“Oh, Let me go!” the little plum struggled in Di Xúe’s grasp the moment they were away from prying eyes. His face was red and twisted up into an unsightly expression not suited for the lover of the Emperor. Not that anything about this little plum was suited for him. Di Xúe smirked and let go when the little plum wasn’t ready and he fell onto the floor with a loud thud.

The little plum grimaced and rubbed his sore bottom before glaring at Di Xúe who felt unusually satisfied at the moment. Lin Hai hurried to help the little plum up and Di Xúe could not help but to frown at Lin Hai’s gentle expression. His eyes were gleaming with a warm and tender light as he cared for the little plum.

“Lin Hai? Shaofu!”

Lin Hai winced and turned to Di Xúe with a polite bow. “Huángdi?”

“Did you find any abnormalities among the guests?”

“Not anything of note. Wang Yu Jían’s appearance was the strangest one,” Lin Hai replied still sneeking peeks at the little plum when he thought that Di Xúe wasn’t looking.

“So my uncle is the prime suspect?” said Di Xúe with a grimace. He liked his uncle growing up but he knows better than anyone the depth of his uncle’s mind. There were few people on the continent of Tiandi who could rival his intelligence.

“That is just ridiculous. His nephew hasn’t showed any indication of interest towards women and suddenly he chose a Zhiji. It was obvious that he would come to take a look at me and that test-“

Di Xúe froze as he heard the little plum’s words. “What test?”

“The painting with a poem. He wanted to see if I understood it.”

“Why?”

“Most likely to measure my intelligence.”

“How could a painting do that?” asked Lin Hai gently and the little plum pulled out the scroll and threw it to Di Xúe who frowned as he catched it. Has the little plum no concept of value? This was a treasure not to be treated lightly.

“Tell me what you see?” the little plum said with a dull expression.

Di Xúe inspected the scroll along with Lin Hai. It was clearly beautiful and the poem…

“It is unsigned!” Di Xúe paled as realization hit him. “How did you recognize the creator?”

“I have studied poetry and paintings enough to recognize Lu Dongbin’s handwriting and some of his special attributes in the strokes of his brush,” the little plum said with a shrug like it was only natural. Di Xúe watched the little plum with complicated eyes as he could not help but to wonder if this boy was a genius or a fool.

“And you told him this?”

“Of course, he wanted to see if I had the intelligence to identify the painting.”

“So why did you?! You could have hidden this fact and acted like a fool.”

“Why? This will make me seem more of a threat and I am curious if he will try to warn you, Huángdi.”

“Warn me?”

“Well, he most likely wanted to test me to see if I was a threat to you. Now that he has some clue, he might want to warn you, thinking that I might want to kill you,” the little plum yawned and stretched as he ignored Di Xúe’s eyes. “Of course, if he is the traitor then he will just ignore the obvious threat to your life and it will give us a reason to be suspicious.”

“Are you setting a trap?” asked Lin Hai.

“No, more like a test. It is only fair that we should test him after he did the same with me. I might seek him up to throw out some more bait to ensure that he has no other choice but to pick one or the other,” replied the little plum.

Di Xúe could not help but to smirk at the little panda acting like a dragon but he might be a good actor. Di Xúe perused the little plum’s round face and his eyes narrowed. “Or is this a dragon acting like a panda?”

The little plum seemed to care little to continue the conversation and excused himself before leaving. Di Xúe saw the little plum pull out some desserts from his clothes as he left. Apparently, this one was a good thief to.

“I worry for him. Wang Yu Jían is clever and will not allow someone to make a fool out of him. Yecao Cao might get hurt,” Lin Hai said with a pleading voice that annoyed Di Xúe.

Of course, he can get hurt. He is to take that risk so that they can apprehend the culprits. There is nothing to gain if they do not risk their lives.

“My uncle might be a cruel strategist but he does have a heart for the innocent. He will only play around with Xiao Mei. If we are fortunately, he might expose himself doing so,” Di Xúe said without a care for his advisor’s worries. The little plum seemed to be good at surviving so he wasn’t worried. Bugs are always hard to crush.

“But-“

“Shaofu?”

“Yes, Huángdi?”

“I do not care if you fancy the boy but he is supposed to be my Zhiji. Don’t display such emotions in public. It’s unsightly,” Di Xúe let out a humph and walked out of the room not even looking at his childhood friend.

*****

Yecao Cao leaned against his table with a groan. The expensive furniture was at least comfortable but his body was aching after all the pinches from the Emperor. “That man is a beast in human clothes!”

The Palace of Heavenly Grace was the largest of the palaces for the concubines. It had several rooms for the servants and the guards including a large garden filled with flowers and artificial lakes. Two guards stood by the entrance of the room. The twins An Dan and An Xi was both especially chosen from the Imperial guards to protect Yecao Cao but he found them exeptional boring. They never showed an emotion and hardly ever said anything if he did not ask them directly.

“My lord Zhiji, I brought more cake!” huffed a young girl with round face as she rushed in only to fall flat on her face.

“Don’t rush, Hu Xia! You almost drowned Zhiji in cake, silly girl,” an old man reprimanded as he came in after her with a trail of tea.

“Yes, father,” muttered Hu Xia and rubbed her sore face with sad eyes.

“No need to be so harsh on the girl, Hu Ning. In fact, being drowned in cake is one of my lifelong dreams,” said Yecao Cao with a chuckle and noticed that the girl’s face turned red while her eyes were delighted.

“Zhiji!”

“No need to shout, girl!” hushed her father before leaning in and give Yecao Cao a bottle.

“What is this?” asked Yecao Cao and sniffed the content. It had a pleasant smell that reminded him of the garden.

“It is for your… Private part. In case the Emperor wants to visit tonight,” the cheeky old man said with a wink. “I asked the court’s doctor for it.”

Yecao Cao looked like he had eaten something sour. “How considerate of you…”

Hu Xia squeaked as she finally realized what her father meant and hid her face. The two guards did not even react but Yecao Cao must pity them for all the ridiculous things they needed to hear.

“I’m sure that the Emperor will be pleased,” said Yecao Cao and hid away the bottle in his sleeve.

Hu Ning snorted, ”why do I care about the Emperor? He will be pleased either way. I am more worried about you. It cannot be easy to accommodate the Emperor’s-“

“Yes, yes. That will be enough,” said Yecao Cao with a groan and hid his face in his hands. He liked both Hu Ning and his silly daughter as they remind him of his own family but he also considered them to be forthright. Too blunt for the innocent.

“Shaofu present!” shouted An Dan and slammed his spear into the ground. Yecao Cao almost fell off his chair in fright and both Hu Ning and Hu Xia scurried clean up the mess they had caused. Lin Hai entered the room like a light summer breeze and smiled at the two servants.

Old Hu Ning slammed his forehead on to the ground and Yecao Cao seriously feared he had a concussion while Hu Xia gawked at the handsome man who looked like he had descended from the heavens.

There was quite a long silence before Hu Ning noticed that his daughter had not bowed and just sat there with her eyes plastered onto the Shaofu’s gentle face.

“Bow, silly girl! Forgive her stupidity, shaofu. She was dropped as a baby,” Hu Ning said loudly and Yecao Cao snorted. The old man had told him that her mother had met a ghost and been so frighten that all sense escaped the girl. He was superb at telling tall tales, that’s for sure.

“I am not offended,” said Lin Hai with a chuckle before bowing to Yecao Cao. “Shaofu asks for permission to enter.”

Yecao Cao shuddered at the respectful tone and almost missed the time when they just called him weed. “Come in, Shaofu Hai. No need to speak so politely.”

“I brought you a gift,” Lin Hai said as he sat down on the chair across from Yecao Cao. Lin Hai pulled out a scroll from his sleeve.

“Hm? What is this?” asked Yecao Cao and took the scroll from the Shaofu’s hands. He pulled it out to look at a beautiful painting of the Tiandi city of Sichuan. You could see the mountain Jiánjiao, the home of the Zhang sect. You could see the Bi Fang bird, the one-legged bird, in the sky flying over the city.

At the corner there was a poem.

Travel of the clan

Arrival of fate

Home of the Golden Crow

Joined by marriage

Rooted by loyalty

The flight of the clan of Bi Fang

It was unsigned as well and Yecao Cao could not help but to grimace. “Why do nobles give unsigned poems as gifts? Are you looking to test me as well?”

“No, you said that you have read all of Lu Dongbin’s poems so I assumed that you enjoy such hobbies and decided to give you one as a gift. Care do guess who wrote it?” asked Lin Hai with a chuckle.

“The rough poem, acute but with no grace along with the beautiful painting, not to mention the one-legged bird… I would guess that this is the work of Riluo Zu.”

“The Bi Fang bird gave it away? Why not assume that it was from the Great family of San? Their families symbol is the Golden Crow and they control the city of Sinchuan depicted on the painting.”

“Because this is the story of the Riluo family who once ruled Dongzhou before being hunted away by the Shu family. To survive, they fled to Sinchuan and through marriage, they settled down in the city and became quite influential. Though they only ever produced one painter. The other’s prefer to either become officials or generals. Riluo Zu became quite famous for his paintings of the Sinchuan city around five hundred years ago. Though he wasn’t much of a poet if you ask me. I’m not sure why it is unsigned though.”

“This was given to the San family through the marriage of Riluo Zu and a daughter of the San family. It was later given to my family as a gift through marriage,” Lin Hai explained while he poured up tea.

“Oh, you are related to one of the great families?”

“Yes, a connection that has been a blessing to my family who fell upon hard times during my grandfather’s days. They sponsored my father’s education.”

“That cannot be pleasing the Emperor,” muttered Yecao Cao who knew that the three great families were suspects in the assassination.

“No, though I have severed the bond since I became Shaofu but it still hounds me every time the San family is trying to use my father’s debt to pull strings. Though it has allowed me to keep an eye on the San family,” said Lin Hai with a smile and gave Yecao Cao the cup.

“Why are you telling me this?” asked Yecao Cao who sipped the sweet tea. It was far better than whatever poison Hu Ning often gives him. Hu Ning has many talents but making tea was not one of them.

“I want you to hear it from my mouth and not from silly rumors,” said Lin Hai and peeked at Yecao Cao when he thought he would go unnoticed. “I did not want you to think ill of me.”

“I would never-“

“Why are you here, most honored Shaofu?” a female voice rang throughout the room and both Lin Hai and Yecao Cao’s eyes turned towards the door. The three concubines of the Emperor stood there with rather different expression on their faces.

Fu Zuánshi looked displeased. She kept glaring daggers at Yecao Cao who ignored her. Fu Chun gave him a bright smile though her eyes perused Lin Hai with suspicion. The silly girl Fu Tián simply looked innocently at the scene though there was a brief expression of delight as she watched the two men together and she seemed to gush over them for a second before pulling herself together.

“Zhiji Mei-“ Yecao Cao grimaced when he heard his nickname being uttered by Fu Zuánshi,”this is hardly proper.”

“What isn’t proper, Fu Zuánshi?”

“You being alone with the Shaofu. You will need to think of-“

“Are your eyes bad, Fu Zúanshi? There are two servants and two guards right here. We are hardly alone,” Yecao Cao said with an annoyed expression. He escaped his sisters' nagging only to run into these three women making his life a bother. They kept visiting him early in the morning and gossiping while keep making suggestions to him how to please the Emperor. Why would he care?

“You need not worry about Zhiji’s reputation,” Lin Hai said gently with a bow. Yecao Cao held back a snort. Like he had a good one after the Emperor’s announcement.

“I have gotten the Emperor’s approval before visiting the most honored Zhiji.”

“That may be so but-“ Fu Zuánshi began but was interrupted by a loud humph from Fu Chun.

“But? What but? If the Emperor says so, who are you to argue? You might be a princess from Zhong but here you are the Emperor’s Fu.”

Yecao Cao wanted to groan as he listened to the two women’s argument. He was sincerely tired of listening to those two trying to claw at each other. He realized early on that those two had no kind feelings for each other. Both were ambitious women and was aiming for the throne of the Empress. Which means that they spend a large part of their time trying to destroy each other’s reputation and the rest of their time trying to gain the favor of the Emperor.

Lin Hai chuckled as he watched Yecao Cao rub his temples with a sour expression. “It seems that it is time to leave so that you can wage for peace in the Emperor’s home.”

“Oh, you would just dare to leav-“ and he was gone. Yecao Cao wanted to bury himself in the garden or rather bury that damn Emperor. How bothersome!