Early in the morning, several carriages left the wang fu through the side gate.
No one dared stop them.
The carriages headed west, making for the Zongzheng Court, the Zongzheng Court, at the westernmost edge of the capital.
The Zongzheng Court was a dilapidated compound. The shaofu used it as a prison for members of the imperial family.
Originally, this place was not called the Zongzheng Court. It had been known as Wuliang Temple.
Later, the temple was taken over by the shaofu. Seeing that it was remote and gloomy, the shaofu deemed it an ideal place to imprison people.
So they renovated the temple and turned it into a prison specifically for members of the imperial clan.
Many years passed. No one remembered Wuliang Temple anymore. But mention the Zongzheng Court, and everyone knew what it was.
The farther west they traveled, the more desolate the surroundings became.
Because of the Zongzheng Court, the nearby residents had gradually moved away. As a result, the whole area had become increasingly isolated and eerie.
When they arrived, an official came out to meet them.
Deng Cunli stepped forward to deal with him.
Gu Jiu also got down from the carriage, allowing the official to look her over.
After verifying her identity, the official pointed to the carriages behind them and asked, “What are those loaded with?”
Deng Cunli quickly replied, “Bedding, clothes, books, writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and other such items.”
The official said, “According to the law, benguan must inspect everything.”
“Of course, of course.”
As he spoke, Deng Cunli slipped a money pouch into the official’s hand.
The official weighed it in his hand, smiled with satisfaction, and led a few clerks in giving the carriages a cursory inspection. Then he said, “Very well. Everything may be brought inside. But aside from furen, at most four people may accompany her.”
Deng Cunli looked toward Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu nodded and called the names of the two young servants, Xibi and Ximo.
“You two will come in with benfuren.”
Then she called Qing Mei’s name as well.
Together with Deng Cunli, that made four people.
The four of them picked up the many pieces of luggage and followed Gu Jiu into the Zongzheng Court.
A single gate separated prisoners from those who were free.
A single gate, outside it, the sun shone brightly; inside it, everything was cold and terrifying.
The official led the five of them through a long corridor to a small courtyard. “Zhao furen, Gongzi Zhao is being held inside. Please go in on your own.”
Gu Jiu nodded. “Many thanks!”
Deng Cunli handed over another money pouch.
Inside was a banknote worth one hundred taels of silver.
Pocketing it, the official departed in satisfaction.
Gu Jiu pushed the gate open.
The old, worn gate gave off a harsh creaking sound, like an old man at the end of his life, or like this gloomy Zongzheng Court itself.
Each grating creak struck at the heart like a dull blade, slowly cutting into the flesh around it.
Accompanying the harsh creaking came the sound of a qin.
The melody was gentle and serene.
Gu Jiu stopped to listen. The state of mind of the person playing seemed just like the music itself, calm as a flowing stream, as though free of all desire.
Gu Jiu suddenly smiled. “Go, let’s go see gongzi.”
It was an exceedingly small courtyard.
There were two main rooms, two side rooms, an old scholar tree in the yard, and a well.
Under the eaves, a brazier was burning, with a kettle set on top.
Gu Jiu surveyed the courtyard. Had Liu Zhao ever lived in such a cramped and shabby place in all his life?
At that moment, the music came to an abrupt stop.
The door of the main room opened, and Lin Shuping walked out.
The moment he saw Gu Jiu, he was visibly taken aback.
“Furen! Gongzi, furen has come!”
Lin Shuping cried out excitedly.
Sunlight streamed through the doorway, illuminating the man’s face. He sat upright before a low table, his whole body seeming to glow with a golden radiance.
Gu Jiu narrowed her eyes, as if trying to see him more clearly.
At that moment, Liu Zhao smiled.
His smile was both a welcome and an invitation.
Gu Jiu walked forward slowly, one step at a time.
No matter how short the distance, there always comes a moment when it is crossed.
She came to Liu Zhao’s side and sat down on the floor opposite him.
“You came.”
“I came to see how you’ve been.”
Liu Zhao wore a black shenyi, which made his complexion appear pale, like that of a frail young gentleman.
[T/N: Shenyi – https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B7%B1%E8%A1%A3/1294433]
But Gu Jiu knew that beneath his sickly appearance was a strong body.
Only his face looked delicate; his body was anything but weak.
Liu Zhao’s smile remained on his face, pure, gentle, like an affectionate young gentleman gazing at the woman he loved most.
Yet Gu Jiu always seemed willing to play the part of the one who spoiled the mood.
“You’re locked up in prison, and you can still smile? Aren’t you afraid they’ll keep you here for ten years or eight? Aren’t you afraid benfuren will divorce you?”
Liu Zhao could no longer keep his smile steady. The corner of his mouth twitched.
“You still want to divorce bengongzi? Who gave you the nerve?”
Gu Jiu answered with a question of her own. “His Majesty has always been fond of all his grandsons and has never had the heart to treat them harshly. So why, this time, were you the one sent to the Zongzheng Court? Could it be that His Majesty has grown tired of you?”
Liu Zhao stared at Gu Jiu. “It doesn’t matter that bengongzi is locked up. First tell bengongzi, who gave you the nerve to divorce me?”
Gu Jiu rolled her eyes at him. “No one needs to give me the nerve. If you really make me live as a widow for ten years or eight, I’ll definitely divorce you.”
If she had to spend ten years or eight in the wang fu as a living widow… just the thought of it made her shudder. Gu Jiu figured she might well be driven mad and end up quietly killing a few people first, without anyone ever finding out.
Liu Zhao grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly.
Gu Jiu winced in pain. “You always squeeze too hard.”
Liu Zhao loosened his grip but did not let go.
With unmistakable conviction, he declared, “Don’t even think about shaking bengongzi off. Alive, you belong to bengongzi. Dead, you’ll be bengongzi’s ghost.”
Gu Jiu asked, “Then when are you getting out of here? Don’t tell me it’ll take three or five years.”
Liu Zhao smiled teasingly. “Can’t bear the loneliness?”
“I can’t bear having no one to back me up.”
Liu Zhao burst into laughter.
Outside the door, Lin Shuping heard the laughter and found himself smiling too.
After so many days, gongzi had finally laughed again.
It was truly cause for celebration.
As expected, only furen could do something about him.
Gu Jiu’s frankness pleased Liu Zhao immensely.
“Don’t worry. Bengongzi will be backing you up for the rest of my life. At most, half a year to a year, and I’ll be out.”
Gu Jiu frowned. “That long?”
“That’s already very fast. Don’t be too hard on me.”
After a moment’s thought, Gu Jiu asked, “Why did His Majesty lock you up here? Could it be you’re taking the blame for wangye?”
Liu Zhao fixed her with an intense gaze.
Gu Jiu rubbed her cheek. “Why do you keep staring at me?”
“Because you’re beautiful.”
“Don’t change the subject. Answer my question.”
Her face was full of unconcealed disdain.
Liu Zhao asked, “Have you heard about the Crown Prince being poisoned?”
Gu Jiu nodded. “I heard about it. You’re imprisoned here because of the Crown Prince’s poisoning? Don’t tell me the spy in the Eastern Palace was planted by you.”
Liu Zhao shook his head. “You only need to know that I’m being held here to preserve the wang fu.”
Gu Jiu clearly did not accept that explanation.
“Did you really poison him?”
She simply could not believe it.
Ten years ago, how old had Liu Zhao even been? How could he possibly have had the means to place spies inside the Eastern Palace, much less poison the Crown Prince?
After a moment of silence, Liu Zhao said, “Imperial Grandfather doesn’t need to know who poisoned the Crown Prince. He only needs an excuse, a reason.”
At first Gu Jiu did not understand.
Then realization dawned on her.
Just as she and Deng Cunli had suspected, the imperial court had no need for the real culprit.
Who had poisoned the Eastern Palace was not what mattered.
What mattered was that such an incident had occurred. It had made the Son of Heaven even more suspicious, even more volatile.
Chen fuma being sentenced to execution by waist-cutting and having his body abandoned in the marketplace was very likely influenced by the Crown Prince’s poisoning.
On the surface, the poisoning made the Crown Prince appear to be the innocent victim.
But was that really the case?
Given His Majesty’s suspicious nature, would he truly not suspect the Crown Prince as well?
Everyone knew that, at this moment, the Eastern Palace stood on the brink of collapse.
If the Eastern Palace refused to surrender without a fight, it could very well have staged the Crown Prince’s poisoning itself to buy time.
The possibility was simply too great.
With the emperor’s suspicious temperament, the moment Liu Zhao was imprisoned in the Zongzheng Court, his attention would inevitably shift to the Eastern Palace.
And once the emperor fixed his eyes on the Eastern Palace, its downfall would not be far off.
If she were the Crown Princess, what would she do?
Wait passively for disaster?
Make a desperate last stand?
Or voluntarily show weakness and submit a memorial requesting that the Crown Prince be stripped of his title?
Gu Jiu’s expression grew grave.
“Your imprisonment here… does it really have nothing to do with the Prince?”
Liu Zhao answered with something else entirely.
“On the second day of the month, I voluntarily confessed to Imperial Grandfather about helping Chen fuma deal with the privately minted coinage. Imperial Grandfather imprisoned me here as punishment, as a warning, and to intimidate others.
“As for me, this is a rare opportunity for tempering myself. I need an environment where no one will disturb my thinking. And because I confessed, Imperial Grandfather will no longer pursue the matter with fuwang. That’s how the wang fu has been preserved.”
Gu Jiu had imagined many possibilities, but never this one.
She had never expected Liu Zhao to confess of his own accord and willingly allow himself to be imprisoned in the Zongzheng Court.
She rubbed her forehead.
“Yesterday, when wangye returned to the wang fu, I kept pressing him, demanding to know why you hadn’t come back. Judging from the look on his face, he seemed guilty. It was obvious that from the very beginning, he had planned to push you out.”
Liu Zhao remained silent.
Gu Jiu continued seriously, “You may think I’m trying to drive a wedge between father and son. But this concerns life and death. Even if it makes you unhappy, I still have to say it.”
“I don’t blame you. I know exactly what fuwang was thinking. At the critical moment, if he couldn’t withstand the pressure, he intended to throw me out.”
After saying this, Liu Zhao laughed at himself. “I’m such a filial son. How could I just sit by and watch fuwang throw me out? There was no need for him to do it, I stepped forward on my own.”
Gu Jiu let out a derisive laugh. “What a filial son indeed.”
Liu Zhao raised an eyebrow. “I took the blame on my own initiative, which let fuwang breathe a sigh of relief. Next comes the great storm of collecting the arrears owed to the Ministry of Revenue. With me imprisoned here, fuwang will have to find a way to deal with it himself.”
Only then did Gu Jiu finally understand Liu Zhao’s true purpose.
He had willingly entered the Zongzheng Court to avoid being caught up in the coming storm of recovering the Ministry of Revenue’s outstanding debts.
She asked him, “Was it worth it? People always say plans can’t keep up with changing circumstances. Things may not unfold the way you expect. If, in the end, all your efforts come to nothing, won’t you regret it?”
Liu Zhao’s expression remained calm. “Did bengongzi have any other choice?”
There was an enormous difference between stepping forward voluntarily and being thrown out by Ning wang himself.
Gu Jiu let out a long sigh. “So, marrying an imperial grandson really does mean life can never be peaceful.”
Liu Zhao’s face hardened. “Regretting it now? Too late.”
Gu Jiu rolled her eyes at him before asking with genuine concern, “Are you eating and sleeping well here? Have the officials given you any trouble?”
Liu Zhao shook his head slightly. “Don’t worry about me. Other than losing my freedom, everything else is quite all right.”
Gu Jiu had already examined him carefully. He did indeed seem to be doing well.
It appeared that the officials of the Zongzheng Court had enough sense not to mistreat imperial princes and grandsons.
Just then, angry shouting erupted from the neighboring courtyard, accompanied by the repeated crashing of objects being smashed.
Gu Jiu looked at Liu Zhao questioningly.
His expression didn’t change even a bit. “My Thirteenth Uncle is next door. He has a bad temper. Every few days he has to make a scene.”
Gu Jiu said, “From the sound of it, he’s carrying a lot of resentment.”
Liu Zhao nodded. “He does. But he’s in a weak position. It’s only natural that the other imperial uncles would join forces to bully him.”
Even within the imperial clan, people preyed on the weak and feared the strong.
The emperor needed an explanation. So the weaker princes were produced to answer for it.
As for whether they had anything to do with the Crown Prince’s poisoning… Did it matter?
In the palace, none of that mattered.
The palace cared only about results, never the process.
Gu Jiu called for the servants. The two young attendants carried in the brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and all the books.
She said, “I knew the days here would be difficult for you, so I brought plenty of books to help pass the time.”
Liu Zhao casually picked up one of the books and smiled. “You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble.”
“It’s only what I should do.”
Under the eaves, Qing Mei was using the brazier to cook.
As the aroma of the food drifted over, Liu Zhao said to Gu Jiu, “Stay here through lunch.”
It was a demand, not a request.
Gu Jiu looked around the room. It was extremely bare, without a single unnecessary piece of furniture or decoration.
She nodded. “Have the servants tidy this place up a little.”
Liu Zhao’s mood brightened.
Gu Jiu’s arrival had turned his gloomy spirits into sunshine.
Qing Mei was a capable cook. Using only the brazier, she prepared two dishes and a soup.
The meal was simple, but the warmth of the atmosphere more than made up for it.
Since marrying into the wang fu, it was the plainest meal Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao had ever shared together.
Halfway through the meal, Liu Zhao suddenly said, “From now on, come visit me on the first day of every month.”
Gu Jiu raised an eyebrow. “I was planning not to come again until you’re released.”
Liu Zhao felt a pang in his chest. His brows twitched. In a firm tone he said, “Come on the first of every month. Bring plenty of brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and books.”
Gu Jiu smiled teasingly. “Feeling lonely?”
Liu Zhao looked at her with undisguised longing, as though he wanted to devour her. “Bengongzi is, of course, lonely. Would you be willing to stay here with bengongzi?”
Gu Jiu shook her head, making no attempt to soften her answer. “Not willing.”
She really was a practical and cold-hearted woman.
Liu Zhao said, “I’m your husband.”
Gu Jiu smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Husband and wife are birds of the same forest; when disaster strikes, each flies its own way’?”
At last, Liu Zhao fully recognized Gu Jiu’s true nature.
“You simply can’t bear hardship.”
Gu Jiu nodded repeatedly. “Exactly. I hate suffering more than anything, so you’ll just have to make do for now. I originally wanted to bring a maid with me, but every one of them preferred the easy work and feared the hard. They were all afraid that once they came in, they wouldn’t be allowed back out, so none of them was willing to come. In the end, I could only bring these two young servants for you to order around.”
Liu Zhao said with heartfelt exasperation, “How did bengongzi end up marrying you? Other married couples share both fortune and hardship. You, on the other hand, can’t wait to run as far away as possible.”
Gu Jiu returned his own words to him, exactly as he had said them before. “Regretting it now? Too late.”
Liu Zhao laughed. “Bengongzi never regrets anything. Even if you refuse to stay, bengongzi would still do it all willingly.”
Gu Jiu felt her cheeks grow warm. Goodness. Those words were enough to make even her feel guilty. If it were anyone else, they would probably have volunteered to stay by his side long ago.
But Gu Jiu’s head hadn’t been turned by emotion. She remained perfectly clear-minded.
She said, “Of course you don’t regret marrying me. Apart from not being able to suffer alongside you, I’ll take care of everything else for you. I’ve also been keeping the box you had Qian Fu give me.”
Liu Zhao replied, “You don’t need to keep that box for me. It should have been handed over to you long ago. Use the silver inside as you see fit. The property deeds and land deeds are yours to manage as well.”
Gu Jiu was taken aback. “The box Qian Fu gave me… wasn’t because it contained irrefutable evidence about Chen fuma’s private coin minting?”
Liu Zhao burst into laughter. “Of course not. I had Qian Fu give you that box because everything inside was meant for you in the first place, for you to manage on my behalf. As for the evidence in there, none of that is important. Whether you keep it or destroy it is entirely up to you.”
Gu Jiu rubbed her forehead.
So she had misunderstood Liu Zhao’s intentions from the very beginning.
She had thought the box was a contingency plan he had left behind for her. Instead, it had simply been a straightforward transfer of his assets.
Fortunately, she had not acted rashly. Otherwise, she might have harmed Liu Zhao instead.
She glared at him. “Next time, explain yourself properly. Don’t let people misunderstand.”
Liu Zhao laughed again. “Did you really think I would ask you to put yourself in danger? Do you think I’m that sort of person?”
Gu Jiu gave a snort, picked up a piece of chicken with her chopsticks, and stuffed it into Liu Zhao’s mouth.
She refused to believe that, with so much food in front of him, she still couldn’t keep him from talking.
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