Situ Sheng said: “His Majesty is a benevolent sovereign who watches over the welfare of the realm and its people. How could he possibly allow his own son to wage war against his own flesh and blood, leaving behind an infamy that would last through the ages? When he first contemplated deposing the national heir, it was not purely personal preference — it was because he had weighed the future stability of the imperial house.”
The Empress Dowager also knew that Situ Sheng spoke with reason. This child, the Crown Prince — he had been the imperial heir for far too long, and his heart had grown impatient.
To pull a stunt like this while His Majesty lay gravely ill was indeed an act of neither loyalty nor filial devotion.
“You have come to me today — what is it you hope this old woman can do?”
Situ Sheng raised his head. “I hope the Empress Dowager will lead the senior ministers to obtain an audience with His Majesty.”
The Empress Dowager shook her head. “His Majesty’s bedchamber is already in the Crown Prince’s men’s grip. Even I cannot get close — how am I to see His Majesty?”
Yet Situ Sheng remained composed and confident. “As long as the Empress Dowager is willing to step forward and openly reprimand the Crown Prince, I will arrange everything else.”
The Empress Dowager had always kept herself clear of court affairs. But this time, if she stood by and did nothing, she would be watching helplessly as His Majesty was persecuted by his own flesh and blood.
Situ Sheng had made it perfectly clear: with the Crown Prince on the throne, more members of the imperial house would die in the days to come. For this old woman with one foot already in the grave, there was truly nothing left to fear.
Thinking of this, she clenched her teeth and at last made up her mind: “Very well — this old woman will stake everything on this one throw!”
Having secured the Empress Dowager’s commitment, Situ Sheng began contacting the senior ministers.
As for how to gain entry to His Majesty’s chamber, he had in truth already made arrangements well in advance.
The Crown Prince was a man of deep suspicion when it came to those around him. For a matter this critical, he would naturally not entrust it to others — everything was handled by his trusted man Chen Fang.
Chen Fang had now been elevated to Commander of the Imperial Guards and held authority over the palace gate tokens.
From the moment he first entered the capital, Situ Sheng had adopted the methods he had learned from Yang Yi back in the northwest, and together with Sui Qiye and his men, had stormed Chen Fang’s private residence.
Chen Fang had previously held no more than the rank of Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and his home in the capital was not particularly large.
Though he had some household guards, they were no match whatsoever for Sui Qiye and his men.
Sui Qiye’s companions included many figures from the world of rivers and lakes — their backgrounds were varied and complex, and when it came to this sort of work, they were practiced and efficient.
First they laced the well water with a sedative drug, knocking the entire household unconscious. Then came the binding and gagging — carried out in complete silence, without a sound.
Once all of this was accomplished, Situ Sheng was free to have a proper conversation with Chen Fang.
After conducting his inspection of the palace and returning to his temporary sleeping quarters, Chen Fang discovered on his bed a letter written by Situ Sheng. The moment he saw what was enclosed with the letter, his face changed completely.
It was a pair of golden bracelets belonging to his children, and a lock of white hair from his own elderly mother.
He immediately dispatched one of his own trusted men to go home and investigate, only to discover that the entire household — save for the unconscious servants — had vanished entirely: his wife, his children, and his eighty-year-old mother.
When Chen Fang arrived at the Empress Dowager’s sleeping quarters, he still harbored some intention of capturing the one who dared threaten him, and then finding a way to rescue his family.
But Situ Sheng greeted him with easy composure, inviting Commander Chen to be seated and drink a cup of tea, and meanwhile taking the opportunity to tell this military officer — who had never been particularly fond of reading — a little history.
He made it clear to him what it meant for the rabbit to die and the hound to be cooked.
Chen Fang laughed coldly at this, asking Situ Sheng what he meant by it.
Situ Sheng smiled. “Commander Chen has served under the Crown Prince for some years now, I imagine. I looked carefully into the matter — you rose from a minor local militiaman all the way to Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and that took you a full ten years. Then you remained fixed in that same position, not moving an inch, for another ten years before receiving even a modest promotion. In terms of career advancement, the Crown Prince has not been particularly generous with you.”
Hearing the attempt to drive a wedge between them, the cold smile never left Chen Fang’s face. “The Crown Prince has treated me with a weight of kindness as heavy as mountains. How could that be measured in official rank?”
But Situ Sheng continued: “You have served at the Crown Prince’s side for a long time. You surely know the man. Back when he was at odds with the Yang Family, in order to scheme against the old General Yang Xun, he joined forces with Prince Tai to suppress General Yang Xun’s military strategy, which led to the defeat at Fushui River. At that time, the trusted operative at the Crown Prince’s side was not you — it was a man named Zheng Yong. Afterward, when the Yang Family was arrested and executed, the Crown Prince’s position advocating for peace with the Kingdom of Jing gained favor. Yet that Zheng Yong fell from his horse and died in the army camp a few years later. And it was only after that, Commander Chen, that your meteoric rise began…”
Chen Fang listened with a shock of alarm, unable to understand how someone as young as Situ Sheng could possibly know of something so old as the matter of Zheng Yong.
Situ Sheng said quietly: “The one who placed the nails under Commander Zheng’s saddle back then — that was you, wasn’t it?”
Chen Fang glared, his composure rattled: “What utter nonsense! When have I ever done such a thing! Situ Sheng, you dare abduct my family — you had better think carefully about the consequences! Release them at once!”
But Situ Sheng had long since gotten to the bottom of Chen Fang’s past and remained perfectly steady. “One set of nails — and it was enough to erase all the accomplishments of a man’s entire career. Simply because the Yang Family’s reputation was too great, and the Crown Prince was unwilling to bear the infamy of framing loyal subjects. The Crown Prince feared someone would investigate, and Zheng Yong, who knew too much, simply could not be allowed to remain. Commander Chen — the charge of seizing power and imprisoning one’s own father is far worse than framing loyal subjects. What confidence do you have that once the Crown Prince’s affairs succeed, you will not be the next Zheng Yong?”
These words struck at the very root of Chen Fang’s deepest fear.
He had served at the Crown Prince’s side for so many years — how could he not know the man?
He had worked himself to the bone for the Crown Prince all these years. The silver he had earned was considerable enough, but his official rank had never risen very high.
It was precisely because the Crown Prince found him useful and did not want him promoted too rapidly, moved too far away, and thus no longer readily at hand.
Once the Crown Prince sat on the throne as the supreme ruler of the land, what further use would there be for someone like himself, who had spent his career doing the Crown Prince’s dirty work…
Situ Sheng’s eyes gleamed as he spoke in a low voice: “A person’s choices are often made in a single breath, yet the outcomes they lead to are vastly different. Commander Chen, right now you have just such an opportunity to transform your fate. As long as you are willing to leave darkness and turn toward the light, I will not only guarantee the safety of your entire family — I will personally petition the Empress Dowager to vouch for Commander Chen’s actions, and you will absolutely be rewarded as a meritorious subject. But if you refuse to comply — then half an hour from now, your entire family will meet their end!”
Chen Fang was a man of base character, yet he was an exceptionally devoted and filial son. Furthermore, his family line was a single thread with no branches — the son he had managed to have after such difficulty was only five years old.
Situ Sheng had cast out enough bait. He simply waited to see when Chen Fang would take it.
He continued at a leisurely pace: “Commander Chen, what is called the glory of rallying to the winning side at the founding of a dynasty — that requires you to be certain that what you are rallying to is truly a dragon. Otherwise, not only will your own end be miserable, but your family will not be spared either.”
……
In the end, after Situ Sheng gave Chen Fang his word time and again that he would allow him to atone for his crimes through meritorious service, and had the Empress Dowager write out an imperial directive guaranteeing his life, the doors of His Majesty’s sealed chamber finally showed a crack.
The Empress Dowager personally led the senior cabinet ministers in forcing their way into His Majesty’s bedchamber and was granted an audience with His Majesty.
Though the old Emperor had suffered a stroke — the corners of his mouth and eyes slightly askew — he was still capable of speech.
In the presence of the Empress Dowager and all the senior ministers, he issued an imperial edict: the Crown Prince was to be deposed, and the Third Imperial Prince was to be installed as the new heir to the throne.
The senior ministers who had been permitted entry were all men of loyalty and integrity. Taking in the cold and desolate scene of His Majesty lying with no one attending him, each and every one of them wept with streaming tears. Even those ministers who had previously objected most strenuously to deposing the Crown Prince could not utter a single word of dissent.
The Crown Prince had been too impatient. Had he been willing to wait with patience, as the rightful eldest imperial son, how could His Majesty simply depose him on a whim?
But now — he had imprisoned His Majesty, surrounded the Third Prince’s residence, and attempted to coerce His Majesty into abdicating. He had crossed every boundary that must not be crossed.
Given all of this, what minister could still bring himself to speak a word in the Crown Prince’s defense?
As for the jade seal and golden seal that the Crown Prince had sent men to tear the palace apart searching for — in truth, from the very beginning of the palace coup, they had already been transported outside the palace walls.
At that time, an old eunuch in His Majesty’s bedchamber had stepped forward, willing to lay down his life to protect the imperial jade seal.
After this eunuch took his own life, Sheng Hai had brought men to conceal the golden seal inside the body cavity of the corpse, then bound and wrapped it with bandages — and finally, together with the bodies of the guards who had been cut down during the palace coup, it was transported out of the palace to a deep pit in an open field to the northwest.
The Crown Prince was frantic and consumed with searching every corner of the palace for the seal — how could he spare attention for those bodies in the deep pit?
His Majesty forced himself to rise. With his own hand he inscribed the imperial edict, then with trembling hands clutched the eunuch Sheng Hai nearby, steadied himself to stand, and beckoned to Situ Sheng with a wave.
When Situ Sheng knelt before the old Emperor, the old Emperor looked at Situ Sheng with a gaze layered with indescribable complexity — as though looking through him at someone else entirely.
Whether it was owing to his illness, no one could say, but the muscles of the old Emperor’s face were trembling ceaselessly, and the eyes nestled within the shadowed and weathered folds of his skin were now veiled in a deep, dusky dimness.
Situ Sheng said to His Majesty: “Please rest and recover at ease, Your Majesty. With the Empress Dowager presiding over the greater situation, and so many loyal senior ministers here to restore order and right the course of affairs, the coup in the capital will be put down within three days.”
Hearing these words, His Majesty’s expression remained darkly unsettled. He only said: “You truly…”
The words broke off halfway — he suddenly began choking on his own saliva, and after coughing several urgent times, managed to say in a slurred and indistinct voice: “Dear Minister Situ… the stability of the Great Jin’s rivers and mountains… depends… depends on you…”
Situ Sheng looked up at His Majesty: “Please rest assured, Your Majesty. Your minister will certainly rescue the Third Prince and bring an end to the palace chaos!”
At this moment, the Crown Prince still had no knowledge of his imperial father issuing the edict from his bedchamber. He was at the Tao Family estate, settling the details of his enthronement ceremony with his maternal grandfather.
Although the jade seal and golden seal had not yet been found, he could wait no longer.
He had been confined to the position of imperial heir for so many years — truly, he could not endure a single moment more. Besides, his father was in his hands — he could use the Emperor as a shield to command all parties. And if it truly came to that, he could always order craftsmen to fashion a new jade seal: a counterfeit impression could certainly be produced convincingly enough to pass.
But when he arrived at the Tao estate, Tao Guo Gong and Tao Haisheng were both absent.
When the Crown Prince inquired, he was told that the Empress Dowager had fallen ill, and had summoned Tao Guo Gong and his son to enter the palace.
Since the palace coup began, the Crown Prince, burdened with guilt, had not gone to see his grandmother.
But even if the Empress Dowager had taken ill, why was she not sending for imperial physicians — why was she summoning the Tao father and son?
A stirring of unease flickered through the Crown Prince’s mind. He turned and left the Tao estate, preparing to enter the palace and see for himself.
But before he had gone halfway, Chen Fang sent an urgent report: His Majesty, in his bedchamber, had been calling out the Third Prince’s name repeatedly. And the Empress Dowager had urgently summoned several ministers, saying she wished them to plead with the Crown Prince on behalf of the Third Prince, asking that he be released.
Hearing this, the Crown Prince felt an acidic bitterness rising from his very teeth. He suddenly felt he had allowed this wretched third brother of his to keep making trouble for far too long.
With that thought, he abruptly called out to the carriage driver to change course — toward the Third Prince’s residence.
This third brother who had appeared out of nowhere was the thorn in his eye, the splinter in his flesh. Only by first disposing of Liu Yi could he set his mind at ease.
But what the Crown Prince had never imagined was that his trusted man Chen Fang had sold him out with absolute thoroughness. The men he had sent ahead to the Third Prince’s residence had just been covertly replaced — and he was none the wiser.
The moment the Crown Prince stepped through the gate, soldiers swarmed him from all sides and pressed him to the ground.
The shock sent the Crown Prince into a furious roar: “I am the Crown Prince of this dynasty — you treacherous dogs dare to lay hands on me!”
But his roar died abruptly when he caught sight of Situ Sheng standing behind the Third Prince.
He truly could not fathom it — Situ Sheng, who should have needed a full half-month to return even after receiving an urgent summons, how could he possibly be standing in the capital at this moment?
But the man’s appearance made the Crown Prince’s head ring and buzz, and he realized that somewhere, something had begun to veer entirely off course.
What the Crown Prince had relied upon was nothing more than his title as imperial heir, leveraging Chen Fang and other trusted men to control the inner palace.
And now he had been lured into a trap and taken down. And the imperial edict bearing the stamped impression of the jade seal and golden seal was read out in turn — further supported by the endorsement of the Empress Dowager and all the senior ministers.
For the crime of rebellious insubordination, the Crown Prince was deposed. The Third Prince was installed as the new imperial heir to assist the gravely ill Emperor in managing state affairs.
Pinned to the ground, his ceremonial crown scattered, his hair falling loose, the Crown Prince stared wide-eyed as he listened to Situ Sheng read the imperial edict. When he reached the final passage, he suddenly broke into a prolonged peal of laughter.
“The rabbit dies and the hound is cooked! Situ Sheng — who do you think you are? You may calculate for ten thousand outcomes, but there is one you will never be able to foresee — your own fate!”
When Chu Linlang heard Guanqi say that Situ Sheng had seized and captured the Crown Prince, she let out a long breath of relief.
With the Crown Prince captured, all remaining matters could be resolved one by one. But when Guanqi reached this point, his expression grew grave, and there was a near-tearful catch in his voice as he said: “I thought the same. But when Lord Situ returned to the palace to report on his mission, he was detained inside and could not come out again. Not only that — even the Lord’s residence was searched and seized under His Majesty’s orders, and even Sui Qiye and the others were arrested. If I had not been at the Third Prince’s residence at the time, delivering a message on the Lord’s behalf, I would surely have been arrested as well. The Third Prince, seeing that something was wrong, sent me out of the city to find you — to inform Madam Chu of the situation and urge you that while things remain unclear, you must not show yourself under any circumstances.”
Chu Linlang listened to this, and with a sharp intake of breath, felt her legs go soft. If Dongxue had not been there to support her, she would nearly have crumpled to the ground.
This posture of entering the palace and never returning — every person who had spent time in officialdom knew it was enough to make one’s blood run cold.
Situ Sheng had clearly rendered meritorious service in suppressing the coup. At a time when His Majesty was in need of capable people, he should naturally be assisting the Third Prince in resolving the crisis.
Yet at this most critical and decisive moment, the Emperor — still lying on his sickbed — had detained Situ Sheng along with all his subordinates and ordered the sealing and searching of his residence. No matter how one looked at it, this was the stance of someone preparing to lay charges against a person.
Chu Linlang’s head rang for a moment, and a single thought flashed through her mind — His Majesty’s ruthless about-face could only have one explanation: he had learned Situ Sheng’s true identity.
From the very moment she had known that the man she loved was someone who could not step into the light, she had been preparing herself for this moment.
And so when the crisis truly arrived, Chu Linlang forced herself to calm down.
She drew a slow, deep breath and asked quietly: “Is the Third Prince’s Consort still in the Prince’s residence?”
But Guanqi shook his head: “The Third Prince’s Consort first returned to the Tao family estate, and then entered the palace along with her mother to accompany the Empress Dowager.”
Chu Linlang gave a nod. She understood the intention behind Tao Yashu’s actions — most likely this had also been part of Situ Sheng’s prior arrangements.
With the political situation still unclear, in order to prevent the Tao Family from being on the wrong side, Tao Yashu had to set aside the old grudges between herself and her mother, and make clear to the Tao Family that she bore no past resentments. By inviting her mother to enter the palace together with her, she was also sending a signal on the Tao Family’s behalf to His Majesty — that they were loyal to the Emperor and would not take sides.
Chu Linlang understood that if she were to appear rashly in the capital, she would most likely share the same fate as Situ Sheng’s subordinates and be apprehended on the spot.
Yet someone had to untangle this desperate situation. Otherwise, with His Majesty gravely ill and the palace coup only just concluded, his suspicions would run deeper than ever.
Situ Sheng had done nothing more than conceal his name and lie low, infiltrating the Emperor’s inner circle and winning his deep favor for all this time — and that alone was enough to make the old Emperor’s killing instinct awaken, wanting him eliminated before any further trouble could arise.