Clinging to the Powerful

"Good! At tomorrow's Jade Forest Banquet, Grandfather will request an imperial decree granting the marriage."

Chapter 12: Clinging to the Powerful

"Your Highness, Thousand Household Officer Xiao has sent something again."

Zhao Huiluan said, "Let them bring it in."

"They can't bring it in, Your Highness."

Nianxia poked her head in and told her, "This time, Thousand Household Officer Xiao sent a Taihu rock from Pingjiang Prefecture. It's taller than I am."

Zhao Huiluan went into the courtyard with considerable interest and saw Xiao Qinglan directing the depot agents as they set the Taihu rock upright by the pond.

Before the New Year, she had merely remarked, "It's a little less interesting without a Taihu rock." She had never expected him to bring her one so soon.

The Xiao Qinglan before her was no longer the fallen wretch trapped in a side hall and left at others' mercy.

Zhang Yunchi always told her to stay away from Xiao Qinglan. At first, she truly had not wanted to touch that hot potato.

Back then, if Xiao Qinglan had not appeared in the side hall, she would not have saved him.

But Xiao Qinglan regarded her as his savior. Taking advantage of the renovations to Jade Balance Palace, he often appeared before her. He spoke little, had an eye for work, and did everything.

Once the renovations to Jade Balance Palace were complete, she had no intention of taking in the son of a convicted official who had clearly offended Wen Hong. So she played dumb and asked him:

"What do you want?"

For the first time, Xiao Qinglan mustered the courage to raise his head. Staring into her eyes, he asked in return:

"Does Your Highness not need a trusted aide?"

The question left Zhao Huiluan at a loss.

She certainly did need a trusted aide.

But hearing the question from Xiao Qinglan, she pondered it again and again, and recalled what she had once said to him.

Good. That's it. Bottle up every bit of your indignation.

So Xiao Qinglan wanted to attach himself to her.

"I don't need one."

In this life, she was going to do everything in her power to find a way out for herself. Nor did she have the energy to spare to protect a palace eunuch who had no backing and was of no value to her.

After that, Xiao Qinglan grew even quieter. Zhao Huiluan did not know where he served. When they occasionally met, Xiao Qinglan bowed to her with the utmost respect, no different from any other palace eunuch.

Then came the thirty-eighth year of Yongzhao, two years ago. Zhao Jin'ang had become steady on his feet and darted east and west, often wandering all over the imperial palace.

In late autumn that year, the weather was dry. Suddenly, black smoke shot skyward from somewhere in the palace.

A fire had broken out.

Zhao Huiluan looked in that direction and felt a faint unease.

Xichun stumbled in, crying, "It's the little side hall in the northwest corner. His Highness the Crown Prince is still inside."

That place again!

The place where the new emperor had imprisoned his younger brother in her previous life!

She dared not recall it. Facing the billowing smoke, she was about to charge into the fire.

She could not lose her younger brother like this. There were still several years left, and she was still trying. She had not yet changed the ending of her previous life, so why had misfortune come early?

Where had things gone wrong?

"Zhao Jin'ang..."

Zhao Huiluan cried out as though she had gone mad.

At some point, Xiao Qinglan rushed into the fire.

Only when someone shouted, "They're out, they're out!" did Zhao Huiluan vaguely see someone carrying her younger brother and collapsing before her.

She snatched the unconscious Zhao Jin'ang from him, put her ear close to listen for his heartbeat and breathing, and shouted, "Summon the imperial physician!"

When she heard the imperial physician say he was unharmed, all the strength drained from Zhao Huiluan's body.

She walked out of Celestial Jade Palace, the sunlight dazzling her until she felt as though she had lived through another lifetime. When she heard her imperial father order, "Everyone who attended His Highness the Crown Prince today is to be beaten to death," she actually felt it was only right!

She squeezed her eyes shut, and only then did she dimly remember the eunuch who had carried her brother out of the sea of flames and suffered burns over half his arm.

"Where is Xiao Qinglan? Is he dead?"

Xichun shook her head.

Zhao Huiluan smiled. "He's lucky to be alive."

Xiao Qinglan had now escaped death twice.

He came from a military family, and his father had been a renowned general.

In the thirty-second year of Yongzhao, when Wen Hong was still the second grand secretary, the chief grand secretary was Meng Jing, a veteran of two reigns and a minister entrusted with assisting in governance.

Xiao Qinglan's father submitted a memorial requesting the recovery of the northern Hequ region, and Meng Jing was the only one at court who strongly supported him. Wen Hong and the others seized the opportunity to fabricate charges against Xiao Qinglan's father, including embezzling military pay and failing to report a defeat. They bribed his attendants to falsely accuse him of cultivating ties with the emperor's close attendants and bribing Meng Jing.

The Yongzhao Emperor flew into a rage. Meng Jing and Xiao Qinglan's father were sentenced to beheading and public display, and both their entire clans were convicted. Wen Hong was thus able to take the position of chief grand secretary.

The empress happened to be pregnant at the time. Considering the young boy innocent, she spared Xiao Qinglan's life and had him sent to the palace as a eunuch slave.

Now that Xiao Qinglan had risked his life to save the crown prince, His Majesty had rewarded him, and Jade Balance Palace had rewarded him as well. For a time, his standing in the palace rose with the tide, and no one called him the son of a convicted official anymore.

After learning the details of Xiao Qinglan's background, Zhao Huiluan made a special visit to the seal-holding eunuch Duan Siqi and had him arrange for Xiao Qinglan to enter the Eastern Depot.

Xichun was somewhat uneasy and asked her, "Will Grand Secretary Wen allow it?"

By then, Lianqiu had already come to her side.

Lianqiu said, "Since when has it been the Grand Secretariat's place to manage promotions in the inner court? If Your Highness wishes to promote her savior, must she still look to the grand secretary for approval?"

Zhao Huiluan gave Lianqiu an approving look.

What could the old villain Wen Hong do to anyone her Jade Balance Palace and Celestial Jade Palace wanted to protect?

Besides, her imperial father was increasingly absorbed in the pursuit of mysticism and the Dao, and court affairs were almost entirely under the Grand Secretariat's control. Why would the chief grand secretary Wen Hong care about a mere palace eunuch?

"Your Highness."

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Qinglan turned and bowed to Zhao Huiluan beneath the covered walkway.

Zhao Huiluan nodded and motioned for him to accompany her inside.

Xichun led the others away.

As Zhao Huiluan walked toward the desk, she asked, "Do you know who is behind Between Water and Clouds?"

"I do."

Seeing her sit down and pick up a brush, Xiao Qinglan ground ink for her. "It is Wang Quan, chief of the Office of Transmission. He is Wen Hong's adopted son and the father of Wang Wenhua, the second-place candidate in this year's imperial examination."

"So it's him. It certainly is a good place to make money."

Without looking up, Zhao Huiluan drew out three slips of paper, dipped her brush in ink, and wrote.

"More than that. Once the dirty silver in their hands passes through Between Water and Clouds, it all comes out clean."

Xiao Qinglan set down the ink stick, his gaze falling on the three names Zhao Huiluan had written.

"Wang Wenhua is thirty-one this year. While he was a student at the Imperial College, he was assigned to gain administrative experience at his father's Office of Transmission."