Chapter 32: The Heartless Scholar Who Abandoned His Wife and Child (10)

The imperial guard, seeing the emperor’s shocked expression, thought he was just like those scholars outside, astonished by Bai Li’s literary brilliance.

With a smile, he nodded and even recited Mister Bai Li’s latest work, Drinking Alone Under the Moon, for the emperor.

When the guard reached the line “Raising my cup, I invite the bright moon”, the emperor suddenly slammed his hand on the table.

“She’s not raising her head to toast the moon—she’s lifting it for execution! What utter nonsense! Bai Li? Li Bai? Shameless copycat!!!”

Hearing this, Xie Hui’s gaze flickered slightly. He lowered his eyes, pretending he hadn’t heard anything.

No wonder. From the moment they met, he had felt a strong sense of incongruity about this emperor. How many ancient emperors would treat a physician with such respect? In their eyes, doctors were no different from servants—just slightly more useful.

If this emperor was a transmigrator, then everything made sense. That cautious, respectful attitude when Xie Hui took his pulse was just like how modern people acted when seeing a doctor.

After venting his anger for a while, the emperor finally calmed down, took a sip of tea, and recalled hearing about his fourth son hiding a slave in his residence. This matter, it seemed, was related to the physician before him.

“Doctor, I heard before that my fourth son secretly harbored a slave in his home?”

“Yes,” Xie Hui replied calmly. “That slave was originally purchased by this humble citizen to care for my elderly mother. Later, she and my younger brother fell in love, and after he married her, he began to resent the inconveniences she brought. He humiliated and whipped her, until in a fit of rage, she killed both my brother and my mother.”

Xie Hui had no intention of covering for anyone. He directly tore off the pretense, exposing the truth that the fourth prince had desperately tried to conceal and laying it bare before the emperor.

“I remember this matter.”

When the emperor first heard of it, he had found it astonishing and personally ordered punishment.

The laws of his dynasty governed commoners—but not slaves. Once someone became a slave, they bore an inherent original sin. Even death was a luxury they were not granted.

He had exploited them without remorse, living in a palace built by slave labor and wishing he could dance in it all night long.

“The memorials before me stated that after the dam was completed, all the slaves were executed according to the law…”

As he spoke, the emperor’s expression turned ice-cold. His own son was the one harboring a slave.

Xie Hui, sitting nearby, reminded him, “Your Majesty, given your current health, you must avoid excessive emotional agitation.”

The emperor raised his right hand, tapped his fingers lightly, signaling his acknowledgment. But no matter how much he suppressed it, he was still furious.

He had spent half his life enforcing strict rules, building a flawless system—only for someone to pull out a brick and let everything start crumbling!

“Guards! Bring that unfilial son and the slave he harbored to the palace!”

After issuing the order, the emperor looked at Xie Hui and sincerely apologized.

“This matter—I will give you an explanation.”

Allowing the slave who killed his mother and brother to go unpunished—while it seemed unrelated to him as the emperor, in truth, it wasn’t.

That child, his royal status, was granted by the emperor himself. The fourth prince wielded no real power, and the only reason he could get away with such things was because others respected his father.

“I appreciate Your Majesty’s concern.”

Soon, the fourth prince and Qi Niang were brought to the palace.

The fourth prince, upon entering, remained calm, kneeling to greet his father.

“Father, your son does not know what crime I have committed.”

The emperor picked up the teacup beside him and hurled it at his son. Seeing his forehead split open and blood trickle down, the emperor felt no pity, even though he was his own flesh and blood.

“You still need to ask?”

Previously, the emperor had considered his fourth son the most suitable heir. Though occasionally foolish, he understood right from wrong in major affairs.

Conquering new lands might be difficult for him, but at least he could maintain stability.

But now, the emperor was thankful—thankful that he had lived long enough and hadn’t made a final decision yet!

“Father,” the fourth prince pleaded, “Bai Li only suffered because of her father’s crime. She endured hardship for decades in the countryside and even contributed to the construction of the dam. Why… why can’t she be pardoned this once? Can’t you spare her for my sake?”

Xie Hui sat nearby, watching this once-loving couple from the original storyline, now turned into tragic lovers. It was rare to see Heaven’s chosen ones whose love remained unchanged.

The emperor stood up, strode over, and kicked his son hard. Seeing him fall to the ground, he spat,

“Foolish! Contribution? What contribution? Did she build the dam alone? Your face isn’t worth that much!”

“I was willing to hear your defense before, but now I see there’s no need.”

Recalling the physician’s earlier warning about his health, the emperor turned back to his seat, took a sip of tea to quell his anger, and announced,

“I am the Son of Heaven. If even the Son of Heaven must face justice, how can a mere prince be exempt? Guards! Since the fourth prince wishes to consort with a slave, strip him of his royal title and give him fifty lashes!”

At first, the fourth prince’s expression remained calm. Even at the mention of fifty lashes, he did not react. But when he heard the final punishment, his head snapped up in shock.

“As he is no longer a prince,” the emperor continued, “he shall be sent to the border and made to labor on the frontier walls with the criminals.”

The emperor had initially considered exiling him, but then he remembered the yet-unfinished border walls. He swallowed his original words and amended his decision.

The fourth prince, raised as a royal, knew all too well how his father treated criminals. They were no better than beasts of burden.

Farmers at least worried about overworking their oxen, but to his father, criminals who worked themselves to death simply deserved it.

Even an old ox has farmers who worry about overworking or injuring it, but in the eyes of the Emperor, if this criminal dies from exhaustion, then they simply deserve it.

“Father, I have merely fallen in love with a slave. Why must you be so harsh? Even commoners do not suffer such a fate…”

At this, the Emperor grew furious.

“‘A thousand pieces of gold spent will return again’? That slave you brought back had the audacity to steal with such words? Return again? How? Should her father crawl up from the grave to continue his corruption?”

On the side, kneeling like a mere backdrop, Qi Niang lost her composure upon hearing this and blurted out:

“You—you are also…”

She had only spoken half a sentence before a guard, acting on the Emperor’s signal, covered her mouth.

“You should have died long ago, but it seems fate has other plans for you. Once the city walls are repaired, you shall be granted death.”

“One does not need a tongue to build walls. Guards, bring the mute medicine.”

As Qi Niang was dragged away to be force-fed the medicine, the Emperor looked coldly at his kneeling son, whose face was full of resentment, and said:

“The law exists for the common people to follow. You, as a prince of royal blood, live off the people’s tribute—how can you be the same as them? Since my ascension, I have ruled with diligence. If my reign were to be ruined by you, even your death would not be enough to atone.”

It was no exaggeration to say that the Emperor had spent far more effort on eliminating corrupt officials than on his own son.

“There’s no need to pick a date. You will set out tomorrow!”

After saying this, the Emperor paused, thought for a moment, and then added:

“As for the wives and concubines of the Fourth Prince, those who are willing to follow him shall also be sent to the frontier to build city walls. Those unwilling may return to their own families or go wherever they please.”

Having given his orders, the Emperor waved his hand, signaling the guards to drag his troublesome son away.

When he was young and naive, watching television dramas, he once found those emperors who chose love over their throne to be romantically devoted. But now that he was Emperor himself, his mind had only one thought: What utter nonsense.

“Doctor Xie, I entrust my health to you.”

“You flatter me, Your Majesty.”

Xie Hui was personally escorted to the palace gates by the Emperor’s attendants. That very night, Li Shu went into labor. The midwife, whom Xie Hui had personally arranged, had already been staying at their residence in preparation.

Thanks to proper care during pregnancy, though it was her first childbirth, everything went smoothly, and she soon gave birth to a son.

Seeing his son awkwardly cradling the newborn, Xie Hui shook his head with a sigh before turning back to his room to rest, content that he had fulfilled his purpose in this world.

Xie Hui was always willing to be his child’s strongest support, but at the same time, he would also teach him to be independent.

When news of Li Shu’s childbirth reached her parents, they traveled to the capital to take care of her.

Meanwhile, the women’s academy was thriving. The female scholar who had first established it continued teaching with great dedication, though her former husband would occasionally visit.

Madam Li casually mentioned this at the dining table, and Xie Hui caught wind of it.

It was the same old story—unable to defy his parents’ wishes, and with his family having only one heir per generation, he divorced his wife despite her infertility being caused by saving his younger sister from drowning.

Now, that man had come begging the female scholar to return as his concubine, swearing eternal love. She refused every time.

During his last attempt, he was even beaten up by one of Master Li’s students. This incident led to the discovery that one of Li’s scholar students had secretly admired the female scholar for a long time.

Not long after arriving in the capital, they married. The scholar did not forbid her from teaching after marriage. Instead, he accompanied her to the academy every day, and their marriage was full of love.

Due to the high infant mortality rate in ancient times, Xie Hui waited until child turned one before taking his disciples and leaving the capital to become a traveling physician.

By then, the Emperor’s health had been nursed back to stability. As long as he did not overwork himself, he could easily live to a ripe old age.

Coincidentally, the day after Xie Hui left, the Emperor sent people to his residence.

Upon learning that Xie Hui had left the capital, the Emperor was regretful for a long time. Buried in state affairs, he had been unaware of many details until recently.

Only then did he realize that the reason Doctor Xie had refused to treat the Fourth Prince’s beloved was not just because she was a slave, but because he had accused her of being a despicable plagiarist.

Even long after Xie Hui had left the capital, the Emperor was still agonizing over the matter, unable to make sense of it.

So… was that Doctor Xie actually a fellow transmigrator?