Offering
Offering
Commander An noticed the Emperor's agitation, and he turned to him to explain, "The Prime minister's health is not too good, so they probably have to move a bit slower..."
The Emperor gave no reaction he had heard him, and Commander An simply faced forward and kept silent, it was already good enough that he was patiently sitting still. Finally, the top of their heads surfaced, and soon, the group trotted in. The Emperor and Commander An were both surprised to see Prime minister Zhao leading the group with An Hao, followed by the Zou Prime minister, who was being carried in on a chair.
The Emperor slightly knit his brows when he saw this as the chair was set down at the bottom of the stairs. Prince Rui was notably missing from the group. Apparently, oddly enough, on arrival, he had mentioned he was tired and opted to retire to a residence to rest and was easily settled.
The Emperor glanced over at An Hao, who had his head lowered with a frown, then his eyes went over the group as they greeted him... all except the old man in the chair bowed in greeting, but then he probably had the "excuse" of his illness and used it proudly.
Before anyone else could speak, Prime minister Zhao spoke up, "Your majesty, I encountered the Zou Prime minister in the palace and thought it wise to accompany him..." He said, bowing with a smile. He waited for the Emperor's response, but his good intentions were met with complete silence, and the silence made him feel uneasy. This was the first time he was seeing the Emperor since his foolish son caused trouble, the fact that the Emperor had not summoned him to discuss things says that he must be really angry with his family this time.
What's more, he found out earlier that he has been barred from entering the Imperial pharmacy, did the Emperor suspect that he was going to try to silence his son? Even he was not that heartless, no matter how idiotic he was, Zhao Chang was still his child. He was only going to "suggest" to the idiot that he preemptively beg the Emperor to banish him to pay for his crimes, before the Emperor can come up with his own ideas. Sacrifice the arm to save the body, it was a reasonable and fair play. Another child can be easily obtained, but a family legacy such as theirs is not so easily acquired.
It seemed the Emperor did not want to accept their greeting. Next to the Prime minister, An Hao kept his head down. He knew the Emperor was disappointed in him, given how things with Zou unfolded, but it was really out of his hands. How could he have expected that the old man who seemed to have more energy than him would suddenly fall so ill out of nowhere? To make it worse, the Zou people insisted that only the doctor they brought with them could attend to him, despite the fact that the so-called doctor was so obviously useless.
Like this, the Zou people began to delay the trip, pausing for rest breaks for days at a time with the excuse of the old man being too sick to travel. At first, An Hao did not care because it worked out perfectly for him, he was able to comply with the Emperor's orders without doing anything.
But after a while, it was obvious there was something going on here, he naturally reported all this weirdness going on to the Emperor earlier, but short of an outright battle to force treatment, there was nothing else to do. Especially since the old man in question also did not seem to care either, he only listened to his aides and told anyone else who showed concern for him to go shove themselves into a tree trunk to die. Even though it was out of his hands, he could not look the Emperor in the face properly.
Before Prime minister Zhao could figure out his next words, the Zou Prime minister spoke up in a raspy but powerful voice, "I want to speak with you alone." Since he entered the room, he had locked eyes with the Emperor and had been assessing him, while the Emperor had also been doing the same to him. Even though the old man was in a weakened state, you could still tell from his imposing manner the power that stood behind him. After all, not just anyone will brazenly charge into enemy territory... although given his current state, it was certainly not a wise decision.
The Emperor glanced at Commander An and gave a slight nod, and Commander An bowed in understanding and turned to the room and ordered, "Clear the room."
Prime minister Zhao, An Hao, and the others bowed and turned to leave, except the Zou aide standing next to the sitting old man, he bent over and whispered something to the old man. The old man nodded, the man then straightened up and looked up at the Emperor with worry as he hesitantly bowed and retreated.
Once the room was cleared out, the old man and the Emperor sat in silence. The two continued staring at each other, and the silence dragged on for a few minutes, both waiting for the other to give up and speak. Finally, the old man scoffed and said, "You don't appear to be an easy young man to deal with."
"And it appears you have seen better days." The Emperor matter-of-factly said with no trace of humor in his voice. His being quiet was less a tactic and more to keep his emotions in check.
To the Emperor's surprise, the old man burst out laughing and then went into a coughing fit for a bit, the Emperor noted the blood on the handkerchief as the old man took a deep breath and clenched the armrest to stabilize, "It would appear so." The old man said once he stabilized.
"You know I knew your grandfather, met your father a few times too. I used to come here every few years in my younger days. Our countries traded together back then, that was until your last Emperor, your father, closed off the country and launched his war campaigns..." The old man randomly reminisced.
The Emperor raised an eyebrow, "Did you come here to re-establish trade connections?" He asked, sounding a bit more irritated than he would have liked.
"No, far from it." The old man said with another scoff.
"Then what do you want?" The Emperor finally could not help himself, he did not care if the old man knew his great ancestors, what did that have to do with him or the issues at hand?!
The old man was silent for a bit, then he haughtily raised his head and answered, "Well, I had come here to kill your brother and take my granddaughter back."
"You're a bit late for that." The Emperor sarcastically responded.
"Hm, seems I made a pointless journey in the end..." He casually said with a sigh, "And my granddaughter?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
"In prison." The Emperor bluntly responded.
"Nalan is innocent." The old man stated, clenching his fists.
"That's still to be proven." The Emperor swiftly countered, finally relieved they had arrived at the reason he was dragged out here. He was naturally expecting pushback on this, but unexpectedly the old man nodded and acquiesced, "It's fine as long as it is proven in the end."
The Emperor knit his brows, but before he could speak, the old man continued, "I've always been curious, why did you stop your campaign on Zou?" The Emperor blinked, taken aback by this sudden question, the old man was adept and caught it and explained, "You had already taken the first army, and held a prince hostage. You would have been aware of the fact that the kingdom was divided over the choice of the crown prince, there was ample internal conflict, you had ample forces, you could have easily pushed through. Given your experience, you should have known that. So why didn't you?" He asked, looking at the Emperor with a curious frown.
The Emperor stared at the old man for a moment in annoyance. Was this old man really so free that he came here to reminisce? The Emperor lightly chuckled and nonchalantly answered, "I didn't feel like it... but I'm starting to feel more and more inclined by the second." He said, a deadpan expression resuming on his face.
"A confident and inevitable threat." The old man said with two nods as if he were approving the Emperor's words.
The Emperor frowned and asked again, "What is it that you want?" If it were any other time, he would have been happy to indulge the old man in this cat-and-mouse game he was trying to play. But right now, he was on the verge of grabbing the old man by the collar to force him to state his business or get lost!
The old man was quiet. Just as the Emperor was on the verge of rising to leave him to his games, the old man finally spoke, "I have three requests."
"I want you to keep Nalan here, see to her needs.... I want her to be given a proper status, it is the least you can do, given her condition. The child of a fallen Princess and a traitor will be of no threat to you or your offsprings."
An unexpected ask, but the Emperor quietly listened.
"I want Nalan to keep me company for my remaining days."
"Remaining days…?" The Emperor echoed, rather than questioned, his mind sobering up as he narrowed his eyes at the old man in suspicion.
The Zou Prime minister straightened up in his chair, "It can't be avoided." He said, meeting the Emperor's eyes with a cold determination as he reached in through the opening of his clothes and pulled out what appeared to be a stack of papers, "If it is to be usurped, I would rather it burned..." He said as he held out the papers to the Emperor, his weakened hand slightly shaking, "I want you to take it."