Qi Yunzhang stayed up all night preparing the herbal sachets for Song Liang. Early the next morning, she asked Cen Huan to deliver them to the young emperor.
When Cen Huan learned that the sachets did nothing against Nightmare Soul Sand and could only ease his sensitivity to the cold, he looked at her visibly exhausted face and immediately grew suspicious. Why was she suddenly so concerned about the young emperor? Had she fallen for him?
Qi Yunzhang gave him a helpless look.
“Then go and ask your prince. If he says to deliver them today, deliver them today. If he says there’s no hurry, wait a few days and let the young emperor suffer a little longer. Who knows? Perhaps he’ll fall ill and die, and your prince can ascend the throne right away.”
Naturally, Cen Huan could hear the teasing in her words. But he also knew that Qi Yunzhang was dependable and perceptive. If she wanted him to ask Xie Yun, she must have a reason.
So he took the sachets and went to find him.
After hearing him out, Xie Yun gave only a brief answer.
“Deliver them.”
Two simple words. He did not even raise his head. Yet as Cen Huan studied his prince’s composed face, he could not shake the feeling that something was amiss.
He puzzled over it for quite some time without working out what it was, and simply stood there staring at Xie Yun.
Xie Yun looked up.
“Is there something else?”
“No.” Cen Huan furrowed his brow, picked up the sachets, and left.
Xie Yun lowered his head and returned to the memorials that had accumulated over the past few days. Before long, however, Cen Huan came rushing back, still carrying the sachets.
“Your Highness!”
“What is it now—”
“The young emperor has gone mad!”
Cen Huan strode up to him and handed him a secret letter.
“Our informants sent word that the young emperor intends to merge the Twelve Guards into the Xiaoyi Guard, appoint left and right commanders, and place them directly under the emperor!”
“What about the existing commanders of the Twelve Guards?”
“All dismissed.”
“…”
Xie Yun’s expression sharpened. He opened the letter and quickly scanned it.
Beside him, Cen Huan continued heatedly.
“The Twelve Guards are filled with sons of noble families, and their commanders are descendants of the founding heroes. Their houses may have declined, but their connections at court are deeply entangled. Even the Qin family wouldn’t dare move against them lightly. Yet the young emperor wants to dismiss every last one of them! Does he really think he’s an emperor with absolute power?”
“Come with me to the palace.”
Xie Yun put down the letter and headed outside, only to encounter Qi Yunzhang arriving to perform his acupuncture.
Seeing that he was leaving, she hurried to stop him.
“You’re going out? You haven’t had your acupuncture yet!”
“When I return.”
Xie Yun offered no further explanation. Cen Huan dared not delay either, but held up the sachets.
“What about these—”
“Bring them.”
Xie Yun did not look back.
“…”
Cen Huan felt more strongly than ever that something was wrong, yet still could not put his finger on it. Since Qi Yunzhang was standing beside him, he could not help asking, “Why did you specifically tell me to ask His Highness whether I should deliver the sachets to the young emperor?”
A smile curved Qi Yunzhang’s lips. Instead of answering, she asked, “Your prince is in such a hurry. Has something happened to the young emperor?”
“No. The young emperor is causing trouble again—”
Cen Huan broke off abruptly and frowned at her.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Go on,” Qi Yunzhang said. “Don’t hold things up.”
Cen Huan had no idea what the young emperor’s mad scheme to overhaul the Twelve Guards had to do with them. But his prince intended to go, and he dared not linger. He hurried after him with the sachets in hand.
When Xie Yun arrived at Zhaoyang Palace, Song Liang was still asleep.
Upon hearing a eunuch announce that Xie Yun sought an audience, he found he truly could not get up. He waved a hand and told them to have the Prince Regent return that afternoon.
Before he could even finish, Xie Yun kicked open the doors to Zhaoyang Palace.
Well over six feet tall, he stood at the head of the bed, his handsome, aristocratic face looking down at Song Liang beneath the covers.
Song Liang: “…”
Across both instances he had experienced, Song Liang had never been stared down like this while lying in bed. For a moment, he too fell silent.
Xuan Qi, who was on watch in the rafters, swiftly dropped to the floor and stepped in front of Song Liang. His right hand settled on the dagger at his waist, ready to strike.
The atmosphere instantly grew tense.
Knowing that someone outside would soon be shouting for the emperor’s protection unless he eased the situation, Song Liang asked, “Have you eaten? If not, join me for something in a bit.”
His voice did not have the usual huskiness of someone just waking. It sounded more like the hoarseness of illness.
Xie Yun’s gaze passed over his slightly pale face and disheveled collar. His brow tightened faintly. Then he turned and addressed Zhou An in a low voice.
“Why aren’t you helping His Majesty dress?”
Without a word, Zhou An hurried forward to assist Song Liang out of bed. The other eunuchs tactfully refrained from asking Xie Yun to leave. Instead, they silently brought over a folding screen and placed it in front of the bed.
Forced to get up, Song Liang gazed at the blurred outline of the tall figure beyond the screen and sighed.
“How miserable. I’m ill, and I can’t even stay in bed…”
Horrified, Zhou An urgently signaled with his eyes for him to stop. The Prince Regent might hear!
Song Liang answered listlessly, “Whatever. Let him hear… Cough, cough. Kicking down doors and hauling me out of bed first thing in the morning. Clearly he hasn’t come to admire the moon and whisper sweet nothings. He’s here to pick a fight.”
“And to think I was so worried about his health. Yet he… Cough, cough. I fall ill, and he doesn’t visit. Fine. But he won’t even let me rest… Cough, cough, cough!”
“Oh, Your Majesty, please spare your voice. You’re still hoarse!”
“…”
The muttered complaints and rustle of clothing carried clearly through the screen, punctuated by occasional coughs. He really did seem quite ill.
Even Cen Huan could not resist craning his neck for a look. After all, when the young emperor had been fleeing for his life in Hanshui City, he had not acted like this even while dragging a broken leg behind him. Was Nightmare Soul Sand truly so potent? Surely he was pretending?
He was about to peer behind the screen again when he unexpectedly met his prince’s gaze.
Startled, he assumed Xie Yun wanted something and stepped closer.
“Your instructions, Your Highness?”
Xie Yun gave him a cool glance, then looked away.
Cen Huan: “?”
While he was still trying to make sense of it, Song Liang finished dressing and had the screen removed. He was now slouched in a chair, preparing to take his medicine.
The maid holding the medicine was a delicate-featured young woman. She had just picked up a silver spoon to feed him when Song Liang, without even looking, took the bowl and drained it.
Wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, he asked Xie Yun, “What brings the Prince Regent to see me?”
“Why are you merging the Twelve Guards and dismissing all their commanders?”
“Not all of them. I’m keeping one.”
“…”
Xie Yun’s expression was cold and stern. Clearly unwilling to trade clever remarks, he spoke plainly.
“The Twelve Guards are made up of noble sons. Their commanders are descendants of meritorious officials. If you wish to employ them, simply issue your orders. They understand what is at stake. There is no need to dismiss them all in a fit of temper.”
“A fit of temper?” Song Liang smiled. “Then does the Prince Regent consider their defiance of my decree a fit of temper as well?”
The youth before him was still smiling, but the mockery in his words was unmistakable. Xie Yun frowned slightly and was about to speak when Song Liang continued.
“What you call understanding the stakes is, to my mind, nothing more than weighing personal advantage. They believe the Grand Empress Dowager holds greater power, so they dared disobey me and leave me waiting for six hours.”
“If someone stages a coup one day, they will weigh the advantages again and choose to offer up my head as a pledge of allegiance.”
“…”
Xie Yun did not argue, because he knew it was true. The young emperor held no power, and the Twelve Guards had no faith in him. More accurately, none of the imperial guards did.
“So the Prince Regent ought to understand my difficulties. I haven’t had an easy time either.”
Song Liang let out a long sigh.
“The Grand Empress Dowager can’t stand the sight of me. She would love to lock me in the ancestral temple until I go mad, or simply poison me into madness. Then there’s you, a Prince Regent with a powerful army, who also can’t stand the sight of me and would love to run me through with a sword and take the throne yourself. Of course I’m frightened.”
Everyone in the hall wished they could shut off their hearing.
The Prince Regent was sitting right there. Was His Majesty truly going to lay bare the man’s ambitions to his face?
Cen Huan was equally bewildered. Was this something one could just say aloud? Wasn’t the young emperor afraid that, once exposed, their prince would stop pretending altogether?
Silence filled the hall.
Xie Yun watched Song Liang without a word, seemingly trying to discern the true purpose behind this near-open confrontation.
Only after a long while did he speak.
“The noble families behind the Twelve Guards may have declined, but their connections at court, and throughout the capital, are far from simple. Are you certain you understand what you are about to face?”
“Merely the Grand Empress Dowager seizing the opportunity to ally with those nobles and threaten to depose me.”
“Then how do you intend to respond?”
“…”
Song Liang suddenly raised an eyebrow.
“Is the Prince Regent worried about me, or are you simply asking what I intend to do?”
Xie Yun said nothing.
Song Liang abruptly dismissed everyone, including Xuan Qi in the shadows. Seeing this, Xie Yun glanced at Cen Huan, signaling for him to leave as well.
Cen Huan hesitated. Was the young emperor concealing some underhanded scheme against their prince? But then he considered that, injured or not, His Highness was still far beyond the young emperor’s ability to defeat, and withdrew.
Only when the two of them were alone did Song Liang speak.
“The Prince Regent commands a powerful army, as well as two units of the Inner Guards. If you intended to rebel, you could have acted long ago. Yet you haven’t, and you even have time to while away with a puppet emperor like me. I imagine you must have encountered some difficulty of your own.”
Xie Yun’s eyes darkened slightly.
“With such intelligence, Your Majesty will surely shed the name of puppet sooner or later.”
Pretending not to hear the wariness and threat beneath his words, Song Liang replied casually, “Then it seems I guessed correctly.”
Xie Yun remained silent.
At last, Song Liang revealed his true purpose.
“I would like to form a temporary alliance with the Prince Regent, so that we can each obtain what we need. What do you say?”
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