The Hao Yue Palace was so quiet that even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard.

The Emperor lay on the dragon bed with his eyes tightly shut, his robes open, his entire upper body — head included — pierced with golden needles, while his feet remained bare.

Peony stood at his feet holding a small blade, while Laifu watched on anxiously, terrified that the blade would go in the wrong spot.

Elder Yu gave Peony a nod. With a solemn expression, Peony kept her eyes fixed on her master’s hands, and the moment the golden needle was lifted, she brought the blade down and sliced a cut into the center of his foot. A jet of black fluid sprayed out and landed on the floor — thick and viscous, like blood, yet not quite blood.

Peony watched the incision intently, only wrapping the wound once the blood flowing from it had gradually lost its black tinge. By then, Elder Yu had already removed all the golden needles and was sitting to rest.

“How does it look?”

“At least three more bloodlettings before it’s all purged.”

“As long as it’s working.” They had already tried several methods to expel these toxins — each one more dangerous than the last — but at least they had finally found the right direction.

Gu Yanxi’s heart, which had been clenched tight, eased a little. Looking at his Imperial Uncle, who had aged noticeably with each passing day, he asked softly, “When will he wake?”

“He has been unconscious for three days already. We must rouse him today.” Otherwise, there was a chance he might never wake again. Master and apprentice exchanged a glance and, by unspoken agreement, swallowed those last words. They had learned a great deal from this case — had the patient been anyone other than the Emperor, they would have wanted to study it further.

Gu Yanxi gave a nod. With someone deliberately spreading rumors that the Emperor was already beyond saving, his Imperial Uncle would need to make a public appearance to reassure the court officials. It wasn’t that the Seven Lodges couldn’t suppress such rumors — it was simply unnecessary to do so. Things hadn’t reached that point yet.

Coming out of Hao Yue Palace, Fu Gang stepped forward to report, “The Third Prince and Fourth Prince are requesting an audience with the Emperor.”

“We can no longer hold them off?”

“That is correct.”

“Let them in when they come tomorrow then.”

“Understood.” Fu Gang visibly relaxed. He was not the head of the Seven Lodges, and dealing with these sons of heaven was truly beyond him. Managing to hold them off for three days had taken every last trick he had.

Behind his mask, Gu Yanxi’s face was full of contempt. The Third and Fourth were far too impatient — but the Second, who had spread those rumors, was hardly sitting pretty either.

Proceeding to the Imperial Study, Gu Yanxi issued an order: “Tang Qingyuan is guilty of corruption and bribery. He is to be relieved of his post as Minister of Rites, and the Second Prince is to be dispatched to deliver the reprimand.”

The Tang Family was the Second Prince’s maternal clan, and Tang Qingyuan his own maternal grandfather. That the head of the Seven Lodges would strike at the Tang Family at a time like this — everyone who knew anything understood exactly what it meant. What made it all the more ruthless was that the Second Prince was being sent to deliver the reprimand himself, and he couldn’t refuse. It was a vicious move indeed.

The Second Prince was so furious he smashed everything in the room. Though the Ministry of Rites lacked the real power of some of the other ministries, it had still been his greatest card to play — and now it was gone, just like that. Once his rage subsided, a chill crept in. He knew: this was a warning from the head of the Seven Lodges. What he had been doing had not escaped the Seven Lodges’ notice.

Thinking of what had happened to the First Prince, the Second Prince’s heart seized. He immediately had his men retract all the contingency plans he had put in place. He had no capital to go against the Seven Lodges right now — and neither did the Third or Fourth.

One day — one day, he vowed inwardly, he would rid the Great Qing of the Seven Lodges entirely.

Gu Yanxi had no time to concern himself with the Second Prince’s petty scheming. Word had come that unfamiliar faces had appeared at the Hua Family residence, so he set everything aside and made his way there.

Meanwhile, at that very moment, Hua Zhi and Zheng Zhi were deep in lively conversation.

In truth, Hua Zhi had not always been so fond of reading. But since she didn’t want to go out, and the house held such an extensive collection of books, she had gradually discovered the pleasure of it — to the point where going a day without reading now felt uncomfortable.

What she read most were miscellaneous books. Those that were too rigidly proper or too abstruse she simply couldn’t get through.

“If Master Zheng were to test me on the Four Books or the Thirteen Classics, I may not be able to answer.”

“You’re not going to sit the imperial examinations — why would I ask you those things?” Zheng Zhi gave a scornful laugh. “Book-learning that kills the mind is worse than no books at all. Take away their books and what are they good for? Do they know the price of salt? The price of grain? Useless — and as officials, useless means incompetent.”

In the sixteen years Hua Zhi had lived in this world, this was the first time she had ever seen someone so dismissive of scholars — and coming from someone who was a scholar himself, it was, well… interesting.

“Then I hope Master Zheng will teach the children of the Hua Family precisely those things not found in books — the price of salt, the price of grain.”

“And you’re not afraid I’ll lead them astray?”

“I don’t particularly want them to be the kind of scholars who bury themselves in books until the books bury them.”

Zheng Zhi laughed heartily. “The Hua Family never has been. You don’t go out much, so you may not know — scholars across the land all know there is a Hua Family that stands as it does. Even now that it has fallen, it hasn’t diminished the Hua Family’s standing in their eyes. A century of accumulated reputation is no ordinary thing.”

Hua Zhi ran her finger along the rim of her teacup. “There is something I’ve never quite been able to understand. Even if the Hua Family was once held in such high regard by scholars, now that the family has been found guilty — why do those scholars seem not to care? Do they not think the Hua Family’s reputation has been ruined?”

“You mean the charge that Old Master Hua engaged in factional scheming, in forming partisan alliances?” Zheng Zhi’s smile turned scornful once more. “Among all the civil and military officials at court, who hasn’t? Is there a single official who stands alone, beholden to no one? The old patriarch of the Hua Family did nothing more than speak a word on behalf of a prince who was at a disadvantage — and for that, a hundred years of the Hua Family’s efforts to stabilize the Gu dynasty’s realm were erased. Scholars throughout the land felt only a chill in their hearts. I thought at the time — if I were a member of the Hua Family, I might not have been able to make sense of it either.”

Something seemed to lodge itself in Hua Zhi’s throat, making it difficult to breathe. On her face, however, she showed nothing — she even maintained her smile throughout. “I don’t know whether I ought to advise Master Zheng to mind his words, but words like these — I doubt I would hear them from anyone else. Thank you.”

“It is nothing more than what I genuinely think.” Zheng Zhi waved a hand, with the air of a man who felt the moment called for wine and salted peanuts. “Mu Qing is a good man.”

“Before the Hua Family fell, the clan school had nearly twenty teachers. Master Mu was the only one who returned without a moment’s hesitation. He is indeed a good man — the young men of the Hua Family should take him as their example.”

With a colleague he found satisfying, a host he could talk with freely, and a group of children who seemed genuinely eager to learn, Zheng Zhi felt this was a moment that called for a grand toast. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became, and he rose and headed for the door. “I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning.”

Hua Zhi rose quickly to see him off. The two of them walked out of the study one after the other — and there stood Gu Yanxi in the covered corridor.

The two men were meeting for the first time, and both sized the other up. Zheng Zhi thought: doesn’t look like an ornamental pillow — must have some real strength to him; probably from a military family. Gu Yanxi thought: must look into this man’s ancestry going back eighteen generations.

The two exchanged a nod and passed each other by.

Hua Zhi walked Zheng Zhi all the way to the courtyard gate, then had Steward Xu see him out of the Hua Family residence on her behalf. She also instructed Nanny Su to have a word with the household staff, telling them not to inadvertently offend the new teacher — and being cautious, she added an extra stout matron to watch the inner gate as well.