Chen Caozhi was startled and immediately sensed that something was wrong. The Empress Dowager had neither eunuchs nor palace maids attending her; she alone came across the bridge, decked out like a flowering branch. What had she come for? To see Murong Ping, the Prince of Shangyong?
The Empress Dowager of the Kezuhun Clan reached the foot of the Golden Phoenix Terrace, glanced around, then lifted her skirts and went upstairs. Her footsteps could be heard ascending. Suddenly, she gave a startled cry, followed by syrupy giggles. Presumably His Excellency Murong Ping, Grand Tutor, Situ, and Prince of Shangyong, had given the honored Empress Dowager a pleasant surprise. Then there was no more sound-
Chen Caozhi had never expected to stumble upon such a thing. Of all the places the Yan Empress Dowager and Grand Tutor could have gone, why had they chosen here? What sort of peculiar taste was this?
Now Chen Caozhi truly trembled as though treading on thin ice. The Yan Empress Dowager was having a secret rendezvous with the Yan Prince of Shangyong-and Murong Ping was the paternal uncle of Yan's late emperor, Murong Jun! This was utterly shocking, in an entirely different league from the affair between Fu Jian's mother, Empress Dowager Gou, and Li Wei. If Chen Caozhi's presence here were discovered, then however much Murong Ping cherished talent, however much the woman of the Kezuhun Clan prized handsome looks, Chen Caozhi would have to die!
He could feel cold sweat seeping down his back, his heartbeat quickening. Never had Chen Caozhi faced such peril. In the past, he had cultivated his mind and composure, striving not to blink even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, to remain unruffled when a galloping horse charged straight at him or a gale toppled trees. This was