Chapter 223: The Struggle Begins
At midnight, within Princess Ping Le’s mansion.
Candlelight flickered, and the scent of incense wafted through the latticed windows.
Ping Le, barefoot, stood on Gu Jie’s chest, her moon-white bodice half-pulled down to her elbows…
The dim candlelight cast their intertwined shadows onto the embroidered screen, distorting them into grotesque specters.
“Princess…”
Gu Jie’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and the cold sweat beading on his forehead dripped down his jaw, soaking his collar.
“You drugged me…”
“Good things are naturally meant to be shared with Lord Gu.” Ping Le pulled on mourning clothes to cover herself, her eyes crimson as if weeping blood. Her long nails raked across his taut collarbone, digging into his shoulder blade, pressing herself closer. Her breath was icy as she spoke.
“This Palace cannot stand the pretense of you scholars. What are you so proud of? Kneel properly and beg for mercy…”
You scholars…
This false pretense of purity…
Was she referring to him, Gu Jie, or Lu You’an? The former Imperial Son-in-law who bore infamy, resolutely marched to the Western Frontier, and was still fighting bathed in blood amidst the smoke of war?
The night wind swept through the hall, and the remaining candle on the desk seemed to weep red tears. The wind, carrying a decadent scent, drifted into the gauze curtains.
Disheveled black hair fell by the bedside, the rustling of fabric accompanying hurried breaths…
Seeing his distress, Ping Le suddenly burst into maniacal laughter. She stood up, grabbed the gold-inlaid jade wine pot from the desk, and poured the throat-scorching, bone-corroding strong liquor into Gu Jie’s mouth.
“Didn’t you used to love using this Jiangnan wine to please Xue Yueying… Now that you’ve climbed to this Palace, why are you still pretending to be a chaste and upright husband!”
Gu Jie coughed violently, the wine trickling down his chin, utterly humiliated…
The person Ping Le was humiliating was him.
It was as if she was venting her anger through him, releasing her own complex, unspeakable emotions towards Lu You’an.
“I beg Your Highness…” The wine mixed with the drug, and Gu Jie trembled all over, shaking like a sieve, his throat squeezing out broken pleas.
“Give this subject a way to live…”
Ping Le stepped on his wrist and bent down to pick up the fallen wine cup.
“I heard Prince Wei was drunk the other day and bragged about you raising his illegitimate child…”
Seeing his eyes glaze over, Ping Le let out a cold smile, grabbed his disheveled hair, and forced him to look up.
“Look at you. You used to pride yourself on your purity, and now you don’t even dare to speak when you’re trampled underfoot. You’re such a useless wretch… Gu Wulang, are you going to endure this humiliation your entire life?”
Gu Jie lay on the soft, crimson brocade rug, his forehead pressed against Ping Le’s jade-white toes.
The sweet, warm fragrance mixed with strong liquor and sweat, making him feel dazed.
“What does Your Highness want this subject to do?”
The person on the couch lazily pushed herself up, her bare feet stepping onto his shoulder.
“Lord Gu is willing to be a cuckold, doesn’t he want to seek justice?”
Gu Jie’s Adam’s apple bobbed, “This subject is foolish…”
Ping Le leaned close to his ear and let out a cold laugh, “I heard Xue Liu is gravely ill in prison. If Prince Wei were to visit her now and show some ‘tenderness,’ what do you think the Crown Prince and Prince Duan would do…”
The tail end of her words turned into a string of sinister laughter.
“In that case, wouldn’t your great revenge be achieved?”
Gu Jie’s pupils contracted—
Last time Prince Wei was at Prince Duan’s mansion and spouted nonsense, he was mocked by Xue Sui and beaten by Li Zhao. He had harbored resentment for a long time. At this moment, instigating him to go to the prison to vent his anger on Xue Sui, what could he achieve?
Ping Le wanted to use Li Yan to destroy Xue Sui, then shift the blame, stir up trouble, and divert Li Zhao and Li Huan’s attention, thus extricating herself from the quagmire of trouble.
“Prince Wei is not a three-year-old child. How could he be so easily fooled?”
“Smart people shouldn’t say foolish things.”
Ping Le suddenly let go, meticulously tidying her mourning clothes, her voice dismissive.
“Don’t you have a silver-tongued wife? Prince Wei is arrogant and amorous, and he can’t stand a woman’s tears. As long as Xue Si cries to him about Xue Liu’s wrongdoings… I’ll arrange the rest…”
Gu Jie remained silent.
Ping Le scoffed, “What, are you reluctant?”
Gu Jie lowered his eyes, avoiding her gaze, “Xue Liu is meticulous and never gives anyone an opportunity. Even if she were truly bullied by Prince Wei, she would not yield, and it would not change the case of Qing Hui Hall…”
Upon hearing Qing Hui Hall, Ping Le’s eyes turned cold.
“What are you afraid of? This Palace has a heavenly net and earthly web waiting for her.”
Gu Jie’s heart leaped, and he instinctively flinched back.
“Heavenly net and earthly web, Your Highness means…”
“The Three Judicial Offices’ joint trial.” Ping Le smiled nonchalantly, her tone ruthless, “The chips I hold are enough to control the doors of the three judicial offices… to open them in any direction.”
Cold sweat streamed down Gu Jie’s body.
Many of the noble ladies and wives in the Women’s Society who were close to Ping Le were relatives of officials from the Three Judicial Offices.
Xie Weilan, Xiao Qing’er, and others all came from families within the Three Judicial Offices, not to mention that Ping Le had the support of the Prime Minister’s mansion, the Xiao Family…
Intertwined and deeply rooted, they had already woven a dense, inescapable net.
“Old Man Lu wants to help Li Fuyin and seek justice for Xue Liu…” Ping Le sneered, “I want to show everyone under heaven how tragic her end will be…”
Gu Jie felt a chill run through his entire body.
At this moment, he believed Xue Liu’s words completely…
Princess Ping Le was inherently suspicious and ruthless. Once she succeeded, the next person she would silence would undoubtedly be him, Gu Jie.
—
The next morning, before the morning mist had even dispersed.
Li Huan arrived at the Ministry of Justice prison with a set of ivory chess pieces.
The prison was dimly lit by the yellow glow of lamps. Xue Sui sat leaning against the damp stone wall, eyes closed, maintaining a posture of hugging her knees against the wall, like an unmoving sculpture.
As he walked closer, he noticed that the food brought by Li Zhao was untouched in the food box.
The crab roe tofu in the celadon bowl had formed a layer of frost, placed beside his food box on the straw, like two armies facing each other.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Li Huan gently moved the food box aside and set up the chessboard.
“You don’t appreciate the Crown Prince’s kindness, do you think he’s not sincere enough?”
His words were laced with sarcasm.
Xue Sui’s expression was blank, “I don’t want to implicate the innocent.”
“Oh?” Li Huan glanced at her.
Xue Sui smiled faintly, “The Crown Prince is wholeheartedly trying to clear my name. I must leave him some clean evidence—if I ate this bowl of tofu and then inexplicably encountered some snakeberry juice, there would likely be another corpse with blood flowing from all seven orifices in the Ministry of Justice prison. Wouldn’t that confirm the accusation that the Eastern Palace used the pretense of visiting the prisoner to silence a witness?”
This meant she would frame Li Zhao—using her life to bring down the Crown Prince…
Li Huan’s expression turned grim, and he remained silent for a long time.
It wasn’t until he had straightened the chessboard, wiped it clean, and sat down steadily that he spoke.
“You think too ill of this Prince.”
Xue Sui slowly picked up the chess box, picked up a chess piece without any fear, and began to play against him.
“It’s not that you’re ill-intentioned, but that your schemes are deep. Just like Your Highness knew that jade pendant wasn’t mine, yet you still imprisoned me—simply because I was a useful chess piece, capable of drawing the Crown Prince into the game.”
“Hmph!” Li Huan chuckled faintly, surprisingly not angered, “Do you think this Prince would stoop so low?”
Xue Sui raised an eyebrow and placed a white piece diagonally in the corner, “Who knows? Just like some accusations, which seem to have conclusive evidence, are actually just mud slung at someone…”
Li Huan remained silent.
The prison suddenly fell silent.
The black and white pieces formed formations on the chessboard, as if engaged in a silent dispute…
Apart from the faint rustling of the straw, no one spoke for a long time.
After a long while, a piece landed on a star point. Li Huan tapped her white piece with a black one and looked at her meaningfully.
“You know in your heart that the matter of Qing Hui Hall was not framed by this Prince. I did not wrong you.”
Xue Sui looked up, her gaze sweeping over Li Huan’s taut jawline, and her lips curved slightly, “I am rather curious, Your Highness, since you are convinced I poisoned Consort Xiao, why did you send food and medicine?”
A gust of wind made the oil lamp flicker erratically.
She suddenly leaned closer, her clear and sharp gaze carrying a hint of boldness and wantonness.
“Your Highness, could it be… you’ve developed genuine feelings for me?”
This was the second time Li Huan had been asked this question.
The first time was by Ping Le, and he had been too lazy to say more, dismissing it as a joke.
But now, facing Xue Sui’s clear and suspicious gaze, his throat tightened slightly. In this subtle stalemate, an imperceptible expectation arose…
Xue Sui smiled, “Ko!”
The situation on the chessboard changed rapidly, she was as cunning as a fox…
“Your Highness is about to lose!”
A cold wind wailed through the corridor…
The candlelight stretched the shadows of the chess pieces, like beasts lurking in the darkness.
Each move of the chess piece carried a subtle tremor, much like Li Huan’s wavering heartbeat at that moment.
He stared at the expanding white pieces, pressing forward step by step, and in a daze, he seemed to see the paper money fluttering before the coffin at his mother’s funeral three days ago, striking a chord with his hidden feelings.
The revenge for his mother’s death was irreconcilable.
Could a true man, with ambitions for the realm, be swayed by feminine sentimentality?
—
The next evening.
Xue Sui leaned against the damp wall, coughing occasionally, falling into a dazed, difficult sleep.
In her semi-conscious state, the prison door was suddenly flung open with a clang.
Xiao Zhao squeezed in, carrying a blue cloth bundle. Her hair was disheveled and stuck to her forehead, and the velvet flower on her head was askew by her ear.
Xue Sui abruptly pushed herself up, “Why are you here?”
“I hit Fourth Miss!” Xiao Zhao placed the bundle in her arms on the straw, took out a clean cloth, and placed it on the ground to help Xue Sui sit.
“She was talking nonsense in the mansion, spreading rumors everywhere, saying you slept in the same bed as a traitor. Is that something a person would say? This maidservant couldn’t stand it and directly poured a tea bowl on her head!”
