Chapter 96 Chapter 96 Xining Old Friend
In a cell in the Sky Prison, Su Wang was sitting cross-legged on a stone bed, fully dressed.
He closed his eyes, his expression calm and composed.
It was not until he heard footsteps outside that he slowly opened his eyes. His gaze swept across the chain on the door that was being unlocked, and he looked at the two people outside.
The prison door was opened. Su Wang curled his lips into a cold smile and said his first words to the young man: "Should I call you Minister Xu or His Majesty the Emperor Zhao?"
The man outside the cell walked into the cell, and Su Wang looked at him provocatively with a smile in his eyes.
But Zhou Jingzhi remained silent. Su Wang couldn't help but suppress his smile. Even the emotions that he had tried hard to suppress in his heart surged up again at this moment. It was a kind of panic and anxiety after the defeat.
Su Wang steadied himself, his expression expressionless as he asked, "Why? Don't you like this title? 'Zhao' is a beautiful posthumous title, meaning 'bright and virtuous, diligent, wise and knowledgeable.'" He smiled and said, "I personally chose this title for you."
"For an emperor barely twenty to receive such a beautiful posthumous title is a feat that will live on through the ages. What else are you dissatisfied with?"
Zhou Jingzhi finally responded. After a cold smile, he asked, "In that case, should I thank you?"
Su Wang smiled without saying anything.
Zhou Jingzhi walked a few steps further inside and sat on the low stool in the prison. The jailer behind him followed and placed tea bowls and teapots on the low table in front of him.
Zhou Jingzhi raised his hand to stop the jailer from passing the teapot to him, then took the teapot himself and poured water into the bowl. He then handed it towards the stone bed and it landed on the edge of the low table.
"Eating and drinking are strictly controlled in this prison. The last time you drank water was probably when you were eating. You'll be talking a lot soon, so why not drink some water first?"
Su Wang sneered: "What do you want to say to me?"
Zhou Jingzhi raised his eyelids and looked at him: "It's not what I want to say, but you have a lot of questions to ask me."
Su Wang stared at him quietly, his eyes as cold and calm as a pool.
"How did you survive?"
Zhou Jingzhi chuckled. "I didn't expect you'd ask me this first." He looked at the figure on the stone bed, his expression calm, as if he were speaking of something incredibly simple. "Thanks to Mr. Zhang and Gu Ance, without them I wouldn't have been able to leave Chang'an, let alone Qujiang. Your poison is truly powerful, tormenting me for four years."
Su Wang: "From what you said, your poison was only cured recently?"
Zhou Jingzhi: "Just when Su Xubai sent people all over Jiangnan to look for me."
Su Wang understood, raised his head slightly, and smiled with his eyes closed, emotionless. He sighed, "I thought you were a naive emperor back then, but it turns out you had a lot on your mind. You cultivated your power back then. Did you ever think of eliminating me? If it hadn't been for that incident on Shangsi Night, would I have been the one to die?"
Zhou Jingzhi frowned, a hint of disgust in his eyes. "Do you think Zhang Gong and the others saved me because I had won them over early on?" He sneered disdainfully. "You're right. I was too naive back then. So naive that I thought everyone around me was a good person. So naive that I thought the prime minister, who seemed upright and dedicated to state affairs, was actually a good minister!"
"Back then, I never considered cultivating any forces close to me. I simply wanted to ensure that every position had the right person, and I would select the best. As you said, I was too 'naive,' so I treated everyone the same. I simply paid more attention to the areas that the court needed to address, such as the construction of the dam along the Yellow River."
"But you only had one thing in mind at the time, which was to kill me. It just so happened that I had more contact with the Ministry of Works at that time, so you naturally assumed that the people in the Ministry of Works were my confidants. Therefore, you also focused more on them and ignored my attitude towards other court officials."
Zhou Jingzhi's eyes darkened as his voice deepened: "I can tell you very frankly that before the seventh year of Xining, I never thought of killing you."
Su Wang raised his eyes: "What about now?"
Zhou Jingzhi also kept his words in mind, not hiding anything: "Eating flesh and drinking blood cannot relieve my hatred."
Su Wang smiled and said, "You never said that before."
Zhou Jingzhi was not moved at all: "But if it were the old me, would I let you stay here?"
Su Wang tilted his head, a smile in the corner of his eyes, and looked at him with confusion and curiosity: "I really don't understand, what are you doing back, or what are you doing back with your true identity?"
"As I said earlier, you're just an emperor barely into his twenties, yet you've been given a posthumous title like 'Zhao'. Future generations will only praise you, lament you, and imagine what your empire will be like after you live a long life. They'll glorify you endlessly. And now you've returned, as an emperor. Can you guarantee that you'll do even better than what future generations imagine? Countless emperors throughout history have been defeated by age. Can you guarantee that you won't become a foolish monarch?"
"Even if you don't come back, the Great Jin will still be the Great Jin. So what if that child isn't the heir to the throne? Prince Feng is still here, and his children can still inherit the throne. And for the past few years, the world has been at peace. I've done what a wise minister should do, haven't I? So, you have the reputation of a young and heroic ruler, and I have the acclaim of a wise minister through the ages. Isn't this a win-win situation?"
"Even if you can't let go of the power you once had, you can always come back as someone else, cooperate with me, and be a Lord Xu. After a hundred years, you will be at the top of the official ladder, and the world will still be yours, right?"
Su Wang raised his eyebrows, with a gleam in his eyes, as if he was talking about something wonderful.
Zhou Jingzhi stared at him quietly, then suddenly smiled: "You admitted it."
Su Wang was surprised.
"Your motive on that Shangsi night wasn't Yi Yin's ambition. You simply felt your reputation as a virtuous minister was jeopardized. So you demanded absolute control of power, your own decisions, and the record of all your achievements in history books." Zhou Jingzhi suppressed a smile. "What you just said seems reasonable, but you've forgotten that I didn't just come back for myself. I also came back for the officials in the Ministry of Works, for my third brother's family, and for... all the people who suffered in the flood in Luozhou that year."
"You just said I was using someone else's identity. Do you know where Xu Qing'an is?"
Under Su Wang's gaze, Zhou Jingzhi spoke word for word, "That year, he and his elder brother passed through Luozhou on their study tour. They encountered a rainstorm and flood along the way, and he and his elder brother were swept into the torrent. His elder brother's body was found downstream, but his remains have never been found to this day."
"You know exactly whether the Luozhou flood could have been avoided. So, if I really were to live on as Xu Qing'an, would I avenge him?"
The corners of Su Wang's eyes twitched slightly.
Zhou Jingzhi slowly stood up, his eyes narrowed, and he said softly, "Eating flesh and drinking blood is painful, but you shouldn't die like this. You wanted to be a wise minister, to be famous for eternity, but I will show you how you are hated by the world and how you will be infamous for eternity."
"The Three Courts have begun a thorough investigation into what happened back then. All the evidence and witnesses are now in hand, including the shameful deeds you've committed over the past two years. From this moment on, someone will be constantly watching over you. Even if you seek death, it will be impossible, until the day you are paraded through Chang'an and beheaded at Caishikou."
Su Wang's limbs and mouth corners finally began to tremble uncontrollably, but he grinned and laughed: "Monster... It turns out that my influence is so far-reaching that I can completely change a monarch into another person. Now that things have come to this, I just want to ask you one last question -"
"How will you deal with that little emperor? A foreigner who pretended to be the heir of the clan and became the emperor will be a big deal."
——
The next time Shangguan Xu saw Zhou Jingzhi was in Shangguan Mansion. She had just come out from Shangguan Li's place, and as soon as she stepped out of the door, she met Zhou Jingzhi who had returned.
The first thing she noticed was that he looked depressed and not in high spirits.
"Have you seen him?"
"Yeah." Zhou Jingzhi responded and glanced towards the room. "How's Brother Mingyue? Is he okay?"
Shangguan Xu nodded: "I just woke up and now I'm resting again. My sister-in-law is in the room, so I won't disturb them."
"What's wrong? What did Su Wang say to you?" She spoke with concern, her eyes constantly moving back and forth between his brows, wanting to know what was making him depressed.
Zhou Jingzhi also noticed her concern for him, raised his lips and smiled, "It's nothing more than some unwilling words. Don't worry, I haven't been affected by his words."
"I just..." He lowered his eyes and then raised them again, the smile on his face gone in an instant, "I just feel like I'm not happy. Even if I fight back in the most tit-for-tat way, I still won't feel happy."
Shangguan Xu understood what he meant and his feelings even more. He sighed and said, "Perhaps the old friends are gone. Even if the culprits have paid the price, they can't come back. And Mr. Zhang and my brother have always been by our side day and night and have been hurt time and again in these things. Thinking of this, how can I feel at ease?"
Shangguan Xu lowered her eyes as she spoke of this, a mixture of emotions welling up in her heart. However, she still managed to muster up her courage and continued to ask, "Anything else? Did he really accept his fate and not challenge you again?"
Zhou Jingzhi looked at her, his brows slightly raised, smiling but helpless: "When you asked this question, I don't know whether you know me too well or you know him too well."
Shangguan Xu laughed: "Why? Did I get it right?"
Zhou Jingzhi naturally nodded in acknowledgment, then smiled lightly and said, "He asked me what to do with A Zheng's brother after the truth of what happened back then is fully revealed to the world. He hinted that a foreigner who had been an emperor should be eliminated to prevent future trouble."
Shangguan Xu wasn't surprised to hear this, nor was she worried about his thoughts. Instead, she asked curiously, "So, how did you respond?"
Zhou Jingzhi raised his eyebrows, a faint curve at the corner of his lips, and said leisurely, "I said that not everyone is like him, who only cares about fame, wealth and power. Therefore, the questions he asked were never the ones that I was struggling with. Instead, I already had a solution in mind."
Inside the cell, Su Wang was being watched by several people at the same time. He sat against the wall, and the words Zhou Jingzhi had just replied to him kept ringing in his ears:
"I am not like you. I only care about fame and fortune. However, since you are imprisoned, it is difficult for me to judge others with my cruel heart."
"Looking back on the past, all the unjust actions we have taken have been in vain, like trying to grab water with a basket, only to have it all flow away."
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