Twists in the Peaks, Clouds Part, and the Moon Appears.
Lu Ronghuai left behind one hundred thousand troops to guard the Southern Frontier, while all the remaining forces followed him toward Ye Jing.
Setting out from the Southern Frontier, they had to pass through six cities, eight passes, and fifteen counties. At every city, the prefect in charge ordered them stopped, claiming it was by imperial decree and demanding that Prince Li answer a question.
If he answered correctly, he could pass through the city.
If he answered incorrectly, he had to leave behind several tens of thousands of troops as indemnity.
There was no clash of arms nor any struggle of life and death. Most of the people of Lu Kingdom were simply baffled by the Emperor’s actions.
Very soon, Lu Ronghuai passed through Fang Cheng without hindrance and proceeded toward Shengcheng.
Once the news spread, everyone was astonished. All scrambled to inquire what question the prefect of Fang Cheng had asked. Two days later, the matter of Fang Cheng’s inquiry regarding taxation, along with Prince Li’s response, had already been copied into booklets and was being sold in the marketplace. After reading Lu Ronghuai’s answer, the scholars and literati all fell silent.
After a long while, they could only sigh and say, “In war, he can mount a horse and expand the borders; in peace, he can soothe the realm and secure the state. We have underestimated Prince Li for far too long.”
Afterward, the prefect of Sheng Cheng asked about natural disaster and calamity in the world. The prefect of Su Cheng raised the issue of overly severe punishments. The prefect of Le Cheng probed the accumulated corruption of noble and aristocratic households. The prefect of Yun Cheng spoke plainly of soldiers bearing too much weight and power, with merit high enough to overshadow the ruler. Every matter touched deeply upon the fate of the kingdom, and Lu Ronghuai’s answers were astonishingly excellent, winning endless praise throughout court and common circles alike.
As for Yan Cheng, its prefect was still Su Ruhe in name, for the Emperor had never stripped him of office. Thus, when Prince Li’s army passed through Yan Cheng, they encountered not the slightest obstruction.
They even remained in Yan Cheng for several days, roaming about and enjoying themselves before finally setting out for Xuantian Pass.
“Your Highness, everything has been dealt with cleanly.” After handling the assassins, Xian Feng and Xian Yue returned to report.
Nie Siran held up his folding fan to block the sun and smiled with narrowed eyes. “If I remember correctly, this should already be the third wave of assassins today.”
Lu Ronghuai gave a lazy sound of acknowledgment, his gaze resting on the distance.
“How are those three?”
Xian Yue replied, “Prince Qi took a slash on the right arm, Young Master Liu struck his forehead against the carriage board and split the skin, and as for the Princess... she appears to have only fainted.”
“As long as they are not dead, that is enough.” Seeing that the horses had already eaten their fill of grass, Lu Ronghuai swung himself onto his horse and instructed Xian Feng, “Loosen the watch on those three a little more. Move all the shadow guards over to protect the Prince Consort and the others.”
“Yes.”
Seeing him commit mischief with such a grave face, Nie Siran smiled and mocked him, “Your Highness has allowed those assassins to close in on Prince Qi and the others, letting them wound them, yet never permitting them to kill. At this rate, those three are bound to lie awake at night like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.”
“The journey is dull. This way, Young Master Nie can at least amuse himself a little. This Prince has always been kind-hearted, so there is no need to thank me.”
“...” Nie Siran swept a wild bee aside with his sleeve, then said coolly, “If those prefects knew Your Highness was so ‘kind-hearted,’ they would likely stomp their feet, burst into tears, and rage to heaven.”
What he mocked was Lu Ronghuai’s matter of answering the prefects.
Others did not know the whole truth. Yet they had traveled with him every day, how could they not know the crooked little thoughts in Prince Li’s heart?
Little did the outside world know that the answers copied into those booklets had all come from the mouth of the Prince Consort, not from the shameless fellow before him.
Lu Ronghuai raised a brow. “What Ah-Yuan wishes to say is precisely what This Prince wishes to say. What problem is there?”
Nie Siran curved his lips lazily. “There is no problem. It is merely the sort of thing that would get one beheaded in the imperial examinations.”
Lu Ronghuai let out a low laugh. Aimed straight at the sore spot, he said, “Are you jealous of This Prince? This Prince’s consort is not only beautiful, but also keen of mind, accomplished in the four arts, capable of composing ten-thousand-word essays, and well versed in matters of state and the people’s livelihood. Unlike yours, who knows only how to write storybooks.”
Nie Siran’s eyelids lowered, and the smile vanished. “What is wrong with storybooks? Do you think writing them well enough for so many people to love them is an easy thing?”
Lu Ronghuai was truly bored today. He did not genuinely look down on storybooks. He simply found it amusing to see the normally refined and elegant Young Master Nie lose his temper, and so he deliberately added fuel to the fire.
“Nothing much. I think I could write them too, if I tried.”
Nie Siran let out a cold laugh, and half his good temper fled from him. “For someone who needed Ah-Yuan to ghostwrite even that ten-thousand-word essay, you truly have an enormous face to say such a thing.”
Lu Ronghuai said, “This Prince was merely too lazy to write it, not incapable of writing it.”
Nie Siran replied, “Fine then. His Highness Prince Li can excel in both letters and arms, unmatched in wit and valor. We are nearly at Ye Jing now, so surely one as capable as Your Highness has no need of Su Su. I may as well take Su Su away to enjoy the mountains and rivers.”
Lu Ronghuai refused at once. “You may leave if you wish. Su Ruhe still has to manage the account books for This Prince.”
“Your Highness is so capable. Manage them yourself.”
Lu Ronghuai said, “And who are you to decide? Lord Su himself has said nothing, yet it is somehow your place to decide?”
Lu Ronghuai continued, “Nothing is settled between the two of you, yet you are already trying to manage him. Young Master Nie’s face is even bigger than mine.”
“...Very well.” Nie Siran snapped his folding fan shut, smiling with murderous intent. “This one will go tell Su Su at once that Prince Li looks down upon storybooks. From now on, the storybooks can write some new material, perhaps about the Prince Consort kicking Prince Li aside, taking the heir away, and makes a new life elsewhere, while Prince Li pines in vain and dies in his prime.”
Lu Ronghuai: “........................”
Lu Ronghuai: “Whom exactly are you cursing?”
“Your Highness cannot tell?”
“You had best not sleep tonight.”
Nie Siran replied, “Or perhaps I should write of the Prince Consort transferring his affections to another and flying off in paired bliss with someone else.”
“You dare!”
With a contemptuous snort, Nie Siran turned and headed straight for the carriage, looking very much as though he meant to find Su Ruhe.
Lu Ronghuai immediately spurred his horse after him. “Stand still, Nie Siran. Stand still!”
Chu Yuan and Su Ruhe, who had witnessed the entire exchange from inside the carriage: “.........”
Chu Yuan sighed. “His Highness is truly childish.”
Su Ruhe replied, “...Both of them are rather childish.”
Lowering the carriage curtain, Chu Yuan looked at him with a smile. “Su gongzi, who do you think sent those assassins?”
After pondering for a while, Su Ruhe answered in a clear voice, “The Empress Dowager.”
Chu Yuan’s eyes curved. “Why not His Majesty?”
A small dimple appeared on Su Ruhe’s clean, delicate cheek as he smiled. “His Majesty would not employ such underhanded means. This is more akin to the intrigues of the inner palace.”
Chu Yuan said, “Indeed. His Majesty has set questions along the way, yet has never truly pressed us, making his intentions difficult to discern. The Empress Dowager’s aim, however, is far simpler, she seeks only our deaths.”
Along the journey, they encountered repeated assassination attempts and ambushes, poisonings and hidden weapons, danger on every side. The closer they drew to Ye Jing, the more traps there were, and the more men lay in wait.
Yet Lu Ronghuai’s shadow guards and elite soldiers were not for ornament. Apart from the three held under guard, everyone had come through unharmed.
On the eve of their arrival in Ye Jing, Nie Chouwen called Lu Ronghuai out one night.
Cool wind blew in steady currents through the countryside. Soldiers were stationed all around. The two of them strolled all the way to the southwestern corner.
“Grandfather summoned this Prince. What did you wish to say?” Lu Ronghuai stood with his hands behind his back. He wore a black brocade robe threaded with dark gold cloud patterns, his black hair bound within a golden crown, every inch of him displaying the imposing dominance of one born to stand above all others.
Nie Chouwen observed him for quite some time. Seeing that he no longer made any effort to conceal his own bearing, he understood and yet could not help feeling worried.
“Your Highness has already thought it through?”
Lu Ronghuai smiled. “To which matter is Grandfather referring?”
Nie Chouwen said, “Your Highness is full of ambition. There is no point in feigning ignorance as it has very little meaning.”
Lu Ronghuai still smiled. “Since Grandfather already understands this Prince’s thoughts, why ask further?”
Nie Chouwen sighed. “Understanding is one thing. Yet that seat... Your Highness and the Prince Consort may have to face a great deal of dispute.”
“Grandfather does not trust that I can protect Ah-Yuan well enough.”
Nie Chouwen said nothing.
Lu Ronghuai continued, “On this journey back to the capital, has Grandfather not heard how highly the common people now praise This Prince and the Prince Consort?”
Naturally, Nie Chouwen had heard the praise. Lu Ronghuai had consecutively passed the examinations of six city prefects and, without Lu Kingdom providing grain or supplies, had still taken the six southern kingdoms and unified the realm. In the hearts of the common people, his standing had already surpassed that of the current Emperor.
What was more, the Emperor was now gravely ill and the Empress Dowager governed in his place. These past months, Lu Kingdom’s court had been unstable and the people’s livelihood unsettled. More and more voices had already begun to turn against the Empress Dowager.
“The Empress Dowager governs poorly. That is to Your Highness’s benefit. Yet though His Majesty is gravely ill, he is still the Emperor of Lu Kingdom. If Your Highness wishes to ascend to that position in a manner both proper and just, you should still think carefully about what ought to be done next.”
Lu Ronghuai asked, “Grandfather fears that this Prince will force Lu Rongze to abdicate?”
Nie Chouwen replied, “For the sake of Your Highness’s name in future years, this old man asks that Your Highness bear with it for the time being. From what this old man has learned... His Majesty likely has very little time left.”
Lu Ronghuai understood his meaning. As matters stood, he was returning to Ye Jing with troops at his back, which would seem as though he were forcing Lu Rongze to yield the throne. The scholars under Heaven would surely condemn him in their writings, and the court historians would set it down in the records. It would be more fitting to wait until Lu Rongze’s death, at which point his ascension would follow all the more naturally.
“Over the past two months, the Empress Dowager has increasingly had Lu Rongbo attend to matters of state at her side. Grandfather has served as an official for many years. Surely you understand her intentions better than This Prince does.”
Nie Chouwen shook his head. “The Seventh Prince is soft by nature and easily controlled. He is not a suitable choice.”
Lu Ronghuai rubbed his forefinger lightly and laughed. “A ruler easy to control, or This Prince. Whom does Grandfather think those officials would choose?”
Nie Chouwen paused, then sighed again.
“When this old man most wished to retire, it was largely because worms had begun to gnaw through the court.”
“Those worms that gnaw at the state ought to be dealt with.”
The Nie family had never aligned themselves with either side. Yet through Chu Yuan, they had unwittingly drawn ever closer to Prince Li.
In truth, Nie Chouwen sincerely hoped that Prince Li would guard well this vast realm he had wrested into being.
Lu Ronghuai said, “This Prince understands Grandfather’s heart. Yet this matter should be done by This Prince alone. The Nie family need not become involved.”
The Nie family had never participated in factional struggle. Lu Ronghuai’s words were also his way of protecting them.
A change came over Nie Chouwen’s gaze.
Lu Ronghuai said with a smile, “Those officials are all afraid of This Prince, and even more afraid that this Prince will settle accounts with them after autumn. Even if Lu Rongze dies, they will not willingly allow This Prince to ascend the throne.”
“If Your Highness intends to ascend the throne, then you must temper your disposition, steady the hearts of the ministers, and soothe the people.”
The smile on Lu Ronghuai’s face spread wider. Even in the night, his deep, handsome features did not lose one trace of their magnificence. “Grandfather has mistaken one thing. The reason This Prince wants that seat is not because This Prince wishes to become Emperor.”
Nie Chouwen asked, “What?”
“This Prince intends for him to stand as the most exalted person beneath Heaven, so that all may know he deserves the very best.”
Lu Ronghuai lifted his chin, his bearing arrogant and overbearing. “A mere Empress’s position, how could it possibly be worthy of my Ah-Yuan?”
Nie Chouwen looked at him, his gaze unable to recover for a very long time.
In a trembling voice, he said, “Your Highness means...”
“Grandfather need only wait and see. This Prince offers the realm as betrothal gift. This is the celebratory gift This Prince is giving Ah-Yuan.”
No one ever learned what the two of them had spoken of that night. However, everyone could see that Elder Nie had spent the next several days alternating between furrowed contemplation and closed-eyed murmuring, enough to worry Jiang Ni and the others considerably.
Very soon, they reached Ye Jing at the end of the ninth month.
Once Ye Jing received the news, all the civil and military officials of the court came to the city gate early to welcome them.
Prince Li was now adored by the common people under Heaven, and he held several hundred thousand troops in his hands. Even all the strength within Ye Jing could not stand against him. The officials were therefore exceedingly prudent. Having burned incense and changed into formal garments, they waited at the city gate in an impressively grand display.
Chu Yuan lifted the carriage curtain and looked toward the dense crowd not far away, smiling as he said, “This scene rather reminds me of the day I first came to Ye Jing.”
Le Shu looked out with him for two glances and said cheerfully, “When Your Highness married over back then, it was Minister Han of the Ministry of Rites who came to welcome you. This servant looks at today and thinks it seems the entire court, great and small, has come.”
“Mm. Our Prince’s face truly is the greater one.” Tilting his head, Chu Yuan teased the man in black riding beside the carriage.
Lu Ronghuai sat tall upon his horse, looking forward. There was a faint smile in his eyes. He stretched out his left hand and lightly scratched beneath Chu Yuan’s chin.
“Your Highness!” Chu Yuan knocked away the hand that was causing trouble, afraid those officials of Lu Kingdom might catch sight of his improper behavior.
Behind them, the members of the Nie family in the other carriage also lifted their curtains.
Lu Ronghuai laughed with little interest. “This Prince’s face is not quite that large. These people have not come with good intentions. Let us watch first.”
When the carriage drew near, the officials of Lu Kingdom seized the initiative and all dropped to their knees together, lifting their robes as they did so. Their postures were humble, quiet, and meek as they bowed low upon the ground.
In the stillness that followed, Lu Ronghuai lowered his eyes indifferently. “Are all of you welcoming This Prince by casting yourselves down with all five limbs?”
The ministers exchanged glances and collectively shifted their attention toward Grand Tutor Xu.
Lu Ronghuai’s gaze moved over. “Grand Tutor, is there something you wish to say?”
Grand Tutor Xu did not lift his head. In a heavy voice, he said, “This official, under the Empress Dowager’s edict, has come here to await Your Highness Prince Li. Your Highness returns in victory. The Empress Dowager has specially ordered us ministers to welcome Your Highness into the palace for a banquet.”
Lu Ronghuai remained at ease upon his horse, his expression unreadable, and did not move so much as half a step.
“We request that Your Highness proceed to Qianzheng Hall.” The ministers called out as one.
Lu Ronghuai’s lips thin lips curved in a contemptuous arc. He looked down at these people from his height with cool, unhurried disdain.
Chu Yuan stepped down from the carriage with Le Shu’s arm supporting him and walked forward in slow, unhurried steps.
“Grand Tutor Xu, the Empress Dowager’s edict invites only His Highness Prince Li into the palace, does it not?” His voice was clear and lovely, like pearls scattering across a tray, and beneath it there seemed to be the faintest trace of a smile.
“It is precisely so.” Grand Tutor Xu’s voice was flat and held not the slightest hesitation.
Chu Yuan lifted his head. His bright eyes curved with a cheerful smile, his expression soft and faintly spoiled, with a touch of willfulness. “Your Highness, I wish to go as well.”
Lu Ronghuai curved his lips and played along perfectly. “Very well. I will take you.”
Grand Tutor Xu frowned hard. “Your Highness, the Prince Consort has traveled a long road and is fatigued by the journey. It would be best to let the Prince Consort return first to the prince’s residence and rest.”
Chu Yuan blinked. “Grand Tutor’s concern is appreciated, yet I am not weary. Wherever His Highness goes, I go as well.”
A vein jumped at Grand Tutor Xu’s temple. He had lost patience with this ill-mannered Prince Consort of Prince Li and said stiffly, “Today the Empress Dowager invited only His Highness Prince Li into the palace for a brief audience. Prince Consort, do not make things difficult for this official.”
“Why was I not invited? Am I unworthy?” Chu Yuan puffed out his cheeks and looked aggrievedly toward Lu Ronghuai.
Seeing the vivid expression on his face, Lu Ronghuai nearly laughed aloud. Bending low, he swept an arm around Chu Yuan’s waist and lifted him up to sit in front of him upon the saddle.
“Ah-Yuan is mistaken. It is they who are unworthy to see us.”
Who “they” referred to was clear to every heart present. The assembled officials drew a collective sharp breath.
Grand Tutor Xu immediately raised his head. “Your Highness, mind your words.”
Lu Ronghuai’s brows and eyes were wild and proud. Every movement carried the lawless arrogance of one who stood above all else. “This Prince will speak what I please. What can any of you do to me?”
“A pack of running dogs, and you still dare bark before This Prince.”
Grand Tutor Xu had served in office for many years and long been treated with respect. This was the first time anyone had cursed him as a dog. Furious, he scrambled up from the ground and pointed at Prince Li’s nose as he shouted, “Your Highness speaks wildly and is greatly disrespectful to His Majesty and the Empress Dowager. Do you mean, relying on your military achievements, you intend to take their place entirely?!”
The assembled ministers were horrified.
“Grand Tutor, mind your words,” Chu Yuan said, leaning against Lu Ronghuai’s chest with a brilliant smile. “His Highness has campaigned for years, endured countless hardships, and fulfilled the aspirations of the ancestors. Looking across Lu Kingdom, who can compare to his merit in war?”
“That is still no reason for the Prince of Li to show such disregard for everyone.”
Chu Yuan replied, “Grand Tutor thinks His Highness is disrespectful to the Empress Dowager and His Majesty. Yet if memory serves, when His Highness led four hundred thousand troops to resist foreign invaders, the Empress Dowager cut off his grain and military provisions and, time and again, issued edicts slandering him. Must His Highness now also greet with pleasant face the low and despicable betrayal of the one who stabbed him in the back?”
“This official is speaking with His Highness Prince Li. Prince Consort, you would do well not to interrupt.” Grand Tutor Xu’s face had gone cold.
Lu Ronghuai flicked his riding crop, and the lash struck Grand Tutor Xu across the lower leg. A killing gleam flashed in his eyes. “Old scoundrel, This Prince thinks you wish to reach the Western Paradise today.”
“Ah!” Grand Tutor Xu cried out and clutched his leg as he fell to the ground.
“Grand Tutor!”
Chu Yuan placed a hand upon Lu Ronghuai’s forearm. His voice, clear and pure, was not loud, yet everyone present could hear it.
He continued, “It is said Grand Tutor Xu is prudent and shrewd, weighing matters carefully before he acts, steady and reserved. Yet today you acted in haste. Such conduct seems very much deliberate.”
“Prince Li struck first and wounded a man, yet the Prince Consort still turns black into white and slanders Grand Tutor Xu. What do you mean by this?” one official shouted angrily.
“Beneath the Son of Heaven, how can you be allowed to run wild and tyrannical like this!”
“His Highness Prince Li has been bewitched by a demon consort and plots— ah!”
The official got no farther. He met the same fate as Grand Tutor Xu and was struck with a lash from Lu Ronghuai.
Unlike Grand Tutor Xu, however, he did not clutch his leg and howl. He fell straight backward and lay motionless.
The surrounding officials were jolted and rushed to test his breathing. A cry burst from among them.
“He is dead!”
The crowd erupted. The commotion broke loose like oil in a hot pans. No one knew who shouted first, “Prince Li is rebelling!”
“Prince Li means to rebel, quick, go report it to the Empress Dowager!”
The officials panicked and hurried back into the city, flapping their sleeves and shouting all the while that Prince Li was rebelling, trying to make the common people flee with them.
On the city walls, a thousand archers who had long been waiting heard the order and immediately drew their bows, their sharp arrowheads all aimed at Lu Ronghuai.
Watching the farce before his eyes, Chu Yuan pinched Lu Ronghuai’s knuckles. “What does Your Highness think?”
Resting his chin on Chu Yuan’s shoulder, Lu Ronghuai closed his eyes and said slowly, “Tedious as ever. Still as foolish as before.”
Chu Yuan laughed softly.
The Empress Dowager had first sent these people to the city gate with courtesy, followed by force, all to seize the initiative and push Prince Li into a weaker position. Best of all, they hoped he would attack the city outright, for then in the hearts of the people he would become the petty usurper seizing power, a rebellious subject and traitor.
Yet the Empress Dowager had lived too long in the deep palace, looking down upon all beneath her, blinded by a single leaf. She thought Prince Li was still the Prince Li of the past. She thought the common people could still be fooled as before, led about by the nose at her pleasure.
“His Highness Prince Li will not harm us!” Suddenly, the cry of the common people rang out from within the city gate.
“That is right! His Highness Prince Li has never bullied the common people while fighting, and even the people of the Six Kingdoms praise him.”
“If not for His Highness Prince Li unifying North and South, our Western Frontier, Northern Border, and Southern Border would still be at war, and many more would die. We cannot be ungrateful.”
“His Highness Prince Li is not rebelling!”
“I know Official Wang from just now. He takes large quantities of five-stone powder every day. The physician in my family even kindly warned him before. He must have died from excessive use.”
“So that is how it was. He consumed himself to death with it and still tried to pin it on Prince Li. Hmph.”
“Father of San Niu, your boy is still holding a bow. How can that child be so foolish? Hurry and tell him to put it down!”
“That foolish brat, I will go up there and give him a beating right now.”
With a great surge, the people rushed toward the city gate. Quite a number of them shoved aside the soldiers, climbed up onto the walls, found their own sons, and twisted ears and pinched shoulders until a whole group of archers cried out. Below, the officials watching felt their eyelids twitch wildly.
The Empress Dowager, hearing that the people at the city gates were rallying to support the Prince of Li, flew into a furious panic and immediately led the Seventh Prince Lu Rongbo and twenty thousand imperial guards to the city gates.
“We welcome the Empress Dowager.”
Maintaining her composure, the Empress Dowager gave the cold command, “Open the city gates.”
“Empress Dowager, this absolutely must not be done. The Prince of Li is unpredictable. Your Majesty’s body is exalted, and if—”
“This Dowager has spoken. Open the gates!” The Empress Dowager suppressed her fury and looked at the official with an expression that made him instinctively afraid.
The commanding general of the city guards hurriedly ordered the gates opened.
“Drive all these ignorant commoners away!” The Empress Dowager looked coldly at the kneeling people around her, and the contempt in her lowered voice could not be hidden.
Grand Tutor Xu, supported by his household servants, limped over and advised in a low voice, “The Empress Dowager need not mind these people. The urgent matter is controlling Prince Li.”
“This Dowager dispatched you here to take the upper hand. And this is the result? You could not even keep the common folk in check.” The Empress Dowager’s anger blazed as high as the sky.
Grand Tutor Xu opened his mouth, then swallowed the words back down.
Lu Rongbo softly soothed her. “Mother, do not be angry. Grand Tutor has already done his utmost. It is only because Lu Ronghuai is too sinister and cunning.”
The Empress Dowager would never truly vent her anger upon Grand Tutor Xu. She herself was of the Xu family, and her heart naturally inclined toward her natal house. She was only irritable because Prince Li had not been subdued.
As the city gates slowly opened, the Empress Dowager steadied her emotions and stared ahead expressionlessly.
Lu Ronghuai sat astride his horse, one arm around Chu Yuan’s waist, his long legs stretched at ease. Even upon seeing the Empress Dowager, he did not dismount to bow. He only raised a brow slightly and asked in a lazy voice, “Where is His Majesty?”
His rudeness provoked a cold smile from the Empress Dowager. “His Majesty’s dragon body is unwell. He issued an edict allowing this Dowager to temporarily manage court affairs. Does Prince Li have any objection?”
Lu Ronghuai smiled lightly, his tone relaxed. “How would This Prince dare object? It is only that This Prince has not seen His Majesty in a long time and misses him greatly. The Empress Dowager has had people stop This Prince outside the gate, so when exactly may This Prince enter the palace and pay respects to His Majesty?”
The Empress Dowager replied, “The army behind Your Highness comes with a fierce and menacing bearing. This Dowager sees nothing in it that suggests Your Highness merely wishes to enter and pay respects.”
Bracing one foot against the stirrup, Lu Ronghuai raised his brow and smiled with bold ease. “Then perhaps the Empress Dowager might say what it is she believes This Prince intends to do.”
“You know full well what lies in your own heart.” The Empress Dowager let out another cold laugh.
“It seems the Empress Dowager does not welcome This Prince back to the capital.”
The Empress Dowager said, “That depends upon how Your Highness wishes to return.”
“This Prince has returned to the capital with the utmost sincerity. Men, bring them over for the Empress Dowager to have a look.” Lu Ronghuai snapped his fingers, and a soldier drove a tightly sealed carriage forward.
The Empress Dowager looked with scrutinizing eyes at that tightly curtained carriage.
Everyone else turned curious eyes toward it as well. Lu Ronghuai’s gaze swept across the people with their hidden thoughts, clearly anticipating the expressions they would wear next.
Once the carriage curtain was pulled aside, the crowd stirred all at once.
Inside the carriage sat two men and one woman, all gray and bedraggled. People who had once cut brilliant figures in in Ye Jing.
Now, confined within the carriage, they appeared no different from the lowest of prisoners.
No one cared whether they had once been princes, princesses, or noble heirs. The common folk knew only this. One was a cripple who had sued for peace and ceded the Southern Frontier. Another was a traitor who had betrayed his kingdom and fled. The woman had incited foreign states to attack the State of Lu, a true white-eyed wolf.
“This Prince has taken no small trouble to bring these three back. Is the Empress Dowager satisfied?”
The crowd began murmuring in low voices.
The hand the Empress Dowager kept hidden in her sleeve clenched slightly, though her dignified and proper smile never wavered. “Prince Li has rendered merit in capturing criminals. Men, take these three away and hand them to the Ministry of Justice for strict confinement.”
“Hold.” Lu Ronghuai’s voice, drawn out and unhurried, cut through the air. “Did This Prince ever say that I meant to hand these three over?”
“Prince Li truly has an enormous tone. Could it be that Your Highness does not realize this has already crossed into usurpation?”
Lu Ronghuai regarded the Empress Dowager’s fury with faint amusement. Resting his chin on Chu Yuan’s shoulder, he drew in the scent of his hair, his manner wholly improper as he said, “This Prince was only concerned that certain petty people might silence them and had no choice but to act.”
The Empress Dowager’s face went cold as ice. “What does Prince Li mean? The prisons of the Ministry of Justice are guarded by heavy troops. Who could possibly kill them under so many watchful eyes?”
“That one can never be certain. What if the order came from above, forbidding them to live?”
The Ministry of Justice took orders from the Son of Heaven. Now that the Empress Dowager was governing in his stead, the person Lu Ronghuai implied without naming could not have been more obvious.
“Presumptuous!” The Empress Dowager had been provoked repeatedly until at last her wrath surged upward. Sweeping her broad sleeve, she gave a cold command. “Men, seize this lawless wretch who speaks without the slightest restraint.”
The imperial guards received the order and formed a line before the city gate, spears in hand and shields raised, advancing toward Lu Ronghuai in neat and disciplined order.
The Xuan Yu Guards behind Lu Ronghuai were no mere ornaments. One after another, they stepped forward with swords drawn, forming a line before their master to shield him.
The two sides faced one another, and the atmosphere tightened into sharp danger.
Looking at the dark mass of Xuan Yu Guards, the Empress Dowager’s eyelids sank heavily. Her tone turned mocking. “Does Prince Li mean to defy the imperial will?”
“The imperial will?” Lu Ronghuai rolled the phrase around as though pondering it, the corners of his mouth lifting in an unruly curve. “The Empress Dowager also knows This Prince was born with a body full of rebellious bones. If she wishes to seize This Prince, let her first bring out the imperial edict and let This Prince have a look.”
The Empress Dowager had come out in haste and naturally had no time to draft an edict. Moreover, she believed that even if one had been drafted, the arrogant creature before her would never obey it.
What was more, she herself now stood here, representing the authority of the imperial house, and yet he dared ignore her command entirely. Clearly, he had no regard for either the Emperor or herself.
Lu Ronghuai’s heart of rebellion was now laid out openly before her eyes.
How could the Empress Dowager possibly swallow such a humiliation? She was just about to speak when, unexpectedly, someone from the carriage spoke first.
“Empress Dowager, This Prince acted under your orders when he blocked Prince Li at the Southern Frontier. How can you now go back on your word and seek This Prince’s life?” Prince Qi shouted from within the carriage.
The Empress Dowager’s expression changed slightly. With false severity masking inward weakness, she barked, “Prince Qi, what nonsense are you speaking?”
“This prince is speaking no nonsense. After crossing the river, you kicked the bridge away behind you. When you saw that this Prince could not hold Prince Li back, you sought to kill This Prince as well and lay the blame on Prince Li. You vicious woman, This Prince should never have allowed you to use him at will!”
Prince Qi had been hunted by assassins the whole journey back and had been frightened out of his wits long before arriving. Now that he saw the Empress Dowager, all his hatred burst forth at once.
Prince Qi continued, “You not only sought This Prince’s life, but you also laid ambush after ambush along the road and sent death warriors to assassinate Lu Ronghuai. What a pity, every one of them proved useless. They could not even draw near Prince Li, hahaha!”
The Empress Dowager lifted a trembling hand and ordered the commander of the imperial guards beside her, who held a bow, “Kill this madman who slanders and raves!”
Prince Qi laughed wildly, watching the Empress Dowager with a face full of triumph.
He knew the shadow guards of Lu Ronghuai would protect him and would not truly let him lose his life.
Yet just as he laughed in arrogance, he suddenly saw Lu Ronghuai turn his head and smile at him with an expression that he recognized with terrible familiarity.
It was the same cold smile from years past, the one that always appeared before Lu Ronghuai repaid him twice over for every trick played on him.
The smile on Prince Qi’s face froze at once. In the next instant, an arrow cut through the crowd and, in the blink of an eye, passed straight through Prince Qi’s heart, fixing itself deep in his body.
Prince Qi’s eyes slowly widened. In the end, he collapsed inside the carriage, dying with eyes unclosed.
“Dead?” Lu Lingshuang had curled herself into the corner of the carriage. Seeing the blood spread more and more beneath Prince Qi, she clapped her hands in delight. “Dead is good, dead is good, hahaha.”
At the city gate, it was as though the crowd had been jolted awake by that sharp laughter. In an instant they were like water splashed into oil, exploding into uproar.
“The Empress Dowager killed Prince Qi!”
“Prince Qi is dead?!”
“Did you hear what Prince Qi said just now?”
“The Empress Dowager did not want Prince Qi and Prince Li to return to the capital alive. She...”
“What a venomous woman.”
“Speak a little softer, or she may have you killed as well.”
“When will His Majesty recover? How can a poisonous woman be allowed to govern the court? Lu Kingdom will surely be ruined in her hands.”
The muttered words gnawed at the Empress Dowager’s heart like ants. Coming back to herself and seeing Prince Qi dead, she suddenly felt her hands and feet turn ice-cold.
She had fallen right into the trap.
Lu Ronghuai had deliberately indulged Prince Qi, let him provoke her, calculated everything, and made her kill a man before all the people of Ye Jing, staining herself with the name of being cold-blooded and cruel.
Trembling from head to toe, the Empress Dowager looked toward Lu Ronghuai, only to find him leisurely admiring the ugliness of her plight.
“All soldiers, hear this command!” The Empress Dowager could not allow the situation to slip out of control. She had to preserve imperial authority. The realm of the Lu imperial house could only be inherited by her son.
From her sleeve she drew the imperial jade seal. Lifting her arm high, she made all who saw it hurry to kneel and knock their heads to the ground, crying ten thousand years of life.
“To behold this jade seal is as to behold His Majesty himself. His Majesty has commanded: Prince Li has thrown the court into chaos, seized military authority, and harbors a disloyal heart. Fearing that he may destroy the realm of Lu Kingdom, all sons of Lu Kingdom who see this man may kill him.”
Silence fell over everything.
The Empress Dowager lifted her chin coldly. “Whoever wounds Prince Li shall be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold. Whoever gravely wounds Prince Li shall be granted a fief of one thousand households and raised to the rank of second-grade official. Whoever takes Prince Li’s head shall be enfeoffed as a marquis with hereditary title for generations unending.”
“Kill him!” The Empress Dowager raised her arm and shouted.
“Kill!” Half the men had their eyes blinded by the rich rewards the Empress Dowager had promised. They rushed forward without caring for anything else. The Xuan Yu Guards drew their blades to meet them, and at once the two sides fell into a chaotic melee.
The Empress Dowager took two steps back. Lowering her arm, she calmly hugged the jade seal to her chest, then turned to the visibly anxious Lu Rongbo beside her.
“Rongbo, listen well. In a moment, Mother will take her own life. You are to scream loudly and say that Prince Li struck this Dowager with a hidden blade. This Dowager is his mother in name. Even if he seizes the realm, he will never rid himself of the crime of killing his mother.”
“Mother!” Lu Rongbo cried out, his pupils trembling, as though he had never imagined she would do such a thing.
“On your fourth imperial brother’s side... this Dowager has already made arrangements, and for the Deposed Crown Prince as well. This Dowager taught you before what should be done. Have you remembered it?”
Lu Rongbo’s lips trembled. “Your child... remembers.”
“Good.” The Empress Dowager turned and looked again toward the officials huddled together, clutching their heads. Mockery filled her face.
These useless civil officials, so formidable when quarreling at court day after day, all shrank their heads like turtles the moment blades truly met.
Even so, it was just as well to keep them. They were like flies circling a rotten egg, and sooner or later they would surely sicken Lu Ronghuai.
The brush of the scholar could be the sharpest blade where it hurt most.
The Empress Dowager’s lips curved with calculating satisfaction as she looked up toward the vast blue sky.
From her sleeve she drew out that sharp dagger. She was just about to plunge it into herself when, suddenly, the sound of galloping hooves came from behind.
At the same time, two small stones struck her on either shoulder. The Empress Dowager cried out in pain, and the jade seal and dagger both dropped to the ground, while her shoulders went numb and lost all strength.
“Mother!” Lu Rongbo hurried to support her.
Lu Ronghuai lowered his hand, once more wrapping an arm around Chu Yuan’s waist. His lips even brushed that white, fragrant neck, until Chu Yuan seized him by the ear, whereupon he finally grew proper again and straightened up to look toward the city gate.
The one who had come was Xu Zhizhi.
“Stop!” Xu Zhizhi, dressed in full Empress’s robes, shouted sharply at the soldiers locked in battle.
Lu Ronghuai gave a whistle, and at once the Xuan Yu Guards disengaged and withdrew, not the slightest bit eager to press the fight.
By contrast, the soldiers on Ye Jing’s side had suffered much heavier losses. After staring blankly for a moment, they too retreated in embarrassed disorder.
“Zhizhi? Why have you come here?” Seeing it was her, the Empress Dowager immediately stiffened her face and scolded.
She had long since confined the girl within Fengju Palace. Those guards posted over her had monstrous courage indeed to dare release her without permission.
Xu Zhizhi sat upon her horse. Turning her head toward the Empress Dowager, she looked bright and lovely in her grand attire, and her eyes remained as clear as ever. “Mother, this Empress has naturally come under orders.”
“Under orders? Whose orders?” The Empress Dowager frowned.
Xu Zhizhi covered her mouth as she laughed, as though greatly amused. “Naturally, I act under His Majesty’s command. Whom else could I obey?”
The Empress Dowager opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Grand Tutor Xu moved toward her slowly and spoke in almost the same tone the Empress Dowager had used. “Do not behave childishly. This is not a place you should come. Hurry back.”
“Why should this Empress return?” Xu Zhizhi said, her gaze lowered toward her grandfather. The smile in her eyes gradually faded. “This Empress has come under His Majesty’s orders to proclaim an imperial edict. Yet in Grand Tutor’s mouth, such an important matter becomes mere childish nonsense?”
Grand Tutor Xu, too, stared in surprise.
He had never heard Xu Zhizhi speak to him in such a cold and distant tone. Since marrying his youngest granddaughter into the palace, he had not seen her often, and in truth had neglected much. Young women were sensitive of heart. Perhaps she had truly been harboring grievances.
Grand Tutor Xu gentled his expression and spoke again. “Zhizhi, Grandfather only meant...”
“Grand Tutor may go rest to one side. This Empress is still waiting to proclaim the edict. It cannot be delayed.” Xu Zhizhi no longer wished to hear him. Urging her horse forward, she rode toward Lu Ronghuai.
“Do not go near him, it is dangerous!” Seeing that she actually meant to go to Lu Ronghuai, Grand Tutor Xu immediately called for his household guards to stop her.
Yet the ones following Xu Zhizhi were shadow guards Lu Rongze had given her, each one highly skilled. Dealing with a few household guards hardly took any effort at all.
The Empress Dowager and Grand Tutor Xu could only watch helplessly as Xu Zhizhi approached them.
At last, Xu Zhizhi stopped one zhang away, dismounted, and walked another two paces closer.
“His Highness Prince Li, dismount and receive the edict.” She lifted her face and spoke in a clear, bright voice.
Lu Ronghuai stayed motionless upon his horse, his eyes measuring this young woman. His sharply defined face looked deeper and more inscrutable than ever.
“What new trick is this?”
With both hands clasped behind her back, Xu Zhizhi paced around twice where she stood. Then she provoked him at an unhurried pace. “So Prince Li is a coward after all. Could it be that you do not dare receive the edict?”
Holding Chu Yuan in his arms, Lu Ronghuai smiled like a scoundrel. “That is right. This Prince is terribly frightened.”
Xu Zhizhi smiled sweetly. “It does not matter. If Prince Li is timid, the Prince Consort may accompany you in receiving the edict.”
“How thoughtful.” Prince Li gave a low laugh.
Chu Yuan patted the back of his hand, his voice soft and clear. “Enough, Your Highness. Stop teasing her.”
Xu Zhizhi immediately chimed in, “Exactly, exactly. All you know is how to bully people. Hmph.”
Lu Ronghuai replied, “Do not climb onto my nose and my face. This Prince is only dismounting to receive your broken edict for Ah-Yuan’s sake. Stop dawdling and finish reading it so you can leave.”
Xu Zhizhi rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, yes. Please hurry and receive it. I do not wish to stand in this blazing heat any longer.”
While grumbling, she took the agarwood brocade case from the guard behind her.
“His Highness Prince Li, receive the edict.” The smile vanished from her face, and her tone turned solemn and dignified.
Lu Ronghuai and Chu Yuan exchanged a look, then lifted their robes and knelt.
The great army behind them knelt as well.
Other than the Empress Dowager, everyone fell into silent kneeling, awaiting the imperial will.
“By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees:
Zhen has held the great succession for more than a year, yet still remembers the teachings of the sages of old, that a ruler bears the grave duty of protecting and sustaining the people. The calamities of north and south have long run deep. Zhen is ashamed before the Great Way, having brought the people to suffering.
In antiquity, Yao yielded to Shun, and Shun yielded to Yu. None did so save in accord with Heaven’s mandate and for the benefit of the age. Now Prince Li has restored the frontiers, unified mountains and rivers, and brought forth auspicious signs. Should one go against the will of the people, disaster may rise again and the people suffer grievously. Zhen cannot bear such a thing.
Prince Li possesses the virtue to perceive the hearts of the people. Today Zhen follows in the footsteps of Yao and Shun and yields the throne to Prince Li. Respect this.”
After finishing the abdication edict, Xu Zhizhi’s lashes trembled twice, ever so slightly. Then, within a silence as dead as a grave, she lifted her eyes and smiled. “Prince Li, receive the edict.”
“This Dowager does not agree!” The Empress Dowager suddenly gave a shriek loud enough to split stone. Coming back to herself from the shock, she tried to rush forward in madness, only to forget that both her arms were numb, and so she crashed heavily to the ground.
“Empress Dowager!” A crowd hurried to help her up.
“This Dowager does not believe it. This edict must be false. How could Ze’er possibly yield the throne to him? How could he!” Her hairpins hung in disarray, her appearance that of a vicious old woman, the Empress Dowager cried out in disbelief.
Lu Rongbo had also gone numb. Staring blankly at the edict in Xu Zhizhi’s hands, forgetting even to support the Empress Dowager.
How could this be?
Turning back, Xu Zhizhi asked with an innocent smile, “This edict is naturally genuine. Even if Mother does not recognize His Majesty’s handwriting, surely she can at least recognize the imperial seal upon it?”
“The jade seal is in this Dowager’s hands. That edict is plainly false.” The Empress Dowager looked at the jade seal the eunuch had picked up and shouted in a torn voice.
Xu Zhizhi touched her chin, looking troubled. “How strange. The jade seal has always remained at His Majesty’s side. Then where exactly did the jade seal in Mother’s hands come from?”
“Naturally this Dowager took...” The Empress Dowager reacted all at once. Nearly letting the truth slip out, she bit down so hard her back teeth almost shattered when she saw Xu Zhizhi’s spotless smile. “Naturally His Majesty personally gave it to this Dowager. Grand Tutor Xu and several ministers of the court can all bear witness to that.”
“Is that so?” Xu Zhizhi smiled brightly. She opened the agarwood case once more and, with both hands, lifted out the heavy jade seal within, holding it aloft.
“This is the true imperial jade seal of succession. Mother, then what exactly is the one in your hands?”
The Empress Dowager stared dumbly at the jade seal in Xu Zhizhi’s hands.
All the others were equally stunned.
“That... cannot be...”
Xu Zhizhi replied, “Mother, could it be that you privately forged the imperial jade seal? That is a capital crime deserving beheading.”
“Do not spout nonsense! This Dowager would never forge the imperial jade seal. Ze’er himself placed that seal into this Dowager’s hands.” The Empress Dowager’s anger surged into her chest.
“Em... Em... Empress Dowager!” The little eunuch at her side was suddenly frightened out of his wits, his voice tripping over itself.
“Why are you howling like a ghost? This Dowager has not gone deaf yet!” the Empress Dowager snapped.
The little eunuch was so frightened he wet himself. Both hands shaking like leaves in a gale, he held up the seal with the greatest difficulty and cried, “The seal is cracked... the inside is fake.”
“Fake?”
“The Empress Dowager truly forged the seal?”
“Has she lost all fear for her life?”
Discussion broke out on every side.
The Empress Dowager widened her eyes in disbelief and strode to the little eunuch, staring fixedly at the seal in his hands.
That one earlier fall had snapped off one dragon horn from the flying dragon atop the base of the seal. What should have been a flawless seal carved entirely from translucent jade was instead packed with wax and mercury.
Even now, mercury was seeping from the place where the dragon horn had broken.
No excuse remained. The moment she learned the seal in her hands was false, every last justification vanished into smoke.
The Empress Dowager took two steps back, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground.
No matter how much she thought on it, she could not understand why Lu Rongze had given her a false jade seal.
It seemed she had never once truly understood this son of hers.
“There is one more matter. Let all present today bear witness. This Empress wishes to expose the crimes of the Empress Dowager!” Having placed the edict into Prince Li’s hands, Xu Zhizhi turned and struck yet another brutal blow.
“The Empress Dowager’s crimes?” One censor, thoroughly stunned by this unending flood of shocks, responded without thinking.
“Zhizhi, what exactly are you trying to do?” Grand Tutor Xu looked at her with anguish, his face full of grief and fury.
“This Empress only wants all under Heaven to know what ‘good deeds’ the Empress Dowager has done all these years.” Xu Zhizhi looked toward the Empress Dowager, who sat there lost and hollow. At this moment, sharing the same blood of the Xu family, she felt a profound revulsion at what ran in her veins.
“What things?” someone in the crowd asked, watching with keen interest.
“This Empress wishes to expose that the Empress Dowager...” As Xu Zhizhi’s eyes moved, her gaze passed over the pale face of the Seventh Prince, and her smile turned mocking. “The Empress Dowager debauched the inner palace and entered into an affair with a guard, giving birth to a son who usurped the position of the real Seventh Prince, while cruelly murdering Consort Li and the true Seventh Prince.”
“That guard is none other than the commander of the imperial guards standing before everyone now, Cao Kuan.”
This was a day destined to be recorded in the histories.
Twists in the peaks, clouds part, and the moon appears.
The Empress Dowager was seized, the Xu family imprisoned, the commander of the imperial guards executed on the spot, the Emperor abdicated, the Empress took her own life, and Prince Li became the new Emperor of Lu Kingdom.
The people of Ye Jing beat drums and gongs to welcome the new Emperor into the city and watched him step into the towering imperial palace together with Chu Yuan.
From that day onward, Lu Kingdom entered a new age of great peace and prosperity.
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Three in the morning. I have finally written the last word of the main text of this novel, and I am in tears.
Work kept me spinning in circles through the first half of the year. On top of that, after getting sick a second time, my immunity kept dropping and I was ill over and over. My condition the whole first half of the year was terrible. Here, I want to thank all the lovely and kind readers who have supported me and been patient with me all this time. It is precisely because of your love that I was able to keep going until now. Thank you, everyone! [bows]
All right, this is where the main story ends. There are still a few matters to explain in the extras, and I will strive to finish in July. Love you all~.
Thank you very much for everyone’s support. I will continue to work hard!
IsitRo: This was truly a long chapter and full of happenings. I am honestly just laughing at the Empress Dowager or should I say cringing from secondhand embarrassment. 😭😭😭 See you in extras cattos!
0 Comments