He had vaguely known that Little Eighteen was bullied, but what reached his ears was merely described as children’s squabbles, so he hadn’t paid attention. After all, they were all royal offspring, precious as gold and jade—if anyone had truly been hurt, it would have been impossible for it not to reach his attention.
But he didn’t know that everyone climbed high by stepping on others below. Unfavored consorts and sons were separated from him by countless mountain ranges. With countless people blocking and intercepting every step, even if they cried until the courtyard walls collapsed, it still wouldn’t reach the Great King’s ears.
Shocked by what he’d heard, he unconsciously straightened up and glanced at Murong Yi.
That person hung high on the torture rack, his blood-dripping fingertips appearing even more jade-white, his slender neck drooping powerlessly, covered with a fine sheen of sweat that gleamed like delicate porcelain, increasingly arousing an impulse to destroy such beauty.
Such quality…
For no apparent reason, Prince Da’an actually believed it.
This was family shame. He frowned and changed the subject. “Then how did he kill them?”
“Simple.” Mu Si had an expression of “you don’t understand this, do you? Let this master explain,” which made Prince Da’an feel quite stifled.
“The Second Prince’s matter can’t be blamed on the Eighteenth Prince. He did things our young master didn’t know about. Our young master was unlucky—Consort Baoxiang drugged him and prepared to send him to the Great Qian Crown Princess’s bed. Halfway there, our young master woke up but didn’t want to leave Liaodong to serve that so-called Crown Princess. I heard she’s a puppet—becoming the Crown Princess’s husband, who knows when you’d lose your head along with her. But for a time we didn’t dare return, so we wandered around Great Qian and accidentally encountered the Second Prince, discovered his activities, and accidentally saved the Great King.” Mu Si said dismissively. “The Second Prince’s matter of forging abyssal iron—such a momentous affair that even you, Great King, were kept in the dark. How could we possibly know? If we truly had the ability to know and developed improper ambitions, we should have found ways to claim that thing for ourselves long ago. How could we have allowed the Second Prince to transport it away?”
Prince Da’an remained expressionless.
After Second Brother returned, he had also summoned him and questioned him carefully about his experiences at Haiyou. But Second Brother insisted that he had originally intended to forge the abyssal iron to present to his father king. As for what happened afterward, he said it was caused by being besieged by people sent by Great Qian’s Crown Princess, and only claimed he had stayed in Qingyang Mountain recovering from injuries, never mentioning being forced into marriage.
His gaze had flickered when speaking, clearly holding back more. He had the Embroidered Uniform Guards investigate, but before they could reach Haiyou, Second Brother’s so-called wife-lord from Qingyang Mountain actually came to the palace, causing a great disturbance and bringing shame to the royal family. When he summoned them again, he didn’t call Second Brother—Second Prince Consort Lady Liang reported that Murong Duan had suddenly fallen seriously ill, unable to speak or get out of bed. When he sent people to check, Murong Duan had indeed been crippled.
He suspected Lady Liang had done this. Otherwise, everything had been fine before, but as soon as that dark, fat second wife of Murong Duan appeared, trouble followed? Lady Liang was already a domineering, jealous woman—she was capable of it.
Mu Si glanced at him.
After the Second Prince was taken back, their young master had calculated he might reveal some things. First, he sent people to warn him to keep quiet when he had just returned, threatening that the poison he’d consumed would take effect otherwise. Later, the Embroidered Uniform Guards took advantage of Ah Hei’s trouble-making in Ruzhou to disable Murong Duan, ensuring he could never tell Prince Da’an what had really happened at Haiyou.
It was calculated that disabling him at that time would likely make the Great King suspect Lady Liang.
However, he couldn’t read Prince Da’an’s thoughts from his expression. Walking on a tightrope required preparation. Their young master had rehearsed with them through every possible worst outcome, preparing scripts and performances for every situation. When the time came to use them, they were ready. Though he hoped such occasions would never arise, once they did, he wasn’t afraid.
Their young master had said: “The timid starve while the bold die of overeating. If you’re not afraid of death, you’re less likely to die.”
“But the later events were done by our young master.” Following the script, Mu Si said matter-of-factly, “The Second Prince, having lost his weapon, took his anger out on our young master, believing our young master was behind it. Ridiculous—Great King, you know best that you and Eunuch Chang came of your own accord. Our young master couldn’t possibly command you. But the Second Prince was convinced our prince was causing trouble and wanted to kill him, so our young master set a trap and delivered him to that mountain woman.”
Lies—seven parts truth and three parts falsehood were most believable.
When telling lies, the right to speak had to be completely controlled by oneself to avoid exposure.
So their young master had silenced Murong Duan but didn’t completely deny what he had done. Anything that could show the Second Prince’s stupidity could be mentioned; anything that might involve his power base was concealed.
Prince Da’an remained silent.
In comparison, Second Brother had indeed been quite stupid.
After a long while, he said, “What about Fourth Brother?”
Mu Si widened his eyes. “Our young master, relying on some remaining influence from his late maternal grandfather, became an archery instructor at Yueli Academy. He also somewhat hoped to curry favor with He Zi—if he gained his favor, surely you, Great King, would look upon our young master differently? Who knew he would suddenly encounter the Fourth Prince? The Fourth Prince has always been like a mad dog. Using the academy’s archery competition as an opportunity, he attacked our young master underhanded, using gunpowder bombs that nearly killed him… Later, when he escaped with heavy injuries into the academy’s back mountains and still wanted to perish together with our young master, our young master gave him a kick. That was it.”
Prince Da’an glanced at the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander nodded slightly.
“What about Eleventh?”
“The Eleventh Prince loved gambling. Unable to gamble in Ruzhou, he secretly ran to Haiyou, ran into our young master, and even tried to extort our young master to pay his gambling debts. So our young master killed him.”
Mu Si spoke lightly, as if it were perfectly natural.
That tone made everyone feel momentarily that it was indeed justified.
Prince Da’an still wore that unreadable expression, his tone not sounding like he was inquiring about his sons’ deaths. “What about the Crown Prince? Also a coincidence?”
Mu Si seemed not to hear the danger in that question, speaking openly, “Of course not.”
“Oh?”
“Since we’d already dealt with several, we didn’t mind killing one more.” Mu Si said, “In terms of old grievances, the Crown Prince was one of the main ones who bullied our young master back then. After all, if the eldest had restrained himself a bit, the younger brothers below wouldn’t have dared surpass him in tormenting people. As for new grievances… oh, there weren’t any.”
Everyone: “…”
Silence fell in the prison cell.
Everyone’s feelings were complex, not knowing whether to call this master-servant pair boldly foolish or say they had stumbled onto the right approach.
The old-timers who had followed Prince Da’an for long knew that this Great King had risen through military merit but wasn’t a true warrior. This made his mind deep as an abyss yet fond of straightforwardness. He liked straightforwardness yet didn’t necessarily like using such people, but neither did he necessarily like sons and subordinates with deep scheming minds. This was a very contradictory, maddening personality that made his inclinations hard to fathom.
But Eunuch Chang, who had served him longest, speculated that the qualities the Eighteenth Prince had displayed might have caught the Great King’s eye.
Ruthless enough, mad enough, fearless enough, and decisive enough.
Also patient enough.
Calculating, but not impeccably so.
Capable, but not to a degree that would make the Great King wary and uneasy.
Therefore, he could still put the Great King at ease and be manageable.
So many sons were already dead, and the dead couldn’t be brought back to life. Having finally encountered one formidable enough yet unable to overturn heaven, it might be better to observe further.
Eunuch Chang pulled his sleeves closer, thinking that at Consort Baoxiang’s quarters, he wondered if this year’s silver silk charcoal had been delivered in time.
He’d have to inquire urgently upon returning to the palace.
Only after a long while did Prince Da’an say, “Blind obedience to one’s master and disrespecting superiors deserve death. However, your words also have some merit. In the end, you’re merely an ignorant, loyal servant who doesn’t understand righteousness. Being so, drag him out for thirty lashes and assign him to Naigu Camp for labor. Handle all of Murong Yi’s captured subordinates the same way.”
Mu Si was dragged away. Prince Da’an clapped his hands, and everyone withdrew, leaving only the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander and Eunuch Chang.
He sat in the deep shadows, gazing at his youngest son on the torture rack from afar, and after a long time said, “You’ve taught a fine loyal servant.”
Murong Yi was slightly startled, then let out a derisive laugh, closing his eyes and shaking his head with an expression of “you’re very stupid and I’m too lazy to argue with you.”
Prince Da’an stared at him, thinking: So what if it’s an act?
A well-performed act is also a skill.
“No need to put on that heroic act of wanting to die.” He said, “Do one thing, and I’ll spare you.”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander pulled a dagger from his sleeve and threw it clanging to the ground.
“The Embroidered Uniform Guards just received intelligence that due to the incident with Di Yiwei of Yongping Army, Great Qian’s Crown Princess is inspecting the Yongping border and will soon arrive at Yongping Guard,” Prince Da’an said. “A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… Kill her.”
…