Chà Chà Novel

Song Liang wasn’t surprised that Qin Zhiwei had taken poison and ended her own life. After all, since the failed Western Hills palace coup, the Qin family had not been fully purged, but they had lost the initiative. Now that even Xie Yun stood on his side, the Qin family’s downfall was only a matter of time. Rather than be left at others’ mercy like fish on a chopping block, she might as well end things herself. What he hadn’t expected was that she would set up one last trap even after death.

First, members of the Qin family openly questioned the Grand Empress Dowager’s cause of death at court. Then they went further, declaring outright that palace servants had seen Regent Xie Yun storm into Shoukang Palace with a sword. They insisted he had murdered the Grand Empress Dowager and petitioned Song Liang to punish him.

Song Liang naturally ignored them. In front of everyone, he tossed out a single line—”That day he was in my bedchamber”—and shut them up.

Not long after, rumors spread through Yanjing once more, claiming that His Majesty had indulged Regent Xie Yun in murdering the Grand Empress Dowager—unfilial, unrighteous, and lacking in virtue. Some went even further, saying the emperor, cowed by the Regent’s power, served him with his body.

It so happened that the Court of Judicial Review was retrying the old Rong clan treason case at the time, a case in which Regent Xie Yun was already implicated. Now with rumors that he had openly stormed into the palace with a sword and killed the Grand Empress Dowager, while His Majesty turned a blind eye, the gossip only grew fiercer and threatened to spread to other prefectures.

Not only did officials at court submit memorials impeaching the Regent for ten great crimes, but Confucian scholars among the common folk wrote poems mocking the current emperor as incompetent—possessing nothing but a pretty face, forced to live beneath another just to keep his life, never realizing that the Regent coveted the throne and only treated him as a plaything. Between the lines, they had already cast Song Liang as a ruler who would doom the nation.

Until one day, a scholar in Yanjing joked drunkenly with friends that the current emperor wasn’t an emperor at all, but the Regent’s consort. The Regent happened to pass by and hear it, and ordered his men to behead the man in the street. He then commanded the Black Armor Guard to thoroughly investigate those spreading rumors. Within half a month, they had arrested a hundred people and thrown them all into the imperial prison. For a time, all of Yanjing jumped at every shadow, and only then did the rumors cease.

Yet this only provoked more discontent among the court officials. One after another, ministers submitted memorials claiming that Regent Xie Yun disregarded the law and treated human lives like grass—first framing loyal officials, then murdering the Grand Empress Dowager. They begged His Majesty to pass judgment and punish the Regent.

Song Liang looked at the stack of memorials piled up beside him and the ministers kneeling across the floor below—and agreed. Fan Yuan and the other veteran ministers kneeling below had already prepared to bash their heads against the pillars, and when they heard Song Liang agree, they froze on the spot.

Only Chancellor Yin Zhui calmly asked, “How does Your Majesty intend to deal with the Regent?”

“All of you simply believe the Regent harbors rebellious intent and treats lives like grass, and that he will endanger the realm of Great Yao. As it happens, I plan to go to Huguo Temple to hold rites for the Grand Empress Dowager and pray for her blessings in heaven, so I intend to bring the Regent along.”

Before they could ask what these two things had to do with each other, Song Liang continued, “I’ve heard Huguo Temple is especially efficacious. I plan to have the Regent swear before the Buddha there that he will remain loyal to me forever.”

Everyone stood there dumbfounded, unable to tell whether he was serious or joking.

In the end, it was Cheng Qu who mustered the courage to ask, “Does Your Majesty truly believe this will stop the Regent from rebelling?”

Song Liang gave an enigmatic laugh. “Of course I don’t know. But didn’t all of you, without knowing who the true culprit in the Rong clan case was, still pin the crime of framing loyal officials on the Regent?”

Everyone fell silent. When all was said and done, apart from impeaching Xie Yun for his arrogance and disregard for the law, they had no concrete evidence that he had committed any great crime.

“Do not forget, my lords, that before becoming Regent, he was a great hero who guarded the borders and fought off the Hu barbarians.”

“I am not the late emperor. I cannot do the deed of putting away the bow once the birds are gone, nor do I care to keep a pack of useless fools who parrot whatever they hear and threaten death at every turn.”

Fan Yuan’s face changed, and he said in alarm, “Your Majesty, mind your words! How can you speak so recklessly of the late emperor?”

Song Liang didn’t bother arguing whether that beast of a late emperor was loyal or treacherous. He waved a hand: either it was settled this way, or they could drop the matter entirely.

The few veteran ministers who had made the biggest fuss thought to themselves that Xie Yun was so proud and arrogant—if he truly swore an oath before the Buddha, then should he rebel one day, he would bear eternal infamy. With that in mind, they gritted their teeth and agreed.

Song Liang smiled in satisfaction, then, as though it had only just occurred to him, asked, “Heir Helan is still locked up in the imperial prison, isn’t he?”

Someone below nodded, saying it was the Regent who had arrested him, and no one dared release him.

“Then release him along with those Confucian scholars. They’ll all come with me to Huguo Temple to swear an oath—all of them, to pledge loyalty to our Great Yao!”

“……”

The officials’ faces turned green and white by turns. They had never imagined such a solemn impeachment could turn into such a farce.

At this moment, Chancellor Yin Zhui stepped forward. “Your Majesty, though rumors stop at the wise, silencing the mouths of the people is harder than damming a river. If Your Majesty wishes to put an end to the rumors concerning the Regent, it would be better to establish an empress as soon as possible.”

Song Liang looked at him expressionlessly for a moment, his fingertip tapping on the cold armrest of the dragon throne. “Then proclaim it to the realm: I shall make the Grand Tutor’s granddaughter, Fu Yue, my empress. The wedding will be held in the third month of next year.”

Yin Zhui bowed his head. “Your servant obeys.”

……

In the study of the Regent’s manor, Cen Huan faithfully reported everything that had happened at that day’s morning court—including the little emperor releasing that group of scholars and Helan Ze, and the upcoming establishment of an empress. Then he watched helplessly as the Regent, who only a second ago had been calmly writing, suddenly halted his brush, letting the falling ink stain a rare piece of fine calligraphy.

Before his prince’s mood could get any worse, he brought out the food box the little emperor had sent over. “He had this sent. He said it’s a new pastry the imperial chef came up with, in a flavor you like, and wants you to try it.”

Cen Huan knew the little emperor was trying to coax their prince. Though they all knew this so-called establishment of an empress was merely an expedient measure, the so-called future empress happened to be the very same woman Xie Yun had once forced the little emperor to marry.

To this day he still remembered the scene back in Hanshui City, when their prince had held a blade to that peasant woman’s neck to threaten the little emperor into making the Grand Tutor’s granddaughter his empress. Now times had changed, and the two of them had this kind of relationship. Their prince wished he could clear away every man and woman around the little emperor—yet now he had to watch that Miss Fu openly bear the title of the little emperor’s lawful wife. It was rather a case of reaping what he’d sown, and their prince surely wasn’t feeling good about it.

Xie Yun indeed wasn’t feeling good, so he took the box of pastries and made a trip to Zhaoyang Hall.

Song Liang happened to be dozing off while reading memorials. The moment he saw him come in, he perked up at once. Then, seeing the food box in his hand, he thought Xie Yun didn’t like it—but Xie Yun shook his head, indicating he only wanted to eat it with him.

Song Liang was even happier to hear that. Zhou An, who was attending nearby, took the hint and closed the hall doors behind him as he stepped out. After all, ever since these two had been together, wherever the Regent was, no one else was needed to serve His Majesty. Standing around would only make him superfluous.

In the time it took Song Liang to set down the memorials, Xie Yun had opened the food box, and Song Liang began praising the imperial chef’s skill again, insisting over and over that Xie Yun would definitely like it. Then he saw Xie Yun pick up a pastry shaped like a red plum blossom and hold it to his lips.

Puzzled, Song Liang took it into his mouth, asking as he chewed why he wasn’t eating any himself.

Xie Yun replied that he would eat, then gripped the back of his neck and kissed him hard. His tongue skillfully pried open Song Liang’s teeth and slipped into his mouth, entwining with his tongue, licking and sucking, now and then sliding across his sensitive palate, drawing a low moan from Song Liang—and then kissing him even deeper and harder.

Song Liang didn’t know why he’d suddenly pulled this move. Kissed until his head was spinning, he tried to push him away to ask what was going on, but Xie Yun refused to let go. He even held his waist tightly, with the same force as if he wished to crush him, bones and all, into himself.

Song Liang was utterly bewildered. In a daze, he went over recent events in his mind. Apart from what happened at court today, he had been very well-behaved lately—there was no way he’d have provoked this. So it must be because of this morning’s court session?

Was it because he’d released Helan Ze and that group of scholars, or because of the empress?

His breath, his lips, his tongue were all plundered by another. Even Song Liang couldn’t help panting. Taking advantage of a pause between kisses, he drew back slightly, his hand resting against Xie Yun’s chest, and asked, “Is this because of the empress? Didn’t you say back then that you wouldn’t regret it?”

“……”

Xie Yun’s dark green eyes gazed at him deeply, as if veiled in a thin mist, carrying a shadowed dampness—and yet also like a mirror reflecting his face. Song Liang actually saw a hint of stubborn grievance in them.

He hurriedly leaned forward and kissed those eyes, coaxing, “It’s fake, it’s fake. I won’t make anyone empress. If I make anyone empress, it’ll be you. Don’t be angry—hiss!”

Xie Yun suddenly bit the shell of his ear, as if venting his frustration, yet with neither too much nor too little force. The moment he finished biting, he regretted it, gently licking and kissing, an unbroken trail of kisses all the way down to his neck, and said in a low voice, “You’re not allowed to touch anyone else.”

“I won’t touch anyone else. Fu Yue is just—hiss, don’t bite, don’t lick, it tickles…… mm……”

“You’re not allowed to remember anyone else’s name either.”

“……”

Xie Yun’s breathing grew heavy. He took the hand pressed against his chest and slid it down along his abdomen. With a muffled groan, his breathing grew heavier still. He lowered his head to kiss the long, slender neck exposed above Song Liang’s collar, leaving marks on his collarbone, then kissed his way further down, tugging open the collar of the dragon robe.

Song Liang drew in sharp breath after sharp breath, his whole body swaying, and yet he couldn’t even speak. In the end, one of his hands was even bound to the head of the bed with his belt; at other times he was held from behind, the back of his neck and his earlobes bitten, calling a certain someone’s name over and over, his whole being soaked through with the scent of snow, grass, and trees.

“I’m a little…… I can’t take it anymore…… Can I switch and be on top of you?”

“No.”

“Ah! Mm…… We’re going to Huguo Temple tomorrow……”

“Mm. Hold on tight to me.”

“……”