Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 223 The Struggle Begins

Midnight, inside Princess Ping Le's residence.

The candlelight flickered red, and the wisps of sandalwood incense drifted past the lattice doors.

Ping Le stepped barefoot on Gu Jie's chest, her moon-white bodice half-pulled down to her arms...

The dim candlelight cast the intertwined shadows of the two figures onto the embroidered gold screen, making them appear distorted like eerie ghosts.

"Princess……"

Gu Jie's Adam's apple bobbed, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping down his chin and soaking his clothes.

"You have poisoned me..."

“Good things should naturally be shared with Lord Gu.” Ping Le pulled the mourning clothes over himself, his eyes bloodshot as if he had wept blood. His long fingernails scratched across his taut collarbone and dug into his shoulder blades. He pressed his body closer and spoke with an icy breath.

"I can't stand your pretentious scholarly airs. What's with all the high-mindedness? Kneel down properly and fawn over me..."

You scholars...

This is just fake high-mindedness...

Is it referring to Gu Jie, or Lu You'an? The former imperial son-in-law who bore the infamy, resolutely went to the Western Frontier, and is still fighting a bloody battle amidst the smoke of war?

A night breeze swept through the hall, and the flickering candle on the table seemed to hold red tears. The wind, carrying a decadent air, drifted into the silk gauze curtains.

Her disheveled black hair fell to the side of the bed, the rustling of her clothes against the floor accompanied by rapid breathing...

Seeing that he had lost his composure, Ping Le suddenly burst into maniacal laughter, got up, grabbed the gold-inlaid jade wine pot on the table, and poured the burning, bone-corroding liquor into Gu Jie's mouth.

"Didn't you used to love using this fine wine from Jiangnan to win Xue Yueying's favor... Now that you've climbed up to me, why pretend to be a chaste and virtuous husband!"

Gu Jie coughed violently, wine dripping down his chin, looking utterly disheveled...

He was the one who humiliated Ping Le.

It was as if she was using him to vent her anger and relieve the complex, unspoken feelings she had for Lu Youan.

"Your Highness..." Gu Jie trembled violently, his body shaking like a leaf, as he swallowed the alcohol mixed with drugs, and a broken plea escaped his throat.

"Give me a way out..."

Ping Le lifted her foot and ran it over his wrist, then bent down to pick up the fallen wine cup.

"I heard that the King of Wei got drunk the other day and boasted about how you raised his illegitimate child..."

Seeing his unfocused gaze, Ping Le curled her lips into a cold smile, reached out and grabbed his disheveled hair, forcing him to look up and meet her gaze.

"Look at you! You used to think you were so high and mighty, but now you're being trampled on and don't even dare to utter a sound. What a coward... Gu Wulang, are you going to spend your whole life swallowing your pride?"

Gu Jie lay on the soft, scarlet brocade blanket, his forehead resting against Ping Le's white toes.

The sweet, warm scent mixed with strong liquor and sweat made him feel dizzy and disoriented.

"How should a princess command her ministers?"

The person on the tatami lazily propped themselves up and placed their bare feet on his shoulders.

"Lord Gu, you're doing this green turtle thing willingly, but don't you want to seek justice?"

Gu Jie's Adam's apple bobbed. "Your subject is foolish and dull..."

Ping Le leaned close to his ear and sneered, "I heard that Xue Liu is seriously ill in prison. If Prince Wei were to visit her now and show her some 'pity,' what do you think His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness Prince Duan would do..."

The last syllable turned into a series of sinister, cold laughs.

"In that case, haven't you gotten your revenge?"

Gu Jie's pupils suddenly contracted—

Last time, the Prince of Wei made outrageous remarks in the Prince of Duan's mansion and was ridiculed by Xue Sui and beaten by Li Zhao. He had been harboring resentment for a long time. What could he possibly do by inducing him to go to the prison to vent his anger on Xue Sui?
Ping Le's plan is to use Li Yan to destroy Xue Sui, then divert the trouble eastward, stirring up trouble and diverting Li Zhao and Li Huan's attention, thus extricating himself from the quagmire of right and wrong...

"The King of Wei is not a three-year-old child; how could he be so easily fooled?"

"A smart person shouldn't say stupid things."

Ping Le suddenly let go of her hand and slowly and deliberately straightened the mourning clothes, her voice soft and deliberate.

"Don't you have a silver-tongued wife? The Prince of Wei is arrogant and sentimental, and he can't resist a woman's tears. As long as Xue Si goes to him and complains about Xue Liu's faults... the rest is up to me..."

Gu Jie remained silent.

Ping Le scoffed, "What, you can't bear to part with it?"

Gu Jie lowered his eyes to avoid her gaze. "Xue Liu is meticulous and never gives anyone an opening. Even if she were truly humiliated by the Prince of Wei, she would not yield and it wouldn't change the case of Qinghui Palace..."

Upon hearing the name Qinghui Palace, Ping Le's eyes suddenly turned cold.

"What are you afraid of? I have a net ready to trap her."

Gu Jie was startled and instinctively shrank back.

"A net of heaven and earth, Princess, you mean..."

"A joint trial by the three judicial authorities." Ping Le smiled casually, her tone ruthless. "The bargaining chips in my hands are enough to influence which way the doors of the three judicial authorities open."

Gu Jie was covered in cold sweat.

Many of the noblewomen and ladies in the Women's Society who were close to Ping Le were the wives of officials from the Three Departments.

Xie Weilan, Xiao Qing'er, and others all come from families of high-ranking officials, not to mention Ping Le is backed by the Xiao family of the Prime Minister's mansion...

Layer upon layer, intricately interwoven, it had long since formed an impenetrable net. "That old scoundrel Lu wants to help Li Fuyin, to seek justice for Xue Liu..." Ping Le sneered, "I'll make the world see just how miserable her end will be..."

Gu Jie felt a chill run through his body.

At this moment, he believed Xue Liu's words without question...

Princess Ping Le is suspicious by nature and ruthless. Once she succeeds, the next person she will kill will definitely be Gu Jie.
-
The next morning, before the morning mist had completely dissipated.

Li Huan then took a set of jade chess pieces to the Ministry of Justice prison.

The prison was dimly lit. Xue Sui sat with his eyes closed, leaning against the damp stone wall, his knees drawn up to the wall, like a statue that would never move.

He walked slowly closer and found that the food Li Zhao had brought was still untouched in the food box.

The crab roe tofu in the celadon bowl had solidified into frost, and it stood side by side with the food box he had brought on the straw, looking like two opposing armies.

"Why aren't you eating?" Li Huan gently moved the food box aside and placed a chessboard on it.

"You don't appreciate His Highness's kindness? Do you think he's not sincere enough?"

His words were full of sarcasm.

Xue Sui remained expressionless. "I don't want to implicate the innocent."

"Oh?" Li Huan glanced at her.

Xue Sui smiled faintly, "His Highness the Crown Prince is so determined to clear my name, I must leave him some clean evidence—if I accept this bribe and then inexplicably come across some snakeberry juice, there will probably be another corpse bleeding from all seven orifices in the Ministry of Justice prison. Wouldn't that confirm the Crown Prince's crime of using a prison visit as a pretext to kill someone and cover up his crime?"

This means he will frame Li Zhao—using her life to bring down the Crown Prince…

Li Huan's expression was gloomy, and he remained silent for a long time.

He didn't speak until he had straightened the chessboard, wiped it clean, and sat down steadily.

"You think too badly of me."

Xue Sui leisurely took the chess tube, picked up the chess pieces without any hesitation, and began to play against him.

"It's not that I'm bad, it's that I'm calculating. Just like His Highness knew that the jade pendant wasn't mine, yet he still imprisoned me—simply because I was a good pawn, capable of luring the Crown Prince into the game."

"Heh!" Li Huan smiled faintly, surprisingly not angry. "Do you think I would stoop so low?"

Xue Sui raised an eyebrow, his white piece flying diagonally into the corner. "Who knows? It's like some accusations that seem to have solid evidence, but are actually just mudslinging against someone..."

Li Huan remained silent.

The prison suddenly fell silent.

The black and white chess pieces are intertwined on the board, seemingly engaged in a silent struggle...

Apart from the faint rustling of the straw, no one spoke for a long time.

After a long while, the chess piece landed on the star point. Li Huan tapped her white piece with his black piece and looked at her meaningfully.

"You know perfectly well that the incident at Qinghui Palace was not something I framed. I have not wronged you."

Xue Sui raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping over Li Huan's tense jaw, and slightly curled the corners of her lips. "I am rather curious, since Your Highness is certain that I poisoned Consort Xiao, why did you send her food and medicine?"

A gust of wind made the oil lamp flicker.

She suddenly leaned closer, her cool and sharp gaze carrying a hint of boldness and unbridledness.

"Your Highness, could it be... that you have fallen in love with me?"

This is the second time Li Huan has been asked this question.

The first time was in Ping Le, but he was too lazy to talk about it and just treated it as a joke.

But at this moment, facing Xue Suiqing's clear yet suspicious gaze, his throat tightened slightly, and in this subtle stalemate, a faint, almost imperceptible expectation arose...

Xue Sui smiled, "Robbing materials!"

The chessboard situation is constantly changing, and she is as cunning as a fox...

"Your Highness is going to lose!"

A cold wind howled through the passageway...

The candlelight cast long shadows on the chess pieces, making them resemble ferocious beasts lurking in the shadows.

Each move of the piece was accompanied by a subtle tremor, much like Li Huan's wavering heartbeat at that moment.

He stared at the rampant expansion of the white pieces, pressing closer step by step. In a daze, he seemed to see the paper money falling in front of his mother's coffin three days ago, which stirred up his secret thoughts.

The hatred of killing one's mother is irreconcilable.

A true man should have the ambition to conquer the world; how can he be so soft-hearted as a woman?
-
The next day at night.

Xue Sui leaned against the damp wall, coughing occasionally, and drifted off to sleep with difficulty.

In a semi-conscious state, the prison door was suddenly kicked open with a loud bang.

Xiao Zhao squeezed in carrying a blue cloth bundle, her hair disheveled and stuck to her forehead, the velvet flower on her head tilted to her ear.

Xue Sui suddenly sat up, pushing himself up: "Why are you here?"

"You hit Fourth Sister!" Xiao Zhao put the bundle in her arms on the straw, took out a clean towel to put on the ground, and helped Xue Sui sit down.

"She's spouting nonsense in the manor, spreading rumors everywhere, saying that the young lady is sleeping in the same bed with a traitor. Is that even human? I couldn't stand it, so I just smashed a teacup over her head!"