Chapter Ninety-Nine: Is This the Fabled Show of Force?

“The Empress Dowager really is a troublemaker. You two ladies do not need to know. In any case, just stay in Prince Jing’s residence and play in peace with me. If nothing comes up, and His Majesty comes looking for us, you must swear up and down that we slipped out on our own. If anything does happen, then just watch my performance and follow my lead.”

Xiao Chengze put on the air of a little grown-up, wearing the smug expression of someone who had everything planned and firmly under control. Then he glanced back at the tiny Xia He and sighed. “This little thing can do a bit of running around, at most. She’s just along for the ride.”

“Oh, right, Yun Bai. Since we’ve got nothing to do, why not go play?” Xiao Chengze could not keep up the pretense of adulthood for even three seconds. The moment he turned around, his eyes lit up as he looked at Yun Bai.

“I’m not in the mood. My mother is still being kept in the palace,” Yun Bai said, turning away in refusal.

“Oh, come on, let’s play for a while. I heard you’ve just gotten a whole bunch of foals, along with a huge stable estate and a country villa. Take me to have a look, won’t you?” Xiao Chengze was somewhat excited. He had long since heard the people in the palace talking about how Prince Jing had arranged for the young heir a stable and a paddock that were even more magnificent than the imperial ones, and ever since that day he had been dying of curiosity.

“How would I know?” Yun Bai frowned and looked at Xiao Jingxuan. This father had not done a proper thing in a single day. He could not even protect his mother properly; all he knew was how to play.

Because the Crown Prince had come, the heavy, clouded atmosphere in Prince Jing’s residence had eased considerably. But in the imperial palace, things were very different. There, the winds and clouds had truly changed in an instant, and the emperor was frantic beyond measure.

On Prince Jing’s side, everyone had braced as if facing a great enemy. But in the emperor’s case, the Empress Dowager was genuinely ill, the Empress had truly fallen unconscious, and his son and daughter were genuinely missing. To summon Su Jingluo, he had to issue four imperial edicts in succession. If he had not needed her help, or if he had been able to move against Prince Jing’s family so easily, the emperor would have already had them beheaded.

Su Jingluo had only just arrived outside the great hall where the emperor handled state affairs when she was startled. A row of benches had been set up at the entrance, and more than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs were sprawled over them. More than a dozen guards were wielding damp bamboo strips, bringing them down again and again with heavy force on their backsides, sending splashes of blood flying everywhere. Nearby, a crowd of trembling maids and eunuchs knelt packed together, blood spattered across their faces. No one dared wipe it away, no one dared move; they could only weep silently.

When Su Jingluo entered the hall, the emperor was smashing cups and bowls while cursing the eunuchs. There, too, in the great hall, a crowd of trembling eunuchs and maids knelt in a heap.

“Su Jingluo pays her respects to Your Majesty.” Even Su Jingluo was frightened. The arrogance she had worn before coming was gone without a trace, and she offered her greeting carefully and cautiously. Only then did she suddenly realize that her earlier boldness had actually come from Xiao Jingxuan being beside her; whenever he was near, she felt as though she had several extra lives hanging from her. Now, seeing this scene and the enraged emperor, her courage had shattered to pieces.

“Jingluo, you’ve finally come. Hurry and go see my mother.” Before the emperor had seen Su Jingluo, he had been furious at her repeated refusals. Yet once he laid eyes on her, he could no longer stay angry. Beneath it all, there was even a faint sense of relief. He did not mention the Empress; instead, he spoke of the Empress Dowager. In this man’s heart, his mother still came first.

“Yes.” Su Jingluo had thought that the spectacle outside must have been staged by the emperor for her sake, that the Empress Dowager was probably not truly ill, and that they had merely called her here to make things difficult and put her in her place, though she still did not know what she had done wrong. But since the emperor was urging her so anxiously to go to the Empress Dowager’s palace, it seemed this display was not meant for her after all.