Chapter Eighty-Three: A War Without Gunpowder
He glanced at her with a mocking smile. “Do not be nervous. I was merely speaking offhand.”
“Your Majesty, this kind of matter concerns lives and heads on the block. It is not something one should mention lightly,” she said, trembling.
“Look at you, so timid. You are not half so hesitant when you charge onto the battlefield and cut down the enemy.”
“Get up.”
She answered at once.
The Emperor of Heaven’s gaze lingered on the scenery, though his thoughts were elsewhere. “Was it that old fox from the Dai residence who ordered those men to be made scapegoats?”
She answered honestly.
“Because they were disloyal to the Dai household?” The Emperor of Heaven gave a cold laugh. “All those people I worked so hard to win over, and with a few words from him, Dai Huang had them all neatly strangled to death!”
“Your Majesty...” He hesitated, unable to find any words of comfort.
“I am fine.” He waved it away. “Go deal with it. I am only lamenting that, however hard I try, I can never escape Dai Huang’s grasp. By now, he is probably hiding somewhere and laughing at me.”
He fell silent, staring at the water, lost in a daze.
The Emperor of Heaven’s voice drifted softly over the surface of the lake. “How I wish I had a brother to stand beside me... Someone to cry with when I am sad, to laugh with when I am happy, to face hardship with together...”
In the imperial family, brothers can never be like those among common folk.
“Yes. That is how it is.” His voice was low and distant. “I truly want to see him again...”
“Your Majesty, things are not as bad as you think.” A faint change came over his expression. He seemed unable to bear the Emperor of Heaven’s vulnerability. “There is still me. There is still General Dayin.”
“Speaking of Dayin...” The Emperor of Heaven suddenly shed his dejected air, his eyes turning sharp. It was as if that momentary lapse had only been an illusion. “That woman is clever to the point of arrogance. I wonder what she intends to do with Tianlang? Does she mean to act against me?”
He was utterly stunned. “This subject had thought General Dayin was Your Majesty’s person?”
The Emperor of Heaven gave a snort. “Human beings are difficult creatures to read. Women especially.”
He looked at him in surprise, and the Emperor of Heaven smiled with open scorn. “What, you do not believe me? Or have you never met a woman of your liking?”
A faint flush rose on his face. The Emperor of Heaven cast him a sidelong glance and leaned against the railing with a sneer. “If a woman gives her heart to you, she would willingly run through fire and water. But if she has found a new target, then the cleverer such a woman is, the more troublesome she becomes, and the more... impossible she is to keep.”
By the end, his voice had dropped lower and lower, and the fiery light in his eyes nearly consumed him.
He stared at him in shock, unable to look away, while cold sweat broke out all over his body. He understood the meaning behind the Emperor of Heaven’s words.
His mouth was dry. “Your Majesty...”
“It is nothing now.” He waved him away. “Do as I instructed just now. Handle it exactly as you see fit.”
He accepted the order. Before he could leave, the Emperor of Heaven called him back. “Leave me one or two people for errands.”
He felt distinctly displeased, though he concealed it.
When he had gone, the Emperor of Heaven beckoned to Eunuch Chen outside the pavilion. “Send for Commander Kaiming.”
The eunuch took the order and withdrew.
The palace maids brought pastries and imperial tea. He rested for a while in leisure, so still in the pavilion that he nearly dozed off. It was a long time before Eunuch Chen finally came hurrying over, lifting the hem of his robe as he ran.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Commander Kaiming has been brought.”
“Where is she?”
Eunuch Chen wiped the sweat from his brow, panting. “She was just behind us. This servant will go look for her.”
After a while, there was a commotion at the far end, and two or three young eunuchs came tugging at a woman, almost carrying her as they hustled her into the pavilion.
Strange—why was she dressed in men’s clothing today? A green robe with a white collar, and a cloth wrapped around her head; it was rather distinctive. She said in a stream: “Stop nagging. Your palace is so huge that getting lost is perfectly normal!”
The young eunuchs glanced at the Emperor of Heaven’s face and did not dare make a sound.
Eunuch Chen glared at her, restraining his sharp little voice with difficulty. “No manners, no discipline. Can you not see that His Majesty is here? And you still dare shout so loudly?”
Upon seeing the Emperor of Heaven, she truly fell silent.
“Hello there!” She habitually raised a hand in greeting, and had just begun to smile flirtatiously when she noticed that the eunuchs all looked ashen, as though they had swallowed a mouthful of ash.
In a flash, she remembered that the palace did not recognize such modern greetings; one had to kneel and bow three times with nine prostrations. Reluctantly, she withdrew her hand, dropped to her knees, and lifted both hands high above her head, singing out a formal salute like a woman keening at a funeral: “May Your Majesty live ten thousand...” Before the rest of the phrase could escape, the Emperor of Heaven cut her off at once.
“That is enough!”
She looked at him in puzzlement. He gave a snort. “With your heart so insincere, you might as well not bow at all. Get up!”
Unhappy again? she thought. Still, she was pleased not to have to kneel, so she brushed the dust from her knees and stood straight before him.
The Emperor of Heaven said darkly, “Why are you so late?”
She opened her mouth at once with, “Who told your palace to be so huge...” But his glare made her swallow the rest of the complaint. When she spoke again, her words came out smoothly. “This lowly one accidentally got lost in Your Majesty’s magnificent and splendid palace. I could not find my way out, and feared that if I wandered by mistake, I might stumble into the chambers of Your Majesty’s many consorts. So I had no choice but to remain where I was. Fortunately, these young eunuchs and that senior eunuch found me, and thus I arrived safely before Your Majesty.”
Her long-winded explanation made the listeners in and outside the pavilion sweat.
The Emperor of Heaven gave a faint hum, signifying that he had understood.
Only then did she have the leisure to look around at the scenery. The lake, the lotus leaves, and the waterfowl all drew her praise. “Your Majesty truly knows how to enjoy life. Did you summon me here today simply to admire the view together?”
The Emperor of Heaven’s eyes angled toward her, somewhat displeased with her feigned foolishness. “Is my palace beautiful? Does Commander Kaiming like it?”
“It is very beautiful.” Her eyes remained on the scenery, and she did not notice the depth in his gaze.
The Emperor of Heaven said casually, “Then how about remaining here, Commander?”
“Remain?” She paused. “What do you mean, remain?”
“Remain in the palace. Stay with me.”
She looked at him in confusion, and he looked back at her.
A cool breeze brushed across their faces in wave after wave, while the clear calls of the waterfowl rose and fell in the distance. The eunuchs and palace maids stood with hands lowered in solemn silence. The Emperor of Heaven, in a brocade robe patterned with great clouds, lounged against the pavilion’s lacquered red railing, his bright eyes like stars, fixed on her without blinking.
Breathing had become a little difficult. She drew in a deep breath, avoiding that unsettling stare, and lowered her gaze to her own toes.
“Regarding the matter from last time, Kaiming can now give Your Majesty an answer.”
The Emperor of Heaven lifted a brow and glanced at Eunuch Chen. Understanding at once, the eunuch immediately drove the surrounding idlers away from the pavilion.
Only the two of them remained inside.
“Go on.” He elegantly lifted the teacup before him, idly stirring the leaves within. “I am waiting for your answer.”
She drew another breath and poured it all out in one rush. “For Your Majesty to favor this lowly one is my great honor. For Your Majesty to wish to make use of me is also my great honor. It is just that I am a patch of rotten mud that cannot support a wall, and I am overwhelmed by terror at Your Majesty’s gracious regard. I fear I am unable to shoulder such a grave responsibility and would thereby fall short of imperial favor. After much thought, I have decided that it is best for me to remain rotten mud.”
“To remain rotten mud?” The Emperor of Heaven’s expression did not change, nor did he lift his lashes. “Commander Kaiming is refusing me?”
“Not at all, not at all. It is simply that I truly cannot bear Your Majesty’s favor.” Seeing his face darken, she hurriedly added, “But please rest assured, Your Majesty, this lowly one will absolutely never side with the Dai residence and cause Your Majesty any difficulty.”
The Emperor of Heaven raised his eyelids and looked at her, saying calmly, “Does Commander Kaiming wish to remain pure and lofty in a pool of filth? What a pity...” His hand loosened, and the cup of tea in his grasp fell before her eyes, shattering on the ground.
The sound was neither too loud nor too soft, yet it was enough to send the maids and eunuchs outside the pavilion into panic.
Eunuch Chen hurried in and ordered the young eunuchs to clean up the broken cup.
“My hand slipped.” He said lightly. “Bring me another cup of tea.”
Eunuch Chen agreed and hurried off, with the busy young eunuchs trailing after him.
Through the backs of the eunuchs clearing away the shattered teacup, Kaiming met the Emperor of Heaven’s gaze with equal coldness. What now—was he throwing a tantrum because she had refused him? Did he not know she was the sort who responded to gentleness but not force? Even if you are the emperor, even if you are the emperor...
Fine, yes, you are the emperor. You win.
The Emperor of Heaven gave a cold smile. “You call yourself rotten mud, yet you also want to play at being pure and untarnished. Is that not contradictory?”
A furious roar rose in her heart: Do you even understand idioms? How can being unable to support a wall have anything to do with being pure of heart? Yet out loud she did not dare make a sound. Fine, fine—she would take it as being scolded by a teacher and parents after making a mistake.
I endure. I endure.
The Emperor of Heaven saw the tension in her face and looked away toward the water, his mind growing somewhat calmer. “Do you want to hear a story?”
She gave a surprised sound. She was not a child—what story was this? Still, it was rather novel for the emperor to tell a low-ranking soldier a story.
Whether she liked it or not, the Emperor of Heaven had already begun on his own. “It was also within this palace city. More than ten years ago, when the previous palace emperor ascended to bliss, he was only seven years old, still utterly ignorant of the world. Above him were ten imperial brothers and eight imperial sisters. Because he was so young, he was excluded from the struggle for the throne; because he was so young, his brothers and sisters doted on him, and he could live carefree and at ease...”
Kaiming watched the Emperor of Heaven in silence.
He was recalling the past. Within this vast palace, if one wanted someone to hear a story, there was surely no lack of people to choose from—yet he had chosen a stranger to whom he could speak his heart. It was both pitiable and absurd.
Why, if these were happy memories, did his face carry such unhidden sorrow?
“But he did not know that as a prince he would eventually be drawn into a filthy war—a war without smoke, a war fought within the palace walls.”
Would his fingers be twisted from that point onward?
“Perhaps because he was young and easy to control, the palace minister Dai Huang of that time took a liking to him. From that day on, the world was never peaceful again...”