The next morning, the four generals agreed to tell the higher-ups. The grand marshal was supposed to deliver a report today, and they accompanied him. Yang Feng was sitting on the throne, resting his head against his hand, while Lei was standing. They all bowed before the emperor. Feng started, "Grand Marshal, I trust you brought new information?"

  The Grand Marshal smiled as he nodded and straightened. “Yes, Your Majesty. We brought some crucial new information. During the search, there were a lot of whispers around Minister Sou Mo of the Imperial Stud. My men did their investigations, and they found this message on a spy that was supposed to be delivered to Sou Mo.

  Wen Zi Shan handed the letter to the emperor. Xian Shang's face went pale. He wasn't believing his ears as the emperor read the words of the letter, his eyes going red by the second. He tore the message and threw it on the floor, shouting, "That traitorous bastard!"

  Xian Shang stepped forward, trying to maintain his calm demeanour while trying to think quickly of what was happening. “Your Majesty,

  please control your anger. This can't be right.”

  Wen Zi Shan turned to him, his voice dripping with malice, “Prime Minister, for how long are you going to defend your traitorous subordinate? This is a huge failure on your side.”

  Xian Shang shook his head repeatedly. “No, Minister Sou is one of our most trusted ministers of all. He has been serving in the

  government for fifteen years. This can't be. This must be some kind of setup.”

  Wen Zi Shan continued his tone loud and proud. "Your Majesty, we confirmed that the letter was written by Liang Jin of the Red Dragon

  Sons."

  Yang Lei turned to his brother. "Your Majesty, if you want to be sure, you can order a search of his house so that we may find some

  clue of either his innocence or guilt."

  Feng's eyes lit up with approval as he looked at Wen Zi Shan, “Grand Marshal. Send your men to search Minister Sou's house now. And summon

  him here."

  Wen Zi Shan bowed, “As you wish, your majesty”. He then turned to the generals and nodded. They quickly bowed to the emperor and left. Xian

  Shang tried to leave too and excuse himself, but Feng's voice interrupted his thoughts, “Where are you going, prime minister? You will wait here until the

  search is complete and the dear minister Sou is present.”

  After an hour, the search in Sou Mo's house was complete, and the Grand Marshal entered the room again, behind him were his generals. One of them was carrying a decorated long box, while the other two were holding Sou Mo in chains. They all then bowed, and Wen Zi Shan started, "Your Majesty, we found this by searching the Minister's mansion. It was hidden very carefully in his study as if it were not meant to be seen."

  Feng motioned for him to get close, "Come and let me see what's in this box."

  Wen zi Shan took the box from his general and approached the throne, removing the lid, when loud gasp echoed through the room. It contained a sword that had a dragon figure wrapped around its handle, a characteristic sign of the Red Dragon Sons’ swords. Feng stood up, held the sword with one hand, his eyes burning with fury as he looked at Sou Mo, demanding an explanation. "What the hell is this doing in your house?" he spat. "Sou Mo, you were a respected minister of the government. Yet you allied yourself with criminals."

  Sou Mo shook his head violently, his voice panicking as he eyed the Emperor and the Prime Minister. "No, please, your majesty! I am innocent. I did not do any

  of these. This is a setup!"

  Xian Shang took one step forward, his voice low, "Your Majesty."

  Yang Feng shouted, "Silence! Sou Mo, what was this doing in your house? Who did you plan to kill with this? Was it my eldest brother or was it me? How dare you conspire with a criminal like Liang Jin against me?"

  Sou Mo's eyes were filled with tears as he shouted, "No, your majesty, I would never conspire to hurt any of the imperial family. I don't know what this is. I've

  never seen it before."

  Feng pointed at him as he looked at the guards. "That's enough. Beat him until he confesses."

  The guards approached, holding wooden sticks, as they began to beat Sou Mo relentlessly. Everyone eyed him as his screams filled the room. He then collapsed to the

  floor, panting, "I am… innocent."

  Yang Feng stood up and approached him himself before kicking him with all his power, making his body hit the column behind him, shouting, "I will kill you and

  Liang Jin in the same day. Throw this bastard in prison until I find his co-conspirator."

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Feng and Lei left first, heading for Jian's mansion. The imperial guards took Sou Mo to the prison cells. Wen Zi Shan looked at Xian Shang for the last time before leaving;

  his smile widened. Xian Shang just stood there, his eyes bulging, his body trembling with rage and frustration. His closest subordinate has been framed,

  accused, tried, and found guilty under his nose, and he couldn't do anything about it. His steps landed heavily on the wooden floor as he also left. “How

  could this happen? How could this happen?”

  Feng and Lei entered Jian's room to find him resting like always. Han Yu was standing beside his bed as he bowed his usual incomplete bow. Feng sat, holding his

  eldest brother's hand. “Eldest brother, I have finally found who set your house on fire.”

  Yang Jian looked surprised and excited. “Is that so? Who was it?”

  Feng replied, “It was Sou Mo. He allied himself with the red dragon's sons to try to take you out of his master's way.”

  Before Jian could reply, Lei stomped the floor, forcing everyone to look at him. His eyes were locked on Jian’s as his voice came out. "Eldest brother, I think this

  is enough. Enough playing. Enough with the helpless patient act. You can’t move us like pawns forever. As your brothers and as the leaders of the empire, we

  deserve to know."

  Feng was confused between Lei’s stern, harsh words and Jian’s sudden chuckle as he sat straight in bed without help. “Second brother, it is good that my plan was finished

  before you noticed. Otherwise, you would have ruined it with your narrow vision.”

  He swung his legs over the side of the bed, his movements fluid and devoid of the tremors that had plagued him for days. He reached for his fan, which sat on the bedside table, and unfurled it with a sharp, resonant snap. "You speak of pawns, second brother," Jian said, his voice no longer the whisper of a dying man, but his usual resonant tone. "But in this city, if you do not move the pieces, you are the piece. I chose to move."

  Feng’s hand was still hovering in the air where he had been holding Jian’s "feeble" fingers. He looked at his brother’s steady gaze, his confusion turning into a dawning, terrifying realization. "The fire... the watchtowers…. Was it….”

  "It was a warning," Jian replied calmly. "But not from an enemy. It was warning to the Prime Minister that his control is an illusion. I needed the watchtowers to burn so the military would feel the sting of failure. I needed the search to last three days so the four generals would grow desperate enough to believe a lie. Sou Mo is a corrupt man, but he is not a traitor,"

  Jian continued, a cold smile playing on his lips. "He did not receive a letter from the Red Dragon Sons. He received a death sentence from me. I made sure that the 'evidence' would find its way into the Minister's study while the guards were busy looking for ghosts in the streets."

  Yang Feng stood up slowly, his body shaking. “You never left this room… how did you…”

  Jian replied, covering his face with the fan he held with his healthy hand, “The ghost is real. You just looked for him in the wrong place, little brother.”

  Yang Lei took a step back, his face pale. "You framed a Minister of the Crown. You used the most notorious criminals in the empire to plant evidence... and you used us to execute the blow."

  Jian countered. "I used the truth to hide a better truth. Xian Shang was a wall we could not climb. So, I simply removed the foundation. Sou Mo was the first stone. Without him, the Prime Minister has no eyes in the palace, no hands in the treasury, and no one to blame but himself."

  He stood tall between his two brothers. "I am the reason Lijiang burned, little brother. And I am the reason you are currently the most powerful man in this room. The gangs don’t serve the empire... they serve me. And through me, they serve you."

  Feng was still processing all this. He pointed his trembling finger at Jian's bandaged thighs, his voice stuttering. Jian knew what he was thinking of, so he simply took out

  the tip of the bandaged wrap and pulled it violently. The entire wrap was removed from his burned side, and they all saw that his arm wasn't burned, just mildly scarred. “just insurance. No one would suspect a crippled crisp.”

  ?Feng looked at the pile of discarded bandages on the floor, then up at Jian’s standing figure. The gratitude he had felt only moments ago—the warmth of holding his "dying" brother's hand—turned into a cold, acidic knot in his stomach. "You let me weep for you," Feng whispered, his voice cracking. He took a step toward Jian, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his ceremonial sword, not to draw it, but out of a desperate need to feel like an Emperor again. "I spent three nights staring at the ceiling, cursing the heavens for your pain. I nearly burned the city down in my heart because I thought you were... crisp."

  ?He let out a sharp, hysterical breath that wasn't quite a laugh.

  ?"I am grateful you are whole, Eldest Brother. I am. My heart is lighter than it has been in years." Feng’s eyes suddenly flashed with a terrifying heat, the 'fury' he had shown Sou Mo now directed at the man he loved most. "But how dare you? You sat there and watched me struggle to lead? You watched me doubt myself, watched me crawl before the Prime Minister, all while you held the leash of the very 'Ghost' I was hunting?"

  ?Feng walked to the window, looking out at the palace he supposedly ruled. "You gave me a throne, but you didn't give me the truth. You made me a victor by making me a fool. Do you have any idea how it feels... to realize your greatest triumph was just a bedtime story written by your elder brother to keep you safe?"

  ?He turned back, his face a mask of Imperial stone, though his hands were still trembling. "Don't ask me to thank you yet. I cannot find the words for a man who saves my life by stealing my dignity."

  He turned back, his face a mask of Imperial stone, though his hands were still trembling. "Don't ask me to thank you yet. I cannot find the words for a man who

  saves my life by stealing my dignity. “

  He didn't look back as he stepped outside the room. Lei lingered for a second, his eyes hard and judgmental. "You’ve won the battle, eldest brother. But… you may have lost something more valuable.”

  The door thudded shut. The silence that followed was heavy. Liang Jin (Han Yu) straightened up, his face unreadable. He looked at the door, then at Jian, who was still standing by the bed, his face completely calm, his smile never faltering.

  Liang Jin said, his voice was low. "Master Yang, I don't understand. You let them walk away thinking you are just a liar. Why not tell them the rest? Why not tell them about the future? Why not tell them who I really am?"

  Jian turned his fan over in his hand, feeling the silk. "Look at how they trembled, Liang Jin. Feng’s hand was shaking because I framed a man who deserved to fall. Lei’s voice cracked because I used a gang to plant a sword."

  Jian finally looked at his commander, his eyes cold and ancient. "If they cannot stomach the scent of a single dead minister, how will they breathe when the border burns? If I tell them I am pulling the Wu tribes into our lands just to lure the Grand Marshal to his grave... they won't just leave this room. They will try to stop me. And I cannot be stopped… shouldn’t be stopped."

  Liang Jin nodded in understanding, “but what the advisor said about losing something valuable…”

  Jian interrupted him, “They are still na?ve. Right now, the most valuable thing is the empire, and I promised my father that I would protect it no matter what. And if that means that I must live as a liar in the eyes of my brothers, then so be it”

  Liang Jin asked a final question, “But a war?”

  Jian covered his face with fan while looking from the window, his smile wide “A near loss for a future profit”