Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Gu Xinglang is Innocent

Zhao Qiuming’s sobs were heartrending as he cried, “Just who took my son’s life?!”

The official of the justice courts sounded saddened as well. “Prime minister, you can’t revive the dead. Please restrain your grief, this official will definitely investigate this matter seriously!”

“It must be done seriously!” Zhao Qiuming affirmed.

The justice court official made a noise of assent before he started lecturing the guards. “Useless things, just why has the court been raising you lot?”

All of the guard quietly admitted their wrongs. Judging by the replies, quite a few yamen attendants were following the two men.

“Had Zhao Qiuming fallen ill?” Xianzong asked, “Isn’t his son still alive?”

“He’s sick,” Yu Xiaoxiao nodded.

Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei pretended to be wallflowers again.

Zhao Beicheng’s swollen cheeks shuddered a few times before he finally managed to cry out, “Father!”

Dead silence fell in the prison cells, enough for everyone to hear their heartbeats. Zhao Qiuming froze for a second, but quickly recovered enough to round the next corner. The first thing he saw was Xianzong and Yu Xiaoxiao standing in the prisons.

Yu Xiaoxiao turned to look at him and gave a wave. “Hi.”

Zhao Qiuming felt that this was impossible. Why are these two here?

The justice court official was flabbergasted as well. How could His Majesty, who was supposed to be at the palace, be standing in the imperial prisons while wearing only his inner robes? There were no beauties here!

Xianzong looked at his dumbfounded subjects, neither of whom had bothered to pay him respects, and grew gloomy. “Zhao Qiuming, you don’t recognize Zhen anymore?”

Zhao Qiuming walked forward a few steps before falling on his knees. “This subject greets Your Majesty!”

How can this be? Zhao Qiuming asked himself. I made arrangements with those subordinates to light a signal fire outside the justice courts when the deed was done. Then he and the justice court official were supposed to put a tragic play of suffering for losing his son. Now his retainers had discovered the flaming lanterns thrown out of the justice courts while he himself saw his son still living and these two imperial clan members!

Yu Xiaoxiao had no idea that the lanterns she tossed over the wall1 would lead to such a huge misunderstanding. She looked at Zhao Qiuming and said, “Stop crying, your son’s alive.”

“Who told you Zhao Beicheng was dead?” Xianzong asked.

Zhao Qiuming was an adept liar, but this time he grew too tongue-tied to make up more fibs.

“Zhen is asking you a question,” Xianzong said. “Why aren’t you answering?”

Yu Xiaoxiao pursed her lips. What can that wretch say? He’s the one who wanted to kill his son in the first place.

Zhao Qiuming looked sternly towards the justice court official. “What’s going on here?”

The official turned his gaze towards the head guard, “What’s going on here?!”

Meanwhile, Yu Xiaoxiao gave a few peeled roasted chestnuts to Xianzong. They might as well eat while watching the show since she wasn’t going to tell them anything. Xianzong stuffed the sweet roasted chestnut automatically in his mouth. When he was in a bad mood, eating helped to cheer him up.

The head guard knelt on the ground with his head bowed. “This servant heart Eldest Young Master Zhao yelling in the cells and saw him spitting up blood, so I thought…”

“Useless thing!” the justice court official cursed.

“This servant deserves death,” the head guard kowtowed in a frenzy. He could only shoulder the crime for now, or else the prime minister would never spare his family.

Xianzong pointed at Zhao Beicheng and said, “Does he look like someone about to die?”

Zhao Qiuming said, “Someone come, drag that useless good-for-nothing away.”

Yu Xiaoxiao only chuckled. Prime Minister Zhao’s heart almost stopped at the sound.

“Your Royal Highness,” Zhao Beicheng lamented behind her.

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Imperial father, you should release him.”

Xianzong felt that something was off and needed more time to think. Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Won’t you let someone make mistakes once in a while? In any case, Zhao Beicheng’s not dead yet, so what does it matter to you whether or not his father’s feeling sad?”

Xianzong felt that his daughter’s words made sense. Why should he care what Zhao Qiuming felt about his son? He promptly stopped the gears turning in his head and told Yu Xiaoxiao, “It was really you who took Little Sixth–no, Ziming, out of the palace?”

“Yes,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Hurry and let him go.”

Zhao Qiuming’s heart kept beating, but his mind was now feeling dizzy. Was the eldest princess helping to absolve Zhao Beicheng of his crimes? Just what happened after he sent his son to the prisons?

Xianzong pointed at Yu Xiaoxiao before telling Zhao Beicheng, “You should go home.”

Zhao Beicheng still had his back to the wall as he sat there unmoving.

Zhao Qiuming lectured, “Unfilial son, why aren’t you thanking His Majesty for his grace yet?”

Zhao Beicheng looked at Yu Xiaoxiao, who shrugged her shoulders at him. Xianzong asked his daughter, “What other business do you have?”

“None,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied, “I’ll take you home.”

Xianzong shook his sleeves and headed for the exit. The toxic air of the prisons didn’t make him want to linger a second longer. Yu Xiaoxiao, Xiao Zhuang, and Xiao Wei moved to follow. When Zhao Beicheng realized that she had really helped him hide Zhao Qiuming’s assassination attempt, he suddenly grew choked with sobs and cried out, “Your Majesty, this subject has something to report.”

Xianzong stopped and looked back impatiently. “What else do you want? To blame Zhen for abusing and locking you up in error?”

Zhao Beicheng looked at Zhao Qiuming, who was still kneeling outside his cell, before forcing his knees beneath him in a bow. “Your Majesty, this subject is a criminal.”

“What?”

“Unfilial son!”

Xianzong and Zhao Qiuming exclaimed at the same time.

“What’s going on?” Xiao Zhuang felt that things had changed too rapidly tonight for him to keep up.

Yu Xiaoxiao looked at Zhao Beicheng and remarked, “He’s more or less sick too.”

Xiao Wei said, “I kind of pity him.” As the eldest son of the Zhao Clan, Zhao Beicheng had a scarily prestigious status. But it seemed that he lived less freely than a guard like him, who had been an orphan since youth.

“You shut your mouth!” Zhao Qiuming cursed his son. “His Majesty gave you imperial favor this time, but instead of remembering his gratitude, you unfilial son still wants to blabber nonsense at him?!”

Zhao Beicheng was very calm as he kowtowed to Xianzong. “Your Majesty, it was Gu Xinglang who pushed back the White Tiger Nation at the battle of the North Wolf Pass. Your guilty subject snatched his merits and accused him of being a traitor. For this crime, your guilty subject deserves ten thousand deaths.”

“Zhao Beicheng!” Zhao Qiuming forgot about cursing his son and directly roared out his full name.

Zhao Beicheng remained kneeling on the ground, his back straight and his figure still.

Xianzong was in shock after hearing Zhao Beicheng’s words. Finally, he asked Yu Xiaoxiao, “What did he just say?”

Yu Xiaoxiao replied, “He said that Gu Xinglang was innocent.”

“Then who was the one that colluded with the enemy?” Xianzong asked.

Yu Xiaoxiao worried that this wretch was too intellectually deficient. She knitted her brows and pointed at Zhao Beicheng, “My family’s Little Gu is innocent, so he’s gotta be the guilty one, ah!”

“You colluded with the enemy?” Xianzong glared at Zhao Beicheng.

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “He’s already admitted it, so why are you still asking?”

Xiao Wei felt that both father and daughter had worrisome IQs and spoke up to Xianzong. “Your Majesty, Eldest Young Master Zhao means to say that he stole credit for Royal Son-in-Law’s work while falsely accusing him of colluding with the enemy.” No one colluded with the enemy in the first place. There was only stealing credit and false charges. Is that so hard to understand?! Masters, please!