Zhenghuan sat in a private room in He's Jewellery, scrutinising the four-piece set that he had ordered a month ago, while he had still been in Anyang. A necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings, all fashioned out of rare freshwater pearls from Lake Xilun in the northern provinces of the kingdom. Besides that, there was also a single, elegant gold hairpin with an intricate lotus flower made out of gold filigree, from which a string of the same glistening pearls hung.
"This is embarrassing, you know that right?" his best friend Mingshen remarked, observing him with derision by the side. "Imagine if everyone found out that the great Shadow Lord was up here, fretting over women's jewellery. The reputation of our Shadow Army would be ripped to shreds immediately."
"How about I introduce someone to you, and then maybe you'd stop being so sour about things?" Zhenghuan replied. Looking up at He Jun, the shop's proprietor, and said, "This is excellent. Thank you for your hard work."
"Not at all, my lord," He Jun replied, bowing respectfully.
"Of course it's excellent. Who do you think designed it?" Mingshen interjected, a glint of pride filtering through his eyes.
Zhenghuan shot his friend a look of disdain. "Imagine if everyone found out that the fearsome Commander Zhang moonlights as a designer of women's jewellery," he said.
Mingshen shrugged. "It has made me a very, very rich man."
Other than the hairpin, which he slipped up his sleeve, Zhenghuan kept everything back in their sandalwood box and handed it back to He Jun. "Keep it in the vault for now. I'll send someone to pick it up the day before the ceremony," he said.
"Yes, my lord." He Jun took the box and promptly left the room.
Once the proprietor was gone, Zhenghuan pulled out the report from the bronze message tube that had been sitting by one side of the table, quickly skimming through it. It had come from the Wulihe branch of their intelligence network, bearing some unexpected news.
The king of Hua had passed on from a sudden heart attack, and crown prince Situ Zhiren was due to succeed the throne. It was no secret that the king of Hua was frail and not in the best of health, but he had certainly not been on the brink of death. Although there was no evidence to suspect foul play, the king's sudden demise still seemed rather suspicious.
"What do you think? Situ Zhiren got impatient?" Mingshen asked, after reading through the same report. "He was already king in all but name though."
"Who knows? Still, it's not good news for us. Situ Zhiren's ambitions are as clear as day. With him officially on the throne, the borders will no longer be peaceful."
There were several long-serving officials in the Hua court who were more moderate in their views, and had been vehemently opposing the crown prince's desire to launch any offensives against either Duan or Shon. In light of the fact that they had served loyally for decades under his father's rule, Situ Zhiren could not be too heavy-handed towards them, thus having to taper his ambitions somewhat. Now that the old king was dead, the leash was off. Zhenghuan had little doubt that all those officials who dared oppose Situ Zhiren would soon be done away with.
"He'll need to find a good reason to start a war though. He's only recently married Princess Xuan, so surely that will force him to at least delay his plans, unless he does not care about his reputation a single bit," Mingshen said.
"That is true. He might begin with Shon then, and leave us to the southern tribes for now." They already knew that Hua was colluding with the Eagle Warrior of the southern tribes in one way or the other. It was likely that Situ Zhiren would let the southern tribes do the dirty work of whittling away Duan's military strength first, before he swooped in as the biggest winner.
"A new king means a coronation ceremony coming up. Who do you think the king will send as our envoy?" Mingshen asked.
"Anyone but me," Zhenghuan replied drily. "It will likely be one of the princes." Getting up from his seat, he turned and headed for the door. "I might be busy with preparations for the wedding over the next few weeks, so if there are any updates on the situation in Hua, or with the southern tribes, have it sent over to my residence directly."
Mingshen clucked his tongue. "Do you need to flaunt the fact that you're getting married so blatantly? You're hurting my feelings," he hollered—but Zhenghuan was already gone.
#
Zhenghuan had been meaning to pay Zi-ning a visit (although he was technically not supposed to until the wedding day), but unfortunately he was waylaid by a messenger from the palace, bearing an urgent summon from the king. Very reluctantly, Zhenghuan changed his route and headed into the palace instead.
After the king's chief steward had announced his arrival, Zhenghuan strode into the king's study, ready to demand to know what trivial matter his uncle wanted to speak to him about his time. When he saw the other princes there—Ru-quan, Ru-an and Ru-wen—he held his tongue, switching to a respectful greeting instead.
"No need for the formalities, Zhenghuan. Have a seat," the king said, pointing at the empty chair beside Ru-wen. Zhenghuan noticed that his uncle was looking a little uncomfortable, and immediately sensed that today's meeting did not bode well.
When Zhenghuan was seated, King Shunde continued, "We received an official invitation from Hua today, for the coronation ceremony of their new king. King Situ Yineng has passed on, rather unexpectedly, and the crown prince will be succeeding him with immediate effect. The ceremony has been fixed for two weeks' time, at the royal palace in Wulihe."
"Ah, is that so? How unfortunate," Zhenghuan replied, betraying no sign of already having known this piece of news beforehand. The intelligence network that he ran through He's Jewellery was something that only he and Mingshen were privy to, and one of the most powerful tools that the Shadow Army wielded.
"Indeed..." The frown on the king's forehead deepened. "The peace between the three kingdoms has not been easy to come by, but I'm afraid that with a new king taking over, this peace may not last for much longer."
"If Situ Zhiren thinks that he can usurp our land, he can forget about it," Crown Prince Ru-quan scoffed. "Hua may have a strong army, but ours is not to be trifled with either. After all, the Shadow Lord is undefeated, is he not?"
There was a hint of bitterness in his tone that did not go unnoticed. Zhenghuan did not care. He knew that Ru-quan had set his sights on marrying Zi-ning, so his hostile attitude now was only to be expected.
"If it comes down to that, then the Shadow Army will fight till the very last man to defend our kingdom and our people," he replied.
The king waved his hand irritably. "We'll have to worry about that when it happens. For now, the matter of urgency is the coronation ceremony. Every kingdom will be expected to send envoys to attend, and we must give due consideration to the candidate that we send, so that it does not seem that we are disrespecting the new king. Ru-quan has volunteered to go, in his capacity as crown prince, and I have approved of his request, however..." He paused, his gaze settling upon Zhenghuan worriedly. "The crown prince suggests that Zhenghuan and a small contingent of the Shadow Army accompany him to Wulihe for the ceremony."
Ah. So this is the reason why I've been summoned, Zhenghuan thought, his expression darkening.
"On one hand, this will show that we are indeed sincere about our congratulations, particularly since Xuan-er will also be crowned queen of Hua; on the other hand, Ru-quan thinks he will be more assured by your presence, since we do not know what dangers the entourage might encounter on this journey." The king hesitated, waiting for Zhenghuan's response. When he received none, he said with a sigh, "I know that you're in the midst of preparing for your wedding and would rather not have to make this trip at this juncture, but the prime minister and several other senior officials have all written in to make the same suggestion once they learned about the coronation invitation," the king gestured at the stack of petitions sitting on his desk, "because they fear that Situ Zhiren might attempt to make use of this opportunity to find reason to wage war against us. Everyone know what a wily fox that boy is—far less above board than his father."
Zhenghuan remained impassive. He glanced at Ru-quan, who was simply fiddling with the jade rings on his fingers nonchalantly, as if he had not been busy all day getting his supporters to send in all those petitions.
"The journey to Wulihe is not long," the fifth prince, Ru-an, remarked. "Even if you do accompany the crown prince for the ceremony, you will be back in good time for the wedding."
Zhenghuan returned the comment with an icy glower. "If Your Majesty orders me to accompany the crown prince and his entourage to Wulihe, then I am in no position to object," he replied coldly. "I shall make the necessary preparations immediately."
Once the king dismissed them, Zhenghuan stalked out of the imperial study, not wanting to waste another moment here. His blood was boiling. It was obvious that Ru-quan had something up his sleeve, and Ru-an would also likely not leave Zi-ning in peace back here in the capital. These imbeciles were out to ruin his wedding, but they would be fools to think that he would sit idly by and let them.
"Zhenghuan," Ru-wen, the eighth prince, called out to him.
"What?" he snapped, not bothering to slow down.
Ru-wen caught up with him, walking alongside. Lowering his voice, the prince said, "Be careful. This journey to Wulihe will likely not be peaceful."
Zhenghuan stopped, turning to face Ru-wen. "You know something?"
The prince shook his head. "No, but judging from Ru-quan's insistence at having you accompany him and the simultaneous petitions from the officials, I can tell that something is amiss. I'll help keep an eye on Miss Han while you're away."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Zhenghuan said, "but there is no need for that. Whatever they have planned will not come to fruition. And Zi-ning is more than capable of looking after herself."
Ru-wen nodded. "I understand. I look forward to attending your wedding celebration when you return," he said.