Chapter 80: The Regent is the Power Behind the Throne
“A general… on a hunting expedition?”
Wei Wanlan’s fingers still held the letter, but his eyes were now glued to the painting, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks and trembling slightly.
A moment ago, he had been so focused on searching the desk that he hadn’t paid any attention to the painting’s content.
But now:
He saw that the painting had a grand, sweeping perspective, depicting a hunting ground in the mountains. Amidst the encircling peaks, a troop of warhorses of various colors galloped freely. The riders on their backs all held bows and arrows. The general at the lead, in full armor on a fine steed, had his arms spread wide, drawing a longbow until the string was like a full moon. He was chasing a fleeing sika deer while simultaneously guiding his horse.
The style of his armor, the patterns on his saber… all were rendered with lifelike detail by Yuan Xizai’s meticulous brushstrokes, all presented vividly in the painting.
This man was the Regent, Su Jingzhi.
Wei Wanlan stared blankly at the painting.
The letter suddenly slipped from his hand, the thin paper feeling as heavy as a mountain. It fluttered to the ground.
Wei Wanlan stood frozen, like a soulless shell.
He had replayed the scenario of the Regent’s ambition to usurp the throne in his mind countless times, scaring himself with the thought on many occasions. But none of that compared to the shock of seeing that single word, “Good,” with his own eyes.
Nor did it compare to the sudden, complete understanding of Yuan Xizai’s fearless confidence that came from seeing this painting.
“Young Master? Why did you drop something so important?”
Xiao Ji picked up the letter, but as he glanced over it, his face changed dramatically. “Thisāthe Regent… Su Yan, he accepted ten thousand gold from Yuan Xizai…”
In an era when copper coins were still the most common currency among the populace, silver was already valuable. To accept ten thousand taels of goldāthe Regent was the true arch-corrupt official!
Not to mention Yuan Xizai’s treasonous words: “Your servant looks forward to the day Your Highness ascends to the great treasure, replacing the young lord to right the heavenly throne.”
A treacherous subject.
Xiao Ji also felt the immense weight of those letters. His hands trembled.
Then, following Wei Wanlan’s gaze to the painting, the man skilled in calligraphy and art made an immediate judgment. In a trembling voice, he reported to Wei Wanlan, “Young Master, this is indeed the work of Yuan Xizai.”
“I can see that,” Wei Wanlan said quietly.
“Without complete concentration and utmost effort,” Xiao Ji continued, “it would be impossible to create such a lifelike painting.”
“I think… I can see that too,” Wei Wanlan replied.
“The Governor of Luoyang, Yuan Xizai, is loyal to the Regent,” Xiao Ji declared, “and he has even sponsored the Regent’s rebellious plot!”
Following this line of thought, Xiao Ji felt as if he were unraveling a thread, able to deduce the entire story. He spoke in a rapid-fire stream:
“No wonder no one has ever been able to touch Yuan Xizai!”
“The officials who came here to investigate were either bribed, intimidated, or dragged into the mud with him.”
“If they were brought to this den of pleasure and still refused to join his crooked ship, Yuan Xizai would show them these letters. The security here isn’t even that tight; it’s possible he even deliberately lures people into this study to see them.”
“And when the investigators realize whose direct subordinate he is, they completely give up any thought of resistanceāthe power behind him is the Regent.”
The study was silent. No one interrupted Xiao Ji’s deductions. Even Fu Jun, who was usually at odds with him, remained silent.
So, Xiao Ji pressed on, digging deeper into his own thoughts. His narrow eyes stared intently at the desk. Recalling Yuan Xizai’s suspicious nature, he stroked his chin and considered for a moment.
Thenā
He pushed out the thin blade from the handle of his folding fan, inserted it into the crack of the secret drawer, and pried it open with a forceful flick!
There was another hidden compartment beneath the drawer!
A dark blue cover was revealed.
Everyone’s heart pounded once more, and three pairs of eyes focused on the hidden compartment.
The court scholar reached in and pulled out a ledger. He flipped through it hastily, muttering, “That’s right, that’s right, this is it, this is the one. The entries match exactly what Bai Lianrong confessed…”
Xiao Ji confirmed that the ledger was genuine. He then presented it to Wei Wanlan with both hands. “Young Master, please take a look.”
Wei Wanlan took the ledger. It was heavy. And thick. The entries recorded inside would likely be a heavy burden for him as well.
Wei Wanlan turned to the first page, his eyes downcast, and murmured softly. It was the financial transactions between Yuan Xizai and the Regent:
“On the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month of the Jichou year, ten thousand taels of gold were transferred to the Regent’s mansion.”
Wei Wanlan looked at the ledger. There were no signs of alteration or pages being reinserted. The ledger and the letters matched.
Xiao Ji’s voice was hoarse. “Young Master, perhaps we can’t touch this man. Because we can’t touch the man behind him. Young Master?”
Perhaps no words could describe the feeling that washed over Wei Wanlan. His face was pale, his expression listless and pitiable.
His heart was filled with despair. From investigating this case to complete Task Two, he had become genuinely invested in the Luoyang snow disaster. He had felt righteous anger for the dead, had worked hard, and had been genuinely thrilled by the many twists and turns.
But now, the result was utter helplessness.
He was helpless against Yuan Xizai, and he was helpless against Task Two. Because he had never imagined that Task Two would be connected to Task One!
And the Regent, as always, was an insurmountable obstacle, an impenetrable fortress blocking his path. It seemed he had no options left…
A wave of stinging sorrow welled up in Wei Wanlan’s eyes. His little nose twitched, and he swallowed hard.
Seeing him like this, Xiao Ji’s heart also ached with an unspeakable bitterness. He clenched his fists inside his sleeves and suggested, “If the Young Master truly wishes to bring Yuan Xizai to justice, this servant still has a suggestion.”
Wei Wanlan was too choked up to respond. He could only turn and give Xiao Ji a look.
Xiao Ji bowed. “Fu Jun, if you are truly not Su Yan’s lackey, then for the sake of our journey together, we will drop this case against Yuan Xizai. Since you have a personal grudge against him, you have already reached his lair. Find him, and take him away.”
The ways of the martial world were, after all, different from the official court. Fu Jun’s pretext for approaching them had been to “take Yuan Xizai away for a period of private interrogation.” But that was based on the assumption that the young emperor could follow the proper procedures to arrest him.
Now, arresting Yuan Xizai seemed impossible. If they still wanted to rid the people of this scourge, they could only return to the path Fu Jun had originally suggestedāthe so-called “using martial arts to defy the law.”
“It’s just that in doing so, the Young Master will have to break his promise to Xi Yan. But at least the end result is the same. Young Master, please take care of yourself,” Xiao Ji advised.
Usually, Xiao Ji was very good at persuading Wei Wanlan. He almost always succeeded. But this time was different.
Wei Wanlan was different. The young emperor didn’t respond to his words at all. He just stood there, stunned.
And Fu Jun was different too. There was no arrogance, no triumph, none of the bloodlust of a martial artist about to avenge a wrong. He simply turned slightly, his hands behind his back, and looked at Wei Wanlan. “Xiao Wan.”
That single “Xiao Wan” nearly brought Wei Wanlan to tears.
With red-rimmed eyes, Wei Wanlan turned to face him. He was, in fact, very fragile. He had been putting on a brave front for so long, and he desperately wished someone could comfort him in his darkest moment, even if it was just by calling his name, “Xiao Wan.” In his warm, modern home, his parents and relatives called him Xiao Wan, his classmates and friends called him Xiao Wan…
“Xiao Wan,” Fu Jun said again.
Wei Wanlan finally responded, but it was with a forced cheerfulness that couldn’t hide the sob in his voice. “What is it, great hero?”
Fu Jun took half a step closer. He looked down at him, his tone characteristically Fu Jun-esqueācalm and detached even in its seriousness, his emotions unreadable. “I could even kill Yuan Xizai with a single strike. But, what do you think?”
“What?”
“The Regent in your eyesāwhat kind of person is he? Is he someone to whom you cannot bring Yuan Xizai back for execution?”
Honest or corrupt?
A formidable leader or a treacherous official?
Even when he had taken action before, in front of System 404, Wei Wanlan had always been avoiding the issue, seemingly shying away from discovering the true face of Su Jingzhi.
Even though he had, intentionally or not, gathered a lot of information about him:
A descendant of generals, covered in glory, feared by all the court officials…
No sense of taste, suffers from headaches, full of wicked ideas, always bullying him, prone to fits of madness…
But at that moment, Wei Wanlan suddenly realized that these fragmented pieces of information were just thatāfragments of the man. He had never considered understanding Su Jingzhi from a human perspective.
What did he believe in? What did he hate? What kind of person was he, really? He had no idea!
He knew so little about Su Jingzhi, yet he had survived for so long in this world of political intrigue, right under the nose of the powerful official. He didn’t know if it was luck or the Regent’s oversight. Thinking about it now, he almost believed the Regent had been deliberately going easy on him.
No one could complete the tasks for him. A sense of loneliness washed over Wei Wanlan. To complete this task independently, he had to cut through layers of deception.
And taking a step back, if the big bad guy wasn’t so bad, and he had fallen into Yuan Xizai’s trap, it was highly likely that Yuan Xizai would get away. Perhaps Fu Jun would be lucky enough to kill him, but Yuan Xizai, with his title of a famous official, might even receive posthumous honors.
So, he didn’t blindly trust the letters and the painting, and he set aside the court scholar’s advice for the time being.
Wei Wanlan said to them, “We don’t know the whole picture yet. Let’s gather more information here. Then, I will make my own judgment.”
“Yes,” Xiao Ji said with a bow.
Fu Jun, unnoticed, lowered his gaze slightly.
Just then, a rustling sound approached from outside. The three of them heard the footsteps of a patrol.
“The wine at this Three Rests Terrace is so fragrant.”
“Drunk when I wake, and awake when I’m drunk. I don’t even know what night it is.”
It was a group of guards who seemed to have just finished drinking. Their footsteps were not orderly. In fact, you could hear the drunkenness in their steps. Through the door, they could hear their unsteady gait, the scuffing sound of their boots dragging on the ground.
These were not heavy, intimidating sounds. Perhaps it was because the people here had been in this secret realm for too long.
However, this was a secret mission. Wei Wanlan didn’t want anyone to see them and interfere with his plans, even though he knew that with Fu Jun’s skills, dealing with them would be no problem.
Wei Wanlan gave Fu Jun a look. The teary moisture in his eyes had not yet faded, and he felt a cool breeze against his face. His feet were already off the ground.
Fu Jun carried him up to the rafters. He flicked a pebble, extinguishing the lamp.
Xiao Ji, with no other choice, lifted his long robes and scrambled under the desk.
A warm, apricot-colored beam of light shone into the study. Then, the door was pushed open.
Two or three guards carrying lanterns entered and looked around the room. The lamplight illuminated the lines on their faces, the downward pull of their skin, showing the erosion of time. Seeing nothing, they lingered for a moment before leaving without a word.
“Damn it.”
“I could have sworn I heard something.”
“Ha, you’ve probably had too much to drink and are seeing things!”
Wei Wanlan was now being held in Fu Jun’s arms, sitting on a rafter. The rafter was not wide, so Fu Jun was sitting on the thick beam, and to keep from falling, Wei Wanlan had to cling tightly to Fu Jun’s neck.
Once again, their breaths were so close they completely merged.
To make things less awkward, Wei Wanlan had to find something to do. He took the opportunity to carefully observe the guards’ faces in the light of their own lanterns.
A thought suddenly struck him.
There were weary guards here, and palace maids and eunuchs who were getting on in years. This was a structure as grand as his own imperial palace.
Just a moment ago, he had been wondering how Yuan Xizai had managed to build such a vast den of pleasure for himself, to carouse and store his treasures, without the people of Luoyang knowing.
Now, Wei Wanlan thought he understood.
When the sound of the patrol’s footsteps had faded from near to far, finally disappearing into the night, Wei Wanlan felt a little safer. In the darkness, he suddenly spoke.
“Gentlemen, this isn’t Yuan Xizai’s secret base at all. Yuan Xizai never built a secret base. I think I know where we are…”
Recommended Reads
don’t tell me yuan xizai is actually the previous emperror? daymm. thx for the chapter.
btw I think the link title number is wrong