After leaving Heavenly Palace, Xu Zhaoxing and Chen Chu rode in the same carriage back to the imperial city.
“How did you know I was at Heavenly Palace?” Chen Chu asked casually.
“Of course…”
Xu Zhaoxing’s words trailed off. Remembering Wu Dayong’s instructions, she immediately changed course, her face calm and her breathing steady as she said, “Of course I didn’t know you were at Heavenly Palace. I came to Heavenly Palace to look for Xu Hao! Mm, that’s it!”
She probably did not even believe herself, so she added another self-affirmation.
A faint curve appeared at the corner of Chen Chu’s mouth, but he did not expose her lie. Instead, he asked casually, as if making small talk, “That guy whose name I can’t remember… he’s your beloved, and you’re that nervous about him?”
“His name is Duan Chao!”
Xu Zhaoxing suddenly reacted and hurried to distance herself, cursing loudly, “Pah! What do you mean, my beloved? I don’t like him at all…”
Duan Chao’s grandfather and father had both been important generals of the Flying Flower Army and had given their lives for the country. To make up for it, her sister Xu Zhaoyue had promoted Duan Chao to serve as her adjutant, so he could be considered half a member of the Xu family.
Chen Chu nodded slightly. So that was it.
But he actually looked down on the man.
He seemed to have some backbone, but Chen Chu was certain that if Xu Zhaoxing had arrived a little later, Duan Chao would definitely have knelt down and begged for mercy.
Because by the time Chen Chu showed impatience, Duan Chao’s legs had already begun to buckle slightly.
The full moon hung high, and the moonlight was enchanting.
The carriage wheels creaked along as the croaking of frogs rose from the rice fields.
Xu Zhaoxing looked at the moonlight, then turned back to Chen Chu and, unable to hold back, said, “Chen Chu, do you like my sister?”
Hearing that, Chen Chu chuckled. “I haven’t even seen what your sister looks like. How could I possibly say I like her?”
Xu Zhaoxing did not understand. “If you don’t like her, then why did you agree to the imperial marriage decree?”
Chen Chu’s eyes were as bright as the full moon. He smiled faintly, looking like an immortal who had descended into the mortal world and chosen to stay in the present.
With a light smile, he said, “Marrying your sister means controlling the Flying Flower Army. Tianchen’s strongest forces under the court add up to only seven. Tell me, with such a windfall from the heavens, why wouldn’t I agree?”
That was not the answer Xu Zhaoxing wanted.
She secretly clenched her small fists, the corners of her eyes turning slightly red, but she forced herself not to cry.
“So, in your eyes, this marriage between you and my sister is just a transaction. No matter who my sister is or what she looks like, as long as she is the Young Commander of the Flying Flower Army, you would marry her, right?”
In her heart, Chen Chu was not the kind of man who only cared about status and profit.
Chen Chu smiled lazily. “Your sister probably thinks the same way.”
The carriage stopped outside Duke Xu’s estate, and Xu Zhaoxing knew it was time for her to get off.
She gave Chen Chu a long look, lifted the curtain, and jumped down.
Then she forced out a smile and waved at Chen Chu with effort. “Goodbye, brother-in-law!”
Chen Chu said nothing. The carriage slowly receded into the distance until it was no longer visible.
A light, drizzling rain suddenly came out of nowhere, and Xu Zhaoxing could not help crying in the rain.
It was the first time she had ever fallen for someone.
She had thought Chen Chu must have at least a little affection for her.
She had even made a decision that went against her ancestors: if Chen Chu said the word, she would go with him to beg His Majesty to withdraw the decree, or even run away from the marriage with Chen Chu, traveling the world together as a pair of immortal lovers~
But when the dream shattered, she finally realized that Chen Chu marrying her sister was not because His Majesty had insisted on it. It had been Chen Chu’s own wish all along.
Her heart had just opened to love, longing for a flawless romance.
But Chen Chu, as the current Ninth Prince of the dynasty, was pursuing supreme imperial power!
The rain kept falling, but it did not reach Xu Zhaoxing’s shoulders.
She looked up and saw her sister holding an oil-paper umbrella over her.
Xu Zhaoxing could no longer hold back. She threw herself into Xu Zhaoyue’s arms and wailed.
“Sis, I misjudged Chen Chu! He’s a prince. All he cares about is imperial power! There’s no room in his eyes for matters of the heart~”
Xu Zhaoyue sighed softly. Her jade-like hand, marked with sword calluses, gently stroked Xu Zhaoxing’s head. “It’s good that you understand. You’re still young, and you’ll definitely meet a better man in the future. Sister promises you, I will never let you be sent into a marriage alliance.”
Xu Zhaoyue looked at the carriage that was already gone from sight, curiosity filling her heart. “Chen Chu, what kind of person are you, really?”
Duan Chao had returned first and immediately found her to explain what had happened at Heavenly Palace.
Chen Chu had killed Du Heng!
She could already imagine that tomorrow’s morning court might even go out of control.
Before killing Du Heng, had Chen Chu really not considered the consequences?
…
Daylight broke, and the rain cleared away, leaving a bright sky.
Chen Chu pushed open the door, and the first thing he saw was Wu Dayong, who had knelt outside the bedchamber for the entire night. He was soaked through, his body icy cold, and he was trembling all over.
“I beg Your Highness to give this servant another chance!”
Seeing Chen Chu, Wu Dayong slammed his forehead into the ground, drawing blood immediately.
Last night, after Chen Chu returned to the residence, Yu Fengcheng had immediately explained the situation, along with Wu Dayong’s remarkable background.
Wu Dayong leaking Chen Chu’s whereabouts to Xu Zhaoxing might not seem like a big deal, but it showed that his mouth was not tight.
Although Chen Chu did not punish him, his expression had turned rather cold.
So Wu Dayong had knelt outside the bedchamber all night.
“You are the illegitimate grandson of the current Grand Chancellor, yet you condescend to work as a butler in this prince’s residence. Why make things so hard for yourself?”
Chen Chu broke off a wisteria branch and toyed with it in his hand.
Wu Dayong knelt on the ground, but his back remained straight as he said forcefully, “This servant’s status is not noble. My father was a dissolute wastrel, and my mother was a courtesan. Because my parents died young, I was never welcomed in the Chancellor’s Residence as a child. Being able to serve as Your Highness’s butler is a blessing I could never earn in a lifetime!”
“I beg Your Highness to give this servant one more chance! If I make the same mistake again, I am willing to die by suicide before Your Highness!”
The current Grand Chancellor, Wu Keyan, had three sons. The first two were much like him and now held important positions at court. Only his youngest, most favored son was extremely useless.
He was uneducated and incompetent, spending his days chasing women and living a life of utter absurdity.
In order to marry a courtesan, he cut ties with the Chancellor’s Residence and left home in rebellion.
That incident had caused quite a stir at the time and earned him endless ridicule. But some people still felt that although Young Master Wu had lived a ridiculous life, he was at least a true man who dared to love and hate.
That courtesan was pregnant for ten months. During childbirth, she suffered massive bleeding. The child was saved, but the woman died.
Life and death are determined by heaven, so this should not have been anything remarkable.
But then a clinic exposed a prescription the woman had picked up there before her death. That prescription was not a medicine to preserve pregnancy, but… medicine for treating syphilis!
One stone stirred up a thousand waves. The news that the courtesan’s fatal bleeding during childbirth had been caused by syphilis quickly spread among the millions of common people in the imperial city.
That Young Master Wu of the Chancellor’s Residence became the biggest joke in the imperial city.
Wherever he walked on the streets, countless people would point and mock him.
In the end, Young Master Wu could no longer bear the pressure and hanged himself in the thatched cottage where he had lived for a full ten months.
Before dying by suicide, he wrote a letter to Grand Chancellor Wu Keyan, hoping that, for the sake of their father-son bond, he would raise the child for him.
That child was the current butler of the Ninth Prince’s Residence, Wu Dayong.