Chapter 409: The Two Words "Emperor on the Table"

"Xu Fengnian."

A woman at the door called softly. Her appearance was ordinary, yet she carried an air of authority without needing to express anger. Beside her stood a young man who bore some resemblance to the First Prince, Zhao Wu, but unlike Zhao Wu's rugged demeanor, he exuded a more refined and scholarly aura, clearly an expert in cultivating jade. Zhao Wu, the boorish man who should have been infuriated by the immense humiliation, showed a fleeting hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, which only Xu Fengnian keenly caught. Even the woman, completely focused on the heir of Beiliang, probably didn't notice it. Xu Fengnian had intended to cast his line to draw out the hidden Eunuch Han, but instead, Empress Zhao Zhi and the Fourth Prince Zhao Zhuan surfaced. Smiling, Xu Fengnian slowly released Zhao Wu's neck, then turned and bowed slightly, his tone respectful, though his address was utterly disrespectful: "Your nephew greets Aunt Zhao."

Zhao Zhi's expression was complex, with deep-seated guilt rising to the surface. She said coldly, "This is the first time you've called me that, and it will be the last. Behave yourself."

The previous generation of the Xu and Zhao families had severed ties. Zhao Zhi, who had once harbored a sliver of sympathy for the Xu family, now personally extinguished that flickering flame of connection. She suddenly turned to see the grim-faced white-haired young man's expression soften into a warm, spring-like smile again. This sent an unspoken chill through Zhao Zhi. She wasn't afraid of this young man becoming another Xu Xiao; Xu Xiao's rise to power was due to the Spring and Autumn kingdoms conquered under his horse's hooves, making it almost impossible for anyone to achieve such status through military merit again. Nor was Zhao Zhi afraid of him inheriting the forthright character of that woman. What she feared most was him acting recklessly, biting like a mad dog. Zhao Wu helped up two Golden Blade Imperial Guards, whose injuries varied in severity. The Fourth Prince, Zhao Zhuan, stepped forward to assist the less injured one, instantly earning the gratitude of the imperial attendant. The two full brothers exchanged a quiet smile. Zhao Wu even turned, bared his teeth, and made a bloody throat-slitting gesture towards the Beiliang heir, while Zhao Zhuan gently pressed down Zhao Wu's hand and offered Xu Fengnian a slightly apologetic smile.

Princess Suizhu, Zhao Fengya, kept her head down, her expression unreadable. Chen Yu, who had fallen, remained unperturbed and composed, showing remarkable self-possession.

The three women entered the carriage, while the First Prince Zhao Wu and the Fourth Prince Zhao Zhuan rode on horseback as their escorts.

Such a retinue was truly astonishing.

Princess Suizhu's eyes and brows were filled with smiles, yet she muttered, "What a boor!"

Zhao Zhi shook her head and said, "The ladder was put up by your fourth brother, and Xu Fengnian is also clever. In this way, both families have climbed down the ladder."

Zhao Fengya was utterly confused. "I don't understand," she said.

Zhao Zhi lifted the curtain and glared at her clever son, Zhao Zhuan, who just grinned impishly and made a face.

Zhao Zhi stated plainly, "Xu Fengnian used this to tell our Zhao family that from now on, the Xu family will only guard the borders for the people of Liyang, and will have nothing to do with the Zhao family."

Zhao Fengya exclaimed angrily, "He's too audacious!"

Still not appeased, Zhao Fengya snorted, then began to laugh to herself, almost tearing up from the amusement. "Mother, if only I had Li Chungang's skills! I'd imitate the old Sword God and shout 'Money!', 'Horses!', 'Swords!' near Beiliang's border, and *whoosh*, Xu Fengnian's entire fortune would be gone, completely! Or I could be like the white-robed monk and hang the Yellow River over his head, and *splash*, drown him!"

Zhao Zhi lovingly patted her daughter's head. "Childish," she murmured, "Always acting like a child."

Zhao Fengya asked curiously, "Who was that proprietress? Last time, when Uncle Xu and I came here for mutton, she was also chatting and laughing."

A faint layer of melancholy clouded Zhao Zhi's face. She shook her head. "An old ledger that can't be settled," she said.

Zhao Fengya threw herself into the Empress's arms and whispered playfully, "Mother, tell me the truth. You're only a few years younger than Uncle Xu. Did you have a crush on him back then?"

Zhao Zhi was taken aback, then twisted her daughter's ear for her absurd words. "Utterly lawless! I need to marry you off soon!"

Chen Yu, who clearly had a deep estrangement from the mother and daughter, remained silent throughout, neither hearing, asking, listening, nor speaking.

In some places, tension was high.

In others, there was harmony.

Longhu and Wudang had contended for the position of the world's leading Taoist ancestral temple for centuries. Perhaps many had forgotten that 120 years prior, a young Taoist, like a wild fox immortal, had painted a talismanic dragon in Tai'an City. Legend had it that after its eyes were dotted, it ascended into the clouds. This rootless wanderer could summon wind and thunder, and exorcise spirits, single-handedly outshining Longhu and Wudang. He earned the esteem of the then-Liyang Emperor, was granted the title of "Great True Man, Taixuan Fuhua," overseeing the talismans of the Three Mountains, and presiding over the nation's Taoist affairs. His prayers for snow and rain, delivered by imperial decree, were unfailingly effective. Under the previous Liyang Emperor, he was additionally honored as the "Chongde Cult Master," and after the current emperor ascended the throne, he was further bestowed the title of "Great True Man, Taixuan Mingcheng." With such accumulated honors, even the ancestral tablets of the old Celestial Masters on Longhu Mountain could hardly compare. However, two cycles of sixty years later, the immortal's (who shared a surname with "Heaven") place of cultivation gradually fell into disrepair. No incense sticks were seen in the censer. The green pines and cypresses, particularly vibrant in winter, lacked any ethereal quality, instead appearing eerily gloomy. Under an old cypress tree, a small table was set, where two men drank. Behind them stood five maids: one plump maid warmed wine, and one slender maid brewed tea. The wine pot and tea stove were placed on separate sides of the table, clearly demarcated. The man drinking wine had a somber, withered face, appearing to be around forty, perhaps due to poor complexion, and a heavy air hung about him. The tea drinker, in contrast, was far more elegant and refined. His features were delicate, and even in the bustling capital, it was rare to find a man whose temperament immediately conveyed such an extraordinary and detached feeling. He took more meticulous care of himself than a woman.

Seventeen-star Yuan Benxi. Fourteen-star Nalan Youci.

Nalan Youci's five personal maids were known throughout the land. Their nicknames, Fengdu, Dongyue, Xishu, San Shi, and Cheng Lü, conveyed immense ambition. The tea-brewing maid was San Shi, and the wine-warming maid was Cheng Lü.

Nalan Youci lay on a sandalwood couch, stirring some incense. He asked with a smile, "Yuan Benxi, are you really going to cultivate Jin Lanting, that ungrateful wretch, as your second 'Green-Eyed Boy'? Be careful, you might lose everything. Although I haven't seen or heard him myself, others say his words and actions don't suggest he's a talent you can confidently entrust with great responsibilities. At most, he'd be good enough for a minor official position. He's fundamentally poor-spirited, and outwardly passionate; he's not a good person. If you let him assist in governing the state, aren't you afraid of working your whole life only to lose everything in the end?"

Yuan Benxi spoke indistinctly, "I'll handle matters in the capital; you don't need to worry about them."

Nalan Youci took a black-glazed teacup, his fingers tracing the rim. He sniffed the refreshing aroma, as if the tea could intoxicate. Squinting, he said, "I think Lu Xu, the strategist under Prince Jing'an, Zhao Xun, is quite good. Why don't you poach him? Without the young blind man's assistance, controlling Xiangfan, the strategic heartland, wouldn't it be entirely in your hands? Lu Xu could also conveniently inherit your strategic doctrines."

Yuan Benxi remained expressionless, slowly drinking his wine.

Nalan Youci slapped his forehead, either in self-mockery or amusement, then looked out at the winter scene in the courtyard. "I almost forgot. You, Yuan Benxi, have no heirs, making you no different from an eunuch. And your lack of enemies and factions is precisely what reassures the Zhao family. If you were to have an heir, that would be the day you, Yuan Benxi, are discarded like a donkey after grinding the mill. So, you really should envy me."

Yuan Benxi glanced at the man who stood behind Prince Yan Chi.

Nalan Youci let out a hearty laugh. "Is Lu Xu truly a pawn of Huang Longshi? What about Chen Yu, with her lofty and honored destiny?"

Yuan Benxi tilted his head back and quickly drank a cup of wine.

Nalan Youci knew his temperament and didn't bother to press further. He changed the subject. "You couldn't catch Huang Longshi, that nosy old mouse, in your own courtyard?"

Yuan Benxi shook his head.

Nalan Youci felt a chill. He raised his hand, and Fengdu, the maid whose skin was as smooth as congealed fat, bent down and gently took her master's fair, jade-like hand, placing it between her warm breasts. Only then did Nalan Youci languidly say, "It's quite amusing when you think about it. You, Yuan Benxi, single-handedly orchestrated the 'White Robe Case' in the capital and then persuaded Zhao Zhi to let that boy become a consort, all hoping for Beiliang's influence to end with this generation. Now, after so much anticipation, the Beiliang heir finally comes to the capital, yet he cannot be killed here. You have to protect him like your own son, and even Eunuch Han isn't allowed to cause trouble for him inside the city, only permitted to intercept and kill him beyond five hundred *li* of the capital."

Because he had cut off half an inch of his tongue years ago, Yuan Benxi spoke indistinctly, "If Xu Fengnian outlasts Chen Zhibao, then I've lost this chess game to Beiliang. Consider it my toast to Li Yishan."

Nalan Youci genuinely chuckled, "You're better than me in that regard, accepting defeat gracefully. I, however, lack such magnanimity. Otherwise, I might still be close friends with the man surnamed Xie. After his death, forget toasting him, I wanted to dig up his grave. I heard he had descendants, remnants who didn't carry his surname. I searched for years, digging three feet deep, but found no trace, until that 'Rouge List' informed me of a person named Nangong Pushe."

Yuan Benxi raised his arm, stopping his cup, his mind miles away, completely ignoring that remark.

Nalan Youci chuckled softly, "Feudatory princes inherit their titles by primogeniture, and according to clan laws, they need to observe three years of mourning. I suspect Xu Xiao will certainly provoke the border before he dies and fight another battle with Beiliang, so his eldest legitimate son can be smoothly enfeoffed as king, to prevent complications. Yuan Benxi, I advise you to act early, pull the rug from under them, and disrupt the posthumous schemes Li Yishan left behind."

Yuan Benxi concluded with a single statement, "Do you know why you can't compare to Li Yishan?"

Nalan Youci replied calmly, "Yes, I know. Huang Longshi cursed me, saying I can only scheme for ten years of gains and losses. You're half a mute, and I'm half blind."

Yuan Benxi dismissed it with a smile.

Nalan Youci furrowed his delicate, woman-like eyebrows. "Did that boy really go to Beiliang alone and kill Xu Huainan and Wuhe, who was at his peak?"

Yuan Benxi nodded.

Nalan Youci tutted, "Aren't you afraid then?"

Yuan Benxi shook his head. "Unless he can annihilate Beiliang, only then would he have the leverage to use the Zhao family's blade to kill me."

Nalan Youci laughed, "If that were truly the case, trading your life for Beiliang and Beimang would be a worthwhile bargain for you."

"What about Chen Zhibao? Aren't you worried about raising a tiger that will turn on you?"

"This is no longer the Spring and Autumn Period; brutes cannot accomplish great things. When the world was not in chaos, Shu was chaotic; when the world was pacified, Shu was not. Occupying Shu is no different from holding Beiliang; there's no hope of conquering the world."

"Yuan Benxi, I must remind you, this is the experience of scholars like us. In the Spring and Autumn Period, who could have imagined that a young general, with only a second-rank strength, could become the 'Human Butcher'?"

"It's different."

Nalan Youci sighed, gazing at the sky, and murmured, "For what one truly loves, one can die, not just out of romantic infatuation. It's said that Li Mibi of Beimang has a cage where he keeps butterflies. In the end, we are all just caged butterflies. Only Huang Longshi is truly detached from the world. Yuan Benxi, have you ever considered what he truly desires?"

Yuan Benxi stood up. "There are three imperishable achievements in life: establishing one's words, one's deeds, and one's virtues. There are three great principles to unify the world: valuing loyalty, valuing simplicity, and valuing substance. Perhaps it will take hundreds, even a thousand years, to truly assess Huang Longshi."

Nalan Youci did not see Yuan Benxi off, remaining seated on the small couch. "Ideally, Huang Longshi dies by our hands, then I die by the Xie family's boy's hand, and you die by Xu Fengnian's hand, and the world achieves peace."

Yuan Benxi suddenly turned and chuckled, "Wouldn't it be more interesting if we all died by Xu Fengnian's hand?"

Nalan Youci laughed, "Bad luck!"

After Yuan Benxi left the desolate Taoist temple, Nalan Youci pondered for a moment, then dipped his finger in tea and wrote two characters on the tabletop.

Emperor.

Sitting back at the table, Xuanyuan Qingfeng sneered, "You acted impulsively; were you framed by the First Prince Zhao Wu, or tricked by the Fourth Prince Zhao Zhuan, that smiling fox?"

Xu Fengnian calmly replied, "Most likely it was Zhao's fourth son. Although Zhao Wu deliberately hid his true skills, he probably lacks such cunning."

"I heard the Crown Prince is one of those two. Doesn't that mean you're destined to offend the future Emperor of Liyang?"

"Who's to say it isn't so?"

"Oh, even the Empress Dowager was genuinely angry, yet you don't seem worried at all. Are you faking it?"

"I'm faking it, alright?"

"That woman is Chen Yu from the Rouge List, right? Is she to be the First Imperial Consort, or a new concubine admitted to the palace?"

"Not interested in knowing."

"I see your relationship with her isn't simple."

"Wild guess."

"My intuition is always accurate."

Xu Fengnian blanched a few slices of mutton in the pot and placed them into Qingniao's and Wu's bowls respectively.

As the saying goes, appearance reflects the heart, and women change greatly. Xuanyuan Qingfeng was a peculiar woman Xu Fengnian had seen whose changes continued dramatically even after twenty: the pampered arrogance of a carefree girl, the grim severity after her family's ruin, and the righteous spirit after bearing the Imperial Seal. Her ascent from eighty to eighty-five to ninety was a steady, lotus-like rise. Looking at Xuanyuan Qingfeng, Xu Fengnian often recalled the man who achieved enlightenment on the Great Snow Plain. Xu Fengnian usually held prejudices against scholars, but Chen Xiliang, the impoverished scholar he met during his second journey, was an exception, and Xuanyuan Jingcheng even more so. Xu Fengnian, of course, held no inappropriate thoughts about Xuanyuan Qingfeng. It was unclear whether it was a shared bond of honor and mutual benefit, or a sense of shared plight in their respective desperate, no-escape situations. Towards the proud Xuanyuan Qingfeng, who seemed to constantly display her vanity like a peacock fanning its tail, he always maintained an extraordinary level of patience. Since both the imperial court and the martial world had historically been arenas where men struggled for fame and fortune, with women often caught in between, Xu Fengnian seemed to unconsciously extend more to women with difficult backgrounds who nonetheless remained resilient. This was true for Madam Xu from Daoma Pass, and also for Green Bamboo, the liquor seller from Beimang whose daughter had died early.

Xu Fengnian seemed to recall something and called out with a smile towards the back room behind the hanging curtain, "Aunt Hong! You're not acting like an elder at all!"

The woman pretended to spit. "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, you little rascal! You just called that woman 'Aunt Zhao,' so how can I possibly be called 'Aunt'? You'll shorten my lifespan! Come, let me take a good look at you. Tsk tsk, you really do resemble Wu Su. It's a good thing you don't have Xu Xiao's rough appearance, otherwise, what girl would be blind enough to marry you? I've been so worried all these years, fearing you wouldn't find a wife."

"Aunt Hong, is this how you greet me for the first time? By mocking me? I won't pay back the few meals Xu Xiao owes you then."

"Call me Aunt, call me Aunt then. I'm already old, so I'm not afraid of you calling me even older. And what money? Aunt Hong isn't your unfeeling Aunt Zhao. She's fiercely protective of her own, like an old hen; once someone enters her nest, she pecks at everyone, caring nothing for sentiment. Back then, your mother, she, and I called ourselves sisters, and she was the most calculating of us all. It's a pity that the thin bond of sisterhood we had back then was completely squandered by your two generations of men, all for their 'great causes' and such."

The woman squeezed onto the long bench with Xu Fengnian. Xuanyuan Qingfeng sat silently against the wall, catching a glimpse of the woman talking, all the while reaching out to playfully pinch Xu Fengnian's cheek, clearly unable to get enough of it. Yet, he couldn't stop her. Such an amusing scene was truly a rare sight, once in a century.

The woman gently rubbed Xu Fengnian's white hair and said softly, "You've been wronged these past years."

Xu Fengnian pursed his lips and shook his head.