Chapter 214 - The Appointment

Prince Wu's mansion, the main courtyard.

Su Liya pushed the half-eaten bowl of porridge aside and sat straight, she had lost the appetite to eat and was just concerned about how to help Lu Yaozhu get out of this mess. While she understood the reasoning behind Lu Yaozhu's decision to help the Crown Prince get out of this mess. Su Liya couldn't ignore her knowledge of the plot, although there gave been various changes and differences pointing to the uniqueness of this world.

She wasn't confident in the Crown Prince strained relationship with the Empress these past few weeks. So far his highness seemed to have raised a shield around himself and his activities. Playing it down as it being because he was closer to the Duke compared to Lu Yaozhu seemed too far fetched to her. She never forgot her fathers warning before he left, the Crown Prince had changed and it in a positive way.

"isn't Ning Boran the man in charge of investigating the Crown Prince's case? Things just took a turn for the worse, since you want to look into the Crown Prince actions. You must suspect his involvement in this, I don't think discrediting the witnesses will cut it. His highness just created human-sized evidence, he is done for"

Lu Yaozhu frowned, "I need to speak to my brother before making any moves" he held her hands gently in his and smiled, "I understand how you feel and why you are thinking this way but I want to believe that brother Ling hasn't changed and is still the brother I know. If he killed Ning Boran then he must have done so far a reason. I have to trust his decision" l, he rubbed her knuckles gently before he stood to leave.

He was a few steps away from the door, when Su Liya said, "I know that you choose to believe in him and honesty, I admire you for that, you are a very good friend. However, what I am about to say might make you doubt him and wisely so but I cannot let you go on without airing my suspicions. If you don't want me to say anything about that, I can keep quiet and keep it to myself. The Choice is yours," she said rolling the jade ring on her left fingers.

He turned away from the shut door and glance at her, his hand still resting on the door handle. His heart soften as he saw her troubled eyes, he pulled his hand out of the door and walked back to his seat. "Tell me," they both exchanged gazes as he continued, "you wouldn't bring it up if you didn't think it was important. What is it?"

She looked away from him, sighed and eyes locked on the door ahead replied, "on the day of the fire at Yu'an temple a few weeks ago, the Crown Prince visited the temple and asked to speak with the abbot. You must be aware of Fengyin's involvement in the management of that temple. His Highness didn't start the fire, it was caused by one of Zhu Fengyin's guards that had betrayed her.

"That is a story for another day, however, according to the former abbot, his highness called him into a private prayer room and questioned him about Fengyin and the Lu family. The sudden closeness between his highness and the Tong family was suspicious. I needed to keep watch of the chatter between those two camps. Hence, I asked Rong Rong to look into what his highness and the Tong families actions.

"Although there were no detrimental actions between the two made against our Lu Family. Rong Rong reported that his highness and the Tong family has been investigating our dealings and asking about us. It has been subdued since they are pretending to do so because they had plans of forming a union through Yiling's future marriage but the questions they ask have nothing to do with marriage.

"It might be in our best interest to re-evaluate our relationship with his Highness before we make a dangerous mistake. You said so yourself that his Majesty and your father started as friends before their relationship was destroyed. His highness although the best choice out of the other princes might not be the best for us".

Lu Yaozhu was silent for seconds, Su Liya glanced at him and looked away. Lu Yaozhu wasn't very easy to read and while she was worried about what he thought about what she had said. She felt a lot better after she had aired put her opinion, even if he chose to do nothing by saying these things she had planted a few seeds of doubt in his mind. Lu Yaozhu wouldn't just believe everything the Crown Prince said and his guard would be raised.

Meanwhile, within Lu Yaozhu. He struggled to accept what his wife said, not because he fully trusted the Crown Prince but because it legitimised his second thoughts and suspicion. He wasn't ready to face these thoughts because it would mean going against his brother. He had grown up beside the Crown Prince, although they weren't so close as they were growing up. He couldn't ignore the bond they shared.

In the end, Lu Yaozhu chose to take the first step and look into the Crown Prince activities before deciding because he hoped that Zhongshan Ling would not prove him right. He stood and gazed down at Su Liya before leaving. He was a short distance away from the main courtyard when the Steward reported that he had been called into the palace.

*******************

At Chen Yao's room the Crown Prince's residence.

Zhongshan Ling sat by the brass standing mirror hand spread out while a servant put his hands through the wide sleeve of the purple official royal robes. His expression was icy, although he had gotten somewhat adjusted to the change in dynamics. He couldn't help but feel disheartened every time he did things as small as dressing, it was maddening that he couldn't even do that for himself. 

Although he didn't normally do it himself before his accident, he felt hurt as the memory of himself standing proudly while the servants got him ready for court. He frowned as a met kicked over a tray of warm water spilling the content on one end of his robe. Eunuch Lan the Crown Prince's personal eunuch immediately noticed the young Prince's impending loss of temper and jumped into anger management and situation control. He scolded the maid and send the maid away before instructing two other maids to clean up the mess.

Zhongshan Ling noticed his sneaky actions but pretended not to, he didn't want to dwell on such irritating events. He shrugged the wet robe off his shoulders and in a cold tone instructed, "get another one".

"Yes," Eunuch Lan replied, glancing at the mid-rank Eunuch following him behind. The eunuch rushed to the main courtyard immediately and pulled out a fresh set of clothes before returning to the room. Minutes later Zhongshan Ling was dressed in another purple royal robe, he picked up his cane which was left beside the mirror and stood. Using the wooden cane as support, he stood and limped to the bedroom door.

He paused briefly as his eyes fell on the porcelain bowl at the side of Chen Yao's bedroom. At this point, Chen Yao who had woken up a short while ago and was seated at her dressing mirror noticed the Crown Prince sudden stop. She followed his gaze to the porcelain bowl, smiled and said, "does your highness like the bowl, it is a beautiful work of art, isn't it. Who knew senior Concubine Zhu had such a treasure. Well, it is now mine, not everyone can treasure unique treasures like this. The senior concubine must not be used to such things given her low status of birth. It is truly a work of art".

Zhongshan Ling's free hand clenched at his side as he heard the word "low born status". However, there wasn't any change in his expression. He just glanced at the foolish girl in front of the dressing mirror and asked, "you are right, not everyone can identify good art if you like it so much them enjoy it. At least you have it to keep you company when I am gone". He smiled and left the hall.

The smile fell off his face as he walked towards his gate, he had forgone his wheelchair in anger. Eunuch Lan who always followed him sighed in his mind, he didn't understand how this new concubine was too stupid to understand that her words had struck a nerve. "Although the senior concubine was a crafty woman, eunuch Lan preferred her to this new concubine who was too dumb to read social cues. 

"Who doesn't know that the Crown Prince had struggled with being insulted for being of low birth because his mother was a low-level concubine from a small clan already in decline? All his life he struggled to get out of the mould placed on him by society.. Calling someone Low born just because she was born of a concubine was a low belt insult and that new concubine is about to find out how disastrous his highness's temper was", eunuch Lan thought shaking his head.