The Empress Dowager’s lips trembled. She looked at Xiao Lan on the ground, unable to speak for a long while.
The Emperor said, “Apart from Lord Gu, no one else in the Gu family will be implicated. This is already the greatest concession I can make to you, Mother.”
The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and gave a slight nod. “Very well, very well. The Emperor is no longer the Emperor he once was. All the contributions I made cannot offset her crimes. Since that is the case, I ask the Emperor to grant me one final request: spare her for ten days and carry out the execution after that. Let me spend some time with her. After all, she only just returned.”
“My daughter and I have been separated for years. We have yet to properly speak with each other.”
The Emperor was silent for a moment. Then he stepped back and bowed to her. “Mother understands the greater picture. I will certainly fulfill your wishes as a loving mother.”
Some of the civil and military officials were dissatisfied, but none dared to speak.
After all, she was the Empress Dowager. Since even the Emperor had agreed, they still had to show her some respect. In any case, Xiao Lan would die sooner or later. Who would be foolish enough to offend both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor at once?
Shen Xiabai’s dark, heavy gaze rested on the Empress Dowager and the Emperor before finally falling on Xiao Lan, then slowly withdrawing.
There was not the slightest trace of warmth in his eyes. He looked at her as though he were gazing at a corpse. No one could see what emotions lay beneath his impassive exterior.
The Empress Dowager looked at Xiao Lan in heartbroken anguish. “It was my fault. I should never have let you come back.”
The capital was a place where disorder was rectified and the law was enforced with severity. Xiao Lan had ruthlessness in abundance but lacked the necessary skill and subtlety. She was simply not suited to remain here.
Anyone who could survive in the imperial court possessed an intricate, calculating mind and an extraordinarily sharp eye. Xiao Lan had clearly come back only to throw her life away.
Xiao Lan clung to the Empress Dowager’s leg, sobbing as though her heart were being torn apart.
Shen Xiabai’s gaze followed Xiao Lan as she was led away. Only after she had disappeared did he calmly and coldly withdraw his eyes.
Prince An said quietly, “Ten days. That’s neither long nor short.”
“She is only a princess, after all,” Shen Xiabai replied. “The time can be made longer or shorter.”
Prince An’s eyelid twitched. He narrowed his eyes at Shen Xiabai’s back. “Lord Shen, aren’t you being a little too arrogant? What are you planning to do?”
Shen Xiabai turned his head and glanced at Prince An with an indifferent expression. “The previous remark came from Princess An. She said it was something Your Highness had taught her.”
Prince An was speechless.
With Shen Xiabai’s intervention, Lord Gu and Xiao Lan were both temporarily kept in the capital and imprisoned in the cells of the Directorate of Punishment.
Before leaving, Lord Gu gave Shen Xiabai a brief glance, then lowered his head and walked out of the hall.
When the court session ended, Shen Xiabai was the first to turn and leave. His pace was neither hurried nor slow, yet he moved considerably faster than the other officials.
The cold wind whipped up his robes. Even his departing figure seemed cold, gloomy, and forbidding.
Prince An and the Crown Prince watched his back for a moment before slowly following.
The Crown Prince said, “What do you think, Imperial Brother? What has Lord Shen gone to do?”
“Why don’t you make a guess, Imperial Brother?” Prince An replied.
“My guess is that he has gone to kill our maternal aunt.”
Prince An stopped abruptly and turned his head toward the Crown Prince’s warm, smiling face. He gave a derisive laugh. “My guess is that he hasn’t.”
The Crown Prince raised a brow. “He went to such lengths to set all this up. Wasn’t it to bring our aunt to her death?”
“It was.” Prince An nodded. “But you and I are opponents, Imperial Brother. Therefore, I must take the opposite view. Since you say yes, I will naturally say no.”
“Oh.” The Crown Prince nodded. “So that’s how it works.”
“Then does that mean you are eager to seize power and usurp the throne, Imperial Brother?”
The two of them stopped at the same time and looked at each other.
The officials walking beside the brothers wished they could make themselves deaf. They hurried away as though wheels had suddenly grown beneath their feet.
After staring at each other for a long while, the Crown Prince suddenly broke into a smile. “I was only joking. Don’t take it to heart, Imperial Brother.”
Prince An smiled faintly. “It wasn’t funny at all.”
“But you smiled.”
What a lunatic!
Prince An quickened his pace, putting distance between himself and the Crown Prince as he headed toward the palace gates.
The Crown Prince watched his retreating figure and said to an official beside him, “What do you think? Where is my Imperial Brother rushing off to?”
“Perhaps he has official business to attend to,” the official replied.
The Crown Prince shot him a sidelong glance. The man immediately lowered his head, clasped his hands, and took a step back.
The Crown Prince said, “How can you not know? He has gone back to keep Princess An and his unborn child company.”
At those words, a faint sadness entered his eyes. If his child with Qingwan were still alive, the baby would be due soon.
He was the Crown Prince. The entire realm would surely celebrate the child’s birth. The baby would have the finest clothes, food, lodging, and transportation, and the most renowned tutor in all of Great Liang would be invited to teach him.
The official beside him was so frightened that he scarcely dared to breathe, his head bowed deeply.
The Crown Prince continued, “I know what my Imperial Brother is thinking now.”
His voice grew cold and sinister as he stared in the direction Prince An had left.
“Thinking… what?” the official asked timidly.
The Crown Prince said, “He is thinking about rebellion. Thinking about how to pull me down from the position of Crown Prince. Thinking about how to ensure that, the moment his child is born, the world will already be at peace. Thinking about how to settle everything as quickly as possible so that she and the child can remain safe. Thinking… about making his son Crown Prince the moment he is born.”
The official dropped to his knees with a thud and began to tremble.
The Crown Prince smiled carelessly and patted him on the shoulder. “There is no need to be afraid. I was once… briefly a father myself. I understand his thoughts.”
A father who loved his child would naturally make far-reaching plans for him. Who would not want their child to be born into a position of honor?
In the past, Cui Yunfeng had been his weakness. Now, with the addition of his unborn child, that weakness had become his fatal vulnerability. He would not continue to waste time.
After leaving the palace, Shen Xiabai went straight to the Directorate of Punishment.
In the damp, gloomy dungeon, Lord Gu wore prison clothes, with iron shackles fastened around his hands and feet. They clattered whenever he moved. He sat on the ground, seemingly lost in thought.
Shen Xiabai stopped outside the cell. The sound of the lock being opened brought Lord Gu slightly back to his senses.
“Thank you, Lord Shen, for saving me today.”
Shen Xiabai entered and stopped in front of Lord Gu. “The exchange we agreed upon was settled long ago. I always keep my word.”
Lord Gu nodded and said nothing more.
Yet Shen Xiabai’s gaze never left him. “The Empress Dowager asked the Emperor to execute Xiao Lan in ten days. What do you think is her intention?”
Lord Gu replied, “Perhaps… it is just as Her Majesty said. She wants to spend time with the princess and fulfill her duty as a mother.”
“Is that so?” Shen Xiabai asked in return, staring unblinkingly at Lord Gu. “Do you truly think that?”
Lord Gu clenched his palm and said, “I have already told Lord Shen everything I agreed to tell you. As for anything else, I know nothing.”
In other words, he had done what he promised. Anything beyond that had nothing to do with him.
Shen Xiabai smiled. He slowly paced across the cell and stopped beside the only window. “But there is one more thing you promised me, Lord Gu.”
Lord Gu’s expression changed slightly. “The late emperor truly did die of illness. No matter what means you use, you cannot change that fact.”
“Was the Emperor present when the late emperor drew his final breath?” Shen Xiabai asked lightly.
He stood facing the light. The pale yellow glow illuminated his figure, yet it brought not the slightest warmth—only endless chill.
Lord Gu collapsed to the ground with a thud, his expression turning extremely grim. “Lord Shen, what exactly are you trying to do?”
“I ask, and you answer. That is all.”
Lord Gu clenched his teeth and remained silent.
Shen Xiabai glanced sideways at him. “Then he was there.”
He came back to himself and stood against the light. “The Empress Dowager has put it off for ten days. What does Lord Gu think she will do to help the princess escape?”
He paced slowly around the cell. “The Empress Dowager dotes on her daughter, the Second Princess, far more than most mothers would.”
Lord Gu’s eyelids twitched violently as he looked up at Shen Xiabai.
“I’ve heard that the Second Princess was the late emperor’s daughter born in his old age. By the time she was born, the late emperor had already been bedridden for many years.”
Lord Gu’s voice trembled. “What exactly are you trying to say, Lord Shen?”
“Is Xiao Lan truly the late emperor’s child? The other day, I looked through the Imperial Medical Bureau’s records. Why do I feel that the dates don’t quite match?”
“Impossible.” Lord Gu’s eyes widened as he retorted, “Shen Xiabai, do you know what you’re saying?”
Shen Xiabai merely smiled, the corners of his lips curling with mockery.
“You… Could it be that you even suspect the Emperor’s bloodline?” Lord Gu asked in horror.
Shen Xiabai shook his head. “Lord Gu, do not put words in my mouth. I haven’t said anything.”
Lord Gu forced himself to calm down, but the look he gave Shen Xiabai grew increasingly strange and fearful.
If an ordinary person learned that the late emperor’s death had something to do with the Emperor, they would have been scared out of their wits. Shen Xiabai’s reaction, however, was truly thought-provoking.
Lord Gu said, “Could it be that you… intend to rebel?”
Shen Xiabai looked down at him from above. “Lord Gu is mistaken again. I’ve already said that I merely have something I want, and I had no choice but to do this.”
If everyone had happily granted A Chu and him a marriage, none of this would have happened.
Lord Gu asked, “If Lord Shen does not fall from power, am I to remain here for the rest of my life?”
“What does Lord Gu think?”
