The Eastern Depot was located at the easternmost side of the imperial city, right along the base of the city wall by Donghua Gate. It was a large five-courtyard compound, with its main gate opening toward the outside of the imperial city. Everyone who came and went was one of the Eastern Depot’s subordinate agents.
It happened to be the beginning of winter. The large stretch of plum blossoms planted in the courtyard had already formed flower buds, and amid the silver-clad winter landscape, the scattered touches of rosy red were exceptionally beautiful.
The eunuch in charge of the Eastern Depot’s seal and the Depot Overseer, Duan Chong, sat in the grand chair in the main hall, holding a cup of Liu’an Guapian tea whose fragrant aroma curled upward. Looking at the red plum blossoms outside the lattice window, he said with a smile, “The most beautiful scenery can only be seen on the coldest days.”
Sitting beside him was Wu Shunhai, the Eastern Depot’s chief supervisor, who had also been Consort Rong, Xue Yan’s birth mother’s, personal chief eunuch back then.
Wu Shunhai followed with a smile. “Who could say otherwise? The more glorious and bustling something looks, the less you know when the tree will fall and the monkeys scatter.”
On the stone steps outside their door, a large, horrifying trail of blood wound across the ground, staining the pristine snow red. Scattered here and there, it looked like red plum blossoms blooming on a tree.
Less than half an hour ago, a man had been executed there and skinned alive. He had not died until every inch of skin had been peeled from his body, and his screams could be heard throughout half of the Eastern Depot.
Duan Chong glanced at the bloodstains and shook his head without the slightest reaction.
“His Majesty still trusts that dog who wags its tail at his side every day,” he said. “Although our Eastern Depot exhausts itself for His Majesty, how could we compare with the one who serves him at his side every single day?”
Wu Shunhai naturally knew that he was referring to Ling Fu. Over these past few years, nearly thirty percent of the Eastern Depot’s power had been taken away by the Emperor and given to Ling Fu. From Ling Fu himself to the group of eunuchs under him who served the noble figures in the palace, all of them had been flourishing these past few years. Meanwhile, the Eastern Depot’s doors had become deserted, and its circumstances were far more bleak than they had been before.
In the past, the Eastern Depot had still held influence among some of the nobles in the palace. Which of the palace masters and consorts did not have a family member serving as an official at court? They all depended on currying favor with the Eastern Depot so that it would show them some mercy, making things much easier whenever they needed something done.
But now, even these people had gone to curry favor with Ling Fu.
And Ling Fu was clearly still unsatisfied. The man executed in front of the hall just now had been an informant Ling Fu had planted in the Eastern Depot.
Wu Shunhai smiled reassuringly. “There’s no need for the Chief Overseer to be anxious. There will always be a way.”
Hearing this, Duan Chong lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea.
“I heard that you sent someone to the palace that day to look for His Fifth Highness?”
Wu Shunhai replied, “I did. I also revealed my identity to him.”
Duan Chong smiled. “That child is rather pitiful. What did he say?”
“Pitiful he may be, but he seems somewhat incapable of accomplishing anything significant.”
Duan Chong raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
Wu Shunhai said, “Little Wei came back and said that although he was moved, he only said that he wanted to reminisce with me. Little Wei asked whether he had any intention of seeking revenge, but he said he had no way to begin and refused him.”
Hearing this, Duan Chong laughed.
“Being incapable of accomplishing anything significant is precisely his greatest use,” he said. “Our Eastern Depot already has enough ability of its own. If he develops too much ability, he’ll only become a problem for us in the future.”
These words struck straight at Wu Shunhai’s heart. He nodded repeatedly, praising the Depot Overseer’s wisdom.
“Then, shall I choose a day to go meet him?” Wu Shunhai asked.
Duan Chong, however, shook his head.
“Wait a little longer,” he said. “Have Little Wei continue going to Wenhua Hall every day. Let things remain exactly as they were before.”
Wu Shunhai was puzzled.
“This…?”
The Eastern Depot’s circumstances had clearly become extremely difficult. Ling Fu was watching them like a tiger eyeing its prey, and even that consort in the palace who had risen to prominence in recent years had switched sides. Back then, that consort had relied on the Eastern Depot for the sake of her father and elder brother, and she had done quite a few things with the Eastern Depot. She also held quite a few secrets that could be used against the Eastern Depot…
Why, even now, was the Depot Overseer still not anxious?
Duan Chong merely shook his head.
His gaze fell outside the door.
Standing beneath the steps was a child no more than ten years old. He was thin and frail, yet his expression was extraordinarily cold and indifferent.
The skin of the man just now had been peeled off by that child himself. Blood still stained his face, yet he was now calmly directing the Eastern Depot agents to wash away the bloodstains, as though they had done nothing more than slaughter a chicken outside the door.
Duan Chong leisurely took another sip of tea.
“People,” he said meaningfully with a smile, “only become utterly devoted to the person who brings them charcoal in the snow after they’ve truly reached the point of having nowhere left to turn.”
“Only when that time truly comes will this person become a dog that obeys your every command.”
——
Even Jun Huailang himself had not expected to be able to say those words with such certainty. Only after he had spoken did he belatedly feel somewhat embarrassed. He lowered his eyes and no longer dared to look at Xue Yan.
He thought to himself that once a true man gave his word, there was no reason to take it back. Moreover, this was precisely what he thought in his heart. There was nothing wrong with letting Xue Yan know.
After all, although he was not frail and sickly by nature, whenever he occasionally caught a cold, it was difficult for him to recover quickly. This time, perhaps his cold had not completely healed, or perhaps it was some hidden consequence of his rebirth. But it had nothing to do with Xue Yan, and absolutely could not be blamed on him.
Jun Huailang’s conscience was clear, but Xue Yan remained silent, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable again.
After only a moment, Jun Huailang could no longer bear it.
He lowered his eyes, cleared his throat, and said in a deliberately indifferent tone, “In any case, my nightmares have nothing to do with you. Just stay here. You don’t need to take responsibility for something that has nothing to do with you.”
After saying this, he turned around and entered the room on his own.
He did not look back, so naturally he did not see the complex, burning, yet restrained emotions surging in those pale eyes that remained fixed on him.
Nor did he know that when Xue Yan returned to his own room that day, he remained silent for a very long time.
Jinbao was accustomed to his master’s deep and taciturn nature, but he always felt that there was something unusual about him today. After serving him in the room and preparing to hurry out, he heard Xue Yan’s voice.
“Are there really Buddhas in this world?” he asked.
Jinbao froze.
As for whether they existed or not, people throughout the world all said that they did. But he was merely a little eunuch. Where would he have the ability to see a true Buddha, much less know whether they were real or not?
“This… perhaps there are?” Jinbao answered ambiguously.
Then he heard Xue Yan let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
“I wonder which of the Buddhas and deities filling the heavens can suppress the baleful energy on my body,” he said. “…Then perhaps I won’t accidentally hurt that foolish little idiot who doesn’t know any better.”
Although his voice was low, there were two traces of barely perceptible bewilderment and helplessness in his tone, with a faint hint of indulgence as well.
Jinbao was dumbfounded.
He thought to himself that if even his master, who feared Heaven’s retribution the least, had begun believing in Buddha, then he must truly have been possessed by some evil spirit. They needed Buddha himself to manifest and drive away the evil energy from him.
And from that day onward, the fragrance of Buddhist incense constantly filled Jun Huailang’s room, lingering for a long time, day after day.
At first, Jun Huailang was rather puzzled. He had never expected the incense from Bao Guo Temple to retain its fragrance for so long.
But eventually, Fuyi, who kept watch at night, told him that every day, while Jun Huailang was still asleep, Xue Yan would come alone to the front hall of his room and light incense for him.
Every single day.
Not once did he miss it.
And Jun Huailang, who fell asleep every day while smelling the Buddhist incense, really did begin to have nightmares less frequently.
Yet for an entire day, he did not have a single exchange with Xue Yan.
Every day when he got up, Xue Yan was already gone. After Jun Huailang went to Wenhua Hall, Xue Yan still kept to himself, having no contact with him whatsoever.
Jun Huailang felt somewhat unwilling to see this. Even he himself noticed that his heart had softened.
Someone who silently devoted himself to treating him well, without saying a word, truly made it difficult for him to maintain his wariness and hatred toward him.
Sometimes, Jun Huailang would even rather Xue Yan were a complete bastard. At least then he would not have to struggle so much, nor enjoy the benefits Xue Yan brought him every single day.
Jun Huailang desperately suppressed this strange feeling in his heart and continued living as usual.
In this way, the weather grew colder day by day. After another snowfall, the day of the Emperor’s Qianqiu Banquet finally arrived.
In his previous life, Jun Huailang had also missed this Qianqiu Banquet. The cold he had caught back then had been severe, and he had not fully recovered even by this day. His parents were afraid that he would spread his illness to others at the banquet and ruin the auspiciousness of the Qianqiu Banquet, so they had made him remain at home.
But in this life, Jun Huailang, who was living in the palace, naturally had a different fate from his previous life.
Early on the morning of the Qianqiu Banquet, Jun Huailang got up early.
The palace servants were extremely practiced at preparing for such palace banquets. Even though three additional people had moved into Mingluan Palace this year, they still prepared all the ceremonial robes and clothing they needed neatly and properly.
When the appointed time arrived and Jun Huailang had finished dressing, a palace maid came to report that Xue Yunhuan was already waiting in the hall and would be going with him.
When he reached the hall, he saw Xue Yunhuan frowning and wrinkling his nose.
“What is this smell in your palace? It smells like we’ve walked into a Buddhist temple.”
Jun Huailang paused, only then noticing the sandalwood Buddhist incense curling around him.
After all these days, he had actually grown accustomed to it.
Jun Huailang’s gaze involuntarily drifted toward the window.
Across the exquisite and beautiful garden of Mingluan Palace was the western side hall where Xue Yan lived. Clearly, that side hall was also within the grounds of Mingluan Palace, yet it seemed as though it had been separated from the rest. Its courtyard was deserted, and even the servants carrying things through the palace would take a detour around it.
At this moment, the doors of the western side hall were tightly shut, and Jinbao, who normally stood guard at the entrance, was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s already left,” Jun Huailang murmured to himself.
“What did you say?” Xue Yunhuan had not heard him and leaned closer to ask.
Jun Huailang smiled at him.
“Nothing. If we wait any longer, we’ll miss the appointed time. Let’s go.”
Xue Yunhuan gave an understanding “oh” and, as they left, he still glanced in the direction Jun Huailang had just been looking.
There’s not a single person there. What was Huailang looking at just now?