Whenever Zhou Ye asked Wei Mingxiu something, he had always answered.
He had never hidden anything.
But this time, he had said something like that, and Zhou Ye was caught off guard.
He hurried after Wei Mingxiu and asked, "Your Sixth Highness, what exactly is the plan? Is it dangerous? You're still young, and you haven't thought things through..."
Hearing the word "young" again, Wei Mingxiu clenched his fists and could not help saying, "I'm not young!"
Zhou Ye rubbed the tip of his nose after being snapped at.
Coming back to his senses, he hurriedly said, "My apologies, Your Highness. I overstepped my bounds. Please forgive my discourtesy."
Seeing him suddenly become so polite, Wei Mingxiu looked somewhat uncomfortable. In the end, though, he said nothing and swept away.
His plan was dangerous, and if he told Zhou Ye beforehand, Zhou Ye would surely stop him from carrying it out.
But he wanted to accomplish something through his own planning and abilities.
Rather than forever being a mere spectator, leaving Zhou Ye to toil on his behalf.
After court, Zhou Ye went to Yun Shen to air his grievances.
He told Yun Shen everything that had happened that day.
Then he asked, "Brother Yun, all I did was confiscate his book and call him young a few times, wasn't it? Why has he suddenly become so distant with me? He won't even tell me his plan. If I let him go through with it on his own and something dangerous happens, what am I supposed to do?"
Yun Shen was reading letters from Chongming House. Hearing this, he could not help smiling.
"Brother Zhou, if I said you were small, would you like hearing it?"
Zhou Ye blinked and immediately looked down between his legs.
His expression turned indignant. "I suspect you're insulting me. How could a man stand being called small?"
"..." Yun Shen did not know whether to laugh or cry at his occasional bouts of absurdity.
But he did not think the two matters were all that different, so he continued, "You see? Even you know a man can't stand being called small. His Sixth Highness is a man too, so how could he stand you questioning his judgment and abilities again and again by saying he's still young?"
A thoughtful look crossed Zhou Ye's eyes, but he said, "But he's only a boy, not a man yet."
In modern times, someone Wei Mingxiu's age would still be in school.
So Zhou Ye, viewing him from a modern person's perspective, felt that Wei Mingxiu should follow his lead in everything, afraid that Wei Mingxiu might get hurt or come to harm.
Yun Shen's gaze darkened slightly as he recalled the past. "When I was his age, I watched with my own eyes as my parents were reviled by thousands and beheaded in the street. And before he met you, he lived deep in the palace. His mother had died young, he was out of favor, and he faced persecution and oppression at every turn. If he hadn't learned to grow up, how could he have survived until now?"
"His circumstances were bound to make him mature faster than an ordinary youth."
Seeing the realization dawn on Zhou Ye, Yun Shen tapped him on the head with the letter and teased, "So, Brother Zhou, I suggest you stop calling him young so often from now on."
"Careful, or our highness might hold a grudge. Once he becomes emperor, he could find a whole crowd of people to follow you around, shouting that you're small! He'd make you, our majestic and heroic great general, the laughingstock of the entire capital!"
Yun Shen made Zhou Ye laugh. He threw an arm around Yun Shen's neck and said, "If that really happens, then Young Master Yunshen, who has shared many a night of passion with me, probably won't escape being laughed at either!"
"And why would I be laughed at?" Yun Shen freed one hand, caught Zhou Ye's chin, and smiled at him. "When the time comes, I could simply say that between you and me, Brother Zhou, I'm on top and you're on the bottom. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"..."
His head could be severed and his blood spilled, but top and bottom could never be reversed.
Zhou Ye was thunderstruck by Yun Shen's vision of the future.
He promptly swatted Yun Shen's hand away. "You've convinced me."
"I won't underestimate His Sixth Highness so lightly again."
Yun Shen's eyes curved with his smile, and he turned back to the letter.
Zhou Ye leaned over and asked, "What have you been reading all this time?"
"I'm looking at the people Kou Yuan has met and the things he has done over the past ten-odd years."
Yun Shen told Zhou Ye everything Feng Chenyi had said in his sleep the previous night, hiding nothing.
Zhou Ye nodded. "Kou Yuan really is the only lead left in the case from back then."
The candlelight flickered. Zhou Ye took a sip of wine and looked at Yun Shen's face in the lamplight. After a moment's thought, he could not resist asking, "Did anything happen between you and Feng Chenyi last night? I noticed he didn't even come to morning court today."
Yun Shen's fingers paused for a moment, but he shook his head. "Nothing happened. He thanked me when he woke up, then went home."
"Oh." Zhou Ye rubbed the rim of his cup a couple of times, then said, "I heard that over the years, no matter how many matchmakers beat a path to his door, Feng Chenyi never sought anyone's hand in marriage. He's stayed single all this time. I wonder why."
Everyone loved a bit of gossip, and Zhou Ye was no exception.
In the end, he could not hold back and asked Yun Shen the question that had long puzzled him.
Yun Shen's gaze flickered, but quickly returned to normal. "Brother Zhou, rather than coming to ask me, you'd do better to ask Feng Chenyi himself. I imagine he'll give you a reasonable explanation."
Yun Shen's feelings toward Feng Chenyi were complicated.
More than ten years ago, he had regarded Feng Chenyi only as a close friend.
Later, they were separated by exile, and he plunged into the great dye vat of the jianghu. After seeing and experiencing more, he realized he was only attracted to men.
When he thought of Feng Chenyi again, he came to regard him as the untouchable white moonlight in his heart.
He stayed away from Feng Chenyi because he did not want to add another dimension to their relationship.
After all...
He was burdened by hatred and accustomed to treating life as a game.
Feng Chenyi, meanwhile, was still a blank slate when it came to love.
They were bound to be ill-suited.
That was why he avoided Zhou Ye's question.
Seeing that he could get no gossip out of Yun Shen, Zhou Ye dropped the subject.
He went back to drinking and eating on his own.
Meanwhile, in the imperial palace, Wei Mingxiu was practicing archery in the courtyard.
His body, no longer frail, was clad in narrow-sleeved robes. His muscles tensed as he drew the longbow to its fullest, then abruptly released the string.
The feathered arrow shot from the bowstring, tore through the air, and struck a fragile peach branch.
It sent the branch falling to the ground.
"Your Highness, you're amazing!" As a professional cheerleader, Xiao Wu let out a shout and ran over to pick up the arrow and the peach branch.
He ran back to Wei Mingxiu's side, only to see that although the young man had hit the branch, there was no sign of happiness on his face.
"Could it be that Your Highness is still unhappy about what the Junior Preceptor said during the day?"
Xiao Wu had hit the mark. Wei Mingxiu pursed his lips and said, "I don't like him calling me young, and I don't want to depend on him for everything. But when he became so excessively respectful, I felt even more uncomfortable."
Wei Mingxiu's words were scattered and lacked a central point, but Xiao Wu understood him nonetheless.
After giving it careful thought, he said to Wei Mingxiu, "Your Sixth Highness, this servant thinks neither you nor the Junior Preceptor did anything wrong."
"You both care too much about each other and hold each other in too high regard. It's even gone beyond the relationship between ruler and subject, and that's why you had a disagreement today!"
"And in the end, the Junior Preceptor must have realized this, which is why he spoke to you so respectfully. That shows the Junior Preceptor's wisdom. It means he places great importance on your positions as ruler and subject! He respects you very much, too!"
"Ruler and subject..." Xiao Wu's words sent Wei Mingxiu into deep thought.
He seemed to have finally understood the reason for his displeasure.
It was because of the distinction between ruler and subject.
For some inexplicable reason, he disliked having only this relationship of mutual restraint and propriety as ruler and subject with Zhou Ye...