Insta-kill

Lu Lingxi didn’t really feel that writing novels was a waste, not to mention that he liked reading this one. Furthermore, it had been written by Tang Fan, so there was nothing bad about it.

The news had simply been much too shocking, which was why he didn’t react for such a long time, getting the overall feeling that this couldn’t be true. He couldn’t resist looking at the top page of the script over and over again, after which he said, in a voice slightly trembling in excitement, “Brother Tang, I bought this novel, too, and first heard of it in a teahouse! I didn’t expect that Mr. San Qing would be you, and you him!”

Saying that, he then realized that he was being a bit disjointed, flushing as he quickly covered up his mistake. “Ahem, I just wanted to say that you write really well!”

Tang Fan started laughing. Lu Lingxi’s high praise was sincere (anyone could tell that much), but… “In the eyes of many, things like this can never make it into any halls of high repute. A Court official writing novels is an easy handle for others to grab; I hope you can help me keep this a secret.”

Lu Lingxi nodded. “I understand, don’t worry. After this script is finished, you’re going to send it to print, right? How long are you going to go with it?”

After coming back to himself, he still had a sort of dreamlike sense of unreality. If it really had to be described, it would be around the same as suddenly discovering that the person one liked for a really long time lived just next door — the joy came on much too fast, the facts unable to be accepted for a moment.

“After I write about the decline of the Chu State, I’ll stop,” Tang Fan said with a smile.

Lu Lingxi was great shocked. “Why there?!”

Tang Fan’s smile went pained. “What free time do I have? If I don’t go to my Cabinet office for one day, the files would pile up into a mountain, right?”

“Right…”

“I used to write novels to supplement my income. Now that my salary is enough to live off of and I’m in the position I am, where I manage the government, I should be the utmost of loyal to doing my duties well, since I’ve entered the Cabinet. When you were in my workroom today, did you read the stack of dossiers in the corner?”

“No,” Lu Lingxi said, a little ashamed.

The second he had gone in and found out that Tang Fan wasn’t there, he had immediately gone absent-minded, sitting there all day without the will to work. He hadn’t taken a careful read of the files on Tang Fan’s desk.

“Ever since the Great Ming Code was put into practice, many oversights have shown up in it. From it, I gathered up a lot of supplements, which I’ve prepared to bring to the Cabinet for a discuss. When we go to the workroom tomorrow, you can take the first look at it tomorrow. If you have any ideas, you can tell me.”

Lu Lingxi agreed. Seeing that Tang Fan wanted to flip over and get out yet had to grit his teeth to do so, he stepped up to stop him. “What do you want to go get? I’ll help you!”

Tang Fan side-eyed him. “I’m going to the latrine. How could you help with that?”

Who knew what Lu Lingxi was thinking of, as he blushed and found that hard to answer.

Ignoring him, Tang Fan got up and left, then came back after a little while. He walked a little sluggishly; his waist sprain was clearly serious.

Lu Lingxi came up to help him. “Let me massage that for you, Brother Tang!”

Tang Fan said there was no need, of course, but Lu Lingxi said cheerfully, “Someone learning martial arts needs to grasp some tuina skills, just in case. Don’t be so polite to me! A massage will relax you, and I guarantee that you’ll be just fine tomorrow!”

While he spoke, he had already placed his hands on Tang Fan’s waist.

Before Tang Fan had time to say anything, he heard a voice from the door. “What’s going on here?”

“…”

Lu Lingxi turned around, saw the newcomer, and called out to greet him. “Envoy Sui?”

Sui Zhou nodded at him, his line of sight sweeping over the other’s hands on Tang Fan’s middle. He quietly walked over, helped Tang Fan to sit on the bed’s edge, and massaged him while saying to Lu Lingxi, “Since you’re here, why not stay to eat?”

“Right!” Tang Fan said. “Yiqing, you live by yourself in the capital anyways, right? You should join us for dinner… hey! Are you trying to strangle a pig?! You’re squeezing too hard!”

Sui Zhou acted like nothing was wrong. “I used too much force on accident.”

Tang Fan’s mouth twitched out of anger, but he didn’t speak.

Lu Lingxi got the overall feeling that the ambience seemed to be a little off, as if he had unintentionally disturbed them. However, out of some sort of original intent that he couldn’t describe, he decided to defer to his own wants. “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

Sui Zhou lived next door to the Tang residence; this, Lu Lingxi knew. He just hadn’t expected that the two households would have such a good relationship, that they even ate dinner together.

But that was not what shocked him the worst — the most surprising thing was that dinner had not been cooked by the Tang maids, but by Sui Zhou’s own hands.

Dongpo pork, dry-broiled pig kidney, stir-fried prawns with eggs, shredded seitan, moo shu vegetables, pure chicken stock, stuffed shiitake, mandarin fish… even for three, these dishes were plenty.

And it was really hard to imagine that the impressively-decorated, cold-faced, merciless Brocade Guard boss of the rumors would ever wash his hands to fix up soup.

Looking at the dishes before him, then thinking back to the snacks he had brought, Lu Lingxi simply felt inferior.

Maybe it all just looked and smelled good, but tasted average?

That idea in his head, he sampled a bite of mandarin fish. The meat was tender, a slight sweetness within the salty flavor; one had to have the perfect talent of heat control in order to retain the texture.

Maybe it was just this dish that was exceptional.

Unable to keep from inwardly cursing, he picked up some Dongpo pork.

After chewing on it for a bit, then seeing how Tang Fan was wolfing it down, he had to admit… that Sui Zhou’s cooking skills could indeed be called top-grade. Even a picky eater like Lu Lingxi had to say that it was admirable.

Had this all been made by the cooks and maids, it would be taken for granted, at best, with no one ever thinking much of it, but it had been created by Sui Zhou’s hand. Everyone knew that the Brocade Guard was not any more relaxed than any given bureau. Even though little of their life could be made public, Commanding Envoy was a third-rank position. Him having this much culinary talent was pretty shocking.

Lu Lingxi had to compared himself to him. After thinking over it for a long time, the only apparent thing that he could possible excel at over him was literary arts, right? Being a Hanlin Palace Honorate was something the other could only ever dream of.

Despite making himself feel a bit better, he was not in a happy mood. The food tasted goo, and Tang Fan kept telling him to eat without cease, but his appetite was going down.

That was because…

“You helped Runqing a lot in Suzhou, and he sees you as a little brother. There’s no harm in you coming here more often when you’re free,” Sui Zhou said prior to his departure, after seeing him to the door.

Hearing that, Lu Lingxi got depressed, thinking, Isn’t this the Tang home? Why are you, a Sui, talking like you’re the dignified host?

However, Sui Zhou’s aura was much too potent. While he spoke politely with a stern face, Lu Lingxi couldn’t choke out a single word of defiance, no matter how unhappy he was.

On the way home, he was melancholic upon melancholic, then abruptly startled — that Sui guy didn’t like Brother Tang too, did he?!

That guess made him jump in fright, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was probable.

An outstanding man like Brother Tang was inevitably susceptible to being admired by both men and women, to say nothing of how he had heard the Sui Zhou and Tang Fan had been through life and death together. The friendship between the two was naturally beyond the pale. And, thinking of how the Sui had not yet taken a wife…

Recalling that, Lu Lingxi felt a sense of crisis, but there was no way that he could run to Tang Fan and ask for an answer. As a consequence of holding in his thoughts, he had a full sleepless night, causing him to have two dark bags under his eyes when he went on0duty the day after, which drew Tang Fan’s concerned inquiry.

After getting off work that day, Lu Lingxi went to the Tang home again. This time, he wised up by ordering a table-filling banquet from Immortal Guest and having it delivered to the Tang home, all in the beautified name of feeling bad about eating free food yesterday, hence why he had invited Tang Fan to dinner today.

The grade Immortal Guest’s food was at did not need to be described. To this day, Tang Fan had retained a habit of going to Immortal Guest for a meal whenever he had both the free time and the mood. In others’ eyes, eating was just eating, and even if the food was a bit more tasty, it was an occasional treat, at best. Tang Fan was different; delicious delicacies allowed him to relax more, and could also calm his mind so that he could think a bit further towards things. Oftentimes, after eating, he could figure things out that he hadn’t been able to before.

However, Lu Lingxi had no clue that Tang Fan was frequenter of Immortal Guest. Seeing that Tang Fan appeared to really like the feast, he didn’t neglect to curry favor and take credit. “If you like it, Brother Tang, I can get you another feast for tomorrow!”

Tang Fan shook his head. “No need. You’re just starting your path to officialdom, and your salary isn’t much. You have your family to back you, but you should still save up instead of squandering your money at will.”

Lu Lingxi was about to say it was no problem, only for Sui Zhou to say, “You went too many times this last month, and that’ll hurt your diet. You should restrain yourself a bit more.”

Tang Fan smiled awkwardly, touching his nose.

“…” Lu Lingxi was hit with internal injury. He was still in Hanlin Academy last month!

He was now entirely positive that Sui Zhou had the same idea as him, else he wouldn’t be making things hard for him all the time. Thus, his fighting spirit was instantly roused.

Now that he thought about it, apart from cooking skills, what was he inferior to compared to Sui Guangchuan?

At the very least, they were both martial artists; while the outcome and relative strength were unknown, if Lu Lingxi looked inside himself about his own training and apprenticeship, he definitely wouldn’t lose. That was saying nothing about how he was also a Hanlin, and if he had to rely solely on literary fighting, he would fling that guy out onto the street.

Lu Lingxi further put himself at Tang Fan’s perspective. A civil official — a Cabinet Vizier in particular — having a close relationship with the Brocade Guard’s boss was not a good thing to see at all. If the Emperor’s suspicion was rouse, it would surely bring harm to Tang Fan.

Maybe he could see his thoughts or something, because after the dinner was over, Sui Zhou suddenly said, “I heard that you once entered Shaolin to study the arts?”

Lu Lingxi nodded, suspicious and on alert .”Yes.”

Sui Zhou gave him a shallow smile. “I once exchanged blows with Grandmaster Muyin, and benefitted a lot from it. Which master did you study under?”

For some reason, the other’s smile was incomparably eye-stabbing to Lu Lingxi, and he went with the flow to say, “Grandmaster Muyin is my sect-uncle. He has very formidable martial arts, and I also received his pointers before. Since you have a tie to my sect from also exchanging moves with my uncle, Envoy Sui, how about I ask you for a little consultation tonight?”

Sui Zhou nodded. “Sure.”

Lu Lingxi was maximally disgusted by the official airs this guy was putting on, and how he was pretending to be as breezy as a fine day. He felt beyond annoyed, as well as powerless.

Compared to Sui Zhou, he was not lacking whatsoever, the only difference being their age. It was precisely due to him lacking those few years that he hadn’t been able to go through life-and-death crises with Tang Fan, sharing joys and hardships with him. That was what caused him to feel stifled.

But… since someone was a step ahead of him, what could he even do?

Tang Fan was a model civil official that was not much interested in brawls. Seeing that they were going to compare techniques, he had no will to immediately get up and go spectate. It was only when Lu Lingxi requested that he be the judge that he languidly got up and walked to the door, not forgetting to say, “Be careful. Don’t ruin the flowers and trees.”

Lu Lingxi was even more determined to win this ‘consultation’, make Tang Fan know that he was talented in both civil and martial affairs, and much more suitable to be at his side than Sui Zhou.

The two moved very quickly.

Neither of them were armed, having only bare hands, but their actions were speedy. To a layman, there were nothing more than two figures jumping up and down and flying all around. In the blink of an eye, dozens of moves were made. Despite Lu Lingxi’s youth, it was because of his sect that every style and motion of his was as steady as Mount Tai. In comparison, Sui Zhou’s flowed even better, not adhering to one set; resembling an antelope hanging by its horn to avoid disaster on the ground, his movements were automatic, and he counterattacked everything, giving one to way to guard against him.

Soon, Lu Lingxi realized that the gap between them was not in the style of their movesets or how much experience they had facing enemies — hei himself had a lot of actual combat experience while he had been traveling — but that their differences lied within him not having the courage to kill, and therefore lacking the will and mind to kill. Meanwhile, Sui Zhou had been forged from iron and blood, from fields of death, so every move of his had a harsh edge to it that the former did not possess.

In the end, when it was nearly the two-hundredth move, Lu Lingxi became distracted, and his opponent quickly took the gap to kick him right in the middle.

Lu Lingxi’s momentum didn’t slow until he hit the base of the wall, knocking over a pot of flowers.

He lost.

That fact made him beyond disheartened, with even Tang Fan’s comfort not easing it.

When departing the Tang home, Sui Zhou said on his own initiative that he would see the guest out on the host’s behalf. Tang Fan didn’t decline, and neither did Lu Lingxi refuse.

Because he had something to say to Sui Zhou.

“Envoy Sui, are you thinking things about Brother Tang that you shouldn’t be?” he interrogated. It was clear from the way he called the other that they were close.

Sui Zhou stood with his arms folded across his chest. “Whatever things you’re thinking of are also what I’m thinking of.”

Lu Lingxi choked, but pulled through. “Forgive my bluntness, but your position is difficult. If you get too close to him, then you’ll be likely to arouse the Emperor’s suspicion, and end up bringing harm to Brother Tang!”

The other’s expression was mild. “You don’t need to bother worrying about that. I have my ways.”

“You’re a strong-armer!” Lu Lingxi said angrily.

Sui Zhou raised a brow. “Whether I’m a strong-armer or not, you are definitely lacking in one point compared to me.”

“What point?” Lu Lingxi asked, disbelieving.

“I’m willing to give up everything for him, including having children. Are you?”

Lu Lingxi was dumbfounded.

He didn’t snap out of it for a long time due to that statement. He didn’t even realize it when Sui Zhou shut the door and left him outside.

It was said that on that very night, frequent sounds of moans and begs for mercy came from the Tang bedroom, the contents of which were somewhere along the lines of: “…He wanted to stop by, I couldn’t just refuse him. You’re taking your anger out on the wrong person… don’t be so rough, I have to go into the palace tomorrow… ah….”

The author says: The husband has a maxed out insta-kill skill √

Comprehension

By the time he arrived in the Cabinet the next day, Lu Lingxi was still a bit slow to respond.

Because of what Sui Zhou had said, he had tossed and turned for a full night, inevitably losing sleep again. It could not be denied that those words had shocked him to the utmost.

Being able to give up everything for someone else, even having children — what sort of feeling was that?

To be honest, even though Lu Lingxi understood that he held admiration for Tang Fan, he had never thought of the problem of having children before. That was to say, in his oblivious thoughts, having kids was not contradictory to getting close to Tang Fan.

But Sui Zhou had viciously woken him up.

His brain has successfully turned into a lump of paste. His formerly clever and witty road of thought now looked to be a dead end, no exit in sight no matter how he turned.

What if he and Brother Tang actually did share feelings one day? Would he give up taking a wife and having children for him? Give up continuing his family line?

He didn’t want to think of the answer, but he knew, deep down in his heart, that he might not be able to do that much for Tang Fan.

There were many reasons for this. His family was influential and had many ties; his elders would never allow him to do something like that. When it came to typical boytoys, it would be nothing more than playing around, and with how public norms were, no one would meddle much in it, instead coming to believe it was something in-vogue. However, Tang Fan was different, and not someone he could simply mess around with; instead, the other would be messing around with him, pretty much.

Taking a couple thousands steps back, he had to say that he saw Tang Fan as someone as clean as the wind and bright as the moon, and could not tolerate the slightest bit of blasphemy towards him. Using a ‘boytoy’ analogy was not going to do.

Those reasons were not reasons to Sui Zhou, though.

Aside from not being a civil official, the other was not inferior to him in the slightest, and even had a higher rank than him. That was saying nothing of him being the Empress Dowager’s consort-kin, making him be viewed highly in the divine family.

The most important part, too, was that the Brocade Guard was the Emperor’s eyes and ears, arresting and investigating. Ordinary people would be terrified hearing of them, while officials would dare to openly provoke them even less.

And a man like that was actually willing to give up having a wife and children.

For that reason, Lu Lingxi didn’t want to admit it, but he was inferior to Sui Zhou.

Tang Fan knew nothing of Lu Lingxi’s tangled-up and winding inner process; he was busy handling the accumulated work from yesterday. Some work that needed to be handed off to others, he tossed right over to Lu Lingxi to handle, told him that he could ask if he didn’t understand something, and ended it with burying his head into his work — completely work-minded, disciplined, and earnest. It was completely different from how he typically was in private.

And yet it was those two completely different aspects of him that made his personality all the more rich with charm. In front of his friends, he was just the lazy, gluttonous, humorous, and witty Tang Runqing, but in front of his coworkers, he was the gentle-and-amiable-in-free-time, neglecting-to-even-eat-in-work-time Sir Tang.

Looking at Tang Fan’s profile as he expressionlessly lowered his head to read files, Lu Lingxi found that just seeing him like this was enough to muddle his senses, as if captivated.

A little while later, Tang Fan’s neck seemed to be a little sore, as he couldn’t help but put his hand on he back of his neck and squeeze. Upon raising his head, he noticed Lu Lingxi still standing there like a stick, and looked surprised. “Why are you still here?”

“…Sir Tang, you just told me to wait here, saying that you were going to show me the manuscript of revised laws.”

In the Cabinet, he had always took care to protect Tang Fan’s reputation, never using the title of Brother, but instead Sir.

Tang Fan slapped his forehead, smiling apologetically at him. “Right, right! I was so busy, I forgot!”

He quickly looked around, identified what he wanted from the various piles of files, picked one of them out, and passed it to Lu Lingxi. “Here it is. When you have free time, take it out and look at it. When the afternoon comes, the Cabinet will start discussing it, and you all should be allowed to listen in. You may want to pay more attention, then, as it will help you later on.”

Cabinet discussions generally forbade unrelated persons from entering and listening in, not even allowing for Lu Lingxi’s group that was posted in the Cabinet. For some not-too-important discussions, however, no one would drive them out with they decided to stay nearby. Those intending to listen and learn could use serving tea as an excuse to hang around.

Lu Lingxi took the file, wanting to speak, but stopping. “Sir Tang…”

Tang Fan lowered his head once more, giving only a faint hum upon hearing him, the raised lilt of it expressing inquiry, and not looking back up.

The words that had brewed for a such a long time were on the tip of Lu Lingxi’s tongue, but he said nothing in the end. “N… nothing. You can work.”

He returned to his own table, sat down, and flipped open the file.

Tang Fan’s handwriting was not the same sort of gentle that he acted towards people, instead looking strong and vigorous, his proper regular script written with distinct boldness. Clearly, he was soft on the outside yet tough on the inside, concealing a hard-boned character deep within.

Lu Lingxi was still a bit absent-minded, but once he got to reading, he gradually put his full attention into it. When noon came and Tang Fan called out for him to go eat and take a break, he then reluctantly set the file down, rubbing his eyes. “I’ve just discovered that my scholarly honors were all for nothing.”

Tang Fan chuckled. “Why do you feel that?”

“In ten years of strenuous study, I read all of the Four Books and Five Classics and listened to all of the Great Dao’s truths, yet I have no idea how to govern the country, or what laws for governance and peace there must be. Reading your clauses now, even though I went through each and every word, I still had to use a lot of brainpower thinking about it. Obviously, I regard myself highly, when I’m just a coarse man in reality, all empty talk, no real work.”

The other grinned. “Don’t put yourself down. Your starting point is already much higher than that of average people, and not comparable to those that only know how to study themselves to death. What you lack is none other than built-up experience. The Great Ancestor had his own purpose for establishing the imperial exams. Those that get to be Palace Honorates might not necessarily have the talent to govern, but all that do are learned scholars that have intensively studied poems and tomes. You need to keep that in mind.

Lu Lingxi acknowledged his lesson, serious.

The difference in age between them wasn’t too high, but eminence took priority. Whether it was in officialdom or in academia, and with how things went in the world, Tang Fan was more than enough to be his teacher. Lu Lingxi even felt that being able to follow Tang Fan every day and get his advice was a blessing.

However, remembering his desire that had been extinguished in its infancy before it could take shape, a burst of inexplicable heartsickness was felt within him.

Before he could completely sort out his emotions, the afternoon Cabinet meeting began.

The Emperor’s health was getting more serious, each day worse than the last. Everyone knew what was going on, and didn’t lay it bare, quietly working on what they should be working on in preparation for the Crown Prince’s imminent ascension.

The world was not going to stop spinning just because the Emperor was ill. What was going to happen was still happening.

In the sixth month, Hubei flooded.

In the seventh month, Lintong and Xianyang had earthquakes.

According to news from Datong’s garrison, there were signs that the Tartars were getting restless.

Ever since Zhengtong/Tianshun’s era, coastal defenses had been virtually nonexistent, and traces of Japanese pirates were frequently appearing. At this time, there was a signed commercial treaty between the Central Plains and Japan, so the pirates would use the guise of paying tribute to get in. Upon meeting soldiers, they would first cover up their origins, fake paying tribute, then use the time when the others were unprepared to kill and loot. Even Great Ming merchant and civilian ships were repeatedly attacked by them, many of the commoners lining the shorts unable to bear with these criminals.

These stacks upon stacks of problems had been passed through local governments up to the Office of Transmissions, all of them important matters that urgently needed to be dealt with by the Great Ming’s Viziers.

Lu Lingxi and his fellow Hanlins read through them. Only now did they deeply understand the significance of the Cabinet as the Great Ming’s supreme authority.

An Emperor that was wise and strategic, able to determine the universe in one word, would naturally be a good thing. However, if the Emperor was ever anything like the present one, the role of the Cabinet would become very important. These Viziers had gone through layers of selection, many of them having rich experience in local governments or treading within the Six Ministries, and were also talents that had passed the imperial exams. They were able to deal with troubles that would leave the Hanlins flabbergasted and flailing.

And several of those Hanlins, Lu Lingxi included, thereby witnessed the shrewd and capable aspect of the Solons.

Take Liu Ji, for example. Despite censors having crowned him with the nickname of Liu Cottonflower, if he actually was completely useless, he would never have remained in the Cabinet for so long — there was a difference between not wanting to work and not being able to. After Wan An and the others fell off their horses, Liu Ji was worried that he would be next. In contrast to his previous ways of being laissez-faire, he had roused his energy overnight, and dared to offend the Emperor’s face by admonishing him several times. He had warned the Emperor to stay far away from alchemy, not to wallow in the sorrow of losing Consort Wan, and so on. His painting style had changed much too quickly, dumbfounding everyone.

Within the Cabinet, no one was the same in personality, and did many things differently.

Even though Tang Fan was at the bottom rung, because he was the youngest amongst them, he had the most energy, and his efficiency was at its pinnacle. Nowadays, he was not only in charge of managing the Ministry of Justice, but also the Ministry of War. It was little wonder why Lu Lingxi could never find the chance to say anything to him even being in the same room, as Tang Fan was really too busy.

The Cabinet meeting’s topic was related to the earthquake. Due to the need to allocate funds, Li Min, the Minister of Revenue, also took part.

At this moment, following the fall of the Wan party, the nicknamed ‘Clay Figurine Ministers’ were almost totally gone. Li Min had previously requested departure due to illness, and then was reinstated two years ago, changing positions to Governor of Water Convoys, then later came to control the Ministry of Revenue, which displayed his capabilities.

The meeting process was little more than Liu Ji suggesting an amount for the Ministry of Revenue to allocate, Li Min beginning to haggle because the Ministry didn’t have that much money right now — since it was responsible for the northern areas’ provisions and the expenditure would eclipse its income — and the two wrangling for a long time. In that time, Liu Jian, Tang Fan, and Xu Pu interjected to participate and discuss several times. Everyone spoke until their mouths were dried out. At last, an amount was set, Li Min’s end would allocate money and provisions, and Liu Jian would have the responsibility of the Cabinet’s end. If anything came up, he should be contacted, and so on.

The new Hanlins had just witnessed that Cabinety discussions were fundamentally no different than haggling in a marketplace. Each of them looked astonished.

Immediately following this, Tang Fan put forth his own clauses outline that pertained to the revision of the law and patched holes in the Great Ming Code. However, this topic went even less smoothly than the one before. Liu Ji was, at his core, someone who sought stability; having the Wan party as a lesson, he refused to stick out of the basket any further, because once these clauses passed, the Head Vizier would inevitably bear direct responsibility. Therefore, even though Liu Jian supported it, Tang Fan’s proposal was still repressed by Liu Ji. He didn’t reject it outright, merely saying that it should be discussed later. Tang Fan’s hands were tied; he couldn’t exactly grab him by the collar and compel him to give a definite answer immediately.

This entire meeting had nothing to do with the Hanlins, but they still learned a lot from silently observing. As for what they had come to comprehend, that depended on their individual perceptions.

Near the end of the discussion, a guard outside came in to pass word on that Commanding Envoy Sui Zhou had come on the Empress Dowager’s orders, bearing a decree to convey.

Liu Ji quickly invited the other inside.

After entering, Sui Zhou first cupped his hands towards everyone in a show of respect, then said, “This humble official just went to pay a visit to the Dowager. She had a message she entrusted me with passing on.”

Everyone knew that he and the Dowager were consort-kin, so they weren’t surprised to hear this. “Please speak, Envoy Sui,” Liu Ji said.

“Have you all drafted a posthumous title and imperial rank for Noble Consort Wan yet?”

Liu Ji gave a fake cough. Dowager Zhou disliked Consort Wan; that was something known to all. “Answering the Dowager, yes. The title is Imperial Noble Consort of Compassion, Filialness, Grace, Austerity, Uprightness, Prudence, Glory, and Tranquility.”

“Lady Wan was nothing more than a concubine. What virtues and talents did she have to receive eight words in her posthumous title? Where was her compassion? Where was her filialness?”

His cold face that spoke on the Dowager’s behalf was really kind of terrifying. Even Liu Ji was scared, saying cautiously, “That was His Majesty’s will…”

“The Dowager gave her order. You all should talk it over again.”

In fights between gods, mortals suffered, really.

Liu Ji was a little helpless, thinking to himself, This is an issue between mother and son! What has it got to do with us?!

However, he couldn’t respond like that, forced to agreed.

Having passed on the message, Sui Zhou didn’t stay long, turning to go. But, when he passed by Tang Fan, his fingers imperceptibly bumped his, gently sweeping across the back of the other’s hand.

The act was lightning-quick, yet rather ambiguous. No one noticed it, aside from Lu Lingxi.

He eyes widened.

That was way too bold!