Chapter 42

Madam Zhaohua was pregnant.

The immortal lovers everyone admired were not nearly as happy as the world imagined. Ruan Yuan had been married for five years without taking a single concubine, and he and his wife had only one daughter.

Society's luminaries sang the praises of their deep affection, and Madam Zhaohua had initially been proud of the husband she had chosen.

But the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had been a thorny problem since time immemorial. The Ruan family would not allow Ruan Yuan to remain without a son to uphold the family name.

Madam Zhaohua had been born with a strange illness: once wounded, she would bleed without stopping. She had nearly died from hemorrhaging when she gave birth to Ruan Zhizhi.

Surviving once had been a stroke of tremendous fortune. Who could guarantee she would survive a second time?

After years without another pregnancy, the Ruan family's old madam had sought a bedchamber maid for Ruan Yuan. He had neither agreed nor refused.

When she married him, Ruan Yuan had promised her one lifetime, one pair. Countless young ladies had envied her. For his sake, she had even rejected Emperor Zhou.

Now, Ruan Yuan taking a concubine would be a slap in Madam Zhaohua's face.

Fate was mocking her for entrusting herself to the wrong man.

More ironically still, she was pregnant.

The child had come at exactly the right time, and exactly the wrong time.

The physician could not promise that Madam Zhaohua would survive an abortion unharmed.

An abortion might cause a hemorrhage. Giving birth might cause one too.

It seemed every road led to death.

How could she not feel lost and sorrowful?

At this critical juncture, disaster had struck Jixia Academy as well. Ruan Yuan had been imprisoned, and all of Chang'an heard danger in every whisper of wind and cry of a crane. No one dared inquire after news for the Ruan household.

Madam Zhaohua could only rally her spirits and appeal to their old affection to seek an audience with Emperor Zhou.

The imperial family was not a good place to turn.

But she knew Emperor Zhou's temperament, just as she knew Ruan Yuan's.

If the two clashed, the former would surely demand the latter's death. Even if he spared him, he would never let him live comfortably.

Jixia Academy had been wiped out, and as its head, Ruan Yuan bore the brunt. His reputation and standing had plummeted. The Ruan family had reached the end of the road.

There was no telling what things would look like in eight or ten years, when Zhizhi was grown, but she was destined never to see it.

All she could do was find a good home for her only daughter.

The imperial family was hardly an ideal destination, but it could at least ensure that Ruan Zhizhi wanted for neither food nor clothing and enjoyed an exalted position.

For old affection's sake, Emperor Zhou would find governesses to raise Ruan Zhizhi. After her mother's death, the imperial family's backing could ensure her daughter's life went smoothly.

Emperor Zhou had agreed to see her today and was even willing to discuss their old verbal agreement. Presumably, he would not kill Ruan Yuan for the time being. His meaning was clear: if she married the Crown Prince, she could only be a concubine.

If she married another prince, she still could not become his principal wife.

After all, every consort in Emperor Zhou's harem who had become pregnant thus far came from a distinguished family and held high rank.

Only two princes had already been born. The Crown Prince needed no explanation; his title alone made him the most exalted of all.

The Second Prince's mother was Consort Dong, whose family descended from one of the Yuntai Twenty-Eight Generals who had followed the Great Ancestor in founding the dynasty.

Their marquisate had passed down for three generations. In this generation, Consort Dong's two brothers, one a civil official and the other a military officer, both held Principal Fourth Rank at court. Her maternal clan was illustrious, far beyond the Ruan family's reach.

Madam Zhaohua was torn. Part of her wanted to find an ordinary family for her daughter, but what ordinary family could intervene in the Ruan family's affairs and protect her?

Either an honored concubine, or a gamble on an uncertain future of poverty.

If Madam Zhaohua could raise her to adulthood, she would gladly take that gamble. So long as she lived, her old affection with Emperor Zhou would remain a final refuge.

But she was going to die.

She gently stroked her daughter's head.

"Do you like the Crown Prince?"

Ruan Zhizhi nodded. "Yes. He smells nice, and he's pretty."

A child's aura was like a magnetic field. Some people could reveal nothing but their eyes and still make others certain they must be beautiful!

"If you like him, why were you crying?"

Ruan Zhizhi tipped her head back to complain. "He was cold to me. It made me sad."

Madam Zhaohua smiled, paying little mind to the outcome of the two children's brief interaction.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is two years younger than you. He gets shy. In a few days, Mama will send you to Minglu Academy. You'll see the Crown Prince every day. Once you've seen each other enough, you'll become friends."

Madam Zhaohua had intended to send Ruan Zhizhi to school from the beginning. Originally, she had planned on Jixia Academy; now it had become Minglu Academy.

Ruan Zhizhi knew nothing of her mother's plans. She happily imagined the days ahead, when she and the little gentleman would grow close through playing together.

She would hold his hand every day and lead him around to tell every one of her good friends that her mother had betrothed a little gentleman to her! Just as her father had betrothed her mother!

Chen Yu did not wait long before the Imperial Noble Consort sent someone to bring him to Zhaocheng Palace.

As soon as Wu Junzheng woke and heard that his imperial father had angrily raided two thousand households, practically emptying the court, he turned as sour as an orange wedge.

Who would not envy such overwhelming favor?

Jixia Academy humiliated the Crown Prince? Then I'll uproot your entire academy!

He had heard that even the Retired Emperor had been beaten.

When had his imperial father ever treated anyone else so well?

The Heavenly Qian Palace under construction lay just southeast of Taiji Palace and was being built entirely to an emperor's specifications.

Whether Wu Junji appreciated it or not, the entire world acknowledged the emperor's grand act of slaughtering ten thousand people in a fit of fury for his son.

The illiterate commoners kept their heads down and farmed. As long as their own homes were not raided, all they cared about was whether their bellies were full.

For landowners and wealthy merchants in the middle ranks, as long as their interests remained untouched, they would at most remark that the new emperor's methods were ruthless.

Scholars with a little insight could only pass judgment on the realm with their mouths.

Those who could truly stamp their feet and cause Emperor Zhou trouble had been frightened into submission by his killing.

What did exterminating three degrees of kinship mean?

Everyone who had a grievance and could rise up had been killed!

Beyond those three degrees, who had enough affection for the dead to defy imperial authority for them?

The higher one's rank and power, the better one understood how difficult it was to overthrow a flourishing dynasty.

It was not merely the disparity in military strength or the lack of a righteous cause. There was also fortune!

The dragon veins of the realm all converged on Chang'an.

Anyone with the ability could open their sight, examine your fortune, and see no aspect of a dragon!

With that fact alone, you still wanted to rebel?

The true dragon occupied the central palace, and every beast beneath heaven lay low!

However many people disparaged Great Zhou, saying its allotted fortune was nearing its end and predicting its fall after six generations, not one dared rebel now!

Under the Heavenly Oath, the nation's fortune swelled. The new emperor had assumed his rightful place as the golden dragon, and his Human Emperor Fortune surged into the heavens. Great Zhou stood at the very height of its prosperity!

Even if you insisted this was the last flare before death, that final flare would still last twenty years!

For twenty years, no one would dare rebel!

Unless... the Human Emperor erred and incurred heaven's punishment. Then fortune would turn against him, and Great Zhou would plunge into ruin.

Thus, fierce debate erupted at court and among the people over the Human Emperor's education.

An entire nation's fortune rested upon a three-year-old child. Any selfishness in his actions or thoughts, any breach of his oath, could shake the nation's fortune.

How could they not panic?

They wished they could weave a pouch and carry Wu Junji around on their persons!

As for the Heavenly Oath's terms, they could strive to make Great Zhou flourish, but how could they possibly make the Demon Domain flourish?

Whatever storms raged outside, Wu Junji remained unmoved.

When Wu Junzheng came to visit Taiji Palace, the Crown Prince was holding a seal.

His pupils contracted, and his breathing quickened. He rushed over in a few strides.

"Don't touch that! That's not something we can play with!"

A lifelike dragon was carved atop the seal, roaring toward the heavens, its claws gripping the jade beneath it: a dragon suppressing a stone.

It was made of Hetian jade.

Wu Junji knew this seal was extraordinary, but he did not know what it was used for.

With all his memories restored, Wu Junji remembered having been emperor in his previous life. An emperor's seal did not look like this.

"What is it used for? Is it important?"

The Second Prince exclaimed excitedly, "Of course it's important!"

He carefully put the seal in Wu Junji's hands back into its case. In his previous life, he had lost power early and never had the chance to touch it.

"This is the Deputy Imperial Seal!"

"It isn't the Jade Seal, but it's equivalent to it! It carries the same authority as the Jade Seal."

"Where did you get it?"

Wu Junji had been emperor for five years without even knowing something called a Deputy Imperial Seal existed!

He laughed in fury.

The greatest mistake he had made in his previous life was failing to lock Emperor Zhou in a dungeon and torture him mercilessly!

Wu Junji had become Crown Prince midway through life, and people had constantly obstructed his path to the throne. Things that were common knowledge to princes raised in the imperial family from childhood required him to take several winding turns before he could learn them.

Isolated by the court, isolated by imperial authority, isolated by the entire world. When he needed something, they tossed him a scrap as though dispensing charity; when he did not, they threw it aside.

In his previous life, he had died without ever learning of the Deputy Imperial Seal's existence!

Who had held the Deputy Imperial Seal?!

The eighth prince, or the ninth?!

That undying old bastard, Emperor Zhou-had he deliberately left himself a hidden move before he died?

Why had his personal attendants never mentioned it either?

Even the least suspicious person would have doubted the entire world at that moment.

He suspected that everyone, from top to bottom, had deceived him throughout those five years!

The Crown Prince's icy gaze seemed to take physical form, as though it would slice his flesh away piece by piece and strip his bones bare.

Wu Junzheng timidly retreated two steps and stammered.

"W-why are you looking at me like that?"

"D-did this prince say something wrong?"

Wu Junji asked coldly, "Who knows about the Deputy Imperial Seal?"

"The Three Dukes, the Nine Ministers-every official entitled to stand at court knows. The emperor's personal attendants know too. Few of the consorts in the harem know about it."

In other words, knowledge of it did not extend beyond the central government.

The Deputy Imperial Seal was equivalent to the Jade Seal. The third emperor had created it for his father, Emperor Gaozong.

To demonstrate his filial devotion.

It could be used just like the Jade Seal, though on formal occasions, the Jade Seal still carried greater authority.

Did Wu Junji care whether it carried greater authority? All he cared about was that this thing could be used exactly like the Jade Seal!

Memorials, official bulletins, secret correspondence, military orders-once stamped with this thing, they became imperial commands!

All Wu Junji knew was that in his previous life, he had conscientiously struggled on for five years for Great Zhou while Emperor Zhou was still playing tricks behind his back!

If he had learned this in his previous life, then however much hatred he carried into this rebirth, it would have settled into calm by now. Of all things, he should never have been made to discover the truth only in this life.

He wanted to bite him to death!

Wu Junji pointed at the door, closed his eyes, and said to Wu Junzheng,

"Get out right now. Three breaths. Don't let me see you again!"

"One!"

Wu Junzheng was about to curse him for being like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, unable to recognize a good man's kindness. Then he took another look at his face and promptly got out.

Wu Junji's face was dark as he stared at the Deputy Imperial Seal, loving and hating it in equal measure. Hadn't they hidden it in his previous life? Why hadn't they kept it well hidden in this one?!

No wonder 88 had sealed his memories and altered them before.

Wu Junji asked, "Can you send me back?"

For once, 88 fell silent and did not answer.

Wu Junji drew a deep breath. With a crack, he smashed a teacup, selected the sharpest shard, and concealed it on his person.

Hearing the noise, the people outside hurried in to clean up.

Palace servants were generally meticulous. Eunuch Qian pieced the broken porcelain together and discovered that a shard was missing. He looked up and asked tactfully, while the little Crown Prince fiddled with his turtle and replied carelessly,

"I didn't see it. If it's lost, it's lost. Is it important?"

Eunuch Qian hesitated for a moment, then smiled. "This servant will look again."

Wu Junji let them run circles searching, but in the end, they still found nothing.

Once everyone had left, he casually slipped the shard beneath his mattress.

88 was a little frightened. "Host... what are you planning to do?"

It pleaded tearfully, "Can we just live our lives properly?"

They had finally gained another chance. Wasn't living well good enough?

Wu Junji ignored it.