GD Chapter 39

Su Xinghe felt a bit lost, unsure whether the prince’s question, “Have you grown up?” referred to age or something more… physical.

She hesitated briefly, trying her best to recall. “It should have been when I was around thirteen or fourteen. Back then, Your Highness still wore clothes on your upper body, standing behind the screen, your figure faintly visible. I didn’t get a good look. Besides, some people, even as they grow older, may not necessarily grow in certain… aspects. So, I think this question is a bit difficult for me to answer.”

The Crown Prince was infuriated by her words. What did she mean by “some people, even as they grow older, may not necessarily grow”? She’s still an innocent maiden, yet she speaks about such matters so brazenly!

He scrutinized her expression closely and pondered her words. “Su Xinghe, do all your childhood friends inevitably end up being spied on by you?”

She gave an innocent smile. “I didn’t do it on purpose! That incident with General Lou Yueting was his father’s doing; I just happened to stumble upon it. As for you, Your Highness, back when I served you with your daily needs and wasn’t yet working in the military division, I often delivered freshly scented clothes from the Imperial Wardrobe to your chambers. Running into you once or twice was no big deal. You’re the master; I’m the servant. In your eyes, servants are no different from cats or dogs, and they are not even considered human. Have you ever seen anyone get dressed while avoiding the sight of their pets? Later, not only did you not avoid me, but you also had me help you clean up. So, what’s the big deal? Just take it easy; don’t be embarrassed.”

The crown prince found it increasingly impossible to have a proper conversation with her. He glanced at her, let out a heavy sigh, then glanced again, and sighed once more.

Su Xinghe rubbed her hands together. “This time, there’s no need to compare yourself to Yueting. I’ve seen both of yours now. There’s no winner or loser, it’s all fair, childhood friends and all.”

This kind of competitive spirit was truly rare. The crown prince mulled over her words. “No winner or loser well, that did seem logical. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward about not showing her his best state. When the time came and their relationship deepened, he would make sure she understood what “growing up” really meant. He’d guarantee to leave her astonished.

All said and done, he was ultimately an easygoing master, not the type to insist on strict fairness by demanding that she strip down for his inspection as well. A man losing out in such matters was no big deal; being overly calculating would only make him seem petty and unworthy in the eyes of a woman. Cheerfully, he spun around once, then moved to the desk to tidy up the day’s documents. The stack of official papers was impressively tall, yet he meticulously sorted through them without complaint. As he worked, he casually informed her, “I’ve had someone pack up your things and send them to Guangtian Hall. From now on, don’t stay at the Commandery Ladies’ quarters anymore. Commuting back and forth after your shifts is too much trouble. Just live in Guangtian Hall, it’ll be more convenient for coming here.”

According to tradition, Guangtian Hall was the rightful sleeping quarters of the Crown Prince within the Eastern Palace. Historically, the Lizheng Hall was reserved for administrative duties. But this diligent, or perhaps lazy Crown Prince had merged the two spaces into one, leaving Guangtian Hall vacant. Now, his suggestion for her to reside there seemed somewhat improper. After all, she was merely a female officer, and to so openly occupy the Crown Prince’s Bedchamber bordered on transgression. While she undoubtedly had an insatiable hunger for power, her ambitions were not so blatant as to brazenly overstep like this.

She declined profusely, “Your Highness, your kind intentions are greatly appreciated, but for a servant like me to live alone in Guangtian Hall would be a grave offense…”

“Who said you’d live alone?” The Crown Prince interrupted her mid-sentence. “I’ll move to the back chambers as well. That way, we’ll be closer. After your work at the department, you can also manage Eastern Palace affairs with two birds with one stone.”

Su Xinghe gritted her teeth internally. His calculations were far too precise. She was already exhausting herself outside, and now she’d have to serve him when she got back. If it were just the usual caretaking duties, like tending to his meals and daily needs as before, she wouldn’t have minded so much. But lately, even she could sense his restless energy… The Crown Prince was clearly lacking female companionship. He was thirsty, yet unwilling to settle, which had led him to set his sights on the “grass around the nest.”

She blinked innocently and glanced at him helplessly. “Your Highness, how about I attend to you in bed tonight?”

The Crown Prince was leisurely flipping through documents and responded absentmindedly with a hum. Suddenly, her words registered, and he looked at her in astonishment. “What did you say?”

She had said “attend to you in bed,” not “keep watch for the night.” This unexpected and bold statement left the Crown Prince utterly at a loss for how to respond.

Her demeanor, however, was calm and composed. “I said I’ll attend to you in bed. Do you want a woman? You didn’t like Qinggan last time, what about me? Either way, I’m free. I might as well serve you for once.”

The Crown Prince’s face turned red not the light flush of embarrassment but a deep, vivid red, like the silk wrapping a pomegranate tree.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought about it before, but what was this? Was she offering to quench his desires as casually as she helped him dress? He took a deep breath. “Are you volunteering to share my bed? You do realize that if you’re favored, you’ll have to be included in the harem, right?”

She looked troubled. “What if I don’t enter the harem? I still need to work in the Commandery of Defense, that’s my proper duty.”

If she didn’t want to commit to him, then what was the meaning of this casual suggestion? His irritation slowly began to simmer. “So, does this count as you sleeping with me, or me sleeping with you?”

Su Xinghe replied, “It counts as you sleeping with me. Honestly, after you got drunk last time, I felt that your life isn’t easy…”

As she spoke, the Crown Prince suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of vulnerability, as though someone had stripped him of his undergarments. Could it be that his drunken behavior had finally revealed something to her? If so, she wasn’t as dense as she seemed. Sometimes, she feigned ignorance to avoid trouble, but her keen observation of him was undeniable.

Indeed, the Crown Prince felt he had made his feelings blatantly obvious. How could she still look at him with those oblivious, wide eyes and remain so unaffected? He felt a trace of shyness, secretly hoping she would say more, something about her feelings for him. Perhaps she admired him as much as he admired her.

But her next words crushed his expectations, sending him plummeting from heaven to hell. With thoughtful understanding, she said:
“Your Highness, you’re not exactly young anymore. Even Prince Minxing’s favorite concubine is due to give birth next month, while you’re still… a virgin. That doesn’t seem right. I know your standards are high, and you haven’t met the right person yet, so it weighs on your heart. But as people get older, certain needs arise. You can’t just suppress them. When you’re drunk, you speak honestly, saying things you’d usually feel embarrassed to express. You mentioned the pain of holding it in, and I couldn’t bear to see you suffer. If you’re willing, I can help you relieve some of that frustration. After all, my reputation is already ruined beyond repair. I’m unlikely to marry well, so even if this were to become known, it wouldn’t matter much.”

Was a girl really capable of being so utterly self-sacrificing? The Crown Prince suddenly felt disheartened. So, the one time he allowed himself to get drunk, the heartfelt words he had been longing to say didn’t even come out? Instead, all he managed was to complain about “the pain of holding it in”?

He couldn’t accept this shallow and one-track version of himself. Who had caused him this pain, and why hadn’t he gotten to the root of it? When a woman agrees to sleep with you, it could be for many reasons, money, status, or something else. Su Xinghe’s reason was for qing, not romantic love, but the camaraderie of childhood friendship. It was a purer bond than the loyalty between men, but still far from what he desired.

The Crown Prince looked at her sorrowfully. “Thank you for your noble willingness to sacrifice yourself. I’m grateful for your sentiment, but I can’t take advantage of you like that. Money? You don’t need it. Titles? You don’t want them. How can I ever repay this debt? As for whose concubine is having children, it doesn’t matter to me. Look at my elder brother’s household they have wives and concubines aplenty, yet not a single son among them. I’m not in a rush. Let’s wait. When the dust settles one day, there will be a proper resolution to all this.”

He glanced out the window. “It’s late. Go back and rest.”

He turned slightly to the side, no longer looking at her. Su Xinghe stood there regretfully for a moment, recalling that he had once mentioned liking someone. Though she hadn’t been able to get him to admit who it was, she was certain it wasn’t her. Her good intentions had fallen into the gutter. Since that was the case, there was nothing more to be done. She bowed respectfully to him and quietly withdrew from the front hall.

The question of where to sleep that night became a new problem. When she entered Guangtian Hall, she saw Lan Chu busily tidying up. Noticing her return, Lan Chu exclaimed, “My lady, just look at this grand room! Behind the screen is a small gilded-red bed. The floor is covered with fine mats, and on top of those is a thick felt carpet… And the cabinets over there, even their doors are adorned with gold leaf!”

Su Xinghe, unwilling to listen to more, impatiently instructed her to pack everything up and return to the Commandery Ladies’ quarters.

“But this was His Highness’s order…”

“Do you know what the punishment for overstepping boundaries is?” Su Xinghe snapped. “It’s a capital offense! If you don’t want to be sent to the Palace Disciplinary Bureau tomorrow to stand trial, then hurry up and leave.”

Lan Chu stuck out her tongue nervously, then hastily began gathering the smaller items. Carrying a bundle each, the two of them hurried back to the Commandery Ladies’ quarters.

The Commandery Ladies’ quarters weren’t far from Guangtian Hall; after all, they were meant as a place for those waiting to be summoned. Walking quickly, they arrived in no time.

Back inside, they relit the oil lamps, but with all the personal belongings moved out, the room felt especially cold and empty. Lan Chu busied herself unpacking the small items and putting them back in place, muttering under her breath, “My lady, you’re being way too cautious. What’s there to be afraid of when it’s His Highness’s order? Would the Palace Disciplinary Bureau dare to interfere with you? Even if they had the nerve eh?”

Su Xinghe turned to glance at her. “What’s wrong?”

Lan Chu was rummaging through a three-tiered jewelry box. “Your bent-whisker prawn hairpin is missing.”

Su Xinghe stepped closer to look. Ever since the Crown Prince’s unkind joke last time, she had stopped wearing the shrimp-whisker hairpin. She had intended to take it to the Ruyi Workshop and have a silversmith fix the damaged whiskers, but she had been too busy and left it aside. Now it seemed to be lost. They searched thoroughly but couldn’t find it. Losing such a personal item wasn’t ideal, so she decided to return to Guangtian Hall with Lan Chu to look for it.

After an exhaustive search, the hairpin seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Lan Chu fretted and paced. “What do we do? Could someone have picked it up?”

Although a silver hairpin wasn’t particularly valuable, Su Xinghe still had her suspicions. “Tomorrow, we’ll report this to the Chief Steward and ask him to have someone search thoroughly. If it can’t be found, that’s fine. We’ll then notify the Palace Disciplinary Bureau and report the loss officially to the Chief Attendant.”

Lan Chu looked confused. “Even if we report it, it might not turn up. If someone greedy has picked it up, the bigger the fuss we make, the less likely they’ll return it.”

Lan Chu didn’t understand, but Su Xinghe, having worked at the Ministry of Military Control for so long, knew that some matters required preemptive caution. Your belongings could sometimes represent your person, and losing them was not a trivial matter. Whether it was valuable or not was secondary. if it ended up somewhere it shouldn’t, the consequences could spiral out of control.

“Just do as I said,” Su Xinghe instructed firmly. The snow continued to fall, its dense flakes striking her face and numbing her skin.

When she returned to her quarters, a young eunuch had already heated the kang. Su Xinghe quickly wiped herself down and lay down to rest. Tomorrow was packed with tasks, one after another leaving her no time for anything else, not even to deal with the imperial decree concerning the empress’s title at Taiji Palace.

The next morning, the snow had stopped, but the sky remained overcast, a heavy blanket pressing down that made it hard to breathe.

Arriving at the Ministry of Military Control, she went straight to the cells. The centurions had worked tirelessly through the night, thoroughly ransacking the ten properties in question. Sitting at the long table, Su Xinghe reviewed the records. The notes detailed each property’s assets, including land, household servants, and other particulars. Scanning the information line by line, she noted that the division of assets seemed remarkably equitable. It appeared that Cao Zhan was someone who believed in fairness.

Just as she was about to ask about the overnight interrogations, a shrill voice erupted from the cells, shouting accusations.

“What crime have we committed? Even if the authorities detain someone, they need a charge! We’re just women and children, living quietly and minding our business. What law have we broken? You’re rifling through our family’s property, those are ancestral holdings and state-issued pensions meant for us widows and orphans to live on! Are you nothing but bullies, leaving us no way to survive?”

A woman’s voice led the outcry, and soon the cell was in chaos, children wailing, women sobbing.

Su Xinghe’s face turned cold. “What’s going on? How did this turn into a case of widows and orphans?”

Jinyi rubbed his nose awkwardly and explained, “General Cao Zhan took in several widows of soldiers who died during the suppression of unrest in Liangzhou. These women received stipends from the court and were probably kept around to take the fall when needed.”

Su Xinghe slammed the table with a resounding bang. “Scoundrel!”

Jinyi and the centurions exchanged uneasy glances. Before they could say more, Su Xinghe abruptly stood up, turning sharply and striding toward the women’s cell.

Her entourage followed in a whirlwind, their hurried footsteps echoing through the iron-barrel-like passageway, amplifying until it felt deafening. When Su Xinghe reached the cell door, the woman inside was still crying and shouting. She barked an order, her voice like a whip crack: “Gag her for me!”

The guards, rough and unyielding, kicked the door open and stormed in. They were not the type to show mercy or handle matters delicately. Using a hemp rope, they tied a grape knot and forcefully restrained the woman’s head, wrapping it securely to gag her mouth.

The others in the cell, panicked and terrified, huddled together, trembling. The woman who had been gagged struggled violently, her legs flailing, but no matter how much she protested, no words came out, only muffled, uneven cries that sounded like the sorrowful melodies of an opera stage.

Su Xinghe took a step closer, her gaze fixed on the coarse hemp rope cutting into the soft skin of the woman’s face, leaving blood-streaked marks. She forced a cold smile through gritted teeth. “The Controlling Ranks Office handles cases based on facts, not excuses. The investigation isn’t complete yet. Why are you so eager? If you’re innocent, you’ll be sent home without trouble. We have no intention of deliberately making things difficult for you.”

As she spoke, her icy eyes swept over the heads of the group. “I hear some of you are widows of fallen soldiers, once honored by the court and living on government stipends. If you’ve been involved with other men, it’s not just your reputation that’s ruined you might lose your life as well. A thousand households this large, with so many servants and maids, don’t keep secrets. And as for the children, whether they were fathered by your late husbands or by someone you’ve been secretly involved with, this office has ways to uncover the truth. So don’t be in such a rush.”

What they expected to be a man’s thunderous roar was instead the cutting weight of a woman’s unyielding tone, carrying an authority that seemed to crush them. Gagging was the mildest punishment here. If it came to extracting confessions through harsher means, even death there were a hundred ways to ensure it seemed justifiable and unassailable.

Su Xinghe looked over the group of women and sighed deeply. Her gaze lingered on the children, varying in age and size. She couldn’t fathom why anyone would willingly become a concubine, sharing a man with a crowd of other women.

“People who live without dignity can’t be saved, not even by immortals.” Su Xinghe, tired of lingering in the stench-filled place, turned around and commanded the guards, “Keep a close watch on these women. No speaking, no private discussions. If anyone violates this, treat them according to the example we set. As long as they don’t die, it’s fine.”

Behind her, a chorus of “Yes, Madam” echoed as she covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief and quickly exited the prison.

It was much better outside, even with the sky darkened by clouds, it was still far better than the hellish atmosphere inside. She turned to Su Xinghai and instructed, “Start with the old women and the guards in charge of the courtyard. If they don’t talk, use your methods to get them to speak. The thousand households sent by Commander Nan Yushu have returned from the outskirts after a whole night of investigating. The soldiers said there were no back wages, but upon further questioning, it was revealed that the Northern Army’s pay isn’t issued monthly, but every two months, at the latest every three months. This means General Cao Zhan has more cash in hand, allowing him to shift funds from one place to another, giving him room to maneuver and instruct his subordinates to issue usurious loans.”

After all, there were hundreds of mouths to feed. A General of the Guard had an annual salary of 4,200 piculs of rice, which wasn’t low, but it was barely enough to manage all those mouths. In today’s world, each had their own way cats had their way, and dogs had theirs. If the imperial officials were settling debts like the King of Hell, how would the Emperor, sitting high above in his grand hall, feel if he knew?

The guard handed her the whip, and she took it, raising it slightly. “I’m heading to the Privy Council now, handle things here in the meantime.”

Yinchen hurried over and said anxiously, “My lady, you should take a sedan chair. With this heavy snow, you might get snowblind. The new year is approaching, and if you catch a chill, it’ll be troublesome. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince repeatedly instructed  that you should use a sedan chair when going out. If I don’t do my job properly, the Crown Prince will surely punish me.”

Su Xinghe saw his worried expression and sighed helplessly. Calculating the time, her monthly cycle was due in the next couple of days, and if she caught a chill, it would certainly delay things.

She tossed the whip back and smiled. “Little Ye, you’re always worried about me freezing to death. I’m not so delicate.”

Gold Porcelain, who was also present, agreed with Ye Jin Chun. “My lady isn’t like us. We joined the army when we were only ten or so, jumping into freezing rivers, in the middle of winter, to build endurance. In this weather, we find nothing. But the young lady’s constitution is weaker, it’s better to be careful.”

As they spoke, the small sedan chair emerged from the carriage house, stopping beneath the ginkgo tree in the courtyard. She put on her cloak, picked up a cloisonné hand warmer, and sat inside. The sedan chair began to sway gently as it moved out of the gate and down the long street, heading towards the Privy Council.