Luowei drew the bow to its fullest, and saw that Ye Tingyan neither dodged nor flinched — he simply stood in place and stared at her in a daze, something that looked like pain flickering in his eyes.

She was inwardly puzzled. She fixed her gaze — and then it was gone.

Ye Tingyan gripped the reins tightly. The expression on his face grew gradually remote. The mournful air from moments before receded, and what surged up in its place was the cold, familiar hatred.

Going to… kill me again?

Submerged in that dense and hopeless emotion, his mind raced with swift calculation.

Luowei had always been perceptive. If she wanted to loose this arrow at him right now, could it be that she had seen through something?

But if she had seen through something, she would not simply act without a word. They were both by nature extremely cautious. Without getting to the root of things, how could either of them take reckless action?

From the time they had met at Xiuqing Temple the day before, Ye Tingyan had suddenly noticed that Luowei had grown somewhat more guarded and cold toward him.

Yet those were things that had clearly not been present during their meeting on the High Yang Terrace.

— Then it must have happened in these past two days.

What had she come to know?

Just as this thought formed, he suddenly heard the whistle of wind. Luowei lifted the bow and arrow a few degrees upward, then released — and fired the arrow at him.

The feathered wooden arrow pierced through empty air and arrived in an instant.

Ye Tingyan could not help but start.

Because this arrow was no longer aimed at his brow — but at his topknot. Or more precisely, at the rose he had just snatched and tucked into his hair.

Luowei’s arrow did not deviate by a single hair’s breadth. The arrowhead pierced through the center of the monthly rose and drove it fiercely into the tree trunk behind him.

A few startled rose petals shook loose and drifted through the air.

The fierce force of the arrow knocked Ye Tingyan’s head slightly to one side. His immaculate topknot was knocked askew as well — loose and disheveled, looking thoroughly undignified.

Luowei lowered her bow, spurred her horse forward, and burst into bright laughter: “Lord Ye remains composed under pressure — this Consort is truly impressed.”

Only then did Ye Tingyan realize with chagrined indignation that she had been toying with him all along. But seeing her like this, his heart actually eased somewhat, and even the expression on his face grew considerably more cheerful.

So he reached up to steady his knocked-askew topknot, urged his horse to catch up, and said with a half-aggrieved air: “How could Your Ladyship make sport of this servant?”

“To be able to amuse this Consort is your good fortune,” Luowei replied at her leisure. “This Consort has yet to see the great gift you promised — how could I bring myself to take your life? Lord Ye has always been a clever man — surely you cannot fail to reason this out. This Consort saw that you did not even try to dodge just now. Could it be that you were frightened into stupidity?”

Ye Tingyan said with earnestness: “This servant may be able to divine the hearts of people in the world, yet cannot guess Your Ladyship’s. Not dodging just now was also a way of showing sincerity — if Your Ladyship wishes to take this servant’s life, by all means do so. This servant only fears his is a worthless life that Your Ladyship would not care to claim.”

Upon hearing these words, Luowei said “how could that be” several times in succession, then added: “This Consort has seen My Lord’s sincerity. I will certainly not treat you poorly.”

She wound the reins around her hand a few turns, let out a low cry, and the horse galloped off in the direction of the mountaintop, raising a mist of dust along the path.

Ye Tingyan said not a word and gave chase, following behind her.

The two of them reached the summit, then turned back, galloping through the forest, not stopping until their hair was faintly damp with sweat. Luowei looked back at Ye Tingyan — his long hair half-unbound, yet his complexion utterly unchanged, his breathing steady — and smiled: “I had not expected My Lord to ride so well either. When Marquis Feng Ping opens the archery and equestrianism competition later, does My Lord intend to enter?”

“Your Ladyship jests. This servant was born in Beiyou and grew up on horseback alongside his father and brothers. Though my health is somewhat frail, how could I let this skill go to waste? As for the competition — if Marquis Feng Ping has a fine prize at stake, this servant will naturally contend for it.”

And so the two of them parted ways at the foot of the mountain. Only after Ye Tingyan had gone did Luowei give rise to a puzzlement she had not had time to notice before.

The dense forest was vast — how was it that she always managed to run into this man?

He had followed her again!

Luowei dismounted with irritation, tied the horse to the wooden fence of the riding ground, and walked on, turning things over in her mind.

Ye Tingyan had gone to great lengths to earn Song Lan’s trust and come to the capital. Whatever his purpose might be, he was certainly intent on climbing upward with all his might.

Song Lan had not yet assumed direct personal rule. If Ye Tingyan stood as an isolated minister, with enemies attacking him from all sides in the dark, he would inevitably find himself outmatched.

Moreover, he had both new and old grievances with Yu Qiushi. And so he had chosen Luowei as a temporary support — both of them understood perfectly that they were nothing more than useful pieces for bringing down Yu Qiushi. He would do for her the things that could not be revealed to Song Lan; she in turn would become, while he was still isolated and without backing, a layer of protection beyond Song Lan.

If the day ever came when Yu Qiushi’s power had truly crumbled, the most pressing matter for the two of them would likely be to eliminate each other.

When Ye Tingyan first had that little eunuch come and recite the meter of the lyric ‘High Yang Terrace’ to her, she had been startled by the man’s audacity, yet had also understood his reasoning to some degree. Empty words carry no weight. Even if she made promises to Ye Tingyan, he feared she might discard him once he had served his purpose. And so he had attempted to bind her with these clandestine meetings that could not bear the light of day.

Should Luowei ever go back on her word in the future, he could expose the nature of their relationship, and neither of them would be able to come out clean.

Yu Qiushi’s influence in the court was deeply entrenched and intertwined on all sides. She did indeed have great need of capable, trusted confidants willing to do unsavory work.

Moreover, he bore a vague, ghostly resemblance to a person from the past.

And so Luowei had agreed without much internal struggle. So long as she could achieve her purpose, she did not mind what she had to give up.

It was only that she was now somewhat at a loss to understand Ye Tingyan’s attitude toward her.

The meeting at Xiuqing Temple, and again today — neither encounter had been entirely without risk, and neither had involved any news that simply had to be conveyed. Yet Ye Tingyan had insisted on following her, as though his only desire was to… exchange a few words with her.

Could it truly be as he said — that in his younger years he had harbored some feelings for her?

At this thought, Luowei let out a derisive snort.

Utterly impossible. A shrewd person like Ye Tingyan would never allow himself to be fettered by private sentiment. Even if he had truly harbored such feelings, whatever youthful fancies of his youth would amount to nothing worth speaking of.

It would be more credible to say that he was deliberately disturbing her composure — attempting to stir some sense of old feeling in her.

Luowei returned to the hall alone, removed her sleeve-binding band, had her other attendants summoned, changed her skirt and redid her hair. Only then did she prepare to return to Song Lan.

But just as she stepped out the door, she came face to face with Yu Suiyun.

Song Lan’s rear palace originally had only three occupants, and today he had brought only her and Yu Suiyun on the outing. This painted hall had been opened for the two of them alone, and no one without purpose was permitted to enter.

So Yu Suiyun had not anticipated such a coincidence either, and was startled. Gone now was any trace of her former willful and capricious manner. She hurriedly knelt to pay her respects, head lowered deeply: “Your Ladyship the Empress.”

Luowei saw that the corners of her eyes were red, as though she had been crying.

She glanced at the Nanny Qiao standing beside Yu Suiyun — whose face bore no expression — and said simply: “Rise.”

After Yu Suiyun rose, she still kept her head lowered — a remarkably rare display of deference. As Luowei passed by her, she caught the faint scent of floral fragrance.

* * *

When Luowei returned to Song Lan’s side, Yu Qiushi had already departed. Song Lan was eagerly watching several eunuchs playing pitch-pot before him.

A jade cup had been set on the table ahead — presumably the prize for pitch-pot.

She frowned slightly, then quickly smoothed it away, stepped forward, and made her bow: “Your Majesty.”

Song Lan heard her voice and immediately withdrew the hand he had been propping his chin on, placed it properly on his knee, and said with surprise: “Elder Sister has returned — why did no one announce it?”

He shot a meaningful glance at someone nearby, then casually tossed that jade cup — but it happened to strike the corner of the table and shattered into several pieces. The eunuchs all knelt and kowtowed, and after receiving Song Lan’s permission, scrambled to collect every shard one by one before bowing and withdrawing.

In an instant the area before the table was perfectly still, without even a single splinter of jade remaining.

Luowei saw that one eunuch’s palm had been cut by a sharp shard, drawing thin threads of blood. Yet he only gripped it tightly and did not release, nor dared let a drop fall.

She looked for a moment, then withdrew her gaze: “I saw that Zi Lan was enjoying himself, so I had no one announce me. Why did you send them away?”

“Elder Sister is back now — why would I need to watch these clumsy creatures play games?” Song Lan took her hand and drew her close to sit beside him.

Luowei smiled and asked: “When did the Grand Preceptor take his leave?”

Song Lan, upon hearing this, let a faintly playful expression surface on his face. He lowered his head and stroked the back of her smooth white hand, his gaze lingering and tender, as though he were gazing at something he cherished: “He left a while ago. Elder Sister may as well guess — what do you suppose the Grand Preceptor came to tell me?”

“What else could it be? Nothing more than that Your Majesty has recently promoted Lord Ye from the seventh-rank Surveillance Censor to the fifth rank — giving him not only an official position but a key post in the Censorate — and that this is highly improper. The Grand Preceptor must have also dug up something from Lord Ye’s past, or some person he was connected to, and laid it all out in careful detail.”

Song Lan clapped his hands and laughed: “Elder Sister has guessed it perfectly.”

Luowei smiled at the corners of her mouth, unimpressed.

Song Lan had always been suspicious by nature. In the three years since he ascended the throne, no one had ever posed a lasting threat to Yu Qiushi — partly because of how much Song Lan depended on him, but more importantly because Yu Qiushi had always understood Song Lan’s thinking. Whenever Song Lan promoted a new person who would not submit to Yu Qiushi, Yu Qiushi would invariably find a way to unearth that person’s past and present it before Song Lan.

This method had worked a hundred times without fail. Regardless of whether the information was true or false, when Song Lan had no means of verification he would most often choose to believe it rather than risk dismissing it, and the person in question would simply be shelved.

In this way, the only ones who remained in the court were either truly upright officials of genuine integrity who could not be faulted by even a hair, or members of the Yu faction.

Over the past two years Song Lan had gradually begun to see the pattern. If not for this, he would never have taken the risk of bringing Ye Tingyan back from Youzhou, nor would he have ignored all objections and promoted him repeatedly in rank. Though the Zhuque Division had been established, what they did was ultimately not something that could be put before the world. To stir the waters of the court required someone who could stand on firmer ground.

Seeing that Song Lan’s expression was relaxed and showed no trace of displeasure, and knowing that Ye Tingyan must certainly have had a countermeasure ready, Luowei still could not help but ask with curiosity: “What the Grand Preceptor said today — Your Majesty heard it and was not disappointed?”

“What the Grand Preceptor brought up is an old matter that you and I both know well. In the first year of the Jinghe reign, after I ascended the throne and first sent men to inspect Jiangzhe, they searched the home of Shen Sui, then Prefectural Judge of Yangzhou, and found ten thousand taels of gold. He took his own life out of fear of punishment, leaving behind a list of officials, hoping to trade it for his family’s lives.”

“I remember. That list implicated many people. The entire Jiangzhe officialdom was reshuffled as a result — it was the single greatest corruption case of our dynasty,” Luowei murmured.

“Third Young Master Ye happened to be in Jiangnan at the time and was on somewhat friendly terms with Shen Sui. The Grand Preceptor came today with people and material evidence from those days, making a strong case for this connection.”

Luowei’s heart gave a small leap: “Then why did Your Majesty show no sign of displeasure?”

“The Grand Preceptor does not know that Tingyan anticipated this matter long before returning to the capital, and presented a written account to me — he and Shen Sui had only ever been companions in poetry, knowing nothing of Shen’s internal affairs. Upon learning that Shen Sui had embezzled from the common people, he was furiously outraged, wrote a denunciation then and there, condemning his crimes in the most extreme terms without a shred of mercy — truly a loyalty without equal.”

The smile on Luowei’s face stiffened ever so slightly.

His kin, his old friends, even his own flesh and blood — this person seemed to care nothing for any of them, discarding them all like worn-out shoes.

If it were Luowei, how could she possibly trust this utterly heartless person? Yet Song Lan, with his shallow and indifferent emotions, would feel nothing at all — he would only see it as proof of absolute loyalty.

They were truly alike — cold-blooded monsters whose minds were full of schemes.

From the distance came the mingled sounds of drums and gongs, the music of an ocarina, and the tinkling of horse-bridle bells. Song Lan rose to his feet full of enthusiasm: “That must be Marquis Feng Ping’s archery and equestrianism competition about to begin. Come with me, Elder Sister.”