Chapter 230

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

The overturned case table rolled down the palace steps; through the flying shards of shattered cups, the Emperor's furious eyes gazed down at the people in the hall.

The Empress and Crown Prince, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, along with Rui Ze whose clothes were soaked by rain, and Liu Qi whose clothes were soaked by both rain and blood; behind them were Marquis Lu celebrating his birthday, and Marquis Lingshu accompanying Marquis Lu for his birthday.

Rui Ze, his whole body ice-cold, broke into a cold sweat at once because of this overturned table; he hurriedly bowed low, pressing both hands to the ground, and explained again: "Your Majesty, please see clearly, my actions today were truly to capture that traitor of the Ling family who still lives in this world... but I did not know why the person under the bamboo hat, whose face could not be seen, had transformed into the Sixth Prince!"

"What a 'did not know'!" the Emperor questioned: "If so, your actions today were specifically to capture Ling Congnan—but how did you determine that child was still alive, and how did you determine he would appear in the place you set your ambush? Even though the face under the bamboo hat was unclear, you could still determine his identity! —Rui Ze, you made a grand show and brandished your blades with such certainty; what is the evidence and basis you firmly believe in? Tell me, let me hear how credible it is!"

Rui Ze's complexion changed.

He certainly had evidence that the son of the Ling family was still alive, he certainly had the basis that the son of the Ling family would appear today! —to prove he had not spoken falsely!

However...

Rui Ze lowered his head, catching sight of the Empress's robes from the corner of his eye.

His evidence and basis were the unspeakable conspiracy with a family traitor, and this matter had now become the dead boy's basis for countering him!

The Empress's face was anxious, her heart filled with stormy waves.

And Rui Ze had no choice but to stiffen his neck to answer the Emperor's questioning: "Since the Zhu Zhi incident at Yundang Mountain, there have always been rumors that the son of the Ling family still lives; I, wishing to share Your Majesty's worries, had people pay attention to this matter... Recently I heard that someone suspected to be the son of the Ling family had appeared, so I had people trace their tracks... I knew this matter should not be publicized, and before there were results, it was not suitable to disturb Your Majesty, so I planned to capture the person first and then report to Your Majesty."

He also knew this explanation was too pale; if he had captured the person today, naturally everything could be explained, but since he had not captured him, and instead misidentified and injured someone... this argument lacking real evidence instead seemed like a clumsy excuse.

Rui Ze dared not raise his head, and knew what expression the Emperor had; in his panic, he could only seize on the suspicion that the other party had ulterior motives: "This matter was my negligence, however, I do not know why, the Sixth Highness always covered his face with a bamboo hat and did not speak, and throughout did not shout out his identity; otherwise, I think such a deep misunderstanding would not have been created!"

The Emperor's gaze slowly turned to Liu Qi; Liu Qi looked at Rui Ze, a mocking smile appearing at the corner of his mouth: "Covering one's face with a bamboo hat is naturally because of the unceasing wind and rain today; as for why he did not announce his identity—forgive my dullness, I did not know at all throughout that Marquis Rui had killed the wrong person; this is actually a misunderstanding."

While Rui Ze gritted his teeth in secret, he only heard that dead boy spew out darker filth sentence by sentence:

"Or is it, this name of executing the traitor's son, was merely a temporary excuse thought up by Marquis Rui after seeing me find Marquis Lu's protection as a witness?"

"Marquis Rui may have quick wit, but lies fabricated on the spot are ultimately full of holes—could it be that the news Marquis Rui received was that the son of the Ling family, like me, also happened to have the same injury on his left leg?"

Rui Ze almost blurted out—the boy who deceived heaven and earth, daring to mention this crime of deceiving the sovereign!

However, this boy full of filth had limped all the way from the Xiwangmu Temple to Jianzhang Palace; even if he exposed this lie, it would only become the other side's accusation of framing and sophistry!

With all words blocked by this venomous boy, Rui Ze's face turned green, and he could only say: "Your Majesty, it was because I was too eager to capture the person; seeing that Your Highness was using the spear art not passed down by Marquis Changping, I for a moment failed to make further distinctions..."

The spear art not passed down by Marquis Changping was instead passed to the Sixth Prince, a kind of intimate inheritance and continuation; this sentence seemed intended to stir the Emperor's heart-knots and taboos, in exchange for shifting the Emperor's favor.

However, this subtle instigation that was impossible to refute was met with one sentence from the Emperor: "I have always known that Ling Ke treated my sons with genuine sincerity."

Rui Ze's heart trembled; Empress Rui, already frightened to tears, bowed down: "Your Majesty, this matter was my elder brother mishearing and misbelieving, confused and negligent; please have Your Majesty punish him, but also please believe he absolutely has no courage or ulterior motive to openly assassinate the Crown Prince!"

Looking at the frightened Empress, the Emperor said meaningfully: "It seems the Empress truly did not know."

His gaze, still not free of anger, swept toward the Crown Prince who had not spoken all along: "Then what about the Crown Prince; did Marquis Rui's so-called ambush to capture the traitor's son have your knowledge?"

Liu Cheng dared not delay and said: "Child Minister did not know either!"

"Good." The Emperor looked at Rui Ze again: "A baseless pretext, and one can set an ambush with weapons at the foot of the imperial city; I did not know, the Empress did not know, the Crown Prince did not know; Marquis Rui truly is wholeheartedly sharing my worries..."

This voice was no longer the initial violent rage, but Rui Ze suddenly felt a chill rise from his heart; he still maintained the posture of bowing his upper body with hands propped on the ground, and at this moment could not help but slowly raise his eyes, gazing upward, seeing a pair of aged dragon eyes; within them lay hatred that could no longer be endured, and beneath the hatred, a flash of killing intent.

In an instant, Rui Ze, as if losing all support, his head and spine simultaneously relinquished all strength, section by section pressing flat against the ground: "Your Majesty, I know my wrong! I should not have been willful and arbitrary, self-righteous, causing such absurd disorder... I am greatly, greatly wrong!"

The Emperor steadily watched the trembling, confessing tall shadow.

When this person first reunited with Rui Ji, he was merely a thin, long horse slave; suddenly gaining wealth and status, his appetite was permitted, almost with a compensatory mindset he stuffed flesh and blood into this skeleton; lacking restraint, his eyelids grew heavier day by day, and slowly he could no longer see the position he should stand in.

Appetite connects with too many desires; the suddenly unleashed appetite does not know restraint, and other desires seem to also tread the same insatiable path.

Today, whether the true purpose was to capture the son of the Ling family or to kill his Liu family son, what this act revealed behind it was all the same greedy pig face of seeking quick success and immediate gain.

Killing intent surged for a moment; his gaze swept over the Empress and Crown Prince in the hall, and the Emperor pressed his iron-blue lips tight.

In panic, Rui Ze straightened his upper body, slightly turned toward one side's youth, raised his hand to salute: "Today it was Rui and his subordinates' poor eyesight, failing to recognize the Sixth Highness, nearly causing a great mistake; the injuries Your Highness suffered today, I am willing to receive tenfold, and am at Your Highness's disposal to vent anger, as compensation and apology!"

The scheme today failed and he was instead outcalculated; matters having come to this, not wanting to die, he could only swallow this breath; Rui Ze slightly raised his heavy eyelids, meeting Liu Qi's gaze.

Their eyes met briefly; Rui Ze immediately sensed that gaze slowly moving, but landing on his neck.

The blood-stained youth exuded ghost qi; his cold gaze was like a thin sharp blade, able to cut his neck bone out of thin air.

Rui Ze's whole body stood on end with vigilance, but then he heard a scoff: "This place is not the wild martial world, but the Son of Heaven's imperial court; Your Majesty has not yet spoken, how could I arbitrarily decide Marquis Rui's punishment?"

Liu Qi faced upward: "Today here there are no court officials; only Marquis Lu and Marquis Lingshu who happened to save Child Minister. As for the truth or falsehood in Marquis Rui's words, Child Minister also has no further real evidence to prove; this matter is both state affairs and family affairs; however Imperial Uncle decides to handle it, Child Minister will have no objection."

Hearing these words, the Emperor did not know whether he felt more relieved or stunned.

The Emperor watched the child with his head lowered, covered in blood.

The physician had already examined him; the injuries were not serious, most of the blood was others' blood, but it was enough to show what a dangerous and evil fight he had experienced; and over these years, in places this Imperial Uncle could not see, such assassinations had occurred who knows how many times...

Yet at this moment, because he sensed this Imperial Uncle's hesitation and weighing, he had not taken any action to seize this matter and demand justice.

The Emperor slowly exhaled.

This was a clever child, or perhaps because he had personally witnessed the previous handling by this Imperial Uncle... when this child first returned to the capital, someone poisoned him; after his thorough investigation, he exposed nothing, merely punishing the Crown Prince and Empress to go to Shen Ci to reflect as a warning.

He was not unwilling to use today's matter to severely punish or even remove Rui Ze, but the autumn hunt had not yet arrived, and the various princes and marquises were still in the capital; if he struck a fatal blow at Rui Ze at this time, all around would surely believe he intended to depose the Crown Prince, and among the princes and marquises, disloyal hearts would surely arise; if he stirred up rebellion among the princes...

Any action that might trigger unrest would have to wait until after the autumn hunt and until the rebellion in Liang Guo was quelled before any decision could be made...

Amidst a hundred turning thoughts, the Emperor still watched the blood-clothed youth.

This was a son who knew his father's concerns and therefore made concessions.

At this moment, he truly stood in the same place as him.

In a daze, taking advantage of this disheveled blood-stained clothing, the Emperor uncontrollably thought of another son who once always shared his worries... that child, back then at the palace gate, was he also covered in blood like this... why did Ling Ke risk death to bring that child to knock on the palace gate; if at that time he had not vomited blood and fainted, and because of Ling Ke's act of cutting off his arm, he had agreed to grant an audience to that child...

The irreparable assumption was instead heart-piercing; the Emperor suppressed the emotion he could not face directly, looked at Rui Ze again; anger uncontrollably surged back; now, even if he could not put the person to death, he could not just let him go; otherwise, where would the Liu family's dignity be, and Tianji was also present as a witness; one must know this world ultimately surnamed Liu, not Rui... and there was absolutely no possibility of changing the surname to Rui!

"While the Crown Prince administers the state, you, as a court official and imperial kinsman, did not think to pacify the state, but instead, based on words of catching shadows, recklessly moved weapons, injured an imperial prince, and disrupted order; this is truly hateful..."

"Convey my oral decree: Grand Minister of Agriculture Rui Ze, reckless and wanton, is hereby—deducted three years' salary, flogged thirty times, to reflect on his fault and warn others!"

Rui Ze kowtowed: "Subject... accepts the punishment!"

Flogging was the lightest punishment among all penalties; even death-row inmates could nowadays pay money to redeem their crimes, and flogging was often used as a light punishment to replace corporal punishment, but for an official to receive this punishment, the disgrace outweighed the punishment itself. Rui Ze knew the Emperor had been angered and dared not utter another word of pleading; after kowtowing, he voluntarily withdrew from the hall to receive his punishment.

Shaowei, who had knelt sitting behind with her great-uncle, raised her eyes and looked at Liu Qi ahead.

He had put himself in danger, then turned retreat into advance, forcing the Emperor to impose the maximum punishment possible on Rui Ze at that moment; thirty lashes would not kill a man, but they were enough to disturb some hearts and the situation.

But not enough to disturb Shaowei's plans.

Shaowei had discernment in her heart, her thoughts unwavering; only when she was about to withdraw her gaze did she again look toward the bamboo-slip memorials beside her.

When the Emperor was angered, he overturned the case table; the rolled-up memorials rolled everywhere, until now only then did a palace attendant dare to kneel over to collect them.

Shaowei watched the palace attendant roll up that memorial again, but its content lingered in her mind, impossible to dispel.

Knowing that this trip with her great-uncle into the palace was only to watch the show, kneeling for so long without speaking was inevitably tiring; naturally she could not refuse the text-bearing object beside her, and since her eyesight was indeed excellent, Shaowei secretly looked at several scattered memorials to pass the time.

One of them was a memorial submitted by the palace official Changqiu, listing the surnames and family ranks of many wealthy and noble young ladies, saying they were all of both beauty and virtue, suitable as good matches for the Sixth Prince.

After a moment, Shaowei understood: the palace was selecting a good match for Liu Qi, whether because the Emperor thought Liu Qi had reached marriageable age or for other considerations; in short, Liu Qi's marriage was now being calculated by someone.

Perhaps because in her previous life Liu Qi had died alone, Shaowei had never thought of him marrying; now, seeing this bamboo slip, she could not help but imagine him as a good match with a lady of both beauty and virtue.

To be a good match with someone, presumably meant forming a shared home, using the same food table, eating from the same plate of melons and fruit, burning the same incense burner, even sleeping on the same bed, and sharing the same quilt?

This situation was so intimate, simply more intimate than when she and he had drifted on a boat on the lake; thus, in the future, could she still go see him at will?

Whether she could or not aside, just imagining this, a nameless anger rose in her heart; she simply no longer wanted to go find him.

This vexation was not directed at that innocent lady of both beauty and virtue who existed only in imagination, nor perhaps at Liu Qi... it seemed only because she minded that imagined mistaken relationship.

Shaowei believed she had never had the bad habit of breaking up mandarin ducks; but if this was a mistaken relationship, then in her own heart, what was right?

As she pondered, Liu Qi ahead propped himself up on the ground to rise; turning his head, he revealed moist eyes and brows, using the palace attendant's figure as he cleared the scattered memorials for cover, and smiled soundlessly at Shaowei.

A voice sprang up in Shaowei's mind: It seemed only this was right.

The palace attendants were rearranging the Dragon Case; as everyone withdrew, Liu Cheng asked in a low voice: "Were the Marquis of Lingshu and the Marquis of Lu injured?"

This question seemed like a ruler to a subject, also like a responsible inquiry after an uncle's fault; but Liu Cheng's eyes held too much concern, and after glancing at the Marquis of Lu, his gaze lingered long on Shaowei.

Shaowei could not help but judge: such friendly concern, she had clearly refused, yet Liu Cheng still gave in vain; it was truly a wrong example.

The Marquis of Lu had already answered, so Shaowei said no more.

Liu Cheng did not have time to feel dejected; his uncle had received this punishment, today's events were too sudden, the Empress Dowager had likewise been frightened, and he had too many matters and emotions to handle.

The Empress and the Crown Prince took their leave; the Emperor's expression eased somewhat, and he said to the Marquis of Lu: "Today Rui Ze caused a disturbance and startled the Marquis of Lu's birthday; I, on their behalf, apologize to the Marquis of Lu... and it is also thanks to the Marquis of Lu being present to preside over the situation."

The Marquis of Lu thought of the bloody scene he had seen at a glance, and could not help but say: "This old subject is now dull-witted; it was the child beside me who first noticed something was wrong..."

Not long after, a palace attendant came to report that Marquis Rui's thirty lashes had ended.

The rain had not yet stopped; Guo Shi, responsible for supervising the punishment, advanced holding an umbrella and helped Rui Ze up.

Rui Ze's vision was blurred by the rain, but the pain could not become blurred.

Clear pain most easily awakened memories; the last time he had been beaten like this was when he was a horse slave, and these past years he had gradually thought he would never be beaten like this again.

Only now did he truly realize: as long as there was a master, there would be a whip.

Rui Ze gritted his teeth, his voice carrying the trembling sound of teeth knocking: "Fake..."

Guo Shi looked at him: What?

Rui Ze also looked at Guo Shi, informing him in a low voice, word by word: "Lame leg, fake... I saw it."

Guo Shi was silent for a long while, sighing faintly and long, slowly lowering his eyes, watching several drops of blood mix with the rainwater, slowly seeping toward his own feet.

Empress Rui walked over accompanied by palace maids holding umbrellas, reaching out to help her elder brother, her eyes brimming with tears of complex emotion.

Guo Shi quietly left; under the umbrella, Empress Rui asked in a tearful, hoarse voice: "Elder brother, why did you act on your own authority..."

The pale-faced Rui Ze looked at his younger sister, almost gnashing his teeth: "Why say this; I should be asking Your Majesty."

Finishing his words, he withdrew the hand his sister was supporting, bowed, limped away on one leg, and walked toward the palace attendant waiting with an umbrella.

?? 4400 words, good night, see you tomorrow.