BDSMST -Chapter 99 The Emperor’s Choice

At the first light of dawn, the gates of the Forbidden City slowly opened.

A plain, unadorned carriage, granted special permission by the Imperial Guards, drove straight through the Meridian Gate and stopped along the palace road leading to the Imperial Study.

Gu Yan stepped down from the carriage and personally helped a haggard, visibly anxious middle-aged woman descend.

It was Aunt Qian, the widow of Steward Qian.

Grand Eunuch Fu was already waiting there. He glanced at Aunt Qian, then at the iron box wrapped in yellow cloth in Gu Yan’s hands. He asked no questions, merely gesturing respectfully.

“His Majesty is waiting inside.”

Although dragon’s salve incense burned in the Imperial Study to refresh the mind, the atmosphere was exceptionally heavy.

The Emperor, now past fifty, had not slept all night. Faint shadows darkened his eyes as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back before a vast painting of the realm’s mountains and rivers, his back to the entrance.

Gu Yan entered with Aunt Qian and raised the iron box high.

“Your subject, Gu Yan, brings the key witness and material evidence in the military grain case to kneel before Your Majesty.”

The Emperor slowly turned around. His gaze did not fall upon Gu Yan, but upon the trembling woman beside him.

“You are Qian Yong’s wife?” His voice betrayed neither anger nor warmth.

“Th-this humble woman, née Qian, kowtows before Your Majesty,” Aunt Qian stammered, collapsing to her knees, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

“Raise your head.”

She did so cautiously.

The Emperor studied her weathered, fear-stricken face for a long moment before speaking again.

“Tell me everything you know. Leave out not a single word.”

Under the weight of imperial authority, Aunt Qian summoned the greatest courage of her life. Trembling yet clear, she recounted her husband’s unjust death, how the Marquis of Anyuan colluded with Beiman to sell off military provisions, and how he had framed Censor Xie when the latter sought to investigate the matter.

With every sentence she spoke, the air in the study seemed to grow colder.

When she finished, the hall fell into complete silence.

Gu Yan stepped forward and opened the iron box.

“Your Majesty, here are the secret correspondences between the Marquis of Anyuan and his accomplices, the complete ledgers of their grain trafficking, and proof of their forgery of Censor Xie’s private seal. Both witness and material evidence are present. I beseech Your Majesty to issue a decree for a thorough investigation!”

Grand Eunuch Fu carefully laid each item from the box upon the Emperor’s desk.

The Emperor picked up a letter and examined the familiar handwriting. He then opened a ledger, his eyes scanning the rows of figures that recorded acts of treason and profiteering.

Three hundred thousand shi of military grain.

Enough to see thirty thousand northern soldiers safely through an entire winter.

Those provisions had been turned into glittering silver, stuffed into private coffers—and worse, used to fund an enemy who might at any moment march south and assault the passes.

The Emperor’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

His breathing grew heavy.

He remembered the list Gu Yan had brought back from the northern frontier three years ago—the names of three thousand fallen soldiers.

He remembered the thousands of innocent civilians in Qinghe County who had perished because of man-made disaster.

Rage surged in his chest like molten lava, threatening to erupt.

But he was the Son of Heaven. He could not afford to act on anger alone.

The Marquis of Anyuan—the Wu family—his maternal clan were meritorious founders of the dynasty. His sister was a Noble Consort in the palace. His protégés and former subordinates were scattered throughout the court; his marital alliances formed a tangled web.

To move against him was to shake half the government.

The entire bureaucracy of Great Xia would be thrown into upheaval.

One misstep—and even the foundations of the state might be shaken.

Was it worth it?

To risk so much for an imperial censor who had been dead three years—for an old case that appeared long settled?

The Emperor’s gaze shifted back and forth between the incriminating evidence on his desk and the vast landscape beyond the window.

The study remained silent.

Gu Yan and Aunt Qian knelt motionless on the floor. They were waiting for the man who ruled all under Heaven to make his final decision.

Time ticked by, second after second.

Each moment stretched like a century.

Gu Yan’s heart hung suspended. He did not know what choice the Emperor would make: to lance the festering wound and cut away the rot—or, for the sake of so-called “stability,” to suppress the matter once more?

If it were the latter…

Gu Yan’s gaze turned cold. At his side, his hand slowly clenched into a fist.

If it were the latter, then even if it meant staking his title as Marquis of Yongning—staking the lives of the entire Gu family—he would seek justice in his own way.

Amid the suffocating tension, the Emperor finally moved.

He descended from the imperial dais and walked step by measured step until he stood before Gu Yan.

He did not tell him to rise.

He simply looked down at the man kneeling before him—his back straight as a spear.

This man had once been his proudest war god, and also the sharpest blade he most feared.

He had once stripped him of everything, relegating him to idle retirement in the countryside.

Now, he had summoned him back and entrusted him with great responsibility once more.

“Gu Yan,” the Emperor said at last, his voice hoarse. “Answer me this—why are you so determined to pursue this case?”

“Is it for Xie Zi’an’s personal vendetta? To clear your own name? Or to use this opportunity to eliminate rivals and further inflame the power of your Gu family?”

Each question struck at the heart.

He wanted to see through Gu Yan’s true motives.

Gu Yan lifted his head and met the Emperor’s gaze without the slightest evasion. His eyes were clear and open.

“Your Majesty, I pursue this case neither for private vengeance nor for power.”

“I do it for the tens of thousands of brothers-in-arms on the northern frontier who froze or starved to death because supplies never arrived—men whose names were never even recorded!”

“I do it for the hundreds of innocent villagers in Xiaohe Village who were poisoned to death and not even afforded a simple coffin!”

“I do it for loyal officials like Censor Xie, who served the nation faithfully yet were condemned to unjust deaths, their entire clans exterminated!”

His voice rose, each word heavy with blood and fire.

“Your Majesty! Water can carry a boat—but it can also overturn it. The people’s hearts are the true foundation of the realm! If the court is filled with thieves of the nation like the Marquis of Anyuan—if those loyal to the country meet the same fate as the Xie family—then what grows cold is the hearts of our soldiers! What is lost is the hope of the people!”

“And when that day comes, the state will cease to be a state! Who then will guard this vast empire for you?”

“I beg Your Majesty—execute the traitors, calm the people’s hearts, and set the court aright!”

When he finished, Gu Yan slammed his forehead heavily against the cold, hard golden tiles.

“I beg Your Majesty—execute the traitors, calm the people’s hearts, and set the court aright!”

His thunderous plea echoed through the cavernous Imperial Study.

The Emperor closed his eyes.

Gu Yan’s words struck like a great hammer, shattering the last trace of hesitation in his heart.

Yes—the realm.

The realm he had guarded his entire life.

If he could not protect the loyal officials who safeguarded it, if he could tolerate the vermin who hollowed it from within, then what meaning did his throne hold?

He suddenly opened his eyes. In those clouded pupils, the decisive authority of an emperor blazed anew.

“Fu’an!” he barked sharply.

“This servant is here!”

“Transmit my decree!”

His voice was cold as the deepest winter frost.

“The Marquis of Anyuan, Wu Zhengqing, has framed loyal officials and colluded with the enemy in treason. His crimes are unforgivable. Strip him of his title at once and cast him into the Heavenly Prison! All members of the Wu clan and affiliated accomplices whose names appear in these ledgers—let the Commander of the Imperial Guards and the Prefect of the Capital arrest them one by one! Their estates are to be confiscated, their properties seized!”

“Vice Minister of Justice Li Mo, for shielding criminals and perverting right and wrong, is to be dismissed and imprisoned alongside the Marquis of Anyuan, pending judgment!”

“Immediately proclaim to the realm that former Censor Xie of the Censorate is exonerated and cleared of all charges! Restore his honor. Posthumously confer upon him the title ‘Duke of Loyal Martyrdom’ and bury him with full honors beside the imperial mausoleum! His descendant, Xie Zi’an—upright in character and accomplished in learning—is to enter the Hanlin Academy as a Sixth-Rank Compiler!”

Each decree rang out clear and resolute.

Each one signaled a violent earthquake within the capital’s officialdom.

When the final order was issued, the Emperor looked at Gu Yan, his tone softening slightly.

“Gu Yan, you and your wife have rendered meritorious service in defending the nation and investigating this case. I will not treat you unjustly.”

He turned and walked back to stand before the grand painting of the realm, leaving Gu Yan with a weary yet unwavering silhouette.

“Go and carry it out. I want this court—this empire—to be cleansed!”

Gu Yan kowtowed once more, his voice steady as iron.

“Your subject obeys.”

He rose and led Aunt Qian out of the Imperial Study.

Outside, sunlight poured down in brilliance.

A shocking case that had endured for three years was, at this moment, finally brought to light.