Jun Huailang did not know that the urgent letter sent by the Eastern Depot had already arrived on Xue Yan’s desk yesterday.
The letter said that Emperor Qingping had already received the memorial that the Duke of Yongning had submitted to the capital and had begun summoning the ministers to discuss the matter.
Jinling had suffered a disaster, so sending money, grain, and supplies was naturally unquestionable and required no discussion. What Emperor Qingping wanted the ministers to discuss was which official should be appointed to oversee the relief effort and escort the supplies south.
Although the Duke of Yongning held a high position and was highly capable, there would be nothing wrong with appointing him on the spot.
However, the Duke of Yongning was already a hereditary meritorious noble. Now that Jinling had suffered a disaster, he had handled the crisis and reported it promptly, which was already a merit in itself. If he were given full responsibility for flood control this time and managed to accomplish it successfully, his contribution would become enormous.
At that point, if Emperor Qingping did not reward the Duke of Yongning with a high office and generous privileges, he would have no way to justify himself before the court.
But if he did grant him such rewards, who could say whether the man’s loyalty might change? He was already the descendant of a founding meritorious noble. If he gained even greater merit and began to overshadow the emperor, then if he cultivated his own faction and developed rebellious intentions, he would be far more difficult to deal with than officials without any foundation.
To avoid creating such trouble for himself, Emperor Qingping acted as though he did not know that the Duke of Yongning was in Jinling at all. He summoned the ministers and put on a show of seriously discussing which official should go south to oversee disaster relief.
Just as before, in order to keep the Duke of Yongning’s old friends and associates from finding out, Emperor Qingping invited only officials from the great aristocratic families. Aside from the neutral faction that was merely protecting its own interests, every official present belonged to the Xu family.
Everyone tacitly kept silent about the Duke of Yongning being in Jinling. After discussing the matter for half a day, they selected a young official who had only recently risen to prominence at court.
Sure enough, he was an ally of the Xu family.
Once the candidate had been decided and the imperial decree issued, Emperor Qingping allocated money and grain and ordered the official to set out immediately with his men for Jiangnan to provide disaster relief.
The relief convoy would depart from Chang’an and travel west. After entering Shandong, they would board ships along the Yellow River and transport the provisions to Jinling through the Grand Canal connecting the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.
The waterways were smooth, allowing them to travel quickly. They also would not have to pass through the various cities and prefectures along the way, which would save considerable trouble and make it difficult to carry out any schemes in secret.
Therefore, Xue Yan knew at a glance that if they wanted to tamper with the supplies, they would certainly do it before the convoy entered the waterway.
And the most convenient place would be Shandong, where the cargo was unloaded and loaded onto ships.
Their mission was urgent, so the process of loading and unloading the grain would inevitably be chaotic and hurried, making it the easiest time to tamper with things. Moreover, the newly appointed governor of Shandong belonged to the Xu family. After diverting the embezzled money and grain away, they could immediately store it in the Shandong government treasury, then hand over the remaining supplies to Guo Rongwen. The whole thing could be done without anyone noticing.
The money and grain could also mysteriously disappear during transportation. When Jinling demanded money and grain, they would have countless ways to frame the Duke of Yongning and Governor Shen.
Xue Yan sat beside Jun Huailang, looking at him as he slept, and pondered for a moment.
He knew that for the relatively minor crimes these people had committed, he needed to preserve the evidence and wait for the right moment. But if they took the risk and committed an act this serious—one that concerned life and death—then he needed to catch them in the act and convict them on the spot.
After all, money and grain did not have names written on them. If they waited until the embezzled supplies had been delivered into the Shandong government treasury and mixed together with the original stock there, finding evidence afterward would be extremely difficult.
Moreover, what they were doing was meant to drive the Duke of Yongning into a desperate situation. If Xue Yan still remained passive at this point and the money and grain failed to reach Jinling, the city’s immediate crisis would remain unresolved, and Jinling would descend into chaos.
From the very beginning, when they sabotaged the embankments and murdered scholars, to now withholding the relief supplies, what they wanted was for Jinling to fall into disorder so that the officials from the Jiang family’s faction, who came from humble origins, would have their foundations shaken.
And now that the person who had come to Jiangnan had changed from an official of the Jiang family to the Duke of Yongning, all these arrangements were intended to take the Duke of Yongning’s life.
Xue Yan naturally could not allow their plans to succeed.
Therefore, after receiving the imperial decree, he would have to use his concern for the relief effort as an excuse to set out immediately, head to Shandong to intercept the supplies, and personally escort the money and grain allocated by Chang’an back to Jinling.
By that calculation, he would be away from Jinling for at least ten days.
Although Jun Huailang’s father and a large number of officials were in Jinling, Xue Yan was still uneasy.
The night was exceptionally clear, with a bright full moon hanging quietly in the sky. Xue Yan raised his head and looked at the moon, thinking.
Aside from the troops he needed for the surprise attack into Shandong, he could still leave some of the Embroidered Uniform Guards behind in Jinling to specifically protect Jun Huailang’s safety. Duan Shisi would have to stay as well. He alone would be enough for Shandong; there was nothing that absolutely required Duan Shisi to go.
As for Jinbao, he was usually reliable. Perhaps he could stay too, specifically to keep an eye on Jun Huailang’s three meals a day and make sure he took his afternoon nap…
Just then, Xue Yan felt a slight movement against his shoulder.
He lowered his head and saw Jun Huailang raise a hand to rub his sleepy eyes.
“…How did I fall asleep?” Jun Huailang’s voice was slightly hoarse, still carrying the soft, drowsy quality of someone who had not fully awakened. Combined with his normally cool and clear voice, it sounded particularly alluring.
Xue Yan’s lower abdomen involuntarily tightened. He pinched the soft flesh beneath his own arm hard before he could suppress the impulse that had suddenly surged up.
He lowered his head and said, “Awake?”
Jun Huailang sat up and yawned before finally coming fully awake.
“I suppose I was busy for too long this afternoon.” As he spoke, he was about to stand and look down toward the embankment. “How is it? Have they finished the day’s work?”
Even though the river-control and embankment-repair project was proceeding step by step according to his arrangements, problems inevitably arose along the way. So Jun Huailang stayed here every day, constantly monitoring the progress and situation. Whenever something went wrong, he had to rush over and resolve it immediately.
Seeing that the first thing Jun Huailang did upon waking was worry about the embankment again, Xue Yan became somewhat displeased. He reached out and pulled him back just as he had begun to stand.
“I checked for you,” he said. “It’s already finished, and they’ve wrapped up for the day. We can go back now.”
Jun Huailang acknowledged him without suspicion and obediently sat back down.
He looked up at the moon in the sky and smiled softly.
“You’ve worked hard too, coming here with me every day and staying until so late.”
Xue Yan turned his face away coldly.
“I’m willing to. It’s not hard at all,” he muttered under his breath.
The surroundings were utterly quiet. There was not even any wind. Only the scattered lights from the construction site along the embankment glimmered in the distance.
Those words easily reached Jun Huailang’s ears.
He sounded so childish that Jun Huailang instinctively wanted to laugh. But when he looked at Xue Yan, the smile remained on his face while his gaze became impossible to move away.
This person sat quietly beside him, saying little, but the scent of sandalwood continued to linger around him.
Jun Huailang silently looked at him for a while.
Xue Yan’s appearance was exceptionally striking, and the aura surrounding him was both powerful and dark. Jun Huailang had known that from the very first moment he saw him in his previous life.
But he had never imagined that a person like this would quietly stay by his side during such a difficult time.
Fate was truly too wondrous.
Xue Yan was staring down at the lights below the embankment, deep in thought, when he sensed Jun Huailang’s gaze. He turned his head and asked, “What is it?”
Jun Huailang paused, then shook his head.
Xue Yan looked at him.
“I’m going to be away for a few days.”
Jun Huailang froze, then asked, “Where are you going?”
Xue Yan said, “The capital has already sent out disaster-relief supplies. Prime Minister Xu will make his move. I have to go there personally.”
Jun Huailang paused, and immediately understood everything.
“You mean they’ll intercept the supplies and hide them somewhere else?” Jun Huailang frowned. “The amount of money and grain is specified in the imperial decree. How could they possibly have the nerve to do that?”
So that was why, in his previous life, even after his father died, no one knew where the embezzled money and grain had been hidden. It turned out that the supplies had already been embezzled by someone else before they ever reached his father’s hands, and the nonexistent crime had then been pinned on his father.
Xue Yan said, “They certainly have the nerve. But the Xu and Jiang families have been locked in conflict for too long, and the Duke of Yongning has now touched their interests, so they’ve decided to take this dangerous gamble.”
Jun Huailang fell silent for a moment.
After a long while, he looked up at the sky and let out a self-mocking laugh.
“That’s right,” he said. “If you hadn’t discovered what they were doing, then this would indeed be an extremely meticulous plan, despite the risks involved.”
After all, the entire route from Chang’an to Jinling was under their control. They possessed enough power to cover the sky with one hand. Even if precautions had been taken in advance, how could anyone possibly withstand them?
He had been reborn into this life and had spent more than a year being cautious at every turn, trying to find clues around his father. Yet there had already been a vast net waiting to ensnare them. Even if one had the empty title of a founding meritorious noble but held no real power, what ability was there to resist?
Instead, there was Xue Yan…
Without Xue Yan, Jun Huailang could hardly imagine what consequences they would face in this life.
Hearing Jun Huailang say this, Xue Yan instinctively frowned.
He could tell that something was wrong with Jun Huailang’s tone. The expression on his face made Xue Yan feel uneasy as well.
It made him want to pull him into his arms, to completely envelop him in his embrace.
But he raised his hand several times, and in the end, never let it fall. He simply waited quietly beside him without saying a word.
After a moment, he met Jun Huailang’s gaze as the latter turned toward him.
“…Xue Yan,” Jun Huailang suddenly said.
Xue Yan immediately answered, “Hmm?”
Jun Huailang opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He had never known that a person could accumulate so many feelings toward another person.
Old hatred, love, and gratitude—every one of the heaviest emotions he possessed now was concentrated in Xue Yan alone.
There would never be another Xue Yan in this world.
He wanted to run, wanted to hide, but he simply could not move. He could not get away.
His heart was defying his reason and conscience, tugging at him and pulling him toward Xue Yan’s side.
Jun Huailang could not make a sound. Instead, Xue Yan began to panic.
“Don’t think too much about it,” he said. “I’ve arranged everything. You only need to wait for news here in Jinling. Didn’t I tell you? You don’t have to do anything. Just watch how those people die. That’s enough.”
As he spoke, he turned to look at Jun Huailang.
At once, his eyes met Jun Huailang’s, glistening with tears.
For a moment, Xue Yan immediately understood the emotions surging through Jun Huailang’s eyes, as though he had looked straight into his heart.
Xue Yan’s voice stopped as well.
Under the moonlight, the two looked at each other for a long while, neither saying a word.
After a long time, just as Jun Huailang was about to avert his gaze and stand up, as though fleeing, Xue Yan raised his hand and gently yet firmly pressed it against the back of his head, forcing him to turn his gaze back.
His tone was solemn and utterly certain.
“Jun Huailang, you know that I love you, that you’re the only one in my heart and in my eyes, and that I wish I could give my entire life to you. That’s enough.”
“I won’t force you to respond to me. I’ll wait for you whenever you’re ready,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”