Chapter 14 … Zuo Ning Yan had hung herself in her room, with her body entirely clothed in red.

The third and fourth prince continued having their people watch Lin Si Ze and the first prince attentively while also competing against each other. They both vowed to prove that the other was the one to kill the second prince——naturally, the two of them held suspicions toward Lin Si Ze as well, but it was a widely known fact that Lin Si Ze could be said to be completely powerless within the palace. In addition, the only personal servant by his side was a small palace maid who seemingly looked as weak as a bird. Looking at all this, did it look like he had such capability.

This person who completely lacked any threat, however, was actually a better alternative compared to the other "brothers" who brimmed with threat, so Lin Si Ze"s treatment unceasingly improved.

First, they moved from the cold, remote Bai Fu Palace to De Ze Palace, which originally was the second prince"s residence. The second prince used to be the most spoiled of the princes, so De Ze Palace naturally had the best environment. The attached garden was grander than the one at Bai Fu Palace, and the side halls were also several in number. The indoor aesthetics were a dazzling sight. Although most of the rare precious stones followed the second prince to his resting place, the remaining gems were enough to leave others dumbstruck.

Normally, since the second prince"s corpse was not yet cold, how could Lin Si Ze be allowed to move in? Who knew what the emperor was thinking in the end, however, as in spire of Shu guifei"s opposition, he simply allowed Lin Si Ze to move in. Gu Hong Jian, in regards to this, held only one opinion—happiness.

Since they moved from the cold Bai Fu Palace to the enormous, heated De Ze Palace that glittered with golden light, and because she always followed Lin Si Ze, she immediately ascended to the position of Head Palace Maid. As proper, the best side hall was given to her, and the others were given to the new palace maids and palace eunuchs bestowed by the emperor—who all had to call Gu Hong Jian by the t.i.tle Gu zhangshi.1

Having previously looked upon the world from the lowest rung of society, Gu Hong Jian felt delighted with her higher authority upon suddenly gaining a whole group of little brothers and sisters as her subordinates.

Of course, since the most important standards of living have improved notably, she no longer needed to go to the imperial kitchen and steal food. Every day, someone would deliver food. Gu Hong Jian would meet the servant with a blank face and send them off to Lin Si Ze"s room. Afterward, she would take advantage of the lack of people to sneak into the room to eat first. Furthermore, there was certainly a lavish meal inside, with the dishes being extremely rich. This caused Gu Hong Jian to not be able to stop eating even while she continuously badmouthed the imperial household, who indeed lived too decadent.

Lin Si Ze was extremely busy, to where he did not even return to eat the majority of the time. Gu Hong Jian also never waited for him. Thus, although their relationship still appeared to be the same as always, it had subtly changed a bit.

Part of this change came from Gu Hong Jian"s heart. Since she knew Lin Si Ze held such ardent feelings for Zuo Ning Yan in his heart while she was simply a "friend," her heart had significantly grown colder. She simply didn"t want to be in such a position, but she didn"t know what she should do——should she try her best to defeat Zuo Ning Yan, or should she ignore this, as it was of no concern to her, and let nature take its course?

Honestly speaking, even if she wanted to defeat Zuo Ning Yan, she had no way of doing so. Zuo Ning Yan could not be hacked to pieces like firewood. She was the irreplaceable woman in Lin Si Ze"s heart.

She could probably defeat everyone in De Ze Palace, but she not harm a single hair on Zuo Ning Yan"s head.

Another part of this change came from Lin Si Ze"s immense change in status. Who knew how many eyes were fixated on him; Gu Hong Jian could no longer have the previous, boundaryless casual relationship she had with Lin Si Ze. Although this type of relationship was still possible in private, there were other servants, so they needed to a.s.sume the appearance of a typical master-servant relationship. After all, even those small palace maids and palace eunuchs gifted to Lin Si Ze could have been sent by others to monitor him.

Gu Hong Jian mused, As it turns out, this could be quite wearisome.

She first believed that everything would improve once she killed the second prince. Now, she suddenly realized that everything started becoming wearisome once she killed the second prince.

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No progress had been made on the matter of the second prince. Shu guifei and the emperor were both completely infuriated and even chewed out the princes several times. Although the emperor had actually allowed only the third and fourth princes to head the investigation, he still got angry with all the princes.

At this moment as well, Lin Si Ze took initiative to express his desire to seek out the a.s.sa.s.sin, which somewhat pleasantly surprised the emperor and left the other princes quite astonished.

Gu Hong Jian, after the princes had left the throne room, immediately fought with Lin Si Ze. Subordinates of the third and fourth princes eavesdropped on their dialogue and heard Gu Hong Jian angrily shout, "Your majesty, what are you doing? Why are you personally taking on responsibility for an irrelevant matter?"

Lin Si Ze stated, "I cannot allow Imperial Father to be worried like this; his condition is becoming increasingly severe…"

Gu Hong Jian countered, "Then you should also not do something like this. Pardon me for overstepping my bounds, but it is highly likely that the a.s.sa.s.sin is either the third prince or fourth prince. You rashly waded into murky waters; what will you do if the culprit frames you? You have no authority, no influence. You are not supported by anyone, and the emperor does not favor you either. No one will vouch for you. If you are suspected, there will not be an opportunity to prove yourself innocent like the third and fourth princes were granted; instead, you will be directly convicted. You will be a sacrificial lamb!"

Lin Si Ze said, "Alright, you no longer need to speak. Since I have already received this duty, I will try my hardest to complete it and uncover the a.s.sa.s.sin!"

The subordinates of the third and fourth princes returned to their masters and reported the witnessed scene. The third and fourth princes listened to the reports and clapped their hands, simultaneously making a decision——to send someone to invite the other over.

After the two successfully met together, they both no longer opposed each other with equal harshness as before, mutually becoming very polite rather than being in opposition. The elder brother held fraternal love toward the younger brother, and in reciprocity, the younger brother remained deferential toward the elder brother. Under an auspicious and peaceful ambiance, the two discussed a final plan of action.

Several days have yet to pa.s.s when the fourth prince reported that he had checked his belongings and discovered that apart from the stolen jade medallion, a jade thumb ring had also been stolen. He concluded that the a.s.sa.s.sin wanted to frame him but did not know how to use both stolen articles together to do so; in the end, the a.s.sa.s.sin had only chosen to use the jade medallion.

At present, that jade thumb ring was probably still with the a.s.sa.s.sin, so if searched for, the a.s.sa.s.sin could be determined.

The third prince also expressed that he suddenly felt the dagger, which had been wrapped within the jade medallion, had been too deliberate a find; it was too suspicious.

The emperor"s expression became indiscernible. He agreed, and that evening…

One of the emperor"s personal Imperial bodyguards arrested a black-clothed intruder in Lin Se Ze"s De Ze Palace, a jade ring glittering on the intruder"s hand.

After interrogating the intruder through torture, the black-clothed man confessed that the fourth and third prince had ordered him to plant evidence in De Ze Palace. Fortunately, after searching the next day, they had found the items which the a.s.sa.s.sin planted to shift the blame to Lin Si Ze.

The third prince made a prompt decision and stated that this was the fourth prince"s plan, confessing that he agreed to the plan under duress.

The fourth prince expressed that the third prince had first invited him over to plot and that it was the third prince"s bellyful of evil tricks; he had been incited to execute this scheme.

The emperor was furious and simply became deaf to any explanations. To the side, Shu guifei was already crying and had nearly fainted from this revelation. Nevertheless, she still sobbed about how she had not expected the ones to murder her son to actually be his two brothers. Those two had gone as far as to act jointly to commit such a thing; their hearts must indeed be sinister to do this.

Not only that, the two brothers had gone as far as to, without the slightest hesitation, attempt to shift the blame onto the fifth prince. They were indeed despicable.

Lin Si Ze also appeared extremely shaken. He bowed his head and remained silent as he stood to the side with the first prince in the corner, acting as if he did not exist.

This was an internal imperial family scandal and was not appropriate to be revealed outside, but those two could not be left unpunished. The emperor ordered, at once, for the two to be locked up and all their t.i.tles stripped away. Furthermore, they were to be lashed a hundred times by a large plank. The fourth prince"s body was not very healthy at all; a hundred severe lashes later, and having not received any treatment while locked up, his body failed before several days pa.s.sed. Meanwhile, the second prince clung to life, but his strength was tremendously depleted; otherwise, he would have fought over the t.i.tle of Emperor.

Stars around the moon are few; southward the crows flew.2 Lin Si Ze and Gu Hong Jian sat outside of De Ze Palace, on the stone chairs. Arranged in front of them was a pot of light wine. Lin Si Ze and Gu Hong Jian each drank a small mouthful. Gu Hong Jian set down her wine cup and shifted her gaze to stare blankly at the bright moon.

A long while later, she murmured, "So…we felled the second prince, third prince, and fourth prince?"

Lin Si Ze hummed. "Mn."

Gu Hong Jian continued, "To unexpectedly accomplish something like this…it"s very miraculous."

Lin Si Ze did not respond to this comment.

Gu Hong Jian thought for a moment before musing, "This time, the third prince and the fourth prince had originally been innocent, right? … No, no, if they didn"t scheme to harm you, it wouldn"t have played out like this. They are thus not innocent…"

"Why are you thinking aloud?" Lin Si Ze was rather helpless to some extent. "Do you feel guilty about those three?"

"In the end, I am d.a.m.ned. I want to put this out of mind, but it truly is difficult to do so…" Gu Hong Jian propped her chin up, a dazed look crossing her face. "But, it is undoubtedly done by my hand. Nevermind guilt, it makes others feel extremely unsettled. I don"t feel guilty either, okay? Back then, their att.i.tude toward you—I extremely loathe them. If we had not set this plan into action, in the future, the ones dead would have been us. Therefore, I do not feel guilty at all. I simply…simply feel a bit strange…"

Lin Si Ze suddenly reached out and pinched Gu Hong Jian"s cheek. "I have long told you that this journey is full of thistles and thorns."

Gu Hong Jian patted his hand and mumbled, "That also has flowers to look at."

Lin Si Ze replied, "Mn, inevitably, there will be a day where there are some."

Gu Hong Jian drank a mouthful of wine and thought to herself, No, my flower—is currently right beside me.

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Lin Si Ze continued to act naive and completely bewildered that year. Everything that happened was in accordance to the first prince"s wishes; Lin Si Ze did not dare to have any ideas of his own. In private, however, the emperor occasionally would, in his ill state when Lin Si Ze attended to him, inadvertently inquire as to Lin Si Ze"s political views. At this time, Lin Si Ze no longer hid himself and revealed his true opinions. Ultimately, he looked apprehensively at the emperor——son is ignorant and does not know right from wrong; if I speak wrongly, I ask Imperial Father to not take offense.

The emperor did not respond to this and simply asked for more and more of Lin Si Ze"s commentary in private.

Contrarily, the first prince"s power increasingly grew, and soon, he stopped paying attention to Lin Si Ze in all likelihood, becoming complacent. Although, on the surface, the first prince and Lin Si Ze wielded power together, the first prince had truthfully long become habitual in disregarding Lin Si Ze when making his decisions; sometimes, he did not even consult with the emperor.

Originally, if these actions of his continued, the first prince"s aloofness would already have resulted in his own ruin. However, this was avoided due to his powerful backer.

It was the other person who served alongside Zuo Ning Yan"s father, Zuo Xiang, as a Third Court Elder3—Imperial Tutor Yao.

Imperial Tutor Yao originally, toward the matter of who should be the crown prince, had no clear disposition. After the third and fourth princes successively fell from power, however, his intentions became very clear—he supported the first prince. He, along with a series of civil service officials, were in favor of the first prince.

This was not altogether inexcusable, however; the first prince was the son of the first wife, after all. Despite having an easier time than Lin Si Ze, this obscure prince who had just a very few supporters, the first prince"s supporters, while relatively numerous in comparison, had yet to declare their support for the most part.

Lin Si Ze believed that Imperial Tutor Yao had always been domineering and that he was not very fond of the emperor either. The first prince had already claimed Imperial Tutor Yao"s daughter as his. If the first prince became emperor, the Yao family, as in-laws, would witness their power rising to a whole new level. Imperial Tutor Yao"s son, Yao Tian Ao, was not good at anything. He had once hounded a woman from an ordinary family to death and had also devastated the innocent commoners. No matter how you put it, this type of man had no right to be the granduncle of the country.

The one Lin Si Ze truly wanted to win over…was Zuo Xiang.

Zuo Xiang was an honest and upstanding character. He neither drew others together to form a faction or partic.i.p.ate in faction wars, yet the emperor held immense trust in him. Furthermore, many officials established him as the whetstone pillar in their hearts.4 His decisions, in fact, could influence those undeclared people watching from the sidelines.

Gu Hong Jian outwardly agreed with his words, but in her heart, she determined that he wanted to rope in Zuo Xiang for more than just those reasons—presumably because he could not just let go of Zuo Ning Yan, right? …

But how should he rope in Zuo Xiang; that was the true question.

Days were fleeting. In an instant, Wànshùn Year 41 arrived. The emperor"s health began to deteriorate uncontrollably, but he saw that Zuo Xiang had no partiality toward either remaining princes. At this moment, however, a tremendously shocking matter occurred, affecting everyone. The Imperial Tutor Yao"s youngest son, of the first prince faction—the domineering Yao Tian Ao—unexpectedly wanted to take Zuo Ning Yan as his wife. Reportedly, his bearing had been resolute——if it was not her, he would not take a wife.

To what extent was this resolute bearing? Even if Zuo Xiang refused without the slightest hesitation, Yao Tian Ao would still insist on marrying her, supposedly even noisily proclaiming to go on a hunger strike in order to prove his resolution.

Yao Tian Ao actually was never that bad, contrary to what one might expect, but his behavior was truly disgusting. No one would allow their daughter to marry him.

Zuo Ning Yan and Zuo Xiang continued with their absolute refusal, but after a period of time, Zuo Xiang, for some unknown reason, suddenly agreed to the proposal.

The entire court was shocked. The majority of them pondered and concluded, after overcoming the shock however, that this meant Zuo Xiang decided to—like Imperial Tutor Yao—support the first prince.  

For a moment, the entire court discussed this development spiritedly.

And in regards to who was the most shocked, no one could surpa.s.s Lin Si Ze in this.

Lin Si Ze promptly decided on a venture—bride kidnapping.

Of course, even though this decision was his, the one sent to orchestrate the kidnapping was Gu Hong Jian.

Gu Hong Jian, extremely dumbfounded, asked, "Both families have agreed; why are you inserting in your hand?"

Lin Si Ze shot back, "Do you not know what kind of man Yao Tian Ao is?"

Gu Hong Jian shouted, "So what?! The Zuo family consented!"

"The Zuo family consenting does not at all indicate that Zuo Ning Yan consented. How could she possibly like Yao Tian Ao."

"That, and yet, how?!" Gu Hong Jian disdainfully spat out, "On this earth, how many people can have such good luck to marry the one they like?!"

She actually was referring obliquely to herself, but it was clear that Lin Si Ze did not understand. He frowned and stated, "No matter what, Zuo Ning Yan should not be married off to Yao Tian Ao.

"Then who do you want her to marry——you?!" Gu Hong Jian was becoming increasingly incensed.

Lin Si Ze hesitatingly said, "Not necessarily; in short, she should not be married to Yao Tian Ao. Hong Jian, I have no choice but to depend on you."

Gu Hong Jian bit her lip and admitted, "I know."

However, Gu Hong Jian did not go.

Lin Si Ze was waiting within the palace for Gu Hong Jian to bring news back of a successful bride kidnapping, only to receive news of a different kind——Prior to getting married, Zuo Ning Yan had hung herself in her room, with her body entirely clothed in red.

Author"s Note: Sorry! OJZ The publisher/editor came to talk to me and said that I was too fast =.= This book will be complete when it hits the market…so the update speed is going to slow down.