Scheming Emperor X Hunting Eunuch - Chapter 1.1

The rain in Anjing had been falling for nearly ten days, and the damp cold seeped into one’s very bones.

Black boots stepped onto the bluestone pavement, and murky muddy water splashed up from the loose cracks between the bricks, falling back down mixed with freshly spilled hot blood.

The sounds of fighting continued endlessly in the tavern, and among the corpses scattered haphazardly on the ground, a hand was raised.

A young servant dressed in brown work clothes cried out in alarm, collapsing to sit on the ground and scooting his bottom backward several times.

His eyes widened like saucers, and in the reflection of his contracted black pupils, a figure pushed away the corpse pressing down on him and sat up straight.

“You… how are you still alive!”

The servant swallowed hard, forcing a somewhat kindly smile onto his lips. “This is wonderful, Yanci. I… I thought you had been… this is truly wonderful!”

The man rubbed the back of his head, his mind still not entirely clear, his voice hoarse as he asked, “What….what happened to me?”

After the initial shock, the servant quickly regained his composure, stood up again, and said anxiously, “Just… just got a little injured… let’s leave quickly. The eunuchs from the Elu Bureau are still hunting those scholars. As people from the Crown Prince’s residence, we’d better not get involved in such troubles.”

As he spoke, the servant bent down to help him up.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the panic and concern in the servant’s eyes were instantly replaced by a vicious gleam. A thin, narrow carving knife slipped from his sleeve and thrust toward the body in front of him.

This strike was aimed precisely at a vital point, and he had calculated the perfect moment when his opponent was weak and off-guard. After this blow, there would be no possibility of survival.

Go die!

The triumphant smile that had just begun to bloom on the servant’s unremarkable face froze completely before it could fully blossom.

“How… how is this pos…”

His knife-wielding hand was tightly seized, and the force from his wrist caused his body to be pulled off balance. Caught off guard, a sword pierced through his chest from behind.

He blinked, looked down, then looked up at the person in front of him in disbelief.

“Thank you.”

This time, the gratitude was much more sincere.

Pei Yanci’s refined face showed some pallor, but his hands were swift as he forcefully pushed the servant’s body toward the sword hilt. Without another word, he took off running toward the tavern exit.

The guard from the Elu Bureau had originally raised his sword to stab at him, completely unprepared for this person to push his companion forward to block the sword. He was also momentarily stunned, and by the time he pulled his sword from the servant’s corpse, the man had long since vanished without a trace.

Pei Yanci hadn’t run far before his strength gave out and he collapsed to the ground just after turning a street corner, the back of his head throbbing with unbearable pain.

When he touched it, his hand came away covered in blood.

“Hiss—”

What on earth was happening?

Raindrops fell like beans, and the clotted blood in his black hair spread like blooming crimson lotus flowers, only to be washed clean by the rain.

This fatal wound must have been inflicted by that servant.

The person from the so-called Elu Bureau was wielding a long sword, but the wound on the back of his head was clearly from a blunt object strike, consistent with the wooden stick he had seen beside the servant when he awoke.

As for why he was harmed, he had no idea.

A quarter of an hour ago, he had still been the emperor of the Great Tao Dynasty.

He had ascended the throne at twenty-three, and for five years had worked diligently to govern, driving out barbarians, suppressing rebellions, reducing the power of feudal princes, and destroying the Louluo. He had turned the tide when it was about to collapse, supported the great edifice when it was about to fall, and gradually restored vitality to the corrupt and decaying Great Tao.

Having barely eliminated external threats, he had exhausted all the energy of his already frail body. Finally, just as he was preparing to take decisive action to reform the redundant and cumbersome bureaucratic system in the court, he had unwillingly drawn his last breath on the dragon bed.

Pei Yanci felt his heart wrench with anguish. As emperor, he knew all too well what tragic consequences his death would bring to Great Tao.

There was no one among the next generation of the Pei imperial family who could match his abilities as emperor. Without someone to keep those incompetent parasites in check, they would surely begin to show their true colors and stir up trouble again.

Within five years, Great Tao would fall into chaos; within seven years, Great Tao would be destroyed.

There still wasn’t enough time.

Pei Yanci sighed. If he had been given just three more years, he could have created a prosperous and peaceful Great Tao, leaving behind a magnificent chapter in history.

How hateful was his sickly body, severely deficient from birth. The imperial physicians had said he wouldn’t live past thirty, and with the exhaustion from previous court affairs, living to twenty-eight had already been the result of constantly extending his life with medicinal decoctions.

But now, it seemed… he had been reborn.

Pei Yanci moved his hands and feet. Apart from some pain in the back of his head, despite the violent running just now, he didn’t feel much weakness.

Rolling up his sleeves, he saw that his arm muscles were smooth and well-proportioned, his skin showing a healthy pale luster, faintly containing the vigor that represented strength!

What was happening? Had he borrowed a corpse to return his soul?

He couldn’t help but pinch himself a few more times and even jumped up and down in place.

His body was healthy, without defects, and apart from the wound on the back of his head, there was no other discomfort.

Not only had he borrowed a corpse to return his soul, but it was a healthy body at that.

What an unexpected joy.

When he touched the back of his neck, the skin felt somewhat different.

Looking at his brown work clothes, their style and color were identical to those of the servant who had just tried to ambush him, clearly indicating they were from the same household.

Still a servant.

The brand mark unique to the lowly class?

Unable to see the back of his neck, he could only guess at the general situation.

Pei Yanci, who had just been overjoyed at obtaining a strong body, couldn’t help but feel his eyes dim slightly.

This was quite a drop in status.

No travel pass, no money, no donkey or horse-drawn carriage, and bearing the tattoo of the lowly class on his body – he was worse off than the refugees and beggars standing on the street at this moment.

He needed to shed this identity first.

Having finally lived again, he certainly didn’t want to spend his lifetime cowering as a slave.

Inside and outside the tavern, chaos still reigned. Many young men dressed as scholars continued to curse and rage with passionate indignation, only to be caught or killed by another group of people, which in turn provoked even more curses.

The group doing the killing wore dark robes with bound sleeves, black boots, and carried blood-dripping long swords. They had black cloaks draped over their left shoulders, embroidered with the pattern of an egret reflected in a crescent moon. This should have been a symbol of integrity and honesty, but it was completely overwhelmed by the sinister aura emanating from these people, instead giving off an evil feeling.

“Who are those arrogant people?” A merchant in foreign attire watched this chaotic scene from afar and asked in confusion.

This person voiced the question in Pei Yanci’s mind, so he also focused his attention in that direction.

“The legendary Elu Bureau,” a passerby replied, smacking his lips. “An organization specially established by His Imperial Majesty to supervise all officials and eliminate enemy spies, headed by Eunuch Tang Xi Daren, the eunuch most favored by the Son of Heaven. The Elu Bureau has informants throughout the four seas and the imperial court – you never know if someone passing by you might be one of their ears and eyes. You’d better be careful with your words. If you dare to criticize them even once, you’ll be secretly thrown into their prison in the blink of an eye. Those people have plenty of vicious methods to torture you.”

The foreigner gasped, “But this is Anjing, the capital of Great Yu, the legendary place where the king resides. How can there be people who disregard laws and regulations like this!”

Great Yu? Anjing? He had never heard of these places.

It seemed to be an unfamiliar world.

“The Son of Heaven? Now even the Son of Heaven has to listen to the Elu Bureau.” A young man nearby interjected, “A bunch of castrated dogs with no sense of proper order! They’ll get what’s coming to them sooner or later!” As he spoke, he spat viciously on the ground.

This remark didn’t earn agreement from the surrounding people; instead, they looked at him strangely and silently distanced themselves from him.

Pei Yanci didn’t listen to the rest, because he saw that near the tavern he had just run from, several people dressed identically to him were looking around furtively, and soon turned into a small alley behind the tavern.

“Clang—”

The sound of a bronze gong rang out repeatedly on the street, sharp and piercing.

Some high-ranking official was passing through.

“Clang—”

Thick, dark clouds rolled overhead, blocking out the sky and sun.

Though it had just passed noon, the surroundings were as dark as midnight, with distant figures reduced to mere blurry outlines.

The sky grew even more overcast.

Pei Yanci sniffed, and a rich, strange fragrance pierced through the dense drizzle, approaching from far to near.

He frowned uncomfortably. The crowded masses on the street were driven to both sides by the officials, pushing and shoving each other in the even more cramped space.

The common people kept their heads down, too frightened to make a sound. Apart from the gong clearing the way at the front, the entire street fell silent.

An eerie silence spread.

Pei Yanci struggled to push through the crowd, walking along the steps in front of the shops. In a trance, as if sensing something, he turned to look back to his left.

His gaze passed over the uneven black heads. Banners fluttered, and fully armored sword and shield soldiers continued to guard the sides. Axes, halberds, spears, and lances gleamed wetly in the rain and mist. On tall horses sat officials in black robes with egret patterns, their faces covered by pale white half-masks, revealing only the area below their nostrils, showing no emotion whatsoever.

Surrounded by heavily armed guards, a massive black palanquin passed by him at a distance.

Gold-patterned silk curtains swayed gently in the wind, and the golden egrets embedded at the top and four corners of the palanquin seemed to be soaring high or struggling to survive, appearing to weep and cry in the moisture of the rain.

The strange fragrance grew stronger.

He glanced quickly and then withdrew his gaze, pushing aside the people in front of him and squeezing through.

In the alley, five or six servants were anxiously gathered together.

The leader, also dressed in brown work clothes, had a dough-like face dotted with green bean-sized eyes with almost no visible whites. When he saw Pei Yanci approaching, his thin, nearly invisible lips stretched open like a catfish without whiskers, and he called out with exaggerated surprise, “Oh, Yanci, what happened to you? Who beat you up?”

Pei Yanci detected some schadenfreude in his words.

Looking at the others, they all had the expression of watching a good show.

The original owner must have been quite hated – one person wanted him dead, and these others wanted to see him humiliated.

A child darted out from behind him and immediately supported him.

“Brother Wuli, Brother Yanci is injured on the back of his head and bled a lot. Let’s go back quickly.”

Pei Yanci looked at the child who cared for him – about ten years old, with refined and delicate features and a slender frame. Standing next to the fat catfish called Wuli created such a contrast that it produced an inexplicable sense of humor in his heart.

This person’s eyes held deep concern, clearly having a very good relationship with the original owner.

“We still haven’t found Feiyuan.” Wuli’s expression wasn’t very good as he cast a questioning look at Pei Yanci. “Hey, where’s Feiyuan? Where is he?”

Before getting an answer, three more servants emerged from the other end of the alley and walked over quickly.

“This is bad, Wuli. Feiyuan is dead!” They spoke excitedly but kept their voices low, their faces showing deep fear and unease.

The fat leader Wuli was obviously stunned for a moment. After reacting, he grabbed Pei Yanci by the collar, the muscles on both sides of his nostrils twitching spasmodically with grief and anger, his bean-like eyes bursting a terrifying gleam.

“You got him killed!”

“Brother Wuli, please calm down.” The young man quickly stepped forward to intervene but was knocked to the ground.

“It was the people from the Elu Bureau who killed him.” Pei Yanci met his gaze and corrected him precisely.

And had blocked a sword for him in the process.

“If you hadn’t entered the Xiangqing Tavern, how would he have encountered the people from the Elu Bureau!”

He used “you,” not “you all.”

“My entering the tavern is my own business. Why did he have to follow? His legs are his own – what does it have to do with me?”

Wuli’s eyes unconsciously flickered, his momentum weakening somewhat, but only for an instant before he resumed his anger toward him.

Indeed, the dead servant hadn’t come with him.

“He was following me?” Pei Yanci stared at him, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes. “You knew about this.”

His sharp gaze carried a trace of mockery. Wuli was intimidated by his aura, all his thoughts laid bare. He unconsciously released his grip on the collar, his foot about to step back before pulling it back.

“So what if I knew.” He blurted out.

“You sent him to follow me.”

With these words, the surrounding servants looked at Wuli with something different in their eyes.

“It wasn’t me.” He urgently denied it, but it sounded more like he was trying to distance himself from something.

“You sent him to his death.” Pei Yanci interrupted him, not giving him a chance to speak.

TN:

扼 (È) – to choke, block, or control

鹭 (Lù) – egret (a type of bird, often used in elegant names)

监 (Jiàn) – “bureau,” “office,” or “supervisory agency” (used historically in names like “内侍监,” “都察院,” etc.)