It was the middle of the night, and even the most hardworking servants in the External Prime Minister's residence had fallen asleep.
However, the study was still lit.
Under the light, Qi Zongbi rubbed his tired eyes. Several unreviewed memorials were still waiting for him on the table.
A pair of hands gently draped some clothes over him from behind. "My lord... it's time to rest."
Qi Zongbi turned around and saw his wife, Tan Qin, standing behind him, covered in a coat. Her eyes were still a bit bleary, as she had clearly just woken up.
Qi Zongbi coughed as he took a sip from the cup on the table.
"It's fine... you should go to sleep first, my lady. I still have a few memorials to review."
"Then I'll keep you company," Madam Tan said, moving a stool so she could sit next to Qi Zongbi.
"There's no need for that." Qi Zongbi waved his hand at his wife and said, "You've worked hard all day. You must be tired. Please go rest."
Madam Tan gently kneaded Qi Zongbi's shoulder. She smiled, "Hehe, thank you for your concern, but I haven't done much work. On the contrary, you're the one busy with state affairs daily, which is much more exhausting."
Qi Zongbi self-consciously cleared his throat; he felt a hint of resentment in his wife's words and awkwardly craned his neck back.
"I'm doing this... for the nation... being the External Prime Minister means sacrificing family—"
"I know, I know..." Before he could finish, Madam Tan interrupted him with a laugh, leaning against Qi Zongbi's shoulder. "Hehe, sacrificing our family for the nation... You've always said that, and I understand. You're a good minister and a hero of our people."
Hearing this, Qi Zongbi involuntarily straightened his slightly painful back, wanting to sit up straight, but then he slumped back down. "I'm not a hero... I'm just doing what I can..."
"What's wrong?" Madam Tan snugly rested her head on Qi Zongbi's shoulder and asked softly, "Is there a problem with the situation in the north?"
Qi Zongbi shook his head and hesitated for a moment before he said, "It's not that... It's just that this battle must be foolproof, with no room for error whatsoever... I can't help but worry..."
Madam Tan fell silent, she knew that matters of war were beyond her purview as his wife.
"This strategy comes from my junior brother... In today's world, no one can outwit him. I believe his plan should be flawless," Qi Zongbi continued. Unsure if he was speaking to Madam Tan or just to himself, he kneaded his forehead. "But it concerns the nation's fate... how can I not be worried?"
Madam Tan reached out to stroke Qi Zongbi's graying temples and gently advised him, "Well, since things have reached this point... worrying a little more won't help, why not go with the flow?"
"I understand." Qi Zongbi sighed, turning to look at the light by the table, but his eyes betrayed his uncertainty. "But I always want to be doing something... Otherwise... I can't feel at ease."
"Heh... my lord, you really have a difficult fate."
"Heh..." Qi Zongbi smiled wryly while he shook his head. "That may be the case."
Madam Tan seemed cold. She wrapped her clothes around her and helplessly said, "I really don't understand."
"What?" Qi Zongbi asked, confused. He didn't know what his wife was referring to.
"Those who tried to assassinate you..." Madam Tan gently frowned. "Clearly, you have sacrificed so much for the Ruen Dynasty, to the point of neglecting your family and your well-being..." Madam Tan paused midway through her sentence, but Qi Zongbi didn't notice anything unusual, assuming she was just upset. "Why do those people still want to kill you? It's just too much!"
Qi Zongbi unconsciously tightened his grip on the brush on the table, his gaze sharpening. "It is unavoidable."
With the date of the battle drawing near, Qi Zongbi had encountered several more assassination attempts. Some occurred in broad daylight and others attempted to take his life while he slept at night.
However, he always had guards and skilled assassins from the Ghostbane Association around him, so none of the assassins had succeeded.
"This war has touched too many nerves and interfered with too many interests. Hmph... those incompetent fools! If the country is left in their hands, it will be ruined sooner or later."
Madam Tan reached out and gently grasped Qi Zongbi's hand. Except for his pinkie, the joints of his fingers were covered in calluses—a side effect of years of tirelessly wielding his brush.
"Make sure to have more guards around you, my lord. It's better to be safe than sorry," Madam Tan said, her tone filled with concern.
Qi Zongbi nodded. "You don’t need to worry, my lady. It’s nothing. Those petty thieves are barely worth mentioning."
"Don't lie to me." Madam Tan shot Qi Zongbi a glare. "The other day, that one, what’s his name, Stormqueller? He managed to break in, didn’t he?"
"That person..." Qi Zongbi paused, looking for the right words. "He didn't come because of the war up north..."
"Huh? Not because of the war?" Taken aback, Madam Tan asked, "Then why did he want to kill you?"
Remembering that Stormqueller still held a grudge against him, Qi Zongbi couldn't help but feel a headache. Anyone being targeted by a Nihil-ranker would feel troubled. "He... he should just be seeking revenge, I suppose."
"The two of you have some history?" Madam Tan asked curiously. She had never heard Qi Zongbi mention this before.
Qi Zongbi squinted as he thought about the cause of Stormqueller's deadly enmity.
"He first massacred one of the Ghostbane Association branches and then fled to avoid getting caught. I dispatched the Imperial Guardians to search for him for quite some time and later found out he was hiding in an escort agency.
"Knowing that he was highly skilled, I ordered the Imperial Guardians to capture him, but the people at that agency hid him from and refused to hand him over to the Imperial Guardians. They were executed according to the law for harboring an imperial fugitive."
"So that’s how you became enemies?" Madam Tan pondered for a moment and then asked hesitantly, "Is this Stormqueller here to take revenge for the people at that escort agency?"
"That seems likely," Qi Zongbi replied, pursing his lips. "Coincidentally, just two days before the news of the extermination reached my desk, Eunuch Yue conveyed an imperial edict to me, ordering me to let Stormqueller go and not to trouble him again. However, I learned of it too late and the entire escort agency was already wiped out by the time the edict reached me."
"How is that possible?" Madam Tan was stunned by the truth of the affair. The timing of the news was neither early nor late. It arrived after Qi Zongbi had learned about the extermination of the escort agency, leaving him unable to reverse the situation.
"You think that's quite a coincidence too, right?" Qi Zongbi suddenly let out a cold laugh. "The strange thing is, I later learned from my informants that the emperor had sent the order for me to back off long ago, yet the imperial edict reached me several days late."
Madam Tan gasped, suddenly realizing what he was implying. "Could it be... Eunuch Yue?!"