Book 15: Chapter 37
His Majesty’s Orders Can’t be Defied
I never thought Uncle Huang came to the same conclusion as I did while he was recovering in the underground palace.
“All this old one can do with all the time on his hands is mull over these things. If he still knew less than you, then he lived his life in vain.” Uncle Huang, seemingly reading my mind, chuckled, and then turned to Boss Shen. “Fiends’ Genesis stressed us. The White Princes benefited. Is there still anything that isn’t obvious?”
Boss was smart – just a tad less than me. She had a hard think, then punched me, went back to thinking and exhaled. “It is hard to accept. I never thought all of our struggles against Jiang Chen were just a front to so much more.”
Uncle Huang coldly said, “Opposing the imperial court is courting death. Fiends’ Genesis suffered, while the White Princes gained all that there was to gain. If they were not colluding, would someone as shrewd as Gongsun Chu be willing to work for another? Fiends’ Genesis are fools; their trust in someone as ruthless and shrewd as him will be their own undoing.”
Uncle Huang fell asleep a while later as we continued talking, but he didn’t forget to stress that we had to find out the truth before he succ.u.mbed to his fatigue. After shutting the door gently behind us, Boss and I could see the dilemmas we were both facing. There weren’t many among the White Princes who had what it took to kill Elder Yu, but no names came to mind. They were all wielded authority and physical might that could almost compare to Shaolin’s abbot. If they killed the head of Confucianism, they’d cause a huge stir.
Uncle Huang would’ve accused someone if Confucians were okay with falsely accusing people. The culprit undoubtedly left too little evidence, or Yan s.h.i.+san would’ve already found out who it was.
“Are we really going to pick up this case?”
Walking beside me, Boss bobbed her head. “Not us, though, but me.”
“Did I just get fired?”
“Do you have time for it? The sun is coming up.”
The two of us cast our gaze to the horizon, where we saw the first rays of sunlight and sighed in synchrony, except I lowered my head afterwards to steal a glance of Boss’ face. Perhaps the angle I saw her face from was even more mesmerising than her beauty, making me reactively lower my head again.
“Another day has pa.s.sed by.” Boss looked towards me. “The academy idol contest commences tomorrow. Are you ready?”
“It’s daybreak…”
Of course… not. I wasn’t preparing for the idol contest, and I had things I still needed to wrap up. I heaved a big breath.
“Something stressing you out?”
“Nah, just some shameless military guy who’s b.l.o.o.d.y strong is making life hard for me.”
“Pfft.” Boss patted my head. “Don’t call people shameless when you’re no better.”
I was speechless, not because I couldn’t think of a comeback but because I recalled that night at the inn.
“… You best make sure you’re in a spot to say that before you say it.”
“???”
“Ahem, Boss, head back and catch some sleep. I need to pay His Majesty a visit.”
Boss was visibly somewhat peeved I took a “natural” step back, but my second sentence distracted her. “You’re going into the palace at this hour?”
“Hehe.” I took out a golden… piece of wood from my s.h.i.+rt. “Yes!”
***
“Idiot! Moron! Fool! Brainless…”
“Your Majesty.”
“Why did you wake me at this hour?”
Even though His Majesty had his finger pointed at me, it was too early in the morning for him to find the words to insult me with.
I apologetically cupped my hands in salute. “Your subject apologies for waking you up, but your subject has an urgent report to make.”
“That doesn’t justify having someone pull me out of bed! To make matters worse, you had w.a.n.g Tushui go ask Her Majesty go to Brilliant Consort’s palace to wake me. You really want to see me miserable, don’t you?”
“n.o.body else would dare to go, though.”
“That doesn’t just-”
“Your Majesty, Northern Wondrous Warrior Manor have shown up.”
“Oh!” His Majesty leaned his face that resembled the aftermath of a maniac cat’s attack closer and gestured with his hands. “Come closer to speak.”
I jogged over straight away despite not knowing why we had to be so close when the only other person in the palace besides us was Eunuch w.a.n.g.
“Don’t give me that look! This sets the atmosphere!” chided His Majesty. “So, what did she say?”
“Oh, oh, she said, as long as…”
And so, I doubled Zuo Suniang’s demands – especially when it came to how many people she wanted to recruit and how much money she needed. Don’t get it twisted now. I wasn’t trying to make things difficult for Northern Wondrous Warrior Manor; I just wanted His Majesty to not have an excessively positive impression of them. That was my insurance policy in case they came after me in the future. Moreover, His Majesty wouldn’t accept her ridiculous terms, so why not raise the bar to give him room? In that way, he’d still be able to satisfy her demands even if he shaved off 50%.
You can call me Master Negotiator Ming.
“Approved.” His Majesty nodded. “Is that it?”
Wh-what did His Majesty just say? Why are you being so generous?! Pay me back my three hundred thousand, then! You have money to renovate their manor but not pay me for going to war for you?! Is this surnameism?! I can call you “Dad”, too! I’m your son-in-law, after all!
“They had to suffer unjust punishments. Li Clan lacks men in the family. We must come together in the future, so we cannot lose Northern Wondrous Warrior Manor’s support.”
… And what about me? Now there’s a fat extra sum.
“All that said, it’s not enough to earn her trust. Go tell her that, not only do I agree to her terms, but I will also double them!”
“Huh?! Four times?!”
“What? Double is twice. Where did you learn your maths from?”
“Ah, no, you see… your subject was stupefied.”
Doesn’t this mean… I’ve just earned a huge sum?
“As long as she’s willing to tell me where the secret path is, her demands are trivial.”
“What secret path?”
His Majesty looked at me as if I was a moron. “What sort of question is that? How can I trust them if I don’t have jurisdiction over the secret pa.s.sage?”
Oh… I see you haven’t woken up yet. You want their secret pa.s.sage? I promised not to ask for it.
“No matter what you have to do, find out where it is.”
… Your Majesty, do you remember I have to attend the exams? How can you order me around like this? Since you’re forcing my hand, I’ll have to accept the generous extra sum!