Chapter 4

Li Zhaoyi had no idea that, somewhere he could neither see nor hear, a pair of eyes was still watching him with bored amusement, their owner’s inner monologue running wild. He was currently so tired his eyelids were fighting each other. If he hadn’t been pinching himself occasionally, he would have fallen asleep on his desk long ago.

He hadn’t slept well the previous night. Surviving the morning court session had pushed him to his limit, and after talking for so long with Wanrong and Yun Yin, his mind was now floating somewhere beyond the heavens. But he knew he couldn’t rest.

Yun Yin was a man of his word.

If he told him to review the memorials, then Li Zhaoyi had to finish the stack before him today.

Otherwise, the consequences would be entirely Li Zhaoyi’s to bear.

He wasn’t afraid of embarrassment. But every time he went to court, the earnest gazes of the Court Officials always filled him with guilt. Even though sitting in this position was never his intention, and the officials’ high hopes were most likely placed on him for the sole reason that his surname was Li.

Furthermore…

He didn’t want Yun Yin to be disappointed in him over something like this again.

He didn’t know how much sincerity lay behind Yun Yin’s so-called wish for him to be diligent in state affairs. Unable to discern the truth, he chose to believe it.

At the very least, Yun Yin had truly left the memorials for him and had genuinely let go of the reins.

For these reasons, he forced himself to persevere.

But some things couldn’t be accomplished through sheer persistence alone.

Li Zhaoyi had spent seventeen years in the Cold Palace. In terms of scholarship, he had barely achieved basic literacy. He was completely ignorant of government affairs.

He didn’t dare to write directly on the memorials, so he could only make his own annotations on separate paper. Even so, by nightfall, the majority of the memorials remained untouched.

When a servant came to ask when he would take his evening meal, he shook his head.

In his hands was an extremely convoluted and difficult memorial. Yet, after reading it carefully, Li Zhaoyi felt it seemed to contain no substantive content. Just as he was wavering, debating whether to read it through again, a pair of hands plucked the memorial from his grasp.

Li Zhaoyi looked up and saw Yun Yin’s nonchalant profile.

–

“A memorial from Zuo Wei, the Prefect of Feng’an.” Yun Yin flipped through the document in his hands, clicked his tongue, and said, “As expected, verbose and pointless as always. Not a single useful sentence in ten.”

Li Zhaoyi: “…”

So it hadn’t been his imagination.

Then, the realization dawned on him. “…Why are you here?”

Yun Yin placed the memorial back on the desk. Without answering the question, he asked in an amiable tone, “It’s already this late, and Your Majesty is still in the study. Have you had your evening meal?”

Thus, Li Zhaoyi’s question vanished, replaced by a conditioned reflex of guilt.

Yun Yin usually only came after the morning court session. He hadn’t expected the man to make another trip into the palace this late at night.

Although Yun Yin’s private residence was located not far from the palace grounds.

Yun Yin looked at him with a faint, unreadable smile. Li Zhaoyi came back to his senses and quietly admitted his fault. “…I won’t do it again. I forgot today.”

Perhaps it was because his attitude was sincere, or perhaps Yun Yin was truly tired, but the man didn’t press the issue further. He simply ordered someone to bring the evening meal. Li Zhaoyi, acting on instinct, obediently sat at the table to wait for the food. Soon enough, the Palace Servants brought the dishes over.

The meal was very sumptuous. It was prepared according to Li Zhaoyi’s tastes. The Son of Heaven was not supposed to reveal his preferences, but on his very first day of dining, Li Zhaoyi had kept reaching for a dish of salt-and-pepper shrimp with his chopsticks. Yun Yin hadn’t bothered to restrain him; upon hearing of it, he had instructed the kitchens to note down what he liked and consciously ordered more of those dishes for him in the following days.

Back then, Li Zhaoyi hadn’t known what he would soon be facing, so he had eaten without a care in the world.

In retrospect, if Yun Yin had been whimsical enough to poison him then, he probably would have died quite straightforwardly.

Yun Yin didn’t poison him. Yun Yin watched him eat.

Li Zhaoyi, who had completely lost his appetite from reviewing memorials, felt even more uncomfortable with an extra person present. He dawdled over a braised spare rib, just as he was about to put down his chopsticks, Yun Yin, who had an idle book in his hand, didn’t even lift his head.

“Your Majesty.”

So Li Zhaoyi picked up his chopsticks again and silently finished his meal.

After the meal, Yun Yin’s book had also been turned to its last page. He set the book down and asked, already knowing the answer, “How is Your Majesty progressing with the memorials?”

Knowing he couldn’t escape this, Li Zhaoyi obediently led him back into the inner room.

On the table, two stacks of memorials were sorted into categories. Setting aside their contents for a moment, the arrangement itself looked very neat.

~

Yun Yin originally hadn’t planned to enter the palace again today.

As things stood, he handled all court affairs single-handedly. He was already diligent enough in visiting the Imperial Palace. Several Censors looked at him as if he were the bane of their existence, wishing they could drown him in spit. Unless absolutely necessary, Yun Yin didn’t want to give their memorials more ammunition.

However, Mu Ke had sent a specific message, saying the Little Emperor was likely in for a sleepless night. In the end, Yun Yin came anyway.

He couldn’t very well let the Little Emperor review all the memorials overnight.

Even if Li Zhaoyi dared to do so, Yun Yin wasn’t sure he’d dare to read the results.

Yet, on his way here, he had still offered Mu Ke a cool word of caution.

Mu Ke was close to him, so he trusted him with tasks. But Mu Ke was too soft-hearted, and that wasn’t a good thing.

At the time, Mu Ke had looked ashamed, but right now, Yun Yin felt he was beginning to understand him a little.

He picked up a stack of papers from the side and asked Li Zhaoyi, “Did Your Majesty write these?”

Li Zhaoyi nodded.

“Your Majesty was uncertain,” Yun Yin continued. “So you drafted a rough version first, intending for this subject to review it before copying it onto the memorials. Is that correct?”

Another nod.

After nodding, Li Zhaoyi added, “…They might not be written very well.”

It wasn’t just “not very well.”

As Yun Yin leafed through them with a critical eye, he saw that the handwriting on the paper was barely passable as neat, yet the strokes were childish. The content was written even more colloquially, like plain vernacular. The tone, however, was sincere. If such memorials were handed to those old, painstakingly dedicated Court Officials, Yun Yin could perfectly imagine their expressions.

They likely wouldn’t be gratified. They would probably feel a surge of despair and then grow even more anxious.

But Yun Yin was not an old official.

He merely placed the papers back with an impassive expression. Then, for the first time, he truly lifted his eyes and seriously scrutinized the person before him.

–

Li Zhaoyi was very beautiful. Yun Yin had always known this.

None of the Imperial Princes and Princesses of the Li Imperial Family were bad-looking. The old bastard had loved collecting beauties. Only the First Prince, Li Zhaocheng, took after his father in looks, possessing a rather average appearance. Of course, in Yun Yin’s view, Li Zhaoyi didn’t resemble his older siblings much at all. He possessed a uniquely striking beauty.

Beautiful as he was, his temperament was quiet and reserved. His body was also frail. Placed in the hands of his somewhat ruthless and cunning older siblings, Yun Yin doubted he’d last even an hour, let alone three days.

Of course, Yun Yin didn’t care.

Or rather, this was precisely what he needed.

Li Zhaoyi bore the surname Li, was incapable of resistance, and was obedient. This allowed Yun Yin to expend less effort on him. Facts had proven that over the past half month, Li Zhaoyi had indeed been very quiet, causing no trouble whatsoever.

The problem now was, Yun Yin was beginning to feel that Li Zhaoyi was being a little too obedient.

Yun Yin lowered his eyes slightly, thoughtful.

…Was he truly this afraid of him, to the point of obeying his every command, deliberately acting obedient and currying favor, exhausting himself to the extent that even his Shadow Guard couldn’t bear to watch?

Or.

Did he have other motives?

The Little Emperor was still looking at him. When he wasn’t speaking, he was purely a picture of beauty, as serene and beautiful as a painting. It was only when he opened his mouth that a certain youthful naivety showed through, making him look a bit dazed.

No answer could be found from staring at such a clean, blank, canvas-like face. Yun Yin reined in his thoughts.

Holding the papers, he mused for a moment before saying, “Your Majesty wrote them well.”

Li Zhaoyi’s eyes lit up.

Then, Yun Yin leisurely delivered his next line. “But at the rate Your Majesty is reviewing them, when will you ever finish? Can you complete them tonight?”

The light in Li Zhaoyi’s eyes died out again.

His dejection was so obvious, it animated his usually somewhat dazed and vacant expression considerably, like a fresh, vibrant flower dampened by rain.

Yun Yin’s gaze lingered on his eyelashes for a moment. For some reason, he paused for a second.

After a beat, he finally spoke. “No matter.”

“Your Majesty is tired.” He finally relented, mercifully granting Li Zhaoyi his release. “Leave the rest to this subject. Your Majesty should retire early. You will still need to preside over the court at the Morning Court tomorrow.”

~

Yun Yin left, taking all the memorials with him. This was somewhat improper by protocol, but staying overnight in the Emperor’s Bedchamber was an even greater breach of protocol. Choosing the lesser of two evils.

The moment he left, Li Zhaoyi breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he felt a trace of disappointment.

Yun Yin had taken all the memorials. He wasn’t unaware of the implicit meaning behind this action. Yun Yin had saved his face, but Li Zhaoyi knew it wasn’t because he had done a good job.

With such thoughts, Li Zhaoyi experienced a rare bout of insomnia.

Lying in bed, drifting between sleep and wakefulness, his thoughts unusually scattered. One moment, it was the night the sky was half-lit by fire. The next, it was someone whispering in his ear, “Your Highness, remember, within this palace, only dullness ensures a long life.” The final scene was Yun Yin standing before him, backlit, the dense night behind him. His eyes were still very beautiful, anger and despair hidden in their deepest places, leaving only calmness and indifference on the surface. He said, “Your Majesty, this subject has arrived late to rescue you.” Li Zhaoyi had touched his armor—it was cold, hard, and icy.

But, who was His Majesty?

He opened his eyes from the dream. The sky outside was already tinged with the white of a fish’s belly.

After a long while, he sat up. The scenes from the dream scattered completely, dissolving into nothingness.

–

The first thought that truly struck Li Zhaoyi upon fully waking was: The sky is so bright already. Am I going to be late for court today?

He scrambled up in a hurry, simultaneously wondering why no one had woken him today.

It wasn’t until he lifted the bed curtains and saw a similarly surprised person standing nearby that he finally relaxed.

But then he immediately noticed that the shrill, fierce Eunuch was gone. Standing in his place now was an Old Eunuch he did not recognize.

Somewhat dazedly, he allowed himself to be dressed. He then realized that many of the Eunuchs and Palace Maids had been replaced as well.

After he was dressed, the Old Eunuch came over to assist him. His expression was very gentle. He called him “Your Majesty” and came to support him out, not forgetting to thoughtfully say, “Your Majesty, the Prince of Pingnan sent someone this morning with the reviewed memorials. They have been placed on the desk in your study for you.”

Li Zhaoyi said, “Mm.” He wanted to ask something, but swallowed his words at the last moment. The Old Eunuch, reading his expression, smiled and said, “The previous batch of attendants handled matters incompetently. The Prince of Pingnan has ordered this old servant to look after you. Whatever you wish to eat, play with, or use, just tell this old servant. This old servant will surely have it arranged properly for Your Majesty.”

Li Zhaoyi blinked slowly.

He was somewhat confused by the situation, but the old Eunuch’s tone was very kind, and he didn’t dislike him.

So he obediently replied, “Alright.”

Although his thoughts had been tangled and his sleep poor the previous night, he unexpectedly felt no discomfort. By the time Li Zhaoyi arrived at court, his mind was, for once, perfectly clear.

He felt a little happy. As he took his seat, his back straightened more than usual. When his eyes met Yun Yin’s, who had arrived early and stood at the head of the officials, he even felt a bit more confident.

Yun Yin seemed to pause for a moment, then smiled and gave him a slight nod.

According to custom, Court Attire was required for the morning court session. The attire that looked plain or even lifeless on others suddenly appeared much more pleasing when worn by Yun Yin. It accentuated his tall, straight figure, making him stand out from the crowd at a glance.

Indeed, he stood at the very front, the foremost among all officials. As the paramount authority of the Yan Dynasty, he was full of vigor and pride.

He seemed vastly different from the person in that dream.

Li Zhaoyi withdrew his gaze. Someone lowered a Gauze Curtain before him, completely cutting off his line of sight.

As the Emperor, he knew he should mind. Mind Yun Yin’s overstepping of authority, mind the cage-like gauze curtain placed before him. But he truly harbored no such feelings.

His only thought was to get through this Morning Court as smoothly as possible and avoid requiring Yun Yin’s guidance again after the session ended.

He hadn’t expected, however, that even such a simple wish would be unfulfilled.

Five minutes into the morning session, someone stepped out of line with aggressive determination.

“Your Majesty, this subject has a matter to report!”

“This subject impeaches the Prince of Pingnan, Yun Yin! For Defying Imperial Dignity, acting with reckless arrogance, monopolizing court power, and bringing calamity to the nation and its people! Your Majesty! This subject beseeches Your Majesty, for the sake of the realm and the people of the Yan Dynasty, to thoroughly investigate the Yun Clan to pacify the people’s hearts!”