Honest Conversation

After Zhao Zhi finished his long speech, the crown prince stared down at his teacup and remained silent for a long, long time.

All the years he had spent fighting with Prince Ling, he had thought about a lot of things and done some things too, but this thought had never occurred to him.

The idea that his stepmother might have killed his biological mother.
The current empress was a woman by the surname Chen, a woman who placed great importance on traditional women’s values. She had high expectations of others, but she had even higher expectations of herself. What she demanded from others, she made sure to accomplish it herself. She set herself as an example and never interfered with politics at all. That was how she became well loved by both the current court officials as well as the citizens of Da’an.

But of course, no person was perfect. The crown prince lived right next to the main palace and often interacted with both the emperor and the empress. As someone close to her, he knew that the empress wasn’t without fault. For example, sometimes she would use insider information or her own connections to aid her own family, but that was not considered a major wrongdoing within the huge royal palace.

Empress Chen seemed like nothing more than an normal woman with high social status.

The crown prince never suspected her.

But after listening to what Zhao Zhi said and all the details he found, he felt a little overwhelmed. Perhaps it was because she knew that if she had some weaknesses, then she wouldn’t seem suspicious.

Everything had been done deliberately.

He gripped his teacup a little too tightly. It was hard for him to control his emotions for a while.

He had no memories of his biological mother, Empress Li. All he had were the lifeless portraits on the wall, as well as the “pitiful woman” label that his own father and other older palace workers gave her. He was also known as his mother’s jinx.

That filled him with guilt and regret, as well as much discomfort.

Throughout his growing years, he only had one older woman in his family, and that was his stepmother, Empress Chen. Empress Chen was very strict with him and never spoiled him, but she also showered him with much love. For example, she would sew clothes for him personally when he was a child.

Empress Chen never sought to block his path to the throne or teach him anything wayward. She even made sure that she brought him up well and was pleased that he had grown to become someone so capable.

He was sincerely grateful to her for doing all that.

But now… Zhao Zhi’s findings had overturned everything he understood about her.

All of this might actually be a grand scheme meticulously put in place by someone else.

Including that reputation as his mother’s jinx – someone might have deliberately made sure he heard about it so that his emotions would be affected.

As someone who grew up in the palace, the crown prince knew from a young age that nobody’s heart was pure and innocent. Every person had selfish desires and things that they wanted badly, and so they might stoop to all sorts of despicable behavior to get what they wanted. He could understand that. And as long as they were caught and punished accordingly by the law, it was fine. But this particular matter…really made him waver.

For that one moment, he realized he didn’t quite know how to respond at all.

His biological mother had died giving birth to him, so he was grateful to her for her noble sacrifice, but he was also sad that he couldn’t repay her since she had already passed on. Nobody could control when a person died, and his mother wouldn’t have wanted to die either. As long as there was hope, as long as she could hang in there, no mother would want to die shortly after giving birth to a child. That would be akin to abandoning her child. And so, he made sure he never blamed her for leaving him. That would wrong of him.

His stepmother, on the other hand, took care of him for the past twenty years and brought him up like he was her own. Even if all of this was just an act, even if she was doing this with an ulterior motive, even if Empress Chen really killed his mother, it remained a fact that Empress Chen had brought him up well. Could he just ignore that fact? Could he just suddenly turn against her now?

It seemed cruel to say such things, but the reality was that he was much more attached to the woman who took care of him and he saw every day of his life compared to his biological mother, whom he had no memory of.

Of course, murder was punishable by death. If it turned out that Empress Chen was truly behind the death of another person, she would have to be punished accordingly. But if he had to mete out that punishment himself, he felt like…he simply couldn’t do it.

What if she begged for mercy because she had taken such good care of him?

Moreover, the royal family had a lot of special rights, and she was well loved by the people. What if the people petitioned for her to be spared? How should he make this decision? Should he ignore the voices of the people?

He was to become the ruler of Da’an. Others could run away from such things, but not him.

And regardless of what decision he made, it would definitely go down in the history books…

“I’m afraid I’m about to become Da’an’s most useless and indecisive crown prince in history.”

The crown prince shut his eyes and sighed, his voice filled with bitterness. “If I just go ahead, I would be letting down the one who brought me up. If I take a step back, I would be letting down the one who gave birth to me. I’m just stuck in the middle and I don’t know what to do. Never mind the country – I’m letting even myself down as crown prince.”

How was an indecisive, emotional crown prince going to take up the position of emperor and rule an entire nation?

He didn’t say that part out loud, but Zhao Zhi could understand his position.

His own family situation was somewhat similar. But his aunt hadn’t killed his mother. She had brought harm to him.

But he could more or less empathize with the crown prince’s situation.

Besides, Zhao Zhi was only heir to a prince’s estate, while the crown prince was heir to an entire nation.

The implications of this matter were great. It could affect this country’s stability.

As he thought about it, Zhao Zhi began to narrow his eyes. “Isn’t that what the other person might be trying to do?”

The crown prince blinked a few times, then realized what Zhao Zhi was saying. His gaze grew solemn. “If that’s the case…”

Then he could not take this matter lightly!

If it was just a scheme targeted at him, he could still endure it. He had to make sure he kept his reputation and his values. But if this was a scheme targeted at the country, then his reputation and all that could be sacrificed!

“A man has to stand tall and do everything with a clear conscience, don’t you agree?”

Zhao Zhi refilled his cup. “You’re right to say that! Besides, all I have are conjectures. Once we get enough evidence, the truth might not be as serious as we think.”

The crown prince stared at Zhao Zhi quietly.

This man had thick brows and the hairs on the ends seemed especially active as they grew at an angle, making him look like nothing could ever defeat him, no circumstances could ever overwhelm him. It was as though he was born this way, so he would not change and could not change.

It was just like Zhao Zhi’s personality. He had always been full of determination and drive. If he wanted something or wanted to do something, he would definitely go all out to accomplish it and never look back. He was as unwavering as a spear, as brave and fierce as a spear.

He was never lost and never wavered.

The crown prince suddenly broke into a bright smile. “I’m so glad to have you by my side.”

Now that the crown prince looked a lot more relaxed, Zhao Zhi felt less reserved as well. “I know your position is hard. On one hand, you have to keep the country safe, on the other hand, you have to keep the people happy. And in between, you can’t just be an ordinary person and have ordinary expectations of yourself. You’re torn between what to do in this matter, and you might find it a terrible situation, an awkward situation. But I think it’s a good thing.”

“Oh?” The crown prince stared at him. “In what way?”

Zhao Zhi lowered his gaze as he also lowered his voice, “Prioritizing the stability of your position and this country can be something that takes away your humanity. If you’re not feeling torn at all by this matter and you just make choices based on what’s good for the country, that would be a tragedy. Those who take on high positions are often in a lonely position. I don’t want you to end up with nobody by your side as you sit on this unapproachable throne and become that typical emperor we read about in history texts.”

The crown prince didn’t expect Zhao Zhi to advise him in this manner and was a little stunned at first. Then he smiled even more brightly and said, “That’s also because I have someone who knows me well by my side. With you as my mirror, I can see things more clearly and avoid making unnecessary mistakes. We are truly brothers in this difficult world.”

At the end, he put on a solemn expression and sat up straight as he looked straight at Zhao Zhi. “Time sometimes changes people. I just hope that even after much time passes, both of us are still the same as when we were younger, that both us will remember the sincere and honest way we can speak to one another. You and I may be emperor and subject, but more than that, we are close friends, we are brothers.”

Zhao Zhi also put on a serious look and sat properly as he raised the teacup in his hand and spoke more solemnly than ever before, “I believe that I will end up offending you many times in the future, so I hope Your Highness will be magnanimous and forgive me!”

After that, he knocked the cup of tea back as though it was strong wine.

The crown prince burst out laughing as he picked up his teacup with gusto and downed his cup as well.

If Zhao Zhi was willing to be an upright subject, he was willing to become his righteous emperor!

After they had both expressed their honest thoughts, they got back to the original topic. The crown prince took a moment to run through everything Zhao Zhi just told him and remembered something.

“Your mother, or basically, your aunt, had never tried to get close to me over the past 20 years, but she also never stopped both of us from becoming close friends. She seems to be on pretty good terms with Empress Chen, but she apparently was on even better terms with my biological mother.”

That was new to Zhao Zhi. “Empress Li?”

“That’s right,” the crown prince nodded. “My biological mother was a kind woman when she was alive and helped a lot of people. A very senior palace servant volunteered to serve me and mentioned before that your aunt and my mother knew each other even before they were married, and they were on very close terms.”

“In what way?”

The crown prince shook his head. “I’m not too sure about that. That senior servant passed away two years ago and I don’t have anyone else to ask, but I remembered him saying that.”

The emperor was devastated after the previous empress died not long after giving birth, so a lot of facts around that time became something nobody dared to mention and most of it had been kept hidden, so it would be difficult to find out more.

Now that the crown prince learned that Zhao Zhi had consumed Millet’s Dream and what happened after that, the crown prince also felt that there was more to the matter than it seemed.

“I think it’s time you sat down to speak with your aunt.”

Zhao Zhi rubbed his brows. “She has to agree to talk too.”

The crown prince teased him, “Why, our impressive Prince Ping can command tens of thousands of soldiers but he can’t even settle what’s going on at home?”

Zhao Zhi shrugged. “I’m sure you know how troublesome women can be.”

“I honestly have no idea, but Zhao Zhi, would you dare to…” the crown prince tilted his head slightly to glance toward the main gate of the Guans’, “repeat those words in front of that young lady?”

Zhao Zhi immediately begged for mercy, “Hey! Don’t get me into trouble!”

The crown prince burst out laughing.

Teasing Zhao Zhi about the love of his life lightened up the atmosphere in the room for a while before they got back on topic again.

The crown prince was next in line to the throne, so he knew what was going on in the palace better than anyone else. After sorting through what Zhao Zhi had told him, he pointed out a few possible leads.

One was an older eunuch named Li Qi. This eunuch worked within Empress Chen’s palace and while he didn’t hold a high rank or have much power, he seemed to be treated as someone fairly important. The crown prince had seen this eunuch several times in Empress Chen’s palace and had a deep impression of him for some reason. The habits and instincts ingrained in the crown prince over many years told him that this man was no ordinary person.

And so, he ordered someone to keep an eye on this eunuch, but nothing came of it. After some time, he turned his attention to other matters. But just about half a month ago, this eunuch disappeared and never appeared again. The crown prince got his men to investigate, but they couldn’t find anything. It was as though this man had disappeared into thin air.

That was very suspicious.

Also, most of the victims that Zhao Zhi mentioned in these serial cases were familiar names to him. When he thought carefully about all the officials that had been nominated and selected over the years, he noticed a pattern. Many of these people had once been mentored by Empress Chen’s father, Chen Pingkang. Chen Pingkang was the previous emperor’s Grand Chancellor and was now sick and bedridden.

Chen Pingkang was an old official who served three emperors and held great power and position. His scope had been very wide, so a lot of the current court officials were either his understudy before, or he had trained and recommended them at some point in time.

That was a very important detail.

Zhao Zhi knew that he’d find a commonality between all the people in these cases sooner or later, but this was not the commonality he had expected.

A Grand Chancellor would have come into contact with so many matters and so many people!

“The problem is…” the crown prince frowned, “Chen Pingkang is very old and ill now, and he hasn’t been able to get out of bed for an entire year now. I hear he’s not going to last much longer.”

Such a person, regardless of how much power and capability he possessed, could possibly have the physical energy to commit such crimes.

Zhao Zhi paused to think. “I’ll carry out an investigation.”

The crown prince nodded. “Also, someone would have to help to clean up the traces within the palace. It’s easy to get rid of a palace maid or a eunuch, but not an official. The main palace is very clearly separated from the harem and most officials are not allowed anywhere near the harem, but there is one exception.”

Zhao Zhi immediately knew the answer. “The Ministry of Rites.”

The Ministry of Rites had to oversee many matters that required them to speak to people within the palace. They had to speak to palace maids and eunuchs, and they had to be present at certain important events in order to make proper arrangements.

An event like the empress dying after giving birth to the crown prince, for example. The Ministry would have had to send an official over…

And these officials, while they weren’t special or particularly high ranking officials, it wouldn’t be easy to kill them without leaving any traces behind.

The crown prince added, “But it’s been many years, so a lot of the officials back then have either passed away or have been transferred to other places, so it will take a bit of effort to find them…”