With a terrified expression, Shoucheng slowly walked through the narrow path and soon arrived at the inner camp. There were wet spots on his shirt and pants and he was pressing his dirty clothes onto his broken nose, covering almost half of his face. Almost everyone had left the bath area and the officer who allowed him to bath elsewhere was the only one present. 

The officer looked at Shoucheng’s red eyes and visibly broken nose and immediately asked him what was wrong. Shoucheng gave an overused lie of ‘I tripped and broke my nose’ while placing the borrowed soap and mug back to their original places. The officer was worried but after seeing Shoucheng’s damp mood he didn’t push any further and just gave him a small bottle of medicine and a roll of bandages.  Shoucheng’s eyes widened and he bowed in gratitude. The officer just patted his shoulder twice with a smile before sending him off.  

A large crowd was gathered in front of the same podium officer Fan stood before except the podium was heavily decorated while two majestic chairs stood beside it. The majority of the officers were either controlling the crowd or running around like headless chickens doing who knows what. 

Shoucheng didn’t immediately join the crowd. He first went to his tent which was thankfully empty and sat down inside. He meekly removed his old clothes from his nose and cringed seeing the large blood stain and blood clots on it. The bleeding had stopped on his way back to the tent but the pain of having his nose broken was still agonizing Shoucheng. 

He wiped his nose with a clean section from his dirty clothes and immediately applied the sticky medicine. The paste smelled of various herbs and when Shoucheng applied some of it on his nose, he could feel a burning sensation. He applied enough to cover his whole nose before wrapping it up with the yellowish bandage. The pain was awful and excruciating. Tears pricked Shoucheng’s eyes but he rubbed them away, he had cried too much for one day. He placed the medicine and his bloody clothes inside his bindle and walked out the tent. 

He purposely walked away from his own friends and villagers and joined a talkative group and hid behind their figures and loud voices.   

“Hey, do you really think the emperor will come?” 

“Of course! Then maybe we’ll be able to see his ‘beloved’ male consort too!” 

Shoucheng flinched upon hearing the emperor being mentioned and his mind travelled back to that horrible meeting. He didn’t know what sorcery the emperor and his companion did to suddenly appear in front of Shoucheng when they were clearly on the other side of the river. ‘I didn’t even hear any splashes of water!’

There was also that sudden heaviness he felt. Shoucheng didn’t know how and why did that happen but what he knew was that he angered the emperor. He could only hope that the emperor would spare his family if he were to kill Shoucheng. His worst fears had come true and Shoucheng wanted to cry but he couldn’t at that moment. He just...couldn’t.

Cheers sounded all round him and Shoucheng looked up in confusion. He froze in fear once he saw the familiar red robes. The emperor had a gentle smile on his face, his inky black eyes lighting up with adoration as he stared at the heavenly male before him. 

The male was wearing soft white robes with floral patterns and a thick fur coat with a hood covering more than half of his face. He had a shy expression as he smiled and held hands with the emperor. Shoucheng frowned in confusion and searched around before finally locating those peach-coloured robes. 

With his long silver hair tied up simply with a jade pin, the companion Shoucheng previously saw stood far away from the couple and looked at them with a blank expression. His phoenix eyes were scarlet with flecks of golden forming a circle around his iris. Shoucheng took a gasp and was entranced by the silver-haired man’s beautiful eyes. He had light rouge accenting his face, and his thin, pink lips were pulled down to a frown yet his eyes remained blank and listless. 

Shoucheng shook his head and gave a harsh slap to his face, making the people around him flinch. ‘No. No…’

“Crazy…” The people muttered under their breaths before going back to cheering for the emperor and his beloved consort. The harsh slap Shoucheng delivered to himself made his nose hurt even more. Tears once again pricked his eyes and he rubbed them away. 

The ‘beloved’ consort sat down gently on one of the grand chairs. His fur coat was taken away and his ‘heaven-defying’ face made everyone hold their breaths. With a light blush coating his cheeks and an elegant smile bestowing itself on his face, the male consort looked at the people below him with gentle eyes. His face seemed to be sculpted by the gods as his peach blossom eyes which were light pink in colour seem to hook everybody’s attention. With a beautiful straight nose and pink plump lips, it was not hard to see why and how the emperor had fallen in love with the male consort. 

Shoucheng glanced at the consort for a second before looking away, his attention back to the silver-haired man. The man was accompanied by a couple of guards, shielding him from prying eyes. He was far away from Shoucheng and so he could only see those dazzling eyes while the rest of the man’s features were a little blurry. 

The emperor cleared this throat, snapping everyone out of their daze. His inky black eyes held silent threats and his sharp and defined features only added more detail to his devilish handsomeness. A cold smile appeared on his face as he opened his mouth and began speaking. 

“My dear subjects, Zhen thanks you for your grateful and kind hearts. Thank you for willingly applying to serve the imperial palace. Zhen will forever be grateful for your sacrifice-” 

“AHHHH!!!”

Suddenly, a pale-faced officer suddenly ran towards the emperor, screaming as a gleaming dagger was held tightly in her hand! The guards and soldiers immediately halted and disarmed her yet the officer kept on screaming. Her hair was unkempt and disheveled and her eyes were rolled back showing the whites of her eyes. As if she was stuck stuck in a nightmare she screamed in horror and pain, blood flowing down her cheeks. The crowd grew restless with shock and fear and began moving away. The guard holding the officer down loosened his hold and she broke through!

This time the officer didn’t run towards the emperor but rather towards the crowd! Screams echoed loudly in the night and the people ran, adrenaline pumping through their veins. Suddenly, the emperor laughed. The sudden laughter  stunned everyone and some tripped and fell. With a slight gesture of his hand the officer stopped moving and fell down like a broken doll. The crowd was panting as they looked at the emperor who stepped down from the podium and walked towards the officer. 

He kneeled down beside the fallen body and gripped the officer’s hair. He pulled her up with his vice grip in such a familiar way that Shoucheng’s scalp hurt just looking at his actions. Mocking laughter could be heard from the emperor as the woman’s face came to light. Her face was white as snow while her eyes had patches of blue mixed with the white. 

“Don’t worry. Zhen apologizes for scaring his subjects but this was all planned. It seems like someone released this puppet a bit sooner than arranged.” Although he had a smile on his face, the emperor’s eyes and words were full of mockery and coldness. 

At that moment  all the people present had a very hard time believing the emperor’s words. Puppets didn’t cry blood nor did they have such abnormally realistic faces. Shoucheng gulped as he inwardly suspected that everything was due to some dark force. Just like what had happened to him earlier, could that woman be a victim of the dark arts? His body shuddered at the terrifying thought and he immediately shook his head. ‘No! No! It can’t be!’

 A fear stricken and forced laughter came from one of the officers. Officer Fan was laughing while his hands stood clenched by his sides and his eyes swirling with fear. 

“Hahahaaha, what an amazing and funny show the emperor has planned! It’s a pity that the show was incomplete! Hahahaha…” 

The emperor’s cold eyes stuck fear into the crowd’s hearts and soon, one by one, they all started laughing. 

“True, True what a marvelous show!” 

“Long Live the Emperor!” 

“Hahahahahahahahaha…”

Shoucheng couldn’t bring himself to even smile yet alone laugh. The emperor’s eyes made him frozen stiff. The laughter soon died down and the ‘puppet’ was taken away from the scene. The emperor continued speaking as if nothing had interrupted him while his subjects had forced smiles and shivering bodies. The male consort looked at them with pity in his eyes and  his smile which seemed benevolent and kind now looked creepy and malicious. 

The emperor’s speech soon ended and seeing that the sun was starting to set, he immediately ordered officer Fan to begin...the emasculation process. Shoucheng’s eyes went wide as he along with the others had totally forgotten about the process due to recent events. Nobody spoke as 11 knifers and their helpers appeared from who knows where and stood beside the emperor with small smiles on their faces. 

Without giving the villagers time to comprehend, the soldiers immediately separated the males and females into different groups. A few places away from where the emperor held his speech, there were a couple of carriages most probably for the women who were supposed to head to the palace today. There were about 150-200 women lining up in groups to enter the carriages. It would take at least 4-5 rounds for all the women to finally reach the imperial palace.

The men however would take a much longer time to reach the imperial palace. In groups of ten, the males separated from their female companions and walked towards another part of the camp. There were large huts in the front of the open space while 10 smaller ones laid behind. The large huts would hold the remaining men as they continued their healing process. At first Shoucheng doubted the fact that they could finish emasculating 150 men in just one day but seeing the confident expressions and kind smiles on the knifers, he just sighed and looked away. 

Officer Fan opened a long scroll and began calling out names. He first assigned ten people to each of the ten knifers. Shoucheng immediately ran to find Wang Lei. Wang Lei was standing alongside the remaining Hanzai villagers and his eyes widened upon seeing Shoucheng’s running figure. Once Shoucheng arrived in front of him, Wang Lei’s previous thoughts of punching this irresponsible friend vaporised. Seeing the half bandaged face, Wang Lei asked with worry, “What happened?” 

Shoucheng looked right and left before pulling Wang Lei away from the crowd. Once they reached a space where not many people were there, Shoucheng began explaining, “I encountered the emperor. I don’t know why but...I think I made him angry. Wang Lei...I might die soon.” 

With wide eyes and a gaping mouth, Wang Lei made confused noises as he looked at Shoucheng. He bit his lip as his eyes grew teary.

“What are you talking about! Ho-How did you even-” 

“Wang Lei!”

Wang Lei paused once he heard officer Fan call out his name. Shoucheng looked at Wang Lei with a small smile and gave him a tight hug before pushing him away. Wang Lei hesitated but before he could stop Shoucheng, he had already ran away. 

“WANG LEI!!” With an angry roar from officer Fan, Wang Lei looked away and ran towards his designated knifer with a heavy heart. 

Shoucheng looked at his friend’s fading figure and listlessly moved forward with the crowd. Once 100 people got their designated knifers, the other 50 were asked to sit down on the grass and wait for their turn. 

The wind was colder than yesterday but Shoucheng felt numb. The numerous and heavy emotions that rushed through his veins seemed to have stopped, leaving behind an uncomfortable emptiness. The other villagers conversed with each other in an attempt to calm their jumpy nerves but none approached Shoucheng due to his gloomy and unsociable expression. 

Shoucheng sat a little far from the rest of the crowd so nobody saw the weird man with a weird smile approaching him and nor did they hear his silent screams as he was forcibly dragged away. 

Trivia: 

• Phoenix eyes-Named after the Chinese mythical creature, phoenix eyes refer to an eye shape with the inner corner pointed slightly downwards and most characteristically, a “tail” that sweeps up towards the temple. In Chinese literature, people with phoenix eyes are believed to be loyal, righteous, and wise. [Source: Written by Becca Z.]
• Peach Blossom eyes-Having peach blossom eyes (seductive/alluring/flirty eyes) means someone who easily attracts a member of the opposite gender (or whichever gender floats the character's boat). [Source: Novelupdates forum]