This sort of lecher was not his type

"Have you found him?"

With no sign of the person he sought, Zhang Lanhe grew more anxious by the day. His oppressive presence bore down on the scouts, cold sweat soaking their clothes.

"It's been almost a month, and you useless fools still can't find one person. Go receive fifty lashes afterward."

The scouts he had personally trained had actually failed for an entire month. This was far beyond his expectations.

His scouts, who had always succeeded, could find nothing about this mysterious youth. That realization only piqued Zhang Lanhe's interest further, his eyes growing brighter.

Who exactly are you?

You'd better not let me catch you.

After that night of passion, Zhang Lanhe felt as though something within him had been unlocked. Having tasted pleasure, he craved more. Day and night, he dreamed of what had happened, the vivid, sensual scenes leaving him tossing and turning.

He vaguely remembered that he, too, had been drugged and had hidden away, only for a youth carrying the scent of medicinal herbs to fall into his arms.

"You're so cold. Let me hold you."

Once he had something warm in his arms, he refused to let go. Sparks flew between them, and neither slept that night.

He woke from his dreams to a cold, empty space beside him, growing increasingly agitated. A friend who practiced medicine took his pulse and mocked him for being sexually frustrated and pining for someone.

When his friend asked who had him so hopelessly preoccupied, Zhang Lanhe fell suspiciously silent.

"I don't know. He never left his name."

He wanted to bring him back to the National Preceptor's Residence, only to discover that no such person could be found in Capital City. It was as though he had appeared out of thin air.

As it happened, they had both been dosed with an aphrodisiac that night, and the youth was playful. Though thoroughly drunk, he had instinctively resisted letting Zhang Lanhe see what he looked like.

A strip torn from a silk garment had covered his eyes, blocking his sight amid the seductive night.

Zhang Lanhe indulged those he considered his own, and he had failed to see the other man's face.

Through the thin silk, he could only make out a blurry silhouette. He could feel the man's warm body and smell a medicinal fragrance, a very pleasant scent.

From beginning to end, he had never known who the other man was-neither his true appearance nor his real name.

But he felt that the other man was an exceptionally lovely beauty, very much to his liking. They had been perfectly in tune.

The youth had an extraordinary bearing. There should have been few like him in Capital City, yet he had vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, without another word.

This left Zhang Lanhe deeply frustrated.

He had tried divination to trace this person, only to find that he could not.

There had never been anything in this world he could not divine. If there was, there could be only one reason.

This person was his destined partner.

His friend continued mocking him. "Could it really be that you were so bad in bed that he wanted nothing to do with you? He'd rather jump into a lake to escape than stay a moment longer."

"Shut up."

Zhang Lanhe took out the strip of silk and stroked the smooth fabric with a frivolous touch. "Who exactly are you?"

They could not trace the origin of that strip of silk, the only thing left behind. All they could tell was that the garment's owner came from a family of wealth or rank.

After musing for a while, he wound the strip around his wrist and tied it in a tight knot.

The scouts were under considerable pressure. This was their first time investigating someone without finding a single lead, as though someone behind the man was obstructing their inquiries.

It remained to be seen which side had the better methods.

"Forgive us, State Preceptor! That place was crowded with all sorts of people. We've spent a month investigating everyone present and found nothing. His background may be anything but ordinary. My lord, please proceed with caution."

What dirty or exhausting work had they not done?

Yet they could not even find their master's runaway spouse. They, too, began questioning their own abilities.

The scouts were questioning everything.

From their master's description, the youth had delicate skin and an inborn nobility in his every gesture. He sounded more like a young gentleman raised in a grand household.

Someone like that hardly seemed willing to submit beneath another man.

"He may be hiding because he doesn't want to see you, Master, and the people behind him have concealed him as well. Some powers in Capital City would be difficult to deal with if offended."

The scouts suspected that an illustrious family might have used a beauty trap against Zhang Lanhe.

Accustomed to throwing his weight around, Zhang Lanhe was dismissive. "So what? There's no one under heaven I can't have. If I've taken a fancy to him, I'll seize him and bring him back to my residence, no matter who he is."

If he dared provoke him, he had to be prepared to be forcibly carried off.

Even if there was a plot, he did not care. To die beneath a peony blossom would make him a romantic even as a ghost.

Since the man was already his, there was all the more reason not to let him keep roaming about indulging in romantic affairs.

Thinking that the youth was nearly old enough to marry and have children, Zhang Lanhe frowned.

What if he was already married by the time Zhang Lanhe found him?

The more he thought about it, the darker his expression grew.

Wouldn't that make him a villain who broke up someone else's family?

A scout brought up another matter. "My lord, there's something else. His Majesty's health has been getting worse lately, and he's begun mentioning the Ninth Prince, who was raised outside the palace. He may bring him back. We don't know what His Majesty is thinking."

The old emperor, ordinarily cold and heartless, had suddenly begun yearning for affection between father and son after more than half his sons had died, and was making preparations to bring Xie Huizhou back.

Yet the princes currently in the palace were already fighting tooth and nail for the position of crown prince.

With another prince brought back, the struggles at court and among the princes would grow fiercer, and new courtiers would certainly try to win Xie Huizhou over.

However neglected a prince Xie Huizhou might be, he still carried the imperial bloodline, and they happened to have daughters enough to spare.

They were placing bets on multiple sides, gambling on immense future wealth and status.

They wanted to become the future emperor's maternal family. Failing that, having a prince as a relative would still ensure their households' prosperity for years.

They were a pack of gamblers.

"I remember the Ninth Prince's name is Xie Huizhou." Unhurriedly, Zhang Lanhe recalled the young boy he had met years ago. "After all these years apart, he must have forgotten me long ago. How is he now? Surely he isn't being bullied again?"

The last time Zhang Lanhe had been in close contact with Xie Huizhou was when he was handling the struggle for the throne.

Forgotten in the Detached Palace and caught up in the turmoil, the boy had been so wretched that he looked less like a prince than a beggar. His face had been filthy, his head had struck a stone, and he had stared blankly as though frightened out of his wits.

Zhang Lanhe had seen his clear, bright eyes. Amid the upheaval and chaos of war, he had looked pitiful, like a filthy stray kitten, innocent of the world and unaware that the armed men nearby could take his life at any moment.

Even a murderous fiend like him had felt a rare pang of compassion. He had ridden over, hauled the boy onto his horse, and ridden away.

He had taken Xie Huizhou somewhere safe. Reportedly, the boy had fallen ill afterward from the terrible fright and spent more than half a year bedridden. He had been exceptionally frail, as though he could be killed at any moment.

After five years without seeing him, Zhang Lanhe had almost forgotten what the little prince looked like. Could he still look like a filthy kitten?

The scout reported that Xie Huizhou was ill, that the illness had struck fiercely, and that he might once again be close to death.

"Ill?" Hearing that Xie Huizhou had been ill for a month, Zhang Lanhe's brows drew together on his cool face. "How did he fall ill?"

The Ninth Prince, Xie Huizhou, was sickly and frail, falling ill every few days. Many said he certainly would not live more than a few years.

The scout relayed the embellished rumors he had gathered. "They say the Ninth Prince overindulged in sex and nearly died in bed!"

But no one knew who his partner had been. Rumor had it that she was a very passionate young woman.

If he had not given her a formal status, either she had failed to satisfy Xie Huizhou, or her identity could not be revealed-or both.

That lover had no sense of restraint either, indulging Xie Huizhou's lust when his health was so poor.

Zhang Lanhe's frown deepened. "Absurd! With his health so poor and not yet restored, he still has the mind to lust after women?"

The filthy kitten in his mind changed, replaced by the vivid image of a dissolute youth reveling in sensual pleasures.

He turned away none of the beauties who threw themselves into his arms, the complete opposite of the fastidious Zhang Lanhe.

This sort of lecher was the type he disliked most.

Someone like that should have nothing to do with the mysterious gentleman from that night. They were not the same sort of person.

Zhang Lanhe strode toward the imperial palace.

"I'm going to the palace. First, I'll see what His Majesty is really up to."