A short while later, Eunuch Li hurried back and whispered something beside the Emperor’s ear. The Emperor’s expression shifted. He glanced toward Hao Lin, then lowered his eyes.
“Withdraw for now,” the Emperor told Eunuch Li.
Eunuch Li bowed and retreated to a place behind the throne.
Hao Lin behaved as though he had noticed nothing and continued watching the performances with interest. Every so often he turned to exchange a few words with Shangchuan Hong, perfectly relaxed.
Crooking a finger, Hao Lin summoned two lively young men. He seized one by the leg and abruptly pulled him into his arms.
The young man looked at Hao Lin shyly, only for his face to go pale the next instant when Hao Lin deliberately hurt and humiliated him sexually. Hao Lin did not stop until blood appeared.
“State Preceptor, I’ll reward you with this one.” Hao Lin pushed the boy into Shangchuan Hong’s arms, then pulled the second one over and sent him after the first.
Shangchuan Hong wrapped his arms around the two young men, his face tightening with visible disgust. It was not that everyone had become uninteresting to him since seeing Mu Xueshi. He simply despised Hao Lin’s way of treating people.
Another Lubei guard appeared at the entrance requesting an audience. A chill passed through the Emperor. He could roughly guess what the guard had come to report to Hao Lin, and he prepared himself for the consequences.
After hearing the guard, Shangchuan Hong asked calmly, “You are certain Zhang Mu was detained in Qinyi Courtyard?”
“Lord Zhang entered Qinyi Courtyard yesterday and never returned. The several hundred elite soldiers who went with him have disappeared as well.”
Shangchuan Hong nodded and looked toward Hao Lin. Hao Lin met his gaze, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
“I wonder whether I might ask Your Majesty for some assistance?”
“King Lin is joking. You are Yunxi’s honored guest. Whatever you require while you are here, simply say so.”
Hao Lin rose and said seriously, “Royal Sister was mischievous yesterday and went to the Third Prince’s courtyard with those elite soldiers. She has not returned, and there has been no word from her. Naturally I am worried.”
The Emperor’s expression changed. “King Lin means Princess Wenyang is also inside Qinyi Courtyard?”
“Yes.”
The Emperor’s brows tightened. General Xiao had only reported that several hundred elite soldiers had vanished inside the Third Prince’s courtyard. Now a princess of Lubei was missing there as well. If only soldiers were involved, Hao Lin might not press the matter too far. With Wenyang added, the problem had become far more serious.
“If it is convenient, the State Preceptor can personally visit Qinyi Courtyard to see what happened. Or Your Majesty can summon the Third Prince to Taihe Hall, ask him directly, and decide afterward.”
After hearing Hao Lin’s suggestion, the Emperor decided summoning the Third Prince was safer. If something had happened to those people, it was probably connected to the Third Prince’s refusal to let strangers enter his courtyard. Remembering the look the Third Prince had given him the day before made the Emperor even less willing to trespass there casually.
If the Third Prince did not want to give up Linhan Palace or marry the princess, why had he not simply refused? The Emperor could not understand it. In his experience, when the Third Prince truly did not want something, no one could force him easily.
Sun Ye returned from the Valley of Witch Physicians carrying two yellow paper packets containing the medicines he had requested. He had not expected the valley’s people to be so cooperative, nor that a medicine like this would truly exist.
Carrying the packets through the courtyard corridors, Sun Ye encountered Su Ruhan practicing swordsmanship on the open ground behind the residence. Ever since Su Ruhan had been demoted, he had never trained there. Seeing him back made Sun Ye wonder whether the Third Prince had restored him to his old position.
With that question in mind, Sun Ye slowed and glanced toward him.
“I am only serving here temporarily,” Su Ruhan said suddenly, stopping his sword without expression.
Sun Ye did not know how Su Ruhan had read his thoughts, but it was the first time Su Ruhan had spoken to him voluntarily. Whether because Su Ruhan had changed or Sun Ye himself had, Sun Ye realized the old jealousy was gone. Even if Su Ruhan reclaimed his former position completely, Sun Ye did not think he would resent it much.
When had his priorities shifted? Sun Ye did not know. Once, nearly all his thoughts had been devoted to earning merit and making the Third Prince notice him. Now other worries had entered his life, slowly pushing that relentless ambition aside.
Is that good or bad? Sun Ye tightened his grip on the paper packets and began walking more quickly toward the Third Prince’s bedchamber.
He turned a corner and unexpectedly met the Third Prince, who looked as though he had been waiting there. His expression was as cold as ever.
Meeting the prince’s gaze made Sun Ye suddenly feel guilty. Remembering his thoughts when he saw Su Ruhan only deepened the feeling, as though he had somehow betrayed the Third Prince.
“What is it? You did not bring the medicine back?” the Third Prince asked coldly.
Sun Ye snapped back to attention. “Reporting to Your Highness, the medicine has been obtained. But the physician warned that it must not be taken too often. Excessive use can trap a patient in sleep like a nightmare. In serious cases, it may even drive the person mad…”
The Third Prince nodded, accepted the packets, and headed toward the dispensary.
Mu Xueshi was still half asleep when he felt someone pry open his mouth. He instinctively resisted and opened his eyes only halfway, seeing the Third Prince’s face.
The Third Prince paused with the medicine bowl in his hand, a little of the coldness leaving his expression. Mu Xueshi used to look exactly like this when waking, eyes barely open like a lazy cat that needed a long time to become fully alert.
For one instant, the Third Prince hesitated. Did he really want Mu Xueshi to drink this medicine? If he simply continued protecting and caring for him, perhaps Mu Xueshi might slowly recover on his own.
Then he saw the coldness return to Mu Xueshi’s eyes, and the last of his restraint vanished. He could not endure being looked at like a stranger, not even for one day. He wanted Mu Xueshi smiling at him again immediately, saying strange and lively things the way he used to.
The dark medicine flowed down Mu Xueshi’s throat. He no longer cared what it was. Bitter flavor filled his mouth, making him draw back his tongue, only to touch something sweet. The Third Prince had prepared a soft candy in advance.
“Your Highness, someone from His Majesty requests an audience,” Eunuch Tai’an called from outside.
The Third Prince looked at Mu Xueshi. Nothing had changed yet. He sealed Mu Xueshi’s acupoints so he would remain inside and wait obediently. Perhaps by the time the Third Prince returned from seeing the Emperor, Mu Xueshi would have remembered everything.
He ordered Sun Ye to remain just outside the bedchamber without leaving for even a moment, while Su Ruhan patrolled the courtyard in case anyone tried to cause trouble during his absence. The Third Prince did not even change into formal court robes before leaving in simple clothing.
Sleep began pulling at Mu Xueshi again. Fragments flashed repeatedly through his mind, half dream and half memory. Gradually they became more complete. Faces grew larger and clearer before him. Mu Xueshi desperately wanted to open his eyes, but he could not escape the nightmare’s hold.
“Father, don’t you think I’m ugly?”
“Not at all. My Xueshi is the most beautiful child in Father’s eyes.”
On a green field, two figures chased and played together, one extraordinarily handsome, the other innocent and carefree. Mu Xueshi had only one chance each month to see his father. Grand Tutor Mu always seemed busy and spent most of the year away. Whenever his father was gone, Mu Xueshi never left his room. He desperately wanted to play outside, but he feared the people there.
His father shone like starlight. Even as a small child, Mu Xueshi understood beauty and ugliness, and in his eyes his father was the most beautiful person in the world. A single smile from him was enough to sustain Mu Xueshi through years of loneliness and waiting, all for the chance to sleep greedily in his arms.
“Father, why do you keep putting these things on me and making me look so ugly?” One day Mu Xueshi refused the medicine his father normally prepared and discovered that Grand Tutor Mu had been disguising his face every time he slept.
Grand Tutor Mu pulled him to a wooden tub filled with water and made him look at his real reflection. The unfamiliar face struck Mu Xueshi like a sudden blaze of light. He stared quietly for a while, then turned and said, “Father, please cover this face again.”
Grand Tutor Mu gathered him into his arms, heartbroken. “I want you to live an ordinary life. I don’t want you walking the same road I did… I… Father has been too selfish…”
“Father, I want you to hide it because I only want you to see what I truly look like.”
As Mu Xueshi grew older, the attachment between father and son crossed boundaries neither of them could safely acknowledge. One intimate moment became a secret they carried until their eventual separation.
“Xueshi, Father is going to the Chancellor’s residence today to discuss a marriage for you. You are old enough now. It is time to think about marriage…”
“Father, you know.”
“Know what?” For the first time, panic entered Grand Tutor Mu’s beautiful eyes.
“You know my heart already belongs to someone,” Mu Xueshi said stubbornly.
“That cannot be. It violates the bonds between parent and child…”
Mu Xueshi gave a bitter smile. “Father, I’m beyond saving. There is no room in my heart for anyone except you.”
“That is dependence. A child’s dependence on his father. It is not the kind of feeling you think it is.”
“And what does Father feel toward me?”
“…”
Grand Tutor Mu left without answering. It became their final farewell. The image Mu Xueshi could never forget was not their forbidden intimacy, but watching the person he loved reduced by fire beyond recognition.
…
No… no… I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to remember this again…
Mu Xueshi struggled violently inside his mind. His body could not move, but sweat soaked the pillow beneath his head. The burned corpse replayed again and again, devouring his sanity. White bones, blackened skin, the terrible smell of burning flesh. How could that be his magnificent father? How could that twisted face ever have worn the smile he remembered?
It felt as though a carriage were rolling across Mu Xueshi’s heart again and again. The agony became a curse he could not escape. If there were any way to end this torment now, Mu Xueshi would have accepted almost any condition or paid almost any price.