The atmosphere was murderous, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Xi Hongxuan braced a hand on the armrest. In this heart-stopping tension, he reacted swiftly. “Truth and falsehood all mixed together—you’re throwing out another smokescreen! Shen Lanzhou, do you really think I don’t dare kill you?”
“The blade is already at my neck,” Shen Zechuan said, tilting his head to glance at the edge. “Give the order whenever you like and take my head.”
Xi Hongxuan did not dare relax in the slightest. In this standoff, he refused to miss even the smallest change in Shen Zechuan’s expression. Though he sat steady in his chair, he was more anxious than Shen Zechuan. The more he warned himself not to be led by Shen Zechuan, the more he was dragged along by Shen Zechuan’s gaze and tone.
“At least we were brothers once,” Xi Hongxuan said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Lanzhou, tell the truth. I’ll leave you a whole corpse.”
“Killing someone is just a matter of nodding your head,” Shen Zechuan said. “Go on. Do it.”
Xi Hongxuan’s fingers dug hard into the armrest as he locked eyes with Shen Zechuan. But Shen Zechuan was far too calm. So Xi Hongxuan said, “Aren’t you worried about Qi Huilian? Once you’re dead, I’ll skin that old dog alive and sell him to the Empress Dowager to curry favor!”
“If you’d handed Qi Huilian over to the Empress Dowager twenty years earlier, she might truly have pardoned this lapse of yours,” Shen Zechuan said. “But Qi Huilian now isn’t worth anything. Alive, he’s worthless. Dead, even more so. You’re a veteran of commerce—making a losing deal like this, does it really sit well with you? I think you’ve been bewitched and sickened into stupidity.”
“Qi Huilian is just pretending to be mad,” Xi Hongxuan said. “You think I can’t tell? Clinging to life with his tail between his legs, putting on quite the act to survive!”
Shen Zechuan sneered. “Testing me at a time like this? He’s just a madman.”
“If he’s a madman, then who did you learn from?” Xi Hongxuan craned his neck. “Zhaozui Temple remade you completely. That Shen clan remnant from six years ago, groveling like a lapdog—how did he become so bold and scheming? Lanzhou, say it!”
“Plans lie with men; outcomes lie with Heaven,” Shen Zechuan said darkly. “What does it feel like to live as a lapdog, waiting on others’ moods, getting kicked and trampled—don’t you know? If I didn’t shed a layer of skin, how could I ever claw my way up? Better to rely on oneself than beg others. You and I both escaped peril, yet now we draw blades in the same room. Xi Hongxuan, you play ‘discard the donkey after the millstone’ quite well.”
“If you hadn’t leaked the news, how would Ouhua Tower have collapsed for no reason?” Xi Hongxuan said coldly. “Inside we called each other brothers; the moment you stepped out, you turned around and stabbed me. When it comes to ruthlessness, how could I compare to you? But Heaven didn’t grant your wish—I didn’t die! You want to please both sides? There’s no such bargain!”
“What can Xiao Er give me?” Shen Zechuan said with thin mockery. “Enough to make you so suspicious? He isn’t Xiao Jiming. He can’t become the King of Libei, can’t command the Libei Iron Cavalry. He’s just a trapped beast in Que City. What difference is there between him and me? What he has, I lack none.”
“He has the good fortune you don’t,” Xi Hongxuan said. “He’s the second son of the King of Libei, legitimate to the core, born of the same mother as Xiao Jiming. Even if he can’t inherit Libei, tens of thousands of troops will still heed his orders. What you lack is soldiers.”
Shen Zechuan’s brow was cool. “I serve in the Embroidered Uniform Guard—what do I need troops for? My road lies in Que City. Leave Que City and I have no stage at all. I’m the eighth son born of a concubine in the Shen family; you’re the legitimate second son of the Xi family. Who’s had it better? You see—legitimate or not makes little difference. A man hasn’t reached the end; Heaven hasn’t rendered a verdict.”
“You speak such treasonous words, treating the order of the world as nothing,” Xi Hongxuan raised a finger and pointed at his own feet. “Yet you still must accept that some are born to rule. The great families rotate and endure—this is fate! If legitimate and illegitimate were the same, how would bloodlines preserve orthodoxy? A Li is simply a cut above a Shen!”
Shen Zechuan stared at Xi Hongxuan and burst into laughter, madness rising again in those affectionate eyes. “Yes. Yes…”
In that instant, Qiao Tianya saw killing intent surge from Shen Zechuan and nearly thought he would draw his blade. Instead, in the next moment, Shen Zechuan spoke gently. “Since that’s so, what future could I possibly have following Xiao Er? You hear wind and think it rain. You set a trap to kill me today—tomorrow you’ll regret it.”
Xi Hongxuan wavered, uncertain. His face gave nothing away; he only lowered his eyes. “At death’s door and you still put on airs! You just left Zhaozui Temple and came straight here—doesn’t that prove this place matters greatly to you?”
“Of course,” Shen Zechuan said, his emotions sinking like a deep pool without a ripple. “That’s Qi Huilian. Mad or not, he once placed first in all three imperial examinations and was personally invited out of retirement by the Eastern Palace. As long as he’s in my hands, unless he dies, I will never hand him to anyone else.”
Shen Zechuan had judged correctly: Xi Hongxuan was bluffing, setting a deceptive trap. He didn’t actually know whether Qi Huilian was truly mad or faking it. He only wanted to strike first and catch Shen Zechuan off guard. Xi Hongxuan lacked Xue Xiuzhuo’s depth, but he had a skill no one else could match—eloquence. Back then, with nothing but a teahouse talk, he had stirred up the upheaval at the Imperial Academy. His glib tongue was precisely his flaw.
If he were truly certain that Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye were working together to toy with him, he would not have left Shen Zechuan any chance to speak. The reason he dragged his sick body here was because he wasn’t sure at all whether Shen Zechuan had joined forces with Xiao Chiye. That was why he relied on his specialty, probing Shen Zechuan through verbal sparring.
“What do you want Qi Huilian for?” Xi Hongxuan asked warily.
A scheme suddenly formed in Shen Zechuan’s mind. He leaned in with the momentum and said to Xi Hongxuan, “Qi Huilian was the Crown Prince’s teacher. Back when the Eastern Palace changed hands, I heard there was still an imperial grandson in swaddling clothes. Before Ji Lei died, he never told me where the imperial grandson went. I fear Qi Huilian knows, so I must keep him close.”
Xi Hongxuan’s face changed despite himself. “Under the Empress Dowager’s blade, there are no leftovers—cut the weeds and pull the roots, that’s the rule! What spring-and-autumn dream are you having!”
“If there were no imperial heir in hand, who would dare harm the Emperor like this?” Shen Zechuan said. “If he dies, Great Zhou will have no one surnamed Li. You didn’t do this, and neither did I. Instead of turning against me here, you’d be better off putting down the blade and discussing countermeasures with me.”
“How do I know you didn’t do it?” Xi Hongxuan didn’t move. “What structure Ouhua Tower had—others might not know, but you knew best. A small adjustment would’ve been easiest. And then there’s this: I’ve met calamity after calamity, while you’ve been promoted again and again. Your merit has grown too great.”
“I’ve only just gained imperial favor. This is exactly when I should be stockpiling strength and climbing upward—why would I kill him?” Shen Zechuan smiled slowly. “Besides, you and I conspired together for a long time. With nothing but empty words, why would Xiao Er believe me?”
He delivered the line half-true, half-false, but it made the listener’s skin crawl. Xi Hongxuan covered his mouth and coughed, using the pause to avoid Shen Zechuan’s gaze.
Though they had jointly murdered many people over time, Xi Hongxuan still could not face Shen Zechuan head-on. This wasn’t a momentary fear; it was dread accumulated with familiarity. He could never forget what Ji Lei looked like after being flayed. That was why, once suspicion arose, he wanted to act immediately.
This man cannot be left alive.
Xi Hongxuan decided inwardly. When the time was right—no matter what—he would kill him. Someone like this would never be usable. Shen Zechuan’s claim that legitimate and illegitimate were no different had already exposed his utter lack of reverence for the Eight Great Families. They were all bargaining with tigers; it was only a matter of who would move faster in the end.
Having made up his mind, Xi Hongxuan smiled as well. “I only wanted to scare you. When I was crushed under that pit, it scared the wits out of me. Lanzhou, if you went in and lay there awhile, you’d understand. What are you all standing around for? Sheathe your blades—don’t hurt the Commander.”
Blades slid back into scabbards one after another. Xi Hongxuan didn’t send them away, though. Pulling his fox-fur cloak tighter, he said, “These days things happened too suddenly. With poor communication, suspicion was inevitable. Now that we’ve talked it out, all’s well. Come, Lanzhou—take a seat and talk.”
“Blades don’t have eyes,” Shen Zechuan said. “Next time, Second Young Master should give me a heads-up so I can prepare. I won’t have to be so rushed like today.”
“You kept your head under pressure—that’s impressive,” Xi Hongxuan said as he poured tea. “You know the business we’re in—we risk our heads. This time it was truly pressing, or I’d never have treated you this way. I was forced! Xiao Er’s about to ride high again, and I’m anxious. Come, sit. Still holding a grudge?”
“I, a Shen, don’t deserve a high seat,” Shen Zechuan surveyed the room. “How would I dare sit beside you?”
Xi Hongxuan laughed loudly. “That’s nonsense! Saying that only demeans others. How could you be like anyone else? Sit.”
Only then did Shen Zechuan take a seat.
Xi Hongxuan offered him tea and said with a conciliatory smile, “If you ask me, you’ve really been held back by that surname. Isn’t that so? If you’d been born into some Han or Fei clan, would there be this much friction between us? Lanzhou, cool off! Tell me properly—why are you keeping Qi Huilian?”
Shen Zechuan reached into his sleeve, then remembered he’d lost his ivory fan. “That old madman was terrified by the Crown Prince’s suicide back then. At Zhaozui Temple, we saw each other constantly. I heard some fragmented ravings, so I decided to keep him, just in case.”
“The matter of the imperial grandson—you should ask me,” Xi Hongxuan said, flicking away the tea foam. “Drop it. Impossible.”
“Not even a sliver of a chance?” Shen Zechuan turned his teacup lightly, not drinking.
Xi Hongxuan hummed as he drank. “That job was handled jointly by Ji Lei and Shen Wei. Both were ruthless. Even the beautiful Crown Princess was strangled alive by them. You expect them to spare the imperial grandson? What’s more, the imperial grandson would’ve borne an irreconcilable blood feud with them. Why would they leave trouble for themselves?”
“Xue Xiuzhuo says the same?”
Xi Hongxuan glanced at him. “Why ask specifically about Yanqing?”
“An acquaintance,” Shen Zechuan’s gaze didn’t shift. “You’re close with him. Your transfer into the Bureau of Merits—wasn’t that on his advice as well?”
“You two are both Zhuge Liangs,” Xi Hongxuan tossed the ball back. “Whoever makes more sense, I listen to. They say scholars disdain one another—how is it that clever people also belittle each other?”
“That’s not it,” Shen Zechuan said. “Before the Censorate, you transferred into the Bureau of Merits, taking this hot assignment for yourself. It invites envy and jealousy. Being framed this time—it’s hard to say that isn’t the reason. Xue Xiuzhuo has been an official for years. Couldn’t he have foreseen that? If he did, why did he still urge you to go?”
Xi Hongxuan paused mid-sip. “Who could’ve guessed someone would really dare move against me? It’s not Yanqing’s fault.”
“He earned merit protecting the Emperor at the Nanlin Hunting Grounds, yet he knew how to conceal his edge. Instead of charging headlong, he went to the Court of Judicial Review to temper himself,” Shen Zechuan said, stopping there. He merely smiled at Xi Hongxuan. “I just find it curious.”
Xi Hongxuan seemed not to take it in and smiled back. “Ah! That detour nearly made me forget. Lanzhou, now that I’m recovered and the Emperor is awake, the Censorate will soon start impeaching me. Think of a way—I can’t be transferred out of Que City.”
“This time the fault lies with the Emperor, but no one will blame him,” Shen Zechuan said, setting down his cup. “Add in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue passing the buck, and you end up caught in the middle. Naturally they’ll make an example of you. It’s difficult.”
“Pan Xiangjie and Wei Huaigu!” Xi Hongxuan said. “At bottom they just want money. Getting scolded isn’t a big deal—they’re squeezing me to jack up the price and make me pay to plug the holes. How many died this time? As long as the Emperor’s fine, everything else can be bought.”
“Without tens of thousands of taels, I’m afraid it won’t be settled,” Shen Zechuan said with a smile.
“Money—I have,” Xi Hongxuan set his cup down as well. “But I don’t want to give it to them. My fault was accompanying the Emperor to the brothels. The official drainage has nothing to do with me. They want to muddle things and make me a scapegoat—I won’t play along.”
“An official one rank higher can crush you,” Shen Zechuan said evenly. “If those above want you handled, you’re guilty even if you’re not. Reasoning won’t work, and walking away won’t help. Still difficult.”
“It’s not difficult,” Xi Hongxuan said. “I’ll tell you—the Emperor’s favor is with me. Even if they want to be harsh, they have to look at his face. Xiao Er hasn’t been dealt with yet; we can’t throw ourselves into chaos. I’m certain that when the Emperor woke this time, he won’t be the same as before.”