Chapter 2: The Emperor Reborn

The imperial palace, the Great Yuan Hall.

Night had fallen, the palace corridor lights had been lit one by one. The palace attendants passed through with bowed heads, no one chatting. When they saw the Grand Steward carrying the tray holding jade tablets of several consorts, they hurriedly stepped aside and lowered their heads.

After the Grand Steward’s figure disappeared, two younger maids and an older maid who had been bowing their heads looked up. One of the younger maids muttered, “Your Majesty wouldn’t be someone who dislikes women, would he?”

The slightly older maid beside her raised a hand and tapped her on the head, scolding, “What kind of place is the imperial palace? You can’t afford to have a loose tongue. Speak less and do more.”

The younger maid showed a nervous expression, “I shouldn’t have a loose tongue. Big sister, please spare me this time.”

“Don’t blame me for not warning you. Whatever shouldn’t be said, you mustn’t utter a single word. This palace is far more frightening than man-eating beasts…”

The voice seemed distant. When the footsteps reached outside the hall, Fang Rui’s gaze returned to the memorial. Then there was a knock on the door, and Fang Rui said, “Come in.”

After a moment, the Grand Steward, Rong Tai, entered carrying a tray.

Rong Tai stopped before the writing desk, bowed his head and said, “Your Majesty, it is time to flip the tablets.”

Fang Rui wore a deep purple outer robe with only a gold-threaded belt at his waist, the collar was somewhat low. Only when he heard Rong Tai’s voice did he come to himself, stand up, walk to Rong Tai, glance at the three jade tablets on the tray, and said softly, “I will flip Shen Yu’s tablet.”

When Rong Tai heard Fang Rui speak that name, the hands holding the tray couldn’t help trembling. Your Majesty! That Shen Yu is a man! And one of your subjects!

“Your Majesty, there is no one called Shen Yu in the harem.”

Earlier he had clearly seen Rong Tai’s hands shake. Rong Tai was really something. Now he had learned to play dumb. There might be no Shen Yu in the harem, but if you walked out of the South Palace Gate and walked straight for 30 minutes, then turned and walked another hour, then turned right and walked for another 30 minutes, inside the Grand Guardian’s residence was someone named Shen Yu.

“Rong Tai,” Fang Rui called.

“I am here, Your Majesty.”

“When will my beloved aide Shen return?”

Rong Tai paused, “…Your Majesty, you have already asked this for the fourth time today. Lord Shen will not return to the capital any sooner than five days later.”

“Five days…” Fang Rui wanted to see Shen Yu so badly his longing was almost a sickness.

He sighed and called again, “Rong Tai, I trust you the most here.”

Rong Tai: “…Your Majesty, I am merely doing my duty.”

One should be grateful to have the emperor’s favor, but Grand Steward Rong Tai constantly feared that one day he would be silenced because he knew far too much.

He knew there was a wooden box hidden beneath His Majesty’s imperial bed.

He knew the wooden box contained erotic paintings depicting the emperor’s love for men.

He knew the man His Majesty favored was Lord Shen Yu.

He furthermore knew that His Majesty’s birth mother, the current Empress Dowager, intended to poison the emperor.

And all these things had been told to him by the emperor himself.

After learning so many things he ought not to know, his heart never relaxed. He was always tense, afraid that if the secret leaked and the emperor flew into a rage, then…

He constantly reminded himself to stay steady, stay steady. Even if a knife were at his throat, he must remain calm!

Fang Rui had told Rong Tai these things with intent. Since the moment of his death he had been thinking: if he had the chance to live his life over again, would the outcome change? If the Empress Dowager were punished earlier for the bad things she had done, the poison in his body would have been mitigated earlier and he would learn earlier that Shen Yu was actually a woman. At the time, what flashed through his mind was what he had personally gone through in life, and the thought of reliving his life was just an unrealistic notion that popped up for a moment.

But who could have expected that that single unrealistic notion would, when he opened his eyes again, not mean he had changed but that the world had changed. Time had rewound five years, back to the third year of his reign.

Before ascending the throne, Fang Rui liked to travel the country. After enthronement he often went incognito on patrols. He had heard many strange tales, and Fang Rui was no fool.

Suspecting he had been reborn back to five years earlier, the first person Fang Rui wanted to see was Shen Yu, the one who had caused him regret for a whole ten years.

He had known Shen Yu for ten years, secretly loved her for eight. What kind of life had he lived in his previous life that, as an emperor, he had been so cowardly as to not hold onto the one he loved?

He was eager to see Shen Yu, but she was not someone he could see simply on a whim.

It was said Fang Rui had sent Shen Yu to Suozhou, and she was now on her way back.

The matter of Shen Yu could be handled slowly. There was another matter that was currently more urgent.

His birth mother, the current Empress Dowager.

It seemed that right from the start, she had wanted to pull him from the position of Crown Prince. But he was the legitimate eldest son and the rightful heir, so when he ascended she set her mind on killing him so that his offspring could inherit the throne at a young age and she could then control power. But he had reigned for several years without favoring any consort, so the Empress Dowager turned her attention to her younger son instead.

Although the Empress Dowager was his birth mother, she had not raised Fang Rui.

When the previous emperor was alive, she had merely been a Lady Yun. The empress had been frail and unable to bear children, so the late emperor took pity and had Fang Rui, after his month-old naming ceremony, placed under the empress’s name. Thus Fang Rui became the legitimate eldest son and Crown Prince. After the late emperor passed, the empress fell into grief and soon died as well. Compared to the Empress Dowager, the late empress had been the more dutiful mother.

Though the empress was weak and sickly, she was dearly loved by the late emperor, and naturally drew others’ jealousy and became seen as an enemy.

How could a son raised by an enemy compare to the son she had raised herself? This was likely his birth mother’s thinking.

The Empress Dowager wanted her younger son on the throne and exhausted every scheme. Though he did, in a sense, prevail in that conspiracy, he still died at the hands of his own birth mother.

If in this life he wanted to overturn the outcome, it wouldn’t be enough to merely know what would happen. He would need people to help him, and those people had to be individuals he could trust one hundred percent.

Fang Rui’s most trusted were not only Rong Tai but also Shen Yu. However, these matters absolutely could not be revealed to Shen Yu first. If she learned he had been spying on her, she would likely flee even further. So now only Rong Tai remained.

Rong Tai had been castrated and entered the palace as a child. He was the little eunuch Fang Rui rescued from a deep frozen pit during winter, when Fang Rui was seven and in his mischievous years.

At that time Fang Rui had sneaked into an abandoned courtyard alone and heard a faint cry for help. Following the sound, he saw a little eunuch fallen into a deep pit of frigid water, clutching at a nearly broken dry branch, already half-frozen and barely breathing.

After rescuing him, the boy naturally became one of Fang Rui’s.

Apparently, he had been pushed in. Before following Fang Rui, Rong Tai had a fate of being pushed. After joining Fang Rui, his fate became to push others and to serve Fang Rui with his life.

Rong Tai seemed unwilling to linger, his fingers moving on the edge of the tray. He said, “If Your Majesty does not wish to receive company tonight, this servant will take his leave so as not to disturb Your Majesty’s rest.”

A slight curl lifted Fang Rui’s mouth as if he had seen through Rong Tai’s thought of escaping. Coldly he asked, “Rong Tai, would you like to be head of the Department of Prudence?”

Rong Tai was taken aback. He gripped the tray harder and immediately replied, “Your Majesty, this servant lacks the talent to be the head of the Department of Prudence.”

Lacked the talent? Little did he know who would end up being quite skilled in that position. That title alone made others immediately pale when they heard it.

Fang Rui walked to the desk, picked up a document, flipped through a few pages and could tell at a glance that these documents had been filtered before being presented to him. He tossed it back on the desk and, with a trace of chill in his voice, said, “Remove the current head of the Department of Prudence. The post will be yours.”

“Your Majesty, this servant…”

Rong Tai tried to say more, but Fang Rui shot him a look and he immediately corrected himself, “This servant will not fail Your Majesty’s expectations.”

Sitting back at the desk, the curve at Fang Rui’s mouth increased. “Begin with Consort Li.”

Rong Tai showed no surprise, his expression unchanged, “This servant understands.”

Fang Rui picked up a brush and wrote five characters on the blank sheet of imperial paper: Department of Prudence, Song Zhe.

“One last thing: when my beloved aide Shen returns to the capital, report to me immediately, do not delay.”

Rong Tai paused. “…Yes, Your Majesty.”

After Rong Tai left, the vast bedchamber was left with only Fang Rui. He removed the lampshade from the candlestick, staring at the burning wick, placed the sheet on which he had written “Department of Prudence, Song Zhe” against the wick, and watched the paper burn as the five characters were slowly consumed.

Closing his eyes, he heard footsteps outside the hall clearly, some were near and far, or light and heavy, each sounding as if they passed right by his ears.

After being reborn, Fang Rui’s hearing, smell, and vision were far more acute than in his previous life. Just now before Rong Tai entered, he had heard everything the two maids had said along the corridor with perfect clarity.

In his previous life, after the poison seeped into his organs, his five senses slowly began to fail, and in the last months of his life he had been paralyzed in bed. Now, reborn, his senses were sharper than before. Could heaven perhaps be favoring him?

Whether or not it was heaven’s grace, in this life he had only three goals: one, overthrow the Empress Dowager; two, bring Shen Yu into the palace; three, become a wise and enlightened ruler, at least in the eyes of the people and Shen Yu.

None of these could be rushed, he had to steady himself. One wrong step could affect all three goals.

Just as he pondered his next moves, Fang Rui heard footsteps approaching his bedchamber. After a moment someone announced outside the door, “Your Majesty, it is time to take the restorative soup.”

Hearing the words “restorative soup,” Fang Rui smiled coldly and a flash of murderous intent passed through his eyes; he closed them, took a deep breath, and contained his murderous glare as he said to the person outside, “Bring it in.”

A palace maid then brought in the restorative soup. Fang Rui glanced at her and said, “Set it down, I will drink it later.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The maid set the restorative soup on the table and had no intention of leaving immediately. Containing his impatience, he said, “You may take your leave.”

The maid’s brows twitched slightly, but she still bowed, “This handmaid takes her leave.”

After the maid left, Fang Rui looked at the shallow yellow soup, rose, picked up the bowl, walked to the outer chamber, and tilted his hand so the soup slowly poured into a potted plant and seeped into the soil.

Restorative soup?

This was clearly a poison that killed without leaving marks.

He had ended up drinking this restorative soup for five years. It had been prepared on the Empress Dowager’s orders. By the time he learned it contained a colorless, tasteless slow acting poison, it was too late. Because it was colorless, tasteless, and slow acting, his health had gradually declined day by day, and the palace physicians claimed he had contracted an incurable disease.

He had already been drinking it for a year now so there was likely a considerable amount of toxin in his body. For now the plan was to find someone secretly to detoxify him, and under no circumstances let the Empress Dowager know, otherwise it would only alert the enemy.