Though Jun Buli had spent his whole life at Jun Beiyue’s side, he’d never had the chance — nor the opportunity — to truly learn his father’s mastery of strategy, his deep and calculating mind. He was a clever, precocious child, but in the end, still a child — not yet grown enough to bear the full weight of such wisdom!

With Jun Beiyue suddenly vanished without word for so long — and though the official excuse was illness — which of the capital’s cunning old foxes wouldn’t start scheming?

Looking at the current state of affairs, everyone was taking advantage of Jun Beiyue’s absence to play their underhanded games!

Though Jun Beiyue was gone, and no one in the court or the palace could truly take up his mantle, his military forces remained!

Military strength meant the capacity for force — and force was the necessary means of maintaining a nation’s stability, a court’s order!

And so, under these circumstances, no one dared resort to open force — only to underhanded scheming instead!

Jun Buli seemed to have seen through this from the very start — only, no one had expected his ruthlessness to rival, if not surpass, his father’s own!

Eunuch Xu and Murong Bohai exchanged uncertain glances, hesitating, when Jun Buli raised an eyebrow at them. “What, do you have a better idea?”

Eunuch Xu was about to offer counsel, but Murong Bohai waved his hands quickly. “Whatever the young lord commands — this servant will see to it at once!”

Eunuch Xu let out a long sigh; he had no better solution to offer either.

Consort Yi had always been kept under house arrest in the capital — she served as Prince Yao’s final piece of leverage against Jun Beichen. Now, with the young lord planning to bring in the imperial grandsons, especially the Second Prince’s eldest son, to keep her company, this was undoubtedly meant as a means of placing the grandsons under house arrest as well!

There would surely be an uproar within the palace over this!

And if unrest broke out within the palace at a moment like this, it would surely send shockwaves through the entire court — how would the assembled officials outside possibly react?

Eunuch Xu was about to leave, but couldn’t help asking one more question. “Young Master, as for the officials outside the estate gates — what do you intend to…”

“Guxi, go out and tell them I’ll be waiting for them in the Imperial Study.” Jun Buli said coldly.

A complicated look flickered through Guxi’s eyes. He wasn’t sure whether the assembled officials would actually give the young lord any face if he went to deliver this message — after all, the young lord had never formally taken part in court affairs before now.

But just as Guxi was about to leave, Jun Buli called him back. A flash of something wicked flickered through his deep, dark eyes as he shot Guxi a meaningful glance, saying coldly, “Just tell them — Prince Yao himself awaits the assembled officials in the Imperial Study!”

At these words, even Eunuch Xu and Murong Bohai, standing just outside the door, froze in shock. “Young Master, this… isn’t this just lying to them?”

Eunuch Xu couldn’t help but turn back. “Young Master, this… lying might not be entirely appropriate, would it?”

“And why not? They’re allowed their deep, cunning schemes, but I’m not allowed a little trickery of my own?” Jun Buli shot back, raising an eyebrow. Jun Beichen and the assembled officials were playing a sophisticated game of underhanded scheming — while he, in turn, would play a childish little lie. He was rather curious to see which would win out in the end: their deep cunning, or his simple deception!

“Let’s go. This young lord will accompany you into the palace!” Jun Buli said, finally rising and stepping down from his seat.

For a moment, no one dared offer further counsel — in truth, more than trying to talk him out of it, they were far more curious what exactly Jun Buli intended to do once he had all the officials gathered together in the Imperial Study.

The group left the small courtyard, and Guxi was about to lead everyone toward the back gate — but to his surprise, Jun Buli headed straight for the front gate instead.

Seeing this, Guxi couldn’t help but smile. He thought to himself that, in a few years’ time, when it came to sheer cunning calculation, the young lord would surely surpass even his father.

Eunuch Xu was about to speak up, but Murong Bohai quickly stopped him. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? The young master clearly has a plan. Just follow along.”

Before long, the tightly shut gates of Prince Yao’s estate slowly creaked open.

As the gates opened, the officials kneeling in a sea before them all felt a faint tremor pass through them — through their bodies, and through their hearts.

They had, after all, come here relying on a reasonable pretext to request an audience with Jun Beiyue. They had merely guessed — given that he’d been absent for so long, and hadn’t appeared even as the crisis in the northern territories unfolded — that something must have happened to him. And so they had come to test the waters, while also, in a sense, sending a message to Jun Beichen, who had likewise been conveniently absent from the capital, making their own position clear!

Though they all knew that even if something truly had happened to Jun Beiyue, his influence — whether in the capital or across the four territories — could never be underestimated. And yet, they also knew that in all these years spent campaigning far from the capital, having left Prince Baxian to serve as regent for so long, Jun Beiyue had never truly cultivated any other talents capable of governing the state.

Once Jun Beiyue fell, the power that had gathered around him would, over time, inevitably crumble and disintegrate as well.

As for Jun Buli — the young lord who rarely even resided in the capital — he had, indeed, been all but forgotten by everyone.

And yet, as the assembled officials, hearts torn between anxiety and anticipation, lifted their heads, they saw a small, solitary figure standing at the gate — small in stature, and yet carrying an unmistakable air of pride that could not be ignored. His young face was still soft with youth, and yet his eyes held a depth that seemed bottomless, sweeping coldly over the crowd before him. For a fleeting moment, it seemed to all of them as though their true master, Prince Yao of Da Zhou, had returned at last!

But even as the assembled officials sat momentarily entranced, Jun Buli’s lips curved into a playful smile, and he said, “Eunuch Xu, draw up a list for this young lord later — I’d like to see exactly which insolent traitors dared show up before me without so much as offering a proper greeting!”

Appeared before the young lord without even offering a greeting?

This… what kind of accusation was this?

After a long moment, the assembled officials finally realized Jun Buli was speaking of them. Already kneeling, they all quickly lowered their heads further, crying out in unison, “This humble official pays respects to the young lord! Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand thousand years to the young lord!”

Jun Buli remained unmoved, his tone still carrying that same faintly playful edge. “Eunuch Xu, do remember to bring me that list later.”

With that, he departed, boarding a palanquin a short distance away and heading toward the palace, with Eunuch Xu and Murong Bohai trotting along beside him.

Having just been dealt this opening show of dominance by Jun Buli, the assembled officials stood there stunned, utterly unable to make sense of the situation. So this was the young lord — and he’d been here at the estate all along. Then where was Prince Yao himself?

Could it be that he truly was merely ill, and nothing more serious had happened after all?

But then why were Eunuch Xu from the palace and the palace guard commander Murong Bohai accompanying the young lord like this? In an instant, suspicion spread through the crowd — and where suspicion took hold, unease inevitably followed, and where unease took hold, heated discussion inevitably followed as well.

Before long, the murmuring outside the gates of Prince Yao’s estate grew louder and louder — and naturally, this murmuring wasn’t limited to the officials alone, but spread among the surrounding citizens as well.

While the assembled officials remained preoccupied with Jun Beiyue’s whereabouts, the common people found themselves far more taken with this young lord — not quite carrying himself with Prince Yao’s own bearing, and yet with a certain mischievous edge all his own; so young, and yet so utterly endearing.

Guxi had remained standing at the gate the whole while, entirely overlooked by the assembled officials. He waited in silence, watching their uneasy expressions, their anxious faces, thinking to himself that the young lord’s methods weren’t so forceful after all — so gentle, really; the moment he appeared, one playful remark seemed enough to unravel this whole crowd’s composure!

But it wasn’t long before Guxi realized just how mistaken he’d been!