Yin Xing was all animated, enthusiastically recounting his harrowing experience from the previous night to Yin Yuan.
As he got more and more excited, Yin Xing even lifted his robe and loosened his belt, revealing the buttock where he had taken a cruel slash.
He raised his bandaged backside and shook it hard toward Yin Yuan.
"Perilous, Your Majesty, truly perilous!"
Yin Xing hollered hoarsely, "In all my life, this is the first time I’ve met such danger."
"Our Great Yin Wu Dynasty's capital, right under the Son of Heaven’s feet, the most prosperous place — the imperial city of Haojing — actually, actually haunted by ghosts and demons. The fiends run rampant! I, a dignified Yin prince, had my backside slashed into three parts!"
"The Great Yin Dynasty has stood for eighteen hundred years — when has anything like this ever happened?"
"Someone must be scheming."
Clearly, the previous night had terrified Yin Xing nearly to his breaking point.
He shouted in a jumbled mess, jumped about wildly, occasionally clutching his wound and letting out a sharp cry of pain.
Yin Yuan stared at his own uncle with a smirk and narrowed eyes, watching the entire performance with icy detachment.
It was only when Yin Xing finally caught his breath and picked up a cup of tea to quench his thirst that Yin Yuan mockingly spoke, "What does all this have to do with me? What business is it of mine? Hmm? You should be telling the Empress Dowager."
Yin Yuan said softly, "Right now, the one who should be most worried about Consort Qi and those female ghosts is the Empress Dowager."
Yin Xing immediately rolled his eyes.
"What nonsense is Your Majesty saying? Those gentlemen are all jabbering before the Empress Dowager now. If I went to complain to her, wouldn’t I just be asking for trouble? Hey, hey, it’s almost noon. Does the Jiuqu Garden not even offer a lunch meal?"
Yin Yuan laughed heartily, and the banquet was soon served.
There were slow-cooked bear paws, tender and fragrant.
Other dishes were equally exquisite—delicacies from both land and sea, savory and fresh.
As for the wine, it was a royal cellar treasure aged for a hundred years, thick and gelatinous like fish glue, its color turned amber, richly aromatic and exceptionally mellow.
Lu Qian had never tasted such fine wine before, and spurred on by Yin Yuan’s loud exhortations, he ended up drinking several cups.
The royal chefs' skills far surpassed any ordinary tavern or inn by several degrees.
The ingredients used in Jiuqu Garden were only the most expensive, the finest, the highest quality.
When Lu Qian first encountered this feast, he almost swallowed his tongue.
Compared to Lu Qian, those also fortunate enough to be granted an audience and feast by Yin Yuan — Luo Qingzhou and several generals and officers of the Palace Surveillance — were all nervous and cautious.
They barely moved their chopsticks, but every time Yin Yuan raised his cup, they hurriedly lifted theirs and gulped down the wine.
After several rounds, Yin Yuan stood up, patted his belly, let his gaze sweep over those in the hall, hesitated briefly, and beckoned Lu Qian over.
"Lu Qian, after drinking so much, your belly must be full... Come, accompany me to change clothes."
Yin Xing blinked and glanced at Lu Qian.
Luo Qingzhou and the other Palace Surveillance officials’ faces turned red with envy.
When the Son of Heaven rose to change clothes, only the closest eunuchs and palace maids would be allowed to attend him.
For the Son of Heaven to actively ‘invite’ Lu Qian to come along... tsk tsk.
This was truly a heartfelt favor, a great imperial grace.
Those watching felt bitter and jealous.
Why was the Son of Heaven inexplicably so concerned with Lu Qian?
Lu Qian dazedly stood and, upon Yu Changle’s quiet prompting, followed Yin Yuan closely.
Surrounded by a group of eunuchs and palace maids, they passed behind the partition behind Yin Yuan’s throne, walked along a short corridor, and reached the entrance of a side hall.
Yin Yuan left Lu Qian there and entered the side hall.
After a while, the sound of water splashing could be heard.
Soon after, Yin Yuan emerged calmly, drying his hands with a steaming white towel.
Supported on either side by two young palace maids, he walked out.
A nearby eunuch opened a sliding door on the corridor, and the view suddenly expanded — a vast frozen lake, pure white and covered in ice, stretched out before them.
Yu Changle quietly hushed twice, and all the eunuchs and maids bowed their heads and lightly stepped back down the corridor, leaving only Yin Yuan, Yu Changle, and Lu Qian behind.
Lu Qian naturally let his hands hang down, quietly standing aside.
Yin Yuan had pretended to go to the latrine as an excuse to bring him here.
On one hand, this was surely meant to show Luo Qingzhou and the others just how much he valued Lu Qian.
On the other hand, Yin Yuan probably had real business to discuss with him.
This matter was likely serious.
Perhaps big enough that once Lu Qian left Jiuqu Garden, Yin Yuan and Yu Changle would no longer be able to give him orders directly.
Face-to-face communication was the only way to ensure complete trust and to speak freely.
In other words, Yin Yuan and Yu Changle didn’t even trust the minor eunuchs of the Palace Surveillance all that much anymore.
Yin Yuan handed the towel to Yu Changle, then stood with his hands behind his back a couple of steps away, quietly gazing at the snowy, wind-swept lake.
After a long moment, Yin Yuan softly said, “Lu Qian, you just told me so much about the life of commoners. It’s clear you’re not fabricating stories. You really have a set of skills. You’re not somebody who drifts through life aimlessly, taking up space. Compared to Luo Qingzhou and the others—you’re at least their equal. Such a clever and capable young man... May I trust you?”
Lu Qian’s heart jumped.
What a tricky question.
He cupped his hands and said respectfully, “Your Majesty, I am loyal and devoted to you.”
The glow of his spirit flickered in his mind as he quickly searched every corner of his heart—Yes, there was no fundamental conflict of interest between them.
On the contrary, Lu Qian hoped to cling to the Son of Heaven’s favor and work hard to live his goal of a thousand years.
So, at this moment, Lu Qian was truly loyal to Yin Yuan!
“Very good. Excellent. I’m deeply comforted.”
Yin Yuan smiled and turned around, lightly knocking Lu Qian’s shoulder twice with a clenched fist. “Your grandfather was a hero; your father was... a good man... I trust you will be my worthy and capable minister.”
Looking Lu Qian over, Yin Yuan laughed and asked, “Sixteen years old, right? Will you be honest with me — why did you join the Palace Surveillance?”
Lu Qian fell silent for a moment.
Then, he chose to recount faithfully, without missing a single word, the conversation he overheard one night at Lantian Garden between Bailu and Zhu Yu.
Yin Yuan’s eyes widened in shock and surprise, yet excitement as well. “Ha, ha, ha, really? Really, really... simply...”
Struggling to suppress a burst of laughter, Yin Yuan’s face twitched, and he stomped his foot hard on the ground. “Simply shameless, simply a scoundrel, simply a hypocrite—I really wasn’t wrong about that old fool, Bai Changkong.”
Yu Changle looked on in horror at Lu Qian.
He slowly said, “So, Lu Qian, you actually managed to sneak into Lantian Garden without Bai Changkong or his guards discovering you?”
“Do you know how many spies and informants the Palace Surveillance has lost in the Bai family over these years?”
Looking into Yu Changle’s deeply suspicious eyes, Lu Qian took an extremely deep breath.
Then, he seemed like a wisp of willow fluff, lifted by a cold gust of wind outside, swirling up more than thirty zhang, drifting sideways over forty or fifty zhang distant.
His nearly nine-foot-tall sturdy frame lightly tapped a plum branch at that distance, his right hand casually stripped off a few pale green plum petals, and using that gentle touch as leverage, Lu Qian rebounded silently backward dozens of zhang, lightly landing precisely where he started.
When Lu Qian flew back, his massive figure spun multiple spirals midair like leaves caught in the wind, changing trajectory unpredictably.
The entire process resembled a white crane gliding through the sky or a wild goose casting shadows, light and ethereal without any hint of earthly clamor.
Compared to how he moved facing Xiong Tingtian and those deadly assassins in Siji Fang, this moment was not just several times better, but almost reaching an otherworldly, heavenly dance-like grace.
Yin Yuan’s mouth fell open.
Yu Changle’s eyes widened, sparkling with the joy of discovering a rare treasure, staring hard at Lu Qian.
“Such movement...” Yu Changle finally managed to squeeze out a few words from his throat.
“When I joined the Palace Surveillance, I said my specialty was running fast,” Lu Qian said modestly, cupping his hands in salute to Yin Yuan and Yu Changle.
“This is not just running fast; this is simply miraculous, simply...” Yin Yuan waved his hands madly. “Alright, I haven’t read enough, I don’t know how to describe it.”
“I haven’t read enough not because I’m dumb, but because Bai Changkong had been supervising my reading all these years. How could I have learned anything from him? So my lack of education and talent, the real culprit is Bai Changkong!”
“Very good, very good, very, very good.” Yin Yuan pointed at Lu Qian with a smile. “Now I understand why you joined the Palace Surveillance. Heh heh, that Bai Changkong—his own granddaughter commits such filthy, despicable, base, shameless deeds!”
Yin Yuan glanced at the beaming Yu Changle and teased, “Old Yu, sometimes having a bad reputation isn’t so bad. If it weren’t for your infamous eunuch label, could we have attracted a talent like Lu Qian?”
That was a hard comment to respond to.
Lu Qian and Yu Changle both gave awkward laughs.
Yin Yuan looked at Lu Qian enthusiastically and said with satisfaction, “Very good, Lu Qian, you are loyal to me. So, there’s a task I want to entrust to you.”
He glanced at Yu Changle then turned and walked away leisurely.
Following the corridor back to the main hall, Lu Qian could faintly hear Yin Yuan’s laughter: “That kid Lu Qian is too young, already drunk... Let him sober up a bit, then we’ll continue!”
Yu Changle’s smile faded, and he looked at Lu Qian seriously.
“Lu Qian, I’m an old man close to His Majesty. I can see the Emperor intends to make good use of you. You must not disappoint His Majesty’s favor. The Emperor, once you get to know him, you’ll find he’s absolutely loyal to those close to him.”
“But even if the Emperor trusts you greatly, to promote you, you must first achieve merits.”
“There’s one thing. Watch Bai Changkong closely for me.”
Lu Qian’s heart twitched.
He asked calmly, “When you say watch Bai Changkong closely, has he broken national law?”
Yu Changle squinted, speaking softly, “Whether he has broken the law, we don’t know.”
“But there’s something I can tell you.”
“Bai Changkong has always been a weak scholar, powerless.”
“Two years ago, I accidentally discovered he had developed some profound and unfathomable martial cultivation. Given his age and talent, he shouldn’t have such achievements.”
“This made me recall, seven years ago, in the twelfth year of Jiayou, when His Majesty rose to power, I accompanied him secretly to Haojing’s number one entertainment house — ‘Yanque Tower’ — to investigate the people secretly.”
‘Yanque Tower,’ the top brothel in Haojing city.
Lu Qian understood.
The Emperor and Yu Changle truly went to ‘investigate the people’ there.
“But at Yanque Tower, by chance, we discovered Bai Changkong was inside, secretly meeting with a bewitching woman.”
Lu Qian rolled his eyes.
Bai Changkong, one of Haojing’s greatest gentlemen, sneaking off to a brothel?
Yu Changle continued, “Of course, for a scholar, visiting a brothel isn’t a big deal. But later, out of curiosity about that woman’s identity, His Majesty ordered me to find out her background. The Palace Surveillance used every means possible but found no trace of her origins. Worse, they lost hundreds of elite agents in the process.”
“Hundreds of Palace Surveillance’s best operatives vanished without a trace—no bodies, no signs of life.”
“Frightening to think about. Bai Changkong and that woman? They have ghosts behind them.”
“If this had happened under our founding emperor, Bai Changkong would have been immediately arrested and tortured to confess. But now in Great Yin, with gentlemen filling the court, His Majesty cannot act against the Vice Head of the Imperial Academy without solid evidence.”
Yu Changle patted Lu Qian’s shoulder. “You just happen to have a grudge against him now. Use this as a pretext to handle the matter well. His Majesty will not treat you unfairly.”
“Remember, be thorough but cautious. Preserve your life first. Whether you discover anything isn’t the priority.”
“Hmm, pay attention to Bai Changkong’s usual associates. There might be big fish hiding there.”
After hesitation, Yu Changle patted Lu Qian’s shoulder again.
“Be careful — this is my greatest advice to you. Not just Bai Changkong, but there are many people in court that His Majesty and I suddenly realize we hardly recognize anymore.”
“Do you think His Majesty lives away from the imperial city and sits here all day in Jiuqu Garden for no reason?”
“The big fire in Siji Fang last night, so many assassins killing in the streets... Heh, nearly a thousand assassins quietly infiltrated Fengdiao Ward, infiltrated Siji Fang, and brought in such a huge amount of weapons. Without interference from ten or more officials ranked at the fourth rank or above, no one could have pulled this off.”
“Do you really think the Palace Surveillance is just eating free meals?”
“Even those two coffin shops of the Nine Yin Sect that have quietly hidden in Fengdiao Ward all these years, if they didn’t have high-ranking court ministers sheltering them, how could they have lasted?”
“You will focus on Bai Changkong for now,” Yu Changle said gravely, pressing his hands on his jade belt. “You’ll learn the rest in time.”
“Ha, the world says the Great Yin is peaceful and prosperous, the country flourishing, a time of blooming flowers and blazing flames... But I feel, the court is filled with monsters, everyone wearing masks on their faces, and aside from a select few trusted lads, no one is truly reliable.”
Lu Qian solemnly cupped his hands and saluted Yu Changle, replying with a respectful “Yes!”
(End of chapter)