Once the main hall had quieted down, everyone waited for the Qingping Emperor to speak.
According to the rules of previous years, the Qingping Emperor would always ask the prince who had won first place what reward he wanted, and take the opportunity to praise him a few times.
But this year was different.
The prince who had taken first place was Xue Yan.
For a moment, everyone present could not help but look toward the Qingping Emperor, all waiting to see how he would react.
Yet the Qingping Emperor did not say anything for a long while. He remained frozen in place for quite some time, staring straight at Xue Yan.
Naturally, no one dared urge him.
No one had expected him to react this way. Everyone exchanged glances, not daring to utter a word.
And while everyone was watching the Qingping Emperor, no one noticed that Yi Jieyu, seated among the consorts, had rarely revealed a tense expression. She clenched her palm, her nails digging deeply into her flesh.
After a moment, the Qingping Emperor finally spoke.
“Xue Yan, stay behind after the banquet,” he said.
After saying that, he did not say anything else, nor did he pay attention to the people exchanging bewildered looks. He merely raised a hand, signaling for the strings and bamboo instruments to continue, telling everyone to resume their drinking and feasting.
And the silk handkerchief in Yi Jieyu’s hand drifted lightly to the ground along with that casual order from the Qingping Emperor.
The peach branch beside her hurriedly stepped forward to pick it up.
Only to see that the fine embroidered silk handkerchief had somehow already been clenched into a crumpled mess.
——
Only the Qingping Emperor himself knew what he was thinking.
From the moment Xue Yan was born, he had never properly looked at him. Xue Yan had been sent to Yan Commandery by soldiers on swift horses while still in swaddling clothes. When he returned to Chang’an at around fifteen, the Qingping Emperor had been wary of him as the calamity born into the world, and every time he saw him, he had done nothing more than give him a hurried glance.
He had never carefully examined Xue Yan’s appearance. Thus, only today did he suddenly realize just how much Xue Yan resembled Consort Rong.
Leaving aside those amber-colored pupils, his brows and the corners of his eyes all carried traces of Consort Rong. It was only that Xue Yan’s features were sharper, and his gaze lacked Consort Rong’s innocent, guileless quality. It was much colder and more restrained.
At this moment, he sat high in the hall, looking down at Xue Yan from above. Taking advantage of the alcohol, he became somewhat dazed for a moment, as if he had returned to more than ten years ago, when he had likewise sat upon the dais and first met Consort Rong, watching her dance for him.
This was the first time the Qingping Emperor clearly realized that this was the child he and Consort Rong had shared, and that this child looked especially much like Consort Rong.
It was rare for him to remain lost in thought for so long, and so he had issued this order that left everyone baffled.
Because of his abnormal behavior, during the latter half of the banquet, everyone was more interested in the Qingping Emperor than in the food and wine. Once the time came, they hurriedly dispersed.
The Qingping Emperor was helped to the rear hall to rest. The moment he sat down, he ordered Lingfu to bring Xue Yan in.
Lingfu hesitated.
“What is it?” The Qingping Emperor asked coldly, supporting his forehead when he saw that Lingfu had not moved for quite some time.
Lingfu bent forward and quietly advised, “Your Majesty, why have you summoned him?”
The Qingping Emperor was drunk, and his temper had grown somewhat worse.
“What? Do I need to ask for your opinion before I do things?”
Lingfu hurriedly said, “This servant would never dare! It is only that the Grand Astrologer said that day that the calamity star has been showing unusual movements recently. This servant is merely worried about Your Majesty’s health…”
“Was there not no unusual movement?” the Qingping Emperor suddenly interrupted him.
Lingfu immediately knelt down and kowtowed to ask forgiveness.
The Qingping Emperor impatiently waved his hand. “Get out. Go bring Xue Yan here.”
Lingfu withdrew with his body bent, hiding all his emotions and calculations deep within his eyes.
As expected, Yi Jieyu had failed, and as a result, even the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had lost the Emperor’s trust.
He must make sure she arranged something else before the end of the year, so that the divination from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau could be made to come true.
Lingfu calculated silently in his heart.
The Qingping Emperor sat in his chair, propping up his head. He did not have to wait long before footsteps came from the front hall.
He raised his eyes and saw Xue Yan silently following behind Lingfu. He quietly walked up before him and bowed in salute.
“Rise.” The Qingping Emperor raised a hand and pointed to the seat below him, indicating for him to sit there.
Xue Yan took his seat.
A palace maid came forward and poured him some tea to sober him up. The Qingping Emperor took a sip and waited for Xue Yan to speak first.
But Xue Yan simply sat there without saying a word for a long time, like a piece of wood.
Had it been an ordinary day, the Qingping Emperor would certainly have felt that he was being disrespectful and would have thrown a fit, big or small.
But today he was drunk, and his memories of Consort Rong had been stirred up. Facing Xue Yan, the son born of Consort Rong, he unexpectedly found himself possessing an unusual amount of patience for the first time.
“Your archery is quite good,” the Qingping Emperor said first. “The King of Yan taught you well.”
Xue Yan said, “Father Emperor praises me too highly.”
He sat there coldly, watching the Qingping Emperor’s drunken state.
The Qingping Emperor had drunk far too much by now. He was completely off his guard and did not conceal himself in the slightest, displaying his truest thoughts plainly on his face.
Xue Yan especially looked down upon him for behaving this way. No matter how sincerely he displayed his emotions there, Xue Yan merely watched coldly from the sidelines, as though he were watching a performance.
In his eyes, this rare display of affection from the Qingping Emperor was laughably cheap.
It was only because he was the Emperor that it still had some usefulness.
Look at that eunuch beside him. Did he not think he had concealed himself well? Was he not still so nervous that sweat had appeared on his forehead?
Xue Yan quietly lifted the corners of his lips.
A few days ago, the dead soldiers had returned with intelligence, saying that the medicine had been obtained by the Xu family and had been brought into the palace by servants of the Xu family, taking advantage of their master’s visits to the palace to see Yi Jieyu.
Because they had traced it to the Xu family, they had also uncovered a rather interesting piece of secret intelligence and sent it to Xue Yan as well.
The Lingtailang of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had known Yi Jieyu in the past. When Yi Jieyu entered the palace, he had chased after her carriage all the way to the palace gates.
Not long afterward, this man entered the imperial court as an official and joined the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.
Now it seemed that it was not only the Imperial Astronomical Bureau—even the chief eunuch beside the Emperor was also someone from Yi Jieyu’s side.
Xue Yan cast a淡 glance at Lingfu before withdrawing his gaze. In his heart, he had already followed the clues like a vine along a tree and sorted out most of the relationships between them.
Meanwhile, the Qingping Emperor in his seat was still reminiscing on his own.
“The King of Yan was once my second elder brother,” he said slowly, slouching sideways in his chair. One hand rested on the armrest, his fingers tapping against it every now and then. “When he was young, he was already highly skilled in martial arts, and he was also accomplished in literature. The late Emperor loved him the most. It is only a pity that Heaven envies the gifted…”
At this point, the Qingping Emperor paused and swallowed the rest of his words.
Xue Yan saw a trace of sharpness appear in his hazy, drunken eyes.
But it vanished in the blink of an eye. He stopped speaking, and that momentary sharpness disappeared with it.
“But your mother,” the Qingping Emperor said, looking at Xue Yan again. “You have been back in the palace for so many days, and you often go to her palace to pay respects before her memorial tablet.”
Xue Yan said, “Your son obeys Father Emperor’s decree.”
The Qingping Emperor looked at him.
After a moment, he rarely let out a sigh.
It was all fate, too.
He was drunk, so it was inevitable that he would become sentimental. Leaning against the chair, he thought that if this child had not been born with such a fate, how could father and son have become estranged?
Now the child was not close to him in the slightest. Thinking about it, there was some pity in it as well.
This expression of his put Lingfu beside him on high alert.
As for Xue Yan, a cold laugh rose in his heart.
People who drank too much were the easiest to manipulate through emotion. All their usual calculations would be numbed by drunkenness.
At this moment, he looked so sincere, but he was merely using drunkenness to move himself.
Once he sobered up tomorrow, none of this would count for anything.
If one truly believed this appearance of his, then that person would really have something wrong with them.
Xue Yan sat there bored out of his mind, simply waiting for the Qingping Emperor to finish his useless sentiments and send him back.
After a long while, the Qingping Emperor finally felt tired.
He raised a hand, and Lingfu immediately understood. He hurried forward and helped him to his feet.
“I have not yet asked you,” the Qingping Emperor said. “You won first place today. What reward do you want?”
Xue Yan raised his eyes to look at him.
He thought to himself that after wasting so much time here today, it could still be considered somewhat worthwhile.
The Qingping Emperor continued on his own, “If there is anything your palace lacks, or if there is any favor you want from me, you may boldly tell me. It is rare for me to test you once. No matter how precious the object, you are worthy of receiving it.”
Most of these words had been stirred up by his longing for Consort Rong, so there was inevitably some exaggeration in them.
But when he looked at Xue Yan, there was, unusually, a trace of sincerity in his eyes.
This child was pitiful. It was only right for him to bestow some imperial grace upon him and give him some rewards.
Surely the child would understand his difficulties, and surely he would be grateful and deeply indebted.
Xue Yan gave him a proper bow.
Without even thinking, he calmly spoke.
“This son has nothing in particular that he wants. I only wish to ask Father Emperor for a lantern.”
The Qingping Emperor’s charity was something he did not care for in the slightest, and he was too lazy to open his mouth to ask for it.
What he wanted, he would take himself.
He did not need anyone to give it to him, and no one could stop him.
What he wanted was nothing more than an ordinary, unremarkable lantern that happened to be especially loved by someone.
——
Jun Huailang returned to Mingluan Palace early that night.
Thinking about how the Qingping Emperor had deliberately kept Xue Yan behind, he could not help but feel somewhat uneasy.
Judging from the Qingping Emperor’s expression, he did not seem angry. Instead, he had been unusually gentle, so presumably it was nothing serious.
But he was more worried about Xue Yan.
Xue Yan was different from other people.
He was taciturn, knew nothing about being tactful or worldly, and also carried a frightening fate on his shoulders.
The Qingping Emperor had already been wary of him as a calamity star. Even if he had been somewhat gentler today, there was no guarantee that Xue Yan would not anger him again and bring trouble upon himself.
After Jun Huailang returned to the eastern side hall, he had originally intended to wait for Xue Yan to return and ask what had happened.
But Xue Yan did not return for a long time.
Jun Huailang had also drunk a little that day. Gradually, the alcohol took effect, and he fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already early the next morning.
He got up and saw that everything around him was peaceful and quiet. Bright sunlight shone outside the window, and he could even hear the painted-brow bird chirping beneath the corridor.
“When did Fifth Highness return last night?” he asked while Fuyi served him as he washed his face.
Fuyi said, “This servant does not know either. I suppose Fifth Highness returned rather late.”
Jun Huailang frowned.
After washing his face, he got up and had Fuyi help him put on his robes. He intended to go to the western side hall first.
“Master, why don’t you eat breakfast before going?” Fuyi advised as he helped him dress. “Although Fifth Highness returned somewhat late, there was no commotion last night. Presumably, nothing serious happened.”
But Jun Huailang shook his head.
“I should still take a look.”
He knew Xue Yan.
If it were someone else, there truly would be no need to worry.
But if it was Xue Yan, it was different.
Whenever anything happened to him, when had he ever said a word?
Even if the Qingping Emperor had beaten him with the rods last night, when he returned at night, he would still remain completely silent.
Thinking this, Jun Huailang felt increasingly uncertain.
He hurriedly finished changing his robes, wrapped himself in his cloak, and pushed open the door.
Outside, the sunlight was brilliant.
The snow of winter was white and crystalline, reflecting the winter sunlight and making the red walls and green-glazed tiles appear especially bright.
And beneath his corridor hung a translucent, crystalline pale green object.
Jun Huailang raised his head, and his gaze immediately collided with it.
Translucent and crystalline, the sunlight shining upon it made it glitter brilliantly.
Threads of green ran through it, clear and vivid. Under the sunlight, it seemed almost alive. From a distance, it looked like swaying bamboo shadows.
It was the glazed palace lantern he had caught a fleeting glimpse of at the entrance of Changchun Tower last night.