Chapter 4: Rendong Crouches on the Beam, Playing Cat Burglar

In the hall below, a man and a woman were talking. If Rendong hadn’t happened to hear them mention Tantai Tian while prowling past like a proper cat burglar, the cat would never have stopped.

“Though the Crown Prince was reprimanded, your father the Emperor has been unwell these past few days. You must tread carefully. Do not stir up his temper.” The Imperial Noble Consort below, along with Tantai Zhang, had no idea a cat was eavesdropping overhead. Now that all the palace attendants had been dismissed, they spoke with a certain ease.

“You’re right, Mother.” Tantai Zhang’s voice was soft and gentle. “I’ll pass the word down and make sure everyone beneath me watches their words and their steps.”

Ohh~ so they were mother and son!

Rendong listened on, licking at his own fur.

Who said white fur shows the dirt? A fluffy little black cat like Rendong picked up dust just as easily!

“I heard you visited the Hall of Peace and Ease a few days ago?” The Imperial Noble Consort lifted her teacup, her little finger rising in an elegant curl to reveal a crimson nail guard. “Didn’t I tell you to school your heart and master your temper? You mustn’t act recklessly.”

“Fu Qingshu, Bai Ziliang, and the others at court are petitioning Father, asking him to arrange a marriage for the Crown Prince.” A trace of embarrassment crossed Tantai Zhang’s fair face, flushing it faintly pink. “That was my fault. I was too eager.”

The Crown Prince had now been confined to the Hall of Peace and Ease for three months, and this was precisely the situation they had painstakingly engineered. If Emperor Changle truly granted the Crown Prince a marriage now, the wedding could hardly be held in that tiny little hall. They would have no choice but to let him out.

That was the very pretext Fu Qingshu and the others were using for their petitions.

After all, the Crown Prince had long since reached the age when he ought to marry. But Emperor Changle, wary of him, had kept delaying it, terrified that through a marriage the Crown Prince might draw in the power of in-laws.

Tantai Zhang had to admit that the mere thought of the Crown Prince one day walking free made his chest tremble. Beyond the contest for the throne, he instinctively loathed the man. Tantai Tian was a cold, venomous snake, yet he insisted on wearing the disguise of a human being.

He knew all too well that no attendant could get close to Tantai Tian. Anyone whose skin so much as brushed his was cut down on the spot. A few were killed, a few driven mad, and at last the servants serving Tantai Tian etched this taboo firmly into their memories.

How could such a deranged, violent creature possibly occupy that seat? How could Tantai Zhang bring himself to grovel at that man’s feet and accept that he would forever be the lesser?

The Imperial Noble Consort took a few sips of tea. Her lovely brows and eyes blurred in the curling mist, leaving only her chilling words behind. “The Emperor will not grant the marriage.”

Tantai Zhang frowned, puzzled as to the source of her confidence. But he did not press. He only said, “Then what about the Empress…”

“Eldest, I keep watch over everything in the Inner Palace. Don’t meddle.” Setting down her teacup, the Imperial Noble Consort spoke at an unhurried pace. “Once your father’s temper has passed, I’ll find an opening to ask for a reward and win you a noble title.”

“My thanks for your care, Mother.”

The cat only half listened. He had noticed the woman was wearing something glittery, and the shimmering gold threads swung back and forth until Rendong’s eyes followed them around and around. His paws began to itch.

So scratchy.

After the Eldest Prince took his leave, Rendong bowed along with him, slow and deliberate, then stretched himself out into one long, luxurious cat. After several rolls, a few strands of fur and specks of dust came drifting down through the air, landing right in the Imperial Noble Consort’s teacup.

She hadn’t noticed yet.

Once Tantai Zhang was gone, Danzhu, the Senior Palace Maid who attended the Imperial Noble Consort, entered the room. She hurried over, knelt, and reported, “Your Ladyship, Gao Jinzhong knows which way the wind blows.”

The Imperial Noble Consort smiled faintly and said in a soft voice, “Well done.”

Gao Jinzhong was one of the four Chief Eunuchs who served the Crown Prince. Since the confinement at the Hall of Peace and Ease, the Crown Prince had been permitted to bring only Yu Zeming and Liang Ze, leaving Gao Jinzhong and Nie Jiang to keep watch over the Eastern Palace.

And all this time, it had been Gao Jinzhong who carried the meals to the Hall of Peace and Ease.

She couldn’t be blamed for her ruthlessness. If she didn’t take this chance to press the Crown Prince down into the mud for good, what would become of her own son?

Tantai Zhang was the eldest, after all!

The Imperial Noble Consort sighed and raised her teacup for a casual sip, then immediately furrowed her brow.

Danzhu, already kneeling, shuffled forward on her knees and quickly held out her handkerchief. The Imperial Noble Consort spat the mouthful of tea, flecked with something foreign, into Danzhu’s hand, then examined the cup.

Floating up and down in the clear tea were several unmistakable strands of black fur.

The Imperial Noble Consort’s face turned dark on the spot!

…

Rendong had long since scampered off, tail held high.

A cat was a very busy creature.

The Imperial Palace was enormous, and Rendong meant to explore every last corner of it. At the pace of his little stubby legs, it would probably take him seventy, eighty, ninety days to finish.

The busy cat ran around the better part of the day, and by the time he returned in the afternoon he had collapsed at the entrance of the Hall of Peace and Ease, flattened like a soft, limp little pancake.

The stone slab at the entrance was still warm from the sun.

Toasty warm.

The cat lay there in bliss, tail swishing back and forth.

When Yu Zeming came out to collect the meal trays, he nearly stepped right on Rendong.

“Rendong, you can’t just lie around here.” Yu Zeming crouched down to scold him. “Bad cat.”

Rendong flicked his ears, shut them, and pretended not to hear.

Tired kitty needs to lie down. Only lying down fixes it.

Gao Jinzhong stood behind with two young eunuchs, watching Yu Zeming sigh. “You still have the leisure to fuss over a stray cat. I take it His Highness’s health has improved somewhat, then.”

Days earlier, the Hall of Blessed Tranquility had issued an order to put down every animal in the palace. Only the Western Park, where animals were deliberately kept, had been left undisturbed, and even then it was only because the place was so heavily guarded that no creature could sneak out, leaving them above suspicion. Everywhere else, every animal had been killed.

Since then, for days on end, right up until today, Emperor Changle had not held court.

So how on earth had a black cat managed to spring up out of nowhere at the Hall of Peace and Ease?

If Rendong had known what the man was thinking, he would have bestowed a great act of feline mercy upon him and explained: actually, there’s a patch of white fur on this kitty’s tummy!

Gao Jinzhong delivered the meal and didn’t linger. He bowed toward the side room and departed. As Yu Zeming stepped into the Hall of Peace and Ease, the puddle of cat came back to life and reassembled itself into one round ball of cat.

One very annoying ball of cat.

He sprinted back and forth across the small main hall, for reasons known only to himself.

So small. So soft.

Yu Zeming lived in fear that one careless step would send Rendong flying.

Thus, gingerly, under the ceaseless harassment of one little menace of a cat, Yu Zeming set up the table and laid out the dishes one by one.

When everything was arranged, he went to invite the Crown Prince out.

“Gao Jinzhong…”

Under the table, where a cat lay by Tantai Tian’s feet playing with his own tail, two feline ears shot up at once. Which Gao Jinzhong? The one that woman in the pretty dress mentioned?

All at once, two fluffy paws appeared at the edge of the table.

Yu Zeming sucked in a breath and bent down to look, only to find that the fist-sized cat had somehow leapt up and was hanging off the table’s edge, little stubby legs pedaling in midair, even kneading at the empty air.

Rendong’s jumping power and flexibility were both excellent. In a few efficient scrabbles he hauled himself onto the tabletop, perched at the edge as one very small dumpling, and began to meow and mew.

Tantai Tian’s eyes shifted slightly. He reached for the chopsticks himself and picked up a morsel of food.

Rendong meowed.

The chopsticks switched to a different dish.

Rendong mrowed even louder.

Only two dishes got the honor.

Tantai Tian stopped. A cold gleam seeped into his black eyes. “The food has been tampered with.”

Rendong let out a loud awoo.

Not bad, not bad. The person he’d newly adopted was a clever one.

Yu Zeming’s face changed, and he dropped to his knees with a thud. “This Servant tested it with a silver needle just now…” Naturally, anything that passed the Crown Prince’s lips had to be checked for poison first.

Common poisons might not work on the Crown Prince, but there was no telling whether whoever was behind this had found some vicious new drug…

Ugh, so dumb.

Just use a poison the silver needle can’t detect.

That’s how they always do it in the dramas.

Seeing that the human had stopped eating, Rendong relaxed.

He flopped onto his side with his back to Tantai Tian, stretched his hind leg out straight as he could, and set to work licking the fur beneath his belly.

That little patch of white was the only white on his entire body.

Rendong treasured that bit of white fur deeply and gave it a good licking every day.

Looking over, Tantai Tian was treated to the sight of Rendong quivering like a little black chicken drumstick.

“Gao Jinzhong deserved death as well.” Tantai Tian finally spoke, his tone as level as ever. “I’ve kept him alive only to follow the thread back to its source. Get up.”

At those words, Yu Zeming rose slowly to his feet. His face looked composed, but his back had broken out in a cold sweat.

Things like this happened often.

Far too many people in the palace wanted the Crown Prince dead.

So Tantai Tian had promoted the spy who’d been planted at his side, letting Gao Jinzhong climb all the way up to Chief Eunuch. For ordinary matters, the man could report whatever he liked; only the truly secret things were kept from him. With a mole of such high station in place, certain people had stopped wasting effort planting new nails around the Crown Prince.

But poison this subtle, colorless, odorless, and nearly undetectable… The people behind Gao Jinzhong must be growing impatient.

So thinking, Yu Zeming let his lowered gaze settle on the Crown Prince’s face, then darted away as if scorched, not daring to look closely.

Tantai Tian looked nothing like the Emperor, nor much like the Empress.

Deep brow bones, a high nose bridge, and an aggressive sharpness that carried barbs. It was an aura he’d been born with.

Tantai Tian watched the little cat groom itself with cold eyes.

Rendong had finished his belly and was advancing on his neck, tiny pink tongue bustling about, licking away with tremendous diligence.

For all the world like an ordinary, everyday cat.

“Doesn’t the Imperial Noble Consort want the Eldest Prince made Crown Prince?” Tantai Tian’s voice came slow and even. “Why not help them rise straight to the top?”

It sounded like talking to himself, and he needed no answer from anyone. But the frigid chill in those words made the already cold Hall of Peace and Ease feel even less fit for habitation.

Yu Zeming thought of the Ji Jia the Crown Prince had mentioned days ago, and of Liang Ze, who had vanished again today and was nowhere in the hall. His head bowed lower. And lower still.

The weather was about to turn.

The System interrupted Rendong, who was grooming away in high spirits, to inform him that the plot had entered a critical stage, and issued Quest Two.

[Quest Two: Help Tantai Tian Ascend the Throne]

Rendong looked at his outstretched paw, flexed it, and out popped sharp little hooked claws.

A job had come in!

He lifted his little head high. Good paws take grinding to get sharp enough.

No time like the present.

So Rendong lowered his body and, in an act of tremendous disrespect, thrust his little cat rear end up toward Tantai Tian.

Along with two gleaming little bells.

Scritch scritch scritch. Time to grind!

Tantai Tian’s indifferent gaze swept over.

So it was a tomcat.

With a meow that gooey, he’d assumed it was a girl.