At first, Qin Duoye still harbored a faint illusion that he had misheard. It was only when they locked eyes that he saw the undisguised desire in Qin Xuanxiao’s eyes.
Darkness fell over his vision, and anger surged straight up his spine.
It burned the roots of his ears red and hot.
Fulfill your damn duty as a favored bedfellow!
Qin Duoye was itching with fury and wanted to strike him. Though he raised his hand, he forcefully restrained himself, curled it into a fist, and dropped it back to his side.
He shoved the man away, stood up, and took a deep breath to calm his brain, which had been scorched by rage.
Qin Duoye gave the Director of the Astronomical Bureau a cold bow, laced with a hint of personal grievance. “There is no saving you. Accept your fate; the sooner you die, the sooner you can be reincarnated.”
The Director of the Bureau blinked. “?”
“Are you angry?” Qin Xuanxiao asked with a smile, finding it amusing as he rested his head on his hand and tilted it to watch Qin Duoye’s expression.
“How dare I?” Qin Duoye did not look at him, offering a flat, casual reply before leaving his seat. He walked unhurriedly down to the lower tier of the hall, offered a respectful grand bow to the Son of Heaven, and stood quietly beside the Director.
The smile vanished from Qin Xuanxiao’s face. He asked, “What is the meaning of this, beloved minister?”
Ignoring him, Qin Duoye looked down at the kneeling Director and said softly, “Are you still unwilling to speak the truth? If you say nothing more, your head will be separated from your shoulders, and your words will rot away inside your corpse.”
“Wait, wait, Minister Wen!” The Director scrambled across the floor on his hands and knees, grabbing the hem of Qin Duoye’s robe. “If I speak, can Minister Wen protect my life before His Majesty?”
Qin Duoye crouched down and made a hand gesture. “An eighty percent chance.”
“Alright, alright, I will speak! I will talk!” The Director swallowed hard, spilling out everything he knew in one breath. “The celestial phenomena are real, but the implications are not entirely as stated. It is true that the Son of Heaven is without an heir, but it is false that a minister is usurping power. The dual-star alignment can also be interpreted as a revival of the realm, but as everyone knows, the omens of the Astronomical Bureau are real if you believe them, and nonexistent if you do not.”
“Get to the point. Who instigated you to alter the meaning of the star signs and bring this matter before the throne?” Qin Duoye cut him off.
“No one! No one instigated me; it was simply my own momentary desire to persuade the ministers to urge His Majesty to abandon the raising of male favorites.”
Qin Duoye sneered. “So you refuse to speak the truth. As the grand Director of the Astronomical Bureau, instead of serving His Majesty, you thought to worry on behalf of the courtiers and became their running dog?”
Looking at Qin Duoye, the Director felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine, as if all his inner thoughts had been completely seen through.
Qin Duoye stood up, extended his hand, and commanded, “Imperial Guards, bring me a blade.”
His natural aura made every word he spoke sound like a true emperor issuing commands.
An Imperial Guard handed over a long saber.
Qin Duoye took it, gripped the hilt, and with a crisp sound, the blade slid out of its scabbard, casting a chilling glare across the entire hall.
The tip of the blade pointed straight at the Director’s neck.
“Let your head roll right now, to save you from being dragged out to execution in the prison and potentially being rescued along the way.”
The Director turned pale as paper in an instant.
With the sharp edge of the blade resting against his neck, the Director trembled as he looked up at Qin Duoye, unable to speak a single word.
Staring at the sharp-edged figure before him, terror welled up from deep within. Just moments ago, this was the man trying to save his life from the emperor; now, this was the man trying to kill him.
The Director’s feelings toward this person plummeted from disgust to gratitude and finally to sheer terror, dropping like a cliffside until his soul felt nearly shattered.
“Three.”
“Two.”
Qin Duoye began counting down, pressing the blade closer against the skin.
Before the word one could leave his lips, the Director cried out, “I cannot speak of it!”
“Why?” Qin Duoye withdrew the blade by a fraction.
“If I speak, my parents, my wife, and my children will all be murdered by them!”
Qin Duoye frowned slightly. Looking at the Director completely collapsed on the floor, he could tell the terror was genuine.
He raised his gaze, looking far across the grand hall to the dragon writing desk behind which sat the emperor, locking eyes with those Phoenix eyes watching the show.
Receiving the look, Qin Xuanxiao understood. He raised his hand and issued an order toward the outside of the hall, “Imperial Guards, go and protect the Director’s family.”
Outside the hall, the Imperial Guards acknowledged the order and moved out.
Seeing this, Qin Duoye slid the long saber back into its scabbard, crouched down, and spoke in a gentle tone, “Director, your family is safe now. Do not be afraid; His Majesty and I will uphold justice for you. Since you were coerced, you had no choice, so there is no need to throw away your life for someone else, right?”
The Director lifted his tear-streaked face, glanced outside at the guards, and then looked up toward the throne. He saw that everything Qin Duoye did had the emperor’s tacit approval.
He nodded and slowly uttered the name of the mastermind behind the scenes, “It was Lord Zhou. Lord Zhou approached your humble servant tonight, hoping to use the omen of the stars to persuade His Majesty to…”
The Director paused, casting a cautious glance at Qin Duoye’s expression. Seeing that everything seemed normal, he continued, “…to put Minister Wen to death.”
With that, the Director lowered his head deeply.
“The former Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel?” Qin Duoye searched his memory for a moment before it clicked.
Because of him, the former Assistant Minister of Personnel, Zhou Shuyi, had been transferred to the Ministry of Works as a Vice Minister. Though it was a promotion, it had removed him from the center of power.
It was natural to harbor resentment, but moving so swiftly exceeded Qin Duoye’s expectations.
“Very well, I understand,” Qin Duoye nodded. “However, to avoid alerting the enemy, we must trouble the Director to spend a few days in the prison to keep up appearances. As for the crime of deceiving the ruler later on, I will persuade His Majesty to grant a light sentence.”
Seated behind the dragon writing desk, Qin Xuanxiao kept his gaze fixed intently on Qin Duoye without offering any objection.
No objection meant tacit approval.
Following Qin Duoye’s instructions, the Imperial Guards took the Director away to the Ministry of Punishments to be temporarily detained.
The hall grew quiet once more, leaving only the two figures behind.
Qin Duoye slowly paced back toward the desk.
Suddenly, a light chuckle broke the silence of the hall.
“The beloved minister puts on a fine performance.”
Qin Duoye replied, “His Majesty’s acting was equally breathtaking to this minister.”
Not just breathtaking, it was enough to scare his ancestors half to death.
Recalling the sensation on his fingertips just moments earlier, Qin Duoye felt his earlobes burn with irritation.
Acting was acting, but this was far too thorough; he even suspected for a fleeting second that this little brat wanted to turn fiction into reality.
After all, that physiological reaction certainly did not look fake.
Qin Duoye still felt something was off, though he could not put his finger on it right away.
Regardless, he felt a strange, unspoken tacit understanding between himself and this kid. When it came to tricking the Director just now, the two of them had not discussed it beforehand; relying entirely on a single glance and two heavily implied sentences, Qin Duoye knew they were thinking the exact same thing.
That was to put on a performance that placed the Director on a swaying suspension bridge between potential rescue and certain execution.
Either reveal the mastermind, or die.
Everything hung by a single thread.
Therefore, the moment Qin Duoye’s eyes locked with Qin Xuanxiao’s, he understood.
What an incredible tacit understanding.
Meanwhile, Qin Xuanxiao was thinking the exact same thing.
Yet he still harbored another hidden, secret intention.
He had originally wanted to use this opportunity to test him, but after the test, seeing Qin Duoye’s detached demeanor left him somewhat dissatisfied.
He suddenly realized that things needed to be taken step by step.
He could not rush it and risk scaring the person away, otherwise, all the fun would be lost.
“Why does the beloved minister not come back and take a seat?” Qin Xuanxiao asked with keen interest as he watched Qin Duoye moving sluggishly at the lower end of the hall.
Qin Duoye: “…”
He did not want to go.
Yet refusing to go would make him look guilty!
On second thought, he had a clear conscience, so what was wrong with going back to sit down?
With that thought, he lifted his foot and walked up, giving a sharp sound as he tossed the long saber he was holding onto the dragon writing desk, and casually seated himself on the stool.
This action made Gou Hongyang’s eyelids twitch.
One person casually tossed a weapon right in front of the Son of Heaven, while the other did not even blink an eye, letting the official’s act of disrespect slide with a tolerance that hardly seemed befitting of an emperor.
To put it grandly, this action could easily be twisted into the crime of attempting to assassinate the emperor.
Yet the two lords acted as if nothing had happened.
“Zhou Shuyi cannot possibly be the only one involved,” Qin Duoye said as he rolled up his cuffs and picked up the vermillion ink stick once more. “A mere Assistant Minister of Personnel, where would he get the kind of clout that can threaten the lives of an entire family of courtiers?”
Qin Xuanxiao sat beside him, holding the imperial brush. His fingers grazed the shaft while his other hand tapped lightly twice against the desk.
An attendant stepped forward carrying a jade platter. Gou Hongyang received it and placed the teacups from the tray onto the desk.
“Your voice is hoarse, beloved minister. Have some tea to soothe your throat.” Qin Xuanxiao pushed a cup toward him.
At his words, Qin Duoye realized that his voice had grown slightly husky at the edges from speaking so much yet again. He took the tea, took a small sip, and his eyes lit up.
“Yunnan white tea?” Qin Duoye took another sip. “This must be from the newest harvest. Excellent tea.”
“The beloved minister likes this?” Qin Xuanxiao’s fingers paused on the brush shaft.
“Yunnan white tea yields a clear infusion, sweet on the palate, with a delicate floral and fruity aroma. Of course I like it.”
Qin Xuanxiao’s phoenix eyes suddenly locked onto him in a fixed stare.
“What is it?” Seeing Qin Xuanxiao’s expression, Qin Duoye set his teacup down on the desk.
Already looking away, Qin Xuanxiao let his phoenix eyes flicker and lower, displaying an inexplicably low-spirited sadness. “Nothing. What the beloved minister said sounded familiar; I recall hearing someone else say that once.”
Oh?
Qin Duoye was surprised. To think someone shared his exact taste in sweet tea. He just wondered who it could be.
It was enough to make this kid wear such a somewhat sorrowful expression.
The shock of what he had touched earlier was already pushed to the back of Qin Duoye’s mind. Unable to help himself once more, he reached out and ruffled the young emperor’s hair.
Practice makes perfect; Qin Xuanxiao allowed himself to be head-patted this time, waiting until it was over to tell Gou Hongyang, “Go and find all the new white tea tributes from Yunnan this year and bestow them upon Minister Wen.”
No one answered.
Both of them looked up in bewilderment to see Gou Hongyang wearing an expression of absolute, shattered shock.
It was only after Qin Xuanxiao repeated himself a second time that Gou Hongyang managed to piece his shock back together, tripping over his own feet as he hurried out the door.
Patting the dragon’s head! Will this humble servant’s eyes even survive this?!
When Qin Xuanxiao had diverted the topic with tea earlier, Qin Duoye had caught on to his intent. Now, seeing the hall cleared of attendants, he continued where they left off.
“Your Majesty, your court is like a sieve, full of leaks.”
Qin Xuanxiao: “…”
He felt deeply aggrieved by the scolding.
“Do you think I wanted this?” Qin Xuanxiao sneered. “The late emperor’s court was like a colander. I had to execute a whole batch just to barely patch it up like this.”
Qin Duoye felt darkness descend before his eyes.
Oh, my dear Great Wei.
He needed to find time quickly to read beyond the brief history books and see what the emperors after his death had been up to.
It was enough to infuriate his ancestors.
However, there were other pressing matters at hand.
“Just now, the Director said he only observed the dual-star alignment omen tonight. How could Zhou Shuyi, an official in the Personnel Ministry, obtain first-hand information from the Astronomical Bureau so quickly to use against me?” Qin Duoye pointed out the loophole in the Director’s story.
“The Zhou clan of Sishui, generations of high ministers for four generations. A mere sliver of power like this is nothing to them.” Qin Xuanxiao finished signing the last memorial on his desk and replied indifferently.
The aristocratic families.
Qin Duoye understood.
It seemed his Great Wei had lost its original flavor.
“Zhou Shuyi is merely a pawn on the front lines,” he said with certainty.
Qin Xuanxiao nodded and stood up. “I have already sent people to keep an eye on Zhou Shuyi. There is no need to rush, let us turn in for the night.”
Qin Duoye nodded as well, asking, “Which bedchamber am I staying in?”
“Are you not sleeping with me?” Qin Xuanxiao looked slightly surprised.
“…” Qin Duoye pointed at himself, then pointed at Qin Xuanxiao, left speechless. “I… You…”
“Should this minister not avoid overstepping boundaries?” If it were before, Qin Duoye would not have cared. But after accidentally touching that thing earlier, he suddenly felt a bit uncertain.
Coupled with memories of the medicinal bath, it made his entire body feel restless.
Suddenly, he heard Qin Xuanxiao’s playful tone. “Did the beloved minister not say that you and I talked of the world and the common folk until midnight, sharing a bed with our feet touching? Come and share the bed, then.”
Qin Duoye: “…”
He spoke with great difficulty, “Your Majesty, although you surveil me, and I know you surveil me, and you know that I know you surveil me, and I know that you know I know you surveil me, putting this out in the open makes it awkward for all three of us, does it not?”
Suddenly, the world spun before Qin Duoye’s eyes as Qin Xuanxiao picked him up bundle-style and tossed him directly onto the couch.
“Minister Wen’s throat is unwell, so do not say too many tongue-twisters.”
With a swift flick of Qin Xuanxiao’s hand, the candlelight was snuffed out, plunging the hall into a soft, cozy darkness.
Rustle, rustle.
In the dark, Qin Duoye felt Qin Xuanxiao climb onto the couch as well, pulling the quilt over both of them to cocoon them together.
“Your health is poor, so go to sleep early.”
A cool, refreshing breath brushed past his ear.