Ch89 - Crisis

“Young tigers are mischievous. He bumped into the fourth prince; may it be forgiven.” Mu Hanzhang rubbed the fluffy tiger that was rubbing against his legs and greeted Jing Yu with a little apology.

“Oh, fourth imperial brother, I’m really sorry. You didn’t say that you were coming in advance. It just so happened that I threw out the chicken wing.” Jing Shao very insincerely welcomed him and helped pat the dirt off Jing Yu’s body, but he was pretty forceful, and almost knocked the fourth prince back down with his pats.

Jing Chen quietly looked at the three cups on the table, and signaled at Mu Hanzhang, who immediately put his small white jade cup into his sleeve.

The fourth prince had seen the emperor invite Jing Chen alone to the imperial study to have a talk, and then saw Jing Chen leave the imperial study and head to the south of the city. He thought his father had given him something important to do, so he followed him. Unexpectedly, Jing Chen had just arranged to meet Cheng Wang and his husband for a drink. 

The four people sat in the peach orchard feigning civility and saying meaningless words for a long time. Jing Shao couldn’t help yawning, and then came up with an excuse to pull his Wang Fei away.

When Cheng Wang left, the fourth prince, as the younger brother, couldn’t stay any longer, so he took his leave as well. Just before he left, he glared fiercely at the tiger that was bouncing up and down. He was sure that the chicken wing which had been thrown at his face was no accident.

After the three left, Jing Chen sat alone in the pavilion for a while. The green plum wine was very light and he wasn’t afraid of getting drunk if he drank more. His second son had fallen ill again in the last few days. Consort Xiao’s temper was getting worse and worse. When Jing Chen went back to his palace, he would always get a headache.

When he married Consort Xiao, she had just been a sweet-tempered lady from a wealthy family. However, after she had her second son, she suddenly became a little overly suspicious. In addition, Rui Wang’s fourth rank concubine’s bastard son and Xiao Si had been born almost at the same time. She felt like she had been wronged… 

Jing Chen looked at the peach trees full of branches in the orchard and thought about how his younger brother needed to have a descendant, but there was no hurry. After all, they couldn’t do it when imperial father was in power. It wouldn’t be too late to talk about it after he ascended the throne.

“It’s boring to drown one’s sorrows with alcohol alone. Do you want someone to accompany you?” A clear and pleasant voice with a trace of coquettishness rang out behind him.

Jing Chen immediately felt his head ache even more.

The next day, the fourth prince went to court and was pulled aside. 

“Your Highness, I saw the Huainan King go into Rui Wang’s peach orchard in the south of the city yesterday,” the man said in a hurry.

“What did you say? Rui Wang’s peach garden?” Jing Yu’s eyebrows jumped. “You can’t have seen wrong, can you?” He had been in the peach garden yesterday,

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The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case. Jing Yu’s palms couldn’t help sweating. If it was true, then Jing Shao was colluding with the vassal king. Since they actually met in the peach orchard, this may also involve Rui Wang. If it was done well, he could make Jing Chen take a big fall.

Mu Hanzhang heard that the fourth son of Rui Wang’s house was ill, and even after switching two imperial physicians, he still had a high fever, so Mu Hanzhang sent some precious herbs to Rui Wang’s palace.

Consort Shi looked at her tearful son at the breast of the wet nurse. She couldn’t help but furrow her brow as she then looked at the healthy and lively bastard son next to him. Her heart became more and more agitated. After two days of drinking the prescription from the imperial physician, her son still wasn’t getting better. This fever was really worrying to death.

The wet nurse was afraid of being scolded, so she took the initiative to mention that sometimes when children appeared ill, they weren’t really ill and it was perhaps something in their spirit that was affected. “I heard that great sage Mo Bei of Jade Cloud temple in the west of the city is very effective, perhaps…” 

“If the child still isn’t better tomorrow, invite her to come and have a look.” Rui Wang Fei took a look at the things sent by the Cheng Wang residence and had the people go back with polite words, before putting the items into a storeroom. She hasn’t even said that she would give the child to them; who were they trying to curry favor with?

“What did they say?” Mu Hanzhang asked Yun Zhu, who had been the one to deliver the herbs.

“They said that they have troubled the Cheng Wang Fei. The palace has been too busy recently, so she’ll invite Wang Fei to come visit the palace another day.” Yunzhu reported the reply word for word.

Mu Hanzhang waved his hand, allowing Yun Zhu to take his leave, and frowned slightly. What he had gotten his people to send were all rare medicinal ingredients. Rui Wang Fei’s words indicated that she had not actually taken a good look at the gift, and instead she had just sent back generic polite words. It seemed that the child was really quite sick. 

Meanwhile, Gu Huaiqing was currently drinking with Jing Shao at Intoxicated Immortal restaurant.

“I’m leaving today.” Gu Huaiqing poured a cup of wine for Jing Shao.

“You finally understand.” Jing Shao glanced at him. “I’ve been saying: what are you actually trying to do, wandering around the capital?”

Gu Huaiqing laughed and said in a soft voice, “Ghostbusting.” 

“Ghostbusting?” Jing Shao was stunned, before he sneered. “When did you become so amazing?”

Gu Huaiqing smiled but said nothing. Just then, there was a commotion downstairs. When the two went to look down, they saw that the fourth prince Jing Yu and a team of people had surrounded Intoxicated Immortal restaurant.

“What is going on?” Jing Shao frowned. The fourth prince was now in charge of the Ministry of Justice, and had a lot of useful people under him.

“Here comes the ghost.” Gu Huaiqing looked at someone standing beside the fourth prince, and a sneer appeared on his face. 

“We’ve been ordered to come and catch important criminals. No one in the building is allowed to leave. We’ll check each room one by one!” the officer at the head of the group yelled. After that, he waved his hand and took the officers and soldiers to search the rooms one by one. It seemed that they had long planned this, and only a few people were left to watch the people in the reception hall while the rest went to search the private rooms on the second floor.

The fourth prince took the official with him to check each room one by one, and soon found the private room where Jing Shao was. The building was full of officers and soldiers, and there was a large number of people outside. Jing Yu had made full preparations, so the Huainan King couldn’t escape.

“It’s a trick to catch a turtle in a jar.” Gu Huaiqing looked at the approaching officers and soldiers.

Jing Shao frowned. It seemed that the fourth prince had gotten some information. He turned to Gu Huaiqing and saw that the man was rather calm. He seemed to have expected this long ago. “What are you going to do?” 

“It’s not a problem to escape from Intoxicated Immortal restaurant.” Gu Huaiqing pushed open the window. The window he chose faced the roof next door. With their skills, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to escape along the shaded side of the roof. “But I’m guessing the fourth prince has already put the city gates under martial law. You need to help me get out of the city.”

“You already anticipated this?” Hearing this, Jing Shao was a little angry; this person clearly knew that something like this would happen, but he even asked him to come drink. This clearly meant that he had factored Jing Shao into his plan.

The fourth prince took people to invade Intoxicated Immortal restaurant, but after searching the place, he drew a blank. He couldn’t help getting angry. He asked the official with him, “Didn’t you say that he’s here for sure?”

“This… this subject…” The man was scared and broke out in a cold sweat. He was certain that according to the Huainan King’s contact, they had made an appointment to meet here, and the information he was going to pass on to the Huainan King was very important. The Huainan King definitely wouldn’t miss this chance. How could he not have come? 

“Close the city gates at once!” The fourth prince was so angry that he turned blue. Because he had repeatedly assured Emperor Hong Zheng that the Huainan King was in the capital, he was able to get the edict to send people to catch him. Now, he had escaped. How could he explain this to his father? Fortunately, he hadn’t mentioned the collusion between Cheng Wang and the Huainan King. Otherwise, if he didn’t catch anyone, it would conversely make his father feel that he was framing his brother.

At that moment, Jing Shao had already spurred his horse to full speed to send Gu Huaiqing out of the city.

“You clearly knew there was a problem with the informant, yet you still waited to get caught?” On the horse, Jing Shao immediately punched Gu Huaiqing.

“How could I make sure that our brotherly bond was deep enough unless I had you wait there with me?” Gu Huaiqing narrowed his slender eyes and laughed innocently. 

Jing Shao was stunned. Was Gu Huaiqing’s purpose for coming to the capital this time to see how sincere he was, and how far he was willing to go in a crisis to cooperate with him? Thinking this, he couldn’t help falling silent. He knew how wary this person with the surname Gu was. Jing Shao had even told him about making his elder brother the future emperor, yet he still wasn’t trustworthy enough?

Seeing that Jing Shao’s expression wasn’t quite right, Gu Huaiqing immediately rode over and punched him. “Where is your mind running off to? I’m teasing you.” He then put a small pamphlet into his hands.

Jing Shao looked at the thin sheets of paper in his hand and looked at Gu Huaiqing doubtfully.

“These are all my connections in the capital. The ones that you can’t use have already been circled with red,” Gu Huaiqing said with a smile. “Give this to Jing Chen, and tell him that Zhao Jiulin, the Assistant Minister of Rites, is already a member of the fourth prince’s faction. Tell him to be careful.” Zhao Jiulin was the man who had followed the fourth prince today. He must have been the one to reveal the information to the fourth prince this time. 

Jing Shao was shocked when he turned over what he had in his hand. These connections had all been painstakingly built up by the Huainan King over many years. Handing all of these over to him today was like handing the survival of his family line over to him!

“Elder brother…” Jing Shao didn’t know what to say. This was the opponent he had admired all his life before his rebirth. Even now, however, he still couldn’t see what Gu Huaiqing was thinking. Sometimes, this man seemed very shrewd and profound when he did things, and it was so mystifying that no one was able to make any sense of the matter; sometimes, he was a man of affection, and when he felt like it, he would even put the survival of his family line into your hands!

“Ha ha, I’m guessing that the vassalship will be removed in a few days. Elder brother will wait for you in Jiangnan.” Gu Huaiqing chuckled and punched Jing Shao to make up for all the beatings he had suffered these few days.

Jing Shao was hit so hard that he bent over and coughed. When he looked up again, Gu Huaiqing had already turned his horse’s head away. Not far away, two bodyguards were riding towards him on horses. 

“Remember to bring your little tiger with you so that the lion can teach it to hunt!” Gu Huaiqing vanished in a cloud of dust, a little afraid that Jing Shao would catch up to him and return the blow.

When Jing Shao returned to the palace, he saw that the atmosphere in the entire household was very strange. The whole palace was quiet. All the servants held their breaths and didn’t dare make a sound.

“Wang Ye, the emperor camme,” Steward Yun whispered.

Jing Shao immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Did Jing Yu reveal the matter of him meeting the Huainan King? He carefully thought about whether he had revealed any weak points. 

“The emperor is in the study,” Duo Fu said in a low voice, wrinkling his steamed bun face. “Wang Ye, the Wang Fei had this servant tell you that no matter what the emperor says, you must deny knowing the Huainan King. The person you sent out of the city today is just a jianghu friend.”

When Jing Shao heard this, he couldn’t help but pick up his pace. Jun Qing saying that must mean that his father knew something, but he wasn’t sure, so he came to their residence to make inquiries. Jing Shao also couldn’t be sure that Jun Qing wouldn’t take the blame for this mistake in order to exculpate him! No matter what it was, he couldn’t let Jun Qing face his imperial father alone.