Gu Yanxi settled himself squarely into the chair. “Tell me everything in detail.”
The Sixth Prince gathered his thoughts for a moment and then spoke at length: “It was the birthday of the First Imperial Brother’s eldest son. I had intended only to present a gift and return, but the First Imperial Brother kept me talking the entire time, until everyone else was leaving and he finally let me depart with them. I thought it strange at the time, but could not fathom his purpose. When I came to my senses, I found I was no longer in my own bed. At first, the First Imperial Brother laid out the advantages and disadvantages and said a great deal, but my mother-consort had admonished me while she still lived — I was to stay out of the contest for the throne and keep clear of their affairs. I have not forgotten that, so I declined him as politely as I could. Afterward…”
The Sixth Prince paused and looked down at the white cloth bandaging his exposed arm. “Afterward, he had people use force. He told me that if I would only agree, and write a letter to my maternal grandfather according to his specifications, he would release me, and would do everything in his power to compensate me going forward. I did not know whether he truly intended to have me killed if I refused — but regardless, I could never allow my maternal grandfather to be drawn into this. My mother-consort made me swear to it on her deathbed.”
Sinking toward his knees, the Sixth Prince seemed not to feel the sting of the wound pulling at him. “Yanxi-gege, you would never guess where the First Imperial Brother imprisoned me. He had the audacity to confine me in the palace chambers where he himself had lived before taking up his own residence outside the palace walls — right under our imperial father’s nose. I concealed myself beneath one of the Internal Affairs Bureau’s carriages and slipped out of the palace that way. The guard who posed as me in my place almost certainly did not survive.”
Gu Yanxi could already surmise the rest. Among that row of carriages, in all likelihood only the Hua Family’s was a woman’s conveyance. In such circumstances, a woman might more easily be startled than a man — yet a woman’s instinctive, maternal impulse to protect would also make her more likely to shelter him.
The First Prince’s calculations were not difficult to understand either. First, he let the Sixth Prince return in full public view, then had him removed and concealed in a discreet location. If things truly came to light, there was no shortage of witnesses to testify on his behalf.
And once the Sixth Prince had been broken down and signed the letter, even if he subsequently slipped the First Prince’s grasp and went before the Emperor to lodge a complaint, the Emperor might not believe him. In terms of closeness, a Sixth Prince who had seldom shown his face these past two years could hardly compare to a First Prince who had already been assisting their father with affairs of state and had a mother-consort behind him. And if the Emperor did believe him, it would only be mutually destructive — and the Emperor would not favor a son who so readily betrayed others.
Such a scheme, all things considered, could indeed be called thoroughly deliberated.
Breaking a person before turning him to one’s own use — the approach was old-fashioned, but it had always worked. Setting aside the fact that it was the Fourth Prince who had designed the situation in the first place, the First Prince’s conduct showed a certain streak of the ruthlessness that makes great things possible.
It was a pity he had turned that ruthlessness against his own younger brother.
“Since you made your escape in such circumstances, why did you not go before the Emperor then and there, with your wounds still fresh?”
The Sixth Prince gave a bitter smile. “My mother-consort left me six people in total, and at that point only one remained by my side. I had no confidence I could reach our imperial father. And the First Imperial Brother had distanced himself so thoroughly — I had no evidence to prove it was he who ordered the attack against me. Our imperial father… might not believe me.”
It was not merely that he might not believe — it was that he could not be permitted to believe. An emperor’s paternal affection typically asserted itself in exactly such moments. Gu Yanxi was almost certain that if the matter were truly brought into the open, it would end in each party receiving equal blame, and the Sixth Prince being cast into complete obscurity.
His imperial uncle could look the other way at any amount of scheming done in the shadows, but once a thing was made public, he would absolutely not tolerate it.
“What are your intentions?”
“I have no intentions.” The Sixth Prince’s lips curved faintly, and the coldness native to all children of the imperial family settled in his eyes. “There are those far more anxious than I am.”
“And meanwhile, you would push the Hua Family, who rescued you, into utter ruin?”
“I never thought of it that way.” The Sixth Prince sat upright at once, the coldness in his eyes replaced by urgency. “When the time comes for me to reveal myself, I will do so quietly. I will never drag the Hua Family into it. My mother-consort said that the Hua Family is the most upright and principled of all the great clans of the Great Qing. As long as the Hua Family’s integrity stands, the proud spirit of its scholars and men of letters cannot be broken.”
Outside, Hua Zhi raised her head and looked up at the sky, which was slowly darkening. She had not intended to eavesdrop — only knowing that the person inside was the Sixth Prince, she had no choice but to stand guard at the door herself. Too many mouths bred too many rumors. She trusted her own household, yet some matters were best kept to as few people as possible.
Master Lu was trained in martial arts; he might well already know she was standing outside. And the Sixth Prince’s address of him as Yanxi-gege had revealed that his identity was no ordinary one — a fact Master Lu had clearly made no attempt to conceal from her.
Hua Zhi lowered her gaze. Indeed, he had never tried to keep his identity entirely hidden. She should have guessed long ago that the man who had rescued her on that rainy night was Master Lu himself.
Yet what would it have changed if she had known sooner? Hua Zhi’s lips curved in a self-deprecating arc. Would she have refused his help if she had known who he was from the start? No — she would not. If anything, had she known his identity earlier, she might have made use of him even more thoroughly. The debt was already owed. Whether large or small, a debt repaid is still a debt repaid — there is no such thing as repaying only part of what you owe.
The conversation inside continued.
“Though the First Prince was the one who struck, the one who designed and orchestrated it all was the Fourth Prince. If your people had arrived any later, it would have been the Fourth Prince who ‘rescued’ you, and from that point the matter would no longer have been yours to decide. Whether you wished it or not, after this situation played out, you would have become the Fourth Prince’s man.”
Born into the imperial family, without a mother-consort’s protection — even with powerful maternal relatives, one could not survive without being sharp of mind. The Sixth Prince was clearly no fool. A brief consideration was all he needed to grasp every twist and turn of it. He felt some anger, and some sorrow. “I never had any desire to contend with them.”
“You are a child of the imperial family. From birth, you are all each other’s enemies.”
“So even if I retreat to the very edge of the cliff, as long as I have not yet fallen, they will never leave me be — is that right?”
“Yes.”
The Sixth Prince laughed bitterly. “Then, if only to survive, I have no choice but to fight.”
Gu Yanxi could offer him no comfort. Born into the imperial family, one enjoyed every privilege the world could offer — yet also faced far too many compulsions. Those outside envied such a life and would gladly take another’s place; those within sometimes wished they had been born ordinary, where at least they would not see a father who was no father, a son who was no son, a brother who was no brother — where every face within reach required wariness and guard.
If Consort Zhen were still alive, perhaps she might have been able to protect the Sixth Prince. That perceptive woman had seen through everything early on, and had entered the palace voluntarily as a form of hostage, to ease the Emperor’s suspicions of the Sun Family.
What a pity that the perceptive are so rarely at peace with life. She had grown melancholy and died far too young.
Though that, too, was not an absolute. Gu Yanxi thought — if it had been Hua Zhi, the outcome would surely have been entirely different.
Gu Yanxi glanced toward the door, a flicker of unease crossing his heart. Now that she knew his identity, he wondered whether she would hold against him these days of concealment.