Chapter 233 - Give Them a Hand (1/2)

Chapter 233: Give Them a Hand

Translator: DragonRider

After s.n.a.t.c.hing the messenger’s letter and coercing him into pretending to have already delivered it into the imperial palace and not to breathe a word of this matter to anybody, the King Hui returned to his residential compound in a great hurry, hastened into his study, shut the door and read the letter from the head star-watcher to the emperor once again.

The King Hui, restraining his excitement, muttered to himself, “Even the head star-watcher says so. It seems that my sister’s dream was indeed a herald as well!”

“Guards, get my aides here!”

The King Hui had a couple of aides living in his residential compound, all of whom were very much in his confidence. These people gave counsel to him, sharing life and death with him. The King Hui believed that they would never betray him, so he confided to them the Ninth Princess’ dream and what the head star-watcher said in the letter.

The look on his aides’ faces turned from shock to rapture and then a mixture of nervousness and fright.

“Your Highness, originally this could’ve been unbelievably good news, but now it has come to the knowledge of the head star-watcher. You intercepted this letter today, but how could you intercept a second one? We must make sure the head star-watcher keeps his mouth shut about it,” an aide said immediately.

Certainly the King Hui himself was also aware of this. Earlier this day when his eyes had fallen on that letter, he’d felt a great thrill and broken out in a cold sweat. Had his father been informed of the head star-watcher’s prophecy, given his suspicious mind, he would no doubt figure out a way to have this potential usurper executed, though he wasn’t really a big fan of star-watchers.

“I’ve already sent some men to stake out the Star Observation Platform, keeping their each and every move under surveillance. The head star-watcher must die, but my father would definitely order an investigation into it if he dies a sudden death, so this matter has to be handled with great caution, and it’ll take a lot of doing,” said the King Hui.

His aides exchanged glances. They could see the mixture of delight and concern on each other’s faces.

“Your Highness, there could be many a slip between the cup and the lip, so I believe we should seize the initiative and strike first!” suggested one of the aides.

“That’s right. There’s no telling whether there will be a second head star-watcher after this one is down. Also, somebody else with knowledge of astrology might foresee this as well and report it to His Majesty. In that case, there’d be nothing we could do, so we might as well launch a pre-emptive strike before anybody could react,” another aide also said.

“We haven’t made any preparations whatsoever. It’ll be too hasty,” said a third aide.

The King Hui hadn’t made any remarks so far. On the surface, he was sitting in his seat listening to his aides’ opinions with utter composure, but excitement had actually been bubbling inside him for quite some time. As a matter of fact, on his way back from the imperial temple, he had already made a decision – striking first before the prophecy came to the knowledge of his father.

But as regards how to do it, as one of his aides had said, they were totally unprepared.

“Your Highness, once you take action, the King Duan, the King Yu and the Crown Prince would definitely come to stop us like wolves smelling blood. Moreover, His Majesty is still in good health. Unless we adopt special means, he–”

“Then we adopt special means!”

“But we could give this matter further thought, made a long-range plan and confound our rivals step by step. If we are to suddenly face them all at once, what kind of special means could we possibly find to defeat all of them?”

Finally, the King Hui knitted his eyebrows in spite of himself. “Making a long-range plan is no longer an option. For us, that prophecy is not only a good omen but also a death sentence. Once my father or any of my brothers finds out about it, we will meet our ends in no time.”

All his aides lapsed into silence. In other words, making their move as soon as possible was their only choice!

After a short while, one of them said through gritted teeth, “Your Highness is right. Things came to this too suddenly. We must take this path wherever it might lead us. For Your Highness’ great undertaking to succeed, we must create opportunities if there aren’t any in sight!”

On hearing this, the King Hui inclined his head, very pleased. Even wealth couldn’t be achieved without taking risks, let alone a position representing supreme power and utmost glory!

“Your Highness, our original plan is to cooperate with the Wan Kingdom. Do you think we could still join hands with Shan Congwen in these circ.u.mstances?” said an aide.

“Indeed, Shan Congwen has at his disposal some marksmen and also powerful crossbows suitable for a.s.sa.s.sination. Maybe he could lend us a hand,” another aide commented.

The King Hui pondered over it for quite a while. “That might not be a bad idea. I’ll contact Shan Congwen. Also, I’ll talk to my mother and my uncle about it. But first I need you to figure out a way to create that opportunity for me!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

…

Shan Congwen was astounded by the letter from the King Hui.

“Your Highness, why did the King Hui decide to make his move so suddenly?” his henchman was very confused.

Shan Congwen also had a puzzled look on his face. “Something must have happened. Go and make some inquiries immediately! Find out whether there was any recent news spreading in this city that we neglected!”

“Yes, Your Highness! And, should we reply to the King Hui in the affirmative?” said his henchman.

Shan Congwen coldly snorted. “Zhou Mingci wants us to help him take the throne when there is no marriage contract or a solid alliance of any form between our two families. He really should stop kidding himself. Just ignore him. Ascertain what it was that had made Zhou Mingci rush into a decision like this.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The next day, the one sent to make inquiries returned to the courier hostel.

“Your Highness, there haven’t been any special occurrences in the capital city lately, and none of the other sides have taken any action.”

“Impossible. Something definitely has happened. What’s Zhou Mingci been doing these days?”

“He just paid a visit to the imperial temple… By the way, previous to his visit to that temple, he had stated that for him to cooperate with us, we had to kill Ling Zhang first, but after his return from the temple, he suddenly changed his mind. Could it be that something happened in the imperial temple?”

“Then what are you waiting for? Go and find out!”

Meanwhile, the King Hui, who had written Shan Congwen a letter but hadn’t received any replies so far, was rather anxious and soon sent another man to sound Shan Congwen out.

Shan Congwen, seeing the King Hui was in such anxiety, fell even more dismayed, but on no account would he take any precipitous action without knowledge of what had happened exactly.