Mingkong hesitated. Displeased, Bai Ruofeng rapped against the tabletop, his face turning cold. “Bald monk, you had better remember who was shouting from the rooftops that I am the one meant to resolve this calamity. Leaving everything else aside, just considering the fact that you recommended me to enter the capital as a study companion, you owe it to me to explain the Crown Prince’s situation clearly. Otherwise, you are pushing me into a fire pit. If I accidentally offend a noble person out of ignorance one day and lose my head, you will be my executioner.”
“Benefactor, compose yourself.” Mingkong pondered for only a few brief seconds before standing up. “Please follow me.”
Far from feeling relieved, a heavy sense of solemnity settled over Bai Ruofeng’s face. He followed Mingkong out through the back door and into a grove of trees. Bai Ruofeng remembered this grove, and his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the spot where he and Fang Youcheng had first met, that area had already been flattened into open ground.
Oddly enough, among so many nearly identical trees, Master Mingkong accurately picked out a path with his naked eye, leading him through a series of turns. Finally, they arrived at a secluded corner overgrown with weeds.
A solitary grave stood desolately there, a crude wooden slab bearing an unfamiliar name: Ouyang You.
“Who is he?” Bai Ruofeng looked at Mingkong in bewilderment.
Mingkong chanted Amitabha under his breath, lowered his eyes to study the lonely grave, and replied, “Madam Duan’s beloved from back in the day.” He did not address her as the Empress, choosing instead to use her maiden surname, evidently avoiding something.
A chill ran down Bai Ruofeng’s spine as he turned his head to stare at the solitary grave.
Yet what could one possibly tell from a single lonely grave? Situated in this corner of the woods on Mount Jianjun facing the capital, weathered by wind and rain, it had long since fallen into a dilapidated state. The only exception was the small, weed-cleared patch of ground in front of the tomb, which still held a few offerings, not many, but clearly tended to by someone who kept him in mind.
Exercising caution, Bai Ruofeng also stopped calling her the Empress, asking instead, “Does Madam Duan still come to pay her respects?”
Master Mingkong nodded. “She does.”
Bai Ruofeng grew even more puzzled. “Why didn’t his family take him away?”
Master Mingkong paused. “Young Master Ouyang was a martial arts hero roaming the pugilistic world. He possessed no specific official identity records, and his family’s whereabouts were unknown. Furthermore, when he left, the situation was exceptionally critical, and nothing was publicized.”
After a prolonged silence, Bai Ruofeng did not believe Mingkong had brought up the Empress’s past simply to tell a tale of romance. The dead were gone, yet this person was unquestionably still influencing the living.
Steeling his resolve, he took a step forward, determined to get to the bottom of it. “What was the cause of this Young Master Ouyang’s untimely death?”
“Amitabha.” Since Mingkong had led him to this place, he intended to tell the truth. Twirling his prayer beads and recalling what Duan Tang had once told him, he organized his thoughts. “Back then, Madam Duan and Young Master Ouyang, who was traveling through the capital, fell deeply in love. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister placed heavy emphasis on family lineage and stubbornly refused to consent to the match, seeking to tear the couple apart.”
“Left with no other option, they planned to elope at night. Madam Duan wanted to follow Young Master Ouyang away from the capital, heading into the pugilistic world he spoke of, returning home by his side.”
“However, on the appointed night, Young Master Ouyang never appeared. Madam Duan waited for a long time, but Young Master Ouyang never showed up. All she received was the Emperor’s imperial edict conferring the title of Empress.”
“Madam Duan resisted unto death, yet in the end, she still compromised and entered the palace.”
“She ended up entering the palace?” Bai Ruofeng murmured, failing to understand why Duan Tang would change her mind.
Unexpectedly, Master Mingkong shifted the narrative. “She entered the palace, using that as a bargaining chip to trade with the Prime Minister for her lover’s corpse. She had it sent to the Imperial Guardian Temple and entrusted it to this humble monk, hoping I would chant scriptures for the departed soul.”
“Chanting scriptures?” Bai Ruofeng was puzzled by the phrase. Why wouldn’t Madam Duan let Ouyang You be laid to rest in peace, and instead seek a monk for funerary rites? Could it be…
The next instant, Mingkong confirmed his suspicion. “Young Master Ouyang suffered immensely before his death, he was pierced by ten thousand arrows.”
“Pierced by ten thousand arrows?!” Bai Ruofeng’s eyes widened. In an instant, he pieced together the brief tale: the Prime Minister was the Empress’s older brother. The Prime Minister disapproved of his younger sister’s relationship with Ouyang You, and somehow discovering their elopement plans, he preemptively murdered Ouyang You in a brutal manner? And then used the corpse to blackmail his sister into entering the palace?
Whether in his past life or this one, Bai Ruofeng had a younger sister of his own, making him exceptionally protective of sibling bonds. Hearing such a twisted version of events filled him with intense shock and deep indignation. This, how could this ever be the act of an older brother?! He even began to suspect whether the imperial marriage edict itself had been orchestrated by the Prime Minister behind the scenes.
“What happened afterward?” Bai Ruofeng could not help asking.
“There was no afterward,” Master Mingkong shook his head. “The transaction concluded. Madam Duan repented and wanted to leave the imperial palace, but alas, the imperial palace is not a place one can leave simply by wishing to. Moreover, the Emperor favored her deeply, showering her with all the affection in the world. She was trapped by circumstance, unable to even seek death, and even the birth of the Crown Prince was not of her own volition.”
Unable to seek death, the Crown Prince born against her will. A few short sentences summed up a woman’s dozen-plus years of struggle deep within the inner palace.
Connecting this to the accusation that the Crown Prince had forcibly snatched a civilian woman, how could he not realize that the Empress’s outburst yesterday was largely an act of displaced anger? She transferred her hatred for the Emperor onto the Crown Prince, particularly when the Crown Prince exhibited behavior that seemed to mirror what his imperial father had done back then.
Bai Ruofeng pressed his lips together. “I understand, thank you Master for your guidance.”
Sighing, he turned toward the solitary grave, straightened his posture, and bowed respectfully. “Young Master Ouyang, I came on account of a friend, simply to clear up a matter. I had no intention of causing offense today, please forgive me.”
With that, he took his leave of Master Mingkong and walked heavily down Mount Jianjun.
At the foot of the mountain, Ah Yuan was having a merry time when he spotted his young master descending with a heavy expression. Ah Yuan trotted over with a flower in hand, smiling as he asked repeatedly what was wrong.
Leading his horse, Bai Ruofeng shook his head. “I am feeling somewhat sorrowful.” He wondered if Fang Youcheng knew his own birth background, given the other’s personality, he had most likely investigated it. It would be better if he didn’t know, but if he knew his own birth was so despised by his birth mother…
“Why is Young Master sad?” Ah Yuan scratched his head. “We received a family letter today, we ought to be happy.”
“How can I not be sad?” Bai Ruofeng glanced sideways at him. “Because an unresolved old tragedy tormented an innocent infant for over a dozen years, leaving him unable to sleep in peace. Now I have become friends with that grown-up infant, isn’t it normal for me to feel sad for him?”
Ah Yuan blinked. “Our Young Master is truly kind-hearted.”
“What kind of kindness is this?”
“Naturally it is kindness,” Ah Yuan chirped cheerfully. “If it were me, I wouldn’t feel sad for him at all. If that person were my friend, I would only want to make him live happily from this moment on and forget every single worry from the past! As for those old matters, it is best to throw them all away!”
As he spoke, he flicked his hand, sending the flower in his grip flying right onto the ear of Bai Ruofeng’s horse.
Things had already reached this point. After a moment of thought, Bai Ruofeng felt there was sense in those words. Fiddling with the flower on the horse’s head, he shook his head in amusement. “Ah Yuan, Ah Yuan, looking at you normally eating and sleeping all day, I never expected you to be so optimistic.”
“I learned it from Young Master.”
“Then let us hurry back,” Bai Ruofeng gazed into the distance toward the city walls. “I suddenly want to see my friend. He is grounded, so he must be miserable right now.”
With that, the two whipped their horses into a gallop and headed back to the capital.
Upon entering the city gates, Bai Ruofeng dismounted to purchase two portions of tofu pudding from a stall near the gate. He had been craving it for ages and had mentioned it to Fang Youcheng several times, the tofu pudding made by the old woman at this city gate was truly peerless!
Since he happened to be passing by, he figured he would bring some back to share with the other in the palace, Bai Ruofeng thought.
Yet upon arriving at the Eastern Palace, he discovered that Fang Youcheng was nowhere to be seen.
Holding the containers of tofu pudding, Bai Ruofeng wore a blank expression: Wasn’t the Crown Prince grounded? Wasn’t he injured? How on earth did he manage to get out of bed and head out?
When he asked the palace attendants about Fang Youcheng’s whereabouts, Chunfu trembled as he knelt amidst a scene of utter devastation, explaining that the Crown Prince had spent the entire morning reading books and recuperating.
He had taken a dose of medicine midway and was doing fine. But as noon approached, his migraine had flared up.
Bai Ruofeng paused. Right, the imperial physician had mentioned that Fang Youcheng had suffered from migraines since childhood, which had grown increasingly severe over the past few years. Every time it flared up badly, he would go berserk, smashing furniture and beating servants were commonplace.
Yesterday, Bai Ruofeng had witnessed firsthand just how disheveled the Crown Prince could become. The more painful the migraine, the more volatile his temper became, and coupled with a loss of reason, no one could predict what he might do.
Recalling how in this still-chilly weather, Fang Youcheng had his head shoved into a basin of water by his own mother, Bai Ruofeng muttered darkly to himself: No amount of medicine would work, and of course things wouldn’t get better with such repeated torment.
“And then?” Bai Ruofeng swept his gaze over the wrecked interior of the Eastern Palace. Clearly, His Highness the Crown Prince had already gone berserk once. “Where is he now?”
Chunfu shivered like a quail. He hesitated, clearly torn between showing loyalty and refusing to expose the Crown Prince’s whereabouts, and fearing that if no one stopped him, the Crown Prince might commit some unimaginable act.
Hesitating for a moment, Chunfu squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out, “The Prince had people drag young master Duan Qingzhang down to the Eastern Palace’s dark dungeon, and he went down there holding a sword a quarter of an hour ago!”
Duan Qingzhang, the Prime Minister’s son? From what he saw in the Imperial Study, their cousinly relationship seemed somewhat decent, so why drag him over for torture? Bai Ruofeng could not figure it out, but the situation was urgent. Clutching the two containers of tofu pudding, he hurriedly asked, “Do you know where the dark dungeon is? Quick, lead me there!”
When the Crown Prince’s migraine flared up, he did not recognize anyone. Besides, this time he had specifically dragged someone in to torment them, there was no telling what state Duan Qingzhang was in right now.