A week passed and it was finally the day of Qin YiJun’s coronation. Although it wasn’t long since the late Emperor’s death, the citizens still celebrated for Qin YiJun. Meanwhile in the dungeon, Li FangMing was preparing his escape. Unfortunately, before he could even do anything, the Minister of Justice came with a group of guards.
Li FangMing frowned and looked over at the Minister of Justice suspiciously. “What is the Minister doing here instead of attending the coronation of His Majesty?”
“Hmph! The Emperor is too fond of you that it clouded His Majesty’s judgment,” the Minister of Justice said, tone laced with disgust. The eyes were looking at Li FangMing as if he’s a cockroach that wouldn’t die.
“In order to protect His Majesty, Kuanshe Wang and the Empress Dowager had decided that Li FangMing and the rest of the Li Family will be executed in secrecy. This punishment will begin tonight. While Li FangMing will be executed with ‘Lingchi’. You will now be transported to the execution area. Guards!” with a wave of his hands, the guards immediately went to seize Li FangMing.
When Li FangMing heard of his sentence, he grew colder and colder by the second. Especially when lingchi was mentioned. ‘The execution will be executed in secrecy? YiJun doesn’t know about this… Qin LuoZhuo… he never planned on letting me live at all or, did he notice that I’d go after him?’ Li FangMing thought as he was roughly handled by the guards. ‘Well, with them bringing me out, that’ll save me the headache of trying to escape those patrol guards…’
He was put into an inconspicuous carriage and in order to avoid suspicion, they even used the side entrance where there are less people. Li FangMing were bound and gagged in the carriage with the Minister of Justice sitting in front of him.
He saw that they are now outside of the Imperial Palace and Li FangMing was about to prepare for his escape. He had been working on the rope ever since he’s in the carriage and now it was slightly loose. He has to thank his master for this. If it were not for Hao Shuren’s training, he wouldn’t even know how to escape from being bound.
Once the rope had loosened up enough, he was just about to start his escape but when he looked around once more, he saw that the scenery was very familiar. Though he lived in the Imperial Palace, he would sometimes visit home and whenever he did, he would go past this road. Fear gripped his heart and he looked at the Minister of Justice who smirked at him. Then, the carriage came to a stop.
“I am sure you can already figure out. The crime of killing the Emperor is punishable by death and such heavy crime is enough to have your family up to the 9th generation to be implicated.”
Li FangMing’s eyes widened and he quickly looked out of the small window. He was met with a scene of his family being dragged out of their house. His gaze met with his father and the older male’s expression turned livid.
“YOU!! I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU THE MOMENT YOU WERE BORN! YOU DOOMED US! YOU’VE DISGRACED US! YOU’VE BROUGHT DISHONOR TO THIS FAMILY! I NOW NO LONGER HAVE THE FACE TO EVEN MEET OUR ANCESTOR IN THE AFTERLIFE!!!” Li SunXun screamed at Li FangMing hysterically. Li FangMing watched with guilt as each of his family members were shoved into the prisoner’s cart.
He saw that even the smallest one was not spared and he glared at the Minister of Justice with eyes full of hatred. Now, his escape routes were cut off. If he was to escape now, he will put those children in danger. Li FangMing had no choice but put his escape plan on hold until he could think of on how to save his family too.
Meanwhile, the two shadow guards that Qin YiJun ordered to follow Li FangMing were having a dilemma of their own. They can’t leave Li FangMing, but at the same time, they need to report to the Emperor. “Er, you go to the Emperor and report to His Majesty. I will follow them.”
“But His Majesty ordered us to stay by Li FangMing’s side…”
“Are you crazy?! If no one reports this to His Majesty, do you think that the both of us can handle those guards? If anything happens to Li FangMing, not even death can spare us from the humiliation.”
Er couldn’t refute so he just turned back and rushed to the Imperial Palace while Yi continued to tail Li FangMing.
When Er arrived at the Imperial Palace, the ceremony had already started. He couldn’t appear until the ceremony is finished. He remained hidden during the duration of the whole ceremony. Only after the whole ceremony is finished and the Emperor is already in his personal palace to rest did he finally report to Qin YiJun.
“What did you say? Why did you not inform me earlier!?” Qin YiJun’s asked in anger. “Lead the way! Steward, assemble the Crimson Guards!!” Qin YiJun had the head eunuch call for the Crimson Guards and he quickly left his courtyard. But just as he stepped out of the courtyard, Qin LuoZhuo and the Empress Dowager came over.
“YiJun, what’s wrong?” Qin LuoZhuo asked, feigning ignorance. “Why are you assembling the Crimson Guards?”
Qin YiJun didn’t spare them any glance and quickly have someone prepare his horse. Being ignored, Qin LuoZhuo felt that he had lost his face.
“Your Majesty, this Empress Dowager wished to congratulate the Emperor for his coronation. As the Emperor, there are several things that need to be done. I have with me a few scrolls of paintings of the ladies here. Most of them are from the prominent family and some are the daughters of the ministers…” the Empress Dowager’s word trailed off because Qin YiJun just gave the two of them a cold glare.
“This Emperor is not interested in taking an Empress at the moment. There is something that Zhen needs to do,” Qin YiJun told them.
“Then at least, pick someone to let them enter the imperial harem,” the Empress Dowager said as she tried to convince Qin YiJun.
“Zhen does not wish to have imperial harem at this time. If there is nothing else, leave!” Qin YiJun felt even more irritated. His heart was already in turmoil when he heard that Li FangMing was taken away and now that the two who is responsible is here, he wanted nothing more than to cut them down. Just as the thought crossed his mind, his horse finally arrived.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Qin YiJun got on its back and quickly pushed his horse into a gallop. The scene of the Emperor leaving the Imperial Palace in a hurry was seen by the citizens who were present in the Imperial City. They couldn’t help but wonder what had happened because for a Crimson Guard to appear, it must mean that something big is going on.
Meanwhile, Qin YiJun continued to urge his horse to go faster while Er led them to where Li FangMing was brought to. Yi had left several marks for them to follow but because the duration of the ceremony earlier was too long, the Minister of Justice and his entourage had already gone quite far. ‘Ming-er… please be safe. Heavens, please let me arrive in time…”
