Su Yan had just taken off his mud-stained cloak when he spotted Zhu Helin peeking around the doorway. Startled, he asked: “You’re bathing too? Then I’ll switch to another room.”
“No need, no need.” Zhu Helin coughed lightly, strolled in with feigned casualness, and plopped himself on a bench. “This room already has heated water—the guards prepared it for me tonight. The pool’s so big, one more person makes no difference. Just think of it as soaking in a hot spring.”
Su Yan had no desire to share a hot soak with a young rascal who had pinned him down and bitten his mouth several times—especially since he often assumed the air of a mentor in front of the boy. To suddenly strip down in the same bath, the thought alone made him awkward.
But changing to another room with only cold water? For the pampered Lord Su, that was hardly an option either.
So he considered a compromise: perhaps two pools in the same room, separated by a curtain or something.
He looked around at the bath chamber, still bearing the style of a temple. The walls were laid with green bricks, the pool was built of large stone, nine feet square, and one side was set against the wall. The wall had two holes, with pipes running into the pool, though where they led beyond was unknown.
Thinking he was curious, Zhu Helin explained: “Behind the pipes are two huge cauldrons connected to the spring, with pulleys to draw water. One cauldron holds clear water; the other is heated with coal until it boils. Before bathing, both pipes are opened together, mixing hot and cold into warm water.”
Coal—it was essentially a giant hot-water system, even an artificial hot spring. Su Yan couldn’t help marveling: no matter the era, people always came up with ingenious ways to improve their standard of living. Perhaps hedonism, in some sense, also drives technological progress.
“What about that pool?” he asked, pointing to the empty one against the opposite wall.
“No water. I don’t know. They only serve me alone—no need to heat so much water. One cauldron is enough.”
With no better choice, Su Yan grabbed his cloak to leave: “Then let the young master bathe first. Once you’re done, I’ll have fresh water drawn.”
Zhu Helin suddenly leapt up from the bench, grabbed his arm: “Change water for what? This young master doesn’t even mind you being filthy—how dare you mind me! Hurry up and get in!”
As he spoke, he was already tugging at Su Yan’s soaked robes. Su Yan tried to fend him off while sneezing, but he couldn’t stop him, and in a moment his clothes were half-stripped away. Clutching desperately at the waistband of his trousers, he blurted: “These can’t come off—really, they can’t!”
If they came off, wouldn’t that expose the private seal His Majesty had stamped on him a few days ago?
Oh, if the Crown Prince saw it—his own father’s name, that taboo name all under heaven must avoid—printed on some minister’s inner thigh, and now that very minister and the name itself were sitting in the same bath with him… what sort of expression would the Crown Prince make? The image was too terrible to imagine.
Besides, every time Su Yan bathed, he carefully pasted over the seal with ink, afraid that one day the Emperor might whimsically decide to check. If it were discovered missing, how would he explain—What, it came off because I was bathing with your son, who can’t stop trying to prove his manhood?
They’d chop off eight of his heads!
“Embarrassed? No need. Whenever this young master bathes, there’s always a dozen eunuchs and palace maids serving me. You, born to an official family, surely had servants attending you since childhood. What’s there to be shy about being seen?”
Su Yan’s face was despair itself: “How about… I soak with my trousers on?”
Zhu Helin frowned, displeased: “Who takes a bath with trousers on? And besides, your trousers are covered in mud—don’t go dirtying my bathwater! If you’re too embarrassed to strip, then this young master will go first.”
He swiftly began loosening his own clothes, while Su Yan clutched at his waistband, thought only of escape.
Coincidentally, two unwilling outsiders pushed past the guards and charged in.
The moment they all came face to face under the inner doorway’s hanging curtain—
Su Yan’s robe hanging open as he clutched his pants, the Crown Prince with half his sleeve torn, Shen Qi grim-faced with a hand on his sword hilt, and Yu Wang… arms crossed, whistling low, one part irritation, seven parts mockery.
“All wanting a soak?” Su Yan, utterly mortified, lost his mind for a second and blurted it out. The moment he did, he wished he could bite his tongue off. “That pool… three people might work, but four is too cramped. You go ahead—I can wait.”
He tried to slip past Shen Qi and Yu Wang at the doorframe.
Yu Wang barred him with one arm, smirking: “What’s this—feeling shy?”
Su Yan shook his head, hesitated, then quickly nodded.
Yu Wang arched his brow: “Why do I feel like Qinghe is hiding something?”
Shen Qi rapped his fist against Yu Wang’s elbow: “Let him go—don’t block him! Qinghe, come here.”
But Su Yan didn’t go to him either, just kept his head down and tried to slip away.
Now even Shen Qi caught the whiff of guilt, suspecting he was really hiding some unspeakable secret. He hooked an arm around Su Yan’s waist, pulled him close, and murmured in his ear: “What are you keeping from your husband?”
Su Yan said: “Nothing… ah-choo!” He sneezed, showering Shen Qi’s face with spit.
Mortified, he quickly wiped at it with his sleeve.
Shen Qi didn’t care about his face; both hands slid down Su Yan’s sides from under his arms in the standard search method of an interrogation.
Zhu Helin couldn’t stand it, glaring furiously as he rushed over: “Insolent! This young master’s man—how dare you grope him up and down! If you don’t let go, don’t blame me for forgetting you once saved the heir apparent!”
“‘Grope up and down’—that’s not how the phrase is used, young master,” Su Yan corrected reflexively, while shoving at Shen Qi. “Don’t go rummaging around! There’s nothing, really—”
Yu Wang took the chance to pull him toward his own side: “Right, there’s nothing. I believe you—come here.”
Shen Qi grabbed Su Yan’s arm with one hand, formed a phoenix-eye fist with the other, and drove it at Yu Wang’s waist in a sharp angle.
Yu Wang met him with his forearm, hard against hard, each strike landing with muffled thuds of flesh on flesh.
Zhu Helin, seeing no one putting the Crown Prince’s order in their eyes, was beside himself with fury: “Su Qinghe! If you don’t come here right now, watch how this young master deals with you!”
Seeing no way to get free, Su Yan bent down and ducked beneath the two trading blows, shielding his head with his arms as he slipped under the arcs of fists.
But in protecting the top, he forgot the bottom—his loose wide trousers slid right down to his ankles.
Luckily he still had on a pair of self-made cotton shorts underneath, so he wasn’t completely exposed.
The very same Zhu Helin who had just been saying “there’s no need to be embarrassed” and “you’re used to being served, why be afraid of being seen,” suddenly flushed bright red, his eyes darting helplessly everywhere.
Su Yan cursed under his breath, bent to snatch up his trousers—and the back of his upper thigh was plainly exposed.
Zhu Helin blinked, then asked: “That red mark on your leg—what is it?”
“A mole!” Su Yan answered instantly, yanking his trousers up.
But the Crown Prince had sharp eyes and wasn’t fooled. Staring at the fabric, he said suspiciously: “This young master thinks it doesn’t look like a mole—it looks like a stamped seal with words. Come here, let me see clearly.”
No way Su Yan dared let him look closely. He turned to dart for the curtain again, but Yu Wang caught him by the shoulder—careful not to use real force on Su Yan’s fragile body: “You had a tattoo done? What characters?”
At that, Shen Qi’s heart sank. Could it be Qinghe still pined for Jinghong Zhui—gone, yet he’d tattooed the name onto himself? The more he thought, the darker his face grew. If only he could catch that brigand, blade in hand, and solve the problem at the root…
Su Yan suddenly wrenched free of Yu Wang’s fingers, shame and fury exploding: “None of your d*mn business! First stripping me by force, now staring at my body—do you have no sense of decency or shame? If you don’t want to bathe, then fine—I’ll bathe myself. All of you, get out!”
And with clothes and trousers still on, he jumped straight into the pool.
Zhu Helin suddenly realized, shouting: “If you’re hiding it so tightly, it must be something unspeakable. This young master has to see what characters they are!” He flung off his outer robe and jumped in too, lunging for Su Yan’s waistband.
Su Yan howled and kicked back at him.
Two handsome youths, half-dressed, tangling in the water—the scene was neither alluring nor indecent. However you looked at it, it was just like children scuffling.
Unable to endure any longer, Shen Qi strode forward in great steps, determined to rescue his wife from the Crown Prince’s clutches.
Yu Wang also stepped forward—but instead of helping Su Yan, he yanked the rug out from under him, with a sharp rip tearing his trousers.
Three pairs of eyes fixed on his thigh. Su Yan only felt a coldness at the root of his leg… a chill that spread all the way to his heart, even to the base of his neck. In despair he lowered his head to look—
Thank heavens—after the cinnabar paste had been drenched in rain and steeped in hot water, the hardened scab had nearly all flaked off, leaving very little behind.
Zhu Helin rubbed the remaining cinnabar with his fingers, puzzled, rolling it between thumb and forefinger. “Not a tattoo, it’s stamped on. This color looks familiar—red laced with gold…” He lifted his hand to his nose for a sniff, froze for a moment, then burst out in shock and anger: “This is the golden cinnabar vermilion used for imperial rescripts!”
Shame overwhelmed Su Yan. He flung himself toward the bottom of the pool, water splashing high.
Unable to face them, he tried to drown and flee instead—startling the other three into a panic. They scrambled into the pool, hauling him up with frantic hands.
Zhu Helin locked onto one of his arms, eyes red as he cursed: “The interrogation hasn’t even started and you’re already pulling this trick! Usually when it comes to defying your superiors you’re tougher than anyone, and now you pretend to be weak and frail?”
Yu Wang slid an arm under his waist, leaned close and asked: “An imprint left by Imperial Brother? And who exactly are you showing this to—who are you declaring his claim of ownership to?”
Shen Qi seized hold of his head without a word, his eyes flashing with stern fury and icy wrath.
“You tell me—when did this happen? Was it that time with the stone pillar, when you entered the palace with me? No wonder after Royal Father scolded us, he hurried to chase me away… what good deeds were you two up to in the imperial study?!” Zhu Helin spoke through a tightening throat, his nose stinging, voice breaking.
Su Yan’s face was wet, his eyes shut tight, refusing to answer.
“For Lord Su to offer up his body in repayment of sovereign’s grace—truly a loyal and chaste subject.” Yu Wang half wished to slap his own mouth, yet still couldn’t resist the sneer: “And when serving the emperor, surely you weren’t dodging and shrinking back the way you just did—weren’t you pleasing him willingly?”
Su Yan’s eyes snapped open. He roared: “Don’t you dare pin every filthy charge on His Majesty! I’ll say it again—the Emperor has never laid with…” he spat the word like it hurt his teeth, “…me. I have never used my looks to serve him.”
“Then what’s with this mark? Don’t tell me you smeared cinnabar from the imperial study onto your own thigh?” Yu Wang shot back.
Su Yan struggled, mind tangled with how to explain, yet knew no explanation would suffice. At last he let out a long sigh, wearily saying: “I haven’t lost.”
Only Shen Qi understood what he meant.
In this tug-of-war with the emperor, where the disparity of power was crushing, he still had not yielded nor collapsed, and had guarded his bottom line with all his might.
“I know…” Shen Qi’s voice was low and deep as he wrapped his arms around Su Yan’s shoulders from behind. “And I’ve said before—‘if you fight to the end and lose, I will not blame you.’”
Su Yan raised a hand and patted his arm. “I don’t know what to say… all of this is my fault.”
Slowly sitting up in the pool, he spoke with grave seriousness: “Let’s stop it here. From now on, I’ll never talk of feelings with anyone, all right? I’ll devote myself solely to work, never entangle with anyone again, all right? In this life I won’t marry, won’t have children—just seek peace and quiet, all right?”
“—No!” The three of them cried in unison.
The look of resolve in his eyes sent a shiver through them, afraid he might truly sever all ties of affection, shut his heart for good and never open it to anyone again.
“Then what do you want me to do? Split myself into pieces? Or if I refuse any one of you, you’ll graciously step back and leave me in peace?”
The three fell silent.
Zhu Helin muttered: “Fourth Royal Uncle, just have some dignity. You’ve got plenty of ‘confidantes’ anyway—leave Qinghe alone.”
Yu Wang sneered: “Confidantes? Long since cut off. And as for whether I want dignity or not—even Royal Brother can’t dictate to me, much less you, brat.”
Zhu Helin was livid, but couldn’t match Yu Wang’s rank or strength. He swallowed it down, then turned to Shen Qi: “You tell me—will you choose your own life and career, or keep tangling with Qinghe? If it’s the latter, don’t blame me for being merciless.”
Shen Qi lowered his gaze, coldly saying: “If Young Master wants this minister dead, you’ll have to ask His Majesty first. I am the emperor’s guard—I only take imperial orders. As for the Crown Prince’s orders, forgive me for not complying.”
“What if Royal Father wants you dead?” Zhu Helin pressed.
Before Shen Qi could reply, Su Yan spoke: “I will do everything in my power to stop it. Even if feelings are not involved, Shen Qi is my comrade-in-life-and-death. I beg Your Highness to spare him.”
Zhu Helin ground his teeth with fury, but couldn’t truly drive this “life-and-death bond” into a double suicide like Bo Yi and Shu Qi. He swallowed it down for now, inwardly vowing: Royal Father may fuss about balance and grand strategy, but I won’t. When power is in my hands, every last one of you coveting Qinghe—I’ll crush you all!
Su Yan went on: “So, can’t we set aside this mess of emotions for now, focus on real business first? Let’s settle the Void Sect, the Seven Kill Camp, and the Wei family before anything else.”
The three fell silent again.
Yu Wang spoke first: “Qinghe is right. Deal with the imminent threats first, the rest can wait.”
Zhu Helin gave a reluctant grunt—counting as agreement.
Su Yan turned to Shen Qi. His face was unreadable, thoughts unknown. Su Yan called softly: “Qilang?”
Shen Qi suddenly said: “Gao Shuo has returned—I hear his voice.”
Su Yan rose straight from the water, stepping out of the pool: “Go! Let’s ask if he has new leads, and how Ruan Hongjiao’s injury is.”
Zhu Helin quickly grabbed his leg: “Wait, your trousers aren’t on yet.”
