“Grand Tutor.” The Crown Prince knew all too well how soft her heart truly was. He called her name and then stood there helplessly, not knowing what to say.
“I will avenge them.” Hua Zhi lifted her chin. After a moment, she turned back around. “This subject would like to go to the Ling Wang’s residence.”
The Crown Prince moved quickly to stop her. “You must not. Whoever the Grand Tutor wishes to see, or whatever needs to be done — this subject will have it arranged.”
Hua Zhi was well aware of her own condition. Every ounce of strength she had left was being saved for when it might be needed. Better to spend none of it unnecessarily. “Then please ask the Crown Prince to have Xiao Shi and her child brought here. And the Ling Wang as well — please have him brought to the palace. Post additional people in the shadows to follow them, and see whether there is any chance of drawing the Strategist out.”
“This subject understands.”
As it turned out, Hua Zhi had been worrying for nothing. The people outside had vanished as thoroughly as though they had never existed — not a trace could be found anywhere. The Ling Wang and the others were escorted to the palace without obstruction.
Following Hua Zhi’s arrangement, Xiao Shi and her son were confined together in one room. The Ling Wang, however, was trussed up securely with cloth stuffed into his mouth and left under guard outside. Gu Yanxi and Shao Yao had both suffered greatly at his hands — now that she had this opportunity to return the favor, she intended to do so properly.
The Crown Prince was still uneasy. “The Grand Tutor is wounded — this subject should go in with you…”
“Are there not shadow guards posted inside? Do not worry — this subject would not stake her life on a gamble.” Hua Zhi gave a bow, and before the Crown Prince could say another word, pushed open the door. With everyone watching, she turned and pulled it shut behind her.
Xiao Shi was pouring water for her son. When she saw Hua Zhi enter, she let out a cold laugh. “So it is the Grand Tutor. Your name precedes you.”
Hua Zhi found a seat at a distance neither too near nor too far — conserving every shred of energy she had. She watched Xiao Shi finish feeding her son his water before she spoke. “Who would have thought that Madam Xiao had such a picture of maternal warmth about her.”
Xiao Shi settled down beside her son, eyes fixed on this woman who had undone all their plans, giving her not an inch of carelessness. “What mother does not cherish her child? Is that not simply as it should be?”
“Forgive my poor vision — I had not managed to see it before.” Hua Zhi propped her cheek on her hand, her manner unhurried and relaxed. “Little Master is ten this year, is he not? Yet even now his mother is no more than a wife without standing or legitimacy. And he — nothing more than a son born of a concubine, without even the right to compete with Gu Yanxi. A secondary son without a claim.”
Gu Yanze broke into a sharp cough. Hua Zhi lowered her gaze, quietly satisfied. So the young master truly did harbor those ambitions. Good — there was something to work with. She had not come today with any grand stratagem in mind; this was simply a matter of striking at the heart. If she could draw out some useful information, all the better — and if not, rattling the Ling Wang alone would make the effort worthwhile.
“Hua Jingyuan was a hero of his era in his time. For his descendant to stoop to such methods against a mere child — does the Grand Tutor feel no shame before her ancestors?”
“That remark is quite mistaken, Madam Xiao. If my ancestor were still here, his only regret would have been failing to exterminate the Chaoli tribe entirely — which is precisely what has allowed people such as yourselves to slaughter our soldiers and violate our lands!” A chill crept across Hua Zhi’s expression, and she smiled coldly. “Madam Xiao calls him a mere child — yet he is of imperial blood. Half his lineage is Great Qing, and the other half belongs to the Chaoli tribe that is currently invading Great Qing. So I ask you, Madam Xiao — would you prefer to see your son stand with Great Qing and drive a blade through you, his mother, or stand with the Chaoli tribe and drive one through the Ling Wang, his father?”
“On what evidence does the Grand Tutor presume to call me a Chaoli person?”
“I say you are one — that makes you one.” Hua Zhi rose to her feet. “Daughter of the Strategist — is Madam Xiao very proud of that identity? By rights, Madam Xiao is even a princess of the Chaoli tribe. A pity that you are now a prisoner at someone’s mercy. When the grand cause is at stake, that Strategist father of yours most likely has no time to spare for you. If the Chaoli tribe prevails, daughters can be had by the dozen — and who knows, perhaps he might even get a son to carry on the family name.”
Xiao Shi kept a cold face and did not engage.
Hua Zhi paid this no mind and continued adding fuel to the fire. “Madam Xiao was given a promise, I take it? Of course — without something to hold your heart steady, why would you bring your own son into this scheme with you? Only I wonder whether your young master knows that he is already a discarded piece on the board?”
“Accuse all you like — words cost nothing. Grand Tutor, why go through all this trouble? I am standing right here — beat me, kill me, do as you will. Why must you direct your anger at my child? Are you not afraid of tarnishing your own reputation?”
“Reputation is of no use to me. I am nothing more than a woman — I have no need to stand upright and towering above all. Getting what I need is enough.” Hua Zhi spoke without the slightest pretense of shame. “It is precisely because the Shizi is too upright and towering that he would not lay a hand on a woman — and that gave you the opportunity to grow into what you are today. You must feel rather pleased with yourself that he could not act against you. But what can a Ling Wang do, really, when the formidable head of the Seven Lodges Division quietly has him assassinated in the dark? What you rely on is the Shizi’s uprightness — and the young master’s as well.”
Hua Zhi smiled and looked toward Gu Yanze with a warm, easy expression. “You want the position of Shizi very much, don’t you? And Madam Xiao always tells you to wait — that the time isn’t right yet? And this right now — isn’t this precisely the opportunity she has been waiting for? But what she waits for is not for your sake. It is for the Chaoli tribe’s sake, and the sake of ten thousand generations to come.”
Gu Yanze, despite being filled with schemes beyond his years, was still a child, and one who had been showered with affection within the Ling Wang’s household. The calculating he did was aimed at Gu Yanxi. Hearing this now stirred something unsettled in him. He truly had raised this subject with his mother more than once — he wanted to become the rightful heir of the Ling Wang’s household; he did not want to be a son born of a concubine. Yet each time his mother’s response had been exactly as Hua Zhi described — to wait. And when he asked why, she always answered in vague and evasive terms. Thinking back on it now, it did seem suspicious.
But he was not an ordinary child, and even as doubt took root, he let nothing show on his face.
Xiao Shi stepped forward and drew her son close, blocking Hua Zhi’s view of him. “These methods of yours, Grand Tutor, are of the lowest order.”
“Are they?” Hua Zhi gave an unconcerned laugh. “If Great Qing falls, what does your young master think will become of him? So long as a single member of the imperial family survives, Great Qing has not fully fallen — and someone carrying half the blood of that imperial family? Do you truly think the Chaoli tribe would permit him to live? Or is Madam Xiao naive enough to believe that your Strategist father would set aside the grand cause to spare your son? You call my methods the lowest order — I ask you, which word of what I have said is not the truth?”
Gu Yanze felt, with perfect clarity, his mother’s body go rigid for just a moment — the arms holding him tightened their grip. From those small, involuntary tells alone, he knew with certainty: what Hua Zhi had said was the truth. In Great Qing, he could live in splendor, and even if he never succeeded to the Shizi’s position, everything owed to him would still be his. But if what Hua Zhi described was true — that he carried half the blood of the Chaoli tribe — he would not be permitted to live.
He lowered his eyes. In his heart, his course was already decided.
“Yanze, do not let her deceive you. She is saying all of this simply to drive a wedge between us. You are my son — I would harm anyone in the world before I harmed you!”
“I believe you, Mother.” Gu Yanze raised his head. “Since we are being wrongly accused, then so long as Maternal Grandfather appears, the problem is solved — isn’t that right? Mother, where has Maternal Grandfather gone? Why has he not appeared?”
Hua Zhi smiled. “How perceptive, young master. Indeed, Madam Xiao — why has your esteemed father not appeared?”