Zhao Weisheng's gaze slid past Ming Yue to Luo Jian and, whilst to others it may have looked as if his expression remained as it always was, Weisheng noticed a slight narrowing of his eyes and knew that he, too, had witnessed the strange incident.

He took two steps forward until he was directly in front of the taller of the two men approaching them.

"Crown Prince Wang Wei, I presume."  He smiled at the man and gave a shallow bow.  The man returned the gesture and spoke, showing no difficulty with the Han dialect, but displaying the hint of an accent.

"Indeed. It is nice to finally meet you, Prince Weisheng."  He gestured to his left.  "May I also introduce my youngest brother, Prince Zhixing."  The younger man bowed and smiled, but his gaze looked distracted, as if he wanted to turn his attention elsewhere.

"A pleasure," Weisheng responded.  "We are blessed indeed to have two members of the Jin royal family here.  You must be tired from your journey.  Let me show you to your accommodation, and we can take care of the other formalities when you are rested."  Weisheng gestured back towards the camp, and the three men naturally fell into step with one another.

Ming Yue hung back as much as possible without drawing attention.  As the three men passed, she caught Wang Wei's eye briefly and gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of her head.  She saw her brother give an equally subtle nod and knew that he had understood.

Unfortunately, Zhixing was less composed than his older sibling, and was clearly having a difficult time stopping himself from staring openly at his sister.  Ming Yue gazed intently at the floor, as if hoping it would open up and swallow her whole.  Finally, after what felt like an age, the three men passed by where she was standing, and she was out of their line of sight.

Focussing her attention back on the Jin delegation, she was delighted to see the familiar figure of Eunuch Song.  The man had been with her father for years, and there was no way the king would not have confided in him about Ming Yue's whereabouts.  Sure enough, the man's expression bore only a faint look of surprise.

Ming Yue resolved that it would be much less risky getting a message to her brothers via the eunuch than trying to speak with them directly.  Luckily for her, she did not need to think of an excuse to approach him, as Eunuch Wang had already identified him as his counterpart in the Jin delegation and was moving towards him.  Ming Yue quickly fell in behind.

"I am Eunuch Wang, Prince Weisheng's chief eunuch," he said, by way of introduction.  Noticing Ming Yue at his shoulder, he added, "This is Li Ming Yue, the prince's secretary.  If you have any questions or requests, please feel free to approach either of us."

Eunuch Song nodded, and responded to the introduction with one of his own.  When he had finished, Ming Yue spoke quickly.

"Eunuch Song, would you like to hear the itinerary for the next three days?  I know that letters have been exchanged on the matter, but I can give you a more detailed explanation if you wish?"

Eunuch Song took the hint.

"Yes of course, Secretary Li.  Perhaps you could show me to my accommodation and explain it to me on the way."

Ming Yue nodded to Eunuch Wang to indicate that she had this under control, then she and Eunuch Song set off in the direction of the cluster of tents that had been allocated to the Jin visitors.  She did not notice Eunuch Wang's gaze narrow as she walked away.

"The prince's secretary?" Eunuch Song enquired in a low voice.

"I know," replied Ming Yue.  She glanced across and saw that he looked faintly disapproving.  "It's not like I planned it," she muttered.

"Still," he said, "it's hardly keeping a low profile, is it?  What on earth am I going to tell your father?"

Ming Yue decided she would leave that little conundrum up to him, and instead began to quickly update him on everything she had learned since entering the Han palace.

"So," she said, summing up as they entered the eunuch's tent, "I am confident that none of the princes are responsible for the rumours.  Weisheng was the one who came up with the idea of the summit and has now been targeted, most likely because of his support for the peace accords.  The third prince is simply too young, and the eldest prince has absolutely no interest in political affairs."

Fully preoccupied with explaining her conclusions, she was oblivious to the fact that her little slip of the tongue when it came to naming the second prince had not gone unnoticed by Eunuch Song.

"That means," she continued, "it can only be one of the six ministers, three of whom are here at the summit."  To her great surprise, Eunuch Song shook his head in disagreement.

"No," he said.  "Not just one."  

She looked at him, her eyes wide.

"Think about it," he said, his years of experience of political intrigue coming to the fore.  "Whoever is doing this must have an objective, and it cannot simply be to create conflict between Jin and Han."  The eunuch warmed up to his topic and continued, aware that he had Ming Yue's full attention.

"The last war ending in a costly stalemate taught everyone that neither kingdom is strong enough to conquer the other.  No one would be foolish enough to try to push our kingdoms into an all-out fight now.  No, whoever is responsible must have a much more subtle goal, and I would suspect it has something to do with destabilising Han."

Ming Yue leaned forward, waiting to hear Eunuch Song's theory, and he briefly smiled at the young woman's eagerness before carrying on.

"If the people feel that King Xuanming has escalated the threat of another futile war with Jin due to his own bad judgment, public confidence in him will quickly decline, leaving the door open for a transfer of power without any major opposition from the people or the military."  He thought for a moment.

"You say the eldest prince has no interest in politics, and I know the third prince is still very young.  It would be very easy for ambitious senior officials to quickly become the true power behind the throne if one of those two were to take their father's place.  Of course, they could simply assassinate the king, but his security is virtually impenetrable and, in any event, that would only make a martyr of him and inspire a wave of sympathy and goodwill towards his heirs."

"But surely a political move of that magnitude is far too risky!"  Ming Yue exclaimed. 

Eunuch Song raised a finger.

"Exactly.  Unless, you could be sure that at least half of the men in charge of the six ministries would support you." 

Ming Yue let out a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding.

"Three," she said.  "That means there are at least three of them involved in the plot."  She thought for a moment.

"It's a safe bet one of them is Minister Guo.  He is by far the wealthiest, and none of the others would even dream of making a move like this without knowing he was on their side.  And if Minister Guo is involved, then Minister Su must be as well."

"Not necessarily," said Eunuch Song.  "An alliance to take over the throne is a big step up from an alliance by marriage."

Ming Yue nodded.  He was right of course.  But she was confident of one thing.

"One if not more of the ministers here at the summit must be involved," she said.  "They would not have allowed such an event to take place without at least one pair of eyes and ears present to watch what happens first-hand."

"I agree," said Eunuch Song.  "We must be very vigilant."

***

"Where is Ming Yue?" asked Zhao Weisheng, irritably.  The members of both delegations had been served a meal in their own tents, and were now resting inside, as it was simply too hot to move around under the early afternoon sun.  It had now been several hours since he had last seen the young woman back at the entrance to the summit camp, and he could not understand what was keeping her from his side.

Eunuch Wang shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, Your Highness," he responded.  "When I last saw her, she was heading towards the Jin delegation's tents with the Jin chief eunuch."

Weisheng's eyes narrowed.  What could she possibly have to say to the people from Jin that would take this long?  He was about to ask Luo Jian to go and look for her when the woman herself walked in.  Seizing the opportunity, Eunuch Wang scurried out.  After a quick glance at Weisheng's face, Luo Jian hurriedly followed suit, leaving the two of them alone.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

Ming Yue looked at him with her eyes wide.

"I have been making sure that the Jin delegation were settled comfortably, Your Highness."

Weisheng's gaze narrowed suspiciously, as he remembered how the two Jin princes had looked at the young woman earlier that day.

"And is their comfort more important than mine?" he asked, startling Ming Yue with his sharp tone.

"Yes!" she answered quickly, without thinking.

Weisheng tried to control his growing irritation and kept his voice calm.

"Please go and make sure the main tent is ready to receive our guests this afternoon for the exchange of gifts."

Ming Yue bowed her head acknowledging the instruction, then left quietly.

Luo Jian re-entered the prince's tent when he saw Ming Yue leaving, and found a very frustrated Weisheng.

"I can't believe it, Luo Jian," he said, pacing back and forth.  Luo Jian knew better than to ask, so he just waited patiently for Weisheng to speak.

"You saw how the two princes looked at her earlier.  Particularly the younger one, Prince Zhixing.   He could barely tear his eyes away from her face.  And just now, she actually said that their comfort was more important than mine!"

"She's right."

Weisheng immediately stopped pacing and looked at his friend in disbelief.

"She's right," Luo Jian repeated.  "We invited them as our guests, and for the first time they are inside what, up until several years ago, was enemy territory.   They are taking the bigger risk.  Their comfort should be our top priority."

Weisheng let out a huge sigh and sat down.

"What is wrong with me, Luo Jian!" he exclaimed, not really expecting an answer.  "It's like I left all my brain cells back at the palace!"

Luo Jian smiled in spite of himself, and Weisheng raised an accusatory finger.

"She's having an effect on you too, my friend."

Luo Jian looked up quickly, and Weisheng continued.

"You're perfectly happy to answer me back now, when you used to just stay silent, and in the past you smiled maybe once a month at most."

Luo Jian immediately adopted his usual, impassive expression, as if to deny the truth of Weisheng's words, but the damage had already been done.

***

The exchange of gifts later that afternoon went smoothly, and the welcome feast was now well underway.  Crown Prince Wang Wei had seemed delighted with the gifts presented to him, and the Jin offerings to Han, which Weisheng accepted on his father's behalf, had been extremely generous, including a thousand-year-old ginseng root that was rumoured to possess almost magical healing properties.

Weisheng found that it was relatively easy to converse with the Jin crown prince.  He was intelligent and well-spoken, and it was clear that he had obtained his current position as heir to the Jin throne on merit, rather than simply because of his status as the eldest son.  Also, his mastery of the Han dialect was impressive although, once again, Weisheng noticed a hint of something unusual in his pronunciation.

It was strange, the prince thought to himself.  He was not aware of meeting anyone from Jin previously, but the accent seemed somehow familiar to him.  However, he was pulled from his musings when he caught sight of a fidgeting Prince Zhixing.

The young royal seemed distracted, and his eyes constantly darted around the room as if searching for someone.  Weisheng had a fair idea who the man was looking for, and his fist tightened subconsciously around his wine cup.

Ming Yue entered the main meeting tent after ensuring the gifts exchanged earlier in the afternoon had been safely locked away.  She took up her usual place next to Eunuch Wang, near the entrance.  Immediately, she felt someone's eyes boring into her, and looked around to see Zhixing's gaze fixed firmly on her presence.

After a quick glance around to ensure no one was watching, she spared him a small smile and a nod to let him know that she was fine and, having been reassured, Zhixing finally returned his attention to the rest of the summit attendees.

Weisheng noticed that Prince Zhixing was finally taking an interest in the conversation going on around him, and he had a sneaky suspicion why.  His thought was confirmed when he looked towards the entrance to the tent and saw the familiar figure of Ming Yue standing there.  He drained his cup of wine and motioned for a nearby servant to pour him another, ignoring the warning cough from Luo Jian behind him.

Eventually, the feast was over, and the guests made their way back to their tents.  Weisheng had sent a message to Ming Yue that he wanted to see her in his tent, despite the late hour, so that she could debrief him on the day and go over the schedule for tomorrow.  He had let the elderly Eunuch Wang retire early, and Luo Jian was currently checking the various security measures around the camp, so the two of them were, again, alone.

As Weisheng looked at Ming Yue, his thoughts were, once again, drawn to the way the two young men from Jin had stared at her earlier, and a wave of possessiveness swept over him.

"The two Jin princes are very impressive young men, are they not?" he asked, almost casually, moving closer to her as he spoke.  Ming Yue thought of how her older brothers had matured so much in a matter of only a few months, and she was filled with a sudden burst of sisterly pride.

"They are indeed, Your Highness.  Perhaps you should spend some time with them outside of the negotiations.  You might find that you grow to like them very much."

Weisheng moved closer.

"Is that what you think I should do, Ming Yue?  Spend more time with the princes?  Did they really impress you that much?"

Sensing an insistent tone in his voice, Ming Yue looked up, only to realise too late that Weisheng had closed the gap between them to less than a metre.  Flustered, she started to back up but, as if sensing her intention, Weisheng pounced forward, gripping her firmly around the waist to stop her moving.

"What are you doing, Weisheng?" Ming Yue protested weakly, her hands pressing against his chest as she looked up at him, a light flush visible on her cheeks.

He silenced her with his mouth, and all of her objections faded quickly away.