Chapter 23 Scheming against me will make many people pay with their lives.
Meanwhile, deep within the palace.
As Zhou Ling sat behind his desk, he noticed that Fangru had not returned for a long time, and a sense of unease began to rise in his heart.
He frowned and said in a deep voice to Li Zuo, who was standing beside him, "Go to the imperial prison and see why Fangru has not returned yet."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Zuo accepted the order and set off immediately.
However, he was still a step too late.
When he arrived at the secluded cell in the imperial prison, he happened to hear Fangru's clear and firm voice coming from inside: "...I believe you. I will definitely get you out."
Li Zuo paused, immediately hiding in the shadow of the pillars, and listened intently.
Immediately afterwards, Fangru's voice, suppressed with anger, could be heard. Though low, each word was as clear as an ice blade: "...Zhou Ling, as the ruler of a country, actually committed such a heinous act of framing loyal officials and deceiving heaven and earth! To satisfy his own selfish desires, he did not hesitate to fabricate charges, branding those who were loyal to the country as traitors, turning this solemn prison into a hellish battlefield... He is utterly despicable!"
Li Zuo was startled and dared not listen any longer. He immediately turned around and spurred his horse back to the palace at top speed.
He hurriedly entered the hall, dismissed his attendants, and whispered to Zhou Ling, "Your Majesty, I am a step too late. Gu Zhou... has already informed Miss Fangru that he was sent by the court to infiltrate the Baiyang Society. Miss Fangru was extremely angry after hearing this, and her words were full of accusations against Your Majesty."
On his throne, Zhou Ling showed no anger; instead, a faint smile flickered across his lips.
He looked up at Li Zuo, his tone calm and even: "Oh? What did she say about me?"
Li Zuo lowered his head even further and cautiously repeated, "The young lady said that His Majesty... 'framed loyal officials and acted despicably.'"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ling chuckled softly, a laugh devoid of emotion, only carrying a hint of cold amusement. "Well done, Gu Zhou," he said slowly, as if commenting on a play unrelated to himself, "Even on the verge of death, he doesn't forget to distort the truth and bewitch people. He certainly put on a good show of loyalty and righteousness."
He slowly rose, walked to the window, and gazed at the overlapping shadows of the palace outside. "The court did indeed give him a secret order, allowing him to infiltrate the Baiyang Society. That was an opportunity and a sign of my trust in him. Unfortunately, he was too clever for his own good, taking the charade too seriously, indulging in the illusory power promised to him by the Baiyang Society, and had long since forgotten his loyalty. I have judged him to be a traitor and a collaborator. What wrong have I done?"
He turned around and looked calmly at Li Zuo: "His current words are nothing more than a desperate man grasping at the last straw. Fangru... is ultimately too naive."
Li Zuo bowed and asked, "Your Majesty, should I seek more compelling witnesses to substantiate Gu Zhou's treasonous crime and appease Miss Fangru?"
Zhou Ling did not answer immediately.
His slender fingers casually traced the paperweight on the imperial desk, a calculating glint flashing in his eyes, which ultimately transformed into a half-smile on his lips.
"No need. Since she has already believed that story, no matter how much evidence there is, it is nothing more than a carefully fabricated false testimony by me. Since she believes that I am a ruthless and incompetent ruler, then I will show her what it truly means to cut off someone's lifeline."
He raised his eyes, his gaze falling on Li Zuo: "Immediately and secretly transfer Gu Zhou to the vicinity of the Baiyang Society's headquarters. Do it cleanly, but leave enough obvious 'clues' so that their people can 'accidentally' discover this wanted criminal."
A cold sneer flashed in Zhou Ling's eyes. He knew Gu Zhou all too well, and he was also well aware of the White Sun Society's methods. No matter the outcome, it was all within his calculations.
“If Baiyang Society takes pity on us and spares his life… a double agent who is being hunted by the court and has nowhere else to go but to serve Baiyang Society wholeheartedly again, where else can he go? At that time, he will reveal even more of his true colors and thus confirm my reputation as a traitor.”
"If Baiyang will not tolerate him... their methods of purging their own people are always more thorough than the imperial prison. It will save me trouble."
“Whether he lives or dies,” he said, his tone regaining its imperial indifference, “he will become a perfectly dead piece on this game of chess.”
...
Fangru rushed into the palace without being announced. She looked directly at the man sitting high on the throne and said in a cold tone, "Your Majesty, I know the whole truth about Gu Zhou's wrongful conviction."
Zhou Ling showed no surprise at her intrusion.
He slowly rose from behind his desk, descended the jade steps with steady steps, carrying an invisible sense of pressure, and finally stopped a step away from her.
This distance transcended the proper etiquette between ruler and subject, allowing him to clearly see the anger flaring in her eyes, and letting her feel the unmistakable imperial aura and masculine aggression emanating from him.
"You're too late." He spoke, his voice eerily calm, but his gaze locked onto her like a dense net. "Just now, the Ministry of Justice prison was attacked by the Baiyang Society, and Gu Zhou... has been abducted."
He paused deliberately, savoring the fleeting look of astonishment and disbelief on her face, before continuing, "Although he is a wanted criminal, I will not tolerate such provocation from a traitor. I have already sent men to 'rescue' him; I demand to see him alive or dead..."
Before he could finish speaking, Fangru interrupted him urgently: "He's imprisoned in the Imperial Prison! When did he go to the Ministry of Justice? Why does no one know?"
Zhou Ling chuckled softly, a laugh tinged with mockery and an indescribable ambiguity.
He suddenly took another half step forward, their clothes almost touching. He leaned down slightly, his warm breath brushing against her ear almost imperceptibly.
"Isn't it because you didn't want to step into that gloomy place of the Imperial Prison?" His tone softened, each word clear, like a lover's whisper, yet the content was chillingly cold. "I took pity on you, which is why I specially ordered him transferred to the Ministry of Justice. If you had said earlier that you wanted to see him, I could have even transferred him into the palace, placing him right next to your bedchamber... so you could see him day and night. How about that?"
Fangru's cheeks instantly burned with shame and indignation, but even more so with an unbelievable, stinging pain. She clearly remembered that in her first life, Zhou Ling had been extremely vigilant, forbidding anyone from approaching Gu Zhou in the imperial prison. In her second life, when Gu Zhou returned to the Shen family mansion, he was a bloody mess, barely recognizable as human. And in this life, he had turned that tragic past into a frivolous joke, using it to tease her?
A chill ran through her, mixed with overwhelming rage, and she took a step back, her voice trembling slightly as she tried to suppress her anger: "Don't spout such nonsense! Did you... kill him?!"
“If I truly wish for him to die without ever being able to testify,” Zhou Ling straightened up, his gaze suddenly turning sharp and cold, all traces of ambiguity vanishing, leaving only the absolute authority of an emperor, “you will never even hear his name again. Fangru, the leniency I have shown you is not for you to use to repeatedly challenge my bottom line.”
The powerful aura emanating from him made the air seem to freeze.
Fangru forced herself to suppress the pounding in her heart, her mind racing. If he truly intended to silence her, why would he have allowed her to enter the imperial prison and hear Gu Zhou's "confession" firsthand? Confronting him head-on was not the best course of action at this moment; finding Gu Zhou's whereabouts was the key.
Her father's protégés and old friends in the court, her cousin's connections in the Ministry of Personnel... all of these could become the basis for her secret investigation.
Her thoughts quickly settled, and she abruptly raised her eyes, meeting the unfathomable, imposing gaze of the emperor without flinching.
“If Your Majesty truly has a clear conscience,” she said, each word distinct and firm, “then you shall permit me to participate in the Ministry of Justice’s follow-up investigation. I want to see the truth with my own eyes, to see… the outcome with my own eyes.”
Zhou Ling stared at her silently. He knew perfectly well that Gu Zhou was either already a victim of the Baiyang Society or was now begging for mercy and returning to her former master's side, plotting how to turn against the court.
He gave a barely perceptible, slight smile.
Allowing her to participate in the investigation—isn't that exactly what he wanted? Let her see with her own eyes how the "loyal and virtuous" person she firmly believed in had completely fallen into depravity, let her face reality through repeated disappointments, and finally... completely give up on that person and obediently return to his side.
He took a risky step, but he managed to precisely seize her lifeline.
Zhou Ling nodded slightly, granting her request. The "granted" rolled from his throat, deep and magnetic, carrying the unquestionable majesty of an emperor, yet also containing a hint of indulgent languor. "But remember, this is a favor I bestow upon you, not a right you deserve. Watch carefully, and don't do anything to disappoint me again."
Once the decree was issued, his scheme unfolded quietly, like a dark web.
On one hand, they dispatched more skilled shadow agents to follow Fangru like ghosts, taking in every move she made and every frown she made; on the other hand, they ordered the Ministry of Justice and the garrison in the capital to wipe out the Baiyang Society's strongholds with lightning speed, deliberately creating an atmosphere of panic.
A cold glint in his eyes; he wanted to force the Baiyang Society, which was as panicked as a stray dog, to personally send their former "partners" to their doom when they had nowhere else to turn.
...
Fangru noticed the ever-present gaze within half a day.
She pretended to browse in front of the cosmetics stall, and the reflection in the bronze mirror clearly showed her figure hidden in the crowd.
As expected, he was one of Zhou Ling's men! A surge of anger, mixed with anxiety about Gu Zhou's situation, rushed to her head. She turned around and strode towards the palace, determined to confront him directly.
As soon as I stepped into the outer corridor of the palace, before I could even announce my arrival, the anxious voices of the officials inside reached my ears.
She stopped abruptly and listened intently, holding her breath.
"...Your Majesty, the intelligence report is accurate. The White Sun Society recently spent a large sum of money to purchase an extremely powerful explosive from a mysterious sorcerer in the Western Regions. Its characteristics are..."
The official's voice trembled, "The most troublesome thing is that it is rumored that this object has been cursed and will detonate itself at noon on the 15th of this month! Today is already the 13th. If this object cannot be found in time, the capital may suffer a great calamity!"
The air inside the hall seemed to freeze instantly.
Fangru could almost picture Zhou Ling's furrowed brows and his fingertips lightly tapping the imperial desk.
She took a deep breath, no longer hesitating, and barged in, even forgetting to bow. Her gaze was fixed on the man behind the imperial desk: "Why has Your Majesty sent people to follow me like a prisoner?!"
Zhou Ling looked up, not angered by her intrusion and rudeness, but simply waved his hand to dismiss the bewildered official.
“Following?” he repeated slowly, with a hint of dangerous amusement. “Didn’t you hear it all just now? The capital is fraught with danger. If my Fang Ru Ru were to lose even a single hair,” his tone suddenly shifted, becoming low and tender, yet undeniably forceful, “I would make many people pay with their lives. Those people are a shield to protect you, not chains to bind you.”
"I don't need it!" Fangru met his piercing gaze without yielding an inch, anxiously wondering what to do if Gu Zhou managed to contact them, given that she was surrounded by spies. "Your Majesty, please withdraw them immediately!"
Zhou Ling stared into her stubborn, unyielding eyes. The candlelight crackled in the hall, and time seemed to stretch out.
After a long while, he slowly smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes; instead, it revealed a deeper sense of oppression.
“Alright, as you wish.” His easy agreement startled Fangru. “But on the condition,” his tone suddenly turned cold, leaning forward to close the distance between them, the cool scent of ambergris almost enveloping her, “From this moment on, you must report your whereabouts to me daily, down to the smallest detail. If I discover that you have concealed anything, or failed to report any danger you have encountered…”
He paused, his fingertips lightly tracing the contours of her cheek, sending a shiver down his spine.
"Not only will I send someone else, but I will also personally lock you in the Imperial Study, keeping you by my side day and night. I mean it. Fangru, can you afford to gamble with that?"
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