Chapter 56 - Qi Jiulu

Qi Jiulu was 18 years old, as young as Gongxiang Xiao. He was gorgeous and handsome, and his thin face looked like it was carved perfectly. Maybe because he was born in the north where most people were strong, he was half a head taller than Gongxiang Xiao. Although he was dressed as a scholar, it was easy to see his tall and strong figure.

After entering the room, he saluted with his hands folded in front. Seeing Gongxiang Xiao waving his hand, he tilted his robe and took a seat laconically.

As he sat down, he smiled, “How is it going? She only agreed to see me because you mentioned her sister, right?”

“Not only that.” Gongxiang Xiao looked weird, “She even suggested I should kill you!”

Finishing the words, he held the tea bowl and blew the floated tea fragments, waiting to see how upset Qi Jiulu would be.

However, Qi Jiulu was not surprised, saying, “That is her temper indeed. Fortunately, it was you who visited her. If it were me, I’m afraid that she would use a knife to kill me directly.”

“…” Gongxiang Xiao was speechless for a moment as he held the tea bowl. He wanted to ask Qi Jiulu why he was so single-minded. Yun Fenghuang was aggressive and now became a concubine. She was a little beautiful, but Qi Jiulu was the Zongzi of a big clan in his hometown, and was recognized as an outstanding young talent after arriving in Dijing City. He was even living in Lai Cui Building just because he had a glowing talk with Prince Regent. It was promising that he could find a better mate.

Wait, Qi Jiulu’s wife also came to Dijing City. Though Gongxiang Xiao had never seen Ms. Chao, he heard that she was elegant and beautiful, no worse than the noble girls in Dijing City.

Did this man suffer from mental disorder…?

But he made so much efforts to recruit Qi Jiulu for his own use. Not only because Qi’s Family was rich and had a wide range of contacts in the north, but because Qi Jiulu himself, was excellent both in literature and military strategies. Gongxiang Xiao’s grandparents had told him repeatedly that he should respect people who could support him and welcome them… Considering that talents always had special habits, Gongxiang Xiao thought that he’d better not care about such inessential things.

The Emperor, his elder tribe brother, also favored Ms. Yuan so much… Well, maybe this was the way that one treated his childhood sweetheart?

Gongxiang Xiao secretly rejoiced that he didn’t have such an intended wife who was betrothed to him when they were still in wombs and grew up together with him. Otherwise, he would be controlled by the girl, just like Qi Jiulu and the Emperor.

“Why do you still want to see her?” Gongxiang Xiao thought for a while and then asked confusedly, “Today, Gui Ren Yun didn’t take a knife because she didn’t know the thing previously, but next time she may indeed take something like that…”

Qi Jiulu said calmly, “I have been skilled at archery and horsemanship since I was a child. Although she has learned some skills from her father and brothers at home, she is weaker than men. Furthermore, she was afraid of being hurt and refused to practice too hard. So, she is unable to really hurt me. Please rest assured!”

Gongxiang Xiao thought to himself, “The reason why you practiced archery and horsemanship is to protect yourself when being hurt by your then fiancée? Have you ever thought that you can actually choose a fiancée who will not use a knife to cut you?”

Gongxiang Xiao drank tea silently to cover his inner ups and downs. Gongxiang Ji, the baseborn son of Princedom Fuyang, became the emperor luckily. Qi Jiulu was less noble than Gongxiang Xiao himself, but he was at least the Zongzi of his clan and no one could threaten his status. Why did him, the eldest legitimate son of the Prince Regent’s first wife, live such a tough life?

Was it because he was and would not be afraid of his future wife?

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but laugh, feeling that he was so worried these days that he almost tried every way to solve his problem.

He calmed down gradually and then talked about the proper business, “Gui Ren Yun said that why she suggested Jie Yu Yue to recruit Mr. Lingshan was for my sake.”

“She was talking nonsense.” Qi Jiulu immediately shook his head, “I guess it is because the warning you made before frightened her, so she wanted to put pressure on you through what would happen to Mr. Lingshan. She wanted to feel out your deadline… After all, she has no one to rely on. She cooperates with the Empress, but it is too early to trust the Empress. Besides, she has few human power, material and financial resources. Therefore, she grasped this opportunity to undermine you.”

Gongxiang Xiao agreed slightly, sighing, “I am confused about whether you love her or hate her…”

If Qi Jiulu hated her, he came to Dijing City with his newly-married wife for seeing his former fiancée again. Considering the hard journey of thousands of miles, one couldn’t deny his absolute deep feelings for Yun Fenghuang.

If he loved her… He now betrayed her without any hesitation…

Gongxiang Xiao thought consciously that he was not stupid, but he was still young and had never fallen in love. So, he really couldn’t understand the relationship between the two.

Well, there was also a possibility that Qi Jiulu deliberately said so to gain his trust?

Thinking of this, he hid his true feelings, saying, “Then what should I do?”

“She made this arrangement to inform the Empress by taking use of Xi Le. It can be seen that even if she had the intention to embarrass you, she still told part of the truth.” Qi Jiulu said quietly, “So, the Empress will take actions to frame Mr. Lingshan in a few days. At that time, we can act according to the situation. Maybe what His Lord plotted will benefit you finally.”

Gongxiang Xiao said hesitantly, “You mean making Mr. Lingshan my supporter? But it… it is not easy, right?”

In fact, he wanted to say how was it possible?

Mr. Lingshan now lived in the guest yard of the Prince Regent’s Mansion, but he was invited by the Prince Regent as the tutor of his half-brother Gongxiang Zhen. Among the four masters of the Mansion, Gongxiang Xiao himself was the most irrelevant one with Mr. Lingshan.

He didn’t feel that he had any advantage to attract Mr. Lingshan.

He had nothing to be compared with the Prince Regent, even with Gongxiang Zhen who was only 6. At least Gongxiang Zhen got the support of his mother, the Step Princess, and the Marquess Qingping’s Mansion was behind him… Gongxiang Xiao, however, had nothing except his title of Shizi.

All his life, even his wealth and security relied on the Mansion.

“Why do you think Mr. Lingshan finally chose to support Prince Regent after he lived in seclusion for many years?” Hearing that, Qi Jiulu just smiled and then asked.

Gongxiang Xiao said, “He must think highly of my father.”

Although he was the Shizi of the Mansion, due to the tireless sowing division and suppression of Ms. Lu, he became more and more estranged from his father in recent years. Therefore, he was not very clear about how much power Prince Regent now had.

However, Gongxiang Xiao was very sure that his uncle, the late Emperor Xiaozong, did want his father to take the throne!

Even the abdication edict was written. but under the intervention of Ji’s Family, it was torn up in the face of Xiaozong…

After that, the thing related to Huang Tai Di was no longer mentioned, but Xiaozong still bear great pressure to give the Prince Regent everything except the throne.

For example, the Imperial City Division that had attracted Ji’s Family until now.

Emperor Chunjia, who was insistently supported by Ji’s Family, was still a puppet now. For this, the Prince Regent, who was still in his prime, wouldn’t have been idle all those years, so the power currently possessed by the Mansion must be very impressive… Otherwise, how could Mr. Lingshan be attracted?

“It sounds haft-right.” Qi Jiulu clapped and smiled, “You are noble and His Lord is in his prime years, so you need to be responsible for nothing. For this, you can’t understand the helplessness of people like Mr. Lingshan. He was once favored by Emperor Xiaozong but left the Imperial Court to be a hermit due to the political situation. He used the excuse of filial mourning, but it was doomed that he cannot support Ji’s Family unless he was out of choice.”

He resigned at the time when Emperor Xiaozong needed him the most, and it was reasonable for him to say that he couldn’t work in the Imperial Court because of filial mourning.

But the top men all knew that apart from that Emperor Xiaozong was probably forced to die by Ji’s Family, at least he deeply hated Ji’s Family. As the Liu Shou appointed by Xiaozong and trusted official of Xiaozong, if Wei Changkong chose to work for Ji’s Family after returning from his seclusion… not to mention how much infamy it would bring, Ji’s Family would not trust such an ungrateful person.

If so, his reputation which was made for many years would be destroyed, and his superiors would not trust him. As a result, the official career of Wei Changkong would inevitably be destroyed.

If so, it would be better for him to live a solitary life!

Gongxiang Xiao knew the truth, so he nodded slightly at this moment.

Qi Jiulu continued, “As a celebrity and the Liu Shou who was a child prodigy before, he would not be likely to turn to the eunuchs like Zheng Ju.”

Since imperial relatives and powerful eunuchs were both not suitable for him, the remaining choices were upright officials, the Prince Regent and Emperor Chunjia.

“The head of upright officials is Cui Wan, who shares the same age as Mr. Lingshan. It was said that he was not powerful before the resignation of the latter. Because of this unhappy experience, whether Mr. Lingshan is willing to visit him for help or not, Cui Wan, who possesses the present status after hard efforts and admires Liu Shou Wei’s fame in the past, would not be pleased to see him regain his reputation, right?”

“And in terms of title, Mr. Lingshan was the official who gained great support from Emperor Xiaozong in the past.”

“Since Emperor Xiaozong has passed away, the one he should work for the most is the successor to Emperor Xiaozong.”

Xiaozong’s successor had always been controversial. Nominally, it would be Emperor Chunjia, his adopted son. But some old men, who had witnessed Xiaozong Period, knew that Xiaozong actually did not think of adopting a son before his death. Instead, he always wanted to pass the throne to the Prince Regent.

As far as the current situation was concerned, between Chunjia and the Prince Regent, even a fool would choose the latter.

After Qi Jiulu analyzed the reason why Wei Changkong would be recruited by the Prince Regent, he continued, “Mr. Lingshan plays a decisive role among scholars. Since His Lord visited him to live in the Mansion, it is absolutely impossible that Mr. Lingshan was required to be a tutor of your younger brother, which is a waste of his talent. Maybe what His Lord will do next is to recommend Mr. Lingshan to compete with Cui Wan to win scholars… Ji’s Family naturally won’t let that go smoothly.”

He picked up the tea and sipped, “His Lord must know these, but he still plans to celebrate the started learning of your brother, so he must have a perfect strategy. At least the plan was perfect in His Lord and Mr. Lingshan’s eyes. Well, you said before that you just asked people to throw the maid into Cheng Yue Palace, while she was found in Yan Lan Palace. Maybe it was done by His Lord.”

“My father did so?” Gongxiang Xiao frowned, “Did father plan to start from the Imperial Harem?”

He was not surprised that the Prince Regent knew he had entered Imperial Harem in private and had collusion with Yun Fenghuang.

After all, he did all these with the help of the Imperial City Division. Since the Imperial City Division was handed over from Xiaozong to the Prince Regent, it had been controlled by the Prince Regent all the time, and even Ms. Lu and her little son Gongxiang Zhen were not allowed to take use of these human powers. Gongxiang Xiao was young when he began to be one of the reading partners of the Emperor and at that time Ms. Lu got married with his father for a short time, so he and his father had a good relationship. Therefore, he was allowed to use part of the Imperial City Division so as to avoid accidents or being hurt.

If he didn’t study with the Emperor until now, Gongxiang Xiao would suspect that he would definitely not meet anyone or anything of the Imperial City Division.

“I’m not sure yet.” Qi Jiulu shook his head, “But since she did this, she must take the opportunity to make credit for the Empress. So, if His Lord doesn’t start from Imperial Harem, it will be fine. If he does, there is a big chance that there will be an accident.”

Gongxiang Xiao pondered, “Really?”

He understood what Qi Jiulu meant, namely, Qi Jiulu trusted Yun Fenghuang’s ability to make troubles in the palace, and even believed that as long as the Prince Regent planned something important related to Imperial Harem, he would certainly not succeed if he forgot what Gui Ren Yun was capable of.

Therefore, Gongxiang Xiao could choose to remind his father now to fill in the gaps.

After all, except the father-son relationship, Gongxiang Xiao shared same benefits with the Prince Regent now.

Gongxiang Xiao thought for a long time, but finally raised his head and asked, “If we cooperate with Gui Ren Yun to have mutual benefits… How big do you think our chance is?”

When he said this, he thoughtful of a lot of things: his affection with the Prince Regent; his father sent and welcomed him in person every time when he finished studying in the palace; the later alienation; his loneliness when his father and the Step Princess were intimate because of the latter’s pregnancy; and his current situation that he was more and more estranged from the family, this Mansion, after Gongxiang Zhen was born…

The most important thing was what Qi Jiulu accidentally reminded him a few days ago. He said the date when Ms. Dou passed away because of disease was too coincidental…

It happened as if his mother’s death gave a chance to the Prince Regent to marry Marquess Qingping’s adopted daughter.

Gongxiang Xiao was very reluctant to doubt that his father, who loved his mother and was amiable to him in the past, would do such a ruthless thing.

However, the situation over the years made him even less willing to take his own life for risks.

For now, although he was not so comfortable in the Mansion, he was still safe.

But this might result from that he had been a reading partner of the Emperor without any meritorious achievements so far, and had an indifferent relationship with the Prince Regent.

Once Gongxiang Xiao showed his talents, even if he just quoted what Qi Jiulu said, he didn’t know what kind of changes would be caused.

Ms. Lu was his stepmother, and Marquess Qingping was a powerful official which was only inferior to that of Zheng Ju, but the Prince Regent, the only person who could protect him, had a lovely second son… Gongxiang Xiao closed his eyes, saying slowly, “I will try to take you to the palace as soon as possible… You should think about how to tell Gui Ren Yun it at that time.”

“Shizi, rest assured.” Qi Jiulu nodded slightly with a gruesome smile, “I will try my best to convince her.”