Chapter 3

"Your servant is here."

"Smash it."

"Forgive this servant's stupidity, Your Majesty, but what do you wish to have smashed?" The chief eunuch waiting nearby immediately knelt and begged forgiveness, awaiting more specific instructions from the Emperor. Yet after a long while, no command came.

Silence spread through the study. At last, Shunde heard a light voice drift from behind the desk. "Withdraw."

That night, the Emperor's dream remained a barren wasteland.

Shi Changyuan was truly furious this time. Just as he was about to order Shunde to throw the flowerpot out entirely, the fresh scent of rain-soaked earth suddenly filled the air, and Shi Changyuan's desolate dream began to change.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm back!"

The moment Lin Ling appeared, Shi Changyuan's entire dream brightened.

As soon as the youth appeared, he apologized profusely. "I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to stand you up. I went to rescue my friend."

Feeling somewhat guilty, Lin Ling did not even dare sit down. Standing beside Shi Changyuan, he got straight to the point, his eyes sparkling as he asked, "Were those flowerpots in the middle of the room prepared for me?"

Shi Changyuan paused mid-move and denied it. "No."

Lin Ling's eyes immediately dimmed.

After a moment of silence, Shi Changyuan spoke again. "They were tribute from Southern Huai, not prepared for you."

Lin Ling blinked, not quite understanding what the Emperor meant. "Then... where is the flowerpot you planned to compensate me with?"

Tap.

The entire dream fell silent, leaving only the sound of chess pieces landing on the board. After they sat in silence for the time it took an incense stick to burn, Shi Changyuan finally yielded.

If it had been any of the clever people in his palace, they would have obediently laid out every detail from beginning to end. Why would he need to ask sentence by sentence?

But what could he expect Mushroom to understand about reading the room?

"Go pick whichever one you like from among those flowerpots."

After saying that, Shi Changyuan took the initiative to ask, "And tell me about this friend of yours. What sort of friend needs Mushroom to rescue them?"

Lin Ling nodded delightedly, then sat down in front of Shi Changyuan and briefly explained what had happened the day before.

"It's my turtle friend. He lives in the Imperial Garden. He crawled onto the rockery to bask in the sun, then someone caught him and nearly stewed him."

Shi Changyuan's hand paused slightly as he placed a piece, as if confirming something. "That Old Turtle in the Imperial Garden?"

Lin Ling hurriedly nodded. "You know him?"

"Of course. I will send someone to investigate."

At Shi Changyuan's words, Lin Ling's eyes lit up again. "Are you helping me?"

"No."

Shi Changyuan answered almost at the same instant.

"The Imperial Garden bears the word 'Imperial,' representing the majesty of the Son of Heaven. Every blade of grass and tree within it is tended by dedicated personnel. Other than me, no one may touch anything there lightly."

"Because that is the Imperial Garden." Shi Changyuan placed a black stone on the board and said slowly, "It belongs to the Emperor."

"So... if something belongs to you, no one besides you can act rashly toward it?" Lin Ling did not quite understand the deeper implications, so he could only reason from the surface logic and try to draw parallels.

"Of course."

Having received an affirmative answer, Lin Ling suddenly pressed down on the black piece Shi Changyuan had just placed. As though he had discovered a whole new world, he spoke excitedly.

"Then if I grew in the imperial palace too, and someone wanted to pluck me and stew me into soup, would you protect me too?"

Shi Changyuan raised an eyebrow, seemingly not expecting that question. The corners of his lips lifted slightly as his fingertips tapped the desk.

"Only things that belong to me may receive my protection."

"Do you belong to me?"

Chapter 3

"Um..."

Lin Ling seriously considered it, scratching his head and then stroking his chin before answering, "I suppose I do."

"Though I'm not a subject of Great Li, I'm a Mushroom of Great Li."

Lin Ling's way of thinking remained easy to understand.

Great Li belonged to him, the Emperor. Therefore, a Mushroom that grew from the soil of Great Li naturally belonged to him as well.

Shi Changyuan looked at the earnest Mushroom and said, "In that case, I shall protect you from being stewed into soup."

Lin Ling's eyes lit up at once. He reached out and patted the Emperor on the shoulder, declaring with the easy familiarity of sworn brothers, "Although lots of people secretly say bad things about you, from today on, you're the best human ruler in my heart!"

Shi Changyuan instantly laughed at that.

At dawn, the palace servants discovered that the Emperor was in an exceptionally good mood today. One of the sky-blue glazed flowerpot bowls in the center of the Imperial Study seemed to be missing.

"What kind was missing?"

Facing the trembling palace servants who kept kowtowing and begging forgiveness, Shi Changyuan waved a hand and granted them pardon.

"Replying to Your Majesty, it was the smallest one, about a palm's width across."

After learning this, Shi Changyuan looked at the pile of sky-blue glazed flowerpot bowls and merely murmured, "Not too greedy, at least," before ordering the rest removed.

The next day, the palace servants discovered that the Emperor was in a bad mood again. His face was dark, and he sneered repeatedly. They deeply understood what it meant to serve a ruler as one would serve a tiger.

Shi Changyuan also came to deeply understand how a Mushroom's mouth could sweet-talk a human like a ghost. The day before, Lin Ling had been all honeyed words and smooth talk. Yet after receiving the flowerpot, he vanished without a trace for several days straight.

"Your Majesty, the weather is quite fine today, and the flowers in the Imperial Garden are blooming splendidly." The chief eunuch boldly suggested, "Why not..."

The moment Shi Changyuan heard the words "Imperial Garden," he suddenly remembered something. "Shunde, have the Old Turtle in the Imperial Garden fished out for me."

"The Old Turtle?"

After thinking for a moment, the chief eunuch immediately recalled the Old Turtle that had lived through several dynasties. A question had just formed in his mind when he met Shi Changyuan's gaze. He did not dare ask another word and lowered his head to carry out the order.

Thus, when Lin Ling arrived carrying his flowerpot to show the Old Tortoise, he discovered that the Old Turtle had been taken away again.

"What happened?