By the time Wei Fu had finished dealing with the king, who had nearly burst into tears, and all the lords who expressed deep sympathy and endless concern for him, it had taken great effort for him to finally extricate himself from the palace.
When he returned to the chancellor’s residence, the sky had already gone dark. Yu Gong Zhao Ye had long since scaled the wall and entered with practiced ease. His face was as dark and still as deep water, and he was sitting on the long couch beneath the window, waiting for him.
A beauty leaning before the lamplight had a charm all its own even when angry and resentful. Moreover, His Highness had always been as unmoving as a mountain, rarely showing his emotions so plainly on his face.
Finding this very novel, Wei Fu leaned over happily and kissed the cold, taut corner of his mouth. “What’s wrong, Your Highness? Who upset you?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye: “……”
Although his anger was not directed at Wei Fu, who insisted on leaning in and kissing someone while that person was still angry? How was Yu Gong Zhao Ye supposed to keep being angry after that?
Yu Gong Zhao Ye pushed away the tactless fox spirit whose smile was soft and warm right before his eyes, his entire face practically saying, Come on, take revenge on me. His fingertips sank deep into the smooth brocade at the hollow of Wei Fu’s shoulder. “When the king summoned you to the palace today, did he clearly explain the entire course and cause of the poisoning case to you?”
“Clearly, yes.”
Ignoring all the empty space around them, Wei Fu insisted on wedging himself into the tiny gap beside Yu Gong Zhao Ye. His height was what it was, and no matter how thin he was, his frame was still like a wall. While squeezing half of His Highness’s body onto his own lap, he said heartlessly, “Aiya, it was just a misunderstanding. Her Highness the Noble Consort couldn’t possibly have done it on purpose. She’s never even met me before. And Lord Yuan Tian Jing kindly hosted a banquet for me. He wouldn’t even have enough time to win me over, so why would he harm me out of nowhere?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s disapproving gaze swept coldly across his cheek like wind rolling frost and snow. Wei Fu therefore leaned in again and kissed his deeply furrowed brow, then held him and laughed. “At the banquet in Huifeng Tower, Lord Yuan also drank the hangover soup. Looking at him, I don’t think he had planned it in advance. He even specifically mentioned that it was a rare thing. If he and the Noble Consort were supposed to be working together from inside and outside to set a trap, why bother adding that extra sentence?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye gave a faint “Mm.” “That does make sense.”
“So, see? There aren’t that many conspiracies and schemes.” Like a small animal making soft, clingy noises, Wei Fu rested his head on Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s shoulder and said with great open-mindedness, “It looks suspicious, but in truth it was accidental. I just happened to run into it at the wrong time. Fortunately, treatment came quickly, so there’s no major harm.”
He was willing to take the larger situation into account and willing to loosen his stance and admit that everything was a misunderstanding, instead of insisting on making trouble and fighting it out to the end. Whether for Longsha, Qiyun, or even Xiling, this was welcome news. If Yu Gong Zhao Ye had not regarded him as so important, he would probably have simply gone along with this nonsense.
“What about Fang Ji Chuan, the manager of Huifeng Tower?” Yu Gong Zhao Ye lowered his eyes and asked. “Didn’t he run away? If the whole matter truly was a misunderstanding as you say, why would he run off for no reason?”
Wei Fu lowered his head and played dumb. “Mm… perhaps he grew tired of the troubled mortal world and suddenly wanted to go out to clear his mind?”
“Then you go out and clear your mind too.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye pushed him.
Wei Fu refused to listen to him. Not only did he not go out, he even pushed his luck further, pulling the dignified princely highness into his arms and squeezing and rubbing him, winding Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s hair around his fingers to play with it, carrying out every shameless act of a lecher while answering carelessly, “It doesn’t matter. His whereabouts aren’t important. In any case, the case has already been concluded.”
“You suffered so much. Are you really willing to let it be muddled through like this, unclear and unexplained?”
“Of course I’m not willing. The only person in the world I would willingly suffer for is Your Highness…” Seeing Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s brows tighten as though he was about to flare up, Wei Fu hurriedly smoothed his fur again. “Aiya, it’s not as if Your Highness doesn’t know me. How could I have such a temper? I’m simply stopping while things are good. Am I supposed to go home and go on a hunger strike or hang myself over this, forcing the king to give me an explanation, or else have my imperial father send troops to flatten Longsha?”
He seemed to find it rather absurd and laughed lazily. “Even if Yuan Tian Jing and Noble Consort Qi did it, then what? Which yamen would dare try the case? Which prison would dare hold them? Is Xiling difficult to offend, but Qiyun can be offended however one likes?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye was nearly being kneaded boneless in his arms. Dragon-gall incense had stained his whole body, its fragrance clear and bitter, so bitter it made his heart, liver, spleen, and stomach all twist into knots.
He held Wei Fu’s face in his hands. His expression was still cold, but his movements could be called gentle. He did not meet Wei Fu’s eyes, merely lowered his lashes in thought and contemplated him while lightly rubbing the small patch of skin at the corner of his mouth with the pad of his thumb. The layer of callus brought a rougher sensation than a kiss. “No wonder he predicted that you would react this way. That was why he dared to strike so viciously.”
“Who?” Wei Fu asked quietly. “Is Your Highness talking about Yuan Tian Jing?”
“This case is actually very simple. The day before, someone at Huifeng Tower used Sunken Snow Pearls on you. The next day, at the palace banquet, you drank wine that had passed over calendula. When the two mixed, the poison activated. One side is very clear: the calendula came from Noble Consort Qi. The other side falls on Fang Ji Chuan, the manager of the restaurant.”
“According to the muddy compromise you all spent the whole day stirring together, Yuan Tian Jing knew nothing beforehand, and everything was Fang Ji Chuan acting on his own initiative. If Fang Ji Chuan had stayed behind and honestly admitted to it, that would have been one thing. But Fang Ji Chuan just had to flee out of fear of guilt.”
“Once he ran, he completely put Yuan Tian Jing over the fire. After all, even the night-soil carriers of Bihan City know that Huifeng Tower is Qiyun territory, so Fang Ji Chuan is naturally Yuan Tian Jing’s man.”
“To call it a mere misunderstanding is purely treating everyone like fools. Anyone with a brain will definitely suspect Yuan Tian Jing.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye held Wei Fu’s chin and asked him softly, “After something like this happened, can you still possibly feel no resentment at all toward Yuan Tian Jing, Noble Consort Qi, and Qiyun behind them, Chancellor Wei?”
In private, Yu Gong Zhao Ye either called him “Young Master Wei,” “Little Guan,” or occasionally “Wei Shuchen.” He rarely addressed him directly as “Chancellor Wei.” Wei Fu knew perfectly well that this was very inappropriate right now, but that single address still provoked him until he went tight and hot, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as if startled.
“I…”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye gave him a beginning. “When the king was still heir, he married Princess Huarong of Qiyun. They have been married for four years. One cannot say their relationship is perfectly harmonious, but for the sake of national fortune, at the very least, they have treated each other with courtesy. Yet since the king ascended the throne, he has not established her as queen. He only gave her the position of Noble Consort. Although she also holds authority over the six palaces, in the end, that is still different from being the true queen.”
Wei Fu’s arms around his waist tightened a little, as though he wanted to squeeze that hot breath out from his chest. Feeling that he no longer had much patience left for serious matters, he simply confessed everything in one breath. “Because the king never intended to make the Qiyun princess queen in the first place, and even more so could not possibly allow the next generation’s heir to have Qiyun blood.”
“Recently, court officials have been submitting memorials requesting selection on the grounds that ‘the queen’s position remains vacant.’ Yuan Tian Jing is eager to push Noble Consort Qi into becoming queen, so he has been going around winning people over. To be honest, doing this is a little too disrespectful of the king. And sure enough, something happened.”
“You understand it so clearly.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye touched the flushed corner of his eye and asked softly, “It seems you guessed it long ago, didn’t you?”
Wei Fu gave a brief laugh. “In outsiders’ eyes, Your Highness is an idle cloud and wild crane, but in truth, you are the king’s trusted aide. Yet the king does not know that Your Highness is actually my person. In the same way, in outsiders’ eyes, Fang Ji Chuan is Yuan Tian Jing’s man, and even Yuan Tian Jing himself thinks so. But who knows whose person Fang Ji Chuan truly is?”
“When two harmless things are mixed together and become a poison, useful though this method may be, its conditions are extremely strict. If too much time passes between them, the first ingredient may already have lost its effect, so the most important thing is timing.”
“My movements are very easy to investigate. The time when I took the Sunken Snow Pearl has already been determined, so whoever could decide when the calendula appeared is the mastermind behind this.”
“The king…”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye let out a deep sigh. “From the moment he handed this case to the Court of Judicial Review and the Capital Security Bureau and deliberately avoided Yeguang, I should have thought of it.”
Only Yu Gong Lie could control Wei Fu’s and Noble Consort Qi’s movements, summon Wei Fu into the palace under the pretext of admiring flowers, give Noble Consort Qi the opportunity to arrange the banquet at precisely the moment when she was eager to curry favor, and then, through the bestowal of a banquet, make him drink the calendula wine Noble Consort Qi had so carefully prepared.
Yuan Tian Jing spent every other day mixing with Wei Fu and fooling around with him. If he wanted to poison Wei Fu, there was no need for him to go to such trouble. This method had only one purpose: to frame two people at once, binding Yuan Tian Jing and Noble Consort Qi firmly together and making the target called “Qiyun” both large and conspicuous.
Yu Gong Lie himself had also drunk calendula tea for a long time. When had he learned that Sunken Snow Pearl and calendula would become poisonous when mixed together? Before deciding to poison Wei Fu, whom had he originally intended to use this method on?
His thoughts were as tangled as countless fine ox-hair needles, piercing his reason and selfishness in a messy, painful swarm. Yu Gong Zhao Ye closed his eyes amid that dragon-gall fragrance that turned sweet after its bitterness and answered Wei Fu’s earlier question. “Before Fang Ji Chuan came to Pingdu City, he studied medicine under Cheng Mo, the Sage Physician of Tuo Mountain. Cheng Mo has a proud disciple named Ma Chuan Jie. This man was the king’s close friend when he was still in his princely residence, and he is also the Royal Physician the king trusts most now.”
Wei Fu suddenly gave a long “Oh” of realization, yet he truly showed not the slightest temper. Still remembering the meal and forgetting the beating, he leaned closer to Yu Gong Zhao Ye again, rubbing him affectionately with the cool tip of his nose as he muttered, “As expected of Your Highness. You investigated this so clearly. No wonder the king refused to hand the case to Yeguang…”
“I suspect that before long, rumors will begin circulating in court that you oppose Noble Consort Qi becoming queen,” Yu Gong Zhao Ye said. “In this way, the conflict is shifted onto Xiling and Qiyun. The king will suffer anger from both sides and be ‘forced’ to seek a compromise. Perhaps he will temporarily delay establishing a queen, or perhaps, while appeasing Noble Consort Qi, he will establish as queen a woman with no background on either side, thereby fulfilling exactly what he wished.”
“Smart.”
Wei Fu kissed him approvingly. “One arrow, two eagles; driving the tiger to devour the wolf. He both suppressed Consort Qi and intimidated me. The ruler’s mind is meticulous, and with such methods, it is truly a blessing for the state. All right, why are you still wearing such a dark face? Come on, smile for me.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye could not smile in the slightest.
He wanted to tear away the smile that seemed forever painted on Wei Fu’s face, to see him expose his true emotions. He wanted to simply seize Wei Fu by the collar and slam him against the wall, then ask him: Yu Gong Lie harmed you like this, Longsha treated you like this, so how can you still dare to draw near me without the slightest resentment, and even refuse to show the least bit of hurt or grievance?
If you yourself do not feel sorry for yourself, is there truly no one in this world who feels sorry for you?
But in the next instant, he realized that Wei Fu had left his parents at the age of three. The little mute had grown up in Duke Zhenguo’s Manor, had grown up at Mu Heng’s side, and the first thing he had learned was not “protect yourself,” but “take the larger situation into account.”
Wei Fu’s parents were already gone, his homeland lay thousands of miles away, and here in a foreign country, the person he had poured all his heart into loving was precisely one part of the “larger situation” that hurt him.
Between vast heaven and earth, there was no longer anyone he could run to and cry before without needing to explain the reason whenever he had suffered a grievance.
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