Chapter 43#

Qi Hanzhou saw Ying Fusheng tucking his hands in—he seemed accustomed to warming them that way to ward off the chill. The Broken Red Seed had left him with a cold-constitution ailment; it hadn’t eased in summer, and winter would likely be worse. Even so, the most he did was put on extra layers or carry a hand warmer; he never brought up his condition in private.#

With his ambition, if he could win the Empress Dowager’s favor and gain her support, the Xiao family would eventually stand behind him as well.

But now he had offended Xiao Yao, which meant offending the entire council of Xiao clan elders. Rather than backing a thorn like him, they might as well scout out other princes at court—or even cultivate a puppet emperor. That was also why, in recent years, while the Xu and Yun families vied fiercely, they had never taken sides but maintained good relations with both.

“Who says I’ve offended the Xiao family?” Ying Fusheng raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t two Xiao family members show up today?”

“You mean Xiao Yan?” Qi Hanzhou looked at him and saw a hint of cunning in his eyes, as if he had some scheme in mind.

Xiao Yan’s attitude and conduct at court were peculiar.

If you said he did nothing, he had still become Right Vice Censor-in-Chief at a young age, handling affairs efficiently and winning the Emperor’s favor.

If you said he did things, his actions today had followed Xiao Yao’s lead, using the exact same reasoning—just adding a tavern to the mix. That gave the Xiao family a way out, covered Xiao Yao’s lie, and let the clan extricate itself from the matter.

“Xiao Yan is an ambitious man,” Ying Fusheng said thoughtfully. “But he doesn’t control the Xiao family yet; he still has to bow to the elder council’s will.”

Right now, the Xiao family was secretly collaborating with party factions, unwittingly becoming someone else’s backup hand. If the Emperor struck at the Xiao family, the court would fall into chaos—and the hidden hand behind the scenes wanted exactly that. It would divert the Emperor’s attention to the court, leaving more room to manipulate the rear palace, fabricate minor illnesses for the Empress Dowager, and create opportunities for frame-ups or sabotage.

One move, multiple contingency plans—the man had deep schemes.

The Xiao family was no longer the same as when the late emperor was alive. After his father ascended the throne, certain members of the Xiao clan had grown more ambitious. While his father was busy with military campaigns, the civil officials at court had long changed under the influence of power over the years. The Xiao family might once have been incorruptible, but now they were nothing but a thorn in his father’s side.

The Censorate had once been the royal eye watching over all civil and military officials.

If that eye were still clear, how could the court have ended up like this? With just a slight provocation from the hidden hand, anyone could become a pawn to stir up trouble in the court.

“The Xiao family submitted two visiting cards to Cining Palace, but my grandmother refused to see either,” Ying Fusheng said softly. During his time at Cining Palace, he hadn’t seen a single Xiao family member enter the palace. “That eye is half-blind, but maybe not entirely. Rather than let my father waste that eye, it’s better to treat it a little.”

As he spoke, the carriage arrived.

The place was a lavishly decorated tavern.

Seeing Qi Hanzhou frown, Ying Fusheng took Song’an’s hand and stepped down from the carriage. He turned back and said, “I bought it, General. No need to worry.”

He couldn’t keep going to the tavern under the Great Prince’s patronage. The previous meetings had been convenient, but after the examination fraud case, his imperial brother would be watching his movements closely. So it was especially important to acquire his own property in advance.

“I can’t have Vice Commander Ye hanging from the rafters all the time—it ruins his hands,” Ying Fusheng said, looking down. “And his legs too.”

Ye Xuanjiu noticed the General’s gaze and quickly whispered, “Your Highness used a few of the shops gifted by the Great Prince to privately acquire this place. The middlemen were that group of idle rich sons.”

In other words, he used the Great Prince’s connections in the capital to quietly plant his own informants and acquire properties to take root in the city. There were plenty of wealthy young men in the capital; by funneling his own properties through the Great Prince’s channels, anyone investigating would end up tracing back to the Great Prince’s people.

Qi Hanzhou stared fixedly at the young man walking ahead. While seeming to frolic with the rich sons, he had silently accomplished a pile of things. He waved his hand, and the subordinates lurking in the distance all melted away. Then he withdrew his gaze and followed Ying Fusheng.

When they entered the private room, someone was already waiting inside.

Seeing Ying Fusheng enter, the man bowed: “Your Highness.”

It was Weng Yanqing.

Weng Yanqing looked completely different from before. He had changed into suitable plain clothes, and with the help of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, his appearance had been slightly modified. Now he could freely come and go from the Court of the Imperial Stud, nominally a subordinate of Shen Changcun—not on the official rolls at court, but holding real power.

Qi Hanzhou said, “When the Embroidered Uniform Guard entered the Dali Temple (Court of Judicial Review) archives, a few extra names appeared on the list.”

With the court’s anti-corruption investigation underway, the Guard had already locked onto suspicious persons.

The Emperor was only sparing their lives; that didn’t mean the Guard wouldn’t investigate. But the list Ying Fusheng had submitted included some names never before seen on the anti-corruption watchlist—meaning these came from an additional intelligence channel.

Song’an brought today’s medicinal soup. Ying Fusheng took two sips. “He compiled it.”

Weng Yanqing bowed: “Greetings to the Vice Commander. This is merely my humble duty.”

Qi Hanzhou: “How did you investigate?”

“I sorted through the commoners’ petitions. Those submitted to the Dali Temple passed through my hands,” Weng Yanqing said, turning to look at Ying Fusheng. Receiving Ying Fusheng’s permission, he continued: “The Court of the Imperial Stud keeps records of all horse and carriage movements inside and outside the capital. By tracing who has been entering and leaving which post stations during this period, and with some filtering, we can identify suspicious individuals.”

“Among them were people from the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate.”

Ye Xuanjiu was astonished. How long had it been since Weng Yanqing went to work under Shen Changcun? And in that short time, he had already compiled such a list—and more importantly, it was accurate… How was this man’s brain wired?

Qi Hanzhou looked sideways at the man drinking his medicine. “You shouldn’t have told me this. Shen Changcun is your eyes.”

Ying Fusheng lowered his eyelids, sipping the medicine in small mouthfuls. He found a moment to say, “I know Ye Xuanjiu; you should know Shen Changcun. That way, our cooperation can last, don’t you think?”

Knowing each other’s true colors prevents suspicion.

Qi Hanzhou lowered his gaze. This man calculated everything down to the last detail, even after multiple rounds of cooperation.

“What do you want to do now?” Qi Hanzhou asked.

Ying Fusheng said, “My father wants an investigation, so the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Dali Temple will investigate… Naturally, I’m going to catch corrupt officials.”

Ying Fusheng spoke too quickly and couldn’t help coughing. Qi Hanzhou frowned and stepped forward, checking his pulse. He noticed the pulse was weak and floating, and his wrist was warm. A normal person’s warmth is normal, but Qi Hanzhou had felt his hand before; this warmth meant a low-grade fever. “You’re running a fever.”

“Your Highness, extreme intelligence harms one’s vitality,” Qi Hanzhou said solemnly.

“Am I not drinking medicine? It’s a small problem,” Ying Fusheng said, withdrawing his hand and hiding it in his sleeve. As for extreme intelligence harming vitality—what did that phrase have to do with him?

Qi Hanzhou looked at him, seeing his nonchalant expression.

All these details would take the Embroidered Uniform Guard considerable time to investigate, but Ying Fusheng often proposed schemes within half a day or a day, or finished tasks outright. These fine points couldn’t be determined in an instant—it showed that this man was constantly prepared. He was probably already scheming against the Xiao family right now.

Seeing that he still wanted to cough, Qi Hanzhou casually handed him a bottle of pills. “If Your Highness feels unwell in the future, you can use these. They don’t conflict with the imperial physician’s prescriptions.”

Ying Fusheng asked curiously, “What are these?”

“For cough relief. A military secret formula.”

Qi Hanzhou rose to take his leave: “Your Highness needs rest today. The Dali Temple and Xiao family matters will be handled by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Your Highness need not worry.”

Ying Fusheng paused. He felt his condition wasn’t that bad right now.

Qi Hanzhou had already stood up to leave. As the door closed, Ye Xuanjiu said from behind, “General, that bottle of medicine isn’t…”

“Vice Commander, please wait!” A voice came from behind.

It was Weng Yanqing following him, calling out.

Ye Xuanjiu stopped mid-sentence.

“The petitions submitted to me came from which scholar? What is that scholar’s background? Who was impeached? And on whose behalf was justice sought? All of this is recorded in this scroll,” Weng Yanqing said, handing it over. “His Highness instructed me to give this to the Vice Commander.”

In recent days, commoners had been petitioning, scholars had been writing on their behalf, and all current appeals at court originated from this.

But with so many people pleading, inevitably there were hidden schemes from various party factions aiming to bring down opponents. However, with Weng Yanqing’s list in the hands of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, they could distinguish which petitions came from the common people, which were products of factional attacks… and which were driven by the hidden hand.

Qi Hanzhou took it and turned to leave. “Thank the Sixth Prince for me.”

Upstairs, Ying Fusheng watched Qi Hanzhou walk away, a hint of hesitation on his face. “Is Qi Hanzhou angry?”

He had even sent him sleeping aids—those pills clearly weren’t for cough relief; he had seen them in his past life.

He murmured, “No… He’s a quiet man; he doesn’t get angry.”

“Hasn’t the General always been like this?” Song’an asked in confusion. Everyone at court knew the General was not easy to talk to.

“Is that so?” Ying Fusheng was slightly uncertain. In his past life, he had never fully figured out Qi Hanzhou. Sometimes he seemed incredibly easy to understand; other times, it felt like something was on his mind. In this life, to cooperate with Qi Hanzhou, he had tailored every move to his temperament. But just now, for a moment, he hadn’t understood what Qi Hanzhou was thinking.

Suddenly, he remembered that feeling. In his past life, once, when he used the Embroidered Uniform Guard to scheme against someone at court, he had nearly fallen into a hidden trap. He hadn’t identified the poison in time and almost ingested it. Qi Hanzhou had arrived to deal with the palace servants, and the expression on his face at that moment was exactly the same as just now.

What happened afterward… Ying Fusheng tried to recall further, but his forehead began to ache, and he swayed forward.

Song’an was startled and quickly supported him. “Your Highness?”

He had almost lost his footing on the second floor!

“The wind blew too long; my hands are weak.” Ying Fusheng snapped back to reality. In the distance, Qi Hanzhou’s figure had already disappeared.

Forget it. There were plenty of things he couldn’t figure out anyway.

With the brain already ruined by poison in his past life, he would have to piece together many things in this life to understand how the hidden hand had laid its traps. Disposing of Chen Yuanli was just eliminating the hidden hand’s layout in the Ministry of Rites. After that, there were the other five ministries and even the Grand Secretariat. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was the royal blade, reaching everywhere—but there were some things that could not be known from the Guard’s position alone.

The Qi family was the blade… the Xiao family was the eye.

Since the hidden hand had already acted against the Empress Dowager, they weren’t just looking to stir trouble in the harem—they also wanted to make a move within the Xiao family. The Qi family was like an iron wall, impossible to infiltrate, so the only thing left was to blind his father’s eyes.

“Did you do as I asked and keep watch on the Xiao family?” Ying Fusheng asked when Weng Yanqing returned.

“Lord Shen is already making arrangements, waiting for Your Highness’s command,” Weng Yanqing said. “What does Your Highness intend to do? I could share the burden.”

Ying Fusheng looked at Weng Yanqing. Indeed, he had said too little to Qi Hanzhou. He didn’t just want to investigate these things—he also needed to know, after the official reshuffles at court, which person sat in which position, how they got there, and who stood behind them.

All of that would be hard to accomplish with only Shen Changcun.

He wanted that pair of eyes, too—the Censorate.