Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 411 - 386: Knocking Again at Midnight

Chapter 411: Chapter 386: Knocking Again at Midnight

"Your Majesty, do you prefer this peach or this duck egg?"

"It is naturally the larger the better... cough cough cough... naturally, whatever the Empress gives me, I like. After all, my favorite is still this gentle and virtuous Empress, who is both a nation’s treasure and a beauty."

After Kaihuang had spoken, he even felt the need to wipe his own sweat.

Why had the Empress recently learned to use objects to imply deeper meanings?

Just then, a loud noise came from outside the palace.

"Father! Father! Your son has found out! Your son has uncovered something—"

Kaihuang frowned and looked towards the doorway.

He saw the Crown Prince, with boots and pant legs caked with mud, rushing in hastily.

"Compose yourself! What kind of appearance is this!?"

With a stern glance from Kaihuang, the Crown Prince immediately stopped in his place, then stepped forward with a smile.

"I have seen Father, and Mother. Your son has just finished investigating and has found out what Zhang San has been looking for in the graves. Look at this..."

As he spoke, the Crown Prince took out a gold Token that had been polished clean.

Kaihuang looked at the Token, feeling it somewhat familiar, and upon turning it over, he recalled whom he had awarded the Token to.

"That person..."

"Is dead. This Token was found in the Mass Burial Mound to the Northeast outside the city. The owner of the Token also had a boy around thirteen or fourteen years old with him; both were dead. Moreover, there were traces of a Rune Array on the ground, and upon examination by the officials from the Magistrate of Metropolitan prefecture, it was found to be the same Formation used in the Floating Corpse Case."

Kaihuang looked at the Token in his hand, nodded slightly, waved his hand at the Crown Prince, and said in a low voice, "I understand. You may leave now."

The Crown Prince had thought that he would be heavily praised by his father.

That was it?

"Father, didn’t your son handle this matter well?"

Actually, the Crown Prince wasn’t looking for a reward, but merely hoped for a few words of praise from his father, an acknowledgment of his efforts.

However, Kaihuang coldly scrutinized the Crown Prince, then roared, "Should a Crown Prince like you personally be involved in digging graves? Have you nothing better to do? If that’s the case, you might as well take advantage of the fine autumn weather and go horseback riding with the Crown Princess Consort. Stop bothering me here!"

The Crown Prince, bewildered and aggrieved, could only silently retreat from the palace.

All the way out, the Crown Prince couldn’t understand why he, having clearly accomplished a feat, ended up being scolded by his father instead.

The Crown Prince, as he was walking out, chanced upon a plainly dressed young boy outside the palace, thinking he was a new junior eunuch his father had taken in, and reached out to pat his shoulder to ask.

But before the Crown Prince’s hand touched the young boy, the boy suddenly flickered and appeared five steps away.

"You are not worthy to touch me! Not now, and perhaps not ever."

The Crown Prince couldn’t help but become furious, "I, the Crown Prince, not only should touch you, but could give you a slap and you would have to endure it."

"Young man, do you know who I am? I am the Crown Prince!"

The young boy looked at the Crown Prince and coldly sneered.

"You are only a Crown Prince now, but in the future, it is uncertain if you will remain one. A true Emperor should know the sufferings of his people, not be oblivious to what matters. The distance between you and me, seemingly five steps, is actually as vast as the heavens and the abyss!"

Having finished speaking, the little boy’s figure astonishingly transformed into countless rays of golden light and dissipated.

The Crown Prince rubbed his eyes, as if the little boy had never appeared here at all.

Meanwhile, within the palace, Empress Dugu had already sensed Kaihuang’s subdued emotions. She took Kaihuang’s hand and gently consoled him, "Is it an old friend?"

Kaihuang nodded slightly and whispered, "Yes! Back then, every day was uncertain, and I was constantly in fear. He was always by my side protecting me. Later, he even...never mind, let’s not talk about it. When you have time, go see Lihua. Speaking of which, I, as a grandfather and an in-law, really wronged her."

Hearing this, Empress Gudu had already guessed the identity of that person.

"Lihua doesn’t understand you because you indeed sacrificed her happiness, her flesh and blood. But I know, if you hadn’t wiped out the entire Yuwen Imperial Clan’s lineage back then, someone would later rally under the banner of the Yuwen Imperial Clan to oppose you, to overthrow the Great Sui."

"Everyone thinks you are fond of killing and cruel, seizing the throne and ruthlessly exterminating the former Imperial Clan. But even a tiger does not devour its cubs, how could you possibly not spare your own grandchild?"

Kaihuang turned his head, looking at his Empress Dugu.

In this life, although he had only her.

But it was also this woman who understood him the best.

"I too wish for a family reunion, I don’t want to be separated from my own flesh and blood in life and death. That is my own grandchild... my own grandchild..."

Kaihuang touched the token in his hands, a drop of scalding hot tear fell onto the golden token.

Beside him, the little boy sitting on the ground looked at the token, then at the sorrowful Kaihuang and the equally sad Empress Gudu, and said to himself, "Everyone wants to get close to me, to possess me. But have they ever thought that to control the Imperial Path, one ultimately has to pay a price?"

Kaihuang and Empress Gudu heard Seal’s voice, and looking at the figure about the same age as their grandchild when he died as well as the face that looked identical to their grandchild’s, tears inevitably rolled down fervently.

...

At nightfall, the stars scatted across the sky, and the city was serene.

Inside Stone Buddha Temple, there was profound silence.

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master returned to her room, getting ready to sleep.

But just as she had lain down not long ago, she heard a knock on the door from outside.

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master couldn’t help frowning because the rhythm of the knocking was all too familiar.

Monks don’t curse, but monks really feel like cursing.

Anyone knocking at this time of midnight probably had no alternative but to do so.

But Wisdom Immortal Zen Master had just warmed up her bed and really didn’t want to get up, so she pretended to be asleep.

Monks don’t tell lies, so by not speaking, monks aren’t lying.

However, the knocking persisted for a full quarter of an hour.

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master truly felt that if she didn’t open the door, the stubborn eagle outside might last the whole night tormenting her, a poor helpless old lady.

So, Wisdom Immortal Zen Master sat up, lit the lamp in the room, then put on her clothes, and got up to open the door.

"It is indeed you."

"I knew it, not seeing each other for a few days, Wisdom Immortal Zen Master must have missed me. Seeing me, she is so happy she can’t even smile."

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master silently chanted in her heart: Monks cannot kill. Monks cannot kill....