Chapter 173: Sneak attack

Military camp Ningzhuo, Northern Wei.

Su Liya leaned back a little and mumbled, " The Crown Prince?" When the response she received was a raised brow from Lu Yaozhu, she continued. "Why are you spying on the Crown Prince, I thought you were friends?"

"So what if we are friends, don't friend also betray each other. My father and the Emperor were friends, yet that didn't stop him from abandoning my father. You can never trust anyone most of all a monarch. People change and not always for the best. I will never repeat my father's mistake"

Su Liya glanced at him, she saw the uncertainty in his eyes. It was obvious that while Lu Yaozhu tried to protect his family and the citizens. He held on to a little bit of hope that things won't sour between the Crown Prince and himself. Which was normal, it was proof that he was humane and not greedy for power. It would have been weird if he wasn't a little bit hurt by the idea, she placed her hands on his and rubbed her thumb gently on his knuckles.

"There is nothing wrong with planning, after all, people buy umbrellas in summer ahead of spring. Hopefully, we won't have to use this. I think the Crown Prince won't follow in his father's footsteps."

Lu Yaozhu smiled, he looked down at her hands, "your hand is a bit cold". He pulled his hands out from under his, grabbed her hand and brought it close to his lips. He blew warm air down on her hands in an attempt to warm her hands up.

"Yaozhu, do you have any idea who is behind the anonymous letter? Whoever it seems to hold a grudge against the Lu family. He or she claimed to have proof that would destroy us in the letter sent to Zhu Fenfang."

"How odd, Xie Feng reported that the crown prince has been looking into the events of the months leading to his mother's death. Xie Feng was killed during that assassination attempt on the Crown Prince so I will not be able to get an answer. Looks like I need to get a new spy but since his highness is still recovering and. I am stuck here. I need ti to wait to see the replacement for his old staff"

Su Liya nodded, "in the meantime, I will send word to Fengyin to have somewhat keep watch of the Zhu Fenfang. We can use her to discover the identity of the sender of that letter"

"Why not pray on the tension between the Crown Princess consort and Madam Zhu. It is still hidden but bringing it to light might help us. I have been seating on good gunpowder to ignite their fight".

"Now I am curious, what could make the two ladies openly attack each other."

Lu Yaozhu laughed softly, "before I tell you anything, you have to promise not to get angry"

"Get angry? Why would do that? It is not like I am in love with the Crown Prince! I am not that delusional, who doesn't know that marriage into the royal family is all roses and sunshine. The Imperial haram is a gilded cage that turns women into nothing short of Peacocks to be admired like animals on display at a Carnival".

Lu Yaozhu tilted his head to the side, " you seem to have really thought of that a lot?"

"Well can you blame me! Try listening to noblewomen talk about the Imperial haram like it was heaven on earth. I was forced to endure that crap during all the banquets I attended. Instead of marrying into the imperial Haram, I prefer to marry a normal man like you. Who doesn't have an ever-growing Haram, no woman liked to share her man"

"Few young ladies are as insightful as you are, most people just see the glamour and not the pain the women in the Imperial haram experience. I grew up in the haram so I saw it first hand, I would never put the woman I love through that torture".

"Since we are both clear on that, why don't you tell me your plan. Oh, wise one" Su Liya said.

Lu Yaozhu grinned, "I hope you will still be in a good mood when I am done speaking"

Su Liya quickly narrowed her eyes on him which he found rather amusing. His lips twitched but he kept a straight face, "I suspect that Xia Ying egged Zhu Fenfang on to start the rumours about the wedding night between the Crown Princess consort and his highness so using that to put a wedge between them is not going to be effective. I am thinking of maybe letting Xia Ying find out about Zhu Fenfang's involvement in the scandal that got us married_"

"No, please! I just got those two to stop targeting me and focus on each other and I would like to keep it that way. The moment she finds out about that, I will once again become a target. Since she is suspicious of Zhu fenfang, we can just make use of that. Let Fenfang find out that she was manipulated, based on her temperament. She would go all out and since that the Crown Prince would be recuperating in the palace with only Xia Ying to keep him company. Zhu Fenfang would be livid".

Lu Yaozhu raised a brow in seeing the sudden spark in her eyes, "then I will leave it for you to handle".

***********

Four days later, the Emperor's audience hall, the Imperial Palace.

Zhongshan Ling leaned by the bed frame, eyes closed, today was the fourth day since he woke up from the five days comma he had fallen into after the amputation. The first two days had been full of anguish for him, he had openly shown his discontent at his current conditions. He found out about the amputation a few hours after he woke up. 

Everyone tried so had to keep him from finding out that he was missing a body part and for some hours they succeeded. They didn't count on him wanting to go to the outer house, late in the evening. He nearly fell on his face when he brought his right leg down from the bed, Zhongshan Ling sat up on the bed and tried to stand only to find nothing holding his right leg up.

He fell forward, knocking the next to the bedside table containing his medicine over. The noise drew the outside maids over, Zhongshan Ling stretched out his hand silently to wedge his fall. The maids and guards outside rushed in as he was a short distance away from the ground. Everyone's eyes fell on his bandaged right legs, a smart guard noticed his uneven leg and rushed forward. 

He held Zhongshan Ling up before his hands hit the ground and he injured himself harder. A make immediately ran out to report the situation to Xia Ying and the Empress. It cause some disturbance in the palace, as the Empress and Xia Ying ran other from the other side of the Palace. Before long news of the amputation was spread throughout the capital.

Many rumours began to spread concerning the Crown Prince's injury, it was rumoured that the Crown Prince got injured on his way back to the watchtower from visiting a brothel. While some rumoured that he was deserting the other soldiers out of fear. The fact that he was found many miles away from the watchtower did not help put him in a good light but just fueled the rumours. 

Soon the citizens grew dissatisfied with his performance, the rumours were also spread within the palace. Zhongshan Ling had a very difficult time adjusting to his new reality and the exaggerated rumours did nothing to help improve his mood.

The more rumours came up the worse his mood got, his appetite gradually reduced and he began to talk less. Xia Ying got worried as she noticed the change in his attitude, she suspected that he was not taking the change properly. She would catch him looking in a distance most time. When he wasn't doing that, she would see him look down.at his right foot. 

Although covered by a blanket Zhongshan Ling couldn't help but glance longingly at the spot where his foot once was. He sometimes felt like they were still there but when he complained to the imperial doctors they informed him that it was normal to feel that way after losing a limb. They assured him that it would stop after some time.

For the past four days, Zhongshan Ling had been under personalised bedrest. He tried to avoid meeting people as much as he could to avoid receiving pitiful looks from people. He didn't want their pity either did he want them to see him in his present condition. That would just fuel the gossip mill further, he wanted to wait until he felt up to meeting anyone.

He underwent frequent check-up around the clock from the imperial doctors. They monitored his progress to make sure that the injury at his angle was healing properly and didn't get infected. 

While Zhongshan Ling recuperated, at court a lot of ministers submitted requests for the Emperor to dethrone him.