Yang Fengpeng had thought he could live out the rest of his days in peace, but Yu Hexiang’s crying threw him into a panic. While trying to comfort her, he called out to Yin Gezhi: “Your Highness!”
“I only have the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before I must take my leave,” Yin Gezhi remained unmoved by the pitiful sounds. “If you have anything to say to her, say it quickly.”
The time of an incense stick? Yang Fengpeng’s throat tightened. Ignoring everything else, he grabbed Yu Hexiang and pulled her close, asking, “Besides Xu’er, are all the others gone?”
Yu Hexiang shook her head through her sobs: “They’re all imprisoned, thanks to the Emperor’s great mercy. The sentence was originally exile, not yet carried out, but for some reason, someone came to take away the young master and tried to kill the rest. The prison is so dark, we can’t even see daylight. If not for Prince Yin, this servant wouldn’t have been able to see you at all! My lord, those people are evil! They’re so ruthless—surely the young master won’t meet a good end!”
Heart aching terribly, Yang Fengpeng turned and fell to his knees before Yin Gezhi with a “thud,” crying out hoarsely: “Your Highness—”
“I already gave you two paths, but you wouldn’t listen. You chose to believe the Grand General would save you,” Yin Gezhi said coldly. “But now, in the Imperial Study, it was he who supported His Majesty in dealing with you harshly. It was he who took your young son hostage as final leverage, and it was he who made you take all the blame, ensuring your entire family would meet a tragic end.”
If they hadn’t come today, would he have remained deceived and gone to his death in confusion? Yang Fengpeng wept bitterly, repeatedly kowtowing: “Your Highness, save us, please save us!”
“At this point, even I cannot save you,” Yin Gezhi said. “If you knew it would come to this, why did you make such choices?”
Shaking his head as he wept, Yang Fengpeng was at a loss. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Even as he faced death, he had wanted to protect Yi Guoru’s reputation, yet behind his back, Yi had played such tricks!
When it came to delivering messages, Yang Fengpeng was more likely to believe his beloved woman’s words. Now that he seemed to have thought things through, it was time for the main actor to appear.
Light footsteps echoed in the prison corridor. An Shichong and Xu Huaizu became alert, quickly calling out in low voices: “Master!”
Yin Gezhi pretended not to hear, remaining where he stood.
Xu Huaizu was about to call out again, but it was too late—someone had arrived.
Quickly pulling An Shichong along, Xu Huaizu darted into the shadows around the corner of the next cell.
To their surprise, Miss Fengyue was already standing there. Seeing them, she smiled in greeting.
But where was their master?! The two were shocked and quickly peeked out to see.
The silver four-clawed dragon robe swept over court boots as Ye Yuqing approached, slowly fanning himself. His gaze fell on the opened prison door, and he let out a soft “Oh?”
“Do we have a visitor?” he asked.
Yin Gezhi turned around, lowering his head with apparent alarm.
Ye Yuqing raised an eyebrow, walking over to look at him and laughing: “How did Your Highness end up in such a place?”
“Just walking around,” Yin Gezhi explained halfheartedly.
Looking at Yang Fengpeng kneeling on the ground, then at the cloaked woman beside him, Ye Yuqing clapped his hands: “Ah, I understand. Your Highness caught the escaped prisoner and brought them back, correct?”
Yu Hexiang trembled. Yang Fengpeng glanced behind the Crown Prince and, seeing only Feng Chuang there, immediately understood. He kowtowed three times to Ye Yuqing: “Your Highness, this guilty official has something to say, something important to say!”
“Oh?” Gentle eyes swept over him as Ye Yuqing fanned himself and smiled: “Didn’t you say yesterday during questioning that you had already said everything there was to say?”
“This guilty one deserves death, but I beg Your Highness to spare our lives!” The robust man’s body trembled as he kowtowed, looking quite pitiful.
“My, my.” Ye Yuqing shook his head, lifting his robe to crouch before him: “Does the Official think he still has a chance at life?”
“No, I shouldn’t, I truly shouldn’t! But Your Highness, this guilty one has account books showing profit-sharing with General Yi. Of the money I’m accused of embezzling, half went into the Grand General’s pockets! The northern army’s annual pay amounts to 600,000 taels of silver. Of this sum, only 100,000 reaches my hands—the other 500,000 goes directly to the General’s mansion! The northern border’s defeat had nothing to do with military funds!”
This barrage of explosive information made Ye Yuqing narrow his eyes. He grabbed Yang Fengpeng’s collar and yanked him up to face him. His expression was grim, though his voice remained gentle: “Why didn’t you say this earlier?”
“My young son is still in the Grand General’s hands—how could this guilty one speak?!” Eyes reddened, Yang Fengpeng said: “Even now, I dare not repeat these words in open court!”
The meaning was clear: if Your Highness rescues my son, these words can be repeated in court.
Ye Yuqing shook his head and turned to Yin Gezhi: “General Yi is an important minister of our dynasty. To make this Prince suspect him with just a few words—Prince Yin, if it were you, would you believe it?”
Yin Gezhi’s face remained expressionless as he shook his head: “I wouldn’t.”
Sweat covered his forehead, Yang Fengpeng trembled for a moment before gritting his teeth and pushing Yu Hexiang forward.
“She knows where the account books are. If Your Highness doesn’t believe me, you can look at the books first, then decide whether to use this guilty one as a witness.”
“Oh?” Ye Yuqing smiled: “Since the Official is so insistent, this Prince might as well take a look.”
“However,” Yin Gezhi said with obvious disdain, “the Official is far too easily threatened. If Your Highness goes to the trouble of clearing all obstacles and reopening the trial, but he has other weaknesses in the Grand General’s hands and refuses to tell the truth again, wouldn’t we have wasted our efforts?”
“No!” Yang Fengpeng exclaimed: “Besides my wife and children, this guilty one has no other weaknesses! I can accept death, but I beg you to protect my family!”
Ye Yuqing appeared deeply moved and turned to ask Yin Gezhi: “Does Your Highness think we can trust him?”
Yin Gezhi nodded solemnly: “We might as well trust him for now.”
“Good,” Ye Yuqing said. “Then the Official should prepare himself. Feng Chuang will personally guard you here these next few days to ensure your safety. As for your young son, that will depend on Prince Yin’s intervention.”
Yin Gezhi frowned: “Your Highness, such matters can be handled by your secret guards.”
“None of my secret guards have martial arts skills as formidable as yours. None of them can freely enter and exit the General’s mansion,” Ye Yuqing said. “Moreover, with you handling this, Official Yang will surely feel more at ease.”
Yang Fengpeng nodded repeatedly! He knew martial arts and had originally been a soldier under General Yi. It was only because he was literate and could manage accounts that he had gradually been promoted to Minister of the Three Offices. When it came to martial arts, he naturally trusted Yin Gezhi the most.
Yin Gezhi sighed and nodded in agreement. Ye Yuqing said with satisfaction: “In that case, this Prince won’t inquire about why Your Highness was in this death row prison.”
Fengyue rolled her eyes listening to this. These two were completely shameless, performing such a convincing show of their pre-arranged drama. Weren’t they afraid Yang Fengpeng would jump out of his grave to settle accounts with them once he learned the truth after death?
Yi Guoru had no intention of harming Yang Fengpeng’s family, but he always acted on the principle of better to kill wrongly than let someone escape. It was Yang Fengpeng’s fault for believing otherwise. However, the young master was truly in Yi Guoru’s hands. How to rescue him remained a headache.
After much reassurance, Ye Yuqing and Yin Gezhi left the prison cell together. Fengyue was about to follow when she accidentally bumped into Xu Huaizu beside her.
Suddenly remembering there were still two observers here, Fengyue’s heart jumped, and she quickly looked down to check their expressions.
In their hearts, Yin Gezhi was like a god. Would they be disappointed to discover he was working for the Crown Prince?
However, reality proved that when someone worships another person to the point of complete devotion, they lose all sense of reason. After watching their figures disappear around the corner, Xu Huaizu sighed in admiration: “Master is truly amazing, able to deal with the Crown Prince so smoothly!”
An Shichong nodded: “Unlike us, hiding away in such panic. We still have much to learn from Master.”
Fengyue: “…”
At the prison door, Ye Yuqing smiled at Yin Gezhi: “Your Highness has worked hard and achieved much.”
“You’re too kind. As long as Wu and Wei can maintain peace, this humble one is content and dares not claim credit,” Yin Gezhi bowed.
Nodding with satisfaction, Ye Yuqing said seriously: “As long as this Prince lives, Wu and Wei will remain at peace for that long. Your Highness can rest assured.”