Malice
Then Xiao Ruohai came dragging Gao Sheng and the guards inside.
Because the dead could not be admitted to the palace as a convicted traitor, Liu Huanzhang's corpse had been left outside the palace gates. The ones the Emperor had summoned to verify identities — Xiao Ruohai, Gao Sheng, and the guards — entered together, knelt, and delivered their report.
"Your Majesty, this servant sent men to have Liu Huanzhang's wife and daughter confirm the body. There is no doubt — the dead man is Liu Huanzhang himself."
"Gao Sheng! How could you try to harm His Highness? If His Highness had not taken you in, you would be a corpse already! And he treated you so generously... how in the world could you commit such treachery against him?"
The moment Dong Ji laid eyes on Gao Sheng, he ground his teeth. He wanted to tear into that cold-hearted wretch then and there.
Gao Sheng knelt in the great hall, and beyond pressing his thin lips inward, said nothing at all. Fresh blood had soaked through his black clothes. Unable to stanch the wound, he let it drip, drop by drop, onto the polished floor, so smooth it threw back his shadow in red.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes as he studied Gao Sheng. That face seemed somehow familiar.
"Father! How could your son ever commit a crime lower than a beast's? I have been a timid child since birth... Father, you know that better than anyone!"
Prince Liang wept and pleaded without pause.
"Silence that mouth!"
the Emperor roared in fury. How could something so gutless ever have been born of him?
Prince Liang and Dong Ji cowered, curling into themselves, unable to make a sound.
Bai Jingyan stood behind the Grand Princess and watched in silence. Not the slightest ripple stirred in her heart.
The Emperor pressed hard between his brows, then frowned and addressed Yu Zhen, the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
"Yu Zhen. You conduct the interrogation."
Yu Zhen bowed respectfully to the Emperor, then turned to Xiao Ruohai.
"You are the one who captured Liu Huanzhang and the guards of the Prince Liang estate?"
Xiao Ruohai nodded.
"Yes, that is so."
"Then recount the circumstances in full."
Blood-soaked from head to toe, Xiao Ruohai did not tremble in the slightest. He bowed courteously and began.
"I do not know how the Prince Liang's servant came to meet Chunyan, the maid of our Bai family's eldest young lady. But when the funeral procession returned today, the lady-in-waiting of the eldest young lady's household seized Chunyan and the Prince Liang's servant both, brought them to the Grand Princess, and begged her to look into the matter on the eldest young lady's behalf.
According to that lady-in-waiting, His Highness Prince Liang had written a sealed letter and instructed Chunyan to slip it into the King of Zhenguo's study, promising that it would later be 'discovered' by outsiders. He even lied that once the Duke returned from the war, he would arrange a marriage between himself and the eldest young lady — and swore that once that union took place, Chunyan would be taken in as a concubine. Chunyan agreed to place the letter in the study.
Then Dong Ji warned Chunyan that the King of Zhenguo would never in his life unfold a letter written by someone beneath him, so she must not open it under any circumstances. He said he would be waiting at the side gate, and told her to come out and inform him once she had placed the letter in the study."
Xiao Ruohai's testimony flowed in a coherent, orderly chain. His voice was calm and clear, and every soul in the hall strained to listen.
Hearing all of this, Chunyan could not dispel the terror crawling over her. She wanted to weep and beg Bai Jingyan for her life, but the Emperor's majesty loomed too large — she came near fainting again and again.
"But our quick-tempered Fourth Young Lady... well, she demanded to see for herself just what sort of letter could force the eldest young lady to marry Prince Liang against her will — and tore it open right in front of everyone! And it turned out that the letter claimed the King of Zhenguo had been colluding with the enemy in secret! Inside was a letter purportedly in the King of Zhenguo's own hand — but the handwriting was not his. It was the founding Emperor's."
Xiao Ruohai lifted his head and shot Dong Ji a single look.
"My lord, please ask the Prince Liang's servant whether this is true or not."
Yu Zhen looked at Dong Ji and Chunyan.
"Is what he says true?"
Tears spilled down Chunyan's cheeks. She opened her mouth, but she was so frightened that nothing came out.
It was Dong Ji who, wriggling uncomfortably, nodded.
"It is true. However..."
Before Dong Ji could finish, Xiao Ruohai continued.
"At the time, I was standing on the steps, and I saw someone looking flustered, hurrying out from among the crowd. Certain something was wrong, I took my men and followed. And that person ran straight into the Prince Liang estate! I sent one man back to the residence to report to my mistress, then waited for her orders. When roughly half an incense stick's time had passed, I saw this man come rushing back out of the Prince Liang estate — and I pursued him again."
Xiao Ruohai glanced once at the guard.
"I meant to trail him in secret and find out what he was scheming. He stopped in front of a funeral goods shop — and that is when I heard Liu Huanzhang's voice! Liu Huanzhang was a traitor who colluded with the enemy and sold out his country, the man who harmed my Bai family. Bent on vengeance, my men and I sought to take him alive! But this master of the Prince Liang estate, unable to free Liu Huanzhang from our hands, ran him through with a sword! My lord — please confirm the truth with the two guards of the Prince Liang estate."
Gao Sheng's expression did not change. On his knees, he did not speak a word.
The guard hung his head and gave no answer either.
Xiao Ruohai had paused deliberately, granting Gao Sheng and the guard a chance to defend themselves. But the two kept their mouths sealed, and at last Yu Zhen spoke again.
"Continue."
Only then did Xiao Ruohai resume.
"This master, formidable in the martial arts, killed Liu Huanzhang outright — and when the guard who had come to carry word back to the Prince Liang estate looked about to fall into our hands, he moved to kill him as well. A strange inversion had occurred: we found ourselves fighting to keep the Prince Liang's guard alive.
And from that guard's person we recovered a letter. Its contents were... orders to coerce Liu Huanzhang into going to the Court of Judicial Review and confessing. If Liu Huanzhang refused to obey, we were to threaten his family — to promise that his wife and children would not be spared. It also commanded that Liu Huanzhang be made to confess falsely that the letter Dong Ji carried was one he had switched out himself! And if anyone asked why the letter had been switched, we were to lie and say it was done to prove that the King of Zhenguo had betrayed his country. The letter is here. My lord — question the guards of the Prince Liang estate. Ask them whether what I say is true."
Xiao Ruohai drew the letter from his breast and held it high above his head.
Shock seized Prince Liang from within. He had never imagined that his uncle's loyal retainers would find Liu Huanzhang. His eyes drifted, unbidden, toward Bai Jingyan — and found that her clear, composed gaze had already settled on him.
Something flashed through his mind. In an instant, he remembered the list Bai Jingyan had received from Zhen Dezhao.
Could it be... that they had walked into a trap?
"Your Majesty! Gao Sheng tried to kill Liu Huanzhang and the guard! It is he who sought to harm His Highness! Your Majesty, you must investigate this properly!"
Dong Ji wept and kowtowed to the Emperor.
"I received this letter from Gao Sheng himself! It was him! The culprit is without question Gao Sheng!"
With every sob from Dong Ji, an icy dread crept deeper into Prince Liang's chest.
Yu Zhen took the letter from Xiao Ruohai's hand, examined it — and started in shock.
It truly was a letter in Prince Liang's own hand.
"This is..."
Yu Zhen turned toward the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, judging by this hand, it does appear to be a genuine letter written by His Highness Prince Liang himself!"
Bai Jingyan flinched. In his own hand?
Why would Du Zimei have Prince Liang play so reckless a move? To leave behind a letter in his own handwriting... to hand the evidence over to another with his own two hands. Du Zimei would never handle a matter this carelessly.
When the Emperor saw that every trace of color had drained from Prince Liang's face, and that he had stopped weeping altogether, he bit down so hard on his molars he could have snapped them.
"Bring it here!"
How could a father fail to know his own son's hand?
The moment the Emperor read the letter, rage set his hands trembling. Seeing this, Yu Zhen stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, handwriting can be imitated. Would it not be wise to summon the retired Imperial Tutor, Lord Tan Song, and Duke Shoushan to examine it? It would be best to have men of deep mastery in calligraphy render judgment. And the paper and ink themselves must be properly investigated. We must ensure that His Highness Prince Liang suffers no injustice!"
The Imperial Tutor Tan Song had already retired from office and spent his twilight years at home. A man of sterling virtue, the Emperor trusted him completely.
Duke Shoushan was a sage renowned even in the capital — no man alive surpassed his mastery of calligraphy.
"Summon them!"
It seemed the Emperor had resolved to see this matter examined thoroughly and justly.
Gao Demu hastily dispatched men to fetch the Imperial Tutor and Duke Shoushan.
Yu Zhen then turned to Gao Sheng once more.
"Anything further to say?"
Gao Sheng shook his head.
At the sight, Dong Ji began hurling curses until his voice nearly tore.
"Gao Sheng, you heartless cur! If His Highness had not taken you in—"
"Dong Ji!"
Prince Liang barked sharply, desperate to shut Dong Ji's mouth. Gao Sheng was once a retainer of Prince Yi. If the Emperor ever learned that he kept the retainers who had escaped the Prince Yi estate, Prince Liang's end would be death.
"Your Highness! You would still shield this man? He tried to destroy you!"
The instant Dong Ji finished, he seemed to remember something and hurriedly turned to kowtow to the Emperor.
"Your Majesty! There is no doubt that Gao Sheng sought to harm His Highness! This man, back in the day—"
"Dong Ji, close that mouth this instant!"
In the voice of Prince Liang — who had shown nothing but weakness from start to finish — there suddenly blazed a savage, murderous fury that seemed to split the sky. That heart-stopping voice startled even the Emperor enthroned on high.
Bai Jingyan looked at Prince Liang and smiled inwardly. He had played the frail, useless fool so long that his acting would shame the performers of the West Garden — yet here he was, revealing his true face.
"Your Highness?"
Startled by this ferocity, Dong Ji's tears vanished in an instant.
It lasted only a heartbeat. The savage aura fled as swiftly as it had come, as though it had never once existed, and Prince Liang crawled across the floor on his knees toward the Emperor.
"Father! Father! You know best of all how timid a man I am! Even if you gave me a hundred gallbladders, I would never dare conspire with a foreign state. I only wished to save my brother King Xin. Father, please — investigate this thoroughly, I beg you."
Bai Jingyan raised an eyebrow slightly. But Prince Liang's words did not surprise her much.
Prince Liang had openly backed King Xin, after all. So it was hardly impossible for him to shift every sin onto King Xin's shoulders. In any case — Zhen Dezhao, Liu Huanzhang, all of them — Prince Liang had always issued his orders under the pretext of helping King Xin.
Bai Jingyan bowed in salute toward the Emperor and spoke.
"Your Majesty. Since His Highness Prince Liang has acknowledged that this letter is in his own hand, may this humble woman and my grandmother also be permitted to see what was written in it?"
The mere sound of Bai Jingyan's voice irritated the Emperor, and he tossed the letter carelessly in her direction.
Sheets of white paper fluttered through the air and scattered across the floor. Bai Jingyan felt no anger whatsoever. She bent down, gathered the letter, skimmed it briefly — and passed it to the Grand Princess.
The Grand Princess had to see it too. Had to see, with her own eyes, how Prince Liang had schemed to drive the Bai family to their deaths.