Chapter 033 – His Majesty arrives at the ‘Fragrance of a hundred flowers’

Gu Yuanbai dealt with the matter of the Imperial Censor and Prince Qi swiftly. Even the local officials that had dared to hide the news from the capital were charged with corruption and colluding with the capital officials involved.

It should be mentioned that they were already going to be charged to begin with, but Chu Xun hadn’t met Gu Yuanbai’s expectations. He had been concerned with the life-threatening floods and did not dare use the evidence of corruption he had against them, so Gu Yuanbai had to do it himself.

The middle and lower regions of the Yellow River were in Shandong and Henan. These corrupt officials had not just dared to embezzle money from the Imperial disaster relief, but also the granaries, the storages of meat and weaponry around seemed to have been eaten by pests.

The moment the local officials responsible arrived at the capital, Gu Yuanbai sent them straight to the dungeons.

He didn’t have a lot of evidence against them, and it had been sent to the relevant department so that they would be tried one by one before the Ministry of Justice.1 It was necessary to find out exactly how many people’s mouths have been eating and how many hands had been taking bribes. As for those colluding with these officials deeper down, he had only investigated them shallowly.

He wanted to frighten those hiding in the deep and give them a chance to return what they had embezzled.

Gu Yuanbai didn’t need to know how many worms were there in the country, he only needed them to secretly spit out what they had eaten. As long as they returned it before he found them out, Gu Yuanbai was willing to turn a blind eye to it.

The Imperial Court was the first one to be cleaned out, and all those who had been involved in the embezzlement were sent to the Ministry of Justice, and those that were clean would be handed to the new person in charge.

Chu Wei had the Imperial historian’s support and arrogance, and it would serve to temper his character.

Chu Xun also wanted to be promoted.

As for those who dared to speak up for Prince Qi in court, they would be transferred from the capital to a local position and be erased from the lists of capital officials, having to endure the Emperor’s anti-corruption policies.

So you dare take money from the Imperial clan to speak up in their favor?

Then you can leave the core of political power forever.

The people from the Zhengshi Hall and the Military Affairs Bureau were so busy when dealing with these matters that they didn’t even dare breathe loudly. Gu Yuanbai’s work hours increased quite a bit as well. After he recovered, it happened to be the day when the Imperial Censor was to be expelled and exiled.

On that day, Gu Yuanbai set aside all government matters, took his personal guard, Xue Yuan, and some other people, and left the palace to go see the Imperial Censor being exiled.

There was a long line of distressed people, first among them the Imperial Censor. His face was haggard, his eyes hollow, and he seemed to have lost all hope in life. His eyes were bloodshot, his lips chapped, and he was wearing a prison robe.

People standing on both sides of the road yelled at those in the line, throwing rotten vegetables and leaves at the famous ones. The faces of these people showed both delight and resentment.

“Look, that’s the thief in the flesh! He’s the one who corrupted and colluded with the local officials to steal from the common people!”

“Awful! A cowardly official!”

The Imperial Censor… rather, Feng Chengzhi, who was no longer the Imperial Censor, listened to the verbal abuse as he walked. Suddenly, he felt that the Emperor letting him experience such a situation after being just accused of corruption, instead of sentencing him to die, wasn’t done out of kindness.

The Emperor was not so kind.

It was worse than death.

Feng Chengzhi looked up at the restaurants and teahouses on both sides of the road, and looked at the people who looked at him with disgust. The rotten vegetable leaves in their hands were thrown against their heads, with disgusted eyes looking down on them as if they were all heinous bastards.

He was really a bastard…

Feng Chengzhi had spent over ten years in the Imperial Court before becoming the Imperial Censor. Naturally, he knew that, as an official of the Court, the consequences of embezzling and stealing would be grave.

He rarely accepted gifts because, once discovered, he would be spurned by thousands of people, and it’d be seen as even worse than the normal corrupt officials.

And he wasn’t corrupt.

But the Emperor had said that he was, and he himself had admitted to it, so now he’d be seen as a criminal and despised through the ages.

The street where, a few years ago, he had been titled in the gold list had now become a place where he was being ridiculed. At that time, the people on the street and the students who hadn’t appeared in the rankings had looked at him full of envy and jealousy, and now they were disgusted and gloating at his disgrace.

Gu Yuanbai dressed in plain clothes and hid in a low-key group, surrounded by people. He calmly looked at the group of punished officials and their families that were being rejected by the people.

In the group, there were weak and innocent women and young, unlucky children, either tearful or confused and ignorant. A nightmarish future awaited them. In ancient times, families of the criminals would receive punishment, especially for serious crimes.

The greater the ambition, the higher the price. However, there would always be people who thought that they could get what they wanted without paying this price.

Gu Yuanbai felt that he had been pretty ruthless.

At that moment, he looked at the innocents that had been implicated with just regret and pity in his heart. Looking at the Imperial Censor, who was being cursed out, he felt very calm.

If you do something wrong, you have to pay for it. Since the Imperial Censor had gotten onto Prince Qi’s ship, he had to be ready for when Gu Yuanbai set it off.

The people watching weren’t just common people, but also passionate scholars. They yelled at the Imperial Censor, who had broken the law, while going red at every sentence, greenish veins bulging on their necks.

Some people even wrote poems on the spot to mock them, and as soon as they presented a rhyme, everyone around jeered and clapped.

This was the reality, and, over time, it’d become history.

After the Imperial Censor was taken far away, Gu Yuanbai turned around and the people escorting him protected him from the crowd. As soon as he got away from the crowd, the air seemed clearer.

There were also many scholars wearing Confucian robes wandering around, and the midday sun shone bright. Gu Yuanbai looked at the teahouses on both sides of the road and said, “Let’s go and find somewhere to cool down.”

Even when he spent time in the sun, Gu Yuanbai was pale, and the slight sweat on his forehead was as clear as glass. His long hair slipped over the shoulder to the front, looking very refreshing.

Xue Yuan pulled at his own robes, feeling warm, and the two hideous bite wounds on his neck became visible. Tian Fusheng was standing next to him, and he smiled when he saw the injury. “Guard Xue, that injury seems quite painful, is it?”

That day, when Xue Yuan carried the Emperor back to the palace with his neck covered in blood, nobody saw the nature of his wound, since it was hidden by the blood. And even if they saw it, they wouldn’t remember it so many days afterwards.

Xue Yuan raised an eyebrow, glanced at the Emperor, and then he touched the wound, saying thoughtfully, “It hurts, the person who bit me has very sharp teeth.”

Tian Fusheng smiled again, his eyes wrinkling with it. “Teeth so sharp and such a deep bite, yet young master Xue doesn’t seem to be angry.”

“How could I get angry?” Xue Yuan said, seemingly sincere. “That person has a terrible temper.”

Gu Yuanbai turned his head and glanced at them, “What are you talking about?”

Xue Yuan smiled slightly. “We’re talking about the wound on this official’s neck.”

Gu Yuanbai couldn’t help but glance at his neck. There were two bite marks on his neck, one right and one left. The wound was deep and done ruthlessly. If someone saw it without knowing the truth, they would probably sigh and think Xue Yuan, just how wanton were you last night?

Gu Yuanbai asked with a blank face, “Oh? How did guard Xue get such a wound?”

Guard Xue played along. “Of course, it has nothing to do with Your Highness.”

Tian Fusheng laughed aloud, amused. “Guard Xue is so funny.” Of course, it had nothing to do with His Highness.

Gu Yuanbai lifted the corners of his mouth, smiling in warning at Xue Yuan, and then walked into a teahouse.

There were still seats on the second floor of the elegant teahouse. After Gu Yuanbai took a seat, Tian Fusheng spotted the sweat on his forehead and ran to the teahouse’s kitchen to see if they had anything to relieve the heat.

Gu Yuanbai picked up a towel and wiped his sweat. Xue Yuan, on the side, poured out two cups of tea from the teapot and handed one to him, smiling. “Should I test it for poison first?”

“Drink,” Gu Yuanbai said. “Drink up.”

Xue Yuan picked up the cup and smacked his lips after drinking. “It’s hard to drink.”

He chugged things down just like Prince He, but at least Prince He wouldn’t speak out after drinking. Gu Yuanbai couldn’t help himself and he chuckled before taking the cup and saying, “Drink your tea and don’t say anything unpleasant.”

Xue Yuan saw him smile and take a sip of his celadon2 cup, the light liquid touching his lips. Xue Yuan bowed his head. “Your Majesty’s cup looks sweeter.”

Gu Yuanbai raised his eyes and glanced at him. “It’s all from the same pot.”

Xue Yuan frowned. He naturally knew that as well, and he didn’t understand why he felt like that was the case, so he simply stopped talking.

A cool breeze blew in from the window, and Gu Yuanbai looked outside. The people who had gathered together had dispersed. He was about to withdraw his gaze when Gu Yuanbai spotted a slightly familiar figure.

Gu Yuanbai paused, and then stared at the young, tall man outside. It was Li Yan, the eldest son of the Marquis of Pingchang.

Li Yan walked in a hurry. He had no subordinates following him. He walked to an alley next to a tavern, his expression also hurried.

Gu Yuanbai calmly took a sip of tea. After a while, in the same place, he spotted Tang Mian, the son of the Minister of Revenue and member of the Hanlin Academy.

Tang Mian also walked into the alley, but, compared to Li Yan’s hurried look, he looked calmer.

Gu Yuanbai set down his cup and squinted towards the alley. What was in that alley that could attract the son of the Marquis of Pingchang and the son of a second-ranking official, and that they would coincidentally go in at the same time?

Gu Yuanbai raised his chin and asked, “What’s in that alley?”

Xue Yuan glanced down, not very interested, and said casually, “A tavern, I imagine.”

Gu Yuanbai didn’t manage everything. If he really did that, he wouldn’t be an emperor and he’d exhaust himself to death. Seeing the two youths walk in only made him curious. Gu Yuanbai was about to look away when he saw a carriage slowly approaching the street.

By coincidence, the carriage also stopped at the entrance of the alley next to the tavern.

Gu Yuanbai: “…”

”
”
Who is it now?

Prince He stepped down from the carriage, wearing dark clothes and a dignified expression. A groveling servant was next to him, leading the way towards the depths of the alley.

Gu Yuanbai stood up right away and glanced at the alley thoughtfully. “Guard Xue, let’s go. Accompany Us to see what treasures might be hidden within that alley.”

Surprisingly, it can attract so many people.

Xue Yuan got up, straightened his robe, and said, “As Your Majesty pleases.”

Gu Yuanbai walked out ahead. Xue Yuan wanted to follow. However, he glanced that the young Emperor had left half a cup of tea on the table, and he picked it up and gulped it down.

It was already paid for, so it shouldn’t go to waste.

The alley was small, and the three people who had just entered had also been very low-key. Gu Yuanbai asked the rest of the guards to wait in the teahouse and took Xue Yuan down to the alley alone.

After crossing the street and walking to the entrance of the alley, Gu Yuanbai, who had originally thought it was a residential courtyard, discovered a gate painted with red lacquer and hanging lanterns. Next to the door, there was a flag with the words ‘Fragrance of a hundred flowers’.

There didn’t seem to be any fragrance. Gu Yuanbai sniffed, feeling that something was off.

He turned his head to the side and asked Xue Yuan, “What do you think?”

Do you smell anything, mad dog?

Xue Yuan glanced at him confused, his eyebrows furrowing. “Isn’t it just a tavern?”

In the Great Heng, probably one in ten taverns were called ‘Fragrance of a hundred flowers’.

Gu Yuanbai sighed and walked slowly with Xue Yuan into Fragrance of a hundred flowers. As soon as they crossed the door, the strong scent of wine and flowers wafted over. The courtyard was extraordinarily large and decorated with red gauze, which gave it a romantic air.

In the courtyard, there were about a dozen beautiful men scattered around accompanying the clients to admire the flowers and the scenery. Gu Yuanbai looked around and then looked at a man who was walking towards him, with a face full of makeup. The corners of his mouth twitched stiffly.

Ah, so this was the rumored Nanfeng Pavilion.3

The Great Heng Dynasty explicitly prohibited government officials from visiting prostitutes.

Gu Yuanbai looked back at the building, his lips arched without a real smile. Once again, court officials, and the Nanfeng Pavilion. But how come that he didn’t remember that Prince He liked men?

Special translator note:

I’ve seen some people had questions in the comments, and I have to admit I’m not 100% sure there won’t be a plot twist later on, but I think this is what happened with Prince Qi and the Imperial Censor.

Prince Qi is a member of the Imperial clan (the extended royal family) and his household has chances of succeeding the throne, specially since Gu Yuanbai has no immediate relatives, is sickly and isn’t even married nor has concubines. He wanted to gain support from other officials, and the Imperial Censor got greedy and accepted, as well as the others involved, but they didn’t get very far with it. Their conspiracy wasn’t developed enough to get them punished, but at the same time trying to get rid of the current Emperor is a worse crime than simple embezzlement, that’s why the Imperial Censor chose to confess and get out rather than let things continue to snowball while directly antagonizing the Emperor.