From CEO to Concubine-Chapter 141: What Lies Beneath

Amidst the garish colours of the flower streets and willow alleys was the House of Tranquil Waters. Renowned throughout the lands for its fine teas and the skill of the musicians that played in its luxurious chambers, it stood out from the rest of the pleasure quarters like an oasis. Elegant and refreshing, it was where the fashionable elite chose to gather and Zhang Xiu, newly back in the capital, had soon been made well-acquainted with the place due to the numerous gatherings his old acquaintances had chosen to host here to welcome his return.

Here—they had told him in all confidence—the beauties were poised, the music was heavenly, and the delicacies from the kitchens could compare to the imperial buttery. Zhang Xiu knew the last to be a heavy exaggeration but had refrained from commenting; not everyone had the opportunity to dine with the emperor, after all. To point out that the imperial buttery was capable of feasts that they could only dream of would display too much of a lack of humility.

Zhang Xiu was all about keeping up appearances.

Today, he had received another invitation to dine at the House of Tranquil Waters. If it were from anybody else, he would have been tempted to turn it down. But unfortunately for him, the seal imprinted on the invite was unique to the Respectful Prince of the First Rank. This made rejection an impossibility.

Especially since it was the sixth prince, Liu Jin.

Zhang Xiu gritted his teeth. A long time ago, he’d been too young, too careless. The sixth prince had been very good at hiding himself behind a façade of idiocy too; everyone had underestimated him, including Zhang Xiu. And now, even after so many years had passed, he was still paying for his folly.

The soft strumming of the pipa and the melodious laughter of the young musicians called Zhang Xiu’s attention back to the troublesome figure lounging in the most prominent seat at the head of the private quarters they were currently drinking in. Although this establishment had a purer reputation than its seedier counterparts, and professed only to sell the arts and not the bodies of its workers, Zhang Xiu was under no illusion. He knew that these boys and girls, each more beautiful and talented than the last, could still be bought for the right price.

The sixth prince was no stranger to this part of town. When it came to the hedonistic lifestyles of the royalty and the aristocracy, many things were an open secret. Zhang Xiu pretended to take a sip of his wine, keeping a cautious eye on the sixth prince as he teased the beauties clustered around him, looking every inch the licentious fool that the capital assumed him to be.

But Zhang Xiu knew better than to fall for it again. All those years ago, if he hadn’t listened to those poisonous, tempting suggestions...

It was too late for regrets now though. He was committed whether he liked it or not.

The sixth prince seemed to know what was weighing on Zhang Xiu’s mind. His smile was smug as he pulled the young man in his arms closer to deliver a sloppy kiss to his cheek.

"Has the north leeched all the pleasures of life out of you?" he goaded. "Boring Envoy Zhang, always trying to pick the winning side to protect your skin."

Zhang Xiu placed his wine cup back onto the low table and took pride in the way his hands didn’t shake.

"What did Your Highness wish to speak to this subject about?" he asked evenly.

"What’s the rush?" The sixth prince said with a laugh. "Ah, Zhang Xiu, you haven’t changed a whit, have you?"

Zhang Xiu was painfully aware of what the sixth prince was referring to. His thoughts took a trip into the past, back to a time before Liu Yao had become Emperor Xuanjun, before Zhang Xiu had assumed the role of envoy. As crown prince, Liu Yao had been the pride and joy of his people but no one in court had looked favourably upon him as an ascension candidate. Why would they? The late emperor was infamous for his habit of "spoiling the concubine and ruining the wife" (1). As he’d surrounded himself with more and more painted faces, each lovelier than the last, his relationship with the empress had soured, taking along with it his affections for his firstborn.

As Liu Yao’s study companion, Zhang Xiu had understandably been worried about Liu Yao’s future; it was tied inextricably to his own. To make matters worse, he had been the crux of the Zhang Family’s decision to take Liu Yao’s side, even though it’d looked less than likely that the five dragons stitched onto the crown prince’s robes would one day grow into a majestic nine (2).

Liu Yao hadn’t been the Zhang Family’s original choice. Few others knew but the intention had been for Zhang Xiu to serve as the study companion of the third prince instead. The elder son of a pampered consort, the late emperor had on more than one occasion put Liu Yao down in favour of bringing this favourite of his up instead.

But even at the tender age of eleven, Zhang Xiu had decided to support Liu Yao instead. Only he knew about the deep, selfish, dirty reason that could explain why.

Or so he’d thought. But Liu Jin, the scheming bastard, had seen right through him, just like how he’d seen right through Zhang Xiu’s plans to help Liu Yao onto the throne with blatant disregard for whether Liu Yao had wanted that sort of help or not.

What Liu Yao doesn’t know won’t hurt him. That had been his line of reasoning, his justification for one bad decision after another. The problem was that Liu Yao still didn’t know but Liu Jin did and was not afraid to use it against Zhang Xiu.

If Liu Yao ever found out what Zhang Xiu had had a hand in, what he’d helped engineer...

Zhang Xiu squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long, silent sigh. His secrets had haunted him over the years, hung over his head now like an executioner’s axe except he didn’t know when the blow would land.

"Isn’t he pretty?" Zhang Xiu’s executioner said conversationally, tilting the chin of the musician in his arms such that his almond-shaped face came into full view. Zhang Xiu was in no mood to appreciate but he also knew that given the sixth prince’s annoying disposition, he would not let the matter rest until he received what he deemed as a satisfactory reply.

"In response to Your Highness," he remarked stiffly, "he is adequate." But the final syllable of his words snagged at the back of his throat as he finally put two and two together and realised what he was meant to be paying attention to.

Fawn-like eyes that were wide with a natural innocence no matter how base, how debauched a life their owner led. They weren’t just set in the face of the boy nestled in the arms of the sixth prince—the serving girl refilling the wine, the maestro in the corner plucking at the pipa with heart-stopping grace, they all shared this one distinct feature.

And yet they all paled in comparison to the pair that belonged to the youth residing in the dragon bed.

"Your respectable younger sister (3)," the sixth prince added in a seeming non-sequitur. "I take it she has been well?"

Zhang Xiu could not predict where this conversation was headed. The thoughts of a madman were erratic, after all, and this was a trait commonly shared amongst members of the imperial family, surfacing even in the criticism of Liu Yao for his iron-fist methods at the start of his reign. But when compared to Liu Wei, Liu Jin and the dead third prince, Zhang Xiu sometimes wondered if the reason why Liu Yao was so neglected by his father was that the late emperor had become suspicious of whether his oldest legitimate son was really of his blood.

Why else had the obsessive madness that possessed the men and women of the imperial family not manifested in him? What else could explain the ease with which he had let go of Ziyu to bestow his favour upon a common whore?

"Your Highness might be pleased to banter but this subject has an early morning at the ministry tomorrow," Zhang Xiu said with a flicker of irritation. "This subject is obtuse and cannot figure out what Your Highness will of me if not spelt out clearly."

The sixth prince straightened up from his insouciant slouch. He clapped his hands and like the synchronised moves of a dance, the beauties attending to them halted all activities to bow and retreat out of the room. Zhang Xiu was right; this here was the sixth prince’s domain, where the pleasure he sought was at his fingertips, schooled into an obedience he would not find in the emperor’s favourite boy.

Once they were alone, Zhang Xiu found himself at the receiving end of the sixth prince’s unnerving stare. Unlike the intimidating weight of Liu Yao’s stern gaze or the discomforting quality of the false sincerity in Liu Wei’s eyes, Liu Jin’s, in Zhang Xiu’s opinion, was the worst.

His was the stare of a man that wanted the world to burn just for the sake of it. The crazed glimmer buried deep in their depths was almost masked by the fog of lust and greed but Zhang Xiu recognised it anyway because he knew what to look for.

"Very well. Since Envoy Zhang isn’t enjoying this prince’s company, I have no choice but to cut to the chase then." With an exaggerated pout that raised the hairs on the back of Zhang Xiu’s arms, he continued, "I think we are both aware by now that with the lovely Imperial Concubine Yue’s presence distracting my beloved big brother from his filial duties, the other concubines in the inner palace may as well start considering a lifetime spent in the imperial nunnery."

The words were alarmingly disrespectful but the truth in them was undeniable. The Yan Slave was a problem that Zhang Xiu had to deal with except he also knew that he was running out of time.

"Your Highness is aware that the arrangements for Imperial Concubine Yue’s coming-of-age ceremony tomorrow are more than what they seem?" The actual details had been zealously guarded by the inner palace departments, the infuriating Supervisor Liu championing the cause of secrecy, but Zhang Xiu didn’t work in the Ministry of Rites for nothing. Although the scope of his obligations was limited to diplomacy, he had his ways and means of finding out information about the actions of the departments, which often partnered with the Ministry of Rites for the organisation of banquets and events.

The sixth prince didn’t appear surprised. "My beloved big brother successfully learnt all the tricks of the imperial trade except for one."

"Which one?"

The sixth prince grinned. "Fickleness."

Zhang Xiu didn’t agree. He’d once been foolish enough to believe that the emperor’s love for Ziyu was unwavering but now he knew that to be struck by love, at first sight, was just a flight of fancy, a fairytale that he no longer bought into.

"What does this have to do with anything?" He didn’t understand what the sixth prince was trying to get at.

"Why, everything," the sixth prince answered with relish. "We are exchanging pieces with the most masterful chess player in the lands, Envoy Zhang. You have a candidate that you wish to promote to empress and I have a delicious morsel that I wish to devour right beneath my beloved big brother’s nose."

Zhang Xiu’s skin prickled as the sixth prince’s words sank in. The sixth prince had, as always, read him like an open book, had known even without Zhang Xiu speaking that for the Zhang Family, getting rid of Imperial Concubine Yue was of paramount importance. Zhang Xiu had wracked his brains day and night for a plan that would make the emperor’s favourite fall from grace, or even a more permanent solution, so as to speak, but to little avail.

Now, it seemed that the sixth prince was insinuating that they worked together with a similar goal in mind...except Zhang Xiu was certain that death wasn’t what the sixth prince wanted in store for their hapless target.

Not that it mattered to Zhang Xiu. As long as Imperial Concubine Yue could be removed as a hindrance to the Zhang Family’s progression in court, he didn’t care what happened to the boy, whether his body ended up in the unmarked burial grounds outside the city or whether he spent the rest of his days chained to the foot of the sixth prince’s bed.

But Zhang Xiu knew better than to trust this cunning fox. There had to be a catch.

"Your Highness is suggesting a dangerous endeavour," he said as he studied the sixth prince with wary intent. "This subject acknowledges that what Your Highness is saying is reasonable but this subject has the fate of his family to consider and cannot just take action blindly. If Your Highness is willing to sit in a command tent and devise a battle plan (3)—"

"The security at the autumn hunt this year," the sixth prince interrupted. "Rumour has it that the duty shall be divided between Great General Pan’s northern army and the brocade guard." He spoke about it like he’d heard it on the grapevine but Zhang Xiu surmised that there must be at least a modicum of truth to it for him to bring it up.

"Your Highness wishes to act during the hunt?" Zhang Xiu frowned. "The northern army is formidable and the reach of the brocade guard far and wide. Your Highness is too idealistic if you think it would be easy to operate on their watch."

The sixth prince’s smile widened. The weather still hadn’t cooled down but Zhang Xiu felt a chill run down his spine.

"That depends on who or what they think they’re guarding against," he said.