Chapter 177
Chapter 177
[After Zhu Yuanzhang Arrived in the Underworld – 1]
The punishment of flaying a man and stuffing his skin with straw had been invented by Zhu Yuanzhang, founding emperor of the Great Ming. Zhu Qizhen had heard of it and once joked privately that Emperor Taizu possessed remarkable imagination to devise such a terrible punishment.
He had smiled mockingly then, never imagining it would one day be used on him.
It hurt!
It truly hurt!
Pain that entered the marrow and touched the soul!
Once, rising to relieve himself before bed, Zhu Qizhen had stubbed his toe on the bedpost and collapsed with a gasp. Compared with flaying and stuffing, that pain was not even one hair on nine oxen.
The punishment lasted three days, and Zhu Qizhen suffered for all three. At the first cut, he screamed and begged Heaven, but the executioners remained unmoved, and Zhu Qikun showed no intention of turning back.
He cursed endlessly and swore that as a vengeful ghost he would take Zhu Qikun’s life. He declared that for imposing such a Heaven-offending torture, Zhu Qikun would fall into Avici Hell and never be reborn.
No one answered. Only the executioner’s sharp knife flashed coldly, making every hair stand on end.
Curses, threats, pleas-nothing changed his fate. At last Zhu Qizhen fell silent, not from resignation, but because constant screaming destroyed his voice. His throat swelled, and the agony repeatedly drove him unconscious.
Three days later, Zhu Qizhen breathed his last in torment.
At death, the pain vanished and his soul floated from his body.
His awareness slowly returned, though the torture seemed to echo within him. After standing dazed for some time, he discovered two black-clad ghost officers beside him. “Awake? Come. The dead cannot linger among the living. You must go to the Underworld.”
Am I dead?
Zhu Qizhen looked down. His right hand was nearly transparent, and through it he could see his mangled corpse below.
“I am dead! If a ghost does not take revenge now, when will he?!”
He shrieked and flew toward the imperial palace.
Torture had reduced his body almost to pulp and weakened his soul, but fury and hatred forced out unexpected strength. He sped toward the Forbidden City on the wind.
The ghost officers panicked. “Zhu Qizhen, cease your insolence!”
Without looking back, Zhu Qizhen shouted, “Zhu Qikun acted inhumanly and the Underworld ignored it. Why stop my revenge? He tortured me for three days before I died. I will not spare him!”
He flew into the palace and headed for Fengtian Hall.
Zhu Qikun sat in the Imperial Study reviewing memorials, focused and imposing. Zhu Qizhen rushed him, heard the ghost officers crying behind him, and laughed wildly.
Zhu Qikun, you never expected this day!
Before his laughter ended, Zhu Qikun sensed something and raised his head. Divine radiance filled his eyes. His majestic, unyielding aura blazed like the sun.
Needlelike pain stabbed Zhu Qizhen’s exposed skin, then became consuming fire. His bones seemed ready to disintegrate, recreating the agony of flaying.
He screamed. The light vanished as the ghost officers threw a black ritual robe over him.
“Fool! You thought we feared for the emperor. We feared your soul would disperse and leave us unable to report!”
The robe eased the pain, though his skin still tingled. Then one officer cried, “Our spirit bodies are being damaged too. Leave quickly!”
Only after fleeing several hundred miles did they stop. “A true dragon emperor indeed. Ghosts and evil cannot approach. We meant no harm and came only a little near, yet he was this powerful!”
“He is a wise Son of Heaven carrying the hopes of hundreds of millions. His force is supremely hard and bright. Evil touching it dies.”
Zhu Qizhen sat miserably under the robe. “He is an emperor, but so was I. Why can he suppress me? He came from a junior princely branch. I am the legitimate line!”
“How can you compare with him?” The ghost officer giggled, unable to reveal Heaven’s secret. “I forgot. He does not know yet!”
His colleague laughed maliciously. “In several decades, the Underworld will have quite a spectacle!”
Zhu Qizhen stopped crying. “What are you discussing? Does it concern Us?!”
The ghost officer laughed evasively. “Nothing to do with you. Heh-heh.”
The other remembered something. “I hear someone opened wagers on how long the beating will last after he comes down, and what methods they will use!”
Certain they were hiding something enormous, Zhu Qizhen scowled. “What are you laughing at?”
“My wife is having a baby!” one replied.
“Mine too!” said the other.
Zhu Qizhen fell silent and waited resentfully for the Underworld.
The two remained quiet until they neared Fengdu, then suddenly laughed again.
“When he comes down and that whole family learns the truth, imagine the fun!”
“Hey!” Zhu Qizhen called.
“The picture is too beautiful to imagine!”
Zhu Qizhen slapped his thigh. “Hey!”
They ignored him and laughed harder.
“Enough! I have endured you for a long time!”
“My wife had her baby!”
Zhu Qizhen exploded. “You are laughing at me! You never stopped!”
The officer snorted and kicked him into the residence of the deceased Ming emperors. “Off you go!”
Zhu Qizhen landed facedown. Clutching his backside, he rose beneath a great shadow. Three hostile men surrounded him.
The court painters had been skilled. He recognized his great-grandfather, grandfather, and long-dead father at once.
He hugged Zhu Zhanji’s leg and wailed, “Imperial Father! Zhu Qikun killed me!”
“He was so cruel! He flayed me! I suffered three days before dying. Imperial Father, seek justice for me!”
Zhu Zhanji smiled sinisterly, dragged him upright by the ear, and pointed to a mountain of red firecracker scraps. “See those?”
Zhu Qizhen leaned over despite the pain. “Yes, but what do they have to do with Zhu Qikun killing me?”
“We set off firecrackers below for as long as Zhu Qikun flayed you! Flaying? Excellent! A pity he stopped too soon. Eight cartloads remain unused!”
Zhu Qizhen stared.
“Father, are you truly my father?!” Tears poured down his face. “Even a wild father cannot treat his son this way!”
Zhu Zhanji kicked him down. “Get the hell out!”
When I ruled, I may have loved cricket fights, but I handled the country properly. The Old Master praised me himself. What the hell did you do, damned grandson?!
You made trouble above while your father was beaten senseless below!
He seized Zhu Qizhen’s collar. “Who told you to trust Wang Zhen? Who gave him such power? Xi Ning bullied Zhang Fu, the regent I left you, and you said nothing?!”
Zhu Qizhen panicked. “Imperial Father, I know I was wrong…”
Zhu Zhanji slapped his own face repeatedly. “Your father watched from below and felt ashamed for you!”
The Underworld knew even that?!
Zhu Qizhen was terrified and dared not argue.
But Zhu Zhanji had only opened the valve on his anger. “Put those aside. Tell me why, as Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, you called the gates open for the Oirats!”
Zhu Qizhen trembled in silence.
Zhu Di barked impatiently, “Why waste words? He feared death! Afraid of dying and torture? A living man has one life, but the dead need not fear death. I will let you suffer your fill!”
He turned to Empress Xu. “Is the oil boiling?!”
Empress Xu and Empress Zhang stood beside an enormous steaming cauldron. “It is boiling!”
Zhu Di waved. “Deal with him!”
Zhu Qizhen screamed like a slaughtered pig. “Father, save me! Grandfather! Great-grandfather…”
Waaah, never mind. Begging was useless!
They fried him seven days and burned him bound for seven more. Zhu Di personally experimented with flaying him several times. As he pondered a new method, Empress Dowager Sun arrived.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and a bruised blue ring circled her swollen neck. She had hanged herself.
Zhu Zhanji sat sharpening bamboo while Zhu Di directed him. “Make it sharper. How will it hurt when thrust into flesh otherwise?”
Zhu Di sighed regretfully. “If only the Old Master were here. He loved this and devised many tortures. He would make Zhu Qizhen unable to live or die!”
Then Zhu Di shuddered. “Never mind. If he were here, he would certainly curse me. Fortunately, my good great-grandson Qikun restored our honor, otherwise…”
Just then, Empress Dowager Sun rushed over weeping. “Your Majesty!”
Her son had died horribly and she had been forced to take her own life. Seeing the emperor who had cherished her, Empress Dowager Sun was overwhelmed by sorrow and had endless grievances to pour out.
But Zhu Zhanji had been beaten enough below. After watching mother and son create disaster after disaster, his affection had vanished.
Before her tears could fall, he snapped, “How did you raise Zhu Qizhen?! While Mother lived, nothing happened. After she passed, you indulged him until he caused catastrophe and left me unable to face the ancestors!”
He continued mercilessly, “Had I known, I would never have deposed Empress Hu and made you Empress. My brain must have been clogged with lard!”
Empress Dowager Sun had endured Zhu Qikun and his wife’s oppression in life. She had expected comfort from her husband below, not cold rebuke. Her indignation became wounded disbelief. “Your Majesty, how can you treat me this way? Back then…”
“Enough!” Zhu Zhanji cut her off. “Never loved you! Not interested! Save my mother! If you want to stay, tend the fire and help fry Zhu Qizhen. Otherwise, get as far away as possible!”
Empress Dowager Sun fell silent.
Waaaah!
Men were dogs after all. None could be trusted!
…
Zhu Yuanzhang ruled the mortal world for thirty-one years. At fifty, he caught a chill and fell ill.
Sensing his end, he summoned the Crown Prince and solemnly instructed him on state affairs. Only when he turned to Empress Lin, haggard and swollen-eyed from crying, did his expression soften. “Old wife, I fear I am leaving!”
Tears streamed down Empress Lin’s face. She raised a hand to strike him, could not bear to, and choked, “Do not speak nonsense!”
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and dismissed the attendants. “When we first met, I said I wanted to marry you because my mother had arranged an oral betrothal. That was not true…”
He recast his previous life as a dream, omitting details and affairs of the Great Ming, and told her only of their marriage. At the end, he said, “In my last life, I reached seventy and lived twenty years longer than you. After you left, I often blamed you for abandoning me alone. It felt terrible. This life, it is your turn!”
Holding her hand, he instructed, “After I leave, live well. You must reach seventy at least, or we will have lost out. Understand?”
Empress Lin sobbed too hard to speak.
Zhu Yuanzhang tenderly stroked her graying hair.
Empress Lin had not been breathtakingly beautiful in youth, but age gave her a kind and gentle dignity. Zhu Yuanzhang watched her for a long time, almost entranced, then smiled. “Living this life with you again was worth it.”
That night, Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qikun passed peacefully in his sleep at fifty.
When news reached the Underworld, Zhu Di had already decorated the residence with lanterns and bright colors and hired several opera troupes.
Zhu Gaochi hesitated. “Qikun just died. Is so much red appropriate?”
Zhu Di glared. “What do you know? This is a joyful funeral!”
He sent Zhu Zhanji out. “See whether Qikun has arrived. My dear great-grandson brought such honor to his great-grandfather!”
Seeing sweat cover Zhu Gaochi’s busy, fat face, Zhu Di did not disdain him. He wiped it lovingly with a handkerchief. “My good son, fortunately I made you Crown Prince. Zhu Gaoxu could never have produced a grandson as excellent as Qikun!”
Flattered, Zhu Gaochi said, “It is all thanks to your blessing!”
Zhu Di nodded and asked Empress Xu, “Are the dishes ready? Tea and fruit too? Do not let my dear grandson go hungry!”
Empress Xu laughed. “Everything has long been prepared!”
As everyone waited with different thoughts, someone reported that Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qikun had arrived.
He had saved the state from collapse. Zhu Di personally led his descendants out to welcome him. Two ghost officers approached with a robust, graying man. With each step, his appearance gradually returned to his youngest and strongest form.
Zhu Di had seen this often and was unsurprised. Smiling like an affectionate grandmother, he hurried forward. “Qikun! My dear grandson! Let Great-grandfather look at you! You were truly handsome in youth and greatly resemble Emperor Taizu!”
Then confusion crossed Zhu Di’s face. He scratched his head. “I saw you when you were young, and you looked different… Yet somehow, you feel very familiar…”
The powerful young man opposite sneered without speaking. His fists cracked, and his gaze was icy.
Zhu Di fell silent.
Then more silent.
Then his eyes widened.
His smile gradually vanished.
Small, pitiful, and helpless.
Zhu Di asked cautiously, “…Father?”