Cold sweat stood out on Eunuch Quan’s forehead. He was terrified His Majesty might actually agree to Ning Chen’s absurd request.

His Majesty did dote on Ning Chen, after all.

The Xuan Emperor gave the visibly hopeful Ning Chen a strange look and said:

“This emperor believes you. But we’ll skip the demonstration. That musket of yours makes rather a frightening noise… You may both withdraw.”

“Oh,” Ning Chen said, disappointed. “Then your subject withdraws!”

Then he tried once more anyway. “Your Majesty, are you certain your subject shouldn’t demonstrate for you?”

The Xuan Emperor said sourly, “Get out.”

Ning Chen smartly made himself scarce after Geng Jing.

Outside, the two of them were about to leave when Nie Liang came over.

“Lord Geng, Young Master Ning… what was that noise in there just now?”

That thunderclap of a sound had given him a real fright.

Ning Chen glanced back at the Hall of Cultivated Heart and said, deliberately loudly, “Eunuch Quan got struck by lightning!”

Nie Liang: …?

Ning Chen went on. “There’s no telling what wicked thing Eunuch Quan did, but the thunder came down from heaven and blasted his ding-a-ling clean off… If you don’t believe me, you can pull his trousers down and check.”

Nie Liang’s expression went strange. Eunuch Quan hadn’t had a ding-a-ling to begin with.

Ning Chen said, entirely serious, “Commander Nie, you want to keep well clear of a man like that from now on… You don’t want to be caught in it the next time the lightning comes for him.”

“I can’t say any more to you. Any more and it counts as giving away the secrets of heaven… Commander Nie, bear it in mind, bear it in mind. We’ll take our leave!”

Nie Liang watched Ning Chen’s back as he walked away, black lines all over his forehead.

Inside the Hall of Cultivated Heart, the muscles of Eunuch Quan’s cheeks had gone tight. He was thoroughly angry — Ning Chen’s voice had been loud, and it would have been hard not to hear it.

The Xuan Emperor glanced at him and could not help smiling.

“Quan Sheng. Ning Chen is a boy and behaves like one. Don’t hold it against him.”

Eunuch Quan bowed at once and said respectfully, “This servant holds nothing against Young Master Ning. This servant really was too tense just now, and hurt him in the heat of the moment.”

The Xuan Emperor nodded slightly. “This emperor understands your loyalty… That musket’s noise truly did startle this emperor. Your nerves are no fault of yours.”

“But the boy has taken against you.”

Eunuch Quan lowered his eyes and said meekly, “So long as Your Majesty is safe and well, this servant does not take the rest to heart.”

The Xuan Emperor nodded, satisfied, and said with a smile:

“You are both men this emperor trusts. The relationship could still use smoothing over.”

“Ning Chen has cobbled together this musket, and it can cut the losses our soldiers take in the field… A benefit now, and a merit that stands a thousand years.”

“Merit must be rewarded. The boy has not been long in the Inspectorate and hasn’t drawn a salary yet — his purse is likely thin… This emperor grants him a thousand taels of gold and a hundred bolts of fine silk. Go to the Ning estate yourself.”

Eunuch Quan bowed. “Yes!”

He glanced at the Xuan Emperor, on the point of speaking, then stopped himself.

“Whatever it is, say it.”

Eunuch Quan lowered his eyes. “This servant only wonders — Young Master Ning is a boy and behaves like one. Might he come to presume on favor?”

“You mean this emperor is too generous with him?”

Eunuch Quan did not dare make a sound. But that was precisely what he thought.

The Xuan Emperor laughed. “This emperor likes the boy… And in any case, Ning Chen is brimming with talent and has both brains and courage. Who wouldn’t like a young man accomplished in letters and arms both? Aside from that fool Ning Ziming.”

“Go. This emperor knows what he is about… And remember to put the things into Ning Chen’s own hands.”

Eunuch Quan accepted the order. “Yes!”

Nobody understood His Majesty’s mind better than Eunuch Quan.

The gifts were the small part. What mattered was that last sentence — put the things into Ning Chen’s own hands.

His Majesty meant to stand behind Ning Chen in person. He was afraid the boy was being ill-used in the Ning house.

Elsewhere, Ning Chen and Geng Jing came out through the palace gate and rode back toward the Inspectorate.

“Lord Geng, that rotten eunuch — how is he that good?”

The corner of Geng Jing’s mouth twitched. “Ning Chen, Eunuch Quan is one of the men His Majesty trusts most, and the head of all the palace eunuchs. Mind your tongue.”

“Hmph. He nearly killed me, and now I’m not even allowed to curse him a little to let off steam? He is a rotten eunuch. I haven’t even called him a half-man with a rotten ass yet.”

Geng Jing looked at him and nodded, resigned.

Then he said slowly, “Eunuch Quan’s skill is not below my own.”

That gave Ning Chen a real jolt.

“Before His Majesty took the throne, there was a rising, and His Majesty was surrounded by more than two hundred rebels who meant to kill him… By the time the rescue reached them, there was not one of the two hundred left alive.”

Holy shit!!!

Ning Chen was stunned.

No wonder the only men with the Xuan Emperor the first time they met had been Eunuch Quan and Nie Liang.

He truly had not imagined that Eunuch Quan — that simpering rotten eunuch — was a fighter of the very first rank. His Majesty doesn’t keep anybody around who isn’t earning it.

“Eunuch Quan is that fierce? Has the man been practicing the Sunflower Manual?”

Geng Jing said with a smile, “What did you think? Eunuch Quan has saved His Majesty from danger several times over. He is loyal to the bone and deeply trusted.”

“By the way, what is this Sunflower Manual you just mentioned?”

Ning Chen gave a wicked little laugh. “A very formidable sword art… and the men who master it are truly contemptible.”

“Would Lord Geng like to learn it?”

A man who trains in the martial arts has no resistance at all to a first-rate one. Geng Jing’s eyes lit up. “You know it?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “I don’t. But I remember the first line of the sword formula.”

Geng Jing said quickly, “Let’s hear it.”

An evil grin spread across Ning Chen’s face. “The Sunflower Manual, move one. Before you can train in this art, you must first geld yourself.”

Geng Jing’s expression froze on the spot, and he gave Ning Chen a sour sidelong look.

Ning Chen looked utterly innocent. “I swear to heaven, I’m not lying to you.”

Geng Jing had nothing to say to that.

Ning Chen laughed and changed the subject. “Lord Geng, when I was brought into the palace for trial a while back, there was an attempt on me on the road. Did anything come of the investigation?”

He’d been running around uselessly for so long that he’d nearly forgotten about it.

Geng Jing shook his head. “They were all men sworn to die. When the job failed, every one of them took poison.”

Christ!!!

That hard?

Talking as they went, the two of them reached the Inspectorate, and there they parted.

The moment Feng Qizheng saw Ning Chen, a thoroughly shameless expression came over his face.

“If you’ve got something to say, say it. If you’ve got a fart, let it out.”

Feng Qizheng fixed his eyes on Ning Chen. “Out with it. What good things did His Majesty give you?”

Ning Chen blinked. “Why would His Majesty give me anything?”

“You cobbled together a musket, that’s a great service. You’re telling me His Majesty didn’t reward you?”

Ning Chen went blank.

He’s right. Why didn’t His Majesty reward me?

Why did that not occur to me at the time?

I really am the giving type, aren’t I? It didn’t strike me as odd for a second.

It’s the fault of that rotten eunuch. All I had in my head at the time was getting even. I never thought about anything else.

His Majesty, the cheap old miser. Painted me a pancake and didn’t even give me the sip of water to choke it down with.

Damn it… and there’s the other thing I forgot. He’s still holding five hundred taels of my silver. I need to get that back.

Feng Qizheng gave him a strange look. “His Majesty really didn’t reward you?”

Ning Chen rolled his eyes at him and let him work it out for himself.

Just then Chen Chong came in from outside, and his eyes lit up when he saw Ning Chen. “Ning Chen, His Majesty must have given you all kinds of good things. The courtesans’ quarter tonight — you’re paying!”

Ning Chen sank further still.

“What’s that face for? Don’t tell me His Majesty gave you nothing?”

Ning Chen said, without any energy at all, “He gave me something. He gave me three feet of white silk and told me to hang myself at the Inspectorate gate.”

“Huh?”

Chen Chong’s expression froze solid. He was struck stupid.

(End of Chapter 88)