Hua Chun froze, and slowly turned her head to look back.

Yuwen Jie looked down at her from above, the expression in his eyes not entirely clear, though the lines of his face were quite soft. “Sleeping in such an unseemly position — a stiff neck serves you right.”

His fever had broken, but his voice was still a bit hoarse, and it sounded, surprisingly, rather sexy.

A shiver ran through her, and Hua Chun carefully pulled her neck back, terrified he might wrench it right off with too much force.

“Is Your Majesty feeling better?”

“Mm.” Lying back down, Yuwen Jie said, “Illness comes on like a landslide. No court session today.”

Being sick had this benefit too? Hua Chun raised an eyebrow, reached out and felt his forehead — the temperature was normal, and his complexion had returned to a healthy color. By the look of it he could probably attend court today after all, but Yuwen Jie clearly wanted to be lazy about it.

Spreading her hands, she asked, “Since there’s no court today, does that mean I can go back and get a proper sleep too?”

“Sleep here,” Yuwen Jie said, eyes half-closed as he watched her. “Rest another hour, then you can go read memorials.”

Huh? Hua Chun’s eyes went wide. Why should she?! She’d spent this whole time taking care of him and hadn’t managed a proper sleep once — and now he was only letting her doze here for one more hour, then it was straight back to memorials? Even sweatshop labor wasn’t exploited this hard. She wasn’t a machine!

Her eyes full of fury, but the moment she met the emperor’s gaze, it all melted instantly into a look of aggrieved pitifulness. If she’d had a tail, it would surely have been wagging faster than a pinwheel. “Your Majesty, I can’t sleep well lying face-down on the desk like this.”

“Hm?” The emperor looked at her with some surprise, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. “You want to sleep lying down?”

“This subject humbly begs Your Majesty’s mercy, that I might get a proper night’s sleep.”

Saying this, Hua Chun felt truly pathetic — even sleeping required begging for imperial grace. What a hard life this was.

He thought it over for a good while, then finally nodded. “Fine.”

Hua Chun brightened, and just as she was about to thank him and head back to the side hall, she saw the emperor prop himself up and, quite generously, shift over, clearing a space beside him.

“…?”

“Just this once. Don’t expect it again,” the emperor said, his expression perfectly solemn, patting the empty space — meaning, get up here.

The smile froze stiffly on her face. Hua Chun mechanically lifted her head, staring at the emperor before her, genuinely at a loss for words.

Why was he being this reckless? She was a court official — he wanted her to sleep on the dragon bed? If word of this ever got out, wouldn’t the Empress Dowager have her chopped up and fed to the dogs on charges of bewitching the sovereign?

Shaking her head firmly, Hua Chun rejected this life-risking proposition.

But Yuwen Jie had always hated dawdling, and simply reached out, hauled her up, and pressed her down beside him. “Don’t overthink it. The doors are bolted — no one’s coming in. I’m only letting you sleep well here out of consideration for our sworn brotherhood.”

For a man of so few words, he was surprisingly forthcoming with explanations — though his expression remained deadpan as ever and his tone still cold and hard, something about the gesture made Hua Chun feel a little flustered.

Was this a wall-slam? One hand pressed against her left hand, trapping her within the crook of his arm — it really did set a maiden’s heart pounding. So domineering, so unreasonable, exactly like some modern overbearing CEO from a novel, sweeping her up and dropping her onto a king-size imperial bed, and next he ought to fix her with a wicked look and say, “Woman, you can’t escape me now.”

Don’t blame her for letting her imagination run — after all, who doesn’t have that secret little maiden’s heart tucked away somewhere?

But Yuwen Jie didn’t follow the script. He simply let go of her, tossed a blanket over, and lay down on his own, still with his back to her, still looking thoroughly unimpressed.

Her little fantasy shattered into pieces with a pathetic little splat. Hua Chun pouted. How did that saying go — reality is far more bare-bones than the ideal? Not every idol drama plays out the way it should; she’d best go on being a proper man, and not hold out hope that the emperor would ever say a line like “Man, you can’t escape me now.” Overthinking things like this was a sickness that needed curing.

She had no idea what was laid beneath this dragon bed, but it was just the right firmness, with a hint of warmth, remarkably comfortable to lie on, and Hua Chun sank into sleep almost the moment she closed her eyes.

Yuwen Jie, for his part, couldn’t sleep at all, and turned over to look at the person beside him.

He still had his outer robe on, his official garments rumpled, the collar loosened, revealing at a glance the elegant line of his collarbone. A strand of hair had fallen loose over his forehead, brushing against his straight, sword-like brows, softening the usual severity of his features. He almost reached out on instinct, wanting to brush the strand of hair aside.

His throat moved, and just as his hand was about to touch him, the emperor caught himself, his face darkening, and gritting his teeth, closed his eyes and finally rose to put his robe back on properly, going to sit at the desk to read memorials instead.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Amitabha. He was a man, and his subject besides, not a harem consort — not something to be trifled with. He himself wasn’t inclined toward men either, could not possibly have any interest in one.

Repeating this to himself over and over, Yuwen Jie felt as though a great stone weighed on his chest, and turning his head with worry, he glanced out at the empty window.

An hour later, Hua Chun was still sleeping soundly. Yuwen Jie had finished changing, and simply scooped her up, blanket and all, and handed her off to the attendants waiting outside. “Take the Chancellor back to the side hall to rest. Eunuch Qin, prepare the carriage for Fenghe Palace.”

Eunuch Qin froze, then quickly had people carry the Chancellor away. Watching Hua Chun sleeping soundly, still wrapped in the dragon’s own blanket, his heart broke a little more. “Your Majesty…”

Had… the mistake already been made?

“What is it?” the emperor asked, his expression deeply grave. “Are the people not ready yet?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, everything at Fenghe Palace is already prepared,” Eunuch Qin quickly said. “This servant was only wondering — should we inform the Empress Dowager first?”

Yuwen Jie pressed his lips together. “No need. I’ll go take a look first.”

Fenghe Palace had long stood empty; it was said that in the previous dynasty, the emperor had used that palace to house his male favorites, and Yuwen Jie, finding it distasteful, had never let anyone use the place.

But now, it was filled with all manner of men — refined ones, imposing ones, handsome ones, alluringly beautiful ones.

Standing at the entrance, the emperor genuinely did not want to go in; every cell in his body seemed to be screaming, his face turning ashen.

His expression was exactly like a modern person about to come out of the closet.

Eunuch Qin stood beside him, sighing softly. “Your Majesty, this servant made sure to find only people who are clean. Please set your mind at ease.”

Yuwen Jie gave him a long look, as though he’d just swallowed a fly, then finally closed his eyes and stepped inside.

Since ancient times, who among the living has escaped death!

Well, that particular line of poetry didn’t quite fit the situation, but it was remarkably close to the emperor’s current state of mind.

More than thirty men knelt before him all at once, not making a sound, not even shouting long live the emperor.

Male favorites — truly a thing that couldn’t stand the light of day.

Facing the sunlight streaming in from outside, the emperor’s mood was thoroughly conflicted as he sat on the throne, staring blankly at these men, momentarily even forgetting what he’d come to do. His gaze wandered everywhere, but never found what he was looking for.

Since meeting Hua Jinghua, he’d begun to suspect he had inclinations toward men. And yet, faced with so many men of every type, he felt nothing special at all — it was exactly like looking at the civil and military officials bowing at court.

The emperor began pondering his own life. What exactly had been going on with him lately? What was it he actually wanted?

Fenghe Palace was dead silent, and the sweat on Eunuch Qin’s forehead kept multiplying.

A disturbance this large, of course, would be known throughout the palace. If the sovereign had glanced once and left, he could have helped cover it up somewhat. But Yuwen Jie sat there for half an hour, and no matter how resourceful Eunuch Qin was, he couldn’t stop the news from Fenghe Palace flying to every corner of the harem.

“What?!” Upon hearing the news, the Empress Dowager slammed the table and stood up, her body trembling with fury. “Fenghe Palace has actually been opened?”

Consort Hui nodded tearfully. “Not only opened, but filled with an unusual number of people — I heard Eunuch Qin sent people outside the palace to fetch them, and His Majesty has already been inside for an hour.”

“What kind of nonsense is this!” the Empress Dowager thundered. “Summon His Majesty here for me at once, and bring Eunuch Qin along too!”

“Yes!”

Everyone in the harem felt as though the sky were falling. It hadn’t meant much when a new Consort Shu arrived, and it hadn’t meant much even with the Chancellor constantly at the emperor’s side — but now, inexplicably, thirty-some men had been brought into the palace, and that was a genuine crisis! Wars between women were women’s business, but if men got mixed up in it too, the entire harem would unite as one, standing firmly united against a common front.

Hua Chun was sleeping soundly, completely unaware that the palace had already been turned upside down, until a young palace maid rushed to her bedside in tears, crying out, “Chancellor! Chancellor! Please go save Eunuch Qin! Please go persuade the Empress Dowager!”

This shout rang out like thunder, startling Hua Chun awake instantly, and she stared at the maid in complete confusion. “What’s going on?”

The young maid had no time to explain further and simply grabbed her and ran.

Hua Chun straightened her clothes and hair as she went, and was hurried into Huiming Hall. The moment she stepped into the outer hall, she saw a figure lying prone on the open ground, with attendants on either side wielding the flogging rod, striking down blow after brutal blow.

The sight alone made her own backside ache in sympathy. She truly felt for whoever it was — who on earth had ended up getting flogged like this?

Stepping closer to look, Hua Chun was startled.

“Eunuch Qin?”

An old man well advanced in years, beaten until blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, barely clinging to consciousness — the sight made her heart clench, and without thinking she cried out, “Stop!”

The attendants on either side jumped, startled, and looked at her, rods still raised.

“The Chancellor has arrived?” the Empress Dowager’s voice, still simmering with anger, rang out from within. Madam Yuejian pushed the door open and gestured for Hua Chun to go in.

What on earth was going on here? Hua Chun stepped inside cautiously, and first bowed in greeting. “This humble subject pays respects to the Empress Dowager, and to Your Majesty.”

The Empress Dowager’s face was clouded with fury, her whole expression frighteningly stern. Yuwen Jie sat off to the side, brows knitted tight, clearly also having been through quite an argument, though he’d evidently failed to win it against the Empress Dowager.

“Chancellor Hua, you attend the emperor at all hours, and so it falls to you as well to help guide his conduct — to tell him what is proper and what is not.” The Empress Dowager’s words came out sharp as fire the moment she opened her mouth. “Now that things have come to this, shouldn’t you share in the blame as well?!”

Hua Chun cupped her hands, her voice gentle. “Please calm yourself, Empress Dowager. This subject does not yet know what has happened.”