Surviving the Succession (A Transmigration Fantasy)

Character Index

Hu Qing/Liang Hongfei: Lord of the Liang clan, commander/trainer of new recruits of the City Guard.

Meral: A young Turkish maid who is also Chuluo's spy.

Zhao Rong: Also known as Rong'er, Kayla's son.

Zhu Simo: A politician of the Shandong faction, very adept at making populist speeches.

Halime: The Royal Consort.

Zhou Yunqi: The Emperor.

Zhou Xianchun: The Archduke, the Emperor's brother.

Qiu Jinwei: The Emperor's advisor.

Chujiao/Jing Shuyou: Xiang Daozong/Qu Boyong's cousin, formerly Wenyuan's childhood sweetheart, currently married to Hu Qing.

Xiang Daozong/Qu Boyong: Lord of the Xiang clan, also Yunqi's cousin. Sought revenge against the Grand Duke but had his plans derailed but ultimately brought into fruition by Kayla's maneuvering.

An Haoyang: Xiang Daozong's loyal retainer.

Liang Shen: Former Minister of Justice and Lord of the Liang clan, raised his half-brother Hu Qing as an illegitimate nephew (made possible since their father died soon after Hu Qing's birth, followed by a brother who was "supposedly" Hu Qing's father) after his father named the infant as the heir to the collapsing clan.

Ashina: Princess of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.

Li Que: Vice-Director of the Imperial Investigation Bureau's newest branch.

Minister Rui: The neurotic but deeply committed Minister of Revenue.

Chuluo: Khagan of the Eastern Turkich Khaganate.

Yan'er: A former prostitute who saved Hu Qing during Book 1 and subsequently became part of the Zhao household.

Zhou Chengxia: Daughter of Archduke Wei (brother of the Archduke Qi who killed Kuang) who was married into the Khaganate as part of the marriage alliance, Ashina's Wu Dynasty counterpart.

Yilie: Kayla's godson, a bright and cheerful eighteen-year-old. Tabuyir's nephew.

Yao Gongzhuo: Minister of War, Kayla's ally.

Qazar: Kayla's hostage from the Uyghur clan.

Hu Qing strode through the familiar corridors of the Zhao household, careful to avoid running into anyone. The place had already been cleared in anticipation of his arrival–for the most part.

Hu Qing blinked in surprise when he saw a young Turkish woman holding Rong'er round the corner. They made eye contact, and the girl immediately turned and went right back the way she came without any further acknowledgement. He stared after her incredulously for a moment.

Wenyuan lets her around his son?

Shaking his head in puzzlement, he closed the final stretch to Zhao Wenyuan's study.

Hu Qing hadn't been sure what to expect when he came. He didn't mind being summoned on short notice, but the strange thing was that he had been requested to be discreet.

Most likely, it had to do with the strange state of the palace that the capital was in a frenzy about. Even outside the city gates at the training camp, guards-to-be were whispering about it nonstop.

To make things worse, people were noticing that Zhao Wenyuan had stopped going in and out of the palace, and the Shandong faction with its very loud rabble-rouser had been hard at work making their concerns heard among as many commoners and officials as they could manage.

Wenyuan avoided other members of the court and public alike. He had to. The palace shutdown was nearing a week now, and whatever was going on, Wenyuan wasn't allowed to speak on it. Any questions he left unanswered would only raise ten more.

And with the rumors spreading about the Royal Consort…

At such an unlikely speed too. It was clear who was behind it, but Hu Qing doubted they would be able to hold the Shandong faction responsible, just as the Shandong faction couldn't prove any atrocities or crimes on the Royal Consort's part. Yet they had sniffed out something, they were very confident on this, and Hu Qing secretly agreed that they probably had hit the mark. Whatever it was, it probably had to do with Halime and it wasn't good. But it also wasn't so bad that Wenyuan had chosen his favorite mode of defense–mauling his enemy to death–so at least there was that.

Hu Qing arrived in Wenyuan's study with a hint of apprehension, not quite sure what he would find. Yet everything was the same as usual–even the couch he always lounged on was right where it usually was, just partially covered with haphazardly placed scrolls.

"Hey," Hu Qing called. Wenyuan had already half-stood in preparation to welcome Hu Qing, but was rapidly scribbling down something, glancing up and down between Hu Qing and the scroll.

"Hu Qing, there you are! Thanks for coming," Wenyuan said with palpable relief. Hu Qing grinned broadly in response.

Wenyuan looked more exhausted than usual, but no worse for the wear.

"Hold on, let me just–" Wenyuan cut off to finish writing. "Done! Sorry about that."

Hu Qing shrugged it off, pushing aside a pile of scrolls to clear out his spot on the couch.

"Everything alright with you? You've done a fine job of vanishing," Hu Qing said.

Wenyuan winced.

"I'm bound to confidentiality right now, but people have so many questions that I can't answer. You're fine, though you shouldn't tell anyone you were here."

"Is there anything I should be worried about?" Hu Qing asked.

"Not really. There's an active investigation at the palace," Wenyuan explained, as if his words were not contradictory in the slightest. "What we're presuming is an assassination attempt against the Emperor. You're not supposed to know about any of this."

"Oh shit," Hu Qing muttered.

"Indeed," Wenyuan said grimly.

"Then why are you here?" Hu Qing gestured widely at the study. "I would have thought you would be in the palace if something like that happened."

"Both the Empress and my sister-in-law have been implicated–though I am sure both are innocent–but it's a mess right now. I've been more-or-less ordered off the investigation. That's not what I needed to talk to you about though."

"Okay," Hu Qing said, feeling mildly certain things would get worse from there.

They did.

"So given the circumstances, a separate branch of the Bureau has been created to investigate."

Hu Qing nodded at first before he fully processed the words.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"I'm the Royal Consort's brother-in-law, I can't be the one to handle the case," Wenyuan said briskly. "Anyways, the important thing is that in line with a security precaution, the Archduke's staff from the palace were recalled and replaced."

Great, and now Xianchun was involved.

"No, wait, go back a bit. A separate branch? What, a task force isn't enough?"

"Not according to Qiu Jinwei, it isn't."

"Why is he involved?"

"He isn't. But he'll stick his nose everywhere regardless," Wenyuan said flatly. "But that's not what's important here."

That still wasn't important? Hu Qing was starting to have a very bad feeling about all this.

"Archduke Xianchun is in love with one of the palace maids," Wenyuan said as grimly as if he was announcing the beginning of a brutal campaign. That seemed a bit of an overreaction to a former political rival having an affair, maybe. Not that Hu Qing was judging.

"He requested my help in keeping the girl from being transferred away, and I felt it prudent to agree," Wenyuan said, sounding more and more like a general sending men off on a suicide mission. "I have…concerns about what might happen if his mental state were allowed to continue deteriorating. At the very least, he should feel that the final outcome was created by his own hands instead of through the palace's meddling"

"That's nice of you," Hu Qing said inanely.

"The Emperor was not pleased with this."

Oh.

Wenyuan steeled himself, clasping his hands together on the desk and leaning forward.

"I was…in quite a pinch at the time, so I made the first excuse I could think of to the Emperor as to why I helped the Archduke," Wenyuan said solemnly.

"You didn't confess to the Grand Duke's murder, did you?" Hu Qing blurted out.

"No, I mean he knows I did–no. I didn't. But I may have…I may have insinuated that I'm in love with your wife. I'm very sorry, Hu Qing."

Hu Qing frowned in confusion. "What do you mean 'insinuate'? I thought you were in love with her."

Now Wenyuan was the one frowning.

"No! Not anymore, I put an end to that long before you two got married. That's not the point here," Wenyuan said a little desperately.

Hu Qing stared back at Wenyuan, trying to make sense of it all.

What did Hu Qing's marriage even have to do with anything? It was purely practical to both him and Chujiao. Chujiao just wanted to keep her cousin from being murdered by her ex-lover or stabbed by Hu Qing, and she was succeeding very nicely. Hu Qing had needed to get married anyways, since he was now the head of household, and tying Xiang Daozong down was an added bonus. Was the Emperor displeased with the political alliance?

Alarm truly started to rise inside him. If the political alliance was broken up, that didn't matter much, not at first. But with a loose Imperial relation wandering around, the conservative aristocrats would swoop in immediately. Sooner or later, Hu Qing would probably have to kill his current cousin-in-law. That wasn't good. In fact, if Hu Qing killed Xiang Daozong, the former Qu Boyong, there was the very sticky business of the man's retainer and cousin, both of whom loved him fiercely.

There's a reason you kill the whole family, Hu Qing thought with a sinking feeling in his stomach. You can't take the risk.

An Haoyang wasn't a problem, Hu Qing would run that bastard through on a sword even without such an excuse. The problem was his wife, Wenyuan's ex-lover, Chujiao.

She was a lovely woman. Hu Qing didn't love her, but he liked her. He didn't want to harm her at all. If he killed Chujiao, Wenyuan would never forgive him, though the same went for if Wenyuan was forced to kill Chujiao because he didn't. Hu Qing also didn't think he would be able to forgive Wenyuan for it either way. But if he didn't kill Chujiao, she would become a dangerous threat.

The thought of it alone was enough to send ice crystals prickling down through his veins.

Why was she even brought up?

Wenyuan's apologetic look wasn't helping matters. Waving his hands helplessly, he spoke sheepishly, not quite meeting Hu Qing's eyes.

"I'm very sorry about dragging you two into this. Luckily, the Emperor is very unlikely to make anything of this, and even if he does, the blame will fall squarely on me. Your marriage isn't in question here, most likely you will never hear anything about this. But you two deserve to know."

Hu Qing blinked rapidly, the chill melting from his limbs.

What, so the Emperor just was one for melodrama, was he? If it was the romantic part and not the political part that the Emperor was interested in, there was nothing to worry about.

Hu Qing let out a huff of relief and shrugged one shoulder. "It's fine. I thought the Emperor already knew about the marriage being a sham, since the Archduke seems to know."

From the brief look that flickered over Wenyuan's face, he hadn't factored Xianchun into any of this.

"I mean, my brother told him that I'm a cut-sleeve all the way back then," Hu Qing elaborated.

Yeah, Wenyuan had definitely forgotten about that entirely.

"So if he knows, I figured that–you know what, it doesn't matter," Hu Qing said.

Wenyuan stared at him blankly for a second, as if he wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"I owe you both," Wenyuan said solemnly. "I'll make it up to you."

"Sure." Hu Qing was hardly worried about that–when had Wenyuan ever skimped out on him? He figured that the princess would be more upset over all this than he or Chujiao ever would be, given that their alliance wasn't in danger. On to the actual threat then.

"So who's heading the new branch?" Hu Qing asked.

Wenyuan blinked at the sudden change of topic.

"Oh, it's Li Que."

"Li Que? Never thought that guy had it in him," Hu Qing said in surprise. "There's no way the branch will be permanent though, will it?"

"It will," Wenyuan said with an exhausted sigh. "The Emperor just confirmed as much yesterday."

"I don't get it." Hu Qing's face contorted with irritation. "Just what the hell is Qiu Jinwei trying to do?"

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"He wants to curb my power while he still can," Wenyuan said wryly. "Or maybe it's just personal. Who knows? One can never tell with him."

Hu Qing observed Wenyuan's face and let out a sigh. "Perhaps I'm asking the wrong question. What is the Emperor trying to do?"

"You're asking the right question but to the wrong person. I'm not sure either," Wenyuan said. "But he's probably uneasy about a lot of things right now, so it's better not to go against him at such a time."

"What a mess, a ruler's heart sure is unpredictable." Hu Qing muttered. "One can only hope he doesn't turn out like his father!"

"He won't," Wenyuan said firmly. "He's doing great. He hasn't even killed anyone yet."

Did benefiting from having Wenyuan kill people count? Maybe not to Wenyuan, at least. What a convenient way of doing things for the Emperor–letting his advisor blame things on the man who did the job instead of the man who wanted the job done very badly but didn't always directly ask for it.

"Then let's hope you're not the first one," Hu Qing said instead.

Wenyuan winced. "It's not that bad. The whole branch business might actually take the attention off of me for a bit so I can focus on the Khaganate. The Emperor has granted me leeway to do whatever it takes, so I need to start producing results proportionate to the power I've been granted, and soon."

Whatever it takes? That was a tall order, and a very vague one too. The question was whether the Emperor actually had the guts to let Wenyuan off the leash.

"How much have you been allotted for the task?"

Wenyuan gave a thin smile.

"Anything within reason, as defined by myself and the Emperor."

Hu Qing raised his eyebrows, genuinely taken aback.

"All that's coming from the Treasury, isn't it? Minister Rui is going to hate you."

Wenyuan made a face at the mention of the Minister of Revenue.

"I worked hard to fill the Treasury, I hardly want to see it empty out either," Wenyuan protested.

"That man's just petty," Hu Qing said. "Anyways, is there anyone up for the adventure?"

Wenyuan gave an awkward grimace.

Hu Qing gave him a look of disbelief. "Surely you have men for the job. You've got a whole bureau of men."

"You mean the Investigators willing to die for the small chance of getting a promotion? Yes, why don't we just let every guy with a death wish give it a go?"

"Is it really that bad?"

Wenyuan's expression grew pinched.

"The survival rate is ten percent, Hu Qing. That means that most of the people willing to go are suicidal or delusional about their own ability. I'm trying to lower the death rate here, not raise it! People aren't exactly confident in my leadership right now, so I doubt I'll receive any groundbreaking new innovations until things settle down. But Chuluo isn't going to wait for us, and I want to get our surviving men out of there before they're killed."

The death rate in the underworld could actually be higher when it came to this particular type of work, but at least people knew what was coming at them. With Chuluo, you couldn't even see your fingers if you stretched out your hand.

But this is terrible timing for a crisis of faith.

"They can't hold the branch business against you, can they?" Hu Qing asked uneasily. "It's not something you can control. It's pretty obvious that Qiu Jinwei wants to stir up discontent, can't they tell that much?"

"For both the Emperor's sake and mine, there's nothing I can do about it," Wenyuan said. "But even so, how can they be pleased with all this? Men are putting their lives on the line at the orders of someone younger and with less experience–they can begrudgingly accept it when things are going well, but it's hard to swallow if I fuck up."

He gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Still, this needs to get done, so I'll get it done. I just need to figure out how."

"The problem right now is we don't know how Chuluo is tracking your spies," Hu Qing pointed out. "He doesn't have a communication network the way we do–it wouldn't work for him with how much everyone's spread out and moving around. Just think of the logistics of a relay network! So how is he targeting them so accurately?"

Wenyuan leaned back into his seat, closing his eyes in resignation.

"That's the problem, Hu Qing. We don't know. Right now, it's like trying to steal a bell with our ears covered–Chuluo can still hear us fine!"

Hu Qing grimaced.

"Are we sure it's not a rat?"

"If it is, it's a very well-hidden one," Wenyuan said. "Trust me, I've looked–and I'm still looking."

"I know, it's just that Chuluo's men–"

"I've got eyes on them."

"I mean I saw one of them on my way in, that girl holding your son?"

Wenyuan suddenly looked so exhausted that Hu Qing decided not to ask any further.

"I can't choose the consolidated report option this early," Wenyuan said.

Hu Qing didn't quite understand what that meant, and it showed.

"I can't choose all-out destruction before war starts, or they'll be too easy to replace," Wenyuan explained.

Hu Qing waved off Wenyuan's strange wording choices. "Of course."

"But in terms of a rat…that's also why I'm talking this over with you," Wenyuan admitted. "I need someone I can trust, and the less anyone else knows the better. Ideally, everyone involved will only know the exact amount that allows them to do their jobs and nothing more."

"Easier said than done," Hu Qing said. He lit up as an idea occurred to him. "How about using Sogdians and Persians? Anyone from the Wu is suspect in Chuluo's eyes, but Persians and Sogdians aren't."

"We've mostly used people of Turkish descent so far, but that hasn't done us much good."

"Don't think of recruiting the ones who are from here, that won't do. Chuluo will just sniff them out. We need people to enter from a different border."

"From the west," Wenyuan said, realization dawning on his face.

"Exactly!"

Wenyuan smiled broadly. "Why not? We'll go to them. I will send recruiters off with the fastest ship to Persia they can find. However much money they need, they will have. We'll need quite a few people–after all, we're not just heading east into the Khaganate, I also want people in the Umayyad. It'll still be difficult to relay information though, but we'll find some way to make it work."

"It will take a lot longer," Hu Qing warned him.

"I figured as much."

"But it's also much more likely to get the job done. There are lots of Persians and Sogdians in both Khaganates, far more than people from the Wu. It'll be a problem to keep an eye on them given the distance, so we won't be able to be sure of the reliability without some significant trial and error. The problem is how much time we have."

"Well…."

Hu Qing took in Wenyuan's grim expression.

"So not a lot. If you have any men from the Western regions you can spare, send them directly to the closest Persian port and send them in from the Western Khaganate, where Chuluo won't be expecting them from," Hu Qing suggested. "Do we have a shell company you can send them out through without raising an alarm? It's best if you can use an actual company as a cover. Preferably one that's existed for at least a year or two."

Wenyuan looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "I do have one in mind. The parent company is owned by Luo Qichen, who is under my patronage. If that won't do, I'll figure out an alternative."

"That's good then. But there's still the problem that trained men are easy to spot," Hu Qing said. "If I walk down the street, I know who can take me in a fight. Even if there's plenty of Persian veterans in the Khaganate, it still increases the chances of coming under suspicion."

"So I should send in civilians instead?"

"You should have your men buy up a few brothels and go in with a gaggle of dancing girls each," Hu Qing said.

Wenyuan gave pause at that.

"Civilian women?" He asked with visible displeasure.

"Women are under less suspicion for the most part," Hu Qing said. "A pretty woman can get into heavily guarded places without shedding a drop of blood where I would need to butcher my way through. They're also less likely to get killed if they're suspected. For better or for worse, they're not treated as threats."

He thought of Yan'er, who had still been a prostitute when they'd first met. The girl was nineteen now and showed no signs of wanting to get married. Unsurprising, since she was well-paid and well-liked here in the Zhao household.

"Plus, just by offering prostitutes a chance to earn good money and their freedom, they'll be more than willing to take the job. Training them in basic intelligence skills won't take very long–it can be done en route, and you'll be ready by the time they get where they need to be."

"We don't know how Chuluo's tracking our people," Wenyuan objected. "A man with martial training at least has a fighting chance. But civilian women–"

"How much of a fighting chance have your men had so far?" Hu Qing asked mercilessly. "If you just continue like this, you'll only get more people killed without achieving anything."

Wenyuan mulled in discomfited silence for a long moment before he seemed to drift off into thought, eyes staring into the distance.

"You know, it's just a fool's dream by now, but I still wish we could prevent war. Would you believe me if I said I had no stomach for it?"

"I would," Hu Qing said, though he thought Wenyuan would actually be quite suited for it either way. Not as a soldier, certainly, but as a statesman. The kind that could get a lot of soldiers killed on either side.

"It can't be helped," Wenyuan said with finality after a brief pause. He breathed in deeply, his gaze sharpening into a concentrated calm.

"Anyways, no matter who we send in from the western side, we need a distraction, something to keep Chuluo occupied until we have things in place. Chuluo isn't easy to distract, so I'll give him something he can't possibly overlook. Even if he knows it's probably a trap, he'll have no choice but to accept the whole plate."

At Hu Qing's look of confusion, Wenyuan seemed to grow all the more calmer.

"Princess Chengxia has married into the Khaganate for three years now. She counts as Chuluo's daughter-in-law, right? From what you've seen, how's her reputation?"

"She's pretty well-liked and respected in the North, or maybe the Khaganate soldiers are just humoring us because we sent reinforcements, but they seem to have the impression that she brought an army as her dowry," Hu Qing recalled. "Especially now that she has a son, she's more or less a proper lady of the Khaganate clan now."

Wenyuan nodded, face becoming unreadable. From experience, Hu Qing knew that meant he had made a dangerous decision.

"I heard her child is turning one."

"He is."

"That could be our chance."

Hu Qing waited in silent expectation.

"We'll send a delegation of servants to her," Wenyuan said, speaking slowly in a way that gave the impression he was choosing his words carefully but probably meant he was thinking far more than he said out loud. "Eunuchs, serving girls, even trained guards to serve her long-term. And of course, a whole host of gifts for her and her household. Of the people we send, I intend for at least half to be our eyes and ears."

"That's not very efficient for intelligence gathering," Hu Qing said in confusion.

His heart sank. Ah. Of course.

"They're not meant to be efficient, are they?"

"No," Wenyuan said. "Chuluo will know it is a distraction though, which means we need a second distraction. There are some death row convicts who have volunteered for the job, few as they are. They're going to die anyways, but this way they get to buy alcohol and prostitutes on the government's coin until they do. We can send them in after they've been given some basic training–if any are lucky enough to survive, they will have their freedom afterwards."

"Then the delegation–"

Wenyuan nodded. "Yes. Chuluo won't kill members of a delegation sent there officially, not right away. But their lives are forfeit if there ever is war. Not to mention the danger it places Princess Chengxia and her child in…but all things considered, this might be the best option."

You didn't think of this just now.

"There you have it then," Hu Qing said in as easy a tone as he could manage.

Of course he wasn't happy about it. Wenyuan wasn't exactly pleased with it either, or he wouldn't be so unnaturally calm, but things were what they were.

"Then that's decided," Wenyuan said. "I'll need to find some way to have you gain merit from this, even if I can't list your role in coming up with the recruitment plan. I'll figure it out while I work on the logistics."

Technically, Hu Qing didn't even have the security clearance for knowing any of this, but it didn't matter. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. It was different from their plans against the Grand Duke, against other members of the underworld or even members of the court–some part of Hu Qing felt that it was different even from his own suggestion of using civilian women as spies, hypocritical or not. Hu Qing wasn't even sure whether he was glad to be privy.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Hu Qing said, eager to change the topic. Luckily, he had one ready at hand. "More importantly, let me ask you something. Would you be willing to part with your godson?"

Wenyuan blinked in surprise, the concentrated stillness around him evaporating in an instant.

"Yilie?"

"Yes, I'd like to have an assistant around the training camp, and I'd like to take him on. Minister Yao's making some changes to the training regimen soon, so having an additional pair of hands will be especially helpful," Hu Qing said. "What do you think?"

"That's an excellent idea! If you hadn't asked me, I would have asked you. When I remembered."

Wenyuan gave a short sigh. "Yes, it's good that you brought it up. With everything going on, who knows when I would have…I'm more than happy with it, and I'm sure Yilie will be pleased to accept. Can I ask an additional favor of you?"

Hu Qing nodded.

"Can you take Qazar on as well? He's probably not going to join the military, but having this type of experience would be good for him, and he also seems interested. It'll also lend him more credentials for when he returns home."

For some reason, there was a strange look on Wenyuan's face as he made the request, one that made Hu Qing uneasy.

"So he's definitely going home."

"He'll take the Civil Exam first when he's twenty, that'll more than qualify him to hold a post in Anbei Protectorate even with his age and inexperience," Wenyuan said. "Especially since the literacy rates there are still pretty uneven–for Chinese, at least."

"I would have thought that he would be the one to stay, if anything," Hu Qing remarked thoughtfully. "He's a real scholarly sort, I thought he would like the capital better."

"He's always been quiet compared to Yilie, but he's also thinking seriously about his future," Wenyuan said. "It also changes things. They've offered that one of his cousins might come here to study after that, but I'm not too set on the idea either way. Our hold in the North is strong enough even without making use of children."

There was more to it than that, Hu Qing was sure. Maybe having a kid made it hard to hold hostages. Seeing Rong'er's chubby, guileless face did that to a man–or maybe not, given what Wenyuan had proposed only a few minutes ago in relation to a one-year-old.

"Well, if you take in any kids, make sure they're old enough not to give your wife any more grief, or she really might gouge your eyes out," Hu Qing said, smirking as Wenyuan grimaced. "As for Qazar, I'm happy to bring him along, provided that he's sure he wants to come. It's not exactly as comfortable in the camp as it is here."

Wenyuan smiled in relief.

"Thank you, Hu Qing. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a godfather or a guardian–I barely even see my own son for most of the time, much less to say for them. They're good-natured kids who don't hold it against me, but I still want to set them up for a good life to make up for it."

The cold knot that had formed in Hu Qing's stomach unwound, and he smirked.

"Relax, they're not babies. Speaking of babies, I have a theory about my godson."

Wenyuan was already rolling his eyes, but Hu Qing pushed on anyway.

"The reason he doesn't walk too well is because his legs are too short."

"My son's legs are a perfectly normal length!"

"Okay, maybe it's just because he's not used to using his legs. You guys need to stop carrying him around so much or he'll have short and stumpy legs for the rest of his life. Once he's no longer a fat baby it won't be as cute anymore."

The rest of the conversation devolved into bickering, and Hu Qing was still snickering at Wenyuan's outraged defenses on his way out of the household. His steps slowed as a young Turkish maid passed him by, eyes following after her for a moment before he resumed his pace.

The girl who was holding Rong'er earlier…

To any passerby, he would have simply been eyeing a comely girl, but it was something closer to dread that settled at the bottom of his stomach.

Spies from the palace, spies from Chuluo, spies from heavens know where. And when the day comes…what will you do?

There was really only one option.

Averting his eyes, Hu Qing walked on.

Cultural Notes

Cut-sleeve: An Ancient Chinese term meaning someone who is gay, or someone who is bisexual. Originated from the story of a Han Dynasty Emperor who had to get up for the convening of the court but didn't want to wake up his sleeping boyfriend who was lying on the sleeve of his robe, and so cut off the sleeve rather than stirring his beloved. Interestingly, many of the Han Dynasty Emperors famously swung both ways, seemingly at a higher rate than other dynasties.

君心难测/A ruler's heart is unpredictable: An Ancient Chinese proverb capturing the difficulties of living under an Imperial system. You wanted to get close to the center of power, because that's where power and fame are to be found, but the downside is also exactly that.

伸手不见五指/Couldn't see your fingers if you stretched out your hand: A colloquialism used to describe nights so dark that you can't see an arm's length ahead of you. Also used metaphorically.

掩耳盗铃/Covering your ears to steal a bell: An Ancient Chinese proverb stemming from a parable about a foolish thief who wanted to steal a famous bell that would start ringing the moment it was picked up. To avoid discovery, he cleverly thought up the idea of plugging up his own ears, but as one would expect, failed spectacularly. As a proverb it's often used to refer to acting in a way you think is clever to avoid discovery without realizing how foolish and futile it is.

合报/核爆/Consolidated report/nuclear explosion: A pun based on two Chinese phrases pronounced exactly the same, hébào (aka of the 4 intonations each character could potentially have, these two phrases use the exact same for each character). Kayla uses the term hébào/核爆, "nuclear explosion", a piece of internet slang Chinese netizens use to describe the nuclear option. Hu Qing has no idea what nuclear means and so interprets it as 合报/consolidated report, which would still be an uncommon phrase but could be an abbreviation for the full term, 合并报道/consolidated report.

全盘接受/Accept the whole plate: A Chinese colloquialism meaning to accept everything, good or bad; alternatively, it means to accept completely, without explanation or doubt.

Anbei Protectorate: A Tang Dynasty semi-autonomous administrative region that includes parts of modern-day Inner and Outer Mongolia.