This Grand Prince seemed to know nothing, yet at the same time appeared to know everything. The questions he posed were ambiguous and difficult to answer.
Were all the members of the Zhou family so overwhelmingly difficult to deal with?
Not receiving Song Chuyi’s response, Zhou Weizhao lowered his eyes to gaze at the bamboo tube on his desk. After a long pause, he finally said, “Or is it that this woman truly has some unspeakable secret? Is that why Sixth Miss is so anxious?”
They had only met twice in total, and during one of those encounters she hadn’t even shown her face. Yet he seemed to understand her thoroughly. This feeling of being controlled and held in someone else’s palm was truly unpleasant. Song Chuyi frowned as she looked at him, stood up, and asked, “It’s quite remarkable that the Grand Prince would press me so aggressively. Since Your Highness suspects I harbor ulterior motives and hidden intentions, why did you act as my accomplice this morning and cover for me? Someone as intelligent as Your Highness should understand the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ shouldn’t you?”
“What if I wanted to meet that cook?” Zhou Weizhao remained unperturbed, observing her with the calm composure of someone watching a kitten bare its claws. “Surely the Prince Consort wouldn’t refuse, would he?”
This man’s ability to read people’s expressions was so formidable—he had noticed early this morning that she had something difficult to speak about and didn’t want Lianyi to be discovered by other members of the Song family. So this morning he had stepped in to protect her, but now he was using it as leverage to threaten her.
However, she had to admit this threat was extremely effective. Song Chuyi sighed softly, glanced at Hong Yu beside her who was so frightened her color had changed, then turned to look at Zhou Weizhao. “What exactly does Your Highness want?”
Zhou Weizhao twisted open the bamboo tube in his hand, and an ink monkey the size of a finger crawled out along his finger, staring with two round eyes as it curiously looked around in all directions.
He placed it on the desk, and it scurried in a flash toward the inkstone, nimbly beginning to grind ink.
“Jingchuan has always been the type who won’t lift a finger without profit—making him suffer a loss is absolutely impossible.” Zhou Weizhao answered irrelevantly, reaching out to tap the ink monkey’s head, then turned to look at Song Chuyi. “Sixth Miss must have some special technique to make him yield, which is why he agreed to search for this person for you overnight. I wonder what kind of deal you two made?”
Just now, the Grand Prince had very clearly pointed out that she didn’t want the Song family to know of Lianyi’s existence. He should also be able to follow the thread and guess that her deal with Ye Jingchuan was purely a private transaction, not involving the Earl of Changning’s estate or the Prince of Zhennan’s manor. She didn’t know why he was still so persistently fixated on knowing the details clearly.
Was this his cautious nature or was he suspicious to this extent?
“Not speaking? Then let me guess, shall I?” Zhou Weizhao picked up a brush from the brush holder and wrote something on paper, while still having the presence of mind to attend to Song Chuyi. “This person fears nothing under heaven, has always considered himself second only to the heavens. The only thing that can hold him in check is the grave mistake he made this time. If I’m not mistaken, you’re teaching him how to escape punishment, aren’t you?”
The conversation had reached this point—continuing to conceal things seemed to offer no benefit. Most critically, Ye Jingchuan’s side was truly somewhat unreliable. Lianyi had nearly been discovered precisely because he handled matters carelessly. Rather than lie and be exposed later, it would be better to admit it openly and frankly.
After weighing the options several times, Song Chuyi finally nodded.
“The fact that he didn’t heed warnings and illegally left the pass is true; the fact that he attracted Tatar raiders who poisoned the common people of Tongzhou is also true. Is Sixth Miss Song naturally too tenderhearted and compassionate, or too coldly ruthless, to help him escape punishment?” Zhou Weizhao looked at her with a calm gaze, as if discussing the weather at the time. “What I want to know is, how can you, a weak woman from an inner chamber, enable him to emerge completely unscathed from such a catastrophic disaster?”
His tone remained consistently calm, but Hong Yu and Qing Tao exchanged glances, each seeing their own pale faces reflected in the other’s eyes.
If he truly wanted to pursue this matter, Zhou Weizhao would have identified her and Ye Jingchuan on the spot; he wouldn’t have waited until now. Song Chuyi understood this very clearly, so even facing these grand and somewhat frightening words from Zhou Weizhao, she maintained her composure.
“It’s true he left the pass, and it’s also true he attracted Tatar raiders. But since the Grand Prince came here to gather with the Prince Consort, you must be very aware there’s another hidden story behind it all, correct?” Song Chuyi stared at his well-defined fingers, keeping her head lowered as she stated word by word, “As for how—since I dared to make such a guarantee, naturally I have my methods.”
Zhou Weizhao’s hand movements paused briefly, then he suddenly abandoned his earlier interrogation. Lifting his head, he revealed a smile that felt like a spring breeze. “Then I wonder if Sixth Miss Song would mind making a deal with me as well? What I can help you with is probably far more than what Jingchuan can offer.”
Song Chuyi’s eyes widened; for a moment she couldn’t quite process this.
Then very quickly she realized the feasibility of this transaction. If she wasn’t mistaken, the Grand Prince also wanted to deal with this mastermind behind the scenes, and had wanted to for a very, very long time.
“The Grand Prince’s status is extraordinarily special; I don’t know what help I could possibly offer.” Song Chuyi quickly added the second half of her sentence. “However, I can help to the best of my ability.”
Indeed, she was a very, very clever young lady. His judgment had been correct.
“Then speak of your thoughts.” He glanced at Song Chuyi. “I’m also very curious to hear what method you have to allow Ye Jingchuan to escape punishment while also dragging that person in.”
“That person” referred to Xingfu, the current Directorate of Ceremonial’s seal-holding Chief Eunuch. His background was complex—in earlier years he had been a senior servant in Prince Duan’s manor, and in recent years he had accepted substantial bribes to handle affairs for Prince Duan.
Such a person who could speak before the Emperor and also wielded great power—if he couldn’t be won over for one’s own use, then he was a natural enemy.
Moreover, this Xingfu had an enormous appetite and burning ambitions.
Such a person was not suitable for making deals with a tiger, so one could only snatch food from the tiger’s jaws.
Song Chuyi had already deeply and carefully considered this problem until it was crystal clear. Now, seeing Zhou Weizhao’s question, she presented her opinion with clear logic. “Zijing Pass doesn’t only have a garrison commander—there’s also a Censorial Supervising Inspector.”
Zhou Weizhao raised his eyebrows, signaling her to continue.
“And this Censorial Inspector happens to be from the same hometown as Xingfu’s nephew and is also his good friend. Usually he shows great filial devotion to Xingfu. I heard that on Xingfu’s birthday, this Inspector knelt down together with Xingfu’s nephew and addressed him as ‘godfather.'” Song Chuyi paused here before adding a mocking smile. “And this Inspector is quite literate and scholarly, very fond of making friends with Tatar people. He specifically drew an album annotating Tongzhou’s defense routes and marking the wealthy households within, then had it printed and distributed at the border pass.”
Zhou Weizhao didn’t move, but the smile at the corners of his lips deepened.
“So throwing this blame onto Xingfu’s head is also a reasonable and logical matter. Ye Jingchuan was merely innocently bewitched by that Inspector’s deception, thus falling into the trap that attracted the Tatar raiders to breach the pass.”