The body was trapped in the crowd, but the heart was drifting away.

With the effort of a single sentence, Wei Lian made Li Fuquan think about a hundred things at once, until the older man finally asked, with a smile on his face, “What request does Lian Gongzi have for this servant?”

He had thought that once the young man gained power, he would display his newly acquired strength over him to avenge the humiliation he had suffered that day. However, Wei Lian’s words were gentle, and didn’t contain a trace of arrogance or pride.

“You are an experienced eunuch who serves his Majesty, and this one also serves his Majesty on his side. Since we are both dedicated to the same person, we do not need to be in opposition with one another, don’t you think?” Wei Lian politely suggested.

Li Fuquan's eyes twinkled. Was this a gesture of goodwill?

That was right, the Emperor’s interest was like floating and rootless duckweed, it was not as deep as his and his Majesty’s friendship, formed from mutual assistance since childhood. Now that his Majesty doted upon Lian Gongzi, he would naturally place him above all. If his Majesty was to get tired of him and he also offended head management like himself, then his days here would not be easy.

Lian Gongzi was quite a visionary.

The one who could reach the position of overseer was not a sophisticated man, Li Fuquan analysed for a while, while he portrayed a look of confusion on his face. “Gongzi jests, how dare this servant be at odds with you?”

“Last time, you were punished because of me, and it is only natural that there would be grievances. I was disoriented by my illness that day, and didn’t mean to make things difficult for you. This one apologises.” Wei Lian outlined this and finished with a nod.

Li Fuquan was about to give a polite, ‘How could this one dare’ but Wei Lian added, “I know that you are on guard towards me, not because I have caused your punishment. Rather, it is because I am from Chu, and you are afraid that I might be detrimental to his Majesty.”

Right now, Li Fuquan was speechless.

This was so blunt that he dared not to answer for a moment.

There was indeed a reason why he didn’t trust Wei Lian.

He had been with the Qin Emperor since he was a child and knew how difficult growing up was for his Majesty.

* * *

Before he was eight years old, Young Master Yue and his mother Yun Ji lived in the cold palace, with no one to take care of them as they grew up destitute, but honest. However, after he ascended to the throne and was made a puppet at the age of nine, he lived in fear for his life every day.

Li Fuquan was sent to serve the young Emperor when he ascended to the throne. At that time, the child was silent because of his mother's fall, like a lonely, fragile beast that had been abandoned. His sharp eyes were downcast and dispirited, staring blankly in one direction all day long, not saying a word and immersed in his own world.

They were young eunuchs about the same age as the Emperor, sent by the eunuch in charge and it was decreed that whoever could make his Majesty happy would be handsomely rewarded.

A group of lively and clever children soon surrounded his Majesty, chattering and baiting him with various toys, trying to get his attention.

At that time, Li Fuquan was still called Xiao Fu Zi, he was dull and slower than other children. He was soon squeezed out of the crowd, standing on the side and watching those children trying to fight for this chance to rise to greatness. 

The boy, surrounded by a group of young eunuchs filled with laughter, kept his eyes downcast, saying nothing. He looked indifferent, as if the excitement around him did not exist.

The boy’s body was trapped in the crowd, but his heart was drifting away from the crowd.

As Xiao Fu Zi watched from outside, he thought that his Majesty must be missing his mother. When he missed his mother, who was outside the palace, he would also show such an expression.

In the end, his Majesty was so annoyed that he finally opened his mouth to speak, but the one word he said was “Scram”.

All the young eunuchs were so frightened that they immediately shut up and knelt down on the ground, pleading for forgiveness.

But Xiao Fu Zi cautiously stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, please allow this servant to tell you a story.”

This was actually not a fresh story. It was a well-known folk story that almost every mother would tell her children.

Xiao Fu Zi’s mother had also told him the story. When he entered the palace because of his family’s financial difficulty, he often missed his mother, and when he couldn't restrain his yearning, he would think of the stories she told him as a child.

Xiao Fu Zi only thought that the young Majesty missed his mother, so he told this story that everyone knew to his Majesty in a moment of passion.

When he finished speaking with trepidation, he saw that his Majesty finally looked up and asked, “What is your name?”

He fell to his knees and kowtowed, “This servant’s name is Xiao Fu Zi.”

“I see.” His Majesty responded extremely lightly.

Because of those two words, he became his Majesty’s personal eunuch and accompanied him for twelve years.

He later learned that the story he picked before thinking was often told by Yun Ji to his Majesty when he was a child.

His Majesty was only nine years old at that time, a childish and innocent age, but he was already caught up in the struggle for power and became a sacrificial lamb.

The Empress Dowager controlled the Empire, with the dictatorship of foreign relatives, no one in the Qin Empire treated the nine-year-old as the true Qin Emperor.

Some even desired to kill his Majesty to take his place.

Assassins were never in short supply. The tea served by the palace maids might be poisoned by a needle hidden in their sleeve, the meals being served might have been drugged. From the clothes to their fabrics, the incense in the room, anything could be tampered with.

Even when his Majesty slept at night, he must always be on guard against a short sword swinging from the beam.

When his Majesty was young and weak, he was troubled by nightmares of being killed for a long time.

He dared not trust anyone, he even treated his trusted aide, Li Fuquan, with the same degree of reservation.

His Majesty endured this for five years, until he uprooted the Empress Dowager’s party at the age of fourteen. Li Fuquan was by his Majesty’s side when he presented the Empress Dowager with a length of white cloth.

The young man said to the Empress Dowager, “We were there when you sent someone to push our mother into the well.”

Li Fuquan was horrified when he heard this secret.

His Majesty saw his birth mother pushed into a well with his own eyes...

But his Majesty didn't have a fit on the spot, or question hysterically, didn't cry, and even showed his gratitude to the Empress Dowager, who took him out of the cold palace the next day and made a show of heart-moving attachment.

...Thus gaining the throne of the Qin Empire.

And then he plotted for five years to wipe out her nine family branches.

He was nine years old at the time.

How could one so young have such a nature?

Li Fuquan was truly heartbroken and in awe of his Majesty.

In the following seven years, the Qin Emperor conquered the six empires, went on a massacre on all sides, sending off more and more departed spirits and becoming a tyrant feared by everyone.

Even though Li Fuquan had a little more admiration for his increasingly strong Emperor, he became less outspoken than when he was a child.

But he was still loyal to the other man and would not allow anyone to harm his Majesty.

* * *

Li Fuquan broke away from his memories and looked at the peerless Gongzi in front of him, and his expression changed slightly.

As someone of a different origin, the intentions behind his actions would most likely be different. It was true that Li Fuquan had never trusted Wei Lian.

“Although I am a Chu Empire Prince, I am a mere abandoned son, and we have had no ties for a long time.” He said, “But when I came to the Qin Empire, his Majesty treated me with great tenderness, and this one remembered it all.”

“If you are worried that I have different intentions, there is no need.” He showed a faint smile. “I'm not saying this to you today to make things easier for me in the future, I'm just asking you not to make things difficult for me now, is that good?”

Li Fuquan thought for a while and said solemnly, “Gongzi is a Chu, and his Majesty is the Qin Emperor. This servant knows how much the people of Chu despise his Majesty. Since the Gongzi is being honest, this servant might as well speak frankly. If you intend to harm his Majesty in any way, this servant will make you pay, even at the cost of my life.”

Wei Lian stated, “This will never happen.”

Although he did have thoughts of regicide...that was just a thought, the Qin Emperor only had himself to blame for tormenting him too much.

But he had no intention of killing the Emperor. Now that the Qin Emperor had maintained the balance of the seven empires, he had brought stability to the world. At this juncture, if he killed the Emperor, the world would plunge into chaos again, and there would be no second person capable of unifying the world. If a long period of chaos continued to plague people, wouldn’t he become the sinner condemned by history?

Of course, Wei Lian believed that he had the ability to be that second man.

But not with his lazy nature.

He valued the freedom of traveling the four seas more than conquering the world.

Even as Li Fuquan received these assurances, he did not dare to believe all of it. He only changed his attitude slightly, and no longer stood in complete opposition to Wei Lian as before.

It was better to have a friend than an enemy. If being friends wasn’t an option, at least don’t be an enemy.

With this in mind, Li Fuquan’s face resumed a smooth smile, “Gongzi should continue to get some fresh air and spend less time on this servant, allow this servant to dismiss himself.”

Wei Lian nodded, and only when Li Fuquan had turned and disappeared around the corner of the long corridor did he lighten his expression.

He was not trying to curry favour with Li Fuquan, in fact, even if he offended Li Fuquan to death, he was not afraid.

But Li Fuquan understood the Qin Emperor.

As the personal attendant, he definitely knew much more about the Qin Emperor than Zhu Chu. Now that his life depended on the Emperor, he naturally cared about affairs related to the older man.

If the first step was in forming a good connection, how could he gather information?

* * *

When Wei Lian turned back into the palace hall, the Qin Emperor raised his eyes. “Finished getting air?”

Sitting back in his spot, Wei Lian replied, “This subject is feeling much better after being out in the cold breeze.”

Ji Yue made an affirmative noise before asking calmly, “Getting stuffy from being by our side?”

Wei Lian’s hand holding the chopstick paused.

This was such a deadly question.

There was no way he would say that he was feeling stuffy being at the Qin Emperor’s side, it was the same as asking to die.

Saying that the indoors was stuffy from the heat was also no good. The Emperor might make him go stand outside in the cold for six hours.

Either one was not in his favour.

Tsk, this dog-of-an-Emperor was such a hard man to serve.

Wei Lian replied shyly, “That’s not true, it's just that when I saw your Majesty, I thought of being kissed breathlessly by you last night...”

Ji Yue suddenly had a violent coughing fit from hearing this while drinking his soup.

Wei Lian rushed to say, “Your Majesty, please slow down.”

All the palace workers listening around them bowed their heads in unspoken agreement.

Ji Yue wiped his lips with his handkerchief, feeling that he could not lose face like this, always being restrained tightly by Wei Lian.

Ji Yue pretended to be indifferent. “How does that make you breathless?”

This startled Wei Lian. “Your Majesty, there are people here, this is not the right place to say...”

Ji Yue ordered, “Speak.”

He would like to see how thick Wei Lian’s skin could be.

He saw the embarrassed Wei Lian glanced around at the palace workers around them with red, flustered cheeks.

Hmph, cat got your tongue?

Ji Yue instantly felt a sense of accomplishment as he pulled back this match.

Then he heard the young man lower his head and whisper, “In the dark and quiet spring light, the warmth of the affectionate couple under the covering veil leaked happiness and were harmonious. Disarrayed inked hair scattered. The red candles flickering lightly. The blushing lips approached and comforted the tearful eyes. On the beautiful decorated bed were two embracing lovers, trembling until dawn.”

Ji Yue paused the hand that was holding his chopsticks. The crystal shrimp dumpling between them fell on the table.

He didn't expect Wei Lian to be so ruthless that he could compose a colourful poem on the spot.

The embarrassment on Wei Lian’s face was fake, while Ji Yue was genuinely feeling shy.

Halfway through listening, Ji Yue blushed even more than Wei Lian. “Sil-silence. Why do you have no sense...”

No sense of shame, making up anything with words.

Wei Lian didn’t understand. “But this subject was ordered to speak.”

Ji Yue supported his hand against his forehead and felt an incoming headache. “You can stop talking.”

All right, he was scared. He had to accept this.