Returning His Own Method Upon Him
On the twentieth day of the fourth month, Prince Li led troops to surround the Prefect’s residence.
The servants within the residence panicked and fled in all directions. For a time, screams rose without cease.
Lu Ronghuai walked inside expressionlessly. Everyone he passed on the way scrambled aside in terror.
Yet soldiers stood guard layer upon layer outside the residence. If they wished to leave the Prefect’s residence today, it would be harder than climbing to heaven.
Before long, everyone was driven into the open ground within the residence and made to squat there with their heads in their arms. Some of the more timid ones cried outright and huddled together, trembling.
There were even two small children, frightened by the commotion until they wailed without stopping.
Zhang Ze stood at the very front. His hands were bound behind his back. After struggling to no effect, he glared furiously at Lu Ronghuai and shouted, “I am a court official. Even if Prince Li wishes to arrest me, there ought to be evidence!”
“There is naturally evidence,” Lu Ronghuai said. He swept his gaze over the crowd and smiled with amusement. “How is it that this Prince do not see your honored wife?”
After he spoke, the Prefect’s wife was dragged out with a shriek and shoved to the ground by a soldier.
Dragged out together with her was the steward of the Prefect’s residence.
The two of them were in a state of considerable dishevelment. Their clothing was in disarray, their hair undone, and the lingering signs of spring passion still not faded from their faces. The Prefect’s wife in particular had eyes like drifting silk, and a flushed red had climbed over her round cheeks. In full view of everyone, she still could not help twisting her body. The heat inside her was unbearable, and she reached again for her clothing.
The servants instantly broke into an uproar.
The Prefect’s face changed drastically. He rushed forward and kicked the Prefect’s wife in the shoulder. “Wanton creature! To be without shame in broad daylight!”
“Ah!” The Prefect’s wife cried out miserably from the kick and collapsed to the ground, unable to rise for some time.
Zhang Ze still was not satisfied after that kick and turned to kick the steward as well.
“A pair of adulterers. To dare couple beneath my very eyes. I will kill the two of you!” Zhang Ze was so enraged his eyes had turned bloodshot. He wished he could cut the pair to pieces at once.
The Prefect’s wife clothing had come severely undone. Lu Ronghuai lifted a hand to cover Chu Yuan’s eyes but still did not forget to provoke Zhang Ze.
“Oh? It seems the Prefect’s wife has taken some sort of medicine. The force of it is quite strong.”
Zhang Ze understood clearly in his heart that this was Prince Li’s revenge. Revenge for the matter of drugging the Prince Consort.
Returning his own method upon him.
He not only meant to place a green hat upon his head, but he also meant to have him suffer mockery and ridicule from this day forward, never again able to lift his head.
“My lord, my lord, save this concubine...” The Prefect’s wife plainly knew by now that she had been drugged as well. In agony, she crawled to Zhang Ze’s feet and clutched at his robe, crying for help.
Zhang Ze kicked her again without mercy.
“Get away, you cheap woman.” The rage in him surged beyond all control. This kick was harder than the last. The back of the Prefect’s wife’s head struck the ground heavily, and she fainted on the spot.
Very soon, blood began to flow from the back of her head.
At the sight, the steward simply crumpled to the ground, so frightened he lost control of his bladder.
After enjoying enough of the spectacle, Lu Ronghuai took out a warrant from his robes. “This is a search warrant. Today, this Prince will search the Prefect’s residence. Take these people away.”
At once, the soldiers stepped forward in stern formation and escorted away the weeping servants and family members of the residence.
Zhang Ze refused to move and argued with rigid insistence “Your Highness, what wrong has this official committed? Since Your Highness has come to seize people without cause, you ought at least to give this official a reason.”
Seeing that he still refused to yield even at the brink of death, Lu Ronghuai laughed coldly. “What wrong have you committed? The common people who died unjustly at your hands would wish even more to ask what wrong they committed.”
“This official does not know what Your Highness is speaking of.”
“You do not know? You ordered Cheng Dawei and the others to enclose fertile fields, raise Ping Cheng’s taxes and grain prices, and line your own pockets. You sold the homeless people into slavery like chattel...” Lu Ronghuai’s voice was even, unhurried, and utterly contemptuous. “Zhang Ze, seeing you wear that official robe truly disgusts this Prince.”
Zhang Ze’s expression changed multiple times. At last he said, “Those are merely Your Highness’s fabricated accusations. This official does not acknowledge them.”
Chu Yuan stood beside Lu Ronghuai. He spoke in a cool, clear voice, breaking the last thread of illusion in Zhang Ze’s heart.
“Four years ago, Prefect Zhang’s first wife died of illness. It is said that Prefect Zhang loved his former wife deeply. He even bought a courtyard in the city to enshrine her memorial tablet, and on the fifteenth of every month he would go there to offer incense... His Highness has already sent men there. By now, the evidence should already be in hand.”
Zhang Ze swayed. “You... how did you...”
He had never told anyone of this matter, and several years had already passed. It ought to have long since been forgotten.
From the moment Prince Li had arrived in Ping Cheng, Zhang Ze had grown ever more cautious and careful. He had not been there once in the past month.
“How did we trace it to the former wife?” Chu Yuan smiled faintly. “For that, I must thank the Prefect’s wife for her invitation last time. Seeing that the Prefect’s wife was still so young, I felt puzzled. After returning, I mentioned the matter to His Highness. His Highness investigated and indeed gained a great harvest.”
“There is also that servant at Prefect Zhang’s side. In his home we found evidence of Prefect Zhang’s trafficking in human lives. With all of this before us, does Prefect Zhang still wish to deny it??”
Zhang Ze could not speak.
He had clearly warned his underlings not to leave behind a trace of evidence. Yet these people had dared act one way in public and another in private.
At that moment, Fang Xinhai arrived in haste with his subordinates.
“Your Highness, what is the meaning of this?” He had been resting at home. Hearing that Prince Li had brought troops to encircle the Prefect’s residence, he was so startled that he hurried over at once to see what was happening.
“Prefect Zhang is corrupt, lawless, and trampled lives underfoot like worthless grass. This Prince has come to uphold justice.”
Fang Xinhai: “?”
Chu Yuan said, “General, you have arrived at the right time. His Highness is about to search the Prefect’s residence, yet the Prefect still has accomplices who have not been captured. I must trouble the General to arrest these people and bring them to justice.”
Fang Xinhai took the small slip of paper Chu Yuan handed him. After seeing the names listed on it, his eyes widened in shock.
“Good heavens. More than half the wealthy merchants of Ping Cheng are his accomplices?”
When Fang Xinhai came to Ping Cheng this time, all his strength had gone toward searching for Prince Qi’s whereabouts. Apart from eating the welcoming banquet on the first day and making a cursory acquaintance with the people of Ping Cheng, he had scarcely interacted with them afterward.
Yesterday he truly had been wise, Fang Xinhai thought with rising exhilaration. Fortunately, he had taken the initiative to approach Prince Li and offer allegiance. Only because of that had such a fine matter fallen into his hands today.
Otherwise, once they returned to the capital and Prince Li received rewards for merit, he himself would have failed even to find Prince Qi’s body, and he would be certain to receive a scolding from Emperor Hongjia.
Clutching the paper in hand, Fang Xinhai hurried out in high spirits.
Zhang Ze was dragged away with an ashen face.
Once the Prefect’s residence had been cleared out, Lu Ronghuai ordered the search to begin.
That search uncovered several hidden chambers and cellars. Inside were stored vast quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and even many rare antiques, paintings, and calligraphy.
In all, they found eighty chests of property in the residence and stacked them neatly in the courtyard, so that the spacious yard instantly became crowded and cramped.
“Escort these fifteen chests back to the capital,” Lu Ronghuai instructed Xian Yu.
Xian Yu glanced at the ledger, then lifted his head. “Your Highness, these chests all contain large valuables. Are we not keeping any?”
Lu Ronghuai curled his lips. “We are not. Those things are too easily knocked or damaged. Send them all to my good imperial father. As for the remaining sixty-five chests, those are ours.”
Xian Yu grinned until his mouth nearly split. What remained was all real gold and silver, along with many priceless treasures easy to carry away.
“Ah-Yuan likes books. Bring along those ten chests of books, paintings, and calligraphy and send them back to Prince Li’s residence. As for the rest of the gold and silver, send it all to Xiang Cheng.”
Chu Yuan was standing right beside him. Hearing this, he felt a warmth move through him, followed by a thread of puzzlement.
“Your Highness, why send them to Xiang Cheng?”
“Raising troops requires enormous sums. Most of my soldiers are kept in Xiang Cheng. These silver taels are to be sent there as military stipends.” Lu Ronghuai explained softly to him.
“When we have time later, I will take you to Xiang Cheng for pleasure. The mountains and rivers there are like a painting, and the climate is gentle. Ah-Yuan will certainly like it.”
“Mm!”
“Are we returning to the capital?” Chu Yuan tilted his face upward. His fair, moist cheeks showed the faintest dimples of a smile.
Lu Ronghuai raised a hand and tapped the vermilion beauty mark between his brows. “Yes. We have been away for two months. It is time to return and draw in the net.”
At this reminder, Chu Yuan immediately recalled the task Emperor Hongjia had previously assigned to Lu Ronghuai.
“Your Highness was ordered to build a Daoist temple. Might someone not use that matter to make trouble?”
“Mm, do not worry.” Seeing the shadow of concern in Chu Yuan’s eyes, Lu Ronghuai added of his own accord, “Everything in the capital has already been arranged. We need only act after returning.”
Seeing how calm he looked, as though everything were already in his grasp, Chu Yuan could not help noticing that even though he knew others intended to harm him, he still remained wholly untroubled, as though he did not worry at all that he himself might be hurt.
After thinking for a moment, Chu Yuan lifted his head and smiled faintly. “At times I feel that Your Highness seems to possess the gift of foreknowing what is yet to come.”
Lu Ronghuai had casually picked up a book and was flipping through it. Hearing this, his little finger stirred. He closed the book and smiled at Chu Yuan.
“Yes, indeed. I just now foresaw that tonight Ah-Yuan and I may have another deeper exchange.”
Chu Yuan: “...”
He turned and walked away.
“Does that mean Ah-Yuan has agreed?” A certain someone hurried after him, his tone lifted high.
“It does not!”
“Ah...” Lu Ronghuai let out a disappointed sigh and muttered to himself, “Heaven truly should have told me sooner. Just when, exactly, will I next...”
Chu Yuan spun around and clapped a hand over his mouth, flustered and indignant.
“Your Highness may sleep in the study tonight.”
“!!!” Lu Ronghuai’s eyes went slightly wide. He grasped Chu Yuan’s hand and smiled in appeasement. “How could I sleep without you? Ah-Yuan cannot be so cruel.”
Seeing that Chu Yuan remained unmoved, he could only continue offering assurances.
“I am very honest at night. When the night turns cold, I can even warm your feet.”
“That will not be necessary.”
“I will massage your waist and make certain it no longer aches.”
“And whose doing is that ache?”
“Yet Ah-Yuan was very comfortable at the time as well.”
“Lu Wangli! Say one more word and it becomes three nights in the study!”
Lu Ronghuai clenched his teeth and swore to defend his rightful place.
“I will not!”
“In any case, I am sleeping beside you!”
The people around them carrying chests: “...”
Xian Yu, looking like a man who had seen every sort of grand scene already, waved a hand at everyone. “What are you all standing there gaping for? Keep carrying.”
Chu Yuan’s ears had turned red. He looked at him with a cold face.
Lu Ronghuai felt uneasy. Fearing Chu Yuan would truly forbid him from returning to the room, he weighed matters again and again before at last retreating with pain in his heart.
“Then... then I will sleep on the floor.”
In any case, he was not leaving.
Thus, on the final night before departure, Prince Li slept on floor bedding within the main bedchamber.
Deep in the night, Lu Ronghuai opened his eyes. In one motion he flung off the quilt, crept back onto the large bed, and carefully drew Chu Yuan into his arms. In the darkness he bared his teeth in a grin.
His senses were keenly alert. Before dawn he returned to the floor again and made it appear that he had spent the entire night there.
When Chu Yuan awoke, he saw the tall figure curled there below, clutching a small quilt and looking at him with a face full of grievance.
For once, Chu Yuan’s mood was rather good. The corners of his lips curved faintly.
His eyes shone with laughter.
He was rather obedient after all.
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Lu Dog: I cried.
Lu Dog: I was pretending.
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