Chapter Twenty-Two: When Enemies Meet

At this moment, Xu Boqing was in the corner of the garden—one hand pressed against the ground, the other behind his back, and a small stone lock placed on his back as he performed push-ups.

After half a month of this high-intensity training, his once slightly plump figure now displayed clear lines of muscle.

Just as he was about to switch to a horse stance and steady his foundation for another half-hour, he suddenly noticed a young eunuch approaching the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.

He glanced only once, but his pupils contracted sharply and he quickly lowered his head, pretending not to see anyone, continuing his strenuous exercise as if nothing had happened.

He acted with exaggerated focus and exhaustion.

Aside from the empresses and favored consorts from other palaces who occasionally visited the Empress Dowager, the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility rarely saw outsiders.

Especially since Xu Boqing had noticed some potential “rivals” within the palace, he paid particular attention to any young eunuchs he saw, always instinctively using his “Heaven’s Eye” technique to observe them.

But upon seeing this young eunuch, he saw black miasma swirling around him—an alarming sight. Most terrifying of all, the “eunuch” actually had the features of a gloomy middle-aged man!

This eunuch was a fake—a middle-aged man in disguise!

A shadowy-faced man, by unknown means, had disguised himself as a young eunuch and slipped into the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility in the dead of night. Anyone with half a mind could see there was something terribly wrong.

At this late hour, Chief Steward Huang was likely already asleep. If this man was truly up to no good and realized he had been discovered, then ten lives might not be enough to save his own.

The safest course was simple: act as if he saw nothing.

Sweat beaded on Xu Boqing’s forehead as he gritted his teeth, performing push-ups with a look of near exhaustion, as though he clung to his last reserves of strength.

Meanwhile, Cui Feng, who had just entered the palace and relaxed upon seeing no patrols, suddenly spotted a young eunuch in the garden’s corner. Immediately, he ducked into the shadow of an artificial rock.

He fixed his eerie gaze on the eunuch, who was sweating profusely and intensely focused on his training. Cui Feng’s tensed fingers slowly relaxed.

Once sure the eunuch hadn’t noticed him, he continued to observe from the shadows. When the eunuch finally collapsed, gasping for breath as if spent, a sly smile crept across Cui Feng’s lips.

It reminded him of his own youthful days practicing martial arts.

Seeing the eunuch drag his “exhausted” body toward the lavatory, Cui Feng finally shook his head and walked straight toward the Empress Dowager’s bedchamber.

Xu Boqing hid in the lavatory, his heart pounding, every sense focused on his eyes, the world before him fading to washed-out colors.

When he saw the middle-aged imposter heading for the Empress Dowager’s quarters, his expression shifted.

After a moment’s thought, he crept to the back window of Chief Steward Huang’s chamber and rapped out a coded knock—three long, two short.

It was the secret signal set by Chief Huang.

He waited for a while, and then, without warning, the back window silently slid open. Before Xu Boqing could react, he was yanked into the room.

Chief Steward Huang, clearly annoyed at being disturbed from his sleep, stood by the window, fixing him with a cold stare. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Xu Boqing answered bluntly, “There’s an outsider in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility!”

“An outsider?” Chief Huang frowned, his expression puzzled. “Did you see who it was?”

“Definitely not someone good!” Xu Boqing replied resolutely, then explained, “I was just exercising in the garden when I saw a young eunuch come into the palace. As you know, we rarely get visitors here, especially at this hour. So I watched carefully and noticed he didn’t know our palace’s ways. And his boots—they weren’t even the palace style.”

“A young eunuch with the wrong boots?” Chief Huang muttered, his brows knotted. Suddenly, as if a thought struck him, he asked, “Where is he now?”

“He’s gone to the Empress Dowager’s bedchamber!”

“Damn it!” Chief Huang’s face changed. He snatched his embroidered dragon robe from the rack and, moving like the wind, shot out of the room.

Xu Boqing felt only a gust of wind; by the time he recovered, Chief Huang was nowhere to be seen. There was no need to guess—he had raced to the Empress Dowager’s quarters.

Xu Boqing’s eyes narrowed as he considered his options. He’d been in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility for over a month, and had rarely even seen the Empress Dowager, let alone found any shortcut to favor.

But that middle-aged man in disguise was shrouded in black energy, and Chief Huang—the palace’s grand steward—did not recognize him. He was certainly up to no good.

If he was heading to the Empress Dowager’s chambers, his intentions could only be malicious!

Now that Chief Huang had gone, was this not a chance for Xu Boqing to make a name for himself?

Why wait for fortune to find him? Why not seize the opportunity and go looking for it himself?

Resolved, he wasted no time, dashing out the door toward the Empress Dowager’s chambers.

At the entrance to her rooms, the elderly maid responsible for her care already lay lifeless.

Inside, Empress Dowager Chen, lightly dressed, sat before her bed, her expression icy and wary as she glared at the young eunuch who had burst in. She shouted in a voice of steel, “How dare you enter my chambers without permission!”

“Empress Dowager?” Cui Feng paused at her self-address.

Then, seeing her—delicate nose, phoenix eyes, an aristocratic beauty with an air of regal grace, untouched by the years, which had only added a mature charm—he couldn’t help but acknowledge, even with all the beauties he’d known in his youth, that she was the most stunning woman he had ever seen.

He smiled knowingly, tore off the eunuch’s disguise, and as the crisp sound of shifting bones echoed, he revealed his true middle-aged face.

Seeing this, Empress Dowager Chen’s expression changed.

She had thought him a hapless young eunuch, but he was an outsider in nightwear, using bone-shrinking and disguise techniques no ordinary man could possess.

Cui Feng flicked his fingers, snuffing a distant candle with a burst of inner force, and said with a lewd grin, “Empress Dowager, if you wish to live, you’d best not start screaming…”

Though she herself was not versed in martial arts, the Empress Dowager was not ignorant. Seeing the telltale signs of innate inner strength, her expression grew even darker.

“This is the imperial palace. What do you intend?” she demanded.

“What do I intend?” Cui Feng’s grin only grew more depraved as he saw her value her own life and refrain from shouting. “You’ve been widowed over a decade—no, that useless Emperor Shengyuan… perhaps you’ve been alone over twenty years now.”

He paused, his meaning clear, stepping closer as he spoke. “Perhaps you’ve never known a woman’s pleasure. Since fate has led me here tonight, I cannot bear to see you suffer. I’ve come to fulfill you.”

“You!” The Empress Dowager paled as he lunged toward her.

“Wretch, how dare you!”

Suddenly, a voice like thunder exploded by Cui Feng’s ear.

His face changed as he turned and saw an elderly eunuch, snow-haired and dragon-robed, flying toward him.

When he recognized the familiar face, his pupils contracted in terror, and he instinctively backed toward the window, desperate to escape.

It was him!

It was this old eunuch!

Years ago, he had been captured by this very man!

After all these years, he still lived!