When Zhu Qiyue heard the four words “stake his very life,” an extremely bad premonition suddenly rose in his heart: “How do you plan to gamble?”
“Do you still remember that envoy from Annan?” Zhu Zhaowei said. “When I learned that Thirteenth Brother had returned, I immediately dispatched secret guards disguised as bandits to intercept that envoy. The court’s envoy returning the visit to Annan is Su Shiyu. I thought keeping this envoy might help restrain her. Who would have imagined this petty Annan envoy would be so good at picking dates—insisting on choosing the eighth day of the seventh month, the very day of Zhu Minda’s grand funeral procession.”
“You mean you plan to strike against her on the eighth day of the seventh month, when Su Shiyu is seeing off the Annan envoy?” Zhu Qiyue asked. After thinking for a moment, he continued, “But this palace is full of spies—how will you evade the secret guards planted by Thirteenth Brother and Liu Yun?”
“Why would I need to plant secret guards? Su Shiyu is the precious treasure of Zhu Nanxian’s heart. When she sees off the Annan envoy, it would already be very magnanimous of our Crown Prince not to dispatch an entire division of personal guards to escort her. No matter how skilled my secret guards are, how could they match the personal guards?” Zhu Zhaowei smiled. “Remember when the Ministry of Finance purchased military supplies at the beginning of the year? I added my own private silver to the funds and bought a batch of saltpeter and sulfur.”
Zhu Qiyue suddenly stood up: “Seventh Brother, have you gone mad?!”
Zhu Zhaowei seemed completely indifferent: “I originally planned to keep this as a contingency—if Zhu Nanxian blocked my route back to Fengyang, I would use this batch of explosives to entertain him. But thinking about it now, rather than entertaining him, I should entertain Su Shiyu. Perhaps I can even kill two birds with one stone and take out Liu Yun as well. Besides, burying explosives in Aocheng is much easier than burying them in the imperial palace.”
“You… plan to use yourself as bait on the eighth day of the seventh month, forcing Thirteenth Brother to choose between killing you or rescuing Su Shiyu?” Zhu Qiyue asked in a daze. “Since you bought this batch of saltpeter together with the Ministry of Finance’s military procurement, aren’t you afraid Shen Qingyue will discover it?”
“He won’t discover it. Those military supplies at the beginning of the year were for the South—not a penny was shorted from the South. The gunpowder was purchased with my private silver, not a copper coin from his Ministry of Finance was spent. I merely borrowed the convenience. Right now Shen Qingyue is frantically busy with the military supplies and expenses for the Northwest. Why would he audit account books that have already been settled?” Zhu Zhaowei continued, “Moreover, this was a path I left for myself when I had nowhere left to retreat. I personally handled many of the arrangements. Even though I wielded power for half a year, even someone with supreme authority like Liu Yun couldn’t possibly know about it.”
Zhu Qiyue said: “No! If you truly want to leave, I’ll help you, but you cannot bury gunpowder in Aocheng. Have you considered that once the Annan envoy dies, relations between Da Sui and Annan will inevitably reach an impasse? Now the realm is in turmoil, border conflicts are frequent, even Chili in the Northwest has begun mobilizing troops. After General Luo’s death in battle, the court both lacks generals and is short of military funds. If we go to war with the South as well, what will happen to Da Sui’s realm? What will happen to the common people?”
“What does that have to do with me?! During my half year in power, aside from not letting you go to the South, haven’t I devoted myself wholeheartedly to this realm and its people? Now this realm is no longer mine—why should I still care? You lecture me so righteously, but have you thought carefully—if Father Emperor or Zhu Minda were in my position today, what would they do? They would also fight for themselves as I’m doing!”
Zhu Qiyue lowered his eyes and said dejectedly: “Thirteenth Brother… may not rush to Aocheng as you wish. You’ll waste all this effort and at most only manage to kill Su Shiyu and that envoy. Why bother?”
“You vastly underestimate what Su Shiyu means to Thirteenth Brother,” Zhu Zhaowei sneered. “What was Zhu Nanxian like back then, and what is he like now? Do you think he fought his way step by step to where he is today for imperial power? Do you think he’s so eager to be this emperor? Every step of his desperate struggle through one trial after another—going to the Northwest, going to his fief, finally returning to become this Crown Prince—which step wasn’t for Xie Xu, this废相’s granddaughter?
“Anyway, it makes no difference to me. Let him and Liu Yun join forces to kill me. After they kill me, at worst we’ll all perish together. I’ll stake my life, and they can use their lifelong deep devotion as my funeral offering. For them it’s actually quite a good deal, isn’t it? After a few years they’ll recover and find another beautiful woman to fancy—after all, there’s no shortage of fragrant grass anywhere in the world.”
Having said this, Zhu Zhaowei seemed to think of something that pleased him greatly and said cheerfully: “Ah, have you forgotten? When the Grand Canal case was successfully concluded, Father Emperor rewarded me by bestowing upon me an imperial python robe that grants immunity from execution. In this palace, aside from Zhu Nanxian having the authority to kill me, only Liu Yun has the courage to kill me. When they both rush to Aocheng, I’ll put on my imperial python robe, mount a horse, and leisurely ride out of the capital.”
The sound of wind moaned low all around—night had already fallen.
Before long, one of Consort Qi’s personal maids came to report: “Seventh Prince, Consort Qi’s bleeding has been stopped, but she is still extremely weak. Imperial Physician An has sent this servant to ask you to come and see her.”
Zhu Zhaowei responded with a sound of acknowledgment. Without paying further attention to Zhu Qiyue, he rose and headed toward the sleeping chamber of Yanhe Palace.
Zhu Qiyue said in surprise: “You’re not avoiding suspicion?”
Zhu Zhaowei laughed: “The two people in this palace who could take my life have already come. Didn’t you block them for me? What do I have to fear?”
Inside the sleeping chamber of Yanhe Palace, the heavy smell of medicine still lingered. Consort Qi’s body was too weak after giving birth, so despite it being late summer, charcoal was burning in the palace.
The moment Zhu Zhaowei stepped into the sleeping chamber, the stuffy warmth made him furrow his brow. When his gaze met Consort Qi’s, he found her looking at him with eyes full of worry and sorrow. Her slender hand reached out from beneath the bedding, extending toward him as she said: “Your Highness, Qi’er did her best. Qi’er didn’t do it on purpose.”
Zhu Zhaowei paused before understanding what she meant.
The child in Consort Qi’s belly had been lost on the day Zhu Nanxian returned to the palace. Thinking Zhu Zhaowei was in danger, she had experienced abdominal pain and bleeding in her panic and ultimately could not preserve the child, who died in her womb.
Later, when someone went to report to Zhu Zhaowei, he only sent back one message: since the child was already lost, another day they could have Imperial Physician An perform the induced labor procedure to remove it.
She had thought he didn’t come to see her because he blamed her for losing the child.
Seeing her hand reaching out from beneath the bedding, Zhu Zhaowei did not step forward to grasp it. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back and said: “If it’s lost, it’s lost. You needn’t take it too much to heart. Besides, Thirteenth Brother already knows about this matter. Even if you had given birth to the child properly, it wouldn’t have survived a day.”
Consort Qi slowly nodded: “His Highness the Crown Prince… is he going to order someone to execute me?”
Zhu Zhaowei said indifferently: “He doesn’t have time for that right now.” Moreover, Zhu Nanxian wanted to keep her for Su Shiyu, so that after the Ministry of Justice thoroughly investigated her, they could close the case of the Imperial Noble Consort’s sudden death and add another charge against him.
The hand extending from the bedding was a bit cold. Consort Qi looked at Zhu Zhaowei and slowly drew her hand back beneath the covers, asking softly: “Earlier, Your Highness had Concubine Yu go to Weiyang Palace to find His Highness the Crown Prince. Has Concubine Yu… returned yet?”
Zhu Zhaowei did not answer this question.
Consort Qi continued: “After the Imperial Noble Consort went mad, she said every day that the child in my belly was an evil spawn. Everyone in the palace avoided me, but only Concubine Yu would come to see me and occasionally tell me jokes. I was just thinking that after I’m gone, I should leave all the valuable things in this palace to her.” She paused, her voice somewhat choked with emotion. “Your Highness, if—if Concubine Yu said something inappropriate and His Highness the Crown Prince wants to confine her, may I go find His Highness the Crown Prince to plead for Concubine Yu? Everyone in the palace says that the current Crown Prince is benevolent and kindhearted—the most compassionate of all.”
Zhu Zhaowei looked at Consort Qi. After a long moment, he said coolly: “Very well. When you’re feeling better, feel free to go ask Zhu Nanxian about it.” He paused, then added, “Rest and recover well. I have important matters to attend to in the coming days and probably won’t come to see you for quite a while.”
Hearing these words, Consort Qi’s eyes filled with panic: “Your Highness is leaving? Are you returning to Fengyang?” Supporting herself on the bed, she actually tried to sit up. “When Your Highness leaves, may Qi’er come see you off?”
Zhu Zhaowei laughed coldly: “You can also go ask that benevolent, kindhearted Crown Prince who consecutively killed four of your palace maids without batting an eye.”
Having said this, he clasped his hands behind his back, turned, and headed out of the sleeping chamber.
Reaching the doorway, he asked a palace maid standing to the side: “Where is Imperial Physician An? Didn’t you say he wanted to see this prince?”
“In response to Your Highness, when this servant went to inform Your Highness earlier, I heard that Vice Minister Su from the Ministry of Justice sent someone to summon Imperial Physician An for questioning. Imperial Physician An rushed off to the Ministry of Justice in great haste.”
Zhu Zhaowei snorted lightly: “Worthless creature.”
When Zhu Qiyue returned to the prince’s residence from the palace, it was already early morning of the next day. As soon as he entered, he saw that in addition to Qi Huan in the main hall, Qi Ling was also there. The two were using bamboo frames to support a large piece of red satin, embroidering something together.
Qi Huan had not expected Zhu Qiyue to return to the prince’s residence at this time. She quickly rose to pay her respects to him, then said with particular embarrassment: “The seventh day is Second Sister Zhao’s betrothal banquet. Ling’er and I wanted to embroider a paired mandarin duck and peony design to give her, but we’ve run out of time. Today Sister Shu also said she would come help. I thought since we were waiting anyway, I’d bring the embroidery work to the main hall. I didn’t expect to inconvenience Your Highness.”
Zhu Qiyue shook his head: “It’s nothing. I haven’t returned to the residence in many days—you needn’t be concerned about me.”
Indeed, because he hadn’t returned to the residence in many days, she wasn’t wearing palace attire today. She had casually dressed in an apricot-colored jacket and skirt, her long hair pinned up with two plain jade hairpins. She actually looked more attractive than her usual meticulous appearance.
Qi Ling also rose and paid her respects to Zhu Qiyue, calling him “Brother-in-law,” then asked: “On the seventh, will brother-in-law attend the Zhao residence’s betrothal banquet together with elder sister?”
Zhu Qiyue knew that on the seventh day of the seventh month was the betrothal banquet for the Zhao residence’s second daughter, Zhao Wan, and Censor Gu from the Imperial Censorate.
Gu Yunjian was serving as Provincial Surveillance Commissioner in Jinan and had returned to the capital this time to report on his work, so the betrothal banquet was also kept understated, with invitations extended only to officials who regularly associated with the Imperial Censorate or the Zhao residence. Who knew that after Zhu Nanxian returned to the capital at the end of the sixth month, the entire capital suddenly transformed? Shen Qingyue, who had originally been demoted to tending horses, was promoted to Minister of Finance. Although Vice Minister Su remained a vice minister, based on His Highness the Crown Prince’s trust in her, not one of the Seven Ministers dared show her disrespect.
It was heard that both Minister Shen and Vice Minister Su would attend this betrothal banquet at the Zhao residence, and Lord Liu of the Imperial Censorate would also attend the feast due to his years of collegiality with Zhao Yan. With the court’s three most esteemed ministers all attending, rumors immediately spread that His Highness the Crown Prince, who had not yet established a consort and was about to inherit the throne, would also attend.
Thus, this originally understated banquet suddenly became the most eagerly anticipated affair in the entire capital.