Zisu had the ice water ready, but Ning Chen took no notice of her at all. He only kept his head down and worked.

Zisu could do nothing but cover her ears and wait outside.

First, she was worried about Ning Chen’s condition.

Second, she was worried about Yudie.

And her worry was right. Four hours later, Yudie began calling for help.

“Sister Zisu, help… come in and help me, quickly. I can’t hold out…”

Zisu was struck perfectly dumb.

How was she supposed to help with this? Should she put a needle in and cripple him and have done with it?

“Sister Zisu, help…”

Zisu touched her scalding cheeks, not knowing what to do with her hands or her feet.

In the end she set her teeth and went in.

The next day, early morning.

Ning Chen opened his eyes. He remembered everything about the night before.

He turned his head to look. Yudie was not awake yet and sleeping heavily… Last night had been hard on her, and on Zisu too, of course.

Zisu had not been man and wife in fact with him, but her mouth was probably swollen and her hand had certainly cramped.

Ning Chen got up quietly.

After all that madness in the night he did not feel the least bit tired. He felt full of energy instead.

Zisu was wrapped in Ning Chen’s cloak, sound asleep on the couch outside.

Ning Chen’s footsteps must have woken her. She opened her eyes.

Seeing Ning Chen, her fair, delicate cheeks flushed crimson at once.

Seeing Ning Chen a hundred times more alive, with the spring of it all over him, made her angry… She and Yudie were half dead with tiredness.

Ning Chen looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifting. “Thank you. It was hard work.”

Zisu’s pretty face went so red it was nearly dripping blood.

She glared at Ning Chen. “How do you feel now?”

Ning Chen felt a pang for her and poured her a cup of water. Zisu’s voice had gone hoarse.

“I feel very well. Full of energy, spirit and vigor in good supply.”

Zisu gave a snort, thoroughly put out, and said, “Then there’s nothing wrong with the prescription.”

“Nothing wrong with it? The stuff is an aphrodisiac, isn’t it?”

Zisu shook her head. “My guess is that it isn’t the medicine. The elder Lingxuzi took it together with the breathing arts.”

“It may be because you don’t know the breathing arts that this happened.”

Ning Chen gave a dirty grin. “Deep in and shallow out — that counts as a breathing art too, wouldn’t you say?”

Zisu glared at him with a red face and said, “There is another possibility… that the dose was too large. Your body couldn’t take it, so it had to be let out.”

“The broth you were taking before was only half the prescription… Now it’s the complete one and the effect is doubled, so it can’t be taken at the old dose any longer.”

“Next time the dose will have to be reduced.”

Ning Chen looked at her, teasing. “You’re still going to make me drink it?”

Zisu flushed and gave a snort. “If this happens again, I’ll put a needle in and cripple you… You’ll never lift your head again as long as you live.”

Ning Chen: ???

“Could you bear to?”

Zisu glared at him. “Go on, get out. I’m going to sleep. I’m half dead.”

“Then rest well, both of you!”

Ning Chen went home first, changed, and rode his beloved Diaochan, clop, clop, clop, to the Inspectorate.

He came to the room.

Feng Qizheng and the rest were all there, but they did not crowd around to talk nonsense with him as they usually did. They were all looking at him, their faces hard to read.

Ning Chen was brought up short. “Why so solemn? What’s happened?”

Feng Qizheng said, “Ning Chen, Geng the Purple Coat wants you. Go and see him.”

Ning Chen gave a flat oh and came to Geng Jing’s room, puzzled.

Pan Yucheng was there too.

The two of them were discussing something. When they saw Ning Chen come in they both stopped and looked at him, their eyes hard to read.

Ning Chen felt a flutter of unease… What was this? Had the business with the woman emperor come out?

“What’s the matter with you two? What has actually happened?”

Geng Jing sighed. “His Majesty has issued an edict.”

Ning Chen was brought up short. “What edict?”

Geng Jing said, “In three days’ time, Lord Ning is to be beheaded in public.”

Ning Chen’s expression stiffened slightly.

Pan Yucheng took it up. “Your two elder brothers, Ning Xing and Ning Mao, are sentenced to exile.”

Ning Chen only gave a flat oh.

The two of them watched him with concern.

“Are you all right?”

Pan Yucheng asked it with real care.

Ning Chen shook his head.

Was Ning Ziming a good man? Certainly not. He clung to his own skin, he was greedy for power, he loved show for its own sake… For the crimes he had committed, dying a hundred times would not have been enough.

The one decent thing he had done in his life was to help bring down the Left Chancellor at the crucial moment.

And on top of that, he was not the real Ning Chen. He had very little feeling for Ning Ziming at all.

Geng Jing said, “His Majesty’s meaning was that it should be after the autumn assizes — you are to marry the Ninth Princess shortly, and blood would not be fitting.”

“But the President of the Secretariat proposed that the beheading be now. You have been made a marquis and you are about to become one of the imperial kin… a whole family of capital criminals shut up in a prison would damage your reputation and the dignity of the imperial house.”

The President of the Secretariat was the head of the Department of State Affairs, with the six ministries under him. A high place and a heavy one.

Ning Chen’s brows drew together. He had seen this President of the Secretariat a few times at court. There was no grudge between them, not so much as a scrape.

The reasoning behind the proposal held up well enough, but he had a feeling — and he could not tell whether it was only a feeling — of being singled out.

Pan Yucheng said, “Go and see him?”

Ning Chen came back to himself, inclined his head slightly, turned and left.

He went to the Heavenly Blessing Tower himself and packed up some food.

Back at the Inspectorate, he carried the food box into the depths of the prison.

It had been a while since he had seen Ning Ziming.

Ning Ziming’s clothes were still reasonably clean and his spirits were not bad either.

Probably on Ning Chen’s account, everyone gave Ning Ziming a little extra care.

Ning Chen had the jailer open the cell door and carried the food box in.

“Roast duck fresh out of the oven at the Heavenly Blessing Tower. Eat it while it’s hot.”

Ning Ziming sat down cross-legged. “I truly did not expect you to come and see me… It’s been a while since father and son met. How are you?”

Ning Chen opened the food box and said evenly, “Very well. I took Mangzhou and recovered the frontier passes, killed the Left Chancellor and the Grand Tutor… His Majesty made me Idle Marquis himself.”

Ning Ziming’s eyes flew wide, his whole face astonished.

Then he laughed out loud.

“Good. Good, good, good… A marquis out of my house of Ning. A marquis at sixteen, the first marquis His Majesty has created in the Rende years. Ha ha ha…”

Ning Chen tore off a duck leg and passed it to him. “I’m made a marquis. What are you so happy about? What does it have to do with you?”

Ning Ziming’s expression stiffened slightly, then he laughed again. “Whether you admit it or not, I am your father, and your surname is Ning. That will never change.”

Ning Chen gave a roll of the eyes. “In two months I’m marrying the Ninth Princess.”

A mouthful of duck lodged in Ning Ziming’s throat. He could not swallow it and could not bring it up, and went red to the ears with the effort.

Seeing it, Ning Chen raised a hand and slapped him on the back… and Ning Ziming got the duck out of his mouth.

“Don’t go choking to death. I don’t want the name of murdering my own father… My character took a lot of setting up, and that would bring the whole thing down.”

Ning Ziming glared at him, annoyed.

He got his breath back and could not help laughing again.

“Heaven has not used me badly. It has not used my house of Ning badly. Ha ha ha…”

Ning Chen looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “The edict has come down. The beheading is in three days.”

Ning Ziming’s laughter stopped short, and his face froze at once.

It was a good while before he came back to himself and glared at Ning Chen, irritated. “Couldn’t you have waited until I’d finished being happy?”

“I’ve had a feeling about it for a while. I dreamed of your mother a few nights ago. She came to fetch me… I thought the edict would be down any day.”

“Still, I’ve lived to see you made a marquis. It was worth it… A pity I can’t see you married. That is something of a regret. If only—”

Ning Ziming was still speaking when he suddenly clutched at his throat, his pupils dilating, his face full of pain.

“Choking again? You really are something…”

Ning Chen had not finished before he saw Ning Ziming go down on the floor. His whole body convulsed a few times and then went still, and black blood seeped from the corners of his eyes, his nostrils and the corners of his mouth.

(End of Chapter 337)