# Chapter Seventy-Three
Roujia had married, and with no one else left in the Lingnan Prince's residence, Bai Ren had no reason to keep returning there. The two of them had been as sweet as honey these days—Bai Ren was so reluctant to leave that he had spent two consecutive nights at the Crown Prince's residence. Every morning, when Qi Xiao went to court, Bai Ren would head to the Huixin Academy, but by noon they were both back at the Crown Prince's residence. After lunch, they would rest together for a while—sometimes actually sleeping, sometimes just chatting and teasing each other to pass the time. After their afternoon rest, they would go to the inner study together: Qi Xiao reviewing official documents, Bai Ren flipping through storybooks, and occasionally writing a few characters when in the mood. Neither disturbed the other. After dinner together in the evening, Qi Xiao would no longer go to the inner study, but would nestle with Bai Ren in their bedchamber to play.
They were simply occupying the same room with no other entertainment, yet Qi Xiao never felt bored. Just looking at Bai Ren—even if they were just sitting together quietly—was better than anywhere else. As for Bai Ren, he was completely devoted to Qi Xiao, that aloof and cool demeanor he showed others completely absent. All he wanted was to be close to him.
That evening after dinner, Qi Xiao brought out a set of dice and cup and placed them on the table. Seeing Bai Ren's puzzled expression, he smiled and said, "Don't tell me you don't recognize these—you never played this as a child?"
Bai Ren shook his head and smiled. "No... I recognize them, of course I recognize them, but I really never played as a child. Where did His Highness get these?"
Qi Xiao laughed lightly. "When I was sixteen, I spent half a year frequenting gambling houses. At the time, the remonstrating officials even presented petitions against me."
Bai Ren was speechless. "Why would you go to gambling houses for no reason?"
Qi Xiao only smiled without answering. He pulled out the money box, casually took a leaf of gold leaf, and placed it on the table with a smile. "I'm betting on big."
Bai Ren immediately got excited, but unfortunately he never carried silver when visiting Qi Xiao. He searched through his entire body and could only find a peace amulet hanging from his waist that could serve as betting capital. Qi Xiao smiled, took out a pouch of gold melon seeds, and handed it to him. When Bai Ren reached for it, Qi Xiao pulled it back with a smile. "These are counted—one hundred gold melon seeds total, that's five taels of silver. I'll lend them to you first. What if you lose and can't pay it back later?"
Bai Ren hesitated. Qi Xiao smiled lightly. "Let me make this clear first—if you can't pay your debt later, then we'll follow gambling house rules."
Bai Ren's face flushed slightly. Then, thinking about how surely he wouldn't definitely lose, he nodded. "Deal." With that, he grabbed several gold melon seeds and placed his bet. "I'm betting on small."
Qi Xiao nodded, placed the dice back in the cup, lifted his hand and gave it a light shake, then set it down on the table and removed his hand, gesturing for Bai Ren to open it. Bai Ren smiled, carefully lifted the lid—and there were two sixes and a five. It was indeed big.
Qi Xiao swept the gold melon seeds from the table and tossed them into the money box with a smile. "Your turn now. Big or small?"
Bai Ren was getting into the gambling spirit. He bet on small again, but he didn't trust Qi Xiao's shaking of the dice. He got up onto the kang, casually moved the teacup and fruits from the rosewood three-drawer table to the butterfly table beside it, clearing space. Then he spread a patterned camel hair blanket over the small kang table, took the white jade dice cup from Qi Xiao's hand, and shook it back and forth for quite a while. When he lifted it to check—still big!
Qi Xiao leisurely gathered the gold Bai Ren had bet and swept it over to his side, saying with a smile, "Betting small again? I'm going easy on you. You go first."
Bai Ren's stubbornness flared up. He bet on small again, shook for a long while, and when he looked—still big. After a few rounds, Bai Ren's pouch was empty. Qi Xiao smiled. "Want to keep playing?"
Bai Ren furrowed his brow slightly, picked up the dice and examined them carefully, then weighed them in his hand. He got up, poured a cup of tea, and placed the three dice one by one into the tea water. The dice slowly sank to the bottom, and sure enough, all three showed the six side facing up.
Bai Ren smiled at Qi Xiao. "Your Highness, how do you explain this?"
Qi Xiao couldn't hold back his laughter. He poured out the tea, took the dice, and said, "I knew this wouldn't fool you. When the craftsman carved the dots, he hollowed out the side with the one-dot, then filled it with mercury. That way it's easy to roll high numbers." Qi Xiao flipped his hand and handed Bai Ren the other three dice. "These ones are rigged to roll low numbers. I was planning to swap them in when you bet on big."
Bai Ren laughed despite himself and sighed. "No wonder they say gambling dens run deep—even a single die can have such tricks... By the way, Your Highness, what made you want to play this?"
Qi Xiao smiled lightly. "Earlier I told you I spent half a year at gambling houses. Actually... I have two undercover operations set up in gambling houses. Going there was to meet with informants. Later, one of them was exposed by the Emperor, but I managed to preserve the other one. Since last year, this undercover operation has been handling affairs related to Lingnan for me. Now..."
Qi Xiao placed the dice in his hand into Bai Ren's palm and smiled. "I'm giving this undercover operation to you."
Bai Ren was startled and quickly shook his head. "That won't do. Setting aside how much effort Your Highness spent nurturing these people, I already have my own spies and informants. I shouldn't also..."
Qi Xiao smiled and repeated softly, "Your spies and informants."
Bai Ren felt a pang of embarrassment, lowering his voice. "My people, of course, can't compare to Your Highness's..."
Qi Xiao gazed at him with tenderness and smiled. "The people connecting you to those in Lingnan—I was planning to hand them over to you from the start. First, so it would be convenient when you want to do something. Second, you're originally from Lingnan and know much more about affairs there. For many things, discussing with them might even be better than with me. These people aren't given to you for free, though. From now on, for matters concerning that region, I'll only give you the instructions. And if there are matters from that side, you must promptly and completely report back to me in detail. Understand?"
Bai Ren couldn't refuse further and could only nod in agreement. But in his heart, he still felt it wasn't appropriate. Qi Xiao smiled faintly, gently stroking the dice in Bai Ren's hand, and spoke softly. "Exquisite dice hold red beans—只希望你能明白我的心意。"
*Exquisite dice hold red beans,*
*In my bones, longing—do you know?*
Bai Ren's heart was so warm he could barely bear it. He couldn't help but lean into Qi Xiao, snuggling into his arms, and whispered, "How much virtue did I accumulate in my past life, to be able to meet Your Highness in this one..."
Qi Xiao smiled, lowered his head, and kissed Bai Ren's lips. "Alright, enough of these sweet words to get your way. Let's settle the account first. You just lost that whole pouch of gold—five taels of gold. How will the Young Marquis repay his gambling debt... with his body perhaps?"
...
The next day was the day Roujia returned to her maiden home. The two rose early. Since Qi Xiao couldn't accompany her, he only instructed Jiang Deqing to prepare a set of jewelry and several bolts of tribute silk as gifts, which he had Bai Ren bring.
After seeing Bai Ren off, Qi Xiao dismissed everyone and told Jiang Deqing about last night's events. At the end, he said, "The people there have always been managed by Shunzi. It just happens that Bai Ren is familiar with Shunzi too, so there's no need to change the contact. Let Shunzi continue to relay messages."
Jiang Deqing nodded, but after hesitating, he couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, this old servant knows how much you cherish and favor the Young Marquis. Giving him silver or estates is one thing, but you really don't need to give him the spies and informants too. After all, how many years of effort did Your Highness spend cultivating them? Just like that, giving them to the Young Marquis..."
Qi Xiao shook his head with a smile. "I have plenty of undercover operations. I'm not short of this one. Besides... this time it's not solely because of my affection for him. Hasn't公公 forgotten? News about 文钰... should be arriving soon."
Jiang Deqing paused, then suddenly realized. "Your Highness is... you mean..."
"Hush..." Qi Xiao smiled faintly. "These filthy matters—I've never touched them with my own hands."
Qi Xiao picked up a die from beside the kang and examined it carefully. Last night, Bai Ren had been so moved that even in his sleep, he still clutched the die in his hand. Qi Xiao knew that Bai Ren's happiness wasn't about being greedy for this one undercover operation—he was grateful for Qi Xiao's consideration for him in everything.
Qi Xiao sighed softly. Unfortunately, his own intentions were not as pure as Bai Ren believed.
Early yesterday morning, Qi Xiao had received a letter. The matter concerning 文钰 had been successfully carried out. Within five days, news would arrive here.
文钰 had just recently provoked Qi Xiao, and now that something had happened to him, Bai Ren's first suspicion would certainly fall on Qi Xiao. Qi Xiao had never cared how others viewed him, but when it came to Bai Ren, he felt rare hesitation. Even though 文钰 was no good, he was still Bai Ren's own brother. He didn't want Bai Ren to know this was his doing.
Qi Xiao actually understood in his heart that Bai Ren wasn't a hypocrite. Even if he found out, he would never blame Qi Xiao—he would only be grateful. But Qi Xiao still had to be extremely careful. Before this, he had first set a trap for Cen, then harmed Roujia. Fortunately, Bai Ren never noticed. But for matters that hurt Bai Ren's family members, Qi Xiao did his best to avoid any suspicion falling on himself.
The matter concerning 文钰 was carried out by people from Fuzimiao. Qi Xiao's various undercover operations had no connection to each other—even if they fought on the same street, neither side would know they served the same master. Once the matter there was done, the gambling house people would only know that something had happened to 文钰. As for who did it—with the methods of Fuzimiao's people, Qi Xiao was confident they would never find out.
Yesterday, he had laid everything bare for Bai Ren. The gambling house people were specifically in charge of Lingnan affairs. If 文钰 had an accident, Bai Ren would certainly suspect it was done by this side. But since Qi Xiao had handed these people over to Bai Ren, a single inquiry would let Bai Ren know it wasn't their doing. In this way, he had completely cleared himself.
Qi Xiao smiled faintly at Jiang Deqing. "Now do you understand why, when it was at the estate, I insisted on having Fuzimiao's people carry out this task?"
Jiang Deqing laughed despite himself, shaking his head and sighing. "Your Highness's schemes truly are masterful... An inadvertent move back then, and now it shows its use today..."
Qi Xiao smiled lightly. "Alright, go instruct Shunzi. Let Bai Ren take over affairs there as soon as possible... It's not entirely about clearing myself, you know. Once news of 文钰's incident spreads, Bai Ren's status in the capital will change. Everyone will look at him like he's a piece of fat meat. Giving him some people—I can rest easier that way. Second, it will also give him more experience. I'm not keeping him like a catamite—that's not how I show my affection. The way of managing a household, the art of managing people—I need to teach him all of this."
Jiang Deqing sighed repeatedly. "For the Young Marquis, Your Highness has exhausted every consideration."
Qi Xiao curved his lips into a smile. "Not at all—I find joy in it."