Everyone looked up, all forgetting their actions. They saw a man approaching slowly with his hands behind his back. His substantial gaze swept over them, and he smiled lightly: “Ah, how lively.”
Those who had been standing, kneeling, or preparing to act all fell to their knees again in a rush.
Su Cen stared at the newcomer in a daze, and as he lowered his head to kneel, his nose inexplicably stung.
He had thought he could handle things independently, that he could clear the names of those who died unjustly through his own efforts. Facing Empress Dowager Chu, facing the supreme imperial power, he thought he was fearless. Only when Li Shi arrived did he suddenly realize that he wasn’t actually that strong.
He would also be afraid, would also feel wronged, and his fingertips were still trembling.
Li Shi walked to Su Cen’s side and patted his shoulder gently: “Get up.”
Su Cen silently stood up, staying close behind Li Shi. Looking at the broad back before him, he suddenly felt at peace.
Li Shi looked down at the blood on the ground and the pale-faced little eunuch, understanding the general situation. He turned back to ask Su Cen: “What happened to this person?”
Su Cen replied: “According to the testimonies of Liu Cheng and Zhang He, this person may be connected to Tian Pingzhi’s murder.”
Li Shi nodded lightly and said matter-of-factly: “Then why are you still standing there? Why not take him back for interrogation?”
Su Cen immediately accepted the order.
“Wait,” Empress Dowager Chu, who had been ignored on the side, was already dark-faced. She said coldly: “A mere Dali Temple official interrogating someone from my imperial household—this isn’t proper procedure.”
Li Shi finally deigned to give her a glance, raising an eyebrow with contempt mixed with natural authority: “Is Tian Pingzhi one of your imperial household?”
Empress Dowager Chu trembled with anger and said through gritted teeth: “This eunuch is my person!”
“One shouldn’t claim people carelessly. If he really did kill someone, be careful not to get burned.”
Empress Dowager Chu stamped her foot: “You!”
Li Shi paid no attention and turned around, walking leisurely while saying: “Since Tian Pingzhi isn’t your person, and this one is suspected of murdering an innocent civilian, the Dali Temple has the authority to take him back for questioning. Even the Son of Heaven is subject to the same laws as commoners, let alone a servant.”
Li Shi raised his hand slightly: “Take him away.”
Su Cen was overjoyed and immediately called for the people waiting outside the Palace Attendants’ Office to take away the little eunuch who had already collapsed from pain.
Empress Dowager Chu could only stand aside and glare, unable to say a word in rebuttal.
The commotion finally ended. Li Shi looked at the messy courtyard and frowned, perhaps also finding the smell of blood offensive. He said to Su Cen: “Let’s go.”
Su Cen had already had enough of this place and immediately followed closely behind. Just as they stepped out of the Palace Attendants’ Office gate, he heard Empress Dowager Chu’s sarcastic cold laugh from behind: “Don’t think no one knows about your little relationship. As regent prince, you’re brazenly violating Emperor Taizong’s testament—you’re disgracing the Great Zhou!”
Su Cen’s steps faltered as a chill swept over him. Despite all his precautions and careful attention, he ultimately couldn’t avoid every oversight. He knew Li Shi was upright and had never bothered to hide their relationship. Li Shi didn’t care, but Su Cen had to care for him. If people knew the regent prince himself violated ancestral laws, how could he govern? How could he command respect? What would the court officials think? What would the people of the realm think?
Li Shi seemed to sense Su Cen’s distress. His steps quietly paused, and he turned his head slightly back toward Empress Dowager Chu: “That bit of testament Father Emperor left behind—hasn’t it already been trampled on by all of you?”
Empress Dowager Chu froze in place, suddenly feeling a bone-chilling sensation.
Only after Li Shi had completely disappeared did Empress Dowager Chu come to her senses. Having someone forcibly taken away by Li Shi in public, she couldn’t save face. Her phoenix eyes swept over the onlookers, and she flung her sleeve: “Let’s go!”
The eunuch behind her immediately shouted at the top of his voice: “The Empress Dowager departs for the palace!”
After the phoenix carriage left the Palace Attendants’ Office, Empress Dowager Chu suddenly looked stern and gave a meaningful glance to the eunuch beside her. The eunuch immediately understood, dismissed the idle personnel, and approached her.
“How did Little Six end up here?” Empress Dowager Chu frowned slightly. “Isn’t he supposed to be keeping vigil for the former emperor at Zhaoling?”
“Yes,” the eunuch was also puzzled. “I was startled when I first saw him, until I saw his finger and confirmed I hadn’t mistaken him.”
“Where is his finger?”
The eunuch looked around, then quietly pulled out a small severed finger from his sleeve.
Empress Dowager Chu moved away in disgust and waved her hand: “Find a place to dispose of it, don’t let anyone see.”
The eunuch immediately obeyed and tucked it away, then said: “Now that Little Six has been taken away by Su Cen, will he reveal everything about what happened back then?”
Empress Dowager Chu leaned against the phoenix carriage and gently shook her head: “If he has any brains, he should know that revealing what happened back then would mean certain death. If he wants to live, he must keep his mouth shut like he did today.”
The eunuch thought carefully and realized this made sense, immediately flattering: “The Empress Dowager is right.”
After walking a few more steps, Empress Dowager Chu suddenly said: “Little Six wouldn’t have come back on his own, unless… someone made him come back.”
The eunuch was alarmed: “Then this person…”
“Where is Lu Xun?” Empress Dowager Chu asked with lowered eyes. “Have him come see me.”
The eunuch looked troubled: “Lord Lu… he left the palace and hasn’t been in the capital for several days. I don’t know what business he has.”
“Lu Xun…” Empress Dowager Chu narrowed her phoenix eyes and said softly: “What exactly are you trying to do?”
Following Li Shi all the way out of the palace gates, Su Cen finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. He turned back to instruct the Dali Temple personnel to take Little Six back to the temple first, guard him well, and find a doctor to properly treat his wounds.
After giving these instructions, he turned around to see Li Shi had already boarded his carriage, which had turned around and was about to leave.
Su Cen immediately quickened his pace to catch up, boarding the carriage just before it started moving. He complained to the person sitting calmly inside: “Why didn’t you wait for me?”
Li Shi smiled coldly: “How rare that Lord Su still remembers me.”
Su Cen was taken aback, then suddenly wanted to laugh, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He had been busy with Tian Pingzhi’s case these past two days and hadn’t been to Xingqing Palace for some time. Li Shi’s tone sounded somewhat like he was complaining about being neglected.
“You still have the nerve to laugh.” Li Shi gave him a cold look. Su Cen immediately stopped laughing, moved over to sit beside Li Shi, and obediently served tea, presenting a cup at the perfect temperature.
Li Shi accepted it, skimmed the tea foam and asked: “Not working on the case today?”
“Not today,” Su Cen immediately shook his head, then tactfully knelt on the couch to gently massage Li Shi’s shoulders and neck.
“You finally caught someone and you’re not interrogating him?”
Su Cen gently shook his head, leaning close to Li Shi’s ear: “I’ve already had him taken back and detained. I’ll interrogate him tomorrow. Family matters, state affairs, worldly affairs—family matters come first. Today I’m not going anywhere, just staying with the Prince.”
The warm, fine breath tickled his ear slightly, and Su Cen deliberately maintained a distance—close yet always just short of something more, gradually drawing out the desire that had been suppressed for several days.
Li Shi reached back and patted Su Cen’s bottom: “Little rascal.”
Getting better at seduction.
Su Cen was just testing whether this old fox was truly angry. He certainly didn’t want to be taken advantage of right there in the carriage. After teasing Li Shi a few times, he stopped, resting his chin lightly on Li Shi’s shoulder: “I was scared today.”
“Ha, so you do know fear?”
Though he said this, his heart still ached. He put down his teacup and pulled Su Cen into his arms, not letting him move anymore.
Su Cen lay against Li Shi’s chest, not yet understanding what Li Shi intended to do, when he suddenly felt a hand gently placed on his back, stroking from top to bottom.
Su Cen suddenly understood—Li Shi was smoothing his fur.
When he was young and started school early, the children at the private school bullied the weak and often picked on him. When he was frightened then, his elder brother would also smooth his fur, chanting, “Smooth, smooth the fur, don’t be scared.” When he grew older, those children no longer dared bully him. With his sharp tongue, he could make the teacher beam with joy, and his skillful manipulation of right and wrong made those who had once bullied him suffer plenty.
But once he was no longer bullied, he naturally lost his elder brother’s care. Looking back, this was perhaps the only regret in an otherwise perfect memory.
Li Shi’s palm was burning hot, his thumb ring slightly cool, gently stroking down along his spine. His usual dignity completely dissipated, revealing a touch of tenderness.
Su Cen gradually lost himself in Li Shi’s intermittent movements, pondering what exactly their relationship was.
Were they sovereign and subject? Elder and junior? Or perhaps… a pair of lovers who couldn’t see the light of day? He could feel the convenience of power and repeated protection, but that bit of love seemed to fall short—invisible, intangible. He couldn’t measure it as if it were substantial, and his heart remained uneasy.
So finally he simply raised his head and asked: “What Empress Dowager Chu said today—are you truly not afraid?”
Li Shi lowered his eyes slightly, like countless stars cascading down: “Afraid of what?”
“Afraid… that one day your power will be lost, you’ll be disgraced, and bear eternal infamy?”
Li Shi paused his hand and asked in return: “If one day I lose my power, am disgraced, and bear eternal infamy, what would you do?”
Su Cen said with certainty: “I would stay with you.”
“Then that’s settled.” Li Shi smiled faintly, like gentle wine slowly spreading. Su Cen suddenly felt as if he were drunk, intoxicated in a dream from which he couldn’t wake, willingly falling into depravity, sinking until death.
Whether it was the calming and sleep-inducing effect of the sandalwood scent on Li Shi, or whether that reassuring power came from Li Shi himself, Su Cen laid down his heavy burden and finally fell into an unconscious sleep in Li Shi’s arms.
He had a long, sweet dream. When Su Cen opened his eyes again, it was already dark. He stared blankly for a moment until a voice came from above: “Awake?”
Su Cen suddenly woke with a start and hurriedly sat up: “Where are we?”
Looking around, he discovered they were still in the same carriage.
Lifting the carriage curtain to look outside, he saw the carriage had stopped in front of Xingqing Palace. Li Shi, afraid of waking him, had deliberately not gotten out and was just waiting for him to wake up naturally.
He had been busy with the case these past few days and hadn’t had a proper sleep. He had finally come to Xingqing Palace to rest, but unexpectedly ended up taking a nap.
Su Cen scratched his head embarrassedly: “What time is it?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of wooden clappers from Chang’an city rang out, carried across the residential districts. Su Cen counted the sounds and was shocked to discover it was already the hai hour (9-11 PM).
Li Shi had waited for him in the carriage for a full two hours!
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Su Cen felt deeply guilty. Prince Ning handled countless affairs daily, and who knows how many matters his sleep had delayed. Looking again, he saw several stacks of memorials on the carriage table, with faint traces of vermillion visible—they had already been reviewed.
Li Shi stretched his limbs that had gone numb from Su Cen’s weight: “I was sleeping too.”
Su Cen didn’t call him out on this, thinking that although Li Shi’s carriage was large, staying inside for several hours would probably be stifling. Just as he was about to get up, Li Shi pulled him back: “Eaten your fill and slept enough, and now you want to leave?”
Su Cen, still not fully awake, said offhandedly: “I haven’t eaten yet.”
Li Shi pressed him down beneath him in one smooth motion, first tasting his lips briefly, savoring the moment, then suddenly smiled: “No rush, I’ll feed you.”
Before Su Cen could voice a protest, his lips were sealed. Li Shi impatiently began undressing him, but finally finding it too slow, simply swept his hand across, and the sound of tearing silk rang out.
Earlier, while reviewing memorials, every time Li Shi looked down he saw that peaceful, serene appearance—eyelashes trembling lightly with each breath, red lips and white teeth. He had restrained himself again and again to avoid pulling the man up and taking him right then and there.
The carriage outside Xingqing Palace creaked and swayed until midnight, and in the end, Su Cen was carried back to the bedchamber wrapped in a brocade quilt.
When asked what he wanted to eat, Su Cen bit hard into Li Shi’s shoulder—eat what? He was already full.
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(advanced chapters available on kofi)
