This unspoken standoff lasted late into the night.
Huo Wujiu didn’t stir again after lying down. Jiang Suizhou extinguished the lamps on his own before he tugged a blanket over himself and fell asleep on the daybed.
Sure enough, once he fell asleep, he slept extraordinarily well that night.
The daybed wasn’t actually that comfortable, but it was good enough for Jiang Suizhou’s exhausted body. After getting barely any sleep for two nights in a row, just being awake had taken almost every drop of energy he had. As a result, he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow, and he didn’t even have any dreams.
He slept until the sky gradually brightened outside, and someone entered the room to gingerly pat him awake. The moment he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of Meng Qianshan staring at him in shock, outlined by the hazy light of dawn.
Jiang Suizhou sat up, immediately startled into alertness.
Meng Qianshan stood in front of him, hunched forward in a bow, an envelope in one hand. Astonishment was written all over his face. He first looked at the bed, then at Jiang Suizhou.
“Master,” he said hesitantly, “why are you sleeping on the…”
Gritting his teeth, Jiang Suizhou kept his voice down as he interrupted him.
“What is it?”
Meng Qianshan was a fine servant, and Jiang Suizhou really did appreciate him, but he was just a little slow on the uptake.
Seriously, who would ask their master “Why are you sleeping on the daybed?” when they came across their master sleeping on said daybed? Have a little tact!
Meng Qianshan blinked a few times in silent confusion.
“Last night, the…” Meng Qianshan began to say as he proffered the letter.
Jiang Suizhou raised his hand, gesturing for Meng Qianshan to stop talking, having spotted Huo Wujiu still lying in bed.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, and it was still far too early to get up. Huo Wujiu appeared to be sound asleep. If they conversed here, they would most likely wake him up.
Following Jiang Suizhou’s line of sight, Meng Qianshan instantly understood what he was thinking.
“Let’s talk outside,” Jiang Suizhou whispered, standing up.
Meng Qianshan followed quickly and quietly on his heels.
They only resumed their discussion once they left the bedroom and closed the door behind them.
“What happened?” Jiang Suizhou asked.
Meng Qianshan held the letter out to Jiang Suizhou once again.
“Your Highness, the two officials who invited you to dinner last night had this delivered on the sly this morning, before the sun had even risen. According to the messenger, they intended to give it to you yesterday in person, but since you weren’t feeling well, they sent it over early today instead.”
Jiang Suizhou took the letter from him.
He had a general grasp of the situation. The two people who invited him for drinks yesterday were minor officials from the Ministry of Works, which meant that the information they wanted to pass along to him was likely related to the ancestral temple commission.
He tucked the letter into his robe and nodded. Then he turned to leave.
Right at that moment, Meng Qianshan unexpectedly took a step forward and blocked his path.
Jiang Suizhou glanced at him with a frown, only to see a look of righteous indignation spread over Meng Qianshan’s face.
“How could Madam Huo make you sleep on the daybed?!”
Jiang Suizhou was a little speechless.
You’re still asking? I already cut you off earlier so you wouldn’t talk about it anymore, yet you’re still asking?! Just take the hint already!
“Is this any of your business?” he replied, monotone, then turned on his heel to return to the bedroom.
But Meng Qianshan remained dauntless, even in the face of imminent danger.
“While it should not be, Your Highness is in poor health! Your servant cannot allow him to treat you so unfairly!”
Jiang Suizhou could hear the quaver in Meng Qianshan’s voice. His fear was evident.
“Is Madam Huo using his superior mastery over martial arts to push you around?” Meng Qianshan continued stubbornly, his voice low. “Don’t fear, Your Highness. This isn’t Northern Liang; he won’t get away with such…”
Jiang Suizhou helplessly lifted a hand and stopped Meng Qianshan from continuing.
He knew that Meng Qianshan’s loyalty was unwavering and genuine, but that also meant that he had quite the one-track mind.
“Enough with the nonsensical guesses,” Jiang Suizhou said coldly. “Focus on your own tasks.”
He circled around Meng Qianshan and pushed open the bedroom door, but Meng Qianshan spoke again from behind him, his voice aggrieved but puzzled.
“But…Your Highness is even sleeping on the daybed! Why did you want to bring this person to your living quarters in the first place?”
At this, Jiang Suizhou realized that if he didn’t justify his choices, Meng Qianshan wasn’t going to let this go. He took a deep breath before he closed the door again and turned back around.
“I chose to sleep there,” he said.
Meng Qianshan looked astounded.
“He may be a concubine,” Jiang Suizhou said stiffly, “but I am deeply fond of him, and I don’t wish to treat him with disrespect. Do you understand now?”
He kept his expression cold even as he watched Meng Qianshan’s eyes grow so wide that it seemed his eyeballs were about to fall out of his head.
“Your Highness, you—! But you…but you just met him for the first time a few days ago!”
Now he was digging for even more details?
Jiang Suizhou wanted to deceive this unthinking dunce as fast as he could, so he began to throw out whatever nonsense came to mind first.
“How do you know that was the first time? In truth, I saw him years ago, when the Marquis of Dingbei returned to the capital,” he rambled, carried by the currents of his stream of consciousness. “That was when I first developed feelings for him. Time passed, and though I never saw him in person again, I heard much about him over the years.”
Meng Qianshan gaped at him, slack-jawed.
Hook, line, and sinker. Seeing the evidence of his success, Jiang Suizhou put an end to the topic with a warning.
“No one else knows about this, nor have I ever divulged even a hint of this to Madam Huo. Now you know the truth, but you must keep it to yourself. Is that clear?”
By that point, Meng Qianshan was so dumbstruck that he had stopped blinking entirely; all he could do was nod dumbly.
Jiang Suizhou glanced at him impassively before he opened the door once more and returned to the bedroom.
It was still early in the morning. Rather than dawdling out there with Meng Qianshan, he’d be better off hurrying back to his bed and catching up on another hour of sleep.
With that in mind, he tiptoed back over to the daybed. Before lying down, he made a point to check on Huo Wujiu.
He was still motionless; their conversation hadn’t woken him up.
Reassured, Jiang Suizhou lay down in the daybed again. He had no idea that the moment that his eyes fell shut, Huo Wujiu’s slowly opened.
Huo Wujiu was frozen in astonishment, his brows furrowed tightly together. He gazed out at the dark room with a strange, complicated expression. His eyes landed on Jiang Suizhou’s back and lingered there for a long moment.
What Jiang Suizhou didn’t know was that Huo Wujiu was, in fact, a light sleeper. No matter how fast asleep he was, the slightest sound was enough to instantly wake him and put him on high alert—a result of many years in the army.
Additionally, Huo Wujiu had exceedingly sharp ears. Even muffled through a door, even spoken in hushed voices, he had still heard what was said, clearly and distinctly.
Every single word.