courtyard at the outskirts of the city, Hong Yao sat precisely on a chair to review reports while Xie Huaian nestled on the couch, resting. He was curled up on his side, holding a pencil in his hand before he turned over and lost his covers. Hong Yao lightly picked them up and prepared to carry him back to bed for a proper nap.

But as soon as he touched him, Xie Huaian woke up.

“Ah, did I fall asleep?” Xie Huaian asked. “I was just slacking off…continue.”

Hong Yao glanced at the low table on the couch, which were covered with scrap paper sketches of countless doodled circles and grass-woven rabbits.

“Teacher’s drawings are so unusual, a few brushstrokes for something so fascinating and evocative.”

Xie Huaian smiled and chased him off before grabbing a pillow stand to lean against and a blanket. He built a soft, happy nest against the wall and said, “I’m going to continue combing through the new batch of seeds, so Your Majesty should get busy too.”

“You just got better from your illness, don’t tire yourself out,” Hong Yao smiled as he brought a bundle of scrap paper back to the table. These too, were covered in casual doodles of bunnies. Hong Yao had never seen such a drawing style, but he guessed they were rabbits because of Xie Huaian’s habit of tying togetherfoxtails.A circle with two ears meant “rabbit.” So the circle with two pointy angles must be a feline. He carefully collected the scrap paper for safekeeping.

In the past, he’d try to find clues from the pictures, but now he believed that his god came from another world.

Last night, the FlyingLuanGuards sent over a new investigative report on Xieshijun'sbackground. This wasn’t the first time Hong Yao had looked into Xieshijun’sorigins. He had searched for the missing Xie Huaian for many years without results, then borrowed the Heavenly Master’s hand to ask for imperial concubines. He said he wanted to find, “a beauty surnamed Xie, regardless of his birthplace or background.” In the portraits sent to him, Hong Yao saw one that made him lose control over his expression. It was Xie Huaian’s appearance and even his name.

But when the beauty entered the palace, only his looks were identical to Xie Huaian while his personality was as different as Heaven and earth. The imperial concubine’s records stated that the Beauty Xie was called Xie Huan and lived in Yongshou for 15 years. He entered the palace at the age of 21. Meanwhile, Xie Huaian had lived in Yongshou for nine years and was older than Beauty Xie by 6 years.

Beauty Xie was an abandoned baby from Xingzhou’s Nanze region. Mama Xue of South Wind Pavilion rescued the infant and adopted him as her son, raising him in the rear courtyard in secret. After he grew up, every gesture of his was extremely beautiful. Because of née Xue’s nurture and love, Beauty Xie didn’t get involved with South Wind Pavilion’s line of work but maintained a pure body, which fit requirements to be the emperor’s concubine.

“Though we’ve uncovered his identity, why did née Xue name her fake son Xie Huan?” Hong Yao had asked the FlyingLuanGuards before.

Yet the eyes and ears of the Heavenly Master were all over Great Jing, so the Guards’ movements were limited. In the end, they could only find out that née Xue had trouble conceiving but desired to have a heir, so she really did adopt Beauty Xie and hide him in her rear courtyard. Because of his outstanding appearance, née Xue aspired to offer him to the palace and gain favor. Thus she looked after him carefully and prohibited him from getting involved with South Wind Pavilion.

The name “Xie Huan” came from a piece of jade that Beauty Xie used to wear. Fearing his biological mother would try to track him down, née Xue smashed the jade, but felt fear in hindsight and finally decided to change his name back to the one on the stone.

These were the results of the initial investigation.

After Xie Huaian’s soul returned, Hong Yao ordered the FlyingLuanGuards to start a new investigation. When the Heavenly Master fell from power, there was nothing more holding them back, so they freed up manpower to turn the entire Xingzhou upside down and tortured out new information.

Née Xue really did conceal the origins of Beauty Xie. He wasn’t an abandoned baby saved by a well at all, but a mentally incapacitated child she bought off a black market dealer for a high price. An old worker of South Wind Pavilion said he first saw this beautiful, idiot child in the rear courtyard during the 6th year of Shuntian. He was exceedingly gorgeous, but seemed to have lost his soul. He neither spoke or looked at anything, but lay still all year round. If not for his weak breathing, he might as well have been a corpse. Later on, this beauty actually recovered his soul. Perhaps he had a fortunate life, because less than three years after that he entered the palace in grand style.

The black market dealers said that it was a cold winter at the end of the 5th year of Shuntian. They actually ran into a corpse-like beauty in a damp alleyway, dressed in extremely expensive clothes. Afraid of getting in trouble with the Holy Tower, they carried him away and just happened to run to née Xue of South Wind Pavilion who took him off their hands.

Following this clue, the FlyingLuanGuards went to check Beauty Xie’s origins but found nothing. Beauty Xie seemed to have materialized out of thin air into that alleyway. The first half of his life was enshrouded in fog, but it wasn’t until later on that they found these traces.

pjXy YOj GZXH Hj HMZ NOgX MjbtZ OxHZm mZcZgTgXy HMgt mZJjmH OXS tOH lbgZHoV xjm O XgyMH, ogtHZXgXy Hj egZ pbOgOX’t imZOHMt mgtZ OXS xOoo. pZ HMjbyMH jx HMZ tjbooZtt iZObHV gX HMZ 5HM VZOm jx rMbXHgOX, HMZ ijSV HMOH tZZNgXyoV OJJZOmZS jbH jx HMgX Ogm, OXS HMZ JmZTgjbt egZ pbOgOX…Ot GZoo Ot HMZ egZ pbOgOX GMj mZcjTZmZS Mgt tjbo.

KAld rOA OxzOcR yDSDSaDyDm mDZOExR yDxOZDm ZA WED KjOEOl. gAz RZyEldEld ZqDS ZAdDZqDy, qD qOm O dDlDyOx ZqDAyc El SElm.

pEyRZ, GDOXqDy’R RAjx ElEZEOxxc yDZjylDm zEZq OSlDREO aDwAyD qD yDSDSaDyDm RASD ZqEldR. GDOXqDy yDXOxxDm ZqD RZAyc Aw ZqD “dAxm Olm RExoDy OtD,” ZqD TDyRAl zqA’m RXyDOS “L’S lAZ OwyOEm Aw TOEl” El qER lEdqZSOyDR, Olm qOm VlAzxDmdD Aw wElOlXEOx ZOaxDR. KD qOm O qOaEZ Aw RVDZXqEld Olm mAAmxEld OR zDxx OR O TxOl zqDyD “DoDycAlD XAjxm xEoD O dAAm xEwD”…

These should all come from Teacher’s past life.

Early on, Teacher was born on Luo An Mountain with a memory of a previous life. So no matter whether it was Pei Xiuyi or Zhong Zhen, they both called him “a youth with strange ideas and outstanding natural talent.” Perhaps foreseeing something in the future, Teacher taught him for three years in the stables before disappearing in the 4th year of Shuntian. Then he reappeared during the winter of the 5th year of Shuntian.

In between, he must have prepared a body for his resurrection. But his consciousness didn’t wake up immediately. It wasn’t until the 14th year of Shuntian that the spirit who appropriated this shell disappeared and he finally came back to life.

There was a problem with this theory, however.

According to the old employee of South Wind Pavilion, the beauty who lost his soul laid in bed for three years before waking up. Why did Teacher not awaken during this time, allowing a foreign soul to occupy his body?

If people could only return with their souls after death, Teacher must have died in his past life and transmigrated into Sect Leader Xie’s son. Then where did his soul go after he left this world?

Perhaps he reincarnated, or perhaps…he went back to his previous life again?

The second idea sounded absurd, but there was a basis for it.

Even if someone had amnesia, there should be hints if they’ve lived three lifetimes. The young Teacher from the stables was someone whose thoughts jumped from one thing to another, just like the Teacher now. But when he described himself being severely hit with a ruler by Sect Leader Xie, or discussed the difficulties Xuanji Pavilion faced in protecting cultural heritage, there were still rare moments of gravity.

The present Teacher was naive, as if he’d just died from his previous life and directly crossed over with his soul. He had lived at most 20 years in his other life.

There were a few more points to consider.

Teacher didn’t get close to people easily. After his soul returned, he was still terrified at first, but soon relaxed his guard as if his heart recognized old friends even if he lacked any memory of them. Ten years ago, Teacher could only divine the weather, much less destroy the Holy Stone by himself during the eclipse. He never gave guidance for any Xuanji Pavilion diagrams, either. Perhaps the changes in Teacher’s abilities were related to Heaven’s will and the Holy Stone…

Hong Yao was immersed in his thoughts when he looked up to see the papers full of circle drawings everywhere, as well as Xie Huaian himself, who had nestled back to fall asleep. He chuckled under his breath.

Forget it, these are just minor details. Sooner or later, I’ll figure everything out.

Right now, if the matter of missing memories was no danger to Teacher’s body, then he could consider telling Teacher more things to see if it’d jog his head. Perhaps as time went by, Teacher would be able to recall the past on his own; perhaps external stimulation might be added, step by step. For prudence’s sake, it was better to find the Poison Saint first to carefully diagnose and treat Teacher’s body once more.

**

14th year of Shuntian, 25th day of the 9th month.

The long caravan relocating the capital city was already lined up in front of Zhaoge’s north gate. After a simple sacrificial ceremony, this line of carriages carrying officials of theSix MinistriesandNine Courtswould soon depart for the new capital.

The people hadn’t been informed beforehand, but ever since Eternal Peace Palace burned down, there were onlookers everyday at the city gates hoping to send them off. Hearing the commotion, a large crowd had already gathered around the north gates.

The porter dressed in new clothes held his wife’s hand as he told his neighbors how warm the clothes issued by the Weaving Bureau were.

The black-robed widow was coaxing several lively children.

Fei Fei was darting around a breakfast stall.

Most of the members of this first convoy were officials, families, and servants. The next batch would bring voluntary refugees who also wanted to relocate to the new capital. More people meant more food and fires, so vendors had to follow. Fei Fei intended to find a job as a temporary worker to sell buns so he could join in the crowds entering the new capital city. Maybe he might even end up delivering food to the Ministry of Works.

Ah-Sang was holding a batch of fabric woven from cotton stock, waiting blearily in the cool fall breeze of late September. By her side were three of Xuanji Pavilion’s great craftsman, while not far away stood the reluctant crazy worker who nevertheless followed them closely.

“Will His Majesty leave first…” Ah-Sang peeked left and right through the openings of the crowd.

Pei Xiuyi and Pei Wenzheng inspected the Zhaoge branch altar’s businesses one final time before hearing Ah-Sang’s words as they passed by.

“No. Why are the great craftsmen and Miss Ah-Sang standing in the back? You can go forward more.” Pei Xiuyi smiled politely as he guided the smiths and Ah-Sang to squeeze to the front before dusting his sleeves and moving on.

Along the way, officials from the Six Ministries came to exchange pleasantries with Pei Xiuyi, while others intentionally showed him cold and disdainful looks. Pei Xiuyi answered them all with a smile. He knew that some people acknowledged him while others didn’t. After arriving at the new capital, he would no longer be Pavilion Master Pei, but Minister Pei.

“Hey, Pavilion Master Pei, three caravans from your group have already gone ahead, but you still haven’t left yet.” Zhong Zhen leaped off his horse with his sword on his back, reaching Pei Xiuyi within three steps to give a ferocious laugh. “The new capital is much closer to Youyun Fortress. In the future, Pavilion Master Pei can guard the main altar on Stone Summit Mountain. I’ll protect him well.”

Pei Xiuyi plastered on a fake smile. “General Zhong’s fallen behind on too much news while guarding Eternal Peace Palace. See you in the new capital.”

“….” said Zhong Zhen. He felt like he’d missed something.

Pei Xiuyi went to inspect the final batch of stone tablets as his smile gradually faded. The Son of Heaven was someone who detested old traditions. He banned all forms of ceremony and kept things simple. Even the caravan moving out of the capital city was lined up according to importance. Whoever had fresh work to do there headed the forefront of the procession.

With this order, officials from the Ministry of Works, Revenue, and Personnel worked overtime to pack their bags, their faces filled with the desire to ride fast horses straight to the capital so they could get their first. Xuanji Pavilion had already wrapped thousands of collected stone tablets from Thousand Monuments Cave to escort in batches all the way north.

Pei Xiuyi was more reasonable and said he’d catch up with them two days later on the pretext of handling extra matters with the branch altar. Thus, he was able to stall until now.

Seeing him approach, a disciple quickly stepped forward to report. “Pavilion master, His Majesty ordered us not to wait, but leave as soon as we’re packed.”

He really keeps a close watch…Pei Xiuyi mused, then said out loud, “Let’s go.”

Behind climbing onto his carriage, he took one last look at Zhaoge’s north gates.

Ah-Sang was worried that the Son of Heaven would leave ahead of time, but Pei Xiuyi was clear that not only wouldn’t he leave, but he’d stay until the very end. Because Xie Huaian liked hustle and bustle while being softhearted, he’d definitely want to revisit Zhaoge one last time before he left and look at the people who gifted him streets full of chicken eggs, lotus seedlings, and bamboo baskets both big and small.

Two more hours passed. The Son of Heaven still hadn’t shown himself, but passed on word to depart.

Pei Wenzheng was driving an empty carriage with a soft mattress inside and leisurely ended up at the very rear of the procession. Occasionally, he’d shoot looks behind him.

The people sending them off slowly trailed after them, their numbers seemingly endless.

—

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Translator’s Note:I’ve finished translating all chapters for this series, so let’s pick up the pace!Daily releases start from now until the end of the novel at Ch. 68.Enjoy!