The emperor never seemed to fault him for that and during the morning a.s.sembly, Zhou Sheng was allowed into The Heavenly Hall - even though he didn't have any official post but the monarch's words were the imperial decree in their world, so it wasn't as if anybody could do anything about it.

Though he had heard the various civil and military officials grumbling about it under their breaths.

Today, the monarch had called for the three Head Commanders of the three armies for an audience in the evening. When Ning Fu entered The Imperial Palace, he saw the other two head commanders standing near the path that led to the Imperial Study.

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They exchanged polite pleasantries and started walking towards their destination. Along the way, they saw a youth dressed in pale yellow colours standing under a peach tree in full blossom.

The suns.h.i.+ne filtered through the tree leaves to fall gently on the silhouette of the said youth and the peach blossom's petals seemed to fall like a gentle curtain of rain around him.

The youth had his back turned towards them so he didn't seem to notice that he was making such an enticing picture of a beauty enjoying the flowers in front of coa.r.s.e military men.

Had it been not for his dress and the top knot on his head, everyone would have thought the person to be a lady enjoying the finer things in life.

However, the dress and the aura of the said person put paid to any such thoughts.

One of the other two Head Commanders turned towards Ning Fu and asked, "Head Commander Ning, do you know the person standing there? I don't seem to recognise such beauty in our capital."

The other Head Commander also laughed at those words and said, "Whether a beauty or a flower boy, if I could spend a single night with the said person, I would be willing to take off a decade off my life."

Ning Fu had always hated such uncouth conversations that were the norm in the military.

However, before he could reprimand them, he heard The Unit Commander of The Shadow Guards speak, "Head Commanders, His Majesty had been waiting for you. Please make haste."

Finished with his words, be turned towards the person standing under the peach blossom tree and walked towards it.

It didn't take more than a scant few seconds for the three of them to realise that the person they were making remarks about was the proud Son of Heavens.

At the dawning realization, the other two people with him turned stiff at their unintentional breach of etiquette and protocol.

If such words reached His Majesty's ears, losing their pitiful lives would be the beginning of a disaster.

However, the other two people still walked towards the silhouette in front of them and Ning Fu followed them from a distance.

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Once they reached His Majesty, all of them gave their bows in supplication and His Majesty asked them to walk with him in the gardens.

Once all of them started following the monarch on his mindless wandering, the monarch spoke in a conflicted voice, "Zhen has heard that there has been some unrest in the border areas in the past few days and because of the long period of drought, the commoners don't have enough rations to last them this year and the crops they have sowed will only yield results at the end of the year."

The three of them simultaneously agreed that the report was correct.

The emperor seemed to deflate at the news and then inquired, "Zhen has also been made cognizant of the fact that the relief funds sent by the imperial court never reach the commoners and is embezzled by the prefecture heads etc and that it is a complex network where all of them benefit, so none of the honest ones dares to sense any reports to me?"

At that question, none of them dared to reply - whether in positive or negative and kept their mouths shut.

When His Majesty saw that no answer was forthcoming, he whirled towards them in a flurry of robes and questioned forcefully, "What? Are you thinking of lying to Zhen? Don't dare to answer? How about Zhen goes to the border areas to see the conditions for himself and leave you to battle the court intrigues?"

With a trembling heart, Ning Fu gave a half-bow to the emperor and replied, "Your Majesty, It is true. Most of the prefecture heads are the students of either The Right Prime Minister or The Left Prime Minister, so n.o.body dares to report and dig a pit for themselves and their families. The commoners are oppressed and the n.o.bles don't seem to mind the atrocities being carried out."

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At his words, the emperor gave subjected him to a long hard stare and then without further ado asked the three of them to leave.

On their way out of the Imperial Palace, the other two Head Commanders started with their cra.s.s talk once again and Ning Fu lengthened his stride to get away from them.

During the early hours of the night, he couldn't stop his churning thoughts that circled his mind.

He thought in brooding silence about His Majesty, about Zhou Sheng, about their relations.h.i.+p, about The Empress Dowager and about the questions His Majesty asked a few hours ago.

A few hours later, when Ning Fu still found himself awake despite the lateness of the hour, he got off his bed and without conscious thought, his feet carried him towards the Imperial Palace.

Standing in front of the high blood-red walls of the palace, he couldn't decide on his next course of action.

Pondering about it, he activated his internal force and leapt over the walls.

Ning Fu himself didn't know what made him do something so reckless, but it was as if his heart couldn't be at peace until he came to this place and saw His Majesty.

Was the monarch sleeping?

Or was he still roaming the gardens of this gilded cage as was his habit?

Or was he conversing with Zhou Sheng?

Ning Fu didn't want to think too deeply or closely about the last question and s.h.i.+ed away from his thoughts about why that question twisted his insides in a decidedly unfamiliar manner.

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Once he reached the inner compound of the palace, he started jumping around the various gardens and pavilions near His Majesty's room and found the aforementioned person standing in a pavilion not too far from him.

The monarch stood still while gazing at the sky with his half-closed eyes and his eyes showed clearly that he was mesmerised by what he saw.

Ning Fu wondered about what was so interesting in the sky that it held the complete attention of the Son of Heavens.

He looked up as well and had to agree that the night sky looked beautiful - like a canvas of ink, splashed with tiny pinp.r.i.c.ks of light from the stars.

Even the moon was full and pregnant. It was s.h.i.+ning. in all its glory.

However, the person it cast its light upon looked even more intoxicating.

His liege looked so delectable with his long neck stretched tautly and his lips parted a bit - as if ready to be licked off.

When his thoughts reached this point, Ning Fu felt a jolt of electricity go through him and shook his head to dispel such unseemly thoughts about someone he had vowed to protect.

Before he could leave the premises, he saw another shadow walk towards the monarch and who else could it be other than Zhou Sheng.

The other person came up to His Majesty, but neither of the two spoke.

They stood side by side - as if content in their silence and solitude.

Around then minutes later, he saw as the monarch seemed to gather his courage and turn towards the boy to speak.

However, before the monarch could verbalize his words, the other boy stopped him with a raised hand and with an acerbic tone said, "I don't want to hear it. Anyway, you will try to force logic or some such rot and I find myself disinclined to hear to your excuses."

Ning Fu once again marvelled at the audacity of the boy and also, at His Majesty for allowing someone so much leeway that the other person spoke without restraint.

The emperor simply sighed at those words and replied, "I know you are upset at me. Still, you are overthinking things. I really didn't think of any maudlin thoughts and it was just a reflexive action."

Instead of calming, those words seemed to infuriate Zhou Sheng.

The boy made as if to leave and walk away from the talk and the monarch held his hand before the other person could walk more than a few steps.

With a cajoling tone, the emperor continued, "You...What do you want me to say? You don't even seem to believe my words any longer and I don't understand where your anger is coming from."

The other person flicked His Majesty's hand off at those words and with blazing eyes turned to question him, "Oh really? You are telling me that you really don't understand why I am upset and angry at you?"

The said person blinked his eyes in apparent confusion and Zhou Sheng huffed at that.

With a tone that could frost ice, he spoke, "If you still can't think about why I am upset at your actions - actions from today and the ones previously them you are more of a fool than I ever thought. Is there anything between those two appendages that you call ears or is it only filled with useless thoughts?"

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Ning Fu thought that His Majesty would lose his temper at being talked to in such a disrespectful tone but to his surprise, His Majesty gave a sound that seemed too much like a guffaw and answered, "You are still as sarcastic as ever. Atleast, that gives me a reason to laugh, doesn't it?"

Zhou Sheng gave an exasperated sigh, crossed his arms and replied, "Others might not be able to see behind your well-constructed facade but I have known you for far too long to listen to your words. The speed at which you turned the subject almost gave my neck a whiplash."

His Majesty's face went ashen at those words but he still gave an embarra.s.sed smile at that accompanied by a casual shrug of shoulders - as if trying to say that he had to make a token effort even if he knew it was useless.

The boy opened his mouth to say something.

Ning Fu could see that the other person was gearing for saying an awful truth that the monarch was bent on ignoring. He could see it from the harsh lines that formed on the boy's face and the fierce gaze he gave to his conversation partner.

However, at the last moment, Zhou Sheng turned his back to the emperor and banged his fist into one of the pillars of the pavilion and he could see that the boy had hurt himself because there were tiny splatters of blood around the place where he hand repeatedly banged his fist.

His Majesty startled at the inopportune violence and tried to take Zhou Sheng's injured hand into his own, but the boy wriggled his hand out of the monarch's grip and simply walked away with a shake of his head.

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The monarch took a few steps forward - as if to chase Zhou Sheng but then he thought better of it and stood still at his place once again.

He stood stock-still and stared with a vacant expression at the retreating back of a person who seemed to mean a lot more to him than even his own blood mother.

In the end, the proud Son of Heaven's called his retinue of Shadow Guards to follow him back to his sleeping chambers and Ning Fu himself watched the slouching form of his liege slink away in apparent loneliness.