“Your Majesty, Lord Ming has woken up!” Only after staying in the side hall for a long while did Sun Zhicheng come out. “But the sedative was extremely strong. Although he is awake, his mind is still somewhat confused. If Your Majesty wishes to question him, you may have to wait a little longer.”
Before Sun Zhicheng had even finished speaking, Li Xuanming went straight into the side hall. He saw Ming Zhang with a pale, bluish complexion, his lips nearly drained of color, his eyes staring blankly ahead. Even upon seeing him, Ming Zhang showed no reaction at all.
The questions at the tip of his tongue were ultimately swallowed back down. Turning to Sun Zhicheng, who had followed behind him, Li Xuanming asked, “What about the others?”
“Lord Ming was given the heaviest dose of the sedative, so I fear we cannot get anything from him right now. Li Jiang, however, has recovered much more.”
When Li Jiang saw them arrive, he tried to rise but lacked the strength. Although he could speak, his voice was weak.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, this servant was guarding the sleeping hall at the time. I saw Lord Ming speaking with Grand Historian Yan, but they did not seem to be getting along very pleasantly.” Although his thoughts had become somewhat clearer, Li Jiang had obviously not fully recovered. Supporting his forehead, he thought for another moment before suddenly seeming to remember something and cried out, “This servant remembers now. Gao Yu drugged and knocked this servant unconscious!”
Gao Yu?
Li Xuanming did not know who Gao Yu was, but Shen Zhaoquan never forgot a name once he heard it. He immediately recalled hearing this name outside the imperial study before. At the time, the emperor had ordered Ming Zhang to thoroughly investigate the imperial study, so Shen Zhaoquan had not paid further attention to the matter. But hearing the name again now, he suddenly realized there had long been signs of this, yet the Youluo Jian had failed to notice it.
“This servant saw Gao Yu, a low-ranking eunuch, enter the sleeping hall. I was just about to scold him and order him out when he suddenly gave this servant a strange smile. I only remember smelling a peculiar fragrance, and then my body stopped obeying me. But…” Li Jiang hesitated. “Before this servant lost consciousness, I heard Lord Ming shout, ‘Yihuan, what are you doing?!’ His tone was extremely alarmed. But by then this servant’s mind was already unclear, so I do not know whether it was real or just a hallucination.”
Every part of Li Jiang’s account was steeped in strangeness. It seemed that if they wanted to know the truth, they could only wait for Ming Zhang to speak. At that moment, a sudden sound of something heavy falling came from the inner chamber. Shen Zhaoquan, who was closest, rushed in first and cried out, “Lord Ming!” He quickly stepped forward and helped Ming Zhang up from where he had fallen beside the bed.
But Ming Zhang paid no attention to Shen Zhaoquan’s support. His eyes were bloodshot and wide with fury, and it seemed he used every ounce of strength in his body just to force out the words,
“Your Majesty, Yan Yihuan has stolen the defense plans of the capital and the imperial palace!”
“What did you say?!”
Li Xuanming’s expression changed instantly. He stared at Ming Zhang in disbelief. “You mean Yihuan, You actually let Yihuan…!”
His words stopped abruptly. Li Xuanming’s dark eyes had become unfathomably dark, yet anyone could see the storm raging within them.
The furious rage made Li Xuanming’s body tremble slightly. Suddenly, he shifted his gaze away from Ming Zhang and looked at Shen Zhaoquan, who was still supporting Ming Zhang.
“You may leave. Have everyone outside leave as well.”
Shen Zhaoquan’s heart tightened. Lowering his head, he glanced at Ming Zhang, whose eyes still occasionally went blank with confusion. Although he had not fully regained consciousness, Shen Zhaoquan still set him down carefully against the side of the bed.
With a creak, the door closed. Faint footsteps could still be heard outside as the others withdrew. Ming Zhang’s head hung half lowered, swaying slightly, yet the corners of his mouth could not help but curl into a strange smile.
But in the next instant, his collar was violently seized. Ming Zhang weakly tilted his head back, and his once unfocused gaze finally fixed upon a face twisted with rage unlike anything he had ever seen before.
“Ming Zhang!” The name was practically forced out through clenched teeth. Li Xuanming’s eyes were wide with fury, yet beneath the anger was unmistakable disbelief. “Why did you frame Yihuan?!”
This had originally been part of their plan. Ming Zhang was supposed to hand the fake defense plans to Li Xuanjing, who would then present them to King Qin, luring them into a trap.
But Ming Zhang had arranged everything so carefully that anyone unaware of the truth would surely believe Yan Yihuan had worked together with outsiders to drug everyone and steal the plans.
And Ming Zhang had calculated perfectly that Li Xuanming could never deny it. Otherwise, all their plans would collapse into ruin, and the empire itself would be endangered.
“Where is he?”
Li Xuanming’s mind had never been in such chaos before. Even the last time Yan Yihuan had been taken hostage, he did not seem to feel pain this piercing. His voice was icy cold despite the blazing summer heat. Ming Zhang gave a weak smile,
“This subject does not know.” The intense pain in his jaw made Ming Zhang’s brows knit tightly together, though it also seemed to clear his mind somewhat. “This subject only instructed Li Xuanjing’s people to get Yan Yihuan out of the palace. Your Majesty should also know they would never tell this subject where they intended to take him.”
“Did you tell him the defense plans were fake?!”
“With Yan Yihuan’s inability to hide things, if this subject had told him the plans were fake, how could he possibly have deceived Li Xuanjing?” Although Ming Zhang’s voice was weak, his tone was utterly resolute. “Your Majesty, do you not want to see how Yan Yihuan will choose?”
A trace of ruthlessness and hatred flashed through Ming Zhang’s lowered eyes, along with a hint of satisfaction.
“Will he choose to help his father, brothers, and family, or will he choose Your Majesty? Do you truly not wish to find out?”
Those words were like a thunderclap, shattering the fortress Li Xuanming had so carefully built. Did he even need to ask whom Yan Yihuan would choose?
The Yan Yihuan missing one soul fragment treated everyone well, but in this world, the only person he would betray was himself.
“And if he does not choose Zhen, then what? Ming Zhang, do you think this will make Zhen let go of him?” Even after being struck at the deepest wound in his heart, Li Xuanming’s face remained expressionless. “Since the beginning, Zhen was the one who chose him.”
Ming Zhang raised his head in disbelief. “What is so good about him? He…”
“Zhaoquan!” Li Xuanming coldly cut him off. “Bring Han Zhen here to continue the interrogation. And also, confine everyone from the Youluo Jian in the imperial guard camp. Without Zhen’s decree, no one is to be released.”
“Han Zhen?!” Ming Zhang was utterly shocked, and his expression finally began to crack. “Wasn’t he sent south?!”
Li Xuanming gave him a cold glance and abruptly let go, watching Ming Zhang, having lost his support, immediately collapse to the floor, “Zhen will no longer trust you without reservation as Zhen once did.”
“Heh.” Ming Zhang fell to the ground yet laughed instead. “Even knowing Li Xuanjing would never harm Yan Yihuan, is Your Majesty still this anxious and frantic?
“This subject did indeed act on his own in this matter, but it was done after careful consideration. If this subject had delivered the defense plans, Li Xuanjing would have believed at most thirty percent of it. But Yan Yihuan is different.” Ming Zhang used all his strength just to lift his head. “Li Xuanjing will not only believe him completely, he will treasure him like a precious jewel. So what does Your Majesty have to worry about?”
“But he does not know this is all part of a scheme. Sending him there is no different from sending him to his death.” Li Xuanming stared at Ming Zhang in disbelief. “Ming Zhang, Zhen never knew you hated him this deeply.”
“Hate?” Ming Zhang froze for a moment. “I would not call it hate. I actually like him as well. But he was wrong. Wrong for ever appearing.”
As he spoke, a glimmer flashed through Ming Zhang’s eyes, followed by an expression of sudden realization. He urgently said,
“Is it also because of his fate? Your Majesty insisted on keeping Yan Yihuan by your side because of his destiny as well, isn’t that right?”
“How did you learn of that?!” Li Xuanming had never told anyone about the bond from their previous life. On the day he spoke with Zhengyangzi, even Shen Zhaoquan had not been present. So how had Ming Zhang found out?
“Li Xuanjing told me personally.” Ming Zhang’s eyes burned with intensity. “He said that from childhood he had known Yan Yihuan was destined to be the empress. Whoever obtained him would become the ruler of Northern Jin. That is why I arranged for Yan Yihuan to go, because I was certain Li Xuanjing would never harm him!”
The author has something to say:
Darlings, just a reminder. The emperor only knows that they share a bond from their previous life, but he does not know that Yihuan carries the fate of becoming empress.
Yihuan himself does not know either.
t/n: Updates might be irregular for now. I’ll probably keep them twice a week, but without fixed days.
