Chapter 74#

When the Second Prince Emerged, the Hall Fell Silent for a Moment.#

With such reasoning, the two of them could only arrive at one answer.

“That’s right.” Ying Fusheng chuckled softly.

Qi Hanzhou looked at the frail youth in his sickbed. He had just awakened from a long illness, speaking more slowly than usual. This bold and absurd speculation precisely confirmed the various irrationalities in the relationship between the behind the scenes person and the Xu family. Assuming the child swap was a spur-of-the-moment act carried out through the Ning family’s hands, and the deposing of the crown prince was also a move, then the behind the scenes person’s grand scheme was truly executed without anyone noticing.

The Second Prince. His biological mother’s status was low, and her clan had little influence. The only somewhat favorable point was a distant relation to the Xu family. Because of this, after the Second Prince established his residence outside the palace, Grand Secretary Xu arranged for him to serve in the Ministry of Works. He had been depend on on the Xu family from a very early age.

Due to his mediocre performance in court and his frequent cooperation with the Xu family, he had long been a member of the deposed crown prince’s faction.

Even when the Xu family got into trouble, the Emperor blamed him. As a result, the Emperor preferred to support the Third Prince, who had no interest in factional strife, rather than promote the Second Prince to a higher position. Because of his close ties with the Xu family, when the Beishan incident occurred, he was pushed before the Emperor due to the arrows from the Ministry of Works. However, compared to the more prominent First Prince and Third Prince, he was inconspicuous.

There was almost nothing suspicious about the Second Prince, including his maternal clan and his dealings with the Xu family. When the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigated the Xu family, all information regarding the Second Prince was within their scope of review… but they found nothing.

Qi Hanzhou looked at the frail youth in his sickbed, who was holding a hand warmer. But Qi Hanzhou knew that when this speculation was voiced, Ying Fusheng had already made his inference. “When did you notice?”

“Because at the Beishan hunting ground, everyone was drawn in.” Ying Fusheng spoke very slowly. When mentioning this, his half-lowered eyelids lifted slightly. “He didn’t fit.”

“Someone deliberately pushed him out at that time.” Qi Hanzhou hadn’t been at the scene, but he remembered clearly what his personal guard had reported—all the princes were implicated in the hunting ground incident.

Thinking back carefully, the words about the arrows that pushed the Second Prince into the spotlight were intentional. At that time, the Second Prince was no longer in the Ministry of Works; he had been serving in the Ministry of Personnel for quite some time. There was no reason for the arrow issue in the Ministry of Works to be pinned on him… Everyone knew the Ministry of Works had been a big mess before. The Emperor had replaced several key officials. The arrow incident could very well have been a leftover mess from the previous Minister of Works, Zhou Bingjun, and others. Dragging the Second Prince into it seemed like a deliberate move to prevent him from staying out of the affair.

Under such circumstances—with all the princes involved in the hunting ground incident—if the Second Prince had remained uninvolved, he would have been an obvious beneficiary.

It seemed like a mindless, mutual attack among factions. But if this was the behind the scenes person’s intention, then everything was different.

If the court truly fell into chaos, the Emperor wouldn’t pay attention to this Second Prince; instead, he would focus on the other princes who were rising in prominence. The Second Prince appeared to be caught up in it, but he slipped through lightly. The deposed crown prince, the Eighth Prince, and the Xu family were all pawns in the behind the scenes person’s game…

Ying Fusheng sat quietly. When he proposed this conjecture, he knew Qi Hanzhou would understand all the key points. “He used Beishan to set up such a large scheme—to kill me, push the Xu family, plant hidden agents… Father wanted the Xu faction to switch allegiance to the Eighth Prince, but he wanted to completely erode the Xu family’s power during this time. He laid out an almost perfect scheme.”

As he spoke, his gaze flicked to his own hand, his expression indifferent. Fragments of memories from his past life came flooding back. Thinking of how the behind the scenes person had toyed with him, making him a pawn to stir up the court, he looked down at his hand. Thanks to that person, he had been left with this ailing body.

He looked up directly at Qi Hanzhou, his tone somewhat light. “Too bad he miscalculated. For now, I’m not dead yet.”

“What if you had died?” Qi Hanzhou suddenly asked.

Ying Fusheng’s lips curved slightly, but there was no hint of a smile. “Then he would have won.”

Qi Hanzhou saw the unfathomable abyss in his eyes. Even after not seeing him for several days, Ying Fusheng seemed unchanged. His illness didn’t show on him. This man could fall into a deep sleep for days without a sound, and then open his eyes and lay out this earth-shattering conspiracy. It was as if, in his eyes, life and death, victory and defeat, were all calculable strategies—who wins or loses hung by a thread.

Ying Fusheng leaned back against the bedding piled on the sickbed. The amount of bedding showed the careful attention of the palace attendants in Wanchun Hall; every spot that could cause bruising was well covered. His dark hair cascaded down as he tilted his head back to look at the high ceiling of the bedchamber. It seemed to be a comfortable position for him.

When he turned his head, Qi Hanzhou had already been silent for a long time.

He was pondering what Qi Hanzhou was thinking when he suddenly heard a faint rustle. Qi Hanzhou reached out and placed his hand on his forehead. His palm was warm, but his wrist guard was cold. Ying Fusheng shuddered at the sudden proximity. His train of thought broke abruptly, and when he came to, he saw Qi Hanzhou’s face inches away.

It seemed they had never been this close before. His sudden approach dispelled the oppressive medicinal smell in Wanchun Hall, and Ying Fusheng caught the crisp, clean scent from him.

Ying Fusheng suddenly stopped moving.

Qi Hanzhou felt his forehead; it was burning hot.

“Your hand,” Qi Hanzhou said.

Just as Ying Fusheng tried to pull his hand back from under the bedding, Qi Hanzhou turned and grasped it.

Why was this person suddenly being so unreasonable?

The thought flashed through Ying Fusheng’s mind. Seeing Qi Hanzhou feeling for his wrist, he had no choice but to give up struggling. “Chen Xuchun has already examined me.”

“There should be calming incense burning in the hall. You had it swapped out,” Qi Hanzhou said.

Ying Fusheng was momentarily at a loss for words. He couldn’t hide from Qi Hanzhou the fact that Chen Xuchun and Song’an were burning calming incense in his hall, but he couldn’t afford to sleep for too long. With the incense burning, he could sleep for ten hours a day.

“I’ve slept enough,” Ying Fusheng said.

Qi Hanzhou placed three fingers on his wrist to take his pulse. The fingers on his pulse were steady and strong, with calluses from years of sword practice.

Only then did Ying Fusheng suddenly realize.

A few years ago, Qi Hanzhou had still been a youth, but now, after his rebirth, four years had passed in a blink.

This face had gradually become sharp and cold. The murderous aura in his eyes and brows had gradually taken shape. Since returning to the capital to serve as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he still carried the bloody air of the frontier battlefield.

When Qi Hanzhou withdrew his hand, the faint pulse beneath his fingertips had already told him.

A weak pulse, not a sign of longevity.

Qi Hanzhou had known since he first met Ying Fusheng years ago that his health was poor, that he might never enjoy the health of an ordinary person. But over the past few years, as he gradually came to realize this fact, he suddenly wanted to see him live a little longer.

Such a person should not be plagued by chronic illness.

Setting aside the positions of imperial power, with his abilities, he should have been a spirited, ambitious prince.

He had once told him that extreme intelligence invites calamity.

That one sentence seemed to be gradually coming true.

Qi Hanzhou said, “The Embroidered Uniform Guard will investigate the Second Prince. A guess is just a guess without evidence.”

“Your Highness’s fever hasn’t subsided. You need to rest.”

Ying Fusheng looked at him in bewilderment. Qi Hanzhou stopped discussing matters.

It seemed that everything that needed to be said had been said. Ying Fusheng knew that given Qi Hanzhou’s temperament, there was no way he would continue discussing matters tonight. But why had he stopped after just a few sentences?

He noticed Qi Hanzhou’s expression, though. It was an angry expression.

Ying Fusheng thought about what might be wrong. Wasn’t it a good thing that the behind the scenes person might be connected to the Second Prince? Why was he angry?

He racked his brain for an answer but found none. The two fell into silence.

Ying Fusheng had no choice but to close his eyes and go along with him.

But when he opened his eyes again, Qi Hanzhou was still standing by his side.

He leaned against the edge of the bed, not drawing too close.

Qi Hanzhou hadn’t left; it was as if he really intended to wait until he fell asleep.

The hall suddenly fell quiet, so quiet that only the sound of their breathing remained.

Ying Fusheng lay on his side, looking at Qi Hanzhou.

He thought to himself, since when did an Embroidered Uniform Guard stand watch while a prince slept?

Then he thought, yes, it was the same in his past life.

Qi Hanzhou didn’t move either, just let him look. In this life, they had spoken too much about scheming when they met, but the moments when they really settled down and discussed nothing at all were almost nonexistent. Did such moments exist in his past life? Ying Fusheng’s thoughts were muddled. As soon as he quieted down, a dense, piercing pain surged from his forehead. The pain seemed to spread from his forehead to his eye sockets, a sour, swelling sensation that brought him unrelenting fatigue.

He slowly curled up. Qi Hanzhou paused, noticing his abnormality.

Ying Fusheng muttered something indistinctly.

Qi Hanzhou stirred slightly, bending down to listen carefully. “I’ll go get Chen Xuchun.”

“No use,” Ying Fusheng said.

Qi Hanzhou recalled what Chen Xuchun had said: the poison had damaged his mind, and even if he recovered, he might still suffer from headaches.

The pain came like a tidal wave, and Ying Fusheng’s consciousness grew fuzzy. “Qi Hanzhou, your hand.”

Qi Hanzhou reached out to feel his forehead again. The moment he touched it, Ying Fusheng let his weight fall against him. Qi Hanzhou quickly steadied him to keep him from toppling off the bed. Ying Fusheng pressed his forehead into Qi Hanzhou’s palm, as if leaning against something could ease the unbearable pain.

“Just for a moment.”

Qi Hanzhou’s movements paused, half-crouching. The other’s hot, hurried breath fell on the inside of his wrist. Given his current condition, using acupuncture to relieve the pain might worsen it. Chen Xuchun had not used needle therapy.

Gradually, the other’s breathing slowed.

Qi Hanzhou didn’t withdraw his hand. He softened his movements and quietly unfastened his wrist guard.

Trying his best to make him sleep more comfortably.

The night was long. Only when the man was completely asleep did Qi Hanzhou quietly rise.

The court was unsettled, but he hoped Ying Fusheng could get a good night’s rest.

The next day, the Emperor allowed Empress Xu to enter the imperial prison to see the deposed crown prince for the last time.

When Qi Hanzhou arrived at the prison, Empress Xu was already there.

The deposed crown prince, after days of imprisonment and interrogation, was gradually losing his senses. When he saw Empress Xu, he scrambled to the bars, reaching out to grab the hem of her robe. “Mother, save me! They’re framing me! My maternal grandfather’s side told me to do it—no, it was the former dynasty spies who made me do it. They threatened me… I didn’t mean to harm Eighth Brother. I just wanted him to get a little hurt…”

Empress Xu listened for a long time. Finally, she threw a few things in front of him. “And these?”

They were birthday gifts from Consort Ning, hidden in the Eastern Palace by the deposed crown prince.

The deposed crown prince’s face stiffened instantly. He looked at Empress Xu, and his earlier pleas for help turned into incoherent explanations.

“Mother, I was just afraid…” The deposed crown prince had been tortured to the point of being unrecognizable. The Emperor and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had exhausted every means to pry things out of him, but what he knew was limited. He had already confessed everything they could force out. “I was afraid that if you found out about the child swap, you would stop looking after me. You’ve protected me my whole life. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“So you wanted to kill him,” Empress Xu said.

The deposed crown prince froze, then quickly argued, “No, it wasn’t my intention. They were the ones who wanted to kill him. It wasn’t my idea. I told Father everything—those were all their schemes…”

Empress Xu barely managed to hold onto the railing as she looked at the deposed crown prince.

Her heart shattered. Her eyes reddened as she looked at the child she had raised. He knew everything, had repeatedly expressed his malice toward Ying Fusheng. He was afraid that the truth of the child swap would become known to the world, afraid that the position of crown prince would be taken from him. He had even secretly colluded with villains, and her child had almost never returned from Beishan.

As Empress Xu walked out, her steps were unsteady. Qi Hanzhou quickly reached out to steady her. “The prison is heavy with blood. Your Majesty, take care.”

Empress Xu said nothing. Once she steadied herself, she straightened her back and walked out.

Her maids helped her into the carriage that would take her back to the palace. Qi Hanzhou looked back at the ground. The birthday gifts lay shattered everywhere, and the deposed crown prince was wailing, trying to make Empress Xu change her mind. Among the broken gifts were jade pieces for blessings and precious jade ornaments. For the Ning family, these were already the most valuable gifts they could offer.

Qi Hanzhou recalled how he had searched Weiyang Palace years ago and had seen Ying Fusheng’s bedchamber.

Plain and clean… There was almost nothing luxurious in the hall. Some things deliberately displayed were ordinary—things that could be bought for a few copper coins in the streets of the capital—but had been treasured by their former owner.

“Report what happened in the prison to His Majesty,” Qi Hanzhou ordered as he turned.

Ye Xuanjiu understood.

The carriage back to the palace swayed slowly. Empress Xu sat inside, clutching a sachet tightly in her hand.

The sachet was a style from years ago. She had sent people to search through rural temples to find one similar to the one from the palace banquet back then. But the one Ying Fusheng had given her back then—she couldn’t find it.

Things had been connected one after another, each one bringing her nothing but pain.

When Empress Xu went to Huguo Temple to pray, she saw the longevity lamp that Consort Ning had lit years ago. Ignoring the monks’ protests, she opened it on a whim. The lamp lit by Consort Ning bore the same birth date and time, but the note inside wrote another person’s name, placed in Huguo Temple as a sly substitution.

That day, she looked at all the lamps. In the longevity hall of Huguo Temple, before her child turned eleven, there had never been a longevity lamp for him.

Her past life seemed like a joke orchestrated by someone else.

For the Xu family, for her child… in the end, her entire life was toyed with by others.

In Empress Xu’s palm were red marks dug deep by her fingernails. She slowly loosened her hand, and the pain in her eyes turned into overwhelming hatred. She thought of the recent rumors from the prison, the intelligence coming in from the Xu family…

She murmured, “The former dynasty, is it?”

How could the people who harmed her and her child live so freely and contentedly?

…

That night was long. Ying Fusheng didn’t know when Qi Hanzhou had left.

He was in poor health. Sometimes when he fell asleep, it was for a whole day and night.

When he woke up, there were many changes in the court.

Ying Fusheng didn’t like this lack of control.

The matter of the behind the scenes person possibly being connected to the Second Prince was handed over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and then disappeared without a trace. Not only the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but even when Ying Fusheng sent his own people to investigate, they found that this Second Brother of his—from birth to the present, both inside the palace and in the court—had almost no suspicious points, no matter how detailed they looked.

Qi Hanzhou came every few days, but after discussing important matters, he would say no more.

The calming incense was replaced. The palace attendant who had secretly swapped out the incense for Ying Fusheng was sent to the pharmacy by Song’an on some pretext.

After transferring the person, Song’an would still dutifully report to him.

With Qi Hanzhou, who had a nose like a wolf, around, nothing he did escaped Chen Xuchun.

Ying Fusheng’s convalescence lasted longer than he had anticipated. From spring to summer, he never left Wanchun Hall.

The exhaustion from his depleted body was more troublesome than he had expected. When he first woke up, his limbs were weak, and he couldn’t even get out of bed. Later, after the imperial physicians used acupuncture to help him recover, he gradually improved. But if he didn’t rest properly, he would get headaches. If he walked too much, his limbs would ache and feel weak. This situation forced him to convalesce for a long time.

The Emperor’s purge covered almost the entire court. Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go. Grand Secretary Xu’s protégés in the court were more or less implicated. But in the past few years, the court had been too turbulent. Corrupt officials, those involved in the Ministry of Works scandal… Some people the Emperor didn’t touch, but he silently transferred them to other offices.

Perhaps due to the excessive unrest in the court, the behind the scenes person rarely made a move.

With fewer capable people in the court, the Emperor held another imperial examination that year.

Shen Yunfei came first in the military exam, becoming the military zhuangyuan. When he paraded through the streets on horseback, it was the first time Ying Fusheng had left the palace since his illness. Accompanied by Weng Yanqing, he saw Shen Yunfei, who in his past life had been stubborn and disabled, now full of vigor and high spirits. When he asked Weng Yanqing, the latter’s attitude was mild. He had followed Shen Changcun into the Ministry of War and, with Shen Changcun’s tacit approval, held real power.

Just when Ying Fusheng thought Shen Yunfei would follow his father into the Ministry of War for training, he resolutely joined the Imperial Guard.

When Consort Ning died, the palace said it was a sudden illness.

Ying Fusheng knew it was the work of his imperial father. “Sudden illness” was just a pretext to pacify him and the harem consorts.

“The poisoned wine was brought by Her Majesty the Empress,” Song’an said.

On the day Consort Ning was executed with poisoned wine, Empress Xu went herself.

She watched with her own eyes as that madwoman was poisoned to death. She struggled, spewing a stream of vile curses that even the imperial physicians present had to avert their eyes. They had never seen such a venomous woman.

Empress Xu listened calmly, then watched her die in agony.

The Emperor did not depose the empress. The Eighth Prince still needed her. When the Xu family got into trouble, Empress Xu did not go to them. She submitted a portion of the Xu family’s evidence, protecting the Eighth Prince and several court officials. Some of Grand Secretary Xu’s protégés were genuinely good officials who worked for the people. The Emperor needed them temporarily, and Empress Xu understood this. So she sought a way out for them.

Ying Fusheng knew that this way out included him as well.

After that day, Empress Xu requested to go to Huguo Temple to pray for the people.

But she would send palace attendants to deliver blessing sachets every month. Inside the sachets were prayers to dispel illness, hung on the door frame of Wanchun Hall.

After many days of cloudiness and confusion, the deposed crown prince went mad after Empress Xu left. He was dazed and confused. One day, in his stupor, he saw a hundred officials bowing before him. He stood high in a dragon robe, looking down at the crowd. The First Prince, who had opposed him, was now a prisoner. The Sixth Prince was imprisoned in the cold palace for treason, and he had also gone mad.

He was overjoyed. He was the one who would ultimately sit on the throne as the supreme ruler!

Then, in a blink, the goblet that the officials respectfully offered became an ordinary white porcelain cup. The deposed crown prince was jolted from his beautiful dream. In an instant, a eunuch from the palace stood before him. His dream of becoming emperor shattered instantly. “What does this mean?”

Eunuch Rong showed him no courtesy. A cup of poisoned wine was presented to him.

“No! I am the emperor! I am the emperor!” The deposed crown prince struggled desperately to throw off the poisoned wine, but the Embroidered Uniform Guard moved in to restrain him. The wine burned his throat. Even as he drank it, he laughed loudly, talking about his dream of ascending the throne.

In his final moment before death, the beautiful dream shattered, and he fell into terror.

“He woke up from his dream last night and was still shouting in the prison that he was the emperor,” Ye Xuanjiu described the situation. The Emperor was still alive, yet he dared to commit such a grave offense by claiming to be emperor.

Before his death, the deposed crown prince screamed and struggled in the prison. That former crown prince of Dayuan, raised as the heir apparent, was now like a defeated dog in the prison. What trace of the majesty he had shown when he ascended the throne in his past life remained?

Ying Fusheng listened to Ye Xuanjiu speak and drank an extra bowl of congee.

Is that so? How pitiful.

The deposed crown prince was sentenced to death for secretly hoarding military funds, colluding with remnants of the former dynasty, and plotting against his brothers.

Any one of these charges was enough to doom him forever.

The Emperor ordered that he should not be buried in the imperial mausoleum.

Ying Fusheng lay down until autumn, then winter came.

His body struggled through the winter. For the first time, he was forcibly confined to Wanchun Hall: the Empress Dowager wouldn’t allow him to leave, Imperial Physician Chu wouldn’t allow it, Chen Xuchun wouldn’t allow it, and in the end, Qi Hanzhou sent Ye Xuanjiu to stand guard. He could only stay inside Wanchun Hall again.

Once winter arrived, he fell ill intermittently.

It turned out that Chen Xuchun’s decision was correct. Only after winter passed did he truly seem to come back to life.

In the blink of an eye, the new year began. Ying Fusheng turned fifteen.