ITVCFITB CHAPTER 58

 Chapter 58 — The Poison-Curer

Li Mingjin’s cool, measured punishment was a slap that woke the whole hall. Message received: the Third Prince from the capital was no lapdog to be pushed around, no matter what anyone thought of his chances at the throne or his standing with the Emperor.

After listening, quite leisurely, to the howls as the rods fell, Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu finally departed the banquet.

In the carriage, Luo Shuyu said, “Brilliant move, Your Highness. Helping neither side on the surface, but in truth you’ve handed Lin Haiming and the northern commanders an excuse to bond.”

Li Mingjin slid Luo Shuyu’s cold hands into his own cloak. “If no one had jumped out to belittle the southern officers and name-drop General Wei, I wouldn’t have done it this way. And whoever set that man up did us a favor. If he was truly drunk, we heard his real heart. If he was only pretending, it still served us. Either way, not a loss.”

Luo Shuyu nestled closer to him, finding a comfortable angle. “Premeditated or not, you’re the one who profited.”

“Mm.” He laid out the plan. “I’d meant to take it slow, let Lin Haiming’s group mingle with the northern ranks, then adjust. Plans can’t keep up with change. Since someone leaped first, we’d be fools not to use the opening.”

“And next?” Luo Shuyu asked. “Won’t this scramble your pacing?”

“We hadn’t started in earnest, no pacing to ruin. Now I want to see how Lin Haiming gets on with the locals.” He paused. “What did you make of General Wei’s two sons?”

“I watched them. Normal. No overstepping. Prefect Zhu, though, he’s odd. Something about his manner feels… off. What do you think?”

“The same,” Li Mingjin said. “He doesn’t match.”

“If we can both feel it, surely others do?” Luo Shuyu frowned.

“Confusing, yes. But ten years is long; few here knew him ‘before.’ And civil and military men always chafe.” His eyes cooled. “We’ll check the Zhu household.”

Time in the Ministry of Justice had honed his eye for human seams, one tug on a loose thread and a life unraveled.

“How?” Luo Shuyu asked.

“Family’s where it leaks. Wife, sons, daughters, easiest to catch a slip.”

“True,” Luo Shuyu murmured.

They’d barely arrived and were already brushing oddities. The north was not the placid posting some imagined; civil and military had never been easy bedmates.

Shame they hadn’t had more time with General Wei before coming. That token from Consort Wei might prove invaluable.

The north no doubt hid hands from multiple princes. Crown Prince, Eldest Prince, Fourth Prince or all three.

They returned to their new house. After a day’s work it was no capital palace, but it had everything they needed.

They washed and prepared to rest.

It was Li Mingjin’s first time showing this edge before the northern ranks; the thrill hadn’t worn off. He nuzzled Luo Shuyu’s cheek. “Yu’er, should I put on a show like that more often?”

Luo Shuyu pushed his face away, smiling. “No fault with it. I saw plenty flinch. The timing on that cup, too early or too late and the effect dies.”

“They’ll obey tonight. Tomorrow and the next, we’ll be sanding edges.”

“Hot tofu burns the mouth,” Luo Shuyu said. “They’ve had their own ways here for years. We’re an inserted third force; friction is inevitable. When Mr. Chen’s better, we’ll see what strategies he suggests.”

“Mm. Everything about Chen Rong is fine except his health,” Li Mingjin said, with a twinge of pity.

“Then we find a physician to nurse him properly. Winters here are brutal. Being sick all the time will take years off his life,” Luo Shuyu said softly. In this lifetime, he wanted Chen Rong to live longer.

Li Mingjin changed tack, grinning. “Enough talk. It’s been over a month since we’ve done anything scandalous. Shall we test the new bed?”

“Your Highness!” Luo Shuyu protested as he was gently pressed into the warm kang.

“This platform is amazing,” Li Mingjin said, already untying him. “No need for a mountain of quilts. Very convenient.”

“…” Two days in and you’ve got a lot of thoughts.

---

They slept in. No court to attend, no summons from the palace, sun high before they stirred.

They were just finishing breakfast when Chen Rong asked to see them.

“It’s freezing,” Luo Shuyu scolded as he had him helped inside. “You’re not well, no running about.”

Chen still looked pale, but he had more spirit; walking needed an arm. “I didn’t want to bring sickness to Your Highnesses, but I heard early this morning that the officers from last night were punished with ten rods each. I feared rumors, so I hurried over.”

“What else are they saying?” Li Mingjin asked as he never rushed to defend himself.

“As expected of Your Highness.” Chen managed a smile. “The tale leaves out the cause, only says you punished men at a welcome banquet. It paints you as petulant and cruel, flaunting power far from the capital. To soldiers’ ears, that makes you unworthy of obedience. What happened, exactly?”

Li Mingjin preferred brevity; Luo Shuyu filled in the color. “A northern officer ‘got drunk,’ praised General Wei to the heavens and mocked the southerners. A fight broke out. Only when they’d thrashed each other a while did His Highness intervene and level the same penalty for all.”

Chen thought it over. “Then ten rods per man is hardly excessive.”

“Do you know Prefect Zhu?” Li Mingjin asked.

“I saw him once when I was twenty, wandering the north,” Chen said.

“What was he like then?”

“Serious. Little humor. The kind to think of the people. I didn’t see him clearly last night, tucked in the back.”

“The man we met doesn’t match,” Li Mingjin said. “If he comes again, look closely.”

“Changed temperament?” Chen frowned. “Such things happen, but usually after a great shock.”

“We’ll keep an eye out,” Li Mingjin said.

A beat. Then Luo Shuyu voiced the next obvious question. “So who’s spreading this?”

“Whoever least wants Your Highness to gain merit here,” Chen replied. “The most anxious one.”

“The most anxious…” Li Mingjin drawled. “Eldest Brother’s men?”

“Likely,” Chen said. “Fourth Prince is headed south. They’re nominally aligned, but if Fourth Prince reaches Tong’an safely, Eldest’s troubles begin. I suspect His Majesty will assign an imperial commissioner to go with Fourth, he won’t manage alone.”

“Not necessarily,” Li Mingjin said, trading a look with Luo Shuyu. “The Fourth may have other support, rivers-and-lakes types, we don’t know.”

“Possible,” Chen admitted, mind ticking over hidden cards.

They were still mapping their next steps when Butler Fu came to announce a visitor: a man claiming to be Chen Rong’s senior fellow disciple.

Both prince and consort turned to their delicate, chronically ill strategist.

“You have a senior?” Li Mingjin arched a brow. “You never mentioned.”

Chen looked abashed. “I meant no deception, Your Highness. I simply… never found a chance.”

“Invite him to the main hall,” Luo Shuyu said at once.

Curiosity lingered as they waited and then the man appeared: early thirties, handsome, clean-limbed, a faint medicinal scent clinging to him. A medicine chest hung over his shoulder; behind him stood a twelve- or thirteen-year-old apprentice.

The man knelt. “This commoner Lin Yuan greets Your Highness the Third Prince, Your Highness the Third Prince Consort.”

“Rise,” Li Mingjin said. “If you’re Mr. Chen’s senior brother, you must be skilled.”

Tea was set. Lin Yuan stood and glanced past them to Chen Rong, expression composed. “Junior brother. It’s been a long time.”

Chen coughed into his sleeve, awkward. “Senior brother… you come uninvited?”

“You’ve been in the capital for years,” Lin Yuan replied mildly. “Hard to catch a glimpse.”

“You two seem close,” Luo Shuyu said, seizing the opening with an easy smile.

Chen dropped the hammer in the very next breath. “Your Highness, he’s the very man you’ve been seeking, the Poison-Curer.”

Luo Shuyu blinked. …What?

Hold on. In the book, the Poison-Curer was an old man.

So why was he thirty, handsome and standing right here?

Had he remembered wrong? Or had the story been wrong?

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: “Wife, shall we try Senior Brother Chen’s new ointment tonight?”
Luo Shuyu: “…”

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