Chapter 27 - His Majesty has a revelation (1/2)

It wasn’t as if Xue Yuan, as he cleaned the horse dung and horseshoe prints, hadn’t thought of making the palace attendants sweep for him instead. However, Gu Yuanbai’s Imperial orders couldn’t be disobeyed. When these palace attendants saw Xue Yuan, they hid far away as they led the horses to walk through the area.

Even the son of a dignified general, under the Emperor’s orders, would still be forced to obediently clean horse dung as punishment.

Besides the stink and the inconvenience, Xue Yuan didn’t feel anything.

As someone who crawled out of a mountain of corpses and sea of people1, Xue Yuan had been soaked in foul smelling blood, so now he seemed just indifferent, as if his mind was elsewhere.

When Gu Yuanbai took Chu Wei walking with him, Chu Wei knew that the Emperor had gone out to check on Xue Yuan.

Xue Yuan had bad intentions towards the Emperor, and Chu Wei wanted to stop him from having too much contact with Xue Yuan. However, he was in no place to say that sort of thing, so he could only do his best to prevent Xue Yuan from approaching the Emperor.

Gu Yuanbai looked very happy to see the future regent sweeping horse dung, a smile on his lips. Chu Wei caught a glimpse of his smile out of the corner of his eye, and he pursed his lips to say, “Your Highness, this place is dirty, we should not stay here for too long.”

Chu Wei was like the moon during a clear night, clean and immaculate, so Gu Yuanbai thought that he was uncomfortable about the smell and said, “In that case, walk with Us towards a spring garden instead, Zhuangyuan.”2

The spot where the medicine had been applied was now wrapped in soft cotton cloth. Gu Yuanbai, walking a bit slower, didn’t feel any pain.

The Emperor turned and left and Chu Wei followed behind him, footsteps echoing across the empty palace road. Xue Yuan looked up when he heard the sound.

Chu Wei seemed to sense something. He turned his head and glanced at Xue Yuan with indifference, then gently raised his hand. From a distance, it seemed as if his arm were wrapped around the Emperor’s waist.

“Emperor,” Chu Wei whispered, “did the official bother Your Highness?”

Gu Yuanbai laughed when he heard him say that. He turned his head to look at Chu Wei and asked with a smile, “Why? Can’t it just be that We find watching official Xue sweep horse dung very interesting to watch?”

The corner of Chu Wei’s lips twitched and he also smiled lightly.

Both of them had beautiful faces, too good to be drawn. But in Xue Yuan’s eyes, he just saw that Chu Wei had his hand on the Emperor’s waist, and the Emperor turned his head and smiled at Chu Wei.

Xue Yuan’s eyes became cold.

What’s this?

When Xue Yuan finished his task and went back home, the crescent moon was already hanging high in the sky.

He went straight to the study and sent someone to call the manor’s retainers to go see him. Due to the time, most people were already in bed, but when Xue Yuan called for someone, they wouldn’t dare not come.

Xue Mansion didn’t have many retainers, but they were all very talented. Some of them worked under General Xue, but, when Xue Yuan arrived, they showed up at his doorstep. Xue Yuan was ruthless, and there weren’t many retainers that didn’t fear him. Having been called over, they showed up before Xue Yuan.

Under the dim candlelight, young master Xue smiled darkly, as if a ghost had possessed his soul. “Go and investigate the new Zhuangyuan.”

The retainers replied carefully, “What do you want to know about the new Zhuangyuan?”

“Anything bad about him,” Xue Yuan replied in a deep voice. “Does he like men? What sort of bad things has he done? I want to know everything.”

The retainers replied, “Understood.”

”

”

Xue Yuan continued, “Also, go find some nice gifts tomorrow.”

The retainers looked at each other, and someone boldly asked, “Your master, who are you going to give gifts to?”

Xue Yuan grinned. “Of course, I need gifts to give to the Emperor.”

The retainer simply thought that he wanted to please the Emperor. “Don’t worry, young master, I will find a good gift tomorrow.”

“If it is to be given to the Emperor, it cannot be something ordinary,” someone else said. “It’s better to choose something expensive or rare as a gift, at least you can’t go wrong with that.”

“Exactly,” the retainer replied. “What do you have in mind, young master?”

Xue Yuan stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes.

In mind?

Xue Yuan’s hand twitched and he suddenly said, “Send something soft that is pleasant to touch.”

Retainers, “Ah?”

In the inner palace, Gu Yuanbai was looking at all the suspicious items that the Imperial guard had taken out of Qi Mansion.

There were people that were hidden behind Prince Qi who were involved in the matter, but they hadn’t expected Gu Yuanbai to do things so thoroughly. It had been useless to try to destabilize Gu Yuanbai’s physical condition with the matter of the Great Imperial Concubine Wan. Instead, it had allowed Gu Yuanbai to find their tail and grab it, pulling them out of the mud.

Even though they knew Gu Yuanbai had a cold that day, they hadn’t dared to do anything directly, and, instead, they just sent a false message to test the waters. They were really pathetic and mediocre.

Not just underestimating Gu Yuanbai, but also overestimating themselves.

The Imperial guard had rummaged through Prince Qi’s mansion for several days, and, finally, they found some hidden information.

“Your Majesty,” said General Cheng, “A soldier among the two teams I led found this letter inside a hollow piece of jade. The soldier was very brave, I was shocked when he took the jade piece and slammed it to the ground.”

When General Cheng heard that the Emperor wanted to select a group of elite soldiers for the Imperial Guard, he wanted to recommend soldiers he valued. This soldier under his command was very courageous and daring. Even if he was illiterate and unable to understand military books, he was born with a keen mind and had a great talent.

The great general of the Han kingdom, Wang Ping, could not write, the most he could write was X,3 but he had been born extremely skilled at military combat, and he was capable of winning many battles even without reading military books. General Cheng didn’t dare compare his soldiers to Wang Ping, but he was also unwilling to hide their talent.

Gu Yuanbai was more interested in talents such as these rather than in spelling. He asked, “Where’s that man now?”

General Cheng chuckled twice, apologized to Gu Yuanbai, and walked out to the hall to bring back the person. When the man came in, Gu Yuanbai focused his eyes on him. The man was extremely tall, all tendon and sinew, with slender and powerful limbs with good proportions, looking both impulsive and collected, looking like a cultured general.

“I, Qin Sheng, am here to see Your Majesty.” His voice was bright, neither humble nor arrogant.

Gu Yuanbai asked, “How did you discover this secret letter?”

Qin Sheng bowed and gave Gu Yuanbai a clear and thoughtful account of what happened. Gu Yuanbai nodded slowly, deep in thought, and said, “Stand down.”

Qin Sheng retreated silently. General Cheng wanted to ask the Emperor about how he felt about Qin Sheng, but he didn’t dare to ask without permission, so he had to remain silent.

Gu Yuanbai was quite mean, pretending not to see the anxiety that was clearly visible on General Cheng’s face. The secret letter that had been hidden inside the jade pendant was checked to ensure it was harmless by an eunuch that stood to the side, and then it was placed into Gu Yuanbai’s hands.

But, when Gu Yuanbai opened it, it turned out to have no words on it.