TIME FLOWED LIKE WATER, slipping through their fingers unnoticed.
Putting on a pair of trousers, Xiahou Lian realized that their hems were too short. He’d lost track of how long it had been since he last contacted Qiye Garden. They hadn’t sent anyone to look for him, so they probably assumed he’d died in the palace. He was now a discarded pawn in Qiye Garden’s game.
Xiahou Lian’s thoughts wandered. If his mother found out, how would she react? She was usually away for a year at a time. She’d left Xiahou Lian alone on the mountain without a second thought when he was just eight. Right then, she was probably off gambling and drinking somewhere with no time to spare for her offspring.
Deep, nameless sorrow welled up inside him. Back on the mountain, he hadn’t felt that often. After all, none of the kids there had parents, but he at least had a formidable mother he could boast about. Once he’d come down from the mountain, though, he’d realized that other children’s mothers never left their sides; they’d sew them new clothes, cook them meals. Even mothers from poor families carried their children on their backs while they worked. His mother alone might as well not have existed.
As he opened the door to leave, he nearly bumped into a young eunuch. Xiahou Lian steadied the other boy. “Watch where you’re going.”
“Sorry, sorry!” the eunuch apologized in a high-pitched voice.
His tone made Xiahou Lian’s skin crawl. He quickly waved the eunuch away—but then noticed that the eunuch carried a stack of paper lotus flowers. “What’re those?”
“Lotus lanterns. The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up, and the emperor is letting us release them on Yuqing Pool.”
Xiahou Lian was stunned. “The Mid-Autumn Festival is already so soon?!”
Suddenly, noise erupted at the palace gates. Xiahou Lian hurried over and saw a eunuch in a sunflower-patterned robe carrying a set of clothing. The eunuch stood in the courtyard, scanning the area with sharp eyes, and called out shrilly, “No one greets me or offers me tea? Are you all dead? Call your Shen-gonggong out.”
His imposing demeanor frightened the younger eunuchs, who stood frozen. Xiahou Lian was about to step forward when Shen Jue emerged, holding a cup of tea.
As the eunuch saw Shen Jue, his eyes lit up like flowers blooming, and he broke into a smile immediately. He quickly ordered someone to take the teacup from Shen Jue’s hands. “How flattering,” he said. “I am Cao Ling, an attendant eunuch from the Document Office. Wei-gonggong sent me to deliver these clothes to you.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Shen Jue. Most eunuchs were hunched from years of bowing; they lacked vitality, their posture slouched. Shen-gonggong, however, stood tall and straight as a pine or bamboo. Even his back’s slight curve seemed just right. No wonder Wei-gonggong held him in such high regard.
“Clothes?”
“You must not have heard yet. Qian-gonggong from the Document Office has been promoted, leaving a vacancy. Wei-gonggong immediately named you, without another word.” Cao Ling’s eyes curved into smiling crescents. “In a few days, when Wei-gonggong has some free time, you’ll serve him tea and formally acknowledge him as your godfather! From now on, we in the Document Office will count on your guidance, Shen-gonggong.”
Xiahou Lian felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. Acknowledge Wei De as a godfather? Who in their right mind would recognize that eunuch bastard as any kind of father?! He instinctively looked at Shen Jue, only to see that the other boy stood as calmly as always, his porcelain-like face betraying no emotion.
Shen Jue stared at the gold-threaded robes and hat Cao Ling carried, his gaze deep and contemplative. As an accompanying eunuch in the Document Office, an attendant who served the emperor directly, he would need to wear a black gauze hat with gold embroidery and a robe patterned with sunflowers, just like this Cao-gonggong. He would also be Wei De’s godson from now on—or to put it bluntly, his lapdog, forever at his beck and call. He’d even have to throw in the occasional “Father” to keep things lively.
He hadn’t sought this cursed fortune out, yet it had fallen into his lap. Was it fate?
As he reached out and took the gold-threaded robes and hat, a cold smile slowly spread across his lips. “I will of course rely on your guidance, Cao-gonggong. Please convey my regards to my father. His duties are arduous, and I hope he takes care of his health and spares his godson worry.”