No path ahead, pursuers behind. Yuwen Changqing cursed this unlucky day, but then saw the bamboo basket placed in the corner of the wall suddenly move.
“Who’s there?” Yuwen Changqing frowned.
The basket was pushed out, revealing a dog hole beneath the corner of the wall. Shen Guiyan’s voice came from the other side. “General, quickly come over!”
Yuwen Changqing’s expression stiffened. He was a great general—how could he crawl through a dog hole? But the people behind were still searching for him throughout the alley. If he was any slower, he would be caught by that large wave of people. At that time, even if he had eight hands, he couldn’t win.
Gritting his teeth, Yuwen Changqing closed his eyes and crawled through the dog hole. Shen Guiyan had already tied the basket with straw rope. When Yuwen Changqing crawled through, she pulled the rope and used the basket to block the dog hole again.
His head and body were covered in dust. Yuwen Changqing had never been in such a sorry state before. Standing beside Shen Guiyan and feeling somewhat embarrassed, she spoke up. “This place is not suitable to linger. We should leave first.”
“Thank you, Young Madam.” Yuwen Changqing patted the dust from his hair and smiled reluctantly.
Shen Guiyan thought to herself that he was lucky today. She just happened to walk to this area, and further ahead was Shen Manor. The whole route was familiar to her, which was why she knew the dead end here had a dog hole.
The two walked out of the alley and hired a carriage. Yuwen Changqing said, “This humble one will send Young Madam back to the residence first. Today truly caused trouble for you.”
“Alright.” Shen Guiyan didn’t decline. She got into the carriage. After both were seated properly, she remembered to ask, “Why was the General being pursued and assassinated?”
Yuwen Changqing smiled bitterly. “This humble one has never offended anyone, so naturally I don’t know why I’m being pursued and assassinated. Today in broad daylight, there were still violent criminals committing crimes in the street. When I return, I will definitely have people investigate clearly.”
Shen Guiyan nodded and didn’t ask further. This place was some distance from Gu Fu. She didn’t know if those sedan bearers had returned first.
The sedan bearers naturally ran faster than anyone else. When they returned, they reported the news, saying that Young Madam had encountered assassins pursuing someone in the street and her whereabouts were unknown.
Gu Chaobei was drinking tea in Jiang Shi’s room. Hearing this, he spat out a mouthful of tea. Without another word, he went to the street to find her.
The commotion on East Main Street had dispersed long ago. When he asked people, no one had seen where Shen Guiyan had run to. Only then did Gu Chaobei truly become anxious. The yamen had already sent people out to search with him, so he rode his horse, searching street by street.
Zhuiyun followed his master out and, looking at his expression, felt somewhat alarmed.
It seemed he’d never seen his master so earnestly anxious before. Such a carefree person—when he became anxious, it was actually quite frightening.
On this end, Yuwen Changqing straightened his clothes but asked Shen Guiyan somewhat curiously, “Does Young Madam know that His Majesty is now critically ill and the Crown Prince is about to ascend the throne? What are your thoughts?”
Shen Guiyan glanced at him, feeling that Yuwen Changqing was mostly crazy. Such matters of state, yet he was asking the opinion of a woman of the inner chambers.
But thinking that he wasn’t someone who would report her, she had nothing to hide and only said, “Before the Crown Prince obtained the position of Crown Prince, he concealed his talents and bided his time, seeming capable of great achievements. But now that the situation is in his grasp, he’s become lax and arrogant instead. In Guiyan’s personal opinion, if the Crown Prince ascends the throne, it will likely be a mediocre reign with no great achievements.”
Yuwen Changqing gasped. She actually dared to say it—Gu Chaobei was one of the Crown Prince’s people too.
Seeing his shocked expression, Shen Guiyan smiled slightly. “If the General wishes to relay this little woman’s words to others, this little woman will say that the lord fabricated them and doesn’t remember saying such things at all.”
In any case, it was just the two of them now. What couldn’t be said? Yuwen Changqing looked like someone not very proper. Chatting idly actually made him admire her instead.
Yuwen Changqing truly admired her—not because she dared to speak, but because a mere woman had actually spoken correctly. Half the forces under the Crown Prince were established by Gu Chaobei for him. The secret guards and imperial guards were even more so Gu Chaobei’s people. Ming Xun himself wasn’t very clever and was rather stubborn and self-opinionated.
Look at this—at the first sign of ascending the throne, he began to distance himself from Gu Chaobei over a broken snow lotus. Wasn’t this creating trouble for nothing? He secretly favored the Crown Prince, true, but that was also due to Gu Chaobei’s achievements from long ago.
Ever since learning Gu Chaobei’s greatest secret, Yuwen Changqing had begun to feign illness. He needed to digest it and even more needed to consider it.
He held military power and was deeply trusted by the Empress. To anyone, he was a chess piece that determined life and death. So now, should he help Gu Chaobei? Or continue helping the Crown Prince?
Originally, either side would do, but raising his eyes to look at Shen Guiyan before him, the scales in his heart ultimately couldn’t help tilting slightly.
Shen Guiyan knew nothing of this, only thinking that the person sitting across from her who kept observing her was curious and wanted to study her. She didn’t pay much attention and just waited to quickly return to Gu Fu.
“If Young Madam encountered a very difficult choice, what would you generally do?” Seeing they were almost at Gu Fu, Yuwen Changqing couldn’t help asking.
Shen Guiyan raised her eyebrows. “It’s easy to do. Imagine choosing one of them—what would the consequences be? Then see if, when facing those consequences, I would think ‘I should have chosen the other one instead.’ If I would think that, then choose the other one early. If I wouldn’t think that, then choose the one I imagined.”
Yuwen Changqing nodded. This was a good idea.
“Thank you for saving my life today, Young Madam.”
Arriving at the entrance of Gu Fu, Yuwen Changqing got down and very solemnly bowed to Shen Guiyan. “I will certainly repay you in the future.”
She’d only pointed out a dog hole for him—this was too polite. Shen Guiyan smiled and waved her hand, turning to enter Gu Fu.
Yuwen Changqing stood at the entrance without leaving, quietly watching Shen Guiyan’s retreating figure. That gaze was extremely similar to how, long ago, he’d sat on horseback outside Shen Manor, looking at the moon.
Making this decision, in the future there might truly never be any possibility again. Feeling inexplicably sad in his heart, Yuwen Changqing couldn’t help pounding his chest.
Having never obtained it, what was there to feel disappointed about?
Gu Chaobei was breathing heavily. When he rode his horse back, he saw that Shen Guiyan had already entered Gu Fu, while Yuwen Changqing still stood in the same spot with a reluctant expression.
Why would the two of them be together? Gu Chaobei frowned and dismounted, just in time to meet Yuwen Changqing turning around.
“The matter you mentioned—I’ve considered it.” Yuwen Changqing looked at him and said, “Just now, your esteemed wife’s words also enlightened me. Rather than having a mediocre reign, it’s better to vigorously undertake a great endeavor. In the future, we might even leave our names in history.”
He spoke lightly, his face still bearing a smile. Gu Chaobei pressed his lips together and only nodded. “Then let’s proceed according to plan.”
He’d been persuading Yuwen Changqing for more than just a day or two, never receiving a definite answer. But now he’d taken the initiative to come and tell him he’d thought it through.
What had Yan’er said to him?
Learning she was safe, he felt relieved, but entering the residence, he felt somewhat angry. He finally understood Yan’er’s feelings from last time. Such a dangerous place—why did she go there?
Feeling stifled with anger in his heart, sweat still flowing on his head. He glanced at the main room, but Gu Chaobei didn’t go in. He turned and went to Jiang Shi’s place instead.
He wasn’t trying to have a quarrel with anyone—truly, he had other important matters to attend to.
The people who pursued and assassinated Yuwen Changqing in the street were quickly investigated. They turned out to be new soldiers from the South Barracks mixed with some local ruffians. Yuwen Changqing directly entered the palace to see the Empress and reported this matter. The Empress was furious, demanded an explanation from the South Barracks, and without even interrogating those new soldiers, had them all executed.
The Crown Prince was furious. The South Barracks were his forces. The Empress didn’t even ask before killing his people. If he just swallowed this anger, would he still have any face left?
He’d long been at odds with the Empress. It was Gu Chaobei who had been advising him to be patient. Now with his ascension imminent, Ming Xun felt he had nothing left to endure. He simply directly brought the soldiers of the South Barracks into the palace.
The conflicts between the Crown Prince and the Empress over so many years—this was the first time there was a moment of armed confrontation.
However, Ming Xun was too impulsive, and around him were people with shallow insight who only thought about recovering face. The Emperor wasn’t even dead yet, and the people of the South Barracks dared to bring weapons into the imperial palace.
The Emperor was furious. Even from his sickbed, he rebuked the Crown Prince for being senseless, directly transferring the power to assist in governing the state to the Prime Minister, and ordered the Crown Prince to reflect behind closed doors.
The court was in an uproar. No one expected the Crown Prince to make such a mistake at this juncture. The Crown Prince was even more indignant, not expecting that even near death, the Emperor still helped the Empress.
This really couldn’t be blamed on the Emperor. Originally, it was he who made the mistake, and in such broad daylight too. Originally, the Empress’s fault of arbitrarily executing soldiers could have been pursued, but now what needed to be pursued was the Crown Prince’s responsibility for storming the palace.
The Crown Prince’s faction immediately became dispirited. The Empress and the Nian family, for some unknown reason, suddenly formed an alliance. The forces in the court split into two, with a faint sense that war was about to ignite.
Ming Xun sat in his study in a mess, with Han Lu massaging his shoulders. She blatantly looked at the secret letter in his hands and said in a low voice, “Now that His Majesty has taken back your power to assist in governing, if the Empress’s side creates more trouble, wouldn’t things become very bad? In any case, you’re the only imperial prince now and moreover the Crown Prince. Rather than this, wouldn’t it be better to send His Majesty to heaven earlier so you can grasp full power sooner?”
“How could I not know this?” The Crown Prince sighed. “The poison in Father Emperor’s body is Yellow Spring Powder. In small amounts, the imperial physicians can’t detect it, but it will also slowly let him die cleanly. If I increase the amount and the imperial physicians discover it, won’t I be finished?”
Poisoning the Emperor was his idea, and the poison was obtained with great difficulty. He couldn’t wait to sit in that position. Father Emperor was too useless, only knowing how to look at the Empress’s expression. As long as he ascended the throne, he would definitely pull down the Empress’s faction.
Han Lu smiled. “So what if they discover it? When the Emperor dies, only you can succeed him. There have been many emperors throughout history who killed their fathers and brothers. Didn’t they all go on to create prosperous eras?”
There seemed to be some logic in that. Ming Xun thought about it and said, “You go out and instruct the servants for me to invite General Lian and the important ministers of the Six Ministries to the Crown Prince’s residence for a discussion.”
“Yes.” Han Lu smiled and lowered her head, lifting her skirt as she went out.
It had been several days without seeing Gu Chaobei. Shen Guiyan wanted to ask Baoshan, but was afraid of appearing petty, so she brought a stool and sat in the courtyard, waiting for Gu Chaobei to return.
