Chapter 8

But later, Lady Zhou kept telling him, "Jiang Yao won't leave now. Meng Zhou is going to steal your father." As he listened, Meng Huaidao forgot those words at some point without even knowing when.

He watched Meng Zhou being bullied by his sister day after day, ignored by his father and indulged against by his mother. He learned to turn a blind eye. This family left him feeling increasingly stifled, and in the end, he proposed taking an official post away from home.

He was just like everyone else now.

Chu Huaiyin stayed at the banquet for a while. As the actress onstage trilled away, he excused himself to stroll through the garden, but his feet carried him toward Meng Zhou's quarters.

As he walked, he even asked, "Ji Yang, do you know where he lives?"

Ji Yang silently followed Chu Huaiyin's swift, hurried steps, thinking, You hardly look like someone who doesn't know. Still, he played along. "This subordinate does not know, but if we wander around, we should find it."

They passed a lake and came upon a dilapidated little courtyard, shaded by trees and teeming with mosquitoes and insects. Not one of the four seasons was suitable for living there. Chu Huaiyin frowned. He knew Meng Zhou was treated poorly in the Meng household, but he had not expected it to be this bad.

Two oblivious guards blocked their way, their voices coarse. "The second young master is unwell. Madam has ordered that no one disturb him."

Ji Yang was just about to ask whether they were blind. When had there ever been anywhere Prince Huai could not go?

Chu Huaiyin waved a hand. "I see. Then I shall not disturb him."

The guards' eyes bulged as wide as bronze bells. "Y-your Highness..."

"Let's look elsewhere." Chu Huaiyin made a show of walking some distance away. Once he was out of sight, he sprang onto the courtyard wall. "Wait outside."

Meng Zhou's arm ached from being raised for so long. He rubbed his wrist, put down his brush, and prepared to burn the practice sheets bearing his different handwriting.

Suddenly, the sound of someone landing came from outside. Soles rustled against a floor covered in dead leaves.

Meng Zhou's hand paused. He swiftly pulled over a sheet of rice paper to cover them, pressing them underneath.

Before he could react further, the visitor had already reached the doorway. "Meng Zhou."

Chu Huaiyin apparently had no idea what courtesy meant. After that greeting, he walked straight in. Meng Zhou stood where he was, as composed as if he had run into an old friend on the street.

"Are you ill?"

"No."

"Practicing calligraphy?" Chu Huaiyin brought up precisely the wrong subject, even looking interested in comparing their skills. "Calligraphy nourishes the spirit. I also..."

Meng Zhou discreetly folded the exposed ink marks inward. "No. It costs money."

Chu Huaiyin choked on his words. His gaze shifted to the food box beside them, and he frowned. "You haven't eaten yet?"

The person who had delivered lunch looked ill-intentioned, so Meng Zhou had taken precautions. He picked out a little of every dish and set it by the mouse hole. Every night, their gnawing on the floorboards kept him awake and gritting his teeth. Today was a good chance to test for poison.

Come to think of it, it had been an hour since that big rat ate.

Meng Zhou's eyes shifted slightly. He glanced toward the hole out of the corner of his eye and met the big rat face-to-face. It emerged, full of life, paying no heed whatsoever to the two living people in the room.

"No appetite," Meng Zhou answered weakly, pressing a hand against his long-empty, growling stomach.

That went completely against his heart, and his stomach.

Chu Huaiyin thought the rat had disgusted him. He immediately picked up a brush from the table and hurled it at the rat like a hidden weapon. It struck on the first try, piercing its chest. The rat flailed twice and died.

For some reason, Chu Huaiyin could not bear to see Meng Zhou go hungry. "The food looks good. I haven't eaten yet myself. If you don't mind..."

Food only became appetizing when you watched someone else eat.

That was how children were coaxed.

To "rouse Meng Zhou's appetite," Chu Huaiyin suppressed his feeling of fullness and opened the food box. There was only one pair of chopsticks. The dishes were already cold. He picked up the chopsticks and took a piece of chilled cake.

He was starving like this, and Chu Huaiyin had the nerve to steal his food? But... the man before him was not only Prince Huai, but his creditor too...

A sense of crisis struck. Meng Zhou's stomach clamored for food, and he even forgot about the handwriting. His round eyes fixed on Chu Huaiyin's hand. Helplessly, he watched Chu Huaiyin open the food box as though he owned the place, pick up the only pair of chopsticks as though he owned the place, and then...

Oh. He looked at the cake suddenly offered to his lips. The fingers holding the dull, dusty-looking bamboo chopsticks had joints like jade, more enticing than the lustrous, translucent chilled cake.

Meng Zhou failed to appreciate Chu Huaiyin's painstaking intentions. Starving, his mind worked slowly. His first reaction was that Chu Huaiyin was merely being polite to his host, and if he did not take this bite, he would get nothing.

Meng Zhou narrowed his eyes. Delicious. Just too little.

The novelty of feeding a little feral cat that would never be tamed occupied Chu Huaiyin's thoughts. From the first time he met Meng Zhou, he had especially wanted to tease him, unable to stop himself from wanting to see more expressions on this kitten's face. Quite a few wealthy young men in the capital liked keeping pets, teasing cats and dogs, raising katydids and fighting roosters. Chu Huaiyin had always disdained it.

But what was this pleasure he felt now? He particularly wanted to keep him nearby and tease and stroke him whenever he pleased.

Meng Zhou had better not be able to repay those seven thousand taels... Otherwise, he had plenty of ways to make him owe more and more.

He fed him one bite after another, his eyes curving in contentment.

See? The kitten with no appetite became so obedient the moment he fed him.

Before he knew it, Meng Zhou had sat down in a chair. He rubbed his little belly and lazily lifted his eyelids to glance at Chu Huaiyin. The other man was leaning against the table. When Meng Zhou looked over, he stuffed a quarter-piece of osmanthus cake into his mouth, only making his attempt to hide things more obvious.

Were they... that close?

With his hunger and thirst satisfied, Meng Zhou began considering this serious question.

Chu Huaiyin casually set down the plate and was about to speak when footsteps suddenly sounded outside. At least three people.

Meng Zhou alertly raised his head and exchanged a look with Chu Huaiyin, only to notice a crumb at the corner of his mouth, detracting from Prince Huai's wise and mighty image. A trace of amusement entered his eyes. Before the uninvited visitors came in, he raised a hand to wipe it away for him.

Meng Huaihan roughly shoved open the door, and that was the scene she saw.

"Bastard-" The words caught in her throat like a duck being strangled. Seeing the man she loved there, Meng Huaihan hastily swallowed the abuse she had yet to utter, her voice changing pitch.

"This subject's daughter greets Prince Huai."

She wore a woman's incense, its scent thoroughly aggressive. Chu Huaiyin stepped back, his brows drawing together in displeasure. Anyone in the Meng Residence could trample all over Meng Zhou. That realization sent a flash of ruthlessness through his eyes.

Meng Huaihan panicked, not daring to meet his eyes. "I-I only heard my brother was ill and came specially to see him. Since he is well, I won't disturb Prince Huai and my brother as you discuss important matters."

For the first time, Meng Huaihan showed weakness before Meng Zhou, calling him "brother" with affection and dependence. Meng Zhou inwardly rolled his eyes, his expression cold as he remained silent. Meng Huaihan needed to put on a facade before Prince Huai. He did not.

Having gained nothing for her trouble, Meng Huaihan left in a huff. Only, when she went out, there was one fewer maid behind her.

Chu Huaiyin suddenly rubbed kitten Meng's head and murmured to himself, "Wait a little longer. Three months at the latest."

Meng Zhou dodged lightly, not understanding what Chu Huaiyin meant. He waited a long while, but nothing more followed. He felt puzzled, yet a little expectant too. In their few encounters, Prince Huai had never failed to keep a promise.

What would happen in three months?

Could it be... ascending the throne?

Meng Zhou sucked in a cold breath, startled by his own imaginings. Then should he hug this thigh now, or should he hug this thigh?

For a moment, even the way he looked at Chu Huaiyin grew tender.

Chu Huaiyin immediately sensed the change in Meng Zhou. Warmth stirred in his chest, and he suddenly felt that the weather was terribly muggy. Before he could figure it out, a servant from the Meng Residence reported that a child at the rear gate had asked for Prince Huai by name.

A child?

Village-something-Tree?

Chu Huaiyin remembered that person he had never met. He had investigated the gambling house. The weapons' provenance was indeed illicit, and judging by their design, they belonged to the same large batch of castings. Military power was Chu Huaiyin's trump card. Someone keeping private troops and making private weapons directly crossed his bottom line.

He could no longer take his time playing with these people in the capital.

His gaze darkened, and he told Meng Zhou, "I'll be right back."

The moment Meng Huaihan left Meng Zhou's little courtyard, the humility faded from her face, and a trace of madness gradually crept into her eyes.

Meng Zhou was nothing but a weed in the Meng household. If a fire burned him up one day, no one would even collect his corpse. Meng Huaihan felt that this painstaking, laborious plan was already a great act of kindness on account of their shared surname.

Meng Zhou was, after all, an officer of the Court of Judicial Review. Meng Huaihan was not foolish enough to drug his food directly. Instead, she used two substances in combination. One went into his food, colorless and tasteless. Even an imperial physician would not detect it.

The other was mixed into the incense she wore. Heaven knew, earth knew, and as long as Meng Huaihan said nothing and bathed to destroy the evidence, no one would suspect her. She brought a "maid" and had her hide outside while she went in to provoke Meng Zhou. Once she left and the drug took effect, the "maid" could push open the door and enter.

By then, Meng Zhou would have lost all reason. The drug was so potent that never mind a young "maid" of the Meng Residence, even an elderly one would...

Meng Huaihan walked faster and faster, her heart pounding like a drum. The greatest variable in this plan was Prince Huai.

Heaven had sent Prince Huai into Meng Zhou's room, and he had even eaten the pastries in that food box... Meng Huaihan's gaze sharpened. Then he could not blame her for killing two birds with one stone.

"Go find Prince Huai in Meng Zhou's room. Tell him someone is waiting at the rear gate with something important to tell him."

Prince Huai was noble and imposing. Even a distant glimpse left servants' scalps tingling beneath the force of his presence. How would they dare lie to him?

"If Prince Huai asks who it is..."

"Just say it's a strange child who insists on seeing him." Meng Huaihan was lucky, striking straight at the secret between Prince Huai and Meng Zhou.

Meng Huaihan was not very confident, but she had heard that even when a village woman stopped Chu Huaiyin's sedan chair in the street to cry injustice, he would lower himself to ask the reason. Perhaps he would come this time too?

Near the rear gate stood a room where the guards on duty rested. Meng Huaihan held her head high and pushed open the door, driving everyone inside out. "There are many honored guests in the front courtyard. Go guard that area. Father will transfer people from elsewhere to cover this place."

The guards suspected nothing and filed out in a rush.

Once the room was cleared, Meng Huaihan held her breath, calculating how long the servant's round trip would take. Before long, Prince Huai's voice sounded outside. Hearing it just once had haunted her dreams. Taking the remaining medicinal powder from her waist, Meng Huaihan poured it into her mouth in one go.