YNRHPCYC Chapter 84

Wen Chan carried a heavy wooden barrel and walked on the brightly lit brick road.

The wooden barrel was full of water, so he had a hard time carrying it, and the sound of his footsteps was a little lofty in the quiet environment.

In order to prevent the water in the barrel from spilling, Wen Chan walked very slowly.

At the end of the road, an iron prison appeared in front of him. He walked to the iron railing and stood still.

There was a faint light burning in the prison. Maybe because the snow was melting, the air was thick with dampness and a strange, unpleasant odour that made it hard to bear.

Wen Chan looked into the prison and saw that the person inside was curled up and sleeping. So he picked up the bucket without saying anything and poured it on the person.

In any case, the water he had worked so hard to bring was of great use. The water from the melted snow was cold and biting, and it all splashed on the sleeping person, pulling them out of their dreams all at once.

They jumped up, being stung by this sudden chill, and it was splashed all over. The ice water instantly swept over their whole body, and their bones were chilled.

They wiped the water off his hair and face, glared at Wen Chan, and blue veins popped out on their forehead.

“Zhong Wenting.” Wen Chan smiled lightly, “How does it feel?”

The person imprisoned in the prison was Zhong Wenting, who was sentenced to death. His clothes were so dirty that the colour could not be seen. There were blood-red whip marks on his chest and back, and he looked miserable.

But his eyes were very energetic, full of hatred and resentment, and they stared unwaveringly at Wen Chan.

Wen Chan was not afraid at all. He put down the barrel and said, patting his sleeves, “The river flows thirty years to the east, thirty years to the West[footnote](proverb)change is the only constant[/footnote]. You didn’t expect to lose so quickly, did you?”

Zhong Wenting sneered, “Wen Chan, what’s there to be so proud of? You’re just depending on Liang Yanbei.”

“Yeah, I do depend on him.” Wen Chan acknowledged it confidently, “In the previous life, I relied on him to drive you thieves off the throne, and I relied on him to kill you all. In this life, I am still relying on him to defeat you all. So what? Liang Yanbei is on my side. What can you do about it?”

“Do you know? In my previous life, after I took back the imperial power, I hung the heads of your Zhong family neatly on the gates of the capital.” Wen Chan smiled cruelly, “Every day, they were spat on by thousands, scorched by the sun. Every commoner who passed beneath your severed heads would praise me. I was able to go from a useless prince to the revered emperor of Xi Liang, thanks to you all.”

Zhong Wenting’s face reddened with rage upon hearing this. He roared in fury, slamming his hand against the iron railing. His filthy hand reached through the bars, attempting to grab Wen Chan’s neck, but the distance was too great for him to do anything.

Wen Chan looked at him coldly and continued, “Most of those heads were chopped off by Zhong Wenjin himself. Look at your good brother; he is much better than you.”

He had thought about it before coming. If he wanted to make Zhong Wenting fall into extreme emotions, he must first think from his perspective. It would not work to argue with him by talking about principles.

What Wen Chan wanted was to push him into a state of utter unwillingness and hatred while making him feel completely helpless and powerless and then hate it to the point of gritting his teeth and dying, vomiting blood. That would make Wen Chan feel more comfortable.

Sure enough, Zhong Wenting went crazy when Zhong Wenjin was mentioned, and his eyes bulged to the point of breaking in anger, “Zhong Wenjin, Zhong Wenjin!”

Wen Chan struck while the iron was hot, “Come to think of it, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have known that you were also reborn. Now that I think about it, perhaps you were the assassin who wanted to kill me in the woods on the night of the New Year’s banquet? It was a close call. After you all die, I will take a pot of wine to thank him.”

“It’s him again! It’s him again!” Zhong Wenting held the iron railing tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulged, his eyes were stained blood red, and he was unable to restrain his anger, “This waste who only knows how to eat, drink and be merry; the Zhong family had raised him for decades in vain! If I had known, I should have poisoned him directly!”

“Why did Zhong Wenjin betray the Zhong family? Don’t you know it in your heart?” He sneered.

“Why? It’s just because of the member of the Xie family who has no blood relationship with him. He is sick and has thoughts about Xie Zhaoxue that he shouldn’t have. We tried our best to kill Xie Zhaoxue for his own good, but what about him? He betrayed us, his flesh-and-blood relatives, because of this! He deserves to die the most!”

Zhong Wenting was like an enraged vicious dog, hissing coarsely from his throat, “What are you? A fish that slipped through the net, a waste who drifts and lives without purpose. By what right do you dare defy my Zhong family? Only when Xi Liang is handed over to my Zhong family can it reach the peak of true prosperity!”

Wen Chan was secretly shocked when he heard what he said. He only knew that Xie Zhaoxue died on the battlefield in his previous life, but he didn’t expect that Xie Zhaoxue was killed by the Zhong family.

Xie Zhaoxue was thousands of miles away from the frontier, but he was still killed by the Zhong family. It was not an exaggeration to say that they tried their best.

And Zhong Wenjin had special feelings for Xie Zhaoxue, so he rebelled against the Zhong family in a rage.

Although Wen Chan knew that this was not the only reason why Zhong Wenjin betrayed the Zhong family, it must be the main reason. It was the reason why Zhong Wenjin became a lunatic after Xie Zhaoxue died.

But he clearly married Ding Ziyun later. After Zhong Wenjin died, Wen Chan felt it to be a pity that he could not leave Ding Ziyun with some children.

At that time, Wen Chan was still on the verge of collapse and had no time to get to know him. Now when he recalled it, he found that his impression of Zhong Wenjin always stayed on him being a lunatic, and everything else was very vague.

Could it be that there was another hidden story? What did Zhong Wenjin think in his previous life? What did he experience?

Now was not the time to think about these things. Wen Chan suppressed those thoughts and counterattacked Zhong Wenting, “But you still lost to me as a waste. After you died, Xi Liang was in my hands, and it was several times more prosperous than it is now. And the Zhong family only brought nightmares to the people of the capital.”

Wen Chan’s words were not false at all. He was not a good husband, nor a good father or even a good brother, but as an emperor, he was responsible and diligent and worked his heart out.

If his life after becoming emperor were divided, it could be split into two parts: One spent missing Liang Yanbei and the other spent handling state affairs.

 

“You destroyed the original tranquillity of Xi Liang and turned the capital into a Shura field. Look back at the bones piled up behind you, and there are a number of innocent people who have been abused and killed by you……” Wen Chan lowered his voice and said with incomparable joy, “Zhong Wenting, do you know why you lost now?”

Zhong Wenting laughed with a distorted face, “Sacrifices are necessary to accomplish great things. What does it matter if we sacrifice those people for more of Xi Liang people?”

Wen Chan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he laughed heartily too, unable to close his mouth. He laughed so happily that his voice echoed throughout the iron prison and spread out layer by layer.

Zhong Wenting stopped laughing when he saw him like this. He looked at him coldly and waited for Wen Chan to get tired of laughing before asking, “What are you laughing about?

Wen Chan wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, took a breath, and said, “Fortunately, all the Zhong family members are dead. When I thought of this, I laughed out happily.”

Zhong Wenting was so furious that his teeth clenched and the whites of his eyes were red and bloodshot, but he couldn’t find a reason to refute. He could only say, “Zhong Wenjin didn’t hesitate to betray us for your Wen family, and in the end, all he gets is a sentence like that from you? Wen Chan, you are not a good guy either.”

Wen Chan smiled and shook his head, “Zhong Wenjin swore on the day he joined our alliance that he would change his surname to Xie and will help the Wen family revive the imperial power. And that if he did not kill all the Zhong family rebels, he would not enter the reincarnation cycle even if he died.”

“Zhong Wenting, when your Zhong family picked up the blade and started to stab innocent people, you were doomed to fail.“ Wen Chan’s smile did not fade, but it got colder, “No matter how many times you do it again, the final result will be the same.”

“I am the one who gets the last laugh.” Wen Chan said.

After saying that, he was about to leave with the wooden barrel, but after walking two steps, he felt that the wooden barrel was too heavy, so he threw it aside in passing. He thought that even if someone found him splashing water on Zhong Wenting, they would not dare to blame him.

After making Zhong Wenting angry, Wen Chan was about to leave, but Zhong Wenting’s words stopped him.

“Wen Chan? You are being too happy too early.”

His voice was extremely gloomy and threatening.

Wen Chan looked back at him and saw an eerie smile on his face, which didn’t match his whole body that cut a sorry figure, “Do you think you won just by using a little trick?”

“You mean I should wait until all your heads fall off before I laugh?” Wen Chan asked back.

“You won’t be able to wait until that day.” Zhong Wenting said with a strange confidence. He took a step forward and put his face against the iron railing, staring at him intently. “Just wait; I will never let you get what you want!”

Wen Chan looked at him blankly, as if turning a blind eye to his threat. In the end, he showed him a slight smile and turned away.

After he left the iron prison, Ah Fu quickly approached him, “Ah, Your Highness, why bother to go see that criminal in person? The prison is so cold and damp. You can’t hurt your body!”

Wen Chan waved his hand, signalling him to be quiet. He wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, leaving a trail of footprints in the snow, his expression somewhat grave.

Just now, he felt a little uneasy when he saw Zhong Wenting’s confident look.

As a special criminal, Zhong Wenting was confined to a solitary iron prison. With so many people guarding him, he couldn’t get out at all and could only wait for execution. It was very strange that he could still say such words even though he was obviously about to die.

Perhaps he should be sent to death in advance instead of letting him wait for execution.

Wen Chan thought as he walked, and his pace was inevitably faster. Ah Fu was chasing after him strenuously. He originally had something to tell him, but he forgot it because of the chase. 

After Wen Chan left the iron prison, Zhong Wenting could no longer stand the biting cold all over his body and sat on the ground weakly. The water drops on the ends of his hair flowed down and merged with the puddle under him. He shivered and gritted his teeth to endure it.

No one knew what he was thinking, but the hatred on his face grew stronger and stronger until the whites of his eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, and it looked terrible.

Just as he was lost in thought, footsteps echoed in the cell again, neither light nor heavy, coming from far away and getting closer.

Zhong Wenting thought it was Wen Chan who came back, but he didn’t feel like standing up, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The footsteps drew nearer and finally halted in front of Zhong Wenting. Beneath the scarlet cloak trimmed with silver-white fur, a pair of black brocade boots came into view.

Zhong Wenting raised his gaze upward, and his gaze slid over the exquisite design of the gold silk embroidery on the cloak, up along the snow-white neck of the visitor, and finally saw the peerless and unparalleled face.

This face was deeply engraved in Zhong Wenting’s bones and was nailed to the word fear. The smile on his face stiffened instantly, his eyes widened in terror, and he scrambled backward in a panic, using both hands and feet.

When the person in front of the cell saw him like this, he tilted his head slightly and showed an extremely handsome smile.

Translator’s corner

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