SEHE Chapter 158.1

Main Story Conclusion (1)

A squad of Northern Yamen Imperial Guards surrounded the Cui Mansion, smashing open the vermilion-lacquered gates, cutting down everyone they encountered regardless of master or servant.

The entire compound instantly erupted with heartrending screams.

Those who managed to flee through the gates were met with cold flashing blades and musket fire, utterly powerless to fight back.

Wails of agony continued to ring out across many parts of Anjing City.

The Peng Mansion, the Grand Princess’s Mansion, the Xue Mansion, the Left Prime Minister’s Mansion, the Jian Mansion, the Regent Prince’s Mansion — all descended into chaos in an instant, blood flowing like rivers in the blink of an eye.

He had obtained his justification tonight to eliminate the faction of the Regent Prince.

At the same moment, after Pei Yanci issued his orders, he was supported by Gu Wanchong and limped toward Gu Yisui’s bedchamber.

“Tangxi, go and check whether Wushu is truly inside the palace.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Pei Yanci let out a soft cry as he was swept up sideways into someone’s arms.

“This is faster.” The Prince of Qi explained with slight awkwardness, afraid he might refuse. “There is still much to be done tonight — we cannot waste time.”

That was all well and true, yet Pei Yanci glanced uneasily over Gu Wanchong’s shoulder at Tangxi Zhui.

Tangxi Zhui’s expression remained unchanged. “Wherever the little one is, I’ll bring her back.”

“As for His Majesty’s side…”

“Do you wish me to go over there later?” Tangxi Zhui’s eyes darkened.

Gu Wanchong said brightly, “Chief Overseer, please return to your residence for now. Tonight may be rather chaotic — there is no need to trouble yourself further. Another day, this prince and Pei Daren will personally come bearing generous gifts to thank the Chief Overseer for his aid in today’s rescue.”

These words made the hair on Pei Yanci’s back stand on end. He hastily propped his head up. “He’s a blunt soldier — he doesn’t quite know how to speak.”

“Hiss… why are you pinching my flesh?” Gu Wanchong wore a look of innocent bewilderment, then protested indignantly. “I am not a blunt soldier.”

He was born of a distinguished family, after all — calligraphy and literary arts came easily to him, his writing no inferior to any civil official’s, and he was even more versed in military strategy and tactics than they were.

“Either keep walking or put me down and let someone else help me.” Pei Yanci said irritably, rapping his arm.

Gu Wanchong hoisted him up and tossed him into the air, catching him steadily again amid Pei Yanci’s startled cry, then laughed heartily and carried him off toward the imperial bedchamber.

Tangxi Zhui watched the slender pale arms looped around that tawny neck, and his gaze dimmed.

Soon. It would be soon.

The Xuanwei Palace was vast, but Gu Wanchong was tall with long strides and quickly crossed from the outer court to the inner palace. They had barely passed through a moon gate when several soldiers of the Imperial Guard came rushing out. “General — this is bad! General Peng has led the Southern Yamen’s Imperial Guards charging in through the palace gates!”

“Peng Chulang?!” Gu Wanchong exclaimed in alarm. Thinking it over, he realized that indeed, this man had been nowhere to be seen tonight.

He ordered the four soldiers who had come to report to remain with Pei Yanci and protect him. “Find somewhere to hide for now. I’ll go rally my men to meet the enemy.”

“Understood.”

Earlier, they had dispatched a large contingent to go and cut down the followers of Gu Jiuqing’s faction. The Northern Yamen Imperial Guards remaining inside the palace was now sparse.

Pei Yanci led his people, avoiding the palace eunuchs and maids along the way, and arrived at the imperial bedchamber without obstruction — only to find a group of Imperial Guards had completely encircled the place, not even a fly could pass through.

A quarter of an hour earlier, Gu Yisui had been carried moaning and wailing by palace maids and eunuchs onto the dragon bed.

The imperial physicians had long been waiting. One of them carefully cut open his dragon robe, sweat streaming down his face. “Your Majesty, please stop struggling — this subject must staunch the bleeding.”

These words only provoked another torrent of curses from Gu Yisui, and the physician was at a complete loss.

While a crowd of attendants pleaded and coaxed, a commotion and cries erupted outside the hall — and then Gu Yuejian walked in with graceful, swaying steps.

“Imperial Elder Sister — why are you here?” Gu Yisui was startled for a moment, then became guarded.

Under ordinary circumstances he would not have thought much of it, but having just gone through what had happened with Gu Jiuqing tonight, his instincts made him tense.

Yet he also thought this was entirely unnecessary.

“Hearing that His Majesty was injured by mistake during Fourth Imperial Brother’s treasonous rebellion, this princess came specifically to look in on him. How is the imperial body? Is it serious?”

Gu Yuejian’s voice was melodious and sweet, gentle enough to drown a person in it. Gu Yisui’s chest full of grievances suddenly found an outlet, and he immediately burst into tears, railing tearfully against Gu Jiuqing’s inhumanity.

“He said he was executing treacherous villains, but in truth he was trying to kill Zhen! Wuwuwuwu… In Zhen’s view, Fourth Imperial Brother never had good intentions — he wanted to use the pretext of killing those two traitors to kill Zhen, then pin the blame on them.”

What a wretched and dangerous thing it was to be this emperor.

“They all say His Majesty is foolish, yet in this princess’s view, you are quite clever indeed,” said Gu Yuejian.

“What do you mean by that…” His pupils slowly contracted. “You — you…”

The assassin disguised as a lady’s maid beside Gu Yuejian withdrew a dagger from the imperial physician’s body, and in an instant the entire room held only three living people.

How had he forgotten — Gu Yuejian had always wanted to place Gu Jiuqing on the throne.

“Imperial Elder Sister, you cannot do this. Zhen is the Emperor — the Son of Heaven. This is treason!” Gu Yisui forgot the pain in his shoulder and pressed himself further and further toward the back of the bed.

“Zhen — I — I will abdicate right now in favor of Fourth Imperial Brother. Don’t kill me, please, Imperial Elder Sister. Wuwuwuwu, I never wanted to contest the throne with Fourth Imperial Brother…”

“His Majesty may not yet know — Fourth Imperial Brother is already dead.” Gu Yuejian’s tender lips spoke the most merciless words. “Dead at Pei Yanci’s hands. What a shame His Majesty could not witness the scene of blood and carnage between the two sides just now.”

“Since he is dead, then why do you still—” Gu Yisui watched the assassin closing in on him, too panicked for his words to come out coherently.

“What is wrong with you men? Every one of you always excludes women from the contest for imperial power.”

Gu Yisui stared blankly.

Gu Yuejian rose from the bedside and looked down at his cowardly and feeble appearance, a flash of contempt crossing her phoenix eyes.

“Someone like you can sit upon that throne, yet why cannot this princess? Simply because this princess is a woman? Compared to you, this princess is superior by a thousandfold.”

“Even if you take the throne, no one will support you!” Gu Yisui said.

“Are you so certain?” Gu Yuejian smiled beguilingly. “And how fitting — because this princess is a woman, not one of you ever took this princess seriously. Wishing to make a few arrangements right under your noses was simplicity itself.”

Even Gu Jiuqing, when he’d grown suspicious of her intentions, had thought the solution was to marry her off.

“No — they won’t listen to you,” Gu Yisui refused to believe it.

“Never underestimate the power of a woman’s charm.” Gu Yuejian had no patience to waste more words on him, and gave her subordinate a look.

The female assassin leapt onto the bed, closed the distance in a few steps, seized Gu Yisui by the collar, and ignoring his struggling, screaming, and flailing fists and feet, raised the dagger and drove it down.

“Don’t move!” A clear and sharp cry rang out.

Both figures on the bed froze.

A young girl in a chestnut-yellow round-patterned auspicious-cloud chest-high ruqun stood behind Gu Yuejian, a dagger in hand, pressed against her throat.

“Wushu?!” Gu Yisui’s fortunes reversed from despair, and he burst into tears.

The assassin hesitated and looked toward her mistress. “My lady?”

“Do not act yet,” Gu Yuejian said calmly. “Little girl, whose person are you? This princess can let you go — put down the knife.”

“Have her drop her blade first,” Wushu said coolly. She gestured to Gu Yisui. “Your Majesty — come here.”

Gu Yisui scrambled down from the dragon bed in a flurry and followed close behind her, gazing at her with eyes full of admiration.

Wushu held her captive and retreated slowly out of the hall. The people waiting outside saw this scene and wanted to step forward to stop them but dared not.

“Where is my big brother?” she asked Gu Yuejian.

Gu Yisui hurriedly said, “This woman caused your big brother great harm — just now she…”

“Who said you could call him ‘our big brother’?” Wushu cut in. “We’ll settle accounts with you later for colluding with Gu Jiuqing to harm my big brother.”

There was not a single decent person in this entire palace.

Gu Yisui did not dare make a sound.

“Imperial Brother, this princess is your own elder sister,” Gu Yuejian’s throat choked with sorrow, tears pooling in her eyes as she tried to move him. “When all is said and done, we are family. This girl and Pei Yanci are of the same party — they are traitors seeking to usurp the Gu family’s rivers and mountains.”

“Does Zhen still believe you?” Gu Yisui said furiously.

This woman changed her colors too readily.

“No matter how fiercely we quarrel among ourselves, that is an internal matter for the Gu family. But if she and Pei Yanci standing behind her kill this princess, the next target will certainly be you. Be clear-headed! Do not become the last emperor of the Gu family and bear the infamy of ten thousand generations.”

“Silence!” Wushu tightened her hold, and in an instant a fresh line of blood appeared where the blade pressed against Gu Yuejian’s throat. Gu Yuejian felt warm liquid trickling down her neck, and real alarm finally flickered through her eyes.

“If you kill this princess, neither you nor Pei Yanci will leave this palace alive tonight!” Gu Yuejian’s phoenix brows arched in fury.

“I may not be able to kill you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make you wish you were dead.” Wushu’s expression sharpened. “Have them all withdraw!”

Gu Yuejian was filled with unwillingness. She had spent so much effort cultivating connections in all directions, planting people she had recruited into the centers of power, and using Gu Jiuqing’s name to bring Peng Chulang into her orbit — half seducing him, half coercing him, bending the man to her will. When Gu Jiuqing summoned Peng to move troops that very night, she had known her moment had come.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind — if Gu Jiuqing won, the next to die would be her; if Gu Jiuqing died, the next to die would be Pei Yanci and Gu Yisui.

Once this night was over, she would have preserved the Gu dynasty’s rivers and mountains from falling into a treacherous minister’s hands. On the strength of that glory and merit, combined with the pieces she had already set in place within the court to stir support — what was to stop her from becoming the founding empress of a new era?

And yet every last part of her plan had been ruined by this little girl with peach fuzz still on her face.

“All of you — withdraw!” Gu Yuejian cried out in grief and fury.

The soldiers and eunuchs outside the hall retreated in all directions.

Gu Yisui followed step by step behind her, his eyes full of worry.

Had Wushu not fallen ill with a chill today and run a fever, he would not have kept her in the palace and had the imperial physicians watch over her.

Her breathing had grown rapid — she could feel herself burning with fever, her body scorching hot.

The moment the cool night wind hit her as they stepped outside, her head swam all the more dizzily.

She had learned of the commotion outside and sprinted all the way to Gu Yisui’s chambers hoping to demand some answers — she had swallowed a belly full of cold wind along the way and had long since felt on the verge of fainting.

Gu Yuejian quickly noticed the rapid breathing of the person behind her and the gradually weakening grip.

Her phoenix eyes shifted, and she cast a meaningful glance at the assassin who had been following nearby.

The assassin gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Wushu blinked hard, fighting to keep herself alert. As they withdrew from the encirclement, her sweat-soaked hand shifted slightly — she was just about to tighten her grip on the dagger again when a sharp pain shot through her elbow and the blade clattered to the ground.

At that very moment, the assassin lunged forward, delivering a brutal kick to Wushu and pulling Gu Yuejian back to safety.

Gu Yisui let out a startled cry — and then watched as the Imperial Guards came charging in from behind.

A sword swept out, deflecting the foremost attackers. Pei Yanci grabbed Wushu and ran.

Gu Yisui froze for a beat, then scrambled after them.

“After them — quickly!” Gu Yuejian wiped the blood from her throat, incensed beyond all measure.

“Big Brother…” Wushu called out, weak and overjoyed all at once.

“Don’t speak.” Pei Yanci said. “In here — hide.”

That voice, entirely devoid of tenderness, was at this moment more beautiful than anything she’d ever heard.

All three of them squeezed into the narrow confines of an artificial rockery and waited for a squad of the Southern Yamen’s Imperial Guards to pass before emerging.

Gu Yisui may not have known much else, but he was well acquainted with all the odd nooks and crannies scattered throughout the imperial palace. He led them crawling through a dog hole at one of the cold palaces, and they slipped out of the palace grounds.

“Where do we go now?”

“You two wait for me at the North Gate — Wuli is on watch duty there tonight. I’ll go find Wang Lingche first, and we’ll regroup with you in an hour.”

Deep in the night, Pei Yanci found Wang Lingche, gave him a rough account of the situation, and then followed him to the Dali Temple prison, where he had Qi Lan brought out.

“The sky is about to change, Brother Zhaohui — take care.” Pei Yanci urged. “The Wang family has stood on the right side this time.”

Wang Lingche’s gaze stirred faintly. “Take care of yourself.”

Pei Yanci nodded and took his leave.

“That one isn’t another one of your lovers, is he? Quite the presentable look about him,” Qi Lan drawled with a smirk — and the words had barely left his mouth before a set of knuckles rapped his head.

He let out an impatient hiss, then was hauled up onto a horse.

The wind screamed past their ears as Qi Lan sat behind Pei Yanci, his bound wrists clamped in iron shackles, his chin resting on his shoulder. “Disturbing a man’s sleep in the dead of night is the kind of thing that gets you struck by heavenly thunder, you know. What did you drag me out here for?”

“You’ll know soon enough.” Pei Yanci shrugged, trying to dislodge him.

“Petty.” Qi Lan’s cheeks were going stiff in the whipping wind. He deliberately burrowed his face into the other’s collar — rough, weathered skin pressed against pale, warm softness — and he felt an unexpected reaction stir within him.

This was… he shifted back slightly.

It must be because he’d been locked up in that cell for too long.

Qi Lan sat up straight and rubbed his nose with some embarrassment. The moment he moved, a hand reached back, grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him forward.

“Don’t even think about escaping.” Pei Yanci shot him a warning glare over his shoulder — then seemed to register something, and stiffened for a moment.

Qi Lan spread his hands in a helpless expression and raised an eyebrow at him in a teasing arch.

“Lecherous scoundrel.” Pei Yanci released him and turned back to the road.

“Hey.” Qi Lan pressed closer, chest flush against his back, drawing a flustered squirm from Pei Yanci.

“Too close and you’re not happy; at arm’s length you’re still not happy. You’re impossibly difficult to please.”

“Move again and I’ll cut off what’s hanging between your legs — you won’t be needing it where we’re going anyway.”

Only then did Qi Lan dare rein himself in a fraction. “Then tell me what you dragged me out here for. Is it because of my mother? What’s happened to my mother — has she started a rebellion?”

“Mm.”

Qi Lan was not the least bit surprised. “Using me to threaten her won’t work.”

“Won’t know until we try.” Pei Yanci said. “You rode a thousand li to Anjing City for her sake — she can’t be so heartless.”

“What if I told you I came here for you? You’d end up being used as a hostage by your own closest kin, put in front of an army to stop them — would you be moved?” Qi Lan laughed mockingly. “Besides, I put an arrow through her.”

“Not dying counts as intentional. Sit still.”

Pei Yanci reached back and hauled the man, who had been slumping lazily to one side, back upright.

“That’s hardly my fault — you’ve got my hands bound and you won’t let me lean on you.”

Pei Yanci stared ahead and reached back to pull him in again. Ahead, an ambush of mounted soldiers appeared out of nowhere. He moved to avoid them — his wrist snapped taut, caught by the shackles.

Then he saw Qi Lan flash him a grin, and the next instant the man pitched off the side of the horse entirely.

“Madman!”

Pei Yanci struggled and nearly took a hoof to the face. By the narrowest of margins he avoided it, tumbling to the ground together with Qi Lan.

He hit the ground in full, wincing and baring his teeth in pain. Amid the ringing in his ears he heard Qi Lan shout at the top of his lungs. “Over here — I am the son of your Grand Princess!”

A squad of soldiers went thundering past. The commanding officer at the head heard the shout and looked back — and saw nothing there.

“Move out.”

The officer circled in place for a moment, then spurred his horse onward toward the imperial palace.

In the narrow alley, Qi Lan shook off the hands of Gu Yisui and Wushu and walked out of the shadows, falling in behind the departing troop. Pei Yanci was too astonished to give chase.

“That’s not the Southern Yamen’s Imperial Guards?!”

“Where did these people come from?”

Gu Yisui said, “They came from outside the city.”

“Outside the city?” Pei Yanci’s mind went blank for a moment. “A vassal prince’s men?!”

Gu Yisui’s complexion instantly drained to a deathly pallor.

By now, dawn was not far off.

“Where is Tangxi Zhui?” Pei Yanci thought of someone.

He had gone to find Wushu — yet Wushu was here with them now.

Then where was he?

“Get out of the city — quickly! For a vassal prince’s soldiers to arrive this fast, they must have been secretly stationed near the city long before tonight. They knew of this already, and had treacherous intentions long in advance.” He urged them on in a rush. “After daybreak they’ll certainly hold the gates and permit no one in or out. By then we’ll be trapped here to die.”

“Move.” Gu Yisui felt a creeping chill at the back of his neck.

The two of them reached the city’s North Gate. Wushu blew a few short blasts on the whistle hanging around her neck. Shortly afterward, a plump figure materialized, skulking and furtive, and signaled upward with a gesture.

With several men working together in concert, after a moment the massive city gate creaked open just enough for one person to pass through at a time.

Wuli had used up a lifetime’s store of courage in a single night. He whispered urgently, “Chief is drunk — our brothers got him liquored up good. He can’t hear what’s going on over here for the time being. Go, quickly. We’re almost due to change shift.”

“May fate bring us together again.” Pei Yanci clasped his hands in farewell, and led the others away.

Just as the gate was about to close again, a massive army appeared outside the city.

The two sides were moments away from running headlong into each other. Pei Yanci hurriedly retreated back inside.

Wuli was visibly panicking. “What do we do? Closing the gate now is already too late.”

As it was, opening the city gate without authorization was already a capital offense — and then, as ill luck would have it, he had walked straight into the middle of a coup.

If his superior came to him afterward asking questions, ten heads wouldn’t be enough to lose.

“Open the gate wider and take the initiative. From this point on, you’re the vassal prince’s man.” Pei Yanci said.

“What?” Wuli was dumbstruck.

Wushu patted his arm, looked at his blank expression, and said with resignation, “There’s no time to explain — hurry and lead the way for your new master.”

Wuli and his brothers exchanged bewildered looks. Pei Yanci and the other two had already turned and run back into the city.

They hadn’t gotten far when they came face to face with Qi Lan, who had gone off chasing after that troop earlier.

His eyes were brimming with tears. He and Pei Yanci both stopped short.

“I still have a private residence in the capital.” Qi Lan said, his voice hoarse.

The four of them said nothing more, and slipped away through the shadows.

The eastern sky began to lighten with the pale blush of fish-belly gray. The morning drums sounded in succession, muffled and heavy.

Pei Yanci and the others blended into the crowds pouring out of the wards and made their way to Qi Lan’s private residence.

Outside, squads of soldiers began marching past, the clank of armor steady and solemn.

All four of them had been on the move for nearly an entire night — Pei Yanci most of all, having fought through the first half of it and spent the second half fleeing and hiding. The wounds large and small covering his body had stained his clothes beyond recognition of their original color.

Wushu bandaged his wounds while weeping softly, which made Gu Yisui feel wretched to listen to. He disguised himself and went out to gather information.

Qi Lan fetched a basin of water, retrieved a plain set of rough cloth clothing from the servants’ quarters, and sat silently at the nearby table.

The residence had only a steward and his wife, who ordinarily swept and tidied, keeping the courtyard and rooms in reasonable order.

The steward’s wife brought out a steaming hot meal, then hurried off again.

Pei Yanci had not slept all night, but his spirit was still surprisingly clear. He sat down at the table and began eating heartily.

“What’s the next step?” Qi Lan ate a few bites and set down his chopsticks.

“Wait and see how things develop first.” Pei Yanci said. “What happened last night — why did you come back?”

“I heard word that those vassal princes had captured my mother.” Qi Lan’s hands tightened on the tabletop. “I need to save her.”

Wushu rolled her eyes. “You’ve been locked up in that prison for a month or two, and not once has the Grand Princess said a word to His Majesty on your behalf.”

“People have their own sense of loyalty and love — we should give him the chance to be a filial son,” Pei Yanci said with a smile.

Wushu burst out laughing.

“You two don’t understand.” Qi Lan sat there, face stormy — then found an extra pair of chopsticks’ worth of meat in his bowl.

Pei Yanci said, “Eat your fill — you’ll need the strength to save your mother.”

“The cook here has real skill,” Wushu said. “Big Brother Qi, eat more. This is your own home — why stand on ceremony? Did a whole night of anxiety and fear not give you an appetite?”

“I have no appetite.” Qi Lan said. “You’d have done better not to release me privately. I would have just acted as if I knew nothing about any of it.”

“Who knew the two of you — mother and son — would both be so useless, neither one able to hold out until I could use you as a bargaining chip against her.” Pei Yanci said acerbically.

“Stop worrying over that old witch and just eat and sleep.” Wushu said. “By my analysis, those vassal princes didn’t kill your mother on the spot — which means they have use for her, and she is in no immediate danger of losing her life.”

“Look at you — you’re actually starting to analyze the political situation now.” Pei Yanci said admiringly.

Wushu tipped her chin up with pride.

“It isn’t your mother who’s imprisoned — of course you’re at ease.” Qi Lan said coldly.

“Even if it were me who was locked up, I wouldn’t be afraid. With my big brother here, everything will work out perfectly.” Wushu thumped her chest in confidence.

Pei Yanci smiled. “Enough — stop provoking him and eat.”

Wushu made a face at Qi Lan and resumed eating with great enthusiasm.

“Two gluttons.” Qi Lan said without rancor, scooping the food in his bowl into his mouth, and gazed at Pei Yanci’s perpetually calm and composed expression. It suddenly occurred to him: those vassal princes had wanted Pei Yanci’s life as well last night. Trapped here inside Anjing City, wasn’t he just waiting to be found sooner or later?

This man appeared to be around his own age — yet was he not afraid at all?

He didn’t know why, but as he watched him, his own anxious tension began to ease.

Just as Wushu had said — it was as though with him here, everything could be resolved.

After breakfast, Qi Lan called out to him. “Hey. You were still full of fighting spirit a moment ago — why have you gone so glum all of a sudden? Don’t tell me you’ve only just now, belatedly, realized that your dream of sitting on the throne has reached its end.”

“Would you like to go have some tea?” Pei Yanci asked.

“We just finished breakfast. Do you realize you’re currently the man accused of murdering the Emperor and the Regent Prince?”

His words had barely landed when Qi Lan stumbled — his wrist caught by Pei Yanci’s grip, pulling him along.

“Pei Yanci — if you ever show your face in Great Xi one day, just wait to be dismembered by five horses! Slow down — are you in a rush to reincarnate or something…”

Qi Lan cursed and complained through the process of disguising himself, then followed him out the door.

Pei Yanci went first to look in on the theater — it was closed for the day.

He went instead to the largest teahouse in Anjing City, the place where information flowed most freely. No need for deliberate inquiries; one simply had to sit down, order two pots of tea and three or five small dishes, and all the news that the common folk had gathered in a morning’s time came pouring out over their cups.

“This Pei Yanci doesn’t look like a great villain to me. The operas used to say he was a great loyal minister who cut down the wicked and eliminated the treacherous.”

“Anyone who could rescue that arch-villain from the Elu Bureau can’t be any kind of good man.”

“Birds of a feather, both in cahoots together! And now he’s got ambitions to seize the throne on top of it all — how hard are we ordinary folk going to suffer if he takes power?”

“And will things be any better with those princes in charge? Best to just stay home for now — who knows when those people up top will start fighting each other again.”

“…”

“Hey — Pei Yanci — what are you thinking about?” Qi Lan blew a puff of breath at his face, carrying with it the light fragrance of tea.

Pei Yanci came back to himself. “Where were we?”

“Making Great Yu ungovernable forever — that’s the chief eunuch’s purpose.”

“Yes.”

“Is he perhaps a spy sent by Great Xi into Great Yu?”

“Have you thought about commissioning a script from Mingyou Theater?”

Really, the imagination on this man.

“The current situation favors me.” Qi Lan stroked his chin. “Do you want to come back to Great Xi with me?”

“Is there still a place for you in Great Xi?”

“Harder than last time — but if I fight for it, there may still be something.”

“Then I’ll just have to kill you first.”

Qi Lan studied his placid, untroubled face — as though he were discussing the life or death of a chicken or a duck — and his expression darkened a little. He stretched out a languid yawn.

“Let’s go home.”

They stayed in the private residence for five or six days. Every day, soldiers came to knock on the door, conducted a routine check, and then left.

Pei Yanci went to the teahouse every day to learn the latest developments, and came to understand quite a few shifts within the court.

For instance, the Elu Bureau’s reach being what it was, many rumors about Pei Yanci and Tangxi Zhui’s dealings had been suppressed — but this only served to confirm the rumors in people’s minds. Scandalous tales of this kind were the most irresistible entertainment, and the more they were suppressed, the wilder they spread. The current version had already evolved into Pei Yanci cross-dressing as Gu Yuejian and carrying on shamelessly with Tangxi Zhui in broad daylight within the palace, neglecting all affairs of state.

Which in turn gave rise to a second piece of news: those three or four vassal princes had indeed begun to move against each other, each sharpening his weapons and jockeying under the surface. The common people below were suffering terribly — conscription soldiers were everywhere, as though preparations for open war were already underway.

The whole of Great Yu’s situation had grown tense.

The common people were full of resentment but dared not speak.

Court officials gritted their teeth and endured as the vassal princes created havoc. They too could see that Great Yu was about to descend into complete chaos, yet were powerless to do anything. The few officials of integrity had already died by their own hands when the vassal princes first led troops into the capital.

One morning, Wuli came to their door with a tip-off, saying that they would be making their move that evening, that Anjing City would certainly be thrown into turmoil, and urging the group in the strongest terms to barricade the doors with tables and wardrobes.

The steward and his wife were frightened and unsettled.