RCDSA 08

Chapter – 08

The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

A short while later, Imperial Physician Zhang and Linlang left the residence one after another, heading to the imperial palace.

Imperial Physician Zhang returned to the Imperial Medical Institute to continue his duties, while Linlang went to the Imperial Household Department.

Imperial Household Department.

Ever since Xiaofuzi had returned to the Imperial Household Department, he had quietly and obediently gone about his work, waiting for a new assignment to be given to him later.

An older eunuch, with a fly whisk tucked diagonally in the crook of his arm, walked in. His gaze swept across the room and landed on Xiaofuzi.

“Xiaofuzi, come over here for a moment.”

Hearing the head eunuch’s words, Xiaofuzi quickly put down the rag he was using to wipe a vase, trotted over, and lowered his head.

“Head Steward Sun, what business do you have with this humble one? Is there a new assignment?”

The head eunuch led him out the door, raised his finger in a delicate orchid gesture, and pointed at the several young eunuchs gathered below: “You go over there first.”

“All of you have served closely by Prince An’s side before and are familiar with Prince An’s preferences and temperament. The Lady Linlang, who serves by Prince An’s side, wishes to take one of you to the fiefdom to attend to Prince An’s daily needs.”

Hearing this, the expressions of the several young eunuchs varied.

As for Xiaofuzi, he kept his head lowered, lost in thought.

—

While Xie Linchao was waiting at the residence for Linlang to return, Uncle Wu came back from the Imperial Guard Camp.

Uncle Wu likewise saw the ‘trashed’ Prince’s residence. Xie Linchao, without the slightest guilt, shifted the blame onto Linlang, feeling that she hadn’t sold things off thoroughly enough, so he sold off another wave.

Xie Linchao: “Uncle Wu, what’s the situation over at the Imperial Guard Camp?”

Steward Wu hesitated, glancing at Bai Qi, who was standing at attention beside Xie Linchao.

Xie Linchao introduced him: “This is Bai Qi, a man I’ve newly recruited. From now on, all security duties for the Princely Manor will be fully entrusted to him.”

Xie Linchao mentioned the “Princely Manor,” which included the one that hadn’t even been built yet in the fiefdom.

Steward Wu understood the implication immediately, realizing that his lord regarded this young man named Bai Qi as a trusted confidant.

Putting aside his reservations, he reported everything he had learned in detail:

“Your Highness, over at the Imperial Guard Camp, they’ve been dragging their feet and still haven’t been able to select two thousand men. They keep making excuses about being short-staffed—two thousand men out of two hundred thousand imperial guards, and they can’t even manage that? It’s clearly just a perfunctory excuse.”

“In the end, they barely managed to scrape together a thousand men, but they’re all a motley crew of the old, weak, sick, and disabled. Never mind protecting Your Highness all the way to the fiefdom—I fear that more than half of these thousand men will die of exhaustion on the road.”

Bai Qi frowned upon hearing this: “The Imperial Guard Camp in the capital actually has such dregs?”

Although Bai Qi had only just been summoned, the system had fed him some basic information. He knew that the State of Qi had unified the Central Plains nearly a century ago. Even though some northern territories were still occupied by foreign tribes, its total land area was larger than that of the seven Warring States combined.

To control such a vast territory, military strength was indispensable.

The Imperial Guard of the capital was the emperor’s personal bodyguard—the elite of the elite. They shouldn’t be this shabby.

Steward Wu’s tone carried a hint of anger: “Just a few days ago, these people weren’t even imperial guards—they were just poor wretches barely scraping by in Cold Water Alley.”

“Enticed by the free meals and a few copper coins from the Imperial Guard Camp, many were duped into enlisting. Then these commoners, who had never received a day of training, were crammed into the quota for Your Highness’s private troops.”

Xie Linchao had first been discarded by the emperor, and then banished to a fiefdom. Shuoxian County was a desolate and bitter place. Any sensible person wouldn’t choose to follow Xie Linchao there to suffer.

Imperial guards with connections and money naturally pulled strings to avoid being selected.

As for those without money to bribe their way out, the moment they caught wind that someone from the Second Prince’s residence was coming, they suddenly came down with stomach aches, sprained their legs, or came up with all sorts of bizarre excuses to dodge the selection for private troops.

Steward Wu had endured a bellyful of fury at the Imperial Guard Camp.

“Your Highness, the Imperial Guard Camp has treated you with such contempt. Why not go to the palace and lodge a complaint with His Majesty? After all, Your Highness is still His Majesty’s son…”

Xie Linchao propped his head up with one hand and said languidly: “It’s been half a month now. The edict of enfeoffment has already been issued, and I really should find a time to enter the palace and thank His Majesty.”

“Uncle Wu, I recall that tomorrow is the day off for my younger imperial brothers at the Imperial Study, isn’t it?”

Steward Wu nodded: “Yes.”

Xie Linchao: “Then go submit a request. Say that I will enter the palace tomorrow after the morning court session to pay my respects to His Majesty.”

“Yes, this old servant will see to it at once.”

After Steward Wu left, Xie Linchao cast a teasing glance at Bai Qi, who had been suppressing a bellyful of anger: “Is Lord Wu’an disappointed? It’s been nearly a hundred years since the founding of the State of Qi. Apart from the founding Taizu, all subsequent emperors have pursued a policy of ‘rest and recuperation,’ shifting their focus to reining in the power of the great aristocratic families within the country.”

Bai Qi let out a cold snort: “If a sword is not sharpened, it will rust and break. When wolves and tigers come knocking at the door, all that’s left is to stretch out one’s neck and wait for the blade.”

“Once we reach the fiefdom, the troops there absolutely must not fear battle or shrink from it! They must not lack fighting spirit!”

Bai Qi’s cold, sharp gaze swept over, and Xie Linchao, curled up in his chair, nodded vigorously at once.

Yes, yes, yes!

You’re the military big shot! Everything you say is right!

Putting the matter of the fiefdom aside for now, Bai Qi’s expression returned to calm. He crossed his arms and asked Xie Linchao: “You suspect that the child in Talented Lady Lan’s womb belongs to one of the princes?”

Xie Linchao: “It could also be one of the palace guards, though that possibility is unlikely.”

Xie Linchao pulled a handful of melon seeds from the sachet at his waist, split them half with Bai Qi, and started cracking them herself.

These seeds had been prepared by Bizhu, afraid that she’d get too bored while lying around recovering from her injuries.

How could one gossip without melon seeds to crack?

With no outsiders around, Xie Linchao patted the chair beside her, gestured for Bai Qi to sit down, and then continued her leisurely analysis:

“If Talented Lady Lan had merely slept with some guard, given that she has no favor and no family background, she would be desperate to keep a low profile and avoid attention. She wouldn’t dare to openly frame me, nor would she have any reason to go after me.”

“There are two possible motives for her framing me. One is that someone—either a prince or a senior consort with a prince of her own—discovered her illicit affair and used it to blackmail her into targeting me.”

“Given that Talented Lady Lan is pregnant, the first possibility can be ruled out. If this had been a premeditated plot to frame a prince, they wouldn’t have left such a glaring loophole.”

Bai Qi nodded in approval.

In truth, all Xie Linchao had to do now was go straight to the palace and expose to Emperor Xuanhe the fact that Talented Lady Lan was pregnant, and she would be cleared of all suspicion.

A consort bold enough to cuckold the emperor would no longer be believed to be innocent—eight or nine times out of ten, she had indeed framed the Second Prince at the palace banquet.

Xie Linchao: “The other possibility is that this frame-up was actually a spur-of-the-moment decision. Perhaps I inadvertently stumbled upon Talented Lady Lan’s scandal without realizing it myself. But Talented Lady Lan and her paramour, guilty as sin, decided to strike first and frame me, forcing me to leave the capital for my fiefdom. That way, I’d no longer pose a threat to them.”

“In this second scenario, Talented Lady Lan’s paramour couldn’t be some mere guard—he’d most likely be a prince. That would explain why he’d be afraid of me using the situation to make a move.”

Xie Linchao had been lying around recovering these past few days, and she’d been slowly combing through the original host’s memories, uncovering some clues in the process.

The suspicions in her mind were now verified by the key piece of information that Imperial Physician Zhang had brought—Talented Lady Lan’s pregnancy.

“Once Auntie brings the people back, Bai Qi, you interrogate Xiaofuzi thoroughly and find out who’s really behind him.”

Bai Qi cracked his knuckles: “Then tell me first about the personalities and the factions behind each of the princes of Qi.”

“Alright.”

After they’d talked for a long time and both had a rough idea of who the mastermind might be, Linlang returned from the Imperial Household Department with Xiaofuzi and several other eunuchs in tow.

The moment they arrived, Bai Qi got to “work.”

Xiaofuzi had just followed Linlang into Xie Linchao’s presence and was about to kneel and kowtow when a large hand grabbed him by the collar, yanked him up with force, and dragged him off to the interrogation room in the back.

“Wh-Who are you! Your Highness… Princely Lord…”

Xiaofuzi struggled frantically, but Bai Qi handled him as easily as if he were carrying a chick. He tried to call out to Xie Linchao for help, but received no response. The last thing he saw as he desperately turned his head back was—

Lord An calmly lifting his teacup, gently skimming the tea foam off the surface with the lid. His face was utterly expressionless, his brows and eyes cold and detached—a stark contrast to his usual gentle, warm demeanor.

This Lord An… was far too unfamiliar.

It sent a chill straight to his bones.

—

Xiaofuzi, looking dazed, was tossed into the interrogation room by Bai Qi.

Bai Qi casually kicked the door shut with the tip of his toe.

Then he shoved Xiaofuzi into the interrogation chair, binding his hands and feet so he couldn’t move.

Seeing that torture was clearly about to be employed, Xiaofuzi panicked even more. He put on a fierce front and started shouting: “What do you think you’re doing?! I want to see the Princely Lord! I’m the most trusted man serving the Princely Lord! How dare you subject me to private torture?!”

A mocking smile curled at the corner of Bai Qi’s mouth: “You claim to be the most trusted man serving the lord, so why did you address him as ‘Princely Lord’ the moment you arrived? Were you mocking him for being a feudal prince about to be driven out of the capital?”

Xiaofuzi’s face stiffened.

People like Linlang, Bizhu, Steward Wu, and Steward Xiao Li—they all continued to respectfully address Xie Linchao as “Your Highness,” carefully avoiding the title “Princely Lord” out of consideration for his feelings.

Even the plaque outside the Second Prince’s residence hadn’t been changed to “An Princely Manor.”

Xiaofuzi had served by Xie Linchao’s side for so long—if he were the kind of careless, socially inept fool who didn’t understand such nuances, Linlang or Steward Wu would have had him reassigned long ago. He never would have been allowed to serve Xie Linchao so closely.

Bai Qi paced a circle around the rack of torture implements in the interrogation room. There were too few varieties—he wasn’t entirely satisfied.

The Second Prince’s residence treated its people well, and the original Second Prince hadn’t had a habit of arbitrarily punishing his servants, so not many torture tools had been prepared in this interrogation room.

Bai Qi pulled out an arm-length blade, then fetched a whetstone and began sharpening the blade as he interrogated Xiaofuzi: “At the Golden Autumn Palace Banquet, you deliberately cooperated with the Fourth Prince and Talented Lady Lan to frame the lord. Am I right?”

The scraping sound of the whetstone unexpectedly matched Bai Qi’s cold, sharp voice perfectly. In the cramped, dim, confined interrogation room, Xiaofuzi felt as if he were being led to the executioner’s block—his heart thumped with terror.

“What Fourth Prince? I am utterly loyal to the lord! There’s no possibility of betrayal! You’re new here—I’ve never seen you in the residence before. What right do you have to slander me!”

Seeing Xiaofuzi still stubbornly denying it, Bai Qi pressed the flat of the blade against Xiaofuzi’s face and slowly slid it downward, his tone dripping with murderous intent: “Since the lord had you brought back, it means he already has the evidence. If you don’t confess honestly, you’ll have to endure some suffering before you talk!”

A flash of steel—and the tip of the blade pierced through Xiaofuzi’s right palm, pinning it to the armrest of the interrogation chair.

“Ah!! I’ll talk! It’s… it’s the Fourth Prince! The Fourth Prince had an affair with Talented Lady Lan, and the Princely Lord almost discovered them once. The Fourth Prince was uneasy, so he decided to strike first!”

Bai Qi’s expression remained calm, but inwardly he couldn’t help thinking: When the young lord hears this news, will her eyes light up again? She really did guess right—the paramour might indeed be a prince.

Xiaofuzi’s face was ashen. He spilled everything about his master the “Fourth Prince’s” scheme, confessing that he had originally been about to slip away and return to serve the Fourth Prince. That was why, while at the Imperial Household Department, he had been frequently contacting the Fourth Prince’s personal eunuch.

“Still not telling the truth? Are you sure your master is the Fourth Prince?”

Bai Qi struck again without hesitation, slicing off two of Xiaofuzi’s fingers.

“Ah!”

The moment Xiaofuzi screamed, Bai Qi shoved the severed fingers into his throat with the blade, forcing him to swallow his own digits.

Xiaofuzi’s eyes bulged wide. He desperately tried to spit them out, but Bai Qi clamped his hand firmly over his mouth.

“I’ll carve off every ounce of flesh on your body, piece by piece, and feed it to you—so you can taste your own flavor.”

“I’ve practiced this technique many times, so I’m fairly skilled. I can guarantee that before I’ve finished carving all your skin and flesh, you won’t die a moment too soon.”

“If you don’t like eating it raw, I can cook it for you, roast it for you, or even sprinkle on some salt to season it…”

Bai Qi came from the State of Qin during the Warring States period, a state with the most stringent laws. He was intimately familiar with all manner of cruel and horrific punishments. Though circumstances here prevented him from employing grand tortures like drawing and quartering, there was one punishment—the *zhe* punishment—which involved first slicing the flesh off the bones, then severing the limbs, and finally cutting the throat, subjecting the victim to agonizing torment until death. The common folk called it “a thousand cuts,” and later generations would know it as “lingchi” or death by slow slicing.

But Xiaofuzi had never seen anything like it.

He had castrated himself, hoping to enter the palace and win immense wealth and status.

He’d witnessed plenty of dirty secrets in the harem, but he’d never before faced such a brutal, horrifying punishment face-to-face.

The taste of raw flesh in his mouth filled Xiaofuzi with dread. Terrified that he’d actually swallow his own severed fingers, he grew frantic—tears and snot streaming down his face. “*Mm… I’ll… talk!*”

Bai Qi kindly released Xiaofuzi’s mouth, and the latter retched loudly, spitting out the severed fingers.

Xiaofuzi dared not hold anything back any longer, afraid that if he hesitated even a moment, Bai Qi would slice off another finger and force-feed it to him. He confessed in a rush: “It’s… it’s the First Prince…”