Zhao Hu excitedly spun in circles. “Good, good! I knew it—how could she possibly return power to the little emperor? Hahaha, hahaha…”
Seeing that Zhao Song’s face was threatening to darken again, Zhao Shen couldn’t help but cough twice. Zhao Hu paid no attention and continued laughing with his hands on his hips.
Zhao Shen pressed a cup of tea into his hands. “Seventh Great Uncle is thirsty—have some tea first.”
“I’m not thirsty… All right, I’m thirsty.”
Zhao Hu avoided Zhao Song’s gaze and walked aside to drink tea, though his entire being still radiated excitement.
Who was Guo Pu? He was Dajin’s most famous practitioner of the mystic arts, praised as half-immortal—half a celestial being, the person closest to the heavenly immortals.
When he divined something, ten out of ten times it came true. So when he declared the Zhao family would produce a Human Sovereign, to Zhao Hu and Zhao Song it was equivalent to something that had already been confirmed to happen.
Only Zhao Shen—he knew divination and understood that this art calculated future fortune based on present numbers. But numbers could change, and when fortune changed, so would fate.
Therefore, the Zhao clan producing a Human Sovereign was calculated based on current numbers and celestial phenomena. But worldly matters were full of variables. Once variables reached a certain quantity, destiny would change.
His eyes flickered slightly as he looked toward Guo Pu.
Guo Pu also turned his head, looking back at him with a half-smile. Zhao Shen instantly made his decision and suppressed this point.
Zhao Song had already thought things through and accepted this matter. But since this was something that hadn’t yet happened, he looked warningly at Zhao Hu. “Once this matter leaves this room, no one is permitted to mention it again.”
Zhao Hu was about to speak when Zhao Song said with a cold expression, “That is, if you want Sanniang’s great enterprise to collapse midway before completion.”
Zhao Hu immediately closed his mouth.
Zhao Hanzhang’s life or death was directly related to the life or death of the entire Zhao clan.
Guo Pu smiled faintly and turned his head away.
Zhao Song didn’t ask Guo Pu to keep it secret. He simply rose and bowed deeply to him, saying gratefully, “Many thanks to you, sir, for saving my life.”
Guo Pu stepped aside half a pace. “Master Zhao need not thank me. I merely helped you think things through earlier. Even if I hadn’t reminded you today, eventually you would have reached the same conclusion.” It was just uncertain how much longer he would have lived by then.
Zhao Song naturally understood this point as well, so he remembered Guo Pu’s kindness and had Zhao Shen receive him properly.
Having just vomited stagnant blood, though his heart felt light now, his body still felt tired. So he planned to return to his room to lie down and wait for the medicine to arrive.
Zhao Hu quickly followed behind, personally helping him lie down before leaning close to his ear to whisper, “Fifth Brother, should we tell Zi Nian about this? Also, this Guo Pu knows too much—should we…”
He drew a line across his neck.
Zhao Song: “…Master Guo is skilled at divination. Do you think he hasn’t calculated whether he’ll die by your hand today?”
This sentence had two negatives and was phrased as a question, making Zhao Hu ponder for a moment before understanding.
“Don’t worry. Someone like him is most astute and knows to keep his mouth sealed. I’m not worried about him—I’m worried about you.”
Zhao Hu immediately said, “Fifth Brother underestimates me. This concerns the Zhao clan’s future—you could beat me to death and I wouldn’t say a word outside.”
Zhao Song gave a light snort and lay back on the pillow. “I certainly hope so. Don’t worry about Master Guo—leave him for Shen to handle.”
Zhao Hu still trusted Zhao Song’s abilities and judgment, so he agreed.
The two brothers fell silent, one lying and one sitting, both immersed in their own thoughts.
Zhao Song’s heart still floated in midair, feeling rootless. Had he really tacitly consented to and even participated in such a world-changing matter?
Indeed, the histories don’t deceive—people do change. How many loyal ministers and good generals recorded in history ultimately became rebels and traitors? And those tyrants and despots recorded in the annals—were they cruel and violent from the very beginning?
They merely changed their minds in this mortal world.
He too had changed his mind.
Zhao Song felt distressed—not because he had abandoned his former loyalty and chosen to support Zhao Hanzhang in changing the world, but because if he could change his principles today for these reasons, might he not change his mind again in the future for something else?
Zhao Song felt somewhat afraid, fearing he might eventually become the very type of person he once most despised.
While he was caught in melancholy here, Zhao Hu sitting beside him couldn’t help but laugh aloud.
He turned to look and saw delight in his brows and smugness all over his face—an expression truly disagreeable. “What are you laughing at?”
“Fifth Brother, Guo Pu said our Zhao clan will produce a Human Sovereign. Doesn’t that mean our Zhao clan will be the imperial family? Then wouldn’t Tinghan be marrying in?”
Zhao Song’s vision went black. He felt the future path was dark and gloomy. He tossed aside thoughts of the future and principles—preserving their lives came first.
Such a momentous matter—if it were revealed before accomplishment, it would be utter catastrophe.
Zhao Hanzhang now held great power, but if she had no intention of seizing the throne at this time and Zhao Hu made this matter public, would she kill Zhao Hu to dispel the doubts of the aristocratic clans and Jin officials?
Previously, Zhao Song would never have thought this way, but now he held a skeptical attitude.
Anyone who could become emperor was not a purely good person—at the very least, they wouldn’t lose the greater good over minor scruples.
Zhao Song couldn’t lie still anymore. He climbed up to instruct (scold) his younger brother.
Meanwhile, Zhao Shen was inviting Guo Pu to bathe and change clothes. He personally rolled up his sleeves wanting to help Guo Pu bathe, but after Guo Pu refused repeatedly, he could only sit regretfully at the table drinking tea while talking to him across a screen.
Zhao Shen was mainly interested in his divination equipment, his insights on the Book of Changes, and matters of numerology.
Guo Pu hadn’t bathed in a long time. With servants attending him, he washed his hair and after washing once, changed the water to soak again.
Sitting in the hot water with his whole body relaxed, the topic somehow drifted. “When the Prince of Langya consulted you, how did you answer?”
Guo Pu, who had been reclining against the bath with his neck tilted back, suddenly opened his eyes. He looked backward and only then discovered that Zhao Shen had somehow circled around the screen and was standing there with crossed arms, watching him intently.
Guo Pu said faintly, “Young friend, approaching so silently is quite frightening.”
Zhao Shen: “Master Guo can communicate with ghosts and spirits—do you still fear people?”
“People are more frightening than ghosts and spirits,” Guo Pu said. “I won’t die at the hands of ghosts and spirits, but I will die at human hands.”
Zhao Shen smiled slightly, circled around the screen to bring in a bucket of hot water the servants had just delivered, took a ladle to add hot water for him, and through the steam, his gaze became increasingly sharp as he stared at Guo Pu. “You haven’t said how you answered the Prince of Langya. This student’s skills are insufficient—I rarely have opportunities to divine for others, so I’m quite lacking in communication.”
Guo Pu looked at him for a while, then suddenly smiled and rested both hands on the edge of the tub, speaking openly: “Just tell the truth. People like us merely convey the voice of heaven and earth—we cannot lie.”
Zhao Shen tossed down the ladle. “So Master Guo’s answer to the Prince of Langya was?”
Guo Pu enunciated word by word: “The prince has the mandate of heaven.”
Zhao Shen’s face immediately turned cold.
Guo Pu chuckled, picked up the ladle to pour water over himself. “Young Master Zhao is already displeased—do you want to kill me, or kill the Prince of Langya?”
Zhao Shen collected his expression and smiled at him. “You overthink, sir. You possess such great talent—how would this student dare be disrespectful? I’m merely puzzled. Heaven has no second sovereign. If you say the mandate is with him, yet also say our Zhao clan will produce a Human Sovereign—isn’t this self-contradictory?”
Guo Pu said, “What contradiction is there? If he proclaims himself emperor tomorrow, you kill him the day after, and your general ascends the throne the day after that—isn’t that both the mandate being with him and your family producing a Human Sovereign?”
Zhao Shen: …That made perfect sense. He couldn’t find words to refute it.
Zhao Shen withdrew.
—