From CEO to Concubine-Chapter 121: The Other Sister

The days were growing longer. A golden sunset streamed in through the open window to fall upon the wooden chessboard that Yan Zheyun and Gracious Consort Yao were seated across from each other at. With just a glance, it was hard to say who was winning, but if one saw the way Yan Zheyun’s jaw was tight, his eyes darting periodically to the floor, an unusual displeasure swimming in the depths of his doe-like eyes, it would be assumed that he was about to lose.

Nonsense. Even if he were, he could do so graciously. Quite unlike how he was feeling right now as he watched Hua Zhixuan mumble something in his sleep before turning to press his cheek against Gracious Consort Yao’s thigh.

This must be how it felt to have his big white cabbage dug out by a pig (1). He narrowed his eyes when Gracious Consort Yao’s hand dropped idly to rest on Hua Zhixuan’s head, those grubby trotters stroking so gently that Hua Zhixuan didn’t wake up, just pushed up against the light pressure with a happy snuffle.

...perhaps it was his older brother instincts kicking in again but all aspects of Gracious Consort Yao just grated on Yan Zheyun’s nerves now, especially knowing what he knew about the man’s special identity and the role that he served in the palace.

To call the brocade guard the watchdogs of the emperor was no exaggeration. Unlike their counterparts in the shadows, they were the only subordinates of the emperor that the whole world knew about, wearing their crimson uniforms with an abrasive pride. They were loyal only to one man alone and their influence was undeniable. A knock on the door in the middle of the night by these harbingers spelt an unfortunate fate for the official and his family living within. Torture, interrogation, underhanded tactics. There was no end to what they would do to fulfil their purpose.

In short, they were madmen. And Hua Zhixuan had no clue. He had no idea that the man Yan Zheyun had watched him fall rapidly for was the chief of these lunatics.

The worst part? Gracious Consort Yao had a valid reason to keep up with the deceit. Yan Zheyun, too, couldn’t be honest with his friend, so who was he to judge?

But no matter how much he tried to assuage himself, the worry festered beneath the surface of his calmness. He never wanted to see Gracious Consort Yao choose between Hua Zhixuan and Liu Yao; there was no happy ending in either outcome.

He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at the dull throbbing at his temples. Why had he agreed to play chess with Gracious Consort Yao again? The sight of the man was enough to give him a stress headache, something he’d only ever heard his mother complain about in the past but never had the ’fortune’ to experience for himself until post-transmigration.

Gracious Consort Yao shot Yan Zheyun an amused look, propping his chin upon his knuckles as he said, "Something troubling you?"

Yan Zheyun didn’t want to respond but technically he was still outranked and also, he knew how persistent Gracious Consort Yao could get when he wanted to annoy someone and clearly he intended to chat about something if he was still keeping Yan Zheyun here after Hua Zhixuan dozed off. On a normal day, he would have ended the nice little social gathering to carry Hua Zhixuan back to his room, so obnoxiously open about his feelings that Yan Zheyun felt certain Liu Yao was fully aware that his concubines were canoodling behind his back.

Or in this case, right under his nose.

"What does Chief Yao wish to say?" was Yan Zheyun’s curt reply, cutting right to the chase.

It was like a switch had flipped on inside Gracious Consort Yao. His lazy, fluid posture straightened into a soldier’s ramrod back, and the softness in his demeanour and expression seeped out, replaced effortlessly by a glint of razor-sharp shrewdness.

Chief of the Brocade Guard, Yao Siya. This was who was speaking to Yan Zheyun now.

"This subject greets Yue Langjun," he said, the casual smile on his face replaced with impassivity. It was also clear that he didn’t view himself as a concubine in the slightest. Otherwise, no self-respecting consort would lower their status by referring to a lesser-ranking harem member with a respectful honorific.

Yan Zheyun’s mouth flattened into a thin line. As far as he knew, he had no business with the brocade guard and trusted Liu Yao enough to believe that the emperor wouldn’t send them to tear his throat out; no, in the event of a falling out, Yan Zheyun felt like Liu Yao respected him enough to at least do the killing himself.

So what was it?

"Don’t worry, Langjun is not in trouble." A bit of the usual warmth crept back into Yao Siya’s voice. "His Majesty gave me a task that requires reporting back to you."

...Yan Zheyun decided that hearing Yao Siya address him as Langjun was not a better experience than calling Yao Siya that himself. He chose to practice the fine art of selective hearing and jump straight to the second sentence.

"What sort of task?" Liu Yao hadn’t informed him.

"This subject was ordered to search for your sister."

Yan Zheyun felt the skin on the nape of his neck prickling. The face that swam in his vision didn’t have the elegant phoenix eyes that his real body shared with Lixin, a mischievous glimmer hidden deep in their depths. Instead, he saw a young child, a small tiny thing, bundled up in white furs and blinking at him owlishly from across the gardens of the ex-prime minister’s household.

Yan Xi. Yan Zheyun’s last living direct relative. Yan Zheyun had lived vicariously through Yan Yun’s eyes for the first 18 years of Yan Yun’s life, and had seen this girl from behind a lens, so as to speak. He couldn’t feel the kinship, especially since Yan Yun himself hadn’t been close to her. The memories of her were sparse and often laced with a residual helplessness, a 14-year-old scholarly boy not quite knowing how to interact with a 12-year-old bubbly girl.

A 12-year-old girl was sold into slavery. This was enough reason for Yan Zheyun to constantly remind himself to find a way to look for her.

Ever since reaching the rank of imperial concubine, Yan Zheyun had started wondering how he should commence a search for Yan Yun’s sister. Despite the relative freedom he had now gained—where Xiao De once had to tread with caution in the inner palace lest someone accused Yan Zheyun of overstepping, he now traipsed where he wanted to do his master’s bidding—Yan Zheyun’s options were still limited. The purpose of the palace walls was to segregate the harem from the outside world, not just because emperors were worried that others might be secretly fucking their collection of beauties, but also to prevent them from solidifying their familial alliances.

Taking sides, strengthening up a clan. This was why Yan Zheyun hadn’t mentioned his intentions to Liu Yao yet. Although they had never spoken about it upfront, it remained that Liu Yao had been the one to order the execution of Yan Yun’s family. Yan Zheyun had always been able to distinguish between the emotions of the host body and that of his own, but it didn’t mean it felt good to watch the anguish and despair Yan Yun had felt from their loss, even as a third party.

But Liu Yao...if it were anyone else, Yan Zheyun could be impartial and say he would judge based on all existing evidence.

But Liu Yao. Since it was Liu Yao, he wanted to believe in the best. Put his faith in an emperor who might not have wanted the throne but who has only ever tried hard to carry the responsibility once it landed on his shoulders anyway.

In this sense, bringing up Yan Xi should have been easy. Yan Zheyun trusted Liu Yao with so many things, it shouldn’t have been difficult to trust him to know that Yan Zheyun didn’t intend to start a faction independent of Liu Yao’s camp by resurrecting the Yan Family from its ashes. That would be spitting on the emperor’s edict and an insult to Liu Yao’s sovereignty.

Yan Zheyun trusted his boyfriend but he understood that as emperor, some decisions were ironically harder for him to make than mere civilians.

"Where is she?" he asked at last, with a mild tremble in his voice. Yao Siya interpreted that as nervous anticipation but what he didn’t know was that the adrenaline pounding through Yan Zheyun’s veins came from second and third guessing Liu Yao’s motivations for issuing this command to his best hunting dog.

We’ve graduated past tests, he forcibly reminded himself. Whether Liu Yao had guessed at his intentions or not, it was a nice thing to do. He’s yours, he just wants to make you happy.

The thought that followed behind quickly was, We need to talk.

Yao Siya lowered his head. He appeared contrite. Yan Zheyun suspected that if Hua Zhixuan wasn’t still drooling onto his lap, he would have dropped to his knees to ask for forgiveness.

It was bad news.

"Young Mistress Yan was sold into various households," Yao Siya said solemnly. "Someone worked hard to get her out of the capital and we followed the trail southwards...but it ran cold."

Yan Zheyun closed his eyes. He was either too late and Yan Xi’s bones were already buried in the wilderness or whoever had moved her was so influential that even the emperor’s men had run into a dead end.

If it were the latter, Yan Zheyun couldn’t understand the motive behind it. Why hide the young, hapless daughter of a fallen family? The reputation of the Yan Family was already in shambles and she was just a young girl. The early marital age made Yan Zheyun incredibly uncomfortable and Yan Xi had indeed been a great beauty even as a child, but to go to great lengths to make someone disappear off the surface of the earth just for hedonistic pleasure, especially given her sensitive background, didn’t seem like a wise trade-off to Yan Zheyun.

But maybe no one’s looking for a wise trade-off when it comes to such matters.

The guilt was suddenly overwhelming. That foreign sensation that there was someone else living in the same body...could this be the result of Yan Yun’s growing resentment with how he had handled the development of the story? Yan Zheyun had forgotten that there was a plot line, had become so used to his life playing out however he dictated, with action and consequence, that this world had become akin to the normal world back home. But what if Yan Yun wanted him to take a certain path? To find his sister and obtain revenge, make it play out like those transmigration novels Lixin enjoyed reading about?

That would explain these bizarre sensations Yan Zheyun still felt on occasion. Perhaps Yan Yun wasn’t pleased with how little he had done. If Yan Zheyun put himself into Yan Yun’s shoes, if this were Lixin missing and possibly gone for good, he might go crazy, a wronged spirit turned malicious from the grief and injustice of it all.

"Yue Langjun, are you all right?" Yao Siya asked concernedly. His mouth, its corners normally tilted upwards into an easy smile, was pressed flat. "Rest assured, the brocade guard is still working on the case. We won’t leave any stone in Lin Nan unturned."

Lin Nan. The city located in the region that corresponded to the area Yan Zheyun had been born in.

An uneasy feeling blossomed in his chest. The southern region was famous for blossoming beauties; handsome men and fair women who were made of water, as they liked to say.

Even if Yan Xi were still alive, who was to say this wouldn’t be a crueller fate for her?