Inside Shoukang Palace, the Grand Empress Dowager was still raging over Song Liang’s public rebuke at morning court when an attendant reported that someone from Zhaoyang Hall had brought something for her.
Assuming the young emperor had grown frightened and was seeking forgiveness, she sneered and ordered it brought in. Instead, the servants carried in a man with blood smeared across his face. Looking closer, she recognized Liu Xi, the seal-bearing eunuch of Zhaoyang Hall—the man she had assigned to watch the young emperor!
Her expression changed in shock. “What happened? Who did this!”
The steward eunuch responsible for bringing him answered courteously, “Grand Empress Dowager, this man not only defied His Majesty’s orders but openly questioned his identity, claiming he was neither Great Yao’s legitimate emperor nor a legitimate descendant of the Chen clan. His Majesty therefore administered a minor punishment.”
“Outrageous!”
The Grand Empress Dowager slammed the table and rose, her breathing growing heavy with anger.
“Liu Xi was a close attendant of the late emperor and is the seal-bearing eunuch of Zhaoyang Hall! How could he disrespect His Majesty? Someone must have falsely accused him! How could the emperor inflict such a severe punishment without investigating? Utterly outrageous!”
“Grand Empress Dowager, Eunuch Liu did indeed speak disrespectfully of His Majesty. I and the others at Zhaoyang Hall can all bear witness.”
“And what are you supposed to be?”
“This servant is Zhou An, newly appointed chief eunuch of Zhaoyang Hall. I previously served at the ancestral temple.”
As he spoke, Zhou An raised his head and smiled.
“I have visited Shoukang Palace before. Auntie Wang, who serves at your side, showed me the way. Perhaps you no longer remember me.”
Although the Grand Empress Dowager deliberately used the ancestral temple to frighten the young emperor, she would hardly remember its insignificant steward. Yet hearing Zhou An’s words, she immediately recalled that when the young emperor had volunteered for confinement, she had instructed her maid to make arrangements at the temple so that he would be properly “looked after.” The man responsible had later visited Shoukang Palace to report on his circumstances.
“…It was you?!”
She stared at him in furious astonishment. How could she fail to understand now? The young emperor had bought this man over long ago. Everything he had said about the emperor’s sincere repentance had naturally been a lie!
Seeing that she recognized him, Zhou An smiled faintly, ordered the servants to set Liu Xi down, and bowed.
“His Majesty said that a man should return to where he came from. Since this man repeatedly claimed to belong to you, His Majesty felt it inappropriate to take your place in deciding his fate. He has therefore sent him here for you to deal with.”
“This servant takes his leave.”
Leaving the half-dead Liu Xi behind, the party walked brazenly out of Shoukang Palace.
Inside, the Grand Empress Dowager swept the teacups and lids from her table in a rage. Fine celadon shattered across the floor. The terrified attendants dropped to their knees before Auntie Wang ordered them out of the hall.
“Very good. Very good indeed! Chen Min! So young, yet already unwilling to know his place. Learning tricks from storybooks and scheming against me! Has he forgotten how he came to sit on that throne?”
“Without me, he would be nothing but the descendant of an impoverished family in some wretched backwater. Now he dares to oppose—”
Her words abruptly stopped. She swayed and suddenly fell backward.
“Grand Empress Dowager!”
Alarmed, Auntie Wang rushed forward to support her.
“Please calm yourself! Your health must come first!”
With one hand braced on the table and the other supported by her maid, the Grand Empress Dowager closed her eyes and took a long while to recover. Seemingly calmer at last, she slowly opened her dark, hostile eyes and murmured coldly.
“I truly have grown old. Even a foolish little boy dares climb over my head.”
Auntie Wang hesitated. “His Majesty’s actions suggest he may have found someone to rely on.”
“Someone to rely on?” The Grand Empress Dowager sneered. “Those old ministers like Fan Yuan are loyal enough. Unfortunately, they consider themselves above factional politics. With neither power nor allies, how can they help the emperor?”
“As for Xie Yun and Yin Wei, one is a would-be usurper, the other a calculating old schemer. They merely intend to use the emperor against me. Only that fool would believe them and actually dare oppose me.”
“Who has grown so bold as to oppose you, Aunt?”
A clear male voice sounded from afar. Even before its owner appeared, his voice conveyed a spirited, rakish charm.
Auntie Wang looked up, stepped forward, and greeted him with a smile.
“The Marquis of Wuying is here.”
“Greetings, Auntie Wang.”
The young man wore a pale blue brocade robe and a jade belt. He was only about twenty, with straight, striking brows, bright eyes, and a tiny vermilion mole beneath one eye. His lips curved faintly, and his long, narrow eyes seemed perpetually on the verge of smiling, lending warmth to every glance. His every movement was graceful and carefree.
He was Qin Huaiyuan, Marquis of Wuying, the Grand Empress Dowager’s own nephew.
Seeing her nephew eased some of the anger from her face. She dismissed the attendants with a wave and asked, “Didn’t your father say you had gone traveling to further your studies? When did you return?”
“Yesterday. I meant to visit you then, but my friends dragged me off to a gathering. I only returned this morning. After hurriedly washing and changing, I came straight to see you.”
Qin Huaiyuan glanced at the broken porcelain on the floor and raised an eyebrow.
“Aunt, what is all this?”
The Grand Empress Dowager remained silent, her expression grim.
Auntie Wang explained what had just happened. Qin Huaiyuan looked surprised.
“I’ve only been away a few months, and the young emperor has become this bold? Has he found someone to back him?”
His doubts were understandable. On previous visits to Shoukang Palace, he had seen the young emperor several times. The boy had looked sallow and thin, standing before his aunt with his back bent and head lowered, not even daring to look up. If she raised her voice slightly, his face would turn white with fear, as though he might faint at any moment.
How could someone so timid dare punish his aunt’s servant and openly send him back to Shoukang Palace?
“More than that. At court today, he openly threatened me, telling me to stop interfering in his affairs or he would settle accounts with me once he assumed personal rule!”
“…”
Qin Huaiyuan was astonished. “Has the young emperor been possessed? How dare he treat you so disrespectfully? Isn’t he afraid you’ll depose him and take his life?”
“Who knows? Ever since returning from outside the palace, he has been like a different person. Even when confined to the ancestral temple to reflect, he managed to buy over the steward watching him,” the Grand Empress Dowager said irritably.
“A different person? Could someone have replaced him?”
“No. He still looks the same, just fairer and a little taller. At eighteen, that is possible enough. Where would anyone find someone so identical?”
“Fairer? Taller?” Qin Huaiyuan’s eyes lit up, and he licked the corner of his mouth. “So he’s grown more handsome?”
“…”
The Grand Empress Dowager glared at him. She had long heard that this nephew was a rake who pursued both men and women. She had thought he had changed. Instead, he had become even more outrageous, setting his sights on the young emperor himself.
Her glare brought Qin Huaiyuan to heel. He coughed lightly and changed the subject.
“He merely went out, saw something of the people’s hardships, and decided he carries the whole realm on his shoulders. Such is youthful arrogance. A lesson or two should suffice. If you truly wished to replace the emperor, those old ministers at court would likely refuse.”
The Grand Empress Dowager said nothing. This was precisely her concern. She was advanced in years, and though she controlled the Chief Military Commission, she had no children. Among the Qin clan, only this nephew, Qin Huaiyuan, showed much promise. He had even placed third in the imperial examinations a few years earlier. Unfortunately, he was far too dissolute and unruly. After accepting an idle position at the Ministry of Rites, he was forever running off somewhere. If she truly moved against the young emperor now, never mind Yin Wei—Xie Yun alone would certainly seize the chance to take the throne. She would find that difficult to handle.
Having reached a decision, she turned her next words into an admonition for her nephew.
“You are no longer a child, and you have amused yourself enough. Since you have returned, I will transfer you from the Ministry of Rites to the Chief Military Commission as an assistant commissioner. Gain experience for two years, then take over from your father.”
Qin Huaiyuan’s expression shifted slightly.
“I was previously only a fifth-rank official in an administrative bureau of the Ministry of Rites, with few real duties. Would the court not object to such a sudden appointment?”
“I have my ways.”
“And the young emperor—”
“No matter. I will make him come on his knees and beg my forgiveness.”
“Then I thank you in advance, Aunt.”
Qin Huaiyuan smiled as he spoke. Then his gaze fell on Liu Xi, lying nearby, his condition uncertain. Recalling what he had just heard about the young emperor stamping on a man until he vomited blood, Qin Huaiyuan found himself increasingly curious about the emperor whose temperament had changed so drastically in the few months since they last met.
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