Moosa, who was about to speak, clutched his chest as his breath faltered. A cough tore through him, and blood followed. Babiy and Mah panicked, but Huan remained unbothered. When the fit eased a little, Babiy, still holding onto him, pleaded, "Please, let's go to the hospital...you're vomiting blood."
Moosa gave a painful smile and shook his head weakly. "No… going to the hospital won't change anything. The poison I was given has no cure anywhere but with those who made it."
Babiy's eyes widened in horror. "Poison?"
"This is the punishment someone like me deserves," Moosa whispered, "but don't worry about me. Just listen carefully....I'll tell you how you can save your son. That's the only way I can hope to leave this world with a little peace."
Babiy tried to interrupt, but Moosa stopped him. "No...listen… Zinn...." Another violent cough cut him off, shaking his entire frame. Blood stained his lips. Babiy, now frantic, shouted for Huan, though he was standing nearby.
Huan, who secretly wished the old man would just die and end the trouble, reluctantly came forward.
"Help me carry him...let's get to the hospital," Babiy urged.
Moosa shook his head with effort. "D-don't… waste your strength. Just… listen to me." His voice broke into gasps as he fought for breath, clutching his chest. Before Babiy could respond, Moosa gave a final shudder and collapsed, lifeless.
Both Babiy and Mah cried out in shock just as Police officers, accompanied by a wailing woman, rushed in.
"Didn't I tell you?" the woman shrieked through her tears. "Didn't I say he hated my husband? Now you've seen it with your own eyes...he killed him! My husband told me this man was after his life, and now… now it's true! He's the reason my husband is dead!" She collapsed to the floor, sobbing and screaming.
Babiy and Mah stood frozen in disbelief as the officers closed in. What unsettled them wasn't the officers' arrival, but the woman's accusation...it was then Babiy realized she was Moosa's wife.
With trembling strength, Babiy said, "How could I be a murderer? Moosa was my childhood friend, everyone knows that. I didn't harm him when we were young and always together....why would I kill him now, after five years apart, then he appears at my doorstep unexpectedly now?"
The officer sneered. "And yet… his corpse is now found inside your house. Convenient timing, isn't it?"
Babiy broke into a nervous sweat, but before he could reply, the woman cut him off with more cries. "He's lying! Just two days ago, this same man came to our house, threatening my husband and swearing he would be the death of him. If he denies it, we have witnesses!"
Enraged, Huan lunged at the woman, his hands locking around her throat. "You lying witch! Just because someone dies in another's house doesn't mean the host killed him!" The woman's eyes bulged as she struggled for air, her body trembling.
The officers rushed forward, struggling to pry Huan's hands away, but his grip was iron-strong. Mah screamed and Babiy shouted his name, begging him to let go, but Huan seemed deaf to their voices. At last, the officers managed to drag him off, leaving the woman gasping and clutching her throat.
After giving her water, she regained her breath, though barely. The officer in charge, with smug arrogance, ordered his men to arrest both Babiy and Huan. Mah wept and begged them, but no one listened. Outside, the street was already filled with neighbors who had gathered since the officers' arrival, whispering and watching.
Babiy and Huan were dragged into one vehicle, while Moosa's body was loaded into an ambulance....curiously, the officers had brought one along, as though they had expected a corpse from the start.
Mah fainted as the vehicles drove off. Women from the neighborhood rushed to her, fanning her and pouring water on her face, but she did not wake. Alarmed, their neighbor Zeng ordered that she be taken to the hospital at once.
With the help of the women, she was placed in his car. His wife and another widow from the neighborhood went with them. Behind, the crowd buzzed with mixed voices....some sympathizing with Babiy's family, others quietly glad to see them in trouble, not out of justice but out of jealousy.
At the hospital, doctor began to attend to Mah but stopped midway when he received a call. Shaking his head, he excused himself and walked out, claiming urgent business. Zeng ran after him, begging, but the doctor ignored him.
The nurses, too, refused to continue after being warned by the doctor. Desperate, the group carried Mah to another hospital, but there too they were turned away.
Finally, they went to a private clinic, where Mah will admitted only after they paid an enormous fee. Zeng's wife burst into tears. "They didn't want to treat her from the start. They're just making excuses and driving us away. Unless Zinnu sells everything he owns, I don't know how he'll afford this."
"They are deliberately refusing us an answer, I can feel it," Zeng muttered angrily.
His wife, still wiping her tears, said with grief, "What kind of misfortune is this? Why would people treat someone with such cruelty?"
Zeng clenched his jaw, "I think there's only one solution....we should take her back home and inform her family. At least we've done our part, we've tried everything we could."
"If you had thought of that from the beginning, you wouldn't have wasted so much of your strength," a voice suddenly spoke behind them.
Startled, they both turned around quickly, but they only caught a glimpse of a man's back. Zeng ran after him, but before he could reach him, the man had already stepped into a car. Dust rose sharply in his face as the car carried the stranger away.
Palace
A private chamber in the section of Dowager Ruyan was specially prepared for Zhan, with five trusted attendants assigned to serve him and five personal guards to watch over his safety. Although the palace was already filled with guards, these five were chosen to ensure no one suspicious entered or left Zhan's chamber without scrutiny.
This arrangement brought immense joy to Dowager Taihou, while others... those who harbored ill will...struggled to hide their discontent. Their faces remained calm, but their hearts burned like a concealed wildfire.
Dowager Ruyan, who had given the order, pretended not to notice their reactions. Her daughter Daneen, however, took the opportunity to quietly study each person, her thoughts weighed down by a secret she had kept buried for nearly two decades.
Daneen was one of the daughters of Dowager Ruyan and the late King Wang Bai. Four children were born to them: the eldest was King Murong (the former monarch and father of the current ruler), then Zhenzhu, who married into another royal house in a distant kingdom, followed by Daneen herself. Daneen had once married, but the union ended swiftly due to a hidden matter that never revealed. Because of that, she had returned to the palace, where she had now lived for nineteen years without remarrying.
Her secret was known only to her mother Dowager Ruyan, her sister Zhenzhu, and their late father King Wang Bai. The incident had marked her since she was fourteen, delaying her marriage. When she finally did marry, it lasted less than eight months before collapsing, forcing her back into the palace.
The royal court whispered rumors about her, twisting her story into countless interpretations, but Dowager Ruyan had always stood firm in shielding her daughter. Their youngest sibling, Miran, had died at the age of seven, leaving behind a lingering sorrow in the family.
That day, Zhan was far from well. He could barely lift his gaze to look at anyone, though his breathing had steadied enough to ease some of the relative's worries. At least there was progress.
It was Daneen herself who wiped his body and changed his clothes. She personally spoon-fed him light broth and gave him the necessary medicines before laying him down on a silken, richly adorned bed.
Soon, Zhan drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep. Daneen sat beside him, her eyes soft with pity and a strange, quiet affection. She let out a long sigh, whispering to herself a wish for his recovery, hoping this trial would pass like a storm and leave him unharmed.
At the same time, whispers ran through the palace. Since the incident began with a robe given to Zhan, inner one was wandering what went wrong, yes they send the garment. But what had happened to Zhan was far from what she had intended. This raised a troubling question: were there others, hidden in the shadows, scheming against him? If so, who were they....and what was their true purpose?
This answer was one she needed to hear directly from Cao, yet until late into the night there was no sign that Cao would come to her. Her heart kept urging her to wait, though part of her longed to simply go to Cao herself.
But the thought of approaching Cao on her own was such a daunting matter that it paralyzed her. She remained frozen in place as the night deepened, and the palace grew so silent it seemed lifeless. She paced back and forth in that silence, trying every possible method to summon Cao.
Just as despair was beginning to overtake her, when her limbs felt heavy with exhaustion, she suddenly heard Cao's harsh, unsettling laughter echoing in her ears. It rang like a phantom sound through the air, making her head spin. Overwhelmed, she collapsed to her knees, drawing a long, shaky breath as an eerie chill settled into her chest.
At once, Cao appeared before her, seated on her black iron throne adorned with gold, dressed as always in her crimson robes. Her severe face was stern and drawn tight, showing no trace of the laughter that had just tormented the air moments earlier.
"Welcome, Cao....the one who wipes away the tears of those who weep," she whispered shakily. "Cao, I am in utter confusion. Our work has turned out so differently from what we expected with that boy. Just as yesterday ended in turmoil, tonight too has been sleepless for me. I awoke this morning in desperation, craving your presence, and now the night is nearly turning into another day since it all began.
Tell me....is this mistake ours? Or was it you who altered the course of the work? Or are there others in this palace who plot as we do, hidden from our sight? What is their purpose? What ambition are they striving to fulfill? Cao, help me....if I do not find these answers soon, I fear my heart will shatter."
Cao leaned forward, her voice deliberate and heavy.
"I will not tire of reminding you that there are trials surrounding the completion of your second task. That boy himself is bound by a destiny full of challenges. But I assure you....I will stand firm to prevent any success that does not belong to you.
No, the work was not ours. And the robe he was given and wore was not from us either. I uncovered this truth last night, after the deaths of those servants and the boy's survival. That is why I have thrown myself into deeper investigation....to discover from where this interference came. Who is it that hides behind our shadow, crafting such schemes? And how did they manage to rescue him so effortlessly from the snare meant to bind him?"
"Have you discovered the answer then, Cao?" the inner one gasped, her breath catching as fear and curiosity twisted inside her, desperate for the reply.
"I was about to make progress when your constant calls interrupted me," the Inner One said, drawing in a deep breath. "But clearly, whoever is behind this is within the Beiping Empire itself, and they are preparing a great plan we must uncover now. I can feel it in my bones...this coming war will touch even you Cao. And the boy will surely be used as a pawn to bring it about, as long as he remains inside this Palace."
"That is why I said from the start he should be eliminated, Cao," Inner one snapped. "That boy is of no use to me....only a burden. Worse still, he's on the verge of becoming a stumbling block in matters I have nearly completed after years of struggle and conquest. Before I could even reap the rewards of my victories, he stands in my way."
"What you are attempting is the gravest mistake, Inner one. To kill him is the same as destroying your own victories with your own hands. I told you from the beginning....his death is not the true solution, nor will it halt what he represents. On the contrary, we need his life more than his death. He will serve as the stone that shatters two birds at once."
"Our first plan involving him has failed. Therefore, we move to the second. Your task now is to ensure he leaves Dowager Ruyan's wing within the next seven days. On the thirteenth night, you will slaughter the black animal and recover the robe he wore. And above all....you must prevent him from entering the King's chamber on the their first night. The idea of luring him directly to the King has collapsed. Instead, we must weave a subtler snare to catch this clever bird."
"It shall be done, Cao," Inner one said, though her tone was edged with doubt. "But recovering that robe will be nearly impossible...it is currently in Momma hands, under the strict watch of Dowager Ruyan herself."
"This is not a suggestion, Inner one. It is an order."
"I will do my utmost, Cao," she said through gritted teeth. "But there is another matter....the death of the servants. The King himself has ordered the imperial investigators onto the case. They have never failed in carrying out his commands. That means our rivals who struck first concealed themselves behind our own plot, and executed it before us. The servants died exactly as we planned, but by another hand."
Cao suddenly broke into wild laughter, a harsh sound that echoed in the chamber. She laughed and laughed until Inner one thought she would never stop. At last, Cao's face tightened into cold stillness.....as if she hadn't laughed at all. Just as Inner one was about to despair of any explanation, Cao burst out again, laughing even harder, repeating only:
"Lion! Lion!! Lion!!!"
Her laughter rolled on, leaving Inner one staring, unsettled, unable to read its meaning or the reason behind it.
★ ★ ★
The House of Babiy
There was still a crowd gathered outside, neighbors whispering and murmuring about what had happened. Soon the car was surrounded; those who had hidden inside their homes began trickling out to see. When Mah was carried out, most believed she was already dead.... for truly, she showed no sign of life.
Weeping broke out immediately, some sincere, others feigned. Zeng quickly raised his voice above the noise:
"Everyone, calm yourselves! Song is not dead!"
His words barely soothed them, but at least the clamor quieted a little. Still, some continued their wailing for effect. Women helped lift Mah inside, laying her on a woven mat in the courtyard. By fortune, Zeng stumbled upon Babiy's discarded phone lying in the dust. It must have fallen when the police had dragged Babiy away. His hands trembled as he searched through the contacts, and at last he found one saved simply as "Baba." Knowing Babiy only ever gave such a title to someone of high regard, Zeng immediately dialed. The line rang, and just as hope began to fade, the call was answered.
At that very moment, the call reached Grandfa through Babiy's phone. The shock left both him and Wei Po shaken. Though it was already dusk, Grandfa knew he had no choice. He quickly sought out a young villager with a car, and by fortune the boy had just returned from the fields. Out of respect for Grandfa, he agreed without hesitation. Wei Po insisted on coming too, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.
By seven-thirty that night, they arrived within the Beiping Empire. Unlike earlier, the household was quiet, with only Yang and Zeng's wife still tending to Mah. By then, Mah had regained consciousness, but she refused to speak. Tears slipped silently from the corners of her eyes, and her breathing was shallow and labored, broken by sharp gasps.
Wei Po collapsed over her, sobbing, clinging to her frail body, calling her name again and again. Grandfa stood in silence, his heart burning with grief.
It was then that Zeng returned. He bowed respectfully to Grandfa, who received him with gratitude.
Zeng offered a faint, weary smile. "It's nothing, Baba. Helping you is my duty. We are bound together now...Song and Zinnu are as family to me. If such a calamity had fallen upon us, he too would stand by us without hesitation. But the confusion of tonight has left us blind to what truly happened. We've searched hospitals endlessly, but they refuse to admit her. And yet, her condition needs urgent attention. I've managed to bring my cousin, who works as a physician. He is not a great doctor, but at least he can help us now…"
Grandfa nodded slowly and said,
"May kindness reward you both. This is how neighbors should live. For sometimes, the bond of neighbors can be even stronger than blood ties. Now, when hardship struck, you offered your help before we even arrived. Without that, there would be no peace. That is why any person of worth must learn to live in harmony with neighbors, with understanding and care."
"Yes, Baba. Thank you." Zeng replied with a small bow. "Let me bring him in."
Grandfa smiled warmly and nodded. When Zeng returned with his younger brother, the boy also greeted Grandfa with proper respect. Nearby, Zhan's mother, Mah, was still in tears, while Wei Po gently comforted her.
A physician was finally allowed to check Mah. He confirmed that her blood pressure was dangerously high, but promised to administer a sedative so she could rest safely. Keeping her awake, he warned, might risk a sudden collapse.
Once they carried Mah back into her room, he gave her iv drip and medicine. Within moments, sleep overtook her, easing everyone's worry. Grandfa thanked them deeply, his gratitude so full it seemed almost endless.... even though Zeng's brother declined to take any reward.
★★★
Morning came with a clear shift in Zhan's condition. He seemed calmer, though his body still felt strangely unsettled, as if something coiled and restless lived beneath his skin. Worse, he carried the weight of a haunting dream he had suffered the night before.....so vivid and cruel it left his heart trembling long after he woke.
Still, he could not deny the protection and care surrounding him. Dowager Ruyan, though bound to her wheelchair, treated him with unmatched tenderness. And Daneen never left his side. The way she tended to him...scolding gently when he refused food, or asking a dozen worried questions whenever he fell silent...made him feel a warmth he hadn't expected. She reminded him of Mah.
Even with his heart heavy, Zhan forced himself to appear steady for their sake. He remembered well the words his Babiy and Mah had once repeated to him: to be strong, to find peace in quiet reflection, to never let despair consume him. The news of the servants who died after delivering his ceremonial robe reached him, too. The cause of their deaths gnawed at him endlessly, leaving him troubled and uncertain how to make sense of it.
After finishing his morning meditation, Zhan sat alone, chin resting on his hands, mind consumed by memories of his family and the shadow of last night's dream. It was then Daneen entered, three attendants following close behind. She sat beside him at once, gently prying his hands away from his face.
Zhan released a heavy sigh and looked up at her briefly before lowering his gaze again, murmuring a faint greeting. Daneen studied him, her expression etched with worry, but she said nothing. The attendants bowed deeply, laying down the trays they carried, not daring to lift their eyes toward him.
The way they prostrated themselves unsettled Zhan. He had never been used to such displays. In his heart, it felt too much like humiliation rather than respect. Daneen quickly dismissed them with a flick of her hand, and in an instant they rose and hurried out, leaving the chamber in silence. Zhan watched them leave, a quiet ache stirring in his chest.
"Son."
"Yes, Mamy," Zhan replied softly, still with the deep respect he always held for her.
The way he called her Mamy pierced Daneen's heart, bringing a rush of tenderness. She was the only one he addressed with that name, and each time it melted her completely. She drew a long breath, hiding the tears in her eyes, and replaced them with a smile.
"My son, I don't want to see such worry carved on your face anymore. Calm your heart. Nothing will harm you again. Whatever happened to you, think of it as a trial you were strong enough to endure. But in my heart, I feel certain.... you are the key to our future. You are the light that will break the shadows that hang over this empire."
Zhan bowed his head slightly. For some reason, he always felt at peace in the presence of Daneen. He didn't feel the usual pain or bitterness that he harbored toward anything connected to the palace whenever she was around. To him, she seemed like a protective wall standing between him and something far greater.
"Mamy, I don't feel troubled as long as you're beside me. Whatever happens to me was destined to happen anyway, even if I hadn't come here. What weighs on me is the thought of Mah....I miss them terribly after the nightmare I had about them last night. I'm so afraid something bad might happen to them too."
Moved by his words, Daneen stroked his hair gently. "Every good child feels a deep longing when separated from family. If it were within my power, I'd take you to see your Mah today. But palace law is strict. The royal consort can only leave under serious necessity, and visits to one's family are allowed only twice a year....once in secret, once in public, and always under guard. As for dreams, they are not reality, my son. They come in many forms and rarely speak the truth."
Tears rolled silently down Zhan's cheeks. It wasn't that the next visitation felt impossibly far away.....what pained him was the uncertainty of ever making it to that time at all. Sitting under the shadow of his fate, how could he even dare to hope for those two slim chances of reunion? He knew Daneen was right about dreams, yet the memory of his past nightmares still filled him with dread of what might come.
Seeing him cry unsettled Daneen deeply. Flustered, she began asking questions, just as she always did whenever she found him troubled. But Zhan quickly raised a hand, brushed away his tears, and forced a smile.
"Mamy, don't worry. The tears just came on their own....no real reason."
"Oh, my son," she sighed. "There is always a reason. You may not want to say it, but I know you would not cry without cause. Still, if you endure with patience, one day you'll smile in the presence of those who themselves will have reason to weep."
Zhan only smiled faintly in reply, wiping the last traces of wetness from his cheeks.
That eased Daneen's heart a little, and she smiled too before standing up. Taking his hand, she led him to the large dining rug at the far side of the chamber. The room was vast and filled with every luxury, and the food was already laid out. They ate together, with Daneen sometimes lifting pieces to Zhan's lips herself. In those moments, she found herself wishing he were her own son....for if she had remained in her marriage, her eldest child would be nearly his age by now.
Her care softened Zhan's heart further, enough that he let down his guard a little. After the meal, she sent him to bathe with the herbal medicine he used, and when he returned, she herself lit incense for him. Once he lay down on the bed, she settled beside him with a heavy tome....the history of Beiping's kings....which she promised to read aloud until he fell asleep, to ease his loneliness.
"Well, my son, are you ready now?" she asked warmly.
Zhan's lips curved into a small smile. "Yes, Mamy."
"That's better. I'm glad you're here with me," she said with affection.
He chuckled softly, covering his face shyly with his hand, while Daneen smiled at him again and opened the book. Zhan, watching her, gathered his courage to raise one of the questions gnawing at his mind before she could begin reading.
"Mamy… may I ask you something?"
"Oh, my dear, of course. Ask me anything," she replied.
Zhan nodded slowly, exhaling a deep breath before speaking...
Zhanxianyibo💚❤️💛