In the Lu Manor, Lu Juwen carefully retrieved the ledger from a hidden compartment in his study and tucked it into his chest as he walked out.
To his surprise, he was immediately knocked over by the boisterous Lu Weibao as he stepped out the door. The ledger tumbled to the ground, scattering its pages.
“You good-for-nothing! What have you done this time?” Lu Juwen roared in anger, hastily stooping to gather the scattered ledger.
Lu Weibao, however, remained unfazed, retorting, “It was clearly you, Father, who was guilty of a guilty conscience and wasn’t watching where you were going. That’s why you bumped into me. What’s there to be angry about?”
“You… you—” Lu Juwen didn’t want to argue with him further on this matter, so he changed the subject. “I haven’t even asked you yet! What were you doing this morning, taking the manor guards out?”
“And I heard you threw someone in jail?”
At this, a triumphant smirk spread across Lu Weibao’s face. “Yes, some fool dared to provoke me. This young master naturally had to teach him a lesson and remind him who rules Duzhou City!”
“How many times have I told you? The Emperor’s carriage is nearby! I told you not to cause trouble! Why won’t you listen?”
“How did I cause trouble? He was the one who insulted me first. I was just helping him sober up.” Lu Weibao said dismissively, raising an eyebrow at the ledger in Lu Juwen’s hand. “But you, Father—at a time like this, you still dare to deal with the Zhaojiang people—”
Before he could finish the sentence, Lu Juwen clamped a hand over his mouth. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Lu Weibao shoved him away, straightening his clothes with a furious expression. “If Father has the guts to do it, why shouldn’t I have the guts to say it?”
“Fine, I won’t bother you any longer. I have more important matters to attend to.” With that, he turned and strode toward the Prefectural Magistrate’s Office’s prison without looking back.
++++++
In the cell, hardly a ray of light penetrated. Though it wasn’t yet deep autumn, the air was already bitterly cold, and the rotting straw reeked of mold.
Xiao Linye, having come from a military background, wasn’t intimidated by his surroundings despite having been emperor for several years. He casually swept a relatively clean spot and sat down, even taking the time to observe the prison’s conditions with idle curiosity.
After waiting for about half a day, he finally heard the sound of many footsteps approaching from the entrance. Xiao Linye looked up and saw Lu Weibao leading several burly men, their faces grim as they marched toward him.
“Young Master, we meet again,” Xiao Linye said calmly, sitting on the straw and taking the initiative to greet Lu Weibao.
In contrast, Lu Weibao, though separated by the prison bars and despite Xiao Linye’s shackled hands and feet, couldn’t forget the terrifying grip he’d felt on his wrist. He dared not approach, merely clearing his throat from outside the cell. “Ahem, this young master heard you’ve been charged with murder. I came to see how you’re doing.”
“Oh, thank you for your concern, Young Master,” Xiao Linye replied, his expression unchanged. In truth, he had other plans in mind. This prison wasn’t his final destination; he needed to keep leading Lu Weibao, drawing him toward the next location.
“You’re remarkably calm,” Lu Weibao said, his voice laced with irritation. “Even after being locked up in this place, you still have the nerve to provoke me.” He had expected that even Sixth Master Qin, no matter how capable, would have broken down after being thrown into this cell. But the man remained as defiant as ever. Lu Weibao deliberately glanced around the cell to provoke him further. “You treated your wife so well, yet when you got into trouble, didn’t he just run off on his own? You’re truly blind, unable to recognize what’s good for you!”
Xiao Linye, however, showed no sign of sadness at these words. Instead, he exaggerated his expression of deep affection and infatuation. “My wife did well to leave, very well indeed.”
“It’s fortunate he left. Otherwise, if he had been imprisoned with me, how could I bear to see him trapped in such a place?”
“You!” Lu Weibao was once again enraged. He paced restlessly outside the cell door, his hands clasped behind his back. He wanted nothing more than to chop Sixth Master Qin into pieces and feed him to the dogs. Yet he was also captivated by the man’s handsome features and desperately wanted to break his spirit, to regain his lost pride.
With a heavy kick, he slammed the cell door and glared at Xiao Linye. “I’ll give you one last chance. Come back to my estate with me. From this day forward, you must never mention your wife again. I guarantee you a life of comfort, wealth, and glory.”
“Or else—this young master doesn’t need your face. I’ll send you to a place where you can’t call out to heaven or earth, and then don’t come crying to me!”
Xiao Linye’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Finally, it’s come to this.’ He stood firm, saying, “Even if you kill me, my heart will only ever belong to my wife!”
“Fine, fine!” Lu Weibao was truly enraged. He signaled to the burly men behind him, and a jailer immediately unlocked the cell door and pulled a black, opaque sack over Xiao Linye’s head.
Xiao Linye was plunged into darkness. The burly men shoved him out of the cell and into a waiting carriage.
The carriage sped away, and Xiao Linye lost all sense of direction. But he wasn’t worried. From the moment he was captured, his guards had been hiding in the shadows, closely monitoring his movements to determine where Lu Weibao would take him.
And if anything truly urgent happened, Xiao Linye could contact them at any moment.
After a while, the carriage began to bounce violently. Xiao Linye knew they had left the city and were heading into the mountainous terrain beyond.
The mountain road seemed incredibly rugged. The carriage veered countless times, plunging deeper into the mountains.
Xiao Linye sat upright inside, calculating his next move. After about an hour, the carriage finally came to a halt.
The burly men shoved him out, removing the black hood from his head. The sudden burst of light forced Xiao Linye to blink repeatedly. After a moment, he finally made out the scene before him.
He was inside a vast natural cavern. Outside, hidden among the mountains, stretched a vast Mulberry Field. Many emaciated people, shackled like him, were picking mulberry leaves.
From deep within the cavern came the clatter of weaving looms.
So this was it. Just as Xiao Linye and Pei Lanqing had suspected, Duzhou City truly concealed hidden depths.
A portly middle-aged man, who appeared to be a manager, emerged, looking surprised. “Didn’t Master Lu say he wasn’t sending anyone else here recently?”
The man who had shoved Xiao Linye replied, “Young Master ordered us to bring him. He also said to make sure he does the hardest, most grueling work here.”
The manager’s face showed a hint of reluctance, but he dared not disobey Master Lu, nor did he dare provoke Lu Weibao. He figured it was just one person, so he might as well accept him.
He stepped forward, squeezed Xiao Linye’s arm, and nodded. “Whoa, this flesh is sturdy enough.”
“Alright, let him carry the mulberry leaves.”
“Carrying mulberry leaves” meant carrying the baskets of leaves picked from the Mulberry Field back to the cave where the silkworms were raised.
Because the mountain path was too treacherous, animals couldn’t be used for transport, so it had to be done by human labor.
Many of the people trapped in the cave were strong but couldn’t learn to weave silk brocade, so they were assigned to carry the mulberry leaves.
Xiao Linye estimated that there were over a dozen people assigned to this task alone.
Although the baskets were large, the leaves themselves were light. Carrying them wasn’t particularly heavy. Ordinary laborers carried two baskets at a time using a shoulder pole, but Xiao Linye could carry four in a single trip.
Despite the lightness of the load, they had to run up and down the mountain path twenty or thirty times a day while wearing shackles. Even with Xiao Linye’s exceptional stamina, he felt utterly exhausted by nightfall. His shoes were worn through, and deep marks had been pressed into his shoulders.
Even after nightfall, the looms in the cave continued their relentless rhythm. Since the mountain path was too dark to see, they were spared the task of carrying mulberry leaves.
Yet after a full day of backbreaking labor, their evening meal consisted of only a thin bowl of vegetable soup and two dry, rough wheat cakes no bigger than half a palm.
Xiao Linye frowned as he swallowed the food, his throat raw and his stomach still feeling empty. After eating, they were forced to work again, driven by the overseer’s whip to carry the finished brocade into the warehouse.
It was during this task that Xiao Linye finally saw the weaving workshop.
In several naturally formed, massive caverns, dozens of looms were set up in each. Though lamps burned dimly, the light was insufficient. The weavers, both men and women, worked with numb expressions, their faces pressed close to the looms in twisted postures to see in the dim light.
The scene was almost horrifying. Xiao Linye wanted to investigate further, but the overseer’s whip lashed across his back, forcing him to hurry away with the brocade.
After about five or six days, Xiao Linye finally had a rough understanding of the situation. As they had calculated, nearly two hundred weavers were being held here, working day and night to produce Xuan Brocade.
Based on their working hours, Duzhou’s actual Xuan Brocade output far exceeded the estimated 150,000 bolts. Moreover, Xiao Linye couldn’t confirm whether this was the only such place.
Where did the remaining Xuan Brocade go? Xiao Linye wasn’t afraid that Prefect Lü was simply greedy. He feared the money might be going elsewhere. He would need to discuss this matter in detail with the Grand Tutor when he had the chance.
Grand Tutor… Grand Tutor…
After another day of labor, Xiao Linye lay on the hard straw bed, listening to the snoring of his seven or eight roommates and the distant echo of looms from the cave. Sleep became increasingly elusive.
He missed Pei Lanqing so much. They had been separated for a full seven days—the longest they had ever been apart since his coronation.
Was the Grand Tutor doing well? Was he still worried about him?
He was still pregnant. Had he been feeling unwell without his care these past few days?
Longing surged within Xiao Linye, keeping him utterly sleepless. Whenever he closed his eyes, Pei Lanqing’s face appeared before him, yet he remained utterly out of reach, unable to embrace his Grand Tutor in his arms.
Xiao Linye finally couldn’t bear lying still any longer. He rose quietly, intending to explore the other caves secretly. Though guards were stationed everywhere, his skills allowed him to move freely.
Just then, Xiao Linye heard the long call of a night hawk—the secret signal he had arranged with his personal guards—echoing from the forest outside the cave.
Assuming they had urgent news to report, Xiao Linye slipped past the guards and emerged from the cave, following the sound to a stream in the forest.
He called out several times, but no guards appeared. Just as Xiao Linye grew wary, suspecting a trap, a figure suddenly emerged from the bushes and lunged straight into his arms.
Xiao Linye’s body reacted before his mind could process the situation. His arms locked around the person, and he lowered his head without hesitation, kissing the lips he had longed for day and night.
A faint fragrance of orchids mingled with the most familiar and beloved scent between them. They embraced each other with all their might, leaving no space between their bodies, as if they wanted to merge completely, flesh and blood, never to be separated again.
Pei Lanqing’s arms tightened around Xiao Linye’s neck. He didn’t know when the tears had begun to stream down his face. By the moonlight and the lantern he carried, he saw the scars on Xiao Linye’s body and his noticeably thinner face. His heart ached so fiercely that his voice choked with emotion.
“Ye’er… How could they? How could they do this to you!”
“Does it hurt? Are there any other injuries? Let me see…”
Xiao Linye paid no attention to these concerns. He simply held Pei Lanqing tightly, kissing his cheeks and lips as if he could never get enough, gently licking away his tears and soothing him with a soft voice. “It doesn’t hurt at all anymore. Seeing the Grand Tutor has healed all my wounds.”
