Chapter Forty-Four: Deception

The art of ruling as an emperor is, in essence, the practice of balance—a contest where order must never lapse into chaos. Such is the nature of court politics, and such is the nature of power in the realm at large. Even if the dichotomy of good and evil is never reconciled, they must both be managed with the same careful equilibrium.

Beneath the lofty heights of power, dissenting voices must always be present; it is these very voices that check and balance one another. Should there come a day when all dissent is silenced, when all opinions are subsumed into a single monotonous refrain, it would signal a perilous state indeed. If such a condition were to arise within the imperial court, it would surely foretell the dynasty’s decline and imminent collapse.

Of course, all this is predicated on the assumption that no one can threaten the ruler’s supremacy. Yet the current predicament of the Emperor Zhaoning is not so. There is, in fact, a subtle but significant deviation from the tripartite balance of power in the Grand Zhou court that Pei Xiunian had previously anticipated.

The reason lies with the empress dowager before him—her power is far greater than he had imagined. Or rather, it is not so much vast as it is incisive; it is concentrated, precise, like an arrow striking the serpent at its seventh inch, pinning the very spines of the ministers in place.

The Censorate and the Imperial Inquisition of Grand Zhou specialize in controlling the officials of court. The vast array of records and intelligence they wield is more than sufficient to keep the dignitaries in fearful submission. Even if Emperor Zhaoning were to gain control of the Crown Prince’s faction led by Li Yan, and combine it with his own royalists, he would still have to bow to the faction of the Empress Dowager.

The bureaucracy of Grand Zhou is far from clean, and those who have reached the heights of the Golden Water Bridge and the Hall of Supreme Harmony are men of immense power and influence. How did such men ascend to such positions? Along the way, how many corpses were buried, how many bones concealed? They know all too well themselves.

Among all the high officials of the court, those who are truly upright and incorruptible are so few as to be counted on one hand. The Censorate’s influence over the common people is negligible, but as long as it retains the power to supervise the officials of court, its shadow alone is enough to strike terror into their hearts.

Everyone yearns to be remembered in history, yet infamy can be sealed by a mere stroke of a scholar’s brush. For these officials, nothing is more terrifying than being written into the annals of shame. Thus, the Censorate is the bow that keeps them silent; when it is strung or released is entirely at the empress dowager’s command.

Since the Emperor Zhaoning seeks immortality, it is impossible that he would be indifferent to the true reins of imperial power. The emperor has certainly attempted to intervene; indeed, even when his royalists managed, with great effort, to impeach the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, the vacancy was immediately filled by another.

All are players in this game, each move tightly connected to the next. There is no chance that one side could make dozens of plays before the other reacts. Unless the empress dowager herself deliberately exposes a weakness, the Censorate remains impenetrable.

At present, the greatest barrier between Emperor Zhaoning and ultimate authority is the Censorate, so tightly guarded that not even the thinnest wedge could be inserted. To put it bluntly, the true obstacle is this empress dowager who has so forcefully inserted herself into the Grand Zhou court.

Pei Xiunian surmised that the emperor’s pursuit of immortality through alchemy likely stemmed from this very barrier. His own covert pledge of loyalty to the empress dowager, posing as a spy, was clearly not enough to persuade this ruler, already tasting the fruits of mortality’s defiance, to abandon his quest for the elixir of life.

At the very least, however, it would buy him time—time enough to avoid becoming the next ingredient in the imperial furnace.

To maneuver between these two titans of power is, in any case, perilous in the extreme. So why not make it more so? If he must walk on thin ice, then by leaping back and forth between their camps, perhaps he could carve out a broader path to survival.

Such is the gamble of high-stakes strategy.

Now, facing the empress dowager herself—her gaze narrowed, her expression tinged with displeasure—Pei Xiunian finally continued:

“Father possesses sharp ears and keen eyes. How could he possibly ignore such rumors? Should his suspicions be aroused, perhaps Aunt Meng would have little to fear, but I may not weather the ensuing storm. Besides, Father has always favored the Second Prince.”

“And now, my deliberate infiltration under Father’s command is only to better serve Aunt Meng.”

The empress dowager scoffed, arching her brow with a hint of annoyance. “Just now you claimed to distrust me, and now you say you serve on my behalf? You have pledged yourself to your father, yet instead of enjoying the splendor and wealth it brings, you choose to risk your head as a double agent? Do you yourself believe this is credible?”

Pei Xiunian set down his bowl and chopsticks, a wry smile on his lips. “Whether you trust me or not, let us set that aside. Between you and me, Aunt Meng, our relationship is one of mutual need. Amidst the swirling snow and storm within the Forbidden City, you are the only one I can rely on.”

“Oh?” The empress dowager’s painted brows lifted, her gaze landing on him with a distant curiosity. “And why do you say that?”

She could not help but feel a strange sense of unease. Pei Xiunian’s behavior was uncharacteristic; he must have discovered something unusual within the Hall of Literary Eminence. Though she could not be sure what he knew, she was certain he was still far from guessing her true identity, let alone the assassination plot she herself had orchestrated.

She would never truly kill him—after all, he was still useful. Since he credited the attempt on his life to Li Yan, her plan remained seamless. To challenge her? He was far from ready.

Pei Xiunian rose slowly, sighing with a sense of melancholy. “The Fifth Prince, too, is of noble birth, yet he has become a casualty of this struggle for succession. I am now too deeply enmeshed in this contest to turn back; naturally, I can only rely on Aunt Meng.”

To the empress dowager, Pei Xiunian’s submission was a boon. His suspicion was driving him closer to the struggle for the throne. And once he sought to secure his own survival, he would inevitably need her support. It was a mutually reinforcing dynamic.

As for trust? That could be cultivated in time.

She was quietly pleased, though her face remained indifferent. “Can your father not protect you, then? Why must you burden yourself with such a thankless and perilous enterprise as turning to me?”

Pei Xiunian knew she was playing hard to get, but today he had to pierce the intangible barrier between them. Feigning hesitation, he paced the bedchamber silently before finally saying:

“Aunt Meng, do you not know what kind of elixir Father is refining atop Mount Renhuang?”

The question startled the empress dowager so much she nearly lost her composure. She gazed at his upright figure, struggling to catch her breath.

Even she possessed only the vaguest outline of the truth, and it had taken considerable time and resources to glimpse even a hint of the secret behind this arcane alchemy. Such knowledge was unthinkable, not just in the capital, but throughout the entire Grand Zhou.

How could Pei Xiunian know such a closely guarded secret? He was not even of imperial blood. Moreover, he had only recently arrived at court. Today was his first time witnessing Emperor Zhaoning’s alchemical experiments, was it not? Could he really deduce so much from a single glance, even verifying his suspicions? What right or ability did an outsider like him have?

Who was he, truly? Had he deliberately involved himself in this struggle for the throne?

Pei Xiunian had, in fact, miscalculated. For him—a transmigrator familiar with such tales from countless novels and films—the notion of sacrificing sons to refine elixirs was commonplace. He could spot the signs instantly. But for the natives of this world, it was an unthinkable horror.

The empress dowager grew increasingly uneasy, no longer daring to dismiss him as a callow youth. Suppressing her own anxiety, she asked in a tremulous voice, “How did you come by this knowledge?”

Pei Xiunian was comforted. The empress dowager could not be ignorant of the emperor’s deadly alchemy, even if others were. By revealing that he, too, knew, he was in fact leveraging her as his shield.

Though the scholars of the Hall of Literary Eminence were not permitted to leave their quarters and were bound by strict rules, it was true that he had researched the methods of attaining immortality. If Emperor Zhaoning were to learn of this, the consequences would be dire. Thus, Pei Xiunian revealed it to the empress dowager so quickly, both as a sign of loyalty and as a means of self-preservation.

This was a card he had intended to play from the very beginning.

He went on, “Today I investigated the Annals of Zhaoning and the hidden texts on immortality in the Hall of Literary Eminence. The timelines matched, which aroused my suspicions.”

“That is why, in the imperial study today, I publicly declared my allegiance—to protect myself. Were I to openly oppose Father, I might become the second Fifth Prince. It was a matter of necessity, Aunt Meng; I beg your understanding.”

The empress dowager lowered her gaze, understanding his intent. So he wished to feign loyalty to the royalists and use Emperor Zhaoning to suppress the Crown Prince’s faction?

Of course, Emperor Zhaoning delighted in seeing his sons tear each other apart. The more that died, the less trouble for him.

“If you had told me this earlier, there would have been no need for all this,” the empress dowager said, lowering her elegantly crossed legs and softening her tone. “Given all this, how could I ever blame you?”

“Since you have considered so much, the fault is mine for not realizing sooner. Though you act to preserve yourself, spying is like bargaining with a tiger—you must take every care.”

“I recently procured some spirit fruit. Tomorrow I will have it sent to Chengqian Palace.”

“Thank you, Aunt Meng,” Pei Xiunian replied, though his expression was tinged with worry. “But Aunt Meng, the emperor is already suspicious of our association. Tonight you are in my chambers, and we have even shared supper. If word of this reaches his ears, I fear…”

The empress dowager’s brows knit together. He was right—her actions tonight were indeed improper. Though it had been at his suggestion, she had first laid the trap…

“How should we conceal this now?”