He had calculated well, but Gu Chaobei had also witnessed the iron cannon’s capabilities—truly able to match ten men alone. They would need to devise some countermeasures.
“We shall depart in two days, the Empress and I,” the Emperor said. “Send word to General Gu to hasten to the border with all speed.”
“Your subject obeys the decree,” Prime Minister Gu replied with clasped hands.
Shen Guiyan gently added, “In this consort’s absence, should the Shen family commit any transgressions, this consort requests that the Prime Minister follow the law and let the Empress Dowager decide their punishment according to legal provisions.”
Prime Minister Gu smiled, “Having Your Majesty at his side is His Majesty’s good fortune. This old minister shall certainly comply.”
Gu Chaobei glanced at Shen Guiyan and sighed, “Such an excellent Empress, yet destined for the Cold Palace.”
Slightly startled, Prime Minister Gu looked at the Emperor in confusion, though Shen Guiyan showed no surprise at all. She raised her sleeve in a gesture of sorrow, “The Emperor’s favor is like wine at the gutter’s edge—this consort can only accept her fate.”
With departure from the capital in just two days, they had to ensure the Shen family would behave themselves beforehand.
Shen Guiyan had no desire to kill people in the streets—she wasn’t bloodthirsty by nature. The reason she had dealt so harshly with the Shen family servants was because she had suddenly understood the Emperor’s purpose in taking her to the battlefield.
If she remained in the capital, she would inevitably help manage state affairs. This would only make the Shen family more arrogant and impossible to suppress. By taking her along, the Shen family would lose their backing and naturally restrain themselves. Since this was the Emperor’s thinking, she decided to go a step further—humiliate the Shen family, allow the Emperor to use this as pretext to send her to the Cold Palace, then quietly leave the capital with him.
This way, the Shen family would have even less leverage.
She could clearly see the Wen family’s fate and knew that greed inevitably led to destruction. Since the Shen family refused to retreat, she could only help them retreat.
After all, they were still family.
The silk cords on the partition screen in Yonghe Palace had reached one hundred. When she asked the Emperor for blank edicts bearing the imperial seal, she was actually trying to leave the Shen family a way out. But even if she explained this to her father, he wouldn’t understand.
Sighing, Shen Guiyan shook her head helplessly. As a member of the Shen family, she had done everything she could.
Prime Minister Gu left Yonghe Palace full of doubts. The Emperor took Shen Guiyan’s hand, finally bringing her back to her senses.
“Where are we going?”
“To see how the Imperial Prince is doing,” Gu Chaobei said. “This trip is to take him to seek medical treatment, isn’t it? I’ve heard he hasn’t come to pay his respects to you in quite some time.”
Come to think of it, that was true. The First Prince was the typical case of forgetting his mother once he had a bride. Though the girl was still so young she could hardly be called a bride, the meaning was the same—Ming Sigu hadn’t paid his respects to her in nearly ten days.
Following the Emperor to the Imperial Prince’s palace, just as they stepped into the courtyard, they saw a wooden wheelchair in the yard. The stern-faced young prince sat in the wheelchair, pointing imperiously, “Over there.”
Little Nuo’er, covered in dirt for some reason, was crawling around in the grass.
“Useless. You have legs, don’t you? Can’t even catch a cricket,” the First Prince snorted coldly.
Nuo’er’s body trembled slightly. She immediately lunged forward, cupped her hands together, and stood up jumping for joy despite being covered in mud, “Caught it! Caught it!”
What kind of performance was this? Shen Guiyan and Gu Chaobei exchanged glances. Without disturbing them, they hid to the side and watched.
Nuo’er happily brought the cricket to the First Prince to claim credit, but his face showed little joy. He snorted coldly, “Now that you’ve caught it, release it and catch it again.”
Nuo’er’s little face fell as she whimpered, “You’re too good at tormenting people.”
“I am an Imperial Prince, you are a palace maid. You must obey whatever this prince commands, or you’ll lose your life.” Though young, he showed no hesitation in threatening people.
Shen Guiyan found this strange and muttered, “Doesn’t he want Nuo’er to play with him every day? Why bully her like this?”
Gu Chaobei chuckled softly, his eyes full of amusement, “You don’t understand this? The Imperial Prince has a peculiar temperament. He picks on this little girl to bully, which clearly means he enjoys playing with her.”
Nuo’er had caught the cricket with such difficulty, only to release it and catch it again—how was that enjoying playing with her? Clearly he enjoyed toying with her! From a girl’s perspective, Shen Guiyan couldn’t understand at all. Yet the Emperor beside her wore a deeply meaningful expression.
“First Prince,” Baoshan entered first and announced, “His Majesty and Her Majesty have arrived.”
His little face stiffened. Ming Sigu pressed his lips together and looked toward the entrance, all his displeasure written across his face.
Children hadn’t learned to hide their feelings yet—when they didn’t like something, they didn’t like it. After learning last time that his most trusted Aunt Baoshan and his mother had deceived him for so long about Nuo’er’s existence, hearing they had arrived made him pout.
Nuo’er brushed the mud from her body. Seeing the Emperor and Empress enter, she knelt down very properly, “This servant pays respects to His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress.”
Seeing the First Prince’s reaction, Shen Guiyan felt somewhat hurt. She was just about to lower her head and tell Nuo’er to rise when the Emperor beside her barked sharply, “Kneel properly.”
His voice was exceptionally severe. The First Prince’s brow immediately furrowed, while Nuo’er on the ground trembled like a leaf.
Shen Guiyan tugged at Gu Chaobei’s sleeve, but he didn’t look at her. Instead he looked at the First Prince and said, “You won’t pay respects to your mother?”
The First Prince furrowed his brow tightly, looked up at the Emperor and said, “What right do you have to treat my people like this the moment you arrive?”
Well now, daring to challenge his own father the Emperor! Gu Chaobei snorted with laughter, looking at the trembling little maid on the ground, “What is she to you?”
“Someone from my palace,” the First Prince declared domineeringly. If only his voice weren’t so childishly sweet, it would have been even better.
Gu Chaobei was even more domineering. He swept Shen Guiyan into his arms and said firmly, “This is someone dear to my heart. You dare wound your mother’s feelings, so why shouldn’t I deal with your people? Don’t forget—the realm belongs to me, and everyone’s life is in my hands.”
The First Prince’s eyes reddened with anger. He tried to struggle but found he couldn’t even stand up.
Shen Guiyan’s heart ached. She pinched Gu Chaobei’s waist, “Why are you being so fierce to the child?”
Gu Chaobei sucked in a sharp breath and said through gritted teeth, “I’m disciplining the child. If you always spoil him like this, he’ll become utterly lawless in the future.”
What kind of discipline was this? Shen Guiyan wanted to cry. The Imperial Prince’s gaze toward her had only grown colder!
“I’ll ask you once more—not coming to pay respects to your mother for so long, is this right or wrong?” Gu Chaobei endured the pain at his waist and asked sternly.
The child’s body was full of rebellion. Asked this way, the First Prince immediately turned his head away, “What business is it of yours?”
Gu Chaobei was truly angry. If not for the child’s leg condition, he would have grabbed him and given him a beating already.
“Zhuiyun,” the Emperor commanded, “Take this little maid to Yonghe Palace!”
“Yes!” Zhuiyun stepped forward, roughly scooped up Nuo’er, and left. Panic flashed in the First Prince’s eyes, but more than that was anger, “Using a palace maid as a hostage to threaten people—Father Emperor, what an achievement for an emperor. Kill or torture her as you please. She’s just a little maid—I don’t care at all.”
He even turned his little head to the side to demonstrate he truly didn’t care.
Having been protected and loved by Shen Guiyan since childhood, he had never bowed his head to anyone and naturally refused to admit fault. Gu Chaobei looked at him and snorted softly, then put his arm around his Yan’er’s waist and turned to leave.
“You…” Shen Guiyan looked at the Emperor unhappily, “You provoked him, and he’ll blame it all on me.”
“Parents give the gift of life and the grace of nurturing, yet he remembers none of it. When his temper flares, no one can stop him. This temperament will make him a tyrant in the future.” Gu Chaobei gently coaxed Shen Guiyan, “Yan’er, don’t be angry. We just need to straighten out the Imperial Prince’s temperament.”
How could they straighten it out? What if the child never admitted his mistake? She still wanted to go see him, yet they had left just like that.
Shen Guiyan remained dejected the entire way. When they reached Yonghe Palace, Nuo’er was already kneeling to one side.
“You may rise. Don’t be afraid,” Shen Guiyan said gently. “This consort won’t punish you.”
Nuo’er nodded and stood up, then obediently climbed onto a stool, scooted to the table’s edge, and poured Shen Guiyan a cup of tea.
Such a small child already knew how to serve others. Shen Guiyan looked at her in some surprise and couldn’t help asking, “Did you learn all the palace rules from the nannies at Yetin Palace?”
Nuo’er nodded, “In answer to Your Majesty, Nuo’er only recently entered the palace. After learning the rules from the nannies for a few days, I was sent to the First Prince’s side. Before that, Mother taught Nuo’er everything.”
By mother, she naturally meant Gui Lan at Jinxiu’s side. Shen Guiyan’s expression softened somewhat as she looked at her, “Does the First Prince often torment you like this?”
Nuo’er smiled impishly, “It’s not really tormenting. The First Prince always sits alone—it’s too lonely for him. So he enjoys watching this servant jump around.”
Children’s understanding was so pure! Shen Guiyan smiled, and watching Nuo’er’s lively manner, she somewhat understood why the First Prince wanted to keep her by his side.
This time they absolutely must go and cure the Imperial Prince’s legs, so in the future he could also bounce and jump around with Nuo’er.
However, with the Imperial Prince sulking like this, if he never relented, how would they take him out of the palace?
As it turned out, her worry was unnecessary. She had been thinking that when it came time to leave, they would simply carry the First Prince onto the carriage, but before even one full day had passed, that evening the First Prince appeared at Yonghe Palace’s entrance.
“Why have you locked Nuo’er up here?” The First Prince looked furious.
Didn’t he say it didn’t matter and he didn’t care? Why had he come running over? Shen Guiyan was surprised and quickly had the Emperor go out to deal with him.
The Emperor looked at him askance and asked, “What business is it of yours that I’ve locked Nuo’er here?”
The petty and vengeful Gu Chaobei returned his son’s childish words to him verbatim.
Ming Sigu looked up at the Emperor. After fuming for a long while, he finally calmed down and muttered quietly, “I was wrong.”
“Hmm? What?” Gu Chaobei looked up at the sky, “I can’t hear you.”
“Your son knows his error!” The First Prince shouted loudly and said indignantly, “Not coming to pay respects to Mother was this son’s fault. This son already knew that—there was no need for Father Emperor to force me to admit it.”