How To Survive as a Villain

When they realized this abnormality, silence spread between them. Xiao YuAn repeated what he said previously about having to go to the morning Court, and then got up and left.

Yan HeQing tidied up his clothes and planned to go back to his room. However, just when he had left the Imperial bedchamber, two fierce-looking men came over: “Are you Yan HeQing?”

Yan HeQing frowned: “Yes.”

“Come with us.”

The two of them seemed afraid that Yan HeQing would try to run away, so they carried him towards the secondary room next to the Imperial bedchamber.

A tall and mighty man was standing in front of the door of the secondary room with a line of soldiers behind him.

The two fierce-looking men clenched their first at this man: “General Li, we’ve brought him.”

Li Wuding nodded and raised his eyes to look at Yan HeQing. His eyes were burning, and he spoke slowly: “Prince of the Southern Yan Kingdom, Yan HeQing.”

Yan HeQing suddenly understood why he was brought here, and with a cold face, he didn’t answer.

Li Wuding also didn’t expect for him to answer, and pointing behind him, he ordered the soldiers: “Search.”

As soon as this order fell, the door of the room was kicked open violently, and the poor lock fell to one side. Dozens of soldiers entered the room and began to search inch by inch.

The vase was smashed, the table and chairs were overturned, the mattress was pierced, and all the cotton wadding was torn apart. In a short time, the room became a mess, and the dozens of soldiers kept searching in the narrow room over and over again, but in the end, nothing suspicious was found.

Li Wuding’s eyebrow gradually became a frown while the time was passing. He walked into the room, paced back and forth, and finally stopped in front of the messy bed that had been turned upside down. He asked the men around him: “Did someone look through the bottom of the bed?”

“Answering to the General, I have.”

After thinking for a brief moment, Li Wuding said: “Turn the whole bed over and look through it again.”

“Yes!”

Yan HeQing’s expression didn’t change, but his heart suddenly froze.

With the effort of three soldiers, the whole bed was lifted up. A soldier groped the wood carefully and after a little while, he shouted: “General Li, there’s a secret compartment here!”

Li Wuding was slightly pleased and said: “Open it.”

The soldier shouted yes, and then opened the secret compartment. To everyone’s surprise, there was nothing inside it.

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Li Wuding frowned again. He strode to Yan HeQing and stared at him, his eyes gloomy: “Why is there a secret compartment under the bed?”

Yan HeQing stared at him fearlessly: “I don’t know.”

Li Wuding gritted his teeth, turned his head, and said: “Keep searching.”

The group of soldiers almost lifted up the ground, and yet, they still found nothing. Without any evidence, Li Wuding couldn’t arrest anyone at will. With desperation, he had to take his soldiers away.

When all of them left, Yan HeQing stood in front of the overturned bed. Looking at the empty secret compartment for a while, he wasn’t able to breathe well. He was trembling and felt very uneasy.

Li Wuding was about to leave the Palace feeling very annoyed, when he was suddenly blocked by a man.

It was Eunuch Zhao.

Eunuch Zhao smiled at Li Wuding and said: “General Li, this old servant is in charge of the House of Internal Affairs.”

Li Wuding had heard earlier that there was an old Eunuch that served for three generations named Zhao in the Imperial City, but he had nothing to do with eunuchs, so for a brief moment he was very puzzled: “You’re Eunuch Zhao?”

“I didn’t expect that General Li would recognize this old servant. This old servant was sincerely afraid.” Eunuch Zhao bowed his hand and said. “This old servant wanted to ask General Li one thing. This time, you led the soldiers inside the Palace because you suspected that Yan HeQing had something to do with Wuning Wangye, who colluded with the Southern Yan Kingdom?”

Li Wuding thought about it for a moment, and then answered with the truth: “Indeed.”

Eunuch Zhao nodded: “This old servant understands and thanks General Li for confirming it to me.”

Seeing that Eunuch Zhao turned around ready to leave, Li Wuding quickly reached out his hand and stopped him: “Eunuch Zhao, what does this mean?”

Eunuch Zhao chuckled at Li Wuding: “General Li, men like you that have a righteous temperament pays extra care to the evidence in order to implement punishment, but this old servant is not the same kind of man like you. This old servant just needs to think about how to make His Majesty sleep peacefully¹, nothing more.”

After he said that, Eunuch Zhao knocked slightly on his back, and slowly walked towards the secondary room.

In Eunuch Zhao’s whole life, he had made very little miscalculations. He’d been in charge of the House of Internal Affairs for many years. He was ruthless, determined, and killing people with a simple knife was one of his best tricks.

And yet, he didn’t expect that Yan HeQing would’ve been a part of this. Eunuch Zhao always thought that Yan HeQing, who was willing to become a male concubine, must have broken the backbone of his arrogance. Right now, he felt that he himself became old and easy to deceive. Or maybe it was that Yan HeQing’s true colors were being hidden too deeply.

Fortunately, it’s not too late to mend the fold after the sheep ran away². Eunuch Zhao had been inside this Palace for more than 40 years. His best skill is to use torture to pry open a person’s mouth.

Ahhh he almost got caught! What will happen next???!!

Footnotes

1. 高枕无忧 gāo zhěn wú yōu; It’s a Chinese idiom, it means to be free of worries / Sleep without any anxiety / Rest assured. From《战国策·魏策一》(zhàn guó cè·wèi cè yī), “Strategies of the Warring States: Wei Ceyi”, possibly written by (苏秦 sū qín) Su Qin [340-284 BC], a political strategist of the School of Diplomacy during the Warring States Period [475-220 BC].
2. 亡羊补牢 wáng yáng bǔ láo; It’s a Chinese idiom, it means that after a problem arises, find a way to remedy it so as not to continue to suffer losses in the future / Better late than never. From《战国策·楚策》(zhàn guó cè·chǔ cè), “Strategies of the Warring States: Chu Ce”, probably written by (苏秦 sū qín) Su Qin [340-284 BC], a political strategist of the School of Diplomacy during the Warring States Period [475-220 BC].