Marriage

Xu Xing's heart turned cold and desolate once more.

"Fine. As long as you're willing."

He nodded.

The two began eating, chatting briefly as they did.

The dishes were a feast from Prosperous Cloud Tower: braised sea cucumber, soy-braised pork knuckle, Four Joy Meatballs, stir-fried kidney, first-rank tofu, and all manner of other delicacies, along with a brimming jar of pear blossom brew.

"Kid Xu, you're getting married—what's with all this red cloth? We're all prisoners in the Imperial Prison. Even if we're not brothers, we're closer than brothers."

"Exactly. Let us have a bit of fun too."

Halfway through the meal, several convicted officials from the neighboring cells began shouting.

The Grade D cells held convicted officials ranked from the ninth rank up to below the fifth rank. Unlike ordinary prisoners, so long as they had not committed a capital offense and remained in the Emperor's favor, they would return to court after serving a year or two—or even just a few months—in prison.

Thus, compared with other inmates, they were the most cheerful in spirit, with little fear of life and death.

Patronizing courtesans, indulging in moonlit romance—such was the way of scholar-officials.

The Zhao Yunniang Xu Xing had married was merely a concubine.

Among scholar-officials, concubines were no more than playthings. If the master of the household was in a good mood, having a concubine entertain his guests was an everyday affair.

Hearing the convicted officials' words, Zhao Yunniang's body stiffened. She nervously raised her head to look at Xu Xing, afraid he would truly heed them and remove the drapes hanging around the cell, leaving her utterly humiliated.

Though she had come from the pleasure quarters, she had still been a pure courtesan.

Yet in most people's eyes, a brothel woman was a prostitute—a plaything for their pleasure.

"Academician Su, this humble official has only Yunniang as his concubine. If she truly bears me children, then after I die, she will be this humble official's principal wife..."

Xu Xing did not rush to rebuke those shameless old men.

Such was the customs of the Phoenix Creek Kingdom. If he truly treated Zhao Yunniang as a "person," he would instead be seen as an oddity. But after these words, they would be enough to make the convicted officials nearby shut their mouths.

A concubine could be toyed with, but not a principal wife.

Flirting with another man's principal wife was a life-and-death feud, one that would earn the scorn of the world.

Besides, he knew Academician Su would soon be released and return to court, so he could not offend him too deeply.

Moreover, though Academician Su was somewhat loose-tongued, he enjoyed a good reputation both at court and among the common folk. Xu Xing had also gotten along rather well with him recently.

Thus, Xu Xing had carefully considered his reply. If Academician Su was a man who remembered old ties, then perhaps, for the sake of their past fellowship as prison mates, he might help look after Xu Xing's widow and orphan...

The moment he issued this empty promissory note of making her his "principal wife," the way Zhao Yunniang looked at Xu Xing changed at once. A thin mist of tears veiled her almond eyes, as though she had truly developed a trace of feeling for him.

"It's getting late, husband..."

"Sleep."

As the sky beyond the prison window gradually darkened, a rosy flush spread over Zhao Yunniang's cheeks. She lowered her graceful head slightly, cleared away the messy dishes on the table, then shyly draped a red bridal veil over herself and murmured in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

Two wedding candles cast the entire room in red light.

Xu Xing took the wedding scale from the table and lifted the bride's red veil.

Their gazes met.

Early the next morning.

The drapes had been taken down, and the beauty was gone.

"Kid Xu, your days are numbered."

Academician Su in the cell to his left leaned his head over. After studying Xu Xing for a few moments and seeing his ashen face, with more breath drawn in than let out, he shook his head and said gravely.

Any grand scholar of some renown had generally perused the entire canon.

Medical classics were naturally included.

As the saying went, if one could not become a worthy minister, one became a fine physician.

Among circles of famed scholars, one would be too embarrassed to face anyone without knowing a few medical arts. Writing one's own effective prescriptions was nothing unusual.

The four diagnostic methods of traditional medicine: observation, listening and smelling, inquiry, and palpation.

Academician Su had not taken Xu Xing's pulse, but merely by observing his complexion, he knew that Xu Xing's kidney essence was deficient and his qi and blood were withered. Coupled with his recent stint in prison and his failure to properly recover, death was bound to be his eventual end.

"I know..."

"Anyway, I don't have many days left to live."

Xu Xing said self-destructively.

Trying to stand against the violence of the state with one's own strength was basically impossible.

After learning that survival was hopeless, he had likewise indulged himself in sensual pleasures as much as he could last night.

Better to die atop a woman's belly than be flayed and stuffed with straw.

And the Musk Dragon Powder had indeed nearly wrung all the qi and blood from his body.

"To die carefree, and be glad to be carefree."

"When one day I take charge of court affairs and become a Grand Chancellor of the dynasty, I will surely overturn your wrongful case and let your descendants bear a clean name."

Academician Su knew Xu Xing had been wronged. After spending the past few days together, he could not help but feel sympathy for him, and thus made this promise to Xu Xing.

"Damn, I backed the wrong horse..."

"Looks like he won't be getting out of the Heavenly Prison anytime soon."

After those words, though Xu Xing was touched, he could not help rolling his eyes.

When a ruler is not discreet, he loses his ministers; when a minister is not discreet, he loses his life.

The Imperial Stud Directorate corruption case was a long-standing ill of the dynasty. Clearing Xu Xing's name would be tantamount to stirring up more than half the court.

Leaving aside whether Academician Su had what it took to become a Grand Chancellor, even if he did, he would never reopen the case. Reopening it would mean cutting his own throat...

"Kid Xu, come over and see how my new poem is."

"Inspiration struck me suddenly last night..."

Academician Su returned to his optimistic self, beckoning Xu Xing over and pointing at a poem he had written on the ground with a wooden stick.

"A poem?"

Xu Xing was curious.

Academician Su had placed in the second rank of the metropolitan examination. His prose, poetry, and literary talent were all first-rate. Xu Xing had heard from the common folk that Academician Su had once been expected to take top honors, but the chief examiner thought his writing style resembled that of his own disciple and had therefore lowered him to the second rank.

Those who passed the metropolitan examination were hailed as "ministers in white robes."

They were not comparable to such miscellaneous subjects as mathematics.

He leaned closer to look.

Before long, his face darkened at once.

It was a Bridal Chamber Song.

Xu Xing flicked his sleeve, turned, and left. Ignoring Academician Su, he went straight back to lie down on the straw in the cell, saying nothing.

"Kid Xu, Kid Xu..."

"I was only joking."

Academician Su called out.

But after calling three times and seeing that Xu Xing still ignored him, he knew himself to be in the wrong. He offered an apology, then wiped the poem from the ground with his sleeve.

Different people called for different treatment.

Xu Xing knew that Academician Su was by nature open-minded and uninhibited, and that the customs of the Phoenix Creek Kingdom were comparatively liberal as well. Thus, although he felt slightly uncomfortable, it was not enough for him to cut off all ties with Academician Su over it.

The reason he did not respond to Academician Su now was that something had suddenly appeared in his mind.

An Ancient Bronze Mirror.

The ancient mirror was plain and unadorned, not much different from the bronze mirrors on women's dressing tables. Only on its back were there some blurred patterns—bird-seal script.

text
[Mirror Master: Xu Xing.]

[Dao Fruit: None.]

[World: Late Qing and Republican Era (Myriad Heavens).]

[Descent: Soul.]

[Time Flow Rate: One to Five.]

[Fate: Fate of Violent Death (Gray)]

[Note: The body assumed by the Mirror Master upon descent is the Mirror Master's other-self body. After altering Heaven's mandate is complete, it will reverse cause and effect according to what the Mirror Master has gained, transforming it into the Mirror Master's inherent Dao Fruit, possessed eternally.]

After reading everything.

Xu Xing's expression was complicated. He murmured to himself, "My fate in this life is one of violent death. That's why I've been so unlucky. I finally became an eighth-rank Assistant Director of the Imperial Stables, only to be made a scapegoat..."

"So..."

"Change my fate!"

"Enter another world, change my fate through an other-self body, then have it feed back to my true body, thereby escaping the calamity of death."

"Perhaps even... drag the Chongming Emperor down from the throne and take his seat myself!"

After so long in prison, under the double torment of mind and body, light returned to Xu Xing's eyes for the first time.

He was no pedantic fool loyal to ruler and country.

If he had the ability to become the emperor, the Son of Heaven, he certainly would not hypocritically decline.

Moreover, his imprisonment and execution appeared to be Han Sui's doing, using him to take the blame. But at its root lay the Chongming Emperor's incompetence and folly, along with his favoritism toward relatives and favored courtiers, which had led to this unjust judgment.

The shortage of warhorses was a long-standing ill of the dynasty.