Futile Devices Scans

“It’s so late. What brings Elder Brother here?”

Wei Fu opened the door and welcomed Wei Xiu inside. He was somewhat surprised, though his face still wore its usual effortless smile. “Sit down first, Elder Brother. I’ll have someone brew a pot of hot tea.”

“No need.” Wei Xiu raised a hand as if to stop him, then withdrew it before actually touching him. “I only came to see how you were. I’ll say a few things and leave.”

Wei Fu blinked and put on the look of someone sleepy but dutifully trying to listen. “Mm?”

Wei Xiu said, “Such a serious incident happened today, and then an imperial decree suddenly arrived saying you would be going to Longsha for three years. The whole family was taken by surprise.”

Hearing that he was still using his formal, businesslike tone, Wei Fu relaxed slightly. “Everything happened so suddenly. In all the confusion, I was summoned straight into the palace and only had time to ask the coachman to send word home that I was safe. It was my fault for not explaining things properly and making Elder Brother and Eldest Uncle worry.”

Wei Xiu shook his head. “Those are minor details. As long as you’re safe, that’s what matters.”

Wei Fu smiled. “Thank you for your concern, Elder Brother.”

The two brothers had never been especially close. In front of others, they could at least put on an appearance of brotherly harmony. In private, once the polite courtesies were exhausted, there was very little left to say.

Wei Xiu fell silent first. His gaze drifted toward the windowsill as though it had nowhere else to settle, yet he made no move to leave. Wei Fu could not shake the sense that something was strange about him tonight. When they were children, Wei Xiu had never cared much for him; every time he spoke to Wei Fu, he acted as though he were lowering himself with greater condescension than an actual prince. After they grew older, he deliberately kept his distance for years, never approaching Wei Fu unless absolutely necessary.

Now, however, every inch of him radiated I have something to say, yet some unknown hesitation kept him from saying it.

Had the elders sent him to relay some instruction? Did he want to discuss travel expenses, luggage, or how many attendants Wei Fu should take? Surely separation could not be so moving that Wei Xiu had suddenly become possessed and decided to revive the brotherly affection that had never existed to begin with.

Elio’s Notes: “Originally, not a single thing” (本来无一物) is a famous line associated with Chan patriarch Huineng in the Platform Sutra. Wei Fu’s joke is that there was never any brotherly affection there to “revive” in the first place.

While Wei Fu was amusing himself with these idle guesses, Wei Xiu finally seemed unable to endure the silence any longer. “I heard from Father that you were the one who insisted on asking His Majesty to send you to Longsha.”

“Mm.” Wei Fu nodded.

“Why?” Wei Xiu looked as though he had eaten something spoiled. The faintly condescending suspicion in his eyes was enough to make one’s fists itch. “You’re doing perfectly well as Court Attendant of the Western Secretariat. Your future is wide open before you. Even if you want to build experience, there’s no need to travel thousands of miles to Longsha. Besides, doesn’t His Majesty…”

Wei Fu: “Doesn’t His Majesty what?”

Wei Xiu glared at him. After a moment, he finally forced the words through his teeth. “Doesn’t he show you exceptional grace because of the old affection from all those years you spent together?”

Wei Fu: “…”

After nearly twenty years in this household, Wei Fu discovered for the first time that the heir to the Duke Who Stabilizes the Nation might actually be a complete idiot.

“Elder Brother, please never say anything like that again.” Wei Fu could only smile bitterly. “You’ve put both His Majesty and me in the wrong positions. Never mind that the mission to Longsha is a matter of great importance. Even if His Majesty sent me to the frontier to live on nothing but wind, that would still be imperial grace. In the end, when the Son of Heaven appoints his officials, since when do subjects get to pick and choose?”

“You…”

Wei Xiu was left momentarily speechless, whether from anger or urgency Wei Fu could not tell, but the words blind loyalty might as well have been written across his face. “You’ll be away from the country for three years. Even if you hold great authority in Longsha, it’s still foreign soil. How can that compare to a prominent position at the heart of government? Who knows what the political situation in the capital will look like three years from now? When you return, will you still have the standing you have today?”

Wei Fu: “…”

This impossibly long day had begun with morning court, followed by official work, delivering leads to Fuyao Prefecture, a clandestine meeting with Yugong Zhaoye, having a thunderfire bomb thrown at him, rushing into the palace to discuss countermeasures, attending the palace banquet, and then holding a second secret meeting with Yugong Zhaoye… and somehow it still was not over.

There was, unbelievably, one final calamity waiting for him. What god had he offended when he stepped outside this morning that Heaven had decided to send this idiot to punish him?

He really was tired. “Elder Brother is absolutely right. So what do you suggest I do now? Shall I tell His Majesty that I can’t bear to give up my prestigious post, can’t bear to leave prosperous Fengdu, and have decided not to go? He can send whoever he likes instead?”

Wei Xiu: “…”

Wei Fu found it nearly impossible not to turn sarcastic. “Why don’t you guess whether His Majesty would be pleased? Whether he would think reducing me to a commoner was punishment enough? Whether he would graciously restrain his anger and spare my innocent relatives from being implicated?”

Wei Xiu: “…”

Wei Fu suddenly looked enlightened. “Oh, of course. His Majesty once lived in our residence, so naturally he’ll remember old affection, show mercy beyond the law, and spare the household of the Duke Who Stabilizes the Nation. Wonderful. I’ll go tell him tomorrow.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Wei Xiu slammed the table and shot to his feet. “Can’t you speak properly? Everyone outside praises you for knowing how to read a situation and behave appropriately. You’d rather smile pleasantly at complete strangers, yet with your own elder brother you talk back and show no respect!”

Wei Fu merely tilted his head at the shouting, completely unmoved, and took a sip of tea. “Then let me ask Elder Brother something. Would that little speech you just gave me about loyalty to one’s sovereign and devotion to one’s country qualify as ‘reading the situation and behaving appropriately’?”

Wei Xiu snapped, “Ungrateful! I said all of that for your sake, yet in your eyes everything I do is apparently meant to harm you. Since you refuse to appreciate it, I have no need to make a fool of myself. Go ahead—take advantage of their indulgence, do whatever you please, follow every whim that crosses your mind. Just don’t regret it later!”

“‘They’?” Wei Fu asked coldly. “Who are ‘they’?”

Caught by his own words, Wei Xiu’s momentum faltered, but now that the veneer had already been torn away, he simply stopped pretending. His face darkened. “Grandfather is partial to you. His Majesty places special weight on you. You’d all already agreed on this Longsha mission, hadn’t you? Not a whisper reached the rest of the family. You kept it hidden perfectly. What, do you really think you’ve already established a household of your own? The Duke’s residence has always treated you well. When have you ever truly regarded the rest of us?”

Wei Fu’s parents had been missing for years, and when he was a child he had been a little mute who could not speak. Naturally, Wei Xiu had never taken him seriously. Who could have imagined that Wei Fu would one day become the most accomplished of the Wei family’s younger generation, his reputation even eclipsing that of Wei Xiu, the legitimate eldest grandson of the main branch? Outside the residence, Wei Xiu had endured more than enough insinuations and probing remarks. Certain thoughts had lingered so long in his mind that by now they had sunk into his bones like poisoned thorns.

Wei Fu should have been furious. Instead, he stared at Wei Xiu silently for a moment, then suddenly smiled. In the dim lamplight of the deep night, there was something almost unsettling about that smile. Wei Xiu instinctively stepped half a pace backward. “What are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing because somehow, when people argue, they always end up saying what they truly think. What people call ‘speaking without thinking’ is usually something they’ve been brooding over for a very long time. Elder Brother, I know exactly what you wanted to hear.”

“You think the mission to Longsha is a thankless burden, that I’m taking a loss by giving up my post in the Western Secretariat. You came all the way here to lecture me because you wanted to see me sobbing with regret, didn’t you?” Wei Fu’s beautifully shaped lips moved, and the words that emerged were light and effortless yet sharp enough to sting like a crisp slap across the face. “But that is my official position, Elder Brother. Not yours.”

Wei Xiu’s face turned red, then white, the colors changing so rapidly it was almost impressive. His lips trembled with anger as he stared at Wei Fu with undisguised hostility.

“You think I’ve come this far because Grandfather favors me and because His Majesty deliberately promotes me out of affection for the past. You think I’m unworthy of that favor, and at the same time you’re afraid that once I leave, the Duke’s residence will lose it.” Wei Fu gave a faint, derisive laugh. “We’re brothers—the same ancestral grave sends up the same auspicious smoke for both of us. Why does it always drift toward me and never toward you? Perhaps every once in a while you ought to consider whether the problem might be you.”

“You can’t covet the favor other people earned by risking their lives while hiding beneath the eaves yourself, unwilling to let a single drop of wind or rain touch you—then loudly preach your doctrine of ‘preserving oneself wisely’ while sneering at everyone willing to step outside.”

Wei Xiu no longer wanted to hear another word.

He wanted to swing his arm and slap Wei Fu hard enough to teach him what respect for seniority meant, but Wei Fu merely cast him a calm sideways glance, his eyes clear and knowing. “If you have something to say, say it. Stop thinking about hitting people all the time. You couldn’t beat me anyway. Besides, I haven’t even left yet. If I take this grievance all the way to the South Gate of Heaven, why don’t you guess whose side he’ll take?”

Elio’s Notes: The South Gate of Heaven is the celestial gateway in traditional Chinese mythology. Wei Fu is jokingly exaggerating that he could carry his complaint all the way to the highest possible authority.

Wei Xiu’s raised arm seemed to have its bones pulled out of it and dropped limply back to his side.

“Oh, right. I just solved an urgent problem for His Majesty, and after today’s assassination attempt, who knows whether someone might be secretly watching the residence of the Duke Who Stabilizes the Nation? Should I shout and see whether a couple of Egret Guard officers appear?”

Wei Fu watched with satisfaction as realization dawned on Wei Xiu and all the color drained from his face. Then he dealt the final blow.

“There’s one thing you got right. My going to Longsha was arranged long ago. His Majesty knows. Grandfather knows.”

“After all, I’m going there to find the benefactor who once saved my life. There was no particular need to tell you.”

Wei Fu smiled, offering what sounded almost like gentle consolation. “As for why no one else told you, perhaps they were afraid you’d feel guilty. It seems Elder Brother still hasn’t put that matter behind him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have let your true thoughts slip in the heat of the moment. I never knew that was how you viewed your younger brother.”

That long-awaited display of “thoughtfulness and understanding” disgusted Wei Xiu so thoroughly that he stormed out. The door slammed with a tremendous bang. Wei Fu remained seated in perfect composure without even turning his head. He gave a soft scoff and casually poured away the cold tea left in his cup.

He could not truly say that he hated Wei Xiu. At most, they were people who walked different paths and therefore could make no common plans. When he was young, Wei Fu had merely disliked certain things about the way Wei Xiu behaved. Only after growing older had he realized that what he felt was contempt.

What Wei Fu found most unbearable was the way Wei Xiu, whenever he did something wrong, immediately adopted the posture of someone who “already felt terribly guilty.” From then on, no matter how trivial the disagreement, the slightest criticism would make him retort, “In your eyes, everything I do is wrong.”

Someone more thin-skinned might have been manipulated by that tactic of retreating in order to advance, but Wei Fu was not so easy to handle. Wei Xiu had tried repeatedly to control him and had never once succeeded. Now that years of resentment had erupted all at once, perhaps laying everything bare was not such a bad thing. At least Wei Xiu would stop thinking he had fooled everyone all these years.

Wei Fu stretched long and hard, caught the outer robe slipping from his shoulders, and strolled into the bedchamber, ready at last to bring this interminable, exhausting day to an end. Before he even reached the bed, his brow twitched. Suddenly suspicious, he circled the room and inspected every corner, making absolutely certain that Yugong Zhaoye had truly gone and would not suddenly leap out of some hidden nook to scare him half to death.

Wei Fu dropped backward onto the soft brocade bedding and let out a long breath. His bones ached faintly. He must have hit the ground harder than he realized when the explosion threw him earlier that day. The back of his head in particular felt as though a lump had swollen there…

He concentrated on the sensation for a moment, then abruptly sat up when something hard dug into him. He felt the back of his head. Perfectly smooth. Turning around, he discovered that at some point a small, flat, round silver box had appeared on his pillow. Fine lotus patterns were engraved across its surface. Written in ink on the lid were the words: “Ten Dragon-Horn Iron-Fan Pills.”

It was a renowned medicine for bruises and traumatic injuries. One of its ingredients, dragon horn, was so rare and expensive that the pills were seldom found on the open market. Wealthy households generally had them specially compounded and kept on hand as life-saving medicine.

The aches in Wei Fu’s body barely qualified as an injury at all. At most, he had suffered a few bumps and bruises that would heal on their own in another couple of days. An injury truly worthy of such medicine would look more like Yugong Zhaoye’s.

And yet what Yugong Zhaoye had used was… the wound medicine Wei Fu had given him.

For a moment, Wei Fu had no idea what expression he was supposed to make. He abruptly yanked the brocade quilt over his head, his heart pounding wildly—thump, thump, thump—loud as thunder in his ears.