From CEO to Concubine

"Your Majesty, First-class Attendant Hua is waiting outside." 

Liu Yao made a noise of acknowledgement before handing the report he'd just finished scanning back to Cao Mingbao, who would ensure that there were no traces left of it. Minister of Rites Wu had looked more haggard than normal in morning court earlier today and Liu Yao's suspicions as to why had finally been confirmed. 

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Cao Mingbao trying to read his intent without being too obvious about it. Ever since Liu Yao had called him out on hiding Yan Yun's true identity, this old loyal servant of his had been excruciatingly careful to toe the line. Liu Yao had let it go after a firm admonishment but he needed Cao Mingbao to understand that he was no longer the little prince that needed protection from everything, including himself. Head Eunuch or no, Chief of the Eastern Depot or no, Cao Mingbao had no right to decide what Liu Yao should or should not know, even if his intentions had been good. 

What had happened to the Yan Family was Liu Yao's guilt to bear and Cao Mingbao couldn't shelter him from it forever. 

"Your Majesty, do you intend to let nature run its course or…" Cao Mingbao trailed off, his question hanging in the air as he awaited further instructions. 

Liu Yao considered his next step. "By tomorrow, I want everyone in the capital to know our version of the story," he decided. The report had been prepared by a very efficient member of his spy network, who had detailed in a short but concise style, every single action he'd taken to complete his mission. At the start of the third watch, one of the houses that formed a part of the residential compound belonging to the Minister of Rites' oldest son had burned down. A maid had managed to escape with minor injuries but Big Young Master Wu's favourite bedwarmer had perished in the flaming wreckage, with nothing of her left behind but a charred corpse. 

The report even included where this substitute dead body had come from, all the way down to what hour it had been taken from the unnamed graves outside the city, who had helped to transport it into the Wu Household, and speculations on its identity—which was unremarkable. 

This spy, whoever he was, deserved a promotion. 

"Would Your Majesty like the news to start spreading from Young Madam Guo's house?" 

"Shouldn't it?" Liu Yao raised an eyebrow. "There is no lack of eyewitnesses that Young Madam Guo's most loyal handmaid was 'unable' to cope with a guilty conscience and tattled on her mistress." Liu Yao didn't know exactly how many spies he had in the households of his officials but they were a proficient lot and it hadn't taken them much time at all to fabricate this entire fiasco, all the way down to the handmaid's feigned suicide. 

Perhaps more than one spy deserved a promotion. Liu Yao was used to reports of success but this particular command had been executed seamlessly. 

The handmaid's persona in the Wu Household was now no longer effective and arrangements would have to be made to replace her. But the other spy, the one who was still in charge of rescuing Yan Yun's other hapless friend, was still good to go. 

"Once the other target has been rescued, bring this pair of eyes and ears to see me," Liu Yao concluded. "But before that, this sovereign would like to meet the girl. Mingyue. In secrecy." 

"As Your Majesty commands." 

Armed with a new set of orders, Cao Mingbao bowed and took his leave. A moment later, a tentative figure clad in the shade of 'the moon amidst the bamboo trees' walked in. This poetic name had been bestowed upon the colour used by the robes of minor court officials by someone who had too much artistry in their veins. Liu Yao would have simply called it a greyish blue. But once upon a time, someone had laughed at him for his frankness and told him that he had an unromantic soul. That he'd failed to comprehend the loneliness these minor officials, who had to start at the bottom, felt on their difficult uphill battle through the corrupt ministerial system. 

An endless night without anything to illuminate the bamboo forest but the wan light of the moon. Liu Yao had never been able to get the image out of his mind after it'd taken root. 

Attendant Hua wasn't an official. But he chose to wear these colours anyway. 

"Come here." 

The figure hesitating by the entrance finally trembled its way over to the centre of the room to present Liu Yao with a bow. 

"This concubine-subject greets Your Majesty." Attendant Hua's voice was surprisingly measured, given that it was obvious to Liu Yao how petrified he truly was. With a little bit of training, he might make an interesting participant in morning court. 

Make it a lot of training. Liu Yao understood the effect being in the presence of the emperor had on his subjects but although he only had the faintest of impressions of Attendant Hua from the spring festival banquet, he didn't remember him being this cowardly. Attendant Hua kept his head so low that his chin was tucked against his chest like he was afraid to let Liu Yao catch even a glimpse of his face. 

"Raise your head, let this sovereign have a look at you." 

To Liu Yao's confusion, this simple request was met with a refusal that sat at odds with the rest of Attendant Hua's passive personality. 

"T-this concubine-subject is too plain when compared to Lord Yue and he does not wish to s-s-sully Your Majesty's eyes—"

"…" Liu Yao quickly revised his mistaken impression. Attendant Hua wasn't passive in the slightest and he was also a very loyal friend. Although, he seemed to have had a little misunderstanding as to why he was here, which was fair, considering Liu Yao had yet to explain.

"If you don't intend to ever show your face in this sovereign's morning court, then, by all means, stand next to the bookshelves and continue admiring Tianlu Pavilion's flooring until the shichen is up."

As quick as the crack of a whip, Attendant Hua's head shot up, his eyes wide with disbelief and so bright with hope it was like stars had formed in them. If this was the expression he constantly wore around Yan Yun whenever he discussed his ambitions, it was no wonder Yan Yun had decided to risk raising Liu Yao's suspicions to mention him. 

"Your Majesty!" Attendant Hua fell to one knee in a bow that would be proper for a scholar or a soldier but not a concubine. "Please consider this c—" He swallowed. "This s-subject's humble plea to be given a chance to prove himself." 

"Not so fast. Young Master Hua isn't this sovereign's subject yet." But Liu Yao didn't call him out for flouting the rules. Yan Yun, this Hua Zhixuan, and even the rest of the men and women in Liu Yao's harem were victims of the infighting that had been going on in his court for far too long now. They were mere pawns to be manoeuvred relentlessly against him, the enemy general, in the hopes that one day, one of them might achieve an unexpected checkmate. 

But reality was far more complicated than the chessboard. Liu Yao fully intended to capture as many pieces as he could and placed them back on his side. 

Attendant Hua stiffened up under the weight of Liu Yao's assessing gaze but there was a tight set to his jaw that revealed a firm determination he'd gone to lengths to conceal earlier. 

"Take this and look at it, it's one of the questions this sovereign is considering adding into the imperial examinations." 

Liu Yao held out a scroll and waited with a forbearance he didn't know he had for Attendant Hua to shuffle forward and accept it. Excitement and confusion warred on Attendant Hua's face. It was evident that he understood the opportunity he was being given but also wasn't sure why he was allowed to be privy to such important state matters when, as Liu Yao had said earlier on, he wasn't even an official yet, much less a trusted subject. 

But after he rolled the scroll open and read the first line, his face turned ashen and he dropped the scroll, following it quickly with his knees as he folded into a kowtow. His forehead knocked so violently into the ground that the noise made Liu Yao frown. 

"What are you doing?" he snapped. "Rise!" 

"Your Majesty." Attendant Hua's voice shook with a palpable fear as he remained hunched over on the floor. "This concubine-subject is afraid to answer." 

Liu Yao observed him in silence. He didn't blame Attendant Hua for his hesitation, could value the honesty in it, in fact. How many of the so-called 'loyal' ministers that paid homage to him each morning would offer up such earnestness to Liu Yao when confronted with this same predicament? No doubt, most of them would tell him what they assumed he wanted to hear, but whether they truly meant it or not was a different story altogether. 

"What is written is controversial," Liu Yao agreed. "This sovereign is aware and will not force you to take a stance." He leaned an elbow on the arm of his chair and propped his chin upon his hand. "However, you must know that what this sovereign needs is a willingness to fight against the pestilence that is infecting this country. If all this sovereign required was the grass atop a wall, we have plenty of that as it is." 

Grass atop a wall, swaying in the wind. Liu Yao was referencing the useless middle-ground officials that staunchly refused to pick a side between the throne and the nobility until there was an obvious winner. They were as troublesome to him as the cunning bastards that headed the old noble clans, if not more. At least with the six families, he was more or less certain which ones were for and against his policies. The oily ineffectual masses that plagued his court were trickier than that. One day, they could be in agreement with him about his educational reforms. The next, after some nudging and a bribe or two, they could turn against him without so much as a by your leave. 

Some days, Liu Yao was sorely tempted to hand over the power these clans so badly desired. The throne was his by birthright but he hadn't asked for it, would have been as content in a house at the foot of some mountains with good wine and good company. But he'd never voiced such thoughts aloud to anyone but Ziyu, had played the part of the heir apparent and fulfilled his obligations without complaint because that was what they'd raised him as. 

His ministers, his siblings, his servants. Everyone assumed that he, like the rest of them, had assumed that he was like the rest of them, would stop at nothing to climb to the top, willing to tear the country asunder just so that he could have millions prostrate themselves before him. 

No. 

Everything Liu Yao had done in the war for the throne, he'd done solely to survive. But now that the earth beneath the sky was his, this wide expanse brought along with it shackles instead of freedom, and he had to learn the hard way what it meant to win some and lose some. 

"…Your Majesty?" Attendant Hua's murmur was barely above a whisper. 

"Mm." Liu Yao stared past his nervous concubine and at the painting that hung on the wall behind him. Talented Lady Zhao had been right; the stark melancholy of his art matched the tone of Yan Yun's poem and blended into the simple furnishings of his study. More importantly, Liu Yao could look up and see it every time he took a break and remind himself that the cost of defeat had just risen again. His opponents wouldn't spare him, nor anyone that they deemed close to him. 

Not Liu An, not Cao Mingbao, not Yao Siya, and certainly not Yan Yun. 

"Your Majesty, this concubine-attendant would like to try his hand at the question." Attendant Hua was breaking all sorts of rules relating to decorum, quaking on his knees, unseemly as he fiddled with the jade pendant dangling from his belt. Liu Yao didn't chastise him for it, waiting to hear what he had to say. "But before that, may this concubine-attendant ask…are the contents of this scroll true?" 

Now that Attendant Hua had recovered from the initial horror, his voice was now tight with a new emotion, one that Liu Yao welcomed because he empathised with it all too well. 

Anger. 

"And if they are? What would Young Master Hua's verdict be then?" 

He watched with satisfaction as Attendant Hua balled his hands into fists. 

"Death," Attendant Hua gritted out at last. His tone was mild as ever but his words had the harshness that Liu Yao had hoped he would be capable of. "They deserve death before they bring it upon the rest of this innocent country." 

Liu Yao let out a slow breath. "Well done," he said. He didn't elaborate on what that meant because there were still too many things to think through if he was going to realise the outrageous plan forming in his mind. 

Attendant Hua's uneasiness was visible on his face. Liu Yao was about to reassure him when a small ruckus broke out in the main chamber, youthful chatter threatening to drown out the long-suffering pleading of the eunuchs and maids stationed outside. 

"Ninth Prince! Your Highness! You can't go in yet, please wait outside, His Majesty is with First-class Attendant Hua—"

"But Royal Brother said that he would accompany me to see my new horse today! Royal Brother promised!"