Chapter 933: Feel My Bottomless Longing
King Qi felt that Zu An’s smile was a bit strange, but he couldn't exactly say how. But at that moment, several other important statesmen walked past. He didn’t want too many people to know about their new relationship, so he took the chance to leave.
Zu An continued to the imperial study and waited outside. He hadn’t expected to actually be called in before the morning court session. However, the emperor summoned him as soon as he heard about Zu An’s arrival.
“I heard you had some luck last night in the pleasure quarters. Why are you here so early? Do you have something important to report?” the emperor asked after sitting down.
Zu An shivered. The palace gates never opened at night, and yet the emperor already knew exactly what had happened. “I was forced to sacrifice my purity for the sake of completing this mission!” he exclaimed with an ‘upset’ expression.
The emperor was speechless. This kid really is shameless! Who in this entire court dares to speak to me like that, apart from him?
“It sounds like you’ve completed your mission,” he said, even though he didn’t think it was too likely. After all, how could Zu An complete his mission after just a single day? He was already prepared to take the chance to harshly criticize Zu An as a warning to treat the matter more seriously.
“Indeed, I’ve already completed it,” Zu An replied.
The emperor instinctively nodded and said, “As expected, you need to make sure to…” He was stunned midway through his sentence. He exclaimed, “What? You already completed it?”
Zu An felt incredible when he saw the emperor look as if he had just eaten a pile of shit. His recording lens was something he had applied for from the Embroidery House. It was able to record a scene, but it wasn’t like the Chu clan’s mirror that could actually hold a video call at any time.
The emperor’s eyelids twitched when he saw Yu Nan sitting on Bi Ziang’s lap, acting all coquettish and cute. He felt his stomach churn. Then, he gave Zu An a complicated look. This brat… Where the hell do you come up with this nonsense? But he had to admit that even though it was disgusting, it was quite useful.
“Alright, with this, Yu Nan is finished.” The emperor turned off the recording; otherwise, he might really throw up his tea from the previous night.
Zu An asked probingly, “May I ask what your highness plans to use this recording for?”
The emperor frowned slightly. He subconsciously disliked the feeling of a subject questioning his thoughts. But since Zu An completed this mission so well, he couldn't really berate him at the moment. As such, he held his annoyance in and said, “The contents of this recording are too… Too inelegant. It can’t be released through normal means.”
“Then was it all for nothing?” Zu An felt a bit disappointed. He wouldn’t be able to see those two’s complete social death.
“Of course not,” the emperor said. “The rivalry between you and Yu Nan last night is already enough. However, even though quite a few people know of it, it’s still within a limited circle of people. That’s why we need someone to fan the flames hotter.”
Zu An went on guard. Are you going to throw that job to me too?
As if he had seen through Zu An’s thoughts, the emperor continued, “Bi Ziang’s eighteen garden friends or whatever have many connections. They’re always talking about useless romantic things. This group seems to have a high reputation among the people, so we’ll just call Bi Ziang over and show him this recording’s contents. He’ll naturally know what to do once he sees it.”
If Bi Ziang didn’t want to become a complete social outcast, he would definitely do everything he could to prevent the recording from getting out. He was a smart person too, so he’d figure out that as long as Yu Nan experienced social death first, the recording would lose all meaning. That was why he had no choice but to act with everything he had.
Zu An was stupefied. As expected, no one is better at playing dirty than the emperor…
The worst part was that the Bi clan even supported the crown prince, and yet the emperor was so quick to use Bi Ziang like this! It was easy to imagine the big fuss that would be caused between the two clans.
Sure enough, no amount of loyalty was worth anything to the emperor. He was much more interested in keeping others in check. As long as his subjects were fighting among themselves, then he would be free of worries.
“Your majesty is wise and brilliant!” Zu An exclaimed. This was fine as well, because he had been a bit worried about the Yu clan’s retaliation. After all, Yu Yanluo had treated him quite well, so it might get ugly if he personally got into conflict with them.
The emperor had his morning court session afterward, so Zu An chose to tactfully withdraw.
As Zu An left, the emperor watched his departing figure with a frown. Rationally speaking, this brat was a subordinate who devoted himself to his work. These missions were so tricky, and yet he completed his tasks beautifully each time. He should have appreciated such a talented individual. Yet for some reason, he felt a subconscious dislike of Zu An.
…
After he left the imperial study, Zu An headed straight for the Eastern Palace. His current post didn’t require him to attend the morning court session, so he had a bit of free time on his hands.
He suddenly thought of something when he was about to reach the Eastern Palace. He asked a passing maid to bring him some green oranges. Then, he peeled off their skins and rubbed them on his body.
When he sniffed himself and only smelled oranges, he finally felt at ease. The smells of other women had screwed him over way too many times. He had finally learned his lesson this time, and felt that he really was resourceful.
When they saw him enter the Eastern Palace, Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun greeted him enthusiastically. Their relationship had already been good to begin with, and after Zu An had saved their lives in the dungeon, they were just a hair away from being sworn brothers.
Zu An asked, sounding them out, “You guys don’t have anything you want to ask me, right?”
The two of them were stunned and replied, “Why would we?”
“It’s nothing.” Zu An sighed in relief. With how these two were, especially with Piao Duandiao’s gossipy nature, he would definitely have been winking at him and asking how things had gone last night. He might demand even more details than that guy Pei You.
He could tell that they didn’t know what had happened from their expressions. That meant the news hadn’t reached the Eastern Palace yet. Alright, things won’t be too bad when I see Bi Linglong later.
Zu An then paid the crown prince a visit. However, it hadn’t been long since the crown prince got out of bed, and he was still drowsy. He wasn’t interested no matter what Zu An said.
After Zu An finished the trip, he went to see Bi Linglong. Unlike the crown prince, she was already dressed up meticulously in an elegant and beautiful outfit. He exclaimed, “I greet the crown princess!” He had to show her proper etiquette in front of other people, after all.
“Sir Zu, be at ease,” Bi Linglong replied casually. Then, she turned her attention back to the document on the table.
In order to train the crown prince, the emperor would send some government affairs documents to the Eastern Palace. Of course, they wouldn’t be anything highly urgent. The crown prince didn’t do any work, so it was normally Bi Linglong who took care of all of these things.
“It hasn’t been long since we came out of the dungeon. Crown princess, you haven’t fully recovered yet, so please don’t work too hard,” Zu An said out of concern. Her hair was still completely white, serving as a constant reminder of her lost life force.
Bi Linglong replied with an ‘oh’, but then didn’t pay him any attention.
Zu An was stunned. Her attitude seems to be really off. He quietly asked through ki, “Linglong, what’s wrong?” But she still didn’t reply.
He called out a few more times, but she only continued to remain completely indifferent. On the contrary, a string of Rage points came in from the back end. Zu An was a bit puzzled. His eyes flickered with a new idea, however, and he said, “If you keep this up, I’m going to come over and hug you!”
“You dare?!” Sure enough, Bi Linglong suddenly shot him a glare when she heard that. Of course, the entire exchange was done through ki.
“Why don’t you see for yourself if I dare or not?” Zu An retorted without backing down at all.
Bi Linglong knew that Zu An had always been bold. She was worried that he might start a huge commotion in the Eastern Palace. She harrumphed and asked, “Why didn’t you rest with that courtesan a bit longer? Why did you run all the way here so early in the morning?”
Zu An couldn't help but smile. So she was doing this out of jealousy! It seemed the crown princess had her own intelligence network. Damn it, I got those oranges for nothing.
But he reacted quickly and said, “You’ve misunderstood. I went to the brothel to carry out a mission.” Then, he gave her a summary of the emperor’s mission to bring down Yu Nan.
But Bi Linglong wasn’t as easily fooled as someone like Chu Youzhao. She retorted with a sneer, “Was there a need to stay overnight if it was just to investigate a case?”
“I couldn’t just leave and draw everyone’s suspicion, right?” Zu An quickly explained. “I vow that I didn’t have a physical relationship with that courtesan last night the way I did with you. Otherwise, the heavens can strike me down where I stand!” He thought, Bi Linglong didn’t help me out in that way before…
Bi Linglong jumped in fright when she saw him make a vow. “Are you mad? You can’t recklessly make those kinds of vows!”
“I have a clear conscience, so it's not a problem at all,” Zu An said with an upright expression.
Bi Linglong had already been fully convinced a while before, but she couldn't bring herself to just change her attitude so quickly. She still said coldly, “Then what about that poem you wrote for that courtesan? You wrote all about romance and dreams. Just listening to it makes me sick.”
Zu An thought, So that was the problem! He said with a chuckle, “That was just for the sake of the mission! Right, I have a piece of secret information to give the crown princess.” He had the maid bring over some pen and paper.
Bi Linglong had some idea of what he was thinking. Hmph, do you think I’m that easy to win over? I’m not that courtesan. Do you think you can fool me that easily?
Zu An finished soon afterward. He handed the paper over, saying, “This is an urgent report. I hope the crown princess can comment on it as soon as possible.”
Bi Linglong harrumphed. She quietly unfolded the scroll. However, her face immediately turned red, and her breathing became rushed too.
There was a poem written on the scroll.
“I hope my words reach you deeply like a candle lit at the bottom of a well, a rendezvous of two as we share a game of go.
Like the red beans embedded within exquisite dice, can you feel my bottomless longing?”[1]
1. The word ‘exquisite’ here is ‘Linglong’, the same as the characters in ‘Bi Linglong’. ☜