Ch2 - Don’t underestimate deep schemers

Xie Huaian lost consciousness after listening to everything. 

He slept like the dead and when he woke up, dozed off a few more times. At last, he opened his eyes to find himself lying perfectly well on the exact same bed being watched over by a veiled female official. Her eyes were cold and her movements proper and sharp. She said she was the newest person assigned to Orchid Pool Palace (兰池宫) and with Xie Huaian’s consent, summoned a doctor to check his pulse before wiping his sweat, feeding him medicine, changing his clothes, and ventilating the rooms.  

The groggy Xie Huaian let the woman do as she pleased as he was moved from bed to wheelchair and finally a beauty couch. The young maids responsible for bringing the basins and changing water during this period were all kneeling on the carpet, afraid to make a sound. 

“Shijun, shall your bath today use Profound Pavilion’s new musk formula or the usual thousand-gold one?” The female official’s tone was flat as she elaborated. “The musk formula added pearls and jade shavings, while the thousand-gold has medicine approved by the Imperial Physician Courtyard.”

“The usual…” Xie Huaian hoarsely spoke his first words since waking up. He pretended to be sickly and sleepy while glancing at the dazzling array of various gold pots, glazed tools, rouge, and balm in the hands of the maids. 

What is all this? After a burst of apprehension, Xie Huaian realized he could simply lie down and do nothing. It took a while to freshen him up. By the time they were applying osmanthus oil to his hair, he closed his eyes and briefly dreamed he was a shiny oiled piglet waiting to be roasted.  

After that, the palace staff in charge of bringing the meals entered Orchid Pool Palace with a procession of gongs and drums. Twenty or so large boxes filled with exotic treasures were arranged four in a row while the eunuch in charge of the message announced that the emperor had rewarded him for awakening. The female official assisted Xie Huaian to the entrance of the palace to receive the rewards. When the eunuch finished reading off the long, long list of gifts, he had almost fainted from exhaustion again. 

The emperor said:

Eternal Peace Palace (永安宫) is full of strange things, so these few items won’t be missed. The Shijun was weak and walked back from the gates of Hell thanks to the blessings of Heaven. All of the previous servants who served improved have been replaced, so the new hires should work meticulously. Shijun will be the master of Orchid Pool Palace from now on and the sole consort of Emperor Shuntian (顺天帝).

Xie Huaian understood Hong Yao’s intentions and felt his heart settle down in his chest. A resurrected male consort was more useful than a dead one, so Hong Yao wasn’t planning to take his head. The matter of his revival was suppressed and no mention made of Xie shijun’s past transgressions. On the surface, he was still the male consort with sole claim to the monarch’s love, while those familiar with the previous shijun had been changed out. 

Most likely the new female official was Hong Yao’s eyes and ears, but that was all right. She could observe as she liked, he wasn’t anyone dangerous~

The System hadn’t given him a deadline for his mission, nor did it offer complete information. Under these circumstances, he was better off living a couple days comfortably. 

“Shijun is very quiet today. Is there anything displeasing you?” The female official had arranged for people to pack up the rewards while helping Xie Huaian walk back down the corridor. “His Majesty is distressed over your serious changes and specially instructed this servant to offer everything at your disposal.”

“Well… let me mull over it,” Xie Huaian choked back his urge to say, No need, everything’s fine. 

The clips that System had shown him of Xie shijun’s life revealed that the original enjoyed making trouble and asking for rewards to prove his status. Since he’d already revealed himself as a fake corpse in front of the emperor, Xie Huaian had no need to imitate his predecessor. It would be frightening to change too much all at once, so he might as well change gradually to signal to Hong Yao that he was “different, yet harmless.”

“It’d be nice to have an instrument,” Xie Huaian said in a soft and gentle voice. “It’s a bit sultry these days so the sound can help pass the time.”

“An instrument,” the female official Kong Qing (空青) paused. “Which one has shijun taken a fancy to? The ones used for musical rituals are all big and awkward, while the rarer treasures are hidden in the Bureau of Astronomy. If shijun wants—”

“No need to find the Bureau of Astronomy,” Xie Huaian quickly interjected. The Heavenly Master was in charge of that place and he didn’t want anything to do with him. “I don’t understand these things either…are there any that use bows to play?” 

“That’s not common. This servant will go looking right away,” Kong Qing said.

“Many th…cough, cough,” Xie Huaian choked in the middle of his thanks. “No more walking, I’ll rest a bit here. Go busy yourself, no need to stay.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Kong Qing bowed her head in assent. She set up a place for him to rest and helped Xie Huaian sit down before serving him some fruit. Once she was gone, Xie Huaian looked back and forth before rubbing his face with a long exhale of relief.

System? Tem-Tem? Are you there? he called in his head. 

Ktfgf kjr cb jcrkfg. Pa kjr ilxf ijra cluta’r jqqfjgjcmf tjv pera yffc j vgfjw.

Wlf Lejljc rja lc atf qjnlilbc ibbxlcu vjhfvis ja Xgfja Alcu Gscjras’r rxs, atfc vgbqqfv tlr ujhf ab tlr qjiw jr tf mifcmtfv jcv ecmifcmtfv tlr tjcv.

“P’w gfjiis jilnf…” tf weaafgfv yfobgf tlr ilqr ugjvejiis megifv eq ab gfnfji akb ktlaf affat. “Ccv la vbfrc’a rffw ilxf P tjnf mbwqifaf jwcfrlj…wjsyf j ilaaif ralweijalbc klii gfmbnfg ws wfwbglfr?”

He closed his eyes and began to meditate, his memory leaking like the wind as he remembered bursts of vague impressions. Just then he’d asked for an instrument because he thought he might know how to play one. As he mused, there was a flash of light as intuition hit him. He stuck up his fingers into a “V” and bent the middle and index digits, mouthing some lines.  

“Little bunny folds its ears, once is right, twice is wrong.”

Following that, he flipped the fingers down and began to imitate walking with them. “This is a little man who wants to go out for a walk.”

His intuition stopped there and no new fragments appeared in his mind. Xie Huaian spaced out at his fingers. “What is this? Did I specialize in babysitting children in the past?”

“Forget it, I’ll be a pampered consort for now. What do they do again…” He sat sitting straight with his chin tucked in slightly, wearing a smile as he admired the sky. After a while his back couldn’t take it anymore, so he slowly leaned back against a pillar of the pavilion.  

“So tired, ah. Let’s lie down a bit first.”

—

At the side of a mountain situated near Eternal Peace Palace, Qingliang Palace (清凉殿).

Qingliang Palace was the emperor’s place to cool off during the summer. Outside the hall stood whispering, silk-like bamboo, but inside the atmosphere was tense.  

Hong Yao, dressed in black robes embroidered with dragons, a mincing belt around his waist, and boots, was sprawled on a couch. He rolled a round wooden ball in his hand under changing angles of light. Around him were scattered pieces of broken wood and silk paintings of beauties, while an old eunuch bent over by his side, holding a tray in both hands.

“The wood grain needs to be a little finer, and this side needs to be smoothed out a bit more…tsk, what’s that stench?” Hong Yao didn’t even look up. “Eunuch Yin, you still haven’t left, ah.”

The old eunuch’s mouth muscles twitched before pulling out a smile. “Aren’t I waiting for you, old master?” He lifted his tray of silk paintings upwards. “If the previous girls didn’t meet Your Majesty’s eyes, this old servant still has a batch here. All of them are white-skinned beauties of poor birth, some who know juggling and others woodworking. Since you fancy those born of the lower ninth class, you can choose from these.”

Hong Yao slowly rotated the wooden ball in his hands until the old eunuch’s back was nearly sore from bending over, then muttered to himself, “No, not enough material.”

The old eunuch cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, these are the wishes of the Heavenly Master. Xie shijun may look good, but it’s against tradition for him to dominate the harem. He also cannot birth an imperial heir, so the Heavenly Master opened his golden mouth to have this old servant worry about your important matters. This servant—” 

Hong Yao pinched a thin wooden stick from the pile of fragments and poked it beneath the old eunuch’s chin, forcing him to lift his head.

“Open up.”

The old eunuch gasped raggedly, his nostrils flaring. 

“Zhen understands Ah-Fu's intentions best of all. When was it your turn to chew the cud? See this ball? Go out and catch it with your mouth. If you fail, you can eat it.” 

Hong Yao rolled his arm a few times before tossing the ball far away. It sailed in an arc before flying out of the palace. 

“Well then. Eunuch, your eyes are so old and blind that you can’t even choose people properly, much less catch a ball. Hurry and go lick it clean.”

The old eunuch moved his lips around a mouthful of phlegm before chasing after the ball. 

Hong Yao clapped his palms. A round-faced eunuch waiting outside heard the sound and ran in with a pile of pamphlets. He looked at the silk paintings of beauties on the ground and asked without fear, smiling simply, “Someone wants Your Majesty to take concubines again?” 

“Medicore and vulgar. They’re not as pretty as a hair on the shijun’s head,” Hong Yao said meaningfully.

The round-faced eunuch’s smile didn’t change as he guided Hong Yao to the inner room and fished out a thumb-sized blade to cut open the pamphlets. He reverently delivered its secret inner pages to Hong Yao. 

“These are the posts from Orchid Pool Palace,” the eunuch murmured. “Miss Kong Qing says Xie shijun had no particular reaction to Your Majesty’s rewards, but only requested an instrument—one that could be played with a bow.”

Hong Yao accepted the papers. 

The folded missive had female handwriting meticulously recording Xie shijun’s words and actions since he rose in the morning, marking down differences from the past such as meal preferences. Hong Yao read every line before tapping his fingers on the notes mentioning the instrument request with a hum. It was unclear whether he was happy or angry.

The round-faced eunuch waited a while before reminding him, “Your Majesty, the palace is full of elegant music, so how could such an instrument exist? But the Mi Clan people in the north often use bow strings. Shall this subordinate pursue that line of inquiry?”

He was a fake eunuch whose true identity was one of Hong Yao’s loyal shadow guards. The only people in Eternal Peace Palace who knew of Hong Yao sparing Xie shijun after his betrayal were him and the veiled female official Kong Qing. 

“No need to investigate, find a way to get one for him,” Hong Yao said. “Shijun is Zhen’s beloved consort. Zhen adores him and wants to satisfy him, remembering his every frown and smile.” 

“This subordinate understands.”

The next day, Hong Yao remained in Qingliang Palace. The round-faced eunuch recruited a group of jugglers to put on a lively performance in the outer hall with jumping ropes and etc. before entering with the newest secret report. 

“Your Majesty, the instrument was given out. The supervisors in charge of music and rituals were informed to search and finally found a xiqin.” The round-faced eunuch used his arms to approximate the size. “It’s about two and a half chi long, with two strings and a python skin box at its base. It meets the requirements of Xie shijun.”

Hong Yao unfolded the paper.  

The contents described how Xie shijun had been bewildered at the sight of the xiqin before he smiled, then forgot about it to fiddle with other things. Perhaps his improving health was a factor, but Xie shijun couldn’t stop walking around the palace today. He called the maids to explain each box of fragrant powder and cream, asked for paper to paint with the rouge, went out to look at the sky a few times, and then added a few plates of snacks in the afternoon before sneakily dumping his medicine into the potted plants.

“Naive and innocent,” Hong Yao crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into the water.

On the third day, the delivered report said that Xie shijun banished his lazy attitude to pick up the neglected xiqin, bright as a jade tree in the breeze. Many curious looks floated his way at the motion. But then they saw Xie shijun hold the instrument in front of himself with its tip resting against his collarbone, his head slightly tilted as he held the bow and drew it across the strings…

For an entire afternoon, the strange, piercing noises of the instrument was as harsh as sawing wood, scaring the crows and keeping all the people away.  

The fourth day.

“Today Xie shijun stopped playing the qin,” the round-face eunuch bowed as he presented the new report. “There is a water pavilion in Orchid Pool Palace’s garden. Xie shijun had people set up a soft couch there to lie on when he has nothing else to do. Afterwards, the servants discovered many broken leaves and their scattered fragments on the ground.”

“According to the report, the shijun didn’t seem angry after tearing the leaves, but smiled and asked for lychees?” Hong Yao asked.

“This subordinate has confirmed it. Miss Kong Qing says that Xie shijun’s temper has significantly eased these past few days. He hasn’t punished anyone in four days and isn’t so picky about food. He even praised the new dishes from the kitchens. He’s probably tearing leaves because…he’s bored.” The round-faced eunuch didn’t dare share his own opinions. He felt that Xie shijun’s behavior, combined with his tearing leaves, seemed less like indignation and more like fooling around. 

The fifth day, sixth day, seventh day…

Hong Yao’s comments decreased until in the end he only hummed and laughed. 

Xie shijun had spent the last few days very comfortably. He slept until the sun was high in the sky everyday, then ate and drank his fill before wandering idly about the grounds of Orchid Pool Palace. He picked flowers and teased birds, reclined in the water pavilion, and lived as if the imperial palace wasn’t a cannibalistic cage but a pleasure garden. 

If he was faking it, then his depths were profound and shouldn’t be underestimated. 

“This subordinate is useless,” the round-faced eunuch broke into cold sweat at Hong Yao’s icy laughter. “Your Majesty, there is one oddity about Xie shijun’s movements. Every evening he stays for long periods at the water pavilion, forbidding anyone to serve him or clean up afterwards. Shall this subordinate take men to search the premises?”

“No need. Prepare the carriage.”

Under the rays of the setting sun, Hong Yao’s turquoise irises shone with blood-red light.

— 

Translator’s Notes: Can you guess the identity of Xie Huaian’s mysterious instrument? (Yes, it actually exists.) Anyways, welcome to PSP, everyone! I put out another chapter today because I think this one really establishes the vibes of the series from here on out