"I am the sovereign, and the one the Empress Dowager calls my maternal uncle is my subject."
He was the supreme ruler; even if there was kinship, the state came first, the sovereign came first, and when it came to the altars of governance, no one was exempt.
Moreover, his surname was Xiao, and the Gu family were merely his maternal relatives.
"What explanation does Mother Empress want from me?" the Emperor's face was cold.
"My nephew cannot die in vain."
The Emperor sneered, "He deserved it. Even without this matter, knowing all the Gu family's misdeeds, I would have executed him all the same."
"Your Majesty!" The Empress Dowager's eyes were red-rimmed.
His Majesty steadied his gaze, trying to keep his tone calm, "Mother Empress, I long ago promised my beloved Minister Shen that in urgent matters of state, he could act first and report later. Now if Mother Empress forces me to kill him, will the whole empire mock me?"
The Empress Dowager's features bore a faint resemblance to the Emperor's, and she was just as intimidating when her face darkened, "Does Your Majesty mean that you absolutely must protect that Minister Shen?"
"My beloved Minister Shen acted on my orders and committed no fault."
The Empress Dowager replied, "Is it truly no fault, or does Your Majesty harbor some personal inclination?"
Mother and son argued indoors. Outside the study, ministers knelt in a line. Lord Gu shouted that if the Emperor did not execute Shen Xiabai, he would smash his head against the golden palace steps today.
After dragging on for days, the matter had finally reached its peak. The Gu family and the Empress Dowager were determined to force the Emperor to give a result.
The Emperor looked at the Empress Dowager, his eyes full of coldness, "In the current court situation, Shen Xiabai absolutely cannot die. If Mother Empress insists on forcing me, do not blame me for holding the entire Gu family accountable as well."
The Empress Dowager froze, "You want to wipe out my Gu family?"
"The stability of the realm is paramount. There is nothing I would not do. The Gu family has committed crimes for years; even if they die, it is no more than they deserve."
In the prison of the Dali Temple (Supreme Court).
Having spent all night in the study, Xiao Yi visited the cell early in the morning. At that time, Shen Xiabai was still taking a nap.
"Lord Shen is quite comfortable, living so freely even in prison."
Shen Xiabai closed his eyes, "I have entirely relied on the blessings of you two princes."
He opened his eyes slightly and frowned, "Do you princes have nothing to do all day that you keep your eyes on me?"
His impatience was almost written on his face.
He felt like an actor forced to perform, without the right to refuse, with anyone coming to toy with him as they pleased.
Xiao Yi dragged over the chair the Crown Prince had sat on the night before, "I am a man, and it’s not convenient to argue with a woman, so I naturally had to come find you for a chat."
Hearing this, the laziness on Shen Xiabai's face slowly faded.
Xiao Yi said, "The Eldest Miss Cui has been quite restless these days."
Shen Xiabai lowered his eyes, saying nothing.
"Doesn't Lord Shen plan to do something about it? Surely you don't intend to stay in here forever?"
Shen Xiabai remained silent. The phrase "what does it have to do with me" lingered on his tongue but never came out.
"Does His Highness Prince An avoid arguing with women because of his principle, or because he fears his wife, the Princess?"
Xiao Yi neither confirmed nor denied it, "I came here for an important matter as well. A few days ago at court, I noticed Prime Minister Cui whispering again with that Top Scholar Zhou…"
"Now that the Cui family only has Eldest Miss Cui left, it seems the Prime Minister Cui is starting up his old schemes."
Shen Xiabai’s eyelids twitched slightly, but his expression remained unchanged.
"Right now, Lord Gu will strike his head dead at the study door if Father doesn't punish you, along with the Empress Dowager. Can you really just sit here?"
Xiao Yi smiled, "You clearly don't know much about love, my Lord. If my brother the Crown Prince and I had been this aloof back then, our wives would probably have called someone else husband by now."
It seemed Xiao Yi wasn't really there to argue. He stood up after speaking, "Go on and sleep, my Lord. When Eldest Miss Cui's wedding comes, I’ll bring you a cup to see if it’s sweet or sour."
"Wait."
Shen Xiabai finally spoke up, "Thank you for sharing this, Your Highness."
Not know much about love?
A bitter and mocking smile curled at the corner of Shen Xiabai's lips.
The daughter of an enemy, knowingly and soberly walking into this trap—if that’s shallow, what counts as deep?
And how far could he really go?
Wasn’t she just a discarded member of the Cui family? And if so, why was she scheming for those who abandoned her?
"Does my Lord have any request for me?"
Shen Xiabai looked at Xiao Yi, "And what are Your Highness’s conditions?"
Xiao Yi chuckled, "My Lord thinks too ill of me. If I must name one condition, I ask that you control your household affairs better in the future, so that—"
He stopped mid-sentence, then changed his mind, "Never mind. Looking at you, it’d be tough to keep order anyway. Most likely you’re a henpecked husband too."
With that, he left.
Shen Xiabai sat on a pile of straw, lost in thought.
Hardly had Prince An left when another soldier arrived. Shen Xiabai didn’t even lift his eyes.
He hadn’t been this busy at his government office; even sitting in prison gave him no peace.
"My Lord Shen, a maidservant delivered some letters and asked me to pass them to you."
Shen Xiabai looked up. A flicker of light seemed to flash across his eyes before turning back into dead stillness.
He walked over, took the letters, returned to his spot, and looked at the familiar signature on them, pressing his lips thin.
Those three characters—Cui Yunchu—matched the handwriting on all the letters he had read again and again these past days.
He held them in his palm for a long time, then opened one.
After reading the handwriting clearly, he narrowed his eyes.
He read every letter word for word, then tore open the next one. Soon, he had read through all the letters, his face dark as thunder.
Sutras?
Heart Calming Mantras?
He looked at the letters in his hand, then back at the pile Prince An had delivered earlier, his expression even gloomier.
On the last page, delicate handwriting penned a line: "The Heart Calming Mantra purifies the soul. May it cleanse your thoughts and wash away the filth."
Lord Shen held the paper, and laughed in sheer exasperation.
With Prince An, she turned into a seductress, all tender and lingering.
With him, it was Amitabha?
He tightened his fingers, slowly crushing the letter into a ball in his hand, "Cui Yunchu, just you wait."
"Yu Feng."
The next thing Cui Yunchu heard was news of Shen Xiabai’s release from prison.
She was stunned for a long time, even thinking she had misheard.
"You mean Grandmother says Lord Shen is out of prison?"
Old Madam Cui nodded, "Yes. Yesterday, things got terrible in the palace. The Gu family came hard with a death pleading, demanding that the Emperor impose the death sentence on that Shen man…"
"What happened next?" Cui Yunchu asked eagerly, "If the Gu family pressed so hard, how did Shen Xiabai manage to get out?"
Old Madam Cui shook her head, "Word has it that son of the Shen family sent a letter to the palace. Not long after the Empress Dowager read it, she agreed to let him go."
"…"
That simple?
"Grandmother, does anyone know what was written in the letter?"
Old Madam Cui shook her head again, "No, but in the end, capital punishment was avoided, though punishment was still necessary. The Empress Dowager still compelled His Majesty to flog him seventy strokes. I suspect he hasn’t even left the Supreme Court yet."
Seventy strokes would be enough to kill a woman, but for a man trained from childhood in martial arts, it wouldn’t be lethal—yet it would still break bones, enough to lay him up in grave pain for at least a month.
Cui Yunchu fell silent.
So, for him, leaving the Court of Judicial Review was so simple, while if it were her, she would have died a hundred times over.
Power and intelligence—truly, there could be no better things in this world.
Then why hadn’t he come out all these days? Was it so pleasant in the prison cell?
Seventy strokes.
Cui Yunchu turned these three words over and over in her mind.
This price—was it sufficient?
“They say Gu Xuan’s corpse suddenly burst into flames on its own, with no fire nearby. Everyone in the capital calls it divine retribution,” said Old Madam Cui. “One reaps what one sows, and even Heaven itself cannot stand idly by.”
Cui Yunchu was astonished once more.
Gu Xuan’s corpse—burned?
In truth, if only someone had examined Gu Xuan’s body…
But he had never raised the matter. From beginning to end, he had simply accepted all of it in silence.
It felt as though a wad of cotton was lodged in her chest, pressing down tightly. A restless, seething energy surged through her body, finding no outlet.
