Chapter 259
Chapter 259
Of course, some might say that with so many officials coming here to have an audience with the king, if they all knelt in that spot, wouldn't the location of the hollow floor tile have been exposed long ago? That is a valid point, but the eunuchs, in their greed, often changed the location of the hollow tile. The king was aware of this, but it was such a trivial matter that he pretended not to know. In any case, the eunuchs were servants of the Ning clan, and it wasn't a bad thing to use them to remind the officials below of their place.
This low-ranking eunuch had heard that the noble arriving today was a live-in son-in-law and intended to extort a large sum of money. But to his surprise, after the man arrived, he neither knelt nor sat, but upon seeing a chair, he simply sat down.
The low-ranking eunuch, enraged, reprimanded him.
"What audacity! Is this a place for a son-in-law like you to sit? Kneel at once."
"The king has not even arrived, yet you tell me to kneel. Do you wish to enjoy the same honors as His Majesty?"
At that moment, the low-ranking eunuch swallowed his anger and fell silent.
*Damn it, if you want to die, die alone. I don't want to die.*
Because no matter how he retorted to Shen Lang's words, he could easily be blamed. And so, Shen Lang sat in the Hall of Benevolence and waited, and waited. He waited from dawn until dusk, dozing off as hunger and cold took turns visiting him. This was a deliberate act by the king, a way to establish dominance at the outset of their meeting. When Shen Lang had asked for tea earlier, or for a simple bite to eat, no one had answered him. Just as Shen Lang thought he would be spending the night in this hall, the eunuchs outside all knelt.
"We greet Your Majesty!"
Shen Lang also hurriedly knelt. He had heard that other transmigrators were stiff-backed and proud, refusing to kneel. Naturally, Shen Lang didn't like kneeling either. But his knees weren't that precious; he even knelt for his wife on important occasions, so kneeling before the king was no great matter. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If it were a situation where not kneeling meant death, the other transmigrators probably wouldn't stand so tall either.
"This student, Shen Lang, greets Your Majesty!"
Shen Lang pressed his forehead to the floor but did not kowtow. King Ning Yuanxian walked in and sat in his seat.
"Raise your head."
Shen Lang raised his head and was taken aback.
*Damn! The king is this handsome? What a dashingly beautiful man! And he doesn't look stern at all. He has a naturally magnificent and refined air, with a hint of a gallant and unrestrained spirit. And he's not even wearing a dragon robe.* (The dragon robe of the King of Yue was embroidered with a four-clawed golden dragon, while the dragon robe of the Emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty had a five-clawed golden dragon. -Author's note).
The king wore black silk robes, and upon closer inspection, a very faint four-clawed golden dragon was painted on them. It even had the feel of the faint anti-counterfeiting watermark on a banknote. How impressive! This was the epitome of understated luxury. If it were Shen Lang, he would have embroidered a massive golden dragon, so large it would be a shame not to cover the entire robe in gold thread, setting a bad example for everyone.
Shen Lang mentally calculated that the robe the king was wearing must be worth at least a thousand gold coins. It was woven from the finest silk, and the eyes of the four-clawed golden dragon were embroidered with thread strung with crushed top-grade red gems. The dragon scales were also embroidered, one by one, with other crushed gems. Shen Lang couldn't even imagine how they managed to crush such hard gems to embroider with them.
They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Who would have thought that the fickle and harsh Ning Yuanxian, whose moods swung from joy to anger in an instant, would have such a fine appearance? Who did he resemble? Should he be compared to the Qianlong Emperor, the "Old Man of Ten Perfect Accomplishments" who wrote over ten thousand poems? (The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who wrote tens of thousands of poems, expanded his territory, and made progress in politics and economics, praised himself as the "Old Man of Ten Perfect Accomplishments"). Furthermore, despite being a few years younger than the Count of Xuanwu, the king looked remarkably young, as if he were just over thirty.
*Damn! To have maintained his body so well. Could it be that he eats those soaked dates?* (This refers to a story in Chen Zhongshi's novel *White Deer Plain*, where dates are placed in a woman's private parts and later eaten for their supposed effects of nourishing yin and strengthening yang).
On the way to the capital, Shen Lang had wondered what the supreme ruler of Yue would ask him, how he would probe for any rebellious intentions. He had been watched the entire way, and it was obvious that his every word and deed would be reported to the king through the eunuchs. Since Shen Lang had commented on the king's daughter, Ning Yan, calling her stiff and her thighs too thick to be appealing, the king was surely furious.
The king asked Shen Lang.
"Shen Lang, your family has taken Raging Tide City. What are your plans for the future?"
*He's asking so directly?*
Shen Lang replied.
"Your Majesty, may I speak the truth?"
The king frowned.
*Of course you must speak the truth. Do you dare to deceive me?*
"I can speak the truth, but I request that Your Majesty dismiss those around you."
Hearing this, King Ning Yuanxian's eyes narrowed.
*Shen Lang, you insolent son-in-law, your arrogance on the road here was one thing. But now you've come before me, and you still act so wantonly?*
"Speak or don't speak, as you wish."
Several experts from the Blackwater Terrace and a number of eunuchs still stood around the king.
"Then I will not beat around the bush and will speak frankly."
The king had already reached the limit of his patience.
"In the future, I will seek revenge. I intend to kill Marquis Zhenyuan, Su Nan."
King Ning Yuanxian became greatly enraged and berated Shen Lang.
"Insolence! The Marquis of Zhenyuan is the Crown Prince's Junior Guardian. Is his name for the likes of you to utter? Did the Count of Xuanwu not teach you the laws of this kingdom? To dare to be so audacious even in my presence, does this mean you hold no regard for your king?"
"The Su Clan has a blood feud with my family. That day, while my father-in-law was battling Qiu Tianwei on Forsaken Love Island, and I was attacking Raging Tide City, the heir of the Su Clan, Su Jianting, led over a hundred martial arts masters from the Western Regions to invade our Count of Xuanwu's Estate, killing and wounding my family. They killed over a hundred of our people and injured my wife and mother-in-law. I implore Your Majesty to investigate this matter thoroughly and redress the injustice done to my family."
The king's expression changed drastically as he said.
"This man speaks nothing but nonsense. Drag him out, drag him out at once!"
As soon as the words fell, Shen Lang was thrown out of the palace by four experts from the Blackwater Terrace. His first meeting with the king ended just like that.
* * *
When Shen Lang returned to the Jin Clan's villa in the capital, Xiao Bing couldn't wait and ran up to him, asking worriedly.
"How was it? Did His Majesty the King hit you, Master?"
"No, the king and I met for the first time, yet we talked joyfully like old friends."
"Really?"
"Would I lie? Is the food ready? I'm starving."
The meal had been prepared long ago. Mulan was not a good cook, but Xiao Bing was excellent. This time, she had followed her master to the capital, and though she was anxious, she was more joyful than anything else.
*I can finally be with Master. I won't have to eat the cold leftovers after my lady is done anymore. Master has just enough stamina, so after sleeping with my lady, he never has any energy left for me. But now, Master is all mine. I, Xiao Bing, will have him once every three days. My lady, I'm sorry. I know it's wrong for a mere maid to have such thoughts, but I just can't help it.*
So, during dinner, Bing'er gazed at Shen Lang with her beautiful, moist eyes full of anticipation.
"Bing'er, don't be like that. Though I am away from my wife, I cannot do anything to wrong her."
Xiao Bing said in a voice on the verge of tears.
"But my lady gave her permission. She told me to serve you well, Master. She said I should drain your energy so you won't be seduced by the vixens outside."
*You think you can do that?*
"Let's do this. Tonight, I will sleep alone and remain chaste for my wife. You can come into my bed tomorrow night."
Xiao Bing looked at her master with a dumbfounded expression.
*What's the point of that?*
Shen Lang sighed.
*A man who upholds his principles like me is rare in this world.*
At that moment, Shen Lang truly missed Mulan, an emptiness that could not be filled. For the past two months, the couple had been like one body. It wasn't just Mulan who didn't want to be separated from him; Shen Lang also found it hard to be away from her.
"Where's Fatty?"
"That's right, what about the young master?"
"You didn't send someone to Fatty's place to let him know I've arrived?"
"Master didn't give the order, so I forgot."
Ugh!
"Never mind. I'll go see him tomorrow. Speaking of which, I really miss Fatty. I wonder if he's being bullied by others at the Imperial Academy."
"I don't miss him at all. I only have eyes for you, Master."
"Flattery will get you nowhere. I'm really sleeping alone tonight."
* * *
Inside the royal palace.
Dressed in prisoner's garb, Zhang Chong knelt on the floor, his body weighed down by heavy shackles. After Zhang Jin's death and the loss of Raging Tide City, some of his hair had turned white. But now, more than half of it was white. He had completely transformed into a decrepit old man, with no trace of his former sharp and imposing demeanor.
"This sinner, Zhang Chong, greets Your Majesty!"
Because of the shackles, Zhang Chong struggled to kowtow. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't touch his head to the floor. This was the first time he had seen the king since his imprisonment. After entering prison, there had been no trial for him, and no one had questioned him about taking bribes. Moreover, inside the prison of the Court of Judicial Review, he received no special treatment, being placed in the most ordinary cell and given the most ordinary prisoner's meals.
His second son, who was an official in the capital, would work at his post during the day and come to the Court of Judicial Review at night to kneel outside. Without the king's decree, not even a son could visit his father in prison, so he knelt outside to show his solidarity with his father's suffering. This had been going on for two months. Zhang Chong's second son had learned to sleep while kneeling, and his knees were swollen larger than anyone else's.
King Ning Yuanxian still said nothing. A eunuch beside him recounted Shen Lang's actions once more—his arrogant behavior on the way to the capital, the words he spoke upon entering Xuanwu Gate, and his disrespectful remarks about the Third Princess, Ning Yan.