I'll cling to the villain's leg first as a sign of respect (1)
As night deepened, lights were lit throughout the Prime Minister's residence. Wanzhi Pavilion was also illuminated, the warm yellow glow dispelling some of the darkness, but unable to dispel the gloom in Jiang Wanzhi's heart.
She tossed and turned, her mind replaying the horrifying drama she had heard that day: the tense standoff in the court, the Ming Prince's face contorted with rage at the word "imprisonment," the Heng Prince's reasoned rebuttal, his injuries... and the unprecedented solemnity in her father, the Prime Minister's, eyes.
The original book does indeed mention that Lin'an is the only town on the frontier with a vast territory, beautiful scenery, and a paradise-like atmosphere. Therefore, the Northern Di tribes have always coveted it and wanted to take it over.
Her mind was in turmoil, like a tangled mess of hemp threads. She suddenly sat up on the couch and took a deep breath, gazing at the dark night sky outside the window.
"No, I can't lie here any longer! If I keep lying down, I'll really become a salted fish on a chopping board!" A strange sense of anxiety drove her. "I need to go out for some fresh air! I'm suffocating!"
"Miss, the master has given instructions..." Chun Tao was so frightened when she heard that she was going to go out that she quickly stopped her.
“I know! I’ll just walk around the back garden of Wanzhi Pavilion! I absolutely won’t leave the courtyard!” Jiang Wanzhi interrupted her, her tone resolute and unquestionable. “If I stay cooped up inside any longer, I’m afraid I’ll really go crazy tomorrow! Don’t worry, I’ll stay in the courtyard and won’t go anywhere!”
Chun Tao couldn't dissuade her, so she had no choice but to carry a lantern with soft light and follow behind her step by step.
The back garden of Wanzhi Pavilion is not large, but it is exquisitely decorated.
The artificial hill is exquisite, with a small stream of flowing water forming a shallow pond where a few koi carp swim among the water lily leaves.
The early summer night breeze, carrying moisture and the faint scent of grass and trees, brushed against Jiang Wanzhi's cheeks, indeed easing the tightness in her chest a little.
She wandered aimlessly along the cobblestone path, her mind still a jumbled mess.
As I walked, I unknowingly approached the backyard. In the northwest corner, there was a dense bamboo grove, where the bamboo shadows swayed and rustled softly in the night breeze.
Just as Jiang Wanzhi's thoughts were wandering, a woman's voice, deliberately lowered but subtly raised due to emotional excitement, drifted over intermittently through the sparse bamboo shadows.
"Brother Mingchen! You scared me to death! There's been a huge commotion in the court today, saying... saying you've been imprisoned? What happened? Did that Prince Heng frame you?!"
The voice, with its deliberately softened gentleness and undisguised concern, was so familiar that Jiang Wanzhi froze on the spot. It was Su Yuyue!
How could she be here?! Alarm bells rang in Jiang Wanzhi's heart. Almost instinctively, she grabbed the bewildered Chun Tao and darted behind a clump of tall banana leaves, holding her breath.
Immediately afterwards, a male voice filled with obvious irritation and suppressed anger rang out; it was none other than the Second Prince, Zongzheng Mingchen!
"Hmph! This Zongzheng Hengyu! He's really good at hiding his true intentions! I underestimated him! And that meddlesome Jiang Wanzhi! If she hadn't happened to be in the carriage that night, how could the Ninth Prince have been so furious and investigated so thoroughly, pinning the blame on me so quickly! He ruined my plans!"
Jiang Wanzhi, hiding behind a banana leaf, felt a sudden chill creep up her spine.
As expected! The assassination attempt that night was orchestrated by Prince Ming! He caused Prince Heng to be wounded by the arrow poison, and she herself was also implicated! She bit her lower lip tightly to keep herself from crying out.
"Brother Mingchen, what do we do now?" Su Yuyue's voice was filled with dependence.
"Wait!" Zongzheng Mingchen's voice calmed, revealing a chilling, venomous edge. "A joint trial by the three judicial departments? Ha... what will they find? Evidence? I have plenty of ways to turn it into false evidence! The most urgent task is to keep the people outside, especially those in the Northern Di, calm! And... Lin'an City..."
"Lin'an City?" Su Yuyue's voice carried a hint of confusion and worry.
"Yes!" Zongzheng Mingchen's voice suddenly rose, filled with a desperate ruthlessness. "How can you fish if the water isn't muddy? Since Ninth Prince wants to spread the fire to Lin'an, then I'll make the fire burn even brighter for him! Let that pool of water be thoroughly muddied! The bigger the better!"
Zongzheng Mingchen's words were like daggers, piercing Jiang Wanzhi's heart.
To throw Lin'an into chaos? To draw all the court's attention to that place? Jiang Wanzhi felt a chill instantly freeze her limbs and bones.
She finally understood! The Ming King's collusion with foreign powers and troop deployments in Lin'an were not simply about capturing a city! He wanted to create a massive upheaval, a turmoil that would overwhelm the entire Great Shang Dynasty, leaving it no time to think about anything else!
This has far exceeded the scope of the original plot in the book, and gone beyond the realm of his character's power struggles. This is... a disaster for the country and its people!
He lowered his voice even further, "Make a big commotion in Lin'an City! The bigger the better!"
Su Yuyue seemed hesitant, "The commotion is too loud... won't it...?"
"What's there to be afraid of?" Zongzheng Mingchen sneered. "It's better for things to get chaotic! When the waters are muddy, there's a chance to fish! Remember, Yue'er, if you want to get what you want, sometimes... you have to let the world get into chaos first!"
“But Brother Mingchen…” Su Yuyue’s voice was filled with obvious hesitation, “If Lin’an falls into chaos and gets out of control… if the border is unstable, it will be the common people who suffer…”
"The common people?" Zongzheng Mingchen's voice suddenly became sharp and sarcastic, filled with the indifference of a superior towards ants.
"One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand! Yue'er, how can you still be so sentimental? Those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles! What do a few cities and a few worthless lives matter? As long as you can reach that position, it's all worth it! It's all a necessary price!"
Behind the banana leaf, Jiang Wanzhi felt a surge of icy anger rush to her head.
A worthless life? A necessary price?
This madman! For his ambition, he wants to drag the entire Lin'an, and even the borders of Da Shang, into hell!
The Ming King in the book, who was cunning but at least had some of the demeanor of a tyrant, had now completely transformed in her mind into a demon who treated human life as worthless!
After a brief silence, Su Yuyue's voice rang out again. This time, her deliberately softened tone was mixed with desire, clearly piercing through the night.
"The common people that Brother Mingchen mentioned... Yue'er can't worry about that far ahead. Yue'er only hopes that Brother Mingchen can rule the world as soon as possible!"
Zongzheng Mingchen pulled her into his arms, "Yue'er, if I succeed, you will be the Empress of Da Shang!"
At this moment, she saw Su Yuyue clearly. This woman, who was shrouded in the halo of the female lead, was deep-thinking and good at disguising herself. The gentle, kind, and unassuming female lead image in the book completely collapsed at this moment!
The two men in black continued their intimate conversation in the bamboo grove, but Jiang Wanzhi couldn't hear a word they said.
She felt ice-cold all over, her hands and feet were numb, and the overwhelming amount of information and fear made her dizzy. She gripped Chun Tao's arm tightly, her nails almost digging into the other's flesh.
"Miss...?" Chun Tao was terrified by her pale face and the strength in her hands, and her voice changed.
"Go...go quickly!" Jiang Wanzhi's voice trembled uncontrollably. She practically dragged the limp Chun Tao away, staggering and stumbling as she fled the backyard, escaping the suffocating edge of the bamboo forest.
The night wind blew against her face, icy cold, but it did nothing to cool the turbulent waves churning within her heart.
Back in her bedroom at Wanzhi Pavilion, the moment she closed the door, Jiang Wanzhi felt as if all her strength had been drained. She slid down to the floor, leaning against the door, panting heavily. Cold sweat soaked through her undergarments, clinging stickily to her body.
"Miss! What's wrong? What did you hear?" Chun Tao knelt beside her, anxiously wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief.
"I heard... the sound of hell." Jiang Wanzhi's eyes were vacant, her lips trembling as she murmured to herself.
Lying down? Becoming a couch potato? Waiting to be crushed by the plot?
No! She shook her head violently, her wind-blown hair brushing against her cheek, causing a slight sting.
This is no longer a question of whether or not someone is cannon fodder!
This is survival! It's the most basic need to stay alive!
If the Ming King succeeds in creating turmoil, the court will be too busy to deal with its own problems, and the joint trial by the three judicial departments will inevitably be hindered. He will be very likely to escape or even launch a counterattack!
At that time, as one of the key figures who ruined his plans, she and the entire Prime Minister's mansion will surely be the first to suffer and die without a burial place!
Fear, like an icy tide, crashed against her reason wave after wave. She hugged her knees, her body trembling uncontrollably.
What should we do? What should we do? Tell the Prime Minister?
No! Although Father holds a high position and wields great power, the fact that Prince Ming and Su Yuyue could meet secretly in the bamboo grove outside the Prime Minister's residence suggests that they might have spies within the mansion! Alerting them will only make things worse!
Run away by herself? Where can she run to? The whole world belongs to the emperor; where can a daughter of a prime minister hide?
A name, a name she had always avoided at all costs, emerged with unparalleled clarity amidst this extreme fear and despair: Zongzheng Hengyu!
Only him! Only this person who just dealt a heavy blow to the Ming King in the court, who possesses crucial evidence, and who is also regarded as a mortal enemy by the Ming King!
Only he has the ability and the motivation to stop the Ming King from causing an even greater disaster in Lin'an! And only he might be able to deter that venomous snake, Su Yuyue!
But…that man…Jiang Wanzhi thought of his future descent into darkness…cling to his coattails? That's like asking a tiger for its skin! Rejecting the wolf at the front door, only to welcome the tiger at the back?
However, reality did not give her a choice.
Once Lin'an descends into chaos, war breaks out everywhere, corpses litter the fields, the court's prestige is shattered, and the Ming Prince seizes the opportunity to rise up... She, Jiang Wanzhi, along with everything she cares about, will be completely swallowed up by this monstrous wave!
“No… we can’t just sit here and wait to die…” Jiang Wanzhi suddenly raised her head, her eyes still filled with fear, but with a hint of ruthlessness and desperation as she was forced into a corner.
She pushed away Chuntao, who was trying to help her up, staggered to the dressing table, and frantically began rummaging through it.
"Miss? What are you doing?" Chun Tao was startled by her unusual behavior.
"Change your clothes! The most inconspicuous one!" Jiang Wanzhi's voice was urgent and nervous. "Chuntao, help me! Quickly!"
Her hands trembled so much she could barely untie her clothes. In the end, Chun Tao, with tears in her eyes, helped her quickly change into a gray-blue coarse cloth dress that the maids wore.
Jiang Wanzhi hastily tied her long hair into a simple low bun and secured it with a wooden hairpin.
"Miss! Where are you going? It's the middle of the night!" Chun Tao was so anxious she was almost crying.
Jiang Wanzhi took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and stared sharply at Chun Tao: "Listen, Chun Tao, I have to go out! It's a serious matter! You stay in the house, lock the door, and no matter who asks, say that I was too frightened and took some tranquilizers and went to bed early! Understand? Absolutely no one can know that I went out!"
"But Miss..."
“No buts!” Jiang Wanzhi interrupted her, her tone resolute. “Believe me! This is for survival! For all of us!”
She took one last look at the unfamiliar reflection in the bronze mirror—a pale face with resolute eyes—before abruptly turning around and slipping silently out of the bedroom like a shadow, disappearing into the deep night.
The high walls of the Prime Minister's residence appeared particularly majestic and imposing in the dead of night.
Guided by her memory, Jiang Wanzhi found her way to the most secluded corner of the garden. There, at the base of the wall, lay a pile of pruned dead branches and leaves, and the top of the wall was relatively low.
With great effort, she used her hands and feet to climb up, using the protrusions of the artificial hill and the branches of a crooked old tree by the wall.
The rough bark chafed her palms, and her skirt was torn in several places, but she was completely unaware. She had only one thought in her mind: Get out! Go find Zongzheng Hengyu!
When she finally managed to climb over the wall and landed heavily on the grass outside, the intense pain made her groan, but fear and determination spurred her to get up immediately.
The streets of the capital were empty and quiet at night, with only the distant sound of the night watchman's clapper echoing through the air.
She determined her direction, lifted her skirt, which was covered in mud and grass clippings, and stumbled and ran wildly toward the direction of the Prince Heng's mansion in her memory.
The imposing, heavy vermilion gates of the Prince Heng's Mansion were tightly shut, and the two stone lions in front of the gate looked like silent behemoths in the dim lantern light.
Jiang Wanzhi stopped at the bottom of the steps, panting, gazing up at the towering lintel, her heart pounding in her chest. She took a deep breath, mustered all her courage, and stepped forward to forcefully knock on the door knocker.
The heavy knocking sound was particularly jarring in the quiet night.
After a moment, a small observation window above the side door was opened, revealing a wary and sleepy face—it was the night watchman of the Prince's mansion.
"Who is knocking on the door so late at night?" The doorman's voice carried displeasure at being disturbed.
"I...I'm looking for His Highness Prince Heng! I have something extremely urgent to report!" Jiang Wanzhi tried her best to make her voice sound calm, but her breathing was still unsteady.
By the light of the lanterns, the gatekeeper suspiciously examined the "maid" below the steps, dressed in coarse cloth, with disheveled hair and mud smeared on her face. His brows furrowed even more: "His Highness is seriously injured and has already retired for the night! He will not see any guests! We can discuss this tomorrow!" He then turned to close the observation window.
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