Chapter 105: The Request

Chapter 105: The Request

The maidservants withdrew in succession, and outside the door came Eunuch He’s cautious inquiry: "Your Highness? Is Your Highness well?"

Eunuch He had previously served in the imperial study, under the Directorate of Ceremonial. He was Emperor Jianning's man, and though the Crown Prince’s reach didn't extend to him, now that he had followed Xiao Shao to Hedong on assignment, he recognized only Xiao Shao as his master.

Xiao Shao said, "Come in."

Eunuch He carefully observed him and, seeing his expression unchanged and free of anger, breathed a small sigh of relief. He scolded, "Who knows where Prefect Song found these maidservants—each one brash and ill-mannered, ignorant of propriety. This old servant will have words with him and demand that he punish them severely."

Xiao Shao responded, "Unnecessary."

Those maidservants were trained in martial arts, clearly not ordinary servants but carefully cultivated assets. Given Prefect Song's boldness and Xiao Shao’s limited resources here, if pressed, Song Lvyang could simply execute a couple of peasant women and present them as the maids, giving Xiao Shao no grounds for objection. It would merely tip their hand and waste innocent lives.

As he spoke, Xiao Shao unfolded a map and suddenly remarked, "Ah, right, Eunuch He. I recall Hedong Prefecture has a garrison eunuch. At a glance I see he has some connection to you—is that so?"

Eunuch He was taken aback, then smiled. "We were both in the palace in earlier years. He’s a generation older than me, so we know each other, but not closely."

In the early years of the dynasty, garrison eunuchs were posted across the land. Born into humble origins, without descendants, wives, or clans, they were the emperor's most pliable tools. They were placed in various regions to check local officials and oversee partial military authority. Xiao Shao skimmed the map—the one in Hedong was stationed near Qinglong Mountain.

He pushed the map aside. "Eunuch He, I’ve no use for you here today. Go out and find the Hedong garrison eunuch. If Song Lvyang asks, say you’re old friends and, having seldom ventured out, wish to pay him a visit. While you’re at it, deliver a message for me."

Eunuch He bowed deeply. "Your command?"

Xiao Shao said, "Tell him I wish to drink the finest apricot blossom wine the locality has to offer, and to have it brewed for me."

The request was puzzling. Eunuch He hesitated for a moment, his gaze lingering on Xiao Shao, but Xiao Shao simply kept pouring wine without another word. So Eunuch He cupped his hands and said, "As you wish," before withdrawing through the main door.

The day unfolded without incident, filled with continued feasting and drinking. Song Lvyang hosted a banquet at the foot of Qinglong Mountain, where the group sat in a pavilion, gazing at the towers and halls upon the mountain.

Song Lvyang enthusiastically praised Qinglong Mountain's beauty and its abundant treasures to Xiao Shao, all while watching Xiao Shao’s expression closely.

Xiao Shao pretended he had never been there before. He offered perfunctory replies, then turned to laugh and jest with Qi Yan. By the end of the banquet, Xiao Shao was thoroughly inebriated as usual, swaying unsteadily down the path with Qi Yan supporting him.

With Song Lvyang present, Xiao Shao let his full weight slump against Xiao Tanhu, feigning complete drunkenness—his body limp and boneless, exerting no strength at all.

Qi Yan struggled to help him into the carriage, and the two returned to the residence like shadows in the night, closing the doors and extinguishing the lights. But deep in the night, Xiao Shao took Qi Yan and slipped out of the residence once more.

This time, they moved with practiced ease, making their way to the inn’s stables and leading out the old horse.

As Qi Yan mounted, he noticed Xiao Shao was carrying a bundle.

Tied to the horse’s back, the bundle was substantial. Xiao Shao pulled him close and whispered, "Supplies in case of emergencies. Song Lvyang seems to have noticed something."

Xiao Shao had acted his part flawlessly, but Song Lvyang’s guilt made him wary. The residence was filled with maids and servants loyal to Song Lvyang—even the gardeners trimming the bonsai moved with the steady gait of martial artists. Fooling them completely was no simple task.

Yet the case had to be investigated. The Silver Case had been officially closed by the Ministry of Justice, with the Crown Prince mediating. Xiao Shao’s reputation as a wastrel was well-known, and if he suddenly demanded to reopen the case, Emperor Jianning would assume he was merely playing around. That was why Xiao Shao had come under the pretext of flood control—it also meant he would receive no assistance in investigating the case.

Now, the only option was to investigate personally.

The bundle was well-prepared: two flasks of water, some dry rations, flint, and cloth. Qi Yan was startled and opened his mouth to speak, but Xiao Shao pinched his earlobe from behind and chuckled. "Today, when he took us to Qinglong Mountain for the banquet, something felt off. Hedong has so many famous mountains and rivers—why choose that one? Perhaps when we return, Song Lvyang will be waiting for us at the gate..."

Then, drawing out his words, he teased, "Xiao Tanhu, are you scared?"

Xiao Shao was a wastrel, and this was his usual way of teasing beauties. Normally, they would either laugh coquettishly and pretend to collapse into his arms or feign anger and push him away. But Qi Yan didn’t brush off his hand—he merely chuckled softly. "How could I be scared?"

Back when his entire family had been imprisoned, the cell had reeked of rot and decay. The walls were soaked with years of bloodstains, and moss grew thickly in the crevices, dense and tangled. Bedbugs, snakes, and rats crawled over the straw bedding. At night, when all was silent, the only sounds came from their scavenging and the faint, mournful groans from the neighboring cells.

Sometimes, those groans came from new prisoners—but most of the time, they came from his father.

The methods of prison torture can always make one long for death but be unable to attain it.

Having endured these days of constant fear and uncertainty, what’s left can’t possibly compare?

The old horse picked up its pace along the narrow path toward the silver vault. At the fork in the road, Xiao Shao veered toward Qinglong Mountain.

The wind howled past their ears as Qi Yan tightened his grip on the reins: "Are we heading to Prince An's tomb?"

All of Qinglong Mountain was the burial ground for successive generations of Prince An, with eight grand tombs sprawled from top to bottom. The mountain peak, with the most auspicious feng shui, housed the tomb of the first Prince An.

Xiao Shao: "I’ve got a hunch I need to check."

When they reached the halfway point at the mountain's memorial hall, they tied the horse to a stump, bypassed the guarded entrance, and continued on foot uphill.

Qi Yan frowned: "This Qinglong Mountain is truly peculiar. The surrounding forests are lush and dense, yet the higher we go, the barer it gets."

Xiao Shao remarked casually: "Did the old dynasty’s princes like bald hills for their graves?"

Qi Yan shook his head: "Certainly not. Both in the previous dynasty and ours, thick, thriving foliage is the ideal. Even the Emperor selects such mountains for his mausoleum—no one would deliberately choose a barren hill."

Qinglong Mountain was not tall, merely a nothing-special hill on the outskirts. Soon, they reached the summit, where all eight of Prince An’s tombs sprawled before them. Looking down from the hill, the tomb side was sere and yellowed, while the other side remained verdant and normal.

Xiao Shao circled to the front of a tomb. The entrance was sealed with thick stone slabs. Bending down, he spotted marks where the stones had been pried. He pushed lightly, but the slabs were too heavy to move immediately.

As he braced himself against the tomb door, he was hit by a wave of dizziness. Leaning on Xiao Tanhu for support, he frowned and said, "Just as I thought."

He retrieved a small porcelain vial and a bowl from the pack, mixed soil into the bowl, then poured in a yellowish powder from the vial. After adding water and stirring, a gray-black sludge rose to the top, covered with an oily film that faintly revealed a crimson hue.

Both Xiao Shao and Qi Yan frowned simultaneously: "Cinnabar... and mercury?"

Qi Yan said, "I once read in ancient texts that the old dynasty’s emperors saw death as life continued. Not only did they establish burial rites and inter artifacts from their lifetime, but they also wished to remain sovereigns in the afterlife, surveying their vast realms every day. Thus, they shaped rocks into mountain ridges and transformed mercury into rivers and seas, placing the imperial coffin amidst this symbolic landscape to represent dominion over the realm."

Xiao Shao: "If the Emperor did so, surely the princes followed suit. Prince An's tomb may not contain vast rivers and seas, but mercury must have been used to depict the waterways of his fiefdom. No wonder there’s so much mercury around his tomb."

At this, they exchanged a glance, both reaching the same conclusion.

—The missing silver had to be from here.

Crown Prince Xiao Yi colluded with the Hedong Prefect to embezzle treasury silver, using it to win over court officials and secretly raise assassins. Had the Crown Prince ascended the throne, the accounts would have been smoothed over. But the Emperor unexpectedly sent an imperial censor—Qi Chen—to inspect Hedong.

Qi Chen was a clean-fingered official, unwavering in his loyalty.

On his first day in Hedong, he demanded the treasury keys. The silver reserves were critical—if this got out, Song Lvyang wouldn’t just lose his head, but the Crown Prince’s factionalism and political maneuvering under the Emperor’s nose would also invite severe repercussions. So they cooked up a plan to pin it on the imperial inspector.

They placed a few chests of real silver at the front, while deeper in the vault, the chests were filled with mercury.

At dusk, the fading light hid the details. The vault was poorly ventilated, and with snowfall lowering temperatures, the mercury didn’t evaporate excessively. Yet the lingering fumes still poisoned Qi Chen. Dizzy, suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, his vision blurred further. Seeing the glint of silver in the vault, he took it as genuine.

Silver is hard to dispose of, but mercury is easy.

After Qi Chen’s inspection, Song Lvyang had it drained through a pipe and dumped into the mountain soil or rivers—leaving no trace. A last fire wiped out whatever evidence remained.

Villagers living downhill unwittingly ingested excessive mercury, leading to deaths and injuries.

Xiao Shao said, "I suspected this earlier. Refining mercury isn’t easy, and your father’s sudden appointment as censor left even the Hedong Prefect unable to procure so much mercury in such a short time. It seemed odd then, but now it’s clear—they took it directly from the prince’s tomb."

He added, "That tomb keeper, with his twisted mouth, missing teeth, and convulsions—he too suffers from mercury poisoning. But his is from years of exposure on the mountain. The villagers died from the vault’s dumped mercury."

With a sigh, Xiao Shao concluded, "What a damn shame. The once-thriving village, adorned with wine banners and apricot blossoms, is now in ruins. Half its people died violently within three months. Who knows how many died for this insane stunt?"

Among them were infants still in swaddling clothes, adolescents in the midst of growth, fathers, mothers, and elderly with silver hair. Perhaps they had once strolled along the village paths, admiring the apricot blossoms covering the hills, yet in the end, they all turned into yellow earth and sun-bleached skeletons corroded by mercury.

"......"

Qi Yan lowered his gaze, staring at the ashy residue in the porcelain bowl, remaining silent for a long while. After a moment, he managed a bitter smile and said, "Indeed. Just how many people have died because of him?"

He blinked, his vision blurred by a thin mist, veiling Xiao Shao's face behind it. Now that the truth had come to light, what surged in his heart was not relief but an unbearable, smothering hatred.

If all this had merely been deception—if the Silver Case had been a predetermined trap—then what of his father's suffering, his mother and sister's hardships, or even his own torment? The searing pain of castration, the unbearable agony, and this bleak, hopeless future—what did any of it mean?

Qi Yan remembered the torture chamber—his father screaming until his voice gave out, unable to even cry out in pain; his mother and sister weeping, trembling like startled birds. And he could only watch and listen, powerless to do anything.

His father, who had studied diligently for ten years, remained incorruptible, rising to the rank of fourth-grade censor. His mother, graceful and wise; his sister, erudite and accomplished. And he himself, a child prodigy, a promising scholar apprenticed to a great Confucian master, destined to enter the Grand Secretariat and be remembered in history—what did any of it mean now?

For a moment, Qi Yan even wished his father had truly been corrupt, had truly forgotten his oath to serve the people, had truly been heartless enough to embezzle those millions in silver. That would have been better.

Otherwise, what was the point of this cruel cosmic joke of a life?

How could he ever find release?

The whims of those in power, toying with lives like chess pieces—it had cost him, his family, and the innocent villagers at the foot of Qinglong Mountain everything.

It was too cruel.

Xiao Shao had been inspecting the surroundings when he noticed Qi Yan gripping the wooden door, his fingertips bone-white from tension, his body trembling faintly, his face the color of parchment. Even when Xiao Shao called his name twice, he showed no reaction.

As if caught in a waking nightmare.

Xiao Shao paused, then gently touched the back of Qi Yan's pale neck, said softly, "Qi Yan?"

"...Grand Councilor?"

At this moment, Xiao Shao dared not even raise his voice.

The familiar tone partially roused Qi Yan. He lifted his head, blinking back the tears that could no longer be contained, and through the blur, he saw Xiao Shao.

—The second prince, his eyes filled with concern, regarding him quietly, not urging, only soothing him with strokes along his back as if comforting a frightened animal.

In that instant, a tidal wave of anguish surged up, threatening to drown Qi Yan.

He had endured it all before, but now, he couldn't take it another moment. He wanted nothing more than to find a safe place to suppress the flood of violent emotions raging inside him.

...A safe place.

So Qi Yan swiped at his eyes with his sleeve, then turned to Xiao Shao and managed a broken smile. "Your Highness, may I make a request?"

Xiao Shao had been about to reach out and wipe his tears but hesitated. He frowned. "...What request? Speak."

One so fair ought never wear such sorrow.

Qi Yan struggled to steady his trembling voice. His entire body was shaking, even the beauty mark beneath his eye quivering like a suspended droplet. Yet he still clung to dignity, his voice hoarse and choked as he pleaded:

"It's like this. I know this is presumptuous, but just for now, just this once... may I..."

"May I hold you?"