Soon, Xie Hui and others who received the news submitted memorials, accusing Liu Yizhen of inciting divisions and slandering the authorities.

Liu Yifu rose in anger. Naturally, he had no good feelings toward this second brother who could covet his throne, so he demoted him to Liyang, while the other three advisors were respectively dispersed to various places. Perhaps this still couldn’t give Liu Yifu a sense of security, because before long he demoted Liu Yizhen to commoner status and moved him to Xin’an for imprisonment.

Liu Yu, upon receiving this news, knew that Xie Hui and others would soon make their move against Liu Yifu. Such an emperor would sooner or later be brought down by others – better that he do it himself!

Liu Yu suddenly understood why he was still alive – it was because he needed to correct one of his mistakes, needed to gamble once more.

He suddenly stopped and reached into his bosom to take out the ivory dice that never left his side. This ivory dice had six faces in total. Excluding the abandoned Crown Prince, he had exactly six more sons. What about being emperor? Standing at the highest and steepest peak, if one stood unsteadily and fell, because of standing too high, one would often be more miserable than anyone else, even dying without a burial place.

Liu Yu didn’t say much but laid out the intelligence he had gathered piece by piece on Liu Yilong’s desk.

Watching his third son’s composed expression, Liu Yu suddenly realized that the other party wasn’t ignorant of everything either.

Perhaps all of this was within his control. On the surface, he didn’t fight or scramble, but what was destined to be his would ultimately belong only to him.

Liu Yu narrowed his eyes, somewhat bewildered.

“Am I disappointing you like this?” Liu Yilong put down his brush and looked up at the dejected young man. It had been over two years since returning to Jingzhou. Perhaps his firm refusal back then had been sincere, but as time passed, he inevitably developed various irrepressible thoughts.

Yes, why couldn’t he sit in that position? Why had father emperor once cast him aside? Why must he be an idle prince?

Once he had determined his goal, he no longer retreated.

Father emperor’s secret agents? Why would he need to use them? He only needed to employ a few schemes and could quietly wait for the fruits to fall into his embrace.

“Damn it! Why do it this way? Don’t you know your elder and second brothers will meet terrible ends?” Liu Yu suddenly understood the expression on Liu Yilong’s face and was instantly furious. If things had been arranged according to his plan, it wouldn’t be so out of control!

Liu Yilong sitting behind the desk was already eighteen, having completely shed his youthful awkwardness from two years ago. With sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, after two years of keeping a low profile, he already possessed considerable presence. He looked thoughtfully at the young man before him. This young man who claimed to be called Liu Jinu looked exactly the same as two years ago, without the slightest change. Through his deliberate investigation, he had also discovered that there had been no trace of this young man’s existence in father emperor’s harem.

What shocked him most was what he had discovered from investigating his hometown – his father emperor’s childhood name had indeed been Liu Jinu…

This young man, whether in demeanor, tone, or behavior, looked more and more like his father emperor. Even his cursing habits and table-slapping gestures were identical. Considering that this young man had appeared at the time of his father emperor’s death, could he believe that this young man called Liu Jinu was his father emperor?

No, this guess was still too ridiculous.

Liu Yilong forced himself to suppress his inner uncertainty. When meeting the young man’s gaze mixed with pain and disappointment, his heart couldn’t help but clench painfully. He took a deep breath and said lightly: “Didn’t you want me to sit on that dragon throne? Aren’t I doing very well now?”

“But how can you disregard your brothers’ safety!” Liu Yu was burning with rage. Thinking of what his favored third son had actually done, he was about to go mad. He knew too clearly what those powerful ministers like Xie Hui would do next – eliminate all hidden dangers. Those people were completely capable of such actions.

Liu Yilong’s gaze was calm, his face showing unwavering determination as he said slowly, word by word: “After I ascend the throne, I will make them pay the appropriate price.”

Looking at his son who had grown into adulthood, Liu Yu suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him like a tide.

Yes, how could he not know that all this was Liu Yilong’s arrangement? Constrained by public opinion, he couldn’t move against his own brothers, so he used the strategy of killing with a borrowed knife. After Xie Hui and others deposed and killed the emperor, he would legitimately inherit the throne. Liu Yu could completely imagine that after Liu Yilong ascended the throne and consolidated power over several years, he would bring out the reason of avenging his brothers to replace and slaughter Xie Hui and other powerful ministers, installing his own team.

Truly worthy of being chosen by the ivory dice…

Liu Yu closed his eyes. Sunlight from outside the window shone through the lattice onto his body, but he felt no warmth at all, only feeling cold throughout.

From the moment of birth, every choice a person faces is a gamble.

The difference is that some people lose more, while others win more.

This creates distinctions – some become losers while others become life’s winners.

On the surface, Liu Yu appeared to be a standard life winner, but sometimes even Liu Yu himself couldn’t say clearly whether he had won or lost.

Perhaps if he hadn’t become emperor, he would now have a happy family, full of children and grandchildren around his knees, rather than sons raising butcher knives against each other…

The study fell into deathly silence. Liu Yilong was suddenly startled because he noticed the young man before him was slowly becoming transparent, gradually melting into the sunlight bit by bit.

Liu Yilong immediately stood and reached toward him, but his fingers passed directly through the other’s body without grasping anything.

“Father… Father Emperor!” Liu Yilong no longer had any doubt – this strange young man was his father emperor! Thinking that he had been scheming right under his father emperor’s nose, he was shocked and trembling all over.

In the study, Liu Yu’s cold voice flowed slowly as the young man’s figure dissolved into points of light, slowly dissipating in the air.

“Life is a gamble, so no one can always win without losing…”

“As long as it’s gambling, one must be psychologically prepared to lose some things that originally belonged to oneself.”

“I won some things, but I also lost much more…”

“I hope… you won’t regret it either…”

“Thud!”

Liu Yilong came to his senses and found only himself in the study. A yellowed ivory dice had fallen to the ground, bounced a few times, and was rolling on the floor…

424 AD, Xie Hui, Xu Xianzi and others had Imperial Secretary Xing Antai assassinate the emperor at Jinchang Pavilion. The young emperor died at age nineteen. Xie and Xu killed Liu Yizhen at Xin’an, then led all officials to Jiangling to welcome Prince Yidu Liu Yilong back to the capital to ascend the throne, becoming Emperor Wen of Song.

426 AD, Emperor Wen executed Xu Xianzi, Fu Liang and others, personally leading a great army westward along the river to crusade against Xie Hui. Xie Hui’s entire army was routed, and he was executed for regicide and rebellion.

Thus, at barely twenty years old, Emperor Wen of Song Liu Yilong held sway over the court, initiating the most prosperous era since the Eastern Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, historically known as the “Yuanjia Reign.”

2012 AD

The Doctor lay in the sun drying his rabbit doll body. As a doll, he needed baths to stay clean, but every time after washing, his whole body was uncomfortably damp and several times heavier, making it difficult even to stand up. So every time the Boss helped him bathe, he would lie directly in the sun until completely dry.

Now this side seemed about dry. The Doctor struggled to turn over, lying face down on the ground to let the sunlight dry his back.

The Doctor had grown quite accustomed to this decadent homebody doll life. However, he smacked his rabbit lips – as a foodie, not having eaten anything for many months was really hard to endure.

How he missed the crab roe soup dumplings from the shop across the street! The Wushan crispy oil cakes from the street corner! And the West Lake osmanthus chestnut soup from the hospital entrance!

Oh right, he seemed to have heard a delivery just now. How strange – the Boss actually bought something? Or rather, who had mailed something to the Boss?

The Doctor’s curiosity was greatly aroused. Not caring that his body wasn’t completely dry yet, he crawled from the windowsill to the counter using all four limbs, just in time to see the Boss staring blankly at a brocade box.

“Who mailed this? Eh? It’s a dice?” The brocade box wasn’t large, and the Doctor immediately saw the dice inside. It was an ordinary-looking dice with a ginger-yellow texture that should be made of ivory. The Doctor turned to look at the delivery slip beside it, staring at the sender’s address line – it looked very familiar.

“This address… isn’t this the hospital where I work?” the Doctor exclaimed. Who at that hospital could have dealings with the Boss now? The answer was obvious! The Doctor immediately became extremely vigilant, circling around the brocade box on the counter, afraid it might contain dangerous items like bombs. “This dice was mailed by Fu Su? What’s he plotting?”

Seeing the Doctor making the counter all damp, the Boss helplessly picked him up, then used clips to hang him by his rabbit ears on the balcony to dry in the sun and wind. While wiping the counter, the Boss told the story of this ivory dice, finally sighing: “I originally kept this ivory dice in the Tian cabinet. I was looking for it recently but didn’t expect it to be sent back.”

“So Fu Su is actually a thief!” the Doctor immediately became indignant, though hanging on the rope, he could only wave his chubby paws in the air.

“It probably wasn’t Fu Su who took it. Most likely it was that Minghong guy who casually picked it up while fighting with Sanqing.” The Boss pursed his lips. Minghong and Sanqing had fought more than once. After Minghong suffered a major loss, he would occasionally pick opportunities to battle Sanqing. Though they were careful not to damage the Silent House, chaos often ensued. The Boss was already considering whether to find a separate spacious room for Sanqing as a dedicated sparring arena.

The Doctor snorted lightly, saying in confusion: “From what you just said about this ivory dice’s origin, you told him about it back then, right? That little red bird definitely didn’t take this dice out of anger – absolutely because he knew this ivory dice was an imperial-level antique and wanted to interfere with your plans!” The more the Doctor spoke, the more he felt his analysis was correct, crossing his arms with a huffed expression. He naturally knew the Boss hadn’t gone to break formations and bury antiques this month because he hadn’t found suitable imperial-level antiques. However, the Doctor looked at the brocade box on the counter with confusion: “Strange, if Fu Su wanted to stop you from breaking formations, why did he mail this ivory dice back? Could it be a fake?”

“It’s not fake.” The Boss’s eyes lowered as he sighed deeply: “He’s asking me if I dare gamble with him…”

“Gamble?” The Doctor became more confused and struggled to jump down from the rope.

The Boss picked up the ivory dice from the brocade box – it felt as smooth and delicate as it had over a thousand years ago: “Actually, when standing at life’s crossroads, everyone ultimately makes choices. No matter which path is chosen, years later when looking back, one will feel regret. Because no one knows what results choosing another path would bring, nor is it possible to know.”

“Then one endlessly fantasizes that maybe doing things differently back then would have been better? Truly the human heart is never satisfied!” The Doctor pursed his lips, finding it unsurprising.

“So there’s fundamentally no question of gambling or not gambling.” The Boss rubbed the long-missed ivory dice, then placed it back in the brocade box. “How can the world provide a perfect solution…”

The Doctor silently watched his movements, remaining quiet for a long while before suddenly asking: “I don’t think that’s what he meant!”

The Boss’s hand reaching for the brocade box paused, but he didn’t turn around.

“He should be reminding you not to regret choosing the path you’re walking now…” The Doctor’s long ears drooped down, somewhat deflated. The Boss was so familiar with Fu Su – how could he not see through his meaning? He just didn’t want to say it directly to avoid making him overthink.

The Boss put away the brocade box and turned to grab the Doctor’s long ears, continuing to hang him on the rope to dry.

“Since no matter which path is chosen there will be regret, what’s the point of agonizing? Just act without shame to one’s conscience.”

Every antique in the Silent House has its own story, carrying many years with no one to listen. Because none of them can speak…

Mini Theater

Doctor: Boss, say that line again! It sounds very familiar…

Boss: Which line?

Doctor: “How can the world provide a perfect solution…” What should the next line be?

Boss: …You heard wrong…