Chapter 7
Chapter 7
The Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace.
Xie Jinyu had reached the same conclusion as Emperor Jian: whoever came in last must be an honest official from a poor family.
Docking half a year’s salary would only make the official’s hardship worse. Xie Jinyu sent someone to the storeroom for silver, planning to assist the official privately. To his surprise, the servant returned almost immediately, bringing Eunuch Zhao.
After hearing Eunuch Zhao deliver the verbal decree, Xie Jinyu nearly laughed from sheer anger.
Before he had even made it out his own gate, the blame had landed squarely on him. Everyone in the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace had lost half a year’s salary.
Father was punishing him, warning him that if he could not even outmaneuver a simple little trick from Second Brother, how could he balance the officials of the court and seek blessings for the people of the realm?
He had underestimated his opponent. He had never expected Second Brother to present him with such a generous gift. The man’s strange behavior today clearly had nothing to do with approaching death. He had only wanted to unsettle Xie Jinyu and make him lose his composure.
Second Brother knew perfectly well that Xie Jinyu could not bring himself to be ruthless with him.
Clenching his fist, Xie Jinyu smiled serenely, a touch of desolation entering his heart. “This son receives the decree.”
“Do not be anxious, Your Highness.” Eunuch Zhao smiled and flicked the horsetail whisk in his hand. The two young eunuchs behind him stepped forward carrying a presentation tray piled with memorials.
“His Highness the Second Prince said that His Majesty has labored for the country for many years and, as the precious body of the dragon, requires proper rest. As master of the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince should naturally lighten His Majesty’s burden. His Majesty strongly agreed. These memorials will therefore be handed to Your Highness for processing.”
Xie Jinyu froze.
When he recovered, he could not help raising his head to inspect the sky.
Eunuch Zhao teased with a smile, “Your Highness, the morning sun did not rise in the west today.”
Since the sun had not risen in the west, why would Second Brother be kind enough to let Xie Jinyu review memorials for His Majesty instead of volunteering to share Father’s burden himself?!
Was he digging a trap so he could later slander Xie Jinyu for trying to carve off a portion of Father’s sovereign authority…?
“These…” Xie Jinyu glanced warily at the memorials.
“Your Highness need not worry. They are merely unimportant memorials,” Eunuch Zhao said with a smile.
Of course, several rather important memorials had been slipped in among them. The Crown Prince was now the proper age to begin handling state papers and sharing the burdens of sovereign and country.
Only then did Xie Jinyu accept them. After seeing Eunuch Zhao off, he could not help looking in the direction of Chenghuan Hall.
Second Brother… what was he truly trying to do?
Meanwhile, in Chenghuan Hall, Xie Chengze snickered without end at the thought of the Crown Prince suffering a setback and being forced to work without pay.
He removed his shoes and climbed onto the small jade daybed set inside the pavilion for enjoying the view. Resting his jade-white feet on the soft cushion at the end, he collapsed across the bed like a salted fish.
Lying flat felt wonderful.
Sleeping felt wonderful.
The lazy little cat curled up on the bed and dozed for a while. Before long, however, he began turning onto his left side, then his right, repeating the motion several times before finally sitting up.
He called out, “Someone! Tell the keeper of the storeroom to bring me the treasure register!”
Before long, the storeroom keeper hurried over and presented an account book. The three large characters *Treasure Register* were emblazoned across its cover.
Xie Chengze leafed through the register.
Emperor Jian had doted greatly on Noble Consort Hua. Fine goods from every region arrived at Chenghuan Hall in heaps and batches. After Noble Consort Hua died of illness, Emperor Jian transferred that imperial favor to the original Xie Chengze and sent gifts in twice the quantity, making the consorts in the other palaces gnash their teeth with envy.
This treasure register recorded every precious item Emperor Jian had bestowed over the years. The emperor had even declared them Xie Chengze’s private property, to dispose of however he wished.
After transmigrating here, Xie Chengze had inherited the original’s memories. His childhood recollections had blurred considerably and were almost gone, but everything after the age of nine remained perfectly clear.
He remembered that Consort Rou of Yufu Palace had taken a fancy to the Cloud-Woven Brocade and Azure Sea Pearl kept in Chenghuan Hall. Unfortunately, the original had been a gluttonous beast who only took and never gave. No matter how sweetly Consort Rou spoke or how many times she asked, she never obtained them.
He also remembered that although Consort Rou’s family was not particularly prominent, her elder brother Jiang Henan was a renowned imperial merchant from Jiangnan. Jiang Henan doted on his sister and feared she might be bullied in the palace, so every year he secretly sent her a great deal of silver with which to smooth relations among the palace servants…
“Come here.” Xie Chengze beckoned to the storeroom keeper.
The keeper hurried forward. Xie Chengze whispered several instructions into the keeper’s ear. The storeroom keeper was greatly surprised, but did not dare ask why and immediately withdrew to carry out the order.
Xie Chengze glanced at the treasure register as it receded into the distance.
Whatever he was contemplating, his lips suddenly curved into a smile.
He hoped the Ministry of Revenue would enjoy this “generous gift.”
With the matter off his mind, Xie Chengze finally flopped back onto the little jade daybed. He rolled himself up snugly in a small Persian blanket and soon drifted into sleep with narrowed eyes.
–
Without court to attend, Xie Chengze’s days were simply delightful.
Every day, he stayed tucked away in Chenghuan Hall, sprawled on his little jade daybed while reading storybooks and other diversions. As the reigning emperor’s most favored son, he also enjoyed the finest food, clothing, and daily necessities in the palace. Even the lychees and grapes he ate were rushed by fast horse from distant Lingnan and Tubo, delivered first to the emperor and then to Chenghuan Hall.
Not only that, the original had privately maintained a good number of death-sworn guards, each one fiercely loyal. In particular, his two personal guards and martial experts, Wuhen and Wuji, had done a great many unspeakably filthy deeds for him in the original novel.
The original might not have been clever, but he had been greedy for life and terrified of death. As a result, his armed protection was immensely powerful. Even Xie Chengze had to admit that on this point, the original had been right.
Still, when Xie Chengze glanced at the jade daybed and saw Wuhen peeling lychees by hand on one side and Wuji shaving grapes with a knife on the other, he guiltily shifted his gaze away.
*Sorry, original. Now that your men follow me, their talents seem rather wasted.*
“Your Highness.” Wuhen finished peeling the lychees and offered the crystal-glass dish to Xie Chengze.
Wuhen was handsome and heroic, with a sharply sculpted severity about him. His swordlike brows slanted like blades above thin lips pressed lightly together. His voice was cool and distant, turning his handsome face as icy as a block of frozen stone and giving him an intimidating chill.
His most distinctive feature was the strip of black silk that remained tied over his sword-sharp eyes year-round. He excelled at locating and killing by sound. In the original novel, Shen Yuan and many others believed him blind. To eliminate Wuhen, Shen Yuan devised a way to deafen him, never realizing that Wuhen’s eyes worked perfectly well. As a result, the original Xie Chengze, already caught between life and death, broke through an encirclement of a hundred men and escaped by sheer luck.
Xie Chengze turned again to look at Wuji.
By comparison, Wuji had much finer, more delicate features. His gentle, elegant air of a scholar made him look nothing like a martial artist and far more like a strategist. He rarely acted, and his lightness skill was superb. Usually, he drew his sword only when an entire family had to be silenced, killing invisibly in the darkness and leaving no trace.
Xie Chengze could not understand what sort of life-saving favor could make two such formidable, handsome men remain loyal without complaint even when the original exploited them. They had devoted themselves completely to his struggle for the throne, only to meet wretched, violent deaths in the end.
Xie Chengze felt it had been terribly unfair to them. Fortunately, things were different now. He had no intention of seizing the throne, so the two men could stay far away from such dirty work and join him in enjoying quiet, pleasant days.
Xie Chengze accepted the glass dish from Wuhen. His gaze fell on the peeled lychee flesh stacked in a perfect pyramid, and he paused before taking the top piece between his lips.
Wuhen and Wuji turned their heads at the same time. One man’s gaze flickered; the other’s ear twitched.
Chewing the fruit, Xie Chengze studied Wuhen without appearing to and asked as if casually, “Wuhen, aren’t you curious why this prince did not attend court today?”
For a worker chosen by Heaven itself to skip court without sickness or disaster was at least a little suspicious. Xie Chengze wanted to test whether Wuhen and Wuji had sensed that anything was amiss.
Wuhen lowered his gaze. Half kneeling before the jade daybed, he shook his head and answered in a voice so flat it betrayed no emotion. “Your Highness may do whatever Your Highness wishes.”
Xie Chengze looked at him in surprise. He could not help remembering a scene in *The Powerful Minister*. The original had once plotted the murder of a loyal court official to sever one of Shen Yuan’s strongest supports. In his pride, the original had asked Wuhen whether he was cruel and ruthless. Wuhen’s answer then had also been, “Your Highness may do whatever Your Highness wishes.”
What kind of life-saving favor could drive a man’s moral limits this low? Even his ordinary sense of right and wrong had been eaten away!
The book never explained it, and Xie Chengze could hardly ask. He could only say glumly, “You really do spoil me.”
Wuhen raised his head and tilted it slightly, revealing a trace of blank confusion.
At the side, Wuji also offered his crystal dish and said with a beaming smile, “Your Highness~ This block of ice may not be curious, but this subordinate is!”
Unlike Wuhen’s neatly arranged lychees with their faint air of compulsion, the crystal grapes on Wuji’s dish were scattered in complete disorder. Worse, chunks had been shaved from one side and then another. On closer inspection, they resembled limbless human torsos with tiny remnants of arms and legs, while pale juice ran across the blood-red dish beneath them.
Xie Chengze could not help exclaiming, “That’s badass.”
Using a long saber to peel grapes was one thing. Making them this ugly and bloody was another.
Holding the dish in both hands, Wuji’s peach-blossom eyes filled with mild confusion. “Your Highness, what does *badass* mean?”
Xie Chengze said, “Uh, it means you’re one of a kind.”
Wuji said, “Oh~ Then Your Highness is badass too~”
Xie Chengze: …
*No, I am not. You are.*
Once he confirmed that Wuhen and Wuji were simply two diehard fanboys, Xie Chengze finally relaxed enough to embrace his idleness. He became a parasite living off the palace with complete self-righteousness.
He told Wuji, “This prince just suddenly realized that being emperor would be rather pointless. You rise before dawn and work until dark every day. It makes you go bald and gives you wrinkles.”
He touched his face, looking thoroughly frightened. “When this prince woke up this morning and looked in the bronze mirror, I discovered an extra wrinkle! That was when this prince suddenly understood that my beauty matters far more than the throne ever could!”
Wuji examined Xie Chengze’s face with great care and found no new wrinkle anywhere.
“Your Highness worries too much,” Wuji said earnestly. “Even when Your Highness grows old, you will still be the most beautiful old man under heaven.”
Xie Chengze: …
*Wow. You really know how to charm a man.*
“Your Highness.” Wuji lifted the crystal dish, his gaze urging. “Eat the grapes.”
Xie Chengze looked at those limbless grape-men and found it difficult to reach out. But Wuji’s gaze was far too expectant. Just as Xie Chengze finally steeled himself and extended his hand, a guard hurried in through the doorway. “Your Highness, many officials have arrived outside with piles of gifts. They say they have come to visit you in your illness!”