Hua Zhi’s heart sank a little. She truly had been deceived. She had, in fact, placed considerable reliance on this former head figure, trusting that if things truly went wrong, there would be someone who could hold the situation steady — but now…
“Elder, please focus on recovering. I will handle matters outside. If I find myself uncertain, I will return to seek your counsel.”
“You are doing very well.” Gu Yelin set aside that expression of his — the one that seemed perpetually on the verge of mockery — and managed, for once, a smile of genuine warmth. He had heard her giving orders outside just now: before engaging the enemy, she had known to first stabilize her own side’s footing. Her capacity for offense had yet to be tested, but her ability to hold the line was already commendable.
Hua Zhi smiled back with effort and gave a curtsy, then returned to the room next door.
“Ying Chun, go back once — tell Fourth Aunt to halt all purchases and lock the gates tightly, no one is to enter or leave. Then go to the managers at the storefronts and make this clear to them: if anything changes in the capital, do not worry about the shops or the money. Everyone is to gather immediately at the food hall.”
“Yes.”
Just at that moment, Fu Dong came in carrying food. Hua Zhi fell silent — she had forgotten that the person in charge of the food hall was still here. To have her go over now and take charge of things…
“There’s no need for Sister Ying Chun to make the trip. I’ll go.”
Hua Zhi pressed her lips together. How much courage must this timid little maid have had to summon — a girl who could be frightened to tears by a thunderclap — to speak those words? She wanted to keep her by her side, but if she did, how could she send Ying Chun running back and forth outside with any peace of mind?
What had she done, to have pushed the maids around her to become like this?
Hua Zhi placed a hand on Fu Dong’s shoulder. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, her voice rough. “If the sky falls, your young miss will hold it up.”
“You’re already so tired — let me hold it up for you.” Fu Dong took her young miss’s hand and shook her head gently. “I’ve already become braver. I’m not afraid.”
“…All right.” Hua Zhi turned away. “All of you — go attend to what needs to be done. Watch out for yourselves.”
“Yes.”
It took a long while before Hua Zhi’s composure returned. She ate the food Fu Dong had made for the first time without tasting any of it.
By the time Chen Qing returned, the rain had grown heavier. Even with a rain cover, it had been little use — afraid that the chill on his body might transfer to the First Young Miss, he dared not approach closely, stopping five paces away. “My subordinates made contact with the person inside the Fourth Imperial Prince’s household. He mentioned one thing: before the new year, when the Xu Family sent their New Year’s gifts to the Fourth Imperial Prince’s manor, he happened to overhear the Fourth Imperial Prince and Xu Ting speaking about needing to search farther afield — no older than eight years of age. Because at the time he could not determine how this related to events in the capital, he did not report it. It was only when asked today that he brought it up.”
“Xu Ting is Noble Consort Xu’s brother?”
“Yes.”
Hua Zhi’s mind turned rapidly. “Earlier, we had found that Xu Ting has been frequently leaving the capital these past few months, and each time he returns he enters the palace to bring gifts to Noble Consort Xu — but we were unable to find out what the gifts were. And the Fourth Imperial Prince was heard telling Xu Ting to search farther away — eight years of age must refer to a child. What would he want with a child under eight? Is he training them as assassins? Or sending them into the palace? But what would be the purpose of sending a child into the palace? If Hao Yue’s pregnancy is false — or if they made preparations in case she gave birth to a girl — even then, they should be looking for a newborn, not a child of eight.”
Chen Qing was equally puzzled. “The person had searched the Fourth Imperial Prince’s study and found nothing suspicious. It seems unlikely we’ll be able to uncover any evidence by investigating the Fourth Imperial Prince directly.”
With a mother like Noble Consort Xu, the Fourth Imperial Prince would not be foolish enough to leave letters or anything of the sort lying around for others to use against him — especially not in a matter this serious. She had been looking in the wrong direction from the start.
They still needed to enter the Hall of Ru Yue. They needed to examine the Emperor’s daily records — to see whether the dates could be matched against when Hao Yue became pregnant. Given the Emperor’s condition, prolonged nightly indulgence was simply not possible. That was one avenue of entry. The other was the people inside the Hall of Ru Yue. If someone there could testify to the two of them being involved and provide evidence, neither of them would be able to wriggle free.
But it would be difficult.
To begin with, they could not even get into the palace.
“Has there been any response to the name card you submitted?”
Chen Qing shook his head. He had only returned at this hour precisely because he had waited and waited — and nothing had come.
Whether that card had even reached the Emperor’s presence was itself an unknown. Hua Zhi looked down at her own hands. “Release the information to the court officials. After that, keep a close watch on the Fourth Imperial Prince.”
“Yes.”
Spring thunder rolled and crashed, and the news of Zhaoli remnants hiding within the palace struck the heads of the court officials like a thunderclap. Whatever thunder was rumbling in the sky, they had no attention to spare for it — one by one they stumbled out of their yamen offices and homes, rushing to seek an audience with the Emperor, while the central garrison troops stationed in the capital tensed to full alert, prepared at any moment to rescue the Emperor.
The several imperial princes, naturally, were no exception — every one of them arrived. In no time at all, however, an hour passed and the palace remained completely still.
In the side hall where they awaited the imperial summons, the civil and military officials exchanged glances with one another. The Duke of Anguo and Zhu Bowen shared a look, then walked toward Duke Dingguo, whose expression was grave and serious.
Though both held the rank of duke, the Dingguo family was different from the Lu family — Duke Dingguo was of true imperial bloodline, a man of the highest status and standing. Though he kept out of affairs in ordinary times, he was the Patriarch of the Imperial Clan, responsible for overseeing imperial lineage matters, and even the Emperor had always treated him with deference.
With the situation in the palace so complex, gaining the support of the Imperial Clan Patriarch would be essential before they could act.
Many thoughts turned in the space of an instant. The Duke of Anguo cupped his hands in a salute. “Duke Dingguo, might we have a word in private?”
Duke Dingguo, who had been sitting with his eyes half-closed, opened them fully — and without a word, moved of his own accord toward an unoccupied corner of the room. Clearly, his heart was not as unmoved as it might appear. The Duke of Lu felt a surge of relief inwardly, and quickly followed.
Others watched with poorly concealed attention, their eyes tracking the movement.
The Duke of Anguo lowered his voice. “Duke Dingguo, in your estimation, how much truth is there to this matter?”
Duke Dingguo glanced at him, then asked a different question entirely: “Why has the Shizi not returned?”
“Why would Duke Dingguo assume that I would know the Shizi’s whereabouts?”
“When will he be back?”
The two men faced each other in silence for a while. In the end, it was the Duke of Anguo who spoke first — he was the one who needed something, after all. “I truly do not know when he will return. I only learned from the First Young Miss of the Hua Family that he has gone to Yanzhou — there is a Zhaoli clan silver cache there. I do not know what else Duke Dingguo wishes to know.”
Duke Dingguo closed his eyes and let out a long, quiet breath. So that meant the Shizi might very well still be locked in a life-and-death struggle with the Zhaoli clan at this very moment. The Emperor’s judgment had grown clouded! A man with true ambitions would never have gone so long without marrying — would never have slashed his own face, would never have put on the mask of the Seven Mansions Commander. By convention, once that mask was donned, one was forever a faceless figure. If it were not for the Emperor pressing him so relentlessly, who would ever have known that the Commander of the Seven Mansions was the Shizi himself?
Just as with the previous Commander — he had suspected for decades that he might be his own blood-related younger brother, and yet to this day, it remained unconfirmed.
The Duke of Anguo lowered his gaze and asked nothing further. They had never sought to oppose the Emperor, nor had they ever coveted that position — yet as the Shizi’s maternal grandfather, he could not make peace with what had been done. Before acting as he had, had the Emperor ever considered what would happen if, at a moment like this, the Seven Mansions had no one to lead it, if there were no Shizi to anchor the court? He nearly wished he could risk death and ask to the Emperor’s face: for whose realm was his grandson giving his very heart and soul?
“I understand.” Duke Dingguo gave his sleeves a light, composed shake, walked to the front of the hall, raised the hem of his robe, and knelt. “Your subject, Clan Patriarch Gu Yuancheng, respectfully requests that His Majesty appear before us, so as to ease the anxiety of all the court officials.”
The Duke of Anguo stepped quickly to kneel behind him. “We respectfully request His Majesty’s presence.”
All the officials knelt together as one. “We respectfully request His Majesty’s presence.”
The several imperial princes knelt as well. “We respectfully request that our Imperial Father appear.”