Liu Chaoming emerged from the Fengtian Hall just in time to see Su Jin walking toward the Censorate. A flash of crimson robe turned into the archway, bringing with it half a measure of brilliant spring light.

The archway was also vermilion, though the green tiles on the walls were already covered with white snow.

He watched silently for a while. A moment later, Marquis Wenyuan also emerged from the Fengtian Hall, and the two men clasped their hands in mutual greeting.

Qi Boyuan silently gestured for him to go first. Liu Chaoming nodded slightly, and the two men walked side by side down from the terrace, heading all the way out of the palace.

Passing through the Fengtian Gate and the palace gardens, they walked until they reached the vast and deserted Xuanyuan Platform, where Qi Boyuan finally asked, “What do you make of that last thing His Majesty said?”

That statement was: “Boyuan, Minister Liu, if I were to order the reduction of the fiefs now, would there still be time?”

In truth, this question seemed like an inquiry, but it was actually a lament.

Zhu Jingyuan knew the answer in his heart, so without waiting for these two men to respond, he said, “Minister Liu, you may withdraw.”

Liu Chaoming said flatly, “The Marquis understands that His Majesty wasn’t asking me. In the great hall, I was merely a shadow. The person he wanted to ask was my late master who died with resentment behind that shadow.”

Qi Boyuan said, “Therefore this marquis is now asking you.”

Liu Chaoming curved his lips in a smile, mockery evident in his eyes, and uttered four words: “Muddled and incompetent.” He continued, “When the edict to establish the fiefs was first issued, how many officials, how many scholars and righteous men offered advice and persuasion? How many did he kill? How many people’s mouths did he stop? Now he regrets it and wants to make amends? The thing I hate most in life is locking the stable after the horse is stolen.”

Qi Boyuan glanced at Liu Chaoming and sighed inwardly.

After all these years, he was still like this.

Others only knew that this young Left Censor-in-Chief was reserved and resolute, impartial and incorruptible, just like the old Censor, but Qi Boyuan knew this was actually a superficial view, like seeing flowers through mist.

When Liu Yun first became Meng Liang’s disciple, he was not yet twelve years old, just a half-grown child.

In fact, Meng Liang had once refused to take disciples. That Liu Chaoming could become his disciple was said to be at someone’s request. However, after Meng Liang accepted him, he unexpectedly discovered that this child had exceptional natural talent, a rare prospect unseen in a hundred years.

That was already an old story from ten years after the founding of the Great Sui.

Qi Boyuan remembered that year there was a peach blossom flood in Jiangnan. After autumn, northern Zhejiang suffered a complete crop failure with starving corpses everywhere. Added to this, bandits ran rampant in the Central Plains heartland, and Japanese pirates harassed the eastern seaboard. Meng Liang was so busy he barely had time to undress, yet he still kept Liu Chaoming by his side, willing to sleep less or not at all, teaching him for one hour every day.

As a youth, Liu Chaoming grew slowly. At twelve years old, some boys were already tall as bamboo, but Liu Chaoming grew methodically at half an inch per year, just like his bland temperament.

Once he caught a chill and his body couldn’t warm up no matter what. Meng Liang had no choice but to hold him in his arms to warm him while reviewing official documents.

Meng Liang said that later when Liu Yun woke up, he just looked at him silently from his embrace. He thought the child would say something, but who knew he only said “I’ll be fine” and closed his eyes to sleep again.

Such was his temperament.

Clearly a child, yet as calm and unfathomable as a deep body of water.

Meng Liang had an upright temperament and thought his teaching by word and example was inadequate, blaming himself for the reason.

When Liu Yun was thirteen, Old Censor Meng felt he was too withdrawn and wanted him to study at the Hanlin Academy to learn how to interact with people.

It happened that year Huguang was troubled by bandits, said to be in collusion with corrupt officials. Meng Liang went there as Censor to conduct an inspection. On the day he left, he placed Liu Yun in the residence of Qi Boyuan, who was then the Chancellor of the Hanlin Academy.

The old Censor was someone who didn’t like to say much about matters concerning himself. When he entrusted Liu Yun to Qi Boyuan, he only instructed, “This is your master’s close friend. You’ll stay at his residence for a while.”

Qi Boyuan remembered that at the time, thirteen-year-old Liu Chaoming stood in the central courtyard of the residence, watching very quietly as Meng Liang departed. There seemed to be no expression on his face. His pair of remarkably beautiful eyes were deep as an ancient well, the depths of his pupils seeming to contain a mass of mist, his entire person completely motionless.

Qi Boyuan walked forward and said gently, “I’ve heard that you’re called Liu Chaoming, a descendant of the Liu family.”

However, this remark sank like a stone into the sea with no response.

After quite a while, Liu Chaoming finally turned around.

He tilted his chin up slightly, but his eyelids were lowered. This expression looked as if he was trying hard to restrain something. After a moment, he said flatly, “I don’t like the name Chaoming, and I have no family. If you don’t mind, you can call me Liu Yun.”

Qi Boyuan tried to soften his tone as much as possible: “Very well, Liu Yun. For these two years you’ll stay with me, and after a while I’ll take you to study at the Hanlin Academy.”

As he spoke, he turned and walked toward the inner residence, once again saying gently, “Come.”

Qi Boyuan had almost reached the corridor, but there were no footsteps behind him. He looked back to see Liu Chaoming still standing in the distance, looking again toward the direction of the gate.

After all, he was still young. No matter how deep his thoughts, he didn’t want to be easily abandoned.

He thought, I’ve clearly been diligent and tireless, doing my utmost to learn from my master.

Qi Boyuan asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Liu Chaoming was silent for a moment, then suddenly slowly, helplessly began to smile.

A storm suddenly rose in those remarkably beautiful eyes, dispersing the mist that had been gathered in his pupils. All his emotions—astonishment, disbelief, anger and sorrow—were all revealed in his eyes.

Even his tone was mocking: “Master Meng won’t teach me anymore? How can he go back on his word?”

Qi Boyuan looked at Liu Yun like this with shock.

When others smiled it was like a warm spring breeze, but when Liu Chaoming smiled, at a glance it seemed fine, but if you looked carefully, you discovered that all the unwillingness and resentment buried deep in his heart would be exposed in his eyes.

Qi Boyuan had heard of the Liu family’s discipline of “preserving heavenly principle, extinguishing human desire,” and also knew that the Liu family members were people who didn’t rejoice in things nor grieve for themselves.

But he hadn’t expected that such family traditions would force a child of unparalleled aptitude in the world into this state.

He vaguely remembered that before Liu Yun became Meng Liang’s disciple, he seemed to have escaped from the Liu family on his own.

Among the three advisors by Emperor Jingyuan’s side in the past, Xie Xu was brilliant and talented, perceptive and highly intelligent; Meng Liang was loyal and upright with a clear sense of right and wrong; Qi Boyuan was different from those two—he was a true scholar, with a naturally gentle and refined compassion in his temperament.

Looking at Liu Yun like this, he said softly, “Meng Liang has only gone out on a case. Afraid of delaying your studies, he placed you with me. With your excellent aptitude, how could he bear to give you up?”

Liu Chaoming’s eyes were full of disbelief: “Is that so?”

Qi Boyuan said, “You can go back to live at the Meng residence and wait for him to return, but you must remember that for this year and more, I am your teacher. You should pay your respects to me morning and evening, not missing a single day.”

Hearing this, Liu Chaoming walked toward the gate without a moment’s hesitation.

Before he could leave, Qi Boyuan called out to him again, saying, “Liu Yun, you should actually smile more often. From now on while you’re with me, you don’t need to hide yourself.”

Liu Chaoming looked at him skeptically, then lifted his feet and left.

Years had passed since then. That youth who had been as calm and unfathomable as a body of water had now grown into the chief seat of the Censorate, as still as the deep sea, unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before his eyes. Only in front of Qi Boyuan did he not hide himself in the slightest.

Continuing from the earlier topic of establishing and reducing fiefs, Liu Chaoming said, “Even if Zhu Minda can smoothly ascend the throne, what follows will inevitably involve military action, campaigns against rebellion. The people’s livelihood has just stabilized somewhat and will again fall into fire and flood. I truly don’t know what Zhu Jingyuan seized this realm for in the first place—to see which of his sons fights more fiercely?”

But Qi Boyuan keenly caught the sharp edge in his words: “‘Even if’? What do you mean?”

Liu Chaoming gave another mocking smile: “Is Marquis Wenyuan no longer avoiding worldly affairs?”

Qi Boyuan sighed: “Forget it. For the sake of some old sentiment, I’ve spent half a lifetime helping a few old friends fight over this realm, which was never my wish. As for the future, I’ll leave it to you.” As he spoke, he suddenly smiled serenely. “Do you know what His Majesty asked me alone after you left the Fengtian Hall?”

Liu Chaoming thought for a moment: “Su Shiyu?”

Qi Boyuan said, “He asked whether Xie Xu had any other descendants besides one granddaughter.”

Liu Chaoming’s brows furrowed slightly.

Qi Boyuan said, “Actually, you didn’t need to specifically send someone with a letter last night. Su Shiyu had already sent word through someone to me, stating that she was Xie Xu’s granddaughter.” He smiled. “You worried too much. After all, she is Xie Xu’s descendant. Though she’s a woman, having inherited her grandfather’s learning and with years of experience in officialdom, she can already handle matters independently. Perhaps one day, she can be like Xie Xu, with flawless strategies.”

Liu Chaoming laughed coldly: “If Prime Minister Xie truly had flawless strategies, when the ‘Prime Minister’s Disaster’ was about to erupt back then, why did he stay in Shu and not flee? Did he miscalculate that he would implicate his family and bring them to terrible misfortune?”

Qi Boyuan said, “The illusions in this world mostly cannot escape the word ‘affection.’ Xie Xu was a man who valued affection and righteousness. He didn’t believe that imperial power could completely change a person’s heart, so he stayed and didn’t flee. He wanted to see how far Zhu Jingyuan would go.”

As he spoke, he suddenly glanced at Liu Chaoming and smiled faintly: “Just like you. With your wisdom and strategy, could you not see that Su Shiyu had already left herself a backup plan? Yet you still went out of your way to inform me. Why? Was it merely because of the promise you made to Meng Liang?”

Liu Chaoming didn’t answer this question.

When he had first discovered that Su Shiyu was a woman and told her to take refuge in Hangzhou, she had also asked, “What does Your Lordship seek? Did Your Lordship promise to look after me before the old Censor passed away?”

At the time, he thought in his heart that was the reason, but for a moment, he also felt it wasn’t quite that.

Liu Chaoming was a perceptive person. He roughly guessed what that trace of “not quite that” meant.

But he was also an unfeeling person. This so-called “not quite that” was just like a floating leaf that had fallen into a pond—when the wind came, it was pushed several feet away by rippling circles, and when the wind stopped, it slowly sank to the bottom. As long as he didn’t care about it, that was fine.

He had always thought that the resilience and clarity carved into Su Jin’s very bones would eventually lead her to walk the same path as the old Censor.

But it wasn’t until today, when Su Shiyu wore the crimson robe and used retreat as advance to request the establishment of a merit monument, that Liu Chaoming discovered he was wrong. She was herself. If it had been the old Censor in today’s situation, he probably would have used the Great Sui laws to request His Majesty bring Zhu Jiyou to justice according to law. But Su Shiyu was Prime Minister Xie’s descendant—she walked her own path.

The bright vermilion of the crimson robe was like half a measure of spring light, shining into the pond in his heart that hadn’t seen daylight in so long. The floating leaf that had once sunk to the bottom suddenly sprouted roots and vines, growing into a field of lotus leaves stretching on and on.

From this point on, he could no longer ignore it.

For an instant, Liu Chaoming felt quite at a loss. He suddenly recalled Shen Xi’s words—”Aren’t you afraid that one day, someone will refuse to play by your rules and directly checkmate you?”

In truth, the barbs buried deep in Liu Yun’s blood had long made him weary of these past ten-plus years of proceeding step by step. In that instant, he even thought, checkmate would be fine too.

However, he quickly calmed down again. He had long ago chosen a solitary path. He should be unburdened and merciless in his killing.

What a pity. On this path, he shouldn’t have developed idle thoughts or desires.

As Qi Boyuan was about to board his carriage, he glanced at Liu Chaoming and saw that the smile on his face was gone. He stood with his eyes lowered, mist covering the depths of his eyes, tinged with some bewilderment and regret.

Qi Boyuan said, “Before Meng Liang passed away, he said that you suppress everything in your heart, and that’s not good. Though I avoid worldly affairs, I don’t avoid everyone. If you have anything you can’t think through clearly, don’t be afraid of being bothersome—just come to the Marquis’s residence to find me.”

Liu Chaoming didn’t answer this directly, but respectfully clasped his hands in a bow: “This student respectfully sees off his teacher.”

Though it wasn’t yet noon, the colors of heaven and earth had darkened. A howling wind rose up in the world. Outside the Chengtian Gate there wasn’t even half a pedestrian—a fierce snowstorm was approaching.

As Qi Boyuan climbed onto the carriage shaft, he looked up at the sky and sighed, “The mountain rain is about to come. Since you know the path ahead, first find a low eave to shelter under for a while.”