Niao Ni

Chapter 684: The Anger of Decades of Memories

Several dossiers of varying thickness lay quietly on the desk in the Imperial Study. In these short days, they had been perused countless times by that steady pair of hands, only to be left here as if forgotten, unusually still. Time was not enough for dust to settle on these dossiers, but the crisp autumn air caused their pages to curl up, as if they had been scorched by fire.

That pair of deep and piercing eyes slowly moved away from the dossiers, casting its gaze towards the hazy and almost blinding pre-dawn light of the palace. The light from the east had already illuminated the highest blue stone brick of the Kyoto city wall, but it had not yet been able to penetrate the imperial palace, deeply locked in darkness by the city walls and palace walls.

Emperor Qing expressionlessly picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip. The tea was cold. The little eunuchs who usually served him didn't dare to enter and replace it with a hot one as usual. An entire night had passed, and he had been drinking cold tea. But like a fish drinking water, he knew whether it was cold or hot. These icy teas, when swallowed into his chest and abdomen, transformed into a scorching heat that burned him.

Was it an uncontrollable anger? The pain of being deceived by someone he trusted? Or a sense of humiliation he had never experienced before? That old dog had deceived him for decades!

The angrier he became, the calmer he appeared. Emperor Qing was no longer as furious as he had been a few days ago. His face and eyes were as calm as two pools of ice water, extremely cold, extremely fierce, extremely calm, not like an ancient well, but like water about to freeze, a pure coldness. This coldness spread around the Imperial Study, causing everyone who lingered outside to feel a fear from the depths of their hearts.

A familiar sound faintly came from afar, the sound of a wheelchair rolling over the blue stone slabs of the imperial palace. The specially made round chair constantly rubbed against the gaps between the blue stone slabs. The width of the blue stone slabs was fixed, and the distance of the wheelchair's circumference was fixed, so the rhythm and duration of the sound of the wheelchair rolling over the blue stone slabs were also fixed.

This fixed rhythm had echoed countless times in this quiet imperial palace over the decades. Whenever Emperor Qing had something important to do, or... just wanted to talk, the sound of the wheelchair would travel from outside the palace all the way to inside the palace, all the way to the Imperial Study.

In recent years, the sound of the wheelchair had become less frequent. That old black dog was enjoying his retirement in Chen Garden, leaving him alone to suffer in this cold palace. However, three years ago, when dealing with Yun Rui and those three old monsters, the wheelchair still entered the palace twice... Emperor Qing's expression was indifferent as he recalled many past events in an instant, and then he slowly looked up.

As his calm and deep gaze fell on the tightly closed wooden doors of the Imperial Study, the sound of the wheelchair rubbing against the blue stone slabs stopped precisely at the entrance of the Imperial Study.

The emperor's gaze suddenly became complex.

The trembling voice of Eunuch Yao rang out from the Imperial Study. It wasn't that this head eunuch deliberately used such a panicked voice to express his respect for the person in the wheelchair, but rather that the coldness that Emperor Qing naturally emanated from his Grandmaster state of mind had already controlled the minds of most people inside and outside the Imperial Study.

The doors of the Imperial Study opened, and several eunuchs carefully and nervously carried the black wheelchair in, then left as quickly as possible under the guidance of Eunuch Yao. This group of inner court eunuchs left the Imperial Study extremely far away, even reaching the stone arch garden gate that led directly to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Eunuch Yao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and glanced at Marshal Ye and Academician He, who were waiting outside the garden gate, without saying a word, not even a hint of expression. Ye Zhong's face was heavy, and he simply sighed in his heart. These top figures of Qing Yu Nian, after escorting the black carriage into the Imperial Study, had all consciously retreated to this distant place, because they knew that under the emperor's chilling aura, he didn't want anyone to hear every word he said to the person in the wheelchair.

Dean Chen returned very safely and gently, although they were a little unaccustomed to such an easy resolution, and although they knew that Dean Chen was not a simple and terrifying figure, including Ye Zhong and Eunuch Yao, they were not worried that anything alarming would happen within the Imperial Study.

His Majesty the Emperor was a Grandmaster, and after the Battle of Dong Mountain, no one in the world could harm him.





The doors of the Imperial Study were tightly closed, isolating all the air, sounds, light, breath, and autumn from the outside, leaving only His Majesty the Emperor sitting upright on the couch, and Chen Pingping, sitting casually in his wheelchair.

The emperor and his subject retreated into their little world, blocking the storms of Qing Yu Nian outside, because the storms of Qing Yu Nian for the past few decades had been stirred up by these two powerful people.

Emperor Qing quietly looked at the old guy in the wheelchair, not knowing how long he looked, until he had turned the wrinkles on Chen Pingping's face into chrysanthemums under the Hanging Temple, before he said slowly, "He Zongwei is secretly investigating Gao Da, wanting to deal with Fan Xian. I knew about this a long time ago. The inner court sent three people over. He Qigan should have been there when you passed through Dazhou a few days ago. Did you see him?"

If anyone else were here at this moment and saw this scene, they would definitely be very surprised. His Majesty the Emperor had mobilized so many people, and the key departments in the entire capital were on high alert. That cold nobleman in the Supervisory Council had also begun to carry out His Majesty's orders, launching a crackdown on the internal affairs. Only then had this old cripple in the black wheelchair been invited back to the capital. Everyone knew that there was no turning back between the emperor and his subject. However, Emperor Qing's first words to Chen Pingping were about a very inconspicuous name.

However, Chen Pingping was not surprised. He knew his emperor very well. He smiled slightly and said in a slightly sharp and hoarse voice, "When I was sent to Prince Cheng's residence, He Qigan was still young. I met him once outside Dazhou city. I don't think he remembers me at all."

"That's not surprising. The name Chen Wuchang has disappeared from the palace for a long time." The emperor nodded. With a flick of his dragon robe sleeve, a cup of tea slowly left the desk and flew to Chen Pingping.

Chen Pingping accepted it, respectfully nodded and saluted, holding the hot teacup, and sighed comfortably, "Tea is better hot."

The emperor pinched his cold teacup with his fingers, took a small sip, and said calmly, "People leave, and tea turns cold. Otherwise, how could He Qigan not recognize you?"

Chen Pingping shook his head and said, "Besides Hong Siqiang, not many people know that I used to be in the palace."

The emperor's eyelids drooped slightly, revealing a hint of sarcasm, and said, "Later, you even made some fake beards and stuck them on your chin, of course you didn't want people to know... You were originally a eunuch."

Chen Pingping's expression remained unchanged, he lowered his head slightly, and said lightly, "It was only many years later that I realized that I was originally a eunuch. Why should I hide it from the world?"

"But in the end, you still hid it from the world." The emperor placed the cold teacup on the desk and stared into Chen Pingping's eyes, saying, "Back then, you were sent from the palace to the prince's residence to monitor your father's movements. However, even the palace didn't expect that you would secretly reveal your identity to me and be willing to help my prince's residence rise up... Even the fact that the old eunuch Hong in the palace was persuaded by you to stand on your father's side was also your credit. So, back then, the identity of the eunuch in charge of the palace was a great merit to you, to me, and to Qing Yu Nian. Why do you always dwell on this matter?"

"The late emperor's ability to ascend the throne had little to do with this servant." Chen Pingping called himself a servant, but unlike in the past, there was not much self-abasement or self-deprecation in this address. He simply said it naturally, following the past. He slowly raised his head, looked directly at Emperor Qing's cold eyes, and said word by word, "That's because someone killed two princes. That's why Prince Cheng was able to sit on the dragon throne, and Your Majesty was able to have the vast land and unparalleled achievements of today..."

The emperor's eyes suddenly became sharp. Obviously, he didn't want to hear any words related to this matter. He said, "But why did you betray the nobles in the palace and turn to the prince's residence, and pledge your loyalty to... me?"

Chen Pingping looked at Emperor Qing with a smile that was not a smile, as if he was looking at a huge joke. After a long time, he slowly said, "Your Majesty, you were still a young man at the time, with a clear and open mind, treating people with sincerity, and treating your subordinates extremely well. This servant happened to be a person with a strange temperament. As long as someone treats me well, I will treat him well."

The emperor fell silent. He sat upright on the soft couch, as if he was still savoring the words Chen Pingping had said. The sharp look in his eyes became like the long sky at the beginning of autumn, gradually unfolding its clear and refreshing side. The corners of his lips curled up slightly, and he said sarcastically, "So you still know that I have treated you well."

"Back then, the old prince had no status in the court, no help in the court. Prince Cheng's residence was not big, and it was not eye-catching. I was actually the most useless eunuch in charge of the palace, so I was sent to the prince's residence. Talented people like Hong Siqiang, of course, had always been guarding the nobles in the palace."

Chen Pingping also seemed to recall many past events, and sighed leisurely, "However, small has its advantages, and simple has its wonders. At that time, three big kids and a little one were doing their best to cause trouble, and Mother Fan would occasionally shout a few words from the side. It didn't seem like anyone thought that was bad."

"Jing Wang was still young at that time. Who wanted to pay attention to him?" His Majesty the Emperor raised his eyebrows and said, "Even if Fan Jian joined forces with him to attack me, weren't they still stopped by you in the end? When the two of us joined forces, no one has ever been our match... Even today, it's still the same."

As soon as these words came out, Chen Pingping and the emperor fell silent at the same time. After a long time, Chen Pingping gently touched the armrest of the wheelchair and sighed, "Fan Jian is, after all, Your Majesty's milk brother, and this servant is just a servant. I didn't think much at the time. I just wanted to protect you."

The lines on Emperor Qing's face gradually softened, but his eyes drifted into the distance, as if drifting to those scenes when the emperor and his subject had no dissent and worked together. He said quietly, "I must admit that in those years, you protected me many times. Without you, I don't know how many times I would have died."

After saying these words, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of the dossiers on the table. His eyes paused slightly, and he gently took out the first one, slowly opened it, and looked at the scenes described above, including his sister, his son, and many, many other things.

"When Da Qing first expanded its borders, it didn't alarm the iron cavalry of the Great Wei Dynasty, so you and I were a little careless when we were spying on the defense of the then small Chen Kingdom, which is now Yanjing. Our group was besieged in Ding Mountain by Hu Yue, the number one killing general under Zhan Qingfeng. That person's archery was good..." Emperor Qing sighed and said, "So many years have passed, and the only person who is better at archery than Hu Yue is Xiao Yi."

Speaking of Yan Xiaoyi, the Great General of the Northern Expedition who had betrayed him, Emperor Qing's tone didn't have a trace of hatred or anger, only regret. Emperor Qing was a person who cherished talent, and even more so, a person with supreme confidence. He wasn't afraid of Yan Xiaoyi at all, so he revealed these emotions. However, judging from the arrangements he had made for the Supervisory Council these days, in his heart, Chen Pingping was a figure far superior to any other subject.

He turned his head and looked at Chen Pingping in the wheelchair, and said, "That day, if you hadn't blocked Hu Yue's arrow with your body, I might have died then."

Chen Pingping calmly replied, "This is the duty of a servant."

Emperor Qing smiled self-deprecatingly, then glanced at the dossier he was holding. This dossier described how, three years ago, during the Kyoto rebellion, Chen Pingping secretly allowed the Eldest Princess to invade Kyoto with a large army, eventually successfully besieging the imperial city. Although the Supervisory Council's actions were extremely meticulous, and there wasn't much concrete evidence on this dossier, the emperor's discerning eye could naturally clearly see the great disaster hidden within.

He casually threw this dossier aside, no longer paying attention to it, then picked up another one and squinted his eyes to read it again, saying, "At the Hanging Temple, why did you think of letting Shadow assassinate?"

Just now, they were recalling the past in a gentle breeze and light rain. At this moment, in the Imperial Study, the sound of questioning suddenly rang out. A faint, fishy, bloody smell gradually permeated the air. However, Chen Pingping seemed to know nothing and respectfully replied, "This servant wanted to see what Your Majesty's last trump card was."

"Want to see my trump card." The emperor's eyes stared at the wrinkles on Chen Pingping's face. After a long silence, he said calmly, "It seems that you have been thinking about me dying for a long time."

Chen Pingping didn't open his mouth to answer, just smiled gently, tacitly acknowledging this enormous crime.

"Is Shadow really Si Gu Jian's younger brother?" Emperor Qing asked.

"Your Majesty's eyes are like gods. This servant really admires how you drank out Shadow's true origins that day." Chen Pingping said he admired, but it was unknown whether he really admired it in his heart.

Emperor Qing closed his eyes, thought for a while, and threw this dossier aside again, saying, "During the first Northern Expedition, when my divine skill was breaking through, I suddenly suffered a Qi Deviation and was trapped by Zhan Qingfeng's army in the mountains. I was already in a desperate situation. If it hadn't been for you leading the Black Riders to risk your lives to rescue me, exchanging your body for my life along the way, I'm afraid I would have died ten or eight times."

Chen Pingping's gaze followed the movement of Emperor Qing's hand, watching him throw aside the dossier about the truth of the assassination at the Hanging Temple. The smile in his eyes grew stronger and stronger, flourishing and then withering, incomparably desolate, with a hint of sarcasm mixed in.

"Your Majesty, don't continue calculating like this. Using the merit of rescuing the emperor in exchange for the great crime of deceiving or assassinating the emperor, whether it's from the Qing law or from the Council's regulations, this old servant has taken a great advantage." Chen Pingping's face calmed down, and he looked at His Majesty the Emperor coldly and said, "In these decades, this servant has saved Your Majesty countless times. This servant can't remember, but this servant has never hoped to use these merits to offset his own death penalty."

"Using great merit to exchange for great sin." Chen Pingping's eyes narrowed, and he said with a faint sarcasm, "That's the little eunuch in the story she told back then. However, this servant is not that little eunuch, and Your Majesty is not that alien emperor. Why waste so much time?"

"You think I'm wasting time?" The emperor's voice turned cold, but his eyes became fiery, staring at Chen Pingping as if he were staring at a dead man. "In the hearts of the people, you are just an old black dog by my side. However, keeping a dog for a long time also brings feelings."

"Of course, Your Majesty is a man of affection and righteousness to this old servant. In these years, the honors and power that Your Majesty has given this old servant are something that ordinary subjects cannot enjoy." Chen Pingping leaned back slightly in the wheelchair, and coldly looked back at the emperor, saying word by word, "It's just that it's probably because Your Majesty wants to find some better reasons for killing the dog at this time, so that you can comfort your own heart."

"Don't you deserve to be killed?" Emperor Qing laughed in anger, and laughed loudly to the sky. The laughter penetrated the Imperial Study and rushed straight into the entire quiet imperial city. There was a rare anger in the laughter.

He turned around, grabbed the dossiers on the table, and slammed them over. The dossiers of varying thicknesses hit Chen Pingping's body and wheelchair, making a slapping sound.

Emperor Qing's eyes became extremely cold. He stared at Chen Pingping's face and said word by word, "You want to kill me, you also want to kill my son. It's extremely hateful. You even forced me to kill my own son... You shameless eunuch, don't you deserve to be killed?"

Chen Pingping slowly brushed away the pages on his body, and with a hint of a smile, a hint of pleasure, appreciated the rarely revealed gaffe of the most powerful monarch in the world in his life. This was probably one of his biggest wishes for this trip back to the capital? The dark desire for revenge entangled in his heart for decades, and that unspeakable feeling of disappointment and sadness towards His Majesty, combined together, made this old cripple's state of mind so complicated.

"If Your Majesty hadn't intended to kill his own descendants, how could this servant have forced you to do these things?" Chen Pingping looked at His Majesty the Emperor and said quietly, "So, in the final analysis, this servant just wants to kill Your Majesty. As for these people in the Li clan in this palace, this servant just wants them to be buried with you."

The emperor calmed down, became cold, and broke free from that rare anger. A supreme being in the world, a Grandmaster of martial arts, had revealed such a human side in front of Chen Pingping. It could only be said that the trust and interaction between the emperor and his subject over these decades had long become a kind of spiritual need that Emperor Qing couldn't get rid of. And this spiritual need suddenly became a mirage in an instant, and even more, there was the poison of betrayal hidden behind the flower shadow. Even he found it difficult to bear the impact of this emotion.

He looked at Chen Pingping coldly and said, "What makes me most angry is not that you want to kill me, nor that you want to kill all my sons. What makes me most angry is that since you have already left Kyoto, why did you have to come back?"

"Even in this situation, I still left you a way out. As long as you are willing to leave, I won't keep you." The emperor looked at him coldly. Those distant eyes were like the ancient angry old man, holding infinite power in their calm. "If I really wanted to kill you in one fell swoop, I would personally do it. I wouldn't let those useless soldiers do this job. But... why did you have to come back? Why did you have to force me to kill you with my own hands?"

This was a very subtle sentence, a very strange sentence. At this time, those big figures outside the Imperial Study, including General Shi Fei, who had already returned to the garrison camp, couldn't guess His Majesty's intentions. They didn't know that the so-called Dazhou Rebellion was still a test of that last bit of trust between the emperor and Chen Pingping, that pair of rulers and subjects.

Probably only Chen Pingping in the whole world could understand. If he had left with the Black Riders in Dingzhou, it would have meant that he felt guilty towards His Majesty and couldn't face him. And he didn't leave, he returned to Kyoto, looking at His Majesty the Emperor's face coldly and without fear, with a clear conscience, forcing the other party to kill the minister who had been considered the most loyal in Qing Yu Nian history.

After a long time, Chen Pingping's eyes were like knives as he stared at the emperor and asked word by word, "Did you ever give her any chance of survival back then? I've come back to Kyoto to ask Your Majesty one question: Why did you kill her!"





(Tried my best, tired, need monthly votes.)