Silent Lover (The Silent Concubine) - Chap 108
Chapter 108 – Is Jun Xuanxiao Worth Your Unresolved Feelings?!
Shen Yu had already bathed and changed clothes. Just as he finished the last page of “The Book of Lord Shang,” the door creaked open with a loud bang…
It was Xiao Xiye. As expected, within half an hour, he had received the news that Prince Zhenbei had escaped from the Heavenly Prison and had rushed to the Qilin Pavilion.
Xiao Xiye swept everything off the table onto the floor in one go. The inkstone, brush, ink, and paper scattered everywhere. A pear blossom vase fell and shattered into pieces with a crisp sound…
“Why? Why?! Yu’er, tell me, why?!”
Shen Yu stiffly put down the book. He could understand Emperor Ye’s fury. What he didn’t expect was that Emperor Ye, already enraged to the point of veins bulging on his forehead, neither struck him nor ordered him to be thrown into the Heavenly Prison…
“Why did you still help him?! Do you know how rare the chance to capture Jun Xuanxiao was this time? It was an opportunity we plotted together! He will never make the same mistake again! By letting him go, you have released a tiger back into the mountains! All our efforts have been in vain! Don’t you want to know your mother’s whereabouts?! Don’t you hate him to the bone? Tell me! Why did you betray me?!”
Shen Yu lowered his head, feeling ashamed. Even without stealing the token and key, Jun Xuanxiao could have escaped safely…
Xiao Xiye slumped to the ground in despair, questioning, “What did I do wrong? I fulfilled all your demands. Why do you still favor him?! Is Jun Xuanxiao so worth your unresolved feelings?! I even knew you would secretly go to see him and deliberately got drunk… but I never thought you would let him go!”
Shen Yu’s body trembled. So, Emperor Ye had understood his intentions behind their drinking all along…
Shen Yu suddenly realized that not only were Prince Zhenbei and Xiao Xiye unpredictable and changeable, but were the same.
He clearly hated Jun Xuanxiao, yet he was entangled with him. He didn’t love Xiao Xiye, yet he stayed in the palace…
“I want to return to Yunmeng. If you don’t kill me, then let me go.” Shen Yu gestured dazedly…
Xiao Xiye frowned and asked, “What do you mean? You don’t want to stay in my palace, you want to leave?”
Xiao Xiye remained silent for a long time, looking at Shen Yu with very complicated eyes. Finally, he sighed deeply and slumped into a chair…
“Yu’er, I won’t let you go. I went to great lengths to take you from Jun Xuanxiao, I won’t let you go easily.”
Shen Yu expected this result. He just couldn’t tell if Emperor Ye truly loved him or found him useful.
“Yu’er, do you know that these days, when you often smiled at me, drank and talked with me, were the happiest times of my life? Even though I knew you were doing it for Jun Xuanxiao, I was still willing… Every time I was half-drunk and let you take the token, did you know how heartbroken I was when you hurried to the Imperial Prison to see Jun Xuanxiao?”
Listening to these deeply affectionate words, Shen Yu’s heart remained unmoved…
“Jun Shanling…”
Shen Yu was halfway through his gesture when Emperor Ye suddenly changed his expression and stood up…
“You know?”
Shen Yu nodded and continued gesturing, “Jun Shanling is at the bottom of Yunmeng Lake.”
Jun Shanling, this was the secret that Emperor Ye had been trying to learn from Shen Yu…
“Are you telling the truth?! Yu’er, didn’t you say you couldn’t remember? How did you find out?”
Xiao Xiye was ecstatic. Heaven had finally rewarded his efforts; after searching for more than a decade, he finally found a clue!
Shen Yu, feeling a bit tired, picked up the paper and pen on the floor and wrote, “According to the records you gave me, the Yunmeng Chu clan were known as the tomb guardians. There are no other royal tombs in the Yunmeng area, only the former dynasty’s Jun Shanling.”
Xiao Xiye’s ears turned red with excitement as he said urgently, “That’s right, the Yunmeng Chu clan guarded Jun Shanling. From the founding emperor of the Great Jing Dynasty, we’ve been searching, but the Chu clan has almost perished… We never thought Jun Shanling would be at the bottom of a lake! It must be! Yu’er, fortunately, we have you, hahaha!”
Xiao Xiye laughed heartily, his earlier despondency vanished, as if he could soon find Jun Shanling and become a legendary emperor who ushered in a prosperous age for Great Jing…
“I will immediately send people to search Yunmeng Lake! Even if they have to turn the lake upside down, they must find it!”
Shen Yu was also half-guessing. According to Xiao Xiye’s records, Yunmeng often suffered from floods, and the lake routes changed significantly every few decades. Shen Yu remembered his mother saying she had wandered to the northern region because of flooding in her hometown…
So, it was very likely that Jun Shanling, originally at the foot of Jun Mountain, had been submerged in the lake over time…
“Can you let me go now?” Shen Yu gestured again…
After giving Emperor Ye the clue he had long dreamed of, would he let him go?
Xiao Xiye’s smile froze.
“The Book of Lord Shang” (《商君书》), attributed to Shang Yang (390–338 BCE), is a foundational text of the Legalist school of thought in ancient China. Shang Yang was a statesman and reformer during the Warring States period, serving the State of Qin. His reforms significantly strengthened Qin, paving the way for its eventual unification of China.
The book consists of a series of essays and discourses on statecraft, focusing on:
**Law and Order**: Advocating for a strict legal system where laws are clear, harsh, and uniformly enforced to maintain social order and deter crime.
**Centralized Power**: Emphasizing the importance of a strong, centralized authority to control the state and prevent the rise of powerful nobles or factions.
**Agriculture and Warfare**: Encouraging agricultural productivity and military strength as the dual pillars of a prosperous and powerful state.
**Meritocracy**: Promoting officials based on merit rather than noble birth, ensuring that the most capable individuals hold positions of power.
Shang Yang’s policies were revolutionary for their time and contributed significantly to the efficiency and strength of the Qin state, which eventually led to the unification of China under the Qin dynasty. However, his harsh methods also made him many enemies, and he met a violent end after the death of his patron, Duke Xiao of Qin. Despite this, his ideas continued to influence Chinese political thought and governance long after his death.
