Ten Thousand Books, But Only One You

Side Story: 02 Untold Stories Under a Vast and Magnificent Sky

Chapter 2: Untold Stories Under a Vast and Magnificent Sky

Something wet and icy slapped his face, causing Shi Ruijie to jolt wide awake with a loud gasp. Cold water streamed down the sides of his face and his neck, soaking his clothes. Opening his eyes, he found himself lying face-down on a wooden bench, staring at the blurry and spinning ground. As he attempted to get up, a sharp pain shot up his spine. He tried to reach behind to touch his back but found that his limbs were tied down to the bench with bloodied ropes.

"Stop struggling!" Someone shouted at him from behind. "You better behave when we untie you."

"Wh—where am I?" Shi Ruijie opened his mouth to protest but could only manage a hoarse whisper. His lips, mouth and throat were so parched that it hurt for him to speak or swallow. He had never experienced such intense thirst before in his life.

Two men dressed in traditional clothing came up beside him before unsheathing their swords and cutting through the thick ropes. Seeing his ropes come undone and falling to the ground, Shi Ruijie felt a spark of hope in his heart amidst the confusion. But that spark was quickly snuffed out and replaced with agony as the men roughly pulled him up to his feet before shackling his hands together with iron handcuffs.

Now that he was finally in an upright position, he was able to have a proper look at his dim surroundings which were lit up by fire torches on the wall. It did not take a genius to guess that he was in a prison dungeon. The two men who were in the cage with him were wearing the uniform of imperial guards—he had seen such outfits before in museums and history texts.

Feeling as if his brain was shrouded in thick fog, he could hardly make sense of his current situation. Did he stumble onto a drama set or had he somehow wandered into a book universe after unknowingly triggering the mechanism for entering into books?

"Walk!" ordered one of the guard who pushed him from behind, causing him to stumble forward weakly.

Shi Ruijie reached out to grab a metal pole which made up the boundary of his prison cell, his iron chains clanging loudly against metal. "Where are you taking me?" he croaked, but the guards ignored him.

As they led him out of the dungeon, several more guards followed behind him like an entourage. Shi Ruijie and his entourage began a walk of shame out of the prison walls, before passing through open spaces and down endless hallways. He quickly realised that he was not just in any ordinary prison. He was in the imperial prison, which was located within the imperial palace, in what appeared to be the Tang dynasty. The judgemental stares and looks that he received from the palace guards, eunuchs and maidservants who passed by him unsettled him; but what made him even more flustered was the state of confusion in his mind. No matter how hard he tried to recall, he did not know how he had ended up in such a state. In his head, he had some sort of memory that he had been at home, just carrying out his usual post-dinner leisure activities. But how he came to be in this predicament was unclear. There seemed to be another set of memories in his head, this one clearer and less surreal, but they did not belong to him.

In this second set of memories, his name was Li He. His royal title was Prince Yu. He was an imperial prince and the palace grounds he was passing through now in shame used to be his playground and home. In this second set of memories, how he came to be battered, bloodied and shackled in heavy iron chains was clear. He was the older brother of His Imperial Majesty, the current Emperor of Great Tang. After a long, power struggle, the younger brother whom he had wholeheartedly supported finally ascended the throne. Being a loyal official to his brother, Li He soon became the target of many in the Imperial Court who wanted to dethrone the current Emperor. Using his status as royalty, Li He had worked together with a group of friends from beyond the palace walls and helped many of the less fortunate members of society. As a result of their hard work to uphold social justice, Li He and his friends offended many evil and corrupted officials. This led to Li He being implicated in a plot by the corrupted and powerful ministers. He was falsely accused of murder, corruption and treason, leading to his present predicament. At this moment, he was being marched to an audience with His Imperial Majesty—who was going to pass the sentence in front of the entire imperial court.