Alliances in the palace often formed not in the halls of power but by the warm coal of small favors. For Long Yue, three figures formed the first real network around his crib: Aunty Lin, Bodyguard Shen, and Scholar Zhao. Each was different as earthenware, but together they made a triangle that isolated him from the bitter winds of court.
SYSTEM: Trust core established: Aunty Lin (care), Bodyguard Shen (security), Scholar Zhao (education). Bonus: triangular stability +15.
Aunty Lin's broom scratched the floor with the rhythm of a heart. She smelled of rice and lavender; her hands had the firm tenderness of someone who had tended dozens of lives. She hummed at all hours and could flag trouble by the way the midwives' breath shifted.
[Aunty Lin:] "He should nap, then be fed, then be shown the scrolls. Rhythm keeps a child safe."
[Bodyguard Shen:] "Rhythm keeps a guard awake."
Shen's jokes were limited, but his attention never was. He paced the nursery in silent arcs, an unassuming sentinel who could move faster than politics and hit harder than insults. He had eyes like slate.
[Scholar Zhao:] "And the rhythm must contain learning. A sharp mind made by small steps."
It was small things that bonded them: Aunty Lin's careful stitching, Scholar Zhao's patient corrections to a smudged brushstroke, Shen's quiet readiness to stand between a crib and rumor. The system cataloged these gestures as though they were marketable assets.
SYSTEM: Low-tier alliance synergy: +25. Recommend: leverage their skills for early detection of threats and influence-building among service staff.
To build influence one often needed to begin at the bottom rungs—kitchen staff, stable boys, laundresses. The Empress understood this; she let Aunty Lin form ties with the kitchen, and Scholar Zhao politely taught the scribe's apprentice the basics. Bodyguard Shen traded favors with the stable master for extra night patrols near the nursery.
[Stable Master:] "Shen is a man who returns favors. The stables will watch the east gate extra nights."
[Bodyguard Shen:] "And the stables will be fed first when the Empress calls for grain."
These small reciprocities were a tapestry. The system rewarded each completed exchange with a quiet ping that only Long Yue could hear.
SYSTEM: Network building: +3 allies (service cadre). Passive detection of petty plots increased by 18%.
Long Yue felt the comfort of this net like a warm blanket. He could not yet stand or speak properly, but he recognized faces and the trust sewn into their expressions. The scribe's apprentice sometimes placed a folded scrap of paper against the crib—simple sketches of fish and horses. The stable boys dropped by to make a show of polishing little wooden hooves.
In one quiet moment, Scholar Zhao sat near the cushion and read a tale not from the Classics but from a commoner's folktale. The story's rhythm was different; its morality softer. Long Yue took it in, because even the system did not confine him to lofty texts.
[Scholar Zhao:] "Power without mercy eats itself, young one."
[MC / Long Yue:] (thought) "Power with dumplings is easier to digest."
SYSTEM: Humor buffered social stress. Note: culinary diplomacy remains a high-return skill.
Aunty Lin smiled, as if she understood more than she ever let show. She smoothed the blanket over the child's knees and adjusted the small wooden horse.
[Aunty Lin:] "Sleep, little lord. The house watches you. So do we."
That night, the palace's complex machinery—the Empress' court, the Minister's ledger, the Consort's schemes—moved in ways Long Yue could not yet affect. But the three around his crib formed a shield, not impermeable, but strong enough that whispered pinpricks would be noticed and stopped.
SYSTEM: Security core strengthened: +20. Infant Charisma I progress: +4% for stable household morale.
Long Yue closed his eyes, not yet knowing the faces destiny would take, but secure for the first time in small and indispensable ways.