Understanding the Way of the Cat
The imperial palace has always been a place people yearn to witness.
Storybooks boast extravagantly about the palace, describing it as a place of jade buildings and golden halls, where women in palace attire, adorned with pearls and silks, carry incense burners and jade plates, offering the finest delicacies of the human world.
In reality, the imperial palace is not like this.
Within the ochre walls, while the multi-eaved buildings are indeed majestic, they fall far short of a heavenly palace. A house is just a house; it doesn’t naturally come with clouds, nor is it built of jade and white marble.
The beautiful women in high buns and palace dress are even less in evidence. Eunuchs wear dark green or brown robes, and palace maids wear stone blue or indigo, none of which are particularly eye-catching. They blend into the corners of walls and palaces, almost becoming one with the decorative objects.
Now, with the palace under martial law, even these figures, who usually walk with their heads down, are nowhere to be seen.
Imperial Guards patrol everywhere, and all the palace gates are tightly shut, with no sound from within.
Mo Li glanced around briefly.
He noticed that Meng Qi was leading, following the eunuchs who had tried to hide something by digging a hole but ended up uncovering an underground water vein.
“What’s with these people?”
“Nothing much, they just happen to be going in the same direction as us. I noticed they know how to take shortcuts to avoid the Imperial Guards, so we’re following them to take advantage.” Meng Qi is familiar with the layout of the imperial palace. Despite changes in dynasties, the general layout of the buildings hasn’t changed much.
As they walked, Meng Qi explained, “Princes usually live closer to the front court, with the Imperial Garden serving as a boundary, and beyond that are the residences of the consorts.”
He suddenly stopped, a look of hesitation on his face.
“Something’s not right.”
Mo Li looked up to see a palace nearby showing signs of disrepair, looking unoccupied despite the absence of weeds.
Meng Qi frowned, “We’re approaching the Eastern Palace, and this area should be where the other princes reside. This Chunhua Palace is the largest, divided into seven halls, and was the residence and study place for princes and royalty during the Chu dynasty. Could it have been abandoned in the Qi dynasty?”
He had just claimed to know where the Second Prince lived, only to be contradicted by reality.
Chunhua Palace was busy with Imperial Guards moving in and out, their lack of concern indicating it was indeed an abandoned palace, searched and secured to prevent rebels from hiding within.
Mo Li, looking at the mottled ochre walls of Chunhua Palace, suddenly asked, “Where did Lu Zhang lead his troops into the imperial city and massacre the Chu royal family sixteen years ago?”
Meng Qi’s lips tightened in realization.
“You mean…”
Because so many had died in Chunhua Palace, and with the Qi dynasty needing repairs throughout the palace, which required money, a place deemed “unlucky” like Chunhua Palace was naturally left unused.
“Actually, many places in the palace have seen deaths, many deaths, not just Chunhua Palace.”
Avoiding just this place seems illogical, but that’s human logic for you.
The royal and noble families, prominent in life, seem even more formidable in death.
People always find thousands of reasons to consider a place unlucky.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Meng Qi admitted, surprised, “I thought Lu Zhang wouldn’t care about this, proclaiming the previous emperor was tyrannical and justifying his own rule. Could it be that deep down, Lu Zhang also fears the unfinished destiny of the Chu dynasty?”
“Where in this vast palace should we look for the Second Prince?”
Mo Li found a secluded eave, shielded by a pear tree, and looked around to see many Imperial Guards heading towards the garden where the water spout had appeared.
“If the Second Prince has already been captured, he might be imprisoned in his residence or possibly taken elsewhere under house arrest,” Meng Qi pondered, “Wherever the defense is the strictest, that’s where we’ll go. If we don’t find the Second Prince, we might find Lu Zhang. But such places could also be traps… anyone attempting a coup or assassination would find nothing but an empty hall and a heavy ambush waiting.”
Such ambushes are best left for Ancestor Qingwu to enjoy; they had no business testing them.
“Further ahead lies the Eastern Palace.”
“The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is gravely ill, yet someone was instructed to hide an item in a desolate courtyard. Do you think this matter is related to a rebellion plot?” Mo Li pondered thoughtfully.
“It’s hard to say. Even if no one is plotting a rebellion, there are always things within the palace that people don’t want others to know about.”
Meng Qi finally finished tidying his hair, transforming from an adult to a child and then back to an adult. Aside from clothes, managing his hair was also quite troublesome.
When he and Mo Li emerged from the secret passage, they were both disheveled. This won’t do, it affects the appearance!
“If the physician wants to know, it’s not difficult… Look, they’ve stopped.”
The group of eunuchs noticed that there were more imperial guards near the Eastern Palace. Their clothes were stained with mud and water, making it impossible for them to blend in unnoticed.
“What should we do now!”
The leading eunuch was anxious. He was also holding a small box, and the eunuchs looked around, seemingly trying to find a place to hide the item.
When Meng Qi and Mo Li arrived, they saw them choose a tree, climb up, and stuff the box into a tree hole before covering it with branches and leaves. Then, they scattered and fled.
Meng Qi was already accustomed to such secrets landing right before his eyes.
The sand rat could always hear various secrets, so encountering one more was not surprising.
“Why not guess what’s inside?”
“It’s being buried, so it must not be something that spoils easily. Silver notes and account books are out of the question… The box isn’t too big or too small. If it were small items like jade pendants or gold hairpins, they could be wrapped in a handkerchief and stuffed into a crevice, extremely concealed without risking exposure. Since it was specifically placed in a box and even buried, it suggests that the item inside might be quite valuable, delicate, and not easily disguised, making it apparent to others upon sight.”
Mo Li analyzed point by point, and by the time he finished, Meng Qi suddenly thought of a possibility.
“Could it be the imperial jade seal?”
“What?”
Mo Li was shocked. The imperial jade seal, sought after for a long time by the Qi dynasty but not found, being in the hands of the Qi dynasty’s crown prince, seemed like a huge joke.
From the eunuchs’ conversation, it was clear they were ordered to hide the item, and failing to conceal it properly would disappoint the crown prince.
“Whether it’s the jade seal or not, we’ll know once we look.”
Others’ hidden items were easily retrieved by Meng Qi with a mere gesture.
He felt around the box, and shook it to ensure there were no mechanisms.
“This is a nine-eyed seven-clever lock, just this lock alone is worth a hundred gold.”
Meng Qi fiddled with the lock hanging on the box. Then, he forcefully twisted and broke the lock.
The box opened, revealing a squarely wrapped object in red silk.
Just by its shape, Meng Qi was certain; he nodded at Mo Li.
Upon unwrapping the red silk, what appeared was indeed the jade seal engraved with “Granted by Heaven, may it last forever.”
The jade was lustrous and radiant, cool to the touch, flawless. Underneath the jade seal were wave-like patterns, with a crouching chi dragon on top, carved so vividly it seemed as if it could roar at any moment.
“Did craftsmen during the Qin Emperor’s time possess such miraculous skills?” Mo Li was almost outright stating that the jade seal was a fake.
The style of jade carving from fifteen hundred years ago was not like this.
“Whether this is the He’s Bi jade obtained by the Qin Emperor, I do not know. However, this is indeed the same piece I once saw and retrieved from the bottom of the Qing River to present to Emperor Chu Yuan.”
Mo Li nodded, his voice grave, “Then this truly is the imperial jade seal, making the matter even more mysterious.”
Sorting through the events and rumors heard these days: the crown prince is terminally ill and dying, someone in the palace, someone colluded with Ancestor Qingwu to plot a rebellion, only for Emperor Lu Zhang to discover it in advance. The gates of Taijing City were sealed, the imperial guards searched everywhere, and Lu Zhang, believing he had control of the situation, began to purge the rebels. At this time, the crown prince’s trusted aide secretly buried the jade seal…
“Is it really the Second Prince who is plotting the rebellion, not the Crown Prince?”
Mo Li couldn’t help but feel that the Crown Prince was more suspicious.
Considering Emperor Lu Zhang’s deployment of the Jinyiwei to track down Meng Qi’s whereabouts, it’s clear that the Qi dynasty doesn’t possess the imperial jade seal. How did the Crown Prince acquire it? And how did he conceal it from the Emperor? With the Crown Prince on his deathbed, why would he bury the jade seal?
For whom did he intend to leave it? The imperial guards serve the Emperor; if they found the imperial jade seal during their search, it’s unlikely they would keep it for themselves and would instead present it to the Emperor.
Thus, the Crown Prince must be guarding against Lu Zhang.
“This Crown Prince really doesn’t see eye to eye with the Emperor,” Meng Qi muttered to himself.
Although there has never been a lack of Crown Princes in conflict with their Emperors through the ages, with relationships always being delicate—officially father and son but often turning into enemies plotting rebellion—such a degree of subtlety in their relationship is rare indeed.
This isn’t as simple as hiding the jade seal. The actions and implications in the words of those eunuchs clearly proved their loyalty to the Crown Prince and their hostility towards the Emperor.
How could a dying Crown Prince make these eunuchs forsake their own wealth and lives to hide the imperial jade seal instead of handing it over?
“If you can’t figure it out, you could always ask the person himself,” Meng Qi hinted.
“Go to the Crown Prince? What about Lu Zhang, just ignore him?”
Meng Qi didn’t answer, simply waving his hand nonchalantly, leaving it unclear whether he meant “There’s time” or “It won’t lead to death.”
The Eastern Palace was close at hand, guarded tightly by the imperial guards. Compared to the Second Prince, whose whereabouts were unknown, and Emperor Lu Zhang, who was hidden somewhere, the Crown Prince was indeed easier to find.
“Who’s there?”
A guard barely caught a glimpse of a shadow and shouted immediately.
His companions all looked in that direction, but the spot was empty.
“Could it have been a mistake?”
“No, the commander said there might be highly skilled rebels infiltrating the palace, search!”
The guards quickly gathered, while Meng Qi and Mo Li had already climbed over the palace wall, crouching low and deftly scaling the eaves, swiftly crossing two halls and arriving near the Crown Prince’s study and sleeping quarters in the blink of an eye.
The palace used glazed tiles that were slippery and easy to break underfoot.
However, for supreme martial artists, this was not a problem. Besides the tiles, there were also sturdy wooden and brick structures forming the main body of the palace, with beast sculptures on the eaves to leverage.
If it weren’t daytime but night, Meng Qi could move even faster.
Now, they could only stick close to the eaves to avoid being seen.
Yet, an unexpected encounter still occurred.
Beneath the eaves of the study, a yellow-brown furred civet cat was squatting silently, blocking their way. Meng Qi didn’t notice it at first until he got close, nearly jumping in surprise.
“Meow.”
The civet cat leisurely wiped its face with a paw.
Meng Qi: “…”
Mo Li: “…”
After staring at Meng Qi and Mo Li for a while, as if realizing these two were not there to invade its territory, the civet cat casually hopped aside, leaving the path clear.
“…”
The mood of the two became even more complicated.
“Meow?” The civet cat looked at them questioningly, aren’t you leaving?
At this moment, a eunuch in the courtyard urgently and quietly shouted, “Who has seen His Highness’s cat? How did it disappear in the blink of an eye, at a time like this, can’t you be more diligent! By the way, where’s the imperial physician, hasn’t he arrived yet?”
“Replying to Chief Steward Chen, the imperial physician was stopped outside.”
“What? What do the guards mean by that, as long as His Highness is alive, he is forever the Crown Prince, how dare they… It’s utterly despicable!”
Then, from the direction of the sleeping quarters came a commotion.
A maid ran over in a panic, her voice tinged with sobs, “His Highness coughed up blood again!”
Understanding the Way of the Cat
The imperial palace has always been a place people yearn to witness.
Storybooks boast extravagantly about the palace, describing it as a place of jade buildings and golden halls, where women in palace attire, adorned with pearls and silks, carry incense burners and jade plates, offering the finest delicacies of the human world.
In reality, the imperial palace is not like this.
Within the ochre walls, while the multi-eaved buildings are indeed majestic, they fall far short of a heavenly palace. A house is just a house; it doesn’t naturally come with clouds, nor is it built of jade and white marble.
The beautiful women in high buns and palace dress are even less in evidence. Eunuchs wear dark green or brown robes, and palace maids wear stone blue or indigo, none of which are particularly eye-catching. They blend into the corners of walls and palaces, almost becoming one with the decorative objects.
Now, with the palace under martial law, even these figures, who usually walk with their heads down, are nowhere to be seen.
Imperial Guards patrol everywhere, and all the palace gates are tightly shut, with no sound from within.
Mo Li glanced around briefly.
He noticed that Meng Qi was leading, following the eunuchs who had tried to hide something by digging a hole but ended up uncovering an underground water vein.
“What’s with these people?”
“Nothing much, they just happen to be going in the same direction as us. I noticed they know how to take shortcuts to avoid the Imperial Guards, so we’re following them to take advantage.” Meng Qi is familiar with the layout of the imperial palace. Despite changes in dynasties, the general layout of the buildings hasn’t changed much.
As they walked, Meng Qi explained, “Princes usually live closer to the front court, with the Imperial Garden serving as a boundary, and beyond that are the residences of the consorts.”
He suddenly stopped, a look of hesitation on his face.
“Something’s not right.”
Mo Li looked up to see a palace nearby showing signs of disrepair, looking unoccupied despite the absence of weeds.
Meng Qi frowned, “We’re approaching the Eastern Palace, and this area should be where the other princes reside. This Chunhua Palace is the largest, divided into seven halls, and was the residence and study place for princes and royalty during the Chu dynasty. Could it have been abandoned in the Qi dynasty?”
He had just claimed to know where the Second Prince lived, only to be contradicted by reality.
Chunhua Palace was busy with Imperial Guards moving in and out, their lack of concern indicating it was indeed an abandoned palace, searched and secured to prevent rebels from hiding within.
Mo Li, looking at the mottled ochre walls of Chunhua Palace, suddenly asked, “Where did Lu Zhang lead his troops into the imperial city and massacre the Chu royal family sixteen years ago?”
Meng Qi’s lips tightened in realization.
“You mean…”
Because so many had died in Chunhua Palace, and with the Qi dynasty needing repairs throughout the palace, which required money, a place deemed “unlucky” like Chunhua Palace was naturally left unused.
“Actually, many places in the palace have seen deaths, many deaths, not just Chunhua Palace.”
Avoiding just this place seems illogical, but that’s human logic for you.
The royal and noble families, prominent in life, seem even more formidable in death.
People always find thousands of reasons to consider a place unlucky.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Meng Qi admitted, surprised, “I thought Lu Zhang wouldn’t care about this, proclaiming the previous emperor was tyrannical and justifying his own rule. Could it be that deep down, Lu Zhang also fears the unfinished destiny of the Chu dynasty?”
“Where in this vast palace should we look for the Second Prince?”
Mo Li found a secluded eave, shielded by a pear tree, and looked around to see many Imperial Guards heading towards the garden where the water spout had appeared.
“If the Second Prince has already been captured, he might be imprisoned in his residence or possibly taken elsewhere under house arrest,” Meng Qi pondered, “Wherever the defense is the strictest, that’s where we’ll go. If we don’t find the Second Prince, we might find Lu Zhang. But such places could also be traps… anyone attempting a coup or assassination would find nothing but an empty hall and a heavy ambush waiting.”
Such ambushes are best left for Ancestor Qingwu to enjoy; they had no business testing them.
“Further ahead lies the Eastern Palace.”
“The Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is gravely ill, yet someone was instructed to hide an item in a desolate courtyard. Do you think this matter is related to a rebellion plot?” Mo Li pondered thoughtfully.
“It’s hard to say. Even if no one is plotting a rebellion, there are always things within the palace that people don’t want others to know about.”
Meng Qi finally finished tidying his hair, transforming from an adult to a child and then back to an adult. Aside from clothes, managing his hair was also quite troublesome.
When he and Mo Li emerged from the secret passage, they were both disheveled. This won’t do, it affects the appearance!
“If the physician wants to know, it’s not difficult… Look, they’ve stopped.”
The group of eunuchs noticed that there were more imperial guards near the Eastern Palace. Their clothes were stained with mud and water, making it impossible for them to blend in unnoticed.
“What should we do now!”
The leading eunuch was anxious. He was also holding a small box, and the eunuchs looked around, seemingly trying to find a place to hide the item.
When Meng Qi and Mo Li arrived, they saw them choose a tree, climb up, and stuff the box into a tree hole before covering it with branches and leaves. Then, they scattered and fled.
Meng Qi was already accustomed to such secrets landing right before his eyes.
The sand rat could always hear various secrets, so encountering one more was not surprising.
“Why not guess what’s inside?”
“It’s being buried, so it must not be something that spoils easily. Silver notes and account books are out of the question… The box isn’t too big or too small. If it were small items like jade pendants or gold hairpins, they could be wrapped in a handkerchief and stuffed into a crevice, extremely concealed without risking exposure. Since it was specifically placed in a box and even buried, it suggests that the item inside might be quite valuable, delicate, and not easily disguised, making it apparent to others upon sight.”
Mo Li analyzed point by point, and by the time he finished, Meng Qi suddenly thought of a possibility.
“Could it be the imperial jade seal?”
“What?”
Mo Li was shocked. The imperial jade seal, sought after for a long time by the Qi dynasty but not found, being in the hands of the Qi dynasty’s crown prince, seemed like a huge joke.
From the eunuchs’ conversation, it was clear they were ordered to hide the item, and failing to conceal it properly would disappoint the crown prince.
“Whether it’s the jade seal or not, we’ll know once we look.”
Others’ hidden items were easily retrieved by Meng Qi with a mere gesture.
He felt around the box, and shook it to ensure there were no mechanisms.
“This is a nine-eyed seven-clever lock, just this lock alone is worth a hundred gold.”
Meng Qi fiddled with the lock hanging on the box. Then, he forcefully twisted and broke the lock.
The box opened, revealing a squarely wrapped object in red silk.
Just by its shape, Meng Qi was certain; he nodded at Mo Li.
Upon unwrapping the red silk, what appeared was indeed the jade seal engraved with “Granted by Heaven, may it last forever.”
The jade was lustrous and radiant, cool to the touch, flawless. Underneath the jade seal were wave-like patterns, with a crouching chi dragon on top, carved so vividly it seemed as if it could roar at any moment.
“Did craftsmen during the Qin Emperor’s time possess such miraculous skills?” Mo Li was almost outright stating that the jade seal was a fake.
The style of jade carving from fifteen hundred years ago was not like this.
“Whether this is the He’s Bi jade obtained by the Qin Emperor, I do not know. However, this is indeed the same piece I once saw and retrieved from the bottom of the Qing River to present to Emperor Chu Yuan.”
Mo Li nodded, his voice grave, “Then this truly is the imperial jade seal, making the matter even more mysterious.”
Sorting through the events and rumors heard these days: the crown prince is terminally ill and dying, someone in the palace, someone colluded with Ancestor Qingwu to plot a rebellion, only for Emperor Lu Zhang to discover it in advance. The gates of Taijing City were sealed, the imperial guards searched everywhere, and Lu Zhang, believing he had control of the situation, began to purge the rebels. At this time, the crown prince’s trusted aide secretly buried the jade seal…
“Is it really the Second Prince who is plotting the rebellion, not the Crown Prince?”
Mo Li couldn’t help but feel that the Crown Prince was more suspicious.
Considering Emperor Lu Zhang’s deployment of the Jinyiwei to track down Meng Qi’s whereabouts, it’s clear that the Qi dynasty doesn’t possess the imperial jade seal. How did the Crown Prince acquire it? And how did he conceal it from the Emperor? With the Crown Prince on his deathbed, why would he bury the jade seal?
For whom did he intend to leave it? The imperial guards serve the Emperor; if they found the imperial jade seal during their search, it’s unlikely they would keep it for themselves and would instead present it to the Emperor.
Thus, the Crown Prince must be guarding against Lu Zhang.
“This Crown Prince really doesn’t see eye to eye with the Emperor,” Meng Qi muttered to himself.
Although there has never been a lack of Crown Princes in conflict with their Emperors through the ages, with relationships always being delicate—officially father and son but often turning into enemies plotting rebellion—such a degree of subtlety in their relationship is rare indeed.
This isn’t as simple as hiding the jade seal. The actions and implications in the words of those eunuchs clearly proved their loyalty to the Crown Prince and their hostility towards the Emperor.
How could a dying Crown Prince make these eunuchs forsake their own wealth and lives to hide the imperial jade seal instead of handing it over?
“If you can’t figure it out, you could always ask the person himself,” Meng Qi hinted.
“Go to the Crown Prince? What about Lu Zhang, just ignore him?”
Meng Qi didn’t answer, simply waving his hand nonchalantly, leaving it unclear whether he meant “There’s time” or “It won’t lead to death.”
The Eastern Palace was close at hand, guarded tightly by the imperial guards. Compared to the Second Prince, whose whereabouts were unknown, and Emperor Lu Zhang, who was hidden somewhere, the Crown Prince was indeed easier to find.
“Who’s there?”
A guard barely caught a glimpse of a shadow and shouted immediately.
His companions all looked in that direction, but the spot was empty.
“Could it have been a mistake?”
“No, the commander said there might be highly skilled rebels infiltrating the palace, search!”
The guards quickly gathered, while Meng Qi and Mo Li had already climbed over the palace wall, crouching low and deftly scaling the eaves, swiftly crossing two halls and arriving near the Crown Prince’s study and sleeping quarters in the blink of an eye.
The palace used glazed tiles that were slippery and easy to break underfoot.
However, for supreme martial artists, this was not a problem. Besides the tiles, there were also sturdy wooden and brick structures forming the main body of the palace, with beast sculptures on the eaves to leverage.
If it weren’t daytime but night, Meng Qi could move even faster.
Now, they could only stick close to the eaves to avoid being seen.
Yet, an unexpected encounter still occurred.
Beneath the eaves of the study, a yellow-brown furred civet cat was squatting silently, blocking their way. Meng Qi didn’t notice it at first until he got close, nearly jumping in surprise.
“Meow.”
The civet cat leisurely wiped its face with a paw.
Meng Qi: “…”
Mo Li: “…”
After staring at Meng Qi and Mo Li for a while, as if realizing these two were not there to invade its territory, the civet cat casually hopped aside, leaving the path clear.
“…”
The mood of the two became even more complicated.
“Meow?” The civet cat looked at them questioningly, aren’t you leaving?
At this moment, a eunuch in the courtyard urgently and quietly shouted, “Who has seen His Highness’s cat? How did it disappear in the blink of an eye, at a time like this, can’t you be more diligent! By the way, where’s the imperial physician, hasn’t he arrived yet?”
“Replying to Chief Steward Chen, the imperial physician was stopped outside.”
“What? What do the guards mean by that, as long as His Highness is alive, he is forever the Crown Prince, how dare they… It’s utterly despicable!”
Then, from the direction of the sleeping quarters came a commotion.
A maid ran over in a panic, her voice tinged with sobs, “His Highness coughed up blood again!”
