For a moment, Su Yan’s mind was flooded with chaotic thoughts. If he had to grasp at the fluttering fragments, he might have caught stray words like, ‘He clearly said he admired me, but now he’s gone to someone else’, ‘He’s a man after all, and an emperor—his harem is his duty’, ‘I myself may not stay loyal forever either’…
From Yu Wang’s perspective, Su Yan only paused briefly, then revealed an inscrutable expression and calmly uttered a few words: “How very interesting.”
—That’s it? Yu Wang, slightly disappointed, asked with a half-smile, “What does Qinghe mean by that?”
Su Yan said, “Don’t you think the timing of Consort Wei’s restoration is rather… delicate? The Emperor has always known of the Wei family’s misdeeds. Now they’re tied to the Void Sect case and stand at the center of public scrutiny. As you said, the court is blowing in all directions. I suppose the opinions can roughly be categorized.”
“Which categories?”
“Reading the Emperor’s mind, following the Empress Dowager’s will, factional strife, opportunism, self-preservation, and those who genuinely care about fairness and justice.”
Yu Wang thought for a moment—wasn’t that accurate? The Emperor’s loyalists, the Empress Dowager’s loyalists, factional cliques, fence-sitters, self-preservationists, and the rare few who truly put morality, law, and national interest first.
The more he thought about it, the more he admired the summary. Qinghe, so young, yet already had such sharp insight into the chaotic political landscape.
Even Jinghong Zhui, who outwardly seemed indifferent while holding his sword by the window, was actually listening intently to Su Yan’s analysis.
Su Yan continued, “The more chaotic the situation and the more divided the opinions, the more crucial the Emperor’s stance becomes. His position is the weathervane for most of the ministers.”
Yu Wang nodded. “My imperial brother seems gentle and tolerant, but in reality, he’s stubborn and self-willed—”
“Let’s say he’s decisive,” Su Yan cut in.
Yu Wang choked a little and faintly curled his lips. “In reality, he’s strong-willed. What’s amusing is that when it comes to factional disputes, his attitude is often ambiguous, leaving his ministers guessing. Or he uses his balancing tactics, sometimes elevating, sometimes suppressing.”
Su Yan caught the underlying criticism and asked, “You don’t agree with that?”
Yu Wang leaned back in his chair and lazily smiled. “What right do I have to ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’? I’m not in his position—it’s not my place to judge.”
Su Yan vaguely realized that beneath Yu Wang’s mask of carefree charm and his noble status, he was, at heart, a man of genuine temperament—a warrior who disdained playing political games. But he wasn’t entirely naïve either, otherwise, he wouldn’t be so adept on the battlefield where ‘war is the art of deception.’ Still, his ‘deception’ leaned more toward strategy than manipulation of people’s hearts.
What kind of brilliance would such a man display if he returned to the battlefield?
Su Yan briefly lost himself in thought until Yu Wang mischievously scratched his chin like teasing a cat, and Jinghong Zhui, fuming, placed his sword sheath between them, snapping Su Yan out of it.
“Wangye, please have some self-respect! Ah Zhui, bring a chair and sit—doesn’t it hurt your legs to stand so long?”
Su Yan casually dismissed the two and returned to his thoughts about the Emperor. “Consort Wei’s restoration at this critical moment sends a clear signal to the court and the Empress Dowager—the Emperor intends to continue supporting the Wei family. Why?”
“Because Consort Wei is good in bed?” Yu Wang sneered. “Even heroes can’t resist beautiful women.”
Su Yan retorted, “Do you think everyone’s like you, obsessed with what happens in bed?”
“Well, that’s true. Speaking of beauty, Consort Wei isn’t even one-tenth as attractive as you. The Emperor has slept with both of you, yet he never thought to promote you—you’re still just a fourth-rank official.”
Su Yan, furious, grabbed a hard pillow and threw it at him. “Slept my *ss! Who’s been in whose bed? Nonsense! Get out!”
Yu Wang easily caught the pillow with one hand and grabbed the incoming sword sheath with the other, laughing. “Yes, yes, I misspoke. Please, Lord Su, continue with the serious matters.”
Su Yan, still simmering, thought to himself how fickle Zhu Xujing really was. When they first met, he spouted insincere sweet words just to coax him into bed. Later, after suffering at Fuyin’s hands and being harshly confronted by him, Zhu Xujing had seemed subdued and restrained, even a little dignified. But now, with a bit of kindness shown to him, his tail was up again, constantly teasing and joking. Who knows what got into him this time.
Yu Wang was being glared at furiously by Su Yan, yet far from feeling disliked, he actually savored a certain sense of familiarity from it—not the tender affection of lovers, but the camaraderie of brothers-in-arms.
He had soaked in the former for ten years, so long it had become tiresome. As for the latter, he thought it belonged to the past, to the battlefield. He never expected to find such a rare gem here.
He suddenly realized, with clarity, that this kind of relationship—frank, direct, unburdened—was the most genuine, the most comfortable, the most satisfying.
Su Yan snapped in frustration, “You can’t expect pearls to come out of a dog’s mouth. I’m done talking. Get out now.”
“To be fair, you were the one who mocked me first.”
“You started it, with your filthy jokes! And the way you talk is always so insufferable.”
Yu Wang laughed and said bluntly, “I’m jealous of my imperial brother. I feel like you treat him better than me. How about you treat us equally? Maybe then I’d feel a little more at ease and your words would sound a bit sweeter to me.”
Su Yan almost choked on his breath, completely floored by Yu Wang’s shamelessness and his frank admission.
“You—you—”
“I’m actually quite easy to get along with,” Yu Wang patted the blanket, “You didn’t see that side of me ten years ago, but you’ll come to know it.”
Su Yan felt a headache coming on and decided to stop wasting time bantering. Better to stick to the main topic. As long as they stayed on track, everyone was agreeable. But the moment the conversation drifted into strange (and indecent) territory, they all turned into insufferable scoundrels.
“…Where was I?” he asked, sounding a little deflated.
“Signals,” Jinghong Zhui immediately answered, his cold gaze fixed on Yu Wang. When Lord Su had told Yu Wang to get out, he had been absolutely delighted, sword half drawn. Unfortunately, thanks to Lord Su’s great tolerance, Yu Wang hadn’t actually left, so he had no choice but to keep holding back.
“Right, what exactly is His Majesty thinking?” Su Yan wondered whether the evidence he had obtained from Wan Xin should be submitted now. He wasn’t sure.
Yu Wang thought for a moment and said, “Maybe it’s for the sake of the Second Prince. That child is indeed clever and endearing. To me, he’s sharper than Helin was at that age.”
Su Yan’s guard went up immediately. “You mean His Majesty sees the Second Prince as a promising successor, so he doesn’t want to pursue the guilt of his maternal family too harshly, lest he cut off the Second Prince’s future support in court?”
As the emperor’s biological brother, Yu Wang was both the Crown Prince’s and the Second Prince’s uncle. In recent years, the conflicts between the Crown Prince and the Wei family had grown increasingly apparent. Yu Wang had always kept his distance and didn’t concern himself with the matter. This attitude made both factions wary of him and reluctant to involve him, for fear of exposing their own positions.
Yet now, Su Yan had spoken of it so directly.
Su Yan was not someone who shared easily with mere acquaintances. For him to bring this up so plainly meant that, subconsciously, he already regarded himself as being on Yu Wang’s side—as true comrades-in-arms.
Yu Wang restrained his delight and excitement and said, “It’s hard to say. My imperial brother’s mind runs deep. But as things stand now, whether or not Consort Wei’s favor has truly been restored, the signal His Majesty is sending to the court and to the Empress Dowager is this: the Wei family will not fall because of the Void Sect case. The Second Prince still has great prospects.”
Su Yan let out a long breath and, after a brief silence, asked, “And what’s the Crown Prince’s stance on this?”
Just yesterday, Zhu Helin had insisted on personally escorting Su Yan back home. But an imperial edict had arrived from the palace urging him to prioritize disaster relief, so he had reluctantly given some final instructions before hurrying back to fulfill his duty.
Since then, Yu Wang had been guarding Su Yan’s residence and had yet to see him again.
So Yu Wang replied, “Still unknown.”
Su Yan pondered the matter deeply and felt something didn’t quite add up.
After the tunnel explosion, while he was recovering from a concussion at home, the emperor had once come in disguise to visit him. In this very bedroom, the emperor had given him a private seal symbolizing trust and commitment. Su Yan had dared to break the strict boundaries of ruler and subject to point out the Wei family’s ambitions regarding succession, thus involving himself in a dangerous power struggle.
What had the emperor said to him back then?
—Let the Wei family continue to be the chess piece in the player’s hand. The more moves they make, the more they reveal.
—Only when the threat is allowed to grow will you truly see how deep its roots run and how vast its connections are. Only then can you uproot it completely, taking the ringleader and all their allies down in one stroke.
The emperor rarely spoke such heartfelt words to anyone. Even with his closest officials, he would always first weigh their value on a scale before deciding what to reveal and which path to guide them down. For some reason, Su Yan felt that the emperor’s words to him had not been a political ploy but had come from genuine sincerity.
So what was His Majesty’s plan now? Was he still playing the long game, or had his intentions changed?
Had the emperor’s love and favoritism toward the Crown Prince over the past fifteen years simply been because he had no other option at the time—only one heir? And now that a Second Prince had come along, had he developed the idea of making them compete for the position?
The Wei family’s greatest backing was the Empress Dowager. The emperor and the Empress Dowager had long been publicly harmonious, and it was said that when he first ascended the throne, he had been suppressed by veteran ministers until he joined forces with the Empress Dowager to seize power in court. By that logic, the Empress Dowager should be aligned with her eldest son. Could it be that out of love and gratitude toward his mother, the emperor had changed his mind and now intended to spare the Wei family?
These conflicting possibilities tangled in Su Yan’s mind, and he couldn’t decide.
If he went to ask His Majesty directly, he might get a clearer answer—or at least a hint. But his instincts told him that would be a foolish move.
Su Yan knew that His Majesty held high expectations for him—not only in matters of love and desire, but in state affairs as well. If His Majesty merely wanted him as a favored lover, he would have taken him during his coming-of-age ceremony, instead of painstakingly guiding him, testing him, and shaping him step by step in the political arena.
When they played chess, His Majesty never went easy on him. And Su Yan knew he had to give his best to keep up—not to win outright, but at least to hold his own.
Su Yan exhaled deeply and made a decision from the bottom of his heart between the two conflicting guesses, setting his next steps in motion.
Jinghong Zhui, seeing him frowning in silence for so long, asked, “My lord, your body has not yet recovered. Are you feeling tired? Perhaps you should rest more.” As he spoke, he helped Su Yan lie back on his pillow.
Su Yan also felt weak, his head spinning from overthinking, so he simply lay back down. Yu Wang tactfully stood up. “You have a good rest, I’ll come see you again this evening.”
Evening? It was already afternoon. Su Yan said, “Your Highness, please return to your residence to rest. I dare not trouble you to go back and forth. I really can’t bear such favor.”
Yu Wang chuckled softly, “It’s no trouble. It’s just a short distance across a single alley—not enough to call it a journey.”
What did that mean? Even if their residences were in adjacent districts, the distance between his home and Yu Wang’s estate was certainly more than just one alley. What did he mean by measuring across?
Su Yan widened his eyes in confusion. Yu Wang found his expression quite endearing and explained with a smile, “The situation in the capital is unstable right now, with remnants of the Void Sect still at large. Your safety is a priority. I’ve bought the vacant house across from your back door and will stay there for a while. From now on, we’ll be neighbors—I hope you’ll take good care of me.”
Su Yan: “…”
So having money means you can do whatever you want?
“If you’re still not at ease, I can also buy the occupied house next door at a high price and have my guards move in. Or perhaps, you can move? Your little courtyard is really too cramped. There’s a large vacant mansion near the royal estate that I think is quite nice—why not move there?”
…Fine. Having money really does mean you can do whatever you want.
Su Yan said helplessly, “I appreciate your kindness, but I’d rather earn my own money to buy a house. That feels more secure.”
After Yu Wang left, Jinghong Zhui crouched by Su Yan’s bedside and said seriously, “Just relying on your current salary, it would probably take twenty years to save enough for a large mansion—unless you become a corrupt official, then you could have as many houses as you want. But I know you’re not that kind of man. So… I will work hard to earn money and buy you a house.”
Su Yan wanted to laugh but was also genuinely touched. He reached out and patted his loyal bodyguard’s head. “Don’t forget, you’ve already washed your hands of your past—you no longer take assassination contracts. So, are you planning to work hard earning the monthly pay I give you?”
Jinghong Zhui froze, his cheeks quickly flushing red, and whispered, “I don’t need you to support me. I can support you instead.”
Su Yan smiled. “Alright, if I ever lose my job, I’ll rely on you to keep me fed.”
Jinghong Zhui believed his lord had a bright future and would never lose his position, but even if the words were casually spoken, they still filled him with joy. He licked Su Yan’s fingers and said, “Then it’s a deal.”
Su Yan let him lick until his fingers were wet, his mind drifting again in a cloud of haze, even having a thought more shameless than Yu Wang’s: if he really does get a big house one day, would Ah Zhui agree to let Qilang move in too?
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