The Emperor and His Thief - Chapter 3

The Eldest Prince and the Crown Prince
After his visit to his mother, Qin ChenJi decided to look for his brother, who was also his enemy within the palace. He knew, as long as Qin YiJun lived, his mother would never be happy. So, even at his young age, Qin ChenJi already harbored evil thoughts toward Qin YiJun. After questioning several servants and eunuchs within the Imperial Palace, he finally found out where Qin YiJun was and quickly made his way to the garden in YueXing palace. The gardens were just one of the many things gifted to the Crown Prince.

The moment they entered the garden, they were greeted with a breathtaking scene. Within the garden were several flower beds filled with flowers of the season, tended by the most talented gardeners hired by the Emperor. There was also a small pond filled with Koi fish. Beside the pond was a majestic pavilion made out of stone marble. Further in, one could see the main building of YueXing palace. The Emperor had all of this built within six months after Qin YiJun was born. Rumors had it that every talented craftsman in the whole Qin Empire were invited to build YueXing palace. It must be said that amongst the Emperor’s children, Qin YiJun was the only one who received such gifts.

Jealousy rose within Qin ChenJi when he thought of how all of this would have been his if Qin YiJun hadn’t appeared in his life. After giving the gardens a quick scan, his eyes finally landed on a small figure sitting under the pavilion, accompanied by a servant. The figure was of a young boy, not older than Qin ChenJi. His hair was a darker shade of brown than that of ChenJi but once the sunlight touched it, one could see that it presented a slight reddish hue. The clothes the young boy wore were of the grandest design. This was the beloved Crown Prince of the Qin Empire. “Brother!” Qin ChenJi called once he was close enough to the pavilion.

“Eldest brother!” Qin YiJun greeted Qin ChenJi happily; he quickly made some space for his brother to sit. Qin ChenJi went over and sat down beside Qin YiJun and he saw that in his younger brother’s hand was a bag of fish food.

“Have you been feeding the fishes? Can you let eldest brother feed them too?” Qin YiJun asked.

“En! Here! Just throw the food into the water and the fishes will come up to eat!” Qin YiJun happily explained as he handed the bag of fish food to Qin ChenJi. Seeing the two princes together, the eunuch accompanying Qin ChenJi decided to take a seat a little ways away to grant them some semblance of privacy but the servant that was with Qin YiJun continued to stay his ground.

When Qin YiJun noticed that his servant had not done the same as Qin ChenJi’s, he ushered the servant away, telling him to give them some privacy. Only when the servant moved slightly further away did Qin YiJun turn back to Qin ChenJi. “So, eldest brother, eldest brother! Why did you come to see YiJun? Did you get some new toys to play with?” Qin YiJun asked innocently, yet there was a hint of excitement in his tone. His russet brown eyes shone with expectation as he waited for his brother’s answer.

“Eldest brother didn’t bring new toys for Imperial Brother. Eldest brother apologize for that. But… eldest brother recently found out about a new game! Would you like to play? It is called hide and seek!”

“Hide and Seek?” Qin YiJun looked confused. Being only four years old, there were many things that he had yet to learn. Qin YiJun was very fond of Qin ChenJi because he always seemed to come with new stuff for him. To Qin YiJun, Qin ChenJi was a role model. He wanted to grow up to be knowledgeable and generous like Qin ChenJi.

Seeing Qin YiJun’s confused and curious look, Qin ChenJi inwardly smiled, thinking how easy it is to get his younger brother’s attention. This would make executing his plan much easier. While he had the fourth prince’s attention, Qin ChenJi began to explain the essence of hide and seek. After a while, he managed to get Qin YiJun to agree to play with him, even though the younger of the two was reluctant at first. Once Qin YiJun had agreed, Qin ChenJi’s plan was set in motion.

Qin YiJun had always been doted on by the Emperor, by the Empress and even by most of the servants in the palace. But, some of the servants were loyal to other families, or simply corrupt. With little bribery, they would agree to do whatever was asked of them. Some servants were willing to risk their lives to satiate their avarice; one such servant being the one that accompanied ChenJi that day. Qin ChenJi brought along Qin YiJun to play hide-and-seek and the seeker was the servant whose loyalty had already been bought by ChenJi’s mother. Their mission was to just scare YiJun off but if the Crown Prince ended up being injured, that was even better.

At that moment, Qin ChenJi brought his little brother toward the Cold Palace and Qin YiJun was starting to feel scared. After all, the Emperor had warned him not to approach the place before. The Cold Palace was almost bare with minimum decorations. As they went further, the fear within Qin YiJun’s heart grew. He clung to his elder brother’s robe and trembled a bit.

A smirk formed on Qin ChenJi’s face when he noticed his younger brother’s hesitation and he almost wanted to ruthlessly push this younger brother forward. For the sake of his plan though, he controlled his desire to do so and instead, forced himself to run a hand onto Qin YiJun’s head as if trying to assure the scared prince. ‘Ah, I wonder if mother will be happy if she saw YiJun’s expression right now. Will she praise me?’

“Eldest brother, can we please leave? If Imperial father knew we came here, we both will be punished,” YiJun said in a worried tone as he looked up to his brother. His words were laced with awkward pauses due to the anxiety he felt while his eyes watered slightly, as if the tears were threatening to fall anytime soon.

“Don’t worry! Leave everything to eldest brother. You want to win the game, right? No one will expect you will be in the Cold Palace. While you hide here, eldest brother will lure the servants away. When the time is up, you will win the game!” Qin ChenJi said as he faked a bright smile on his face. Then, he added in a slightly lower voice while his brown eyes had a malicious glint: “Just trust your eldest brother, alright?”

Qin YiJun never once doubted his older brother, so he just nodded his head. They finally entered a room within the Cold Palace. There was a stove made out of stone, and few barrels in the corner. In the middle of the room was an old wooden table. It appeared to be a kitchen. Because the Cold Palace had no one living in it, the palace had only been cleaned once in a while. Thus, that room had been collecting dust for the past few months.

“Fourth brother, come and hide here!” Qin ChenJi walked over to the barrels in the corner and began to move them to make space for Qin YiJun to hide.

Qin YiJun eyed the place as he hesitated. “Brother, can we just go somewhere else? This place is dark and scary,” Qin YiJun said, silently pleading his elder brother with his eyes. “And it is also dirty…” he added as he looked down on the dust covered ground.

Qin ChenJi was slowly getting annoyed with this little brother of his but he still held it in as he once again faked a smile. “YiJun, it is only a little dirt! When you are older and start training, you will be covered in dirt everyday! Imperial father says that if boys don’t get dirty once in a while, they can never grow up to be a brave man!” his tone was very convincing and Qin YiJun, who was scared before, suddenly got a surge of bravery.

Qin YiJun walked over and took his place. He squatted down and looked up at Qin ChenJi with reverence. He had just learned something new from his older brother. “If I do this, will YiJun grow up to be a brave man?”

“Of course! Now, I will move the barrel to cover you! Later, you be quiet or you will get found out!” Qin ChenJi said as he started to move the barrel to hide Qin YiJun’s figure. When he was finally hidden, Qin YiJun heard his brother say: “Remember! Just keep hiding and don’t move from this spot. Eldest brother will go and lead the servants away. Don’t worry, your eldest brother will make you win this game!” After Qin ChenJi left, Qin YiJun continued to hide. An hour passed, then another hour, and Qin YiJun was getting bored.

“Wait, elder brother never told me when the game ends. What if it already ended?” Qin YiJun wondered anxiously as he gripped at his clothes. More time passed and his anxiety grew. He wanted to get out and check but, in the end, he went against his instinct. Choosing, instead, to trust the words of his beloved eldest brother. “Eldest brother said to wait. When the game ends, he will come pick me up,” Qin YiJun giggled to himself as he imagined the servant’s face when he won the game. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard nearby, and Qin YiJun yelped in surprise.

“Are you sure he’s here?” came a voice that Qin YiJun was not familiar with. It sounded rough, and based on the voice, Qin YiJun imagined the owner would look like a bear.

“The informant says he’s hiding here. Let’s just search around,” came another unfamiliar voice. The new voice sounded like one of the eunuchs YiJun knew, but he couldn’t quite recall which one.

YiJun became scared and he quickly covered his mouth, fearing that the sound of his breathing would give away his location. Unfortunately, even that did not help. He could hear footsteps getting closer and before long, the barrels that were placed in front of him were moved away. The action was crude and rushed, so when one of the barrel covers fell beside Qin YiJun due to the rough movement, he let out a fearful shriek.

“Brother! I found him!!” the one who sounded like the eunuch exclaimed. Qin YiJun saw that they had covered their face, so he couldn’t figure out who they were. Seeing that he had been found out, Qin YiJun only had one thing to do. Run!!

Qin YiJun grabbed the first thing he could reach, threw it at to the masked figure’s face and then ran. He ran as fast as his small legs could take and even then, it wasn’t enough. He had forgotten that there were two of them and the other one had now caught him.

“Oi! Are you okay?” the guy with the rough voice asked his partner.

“I’m alright. So, you caught him? What do we do?”

“Oi!! Your face!!” the rough guy yelled out and Qin YiJun saw that the cloth that covered the other guy’s face had fallen off.

“Yang Ji! Help this prince!” Qin YiJun quickly screamed out when he saw the face of the eunuch he knew.

“You idiot!! Now that he has seen you, you don’t have much choice. I could let him go, and you will end up dying or we could kill him and bury him where no one will know,” the one holding Qin YiJun said, and it made the blood within Qin YiJun grow cold.

“Killing him is too much! How about we just kidnap him? If we can sell him to the Zhu Emperor…” the eunuch’s suggestion made both Qin YiJun and the other guy’s eyes widen.

“You truly are a eunuch! If we could sell him, we could get reward enough to last several generations! Quick, get me that sack over there!” The gruff sounding man concurred with his partner in crime.