“Think carefully. Who among those around you might be suspect?”

The matter was grave. Gu Chengan did not dare think carelessly. In the Zeng Han affair, it had been Fang Hongzhi who had pushed Zeng Han forward as the scapegoat. The silver that came to him by that scheme was in fact far greater than what was ultimately pinned on Zeng Han — and it was precisely for that reason that silencing him had been necessary.

Fang Hongzhi’s weakness was all too obvious: he was greedy, yet timid. For every hundred taels he embezzled, he would keep only forty and scatter the other sixty to buy his own safety. A man like that could not be Chaoli — he could be ruled out.

Diverting the military commanders to that location had been Zeng Han’s idea. Yinshan Pass had seen no battle for years. Goods that were officially banned moved briskly through underground channels, and the black market at Yinshan Pass regularly produced fine wares — prime pelts, rhinoceros horn of a kind rarely seen in the Central Plains, and the like — while Central Plains porcelain, silk, and tea sold there for exorbitant prices. If someone could seize control of that trade, even just skimming off the surface would mean enormous sums of money.

But Wu Yong stood in the way. The moment he stretched his hand out in that direction, the other side raised a blade. He gained nothing and lost several men in the process.

Later, Zeng Han said that if the man there was not one of their own, they should replace him with someone who was. The allure of that place was too great, and in the end he reached out again — yes, all of that had been instigated by Zeng Han. Could it be that…

Gu Chengan suddenly lurched upright. “It was Zeng Han!”

“It was not him.” Gu Yanxi dismissed it without hesitation.

“How do you know it wasn’t him?”

“He is dead, leaving behind a four-year-old child.”

Gu Chengan was baffled. “What does that have to do with whether he was Chaoli? Chaoli people cannot have children?”

“His child was born of his wife. At the time of his downfall, she was already with child — and she too was sentenced to exile along with him.”

The Emperor turned his head.

Gu Yanxi pulled a chair over and sat down unhurriedly, looking steadily through his mask at the Second Imperial Prince of the Great Qing dynasty. “Fang Hongzhi knew his wife was pregnant. His aim was to eliminate all traces — naturally he would not leave her behind in the capital. Do you know why Zeng Han went mad? The guards violated his wife before his very eyes. They used that method to destroy the child. His wife, to preserve his bloodline, deliberately let her own blood to feign a miscarriage and deceive them. She gave birth to the child afterward, then died. Zeng Han’s legs were also broken in the process. If it had been you — would you not be consumed by hatred?”

Gu Chengan made to say he had not known — yet he had. He simply had never once given those matters a second thought.

“He hated. So he went mad. He traced the cause of his family’s destruction to you, and so he attached himself to you. He offered you counsel, advised you to kill Wu Yong, destroy the Hua family, and act as your intermediary in dealings with forces beyond the frontier. You thought only of how useful he was — never knowing he was dragging you down into hell. He wanted a Great Qing dynasty in ruins as reparation for his wife, for every injustice he had suffered.”

Gu Yanxi spoke in an even tone, Zeng Han’s gaunt and wasted image drifting before his eyes. For a man of letters, that was the furthest limit to which he could put himself to use.

“You destroyed a man’s family out of private greed. Gu Chengan — how does your conscience rest?”

“I…”

“Think again.” Gu Yanxi suddenly felt stifled. He cut the words short, rose, and walked out of the inner bedchamber. He thought of Ah Zhi. As long as he was at Ah Zhi’s side — even if she carried the smell of medicine on her — his heart was at ease.

He had always known there were no clean people in the imperial house. Born in this filth and raised in this filth, the best one could do was to see clearly and protect oneself, as Consort Zhen had done — yet the great majority were simply absorbed into the murk until they could no longer be washed clean.

The Emperor came and stood beside him, the two of them looking out together at the palace maids scurrying in frightened confusion through the courtyard. Huifei stood beneath the eaves, watching this way with anxious eyes. Seeing him, she seemed about to come over, but was blocked by the Qisu Division’s men.

Even at this distance, he could feel the weight of her aggrieved gaze. Yet who among them was truly innocent?

The Emperor turned his gaze from her to Yanxi. This one, at least, truly was.

He patted him on the shoulder. The Emperor let out a long sigh. “I’m getting old. Age makes a man soft-hearted. Bear with me.”

Gu Yanxi said nothing — there was a sulkiness to his silence, a quiet grievance.

“Do you know why I would not look at that pile of things you worked so hard to gather?” The Emperor pressed his fist to his chest. “I did not dare look. I did not want to know what he had done, did not want to know how ruthless he was. I did not want to know — none of it. Zeng Han was wronged — I would restore his name. Wu Yong had suffered — whatever compensation he wished for, I would grant it. The Hua family, though frightened, came to no real harm. As for colluding with the enemy — it hasn’t caused any irreparable damage, has it? I am the ruler of this realm. Cannot I forgive him this once? But if I had looked at all of that, I might not have been able to. The elder one already wanted my life. I did not want to learn that another son harbored the same ruthlessness in his heart. Besides — I was never going to give him that throne anyway.”

Gu Yanxi looked toward the doorway of the inner bedchamber. Gu Chengan stood there, his face drained of color.

The Emperor seemed entirely unaware and continued: “You are all convinced that this position is something desirable. Look at him — Huifei has her hand on him, the Tong family has their hand on him, even a Zeng Han could get a hold of him. He is nothing but a puppet with his limbs tied — pull his left hand, left hand moves; pull his right foot, right foot moves — and all the while he believed himself to be some great talent. Would I entrust the dynasty to a man like that?”

“And yet you never fully extinguished his ambitions.”

“Why should I extinguish them? If he has something to strive toward and applies himself, even if he never becomes Emperor, he can still be a capable minister — helping his brothers together keep guard over the Gu family’s realm. What is wrong with that?”

The Emperor turned to look at his dazed second son. “You always say you were never given regard. In all these years, have I ever truly wronged you? For all your brothers, it was the same teachers, and anything bestowed was always done in equal portions. The elder one received perhaps slightly more — but that is the prerogative of the firstborn. And because he was the eldest, the punishment when he erred was also heavier than yours. For the sake of balance, I even had to calculate which consort should come to my bed on which night. Why did I treat Tong Yi differently? Because ever since I ascended the throne, I have not dared show the slightest special affection for any consort I cared for — fearing that even that small difference might cost her her life. Now that I am nearly at the end of my road, I wanted to try just once what it felt like to dote completely on one person!”

Gu Chengan gripped the door frame as he slowly sank to his knees. He understood now — after today, he would never have another chance. That the Emperor was speaking all this aloud meant precisely that he had been completely and finally cast aside.

“You all think this position is such a good thing.” If time could be turned back, he would stay as far from it as possible — no more decades of being a solitary ruler, utterly alone. It was so cold, truly — how much better Ling Wang had it, free to marry whomever he pleased, and no matter how much trouble he stirred up there was always someone to clean up after him.

Though his son had grown up at his side, at least, and was close to him — which brought the Emperor some measure of comfort. It was enough to press down the impulse to go find Ling Wang and make him suffer too.

Letting the son he had acknowledged in his heart help him to a seat, the Emperor felt his whole body go soft. “I shall leave what comes next to you. This time — whatever you uncover, I will read every word of it.”

With a thousand feelings pressing down at once, Gu Yanxi swallowed them all and answered yes in a hoarse voice.