Chapter 19 - His Majesty looks at a dirty swine (1/2)

The man held his bare foot firmly. The strange feeling made Gu Yuanbai’s face darken instantly. He wanted to pull his foot out, but he was no match for Xue Yuan’s strength.

Xue Yuan was doing it completely on purpose.

Gu Yuanbai lifted his other foot that still had a boot on, and kicked Xue Yuan violently, but Xue Yuan was already prepared for it and took the kick without issue. Raising his eyelids, he smiled cheerfully at Gu Yuanbai.

“Give Us…” the foggy air went down Gu Yuanbai’s throat, making him cough harshly. Even the foot Xue Yuan was holding shook from how strong his coughing was. The Emperor was coughing, but Xue Yuan took off the other boot and the brocade sock, and took the other delicate ankle in his hand.

Tian Fusheng had been there just a moment ago, but there was no one else around now. Xue Yuan looked at the young Emperor, his eyes red from the coughing fit, and watched him as he held his feet, making it so the Emperor couldn’t move, and he felt a strange satisfaction arise in his mind. There was no one there, and the young Emperor was no match for Xue Yuan’s strength. Xue Yuan grinned, feeling almost as if he were bullying the Emperor.

The coughing gradually stopped. As his chest rose and fell, Gu Yuanbai’s eyes became calmer. After steadying his breathing, the first sentence he said was, “Very good, Xue Yuan.”

It was the same words he’d said when Xue Yuan was punished that day.

Xue Yuan kept smiling. He deliberately stroked the Emperor’s feet and said slowly, “This official fears Your Majesty will get cold, I’m devoted.”

“Devoted.” Gu Yuanbai nodded, a cold smile on his lips, and the next moment he said loudly. “Men, here!”

Dozens of guards suddenly rushed into the hall, with the guard captain taking the lead. He walked quickly to Gu Yuanbai and said in a deep voice: “This servant has arrived.”

Gu Yuanbai wanted to withdraw his foot from Xue Yuan’s hold, but Xue Yuan still dared to not let him go. Gu Yuanbai was angry, but found it almost laughable. “Release Us.”

Xue Yuan smiled and released his hold.

The Emperor walked barefoot to the edge of the pool, turned around, and looked at Xue Yuan with a smile on his face. “Throw him into the water.”

The guards didn’t hesitate for even a moment. They moved and, in the next instant, Xue Yuan was thrown into the water. Four of them jumped out of the pool and held Xue Yuan down to prevent him from escaping.

Xue Yuan didn’t struggle, instead looking straight at Gu Yuanbai as if he were expecting to see what Gu Yuanbai could do.

There were many things Gu Yuanbai could do.

The future regent was pushed down and sank in the water until he couldn’t breathe, and then pulled back up several times. The only thing that could be heard inside the hall was the violent splashing of the water. Xue Yuan’s hair spread out, and his breathing was very heavy. Once Gu Yuanbai felt that it had been enough, he told the men to stop it.

Gu Yuanbai walked to the pool and sat down, speaking slowly. “Xue Yuan, are you comfortable?”

“I’m comfortable,” Xue Yuan huffed and gasped, his eyes red and bloodshot, and the corner of his mouth twitched. “This is the bath water that the Emperor soaks in, so of course, this official feels comfortable.”

Gu Yuanbai’s face sank, thinking that Xue Yuan was trying to gross him out on purpose.

Xue Yuan, of course, was grossing him out on purpose. He had gotten so angry when he’d touched his foot. Are all men doing this sort of touching? Did Xue Yuan also like men?

The young Emperor disliked being touched, but Xue Yuan couldn’t bear his anger either.

The guards’ faces were furious, and the strength they were using to hold onto Xue Yuan increased. Xue Yuan didn’t say a word, but he occasionally glanced at the four guards surrounding him, with a dark and frightening look in their eyes.

Gu Yuanbai, with an ugly expression on his face, said: “Release him.”

The four guards let go of Xue Yuan reluctantly. Xue Yuan stood up straight in the water. The water only reached his crotch. He rubbed his wrist and grimaced, showing his fangs.

“Your Highness,” he said in a pleasant voice, “should this official serve you as you bathe in the spring?”

“Out,” Gu Yuanbai said. “Go outside and kneel and apologize to my pool of spring water.”

He was dunked in said pool, unable to catch his breath over and over, but now he had to go apologize to it.

Xue Yuan stepped out of the pool and walked out with the guards. This hall was used by the Emperor to soak in the springs, so of course, there was more than one pool. When he was about to exit the gate, right as he turned around, Xue Yuan took the chance to look out of the corner of his eye and he saw the young Emperor getting up to walk elsewhere.

The young Emperor left water stains on the ground as he walked the entire way. He was still barefoot, and his jade-like feet were fairer than the white jade on the ground. Xue Yuan, his body also dripping with water, thought to himself: the young Emperor is so weak and sickly, wouldn’t he get sick, walking around barefoot in a thin robe?

Xue Yuan couldn’t help but smile.

How could someone be so weak?

When Gu Yuanbai walked out of the hall, he was already wearing a clean and neat inner robe.

Palace attendants were holding the rest of his clothes, and, when he stepped out of the hall, they’d put them on him layer after layer. A palace maid wiped off the water for him and said, “Your Highness, the new Jinshi have already finished greeting the ministers, and the streets are very lively.”

“Today is a good day for the new Jinshi.” Gu Yuanbai smiled slightly. “After being successful in the Palace examinations, it’s natural to be happy.”

The Imperial court spent a lot of money after each examination to give the new Jinshi the day of their dreams when they succeed. The more famous the Imperial court made the day to be, the more scholars across the country would long to pass the Imperial examinations.

Gu Yuanbai was happy to see the day’s success. “Two years from now, during the military examinations,1 it’ll be even more lively.”

The military examinations in the Great Heng Dynasty were held every five years, and the successful military talents received the same treatment as the Jinshi. The Students didn’t only have to test their fighting skills and physical strength, they also had to be familiar with military books, geography, and understand various concepts such as planning military strategy on a sand table, camping, transporting provisions on plank roads, guarding from surprise attacks by taking the offensive, and various other topics.

The country’s treasury would limit any grand measures that the Imperial court might want to take. However, the soldiers would be given priority for the best provisions and money. The infantry got to fill their stomach every day with coarse grains2 and flat cakes, and heavy infantry and cavalry occasionally got to eat meat. However, that wasn’t enough. If they wanted the soldiers of Great Heng to be strong, tall and sturdy, they also needed to eat meat and fruit.

That winter, Gu Yuanbai had originally planned to open up the border exchange market when the nomads in the border became short of food and oil, in order to open trade for cattle and horses raised by small clans and to buy good livestock at low-cost. Then, he’d sell some of them at high prices in the prosperous lands of Great Heng, and set some aside and reserve for the army to use and to provide the soldiers with some meat to eat.

But the cold winds that season had extended the winter for longer than usual, and he could only wait for the next opportunity.