“A secret edict?” Ning Chen was taken aback at first, and then his expression turned odd. “If it is a secret edict, is the old general telling me just like that?”

Old General Chen’s face turned serious, and he said heavily:

“His Majesty had me see to several things… His Majesty also said that if trouble really came, you would certainly turn up at my door to talk over what to do, and that I was to work with you in everything.”

“I never thought trouble would really come. When word arrived that His Majesty had collapsed… I thought you would come, so I had Yuanzhong wait at the gate to meet you.”

Something moved in Ning Chen’s eyes. “Old general, what did His Majesty tell you to do?”

Old General Chen kept nothing back. “His Majesty told me to kill a few men.”

Ning Chen asked, curious, “What men?”

Old General Chen said, “All of them army men.”

Ning Chen sank into thought. Something did not seem right to him.

His Majesty had given him a secret edict, and given Old General Chen a secret edict.

Could His Majesty have seen this coming for himself?

All at once his eyes went wide… His Majesty couldn’t be shamming the faint, could he? To let the capering clowns hop out on their own?

The more Ning Chen thought about it, the likelier it seemed.

Two edicts sent down together says His Majesty expected trouble… and in that case, how could he possibly have made no preparation?

Those few men he told Old General Chen to cut down are very likely somebody’s — the crown prince’s, or Prince Fu’s, or the Empress’s.

Fuck!!!

His Majesty, that sly old bastard.

He may really be shamming the faint.

Without meaning to, Ning Chen caught sight of Old General Chen lifting his teacup and taking an unhurried sip.

Something is wrong here. Very wrong.

Even granting His Majesty gave Old General Chen a secret edict — with His Majesty lying unconscious, the old general has no business looking this untroubled.

Ning Chen was certain of it. Old General Chen very likely knew His Majesty was shamming, and that was why he was so unruffled.

“Old general, have you killed those men His Majesty told you to kill?”

Old General Chen shook his head. “Not yet. When the moment is right, then.”

Ning Chen understood well enough.

Killing them now would beat the grass and startle the snake.

But they must already be in Old General Chen’s hands, and killing them would be a matter of a word.

Watching Old General Chen drink his tea out of the corner of his eye, he said suddenly:

“Old general, let me tell you a secret… His Majesty is shamming the faint.”

Pffft!!!

Every drop of the tea Old General Chen had just taken into his mouth came out again.

He wiped the tea off his beard, looking foolish, and stared at Ning Chen with suspicion.

Ning Chen fished the edict out of his robe and waved it. “The truth is that I had a secret edict from His Majesty last night too.”

Old General Chen’s mouth fell open. “So you had one too? Ah… you should have said so sooner. I thought you didn’t know.”

“You wretched boy, keeping it even from me. You want a beating.”

Ning Chen’s whole face was apologetic. “I thought His Majesty had told the secret of the shamming to me alone.”

Old General Chen’s tiger eyes glared. “On what grounds? You suppose you are the only man His Majesty trusts? His Majesty thinks a great deal of me too.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched, and inwardly he was furious.

He was sure of it now. His Majesty was shamming the faint.

The Xuan Emperor, that sly old bastard. He had me frightened out of my wits, running about all night on one good leg.

Still, knowing that His Majesty was safe and was playing a long game, Ning Chen let out a heavy breath of relief.

To tell the truth, this time he really had been in a panic.

Because if the Xuan Emperor had truly been done for, all that was left to him was to run.

He had meant to get home shortly and start mapping out an escape route.

Because whichever of them took power — Prince Fu, the Empress, the crown prince — none of them would let him live.

He had even had one wild thought: take the musket battalion, rise in revolt, and be emperor himself.

But the thought had barely come up before he stamped it out again in time.

The name is not right and the words do not follow. If I took the throne, wouldn’t the whole realm spit on me?

And then every lord in the provinces would raise a banner under the pretext of restoring the imperial house of the Great Xuan, and set himself up as a king, and the whole of the Great Xuan would be finished.

Never mind the lords in the provinces — if I really dared seize power and usurp the throne, Old General Chen would be the first man on his feet to put an end to me.

In this world, if you want to be emperor you have to reckon with purity of blood, and with a name that is right.

The crown prince, the Third Prince, even Prince Fu — all of them are of the imperial blood… Any of them may be emperor.

But an outsider absolutely may not.

Especially not with a merciful and virtuous ruler like the Xuan Emperor, under whom the common people are living well enough… If you dared to rebel, even the common people would not have it.

Now that he was sure the Xuan Emperor was safe, Ning Chen loosened all over.

He talked with Old General Chen a while longer, and then got up and left.

Since His Majesty was shamming the faint, he knew what to do next.

Coming out of the general’s residence, Ning Chen drove for the courtesans’ quarter.

Lin Wen could not get out of the palace, and he had to find Yudie another doctor he could rely on.

A doctor I can rely on?

A man came into his mind all at once… Meng Jianbai.

A famous physician ready to hand, and how did I come to forget him?

He changed direction and came to the Inspectorate instead.

As he was nearly at the Inspectorate, a magnificent carriage came toward him.

Ning Chen stopped. It was the crown prince’s carriage, and Lu Yan was driving.

Lu Yan stopped the carriage, the curtain was lifted, and the crown prince smiled and beckoned to Ning Chen.

Ning Chen got down and climbed up into the crown prince’s carriage.

“I greet Your Highness.”

“Ning Chen, there is no need for ceremony between you and me.”

The crown prince’s face was all smiles, and he went on, “I went to the Inspectorate to look for you just now, and you were not there, and I was about to go back to the palace… I never thought I would run into you here.”

What rotten luck. If I’d known I’d have come later. Ning Chen said it inwardly.

But nothing showed on his face. “Does the crown prince want something of me?”

The crown prince’s expression turned serious. “Ning Chen, I need your help.”

“What is it I can do for the crown prince?”

The crown prince said heavily, “The musket battalion. I need your musket battalion.”

Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed a little.

The crown prince shook his head with a bitter smile. “I did send men to the musket battalion, in fact… Commandant Yuan said the Father Emperor had given an order long since, that only the Father Emperor and you can move the musket battalion.”

“Ning Chen, the Father Emperor lies unconscious, and although I hold the regency now… the whole palace city is under the Empress and Prince Fu, and I have not a scrap of power in my hands.”

“The only thing stopping them now is that they have not found the Seal. Once they find it, they will force the palace.”

Ning Chen looked shocked, but inwardly he was laughing coldly… You foolish boy. This is a board your own father laid out, and he is waiting for you capering clowns to hop out one by one.

Force the palace?

Go and get themselves killed, more like.

The crown prince looked at Ning Chen in earnest. “I really do need your help now. I can make you General Who Guards the Realm, and give you leave to bring the musket battalion into the palace to come to the throne’s aid and guard the sovereign.”

“Ning Chen, if I only come to the throne without trouble and sit steady on it… you may have your pick of any office in the court.”

Ning Chen very nearly could not hold in a laugh.

Could you paint me a pancake that bears some relation to reality? He opens his mouth and out it comes.

I’d say the first thing you’d do once you were steady on the throne is finish me off.

Still, it was plain enough that the Empress and Prince Fu had truly driven the crown prince into a corner, or he would not have come running to paint him a pancake.

Ning Chen said, smiling, “The crown prince need not be alarmed. Neither the Empress nor Prince Fu will dare move on you rashly… As things stand, you and the Empress and Prince Fu are the three legs of a tripod… whoever moves on you leaves the third of them to take the fisherman’s profit.”

The crown prince had begun to fly off the handle. “Three legs of a tripod? The Empress and Prince Fu, that adulterer and that whore, are of one party.”

“Holy shit!!!”

Ning Chen let the curse out before he could stop it, and stood there struck dumb and staring.

An adulterer and a whore?

“You mean Prince Fu and the Empress are lying together? Is such a thing possible?”

The crown prince said furiously, “I saw it with my own eyes. The Empress had Prince Fu hidden in her bedchamber… I looked into it afterward, and every time Prince Fu comes into the palace he goes to the Empress. He calls it paying his respects, and what it is, is coupling.”

Ning Chen went numb. He had been stuffed to bursting with a scandal fit to shake heaven.

And then Ning Chen very nearly burst out laughing.

That great blockhead of a crown prince has gone and handed me the butcher’s knife to send Prince Fu and the Empress out of this world with.

Damn… Prince Fu and the Empress are dead men this time, and they are going to die very badly.

(End of Chapter 228)