Why suffer? Just keep smiling

The voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Su Hu raised his gaze.

King Zhou?

Did this mean King Zhou had abducted Daji off the street and tried to force himself on her, only for Daji to kill herself?

Was that really necessary?

Su Hu deeply doubted it. King Zhou was the sovereign of Great Shang. What beauty could he not have?

Su Hu was certain that King Zhou had never known his daughter before. Few people even in Jizhou had seen Daji's true face, let alone King Zhou, who spent his days in the palace.

In that case, to King Zhou, Daji would have been nothing more than a girl from an ordinary family. Why abduct her?

As the emperor of Great Shang, he could bring a beauty into the Imperial Harem with a single word. Why heap infamy upon himself?

Thinking this over, Su Hu looked again at the dazed Chong Yingbiao. He certainly looked more suspicious.

Besides, they both lived in the north. Su Hu had met Chong Yingbiao and heard of his foul reputation.

Zi Shou frowned. This old fellow did not seem to believe him!

And so, he bellowed, "You Hun, was this woman abducted by me, and did she kill herself to preserve her chastity rather than endure humiliation?"

You Hun instinctively wanted to say that their wise and mighty king could never do anything so vile, but upon seeing Zi Shou's expression, he frowned and nodded in agreement.

Zi Shou was satisfied. At last, someone had not misunderstood him.

He then questioned his personal guards one by one. "Was it not I who ordered you to stuff Marquis Su's daughter into a sack?"

The guard trembled with fear. Despite the frantic hints, he still did not understand and nodded, then shook his head.

Not the brightest-looking fellow!

Zi Shou pulled out two more guards and said, "Was it not I who ordered you two to carry Marquis Su's daughter away?"

These two still had no idea what he meant.

There was nothing for it. Su Hu himself would be easier to fool.

Zi Shou looked sincerely at Su Hu. "Marquis Su, all of this truly was my doing. Please accept my condolences. My condolences."

Suddenly, a gust of wind whistled past, piercing their skin. No one noticed that the bloodstained lampstand on the ground seemed to flare for an instant before going dark again.

A faint, muffled moan came from Daji in Su Hu's arms.

Daji slowly opened her eyes.

Su Hu no longer had time to think and hurriedly asked, "My daughter, are you all right?"

Daji slowly began to speak. She was in some pain, but managed a smile to reassure her father.

Though her voice was weak, it was as lovely as an oriole's song. "I had a dream. In it, I sank into the Nine Hells. Everything around me was so dark I could not see my own fingers. Just as I grew frightened, I saw firelight. It was a great bird, which carried me on its back up to the mortal world."

Su Hu said with deep feeling, "Thanks to Heaven and Earth for their protection, my daughter has returned."

Then, full of doubt, he asked Daji, "Was it His Majesty who abducted you and tried to violate you?"

"What majesty?" Though Daji's voice was soft, she pointed firmly at Chong Yingbiao. "It was this villain who tried to molest me."

With that, she fell unconscious again.

Zi Shou was stunned. Daji was alive?

Not only was she alive, she had exposed the real culprit.

Who had I been working so hard to fool just now?

No, Daji was a frail woman. She had definitely died.

Could the Nine-Tailed Fox have possessed her?

In the novel, Daji had originally been a good girl. Only after the Nine-Tailed Fox possessed her had she become the demonic consort who brought ruin to the nation and misery to its people.

That would explain it. So the real Daji was here now?

Zi Shou cast aside his dejection over his failed abduction. With a fox spirit around, how could my Great Shang possibly avoid going under?

When the day of the royal audience came, he would force Su Hu to offer up his daughter. That would both bring Daji into the palace and drive Su Hu to rebellion. The results would be much the same.

As for Chong Yingbiao...

Someone who could drive a girl to suicide was a rare talent. Zi Shou intended to protect him and, after a few days, make him one of his personal guards.

And so, he spoke to Su Hu again. "Marquis Su, your daughter's memories may be somewhat confused. Those who abducted her were indeed my personal guards. Do not wrongly blame another."

No matter how Daji later explained things to Su Hu, Zi Shou had decided to shoulder the blame in name first. Even if Su Hu did not believe him, lowering his opinion a little would be good enough.

With that, Zi Shou left with his men.

Anxious for his beloved daughter, Su Hu also hurried back to his residence with Daji.

Su Hu sank into thought.

He had not had time to consider it carefully earlier, but now that he did, there were plenty of clues.

Why had the gates and courtyard walls of Chong Yingbiao's residence collapsed?

Why had the attendants in the courtyard been so terrified upon seeing his party that they dared not stop them?

Why had the household officer Mei Wu been lying at the doorway?

Putting everything together, the answer was obvious. Someone had forced their way into the residence before him, leaving it in ruins.

That person could only have been King Zhou.

In other words, Chong Yingbiao had abducted Daji. After discovering this, King Zhou had brought his personal guards and flattened the residence, only to arrive a step too late.

No, he could not really be called a step too late. The physician had said Daji was no longer in any danger.

Right, Daji!

Su Hu recalled the key words Daji had spoken upon awakening: "I saw firelight. It was a great bird, which carried me on its back up to the mortal world."

Firelight, a great bird-was that not the Phoenix reborn from the flames?

And the guardian deity of Great Shang was the Phoenix. Legend held that every King of Shang had been protected by the Phoenix.

Seen that way, had King Zhou not been the one who saved Daji?

Su Hu was overcome with emotion. This also explained King Zhou's strange insistence on taking the blame.

It had all been for him, Su Hu!

Su Hu knew himself well. He had a fiery temper. If Daji had been driven to her death, he would certainly have flown into a rage. He might have stormed straight into Chong Houhu's residence to demand an explanation, and even leading troops into battle in a fit of fury was not out of the question.

By then, there would have been no room to turn back!

Yet King Zhou, to prevent such a tragedy, had willingly sullied his own name and taken the blame for Chong Yingbiao, easing the tension between Su Hu and Chong Houhu.

If the man who had driven Daji to her death became King Zhou, would Su Hu still dare demand an explanation, much less threaten him with troops?

Of course Su Hu would dare, but others did not know he was that reckless! In everyone's eyes, no one could challenge King Zhou's authority.

Once word of this spread, people would only say that King Zhou was a depraved tyrant who had abducted a lord's daughter and caused her death. They would not utter a single word about Su Hu being cowardly or doing nothing. After all, in his place, they would not dare do anything to King Zhou either. Having a daughter taken into the palace might even be considered an honor.

Su Hu murmured to himself. King Zhou had truly gone to painstaking lengths, quietly quelling a war.

After all, when King Zhou insisted on taking the blame, no one had known that Daji was merely unconscious.

"And to think I once believed those rumors. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would never have known King Zhou was so..."

For a moment, Su Hu could not find a word to describe King Zhou. Counting through all the kings of ages past, which one had ever willingly accepted the eternal infamy of driving a lord's daughter to her death in order to prevent a possible war?

With one man's good name, he had kept the Feudal Lords from crossing swords and saved countless soldiers who might have died in battle...

Su Hu sighed several times, went to check on Daji once more, then headed for Chong Houhu's residence that very night.

Although King Zhou had turned spears into gifts of jade and silk, and Daji was no longer in danger, Su Hu could not possibly let the matter rest.

Had your son not lusted after her beauty, Chong Houhu, why would our wise king have needed to bear this stain on his name?

For now, Su Hu could not clear King Zhou's name, but he would still demand justice for King Zhou and Daji.

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