Golden Stage Chapter 40

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Thanks to Kikusui and Tao Lai Xue (桃濑雪) for the ko-fis~
I'm going to start putting thank-yous on the ko-fi page itself. I wasn't doing that already because I didn't… notice that was feature. *dons dunce cap*]

Fu Shen straight-up left it all behind, not waiting for anyone else. Yan Xiaohan had the desire to chase after him, but there was no way he could, with Priest Chunyang dead. How this case would be concluded, how the confessions were fabricated, how the timeline of what happened was rounded out… he had to stay behind to wrap things up.

It was infinitely fortunate that the scene of the interrogation had been cleared out beforehand, and the only ones who had heard Priest Chunyang's final words were Fu Shen and he. Even so, he was still ill at ease; he strictly ordered his subordinates to keep their mouths shut and to not let even the slightest bit of information about today leak out.

The Flying Dragon Guard was the Son of Heaven's eyes and ears, but as things stood, it couldn't help but pick and choose what the Emperor saw and heard.

Were it true that Yang Xu had deliberately delayed sending a.s.sistance, thus leading to Fu Tingxin's death in battle, this shockingly huge incident would completely transform Fu Shen and the Northern Yan Army's standing, and would even disturb the structure of the Court. Yang Xu was Empress Yang's older brother and a huge helping hand to the Crown Prince; now, due to the a.s.sa.s.sination at the Vast Longevity Feast and the Empress's death, these remaining two had been struck down from the clouds. With just one more slip-up, the Emperor would unseat the Crown Prince without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Regardless of whether the Yuantai Emperor knew the inside story or not, Fu Shen certainly didn't want to see the Prince sitting on the dragon throne.

The fight to seize the spot of successor was crucial. While Fu Shen grasped the Northern Yan's military power, were there someone he wanted to help put in power, their successful inheritance was practically a matter of course.

By conventional reasoning, he would most likely choose the Prince of Qi. However, Yan Xiaohan had the general sense that Fu Shen and the Prince weren't close at all – on the contrary, it seemed like they were constantly avoiding suspicion, and had no desire to be infected by the ill-repute of ‘a prince and a major political figure have gotten friendly'.

He had people collect Priest Chunyang's corpse for burial, then enclosed Yi Siming's oral confession in the dossier, arranged it with Yang Hexuan's archive for reference, and took up his brush to write an imperial memorial concluding the case.

Priest Chunyang – name and surname unknown, past history unknown – entered the capital in the twenty-second year of Yuantai and lived away from home in Clear Void Monastery. In an interval of several years, he privately manufactured the poison 'whitedew', secretly traded it with surrounding commoner merchants, then used flowery words to hoodwink Golden Crow Colonel Yang Hexuan, claiming the drug had a mind-clearing, energy-increasing effect. Yang Hexuan falsely believed this to be true and was subsequently caught up in it, presenting whitedew to his superior, which resulted in High General Yi Siming's misfortune in getting addicted to the drug.

Coinciding with the Yuantai Emperor's sacred form taking ill, and with Yang Hexuan's prior introduction, Tang Province's Governor Yang Xu recommended for Priest Chunyang to come into the palace. Due to his effective folk remedies, he was consecrated for an extended stay there. After the development in the Terrene Calm Palace, Yang Xu didn't hesitate to take a desperate risk to protect the Empress and her child, conspiring with Priest Chunyang to a.s.sa.s.sinate the Emperor at the time of the Gold Pill's offering during the Vast Longevity Feast. Thankfully, Marquis of Jing Ning Fu Shen was perceptive and stopped it in time, causing the traitors to fail in getting away with their malevolent calculations.

Upon investigation of the crime, Priest Chunyang committed suicide out of fear of punishment while in the Department of Punishment's prison. Yi Siming confessed to the existence of whitedew, and later on, due to a withdrawal flare-up, he went mad and killed himself by biting his tongue.

Yang Xu alone plead guilty. The heinous crime of conspiracy will sentence him to a beheading in accordance with law.

Following the record and memorial being issued upwards, the Yuantai Emperor forcefully propped up his ailing body to write upon the conviction report presented by the Ministry of Justice, using his vermilion brush to change the severity to "sawed in half at the waist, publicly".

Like so, the Golden Crow Guard and Vast Longevity Feast cases that had shocked the capital were finalized at last.

Yet the truth of the ambush on the Eastern Tartar's envoy that had long faded from people's minds had noiselessly come to light, to be noiselessly buried by those concerned in the wake of Priest Chunyang's death.

Words for later would not be brought up. Yan Xiaohan finished writing the account in one day, tossed his brush away, and hurried back home. "Where's the Marquis?" he asked the second he got in the door.

"In the bedroom. He hasn't left it since coming back in the afternoon," a maidservant replied.

Yan Xiaohan's heart quavered. "Is there… something wrong with him?" he questioned closer.

She shook her head in confusion. "There's nothing abnormal, he just told people not to disturb him. He doesn't appear to be in a good mood? It doesn't seem as bad as last time, though."

He was even more worried.

It was common for the layperson to fall apart, explode, and even break down in wails after suffering such a large, sudden stimulus. Granted, Fu Shen was made of iron, but it was impossible for him to seal all the emotions in his heart up tight and slowly digest them, too. The more serene he was, the worse it'd be. Yan Xiaohan would prefer it if he threw an obnoxious tantrum, as he feared that Fu Shen would silently get caught up in his own head, hurting in mind and body.

He stood still before the bedroom door, ready to bust it down were he rebuffed. He raised his hand and knocked. "Jingyuan?"

"Come in." Fu Shen's response was rapid.

Yan Xiaohan paused for an instant, then pushed the door open. There were no lanterns in the room. In the dusk of twilight, Fu Shen sat next to a window watching the glow of the setting sun, lost in thought.

When the other man drew near, Fu Shen turned his head and asked him, "You don't usually knock when you come in the room. Why are you going against the norm today?"

"Um?" Yan Xiaohan spoke hesitantly. "You…"

Fu Shen smiled. "You're being so cautious. Are you worried that I'm upset, or afraid that I'd take it too hard?"

Yan Xiaohan had envisioned countless despondent scenes, and not a one of them had happened. Fu Shen had indeed been mulling over today's events on repeat, but he was genuinely calm and not forcing himself to look happy, nor was he feigning relaxation.

"Sit." Fu Shen leisurely pointed to a round stool next to him, then waited for Yan Xiaohan to be seated opposite him before he started talking again. "You don't need to worry about me. Though the 'truth' Chunyang told of in the prison today was horrible, it was ultimately a one-sided story, and didn't have much credibility. It'll still need further verification in the future."

Yan Xiaohan never would have antic.i.p.ated that he could have this degree of level-headedness. He was a bit unable to believe his own ears, and suspected that this was one of the signs of the other losing his mind. "Jingyuan…"

"Don't look at me like that," Fu Shen said with exasperation. "I'm not deranged. You've examined convicts by the hundreds in the Flying Dragon Guard, Brother Yan. Do you still believe that the words of a man on the brink of death are sound?
I don't, in any case." He smiled in self-derision. "It's fine to say I'm cold-blooded. During my years in Yan Prefecture, I examined Eastern Tartar folk and Zhe folk, as well as Han folk. Some people only want to save themselves and can fess everything up out of fear, but even more of them get to their deaths and are still making things up, attempting to use themselves as bait to draw further people in to be buried with them."

Yan Xiaohan realized in a flash that Fu Shen's experience was completely unalike an ordinary person's. He was shoved into extreme situations again and again with no preparations, sharpened by many years of rapid-fire changes on the battlefield, the weight of a mountain pressing down on his head yet his expression remaining unchanged. The higher the waves in front of him were, the more the man coolly and tenaciously transcended imagination.

He curiously recalled a figure in the pouring rain. On the day when he himself was on the verge of losing control, Fu Shen had calmly stated "a n.o.bleman's place in this world is defined by what he does and does not do".

A heart made of dark iron, and guts made of ice.

Fu Shen serenely proceeded with his thorough a.n.a.lysis. "During the battle of Mount Sound Gorge, Yang Xu intentionally putting off on a.s.sisting the army might have been true, but he wasn't the primary cause that influenced the fight. I don't know if Priest Chunyang wasn't aware of that, or if he took pains to blur the main and the auxiliary. After my uncle died, the one who was most unable to let it go wasn't me, but His Majesty the Prince of Su, and the two of us have already deduced the Gorge's battle. Even if Yang Xu's Tang army had rushed over in time, they wouldn't have been able to save my uncle and would only be catching up to the tail end of it. Furthermore, even if Yang Xu had delayed, he still remained within the scope of not arousing suspicion — the Prince and I didn't notice anything unusual, at least. If he had been too blatant, the Prince would have slaughtered him long ago, not let him drift through life up 'til totday.
Additionally, he accidentally referred to 'us'. Blue Sand Pa.s.s, Mu Boxiu, whitedew, the Vast Longevity Feast – he couldn't have done any of those four things by his lonesome. I get the overall feeling that there's a big network in the capital, and Priest Chunyang was only a p.a.w.n; it's the one who's holding the game pieces from behind that's the key.
As for the final reason… it's just my conjecture. Take it with a grain of salt, it might not be accurate. Whitedew's properties are too horrendous, and once it spreads around, the consequences will be endless. In order to cover up his tracks, Priest Chunyang once exterminated the family of a child who delivered a message for him, and there were those several innocent commoners that died of whitedew. If he really was from the Northern Yan Army as well as my uncle's subordinate, this method would rather be a bit too vicious.
I have a sort of hunch that it's not just Priest Chunyang who's like that, but also the one behind him. This style of handling things… is more like that of my late father's former underlings."

"…Do you have somewhat scant respect for Mister Mount Tai if you're talking like this?" [1]

Fu Shen sneered. "When he was alive, he often said that my uncle and I had benevolence textbook of a woman. In what way do you think he'd be benevolent?"

Yan Xiaohan had no response.

"Since you didn't believe Priest Chunyang, why did you want to end him with your own hands?" he asked after a time had pa.s.sed.

This question caused Fu Shen to startle slightly, immediately after which he spoke with not a whole lot of care. "He came from the Northern Yan Army. Wouldn't not strangling him just be waiting to get dragged into the water?"

Yan Xiaohan suddenly got up, leaned in close, and pinched the other man on the forearm. Sharp pain exploded from it, Fu Shen's muscles tensing in a split second, but he had no idea why he hadn't dodged it.

"Did that hurt?"

Fu Shen didn't understand him. "What c.r.a.p. How about I pinch you so you can try it for yourself?"

"So it hurts." Yan Xiaohan stood in front of him, arms slightly extended in a gesture of total acceptance. His eyes gazed into Fu Shen's the entire time. "Remember that you're a living person, and not made of a heap of metal and stone."

Priest Chunyang had been unscrupulous and scheming, but everything he had done was all for Fu Shen, and behind him was a doorway filled with martyrs, a myriad of heroic ghosts.

He was still someone who remembered the loyal souls who had perished.

He was still someone who was on the go for him, getting drained of the last drop of blood for him.

All of the Northern Yan came from the same source. Even though they had never met before and were separated by age, Fu Shen was yet aware that he was his fellow soldier. That was why he finished off Priest Chunyang.

The entirety of his calm a.n.a.lysis was established outside of emotion. Fu Shen had to shed his ident.i.ty, using the whole of his rationale to scout out questionable details. Only then could he force himself to forget the glint of tears in Chunyang's eye.

Yet, he was not built with a heap of a metal and stone.

Fu Shen was stunned for an instant. His stiffened shoulders and back collapsed at long last, following which he slightly leaned forward without a word, burying his face in Yan Xiaohan's embrace.

A pair of hands gently landed on his back.

"The Northern Yan has been guarding the border for close to two decades. How many people's bones are buried in Northern Xinjiang, only to get unwarranted suspicion in exchange?" he murmured. "My uncle fought to the death to his final moment while a filthy villain like Yang Xu ran rampant in Court all the way until today. Even in revenge, it takes the lives of my Northern Yan Army to fill it…"

"Don't be so distressed," Yan Xiaohan spoke quietly, tightening his arms around him. "Look, no matter what happens, you'll always have the ample Northern Yan behind you — as well as me."

[1] TL:DR; Mount Tai is a highly famous and historically revered mountain, featured in many positive Chinese idioms and comparisons. Being compared to it means you're mighty, powerful, glorious, outstanding, imposing, and/or anything else heroic you can think of.