The Son

Li Huowang sat in a corner of the guest room, silently watching the Great Qi men argue.

To smoothly purge their opponents, they seemed to be debating whether to win over a faction of palace eunuchs. One side believed all palace eunuchs were the same; the other thought some old palace connections could still be leveraged.

Li Huowang’s attention was not on these people. It was mostly fixed on Zhuge Yuan, who was off to the side.

Completely at ease, Zhuge Yuan sat sipping tea like a spectator, offering no opinion whatsoever. Even though his status in Great Qi was high enough that he could quell the dispute with a single word.

Li Huowang walked over and sat down beside him, lowering his voice. “They’re arguing like this, and you’re not going to step in? You can’t win a fight without a leader at a time like this.”

“No matter. With Old Qin here, they won’t argue for long. I estimate they’ll be ready to act by tomorrow at the latest. That little emperor isn’t the real issue—the Empress Dowager, ruling from behind the curtain, is the one who truly matters.”

“I hope so. I’m going out to relieve myself.” Li Huowang stood and walked toward the door.

When he reached the quiet courtyard, he didn’t wait long. He left the Liang residence entirely.

The moment he was outside the estate’s grounds, a slightly faded paper-cut window on the wall suddenly spoke.

“Why haven’t you acted yet? All of us have been out here waiting in the cold. Even the Vice Commissioner himself.”

Li Huowang frowned at the overlapping paper-cut. “I haven’t even figured out where Zhuge Yuan keeps that old almanac of his. What’s the hurry?”

“Besides, moving rashly now will only alert the enemy. You all know exactly how strong Zhuge Yuan is.”

“Speed it up. This is a critical moment. We can’t afford to dawdle.”

“I know. Don’t worry. The next time the Zuowandao causes trouble for Zhuge Yuan will be our chance. When he’s facing them, he’s bound to pull out that almanac.”

“Are you so sure the Zuowandao will make a move?”

“Definitely. Zhuge Yuan and the Zuowandao are locked in a deathmatch. Either the fish die or the net breaks. They’ve ambushed him twice already. There will be a third time. Alright, I need to get back, or Zhuge Yuan will start getting suspicious.”

Having said that, Li Huowang didn’t wait for the paper-cut to respond. He turned and walked quickly back toward the Liang residence.

As the paper-cut window went still, in a mansion over a dozen li away, a fat woman holding a pair of red-string scissors crumpled the paper-cut from her hand into a ball and tossed it into the stove fire. Then she turned to the Vice Commissioner and reported everything that had just been said.

The Vice Commissioner’s eyes were half-lidded, half-closed, as two young women as fair as jade massaged his shoulders and legs.

When the incense stick beside him burned out, the fat woman walked over, ground new powder, and lit it with careful attention.

Just as a wisp of white smoke began to rise again, the Vice Commissioner spoke.

“Issue the order. Release those two Zuowandao from the main prison. Have them pass word to the other Wind and Arrow agents. Tomorrow, at exactly noon, we attack the storyteller together. The Supervisory Heavenly Office takes nothing but that Six Luminaries Scripture.”

The fat woman seemed taken aback by the order. The Zuowandao had always been the Office’s mortal enemies. And now the Vice Commissioner intended to do business with them!

“Vice Commissioner, sir… will they agree?”

“I know these liars. They will. You all think they’re mindless madmen who don’t care about consequences. But the truth is, they have things they care about, too. They just hide it well.”

Having said this, the Vice Commissioner seemed to feel a bit tired. He stood up and walked toward his bed.

Hearing his footsteps, the two young women, who were only wearing bellybands under the covers, quickly lifted the blanket.

When the Vice Commissioner lay down, the two girls immediately shuffled to the foot of the bed, pulled his cracked, peeling feet into their arms, and pressed them tightly against their soft skin.

The Vice Commissioner sighed and turned over in bed with some effort. “Go. Remind me when it’s time to act tomorrow. This matter is of great importance. I will oversee the battle personally.”

“Yes, your servant obeys.”

The fat woman picked up her red-string scissors and snipped them toward the oil lamp. The room went dark. She bowed her head slightly toward the Vice Commissioner’s bed and slowly retreated from the room.

The next day, Li Huowang rose early. Without eating breakfast, he paced anxiously in the courtyard, a sense of unease gnawing at him. He felt that something was going to happen today.

People came and went around him, the Great Qi men still arguing about various plans. Li Huowang had completely tuned them out, treating them as background noise.

After all, compared to the matters of Great Qi, the affairs of Great Liang were infinitely more important.

But when a carriage pulled up, Li Huowang’s attention was involuntarily drawn to it. A eunuch stepped down from the carriage.

This eunuch was very fat and very pale. He was younger than the Chief Recorder. Instead of being adorned with gold or silver, he held a string of prayer beads in his hand.

He didn’t even enter the building. He just stood in the courtyard and began speaking.

“Gentlemen, there’s no need to keep yourselves busy. My godfather says he can’t help you. The fact that he’s chosen to look the other way is already enough to repay the favor he owes.”

Qin Mengzhe, a master strategist of Great Qi, was clearly unwilling to let go of this chance to get a palace ally. “Eunuch, Sir Zhuge is also present. Are you truly sure you won’t reconsider? If we succeed, the rewards will be those of a dragon-crowned hero!”

The eunuch glanced at Zhuge Yuan, immediately bowed in respectful greeting, then said with a self-deprecating smile, “Lord Qin, do you know what matters most to us who serve in the palace?”

The question caught everyone off guard. The woman from Miaojiang spoke hesitantly, “Gold?”

“Wrong! It’s a son! You can’t help with that kind of thing, but the Buddha sure can!”

As he spoke, the eunuch unfastened his robes, revealing a bulging belly crisscrossed with blue-green veins.

As if showing off, he said with great excitement, “Who says that just because we eunuchs lost our treasures, we’re doomed to die without descendants? See this? Do you know what’s inside here? My son!”

The eunuch ran his hand, the one with the prayer beads wrapped around its wrist, over and over across his veined belly. As if in response, something inside pressed a faint, blurry little handprint against the taut skin.

The sight sent a chill down Li Huowang’s spine. What the hell was wrong with Great Qi? How had the monks of Zhengde Temple made this eunuch pregnant? And was that belly even truly alive?

Compared to Zhengde Temple in Great Liang, the branch in Great Qi was clearly far more powerful.

Seeing this, Qin Mengzhe’s hands trembled with rage. “Zhengde Temple are all demonic monks! Allying yourselves with them will bring nothing good!”

“Who can help us rootless men carry on our family line? If the Buddha can do that, what do I care if they’re demonic monks or actual demons?!”

Having said that, the eunuch carefully wrapped his belly back up in his clothes.