Chapter 137 The Heavenly Decree's Scheme
Xi Ruidi smiled, bent down and picked up the cloth that Shao Yanzhe had used to bandage his wound from the ground. The red blood on it had turned dark red.
"Everyone is born, grows old, gets sick, and dies. I've reached the age where I need to die; it's a very normal thing," he said.
As he spoke, he casually tossed the cloth in his hand into a cabinet.
Shao Yanzhe hesitated, as if to say that he would just give him the cloth and he would take care of it himself after they left.
But seeing that Emperor Xirui had already hidden all the cloths used for bandaging, he didn't dare to speak up.
“However, I am unwilling to hand over the Dayong Kingdom to the Crown Prince. He has a very good relationship with Gu Huiming, as you know. The Crown Prince’s mother is Gu Huiming’s legitimate daughter. If the Crown Prince really ascends the throne, I won’t even know. What difference is there between that and Gu Huiming ascending the throne?”
Shao Yanzhe and the others remained silent, unsure of what to say. Even if they had their own thoughts, they wouldn't voice them in front of Emperor Xirui.
Emperor Xirui continued to mutter, expressing all the pent-up frustrations he had felt over the years and his anxieties about the future of the Dayong Dynasty.
Finally, he took a deep breath, looked at Shao Yanzhe and the others, and couldn't help but smile.
"Haha, I'm getting old, and I've become more talkative. What I say today, you must not tell anyone else."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Shao Yanze and the others quickly replied.
Just as Emperor Xirui was about to say something, footsteps suddenly sounded from the stone gate.
Everyone quickly looked over there and saw a familiar figure carrying a torch stumbling towards them.
"Brother Zhou?" Shao Yanzhe looked at the newcomer in surprise.
Upon hearing Shao Yanzhe's voice, Zhou Jiming exclaimed with delight, "Brother Shao? It's so good that you're all alright!"
After confirming that Shao Yanzhe and his group were safe, he noticed Emperor Xirui standing beside him and quickly bowed to him.
Xiruidi's hands, hidden in his sleeves, were clenched tightly, but he smiled and told him not to stand on ceremony.
Shao Yanzhe asked, "Brother Zhou, what brings you here? How's the situation over there?"
Zhou Jiming then realized he had forgotten to mention it and quickly said, "They searched the place but didn't find you, so they all left. I went to the dry well to look for you, but you were nowhere to be found. In my panic, I accidentally pressed a mechanism, which is how I discovered a secret passage at the bottom of the dry well. I guessed that you must have gone into the secret passage, so I came looking for you."
He looked puzzled and asked, "But why is there a secret passage leading directly to the palace?"
Emperor Xirui spoke up from the side: "It should have been built by the previous emperor. I remember that the place where you are living now was once the residence of a certain emperor. It was probably built with a secret passage for the convenience of coming and going. Later, this house was bestowed upon a minister by a later emperor, and thus it passed on to other people."
"I see."
Shao Yanzhe glanced at Zhou Jiming, then lowered his head to adjust the white cloth bandaging his arm.
Zhou Jiming received his look and immediately understood what he meant.
He looked at Emperor Xirui and said, "Your Majesty, it's getting late, and there's no danger over there for the time being, so we won't disturb you any longer. We'll return the way we came. But Your Majesty, rest assured, once we get back, I will have someone fill in that dry well, and no one will discover the secret passage in it."
Emperor Xirui's expression froze for a moment, then he said nonchalantly, "No need. I am not free in the palace anyway. If any danger happens that day, I will have a place to escape to."
“Moreover,” he said, looking at Shao Yanzhe with admiration in his eyes, “if Gu Huiming discovers something and comes looking for trouble for you again, you can also hide here through the secret passage.”
His expression turned serious: "You disrupted that gathering and caused Gu Huiming to lose many subordinates. I'm afraid he won't let you off easily. You'd better not show yourselves in the open; that would be the safest thing for you."
"Very well, thank you, Your Majesty. I understand."
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Emperor Xirui, Shao Yanzhe and his companions left through the stone gate.
Emperor Xirui watched them leave, and after the stone gate closed completely, the gentle and warm expression on his face slowly disappeared.
His face was expressionless, his eyes were slightly droopy, and you could clearly see the wrinkles around his eyes and the age spots on his face.
He sat back down on the edge of the bed, looking down at the back of his wrinkled hands. His eyes, hidden in the darkness, resembled those of a hunting beast, filled with a determination to possess its prey.
Meanwhile, Shao Yanzhe and his group returned to the Zhou residence.
Since they couldn't appear in public, they rested directly in this abandoned courtyard.
Zhou Jiming went to the kitchen alone and brought back a lot of food in a food box.
The already hungry group didn't stand on ceremony and started eating with their chopsticks.
After the scholars rested again, Shao Yanzhe and his companions found a place to talk.
"Brother Zhou, how much do you know about His Majesty?" Shao Yanzhe asked.
Zhou Jiming thought for a moment and said, "I don't know much about it. Although outsiders think that His Majesty is suppressed by Chief Minister Gu and can only be a puppet, there are still many people in the court who are loyal to His Majesty. For example, my father was loyal to His Majesty. I suspect that it was Chief Minister Gu's doing that my father's body was taken over. After all, my father could not be turned against his own side, so he simply killed my father."
"Therefore, I actually think that His Majesty is not as weak and incompetent as he appears on the surface. I think he knows Grand Secretary Gu very well, but that's all."
Shao Yanzhe nodded thoughtfully. Looking at how warmly Emperor Xirui treated them, he thought that if it were someone else, they would probably become his loyal supporter right now.
It now appears that His Majesty's situation is not as difficult as he claimed.
Thinking this, he suddenly remembered the Crown Prince that Emperor Xirui had mentioned. Judging from his attitude, he probably didn't value the Crown Prince as much as he thought, but rather distrusted him quite a bit.
If Emperor Xirui really eliminates Chief Minister Gu's faction, the Crown Prince will probably have to go to the underworld with Chief Minister Gu.
"By the way, Brother Zhou, does His Majesty have any other princes or princesses besides the Crown Prince?"
Zhou Jiming shook his head: "Your Majesty currently only has one child, the Crown Prince."
Shao Yanzhe hesitated before asking, "What about the illegitimate child?"
"I haven't heard of that before, so it probably doesn't exist."
"That's strange," Shao Yanzhe said in a low voice. "Since the Crown Prince will not ascend the throne in the future, then who will inherit the future of the Dayong Dynasty?"
Because he spoke very softly, the people around him couldn't hear him clearly.
"Brother Shao, what did you just say?"
Shao Yanzhe shook his head slightly: "It's nothing. By the way, we can't hide forever. We have to go out and travel eventually. Tomorrow, I'll trouble Brother Zhou to go out and inquire about whether there's any unusual activity on Chief Minister Gu's side, and whether they've issued any arrest warrants for us."
“No problem!” Zhou Jiming readily agreed.
The next day, Zhou Jiming finally returned in the afternoon, looking travel-worn.
He walked all the way to the abandoned courtyard, pushed open the door and went straight to the table with teacups. He poured himself a cup of slightly warm tea, drank it all in one gulp, and then let out a long sigh of relief.
"I'm exhausted!" He slumped into his chair and complained.
"Thank you for your hard work, Brother Zhou." Shao Yanzhe picked up the teapot, poured him another cup, and then asked, "How is the situation outside?"
Zhou Jiming picked up the teacup and began to speak.
“I’ve visited all the famous teahouses and restaurants in Kyoto, but I haven’t heard of any arrest warrants issued by the Imperial Court recently.”
"Has any information about Songyuezhai been leaked?"
No, not at all.
"No?"
"Yes, no, it's just like any other day, calm and peaceful. Songyuezhai is open for business as usual today, and it seems like nothing has happened."
Shao Yanzhe nodded: "In that case, let's pretend nothing happened. Tomorrow, we'll get our official documents from Lord Sun and then leave the capital to take up our posts."
"good!"
The following day, Shao Yanzhe and his entourage, dressed in official robes, went to the Hanlin Academy to take up their posts. They deliberately avoided crowded places and only appeared to collect their official appointment certificates when only Lord Sun was left.
Lord Sun readily granted them their official appointments.
Shao Yanzhe and his companions resigned early and returned to the Zhou residence. They quickly began packing their luggage, intending to leave the capital before the Prime Minister Gu could react.
On the other side, the imperial palace.
Emperor Xirui sat behind his desk, with a memorial filled with writings spread out in front of him. The content looked lengthy, but it was actually just an unimportant greeting.
His expression was somewhat gloomy as he stared at the people below and said, "You mean they plan to leave Kyoto?"
"yes!"
Emperor Xirui sneered and threw the brush in his hand onto the table: "What a coward! I haven't even let him face Gu Huiming yet, and he's already planning to sneak away!"
He stood up from his chair and paced back and forth.
Then he had an idea: "Find someone to tell Chief Minister Gu about this."
"yes!"
Emperor Xirui's face was very gloomy. He had originally thought that he would have a few more loyal ministers, but he did not expect that these few would actually plan to sneak away.
This won't do!
"Also, have someone keep an eye on them, and wait until Chief Minister Gu makes a move against them before you take action yourself, and then spread the word about it."
"yes!"
After everything was arranged, Emperor Xirui became somewhat happier.
The Gu residence.
Gu Huiming sat in his chair, his gaze fixed on the people below who were reporting intelligence.
"So, Shao Yanzhe and his companions are all planning to leave Kyoto today?"
"yes!"
Gu Huiming chuckled softly, "Very good."
After he finished speaking, he stood up: "Let's go."
After he finished speaking, he took the lead in walking out of the room, got into the carriage, and headed towards the Zhou residence.
Soon, Shao Yanzhe and the others received the message.
"Chief Minister Gu is outside requesting an audience," the servant reported.
The group exchanged bewildered glances.
"What should we do? See him or not?"
"Who does Chief Minister Gu want to see?"
The servant said, "Chief Minister Gu said he wants to see Young Master Shao Yanzhe."
"In that case, let's go and see them!"
Shao Yanzhe knew that since Chief Minister Gu had come to him personally, there was no way to avoid it.
They soon met with Chief Minister Gu.
With a flick of his sleeve, Chief Minister Gu sat down in the main seat.
He looked up at the few people still standing and said, "His Majesty told me about your whereabouts."
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