Chapter Eighty-Seven: Yun Bai Was Obedient to an Unsettling Degree

The chief eunuch wiped the sweat from his brow. How was it that Xiao Jingshen’s mind worked? How could every calculation be so exact? Not a word of it differed from what the Empress Dowager had said.

“Your Highness, how could that be? His Majesty is the most benevolent of sovereigns; he would never do such a thing. Besides, this matter was arranged by the imperial household. Please do not make things difficult for this lowly servant.” Everyone said Xiao Jingshen was a hard nut to crack, the kind of man even a mangy dog would refuse to sniff at. How had this errand landed on his head?

“I am not going.”

Xiao Jingshen curled his lip, too lazy even to explain.

“Your Highness.”

“I am not going.”

“Your Highness, I beg you—”

“I am not going.”

The chief eunuch was nearly in tears. If he returned empty-handed, he would have failed his assignment; if he did not return, the prince’s dead-swine indifference made him impossible to move. In haste, he summoned a junior eunuch and sent him back to report that Xiao Jingshen was truly impossible to persuade, utterly unwilling to comply.

Dawn was just beginning to break.

By then, a third imperial decree had already been issued. The first had been a verbal command, the second a request, and the third had taken on a sterner edge. Yet Xiao Jingshen merely sat drinking tea with the eunuchs; pressed hard enough, he answered in only two words: I am not going.

Su Jingluo slept very well and knew nothing of what had happened outside. When she woke and finished washing and dressing, Yunbai was still chattering to her about what Song Yunmo had taught him yesterday. Su Jingluo was in a fine mood; a child reporting his lessons while she sat before the mirror arranging her own makeup—perhaps this was ordinary happiness.

Just then, Alan rushed in, panting so hard she could barely catch her breath.

“Princess Consort, Princess Consort, something has happened in the front courtyard!” she said anxiously.

“What, what big trouble? Come on, let’s go see the excitement.” The instant Su Jingluo heard that something had happened, she perked up at once, the flame of gossip blazing bright.

“Please don’t go, Princess Consort. People from the palace have come. The three decrees all say that you and the young heir must enter the palace to attend the sick.”

Alan grabbed the eager, spectacle-hungry Su Jingluo at once.

“Looking for me? If it’s attending the sick, why not ask the emperor’s concubines and the empress, and why me and Yunbai? And aren’t there imperial physicians?” Su Jingluo was also a little stunned. Being asked for her made some sense, but why Yunbai? Did they think he had a death wish and wanted to try poisoning himself?

“Exactly. The prince answered the same way, and as a result, an order of punishment has already been issued. They say the prince has committed the crime of disrespect.” Alan was anxious and furious, her little face flushed red with pent-up anger.

“What?” Su Jingluo could not help but go look for herself.

She had no doubt at all about Xiao Jingshen’s stubborn temper, but openly breaking with the palace was not good either. After all, that was the imperial family.

Alan wanted to stop her, but after biting her lip, she still said nothing.

“Yunbai, be a good boy and go back to review what your teacher taught you yesterday. You are not allowed to come to the front courtyard. Ruihuan, watch Yunbai.”

Just as Su Jingluo was about to leave, she noticed Yunbai’s big black grape eyes darting about, clearly up to no good. Ruihuan understood the seriousness of the situation and nodded solemnly.

“Okay.”

Yunbai smiled faintly and nodded with unusual obedience.

When something seems too out of character, there is usually mischief behind it. But Su Jingluo had no time to think further; lifting her skirt, she ran toward the front courtyard.

As soon as she arrived, she saw the scene was indeed formidable: a crowd of eunuchs sent to proclaim the decree, accompanied by more than a dozen palace guards. On Xiao Jingshen’s side stood a group of household servants, but judging by their build, weapons, and air, it looked as if a squad of special troops had disguised themselves as servants. In any case, the atmosphere was charged with gunpowder.

“What are you all doing?” Su Jingluo felt a little flustered at the sight. If this had happened anywhere else, she might have been calmer, but somewhere along the way she had come to regard the prince’s residence as home. So when outsiders came barging in, clutching weapons, it was only natural that she should worry.