Imprisoned

"Lord Xu, your family has come to see you."

Celestial Prison, Cell Ding-Twenty-Four.

In the dim, gloomy cell, a filthy figure curled up in the corner, fast asleep atop a pile of straw.

Footsteps drew closer, coming from a distance.

The prisoner opened his eyes.

They were bloodshot, his face filled with indignation.

Since being reborn into this world, Xu Xing had felt that his first life had been utterly ordinary. He had done nothing earth-shattering. But thanks to having attended university in his previous life and receiving a higher education, he had a decent grasp of mathematics.

So he had devised a simpler way to write numbers and introduced mathematical innovations such as calculus...

Two years ago, after passing the Department of State Affairs' Ministry of Rites examination, he had been selected as Director of the Imperial Stables at the Imperial Stud Directorate, overseeing the acceptance and distribution of livestock tribute from the Bureau of Pasturage.

The Director of the Imperial Stables was a minor official of the Subordinate Eighth Rank in the Phoenix Creek Kingdom.

An eighth-rank official was already quite respectable. In Xu Xing's previous life, the likes of Young Master Zhou wouldn't even have qualified as a wealthy young master in his eyes.

Yet seven days ago, the Chongming Emperor had suddenly taken it into his head to personally inspect the Imperial Stud Directorate. But after nearly three hundred years, the dynasty was already weighed down by accumulated ills. The Imperial Stud Directorate was short hundreds of warhorses, and the Chongming Emperor had demanded someone answer for it...

And so Xu Xing, a powerless official from a poor family, had been pushed forward to take the blame by Han Sui, the head of the Imperial Stud Directorate.

"The Director of the Imperial Stud Directorate is one of the Nine Ministers of the court, with high rank and great authority. Han Sui has long been close to senior officials in the Three Judicial Offices, and one of his daughters is married to the emperor as a consort, making him the Chongming Emperor's father-in-law. Even if I accuse him now, he'll probably get off scot-free..."

"On the other hand, if I accept the blame and behave myself, Han Sui may remember what people would say and take better care of my family."

Xu Xing sighed and gradually resigned himself to his fate.

Born in an age of feudal rule, it was far too difficult to defy heaven itself single-handedly.

One wrong step, and he would be doomed beyond redemption.

If he had been alone in the world, he might have fought with all his might. But his family was still in the Western Pass Circuit. If his actions brought disaster upon his kin, that would be his fault.

The footsteps drew nearer and nearer.

The first to appear before Xu Xing was an elderly jailer wearing a white bamboo hat, with the character "Prison" patched onto his chest.

The old jailer's surname was Li. He was in charge of delivering meals in the Celestial Prison, but no one knew his given name. The prisoners there all called him "Old Li."

"Old Li..."

Xu Xing followed local custom and called out to Old Li too.

Afterward, he cautiously lifted his feet and inched toward the iron bars beside the corridor.

The chains around his ankles clattered as he moved.

The ankle shackles weighed dozens of pounds and were incredibly heavy.

If he walked too fast, the slightest misstep could send him tumbling.

Xu Xing had been in the Celestial Prison for some time and was weak. He was panting after only a few steps.

"Old Li, my family is still in the Western Pass Circuit. She isn't a relative of mine... They must have the wrong person."

At the iron bars, Xu Xing saw that the visitor was a young woman. His face immediately fell, and he shook his head.

The Xu family was poor. His mother had died young, leaving only his widowed father. Though there were a few servants at home, none of them could possibly be this beautiful young woman standing before him.

"Lord Xu, the Ministry of Punishments has issued its decree. The corruption case involving the Imperial Stud Directorate's horse administration has been settled. Thirteen officials have been charged and sentenced to death, while over three hundred accomplices have been exiled to Qiongzhou..."

"And you... are the ringleader. According to the Grand Pronouncements of the Great Ancestor, you'll be skinned and stuffed with straw in a month..."

The young woman held a bamboo-woven food box in both hands, her eyes lowered and her manner deferential.

Though he had long known that being made the scapegoat would cost him his life, Xu Xing still felt as if he'd been struck by lightning when he heard he would be "skinned and stuffed with straw." He sat stunned for quite some time, unable to come to his senses.

The loss of warhorses was a major crime.

Anyone whose warhorse died while in their care would be sentenced to three thousand li of exile.

Stealing a warhorse was punishable by death.

The Imperial Stud Directorate was short more than three hundred warhorses. It was a major case, the worst since the kingdom's founding, and there was no doubt the court would punish the guilty officials severely. But the thought of being skinned and stuffed with straw still made his scalp crawl.

"Then who are you? What did you come here for?"

Xu Xing sat cross-legged on the floor and examined the woman before him.

The young woman wore a pink silk skirt, with a pale-yellow sash tied around her slender waist. Her hair was arranged in a pair of flat buns, her face as lovely as a new moon, and a plum-blossom ornament painted gold adorned the space between her brows. Now she bent forward with graceful deference, displaying her curvaceous figure in full.

Even if he had been embezzling money, he couldn't have afforded a pretty maid like her.

"This servant was once a courtesan at Moonwatch Tower. My name is Yunniang. Three days ago, Lord Han bought my freedom and ordered me to come here and marry Lord Xu..."

"Lord Han heard that Lord Xu has never married and has no children. Out of regard for their friendship as colleagues, he ordered this servant to bear an heir for Lord Xu."

Zhao Yunniang spoke softly.

Cell Ding-Twenty-Four was draped in red curtains.

Inside the bridal chamber.

Freshly washed and dressed, Xu Xing wore a large red flower pinned to his chest. He looked at Zhao Yunniang sitting opposite him and felt a pang of pity. "There's no need for you to marry a man who's about to die. If you're willing, I'll write to Lord Han right now and set you free."

A man on the verge of death spoke kindly. He couldn't bear to make Zhao Yunniang a widow just for a fleeting pleasure. Besides, once he was dead, Zhao Yunniang would be left behind as his widow... If she had no intention of remaining chaste, wouldn't he be wearing countless green hats in the afterlife?

Rather than bind Zhao Yunniang to him for the rest of her life, he might as well do a good deed and earn some virtue before he died by letting her go.

Even if Zhao Yunniang had no choice but to become his concubine for practical reasons, after hearing these words, she would remember his kindness when he was gone. If she were a woman who knew gratitude, she wouldn't hate him or mistreat the child left behind.

He was new to officialdom, but he had at least weathered some of its storms. He knew how to keep a few things to himself.

Zhao Yunniang pressed her lips together against the rouge paper, making them even redder.

Her bridal makeup and phoenix coronet with embroidered robes only heightened her dazzling beauty.

"Like a hen that follows a rooster, a dog that follows a dog. Even if Lord Xu has committed an offense, you're still an official. You don't look down on this servant for having come from the pleasure quarters—that is already a kindness. How could this servant dare look down on you?"

"The food box contains Musk Dragon Powder. It will stir the blood in Lord Xu's body, ensuring that after we've been together a few times... this servant will be able to conceive..."

She spoke succinctly.

At that, Xu Xing understood everything.

Han Sui had sent Zhao Yunniang to help him leave an heir, but it wasn't merely out of kindness. His real aim was probably to make Xu Xing's blood and energy run dry after they slept together, so he would die suddenly before his execution...

A month might seem like a short time, but who knew whether something might change in the meantime? Someone could take the opportunity to stir up factional strife and overturn the corruption case involving the Imperial Stud Directorate's horse administration.

Factional strife in the Phoenix Creek Kingdom's court had been rampant for years. People only cared about choosing sides, not about right and wrong. It was hardly a secret.

But whether or not factional strife erupted, Xu Xing suspected that he would have little chance of being released from the Celestial Prison in this life.