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Chu Yun didn\'t know what his face showed, but whatever it was it made Gu Wei chuckle. The truth was that Chu Yun didn\'t expect Gu Wei to have any intense feelings for anyone besides his children. He certainly had never seen him display that level of care for anyone who wasn\'t Xiao Zai.

Gu Wei must have really liked the Queen Consort, because it was a lot easier for him to have killed Qin Ming -- if not immediately after the Queen Consort\'s death, then at some point during the years she spent out of sight in the Cold Palace. He would have saved himself a lot of trouble. But he hadn\'t done any of this just to get rid of an enemy.

He had completely destroyed her, in memory of his friend.

Chu Yun wondered if he felt closer to the Queen Consort when he visited Concubine Qin and saw her like this. Did it bring him peace?

Looking at her sitting in front of the mirror and brushing her hair while humming that tune to herself, Chu Yun didn\'t know what mercy would look like at this point. 

"The rumours tell another story, you know?" Chu Yun said, wrenching his eyes away from Qin Ming\'s reflection in the gold mirror. "Everyone seems to think you had something to do with the Queen\'s Consort death, including the First Princess."

Chu Yun shrugged, stretching his arms above his head languidly. "Several people would welcome my downfall, and besides, those rumours benefit me. It\'s convenient for me that people think grief over her good friend\'s death drove Qin Ming mad, instead of me."

"The King seems to care for the First Princess, at least more than he does for Xiao Yuan and Xiao Zai...wouldn\'t he have punished Qin Ming if he found out she was responsible for her death?"

Gu Wei gave him a look that made Chu Yun feel very young. "He would have, almost certainly. But what satisfaction would I have gotten out of it? What guarantees would I have that justice would be served?" He chuckled again, this time without any humour. "No, it had to be me. The King would have done it for his honour, because he would never stomach such an humiliation. Only I did it for her, because she didn\'t deserve to die like that."

Chu Yun rubbed at his temples with a sigh, reminded once again of the terrible trip with his grandfather. A blood debt was something he hoped he would never have to collect.

"Don\'t think that because he likes Ziyi that he had any tender feelings for his Queen Consort. She was one of the most intelligent people I ever met, so she knew what it took to survive him. I could never do what was best for me, no matter how much she warned me that questioning him only made things worse."

Gu Wei\'s gaze grew distant and unfocused, as if he was lost in the memories of those conversations. "The King doesn\'t even love himself, he has nothing to give but hatred." 

That, Chu Yun found it easy to believe. Especially because he couldn\'t let go of the idea that he was doomed from birth to be the way that he was. Whether she realised it or not, the Queen Dowager, must have had a hand in shaping the monster he became -- even if his stock was rotten to begin with.

After a few more minutes of contemplation, Gu Wei rose to his feet. He returned the chair to its place and said, "Let\'s go," walking out of the room as the guard moved to the side to let him past.

Chu Yun followed after him, thinking of how his conversations with Gu Wei always threw him for a loop.

Still, he had an inkling he knew more about Xiao Zai\'s uncle than he was letting on. Before they left the overgrown courtyard of the Cold Palace, Chu Yun stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. 

"If you know anything about Xiao Yao, it could really help," Chu Yun said, making his urgency plain. "We\'re moving against the King soon. Xiao Yuan is going to abdicate as Crown Prince."

Gu Wei frowned. "Why is he doing that?"

"That\'s not important, I\'m just telling you this so you know it\'s not a whim on my part."

Gu Wei held his gaze for a beat, and after some time admitted, "The treason accusations were all forged. The King showed the court \'secret correspondence\' between Xiao Yao and allies that were supposedly trying to orchestrate a coup. None of that was real, Xiao Yao had no interest on the throne, all he wanted was a quiet life."

"Is there proof of that?" Chu Yun asked.

Gu Wei glared at him. "If there was the King got rid of it long ago." He sighed deeply, looking all of a sudden very tired, as if the weight of all his burdens were bearing down on him all at once. "Understand this: Xiao Yao was a nice man, he was polite and kind, he worried about me when he saw me with bruises, as he worried about all the other concubines. He was everything his brother isn\'t, but he wasn\'t a fool. He kept his distance, he didn\'t get any closer than propriety allowed. So, I have no idea about any details regarding his personal life."

Chu Yun nodded, still not completely convinced, but willing to drop the issue for now. Maybe they would find more answers at the house. The restoration work was only superficial in some rooms, maybe there were more secrets hidden behind walls, in dank cellars out of sight.

They were walking under the moon gate leading into the cold palace, when Gu Wei stopped him. "I don\'t need to remind you that you have nothing to gain if a mysterious child shows up. If Xiao Yao had any children that would make them heirs to the throne as well."

"Sure, but they wouldn\'t take precedence over the previous King\'s legitimate alpha sons."

Gu Wei smiled tightly. "You don\'t want more trouble for yourself." His hand tightened around Chu Yun\'s bicep briefly. "I\'m on your side, not just Xiao Zai\'s, yours too."

Nothing about Gu Wei\'s beautiful face betrayed any inner duplicity, but Chu Yun still found it hard to trust him. It wasn\'t even because he thought he was lying, instead, he suspected that any loyalty was conditional to Xiao Zai\'s feeling for him. 

If Gu Wei ever had any reason to suspect him of hurting Xiao Zai, Chu Yun could probably count himself lucky if he didn\'t end up like Concubine Qin.

---

The journey back to the estate went by smoothly. Chu Yun felt only a little nausea as he got down from the carriage. Hua Nanyi hadn\'t been there to brew him his medicine the previous night and this morning, and unfortunately, it seemed he wouldn\'t be able to do without it any time soon.

As luck would have it, he stumbled into her on his way to his quarters to change robes into something more comfortable to stay home all day. 

She showed him a thick leather-bound parcel. "I got this from the post," she said, handing it to him. "From home."

Chu Yun inspected it curiously. Wondering why his parents had sent him a parcel in reply to his last letter informing them of Chu Hean\'s puzzling behaviour.

"How did it go with the First Princess, how did she react to Xiao Yuan\'s letter?" he asked, as she walked him towards his private quarters.

Her expression went completely still, as if she were carved out of stone, but Chu Yun didn\'t miss the faint tinge of red on the top of her ears.

"She seemed really annoyed by the whole thing, cursed the court and the lot of you, and expressed her gratitude for being an army general. Uh...I think she\'ll support Xiao Zai though, although she insisted that if you sent me over because you wanted a written declaration of support you had another thing coming."

No, Chu Yun hadn\'t been that optimistic. Xiao Ziyi said they would talk when she got back to Haolin, and he was still counting on it. The letter was only meant to help her make up her mind more easily -- which apparently it had.

"And what else did you do? You stayed there the whole night and a great deal of morning..."

Hua Nanyi cleared her throat and looked to the side, completely ignoring him. Chu Yun just laughed to himself.

---

Hua Nanyi left to brew some medicine for him. Chu Yun walked into his bedroom expecting to find it empty. Instead he found the low table in the centre of the room laden with food, a dizzying variety of dishes, and above them all Xiao Zai beaming widely.

"Ah, I hoped you\'d get back in time for lunch," he said, coming around to take off Chu Yun\'s rabbit fur cloak. "I made you some food. I went into the market and bought everything fresh myself."

Just looking at the number of dishes, it must have taken him hours.. Chu Yun took a seat at the table and reached for an appetising grilled fish, while Xiao Zai watched him in anticipation.