Everyone in the Eastern Palace already heard of Emperor Xing Wu's arrival, and the Crown Prince's consort had already taken everyone outside to wait for the emperor's arrival.
Luo Wei saw the crowd outside the Eastern Palace from afar and wanted to get off the litter, but he didn't expect to hear Emperor Xing Wu say, “You should just keep sitting. Do you think they haven't seen you on the litter already?”
The only thing Luo Wei could do was to sit still. He tried o guess at why Emperor Xing Wu favoured him so much, but he couldn't figure heads or tails of it, much less come up with an explanation.
“Your Imperial Majesty.” The servants and residents of the Eastern Palace saw the Emperor step down from his litter, and all knelt to pay respects to him.
“You may rise.” Emperor Xing Wu announced. He didn't look at the Prince's rightful wife, Consort Zhou, but instead turned to watch Luo Wei make it safely off his litter before nodding, “Let's go inside.”
Luo Wei ignored everyone's watchful gaze on him, and put on a polite and respectful expression as he followed behind the emperor. He did sneak a look at the mood of the crowd. The concubines of the Crown Prince were all looking rather tearful, Consort Zhou especially, with her eyes swollen and red. Looks like they've all been crying up a storm. Other than the youngest of the emperor's sons, the eighth and the ninth prince, all of the other princes were present. Behind them stood his father, Luo Zhi Qiu, and the father of Consort Zhou, the minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Zhou Ning Wen. The Crown Prince's three tutors were all present as well. Luo Wei glanced over the crowd. Everyone who supported the Crown Prince were basically all here.
“Stop crying, all of you,” One of the concubines' sobs made it to Emperor Xing Wu's ears again and he finally lost his patience and stopped, “Did he die already? Are you all crying so he could listen, or are you crying so I can hear?!”
With that, everyone fell to the ground kneeling, no one dared to stand as they professed their faults.
Emperor Xing Wu only regretted his words when he saw Luo Wei kneeling as well. He got angry again, and scared Luo Wei. “Rise, all of you.” Emperor Xing Wu's voice softened.
Luo Wei had some trouble standing up as he was still recovering, and Zhao Fu very helpfully rushed over to give him a hand.
Long Yu's bedroom was spa.r.s.ely decorated, but it was filled with books. It looked less like a prince's bedroom and more like an expanded library.
“Imperial Father,” Long Yu was being helped by his personal guard, and had half sat up on his bed already.
“Don't get up,” It was hard to tell what Emperor Xing Wu felt from his face, but he waved his hand, “The imperial physician said that the injuries are not too severe, you just need to rest and recover.”
Luo Wei stood behind the emperor. He stole a look at Long Yu, noting the sallowness of his face. Perhaps the Crown Prince was not injured as severely as Xie Yu, but he doubted it was as light and easy as the emperor made it out to sound.
The Crown Prince saw Luo Wei and smiled at him. Everyone in Greater Zhou knew how much the emperor favoured this youth, the Crown Prince certainly wasn't out of the loop either.
“I will investigate this attempt on your life,” Emperor Xing Wu glanced at the group of princes behind him before addressing the Crown Prince, “Don't worry yourself too much over it. No one would dare to hurt you so long as I'm still here.”
Long Yu thanked his imperial father for his generosity, then followed quickly with a request, “Father, the flooding in the south remains a great threat to our people. Spring is almost here, I humbly advise our imperial father to send someone to administrate the relief efforts there. I can only apologize for not being able to go there myself.”
Emperor Xing Wu considered the flooding in the south, yet another worry on his mind. He asked Long Yu, “Do you have someone in mind for the task?”
Long Yu answered, “Long Xuan and I were discussing this before you arrived, father. Perhaps he could go, I think it's time for my little brother to lend a helping hand to you. He's about the right age, father.”
Emperor Xing Wu turned to look at Long Xuan, “Are you willing to head south, Long Xuan?”
Long Xuan quickly kneeled, “Yes, father.”
Was this a ploy to take a step back and rebuild his bases? Luo Wei knew what Long Xuan wanted from this exchange immediately, and quickly opened his mouth to interject. How could he give Long Xuan this chance to get a heads again? Someone like Long Xuan only needed s.p.a.ce to grow, how could the Crown Prince not see this?
“Your Imperial Majesty,” The Crown Prince's father in law, Scholar Zhou, spoke up before Luo Wei could talk, “The population in the south is currently migratory and unstable, it may be too dangerous for His Highness, the Second Prince, to go.”
“Imperial Father,” Long Xuan spoke on his knees, “I only wish to help you to shoulder some of the weight of your worries, I'm not afraid of the dangers.”
“Your Imperial Highness,” Scholar Zhou reb.u.t.ted, “If you went, the local officials may not have enough time and energy to extend to you during this crisis, who will be responsible for your safety then?”
It was apparent that Long Yu hadn't expected his own father in law to be the first one to rebuke his suggestion. He felt more than a little sorry to Long Xuan. Just as he was about to open his mouth, his consort noticed in time and quickly handed him a cup of tea.
Luo Wei watched coldly as Zhou Ning Wen and Long Xuan exchanged words. Zhou Ning Wen was a powerful figure among the literati of Greater Zhou, but he wasn't exactly an honourable man. In the past life, he'd seen Long Yu's fall quickly, and just as easily pushed his younger daughter into Long Xuan's side, taking the Zhou family and cast their lot in with Long Xuan. Now that Long Xuan was losing, he was putting on the facade of a good father-in-law. What kind of people is this world filled with? How many of them can you really trust?
“This matter can be discussed later,” Emperor Xing Wu commented in the end.
This had finally managed to shut both Long Xuan and Zhou Ning Wen up.
“You should get some rest, Long Yu, I'll come and see you again tomorrow,” Emperor Xing Wu's face was frozen over with an icy coldness yet again, and he rose to leave. Seeing that everyone was ready to kneel to pay respects again, he sighed, “The Senior Chancellor and Luo Wei, the two of you will come with me.”
Luo Wei made a bow at Long Yu, and followed close behind his father and the emperor as they left the room.
Emperor Xing Wu had barely moved two steps before stopping again and addressing the crowd of people present, “The Crown Prince is heavily injured, the lot of you need to stop disturbing him.”
The crowd accepted the command in unison, but each had their own thoughts in mind. Emperor Xing Wu's att.i.tude towards the princes was always hard to grasp and predict. To say that he was cold to them was not strictly true. He could be very caring at times, and keep their best interests at heart. But to say that he was a good father, well, looking at that glacial expression on his face, even the best liar would find it hard to say that.
As they left the Eastern Palace, Emperor Xing Wu said, “Wei Er, your aunt is rather worried about you, why don't you go and see her, I have things to discuss with your father.”
Luo Wei accepted readily, but he didn't want to go to the Hall of the Gracious Phoenix. He was honestly afraid of the emperor allowing Long Xuan to leave the capital.
Luo Zhi Qiu squeezed Luo Wei's hand and nodded at him, whispering, “I know what you're thinking. Go see the empress, I'll take care of it.”
It was only with this that Luo Wei bowed his exit, leaving the chancellor and the emperor to their discussion.
“Young master?” The little eunuchs who carried his litter set it back down in front of him.
Luo Wei's heart was heavy with thoughts and worries, and only spoke a few words to Luo Zhi Yi at the Hall of the Gracious Phoenix before putting on a guise of fatigue. Luo Zhi Yi saw how thin and frail Luo Wei was, and worried for him too. She didn't want to keep him too long, so after sending her eunuch to fetch him some herbs and medicines, she let Luo Wei go with a few words about taking care of himself.
Luo Wei knew that Luo Zhi Yi wanted to see Long Yu, but the emperor hadn't approved of it. She was the empress of the Central Palace, and had no right to go and see her own son in the Eastern Palace. Luo Wei spent a little more time talking about Long Yu's condition with Luo Zhi Yi. He wanted to advise Luo Zhi Yi to tell Long Yu that he should stay away from Long Xuan. But as he reminded himself of who he was talking to, he realized he was only wasting his words, and left without saying anything about it.
When Luo Wei had comforted Luo Zhi Yi enough, he left the Hall of the Gracious Phoenix. The sky was already showing colours of dusk. As he was about to get back onto the litter to head to the Hall of the Eternal Light, one of the little eunuchs turned his attention to the gallery just outside the Hall of the Gracious Phoenix, and the figure waiting there.
It was Long Xuan.
