Su Cen had initially struggled a bit, but upon hearing Prince Ning say he “hadn’t slept for two days and a night,” he suddenly felt a pang of heartache. It was like biting into what he thought was a sweet date, only to find it was a sour plum, unexpectedly stinging his teeth to the root, making his heart ache.
He immediately stopped moving.
Prince Ning chuckled softly, patting Su Cen’s back. “Come up.”
Su Cen took off his clothes and climbed onto the bed, nestling in Prince Ning’s arms to act as the calming incense.
Prince Ning said, “Tell me more about your case.”
Su Cen frowned, “Weren’t you going to sleep?”
Prince Ning’s lips curled into a smile, “Are you that eager to sleep with me?”
Su Cen’s face reddened, thinking to himself that this old fox was never serious. Then he heard Prince Ning say, “I can’t fall asleep right away. Tell me about it.”
Su Cen’s heart settled back into warm water. He organized his thoughts and began to speak.
“The case started eleven years ago. There was a wealthy family in the deep mountains of Sichuan… That’s why Xu Youhuai burned so quickly… Several of the Xu family’s servants saw it… Those three skulls… just floating… floating… ah, floating…”
In the end, it was Su Cen who fell asleep first.
Prince Ning looked down at the person in his arms, sleeping peacefully. Su Cen’s long eyelashes drooped, trembling slightly with each breath. His body was soft, his breathing light and even. Without his usual cunning fox-like expression, he looked like a contented little rabbit.
The pain that had been tugging at Prince Ning’s mind seemed to subside a little.
The next day, Su Cen woke up when the sun was already high in the sky. The spot beside him had been cold for quite some time.
Su Cen felt both regretful and embarrassed as he recalled falling asleep before Prince Ning. But then he thought, since Prince Ning had already gotten up, did that mean… he had slept well last night?
After dressing and getting out of bed, Su Cen hurriedly went out to look for Prince Ning, only to be told that he had already left for the morning court session.
A servant asked if he wanted breakfast.
Su Cen waved the servant away. As everything suddenly became quiet around him, Su Cen didn’t know what to do, so he simply sat down on the steps in front of the bedchamber.
The sandalwood incense in Xingqing Palace had a sleep-inducing and calming effect. He had experienced it several times before – when that incense was lit, he could sleep for three days without waking up. Prince Ning always carried that sandalwood scent with him, presumably burning it every night. Did that mean he had trouble sleeping every night?
Was it because he was constantly worrying about family and state affairs, or was there something troubling his heart?
But even in the most serious situations before, he had never missed a morning court session. So the excuse of “oversleeping” was obviously not credible. What could be so serious that it would make Prince Ning miss the morning court? Last night, he had carefully examined Prince Ning and found no new injuries. Could it be some internal injury from his previous military campaigns?
But he didn’t seem injured yesterday.
Su Cen rested his chin on his right hand. Had he always imagined Prince Ning to be too strong, like steel and iron, as solid as a rock, impervious to wind and rain? He hadn’t considered that even the most imposing figure was still made of flesh and blood, needing to eat, needing to rest, capable of being injured, bleeding, and feeling pain.
When Prince Ning had been shot in the chest by an arrow from the secret passage people, Su Cen hadn’t felt this heartbroken. But this time, just hearing Prince Ning say he couldn’t sleep made him feel unbearably distressed.
Su Cen made up his mind that he should come here more often in the future. Didn’t Prince Ning say he was more effective than calming incense? He could be a human-shaped calming incense for him.
As he was lost in thought, a shadow suddenly fell over him. He looked up and found himself falling into those deep, unfathomable eyes.
Su Cen smiled brightly, “You’re back?”
Prince Ning frowned, “Why are you sitting here?” He extended a hand, holding it in mid-air.
Su Cen took the hand and stood up, reluctant to let it go.
Prince Ning smiled, allowing Su Cen to hold his hand as they walked side by side.
“Was there anything interesting in today’s court session?” Su Cen asked.
“What would you consider interesting?”
Su Cen thought for a moment, “For example, did you and Minister Liu argue again?”
Prince Ning looked at Su Cen with a smile, “When have I ever argued with him?”
Su Cen: “…”
Indeed, Prince Ning’s words were worth their weight in gold. Often, just one or two words would leave others speechless. When Prince Ning truly spoke up, it was usually the young emperor who got hurt…
“There is one thing that might be considered interesting,” Prince Ning lightly tapped Su Cen’s palm with his index finger. “The Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices are preparing to hold another heavenly sacrifice ceremony.”
“Another heavenly sacrifice?” Su Cen was surprised, but then understood. The heavenly sacrifice was a major event of the year, both to honor the imperial ancestral temple and to pray for the people’s well-being. Even with Prince Ning’s repeated restrictions on the Court of Imperial Sacrifices’ activities, he had never interfered with the heavenly sacrifice. If the coming year brought good weather and harvests, it would be fine, but if anything went wrong, people would surely blame it on this sacrifice ceremony.
The sacrifice had to be performed, but the key was… Su Cen frowned and looked at Prince Ning, “Is the young emperor willing to go?”
Prince Ning laughed, “His face turned pale at the mention of the sacrifice. If there weren’t so many people watching, he probably would have cried on the spot.”
Su Cen imagined the little boy’s pouting face with tears welling up, and couldn’t help but laugh. After laughing, he became worried again. The sacrifice had to be performed, but the person was unwilling to go. “So what should be done?”
Prince Ning stopped walking and looked at Su Cen, his gaze suddenly becoming meaningful.
Su Cen was confused by this look and couldn’t help touching his face, “What, what is it?”
Prince Ning smiled gently, “Su Cen, receive the imperial edict.”
Su Cen was stunned. He immediately let go of Prince Ning’s hand and knelt down on both knees. He heard Prince Ning say, “Su Cen, Assistant Magistrate of the Dali Temple, for his impartiality and solving of numerous strange cases, is promoted to Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple and appointed as Ritual Officer of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He shall attend to the emperor’s side and assist in the sacrificial rites.”
Su Cen remained kneeling, unable to process what he had just heard for a long time. He wasn’t surprised about being promoted to Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple- with the resolution of the heaven sacrifice case, this was almost certain. What shocked him was the title of “Ritual Officer of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.”
Compared to the previous position of “Xima in the Bureau of Classics and Records” that Prince Ning had arranged for him, which was merely a token for entering and exiting the palace, this new position of “Ritual Officer” was a real official post. It meant that he would now have a say in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and possess actual authority. Given that the Court of Imperial Sacrifices had repeatedly used supernatural claims to take cases from the Dali Temple, in the future, if anyone tried to do so again, he could reject them himself.
Moreover, the phrase “attend to the emperor’s side and assist in the sacrificial rites” meant that he would accompany the young emperor and participate in the sacrificial ceremonies. In other words – he would be joining Prince Ning in worshipping Heaven and Earth and paying respects to the Li family ancestors!
Su Cen felt his mind go blank for a moment. He looked up at Prince Ning, forgetting even to thank him for the imperial edict.
Prince Ning seemed quite satisfied with Su Cen’s expression and smiled, “What’s wrong? Are you unwilling?”
Su Cen finally came to his senses and hurriedly said, “Willing, willing! But… but why me?”
Prince Ning helped him up and said with a smile, “Zhuo’er specifically asked for you to accompany him. You solved the heaven sacrifice case, so in his eyes, you’re a deity who can vanquish evil spirits. He only dares to perform the sacrifice again with you by his side.”
“If I had known, I would have made it sound even more mysterious,” Su Cen also smiled. “It would be better if I could accompany the sacrifice every year from now on.”
Prince Ning pinched Su Cen’s chin, “Don’t push your luck.”
As they spoke, the two had walked past the Dragon Pool and arrived in front of the Diligent Governance Hall. Su Cen knew that the busy Prince Ning had to attend to official matters again, but he was reluctant to leave. So he volunteered to grind ink for him.
While grinding the ink, Su Cen had a mischievous thought. He secretly took out the ink stick from Li Yunxi and mixed it with Prince Ning’s ink.
However, Prince Ning’s keen eye caught this small trick immediately after writing just one stroke. He asked directly, “What are you up to now?”
Su Cen was secretly amazed, thinking to himself that these royal relatives were indeed particular, able to notice even the slightest difference. No longer hiding it, he explained about helping Li Yunxi with the painting, and finally said, “I accepted an ink stick from him, so I kept this matter secret. Now that you’ve used it too, let’s consider it settled since we’ve both benefited from his gift.”
Prince Ning raised an eyebrow and continued writing while saying, “So this bribery also involves forced buying and selling.”
“That person is barely twenty years old, sickly and particularly pitiful. Moreover, he’s an excellent painter. I couldn’t even tell his ‘Lotus and Sandpipers’ painting was fake until he told me,” Su Cen pleaded. “You haven’t lost anything anyway, so can we just consider it a good deed?”
“It would have been fine before,” Prince Ning said without looking up, “but now it’s not.”
Su Cen paused, “Why not?”
Prince Ning, while reading a memorial from Lingnan, said, “Barely twenty years old, an excellent painter, and pitiful. I find it hard to believe that just an ink stick could buy off Lord Su.”
Su Cen: “What else then?”
Prince Ning chuckled lightly, “Isn’t Lord Su well-versed in the dealings of officialdom?”
Su Cen then remembered that his entry into Xingqing Palace was indeed a deal with Prince Ning.
Su Cen gritted his teeth in anger, “I’m not…”
“But I am,” Prince Ning dipped his brush in cinnabar, as if intentionally reminding him. “I don’t care what deal you made with him, I just want to know what deal you’re making with me?”
Su Cen’s face suddenly turned red. Last time, right here, he had been pressed against the table, his face smeared with cinnabar, nearly losing his life. How could he be so forgetful now, daring to talk about deals here again?
Before he could think of how to respond, Qi Lin entered with a bowl of medicine, reminding Prince Ning it was time to take his medicine.
Su Cen frowned. So he was indeed ill, but what illness? What medicine was he taking?
Qi Lin put down the medicine bowl and stood by, not leaving. Prince Ning no longer mentioned the deal, and Su Cen was glad to change the subject.
However, they waited and waited until the medicine was almost cold, and Prince Ning still showed no sign of movement.
After a while longer, Su Cen resigned himself to picking up the medicine bowl and bringing a spoonful to Prince Ning’s lips.
Prince Ning ignored it completely.
Su Cen was at a loss for words. Over such a small matter, this person was holding a grudge. After much internal struggle, Su Cen looked up at Qi Lin, waiting until he tactfully averted his gaze, before bringing the spoon to his own mouth.
However, before Su Cen could transfer the medicine to Prince Ning’s mouth, he couldn’t help but choke, his face scrunching up in disbelief: “What kind of medicine is this? Is it made from Coptis? How can it be so bitter?”
Prince Ning laughed heartily, took the medicine bowl, and drank it all in one go. “It’s still Zi Xu who’s willing to share both the sweet and the bitter with me.”
![Flying Dust [Fei Chen]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/9k.png "Flying Dust [Fei Chen]")