Zichen Hall.
"His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived."
Hearing this, Chen Junting slightly raised his eyes. As if he didn't care, he only uttered a single word, "Announce him."
A short while later, "Imperial Father!"
Crown Prince Chen Shuo's voice carried anxiety as it echoed through the empty hall. He knelt before the steps, his young back straight as a sword, staring directly at his father on the throne. "The Qionglin Garden project is massive, requiring millions in expenditure! This year, the Guanzhong region is suffering a severe drought, and refugees are beginning to appear. Although the national treasury is abundant, we must prepare for a rainy day; how can we launch such extravagantly limitless projects again? I earnestly beg Imperial Father to..."
Chen Junting was already in a bad mood because of Han Xiu's admonishment. Now that the Crown Prince came again, he was undoubtedly walking right into the line of fire.
"Silence!"
Chen Junting slammed the imperial desk. In his furious rage, it was as if the sound of gold and jade clashing boomed out, making the hall's pillars buzz.
He then abruptly stood up, looking down at the Crown Prince from above. The fury in his eyes burned like an enraged dragon seeking to devour someone.
"I have expanded the territory, made ten thousand territories bow their heads, filled the granaries, and allowed the people to live and work in peace. I can be said to have created an unprecedented prosperous era! Now, I merely wish to build a villa and a garden to rest a little. As the Crown Prince, instead of understanding me, you act like those pedantic scholars, daring to accuse me of extravagance and seeking to cut the project. Are you unfilial!?"
He took a step forward, the hem of his bright yellow dragon robe sweeping across the cold golden steps. As an emperor on horseback, his invisible coercion, carrying a terrifying murderous aura, enveloped the entire hall like a physical entity.
"Or could it be that you can no longer wait for this dragon throne!?"
"I absolutely have no such intention!"
Chen Shuo's face turned pale, and he heavily kowtowed on the golden bricks, making a dull sound. "I am only worried about the state! Worried about..."
"Worried?"
Chen Junting sternly interrupted, his voice as cold as ice. "I have my own discretion over my empire and state! Withdraw!"
With a flick of his sleeve, a strong wind swept past, making the bead curtains on the Crown Prince's crown tremble wildly. "If there is a next time, I will absolutely not forgive you!"
Chen Shuo clenched his fists tightly in his sleeves, his nails digging deeply into his palms, leaving crescent-shaped bloody marks. He slowly raised his head, looking at his imperial father's departing back—wrapped in the dragon robe yet already showing signs of weathered age. His throat rolled, and he ultimately swallowed back the words of admonishment, along with that sweet, rusty taste of blood.
Thus, under Chen Junting's imperial might, the two major projects continued in an orderly manner. And for a time, the entire city of Chang'an still maintained the atmosphere of the "Yuanxi Prosperity."
In the third year of Yongjia, before the winter snow had completely melted, tribute envoys from various countries brought "auspicious signs" that Chang'an had never seen before.
At the palace banquet, the music of sheng and xiao temporarily ceased, and red carpets paved the ground.
As the tribute envoys from various countries presented the so-called "auspicious signs" one by one, Chen Junting still sat upright on the throne, his face showing neither joy nor anger.
But at the bottom of his heart, he appeared incomparably smug. After all, from ancient times to the present, which emperor could have achieved what he had!
"Noble Emperor of Great Qian." It was the turn of the Shule Kingdom's tribute envoy. He half-knelt on the ground and announced the tribute items one by one. The items weren't much different from previous years. Until the end, "...Our country has a 'Bright Pearl,' which we present to the Emperor of Great Qian. Congratulations to Your Majesty! Congratulations to Great Qian!"
"Oh? What kind of bright pearl?"
Hearing this, Chen Junting suddenly became interested.
However, the Shule Kingdom's envoy stated that this bright pearl was no ordinary pearl, but a beauty. Therefore, she was not presented in court for viewing.
Chen Junting didn't mind this. She was just a Hu woman, after all.
After the tribute ceremony, Chen Junting returned to the Zichen Hall. As tribute items, they basically all entered the emperor's inner treasury. Inexplicably, Chen Junting suddenly had a whim and began flipping through the records of the items presented by the various countries' envoys this time. When he reached the Shule Kingdom and saw the so-called "Bright Pearl," a dark red light inexplicably lit up deep within his eyes. Although it flashed by in an instant, at this moment, he had already become interested in this "Bright Pearl."
Therefore, he ordered someone to summon this "Bright Pearl."
Not long after, a figure stepped in with the delicate sound of golden bells, like a scorching desert fire, entering Chen Junting's field of vision.
This woman was barefoot, with fine golden chains wrapped around her ankles, covered in tiny bells. Every step she took rippled out an invisible wave. Gauze as thin as a cicada's wing wrapped around her exquisite, undulating curves. Her waist was as supple as a willow branch in the wind, and as she spun and danced, the gauze fluttered, revealing a corner of a natural, mysterious indigo tattoo on her honey-colored skin. However, this tattoo did not bring ugliness; instead, it gave a sense of seductive charm and aesthetic beauty, causing one to marvel.
Besides this, the woman's eyes flowed with charm, like the legendary illusionary springs in the depths of the great desert that could swallow travelers—deep, mysterious, and possessing a fatal attraction. When she danced close to the throne, she leaned back and forward, and the gauze slipped off her shoulders, revealing her fair neck and delicate collarbones. As her red lips slightly parted, even the candle flames in the corners of the hall seemed to sway. "Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor of Great Qian."
At this moment, Chen Junting's eyes became slightly dazed. And deep within his gaze, dark red light burned fiercely like a flame.
This made him feel something different upon seeing this woman. That was, having seen all the beauties of the six palaces, he had never encountered such a bewitching beauty, as if making one unable to stop.
"Good! What a Shule Bright Pearl!"
The emperor's laughter broke the silence, carrying a long-lost, almost indulgent exhilaration. He looked at the woman with great interest and said, "You are a woman of Shule; do you have a name?"
"This one is Jialing."
...
Jialing's arrival was like a spark falling into a pile of firewood.
How should it be put?
"Cloud-like hair, flower-like face, golden hairpins;
Warm hibiscus tents to pass the spring nights.
Spring nights are bitterly short as the sun rises high;
From then on, the king no longer held early court."
It was roughly like this, or perhaps even worse.
Since this woman's arrival, Chen Junting, as the emperor, became even more extravagant. In addition to the already under-construction mountain villa and Qionglin Garden, he also built a detached palace called the "Maze Tower" by the hot springs of Mount Li.
The Maze Tower surpassed the former two! There was even a saying that the Maze Tower was built specifically for this woman, Jialing.
Countless laborers worked day and night under the whips of the overseers, and the hot springs were channeled into marvelously crafted palaces and pools. The most extravagant of all was the bottom of the "Drunken Immortal Pool" in the main hall of the Maze Tower. By imperial decree, craftsmen cut and polished massive, flawless pieces of jade, inlaying a giant "Apsara Bathing the Buddha" mural into the warm, white jade floor of the pool. The apsaras' postures were graceful, and the Buddha's appearance was solemn. When the water rippled, the light and shadow refracted, and the emerald green light flowed across it, making the entire mural seem to come alive, exuding a soul-swaying, unearthly splendor and wickedness.
And the depths of the Maze Tower were a paragon of extravagance beyond imagination.
The lake of wine was deep and vast, constructed from a solid block of green jade and filled with amber-colored nectar, its rich fragrance lingering all day long. The forest of meat was formed from countless wrought-iron branches, hanging with freshly roasted lamb, dried deer meat, and exotic birds and beasts. Dripping fat sizzled in the specially made charcoal troughs below, and the aroma mixed with the smell of wine was so intense it was suffocating. Countless peerless beauties—some from the water towns of Jiangnan, some from the Gobi of the Western Regions, some pure as lotuses, some seductive as fire—all wore thin gauze and frolicked in the lake of wine and forest of meat. The decadent sounds of strings and woodwinds played ceaselessly day and night, and the chirping of orioles and swallows wove into a massive, intoxicating net.
And that Jialing was undoubtedly the center of this net.
Anyway, ever since then, she could always easily pluck the lazy string deep within the emperor's heart. When Chen Junting was occasionally awoken by the brightening daylight outside the window and remembered he had to attend early court, Jialing would wrap around him like a snake, her warm breath brushing past his ear.
"Your Majesty, the mermaid-silk curtains are warm, and the hibiscus spring is deep. Why suffer the cold dew at the fifth watch? Why listen to the noise of those old men?" Her voice carried a strange, bone-softening rhythm.
"Besides, Great Qian is powerful; who would dare to rebel?"
Chen Junting looked at the tassels at the top of the canopy. Deep within his eyes, dark green, dark red, and dark blue—three colored lights flashed in succession, and a weary, even disdainful and contemptuous look also revealed itself on his face.
This made the mountainous piles of memorials, the border reports, and the people's conditions in various places all seem distant and blurry.
Yes, I have toiled for half my life. This picturesque empire, these gentle and soft beauties—shouldn't I properly enjoy them? Furthermore, who would dare to disrupt my empire!?
Thus, he sank back into indulgence.
The revelries at the Maze Tower lasted through the night, and early court gradually became a mere formality. Even when he occasionally held court, Chen Junting appeared absent-minded.
What was worse: Jialing leaned against the throne, peeling fresh lychees rushed in on fast horses from Lingnan, the juice staining her fingertips red. An urgent memorial regarding the embezzlement of river engineering funds was presented tremblingly by a eunuch.
Chen Junting glanced at it and was about to speak when Jialing gave a delicate pout and casually tossed the juice-covered lychee pit onto the memorial. The crimson juice quickly bloomed across the silk.
Instead of getting angry, he laughed heartily. He casually picked up a box of lip rouge from Jialing's vanity table, dipped his vermilion brush into the thick rouge red, and carelessly wrote two large characters on the stained memorial—"Approved as Proposed."
Such things happened not just once or twice.
Besides this, he also promoted sycophantic ministers.
Whether there was business or not, the "Supervisory Lord" Li Ju always obsequiously bowed and accepted orders.
This man had a pale, beardless face and darting eyes. He was originally a court jester skilled at flattery, but because he greatly pleased Jialing, Chen Junting exceptionally promoted him to this position, allowing him to exercise some of the imperial power.
To fund the emperor's pleasures, Li Ju sold official positions and noble titles with clearly marked prices; he embezzled military pay and withheld taxes. In the court, the pure and upright officials were either marginalized or framed. Although a small portion of loyal ministers remained safe with the Crown Prince's help, most were sycophants and profit-seekers. The once diligent and solemn court became foul and chaotic. Civil officials indulged in pleasure and scheming, while military generals neglected their duties. The so-called "Yuanxi Mighty Army" had its weapons stored and horses grazing on the southern hills, as if only an empty shell remained.
Such a situation forced Crown Prince Chen Shuo, risking the danger of infuriating his imperial father, to stand up once again!
In the spring of the sixth year of Yongjia, Chen Shuo was silent no more.
Holding a memorial impeaching Li Ju for his ten great crimes, he ignored the eunuchs' attempts to stop him and forcibly barged into the Maze Tower at Mount Li. At that time, Chen Junting was drinking and making merry with Jialing, a group of concubines, and a few close ministers by the Drunken Immortal Pool. The emerald apsara mural in the pool rippled with a hazy light in the wine waves. By the looks of it, life was quite merry.
"Imperial Father!"
Chen Shuo's voice pierced through the decadent music, carrying the clanging resonance of metal and stone. "The witch Jialing confuses the mind, and Li Ju brings disaster to the country and the people, selling offices and embezzling limitlessly! They have ruined the court's discipline and slackened military preparedness! Now, the barbarian tribes are restless, and scattered cavalry are already scouting the northern border! If this continues, the state will cease to be a state, Imperial Father!"
The music in the hall abruptly stopped, leaving a dead silence.
Li Ju's face turned pale, his gaze darting away. Jialing leaned against Chen Junting, her beautiful eyes shifting. Although her look at the Crown Prince carried fear, it also held a trace of coldness, as if enjoying the spectacle.
Chen Junting's drunken eyes were bleary, but at this moment, he suddenly woke up with a start!
Just as a hint of clarity appeared in his eyes, from the unseen void, "No, it's still not enough."
"Sloth, Pride, add a bit more force."
"Got it, so nagging! Watch the Great Me!"
"ZZZ—"
"Pop—"
Accompanied by the sound of a snot bubble popping, "Okay."
The next second, dark red, dark green, and dark blue—the light of the original sins of Lust, Sloth, and Pride—flashed through Chen Junting's eyes, forcefully suppressing the clarity that had just been roused.
Thus, Chen Junting burst into a raging fury upon hearing this!
"Bastard! I have swept across the world, made the four barbarians submit. The Hu tribes have long become stray dogs and subjects under my feet; how dare they invade again? As the Crown Prince, instead of thinking of sharing my burdens, you utter alarmist words here and even bewitch the people's hearts! Could it be that you think I've lived too long and am in your way!?"
After saying such words again, he grabbed a golden goblet from the table and fiercely threw it at Chen Shuo's feet. The goblet struck the ground with a piercing clang, and the fine wine splashed onto the hem of the Crown Prince's robe.
"I will not!"
Crown Prince Chen Shuo faced his father's furious gaze without any fear, every word dripping blood. "I only beg Imperial Father to open his eyes and see! Look outside this Maze Tower! Look at this empire of ten thousand miles! The national treasury is nearly empty! The military is in disrepair! Under natural disasters, refugees are everywhere! Those memorials that paint a false picture of peace are all lies from the likes of Li Ju to deceive your ears! Imperial Father, please wake up! Look at me, look at this world! Are you still the Imperial Father in my memory, the one with grand talent and strategy, who loved the people like his own children?! Have you grown old!? Imperial Father!"
Suddenly, the Crown Prince roared!
"We want the Imperial Father from back then to return!"
This sentence was like a thunderclap exploding beside Chen Junting's ears!
His mind shook violently, and he actually stumbled a step; Jialing hurriedly supported him. Beneath the intoxicating drunkenness, a sliver of clarity tore a gap in the three major original sins, but it was like the light of a firefly.
His turbid gaze swept across the Crown Prince's young and indignant face, across the panicked and flickering eyes of the close ministers in the hall, across the cold sweat on Li Ju's forehead... After a long time, he let out a long, sighing breath.
"I am old. Youth must fade; what do you want me to do?"
Thud—
The Crown Prince bent his knees and fell to his knees with a heavy thud.
"Imperial Father! You are an emperor with great achievements and monumental deeds! You are the sage that I and many old ministers have revered all our lives!"
Listening to the Crown Prince's roar, Chen Junting showed no blame whatsoever. He just stared straight ahead with deep eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. Inexplicably, he spaced out until the Crown Prince's voice stopped.
The moment he came back to his senses, he pointed forward slightly and said to Li Ju with an unquestionable tone, "Go, help the Crown Prince up."
However, the moment Li Ju fearfully stepped forward, a sudden change occurred!
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