37 3.8

Having chased off that pervert, Chen Yu briefly woke up when daylight broke to dispatch a message before court began.

Although the jittery eunuch on call cursed his luck, he dutifully read out for the emperor, "This humble consort is not feeling well and may not recover soon. Your Imperial Majesty, please do not trouble to visit for some time."

Contrary to his fears, the Holy One merely nodded and waved him away. Bowing and scraping his way out, the eunuch scolded himself. How could he have forgotten how merciful the heavenly son was?

But that same afternoon, a trail of eunuchs waited nervously for instructions outside Emperor Taihe's study. As soon as one hurried off to carry out his orders, another frigid "Come, someone!" would ring out, and the next in line would rush in. None of the servants who'd faced the emperor paused to explain, so the rest were left completely lost on what the emperor needed so many servants for.

When they found out, they collectively looked down with 囧 faces.

It seemed that something had happened between the emperor and Consort Jing, because the eunuchs had, without exception, been ordered to deliver precious items from the royal treasury then report any of the consort's reactions.

Unfortunately, Chen Yu was inured to such luxury.

Thus, Consort Jing's sole response to the stream of gifts coming into his suite was to acknowledge the servants and promptly piled the treasures up in the corner. In his heart, he was rolling his eyes. This pervert, who is he trying to trick into thinking he's some fatuous ruler?

Still, he had to commend the emperor's attention to detail. His offerings were mostly comprised of pieces like ancient paintings and calligraphy scripts, bolts of cooling and warming silks, every jar of sweet wine that tribute countries had offered the past year, and so on, instead of the typical vases, gold, and jewels. Sending such presents that suited Consort Jing's taste, he'd managed to add a personal touch.

Nevertheless, these things that couldn't be bought even with mountains of gold were pushed aside without a second glance.

At the edges of the suite, Yuan Niu was standing with the other servants, biting her teeth with frustration.

Why was the consort so heartless? Everyone could see that the emperor was kindly lowering himself so much to please him, couldn't he at least reciprocate? She could accept it if the consort didn't appreciate her efforts, but to not even honor the emperor's, that was too much! If it was her...Her tongue couldn't be restored from the consort's vicious punishment, but her face had recovered from the heavy slaps she'd suffered. Now, she was as beautiful as the consort. And she'd treat the emperor so much better than the consort did...

Suddenly, she thought of the conversation she'd had with another maid a week ago. There was a powerful person who wished to get rid of Consort Jing, but he required the aid of a servant close to him. At that time, she'd refused, afraid of incurring the consort's wrath. To save the emperor from this vicious, ungrateful master, however, she'd take the risk.

And if the consort was gone, the emperor might turn to others in his grief...wouldn't someone who'd known Consort Jing personally be perfectly suited?

---

Several days passed in this way.

On the fourth day, Lu Guanting sent an imperial physician to the consort, then, confirming that he had been lying in bed from a headache, strode to Consort Jing's suite holding a bowl of hot medicine disguised as a dessert soup. But before he'd even arrived outside the doors, the lively sounds of opera could be heard, making him shake his head indulgently at Zhang Hua's temper.

Just as he was about to step inside, a maid burst out abruptly, startling the whole retinue. Of course, a guard immediately jumped forward to defend the emperor, making Yuan Niu collide with him instead of her target.

Although Yuan Niu was disappointed, she quickly covered it and properly knelt down to beg for forgiveness, extending her hands and lowering her forehead to the hard floor again and again. Seeming to be frightened out of her mind, her movements carelessly exposed the soft skin of her wrists as well as her neck and chest, and while her eyes remained appropriately on the ground, the tears pouring from them and her weak, trembling voice would make any man want to protect her.

Sadly, Emperor Taihe's attention remained entirely on the piece of paper Yuan Niu had inadvertently dropped. It was Zhang Hua's handwriting, the words reading simply, "The winds are swift."

A fierce light flashed across the emperor's eyes. The winds may blow, the clouds may shift, but this sky would not change.

An instant later, he ignored the maid and stepped into the room, his face as affectionate as ever.

Noticing the singers freeze, Chen Yu turned to the man, somewhat wondering how he'd evaluated Yuan Niu's show, and placed his teacup down with a light 'dong.' Only after this expression of annoyance at the interruption did he formally salute the emperor.

As expected, Emperor Taihe recognized from that small movement that Consort Jing had not been appeased by his gifts. He motioned the servants and performers out, then embraced the consort, carrying him back onto the chaise. "Beloved, look, this emperor has brought your favorite dessert."

Chen Yu narrowed his eyes. En, Lu Guanting was quite skilled, this was in fact his favorite right now. It was rather tempting...No, he had to keep his dignity. So the consort received the bowl and thanked the emperor for his care, but he indifferently set it aside with the excuse that he was still full from his meal.

Emperor Taihe observed the blasé rejection and grasped that roundabout tactics would go nowhere. Directly pulling Consort Jing's hands, he sighed, "Zhang Hua, do not be like this."

Chen Yu sneered inside, what 'beloved,' what 'Zhang Hua,' wasn't he already suspecting him because of Yuan Niu's little trick? On the surface, however, he smiled faintly. "Oh? If Your Imperial Majesty is displeased, this humble consort will of course beg for mercy."

Lu Guanting truly did not know how to handle Zhang Hua when he was angry. With a helpless expression, he murmured, "Alright, it was this emperor's carelessness, bringing such an idea up with you." His expression shifted slightly, then he continued, "Come, give me your hand again, let us enjoy our days together until the end."

Chen Yu nearly laughed. The "end," was it? But well, this was probably as close as the emperor could bring himself to an apology. Enough.

Deciding to tolerate it, he curled his lips and leaned against the body that held him. This, combined with Zhang Hua's longing stare at the dessert, let Lu Guanting believe that the consort had ultimately softened. Since he knew that Zhang Hua wouldn't want to move a finger, he naturally picked up the bowl, chuckling, and fed him slowly.

Within a few moments of gazing at those wet, red lips opening and closing, Lu Guanting put aside his complex feelings, leaning down to have a taste...

The palace servants discovered that the emperor had returned to sleeping in Consort Jing's suite and that the couple even seemed closer than before, the emperor rarely using titles at all. Unsurprisingly, the consort didn't change his attitude, continuing to leisurely eat, drink, and sleep. But that was good too, the emperor seemed to inexplicably like such behavior.

The onlookers finally let out the breaths they'd been holding. When the emperor was unhappy, their lives were not good. Now that the two had reconciled, they could relax.

Meanwhile, a week later, the left prime minister sensed that the emperor wouldn't take action against Consort Jing based solely on that maid's clue. Therefore, he arranged for several concubines to anxiously gather in the gardens to talk about seeing Consort Jing walking toward the crown prince's palace, inadvertently being overheard by one of the emperor's loyal guards.

Coincidentally, one of these concubines was the same one who had pushed the consort at the summer banquet. Forseeing his miserable future, Chen Yu hadn't retaliated. Although he wouldn't witness his torment first hand, from the pervert's tastes, his punishment wouldn't be light.

Upon receiving this information, Lu Guanting thought of that letter again, but this conversation had too conveniently delivered itself to his retainer. He calmly ordered, "Investigate." The only sign of his disturbance were his tapping fingers.

The inspection was shortly finished, the conclusion clear.

Enduring Emperor Taihe's sharp focus, the captain of the hidden guards bravely reported that Zhang Jia had indeed covertly instructed Consort Jing to poison the crown prince around the time that the consort had claimed to fall sick and that one imperial physician had been called often throughout his time at the palace. The emperor didn't say anything for such a long time that everyone tensed, afraid of being blamed, until one of the emperor's personal eunuchs apprehensively gestured that the room be emptied.

Sitting in the dark study, Lu Guanting leaned back against his chair, laughing hoarsely.

Zhang Hua, Zhang Hua. His beloved was truly too clever. With his ruse of being ill, he'd gained access to drugs, at the same time keeping this emperor away to plan out his scheme. If that maid hadn't dropped his letter, if those concubines hadn't discussed his visit to the crown prince, he would likely never have learned of it.

Actually, Lu Guanting was certain that someone was pulling the strings behind this to feed such hints to him, but for now, he was willing to put that manipulation aside. No matter what, that had been Zhang Hua's handwriting, that had been Zhang Jia's command, the facts didn't change.

He trusted, of course, that Zhang Hua didn't want the empress seat. Probably he was driven by loyalty to his family, but what did that signify? The point was that his beloved consort had betrayed him, had chosen to serve someone other than him.

Well, such treachery wasn't out of the scope of his imagination. He'd been wary of Zhang Jia from the start.

Instead, what surprised Lu Guanting was that a large part of him seriously considered turning a blind eye, simply making sure that the crown prince recovered. He struggled fiercely throughout the evening.

But in the end, he knew that he couldn't.

Hadn't he survived for so long, climbed so high by eliminating every threat? To give that up now, and for what?

Thus, when night fell, he gave permission for the imprisonment of Consort Jing under suspicion of treason. To have snuck in a message from outside, there must be quite a few of Zhang Jia's rats in the palace. He'd take this opportunity to clean them out.

While the guards were marching toward his suite, Chen Yu had just checked the mission quota. Still at 37%, even Yuan Niu's hatred for Zhang Hua wasn't strong enough ah. His plan to fill the rest of the quota in one move was a bit of a risk, but such gambles were exactly what Chen Yu loved.

When he returned from his musing, a roomful of soldiers surrounded him. Looking at those harsh faces, Chen Yu smirked. So, Lu Guanting had chosen this route after all. But this was what he'd expected anyway.

So he obediently submitted to being whipped, sliced, burnt, all as Emperor Taihe stood by with cold eyes.

In the cells next to him, Consort Jing's servants were similarly being questioned, with some of the more suspicious ones also suffering torture.

Among the cries, Chen Yu discerned Yuan Niu's guttural protests. Hm, hadn't she wanted to replace the consort? Hadn't she felt that the emperor was a paragon of virtue? En, here was her 'kind' emperor.

Finally, when Zhang Hua's legs had been completely shattered and large portions of his skin had been peeled off, a guard clattered in, his face blanched and sweaty. In his hand were two pieces of paper.

Hastily bowing, he stuttered, "Your Imperial Majesty, w-we searched the r-rooms of the c-c-consort's servants and f-found this in the m-maid Yuan Niu's..."

The emperor took the letter and skimmed over it without much care, but suddenly paled. In an almost imperceptibly trembling voice, he asked, "And the other?"

"Ah...th-th-this was u-under C-Consort Jing's b-bed."

Lu Guanting seized the paper. On it was written, "When the phoenix soars, its wings are shelter enough."

Everything spun around him for a long while, the ever-present screams and wails turning silent. Nothing existed in front of him except Zhang Hua, whose eyes were slowly closing as if he was too exhausted.

At the sight, Lu Guanting woke up.

Staggering from the shock, he collapsed, carefully picking Zhang Hua up. "Z-Zhang Hua, what are these? Did you write this? Is this what you meant to send to Zhang Jia?" He pushed forward the letter, but, realizing that Zhang Hua hadn't opened his eyes, he read out, "The w-winds are swift, s-stay warmly inside." When Chen Yu didn't react, he replaced the paper with the second letter, pleading, "Zhang Hua, this was the general's reply?"

At last, Chen Yu's eyelids painfully fluttered open then met Lu Guanting's fervent gaze with half-blind eyes. Hooking up the corners of his lips, he used the last of his energy to whisper, "Your Imperial Majesty, this is our end."

Finished, he lifted his sensory block on pain, causing the shock from the hours of torture to directly kill him.

Holding his beloved's cooling, mutilated body, Lu Guanting shook uncontrollably, eyes red as if blood would pour out at any moment. He traced his unsteady fingers along the familiar features, begging, "No, Zhang Hua, please. Please give me one more chance, don't go, don't leave me, I swear that I will never hurt you again, I will give you everything you wish for..."

He rocked coaxingly for hours, tears falling down unnoticed. Under his breath, he ceaselessly called, "Zhang Hua, Zhang Hua, Zhang Hua…"

But the man who had always lazily turned to him was gone, he would never have another chance.