Chapter 1 - Buried Alive With The Dead

Jin Yuan’s seventh winter, third of October, the snowfall was heavy.

“What are you so terrified of? If he cannot be healed, all of you will accompany him to the afterlife!” A young and immature voice echoed through the Imperial Palace, but soon became heartbreaking sobs. “Imperial brother…”

The man on the imperial bed had his eyes closed. His peerlessly beautiful face was pale, yet it didn’t affect his majestic demeanor.

This man was the ruler of this dynasty, the emperor of the Jingyuan period, His Majesty Yu Jintang.

The emperor ascended to the throne at the age of twenty five, ruling the country for seven years and bringing prosperity through his efforts.

In May, the Xiongnu invaded the border. The emperor personally led the army against them, pushing the enemy forces back by three hundred li. The country celebrated in elation.

However, it was at this time that news of the emperor being heavily injured spread, and the army rushed back to the capital.

Within the Imperial Palace, outside the Zichen Hall, the long jade steps turned grey under the cloudy skies. The heavy snowfall covered the steps, but no one had the mind to clean them.

Heavily armored imperial guards stood at attention on both sides of the steps, giving the already heavy atmosphere an even more sombre feeling.

The current Great Yu Dynasty was at its prime, yet such a catastrophe struck. Not only was the emperor’s younger brother kneeling down and wailing, even the general who had escorted the emperor back to the palace couldn’t stop tears from filling his fierce eyes.

The emperor had no son, and had already established his younger brother as the heir, but imperial younger brother was still too young. If the emperor doesn’t make it, it likely that the Great Yu Dynasty would fall back into a precarious situation.

Thinking about this, the general couldn’t help spitting at the man tied to the dragon pillar in front of the Imperial room. Spitting at him didn’t lessen his anger, so he rushed over and raised his fist, wanting to hit him.

“A scholar would choose death over humiliation. I, Zhang Xiaoren, am devoted to my country, yet why do you beat me so, you brute?”

The man tied to the Dragon pillar was wearing a civil official’s imperial uniform. From the patterns on it, it’s clear that it’s of high quality. At the age of forty, his head was held high, firm and unyielding.

“Devoted to the country, yet you colluded with Xiongnu to assassinate the emperor!” The general’s eyes were red, raising his fist to strike at Zhang Xiaoren, hitting the upright and honest face.

“Bah,” Zhang Xiaoren spat out a mouthful of bloody spit. “The emperor is obstinate and willful, wanting to marry a male as empress. Such a thing is against heavenly order. I did it for the country, for the…” Before he could finish the sentence, he had already been struck on the abdomen by the general.

“Clang!” The sound of armor striking the ground woke the general who was immersed in grief. In a daze, he looked up.

On both sides of the stairs, the armed imperial guards knelt in salute one after another. At the end of the jade steps, a man dressed in yellow, phoenix patterned, wide sleeve robes ascended the steps slowly.

He was a young, elegant man with clear and bright features, his body as slender as a bamboo. The cloudy gray skies shone upon his somewhat pallid yet handsome face, but his elegance was hard to hide.

“Paying respects to Your Highness!” The general immediately knelt down to salute, while Zhang Xiaoren at the side merely curled his lip and let out a cold snort.

The person who arrived was the first male empress since the establishment of Great Yu— Song Xiao.

At the age of fourteen, he passed the provincial civil service examination. At seventeen, he participated in the metropolitan exam. Because of his outstanding brilliance at such a young age, he was appointed as champion by the previous emperor. In his early twenties, he took the position as the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

He had boundless prospects. Even the inflexible Zhang Xiaoren praised him as a talented youth.

Unexpectedly, two years ago, an imperial decree turned a minister into an empress.

His Highness ignored Zhang Xiaoren’s disrespectful attitude and, unusually, did not return the general’s salute. Instead, he maintained his steady pace and stepped into the Zichen hall.

The hall was filled with the scent of medicine. Thirteen imperial physicians knelt on the ground with their foreheads plastered on the floor, silent.

The emperor’s younger brother, dressed in the apricot yellow colors of the crown prince, knelt in front of the Dragon bed. His face was buried in the quilt, his facial expression unseen.

A bony hand slowly rose from the bright yellow brocade quilt and gave his imperial brother’s head a pat. “Do you have it memorised?” His voice was deep and pleasant, without the slightest sign of weakness.

“Wu….” The younger brother nodded and looked up at His Majesty. Sensing someone behind him, he turned his head slowly to find the empress standing beside the group of imperial physicians, face devoid of expression. He stood there, silent and motionless.

Song Xiao, who was listening to the doctor’s whispering response, felt the pair of imperial brothers’ gazes on him and turned to look back.

The emperor’s face was still ashen, but it was much better than it had been before. The paleness had faded, and even was a bit ruddy, which was a much better sight than Song Xiao’s pallid face.

“…His Majesty’s old illness had not been cured and the northern frontier is very cold. Not only that, the arrow had pierced the heart. We are incapable of…” The head of the imperial physicians trembled while speaking, kowtowed to the ground.

Song Xiao raised his hand slightly, stopping the imperial physician from continuing.

“All of you, retreat. Zhen… cough, cough…. has something to say to our empress.” The emperor couldn’t even finish his sentence when he started coughing, affecting the injury on his chest. A thin line of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.

“Brother!” The emperor’s younger brother was anxious to help, but was only waved away, so he reluctantly left with the other people, turning his head back with every step.

The emperor leaned against the thick pillow and watched as Song Xiao walked towards him, step by step. The figure before him started to blur.

For a moment, he saw him wearing the champion’s robes, smiling proudly. Within the next, he’s dressed in bright red phoenix robes, eyes full of panic yet feigning calmness.

Closing his eyes, the scenery of spring during the Lu Ming banquet and the red candles within the bridal chamber dissipated.

All that was left was his delicate and beautiful face, calm eyes looking at him.

“Does it hurt?” Song Xiao slowly raised his hand, touching the bloodstained white cloth. His fingertips were trembling.

A warm and strong hand reached out, grasping his hand tightly. There was a long silence, then the emperor suddenly said, “Zhen has written an imperial edict, you will accompany zhen to the grave!”

Song Xiao raised his head, quietly looking at him. The emperor’s deep dark eyes glimmered slightly scarlet, showing the usual stubbornness and frenzy.

When he was twenty two, Yu Jintang saw the curved eyes of the smiling champion at the Lu Ming banquet, and decided that he must wed him.

Since it was impossible without the throne, he decided to seize it. His relatives opposed, the courtiers threatened him with death, saying that the emperor could not be wilful, causing domestic troubles during foreign aggressions, so he suppressed the enemy forces, drove away the Xiongnu. Now, his life is fading, but how could he be willing? This was the love he had exchanged everything for.

“If Your Majesty wishes for this minister’s death, not dying would be considered treason.” Song Xiao lowered his eyes. For the emperor to wish for a joint burial, it was completely unsurprising. This man had always been like this. No matter what they’re doing, he had never once asked for Song Xiao’s opinion, directly making decisions for him.

The emperor frowned slightly, holding Song Xiao’s hand tightly. A sharp pain abruptly spread from his chest. The hard earned flush turned pale again, his strength fading along with the pain. He stubbornly stared at Song Xiao, hoarsely saying, “You are zhen’s, and can only be zhen’s!”

As the result of overexerting his strength, the slender fingers tightened to the point of turning his knuckles white, and Song Xiao’s wrist became a circle of bruises. Then, his hand slowly relaxed, falling onto the bright yellow brocade quilt with a thump.

Song Xiao blankly held that hand, feeling a suffocating numbness spread from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He could only breathe properly after wheezing for a few moments.

Slowly raising a hand, removing the thick pillow from behind the emperor, letting him lay more comfortably, and carefully smoothing the disorderly hair by the emperor’s temples.

“Yu Jintang, so you will just die like this?” Song Xiao reached out a finger to poke at the face that had already lost all color. “I just became empress, and I haven’t received this year’s salary…” It was you who said the salary of an empress was higher than that of a minister, so I agreed to marry you.

After speaking again and again for a while, he ascertained that this man would never respond to him ever again. Only then did Song Xiao get up, taking down the treasured sword hanging on the wall.

This sword was named Moye, it was accidentally found by the emperor near the Great Wall. It was rumoured to be an ancient sword of the gods, hung in the imperial bedroom for exorcising evil spirits and avoiding all evil.

“Hum——” The sword emerged from its sheath and made a sound like a dragon’s cry, the blade sharp enough to reflect light and made Song Xiao squint. He swung the sword across his neck.

“Sister-in-law, you can’t!” The emperor’s younger brother threw open the door with a bang, rushing forward with one great stride and seizing the sword in Song Xiao’s hand with his backhand.

“Your Majesty!” The general who followed threw himself down beside the emperor’s bedside, kneeling with a thud, crying out loudly in lamentation.

Chief Eunuch Cao held up a brocade box. The emperor’s younger brother held Moye in one hand and pushed the brocade box towards Song Xiao with the other. He said with red rimmed eyes, “Sister-in-law, this is an imperial edict, please read it aloud.”

Song Xiao wanted to snatch Moye back, but the younger brother was skilled, he could not compete with his frail scholarly body at all. He looked at the solemn guards outside the bedroom, and then at the firm and resolute imperial younger brother. This person was already the newly appointed emperor. He couldn’t disobey him, so he could only reach out and take the imperial edict within the brocade box.

“Zhen has been enthroned at the age of twenty five, working diligently all day and night, not a single matter has not been inexhaustibly completed with detail. During the seven years of my reign, the court has been ruled without disorder, the foreign countries pose no danger, the invaders had been driven away from the north, bringing peace to the country. Zhen personally feels worthy of heaven and earth, worthy of ancestors…”

Song Xiao stood in front of the palace bedroom, reciting the imperial decree of the emperor, every word and every sentence, which all came from the bottom of Yu Jintang’s heart.

Hundreds of officials knelt under steps, listening to the Empress’ clear and powerful voice, and prostrated themselves on the floor while crying bitterly.

“…unfortunately, childless, the throne is passed down to imperial younger brother Jinlin, who is fifteen, still young. He takes Empress Song Xiao as Prince of Duanhui, to act as the regent to assist the new emperor…” That man had already arranged everything. Saying he wanted to be buried together, he feared that it was a last minute regret borne after seeing him.

Song Xiao slowly closed the imperial edict, raised both his hands over his head and kowtowed towards the new emperor.

“Sister-in-law, you see, older brother didn’t ask you to be buried together with him!” The new emperor took the imperial edict and helped Song Xiao up, looking at him with eyes filled with hope. There were still tears on his round, doll-like face.

Song Xiao gave a slight nod. “I know.” He turned to look at Zhang Xiaoren, who was still tied to the Dragon pillar.

“Hmph, to go against the heavens and violate the yin and yang human relations, how could he be worthy of ancestors!” Zhang Xiaoren knew that he would not die an easy death, so he might as well let it all out.

“Zhang Xiaoren, what do you consider as loyalty? What do you consider as justice?” Song Xiao softly asked him, seizing the Moye sword.

“You disregard the safety of the country, colluded with foreign enemies to assassinate the emperor, this is what you call loyalty? Murdering a wise monarch, ignoring the wellbeing of the citizens of the country, this is what you call justice?”

Zhang Xiaoren’s pupils shrunk, but he still kept his neck stuck out.

“Nowadays, the common people live and work in peace and contentment. What Yu Jintang wished for was a mere vice minister. He has done so much for the country, for what reason does the world not allow him to be happy for one single day!” Song Xiao became more and more agitated as he spoke, and stabbed Zhang Xiaoren through the chest with the sword. Yu Jintang was a good emperor, decisive in war and expanding his territory. It was not an exaggeration to say he was the best in Great Yu, he fully deserved this honor!

Blood splattered. The new emperor couldn’t help closing his eyes. Opening them again, he then saw that Song Xiao had pulled out the sword and smoothly slashed it across his neck.

“Sister-in-law!” The new emperor couldn’t stop it, and fresh blood dyed the bright yellow, phoenix patterned robes red.

Song Xiao looked at the dull grey sky and curved his eyes. The first emperor of Great Yu should be buried with his empress. Otherwise, when he goes to the yellow spring and meets the previous emperor, the ineloquent Yu Jintang would likely be beaten by father emperor.

Jin Yuan’s seventh year, third of October, Emperor Yu Jintang passed away. Empress Song Xiao, passed away soon after.

The author has something to say

The first to appear is the gong

Little brother: It’s me??

Fish Tang: Scram!! In the past and in this lifetime, from ancient times to the present, zhen has always been the gong! The only suitable one!!

Translator note

Edited as of 15th of November

Jesus, I think I was high off sleep deprivation when I first uploaded this. I was even super proud of it when I uploaded.

Sorry to the readers who had to go through the chapter with a bunch of mistakes.