Three Steps: From Assassin to Empress - Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Have You Ever Thought of Becoming My Empress…

“A consort selection?” To be honest, Ying Xiu didn’t know what a consort selection meant. He lifted his eyelashes, observing Xie Zhou’s expression, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. “You can decide for yourself.”

He was confident that he had said nothing wrong. The emperor’s cold, deep eyes fell on him, quietly sizing him up for a moment. “Are you happy?”

…What does it have to do with me?

Ying Xiu belatedly realized that Xie Zhou might be a little unhappy right now. As for why he was unhappy, he didn’t know.

Could it be that Xie Zhou doesn’t like consort selections and the court officials are forcing him to do it?

Ying Xiu felt like he had discovered the truth. He comforted Xie Zhou, “If you don’t like it, then don’t do it.”

Xie Zhou: “…”

He felt as if Ying Xiu had just said what he had been planning to say.

The emperor’s beautiful and majestic features were dark and grim. Beneath his gentle facade was a core of cold jade. His voice remained calm:

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

Ying Xiu frowned. He vaguely felt that Xie Zhou wanted him to say something. But if he didn’t say it directly, how was he supposed to know what he was thinking?

“What do you want me to say?” the youth asked directly.

Xie Zhou fell silent. The youth’s sparkling eyes were reflected in his pitch-black ones. Ying Xiu was genuinely asking him what he wanted him to say.

Did he really not know, or was he really not jealous?

Thinking of the latter, Xie Zhou narrowed his eyes, looking down at Ying Xiu, trying to find a trace of pretense on his face.

Ying Xiu was also looking at him, waiting for his answer. His clear eyes were full of anticipation, as if he would say whatever Xie Zhou wanted to hear.

“…Do you know what a consort selection means?”

As they looked at each other, the emperor seemed to realize something and asked in a low voice.

Ying Xiu: “（⊙o⊙）”

He looked up at Xie Zhou, trying to find the answer on his face, but he only saw the other man’s calm and expressionless face. He bit the bullet and explained, “A consort selection is… a consort selection, just like what the ministers said.”

Ying Xiu was afraid that Xie Zhou would ask him what “like that” meant. He thought hard for a while. Before he could figure anything out, a low laugh suddenly came from above. The emperor looked at him and gave a very faint smile.

Xie Zhou patiently explained, “A consort selection is to choose beautiful women from all over the country to fill the inner palace. If I hold a consort selection, there will be many imperial consorts in the palace.”

Ying Xiu was stunned. He asked him blankly, “Then are you going to hold one?”

An emperor and imperial consorts. That sounds like a better match. An emperor and an assassin. I haven’t heard of a combination like that.

Ying Xiu felt a little down. If only Xie Zhou wasn’t the emperor, he could just pack him up and take him away.

But there were no “ifs.” Even if he were to leave, he would have to go alone.

“If I don’t hold a consort selection, there will be no imperial consorts in the palace, and no empress,” the emperor’s voice came from above. Although he was very close, it gave Ying Xiu a sense of being very far away.

He nodded, following the emperor’s words. “Then you should hold one.”

In a place that Ying Xiu couldn’t see, Xie Zhou’s expression turned grim. His beautiful and cold features were faintly sinister, and a hidden current seemed to be surging beneath his calm exterior.

Ying Xiu lowered his head, still kneeling, and waited for a long time without any movement from above. He hesitated whether to look up, when his head suddenly sank.

A cold, large hand slowly covered his soft hair, gently stroking it:

“Go back. Think about it carefully.”

Think about it carefully, what is your status, exactly.

Ying Xiu stood up, wanting to climb off Xie Zhou’s lap. Perhaps because he had been kneeling for too long, his calves were numb. He had no choice but to hold onto Xie Zhou’s shoulders, swaying as he stood up.

The palace attendants in the East Hall lowered their heads, not daring to look at the throne behind the curtain. The Son of Heaven’s throne. His Majesty actually let that young master sit with him.

It was obvious how much that young master was favored.

They had thought that he must have some special tricks up his sleeve, or that he was obedient and charming. Who knew that he was actually a blockhead who couldn’t be enlightened?

On the other hand, their bloodthirsty emperor was speaking to him gently, guiding him in every way. When had they ever seen His Majesty speak in such a tone? It was unsettling to hear.

As the pearls and jade rattled, Ying Xiu walked out from behind the curtain. He slowly walked down the red staircase, his mind still on what Xie Zhou had said, for him to think carefully.

…Think about what?

A consort selection?

Isn’t it enough that he already had “one show” in him?

This thought flashed through his mind, and Ying Xiu suddenly understood something. He took two steps at a time, jumped up the stairs, parted the curtains, and said, “Xie Zhou! I know!”

In the majestic hall, the youth’s golden ribbon fluttered in his hair, his clothes trailed behind him, and his eyes were full of seriousness. “You already have one ‘show’ in me, so are you still going to hold a consort selection?”

The emperor, who was usually unperturbed, lowered his eyes. A hint of gold entered his dark eyes. “Is that what you thought of?”

Ying Xiu maintained his position of holding the curtain open. He frowned in thought but couldn’t come up with anything. He could only blink at Xie Zhou.

Xie Zhou stood up and smiled helplessly.

He wanted Ying Xiu to be jealous and to beg for his love.

He never expected that in the end, it would be him who lost control.

He no longer brought up the topic of the consort selection. Xie Zhou said calmly, “I’ll arrange for you to see Wang Yu.”

Xie Zhou is so good to him.

Ying Xiu happily leaned in, tiptoed, and kissed Xie Zhou.

Xie Zhou didn’t react to it. He quietly closed his eyes, allowing the fleeting kiss to lightly land on his brow.

…

An Old Man’s Confession

The next day, at the Yanwei Prison in Jiankang…

Wang Yu, dressed in an embroidered official robe, sat in a narrow cell, with a blank scroll spread out in front of him.

Last night, he had just returned from his shift at the Ministry of the Grand Secretariat. Before he could even change out of his official uniform, the Imperial Inspectorate’s enforcers came to his door and, without a word, took him to the Yanwei Prison.

For an entire night, no one interrogated him, and there were no beatings or ridicule. In the pitch-black narrow cell, he couldn’t see anyone.

As far as his eyes could see, he couldn’t even see a single jailer.

He guessed that it was dawn when he opened his eyes. He saw the scroll and ink on the ground that had appeared out of nowhere. It was clearly for him to write something, but what did they want him to write? What did the person behind this want to see?

The more unknown, the more terrifying.

Perhaps it was because he was getting old, but he couldn’t help but reminisce.

The narrow cell he was sitting in reminded him of that year.

On that day, he went to the prison to see off his foolish superior. How pitiful he was. Just a short while ago, he was a general who had returned victoriously on a tall horse, but now he was a prisoner.

That was execution by dismemberment. He was carved down to nothing but white bones, but his eyes were still so bright.

Surprisingly bright. There was a heroic spirit in the world that turned into stars in the sky and mountains and rivers on earth.

That man had been dead for so many years, yet he still clearly remembered those eyes. He remembered the shock, the admiration, the fear, the remorse, and the sigh he felt at that moment…

The sound of footsteps came from a distance, accompanied by a light jingling. Wang Yu followed the sound and saw a corner of a golden robe appear in the faintly lit corridor, followed by the rest of the person’s body.

Wang Yu’s pupils constricted. The person was actually Ying Xiu. Those eyes… they overlapped with the ones in his memory perfectly.

A group of people carefully surrounded Ying Xiu. Ying Xiu, on the other hand, was calm and composed. He had them open the prison door.

The group of people hesitated for a moment but obediently opened the door.

Wang Yu was calm on the surface, but his heart was filled with a storm. Others might not know, but he knew very well that these people were the secret guards of the Imperial Inspectorate. They were usually like ghosts and had a terrifying aura.

By all accounts, they would only obey that person’s orders, so how could they be so obedient to Ying Xiu?

Enduring Wang Yu’s shocked gaze, Ying Xiu walked through the prison door and stood in front of him. He glanced at the blank scroll and the ink that had been spilled on the ground.

The golden-robed youth stood silently in front of him, looking down at him.

The dungeon was silent. The invisible pressure made Wang Yu unable to help but speak. “I am a court official. You have imprisoned me for no reason. Does the Ministry of Justice know about this?”

Ying Xiu smiled faintly. It was a very soft smile, but it made Wang Yu tremble. Just from that smile, he knew that he had lost.

…

Half an hour later, Ying Xiu walked out of the Yanwei Prison. Wang Yu’s mouth was tough, but the interrogator still helped him find out some things.

For example, the case of the Lord of Shouchunwu was led by the Wang and Xie clans. And that Ming Xiluan was still alive.

His birth mother, the famous female general of the north and south, was still alive.

Ying Xiu was almost impatient to tell Xie Zhou the news. Xie Zhou didn’t have much of a reaction, as if he had already known. “I already sent people to look for her.”

He was always reserved and discreet. He wouldn’t say anything before the matter was done.

Ying Xiu was stunned. “You already knew?” He didn’t expect Xie Zhou to hide such important news from him.

Xie Zhou, who was sitting at the desk, closed his memorial and looked at him, explaining calmly, “I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

To have hope and then have it extinguished again is a very painful thing.

He didn’t want that to happen to Ying Xiu.

Despite this, Ying Xiu was still a little unhappy. He nodded sullenly and said seriously, “Next time, you have to tell me.”

For over a decade, who had ever dared to say such a thing to the emperor? The chief eunuch, who was standing not far away, was sweating. Others might not know His Majesty’s nature, but he had watched him grow up since he was a child.

What people said about His Majesty being tyrannical, cruel, indifferent, and a tyrant of all time… they were all true.

The young master is too bold. How can he talk to His Majesty like that?

The chief eunuch secretly worried for Ying Xiu.

Unexpectedly, the emperor said softly to Ying Xiu, “Okay.”

Ying Xiu was satisfied. He kissed him, his eyes sparkling. “Xie Zhou, I like you so much.”

It was a direct, innocent, and sudden confession.

At that moment, Xie Zhou heard his heart beating deep in his chest.

He had a calm expression, and he imperceptibly “mmmed.” Before Ying Xiu could see his flushed ear tips, he quickly changed the subject. “What do you want to do next?”

Wang Yu said that the Lord of Shouchunwu case was orchestrated by the Wang and Xie clans, but there was no evidence. It was impossible to have the verdict reversed.

Ying Xiu thought for a moment. He mysteriously leaned in close to Xie Zhou and whispered something in his ear.

…

An Empress Dowager’s Move

At the same time, in the Palace of Longevity and Health…

The Empress Dowager, Lady Xie, quietly leaned against a low couch by the window. Her eyes were compassionate as she looked through a Buddhist scripture.

The current emperor hated ghosts and gods and killed monks. When he was young, he even banned Buddhist scriptures. Even now, not many people in the palace dared to read Buddhist scriptures openly.

A female official lightly lifted the gauze curtain and walked into the hall. She stood beside Lady Xie and whispered something.

When she heard that the emperor had put off the consort selection again, Lady Xie didn’t have much of a reaction. The emperor had always been like this. He wasn’t interested in women or men. He was free from desires and treated all living beings in the world as ants equally.

The female official’s next words made Lady Xie narrow her eyes slightly. “You said that he is keeping a person in the Hall of Supreme Harmony?”

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was the emperor’s sleeping quarters. It was as strong as a fortress and was completely sealed. It was as difficult as reaching the heavens to get any information from it. They couldn’t even find out if the person was a man or a woman, or old or young.

It seemed that this person was truly special to the emperor.

Lady Xie put down her Buddhist scripture. The New Year’s Feast was in a few days. As was the custom, the emperor would hold a political ceremony in the main hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

It shouldn’t be difficult for her to use her connections to meet the person who was being hidden.

Whether it was a man or a woman, once they left the emperor’s protection…

…

The Final Proposal

In the West Hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony…

Ying Xiu sneezed loudly. He turned over, hugged Xie Zhou next to him, and asked him lazily, “The New Year’s Feast is in a few days?”

When the time came, Xie Zhou would hold a feast in the main hall, and he would eat a large table of food by himself in the West Hall. Just thinking about it made him happy.

Xie Zhou gently nodded. “Have you thought about what status you will attend with?”

Ying Xiu was stunned. When he thought about facing so many people, he felt a little difficult. He said casually, “Then… I’ll just sit behind you secretly, and you can just give me some food when you eat.”

The youth once again avoided the question.

After all, he had no status in this huge palace. If he said he was an assassin, he would probably be killed on the spot. If he said he was a companion, in the end, the empress was the emperor’s companion.

He would just live his life in a muddled way. A beautiful palace and fine food. It was a good life.

Ying Xiu was carefree. He only saw what he had and didn’t pay attention to what he didn’t.

He was content with his lot, and his outlook was cheerful and open.

—Just give him some food when he eats.

He felt as if Ying Xiu was like a little dog he had raised.

In the darkness, Xie Zhou quietly looked at Ying Xiu and didn’t see a single trace of sadness on his face.

Fine. If he won’t ask for it, he can give it to him.

“Ying Xiu,” the young and tyrannical emperor asked the youth in his arms, “Have you ever thought about becoming my Em…press?”