Li Kun and Qiu Yan, ruler and minister, had crossed paths over the past nearly four years, but at this meeting, both felt a measure of emotion.
Li Kun saw the pallor on Qiu Yan's face. Combined with the intelligence in his hands, he already knew that Qiu Yan had "abolished" his own cultivation. Unlike his son, the Crown Prince was, in the end, merely the heir apparent. Once he left the East Palace, he wielded little power, and even fewer ministers were loyal to him—something monarchs naturally dreaded, so few would dare do it.
Therefore, the Crown Prince did not know why Qiu Yan's face was so pale. But Li Kun could not possibly be unaware, and upon receiving this news, his first reaction had been one of relief.
Though he had long guessed that Qiu Yan's ambitions did not lie here, now that he had seen Qiu Yan's condition with his own eyes and had Eunuch Wei confirm it at his side, Li Kun finally put his mind at ease. He knew that the final barrier between ruler and minister was gone. From this day onward, the man before him would be the minister he could trust most.
This further confirmed Qiu Yan's intentions. Knowing that the other man sought neither power nor status—or rather, that Qiu Yan's purpose in gaining power and status differed from that of ordinary people—undoubtedly reassured the emperor.
Having confirmed the intelligence and sorted through his thoughts, Li Kun's smile grew broader as he praised him. "In this White Lotus Rebellion, had you not stepped forth in the face of danger, beloved minister, the situation would have been difficult to contain." An emperor's praise was no trivial matter. Setting aside the fact that it affirmed one's merit, even in that very moment, Fortune