Chapter 108: Jade Lock Pendant

**Chapter 108: Jade Lock Pendant**

After secretly handing over a silver ingot, A Wu naturally felt guilty and couldn’t bring herself to face the Jingxi Emperor. She figured that since everything with Lu Yunjian had been settled, she should just pack up and make a run for it.

Just as she was about to leave, however, the commander of the Imperial Guard arrived and announced that the emperor had officially summoned A Wu.

Hearing this, A Wu’s heart tightened. What did this mean? Why had he issued such an official summons? What could he possibly want?

Ning Sanlang noticed his sister’s uneasy expression and asked in concern, “A Wu, what’s wrong? Did something happen between you and the emperor?”

A Wu hesitated. “It’s nothing…”

Seeing her like this, Ning Sanlang grew even more worried. He took her hand and said, “A Wu, did the emperor do something to you?”

A Wu scoffed. “So what if he did?”

Ning Sanlang declared firmly, “Even if he is the emperor, so what? If he dares to mistreat you, I won’t let it slide—I’ll risk everything to stand up for you!”

A Wu was naturally pleased by this. Compared to their father, her third brother was a bit impulsive, but he always had her back, no questions asked.

She prodded him on purpose. “Fine then—go stand up for me now.”

Ning Sanlang immediately agreed. “Let’s go! I’ll go with you right now and have it out with him!”

Unexpectedly, Ye Han, who had been silent all along, grabbed Ning Sanlang’s arm. “San Lang, don’t go charging in.”

Ning Sanlang retorted, “How is this charging in?”

Ye Han gave A Wu a long, piercing look.

A Wu felt as though those ink-black eyes saw straight through her, leaving her nowhere to hide.

The memory of her reckless moments with the emperor on the city walls flashed before her, and she blushed instantly.

Ye Han slowly looked away and said, “I happen to have urgent matters to discuss with you. Come with me.”

Ning Sanlang resisted, glaring. “What’s your game?”

Ye Han turned to A Wu. “A Wu, go with Commander Sun. Sort this out properly.”

Without waiting for a response, he dragged Ning Sanlang off. The latter put up a fuss but eventually grumbled, throwing glances back at A Wu. “A Wu, wait! Don’t go yet!”

A Wu laughed. “Never mind. I can handle this myself.”

She thought to herself that escape was impossible now—he had even sent the commander of the Imperial Guard. This was no casual matter, so she had to bite the bullet and go.

On the way, she wracked her brain trying to figure out what to do. Would he be angry? If so, should she try to placate him or hold her ground?

When she arrived outside the reception hall, she saw several officials waiting under the eaves. From their attire, they appeared to be local coastal defense commanders and thousand-household officers.

Upon seeing her, the officials bowed their heads respectfully, not daring to look directly at her.

Puzzled, A Wu wondered why he had summoned her at a time when he seemed busy with official duties.

At that moment, a palace attendant escorted an official out and, upon spotting A Wu, quickly bowed and said the emperor was expecting her.

A Wu entered and immediately sensed the chilly, businesslike air of a place where state affairs were handled.

The Jingxi Emperor wore a black brocade robe, his expression aloof and severe, still radiating the residual authority of governance.

A Wu was already on edge, and now she grew even more hesitant.

Around this man, she’d grown spoiled and willful, but occasionally when he revealed his imperial side, she still felt unsettled.

Now remembering that silver ingot, it felt downright criminal.

So she shuffled into the room, weighed down by guilt.

The Jingxi Emperor was going over a stack of ledgers when he suddenly noticed her. His brush hovered mid-air as he locked eyes with her.

Under his stern gaze, A Wu squirmed. She ducked her head and mumbled, “Your Majesty sent for me? Did you need something?”

The Jingxi Emperor feigned indifference. “Oh? Do I need a reason to call you here?”

A Wu: “But…you’re swamped…”

Jingxi Emperor: “Nothing urgent. Just one question.”

A Wu: “What is it?”

Jingxi Emperor: “Lu Yunjian’s in the dungeon now. He wants to see you. What do you think?”

His eyes never left her face.

A Wu didn’t miss a beat. “Absolutely not. Why would I?”

Jingxi Emperor: “Fine by me. That’s probably best.”

Truth was, he didn’t want her going either, but he’d promised to ask. Now Lu Yunjian could finally give up.

Getting the answer he wanted, his mood lifted. With a smirk, he crooked a finger. “A Wu. Come here.”

A Wu eyed his expression warily but fired back, “Your Majesty’s buried in work, isn’t he? I won’t disturb you.”

And with that, she turned to leave.

But the Jingxi Emperor said, “There’s one more thing I need to talk to you about.”

A Wu stopped dead. “…What now?”

“As you know,” he began, “I’ve been working on the East Sea plans forever. Now we need ships, border defenses—loads of money. I’ve been racking my brain over this.”

She spun around, baffled. “Then what are you going to do?”

Of course, she wondered why he was telling *her*. Did he think she’d pull silver out of thin air?

He drummed his fingers on the desk. “Today, after thinking it through, I finally figured it out.”

A Wu: “How?”

With a grin, he leaned forward. “How ‘bout another ten taels tonight?”

A Wu stiffened—then got it. Her face flamed.

She shot him a death glare. “I’m out! Going home!”

And with that, she bolted.

As A Wu fled, the Jingxi Emperor relished her blush. His lips quirked. “Heartless brat.”

After A Wu ran away, the deep and alluring voice of the Jingxi Emperor still echoed in her ears: "Come back for another ten taels tonight."

She was both amused and annoyed, thinking about how he had mentioned needing silver for constructing dikes… That night he’d been downright wild, yet only asked for ten taels. To save up enough for the dike project…

She burst out laughing. If she had to accumulate that much silver, she’d either go bankrupt or die from overexertion!

Chuckling to herself, she made her way back, only to unexpectedly run into Ning Dalang at the villa.

Dressed in full armor, he looked far more composed than before, as if he had just returned from the field, chugging tea noisily.

A Wu mentioned her plans to leave, and during their conversation, Lu Yunjian came up.

She hesitated but eventually asked, “What happened to him? Just now, the Emperor called me in and suddenly brought up Lu Yunjian…”

She looked at Ning Dalang. “What do you know about Lu Yunjian?”

Ning Dalang fell silent.

He knew Lu Yunjian had once been romantically involved with his sister. The matter had long been left unspoken, and the Jingxi Emperor had acted as though it never happened. He hadn’t expected his sister to bring it up herself.

After some thought, he finally said, “I know a little. I heard the Emperor’s hunting for some jade piece, which is why he’s kept Lu Yunjian locked up under strict interrogation.”

A Wu’s heart skipped a beat. “Something? What kind of thing?”

Ning Dalang checked for eavesdroppers before lowering his voice. “The other day, your third brother wanted to give Lu Yunjian another beating and tried sneaking into the dungeon. But the Imperial Guard was too tight—he couldn’t get anywhere near it. However, since the guards knew the Emperor favored him, they didn’t give him any trouble. Instead, he overheard something…”

He paused before continuing, “They said the Emperor is looking for a jade artifact. No one knows exactly what it is, but it sounds important.”

A Wu understood immediately.

When she first noticed that the jade lock pendant shared the same material as the Emperor’s thumb ring, she’d had a hunch it was something extraordinary. She had kept it on her, but after arriving at the coastal garrison, everything else had pushed it from her mind—or perhaps she had deliberately avoided thinking about it, not wanting to get involved. She’d forgotten all about the pendant until now.

It seemed the Jingxi Emperor was indeed searching for this jade lock pendant.

Returning to her room, she rummaged through her belongings and pulled out the pendant, studying it closely.

She had noticed long ago that there were faint, barely readable characters engraved on the back.

Now, holding it up to the sunlight, she could faintly make out the words *Qing Shu* and *Zi Sun*.

Before, she hadn’t understood, but now she was beginning to understand. *Shu* meant forgiveness—implying that if Lu Yunjian committed a crime, he could be pardoned from death. As for *Zi Sun*, it suggested the pendant could bestow blessings upon descendants.

She ran her fingers over the pendant, pacing back and forth.

Truthfully, she wished she didn’t have to be entangled in these matters. There was clearly bad blood between the Jingxi Emperor and Lu Yunjian. Back then, Lu Yunjian had handed her over to the Crown Prince, likely with his own agenda.

Now, she held both the Emperor’s thumb ring and Lu Yunjian’s jade lock pendant. What kind of mess was this?

What would the Jingxi Emperor think? She wanted no part of this drama.

But…

After a long hesitation, she finally decided to take both items and go see the Jingxi Emperor.

When A Wu suddenly showed up on her own initiative, the Emperor was visibly surprised.

A Wu kept her head bowed, saying nothing.

The Jingxi Emperor raised an eyebrow slightly. “So you dare to come see me now? Not running away this time?”

A Wu cautiously edged closer and whispered, "Don't be mad, Your Majesty..."

The Jingxi Emperor looked down at her and smiled. "I'm not angry. I was just thinking about finding new ways to fill the royal coffers."

As he said this, his hazel eyes turned serious, with a hint of amusement.

A Wu felt her face grow warm under his gaze. She stamped her foot lightly. "Can we please stop talking about it?"

Seeing her about to get flustered and angry, the Jingxi Emperor toned down his smile. "Alright, I won’t mention it anymore. Weren’t you going home?"

A Wu hesitated before murmuring, "There’s something I want to show you."

The Jingxi Emperor: "What is it?"

A Wu fished out an embroidered pouch from her sleeve and pressed it into his hands. "You can see for yourself."

The Jingxi Emperor gave her a wary glance before opening the pouch.

When he saw the jade lock pendant, his face went still.

A Wu could tell his breathing paused momentarily—he was clearly taken aback.

She stopped breathing, saying nothing.

After a moment, the Jingxi Emperor placed the jade pendant in his palm and examined it carefully before finally speaking. "Yes, this is his jade lock pendant. I've turned heaven and earth looking for this—never would I have expected it to be in A Wu's possession."

A Wu raised her hand and took off the thumb ring around her neck. "These two... came from the same piece of jade, didn’t they?"

The Jingxi Emperor: "Yes."

He accepted the ring from A Wu and lowered his eyes to study it closely.

A Wu watched him—his eyes held deep, complicated emotions, something she couldn't put into words.

The Jingxi Emperor said, "Back then when you asked me for the ring, I refused. Do you know why?"

A Wu: "Why?"

The Jingxi Emperor: "It was a gift from my late father, connected to a royal secret. These are things I would rather not remember, which is why I wasn’t willing to explain them to you back then."

And so, he started telling the story.

A Wu rarely heard the Jingxi Emperor speak of the past. From the moment she met him, he had always been a regal and self-possessed emperor—gentle and tolerant at times, harsh and unyielding when needed, but always that inscrutable ruler.

Yet now, as he spoke of days gone by, of studying in the imperial study as a child, and of his father, A Wu felt as though she were seeing him at seven or eight years old, witnessing the fiery young man he used to be.

At some point, the Jingxi Emperor finished speaking, and silence filled the room.

He looked at A Wu, who was gazing at him with wide eyes. "Hmm?"

A Wu: "You must have portraits of yourself from back then in the palace, right?"

The Jingxi Emperor seemed surprised by the question but replied, "I do."

A Wu: "Then why haven't you shown them to me?"

The Jingxi Emperor arched an eyebrow.

A Wu murmured softly, "I want to see your childhood portraits, and those from when you were a teenager."

The Jingxi Emperor paused briefly before looking down with a quiet smile.

He had to admit that even though he no longer cared about the past, it still left him feeling a little down.

But now, A Wu's words were making his heart feel lighter.

Perhaps the reason he had been unwilling to share his past with her before was because he wanted to appear strong in her eyes and didn’t want to show weakness.

Now, however, he found this openness surprisingly nice—the strange but comforting feeling he'd come to cherish of being soothed.

He took her hand, lacing their fingers together. "Alright, I'll show you. The court painters paint portraits of me every year. I’ll take you to see them later."

As he spoke, he added, "I think Mo Yu looks like me when I was young."

A Wu: "Really? Then let Mo Yu grow up quickly!"

The Jingxi Emperor couldn't help but laugh.

A Wu eagerly brought up their two children, and the Jingxi Emperor joined in the discussion, and they chatted happily.

At this moment, he really felt that despite the countless differences between them, there were places where they connected, where their hearts understood each other.

As they talked, A Wu suddenly remembered Lu Yunjian again. "So, he’s your half-brother?"

The sudden change of subject made the Jingxi Emperor feel like a top being spun, with A Wu playfully tugging at his heartstrings.

It was a bit embarrassing, but he didn't mind one bit.

He admitted, "Yes. The Empress Dowager knows as well."

A Wu: "So the reason you were so determined to find the jade lock pendant was because you were afraid he might try to take the throne?"

The Jingxi Emperor: "It wasn’t just about the throne. In truth, when an emperor changes, so do his ministers. While a ruler lives, his words hold power, but once he’s gone, what power does a little jade pendant really have? Objects are lifeless; people are alive. If someone believes in the pendant, it becomes the late emperor’s decree. If no one does, it’s just an ordinary piece of jewelry. I’ve been emperor for eighteen years—why should I fear a small jade lock pendant?"

A Wu understood this well. Even the founding emperor of Great Hui had established many rules for his descendants, but now, people gradually stopped following them.

Who among the young is willing to heed the words of the old?

The Jingxi Emperor said, "I suppose I still held onto some resentment."

Hearing this, A Wu thought for a moment before replying, "If the late emperor had directly told you about his identity and asked you to look after him, you would have treated him as a brother, wouldn’t you?"

The Jingxi Emperor smiled faintly, raising his hand to gently stroke A Wu’s hair. "A Wu understands me."

He let out a small sigh. "The imperial harem isn’t without other half-brothers. As long as they harbor no ill intent, I wouldn’t hold it against them. Why would I be unable to tolerate just one Lu Yunjian? But the late emperor kept this from me the whole time. Why couldn’t he have trusted me a little more?"

A Wu: "He even left you with a problem for you on his deathbed."

Making him marry the Marquis of Zhen’an's daughter, then giving Lu Yunjian an official decree and the jade lock pendant—for this illegitimate son outside the palace, he had done everything he could, yet he never considered the Jingxi Emperor’s feelings.

The Jingxi Emperor: "Yes..."

A Wu: "Fortunately, it’s all in the past now. Lu Yunjian has already been dealt with."

The Jingxi Emperor: "Right. Everything has finally come to an end."

He looked at the ring and the jade lock pendant in his hand, thinking how the late emperor could never have imagined that the two sons he worried about most in his final moments would become entangled because of one woman—even to the point where both sons had given their own tokens to her, bringing the ring and jade pendant back together again.

If he knew this in the underworld, he'd probably be furious enough to rise from the dead.

He smiled and handed the thumb ring and jade lock pendant back to A Wu: "You hold onto these."

A Wu: "What? No, these are way too important."

Jingxi Emperor: "A Wu, think of them as keepsakes."

A Wu looked at the Jingxi Emperor in confusion.

Jingxi Emperor: "As I said earlier, things are just things, but people are alive. An emperor's promise may not be trusted, even imperial orders can be taken back, and tokens can be denied. So these don't really prove anything."

Gazing tenderly at A Wu, he closed his hands firmly around hers, along with the thumb ring and jade lock pendant: "But A Wu has to trust what's in my heart."

***********

In his prison cell, Lu Yunjian used his own damn finger dipped in blood to sketch the closely guarded ship designs once hidden by the Zhen'an Marquisate.

He handed over everything he had to the Jingxi Emperor and requested an audience with His Majesty once more.

The Jingxi Emperor summoned him.

Lu Yunjian knelt before the Jingxi Emperor: "Your Majesty, I am willing to accept death and will disclose everything I know—including the Zhen'an Marquisate's maritime navigation secrets and years of collusion with pirates—holding nothing back."

The Jingxi Emperor smiled coldly: "Do you think this would buy your life?"

Lu Yunjian remained silent for a moment before replying with difficulty: "No."

Jingxi Emperor: "Then do you know why the late emperor left the jade lock pendant?"

Lu Yunjian dropped his gaze and stayed silent.

Jingxi Emperor: "Because the late emperor feared you might be backed into a corner. He wanted me to soften my heart, to remember we were like brothers, and spare your life."

Hands behind his back, he looked down at Lu Yunjian: "I'll spare one life—just one."

Hearing this, Lu Yunjian understood.

He let out a bitter laugh and kowtowed: "I thank Your Majesty for your mercy. This traitor is willing to die."

Only one could live—either him or his son.

He chose death to save his son's life.

Kneeling, he whispered: "Since Your Majesty spares his life, I beg you to treat him kindly, find him a good family, and let him live in peace."

The Jingxi Emperor rose and walked to Lu Yunjian's side: "Your son will take the surname Ning."

Lu Yunjian gave a slight shudder and looked up at the Jingxi Emperor.

The tall, imposing man now showed not just authority but also a hint of compassion.

His throat worked.

The surname Ning—it was A Wu's family name.

A Wu did not acknowledge this child, but the child could now survive under her wing.

Jingxi Emperor: "What you have offered, I will pass on to him. From now on, he need never know his origins. He will remain with the Ning family, sail with them, manage his birth mother's estate, and help me build a legacy that'll last." With these words, the emperor set his fate in stone, deciding Ning Guanglan's whole life.

Lu Yunjian naturally understood the implications.

He had given Ning Guanglan a path to survival, but he had also built a cage around him.

Yet for Ning Guanglan, this was already the best outcome he could hope for.

His father had been an illegitimate child, born in the shadows and unacknowledged by the ancestral temple, while he himself was unwanted even by his own mother.

After the fall of the Zhen'an Marquisate, he was destined for a life of hardship and adversity, if not outright peril.

Now, the Jingxi Emperor had granted him not only survival but also a foundation for life.

Lu Yunjian knelt there, pressing his forehead to the ground in a deep bow: "I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty's boundless mercy."