When Eunuch Zhong awoke, the back of his neck hurt so badly it made him groan involuntarily. Opening his eyes, he discovered he was actually lying on the floor. Unable to figure out what time it was, assuming he had rolled off the bed in his sleep, he began cursing under his breath. Starting with incidents involving the dumbest little eunuch in his service, he cursed for a full quarter-hour. Then he spent another quarter-hour reminiscing about the bed he’d had when he first entered palace service—it had been as hard as this floor. Having grown accustomed to large pear-wood beds with silk and satin padding, his back couldn’t take it anymore. His entire back, all the way down to his buttocks, ached with a creaking, grinding pain that drilled into his bones.

Just as he was about to call someone in to help him up, the door opened. The bang was loud, the footsteps heavy—it seemed like someone had rushed in.

He glanced sideways and saw it was indeed the one he’d just been cursing as the dumbest. In a foul mood, he snapped, “You cursed wretch, what have I taught you all this time? Can’t even learn a single proper rule of decorum.”

The little eunuch scratched his head, looking quite aggrieved. “Head Eunuch, I thought something had happened to you, so I burst through the door.”

But Eunuch Zhong cursed, “Bird-brain! What could happen to me while sleeping? Have you been possessed?”

“No… no, that’s not it. Little Tun and I were knocked unconscious and left lying in the outer room. I was afraid you’d been attacked too, Head Eunuch—” The little eunuch truly had good intentions.

Seeing him speak more and more absurdly, Eunuch Zhong said angrily, “You and Little Tun were knocked unconscious, yet here you are standing at my head? Knocked unconscious—I think you’ve lost your mind.” The little eunuch still wanted to demonstrate his good intentions, but accidentally glanced at the bed. He immediately retreated two steps, his arm stiffly raised and pointing, his upper teeth chattering against his lower teeth, “Bright… bright… clearly… dead… dead…”

Eunuch Zhong’s anger flared. “I think you clearly want to die. Hurry up and help me up, or I’ll beat you to death.”

But the little eunuch kept backing away step by step.

Eunuch Zhong thought to himself that although this wretched boy was stupid, he was usually quite obedient—today’s behavior was truly abnormal. So he turned his face to look at the bed. The bed was high and he was short, so he could only see a pale woman’s hand hanging over the edge of the bed. Now he couldn’t stay lying down. His old bones scrambled to get up.

“Who brought me this bad luck?” Looking again, he discovered the woman’s body was covered in blood. He immediately ran behind the little eunuch and shouted, “My heavens, it’s a corpse!”

The little eunuch also desperately shrank back, though he was slightly better composed than Eunuch Zhong. “It’s… it’s Miss Mingmei.”

Eunuch Zhong immediately recalled the cause and, seeing clearly who the dead person was, calmed down. “Go find Little Tun. Wrap the body in a sack and bury it in the back garden. You two must keep your mouths shut tight, or you can forget about staying alive.”

The little eunuch nodded in terror and hurried to fetch his companion.

Eunuch Zhong walked to the bedside. His expression no longer showed the deathly pallor of the frightened old eunuch from moments ago, but rather cunning and treachery. He even gave two sinister laughs. “Mingmei, Mingmei—yet you won’t see tomorrow’s bright sunshine. I’ve had enough of you all this time. Today’s a good day—I can get rid of you and pin the blame on Daqiu as well.”

The Eastern Palace was somewhat quiet today, perhaps because of the major incident of the Emperor’s attempted assassination, and with the Crown Prince absent, it seemed empty and desolate. Before long, Eunuch Zhong emerged from the Eastern Palace gates, looked around, then walked toward the depths of the imperial palace.

In the Imperial Study, the Emperor’s body trembled slightly. On the floor lay his only adult son, face ashen gray, lying flat and already stiff and cold. He didn’t like this son—establishing him as Crown Prince had been for lack of other options—but regardless, they were father and son. For a white-haired person to bury a black-haired one, even if he was Emperor, brought profound grief.

Kneeling to one side were Mo Zi and Xiao Wei. Neither spoke an extra word, waiting for the Emperor to question them. Geng Wo had arrived a step earlier than them. As the Emperor’s guard, he should have reported truthfully, but at the time he had been far away and engaged in combat with Daqiu soldiers, so he wasn’t clear on the details. Thus, there was room for maneuvering.

“Mo Zi, do you acknowledge your guilt?” The Emperor showed some anger.

Mo Zi lowered her eyes and quickly decided how to answer. “Mo Zi acknowledges guilt.” At a time like this, whatever the Emperor said was law—forget about self-respect and such things.

“Xiao Baiyu, and you?” His harem wasn’t abundant, but his consorts weren’t few either. Yet he only had two sons, and one was still young. Though his own health was excellent, for an imperial family to have sparse offspring was a great taboo.

“This subject acknowledges guilt.” Xiao Wei also knew when to yield.

“I have always placed great trust in you two, knowing one of you to be skilled in martial arts and the other clever and capable. When I entrust matters to you both, I can rest easy. But today—” The Emperor’s voice trembled. “You two were both present, yet you failed to protect the Crown Prince!”

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger. This matter has nothing to do with Mo Zi—it is this subject’s fault.” Xiao Wei stepped forward, wanting to take all the responsibility.

Mo Zi wasn’t foolish enough to compete with him over blame. “Your Majesty, the Crown Prince was bold and courageous. In that perilous situation, he was still concerned about General Xu. Mo Zi never expected he would run out from his hiding place. And the Daqiu archer whose legs had been severed by General Xiao—Mo Zi never expected he still had the strength to shoot that fatal arrow.”

This time the Emperor wasn’t persuaded by Mo Zi’s silver tongue. He walked up to her, his face full of fury. “At this point, you still quibble with clever arguments and utter nonsense. I know very well what kind of person my Crown Prince was. If you don’t tell the truth now, I can no longer be lenient. Let me ask you—did the Crown Prince truly only seek you out for drinks?”

“Your Majesty—” Xiao Wei tried to speak.

Mo Zi cut in first. “Why does Your Majesty not believe what General Geng said? When the Crown Prince insisted I accompany him out of the city, General Xu sent a Qianniu Guard into the palace to report this, specifically to inform Your Majesty.”

“I have already had people question the palace gate guards. They never saw this Qianniu Guard.” From this, the Emperor sensed something was wrong. “Though the Crown Prince was willful, he wouldn’t dare touch my guards. Mo Zi, you must speak truthfully. Geng Wo was hesitant and evasive, as if greatly troubled. Do you think I am an incompetent ruler who only wants to find someone to blame for the Crown Prince’s death? I only want to know the truth! I don’t want to hear a single false word. Bold and courageous? Hmph—I’m truly impressed you could say such a thing.”

Mo Zi straightened her lips into a line. “The Crown Prince was quite bold and presumptuous in his words to Mo Zi. Outside the traveling palace, relying on his hundreds of soldiers, he was even more explicit in demanding Mo Zi submit to his pleasure. Mo Zi didn’t speak of this not because I feared Your Majesty would be partial, but because the matter has passed, I suffered no harm, and His Highness has already died a tragic death—therefore there was really no need to speak of it. Moreover, behind all this were Daqiu manipulations, and the Crown Prince was the greatest victim.”

“The greatest victim?” The Emperor, beyond his grief, felt deep disappointment in his son. “If he hadn’t been careless and listened to others’ provocations, how would he have lost his life? Daqiu people? He was the one who brought them in. I heard he was obsessed with beauty, but seeing his behavior during his regency was fairly proper, I thought he had matured with age and knew right from wrong. I never imagined that not only had he not reformed, but he’d gotten worse, even daring to lust after court officials. This son disappointed me again and again, and to his death he never did a single thing I could be proud of.”

“Your Majesty, please restrain your grief. The dragon body is most important.” Mo Zi knelt looking at the Emperor. Though his eldest son was worthless, they were still connected by blood. The usually spirited Emperor now showed signs of age from sorrow.

“Are you two certain this was Daqiu’s doing? If it truly is, I will no longer show weakness to Daqiu. Today they dared to kill the Crown Prince—tomorrow they’ll dare to kill me.” The Emperor finally grew furious. “No need to wait for tomorrow—the assassins who came to kill me today were most likely also their doing.”

“Daqiu cavalry ambushed us outside the city. Not only did we personally experience it, but over a hundred city defense soldiers witnessed it—the evidence is irrefutable. And the Eastern Palace’s Miss Mingmei attempted to harm Mo Zi and personally said she was following orders. Her suspicion as a spy cannot be washed away. Eunuch Zhong is also suspicious—it seems the entire Eastern Palace was under their surveillance. This subject has already sent people to secretly observe, hoping he’ll reveal some trace that will lead to the mastermind behind harming the Crown Prince. Even if it wasn’t Daqiu people directly, it’s still inseparable from Daqiu.” Xiao Wei reported. “Mingmei was clearly sent by Consort Xiang, planted in the Eastern Palace to gather information about Great Zhou, but her conversation with Eunuch Zhong was most intriguing. What did she mean by ‘how much longer the Crown Prince can live, Eunuch Zhong knows best’? These two seem not to serve the same master, yet both harbored malicious intent toward the Crown Prince.”

“This was also my negligence.” After grief and anger, once calm, the Emperor was quite astute. “Xiao Wei, I command you to thoroughly investigate the backgrounds of everyone in the Eastern Palace. Moreover, if the Eastern Palace has Daqiu spies, the imperial palace is probably not secure either. You must begin this matter immediately. I grant you an imperial edict—all internal bureaus shall follow your orders and cooperate with the investigation.”

“This subject obeys the command.” Xiao Wei received the edict. “However, capturing the assassins is also urgent.”

“I have already entrusted that matter to Li Ren and Wei Jia. You may focus elsewhere.” The Emperor had made arrangements.

Li Ren was the current Left Grand Chancellor, known for being humble and accommodating. Last time during the conference with Daqiu and Nande, he had led the negotiations. Later, when the Emperor made sacrificial offerings to Heaven, Li Ren accompanied him, then was temporarily assigned to inspect other provinces, only returning to the capital recently.

Therefore, upon hearing that Chancellor Li would handle it, Xiao Wei felt relieved.

“Mo Zi.” The Emperor also had orders for her. “You’ve only been back two days, yet I was attacked and the Crown Prince died, and my zhonglang general perished. In my view, you should stay in your residence and come out less.”

Mo Zi couldn’t cry injustice. The fact was that Consort Xiang had wanted to pin the Crown Prince’s murder on her. To have it erased with Xiao Wei’s help was already fortunate. If the Emperor learned that the Crown Prince’s death today had something to do with her, it probably wouldn’t be as simple as just narrowing the scope of house arrest.

“Yes.” However, as her freedom became increasingly restricted, she was growing somewhat impatient. But her impatience would never show on her face.

“Your Majesty, Mo Zi has done nothing wrong.” Mo Zi swallowed her frustration, but Xiao Wei wasn’t willing to accept it.

Mo Zi thought to herself: he’s gone too far.

The Emperor’s gaze held scrutiny. “Baiyu, you two have traveled together all this way, and you seem much more harmonious than your previous awkwardness. Very good. One civil, one military; one craftsman, one general—if you two can work together in unity, it will also be a blessing for Great Zhou’s realm.”

These words sparked two different thoughts in those involved. One found it laughable—what did Great Zhou’s realm have to do with her, and now they were playing the “men and women working together aren’t tired” game? The other felt joy in his heart, hearing hope, his ears finding the words most pleasing.