Originally thinking that the old fox had already had his fill in the carriage, back on the large bed in the bedchamber, Su Cen stretched lazily, physically and mentally exhausted. The loosely draped brocade quilt slipped away, revealing lotus-like shoulders.
Su Cen didn’t notice a pair of eyes behind the nearby desk narrow slightly, followed by a low, rich voice: “Zixu, pour me some water.”
Su Cen poked his head out to look at the tea room, then at Prince Ning who was wholeheartedly devoted to state affairs at his desk, thinking to himself that a master was indeed a master—even drinking water required someone else’s service.
Lifting the brocade quilt to look inside, his clothes were naturally gone. Looking around, there was nothing suitable to cover himself with. Seeing Li Shi about to frown again, Su Cen simply threw off the quilt and got out of bed—he wasn’t the one who had undressed, so acting coy would make him seem guilty and less than forthright.
He had only half-finished brewing the tea when Su Cen sensed movement behind him. Before he could turn around, he was pressed down onto the tea table.
Tea spilled everywhere, filling the air with its fragrance. Li Shi used Su Cen’s hand to bring the mostly spilled tea to his lips, took a sip, and smiled: “Indeed, excellent tea.”
Su Cen turned his head to curse “old fox,” his eyes sharp and particularly striking. Li Shi gripped that lean chin, forcing him to raise his head, then transferred that mouthful of tea to his mouth.
The simple, elegant tea room was thoroughly disrupted, the clear, refined tea water spilled all over the floor. The two men pressed against each other, entangled, accommodating each other, turning day to night, overturning clouds and rain.
When it ended, the night was half over, and the two slept with necks entwined, inseparable.
The next day Su Cen was indeed late again, dragging his court robes in one hand and his ceremonial cap in the other as he climbed into Li Shi’s convenient ride. Before boarding, he tried to cover up by explaining to Qi Lin at length—in summary: he was tired from recent hard work, definitely not from excessive indulgence or being unable to get out of bed after being thoroughly taken.
Qi Lin nodded expressionlessly: “Ling’er is still sleeping too.”
Su Cen entered the carriage with an indignant expression, grumbling inwardly that if he ever truly became Princess Ning, the first thing he’d do would be to kick Qi Lin out!
After hurriedly dressing and arranging his hair in the carriage, he looked up to see Li Shi also leaning against the embroidered cushions with his eyes closed, resting. He couldn’t help but feel smug—it seemed he wasn’t the only one suffering from excessive indulgence.
Hearing no more movement nearby, Li Shi raised his eyes slightly and pointed to a rather exquisite box on the table.
Su Cen moved over and opened the lid to see neatly arranged plates of pastries inside, all famous varieties from Chang’an, some still warm.
Su Cen casually picked up a jade belt cake. It was sweet and fragrant without being cloying, making him smile and ask: “When did you buy all this?”
Li Shi: “While you were sleeping.”
Su Cen: “…”
After eating and drinking his fill, Su Cen’s drowsiness had mostly dissipated. Seeing the palace gates approaching, he suddenly straightened up: “I want to ask you something.”
Actually, he had wanted to say this yesterday, or rather, even if Li Shi hadn’t gone to the palace to rescue him yesterday, he would have gone to Xingqing Palace anyway. It was just that last night the two of them were like newlyweds after a brief separation, with passion running high, so he hadn’t spoken up, and Li Shi hadn’t given him a chance to speak either.
Li Shi opened his eyes to look at Su Cen, then after a moment nodded: “Ask away.”
Su Cen knelt on one leg on the embroidered couch, leaning his body somewhat toward Li Shi’s direction: “I want to hear you tell me in detail about the Battle of Surrender City back then.”
Li Shi was only stunned for an instant, then asked: “How so, is it related to your case?”
Su Cen nodded: “Tian Pingzhi was murdered around the time of the Battle of Surrender City. He was just a scholar coming to the capital for examinations, yet he involved several factions wanting to kill him, even implicating palace figures. I’m not sure if these two events are related, so I wanted to hear you tell it in detail to see if I can find any connection.”
This question was somewhat presumptuous. As a prince, Li Shi had no obligation to help him worry about such a minor case. But Li Shi simply looked up to recall, then began speaking unhurriedly: “It was just after the New Year when news suddenly came from the capital that Father Emperor was critically ill and summoned me urgently back to the capital. After years of confrontation, the main Turkic forces were in decline and the border situation was relatively stable, so there was indeed no need for me to continue staying there. It was the end of the first month. The army was still outside the pass, and I took a team through Surrender City to enter the pass. That night, we camped on a riverbank thirty li outside Surrender City, not expecting the remaining Turkic tribes to suddenly unite and launch a major invasion of the Great Zhou border.”
“Suddenly invaded?”
Li Shi gently fingered the thumb ring on his hand. “The situation at that time was indeed somewhat abnormal, catching us completely off guard. The Turks were nomadic people, with each tribe having its own leader, often fighting internally over territory and water sources. At that time, their largest tribe, the Ashina, had already scattered. The others should have been busy scrambling for Ashina’s territory and electing a new khan. I never expected them to suddenly unite like that.”
Su Cen frowned deeply. Even now, recalling it still made him feel chilled to the bone. With enemy forces pressing down and Li Shi having only brought such a small contingent, facing dozens or even hundreds of times their numbers, most people would probably have gone weak in the knees just looking at the situation.
Su Cen reached out to grasp Li Shi’s hand, his fingertips ice-cold. “Why didn’t you retreat?”
Winning a battle wasn’t easy, but escaping under the protection of the Three Guards of Tuduo would have been quite simple. Moreover, he was carrying an imperial edict—even if he had truly retreated, no one could have said anything.
But why didn’t he retreat?
Li Shi leaned back against the couch and gently closed his eyes, his warm, steady palm patting Su Cen’s hand. “If I had left, what would have happened to the people behind me?”
Though it was such a casual statement, Su Cen’s heart suddenly ached terribly.
When the Great Zhou was first established, to allow for recovery and rest, the policy was not to build the Great Wall, so borders were unclear and many Great Zhou citizens lived outside the pass. Precisely because of the lack of this defensive line, Surrender City played a crucial role. If it fell, the Turks’ advance into the Central Plains would be unstoppable, with unthinkable consequences.
He had always blamed Li Shi for treating human lives as worthless, but at this moment he suddenly wished Li Shi could be more selfish, not so concerned with the world, not always getting himself covered in wounds.
But Li Shi had already given him the answer through his actions.
So Li Shi had resolutely disobeyed the imperial edict on his way back to the capital, retreating to defend Surrender City, standing together with the Great Zhou people behind him.
This defense lasted a full month, causing him to miss the final meeting with his father, and missing what else… perhaps no one would ever know.
As the palace gates approached, Li Shi stopped at the right moment, cutting off all the hardships and bitter frost and snow, and said to Su Cen: “Is this useful to you?”
Su Cen nodded through gritted teeth, left behind the words “I’ll come over tonight,” and fled by lifting the carriage curtain.
Su Cen arrived at the Dali Temple right on time. After checking in, he went straight to the prison to interrogate the little eunuch brought out from the palace yesterday.
After a night’s rest, the little eunuch had recovered considerably and had the strength to argue sophistically, insisting that his hand was injured while helping Empress Dowager Chu trim flowers and plants, and that he had never known any Little Six.
Anyone with eyes could see that the wound had a clean cut, definitely not from trimming flowers and plants, and it was still fresh, obviously made recently. But without finding the severed finger, it was like lacking a layer of evidence. Su Cen even brought Zhang He to identify him, but the man still acted shamelessly and refused to admit he had ever delivered that secret edict.
The jailers all looked troubled. They had finally caught someone, but couldn’t pry open his mouth no matter what. Anyone guarding such a stubborn case would get frustrated.
Only Su Cen sat calmly behind the desk in the prison cell. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said: “Use torture.”
The jailers were all stunned, and even the eunuch suddenly raised his head. Lord Su’s aversion to torture had become an unspoken rule in the Dali Temple, but unexpectedly he would break precedent for this little eunuch.
The head jailer was the first to recover, bowing to ask: “My lord, what torture?”
A cold light flashed in Su Cen’s eyes: “Finger torture.”
The so-called finger torture involved placing several inch-long round wooden sticks connected with rope between the five fingers, then pulling the rope to clamp down on the victim’s fingers.
Hearing Su Cen’s order, the head jailer’s eyes immediately lit up. This torture was usually used on female criminals. Lord Su using it on this little eunuch was first to mock his neither-male-nor-female status, and second to awaken the eunuch’s memory of severed finger pain. Ten fingers connected to the heart—since he had already severed one, he shouldn’t fear being unable to remember.
Indeed, as soon as the torture device was brought out, the little eunuch became frightened, shrieking accusations that Su Cen was using torture to extract confessions. With one look from Su Cen, two jailers immediately stepped forward to hold down both hands. Just tearing off the bandages was enough to make the little eunuch scream wildly.
“The body and hair are received from one’s parents. Since you don’t cherish them yourself, you can’t blame others.” Su Cen said coldly, then without hesitation picked up a command token and threw it out.
The prison cell immediately filled with ghostly wails and wolf howls.
These jailers had originally thought Su Cen avoided torture because of his young age and inability to stomach bloody scenes, but they saw Su Cen staring intently at the tortured little eunuch with ice-cold eyes that chilled people’s hearts, showing no sign of fear.
The little eunuch was in such pain he nearly convulsed, his fingertips congested and purple, the spaces between his fingers already bloody and mangled.
Seeing the cries gradually weakening and the little eunuch about to collapse, Su Cen called for a stop. He personally came down to squat in front of the little eunuch: “Who is Little Six?”
The little eunuch’s lips trembled, and he shuddered upon meeting Su Cen’s gaze. Yesterday’s severed finger pain had been too piercing, and today’s finger torture felt like it would break all ten of his fingers. Moreover, from Su Cen’s eyes, he could see no mercy whatsoever.
The little eunuch had only hesitated for an instant when Su Cen was already standing up: “Continue.”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!!!” The little eunuch immediately used his bloody, mangled hands to grab at Su Cen. Unable to bend his fingers, he could only use his palms to block, terrified that if Su Cen left, he would have to continue enduring that heart-piercing pain.
What use was preserving life? Death wasn’t frightening—what was frightening was a fate worse than death!
Su Cen couldn’t be bothered to ask again. With a downward glance, the little eunuch immediately spilled everything like beans from a bamboo tube: “Little Six is me! I’m the Little Six who delivered messages to them back then!”
Su Cen looked down coldly: “Who told you to deliver the messages?”
“It was…” Little Six unconsciously swallowed, “It was… the former emperor…”
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
