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The shade of the scholar tree above the little stone table, as well as the garden pagoda, obscured Chu Yun\'s view of the window to the King\'s office. He had no idea if he was watching them now but at least he knew he couldn\'t hear them.

Even so, he kept his voice low as he asked, "Have you told that to his Majesty?"

She frowned and shook her head. "A lot of people find Bailiu beautiful, only the King doesn\'t seem to care about him. I don\'t talk about him," she pushed one of the white stones across the wooden board. "It makes him angry."

Chu Yun let out a relieved sigh. That was something at least. He remembered Min Sezhui\'s warning about the King being worse with \'the boys\'. There were fewer males in the royal harem than females, but if the King had an aversion for masculine beauty there would be none at all.

"Why did you say his Majesty is more cruel to the boys?" Chu Yun asked, leaning across the table.

Min Sezhui lifted her eyes from the board briefly. "He just is...that\'s what everyone says. Nothing they do is ever good," she shrugged again. "He beats them a lot...and does other things."

Chu Yun didn\'t ask what those other things were, but he could infer them. 

He already knew the King of Zui was a sadist, maybe there was nothing more to it than that, but he kept circling back to Gu Wei. 

"Do you know who was the Guard who said those things to Gu Wei?"

Min Sezhui shook her head again, making all the pendants hanging from her hairpins clink musically. "I only saw his back, and all the palace guards wear the same uniform."

Chu Yun sighed, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. The snow had stopped falling at some point while he was in Tan Ruo\'s home, now only the blanket of white remained, reflecting light like a mirror. The bright glare made Chu Yun\'s eyes hurt.

It was possible that Gu Wei was such a calamitous, ruinous beauty that people were just declaring themselves to him with no regard for the consequences, but it didn\'t seem plausible.

"What did Gu Wei say?"

Min Sezhui frowned, trying to recall his words. After some time she said, "\'Not here.\'"

"Just that?" If this was an unwanted advance, there was no way Gu Wei would say just that. It was basically encouraging the mysterious guard to say it again...just at a more opportune time and place.

Min Sezhui shrugged, supporting her chin on her laced palms. "Must be nice."

Chu Yun went several shades paler. What was this silly girl saying?

He reached across the stone table and held her wrist in his fist. "Sister Min must never accept the romantic advances of someone who isn\'t the King." He paused, steeling his heart for what he was about to tell her. "No matter how lonely it gets."

Chu Yun expected her to complain, instead she laughed. "Sezhui is so plain and dull, no one would declare themselves to me."

The matter-of-fact way she talked about herself made Chu Yun wonder if she was repeating someone else\'s words. 

It upset him that there was nothing he could do for her. He patted the back of her hand. "Sezhui is nothing of the sort."

She returned his smile with a quick one of her own, but her gaze lingered on Chu Yun\'s face for a moment. "There\'s something different about Brother Chu."

Chu Yun lowered his eyes, feeling heat climbing up his cheeks. How could she tell something like that? He cleared his throat awkwardly. "The servants must have done my hair differently."

Min Sezhui hummed, not insisting on the topic, and returned her attention to the weiqi board, whose mysteries she was no closer to unravelling.

---

Chu Yun returned home with a heavy heart. He couldn\'t understand what Gu Wei was thinking. Did the man enjoy courting death? Was he insatiably libidinous? 

First Xiao Yuan, now this  mysterious guard...what was going on with him?

He couldn\'t discuss these things with Xiao Zai, naturally. Who would want to have that kind of conversation about their own dam? But he had to get to the bottom of it.

Taking advantage of the fact that Xiao Zai was out and wouldn\'t return for some time, he went into his office and called Hua Nanyi.

"Tell Fan Jiang to come serve me my tea."

Hua Nanyi gave him an unimpressed look. "Should I try and make it sound less suspicious?"

Chu Yun rolled his eyes. "Naturally," he waved her out of the room, "You\'re my most trusted maidservant, make up something about being too tired to attend to me yourself and shove the tea tray in his arms."

She left after an exaggerated bow. A quarter of an incense stick later, Fan Jiang knocked on his office\'s door, announcing mildly, "His Grace\'s tea."

Chu Yun bid him to enter but kept his gaze focused on the correspondence in front of him. He had already finished writing the letter to his parents, informing them of Chu Hean\'s whereabouts, and asking for guidance. He was left now with a series of dinner invitations from all the Minister\'s whose spouses he\'d been playing courteous visits on Xiao Zai\'s behalf.

They would have to hurry to visit everyone Chu Yun had targeted as potential supporters before Xiao Yuan\'s wedding.

Fan Jiang poured his tea, and was sitting back on his knees, awaiting further instructions when Chu Yun finally addressed him?"

"How came it\'s you?" He raised one eyebrow at him. "Didn\'t I ask Nanyi to bring my tea"

He took the opportunity to see if Fan Jiang was the type to push a fellow servant into an incoming carriage.

"Ah, something came up and she had to see to it urgently, she was very regretful of not being able to attend to his Grace personally."

Chu Yun hummed noncommittally. Then again, everyone knew he and Hua Nanyi had a close relationship, maybe he shouldn\'t give Fan Jiang credit for not being a complete idiot.

"How are you finding your work at the Second Prince\'s estate?" Chu Yun asked, still answering the greeting cards while sipping his tea from time to time.

Fan Jiang kept his head demurely lowered. "It has been very pleasant. I enjoy working outside in the stables, and all the other servants have been very welcoming. This lowly one is very grateful for his Grace\'s and his Second Highness\' kindness."

Chu Yun finally put down his brush on its holder, and turned to face Fan Jiang. "Forgive my indiscretion, but I must ask: what exactly is the nature of the First Prince\'s relationship with Gu Bailiu?"

Fan Jiang\'s eyes widened a fraction before he returned him to its lap. "This lowly one is not a liberty to discuss his First Highness\' personal affairs."

Chu Yun chuckled without humour. "No? It seems like everyone else in court is. Why are you the only exception?"

Fan Jiang didn\'t expect Chu Yun\'s directness, and stammered for some time to come up with an appropriate reply.

Chu Yun didn\'t give him a chance to do so. "You must know that the rumours don\'t paint the First Prince in a good light. I\'m trying to be an impartial observer." He squared his shoulders. "Besides, this matter concerns my husband, and my family. I have a right to know."

Fan Jiang swayed like a willow branch in the breeze, suddenly very frail and wan, for all that he had been doing intensive labour without issue for the past weeks. This must have proved itself a useful strategy when he wanted to seduce the  First Prince, unfortunately for him Chu Yun was entirely unmoved.

He kept his unflinching gaze trained on Fan Jiang, waiting for an answer. Fan Jiang had the good grace to cut his performance short and blush in embarrassment.

"The First Prince has been in love with Concubine Gu since he was a small boy," Fan Jiang finally admitted, his back stiff. "This I heard from his First Highness\' own lips."

"Were those feelings ever returned?"

Fan Jiang went very still, considering his options. Chu Yun could tell he was measuring the advantages between lying and telling the truth. Finally he sighed. "Not as far as I know. Concubine Gu was unaware of his First Highness\' feelings when he was a boy, and spurned them when he became a man, on account of the filial relationship between them."

That at least gave Chu Yun some peace of mind, he couldn\'t even imagine the tangled web that would result of Gu Wei returning the First Prince\'s affections.

Fan Jiang\'s expression darkened suddenly, and he met Chu Yun\'s gaze for the first time since entering the room. "However, all the rumours about his First Highness raping Concubine Gu are absolutely false! His Grace must not believe them!"