Lai Luozhi truly deserved his reputation as the greatest sycophant of the Great Zhou. He knew exactly his opponent’s weakness. Shen Du was alone in the world, with only Zhu Yan as his sole concern. Lai Luozhi was threatening Shen Du: if he didn’t comply, Zhu Yan would suffer.
Now that he was in prison, who would protect Zhu Yan?
His thoughts were in chaos, his body feeling as if insects were crawling and gnawing on him. His consciousness scattered and gathered, gathered and scattered. He forced himself to stand up, his bound arms burning with pain. He smiled bitterly, thinking of Zhu Yan, darkness filling Shen Du’s eyes.
“Ah,” a sigh came from the neighboring cell. It was Li Zhong, who had been arrested and tortured, now silently recovering. He had naturally heard everything. “In Lai Luozhi’s eyes, you’re still considered an opponent. For me, I don’t even qualify as one.”
That’s why they sent a deputy to deal with him, while Lai Luozhi himself went after Shen Du.
It was lamentable and tragic that a country’s crown prince had fallen to such a state.
Shen Du was immersed in his thoughts, not making a sound, but Li Zhong sensed it:
“You’re starting to waver. Are you wondering if what Lai Luozhi said is true, that it was the Empress Mother and the Zhou clan who conspired to harm the Shen family?”
Shen Du didn’t answer. Li Zhong’s hands were mangled by the torture devices and he couldn’t lift them. With blood mixing with sweat flowing down, he could only close his eyes. He called out Shen Du’s name:
“Although the Empress Mother and I have many grievances, she’s kept me alive all these years only because she feared people would say she’s against all under heaven. Now that she doesn’t need me anymore, she’s sent me to the Prosecution Office to humiliate me, making it hard for us to have any mother-son bond, let alone speak of martial virtue. But regarding the events of that year, I do know a thing or two, because the Shen family took the blame for me.”
Shen Du was bewildered, not understanding what Li Zhong meant to say.
“She was willing to spare you, not just because of Mo Qian’s kneeling plea.”
Shen Du pricked up his ears.
Li Zhong exhaled: “The Empress Mother intended to spare you, or rather the Shen family. The extermination of the Shen family wasn’t her idea at all.”
This was something he had learned by chance. The Empress had intended to make an example of the Shen family to intimidate those students, but she hadn’t meant to exterminate the entire clan.
But the person who carried out the order was Lai Luozhi. By the time the Empress found out, it was too late. The Shen family incident had become too big to back down from. Later, when Mo Qian knelt to plead, it must have given the Empress a way to save face.
Shen Du didn’t know whose words to believe. The Shen family had already been exterminated. He had entered the game according to the Empress’s wishes and was now in prison. The Crown Prince had also been cast aside by the Empress into the Prosecution Office. He didn’t know how the Empress would arrange things going forward. Everything was moving forward, and he could choose not to seek the truth about the Shen family’s extermination, but what about his Zhu Yan?
—
Zhu Yan met Jing Lin at the Buliangmen’s place. Seeing him unharmed eased her mind a little. Upon inquiry, she found that Jing Lin also didn’t know Shen Du’s thoughts. It seemed Shen Du had truly been schemed against.
Shen Du had been schemed against, but she was unharmed. What were those people planning?
Jing Lin was recovering from his injuries under the protection of Buliangdai Xu Xiangren. Zhu Yan didn’t need to worry about him.
Jing Lin also told Zhu Yan that he was trying to contact the scattered secret guards of the Inner Cabinet. They were the Cabinet’s elite reserve force. They would discuss how to rescue Shen Du when the time came.
Zhu Yan told Jing Lin to recover fully before making any decisions. She was escorted out by Yun Que.
“Don’t worry, Commander Xu won’t stand idly by,” were Yun Que’s parting words. Zhu Yan blinked, and Yun Que had already disappeared into the crowd. The once pampered young lady of a wealthy Jiangnan merchant had now grown into a qualified Buliangmen member. She couldn’t give up either.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yan quickly returned home, spread out some paper, ground some ink, and began analyzing the current situation. It was like looking at flowers in the mist or the moon in the water. But if she could part the layers of clouds, there would surely be a day when the sun would shine through.
Zhu Mojie had come to find Zhu Yan several times, wanting to take her back home. Now that the Shen mansion had been confiscated, there was nothing left inside, only an old steward guarding the empty house. Shen Du had been taken to the Prosecution Office and was unlikely to return. How could they let Zhu Yan suffer such hardships and grievances?
“Let’s divorce. You haven’t had many peaceful days since marrying my brother-in-law. Now that he’s in prison and likely won’t come out, although asking you to divorce now seems disloyal, if we don’t and you get implicated, it’s one thing for us, but what about Father, Mother, and Concubine Mother?”
Zhu Yan’s expression had been indifferent, but upon hearing this, her beautiful eyes suddenly lit up. She picked up the feather duster from the desk and swung it at Zhu Mojie:
“You little rascal, if it weren’t for your brother-in-law, could you have entered the Hongwen Academy? I thought that after entering the top academy in Great Zhou, you would have learned some honor and shame, but who knew you’d only learn to be ungrateful, you bug! How has your brother-in-law wronged you? You want me to divorce?”
Zhu Mojie had spoken rashly out of anxiety. Now feeling the pain from several hits, he cried out in grievance:
“Isn’t it because you refuse to come home and insist on staying here? Father, Mother, and Concubine Mother are all worried about you. If you don’t want to divorce, fine, but you don’t have to stay here.”
Her arms aching from hitting, Zhu Yan threw down the feather duster and took a deep breath. Thinking of her father, mother, and concubine mother, she felt deeply guilty:
“I’m sorry to make you all worry. I’m unfilial.”
Zhu Mojie rubbed the places where he’d been hit and snorted coldly upon hearing this.
“But my husband is in trouble. I’m his wife, I can’t abandon him.”
“No one’s saying you should abandon him. You can take care of things from the Zhu family home too. There are people to take care of you there, isn’t that good?”
Zhu Yan shook her head, her mind made up: “I want to stay here and wait for him to return.”
This sister had always been this stubborn since she was little. There was no way to reason with her.
Zhu Mojie was furious: “A rotten wood cannot be carved.”
He left in a huff.
Zhu Yan smiled wryly. After sitting silently in the empty courtyard for a moment, she went back to her room to change into her official robes, put up her hair, and don her official hat. As she was about to leave, the steward stopped her:
“Madam, it’s a day off today. Where are you going?”
Noticing that the steward’s back was more hunched than before, but his concern for her was genuine, Zhu Yan shook her head and took the petition in her hand:
“I’ll be back soon. Remember to leave the door open for me.”
The steward couldn’t stop her and could only see her off. Standing at the door, he watched her walk away towards the north of the main street of Zhuque. That main street only led to one place. The old steward’s eyes flickered with emotion as he looked up at the door plaque with the words “Shen Mansion” written by Shen Shijie, and couldn’t help but shed tears.
These days, following Shen Du’s instructions, she still went to the Ministry of Justice to report for duty as usual, occasionally collaborating with the Court of Judicial Review on cases. Because she had handled several cases brilliantly after the Buddha Swallowing Sin incident, she was highly regarded in the office. And because of Shen Du’s arrest, everyone looked at her with a mix of sympathy and pity, as if she were a widow.
She didn’t care about these things. She went about her days as she always had, almost mechanically. A few days ago, she went to see Jing Lin and learned that he had contacted the secret guards of the Inner Cabinet but couldn’t get into the Prosecution Office.
It wasn’t that Zhu Yan didn’t listen to Shen Du’s words. She simply couldn’t bear it anymore. She couldn’t sit idly by. She had said she would protect that young man from years ago. She wanted to enter the palace for an audience to cry injustice, just like Jin Cang had done.
No, she wouldn’t disembowel herself. She wanted to wait for Shen Du’s return. She would learn from Mo Qian of the past, and deliver her plea of injustice to the imperial ears.