Second Year of Hongxi, the middle of the fifth month of summer. Deep in the night within the Su Residence in distant Changluo, the Su Family’s Young Master, Su Mingya, sat in a newly built bamboo courtyard. The pavilion stood amidst the murmuring, flowing water. A small table was set for one, yet two cups of wine were laid out.
The seat opposite Su Mingya was empty. A simple bowl of Longevity Noodles sat there. The wine was the imperial tribute, Imperial Golden Wine. Plain fare and lavish drink mismatched perfectly.
“Joyful Birthday.” Su Mingya raised the cup, a light laugh escaping his lips as he clinked it against the void in front of the empty seat. “Xiaodeng is nineteen now.”
In just a year and a half, Su Mingya had formally entered officialdom. He took up a critical post in the Ministry of Justice, inheriting the key duties left vacant by the extermination of the Guan Family. Not long ago, overcoming internal opposition from the second daughter, Su Mingliang, and the third, Su Mingshao, the Su Family clearly designated him as the next Family Head.
After this was settled, Su Mingya chose a new residence. He replicated the bamboo courtyard from the Gu Family Private School, but expanded it tenfold.
Gu Jinyu had destroyed the Star-Picking Tower, so Su Mingya poured money into restoring it, filling each ruined relic with replicas born from memory. Gu Jinyu had burned down the bamboo courtyard, so Su Mingya transformed his own dwelling in the Su Family into a more expansive and opulent bamboo garden. Gu Jinyu had seized Baiyong Mountain, so Su Mingya seized control of ninety percent of Changluo’s outskirts beyond it.
A month prior, the Su Family had even managed to free Noble Consort Su and her daughter, the Fourth Princess Gao Mingyao, from their seclusion deep within the Imperial Palace. Noble Consort Su was elevated to Noble Consort Dowager. The Fourth Princess, only fourteen, entered the Imperial Academy to study.
The Su Family remained the foremost great house of the Jin Kingdom. But once the Northern Expedition concludes, the title of First Minister might no longer belong to anyone within their family.
The Gu Family was now virtually torn apart. No open feud existed between the Su and Gu families, but Su Mingya had a personal vendetta against Gu Jinyu. Gu Jinyu, stationed at the far-off Northern Border, faced assassination attempts at irregular intervals. Four in ten of those attempts traced back to black bounties placed by Su Mingya.
Yet, these underhanded attacks were personal grudges, dark retaliations kept in the shadows. What Su Mingya had brought to light was Gu Jinyu’s true identity.
Regarding this matter, the Su Family had investigated in secret, while the Ge Family had covertly sent intelligence. Finally, an old, rotten account was unearthed. News was released to the public: the lowly, deceitful identity of Gu Jinyu, a false Young Master who had usurped the nest. At the same time, the “innocent” Gu Family was extracted from the narrative, with all defamation pinned onto Gu Jinyu and the heretical jianghu sect, the Thousand Schemes Tower.
The “True Young Master, Gu Shanqing” was also brought into daylight. His story, from a childhood of destitute wandering to a youth spent scraping for survival in the cracks, culminating in death by drowning before his coming of age, was painted with tragic colors. Propaganda fanned the flames, making the story roar to life.
Su Mingya’s desire was not complicated: to restore Gu Xiaodeng’s true identity, to drag Gu Jinyu’s reputation through the mud, and along the way, to overturn the Gu Family’s long-standing image of loyal, upright officials. The protracted Northern Expedition had already inflamed public resentment. For a time, spittle flew straight at the Zhenbei Prince Mansion. The Fifth Young Master, Gu Shouyi, who had remained behind to guard the residence, could only shut his gates and refuse to step out.
Even more conveniently, the Empress did not overly shield or cover up the Gu family’s affairs. She merely made a superficial effort to curb the public outcry, but her implication was clear: if the Gu family’s campaign on the Northern Border fared poorly, they would face severe punishment upon returning to court.
Su Mingya stroked the jade wine cup, gently narrating idle chatter to the empty seat opposite. He spoke of the season, of the past. There was no vision for the future, no hint of life.
He was celebrating the birthday of the departed. Midway through his soft rambling, a gust of wind blew, and he turned his face aside to cough. The consequences of the drowning and Gu Jinyu’s revenge at the Star-Picking Tower had left his constitution weak.
From nearby, Su Xiaoyuan hurried forward, expertly opening a medicine box. “My Lord, the wind is strong. Perhaps it’s better to go inside.”
Su Mingya coughed for a moment. After taking medicine, he finally caught his breath. He only ordered that the drapes around all eight sides of the pavilion be lowered. Four lamps were lit. A scroll of the finest drawing paper was spread out. Picking up a red brush, he outlined a person from the past.
Memories and artistic skill had not faded in the slightest. Without a single pause, Su Mingya painted a new portrait of Gu Xiaodeng.
From a short distance away, Su Xiaoyuan leaned his upper body forward involuntarily, stealing a glance at the painting under Su Mingya’s brush.
Two years ago, in the deep winter, he had followed orders to swap Gu Xiaodeng out of the Gu Family. He had assumed Su Mingya, out of lingering affection, was pulling Gu Xiaodeng to safety. So he’d worn his disguise every day, pretending everything was normal. He kept up the act for nearly a month before someone from the Su Family came to retrieve him.
He had been so foolish back then, nervous. “How can I leave? The moment I’m gone, the Gu Family will discover Brother Shanqing is missing! What if it blows up? It’ll cause trouble for Young Master Su.”
The servant sent to fetch him had some connection with him and sighed privately, patting him on the shoulder. “You fool. Did you really think Young Master could pull this off without both the Su and Gu families knowing? Without the tacit consent of both families, how far do you think Cousin Master Gu could have possibly walked out that side door?”
“Then where did he go? Is he alright now?”
“That’s not something you should worry about.” The servant patted him again. “Idiot. Grow some eyes and wits. Opportunities will come your way later. The more importance Young Master placed on Gu Shanqing before, the more they might need you in the future. Understand?”
Su Xiaoyuan’s status was too low. He was bewildered, not understanding a thing. Before leaving the Gu Family, he went to ask Feng’en and Feng Huan. To his surprise, they also didn’t know where Gu Xiaodeng had gone. Feng Huan even thought Gu Xiaodeng had been taken out by Su Mingya to become a “kept lover,” a good destination.
At that time, Su Xiaoyuan was horrified. He returned to the Su Family in a daze. Not long after, the Winter Hunt passed, and Su Mingya, sick from the drowning incident, was brought back to the Su Residence. Rumor had it the root of his illness lay in a sickness of the heart. The servants ordered Su Xiaoyuan to disguise himself as Gu Xiaodeng and tend to the sickbed. Su Mingya burned with a fever, seemingly truly mistaking him. In fits of dazed consciousness, he would always look at him, unable to say much, just staring with a desolate, anguished gaze.
And so, Su Xiaoyuan stayed at the main house of the Su Family, designated as Su Mingya’s exclusive servant. He didn’t have to do menial chores. His sole duty was, when Su Mingya’s heart-sickness flared and his mind grew fragile, to walk before him and be gazed upon.
Then, watching and listening, he witnessed Su Mingya’s condition. This Eldest Young Master, who had always held Buddhist halls in contempt, suddenly dragged his sick body to kneel before a Buddha statue, stubbornly begging a master for answers. It was so bizarre that Su Xiaoyuan thought he had gone mad multiple times.
An ominous intuition grew thicker and thicker. He inquired within the Su Family about Gu Xiaodeng’s whereabouts. Eventually, he wrung two pieces of terrible news from that servant friend: “I don’t know the details. I only heard that during the chaos and strife, Gu Shanqing accidentally died out there. Also, that Guan Yunxiang you always visited at the Gu Family Private School? Due to the collective punishment for treason, the Guan family was massacred by Gu family members on New Year’s Eve. Guan Yunxiang was among them.”
Su Xiaoyuan felt as if struck by five thunderbolts. Hiding under his covers, he cried late into the night for a full ten days. Shortly after, he was summoned by the grievously injured Su Mingya.
By then, his eyes were red and swollen beyond what any disguise could conceal. Su Mingya looked at him for a long moment and said softly, “Xiao Yuan, what are you crying about?”
Su Xiaoyuan was startled and terrified. Suddenly, he realized that no matter how perfectly he disguised himself, no matter how clouded Su Mingya’s mind was from injury and illness, he knew with absolute clarity that he was not Gu Xiaodeng. He knew he was a fake, a “counterfeit” modeled after Gu Xiaodeng.
“Young Master… Gu Shanqing… is he really dead?”
The moment the question left his lips, a terrifying aura erupted from the previously frail Su Mingya. Instinctively, Su Xiaoyuan dropped to his knees to beg forgiveness, cold sweat and tears streaming down his face.
Precisely because he was crying, Su Mingya did not pursue the matter.
He said his disguise was excellent, but nothing else was right. Only when crying did he resemble Gu Xiaodeng five-tenths of the way.
Then he added, “Joys in this world are never the same, but suffering is universal.”
Su Mingya detested servants within the Su Family privately discussing Gu Xiaodeng’s death. Once, he had nearly a hundred people seized in a single night, intent on execution. Su Xiaoyuan’s friend was among them. He crawled on his knees in supplication, begging through his tears, and thus spared his friend’s life.
From then on, Su Xiaoyuan’s tears became his life-saving skills and his ladder to success in the Su Family.
Now, a year and a half had passed. Beyond the necessary skills for a subordinate, Su Xiaoyuan had also learned some degree of cunning and a great deal of acting. As Su Mingya soared higher, he grew just as rapidly, a minor pawn scrambling upward. He was a fool born of poverty and hardship. He dared not seek glory and riches. But having been plucked out and dropped into a den of aristocratic families, he could not help but strive to become smarter, more ruthless, more unrecognizable.
Yet, every time he saw the Gu Xiaodeng drawn by Su Mingya, a sense of daze inevitably washed over him.
He was seventeen this year.
The same age Gu Xiaodeng was when he died.
If Gu Xiaodeng were still alive, would he still be as bright and kind? Would he have grown more beautiful? Taller?
Su Xiaoyuan thought, yes, he would have.
Su Mingya quickly finished a painting depicting a Gu Xiaodeng he had never seen before.
In the picture, a wine pot tilted to one side. Gu Xiaodeng, his long hair loose, lay obediently pillowed on someone’s lap, snoring heavily in sleep. Su Mingya had rendered it so vividly, so full of life, that Su Xiaoyuan could almost smell the alcohol on Gu Xiaodeng’s breath.
He felt a flicker of envy. He assumed the person Gu Xiaodeng was pillowed on was surely Su Mingya.
But as if possessing the power to read minds, Su Mingya set down the brush and said, “That’s not me he’s resting on. It’s Ge Dongchen.”
Su Xiaoyuan’s eyelid twitched. He quickly bowed and said softly, “I have been presumptuous. My time with Young Master Shanqing is nothing compared to yours, my Lord. I let my imagination run wild occasionally. Please don’t take offense.”
“It’s fine.” Su Mingya coughed lightly twice. “Xiao Yuan, sit.”
Su Xiaoyuan carefully shuffled over and sat down. He used to refer to himself as ‘this slave.’ Later, Su Mingya told him to speak plainly. He agreed verbally but never dared to transgress in his actions.
Su Mingya glanced at him. As he saw the respect and numb obedience on Su Xiaoyuan’s face once more, a flash of bleak despair crossed his heart.
Power and status brought enforced admiration from below and active condescension from above. After learning of Gu Xiaodeng’s identity as the true Young Master, Su Mingya could not help but begin to scrutinize himself.
Examining himself felt like examining something ugly, a pain distinct from the suffering of illness.
After looking down on Gu Xiaodeng for four years and losing him for a year and a half, Su Mingya repeatedly realized the hubris that power had blinded him with. That hubris was also a form of self-bondage. The aftershock hit far harder than he had imagined. And now, and in the future, he would remain trapped in this system, in an endless, unbreakable cycle.
In present-day Changluo, countless people only saw the “Lord Su” that loomed over the name “Su Mingya.” Never again would someone, like Gu Xiaodeng, call out to him in a thousand different ways, loving him—Su Mingya—with open, blazing ardor.
“Were Young Master Shanqing and Young General Ge really that close?”
Su Mingya’s mind returned. His gaze settled on the soft figure of Gu Xiaodeng in the painting. “He thought Ge Dongchen was good.”
Su Xiaoyuan understood instantly. That Ge was not a good man.
“Sometimes I linger in the past. Other times, I loathe it.” Su Mingya reached out to caress the painted Gu Xiaodeng. Since assuming his post in the Ministry of Justice, the oppressive air of the prisons had clung to him, diluting the scholarly elegance brought on by sickness. “I wish that apart from Xiaodeng, everyone else from my past would die without an intact corpse, or live a fate worse than death.”
Su Xiaoyuan still believed that among the past, only he had consistently treated Gu Xiaodeng well. Thus, he shared his hatred naturally. “Those who betrayed trust should naturally face your judgment. Those guilty wretches should naturally suffer your severe punishment.”
Su Mingya smiled. “The central government is about to allocate another large batch of aid to the Northern Border. The Su Family will again donate a massive fortune. This time, it finally falls to the Ge father and son to take charge of the delivery. You will go with them when the time comes. Others will liaise with you there.”
Su Xiaoyuan stiffened. “Yes, my Lord. What should I do?”
“Test it out. I’ll test killing Gu Jinyu. You test killing Ge Dongchen.” Su Mingya’s finger slid tenderly across the painted Gu Xiaodeng, then stopped coldly on the painted half of a thigh.
He changed the measure word for his target: “This half-breed dog. Kill him.”
