The next day, as the evening prayer bells rang, a uniformly aligned troop of light cavalry passed through the gate tower of the General’s Mansion, pulling up in an orderly fashion in the courtyard before the main building.
The tricolor feathered marshal’s flag remained stark and eye-catching in the twilight. Bai Heting flipped down from his horse, and an attendant immediately took the reins, leading the mount away toward the stables.
Su Xingchuan came forward to greet him.
As usual, this thoughtful old steward handed Bai Heting a warm, damp towel to wipe away the surface dust gathered from his long journey.
“You’re tired from the road, I assume?” Su Xingchuan said gently. “Dinner is ready, including the apple pie you like.”
“Everyone knew I was coming back today?” Bai Heting took the towel, wiped himself down cursorily, and swept his gaze back and forth a few times across the crowd of bowing servants.
“Yes.” Su Xingchuan took back the used towel from his hand. “Everyone was notified yesterday after we received Adjutant Qiu’s letter.”
As usual, this thoughtful old steward would make thorough preparations before Bai Heting returned to the mansion; including cleaning his bedroom, changing into fresh bedding, preparing a palatable welcoming feast, and organizing the servants to welcome his triumphant return together in the courtyard.
He had never objected to this before. Su Xingchuan glanced at the crowd with him and asked, “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing.” Bai Heting withdrew his gaze and gestured for Qiu Chen to follow along. “The two of you come with me.”
Starting from last autumn, an armed group with Omegas as its core force had captured several strongholds in succession in the south. Unlike ordinary civil uprisings, these Omegas were not serfs pushed to the brink of survival by oppressive lords, but freemen from emerging cities who had received a certain level of basic education before their differentiation.
Omegas were considered “weaklings governed by their physiological cycles.” Furthermore, because they were expected to continuously bear children during their childbearing years, it was difficult for them to maintain a stable source of income. A civilian Omega who was still receiving an education was often viewed as a waste of social resources, and very few families were willing to pay for them to complete their studies. In the free cities, however, these Omegas who refused to marry spontaneously organized themselves, continuing their advanced studies in the form of underground groups.
Last year’s papal speech regarding suppressants became the trigger for their uprising.
The story sounded perfectly logical, but Bai Heting did not buy the word “spontaneous” in their confessions at all.
Clearly, someone had been providing this group of Omegas with funds, weapons, and medicine from behind the scenes. What particularly surprised him was that the suppressants they used were a new type never before seen on the market.
Yet, the medical academy’s research into new suppressants had already utterly collapsed last year.
The fireplace in the council chamber was burning brightly. Warming himself by the fire, Bai Heting unarmored while asking, “Did you look into his background?”
“We did, but found nothing unusual,” Su Xingchuan replied as he took the light armor while reporting the findings presented by the guard regiment one by one. “Both of his parents are vendors in the capital. He entered the university at sixteen, later became a lecturer’s assistant due to his outstanding grades, and even participated in the research of the new suppressants. He left the school after the suppressant research was halted last year.”
It was no different from the physician file Qiu Chen had initially brought forward. Bai Heting knitted his brows in contemplation, remaining silent.
“Why do you think he is suspicious?” Su Xingchuan said. “Someone with questionable background wouldn’t make it into His Majesty’s royal medical team.”
Indeed, it was precisely this point that gave Qiu Chen the confidence to let Zhou Chengbei into the General’s Mansion in the first place. Bai Yi was naturally suspicious; if the king’s men failed to find anything unusual, those green horns in the guard regiment would be even less likely to spot a flaw.
“Mister Su, do you remember,” Bai Heting said, “during my last heat before I left, Zhou Chengbei tested my tolerance to the suppressants once?”
“Of course I remember.” Su Xingchuan had a particularly deep impression of that test. It was precisely because the suppressants took effect so quickly that he felt at ease letting Bai Heting lead the troops south to quell the rebellion.
Bai Heting let out a cold laugh. “But after I arrived in the south, the suppressants never took effect once.”
Su Xingchuan froze for a moment, then turned his head to confirm with Qiu Chen, “Nothing happened, right?”
“You should thank those Omegas…” Feeling unburdened after stripping off his armor, Bai Heting comfortably stretched his shoulders before the warm fireplace, omitting the parts that would make the old steward jump. “Later on, I used the suppressants confiscated from them.”
Su Xingchuan raised his voice, “You used something of unknown origin on yourself?!”
Qiu Chen, who had remained silent all along, let out a heavy sigh from the side.
Bai Heting disliked this overly alarmed reaction of his.
“Those Omegas already tested it for me. Besides, it works much better than the suppressants I used to have.” Having said that, he paced thoughtfully before the fireplace for a few steps before sitting down on a single-seater sofa. “The crux of the issue is that someone managed to create the new suppressants before the medical academy did and then supplied them to the rebels.”
The medical academy had always represented the highest level of medicine in the country, and the most excellent physicians would be summoned to the palace to become royal physicians. Now, it seemed that was no longer the case.
Although there was no tangible evidence, Bai Heting had a nagging feeling—Zhou Chengbei was holding something back from him.
But having rushed for three consecutive days on the road without a single night of good sleep, let alone a proper meal, he really did not wish to dwell further on these chaotic, head-splitting matters. “Let’s leave it at that for now,” he ordered. “Have them continue the investigation.”
Su Xingchuan, however, still had official business to report. “There is one more thing. On the day of the heavy snow at the end of last month, General Shao met with the Pope once at that estate, but it remains unclear what they discussed.”
Last autumn, Bai Heting selected a group of elite members from the guard corps and dispatched them to secretly monitor the movements of the Church. The results exceeded expectations. Not only did they uncover a secluded estate belonging to the pope on the outskirts of the capital, but they also repeatedly spotted the pope’s personal attendant entering and leaving Shao Cheng’s official residence.
This made Shao Cheng’s detached and indifferent attitude toward the Church during the royal council meetings particularly thought-provoking.
Su Xingchuan spoke again, “The cavalry is currently receiving religious services, so it cannot be ruled out that the two were merely discussing routine matters within the military camp.”
“Routine matters?” Bai Heting scoffed softly. “Would they really need to deliberately brave the wind and snow to go there to talk about routine matters?”
He pondered for a moment and said to Qiu Chen, “That man surnamed Shao is exceptionally cautious. Tell them to start their approach through those fools instead.”
Qiu Chen bowed and replied, “Yes.”
“Is there anything else? I am starving.” Bai Heting stood up from the sofa.
Su Xingchuan hesitated slightly, then said, “There is.”
“Speak.” Bai Heting began to walk out, a hint of impatience creeping into his tone.
Su Xingchuan had not yet figured out how to open his mouth.
When Luo Congye, who had been missing for several years, reappeared in the General’s Mansion, his surprise was superseded mostly by joy. However, as the head steward of the mansion, it took him very little effort to learn the real reason behind Luo Congye’s return.
Yet, the changes in Luo Congye left him with a complicated mix of emotions. The boy had grown even quieter than he had been as a child, and whenever Bai Heting called for him, he would spend the next several days looking noticeably downcast.
Furthermore…
The young man who used to be the most enthusiastic about welcoming the general home in the entire mansion was absent this evening.
But he knew better than to ask questions he shouldn’t ask or comment on matters that weren’t his place to judge. For someone like him, that was how one survived.
“During the time you were away,” Su Xingchuan followed behind him, lowering his voice, “Physician Zhou… has been getting very close to Luo Congye.”
Bai Heting stopped dead in his tracks and turned back to look at him.
A flash of bewilderment crossed those beautiful, light brown eyes for an instant, before quickly restoring their composure.
Bai Heting nodded and said, “Understood.”
