"After escaping prison, where did he go?" Cui Buqu asked.
"No one knows at the moment. He's not at the Jiejian Bureau. This incident happened at the great prison of the Ministry of Justice, it cannot be concealed. His Majesty already knew, but news of the incident are temporarily silenced. After Ming Yue entered the palace, he brought another person to the great prison of the Ministry of Justice, and declared that Feng Xiao had once again been caught and returned to the prison."
This was only for the sake of distraction, in order to avoid news of the incident spreading out. Everyone knew that that person was certainly not His Excellency Feng Xiao.
Since Second Commander Feng has fled, then he would never go back there again.
Zhangsun Bodhi thought that Cui Buqu would have flown into a thundering rage and thought that Feng Xiao was creating trouble.
But unexpectedly, Cui Buqu didn't.
There was only a baffled expression on his face for a while before he nodded his head, meaning that he understood.
Zhangsun Bodhi, "In the Buddha's Birthday tomorrow, even if there are heavily armed soldiers, if the enemy attacks by surprise with top-martial artists like Xiao Lu, we might not be able to hold them back even with Ming Yue and I."
What he meant was that Feng-er's martial arts are superb and that he was an indispensable source of help. If Feng Xiao left without a word, it might be very troublesome for them tomorrow.
Cui Buqu said, "Since he hasn't returned, then leave him be. Xiao Lu was heavily wounded back in the battle in the tavern, and his wounds should not have healed even at present. What's left of his martial arts might only be seventy to eighty percent of what he originally had. Joined hands between you and Ming Yue will suffice."
Zhangsun didn't agree with it. "There is also Tuan Qinghe."
Cui Buqu said, "The desire to cause destruction to the Central Plains has never ceased in the hearts of the Göktürks, but this is the capital, after all, and there is no little amount of top-martial artists around His Majesty. It would be very difficult for Tuan Qinghe alone to achieve what he wants. If we moved a few more top martial artists over there to take drastic precautions, they might just come up with another plan. Rather than that, why don't we remain inert, and brace ourselves and try to prevent all that may come."
"You mean… to use His Majesty as the bait?"
There are only two people in the room. Naturally, Zhangsun didn't wish for a third person to have heard what he just said.
Judging by his tone, it wasn't his intentions to disrespect Cui Buqu either.
As present events have progressed, they were in the light while the enemy was hidden in the dark. From the enemy's perspective, they were a leviathan that had flaws everywhere. Regardless of how many precautions they've taken, they would leave a vulnerability wide open.
In such circumstances, luring the enemy into the depths and compromising already seemed to be the best choice possible.
Cui Buqu nodded his head.
Zhangsun remained silent for a moment. "Understood. I will try my best to deploy some people and take all measures achievable."
Cui Buqu coughed twice. "There is no need to be overly worried. Many things might not seem like you have control over them, but in reality, they don't pose too much of a danger."
Zhangsun Bodhi, "What you mean is…?"
The sun sunk beneath the mountain, even the last rays of light had vanished behind the clouds.
The Heavens and Earth gradually welcomed the night.
Cui Buqu felt a little cold and could not refrain from pulling his cloak more tightly around himself.
Seeing this, Zhangsun meddled with the flames in the brazier.
Very quickly, the room grew warmer.
The night on the sixteenth of the first month was extraordinarily fresh and cool.
Yet, it was quiet outside, a fresh comparison from the same time during yesterday night.
Because of the incident that happened in the manor of Prince Qin, the authorities discontinued the three days the common people could go without curfew and restored the city into its previous quietness.
Soft beating was heard from outside the room; light snow had begun falling.
If one were to disregard the great event tomorrow, this was undoubtedly a quiet night that lulled people to sleep.
Cui Buqu spoke with ease and confidence.
"Something must have been agreed upon between Xiao Lu and Kuhezhen in order to take us down."
"But Xiao Lu had no connections nor backing powers in the Sui Dynasty. If he were to seize the throne, he must need a puppet to manipulate. This puppet might be someone close to the Emperor, for only then he could guarantee its success. In order to have a much lower risk, he might not kill His Majesty just yet."
"However, Kuhezhen is different. He wished for the Great Sui to fall into chaos, and the more, the merrier. Only then could the Göktürks grab the opportunity to attack, so he needs His Majesty dead."
"Here's our chance to make use of the conflicting interests of these two people."
As Zhangsun listened to this, he sighed.
An extremely soft sigh.
He wasn't someone who'd usually sigh.
Cui Buqu had never seen such a concerned expression on his face.
Zhangsun Bodhi said, "Tomorrow, I have no guarantees, but I will try my best."
Cui Buqu smiled, "Zhangsun, I am not the all-powerful Zhuge. Even he had once made a mistake. I too have no guarantee, and that I can only try my best."
His face had turned slightly red from the flames as he sat next to the brazier, yet one could still see coldness emanating from it.
Zhangsun only felt that his face had turned even paler than before.
The redness on his face served no purpose of warming up Cui Buqu, it instead looked like a candle that was nearing the end of its life. It was striving to burn with the last of its strength, and only then could it breathe the life of a living person.
"Commander." Zhangsun couldn't refrain from furrowing his brows. Suddenly, he said, "Don't go tomorrow. Whatever you ordered, let me do it."
Cui Buqu calmly said, "You know that that is impossible."
Zhangsun Bodhi twitched his lips as if there was something he wanted to say, but in the end, he didn't.
Cui Buqu was sick all year round; with every winter he could fall gravely ill once, but as of late, he was very high in spirits and hadn't fallen ill even once.
People who didn't know anything might only think that his health had improved.
Zhangsun knew it wasn't.
On the contrary, Cui Buqu was not in an ordinary state at this moment. It seemed like the last radiance of the setting sun was falling upon him1.
It was too ominous to say such words, even Zhangsun could not bear to say them out loud.
Everyone knew that Cui Buqu had never been in prime health. Regardless of which physician came, they would come to the same conclusion: he would either die a quick death in three to five months or a slow one in three to five years. The harsher ones would advise them to prepare his funeral in advance.
Cui Buqu was a person who went against the Heavens. From the time Zhangsun knew him, he had always been this way; he dragged his broken body along and had never once fallen down.
In due time, everyone adopted the delusion that Cui Buqu would never fall, nor would he die young.
However, a delusion was a delusion, to begin with. A body as brittle as rotten wood would never heal on its own all of a sudden. Cui Buqu's abrupt radiance could only mean that his candle of life was about to be snuffed out even quicker.
At this moment, he behaved as though all was well, but in reality, his end was near.
Zhangsun Bodhi may be capable of reciting any Buddhist sutras that existed, but he was weak in persuasion. It was not in his nature to speak non-stop.
And so, he could only tell Cui Buqu, "Don't force yourself. Regardless of what happens, we are here."
"There is no need to worry. I can still take it." Cui Buqu seemed to know what he wanted to say. He patted his shoulder.
At the very least, he could stand until the end of tomorrow, Cui Buqu thought.
...
As night drew near, fragments of snow came fluttering down.
Within the princess' manor was a similarly peaceful night, as if one had entered a dream.
The banquet that was originally going to be held here tonight has been put off for the same reasons as the night before.
The atmosphere within the palace was extremely anxious. Tomorrow, there is the festival of the Buddha's Birthday. Now, nobilities and royalties within the capital behaved like rats scurrying within the bushes—every one of them hiding behind shut doors and keeping their breaths low.
The Lantern Festival was three days long, but it had never before experienced such quietness.
Even Princess Leping hadn't gone to sleep.
Not only that, but she was also properly dressed, even her hairpiece hadn't been taken down. As she sat on top of her bed, she looked at the person who arrived.
There was a deteriorating look in her eyes.
"Huan, are you still unwilling to set me free?"
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[1] 回光返照: Is referring to a phenomenon that occurs in nature before something is coming to an end. In Buddhism, this is believed that someone is going to die.