In the seventeenth year of Chongming, the emperor passed away, and the people mourned deeply.
According to the law, the crown prince would ascend the throne a month later and change the era name the following year.
Jiang Ning returned from Fuling Temple to Late Winter Road, finding the courtyard empty.
Today marks the sixth day of the imperial examinations, which have already held two sessions. However, due to the national mourning, these sessions were invalidated and will need to be restarted a month later after the new emperor's coronation.
Thinking of Liu Ming'an's imminent return, Jiang Ning put down her bundle and picked up a basket to head to the market.
The bustling market, usually lively, was today eerily silent. Everyone spoke in hushed tones, and the streets were filled with people dressed in shades of black, white, and gray. Even the women had removed their conspicuous gold hairpins and earrings, replacing them with plain ones.
As Jiang Ning made her purchases and headed back, chaotic footsteps suddenly echoed from the houses on either side of the street.
The noise was too loud to be made by just a few dozen people.
Jiang Ning's heart skipped a beat. The next moment, she saw soldiers in armor brandishing swords pouring out of the houses. Hundreds of them gathered instantly, their faces stern and filled with murderous intent. The surrounding civilians scrambled to avoid them.
A coup!
The word flashed through Jiang Ning's mind as the soldiers filled the street, their eyes fixed on the front, where a dark-skinned man stood.
"Move, to the Examination Hall!"
A hoarse, thunderous voice rang out, striking fear into Jiang Ning's heart.
The examination venue was the Examination Hall!
The history of this world she had read before suddenly surfaced in her mind: In the twenty-ninth year of Tianyu of the previous dynasty, the deposed crown prince, Ruan Yongfeng, staged a coup during the examination period. He first killed the emperor and four adult princes, took control of the palace, and then captured over a thousand officials' families and candidates in the Examination Hall...
In front of Taiji Hall, Ruan Yongfeng slaughtered the five hundred and thirty-two candidates of that year, then killed over three hundred family members of officials from the fifth rank upwards. Finally, he forced the court officials to acknowledge the fake imperial decree transferring the throne to him as genuine, thereby ascending to the throne...
Was history about to repeat itself?
Jiang Ning clenched her fists tightly. She absolutely could not let Liu Ming'an become a victim of this power struggle.
No one, absolutely no one!
Meanwhile, inside Taiji Hall, Nangong Muyan's knees were numb from kneeling. She shifted slightly, and Luo Siyi immediately whispered, "Yan'er, endure for another half hour, and we can return to the mansion."
Nangong Muyan hummed in acknowledgment, sighed, and glanced at the group of chanting monks.
The Liang Kingdom valued Buddhism highly. When the emperor passed away, his body was placed in a cold jade coffin, and the so-called enlightened monks from Fragrant Leaf Temple were invited to chant scriptures for three days and nights before he could be buried in the imperial mausoleum.
During this period, princes, consorts, and ministers of the fifth rank and above had to wear white and kneel beside the coffin, resting for a maximum of two hours each day. The family members of the ministers, kneeling on the outermost side, only needed to keep vigil for half a day.
Nangong Muyan had never knelt for so long. The sounds of consorts' wailing, the indistinct chanting of the monks, and the distant continuous bell tolling mixed together, making her feel irritable.
But she knew that what truly bothered her was that with the emperor's death, the capital city was under a hundred-day ban on music and weddings. The marriage she had negotiated with the Zhou family a few days ago had to be postponed. She would either marry while pregnant or with a child in her arms.
Either outcome was equally bothersome to her.
Nangong Muyan sighed again, bored, and her eyes roamed, analyzing the microexpressions of the weeping consorts, princes, and ministers to see who was genuinely crying and who was putting on an act.
In front of her, Nangong Ya knelt straight, his face showing obvious grief. His eyes were downcast, his mouth tightly pressed, and the muscles on the right side of his face contracted more than the left, clearly feigning sorrow.
Thinking of her father, an old man, having to kneel for two more days, Nangong Muyan felt a bit more at ease.
In front of Nangong Ya, closer to the coffin, knelt Crown Prince Yuwen Yan and several princes and princesses.
Yuwen Yan was completely turned away from Nangong Muyan. After glancing at him, she looked to the side and was surprised when she saw one person.
He appeared to be around thirty years old, kneeling beside the crown prince, likely a prince.
Nangong Muyan ran through the information about the royal family in her mind and guessed his identity.
Second Prince, Prince Yuwen Jin.
While other princes bowed their heads in silent mourning, only Yuwen Jin stared straight at the emperor's coffin, his head held high.
What intrigued Nangong Muyan even more was that this man showed no trace of sorrow on his face. Instead, a faint smile played on his lips, and his narrow, slit eyes were filled with malevolence and hatred, tinged with a hint of satisfaction.
Father-son discord was common in the royal family. Nangong Muyan looked at Yuwen Jin, who seemed happy about his father's death, and curled her lips, not paying much attention before shifting her gaze to others.
Time ticked by. Just as Nangong Muyan had analyzed the faces of everyone within sight, an inappropriate commotion faintly reached the hall from outside.
Nangong Muyan listened carefully. It was noisy, with many people shouting and screaming, and the sound of metal clashing.
The others in the hall had not yet heard it, but as the noise grew louder, drowning out the chanting and bell tolling, it clearly reached everyone's ears, breaking the tranquility.
Before the hundreds of people in the hall could even ponder the source of the disturbance, a blood-soaked guard with a sword stumbled in, shouting hoarsely, "Your Highness the Crown Prince! Chang Jian has rebelled!"
"Ah? Chang Jian has rebelled!"
"Isn't Chang Jian the father of Prince Yuwen Jin's wife?"
"Could it be Prince Yuwen Jin..."
Startled by the news, everyone followed Yuwen Yan in standing up, their eyes turning to Yuwen Jin by the coffin, who burst into laughter.
"Hahaha... Everyone, today I emulate the ancient sages and stage a coup like Ruan Yongfeng!"
The name Ruan Yongfeng meant something to everyone.
Yuwen Jin mocked the crowd, who dared to be angry but not to speak, feeling even more triumphant. His laughter grew increasingly wild, almost doubling over as he leaned on the emperor's cold jade coffin, pounding it with a resounding "bang bang."
Everyone was silent, either shocked or fearful. The bell tolling and chanting stopped, leaving only Yuwen Jin's maniacal laughter echoing in the hall.
"Second Brother, why go to such lengths?" Yuwen Yan asked with a complex expression, only for a sword to be placed at his neck.
"Why go to such lengths? Your Highness the Crown Prince asks why? Hahaha..."
Yuwen Jin laughed until tears came to his eyes: "Need I ask? Because I want to sit on the dragon throne too. I don't want to slink off to my fiefdom after you ascend, writing memorials to you for greetings during festivals, living a life of servility..."
"So you are willing to bear eternal infamy and become this traitor?"
"Hahaha... Only you foolish, rigid people see others' curses as a flood. I don't care at all. Besides, history is written by the winners. As long as I secure the throne, who dares to curse me?"
There was no point in further discussion, so Yuwen Yan fell silent.
Nangong Muyan watched Luo Siyi, who was trembling like a sieve, her arm painfully gripped by her. She patted her shoulder and whispered comfortingly, "Mother, don't be afraid. This is men's business. Let's stand far away; nothing will happen."
"Yan'er, you forget," Luo Siyi's face was ashen, her voice trembling: "Ruan Yongfeng first killed the candidates and then the officials' families..."
"Killed the candidates?"
Nangong Muyan's gaze sharpened. If she remembered correctly, Liu Ming'an was a candidate in this session!
Just then, a group of soldiers with swords entered menacingly, herding men and women separately into tight clusters. The timid women and children were already screaming in fear.
Nangong Muyan held the nearly fainting Luo Siyi with one hand and clenched a silver hairpin with the other, her cold gaze fixed on Yuwen Jin, who was laughing triumphantly in the hall, sending chills down one's spine.
"Father-in-law! Hahaha..."
Yuwen Jin walked towards the leading middle-aged man, laughing heartily: "With Father-in-law's help in this great cause, it is truly a blessing for me!"
Chang Jian also "haha" laughed, and the father-in-law and son-in-law seemed to see endless wealth and power beckoning to them.
After laughing for a while, Chang Jian said, "Lin Wei has already brought over those five hundred and thirteen scholars, they are waiting outside the hall."
The ministers were in an uproar; Yuwen Jin's imitation of Ruan Yongfeng was indeed going to be a complete imitation.
Nangong Ya and the three Lou fathers and sons all thought of Liu Ming'an among those scholars.
Lou Baili, with a blade at his neck, tried to dissuade, "Your Highness, the Prince of Lin, please reconsider! Since ancient times, those who ascend the throne without proper legitimacy rarely end well..."
Nangong Ya followed up, "Scholars are the foundation of the nation. If Your Highness slaughters them all, the whole world will know of your brutal reputation. Even if you ascend the throne, you will lose the hearts of the people."
Yuwen Jin turned to look at the two who spoke, smiling ambiguously, "The Prime Minister and the Grand Tutor, truly models of the officials, indeed very loyal!"
"The Lou family only serves a wise ruler!" Lou Baili replied with a solemn face.
"Hehe... what a loyal servant of a wise ruler!" Yuwen Jin sneered, then looked at Nangong Ya, "Prime Minister Nangong, what about you?"
"I serve the people of the world!" Nangong Ya answered, looking straight at Yuwen Jin.
"Good, good, good!" Yuwen Jin clapped his hands and laughed, "The ancestors of the Yuwen family set a rule that the new emperor's ascension requires the Prime Minister and the Grand Tutor to announce it to the world. So please tell the people of the world that before his death, the Emperor said he wanted to depose the Crown Prince and make me the heir, how about it?"
Nangong Ya and Lou Baili naturally would not agree, "The Great Liang's dynasty cannot be handed over to a traitor."
Yuwen Jin was not surprised by this, nodding as if seriously, "Both of you are benevolent, I'm sure when the blood flows like a river and the corpses pile up like mountains outside the Taiji Hall, you will change your mind."
Hearing Yuwen Jin say such things so casually, everyone's hearts sank.