CH 17

T/n: Qi Nanke’s birth name is Zifeng. It was mentioned once in chapter 15, but I missed it…

When the little prince woke up again, a few days had already passed.

He lay in a large carriage laid with thick beddings, very soft and comfortable to sleep in. The carriage’s interior was lit with soothing incense. Various food and medicine boxes spread out on the small table next to his feet.

Du Ci could hear the sound of carriage wheels rolling outside, as well as Douding and the coachman’s chatter. Everything that happened before he fell unconscious seemed like a dream.

“Douding…” He called out hoarsely. 

“Young Master!” Douding immediately popped in and exclaimed with joy, “You’re awake! That’s great!”

Douding climbed over to check his temperature. Seeing that the fever had subsided, he sighed with relief and poured out some medicine from a pot, “Quick, the doctor said you must drink this as soon as you wake up!”

With much difficulty, Du Ci sat up with Douding’s help. He drank the extremely bitter medicine sip by sip. It was so terrible he almost choked to death.

After finished drinking the medicine, Douding stuffed a plum in his mouth. This time, it was extremely sour, Du Ci’s face instantly transformed into a wrinkly old bark.

He hissed through his teeth, “You… are you trying to kill me?!”

Douding hurriedly shook his head, “This is from General Qi. He was concerned that you couldn’t handle the bitter medicine, so he bought these for you!”

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The next day, Emperor Yuangong received a secret report, included inside was the proof of the Crown Prince’s collusion with Shu Shi for rebellion. The Emperor was furious. He secretly imprisoned the Crown Prince and blocked the news from leaking outside. At the same time, magistrate Kong and the barbarian wearing silver earring were also found by Vice general Xu and Vice general Zhou and were locked up in secret. A large number of exchanged letters and gifts connecting to the Crown Prince and Shu Shi’s Third Prince was found in magistrate Kong’s private house. The evidence was conclusive.

“The general is waiting for the imperial decree and token to arrive. After receiving them, he will be able to borrow soldiers from the nearby fort and county. Together with the main force who will soon arrive on their way back, they can surround the hideout, roundup evidence and witnesses, and send them to Royal City.” Douding said, “The general was worried you would suffer if you stayed there, so he asked this servant to escort you back to the Royal City first.”

Before leaving, Qi Nanke wrote a long letter and stuffed it into Du Ci’s sleeve. He instructed Douding to take good care of Du Ci and also found a doctor to follow the carriage. 

Douding remarked, “This matter is finally coming to an end! If young master guesses correctly, Goujiu will help General Qi to suppress the prince’s faction, rendering them powerless and unable to overturn the situation. The Qi family will definitely be grateful to you, then later on, even if you still stay in Dasheng, there will be no danger.”

Du Ci washed his mouth with small sips of tea. After hearing this, he said, “Qi Nanke is not stupid, how do you think the emperor got the secret report? Back then, Qi Nanke sent two eagles, one to your group, the other to Royal City, probably to find his second brother who’s a small official in the Ministry of Personnels.”

The descendants of Qi’s family are very competent, almost everyone has some fame and offical positions. Qi Nanke’s second younger brother works in the Ministry of Personnels. When he received the message that the Qi family must temporarily side with Goujiu if they wanted to live, he found a way to reveal the Crown Prince’s matter to Goujiu. Grabbing this as an opportunity to overthrow the Crown Prince, Goujiu brough it up to the emperor.

After that, with people’s interlocking interests, one thing leads to another, like cogwheels moving in a chain, Du Ci no longer had to pay any mind to it. 

Douding spoke excitedly, “Young Master! I never thought that General Qi was that big man! You two are really fated! I saw that General Qi was very worried about you. He must also like you!”

Du Ci smirked, “With that bear-like appearance, this young master willing to like him is already giving him a lot of face!”

Douding smiled and remained silent, thinking to himself: What is the little prince putting up a front for? When you were delirious from the fever, you kept calling General Qi’s name. Zifeng, Zifeng…it sounds so sappy!

When General Qi carried the little prince into the carriage and asked them to return to the Royal City first, the unconscious little prince grabbed onto General Qi tightly and wouldn’t let go! 

Then Douding wondered: But… after General Qi chased me out, what did he say to the little prince in the carriage and manage to coax him to let go?

In any case, Douding was very happy. The plan was about to complete, only the last step was left.

Douding thought ran around, then his smile slowly faded. He looked worried, “Your Highness, do you really want to go back? Dasheng is much safer than Shu Shi right now.”

Du Ci also withdrew his smile and looked out the window. He spoke up again after a long moment, “Eldest brother was thrown into the prison by Third brother, his life and death is unclear. Other brothers are all cowardly and timid, they’re of no use. Even without Dasheng’s Crown Prince help, Third brother will still be able to sit on the throne sooner or later. Once he obtained that position, if this prince doesn’t go back, what will mother do?” 

Douding lowered his eyes and nodded, “Yes, there’s also this lowly servant’s mother… I wonder how the lady and my mother are doing?”

Du Ci rubbed Douding’s hair, “This prince is here. I will go back and save them.”

Douding rubbed his eyes, heart felt a little sore.

Du Ci knew Emperor Yuangong very well. After all, it was the Crown Prince they were dealing with. Even if the evidence was conclusive, it would take some time to close the case. But Du Ci couldn’t afford to wait. 

If the Third Prince lost contact with the Crown Prince’s party for too long, he would grow suspicious. Therefore, on the first night Du Ci returned to the Royal City with the injury, he went directly to the emperor’s study and begged for himself to return to Shu Shi, in order to quell the internal strife and give Dasheng an explanation.

The long letter Qi Nanke left with Du Ci was to exonerate Du Ci from being charged with leaving the Royal City without permission. It mentioned that the Crown Prince and magistrate Kong had been exchanging letters and also explained, Du Ci knew he was returning soon, but the city was crawled with the Crown Prince’s people, and for fear of startling the snake in the grass, Du Ci couldn’t waited until he arrived at the city to get in contact and had to sneak out to meet him, so on and so forth. In short, Du Ci had some contribution in this matter, and he was whole-heartedly thinking about Dasheng. In addition, not only Qi Nanke didn’t say a word about refusing the engagement in letter, every sentence showed signs of protectiveness. It could be seen as a tacit firm agreement to the marriage.

Emperor Yuangong patiently listened to Du Ci’s teary and sobby explanation. He said pitifully, “Begging the emperor to forgive this minister’s sin. This minister’s mother is still in the Shu Shi. Even now, her life or death is unknown. This minister was really forced. I thought until my head almost went bald and finally figured that, since the people in the city were not trustworthy, I should find people outside the city!”

The emperor snorted coldly. He put the long letter down and looked at the little prince in the flickering candle’s light: “It’s easy for you to say! What if the act of you sneaking out already startled the snake? You, how many have I told you that you should study more? Stop hanging around those good for nothing people. You probably heard too many silly stories in the teahouse!” 

Du Ci hurriedly knelt down in a panic, pretending to be innocent and ignorant. With eyes full of fear, he kowtowed: “Your Majesty, please calm your anger! This minister, this minister knows his wrongs.”

The emperor narrowed his eyes and reevaluated the little prince who he had always thought to be gentle and harmless, “Could he have planned this whole thing and acted on it? Or was he really forced to act as a last resort?”

But thinking about it carefully, there were many unpredictable factors. If the little prince wasn’t careful, he could have lost his life. Maybe he wasn’t someone who could think things through and plan ahead after all. Looking at it this way, and seeing Qi Nanke’s protective intentions, the emperor thought he might have been wrong.

It turned out that these two had been in mutual love for a long time. If so, Du Ci hurried to Qi Nanke for help when he learned of his sweetheart’s return would make sense. 

“Alright, since you also have a loyal heart and filial piety, I will take your merit into account this time.” The emperor glanced at another letter, handwritten by the Crown Prince, and knitted his brows, hating that iron cannot become steel, “If only my disappointing son could learn a bit from you…but nevermind.”

The emperor furrowed his eyebrows in weariness and said, “Now is indeed the best time for you to go back. I will also send someone to protect you.” Sending a person who’s dedicated to Dasheng and knows Shu Shi well back is more useful than keeping them in Dasheng.

Du Ci immediately expressed gratitude, “Thanking Your Majesty!”

Emperor Yuangong stared at him, then tentatively spoke, “But if you return to the Shu Shi, then what will Zifeng do?” 

Du Ci smiled shyly, “I will wait. I’ll be waiting for him to come marry me with three letters and six ceremonies, and use an eight-man-carried large sedan to bring me back.”

Emperor Yuangong: “…”