The faint light of dawn filtered through the lattice windows, yet it could not dispel the heavy, bitter smell of medicine that filled the sleeping quarters of Prince Yi’s residence.
Xiao Ying was burning with a high fever, lying in a daze beneath the covers.
Lan Ningcheng entered through the curtains with barely a sound. When he saw his master’s eyes open slightly, he immediately bent forward, his expression unusually grave.
“Your Highness, His Majesty has sent Imperial Physician He, the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, along with two other imperial physicians. They have arrived at the residence gates.”
A subtle movement passed through Xiao Ying’s eyes. There was no surprise in them.
The incident had caused quite a stir, so word was bound to reach the emperor eventually. He simply had not expected the emperor to send the head of the Imperial Medical Academy in person.
Xiao Ying understood better than anyone that the sovereign seated high upon the imperial throne was less concerned about the life or death of a son who had long been marginalized than he was suspicious of this so-called “accident.”
“There is something else…”
Lan Ningcheng hesitated. Then, lowering his voice to a whisper that only the two of them could hear, he reported a few more details.
Upon hearing them, Xiao Ying’s gaze abruptly darkened.
For a brief moment, the mental fog brought on by his high fever was suppressed by a chilling clarity.
He raised a hand to press against his throbbing forehead. His voice was hoarse, as though it had been scraped raw by gravel.
“…Let them in first.”
Before long, Imperial Physician He entered the inner courtyard with the two other imperial physicians.
Before they had even crossed the threshold of the bedroom, they heard a violent bout of coughing from the bed, so severe that it sounded as though the patient’s lungs might tear apart.
The moment Imperial Physician He stepped over the threshold, his sharp eyes discreetly swept over the bed.
Prince Yi’s face was as pale as paper, yet his cheeks were flushed with an abnormally feverish redness. Cold sweat beaded across his forehead, and his entire body looked so weak that even sitting upright would have been a struggle.
The head physician stepped forward to exchange formal greetings before proceeding directly to examine his pulse and inquire into his symptoms.
As the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, he had left the palace that day carrying the emperor’s verbal orders. He therefore had three tasks to fulfill:
Determine just how seriously ill Prince Yi was, establish whether his fall into the water had truly been an accident, and personally observe the prince’s reactions on the emperor’s behalf.
The emperor had not explicitly ordered him to investigate a case, so Imperial Physician He could not interrogate the prince as a magistrate from the Ministry of Justice might.
All he could do was seamlessly weave his probing questions into the language of a medical consultation.
“Does Your Highness feel any discomfort anywhere?”
Imperial Physician He asked gently as he took the prince’s pulse.
“Last night… cough, cough… I swallowed quite a lot of water.”
Xiao Ying gasped between words. Each time he spoke, his Adam’s apple moved with difficulty.
“My head feels as though it’s splitting apart. Coughing makes my chest ache terribly, and my throat feels as if I swallowed burning charcoal… Every muscle, bone, and inch of my body aches.”
There was no need to pretend to be weak. He genuinely felt wretched.
“Your pulse is superficial, rapid, and weak. Your breathing is labored, and you have a high fever. After falling into the water, you inhaled water and caught a chill. Now you have a cough and chest pain. Your illness is indeed quite serious.”
Imperial Physician He had a general understanding of the situation.
At the very least, this prince’s severe illness was not something he could have fabricated in such a short time.
He withdrew his hand and gestured to the physician beside him to prescribe medicine. Then, as though making casual conversation, he continued asking questions.
“Had Your Highness been drinking before you fell into the water?”
“Was anyone attending to you aboard the pleasure boat?”
“Did anyone rescue you after you fell in?”
“Does Your Highness still remember the last thing that happened before you went overboard?”
These questions appeared to concern the circumstances that had led to the prince catching a chill. In reality, each one quietly pieced together the events surrounding the incident.
Xiao Ying leaned against the soft pillow and fell silent for a moment, as though struggling to recall what had happened.
“Cough… I remember some of it, but not everything.” He closed his eyes wearily. “I did drink quite a lot that night. I was also exposed to the wind, and my head felt a little dizzy. I only remember… someone seemed to approach me from behind.”
He opened his eyes again, his gaze clouded with the bewilderment of an ill man.
“As for whether someone actually touched me, I cannot say for certain. By the time I woke up… I was already in the water.”
A faint glint flashed through Imperial Physician He’s eyes. He did not press for further details. Instead, as he packed away his medical kit, he casually offered another test.
“If Your Highness suspects that there was something suspicious about your fall, I will faithfully report your words to His Majesty when I return to the palace.”
Xiao Ying turned his head and looked at him quietly.
“…If I merely got drunk and accidentally fell in, then there is naturally nothing to investigate.”
He suddenly broke into another violent fit of coughing. The strain made his face appear even paler and more fragile, and even his breathing seemed weak.
“But if Father believes an investigation is necessary, then let it be investigated. In my current condition, I don’t even have the strength to investigate it myself.”
Seeing that he could extract nothing more, and given that Prince Yi was genuinely gravely ill, Imperial Physician He did not dare disturb him any longer.
He left several prescriptions, gave instructions regarding the heat and duration required to decoct the medicine, and then respectfully withdrew with the other physicians.
Once their footsteps had faded and the bedroom door had closed again, silence returned to the chamber.
Only then did Xiao Ying resume the subject that he had set aside earlier.
“Cough… You said just now that the pleasure boat we were on yesterday was burned this morning?”
“Yes.” Lan Ningcheng stepped forward. “It burned completely to the ground.”
“How many people died?”
“We don’t know for certain yet. We only know that none of the few servants left aboard to keep watch survived.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
The dazed expression on Xiao Ying’s face slowly cooled.
He asked no more questions. He already had a fairly good idea of what had happened. He simply instructed in a low voice, “First, go through the names of everyone who boarded the boat yesterday again.”
Lan Ningcheng immediately acknowledged the order.
“Also, investigate who knew I was going to the pleasure boat. Leave the boat fire case to the people from the Jingzhao Prefecture. We must not make any moves on the surface.”
Xiao Ying took a breath, suppressing the dull ache in his chest. Yet his words were exceptionally clear.
“Investigate in secret. Don’t alert anyone. Above all, don’t let anyone realize that I suspect last night’s incident was not an accident.”
“Yes.” Lan Ningcheng committed the order to memory.
“What about Yuexi?”
“Your Highness, Young Master Yuexi is at Shuyu Pavilion.”
Xiao Ying fell silent for a moment.
Young Master Yuexi’s identity was sensitive. He was the second son left behind by the Wu family case.
If the people lurking in the shadows were targeting the things Xiao Ying had recently discovered, Yuexi would be a point of entry.
If their real target was the old Wu family case, Yuexi would likewise be the easiest wound to tear open.
“Send people in ordinary clothing to patrol the area around Shuyu Pavilion.”
Xiao Ying’s voice was hoarse.
“Tell the master of Shuyu Pavilion to keep a close eye on him. Also, make it clear that he absolutely must not go out for the next few days. If he asks why, tell him it is my order.”
He suddenly remembered something else and added, “Have the residence physician go to Shuyu Pavilion to examine the injury on Yuexi’s face. Make sure it doesn’t leave a scar.”
He paused, his gaze growing increasingly profound.
“In addition, inform my mother, the Lin family’s trade network, and Guangji Trading House that everything is to proceed as usual.”
“I understand.”
Lan Ningcheng understood perfectly.
His Highness was telling every pair of eyes watching from the shadows that Prince Yi had merely fallen ill. Nothing else had happened.
Remaining still and responding only when necessary was the best course of action.
Having finished giving his instructions, Xiao Ying closed his eyes, seemingly exhausted beyond measure.
After a long while, he slowly added one more sentence.
“If the Jingzhao Prefecture sends people, let them investigate. If anyone from the palace asks questions, answer truthfully.”
Xiao Ying’s tone was so calm that it contained not the slightest ripple.
“I know nothing.”
Lan Ningcheng’s expression grew solemn.
Having followed Xiao Ying for many years, he naturally understood the deeper meaning behind those words.
Prince Yi was not refusing to investigate.
He simply could not investigate right now.
At the very least, the investigation could not be conducted by Prince Yi’s residence, nor could they allow anyone to see even the slightest sign that they were eager to find the culprit.
“I shall obey.”
Lan Ningcheng bowed and withdrew.
Only after the bedroom door had closed firmly behind him did Xiao Ying slowly open his eyes.
He stared silently at the top of the bed canopy, his gaze so dark that it held not a trace of warmth.
Someone wanted him dead.
He was not particularly surprised by this.
From the moment he had decided to enter the game, he had already accepted that he might have to pay the price at any time.
There was no turning back now.
What truly concerned him was—
The other party’s reaction.
It meant that somewhere in a hidden corner, he might already have touched the line beyond which his opponent was prepared to kill.
And they had even burned the boat.
He could not help wondering whether the original attempt to push him into the water could have been quietly buried and made into a minor incident.
But burning the boat was practically an announcement to everyone that something was wrong.
Whether he wanted it or not, the emperor would now be paying attention.
Drawing the emperor’s attention was no different from inviting disaster.
It was an extremely dangerous double-edged sword.
The emperor might take advantage of the situation to help him uncover the culprit.
But at the same time, those suspicious imperial eyes would begin investigating him thoroughly as well.
For now, all he could do was wait and see how this blade would move, remaining still until the right moment came.
◆◇◆◇◆
The Imperial Study
Imperial Physician He knelt beneath the emperor’s desk and reported Prince Yi’s pulse, symptoms, and every word exchanged during their discussion of the fall into the water, without omitting a single detail.
The emperor held a memorial in his hand. His gaze was deep and unreadable, and he did not speak immediately.
At that moment, Liu Changzhong, the chief eunuch attending the emperor, hurried inside with his body bent respectfully forward. In his hands was a secret report sealed with wax.
“Your Majesty, an urgent report arrived this morning from the Jingzhao Prefecture and the City Patrol Office. The pleasure boat used by Prince Yi last night suddenly caught fire at its mooring. The vessel was almost completely destroyed, and the few servants left aboard perished in the flames. Preliminary examination suggests that the fire was not accidental. There are signs that someone deliberately poured flammable oil.”
The emperor’s hand stopped as he turned the memorial.
He raised his eyes toward the secret report. The first thought that crossed his mind was not Someone really did try to kill my son.
It was instead—
That boat from yesterday?
He had only just sent Imperial Physician He to sound out Xiao Ying. Xiao Ying had said that someone seemed to have approached him from behind.
And now, early the next morning, that very boat had been reduced to ashes.
The timing was far too close.
The two incidents were not necessarily the work of the same group.
The fire might indeed have been intended to destroy evidence by whoever had attempted to kill the prince. But it was equally possible that a third party was deliberately exploiting Prince Yi’s fall into the water to create further confusion.
Was the boat burned to silence witnesses, or had someone deliberately staged an apparent cover-up to muddy the waters even further?
Whichever explanation proved correct, it meant that someone in the capital was brazenly manipulating the board right under his nose.
The emperor snapped the memorial shut and tossed it onto the desk.
“How many people died aboard the boat?”
His voice held not a trace of warmth, yet the oppressive authority in it was enough to make one’s blood run cold.
“Your Majesty, they were all burned beyond recognition. Approximately five or six people. Preliminary examination suggests they were mostly laborers and boatmen.”
Cold sweat beaded across Liu Changzhong’s forehead.
The emperor’s gaze darkened as he fixed his eyes on the eunuch.
“Were any of the people who attended Prince Yi yesterday among them?”
“This… Your Majesty, the personal guards and male courtesan who attended Prince Yi yesterday returned to the residence with His Highness after the incident. They did not remain aboard the boat.”
The emperor let out a cold laugh.
If someone had wanted to silence Prince Yi by killing him, why would they leave the attendants who had been closest to him—and who might actually have seen the culprit—untouched, only to burn several servants who had been working in the lower hold?
And why now?
The emperor’s gaze narrowed slightly.
The pleasure boat had been burned this very morning.
Prince Yi had fallen into the water last night, and the Imperial Medical Academy had been ordered to visit his residence this morning.
The timing was far too convenient.
Unless someone knew something.
“Before the fire broke out, did anyone board the boat? Was anything removed from it beforehand?”
The emperor asked each question slowly and deliberately.
Liu Changzhong’s knees nearly gave way under the interrogation. He dropped to the floor and bowed low.
“This servant… This servant will have the City Patrol Office and the Jingzhao Prefecture investigate thoroughly at once!”
The emperor stared coldly toward the palace doors without telling him to rise.
What truly concerned him was not that someone had tried to kill Xiao Ying.
It was that someone was using the life and death of a prince to arrange a game whose purpose he had yet to understand.
Someone was trying to force the player holding the pieces to close his eyes.
This was no longer a matter concerning Prince Yi alone.
The emperor drew a deep breath, then turned his gaze back to Imperial Physician He.
“Prince Yi said that if I believed an investigation necessary, then it should be investigated?”
“Your Majesty, those were indeed Prince Yi’s exact words.” Imperial Physician He bowed to the floor as he answered.
The emperor waved a hand, dismissing him.
Soon, only Liu Changzhong remained kneeling in the Imperial Study.
The emperor silently studied the secret report about the boat fire on his desk. He turned Xiao Ying’s words over and over in his mind, and a subtle change gradually came over his expression.
—If Father believes an investigation is necessary, then let it be investigated.
The answer had been far too clean.
Was Xiao Ying genuinely unaware of what had happened and too powerless to pursue it?
Or had he already sensed something, deliberately concealed his abilities, and refused even to utter a single complaint?
If Xiao Ying wanted to win his father’s favor or undermine a rival, he could easily have seized this opportunity to weep and plead for justice.
But he had not.
He had accused no one and tried to exploit nothing. He had merely described the vague fragments of his own memories with calm restraint, then sensibly returned all authority to his imperial father.
In a capital where court officials and princes alike were eager to turn the smallest spark into a raging fire, the restraint and sense of proportion displayed by this son—one the emperor had habitually overlooked—made him look at the name Xiao Ying with genuine attention for the first time.
The emperor leaned back in his dragon throne, lightly tapping his fingers against the imperial desk.
He had never paid much attention to Xiao Ying.
The prince commanded no troops and took no part in court politics. Although his maternal family, the Lin clan, was fabulously wealthy, it had no political foundation at court.
By all rights, Xiao Ying was an insignificant, carefree prince who posed no threat whatsoever. He was hardly worth anyone’s trouble.
And yet someone had nearly killed him.
Then someone else had burned the boat the following day.
Which raised the question—
Who considered Xiao Ying important enough to kill?
“Changzhong.”
The emperor suddenly spoke, his voice so calm that it sent a chill through the room.
“This servant is here.”
“Investigate.”
“I-Investigate what, Your Majesty?” Liu Changzhong asked, startled.
“Prince Yi.”
“Start from before he fell into the water.”
The emperor raised his eyes, a bottomless glimmer in their depths.
“I want to know whom he has met over the past six months, what he has done, and with whom he has been in contact. Make a complete list of everyone aboard the pleasure boat last night. I want to know what he has come into contact with that he should not have.”
He paused, and an almost imperceptible chill entered his voice.
“Pay particular attention to the Lin family.”
Liu Changzhong’s heart tightened. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
“Your Majesty… Do you suspect the Lin family?”
The emperor reopened the memorial in his hands, his expression indifferent, as though he were discussing something of little importance.
“I merely find myself thinking that a person who is truly insignificant would not be worth the risk of killing.”
“Nor would someone bother to burn an entire boat after trying to kill him.”
The emperor’s gaze settled on empty space, as though he wished to see through the layers of palace walls and identify a shadow concealed somewhere in the darkness.
“So I want to know…”
“Who discovered, before I did, that there is something worth paying attention to about this son of mine?”
He said coldly, “Convey my verbal decree. Prince Yi has caught a chill after falling into the water. The Imperial Medical Academy is to provide him with medicine according to the provisions for imperial princes and ensure that he makes a full recovery. Have the head physician send him the finest ginseng, medicinal ingredients prepared by the academy, and nourishing supplements.”
Liu Changzhong felt a flicker of surprise, but quickly composed himself and quietly accepted the order.
◇◆◇◆◇
Night deepened. In the silent study, only a solitary lamp remained, casting a patchwork of dim light across the room.
Sheng Yuanli held the thin sheet of paper covered in secret reports and slowly lowered it into the flames.
The page curled and blackened rapidly in the orange-red firelight before finally crumbling into a wisp of ash that fell into the bronze incense burner.
His eyes were darker than the heavy night beyond the window.
Prince Yi—the carefree prince who should have spent his life indulging in extravagance and frivolity in the capital—had concealed far more than Sheng Yuanli had imagined.
Dark currents were now stirring throughout the capital’s intelligence networks, and traces of this prince’s quiet interference could be found behind much of the activity.
Sheng Yuanli had known that Prince Yi’s seemingly shameless, frivolous behavior was merely a way to avoid the whirlpool of power. Yet he had not expected the prince to possess genuine ability. Even so, he had originally assumed that was the extent of it.
But none of that had been enough to make Sheng Yuanli consider killing him.
What truly made Sheng Yuanli feel as though a thorn were lodged in his back was that Xiao Ying had set his sights on someone who should have been completely erased from public memory: Wu Jiuling, the second son left behind by the Wu family case, now known in the capital’s Shuyu Pavilion as “Young Master Yuexi.”
If Wu Jiuling had merely been taken in as a male favorite by some ordinary wealthy merchant or a lecherous official, it would have been of no concern.
But the person who had paid to keep him from receiving clients for an entire year was Xiao Ying.
What was a prince who had only recently begun secretly meddling in the capital’s murky intelligence networks doing by deliberately approaching a survivor of the Wu family?
Xiao Ying’s recent actions appeared just as frivolous and carefree as ever. Others might have dismissed them as nothing more than entertainment.
But Sheng Yuanli absolutely dared not gamble on the possibility that Xiao Ying was acting on a mere whim.
To test Xiao Ying, Sheng Yuanli had not acted personally. Instead, he had chosen the method he knew best: using one force to strike another.
He had never been the sort of player who openly flaunted his hand. He merely passed necessary information to specific people at precisely the right moment.
Sheng Yuanli did not even need to speak the words himself.
Through an intermediary with close ties to the Crown Prince’s faction, he had casually dropped a fragment of half-true, half-false information during a conversation over drinks.
“Prince Yi has recently… seemed rather interested in the Ministry of Revenue’s accounts, the old Wu family case, and even the Northern Frontier supply routes.”
He had not so much as mentioned the words take action. He had merely added, as though offering an offhand reminder, “I only thought I should mention that His Highness seems to have become far more curious than he used to be.”
People were suspicious by nature.
By the time this information reached the Crown Prince’s faction, its members had independently arrived at the conclusion they wanted: Prince Yi Xiao Ying had begun threatening the faction’s core interests.
Murdering a prince was a grave crime that could bring an entire family to ruin. The Crown Prince’s faction naturally did not dare openly assassinate a member of the imperial family.
But their most likely mistake was overestimating their ability to control the limits of their own actions.
In their assessment, Xiao Ying was merely a prince without power or influence. Although his maternal family, the Lin clan, was fabulously wealthy, it had no political foundation at court, and the emperor had always been indifferent toward this son.
They believed that as long as they did not actually kill him, the incident would amount to nothing more than a warning. They would push Xiao Ying into the water, make him seriously ill, and disguise it as an accident caused by drunkenness. That would be enough to make him retreat once he realized he had gone too far.
Even if something went wrong, they believed it would not cause much trouble.
That was precisely the outcome Sheng Yuanli had wanted.
As for how the Crown Prince’s faction chose to silence Xiao Ying, he did not care.
A warning, a setback, a serious illness—as long as Xiao Ying stopped moving forward, the game could continue running smoothly.
The matter should have ended after Xiao Ying’s “accidental fall” into the water.
But then something unexpected happened.
—The pleasure boat had been burned.
At that moment, the curtain of the darkened room shifted with a barely audible rustle.
A shadow guard appeared soundlessly and knelt halfway before the desk, reporting in a low voice.
“Master, we have confirmed that it was indeed the pleasure boat Prince Yi took last night. It caught fire during the night and had been reduced to a charred wreck by this morning. The flames were fierce, far beyond what would be expected from an ordinary accidental fire.”
Sheng Yuanli remained seated, his voice as cold as ice water.
“What about the people around Prince Yi?”
“Reporting to Master, the attendants and personal guards who returned to the residence with Prince Yi yesterday are all still there. None of them were injured.”
A cold glint flashed through Sheng Yuanli’s eyes.
“Then who died aboard the boat?”
“Five or six boatmen and laborers who had been stationed in the lower hold. All perished in the fire.”
Sheng Yuanli fell silent for a moment, his fingertips tapping lightly against the desk.
“Where did the fire start? Did anyone board the boat before it broke out?”
“The traces were burned so thoroughly that we cannot determine who boarded it. However, the fire appears to have spread from the cargo hold in the lower stern, and there are clear signs that flammable oil was poured there.”
“Withdraw.”
“Yes.”
The shadow guard retreated soundlessly into the darkness.
Once the door closed again, Sheng Yuanli was alone in the study.
At last, a cold crack appeared in the composure he had maintained for so long.
He knew perfectly well that his people had not started the fire.
The Crown Prince’s faction had no reason to burn the boat either. It would have been a completely unnecessary move.
If the Crown Prince’s faction had truly wanted to silence witnesses, why burn several laborers in the lower hold who had no access to anything important?
And if their objective had been to distance themselves from the incident, setting the boat on fire would have been an utterly foolish way to do it.
Pushing someone into the water could still be disguised as an accident caused by drunkenness. Deliberately setting the vessel ablaze, on the other hand, had turned a supposed accidental fall into an unmistakable major case, practically begging the court to investigate and ensuring that the emperor would be alerted.
Then perhaps…
The fire had not been intended for Xiao Ying at all.
Sheng Yuanli’s fingertips suddenly stopped moving.
In that instant, he rapidly broke the entire incident down into its component parts.
Someone had leaked information to the Crown Prince’s faction.
—That was his move.
The Crown Prince’s faction, believing it could control the situation, had pushed Xiao Ying into the water.
—That was the Crown Prince’s faction’s move.
Someone had set fire to the pleasure boat.
—Who had made this third move?
A third party, entirely outside his expectations, had taken advantage of the chaos and used it to advance its own purpose.
His suspicions immediately conjured countless chilling possibilities.
Was someone using the opportunity to silence a witness he knew nothing about?
Was someone trying to exploit the situation to pin the crime of murdering a prince firmly on the Crown Prince’s faction?
Or had someone seen through his arrangement and intended to use the emperor’s suspicious nature to muddy the waters beyond all control?
Or perhaps… had the pleasure boat itself concealed a secret that even Sheng Yuanli did not know existed?
Worse still, this sudden blaze had directly attracted the attention of the sovereign in the palace.
What could have been quietly buried as an accidental fall into the water had instantly become a dark cloud hanging over everyone involved.
An uncontrollable variable had suddenly entered the game.
Sheng Yuanli rose and walked to the window, gazing out into the heavy night.
The last wisp of smoke from the bronze incense burner dissipated.
He had always been accustomed to playing the role of the strategist hidden behind the scenes, manipulating the board by exploiting human nature.
But at that moment, a long-forgotten chill began to creep slowly down his spine.
He had thought he was arranging the pieces from outside the board.
Yet for the first time, he felt with startling intensity that somewhere beyond his sight…
There seemed to be another chessboard he had yet to discover.
And another pair of hands had quietly reached for the pieces, altering the course of the game without his permission.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
But now, he was no longer certain whether there might be yet another pair of eyes watching from behind the oriole.
The great undertaking of the Sheng family was only just entering its next stage.
He absolutely would not allow anyone to ruin it.