A Letter on the Pillow

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Li Qingxian refused to budge.

Zhou Chunfeng hid the delight at the corners of his eyes and said, "Still, be careful that someone may later accuse you of currying favor and fawning for patronage."

"I've already gone to Ministry of Revenue Street. Why should I fear a war of words?" Li Qingxian smiled calmly.

Li Qingxian changed the subject. "To prevent petty people from making accusations, how about this: today, we draw up two documents. One will be placed with Lord Luo, and Uncle Zhou will keep the other. Once the brewing method has been established, the documents can serve as proof when we offer birthday felicitations to His Majesty. However, I have one presumptuous request: no one beyond the four of us may know of these two documents. If word leaks out, I would rather destroy the brewing method."

"You're overly cautious, but that's fine. I will hide this document well and never let anyone else learn of it, including Lord Lu." Luo Jing said.

"Mm." Zhou Chunfeng merely nodded softly.

After discussing matters a while longer, Luo Jing and Li Qingxian took their leave around dusk.

"Worthy nephew, stay a moment. This foolish uncle has something to say." Zhou Chunfeng said.

Li Qingxian's face brightened. "Then this nephew shall remain."

The corner of Zhou Chunfeng's mouth twitched. After seeing Luo Jing off, he turned and returned to the study.

Led by a guard, Luo Jing exited through the side gate of the Night Guard Yamen. He stood on Night Guard Street, gazing up at the blue-black night sky.

Duan Heng and the other subordinates followed behind him, waiting quietly.

"Brother Heng, I have to thank you for today." Luo Jing suddenly said.

"Huh?" Duan Heng looked utterly baffled.

"This Li Qingxian is quite good." Saying so, Luo Jing strode away.

Duan Heng suddenly understood and chuckled.

Inside the study.

Zhou Chunfeng pointed to a chair. "Sit."

Li Qingxian sat down.

"Speak. What exactly are you plotting by having the two of us safeguard those documents?"

"Nothing." Li Qingxian answered naturally.

"In offering birthday felicitations to His Majesty, apart from protecting yourself, do you have any other intentions?" Zhou Chunfeng raised an eyebrow, looking every inch the gallant hero.

"Nothing." Li Qingxian remained as composed as ever.

"Good, then." Zhou Chunfeng nodded. "What are you standing around for? Take a Gold-Character Command Token. Hide it well, and don't flaunt it everywhere."

"Ah? All right!" Li Qingxian happily walked to the table, carefully picked up the wooden Gold-Character Command Token with its black base and golden lettering, and examined it closely.

"Anything else? If not, go back."

Just as Li Qingxian was about to leave, he glanced at Zhou Chunfeng and said with a grin, "Uncle Zhou, I want to ask you a few personal questions. I've been wondering about them for a long time."

"Ask." Zhou Chunfeng casually picked up a document and began reviewing it.

Li Qingxian said, "There are many legends about you in Great Qi. For instance, Citywide Jade Gazing. They say that when you arrived in Wu-Su City at the age of ten, people mistook you for a jade man because your skin gleamed like crystal jade, and the entire city gathered to stare. I didn't believe it at first, but after seeing you today, I believed it immediately."

"Seven." Zhou Chunfeng replied without raising his head.

"Then... Fruit-Filled Carriage was real too? You merely said you were going to buy pears, and countless women forcibly tossed their own vegetables and fruit onto your carriage?"

"Many times." Zhou Chunfeng set down the document. Helplessness appeared on his handsome face beneath his heroic brows as he nodded.

"Then Hand-Linking Encirclement was real as well?" Li Qingxian was even more curious. It was difficult to imagine someone being so handsome that numerous women linked hands and surrounded him just to look at him.

Zhou Chunfeng's expression darkened. "Did you come here to be a Night Guard, or a long-tongued gossip? Zhou Hen, see the guest out."

"Then it really was true..." Li Qingxian turned and left without a care. "Uncle Zhou, nurture your illness properly. Your throat is bad, so speak less. Later, I'll ask a childhood friend for some loquat paste. It isn't anything precious, but it's genuine. Uncle Zhou Hen, I'm leaving. No need to see me off."

Li Qingxian departed in his carefree, unrestrained manner.

After Li Qingxian's figure vanished from the courtyard, Zhou Hen said helplessly, "That child gets familiar with people far too easily."

"He ran wild from childhood and fears neither heaven nor earth. That isn't entirely a bad thing." Zhou Chunfeng said.

Zhou Hen curled his lip. Why not praise him to his face?

Zhou Chunfeng rose and walked to the window, looking at the lotus pond outside, where the lotuses had yet to bloom.

"Wine..."

Zhou Chunfeng's gaze grew hazy, as though he had returned to many years ago, when he had been banished from the capital and tasted all the warmth and coldness of human hearts.

Of so many so-called friends, only two true confidants had ultimately come to see him off.

At Ten-Mile Pavilion, he had seen someone sitting by the window in a tavern, raising a cup to him from afar before draining it in one gulp.

At the time, Li Gangfeng and he had met only a few times. He had never imagined that Li Gangfeng, an official of the Censorate, would disregard suspicion and personally come to bid him farewell.

In Zhou Chunfeng's memories, during that early summer season, the fragrance of sweet grass and wine forever drifted through the wind.

Flap, flap...

Zhou Hen glanced out the window and walked out of the study.

Zhou Chunfeng returned to his desk. Gray Falcon landed on the ground and transformed into a man.

"My lord, we found it."

"Tell me every detail." Zhou Chunfeng's soft Jiangnan speech seemed to be built from stone after stone.

"Two years ago, Lord Li Gangfeng impeached the Heir of Prince Yuan on nine grave charges. The Heir of Prince Yuan was demoted to Defender General and placed under house arrest. Half a year ago, Lord Li died. The Heir of Prince Yuan moved back into Prince Yuan's Residence, though he no longer bore the heir's title. Recently, the Heir of Prince Yuan colluded with Ye Han, the illegitimate son of the Marquis of Dingbei. Ye Han pretended to befriend Li Qingxian and got him drunk, after which the Heir of Prince Yuan's subordinate used the fifth form of the Heart-Shattering Palm on the drunken Li Qingxian. The fifth form of the Heart-Shattering Palm leaves no trace. If the victim has not reached Entry Rank, his heart channels will seal after one hour, closely resembling sudden death. Perhaps that person had been too hasty and his force was insufficient, allowing Li Qingxian to escape disaster."

A deep shadow settled in Zhou Chunfeng's eyes.

"It was truly Ye Han?"

"The evidence is conclusive."

Zhou Chunfeng sighed, took out an envelope, and wrote the three characters "Zhou Chunfeng" on its front.

He stared at those three characters for a long time.

"Zhou Hen."

"This subordinate is here." Zhou Hen pushed open the door and entered.

"Have our people place this calling card on Prince Yuan's pillow." Zhou Chunfeng said.

Zhou Hen and the man transformed from the falcon both raised their heads, staring at Zhou Chunfeng in shock.

Half a year ago, it would have been no great matter.

But times had changed.

"My lord, Prince Yuan has recently earned considerable trust from His Majesty. It is said that he will take command of the Two Guard Capital Camps." Zhou Hen advised.

"Do it." Zhou Chunfeng's voice was very soft.

"Yes, sir!" Zhou Hen took the heavy empty envelope in both hands and strode outside.

"Have Ye Han come over as well." Zhou Chunfeng said.

"Yes."

Before long, a young man dressed in an ordinary dark-cyan Night Guard uniform slowly approached.

He had sword-like brows and starry eyes, a face like crowned jade, but his brows were tightly furrowed and his lips pressed hard together.

His left hand gripped his saber hilt tightly, his back slightly bent, his figure less upright than usual.

Just now, Ye Han had seen Zheng Hui beneath the great locust tree outside the Street Patrol Office quarters. Dressed in ragged clothes, Zheng Hui had excitedly recounted the entire process of the Mounted Patrol rescuing Li Qingxian. The crowd had surrounded him three layers deep and three layers beyond, packed so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Pang Mingjing, head of the Finance Section under the Finance Office, a dignified Principal Seventh Rank official, had actually been stripped of his official robes and thrown into Imperial Prison.

Night insects flew into his face. Agitated, Ye Han repeatedly waved them away. Only upon reaching the study door did he take a deep breath to steady his emotions.

Just as he was about to speak, a summons in a Jiangnan accent came from within the study.

"Come in."

The voice was cold, freezing Ye Han's body stiff.