Chapter 60: CH 51

All of a sudden, the pupils of Zhong Wan, who hadn’t been “cared for” for many years, dilated.

In the past, he had experienced being pampered and indulged. When Prince Ning and Princess Consort Ning had still been alive, Zhong Wan was treated like a young master in a Prince of the First Rank’s estate, as precious and respected as the heir. 

Prince Ning was a gentle person and showered him with affection. He was never a strict father with him. No matter how naughty Zhong Wan and Lin Si had been, he did not grow mad. Princess Consort Ning treated Zhong Wan like he was her first-born son, pampering him immensely, giving him whatever he wanted.

But these memories were starting to grow fuzzy. Whenever he recalled them, he could no longer remember the details vividly. As if these memories were from a previous life.

Ever since Prince Ning had left the world, whenever he was mentioned by chance, Zhong Wan never referred to him as “father” again.

He chose this path himself. Ever since the prince estate had suffered a mishap, Zhong Wan no longer wanted to love himself. 

There was always a sense of unfamiliarity with everything. After experiencing much suffering for many years, he had long since forgotten how it felt to be cared for dearly. Now that this had occurred out of the blue, a trace of helplessness flashed in his heart.

In Yu She’s perspective, it were as if a sword had stabbed into his heart.

Somewhat helplessly, Zhong Wan shifted his gaze to Yu She. He said out of reflex, “The emperor isn’t foolish. If you forcibly try to take my case, you… Wouldn’t you be punished? Or did you promise the emperor something?”

Yu She thought, look, this person is starting to worry about me again.

How could this person turn over a new leaf and become such a lonely figure?

Zhong Wan had guessed correctly. There was always a give and take for everything. Since Yu She had stubbornly insisted to protect Zhong Wan, he naturally must show Emperor Chongan some sincerity.

After morning court, Yu She had stayed behind to haggle with Emperor Chongan.

Regarding today’s matter, it was obvious that someone borrowed Xuan Qiong to add chaos. What Emperor Chongan disliked the most was when others manipulated the imperial princes. For this reason, when Yu She was stubbornly insisting to help Zhong Wan, Emperor Chongan relented. It wasn’t only because he was spoiling Yu She; he also wanted this deep pool of muddy water to clear, so that he could discern who was stirring up trouble. 

But since Emperor Chongan let go of this opportunity to demote Prince Qian An, he would definitely find compensation.

For example, henceforth Yu She must attend every morning court.

Furthermore, he must not push his responsibilities and duties onto his two subordinates. What government affairs he ought to participate in, he must participate in.

Another example was that after this case was settled, he must enter house arrest, reflecting on his wrongdoing for five days. So as to shut the mouths of the imperial censors. 

Yu She looked down, avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial. “He wants me to stay home and reflect a few days… No problem. I’m already used to it.”

Zhong Wan did not believe at all it was this simple. However, Yu She did not elaborate any further.

“If something like this happens again… it’s better if you tell me in advance.” Yu She stared at the “evidence” that was burning before his eyes. “Today I was in a good mood so I went to morning court. What if I hadn’t gone?”

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From start to finish, Zhong Wan never thought to ask him for help.

Images of Xuan Qiong torturing Zhong Wan flashed over and over in his mind. His eyes grew slightly bloodshot. He didn’t want to take his anger out on Zhong Wan, so he closed his eyes and changed the topic. “Do you have money?”

Zhong Wan was startled. Still in a daze, he said, “What… money?” 

Yu She frowned. Said coldly, “Do you think the Dali Temple is a place where you can just walk in and out of?! You should be happy that I’m not pressing you for the other stuff. Aren’t you going to return all the bribes?”

“H-how much?”

Yu She picked up the documents his assistants had handed him recently. Glanced at it. “3,400 silver ingots. The faster you can hand it over… the faster you can leave.”

As Yu She lowered his head to read the document again, he kneaded the region between his brows. 

Earlier, he and Shi Hong, that fool who did not know he had been manipulated, argued for a good while during morning court. Then he negotiated with Emperor Chongan for a long time. Yu She’s mind was a chaotic mess. If he weren’t afraid of problems arising, he would do something to calm down first. Right now, all he could see was the image of all those people tormenting Zhong Wan, giving him a splitting headache. At present, he wanted to settle this matter as soon as possible so that Zhong Wan can quickly leave. So as to avoid his own craziness from flaring up, causing him to strangle Zhong Wan to death in a fit of rage.

It was so difficult to protect this person. If he died because of Yu She’s madness, then wouldn’t it be such a waste?

Restless, Yu She flipped to another page, no longer looking at Zhong Wan.

Zhong Wan’s gaze fell upon Yu She, many different emotions mixing in his heart. 

More than 3,000 silver ingots wasn’t a small sum. But Prince Qian An’s estate could still gather it.

Xuan Congxin was managing the ledger currently. If he had someone inform her of this, even if they didn’t have all the money right now, she could pawn off some jewelry. And that should be enough.

Once the money was here, he could leave.

Would the plot Tang Ming had planned for many days be settled in a blink of an eye? 

In at most four hours, he would return home. Continue to wrack his brains for Xuan Rui. Continue to help Prince Qian An’s estate.

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Zhong Wan looked at Yu She’s profile. Exhaustion filled his heart. For so many years, this was the first time Zhong Wan wanted to “love” himself.

“I…” said Zhong Wan softly. “Don’t have money.”

Yu She raised his head to glance at Zhong Wan. His eyes were completely bloodshot. He had been right in the middle of trying his best to suppress his wild fantasies, and seemed to not have heard him clearly. At a loss, he asked, “What did you say?” 

Zhong Wan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I don’t have money. I can’t pay this off.”

In a daze, Yu She looked at Zhong Wan. It was evident he had not foreseen this. The plan he had so thoroughly prepared was blocked at this step.

All of a sudden, he fell into a rage. “I didn’t even give you a big punishment! It’s just over 3,000 silver ingots. How are you unable to pay this back?”

Zhong Wan shamelessly shook his head. “I can’t return it.” 

The head of the Dali Temple froze in place. He had had this position for three years, and this was the first time he ever saw an official who committed a crime refuse to pay back what he had taken.

Was money more important to him than his life?

Suddenly hit with such an unforeseen event, Yu She found his brain buzzing. He summoned a lot of effort not to hit Zhong Wan.

During his childhood, the older female servants who had attended to Yu She had warned him many times that men who hit their lovers were the worst kind of people. No matter what those lovers did wrong, men must never hit them. 

And Yu She had kept these words to heart.

No matter how angry he was, he must not hit him…

Yu She’s hands trembled a hint. He forced himself to say, “I don’t care. No matter what your estate has to do, you must return the money…”

Zhong Wan coughed. “When Xuan Rui left, he brought all the things he had been bestowed, and… almost all the things worth money, and almost all the money away with him. We really don’t have much money left here.” 

For a moment, Yu She did not respond. Unexpectedly, Zhong Wan got him so angry that he became a little worried. “Then what’s to be done?!”

Zhong Wan closed his eyes. “Then… do I need to stay here for now?”

Yu She was speechless.

“Guiyuan,” said Yu She with much difficulty. “I’m not angry but I’ll be honest with you. Because of you, I quarreled with Shi Hong during morning court, quarreled with the Imperial Censorate, quarreled with Xuan Qiong… And now, I’m pretty sure Princess Royal and the whole imperial harem knows about this. That for you, I threw a huge fuss during morning court for the first time. Now, you can’t settle this case since you don’t have money. Can you guess what those people would think about me?” 

Fuming with rage through gritted teeth, Yu She said, “After court was dismissed, I made a solemn vow to this idiot Xuan Qiong! That if I’m unable to bring you out of Dali Temple safe and sound, I’d give him my position as head of the Dali Temple! You… I don’t care. I’ll give you six hours to get someone here. I don’t care who you look for, an old acquaintance or a relative. You must have the money by then…”

Zhong Wan gasped. Why would Yu She promise something he couldn’t do?!

Zhong Wan hesitated before approaching two steps. Furious, Yu She shouted, “Don’t come over! There’s no room for negotiations here! Don’t be too excessive! Everyone in the capital is watching this case closely. Or are you saying I should not care about my reputation?!”

“You should, you should, you should…” Then Zhong Wan said in an extremely dry manner, “But it’s true that I don’t have any money. As for old acquaintances and so forth… Human relationships are fickle and superficial…” 

The fire of Yu She’s rage burned even brighter. “Then what should we do?! W-what about your jade medallions? Fans? Go pawn them off! And the calligraphy and paintings Shi Jin set aside for you. Exchange them for money…”

“They’re not worth much, less than a few silver ingots. It won’t be enough.” Zhong Wan had implied for a good while. He could only straightforwardly say, “Heir, how about… you lend money to me?”

For the first time, the head of the Dali Temple was relied on unreasonably by an official who had committed a crime. For a moment, he could not react.

In a soft voice, Zhong Wan said, “I don’t have anything. I’ll just make do and… hand myself over to you as a deposit? 

Not a word left Yu She’s lips for a moment. Then, Yu She was so mad, his voice trembled as he said, “Stop. Thinking. Absurd. Things.”

The side courtyard of Prince Yu’s estate.

The abacus clattered in Steward Feng’s hands as he bookkept the accounts and taught the lower-ranked stewards.

“What’s the most important thing here? It’s Heir!” Just a moment ago, Steward Feng had achieved much with little effort, sending away the steward who came from Fifth Prince estate to cause trouble. Taking advantage of the fact that that matter was still fresh, he lectured the other stewards. “Today, there’s an eighty percent chance that Heir and Fifth Prince quarreled again. Just now, a steward from Fifth Prince’s estate came here to say that Her Highness Imperial Consort Yu fell ill from anger for some reason. Her heart is in pain and needs old ginseng. Our main courtyard doesn’t have any that are of good quality, so they came to our side courtyard to request some. They even said to take out a ginseng from our storage that is in the shape of a human. If this happens what should you do?” 

The low-ranked steward said foolishly, “What should we do?”

“You must say no!” said Steward Feng impatiently. “Her Highness Imperial Consort Yu has an important body, but does that mean our Heir’s body isn’t important?! If there comes a day when Heir is seriously ill, and he needs to use an old ginseng, then what?”

The low-ranked steward asked, “How did Her Highness Imperial Consort Yu fall ill?”

Steward Feng waved. “Who knows? They say it was due to anger… It has nothing to do with us. Anyway, let’s continue. What’s the second most important thing in our estate?” 

Steward Feng smacked the ledger. “The ledger!”

The moment he had finished speaking, a family soldier who always stayed by Yu She’s side rushed in. He said, “Heir needs money.”

Steward Feng was shocked. “Didn’t he go to morning court today? Why does he need more money? How much does he need?”

The family soldier cupped his hands. “Not much. 3,400 silver ingots.”

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