“Ning Chen, get your things together and come back to the capital with me.”
Geng Jing’s words broke into Ning Chen’s train of thought.
Ning Chen gave a slight nod. “One moment.”
He turned and came to stand in front of Tao Xiuwu.
“I will ask you one more time. Did Old General Chen’s death have anything to do with the Ghost-Shadow Sect?”
Tao Xiuwu said in a low voice, “This old man swears it. Absolutely not.”
Ning Chen’s voice was hard. “I hope what you are telling me is true. Otherwise nobody can save you.”
Gu Su bowed low. “Ning Chen, the life or death of the Ghost-Shadow Sect is in your hands.”
Ning Chen said nothing more.
If Old General Chen’s death had anything to do with the Ghost-Shadow Sect, nobody else would need to lift a hand. He would slaughter the whole Ghost-Shadow Sect with his own hands, and not a chicken or a dog would be left.
Two hours later.
Ning Chen and the others left the Ghost-Shadow Sect with Geng Jing and set out for the capital.
The army still had Half Moon Manor surrounded.
But Ning Chen took Xie Siyu with him.
He had Xie Siyu make contact with the Ghost-Shadow Sect’s branches and ask whether the man in charge of one of them had given an order to kill Old General Chen.
On the road, Ning Chen came out of the carriage.
With one light spring he crossed several meters and landed on Diaochan’s back.
That put astonishment on the faces of Geng Jing and the men of the Inspectorate.
“Two months and more since I saw you, and your skill has come on a long way.”
Geng Jing said it in surprise.
Ning Chen gave a slight smile and said, “That is exactly why I want to protect the Ghost-Shadow Sect.”
Geng Jing said, “It seems the Ghost-Shadow Sect has something to it after all.”
Ning Chen did not carry the subject any further, but changed it and asked:
“Is His Majesty well?”
Geng Jing shook his head. “There has been too much vexation lately. His Majesty’s mood has not been good at all.”
“What else, besides the business of Old General Chen?”
Geng Jing rode a little closer to Ning Chen and lowered his voice. “First the Wu Kingdom broke off the peace talks… His Majesty sent Fan Taihe as envoy to Wu, and he got as far as the Wu border and was turned back.”
“The most important part of it is that Fan Taihe said several things at the time that were out of season, with some suspicion of insulting the Wu Kingdom’s woman emperor.”
“Wu is furious. They have sent a hundred and fifty thousand troops, and they are camped now on the border between the Great Xuan and the Wu Kingdom, with war possible at any moment.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth curled up, and he put on a show of surprise.
Forcing Fan Taihe into that embassy to Wu was something he had arranged before he ever left the capital.
But Wu massing an army on the border was something he had not foreseen.
“What other vexations are there? Tell me and cheer me up.”
The corner of Geng Jing’s mouth twitched. He said, “The southern front loses one engagement after another… That Fourth Prince of Nanyue, Kang Luo, is skilled in arms and in strategy, and the Great Xuan’s soldiers are being beaten back.”
“General Wei Feng volunteered for the southern front, and only then was the position barely steadied.”
Ning Chen was surprised. “Wei Feng?”
He knew of this Wei Feng. On his forebears’ glory he had walked through a campaign or two as a formality, scraped together a generalship of the third rank, and then stayed on in the capital drawing pay for men who did not exist.
The man was of middling ability, and yet he had been able to steady the southern front… Either he had been underestimated before, or there was certainly something behind it.
Geng Jing went on. “The Tuoluo Kingdom is testing the Great Xuan’s temper too. There is a suggestion they mean to tear up their treaty of submission.”
“The Xiliang Kingdom is not behaving either. Not long after you left, the Fourth Prince went back to the western frontier and fought a great battle with the Xiliang Kingdom. Fortunately he held them down.”
Ning Chen made a sound of understanding, his gaze flickering, though there was no telling what he was thinking.
Geng Jing sighed and said, “You have been reduced to commoner, Old General Chen has been murdered, and hearts are uneasy at court.”
Ning Chen sighed along with him and said, “Truly, a season of troubles.”
From Quanzhou to the capital is ten days and more even riding hard.
Seven or eight days went by in a blur.
The palace. A certain room.
The Xuan Emperor sat facing an old man, and the two of them were playing chess.
The Xuan Emperor set a stone down and said with a smile, “You lose.”
The old man leaned over the board to study it, found that he had indeed lost, and set about cheating. He picked up the stone the Xuan Emperor had just laid down and handed it back to him.
“This old subject moved wrong a moment ago… Your Majesty, take this one back too. I will not play there.”
The Xuan Emperor was speechless. He tossed the stone into the bowl and said with distaste, “I am not playing with you anymore. Your manners at the board are terrible. You take moves back and you steal stones.”
“Your Majesty, one more game… This old subject is alone in here and bored half to death.”
The Xuan Emperor shook his head, done with playing, and turned to something else. “This emperor hears you drove out those two palace maids he sent you last night.”
The old man shook his head. “I am too old for that sort of thing… Keep them for Ning Chen. A boy that age is a gallant. He is sure to like them.”
The Xuan Emperor’s forehead filled with black lines, and he said sourly:
“He is the princess’s consort to come. That girl called Yudie is already as far as this emperor will go.”
The old man grinned. “It seems Your Majesty’s limit will have to come down a little further. Don’t forget there is that girl called Zisu too.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face went black.
“He and Huai’an had better be married as soon as possible, or this emperor will have no limits left.”
The old man said with a smile, “It is all because Your Majesty spoils the boy so.”
The Xuan Emperor snorted. “This emperor’s favor has its limits too.”
Has it? the old man said inwardly.
Just then Eunuch Quan came in with soft, careful steps and bowed. “Your Majesty. Ning Chen is on his way back. He should reach the capital in another five or six days.”
The Xuan Emperor and the old man both brightened at that.
The Xuan Emperor said with a mild smile, “The boy is coming back at last. It is three months and more since he left. This emperor has actually missed him.”
The old man did not understand. “This old subject does not follow. Your Majesty need only have sent down an edict. Why go to all this trouble?”
The Xuan Emperor glanced at him. “A soldier’s way of thinking. You do not understand Ning Chen well enough.”
The old man was not convinced. He did not understand Ning Chen?
“Not convinced?” The Xuan Emperor looked at him. “Then tell this emperor. What is Ning Chen’s ambition?”
The old man thought about it and said, “Rank and office?”
The Xuan Emperor shook his head and said, “His ambition is not at court. He has a heart full of hot blood, and his ambition is on the battlefield.”
“And if he is not allowed to campaign, then his greatest wish is very likely wives and concubines by the handful, with beauties on every side of him.”
“Reducing him to commoner this time settled the point for this emperor… An ordinary man, if he were demoted, would certainly sink into low spirits. Ning Chen took his women and went off perfectly happily to wander among the hills and rivers.”
“If this emperor sent down an edict ordering him back, the boy might well slip away and hide again, and finding him after that would be hard.”
The old man inclined his head slightly.
The Xuan Emperor went on. “The boy was badly used this time… When he comes back, this emperor will have every official of the court, civil and military, go out of the city to meet him.”
The old man was startled. “Your Majesty, that would not be wise… Your Majesty favors Ning Chen too highly, and the officials of the court have had things to say about it for a long time already. Do this and they will only resent him the more.”
The Xuan Emperor gave an easy smile, and said inwardly, Discontented is exactly right. If everybody liked Ning Chen, the one who ought to be worried would be me.
The Xuan Emperor rose to his feet in a very good mood. “This emperor still has state business to see to… Quan Sheng, you come and play chess with him.”
“Yes, this servant obeys the command.”
As the Xuan Emperor left, he glanced at the old man and said one thing: “You are a stinking basket of bad moves.”
(End of Chapter 397)