After three years away from the capital, Prince Wu is finally returning to the palace to meet the Emperor.
Six months ago, he led a decisive victory in Suzhou, defeating 200,000 troops from the Khanate with just 100,000 of his own. The enemy was crushed, and the remaining Khanate forces in the region were swiftly wiped out.
After three long years, the battle to reclaim Suzhou was finally over.
Following the victory, Prince Wu even pushed deep into the steppe. But the supply lines were stretched too thin, and the enemy kept retreating while fighting. With no choice, he had to withdraw without gaining ground.
Even though the campaign on the steppe failed, it didn't hurt Prince Wu's reputation. His success in taking back Suzhou was undeniable and legendary.
Now, he's on the road back to the capital, and in just over two weeks, he'll officially return.
When word of Prince Wu's return reached the Cold Palace, Li Qing was just seeing off Zhang Yong, who had finally gotten approval to leave the palace.
"Take care of yourself, Yong. Don't let some thief chop your head off. I'll need someone to chat with if I ever get out myself," Li Qing joked.
"Don't worry," Zhang Yong said seriously. "I'm planning to dig a hole under my bedroom floor and sleep in there at night. I'll leave my silver outside. No one's taking my head."
Everyone burst out laughing.
Zhang Yong would be taking over the braised meat shop that Wang Li left behind, continuing the business.
Once he left, the Imperial Household Department sent in a new young eunuch to take his place.
It was now the 32nd year of the Taikang reign, the third day of the ninth month.
The oldest eunuch in the Cold Palace was Zhang Bai, who was forty-nine. Li Qing was the fourth oldest.
Two other eunuchs had died in recent years. Both from illness.
Most of the eunuchs sent to the Cold Palace had already suffered a lot before arriving, leaving them with lingering health problems. Few lived long.
Gong Yue, who had once been the youngest among them, was already thirty-one. Everyone was getting older. The Cold Palace kept changing, cycling through new faces.
The turnover was even faster among the imperial concubines. One group after another had died. The longest-surviving consort in the Cold Palace now was Consort Qi.
That afternoon...
"Prince Wu is returning. The palace won't stay quiet for long," Zhang Bai said with a long sigh from the Cold Palace duty room.
"Yeah," Gong Yue said, spitting out a watermelon seed, thoughtful. "For the past two years, the Emperor and the Empress Dowager have kept a delicate balance. The Empress Dowager still holds the reins of power, but the Emperor's been able to meet with some ministers again. Once Prince Wu returns, that balance is bound to break. The only question is, whose side he'll take."
"I don't think he'll side with the Emperor," one young eunuch chimed in. "Prince Wu is the Emperor's eldest son, but it was the Empress Dowager who raised and groomed him. He grew up under Consort Lu's care too. He's the obvious heir. He's close to the Empress Dowager. If he just stays still and waits, he'll end up with the biggest prize."
"Exactly. He was named a prince at age six. It's completely the Empress Dowager's doing," another eunuch agreed.
"You're all wrong. Prince Wu will support His Majesty," Wei Yang said firmly as he walked into the duty room.
As soon as Gong Yue and the others saw Li Qing entering behind him, they quickly dropped the topic and switched to bragging about nonsense instead.
Li Qing shook his head as he looked around. "You guys really don't know what you're doing. Talking so freely about the Emperor and the Empress Dowager like this… If anyone overheard you, you wouldn't just be punished; you could lose your heads. Your whole families too."
Zhang Bai just laughed. "Come on, it's the Cold Palace. This place is completely cut off. The gates are always shut. Who would bother coming here?"
Li Qing didn't argue.
…
That night.
The moon was dim, the stars sparse. The whole world was still.
Near the Cold Palace, it was quieter than usual.
No eunuchs patrolled the grounds. The walkways, normally lit, were dark. No one had come to light the lanterns.
Two shadowy figures, thin and silent, like ghosts, crept along the walls, slipping over them and arriving just outside the Cold Palace.
They exchanged a glance, then scaled the palace wall and entered.
At that very moment, in the eunuchs' sleeping quarters inside the Cold Palace, four eyes opened at once.
Li Qing and Wei Yang were both awake.
Wei Yang rolled out of bed and locked eyes with Li Qing. Speaking through voice transmission, he said, "Since you have no desires and nothing to gain, stay put. I can handle tonight on my own."
With that, he gripped his sword and leapt out the window.
Naturally, Li Qing stayed where he was. All he could do now was hope: Let Wei Yang and Consort Qi make it through the night unharmed.
From the moment word spread that Prince Wu was returning, Li Qing had suspected that an assassin might come for Consort Qi.
He had even thought about leaving the Cold Palace for a few days to avoid trouble. But he had nowhere to go. The only possible refuge was the Cold Palace kitchen.
The eunuch in charge of meals, Eunuch Zhao, was still alive. He was over sixty now. And Li Qing had long been on good terms with him. Back in the day, when he had been trying to curry favor with Ming Wei for martial arts lessons, it was Eunuch Zhao who had smuggled in the Drunken Spring wine for him.
Even when Wang Li had been still alive, it had been Zhao who had passed along the braised offal and silver notes he had sent.
Li Qing just hadn't expected the assassins to move this quickly; showing up on the very first night.
Most likely, they were sent by Consort Lu's faction.
Only if Consort Qi died could Prince Wu regard Consort Lu as his only mother.
If Wei Yang managed to protect Consort Qi, maybe, just maybe, this would be the blow that finally brought down Consort Lu.
What puzzled Li Qing, though, was that Wei Yang had used voice transmission. That was one of the secret techniques once used by Noble Consort Li. If Wei Yang had learned her technique, then maybe he'd also inherited another of her techniques. The one that enhanced physical aptitude.
It was called something like the Twelve Golden Needles Meridian Technique...
No wonder Wei Yang had progressed so fast in his cultivation. He'd improved his physique twice already.
Now, he was stronger than Li Qing. And not by a little.
Li Qing had already opened nine meridians, making him a peak second-tier fighter. But Wei Yang might already be first-tier.
Still, no matter how quickly Wei Yang advanced, Li Qing believed he'd catch up one day.
The Cold Palace remained quiet through the night. No sound of fighting. No sign of Wei Yang returning.
Li Qing didn't sleep a wink.
At first light, Li Qing joined the other eunuchs on their morning rounds. Outside the Bing-Hai Wing, he saw Wei Yang.
Wei Yang was covered in blood, sword in hand, standing silently in front of the door. On the ground lay two severed heads, large and gruesome.
Inside, Consort Qi was still asleep; likely unaware she had nearly been assassinated.
The moment Zhang Bai saw the heads, he jumped back in terror. "Assassins! There were assassins!"
The other eunuchs rushed to spread the news beyond the Cold Palace.
Chaos broke out immediately.
Before long, Steward Gu arrived, followed by a supervising eunuch from the Martial Supervision Bureau.
The assassins had been taken down by Wei Yang alone. Since Li Qing and the others hadn't been involved, they weren't questioned. The supervising eunuch only spoke with Wei Yang in private.
What happened afterward no longer concerned Li Qing, but word spread quickly...
The two assassins who tried to kill Consort Qi were eunuchs from Consort Lu's palace.
Consort Lu, however, insisted she hadn't sent them. After much back-and-forth behind the scenes, it was officially ruled that the assassination had been orchestrated by one of her palace managers acting on his own. It was declared that Consort Lu had no knowledge of the plot.
The responsible eunuch and his associates were beaten to death that very day. As for Consort Lu, she was punished for failing to supervise her staff and was ordered to stay in her palace in silent prayer for six months, barred from seeing anyone.
Consort Qi, on the other hand, was allowed to leave the Cold Palace because of the attack. Wei Yang left with her and was assigned to serve at her side.
For his service protecting her, Wei Yang was promoted to a proper eighth-rank squad-leading eunuch and was also given a post in the Martial Supervision Bureau.
"Young Wei's really made it," Zhang Bai said, eyes full of envy. "At last, someone from our Cold Palace has done something remarkable. Once Prince Wu returns, I'm sure he'll reward him even further."
"If you had fought for it, Master Li," Gong Yue said thoughtfully, "that opportunity could've been yours."
"The highest virtue is like water. Water nourishes all things but does not compete," Li Qing replied calmly.
But afterward, the more Li Qing thought about it, the more something felt off.
The assassination attempt had failed; yet somehow, all the benefits landed in Consort Qi's lap.
There were two eunuchs in the Cold Palace who cultivate martial arts. If Consort Lu had truly sent assassins, she would've known that. To avoid interference, she would've needed to send someone with first-tier or even peak skill. But the two assassins? They had barely stepped into the second tier.
And then there was Prince Wu. Now that he commanded the military, would he really leave his mother unprotected? He had to have stationed someone in the shadows to keep her safe.
Consort Qi wasn't someone who could be easily killed.
Besides, even if Consort Lu had succeeded, what would she have gained? Killing Consort Qi would be an open declaration of war with Prince Wu. That wouldn't be worth it.
At first, Li Qing had simply assumed, like everyone else, that the assassins were sent by Consort Lu. But now, the more he examined the details, the more it looked like the whole thing had been staged. By the Emperor's own faction.
Only by orchestrating such a plot could the Emperor fully win Prince Wu over to his side.
Everyone knew Prince Wu was deeply attached to his birth mother, Consort Qi.
If that's the case, then once Prince Wu returns, he'll stand by Emperor Taikang, out of concern for his mother's safety. And the Emperor… he might finally shed his puppet status. The power dynamics in the palace are about to shift.
Schemes, manipulation, demons in the dark… what's the point of thinking about it all?
In time, when the dust settles, I'll see through the fog and find the truth.