Chapter 10

On the day of Meng Fushan's birthday celebration, a family scandal unfolded at the Meng residence in full view of everyone.

The Meng family's rear garden was widely recognized in the Capital for its leisurely elegance and distinctive style. Meng Fushan had designed it himself, and a stroll through it, drinking in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, was said to be worth ten years of study.

There was no telling how much of that had been inflated by flatterers.

While strolling through the garden, two young ladies strayed from the crowd, actually lost their way, and wandered to the back gate.

They stumbled upon the scene and screamed, drawing everyone over.

By the time Lady Zhou arrived, Meng Huaihan had lost all awareness and was still clinging to the man, impossible to pull off. The man had already realized how serious the situation was, and even his member had gone soft, but Meng Huaihan refused to release him. Seeing their young lady's disheveled clothes, the servants dared not step forward to separate them.

Lady Zhou's eyes nearly split with rage. Only with tremendous effort did she manage to tear Meng Huaihan away, then deliver a vicious slap. The force actually sent the gold dangling hairpin on her head flying to the ground, scattering pearls everywhere. Meng Huaihan fainted outright.

She trembled all over, none of the noble elegance she had put on at the banquet remaining. "Where are the guards for the back gate?! What does the Meng family feed you for?! How could you let any stray dog or cat come in and ruin our young lady?!"

Anyone with eyes could see that Meng Huaihan looked more like the one taking the initiative.

But since Lady Zhou had defined the matter that way, everyone could only join in directing reproachful looks at the guards, who were streaming cold sweat, to conceal their inward snickering.

"It was the young lady! She said there were many distinguished guests in the front courtyard and told us to guard it. She said the master would send others to the back gate." One hotheaded young guard could not help defending himself loudly.

Someone among the guests could not hold back a hiss. Lady Zhou's face turned ashen, and she shot the guard a venomous glare.

Meng Fushan arrived belatedly and found the scene deeply embarrassing as well.

His first consideration was his own reputation, so he looked gently at the man who had been intimate with Meng Huaihan. "What is your name? Where do you live? Are your parents still alive? What position do you hold?"

"Since matters have come to this, my lady, prepare Han'er's wedding."

The man apparently had not expected this turn of events. Trembling, he answered Meng Fushan, "This humble one... this humble one is Wang Dafu, from the outskirts of the Capital. Both my parents are alive. I work as a bouncer at the Thousand Reds House."

The composed facade Meng Fushan had forced himself to maintain finally crumbled when he heard "Thousand Reds House." "Outrageous!"

Everyone knew that the Thousand Reds House was a notorious money pit in the Capital.

This man was precisely the brothel bouncer who had delivered the "maid" for Meng Huaihan. Having heard that it was the Left Chancellor's birthday and more than half the court's distinguished figures had come to offer congratulations, he had been quite curious and lingered after delivering her. As a result, he had run into Meng Huaihan in heat.

Those who brought disaster upon themselves could not survive it.

After the former Right Chancellor's daughter-in-law fled her wedding, the Capital now had another fresh, sizzling piece of gossip!

The Left Chancellor's daughter had fooled around at home with a brothel man on her father's birthday, been caught in front of everyone, and would soon be married beneath her station!

Some began expressing anxious concern over the feng shui of Great Wei's chancellors. First one, then another.

Right Chancellor Yan had better hold steady.

But hadn't they heard that his son seemed to have run off with someone?

Everyone in the Meng family had gone to concern themselves with Meng Huaihan. As the Meng residence's invisible man, Meng Zhou had little presence. As long as Meng Huaihan did not come looking for trouble, his little courtyard was always peaceful.

Meng Zhou's bed could hardly be called sturdy. It rocked from the blazing midday sun until sunset, and halfway through, Chu Huaiyin nearly wrapped him in the quilt and carried him straight back to Prince Huai's residence.

The commotion was so great that even Ji Yang's heart trembled along with it ten meters away. He even went out to buy two bed boards to keep on hand.

Very considerate, and well prepared.

Little kitten Meng slept quietly, his lashes as though brushed with a goat-hair brush dipped in spring water, black and long, still wet. With his back nearly scratched raw by Meng Zhou, the first thing Chu Huaiyin did upon waking was blunt this little wildcat's sharp claws.

For the first time in his life, he clipped someone else's nails. He was not very practiced, but fortunately the kitten did not even turn over, so well behaved that he nearly lost control of himself.

When Meng Zhou woke, his whole body ached. Recalling the tearing sensation of the initial penetration and Chu Huaiyin's dreadful technique, he murmured pale-faced, "There must not be any women in the army camp."

Regret. He regretted it to death.

"What did you say?" Holding his hand, Chu Huaiyin blew the nail dust from his fingertips.

"Prince Huai truly maintains strict military discipline."

Chu Huaiyin: "..."

"Nothing." Prince Huai's masculine dignity still needed some protecting. Meng Zhou drew back his hand and inadvertently caught sight of the crisscrossing scratches on Chu Huaiyin's neck, immediately feeling guilty.

Fine, he had not been much better himself.

Both sides had suffered.

Meng Zhou looked expressionlessly at Chu Huaiyin, trying hard to convey with his eyes, Go back to your own home and find your own mother.

Neither of our mothers is around, so find your own father instead.

Receiving Meng Zhou's intent gaze, Chu Huaiyin felt a stir in his heart and said, "We..."

"Each got what we needed," Meng Zhou supplied quickly, deeply afraid that Chu Huaiyin might entertain some fanciful notion. "Rest assured, Your Highness. This subordinate will not harbor any presumptuous desires toward you because of this." He was so anxious that even his forms of address had become polite.

Each got what we needed, indeed!

Chu Huaiyin choked with anger.

"Was I wrong?" Meng Zhou observed Chu Huaiyin's strange reaction.

He had remained perfectly clearheaded about this from beginning to end. Chu Huaiyin was ambitious. In the future, he would ascend the throne, have descendants, and continue the dynasty. However Meng Zhou looked at it, none of that could possibly have anything to do with him.

Chu Huaiyin drew a deep breath.

The kitten wiped his mouth after eating and was no fun to tease at all.

The conversation had ended too quickly. Chu Huaiyin paced irritably around the room. No, this was not how things should have gone afterward. Yet judging by Meng Zhou's attitude, this seemed to be the only possibility, and perfectly natural at that.

Chu Huaiyin could not bring himself to force him, but he felt strongly that he could not let Meng Zhou lead him around by the nose. He wanted to say something more, but Meng Zhou had already wrapped himself into a sticky rice roll and closed his eyes to rest, clearly unwilling to talk.

His sleeve inadvertently brushed a neatly arranged stack of papers on the table. The strong gust from it sent the rice paper flying like fallen leaves swept by an autumn wind. Chu Huaiyin instinctively reached out and caught a sheet covered in writing.

Two different hands.

One of them was extremely familiar.

Hearing the rustle, Meng Zhou immediately thought, Oh no. He abruptly sat up, only to bounce back onto the bed because he was wrapped too tightly.

He saw Chu Huaiyin lift his gaze from the paper and look straight at him, his expression complicated, with a trace of anger beneath it.

"You went to the gambling house?" Chu Huaiyin had personally inspected that gambling house, where blades bristled everywhere, their cold gleam terrifying. Whenever he thought of Meng Zhou once again obeying in public while defying him in private, venturing into danger alone and making a round through flashing blades, he felt... Why was this kitten so disobedient?!

"Yes."

"You're investigating Jiang Xin's case? You suspect someone was directing him from the shadows?"

Meng Zhou nodded. "The weapons matter was only something I uncovered along the way. I couldn't handle it alone, so I passed it on to you, Your Highness. I imagine you'll gain something from it."

Chu Huaiyin's eyes darkened. "What do you mean?"

Meng Zhou had already struggled out of the quilt. "Would you be willing to take me in, Your Highness?"

This "take me in" certainly did not refer to any romantic fancy. Chu Huaiyin considered for a moment, then asked, "Your reason."

"To find an enlightened ruler and serve as a general or chancellor." Meng Zhou straightened his back and spoke without the slightest shame.

Chu Huaiyin folded the paper twice and casually tucked it into his sleeve. "Why me?"

He sat down beside Meng Zhou. Quite a few people at court supported the Second Prince, most of them civil officials, and Meng Zhou belonged to that category too.

He listened attentively, a smile at his lips, hoping Meng Zhou would say something pleasing like, "Our relationship is special."

Meng Zhou gathered his thoughts and said earnestly, "East of the Yangbo River, everything awaits rebuilding. West of the Yangbo River, people wallow in extravagant luxury. The Capital's scions rest content in their own little corner, ignorant of hardship. The common people suffer greatly. Your concern for their livelihoods is a blessing to Great Wei, and what draws me to you."

"You certainly care about the common people." Despite Meng Zhou's lavish praise, Chu Huaiyin was not as pleased as he had imagined.

Since returning to the Capital, he had compared the sights of the two regions and thought those very things more than once. Meng Zhou could be called the first person to voice what was in his heart.

Yet Chu Huaiyin frowned slightly. He had an almost frightening intuition that Meng Zhou's "greater good" was precisely what he did not want.

But he had no grounds to reproach him, because this was what every wise emperor demanded of all his ministers.

And what, exactly, did he want from Meng Zhou?

Unable for the moment to untangle the knot, Chu Huaiyin simply stopped thinking about it.

Everything Meng Zhou said was an attempt to pass over last night's events and seek a new balance between them.

Since he was working so hard to change the subject, Chu Huaiyin would let him have his way.

Chu Huaiyin raised an eyebrow and reassessed Meng Zhou. A kitten to tease in passing and a trusted aide with whom to build a flourishing age were two entirely different propositions.

Meng Zhou certainly had some cleverness, but as for the rest... Chu Huaiyin put away the romantic fancies filling his head and grew serious too.

He never entrusted his back to others lightly. Anyone he valued had to possess both loyalty and ability.

Meng Zhou saw Chu Huaiyin's misgivings and was not anxious at all. He would not let a passing beauty go to his head and always remained rational about serious matters. It was precisely this sort of Prince Huai who better possessed the sense of duty and responsibility befitting a ruler.

Meng Zhou touched his own face, deciding he could just about count as a beauty. Unhurriedly bowing forward, he said solemnly, "I will prove my ability."

"You must not put yourself in danger, or it won't count." Not knowing how Meng Zhou intended to prove himself, Chu Huaiyin thought it over and still gave him this warning before leaving.

Meng Zhou nodded.

Chu Huaiyin stared at him for a while, increasingly convinced that Meng Zhou's assurance had no persuasive power whatsoever. After a long pause, he helplessly ruffled his hair. "Rest. No one will disturb you today."

"Master." The moment Ji Yang saw Chu Huaiyin emerge, he followed at once, his face beaming with joy. All he lacked was a tray of red eggs to celebrate.

"If you don't rein in that expression, you're going to Liang Mountain to drill troops tomorrow," Chu Huaiyin said abruptly.

Ji Yang continued giving him a gossip-hungry look. Chu Huaiyin returned an icy stare.

"Ahem, from now on..." Ji Yang hurriedly sobered his expression. Would they be one family now?

"Which shadow guard was following Meng Zhou before?"

"Ying Jiu."

"Tell him to keep a closer eye on him. Meng Zhou is not to take risks." Hearing Meng Zhou say he would "prove his ability" had left Chu Huaiyin rather uneasy.

That little thing really had managed to change the subject. Thinking about it was rather galling.

Author's note: The crowd (worried): The feng shui of Great Wei's chancellors' residences really isn't very good.

Little kitten Meng: It'll be fine once I take office.

The crowd: Squeak! (The sound of eating melons.)