Chapter 236: On the Eve of the Palace Change (II)

"I don't know anything." Wang Xu lowered his eyes, "I only know that Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, possessing the Four Seas, lacking only one thing."

"What is lacking?"

"Lacking a person who can speak freely." Wang Xu said slowly, "Someone without suspicion or guard, to whom one can pour out all one's heartfelt words."

Zhao Kuangyin fell silent.

Yes.

Isn't that what he lacks?

He sits high above, yet is a lonely lord.

This life-and-death prophecy weighing on his mind, he had kept it bottled up for months, unable to find anyone to confide in.

"A person who can speak freely..." Zhao Kuangyin chewed these words, a wry, bitter smile flickering on his face, "In this world, where could such a person be found?"

He glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the cold beams and pillars of the palace.

"I can't even trust my own younger brother!"

These words almost slipped out unbidden.

After saying it, even Zhao Kuangyin himself was stunned for a moment.

And Wang Xu, as if he hadn't heard the meaning behind those words, simply followed his lead and continued, "Your Majesty, precisely because of this, you all the more need someone to stay by your side."

"One person brooding alone will only fixate on petty worries. With two or three people, even just idle chatter can make this long night less hard to endure."

Zhao Kuangyin's gaze flickered uncertainly.

He understood Wang Xu's meaning.

Wang Xu alone carried insufficient weight to let Zhao Kuangyin let down his guard completely and reveal his deepest secret.

He needed someone more intimate present.

Zhao Guangyi.

Summon him as well.

Bring him and Wang Xu—these two people he finds most awkward in his heart—right before his eyes.

See what they will say, what they will do.

"Good..." he squeezed out a single word through clenched teeth.

He turned and called toward the palace gates: "Wang Ji'en!"

"Your servant is here!"

"Go summon again!"

"Summon... Prince Jin Zhao Guangyi! Have him come rolling over to me!"

Prince Jin's Residence.

Zhao Guangyi likewise spent the night sleepless.

When the first snowflake drifted down, he stood at the study window, silently watching.

He was waiting, waiting for a message.

Waiting for a message that would decide the latter half of his life.

From Wang Xu and from his own agents' reports, he had already pieced together a rough outline of the matter.

Today daytime, he sent people to inquire outside the palace gates, hearing that the emperor's countenance was greatly pleased, his spirits refreshed, while his own heart sank to the depths.

He thought he still had to wait another twelve years.

Twelve years, too long.

Long enough for the elder brother to firmly establish the crown prince Zhao Dezhao's foundation, making it unshakable.

Long enough that his hollow title of "Imperial Younger Brother" would become a complete joke.

"Prince, someone from the palace has come to summon you inside." The trusted steward's voice sounded from outside the door.

Zhao Guangyi drew a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart.

He adjusted his attire, ensuring his expression remained as humble and modest as usual, with just the right amount of concern.

"Let's go."

He stepped out of the study door into the swirling wind and snow.

When Zhao Guangyi entered the emperor's bedchamber, what he saw was a strange scene.

Elder Brother Zhao Kuangyin sat in the chief seat, his complexion grim; Hanlin Scholar Wang Xu stood attendantly to one side, posture upright, expression calm, as if the surrounding chaos and oppression had nothing to do with him.

The three of them formed a strange triangle.

"Subject Younger Brother Zhao Guangyi pays respects to Elder Brother." Zhao Guangyi immediately knelt, his voice full of concern, "Elder Brother, you summoned me late at night—is there something wrong with your health? On this snowy night, you should still take care of yourself!"

Zhao Kuangyin did not tell him to rise.

He simply looked down from above at his younger brother kneeling in the snow-water and filth.

He wanted to see something from that face.

To detect a hint of schadenfreude, a hint of burning ambition.

But there was nothing.

Only a pure, unblemished "concern" and "worry".

A nameless anger surged in Zhao Kuangyin's heart.

"My health is fine!" Zhao Kuangyin said coldly, "But Guangyi you, braving such a heavy snow, have gone to great trouble."

Zhao Guangyi lowered his head further: "Sharing Elder Brother's worries is my duty as subject younger brother; what hardship is there to speak of?"

"Sharing worries?" Zhao Kuangyin seemed to have heard something amusing, "Fine, then tell me, what worries do I have now?"

Zhao Guangyi's heartbeat skipped a beat.

How should he answer?

You say you know the emperor is worried about the life-and-death calamity? That's heresy, misleading the masses, probing heavenly secrets—a death sentence.

He raised his head, his face showing just the right amount of panic and bewilderment.

"Your younger brother is foolish… I only noticed that elder brother seems preoccupied, yet I don't know the cause. But no matter what, if elder brother says a single word, your younger brother would not shy away from death even ten thousand times!"

He kicked the leather ball back again.

He handed the choice over to Zhao Kuangyin.

Zhao Kuangyin stared at him fixedly for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

"What a vow to die ten thousand times!"

He rose and walked up to Zhao Guangyi.

"Please rise."

"Thank you, elder brother." Only then did Zhao Guangyi carefully rise.

"Wang Xu," Zhao Kuangyin turned to Wang Xu again, "you needn't stand either—be seated."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Wang Jie'en hurriedly brought over two embroidered stools.

Zhao Guangyi and Wang Xu sat, one on the left and one on the right, below Zhao Kuangyin.

Inside the hall, only the crackling of the burning candles remained, along with the ever‑tightening howl of wind outside the window.

Finally, Zhao Kuangyin spoke.

"Guangyi, do you still remember? When we were little in Luoyang, there was once a winter when it snowed just as heavily."

Zhao Guangyi startled, not expecting the elder brother to suddenly bring up an old matter.

He quickly followed the line of conversation: "Your younger brother remembers. That year the snow piled up and blocked the gate; it was you, elder brother, who carried me on your back, stepping unevenly, to buy sesame cakes on the street."

"Yes." Zhao Kuangyin's gaze softened a little as he fell into memory: "Back then, our father was still serving under General Guo, and we were poor. One sesame cake, we had to split it. You always said you were full, leaving the larger half for me."

"As elder brother and a martial practitioner, you have a big appetite, so your younger brother naturally ought to defer to you." Zhao Guangyi's eye sockets grew slightly moist, and this was no pretense.

Those hard years of their youth were indeed the time when the two brothers were closest.

"But what about later?" Zhao Kuangyin shifted his tone: "Afterward, I became emperor and you became a prince. All under heaven belongs to our Zhao family. Yet I feel that our brotherly bond is now less intimate than when we shared a single sesame cake."

Zhao Guangyi's heart sank sharply.

He went "thud" and knelt down again.

"Elder brother! You must not think that way! Your younger brother's reverent heart toward you can be attested by heaven and earth, shown by sun and moon! If there is the slightest falsehood, may I be struck by heavenly thunder and die a wretched death!"

He uttered a poisonous oath.

Zhao Kuangyin looked at him, neither affirming nor denying.

He turned his head to Wang Xu and asked, "Wang Xu, what do you think?"