Lin Nanji had just returned to the attendants' quarters. Exhausted, he covered his head with the blanket and collapsed into sleep. He had barely closed his eyes and fallen into a dream when someone yanked the blanket away.
Cold air hit him, making Lin Nanji frown.
Who was pulling off his blanket?
Lin Nanji groggily opened his eyes and saw two people standing before him, both dressed in black. They stood in front of his narrow bed like two door gods radiating black energy, staring coldly down at him.
A shining golden dragon was embroidered on the left shoulder of their black uniforms. Lin Nanji roughly counted: four claws.
Four claws made a python, five claws a dragon; the flying-fish pattern resembled a python with a forked fish tail. In Great Qi, who else could wear flying-fish embroidery besides the Embroidered Guard?
Lin Nanji instantly woke completely, jolting upright.
“Embroidered—!” Lin Nanji's frightened cry was cut off when cloth was stuffed into his mouth. He was dragged straight out from under the blankets, and when he opened his eyes again he was already in the Imperial Prison.
The cell was narrow and dark, enclosed by high walls. Thin threads of light came through a small window set high above, faintly illuminating mottled bloodstains on the walls.
It was nothing like the prisons he'd imagined, where inmates screamed and shouted.
There was not even sound here. Prisoners in the cells merely glanced indifferently as Lin Nanji passed, then looked away. Most did not lift their heads at all.
Anyone who entered the Imperial Prison did not expect to leave.
Lin Nanji stared at the dungeon hidden from daylight and went completely numb.
He had actually been thrown into the Imperial Prison?
Lin Nanji was locked inside one cell. After the door was secured, he yanked the filthy cloth from his mouth.
He shouted once at the backs of the two Embroidered Guards. His voice seemed swallowed by the darkness, with no response.
Lin Nanji resignedly found somewhere to sit and thought hard for a while.
Had his fake-eunuch identity been discovered?
That shouldn't be it.
He had hidden it very well.
Lin Nanji thought and thought, yawned, then fell asleep on the cold, damp bedding.
He didn't know how long he slept. Lin Nanji gradually woke when it was time to distribute food.
He grabbed the iron bars of the cell and quickly stopped an Embroidered Guard walking past. Looking carefully, he recognized one of the guards who had arrested him yesterday.
On closer inspection, the guard was quite young and had a baby face.
Lin Nanji: “Big brother, why did you arrest me?”
The Embroidered Guard said impatiently, “Because you committed some offense, obviously.”
Lin Nanji wanted more useful information. Gritting his teeth, he beckoned the man closer and lowered his voice. “If you tell me, there's a silver ingot hidden inside an old boot under my bed. It's all yours.”
The young guard looked at him contemptuously. “That tiny amount of money isn't even enough to fill the gaps between this young master's teeth.”
Lin Nanji widened his eyes. There was someone who looked down on silver?
The young guard started to leave, took two steps, then came back. “Actually, I'm pretty curious how someone like you ended up in here.”
Lin Nanji said irritably, “If you don't tell me anything, how would I know?”
The young guard looked mysterious. “Do you know who the last eunuch imprisoned here was?”
Lin Nanji shook his head.
The young guard lowered his voice dramatically. “Grand Eunuch Feng Jinnian. You must've heard of him—the man who practically controlled everything under the late emperor. A minor palace eunuch like you making it into the Imperial Prison is impressive enough.”
“Not just anyone can enter this prison. At minimum, you have to be some official with a name people recognize at court.”
“For His Majesty to personally order a nobody like you thrown into the Imperial Prison—your ancestors must be sending smoke from their graves in pride.”
Lin Nanji: ……
Lin Nanji said darkly, “Is that how you praise someone?”
The young guard couldn't hold back and chuckled twice.
Lin Nanji fell into thought.
What the guard said was actually true. The Imperial Prison wasn't somewhere just anyone could enter, and once people came in, there was a very high chance they would never leave. Lin Nanji mentally went over everything that had happened these past few days and suddenly understood.
He knew too much.
He knew the dog emperor's heart was barely bigger than the tip of a needle.
Lin Nanji sighed deeply.
Seeing Lin Nanji silent for so long, the young guard asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Lin Nanji gave him a meaningful look. “Want some gossip?”
The young guard: ? What gossip?
Half an incense stick later.
Inside the cell.
The young guard's eyes shone as he huddled head-to-head with Lin Nanji, speaking urgently. “And then? And then? What did Vice Minister Liu say?”
Lin Nanji lowered his voice and muttered a few sentences.
“Really? Vice Minister Liu… what a pervert!” The young guard's eyes shone. You civil officials really know how to play!
As he spoke, he even pulled a handful of sunflower-seed candy from his clothes. “Here, eat, eat. Once you've eaten, keep talking.”
Lin Nanji elegantly picked up a piece of candy and put it in his mouth. Clean sweetness instantly spread over his tongue, making his eyes narrow pleasantly.
“Quick, keep going,” the young guard urged.
Lin Nanji cleared his throat. “And that's not all. An imperial physician took her pulse on the spot. The beauty even had a child in her belly!”
“It was Liu Yuanji's—ah! It was actually that old bastard Vice Minister Liu's!”
“I always hated that old man Liu. All he does is flatter people, and he actually slept with his son's woman? Does he have any shame?!”
“No wonder Vice Minister Liu got investigated. Good!”
“What else? What else!”
“Vice Minister Liu got played! Amazing!”
“Damn! The Great General has that kind of fetish too!”
“Holy crap, crap, crap, crap!”
You military men play wild!
The two were whispering together, chatting enthusiastically, when an Embroidered Guard in a red flying-fish uniform walked up to the cell with a stern face:
“Si Nanhao! What are you doing over there? There's an order from above. Execute this little eunuch immediately!”
Both men were shocked.
Lin Nanji shuddered all over. He—he was going to die now?
Si Nanhao frowned and couldn't help asking, “Is there an imperial decree from His Majesty?”
The red-uniformed guard looked as though he'd heard a joke. “For a little eunuch? Why would His Majesty personally issue a decree?”
“Carry out the sentence. Stop dawdling.”
Si Nanhao looked regretfully at Lin Nanji. He hadn't even finished hearing the gossip.
Lin Nanji was put onto a hanging frame. A desolate feeling rose inside him. He had only transmigrated a short while ago, and now he was going to die?
If he died, could he go back?
He hadn't even reported to his new government job. Would they still keep the position for him?
Si Nanhao saw his lifeless expression and sighed. “Don't worry. For the sake of the friendship we made just now, I'll make it quick.”
Lin Nanji's face went white. “I don't want to die.”
Si Nanhao looked at him sympathetically. “I can't help you.”
Lin Nanji immediately filled his eyes with tears. “There's also a jade pendant inside that boot. I've worn it since birth. Please bury it with me.”
Si Nanhao didn't have the heart to explain that important officials who committed crimes might have people collect their bodies, but nameless eunuchs like Lin Nanji were usually dumped directly into a mass grave. Still, because of the gossip they'd shared, Si Nanhao agreed. “I will.”
Elsewhere, inside Purple Enclosure Palace.
After dealing with a pile of irritating memorials, Li Chengxian suddenly realized his ears were unusually quiet. Normally, it seemed his ears were never still for a moment, constantly occupied by one rambling voice. That person seemed capable of mentally commenting on absolutely anything.
How Miss Xu had survived so many years in a brothel while preserving herself, and how difficult that was.
How corrupt officials were hateful and should all be killed.
Or how a white lion cat had wandered into the imperial garden, beautiful but refusing to let anyone touch it.
Even today's weather, what Lin Nanji ate in the morning, and how sloppily the cook had prepared it.
But once everything suddenly became quiet, Li Chengxian felt it was too quiet.
He looked below. Lin Nanji usually liked standing between the brazier and a hanging painting, where an orchid partially concealed him and made slacking easier.
Now that spot was completely empty, without a single figure.
Wang Dehai didn't know why the emperor was asking about him again and answered respectfully, “Replying to Your Majesty, the boy was taken away by the Embroidered Guard yesterday. He should be in the Imperial Prison now. Presumably…”
Wang Dehai did not finish. He thought Lin Nanji was probably already dead.
The Imperial Prison?
“How long?”
Wang Dehai: “Since last night. About seven or eight hours.”
Regret surged uncontrollably through Li Chengxian. Why had he sent him to the Imperial Prison? What kind of place was that? With the boy's weak-chicken frame, how could he endure it? Perhaps by now he was already…
Li Chengxian suddenly barked, “Wang Dehai! Go to the Imperial Prison and bring him back!”
Wang Dehai jumped and hurried to agree, but Li Chengxian suddenly stood.
“Too slow. I'll go myself!”
Lin Nanji put his neck through the hanging frame. His fair, handsome head rested against the terrifying bloodstained device like a handful of fresh snow dropped onto filthy mud, making even Si Nanhao feel reluctant.
“Bear with it. It'll hurt for a moment and then be over.”
Lin Nanji suddenly pulled his head back out. “Big brother, I haven't eaten anything all day. Even if I'm dying, shouldn't I at least die with a full stomach?”
“Ah, stop talking nonsense. It makes no difference whether you eat. If you do eat, you might even soil yourself when you die, and then it'll stink.”
Lin Nanji couldn't help feeling tragic. He put his head back into position.
“Get born into a good family next life!” Si Nanhao kicked away the stool beneath Lin Nanji's feet.
Lin Nanji felt the support vanish. His whole body dropped. He tried to pry at the rope with his hands, but it was useless. The noose tightened around his neck, his breathing failed, and his vision began to darken.
【Crap, crap, crap! I'm dying!】
【I think my tongue is sticking out. Can someone put it back inside before burying me? A hanged ghost is ugly!】
【Dog emperor, murdering innocent people! I won't let you off even as a ghost!】
Just as Lin Nanji felt he was about to go meet his great-grandmother, a furious shout exploded near his ears. “All of you, stop!”
Lin Nanji: 【What voice is that… why does it sound so much like the dog emperor?】
Then he felt someone grab his legs. Wang Dehai's sharp voice sounded frantically. “What are you still standing there for?! Didn't you hear His Majesty order you to stop?”
The stunned Si Nanhao finally halted the execution and dropped to his knees with a thud. “This subordinate greets Your Majesty!”
Lin Nanji broke into violent coughing, then met Li Chengxian's slightly guilty expression. He crawled up and knelt in gratitude. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for sparing this servant's life.”
【Dog emperor! Just because I witnessed you being cuckolded and coveted by the Great General, was it really necessary to kill me to silence me?】
【They say accompanying the sovereign is like accompanying a tiger. The emperor really is the biggest lunatic under heaven!】
