Chapter 19
Lost but not yet found
After the icy lake tragedy, Meng Feng and her team ventured east to search for Yuwen Yue, while some of her followers remained with Prince Yuan Song. Yuwen Yue's grandfather refuses to believe he is dead unless they bring him his grandson's body. It has been a year since then, with no body found and no evidence of Yuwen Yue being alive.
The same fate befell Yue Qi, Yuwen Yue's personal bodyguard, who has also been missing since the tragedy. No one knows his whereabouts.
Speculations from the royal family suggest that Yue Qi may be wounded and possibly fell from a cliff. He might have survived and hidden Yuwen Yue, or they could have been rescued by unknown parties.
This situation greatly upset Yuwen Gao, as the Emperor constantly demands updates, as does the 13th Prince, Yuan Song, and Yuwen Gao has no substantial information to provide. This uncertainty threatens his position as Master of the Eyes of God.
"Master, the bird has returned with a message," said one of Yuwen Gao's guards.
Yuwen Gao sprinkled appearing powder on the letter and read the message from Yue Liu. It said:
"Master Yuwen Gao, we have found no trace of Yuwen Yue or Yue Qi. We have now reached the one-year mark you set for our return. Should we continue the search?"
Yuwen Gao went to his desk, drafted a reply, sprinkled disappearing powder on it, and handed it to his servant, who gave it to the Yuwen guard. The guard attached the message to the pigeon's feet, and the bird flew away.
"Yue Liu, a message from the pigeon," Meng Feng said as she handed the paper snow to Yue Liu. He sprinkled the appearing powder and read:
"I cannot bear the shame my grandson has brought upon the Yuwen family, and I must attend to the Emperor. Let us proceed to plan B."
Yue Liu became sorrowful. "Meng Feng, we must return to the Red Plateau and declare both of them dead to the empire. We must find a body and present it."
"That's impossible!" Meng Feng cried, her eyes brimming with tears. She turned away from Yue Liu.
"Slaves obey," he replied, though he felt uneasy about plan B, which he had long known about but hadn't expected to come to pass. Still, he mourned Yuwen Yue's absence, having lost all his brothers except himself.
Plan B involved declaring Yuwen Yue dead by procuring a body, along with Yue Qi's, which broke Yue Liu's heart. Yuwen Gao had fabricated the evidence to convince the Emperor, using a whitewash strategy to close the tragic chapter of Yuwen Yue and Yue Qi's disappearance.
At Shen Jin Palace, the Emperor's health had been declining. A message arrived from the Yuwen household, written on paper snow. It read:
"Dearest Emperor,
I am deeply grieved and can barely think or write clearly. We have found the bodies of both my grandson and his bodyguard. It has been a year, so we had to cremate them. Rest assured, an autopsy confirmed their identities.
Yuwen Gao, Master of the Eyes of God."
The Emperor wept, coughed, and fainted. His servants quickly summoned the royal doctor, who arrived at once.
The doctor administered acupuncture to the Emperor and advised him to rest. Meanwhile, Yuan Song had already received this information, having been informed by one of Meng Feng's followers. Yuan Song appeared gloomy and did not touch his royal meals for the entire day. Instead, he retreated to his room, where he wrote down his thoughts in his diary. He crossed out a name and contemplated striking another prominent name from his journal but couldn't bring himself to do it. He thought of Chu Qiao and wrote:
"As autumn approaches, so too has your master fallen, like a leaf from a branch. I hope the coming cold season is short and that I will not endure an eternal winter. When I think of our secret cherry blossom garden, I dream that one day we will sit together and watch the leaves fall, and you will cry on my shoulder when I tell you your master has left this world for the next."
Meanwhile, Yuan Che rushed to the palace to see the Emperor. He wore a dark red military uniform with large iron pauldrons and a breastplate. The concubines, waiting outside the Emperor's hall, saw him as he arrived.
Yuan Che stood by his father's bedside, and just as he was about to leave, the Emperor briefly touched his hand and opened his eyes, only to drift back to sleep.
"Your father needs time to recover," the royal doctor said.
"Doctor, is there anything we should be concerned about with his health?" Yuan Che asked, preparing himself for any future complications.
"I see no major health issues, but we must be cautious about how he handles significant news. Emotional shocks could lead to a sudden decline in his health, and it might even be fatal if he cannot control his emotions. For now, he needs a long period of rest to recover."
In other words, the Emperor was aging and no longer strong enough to handle the stress that threatened the empire. Yuan Che pondered his own ambitions, wondering how he might influence his father to pass the throne to him instead of the 13th Crown Prince, Yuan Song.
Yuan Che nodded and said, "I will inform my brother, Yuan Song," before leaving the Emperor's hall.
Returning to his own palace, Yuan Che allowed himself a moment of grief. He had heard the news about Yuwen Yue and was devastated. Although he hadn't trusted Yuwen Yue as an ally at first, their relationship had gradually strengthened, especially after Yuwen Yue took on the role of his general.
He recalled their shared experiences during military expeditions, both the good and the perilous. Yuan Che also remembered teasing Yuwen Yue about becoming his brother-in-law by marrying Princess Chuner, though Yuwen Yue's feelings had not been mutual. The 7th Prince had settled on Yuwen Yue being his trusted ally and friend.
Now, Yuan Che deeply regretted that Yuwen Yue had gone to the icy mountains of Yanbei without a large army, taking only a few Yuwen guards.
Yuan Che knew Yuwen Yue had not gone as a Wei general or as the master of the Eyes of God, but as a lover, seeking one last glimpse of Chu Qiao before she married Yan Xun in Yanbei. Yuwen Yue had faced reality, accepting both their personal and political fates. Despite warnings from Meng Feng and Yue Qi not to visit the temple near Xuili Mountain, Yuwen Yue had gone, ostensibly to rescue Yue Jui, one of the Yuwen household spies held by Yan Xun.
Yuwen Yue had invited the Xuili General to meet him at a secluded temple, and Chu Qiao had come. Yuwen Yue dismissed his guards, asking them to wait at the mountain's foothills.
Chu Qiao sat and drank, while Yuwen Yue simply watched her, remembering the last time he had held her in his arms when he saved her from Princess Chuner's blades. She had been unconscious, fighting bravely for Hong Chuan, and Yuwen Yue had left her as though nothing had happened.
But Chu Qiao seemed to know this and thanked him for all the times he had helped her. She offered Yuwen Yue a toast, which he returned.
As Yuwen Yue drank, he inhaled deeply and mentioned her upcoming betrothal to Yan Xun, adding, "Perhaps the next time we meet, I should address you as the Duchess of Yanbei?"
The betrothal announcement had been a press release from Yan Xun's camp, intended to lure Yuwen Yue into action. Chu Qiao, unaware of the deeper significance, responded naively: "And perhaps when we meet again, you will have a wife and children."
Back at the Yuwen household, Yuwen Gao placed Yuwen Yue's ashes in a temple urn and set his memorial tablet beside that of his father, Yuwen Hao. Angered, Yuwen Gao ordered his guards to take the urn to a desolate place, where vultures and ravens would ravage the ashes.
In his mind, Yuwen Yue's remains did not deserve a place in the Yuwen ancestral temple, nor to rest beside Yuwen Hao. After all, the body cremated had not truly been Yuwen Yue's.
As for Yue Qi, his fake ashes were buried in a humble graveyard near the Yuwen ancestral temple.
With the death of Yuwen Yue and Yue Qi announced publicly, Yuwen Gao prohibited any mourning rites for the former interim master of the Eyes of God.
Everyone was shocked. Yuwen Yue had been made a scapegoat to protect the family from the Emperor's wrath, who had taken a leave of absence from court.
Yuwen Gao also ordered Yuwen Yue's name removed from the family records and forbade anyone from uttering it within the Green Hills Courtyard, declaring Yuwen Yue had brought shame, not honor, to the Yuwen family.
After everything was said and done, Yuwen Gao felt weary. "Yuwen Yue, if only you had listened to me, this would not have happened to you."
Yuwen Gao viewed himself as a failure, believing his grandson's downfall, like his own, was due to a maidservant. People speculated that Yuwen Yue had perished in the icy lake because of his maid, Xinger.
Rumors spread like wildfire, especially after Yan Xun received the news that Yuwen Gao had officially declared Yuwen Yue's death.
Yan Xun's goal was to weaken the Eyes of God from within. He knew that military strategies alone couldn't bring them down, but a beauty, like Helen of Troy, could turn their world to ashes.
Yan Xun stood in his war room, gazing at the Canhong Jian sword with pain in his eyes and heart.
Though his victories advanced his troops and kingdom, each one seemed to turn his soul to stone, leaving him numb and alone.
With the Eyes of God weakening, Yan Xun was halfway to achieving his ambition of seizing the Wei state, fulfilling his father's legacy, and ultimately sitting on the throne of Wei. But even then, the mighty blood of Yan would not be appeased, as the weight of injustice and the loss of his family would forever remain heavy on his heart.
A Yanbei messenger returned from a two-week journey to spread the news of Yuwen Yue's death throughout the empire. "The news has reached the cities and distant areas."
"Did you ensure the damage to the Eyes of God is irreparable?" Yan Xun asked.
"There is nothing left for the poor dead master of the Eyes of God to return to. The public is utterly disgusted by the news and has turned against them."
"Good work. Now I will focus on my next steps, which should unfold in a few months. I need to gather all my financial resources to build a palace in memory of the Xuili General." Yan Xun's eyes remained fixed on the Canhong Jian sword, not turning to face the messenger.
"Is there anything else I can do for you, my lord?" the messenger asked, looking at Yan Xun's back.
"Summon A'Jing. I have something important to discuss," Yan Xun commanded.
"A'Jing, reporting," A'Jing said, entering in his casual military dress uniform to respond to Yan Xun's call.
"Have you gathered all the master builders?" Yan Xun asked.
"Yes, my lord. They should arrive shortly."
"What of the taxes I imposed recently? Did anyone rebel?"
"No one dared, except for some lowly slaves who were forced to work harder to pay the doubled tax this year."
"Did you inform them of the consequences for defying my orders?"
"Yes, I read the punishment aloud to the townspeople. They all bowed their heads, and no one dared to speak against it."
"Good. I expect Mr. Lui Xiu to deliver double the amount."
"Is there anything else I can do for you, my lord?"
"You are dismissed."
Yan Xun returned to his war room, unrolling a blueprint on a long mahogany table and studying it closely.
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