So this is the kind of person he is.
“…That imperial seal, you plan to leave it to the Sixth Prince?”
Although Meng Qi discovered the imperial seal, he did not take it away; he placed it back into the box and returned it to the tree hollow.
Firstly, Meng Qi didn’t care much about this treasure of immense symbolic value and priceless worth; secondly, the imperial seal was not something easy to carry around, bulging out wherever it was placed, and it couldn’t be dropped or knocked.
Besides, becoming an emperor doesn’t depend on the imperial seal. Holding the seal doesn’t determine the ownership of the throne, so why bother with it?
It’s just a burden!
“After the downfall of the Chu dynasty, the whereabouts of the imperial seal became unknown. You found it?”
“Cough cough.”
The crown prince nodded, his expression somber.
Maid Yu Lan was weeping softly beside him. Though she didn’t speak, her eyes were filled with indissoluble despair.
“It’s not that I fear death or cling to life, but once I die, there will be problems both inside and outside the court,” the crown prince gasped for breath and then bitterly smiled. “The court officials only need to consider who will be the next master of the Eastern Palace, picking and choosing among the princes, finding one they think is the most amenable, making their lives easier. Master Meng has also held official positions, so he should understand the calculations of these literati. The Third Prince is their ideal candidate in their eyes. But it won’t work, the Third Prince’s temperament is simply… not suitable…”
Seeing his complexion turn pale, Mo Li sent another surge of internal energy his way.
“Calm down, don’t get agitated. You know how to take care of yourself.”
“The physician is right.”
The crown prince slowly lay back down, Yu Lan wiped away her tears and went out to fetch the medicine.
Mo Li called her back, whispering, “Bring the prescription as well, let me see.”
Yu Lan looked up, and after receiving permission from the crown prince, she complied.
The medicine was already prepared, and placed on the stove in the outer hall, while Steward Chen kept the prescription. Yu Lan unlocked the box to retrieve it.
Mo Li smelled the medicine and stopped her, “Wait, are there other herbs in the Eastern Palace? Take me to see them.”
“Is there a problem with the medicine?” Yu Lan was greatly shocked.
The crown prince, however, did not react or panic.
“Do you really trust the imperial physicians?” Meng Qi asked meaningfully.
“It’s not them that I trust, but their minds.”
The crown prince laughed self-deprecatingly, “Every year, several low-ranking consorts and concubines in the emperor’s harem die of illness, along with my imperial sisters and brothers. The imperial physicians know too much. Knowing too much leads to death. Those who are still alive are clearer than the court officials about who the emperor allowed to survive. They don’t want me to die. As for the medicine, it’s prepared by my trusted maids and eunuchs, who don’t even let others fetch water or add firewood. I trust their abilities and loyalty. No matter where, there will always be people with different intentions, and the Eastern Palace is no exception. My confidants know how to deal with these people, not giving them any chance.”
The crown prince weakly gestured, and the tabby cat on the beam looked at him for a while, then lazily approached.
Meng Qi: “…”
Master Meng unobtrusively moved to the other side of the bed.
When the Dragon Vein of Taijing first transformed, due to its plump sand rat appearance, everyone wanted to “bully” it. Although those were all natural predators of the sand rat, Master Meng Qi was only afraid of cats, which naturally had its reasons.
Sand rats run fast and can dig holes, with mountains and rocks as natural barriers, never leaving “home” before obtaining a human form. Once capable of transforming into humans, going down the mountain, and defending themselves, the Dragon Vein of Taijing became bolder, wandering everywhere, which led to increased dangers.
Years later, as the Imperial Teacher of the Chu dynasty, Meng Qi learned martial arts to drive away the charlatans and became fearless, thinking he could roam freely in Taijing.
Then, he encountered cats.
During the prosperous era of the Chu dynasty, every household in the capital had surplus money and food, without worries about clothing or food, which led to a rat plague.
Initially, only a few families kept cats, but as the rats became bold, damaging furniture and clothes, stealing grains, oil, and even children’s candies, the people of Taijing could no longer tolerate it. They either went to the fields near the capital or other prefectures to hire tabby cats to catch rats.
The cats that caught many rats could eat fresh fish every meal.
Those skilled at catching rats became famous in the neighborhood, and every time they had kittens, the doorstep of the owner’s home would be worn down by visitors.
—What happened to the plump rat is unknown, but Master Meng no longer dares to easily transform into a sand rat for a night stroll.
Meng Qi admired General Song’s garden, not just because it was well-kept but also because General Song liked brightly colored birds, so there were no cats in his residence, nor were others allowed to keep them.
In an attempt to steal Prime Minister Deng’s mutton, Meng Qi had a few close encounters with Deng’s black cat. Fortunately, the cat, kept by Lady Deng, was too fat to run fast. Unexpectedly, the cat recognized the true form of the Dragon Vein; every time it saw Master Meng, it would crazily pounce and scratch. What kind of person was Prime Minister Deng? Observant and insightful, he immediately became suspicious of Meng Qi. Though he didn’t catch him in the act, he was convinced that Meng Qi was the thief.
The temperamental scholar Deng, who protected his food, kept a petty-minded cat to protect his interests.
To spy on him, it would sit on the wall of Master Meng’s residence day and night, suddenly appearing like a ghost, a true master of ambush. If the sand rat was caught outright, it would probably faint on the spot. The most terrifying aspect was the cat’s grudge-holding nature; defeated repeatedly, it kept fighting, becoming thinner in less than half a year, which only doubled its combat effectiveness.
—For a long time, every time Meng Qi heard a cat’s meow, he would instinctively search for that black shadow.
Tabby cats have strange personalities; sometimes they wouldn’t chase a sand rat running past them. Some would be sunbathing on the wall and suddenly leap towards the plump rat, their claws so fast they left afterimages, comparable to the Thousand-Hand Guanyin technique of Hengchang Temple or the Shadowless Bone Claw of the demonic sects.
Third-rate martial artists couldn’t learn this.
Meng Qi coldly watched the cat stop on the bed’s footboard, wagging its tail but not approaching.
“Ah Hu has been avoiding me for a month; I knew my days were numbered. Some say black cats have mystical powers; although Ah Hu is not a black cat, it might also see things ordinary people cannot.”
The crown prince reached out to pet the tabby cat’s head, but it immediately dodged.
Meng Qi couldn’t stand hearing praises of tabby cats and couldn’t help but say, “This has nothing to do with tabby cats. Creatures in the mountains all stay away from a dying companion; it’s their instinct. If it’s a severely injured or starving mate, they don’t have such taboos.”
“Has Master Meng seen it?”
“In the depths of Shangyun Mountain, there’s a pack of wolves. Once, a wolf fell seriously ill, and by the next day, it couldn’t even stand. The pack watched it from a distance, guarding it for a day and a night until the sick wolf died, then left howling.”
The crown prince sighed upon hearing this: “Ah Hu is just a cat, no one cares where it goes. After I die, it can leave this palace, free to roam the vast world. But what about people? They’re worse off than a small tabby cat.”
Then Mo Li returned, holding the prescription, and said, “The original prescription could nourish blood and qi, quite suitable for treating your condition, only you…”
Your body is too weak to benefit from it.
Pausing, Mo Li changed his approach: “I’ll reduce the dosage of a few herbs and add an auxiliary herb, to be taken three times daily. As long as you don’t get angry or move around much, it could extend your life by half a month.”
“Thank you, physician. This way, I can wait for the return of the Sixth Prince.”
The crown prince showed no joy, obviously, a few more days of life couldn’t alleviate his endless sorrow.
“Actually, even the Sixth Prince doesn’t have the ability. There are no wise ministers in the court, and those with integrity and virtue have either been killed by my father or refuse to serve… The former dynasties to the south are complacent and indulgent; to the west, there’s King Tianshou plotting rebellion… cough, cough, the world is about to fall into chaos, and there’s nothing that can be done.”
It’s always like this in the world; those who shouldn’t die do, and those who only cause trouble live long lives.
Meng Qi was lost in thought, suddenly remembering Li Yuanze’s eldest son, the Crown Prince Zhaohua of the Chu dynasty.
The early death of Crown Prince Zhaohua was a great blow to both the inside and outside of the Chu dynasty; Li Yuanze aged over a decade standing by his son’s coffin. Although Emperor Chu had other sons, talented ones among them, none could compare to Crown Prince Zhaohua.
Emperor Chu’s behavior changed dramatically, leading to the slaughter of meritorious officials, starting from then.
The prince who succeeded couldn’t suppress the full court of meritorious officials, and the aging emperor, paranoid, believed that once he died, powerful ministers like Marquis Jingyuan would rebel and seize the throne.
Although Meng Qi had never served as an official in the Qi dynasty, looking at such a prince of Qi, he understood the deepest thoughts of everyone in the Qi imperial court, from princes and concubines to imperial physicians, maids, and eunuchs.
—Why is it not the emperor who is ill, but the crown prince?
The crown prince was the hope in these people’s hearts; even if they wanted to commit regicide, they would still rationally plan or endure out of cowardice and incompetence, just waiting it out since the emperor was also aging and would have a day when his health failed.
An old, sick emperor is like a toothless tiger, his commands no longer effective, the imperial guards no longer loyal, and the eunuchs who willingly oppressed the palace staff and even low-ranking concubines would change their ways to flatter the princes.
The Master of this imperial city would change invisibly.
All these would happen before the emperor’s death.
As long as the emperor aged, as soon as those villains saw no benefit, their opportunity would come!
“Lu Zhang probably doesn’t realize that his crown prince is about to die. Instead of stimulating his other sons to please him and compete for the position of the next crown prince, it has driven them to irrationally contemplate regicide.”
Meng Qi crossed his arms, stepping in front of Mo Li to block the cat.
However, the tabby cat ignored him, leaping onto the table next to Mo Li and pawing at the bag.
Mo Li stepped aside, and the cat followed.
In this game of chase, they unwittingly ended up in front of the bed.
Mo Li: “…”
He felt as though he was chased over by the cat.
Yu Lan looked at the cat, then at Mo Li, whispering, “The crown prince’s cat seems to want the physician to treat His Highness?”
“There are herbs in my bag; it probably smelled them.” Mo Li stood helplessly in front of the bed.
“Meow.” The tabby cat urged with a call.
The crown prince had to say to the cat, “Ah Hu, the physician has already taken my pulse.”
The cat sat there immovably, with a watchful eye.
It was Meng Qi who first regained his composure, irritably saying, “It seems it saw its master receiving internal energy and now hopes for more.”
What Dragon Vein offers is not merely internal energy but spiritual energy, the “life” energy of mountains and rivers. Cats have an instinct, knowing good from bad.
“Forget it, Ah Hu, this is fate.”
The crown prince sighed, then suddenly turned to Meng Qi, “Master… I wonder if you have any ambition to rule over the world?”
Author’s Note:
Crown Prince: None of my brothers are promising, and there are no wise ministers in the court.
Crown Prince: To the south, there are the three kings of the former dynasty, to the west, the Holy Lotus Sect and King Tianshou plotting rebellion, and there’s a severe drought in Yongzhou…
So this is the kind of person he is.
“…That imperial seal, you plan to leave it to the Sixth Prince?”
Although Meng Qi discovered the imperial seal, he did not take it away; he placed it back into the box and returned it to the tree hollow.
Firstly, Meng Qi didn’t care much about this treasure of immense symbolic value and priceless worth; secondly, the imperial seal was not something easy to carry around, bulging out wherever it was placed, and it couldn’t be dropped or knocked.
Besides, becoming an emperor doesn’t depend on the imperial seal. Holding the seal doesn’t determine the ownership of the throne, so why bother with it?
It’s just a burden!
“After the downfall of the Chu dynasty, the whereabouts of the imperial seal became unknown. You found it?”
“Cough cough.”
The crown prince nodded, his expression somber.
Maid Yu Lan was weeping softly beside him. Though she didn’t speak, her eyes were filled with indissoluble despair.
“It’s not that I fear death or cling to life, but once I die, there will be problems both inside and outside the court,” the crown prince gasped for breath and then bitterly smiled. “The court officials only need to consider who will be the next master of the Eastern Palace, picking and choosing among the princes, finding one they think is the most amenable, making their lives easier. Master Meng has also held official positions, so he should understand the calculations of these literati. The Third Prince is their ideal candidate in their eyes. But it won’t work, the Third Prince’s temperament is simply… not suitable…”
Seeing his complexion turn pale, Mo Li sent another surge of internal energy his way.
“Calm down, don’t get agitated. You know how to take care of yourself.”
“The physician is right.”
The crown prince slowly lay back down, Yu Lan wiped away her tears and went out to fetch the medicine.
Mo Li called her back, whispering, “Bring the prescription as well, let me see.”
Yu Lan looked up, and after receiving permission from the crown prince, she complied.
The medicine was already prepared, and placed on the stove in the outer hall, while Steward Chen kept the prescription. Yu Lan unlocked the box to retrieve it.
Mo Li smelled the medicine and stopped her, “Wait, are there other herbs in the Eastern Palace? Take me to see them.”
“Is there a problem with the medicine?” Yu Lan was greatly shocked.
The crown prince, however, did not react or panic.
“Do you really trust the imperial physicians?” Meng Qi asked meaningfully.
“It’s not them that I trust, but their minds.”
The crown prince laughed self-deprecatingly, “Every year, several low-ranking consorts and concubines in the emperor’s harem die of illness, along with my imperial sisters and brothers. The imperial physicians know too much. Knowing too much leads to death. Those who are still alive are clearer than the court officials about who the emperor allowed to survive. They don’t want me to die. As for the medicine, it’s prepared by my trusted maids and eunuchs, who don’t even let others fetch water or add firewood. I trust their abilities and loyalty. No matter where, there will always be people with different intentions, and the Eastern Palace is no exception. My confidants know how to deal with these people, not giving them any chance.”
The crown prince weakly gestured, and the tabby cat on the beam looked at him for a while, then lazily approached.
Meng Qi: “…”
Master Meng unobtrusively moved to the other side of the bed.
When the Dragon Vein of Taijing first transformed, due to its plump sand rat appearance, everyone wanted to “bully” it. Although those were all natural predators of the sand rat, Master Meng Qi was only afraid of cats, which naturally had its reasons.
Sand rats run fast and can dig holes, with mountains and rocks as natural barriers, never leaving “home” before obtaining a human form. Once capable of transforming into humans, going down the mountain, and defending themselves, the Dragon Vein of Taijing became bolder, wandering everywhere, which led to increased dangers.
Years later, as the Imperial Teacher of the Chu dynasty, Meng Qi learned martial arts to drive away the charlatans and became fearless, thinking he could roam freely in Taijing.
Then, he encountered cats.
During the prosperous era of the Chu dynasty, every household in the capital had surplus money and food, without worries about clothing or food, which led to a rat plague.
Initially, only a few families kept cats, but as the rats became bold, damaging furniture and clothes, stealing grains, oil, and even children’s candies, the people of Taijing could no longer tolerate it. They either went to the fields near the capital or other prefectures to hire tabby cats to catch rats.
The cats that caught many rats could eat fresh fish every meal.
Those skilled at catching rats became famous in the neighborhood, and every time they had kittens, the doorstep of the owner’s home would be worn down by visitors.
—What happened to the plump rat is unknown, but Master Meng no longer dares to easily transform into a sand rat for a night stroll.
Meng Qi admired General Song’s garden, not just because it was well-kept but also because General Song liked brightly colored birds, so there were no cats in his residence, nor were others allowed to keep them.
In an attempt to steal Prime Minister Deng’s mutton, Meng Qi had a few close encounters with Deng’s black cat. Fortunately, the cat, kept by Lady Deng, was too fat to run fast. Unexpectedly, the cat recognized the true form of the Dragon Vein; every time it saw Master Meng, it would crazily pounce and scratch. What kind of person was Prime Minister Deng? Observant and insightful, he immediately became suspicious of Meng Qi. Though he didn’t catch him in the act, he was convinced that Meng Qi was the thief.
The temperamental scholar Deng, who protected his food, kept a petty-minded cat to protect his interests.
To spy on him, it would sit on the wall of Master Meng’s residence day and night, suddenly appearing like a ghost, a true master of ambush. If the sand rat was caught outright, it would probably faint on the spot. The most terrifying aspect was the cat’s grudge-holding nature; defeated repeatedly, it kept fighting, becoming thinner in less than half a year, which only doubled its combat effectiveness.
—For a long time, every time Meng Qi heard a cat’s meow, he would instinctively search for that black shadow.
Tabby cats have strange personalities; sometimes they wouldn’t chase a sand rat running past them. Some would be sunbathing on the wall and suddenly leap towards the plump rat, their claws so fast they left afterimages, comparable to the Thousand-Hand Guanyin technique of Hengchang Temple or the Shadowless Bone Claw of the demonic sects.
Third-rate martial artists couldn’t learn this.
Meng Qi coldly watched the cat stop on the bed’s footboard, wagging its tail but not approaching.
“Ah Hu has been avoiding me for a month; I knew my days were numbered. Some say black cats have mystical powers; although Ah Hu is not a black cat, it might also see things ordinary people cannot.”
The crown prince reached out to pet the tabby cat’s head, but it immediately dodged.
Meng Qi couldn’t stand hearing praises of tabby cats and couldn’t help but say, “This has nothing to do with tabby cats. Creatures in the mountains all stay away from a dying companion; it’s their instinct. If it’s a severely injured or starving mate, they don’t have such taboos.”
“Has Master Meng seen it?”
“In the depths of Shangyun Mountain, there’s a pack of wolves. Once, a wolf fell seriously ill, and by the next day, it couldn’t even stand. The pack watched it from a distance, guarding it for a day and a night until the sick wolf died, then left howling.”
The crown prince sighed upon hearing this: “Ah Hu is just a cat, no one cares where it goes. After I die, it can leave this palace, free to roam the vast world. But what about people? They’re worse off than a small tabby cat.”
Then Mo Li returned, holding the prescription, and said, “The original prescription could nourish blood and qi, quite suitable for treating your condition, only you…”
Your body is too weak to benefit from it.
Pausing, Mo Li changed his approach: “I’ll reduce the dosage of a few herbs and add an auxiliary herb, to be taken three times daily. As long as you don’t get angry or move around much, it could extend your life by half a month.”
“Thank you, physician. This way, I can wait for the return of the Sixth Prince.”
The crown prince showed no joy, obviously, a few more days of life couldn’t alleviate his endless sorrow.
“Actually, even the Sixth Prince doesn’t have the ability. There are no wise ministers in the court, and those with integrity and virtue have either been killed by my father or refuse to serve… The former dynasties to the south are complacent and indulgent; to the west, there’s King Tianshou plotting rebellion… cough, cough, the world is about to fall into chaos, and there’s nothing that can be done.”
It’s always like this in the world; those who shouldn’t die do, and those who only cause trouble live long lives.
Meng Qi was lost in thought, suddenly remembering Li Yuanze’s eldest son, the Crown Prince Zhaohua of the Chu dynasty.
The early death of Crown Prince Zhaohua was a great blow to both the inside and outside of the Chu dynasty; Li Yuanze aged over a decade standing by his son’s coffin. Although Emperor Chu had other sons, talented ones among them, none could compare to Crown Prince Zhaohua.
Emperor Chu’s behavior changed dramatically, leading to the slaughter of meritorious officials, starting from then.
The prince who succeeded couldn’t suppress the full court of meritorious officials, and the aging emperor, paranoid, believed that once he died, powerful ministers like Marquis Jingyuan would rebel and seize the throne.
Although Meng Qi had never served as an official in the Qi dynasty, looking at such a prince of Qi, he understood the deepest thoughts of everyone in the Qi imperial court, from princes and concubines to imperial physicians, maids, and eunuchs.
—Why is it not the emperor who is ill, but the crown prince?
The crown prince was the hope in these people’s hearts; even if they wanted to commit regicide, they would still rationally plan or endure out of cowardice and incompetence, just waiting it out since the emperor was also aging and would have a day when his health failed.
An old, sick emperor is like a toothless tiger, his commands no longer effective, the imperial guards no longer loyal, and the eunuchs who willingly oppressed the palace staff and even low-ranking concubines would change their ways to flatter the princes.
The Master of this imperial city would change invisibly.
All these would happen before the emperor’s death.
As long as the emperor aged, as soon as those villains saw no benefit, their opportunity would come!
“Lu Zhang probably doesn’t realize that his crown prince is about to die. Instead of stimulating his other sons to please him and compete for the position of the next crown prince, it has driven them to irrationally contemplate regicide.”
Meng Qi crossed his arms, stepping in front of Mo Li to block the cat.
However, the tabby cat ignored him, leaping onto the table next to Mo Li and pawing at the bag.
Mo Li stepped aside, and the cat followed.
In this game of chase, they unwittingly ended up in front of the bed.
Mo Li: “…”
He felt as though he was chased over by the cat.
Yu Lan looked at the cat, then at Mo Li, whispering, “The crown prince’s cat seems to want the physician to treat His Highness?”
“There are herbs in my bag; it probably smelled them.” Mo Li stood helplessly in front of the bed.
“Meow.” The tabby cat urged with a call.
The crown prince had to say to the cat, “Ah Hu, the physician has already taken my pulse.”
The cat sat there immovably, with a watchful eye.
It was Meng Qi who first regained his composure, irritably saying, “It seems it saw its master receiving internal energy and now hopes for more.”
What Dragon Vein offers is not merely internal energy but spiritual energy, the “life” energy of mountains and rivers. Cats have an instinct, knowing good from bad.
“Forget it, Ah Hu, this is fate.”
The crown prince sighed, then suddenly turned to Meng Qi, “Master… I wonder if you have any ambition to rule over the world?”
Author’s Note:
Crown Prince: None of my brothers are promising, and there are no wise ministers in the court.
Crown Prince: To the south, there are the three kings of the former dynasty, to the west, the Holy Lotus Sect and King Tianshou plotting rebellion, and there’s a severe drought in Yongzhou…
