Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 244 Deep-seated Hatred
The autumn rain poured down, causing the bluestone slabs of the Ministry of Justice prison to rise in white mist.

The dark cloak swept past the prison pillar, creating a series of echoes.

"His Royal Highness..."

Before the jailer could even greet him, Li Zhao raised his hand to stop him.

"Get out!"

"Here."

Li Zhao slowly strolled in and looked around.

The straw was damp with water stains, and a musty smell fermented in the damp air. The inscription "Ge Sheng" on the stone wall was still there, with dark red bloodstains still visible between the characters...

The shackles and chains were scattered on the ground.

The person in the prison is gone.

Only a few strands of white hair remained entangled in the iron chains, like spider silk wrapped around a musical instrument string.

He bent down and picked up a wooden hairpin from the damp haystack.

Peach wood without any patterns has a dull color.

The female prisoners in the jail all used these kinds of hairpins to style their hair, except this one had a broken end...

He stared at the wooden hairpin in his hand, recalling the humble yet resolute look on that person's face when she asked for permission to cultivate, and also the day she sat here, speaking softly...

"The old rules of the mausoleum do not help the foolish."

Li Zhao's fists gradually clenched.

He sent people to investigate and found out that half of the prison guards on duty that night had been replaced and then left silently like crows in the night.

With such methods, there's no other option but the old mausoleum.

He, who prided himself on being heartless, had become that damned fool.

A bitter taste rose in his throat, and he gave a self-deprecating laugh, tucking the wooden hairpin into his sleeve.

"Your Highness!" Yuan Cang entered, covered in sweat, and bowed. "Mr. Mei has arrived."

A series of hurried footsteps echoed through the prison passage.

Li Zhao snatched the waist knife from Yuan Cang's hand. As Mei Ruhui stepped into the cell, Li Zhao flicked his wrist, creating a gust of wind with the blade, its cold light slashing towards him...

"Your Highness!" Mei Ruhui was so frightened that he knelt down with a thud.

The blade grazed his ear, sending splinters flying behind him.

"That night, Li Huan broke into the prison, and you delayed reporting it for a few moments. What were your intentions? The prison guards had an old marshland seeping in, and you concealed this from them. Who were you trying to cover for?"

Li Zhao suddenly spoke, his voice filled with suppressed anger.

Mei Ruhui knelt on the ground, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and then cupped his hands and raised his sleeves.

"Your Highness, please understand—"

"Although Your Highness is unwilling to take risks, I did not intentionally delay reporting. Furthermore, I was unaware that people from the old imperial mausoleum had infiltrated the prison and controlled the mouthpiece. I was only afraid that the news would leak out and alarm Prince Duan..."

"So, you deliberately made me miss the chance to take her away?"

Mei Ruhui was terrified.

"It was my dereliction of duty not to inform Your Highness in time. However, at that time, Prince Duan arrived, and the incident happened suddenly. Moreover, seeing that Miss Xue was poisoned, I could only wait and see to prevent the situation from escalating and becoming unmanageable..."

After a pause, Mei Ruhui kowtowed heavily to the ground again, his voice filled with earnestness.

"I believe that Miss Xue was unwilling for Your Highness to give up everything that you have worked so hard to obtain, which is why she resorted to this desperate measure... Isn't her taking such a risk in order to protect Your Highness and preserve your reputation?"

The Crown Prince was different from Li Huan.

Li Huan was favored by the emperor from a young age, and he entered and exited the palace with a golden saddle and jade bridle, and every step he took was as if he were strolling in a garden.

Li Zhao, on the other hand, had to exert all his strength to earn a single word of praise from the emperor, and had to be extremely calculating to gain even a slight advantage...

"In my humble opinion, this is a great act of generosity by Miss Xue, and a good opportunity for her to break free from her confines and be reborn. From now on, the world is vast and the sea is wide, and she will no longer be trapped within the red walls and green tiles. It is indeed a joyous occasion..."

As expected of a cunning strategist, he can twist the truth with a single word.

Li Zhao coldly sheathed his sword back into Yuan Cang's scabbard, looking exhausted.

"I don't care at all..."

He turned his head to look at the mottled prison wall halfway through his sentence, and pressed his fingertip to his brow.

"I'll let you off this time, but if you hide anything again in the future, don't blame me for not showing you any mercy!"

Mei Ruhui felt as if he had been granted a pardon and prostrated himself on the ground.

"I am deeply grateful to Your Highness for sparing my life. I will do my utmost and dare not disobey you."
-
Back at Youhuang Residence, he dismissed his attendants and sat alone by the window, gazing at the wooden hairpin in his hand.

Rainwater on the roof tiles gathered into a trickle, dripping onto the leaves of the three love-flowering plants in the courtyard...

The herbal medicine that Laifu brought had already cooled down on the table.

He didn't drink it, nor did he intend to.

The metallic taste churning in his throat constantly reminded him of his pathetic state, of being manipulated and played like a puppet.

The Love Silk Gu not only connects to one's blood and meridians, but also to that person's meticulous scheming. Only through excruciating pain will he understand that it wasn't that he had truly fallen in love, but rather that the Gu poison was at work, and he was being controlled by someone else...

Xue Liu did not forget the rules of the alliance.

He's the one who forgot the rules—

When the curse is lifted, I will kill her to vent my anger.
-
Prince Duan's Mansion.

Xue Yuechen leaned against the headboard, gently stroking her swollen face, her eyes filled with bitterness.

After returning from the dungeon, she fell seriously ill and never recovered. The fetus in her womb was also very restless, and she often had dull pain in her lower abdomen. The imperial physician prescribed medicine to prevent miscarriage, but it had little effect. He said it was because she was emotionally distressed and had accumulated worries.

"Jadeite, has His Highness come by today?"

This was the fifth time she had asked the question… Emerald lowered her head, not daring to look her in the eye: “Your Highness, His Highness returned from the palace at noon and has been staying in his study ever since, without ever coming out.”

Xue Yuechen's lips curled into a desolate smile as she gripped the brocade quilt tightly with her fingertips.

"Didn't you say I wasn't feeling well?"

Emerald bit her lower lip, afraid of hurting her feelings, yet unable to hide it.

"Oh, yes, he did mention that the Prince instructed the kitchen to prepare ginseng soup and to have Physician Chen take good care of the Princess."

Take care of?

What's the use of taking such good care of them?
"Does he think I don't want to have a peaceful and quiet pregnancy?"

Xue Yuechen smiled bitterly, suddenly recalling that night in the Ministry of Justice prison, the image of him carrying Xue Liu as he left, and the almost manic look in his eyes when he looked at Xue Sui. His nails dug deeply into his palms, and his lips trembled slightly...

"No wonder, he has someone more important in his heart, how could he possibly give me a second glance?"

Seeing that her lips were pale and her breathing was unsteady, Emerald was so frightened that she knelt down with a thud and grabbed her hand tightly.

"Your Highness, please take care of yourself... Not for your own sake, but for the little prince in your belly. Don't be so hard on yourself, relax a bit. Once the little prince is born, there will be plenty of things to look forward to..."

Before he could finish speaking, the door was suddenly pushed open.

Li Huan walked in.

The brocade robe was not fastened with a jade belt, and its loose fit accentuated the lean and muscular shoulders.

He has lost a lot of weight.

A hint of joy flashed in Xue Yuechen's eyes, but when she saw his haggard face, her heart ached.

"Why is Your Highness here at this hour... Jade, quickly offer His Highness a seat..."

Li Huan's gaze swept over her swollen face, his Adam's apple bobbed twice, and his voice was hoarse.

"Your Highness, are you feeling much better?"

Xue Yuechen forced herself to sit up and gently stroked her lower abdomen with her palm.

"I'm sorry for your concern, Your Highness. I'm just... a little worried about my sixth sister..."

"Your Highness need not worry!" Li Huan frowned, his voice turning cold.

After a slight pause, she calmed down a bit more, "Father has already allowed her to go to Hanzhang Palace to recuperate. Don't worry about others, just focus on taking care of yourself."

"Others?" Xue Yuechen suddenly gave a bitter laugh: "She is my own sister, the apple of the prince's eye. How can I not worry about her?"

When Li Huan heard the words "the apple of her eye," his eyelashes trembled slightly. He clenched his hands behind his back, suppressed his emotions, and then sat down again, gently supporting her shoulder and comforting her in a soft voice.

"Your Highness, please don't overthink things. Taking care of your pregnancy is the most important thing. If you need any good medicine, have Chen Henian go to the Imperial Pharmacy to get it..."

"Does the Imperial Pharmacy have any medicine for the heart? Does Your Highness know that the imperial physician said I have a heart ailment? She is the cinnabar mark on your heart, and I am merely a decoration for your face..."

Xue Yuechen looked up and stared directly at the redness in his eyes, her voice becoming much louder.

"Enough!" Li Huan suddenly looked up, his hand clenching and unclenching in his sleeve.

Today, he was impeached by the censor for forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices in the Xuanzheng Hall. After the court session, he argued with the Crown Prince in front of the emperor. The court was in turmoil, and his political enemies were lurking all around. His mind was already in a mess. He had only come to see her with a forced smile, but she bombarded him with questions, each one hitting his sore spot.

"The princess used to be so virtuous and reasonable, when did she become so suspicious and jealous..."

Before he could finish speaking, he seemed too exhausted to argue, so he simply turned and walked away.

"Rest well. I will come to see you another day..."

Xue Yuechen gazed at his upright back, then buried her face in the soft pillow and sobbed.
-
The charcoal brazier in the study glowed with a dark red ember.

The candlelight illuminated Li Huan's sharp brow bone and taut, knife-like jawline.

Looking at the scattered files on his desk, Mu Liao Liu Yin frowned and sighed.

"The princess's pregnancy is unstable, Your Highness, why don't you be more considerate of her..."

Li Huan rubbed his forehead impatiently and picked up a brush to spread ink on the Xuan paper.

"She shouldn't have repeatedly lost her composure and been jealous of the concubine!"

"After all, the Princess is your lawfully wedded wife, and she carries the Prince's child..."

"Wife?" Li Huan suddenly sneered, slamming his pen on the inkstone, splashing ink that made his handsome features appear even more sinister.

"Back then, the Xue family fabricated their daughter's 'lucky star' destiny to curry favor with the emperor and tricked my mother into betrothing her. I haven't even settled accounts with them yet..."

Liu Yin hesitated, then noticed the strip of cloth wrapped around Li Huan's fingertips...

That was the injury I sustained in the dungeon while removing Xue Sui's shackles; it has now turned into a purple scar.

"If Your Highness wanted to use Consort Xue to restrain the Crown Prince, why did you spare her time and time again? Especially this time, after imprisoning her, you personally rescued her..."

The charcoal in the brazier exploded with a "bang".

Li Huan listened to the autumn rain outside the window, which rubbed against the window frame like sandpaper.

"Harming her is to avenge my mother. Save her..."

He paused, his fingertips tracing the rough edges of the cloth strip, "It's to make the Crown Prince watch helplessly as his beloved flesh rots in my palm, unable to even pick up a scrap of it."

After finishing his speech in one breath, he seemed to have released a great deal of anger. He slowly leaned back in his chair, his expression returning to its calm and composed state, gentle yet resolute.

"She schemed and plotted, thinking she could manipulate my will. How could I allow that?"

Amidst the pattering rain, only the lingering warmth of the charcoal brazier illuminated the room with dappled light and shadow.

Seeing the murderous intent surging in his master's eyes, Liu Yin quietly fell silent.

Is it truly a deep-seated hatred?
Whether he was just saying one thing and meaning another, only the prince himself probably knows.

Li Zhao: I told you, it's really not angst-inducing, not at all...

Li Huan: Indeed, even though the meat is stewed until it's tender, it's still in the pot.

Xue Sui: Shaving your head and becoming a nun is none of my business!