The Vast Longevity Festival of the twenty-sixth year of Yuantai began with a horde of officials congratulating the Emperor for his long life, every citizen merrymaking together, and ended with the Emperor fainting while the Empress was having a miscarriage.

Yan Xiaohan was itching to get back and deal with the case, so he could only send Fu Shen off to East Victory Gate. He had the young eunuch go call for the Yan Estate’s folks to wait outside the palace gates, taking advantage of the time when no one was around to bend over and hug the other man. “I don’t know when this case will go to trial. You don’t need to wait for me at night, go to bed early.”