After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 75

A young eunuch, carrying herbs and minerals, carefully made his way back to the palace.

He had finally acquired the last three ingredients needed for the preparation of the Wenqing Wine. Imperial Concubine Zhao was quite troublesome, constantly fixated on eating pig trotters. As a servant, he had to take extra care for his master.

With these three ingredients, he could make the Wenqing Wine. With the Wenqing Wine, his master’s rise to prominence was imminent… Although his master was only interested in eating and waiting to die, the young eunuch, who was highly ambitious and deeply immersed in palace intrigue, was taking on the crucial task of palace scheming.

… Of course, not in the fighting sense.

After passing the Library Pavilion and a few palace paths, he was nearing Imperial Concubine Zhao’s residence. Just then, he was startled by someone around the corner.

“Y-Your Majesty?!”

Truly, it was the old saying that misfortune always comes in clusters; he had been hoping not to be discovered, only to run into the one person he least wanted to see at that moment.

Fortunately, the Emperor seemed to be engaged in conversation with someone and didn’t notice him. The young eunuch initially wanted to leave, but for some reason, he changed his mind and stayed.

The person speaking with the Emperor appeared to be Chancellor Lu. They seemed to be in a secret discussion, hiding behind some trees.

“… Chancellor, do you also think I’m making a mistake?” The Emperor seemed to grunt, “What’s wrong? As the Emperor, do I need to consult the Duke of the State every time I make a decision?”

He could barely hear clearly through the trees.

“… Your Majesty, the Duke of the State is, after all, an elder,” Chancellor Lu’s voice was tinged with helplessness.

“I see him as old and bored, repeatedly writing memorials for the Fifth Prince, and those so-called ‘purists’ are just as useless, always complaining instead of doing anything constructive. Why should I let them speak without taxation, to prevent their spittle from polluting the environment?”

The Emperor seemed to continue speaking at length, with Chancellor Lu advising him on the side, “Currently, the Empress Dowager is on Mount Ming, worshiping Buddha. She will return in a year. She is especially fond of the Fifth Prince… Your Majesty, you know this.”

“… Then we will wait until a year later. For now, keep him confined for a year.”

The conversation continued, but the young eunuch was left in shock.

… The Emperor was actually considering defying the Empress Dowager’s decree just for Zhou Xun?

The Emperor was notoriously capricious, but he had always been unconditionally filial to the Empress Dowager. The young eunuch knew that the Emperor was not her biological child but was adopted from another consort. When the Empress Dowager initially thought she couldn’t conceive, she dedicated herself to this adopted son, who brought her status. But after she became pregnant herself, she grew distant from him, even sending him back to his biological mother.

Now his biological mother also had other children and was not close to the child who still called her “Mother.” When a person lacks warmth, they often cling desperately to what they have—no matter how meager it may be. Thus, the Emperor was famously devoted to his former adoptive mother. Even the absurdities in the current harem configuration were partly due to the Empress Dowager’s influence.

Now the Emperor was willing to defy the Empress Dowager for Zhou Xun?

The young eunuch stood there in a daze, his mind drifting far away. The conversation between the two in the woods had reached another dimension.

“… You want me to advise the Emperor to let Zhou Xun move out of the palace?” The Emperor sneered, “What, do you also think he…”

“Regardless of Zhou Xun himself, keeping him in the palace is not a long-term solution. Perhaps Your Majesty can ignore the gossip, but what about Zhou Xun?” Chancellor Lu said, “If I remember correctly, Zhou Xun will be taking part in the imperial examination next spring. If he continues living in the palace, even if he achieves excellent results, it’s inevitable that people will speculate maliciously…”

The Emperor, feeling annoyed, scratched his head and sighed after a while.

“Fine, you’re right about that,” he finally said, “I will have someone look for a place for him.”

“… But I didn’t expect you to care so much about Zhou Xun.”

“Have you heard about the recent situation with Zhou Hanlin?” Chancellor Lu mentioned.

A palace maid approached. The young eunuch, suddenly waking from his daze, carefully left with the materials.

He managed to return to the palace with great effort and was in a good mood. Just as he was about to open the door to report his success to Imperial Concubine Zhao, he saw Zhao Yue…

The young eunuch: …

Sound asleep with his face drooling on the table.

The young eunuch: …

He tiptoed past Zhao Yue and returned to his room. Looking at the materials and various tools before him, he sighed.

“Forget it, if the master won’t make an effort,” he sighed, “then as a servant, I must put in extra effort.”

Meanwhile, in the bookstore, Zhou Xun also stopped working.

“I have long severed ties with the Zhou family,” Zhou Xun frowned and said, “When I was sent to… when I was sent, Zhou Taiyan expelled me from the family.”

“Have you changed the family registry?”

Zhou Xun thought for a moment and said, “It should have already been removed from the family registry. At the time, he was furious and even invited the clan’s elders as witnesses. After all, Zhou Cai was a hotly discussed new top scholar, and having his brother as a male concubine was simply disgraceful.”

“That’s good. With witnesses and removal from the family registry, it’s much better than I had imagined,” Old Master Shen stroked his beard and said. “However, may I ask, what about your mother…”

“My mother is no longer at the Zhou residence.”

At this point, Zhou Xun’s heart tightened again. He forced himself to say, “She offended the Zhou family and was sent to a villa on the mountain. Later, there was heavy rain and a landslide on the mountain. When the Zhou family sent people to look for her again… her residence had completely collapsed into the debris flow, and naturally…”

He still couldn’t bring himself to say the words “passed away,” only saying tactfully, “She was… nowhere to be found.”

Old Master Shen fell silent for a while. Having grown up without parents himself, he wasn’t sure how to comfort Zhou Xun. However, Zhou Xun quickly added, “That’s why sooner or later, I need to send them down to appease my mother’s spirit.”

“As for the Wang residence, Master needn’t worry. Very few people outside know about this. The Fifth Prince has never included me in the imperial records—” Zhou Xun even found it a bit amusing; the neglect and mistreatment he once suffered had become the best evidence for him to erase his past identity, “Even those who know about this don’t know my name. Those who know my name don’t know my appearance, so…”

He didn’t continue. He knew that Old Master Shen was worried about how his past might affect his future career.

“In that case, it’s much easier,” Old Master Shen said, “But if someone could adopt you as an adopted son and sever all ties with the Zhou family completely, that would be even better.”

“There is one thing I don’t understand,” Zhou Xun said hesitantly, “I have already severed ties with the Zhou family publicly. Why does Master say…”

— And why should he completely sever ties with those people?

“What you mentioned are the official ties,” Old Master Shen tapped Zhou Xun’s head with a book, speaking slowly, “What I’m referring to are the ties in other places.”

“Other places… in the heart?” Zhou Xun was puzzled.

He quickly thought of something, clenched his fists, and said coldly, “They treated me so in the past; how can I forget the hatred and walk the same path with them… How could I? The hatred for my mother’s death has not been avenged; how can I let go…”

“Fool!”

As soon as Zhou Xun finished speaking, Old Master Shen hit him with a book, leaving him dazed. He touched his aching forehead and heard Old Master Shen scold, “Do you know what makes you foolish?”

Zhou Xun blankly shook his head, “I don’t know.”

“It’s natural to hate the Zhou family and want them to face retribution. If a person doesn’t have hatred in such a situation, can they still be called a person? Having desires is a good thing; don’t believe in ‘indifference is strength.’” Old Master Shen said slowly, “The Zhou family certainly deserves retribution. They rely on the Emperor’s favor, acting recklessly. While it seems like they’re flourishing, building tall towers, in fact, those towers are already eaten away by insects. You should know how many people in the capital admire Zhou Cai and how many wish for his downfall…”

Zhou Xun was stunned, remembering the admiring gazes he had seen before, and shook his head, “I… don’t understand.”

He truly didn’t understand.

Zhou Cai had always had a unique charm, captivating anyone and making them willing to do anything for him. How could Old Master Shen’s simple statement that Zhou Cai had many enemies make sense to him?

“Interests. The higher Zhou Cai stood, the more people were pushed down because of him. Do you think you’re the only one who hates him? The Zhou family now occupies so many resources; when they fall, so many resources will be released. There will be plenty of people hoping for Zhou Cai’s downfall to get a share of the pie.” Old Master Shen smiled and said, “And do you know what mistake you made?”

Zhou Xun shook his head.

“Once you were in a state of absolute despair, and you could only gamble everything, using your life for revenge—” Zhou Xun was startled and stood up, “Sit down, don’t be afraid. At that time, you did very well. Honestly, even I would have found it hard to come up with a better way to imprison all your enemies.”

“But now you are different; you have what you didn’t have before, and you’re no longer empty-handed. When one is empty-handed, they can only think of attacking, but now, you need to learn to facilitate and protect yourself,” Old Master Shen said slowly, “For example, in the case of the merchant, you need to understand that the Jingwei guards want Zhou Cai off the court even more than you do. They are a force allied with the Fifth Prince and those literati purists. These people advocate absolute freedom of speech for officials and are at odds with the ‘wind-catching’ Jingwei guards. Do you think the merchant’s issue is just a matter for the Zhou family? To you, it may be the merchant’s misfortune, but to others, it may be a significant event related to toppling Zhou Cai and reshuffling the power structure.”

“… What you need to do is not act yourself—this would expose you too much. If I were you, I would observe the situation’s development and keep a record of all the officials Zhou Cai has ‘sought’ here. Then, I would ‘unintentionally’ leak this list to his political enemies, but never let myself be involved directly, so as not to dirty my hands and get entangled with the Zhou family. You need to understand that your hatred with the Zhou family cannot be resolved. You should be wary not only of the Zhou family but also of those who intend to use you to topple the Zhou family—perhaps one day, they will throw the dirty water of the Zhou family’s downfall onto you—the person known to have the greatest enmity with the Zhou family.”

“The Zhou family is a quagmire. You can facilitate others’ actions to take revenge but must not get your own hands dirty in the mire. All your future actions should follow this principle. A true hunter hides behind the scenes.”

Zhou Xun was silent for a long time.

After a while, he suddenly asked, “Then is Lu Bin’s matter no longer important?”

“Lu Bin?”

“According to what you said, Lu Bin’s case is just a weapon to topple the Zhou family.” Zhou Xun said slowly, “But he has truly ruined his own life for Zhou Cai.”