Futile Devices Scans

“Six years ago?”

In an ordinary residence tucked away in one of Fengdu’s alleys, Yugong Zhaoye sat silently in a dim corner beyond the reach of the lamplight. His complexion was pale to begin with; now it seemed coated in frost. Yet on closer inspection, the faint tension between his brows looked less like anger or annoyance and more like someone who had no idea what he was doing but was determined not to show it.

Kui Yue was noisily chewing on a Xiling specialty—osmanthus rice-cake balls. Speaking indistinctly around the food, she asked, “When we investigated Han Shao last time, we checked Wei Fu along the way. There was nothing wrong with him. Why are we suddenly looking into something from six years ago? Did something happen, Your Highness?”

Something that meant absolutely nothing to anyone else and had turned his own world upside down.

When Yugong Zhaoye slipped out of Wei Fu’s room using his exceptional stealth, he truly did leave without alerting a soul. Unfortunately, he was unfamiliar with the residence of the Duke Who Stabilizes the Nation, and Wei Fu had sent him out through the rear window. After wandering in the wrong direction for a short while, he accidentally ended up behind the servants’ quarters in the inner courtyard.

He had not meant to eavesdrop. But the night was still, the doors and windows did little to block sound, and the people inside were not speaking quietly. A few scraps of conversation drifted through the cracks. “Still awake, Aunt Lin? It’s so late. Working by lamplight like this will strain your eyes.”

Another woman replied, “It’s fine. Just a few more stitches and I’ll be finished. The weather’s getting colder by the day, so the sooner I finish it, the sooner I can send it over. Guan-lang has grown another few inches since last year. I’m afraid his old clothes won’t fit anymore.”

A younger maid giggled. “Good thing Second Young Master was born into our household. If he’d been born poor, everything he earned in a year wouldn’t even be enough to pay for cloth.”

Aunt Lin chuckled too. “From His Grace downward, there isn’t a short man in the Wei family. Second Master is tall and broad-shouldered as well. You really couldn’t tell when Guan-lang was little that he would grow this tall. Back when His Majesty lived here, Guan-lang was actually a little shorter than him.”

“Aunt Liu, let me tell you something.” The younger maid lowered her voice. “I was serving in the main quarters tonight and heard Eldest Master talking with Madam. Our Second Young Master is about to be sent to Longsha as an envoy.”

The faint sound of a needle passing through cloth stopped.

“To Longsha? When is he leaving? How long will he be gone? I remember there used to be fighting over there. Is it dangerous?”

“Oh, that was years ago. The war ended ages back. They even borrowed troops from Xiling at the time,” the maid said. “Second Young Master will be staying for three years. Madam hasn’t decided how to prepare his luggage yet, but from what I heard, they’ll probably keep everything simple. Otherwise we’ll all be worked to death.”

Aunt Liu asked worriedly, “He’s going so far away and they still want to keep it simple? What if he needs something and there’s nowhere to buy it?”

The maid laughed reassuringly. “My dear sister, Fengdu may be prosperous, but that doesn’t mean everyone else lives in poverty. One of our distant young ladies married into Shenquan City in Longsha. She came home to visit last year looking even finer than before she married. The place has mountains on one side and the sea on the other. A family can live comfortably with nothing more than a small business. Besides, our Second Young Master is going there as a high official. Whoever else might go without, no one will let him lack for anything.”

“Guan-lang” was Second Young Master Wei Fu. Yugong Zhaoye had understood that almost as soon as the conversation began, but the revelation struck him so hard that he remained frozen beside the wall for a long time. Only then did he finally come back to himself, hastily find another way out, and leave the Duke’s residence.

He did not return to the posthouse. Instead, like a wandering ghost, he drifted into Longsha’s secret outpost in Fengdu.

His mind was crammed with a thousand questions and a hundred tangled emotions. It was like spending half a lifetime secluded deep in the mountains, only to fall without warning into the busiest street in the mortal world. The entire tide of worldly noise and feeling crashed over his head at once, leaving him with no idea where to begin sorting through it.

“Don’t ask. Just investigate.”

No matter how much Yugong Zhaoye had on his mind, he would never show it openly. At most, he exhaled softly and drew his brows together. “Have your brother investigate the other Xiling envoys. You concentrate on Wei Fu. Find out everything about him from childhood until now, including his…”

Kui Yue had finished her rice-cake balls and was already unwrapping another oil-paper parcel, preparing to feast on crispy fried wild chicken. The rustle, rustle of paper swallowed Yugong Zhaoye’s fading voice. She looked up. “Including what?”

Yugong Zhaoye had never felt so helpless in his life. Putting on a stern expression to conceal his uncertainty, he said, “Don’t worry about the details. Just investigate what I told you.”

Kui Yue gave him a puzzled look and mumbled around her food, “I’m asking what you want investigated. Your Highness, why are you speaking so quietly? Did you eat too much salt tonight?”

Yugong Zhaoye: “…”

His back teeth ground together lightly. Then he repeated, one word at a time, with perfect clarity: “Find out Wei Fu’s childhood nickname.”

“Oh.” Kui Yue ignored the vein threatening to throb out of his forehead and gnawed on the wild chicken with the bright-eyed enthusiasm of a weasel. “Got it.”

That was all? Not even slightly surprised?

As if hearing the question in his mind, Kui Yue said solemnly, “Didn’t Your Highness tell us that when discussing official business, we shouldn’t mix in personal feelings or act according to our private likes and dislikes? We’re supposed to do whatever we’re told. So I won’t question you. You don’t have to look so guilty.”

“Who looks guilty?” Yugong Zhaoye asked coldly. “And who eats while discussing official business?”

Kui Yue, a chicken wing hanging from her mouth: “…”

Serving one’s superior was impossible. Ask questions and he became flustered and angry; ask nothing and he became embarrassed and annoyed. He was clearly the one with something to hide, yet somehow his innocent subordinate was the one suffering for it.

“Your Highness, if you didn’t come to discuss official business while I was eating dinner, then I wouldn’t be eating dinner while discussing official business.”

Kui Yue set down the half-eaten wild chicken, bared her teeth in the politest smile she could manage, and said sweetly, “Investigate Wei Fu’s background and childhood nickname. This subordinate obeys. Any other instructions?”

“…”

Having lost the argument completely, Yugong Zhaoye rose stiffly, flicked his sleeves, and left. Before going, he tossed back one utterly harmless parting shot.

“Your dinner is certainly late. Another shichen and it’ll be time for breakfast.”

Kui Yue: “Heh.”

The following afternoon, Mu Heng once again summoned Longsha’s chief and deputy envoys. On Xiling’s side were chief envoy Wei Fu, deputy envoy Censor Feng Xie, and officials from four ministries.

Unlike the grand, formal banquet the previous night, this meeting included only a small number of core officials. Yugong Zhaoye instructed Liu Mingzhong to present a brocade box to the palace attendant, then bowed slightly to Mu Heng. “In the fifteenth year of Jinyuan, our two states entered into a suzerain-vassal alliance. Thanks to our suzerain’s aid, Longsha was spared the calamity of national destruction. Our late king passed away in the seventh month, and the new king immediately ordered us to enter your court and report the mourning without the slightest delay. We have also brought a state letter and formal memorial, humbly requesting that Your Majesty grant investiture and bestow the royal title.”

Mu Heng nodded slightly and signaled for the attendant to set down the box. “Your country keeps faith and understands righteousness. Its loyalty is commendable. Let the Ministry of Rites deliberate on the matter. Once a decision is reached, the Western Secretariat shall draft the edict, and the chief envoy shall carry it to Longsha to perform the investiture.”

The officials named stepped forward to accept the order. Their movement only made the omission of Du Run, Left Chancellor of the Eastern Secretariat, more conspicuous. Ordinarily, Yugong Zhaoye would not have been particularly sensitive to this sort of political maneuvering, but Wei Fu had mentioned it the night before, so he could not help taking a discreet look at Du Run.

Perhaps prejudice colored perception, but Du Run’s gaze was lowered, his lips pressed tightly together, and the hand resting on his knee had curled just enough to crease his official robe. He did indeed look as though he were suppressing some embarrassment.

Mu Heng, meanwhile, remained perfectly calm, as though he had not noticed that his casually assigned procedure had skipped the Eastern Secretariat entirely. Naturally, no one dared remind him. Instead, he asked Yugong Zhaoye in an almost conversational tone, “This delegation numbers roughly a hundred. Once the chief and deputy envoys are escorted to Longsha, thirty people will remain in Bihan City and the rest will return. Your country is currently in mourning, so there must be countless matters demanding attention. Have the residences and personnel for receiving the envoys been prepared? If there are any difficulties, speak freely. You may remain in Fengdu a little longer if you require more time.”

Xiling was generous with supplies and rewards. If Yugong Zhaoye had been merely an ordinary envoy, he would probably have accepted the emperor’s kindness readily enough, leaving both sides pleased. But after everything that had happened, his suspicious nature could not help reaching for the worst possible explanation: What if Xiling meant to keep them comfortably detained in Fengdu until the assassination attempt had been fully investigated, and only then decide whether to honor the alliance?

The longer the delay, the more opportunity for trouble. If they did not take advantage of the favorable situation now and leave with the Minister-Regent, who knew what new disaster might arise?

Yugong Zhaoye immediately rose and bowed. “Many thanks for Your Majesty’s consideration. Longsha regards the alliance between our two nations as a matter of the utmost importance. Last year, when the late king became gravely ill and began making arrangements for what would follow his death, he ordered the foreign envoys’ residences renovated and a residence constructed for the Minister-Regent in preparation for this day. The work was completed this spring. Your envoys will certainly not be slighted.”

For Yugong Fengting to have gone this far—whether out of sincere foresight or calculated ingratiation—at least proved that he had genuinely been thinking about Longsha’s future. Mu Heng looked at Yugong Zhaoye standing straight before him and sighed softly. “Your late king thought ahead.”

Yugong Zhaoye said nothing, merely bowing in reply, and Liu Mingzhong rose beside him and bowed as well.

Mu Heng waved them back into their seats. “I know Longsha has its difficulties. But after what happened yesterday, every envoy still willing to go has already resolved to stake his life on the journey. That loyalty is not offered only to me. It is also offered to Longsha. You must remember that.”

His expression remained calm, but his words gradually acquired an unmistakable weight. “The Minister-Regent is not the same as an ordinary envoy. There is no precedent for this arrangement, and this is also Minister Wei’s first time bearing such responsibility. However matters ultimately turn out, I expect Longsha to show some tolerance. If disputes arise, they may be discussed. But under no circumstances may you take action against an envoy on your own authority. If you do, it will be treated as a breach of the alliance. At that point, neither I nor Xiling’s armies will be interested in discussing the matter further.”

Wei Fu rose even faster than Yugong Zhaoye. “We thank Your Majesty for your grace. We will devote ourselves completely to the task and will not disgrace our mission.”

Ruler and minister played off each other so smoothly that some of the oppressive tension in the room eased. Liu Mingzhong’s shoulders relaxed almost unconsciously, while Yugong Zhaoye found his emotions inexplicably complicated, to the point that he had to make a conscious effort not to keep looking toward Wei Fu.

Mu Heng found his uncharacteristically unsettled demeanor irritating. He considered giving the Longsha envoys another warning, then remembered that he had already given them a thorough dressing-down at the previous night’s banquet. Thinking also of what the Egret Guard had reported that morning, he softened his tone a little. “Enough. None of you need to be so tense. I’m merely laying out the worst possibilities in advance. It’s not as though war is going to break out tomorrow.”

Yugong Zhaoye had not been intimidated by the warning; the problem was that the moment Wei Fu entered his sight, his emotions seemed to sway unpredictably. Forcing himself back into composure, he said, “Your Majesty may rest assured. The loyalty and righteousness shown by these envoys command our deepest respect. All of Longsha will treat them with the utmost courtesy in gratitude for Your Majesty’s grace.”

“Minister Wei once rendered great service in saving the throne. Had he not risked his life then, I would not be sitting here today.” Mu Heng glanced at Wei Fu, then looked directly at Yugong Zhaoye. “I regard him as closer than my own brothers. If he had not insisted on going, I would never have let him leave. From this day forward, I entrust him to you.”