Chapter 34

Chu Huaiyin watched Meng Zhou with interest, waiting to see how he would explain his way out of this.

Meng Zhou said, "Lord Meng and this humble official have both offended the people behind this. They saw how much Your Majesty valued Lord Meng, so they wanted to abduct him to threaten Your Majesty. As for this humble official, they wanted to kill me to silence me."

Chu Huaiyin pinched Meng Zhou's little finger. The little thing understood everything perfectly, yet refused to take it seriously. Just thinking about it made him angry.

Jiang Yi still had questions. Did His Majesty not value Guan Jiasheng? Why not take Guan Jiasheng hostage? Suddenly, he found it rather difficult to imagine how His Majesty interacted with Meng Zhou. Even better than he treated Guan Jiasheng? Better in what way?

The shadow guards' interrogation room lay deep underground beneath the imperial prison. A Hu had spent over a decade with them, and their bonds ran deep. Back then, the leader of the shadow guards had found A Hu living on the streets, with neither father nor mother. His sturdy, round-headed appearance had been rather endearing, so he had asked whether A Hu wanted to come with him. Though A Hu was often slow on the uptake, he had some talent for martial arts. He trained with a group of half-grown boys and eventually became a shadow guard.

Thus, when Meng Zhou arrived, the interrogation was still quite gentle.

The shadow guards had rubbed A Hu's face red looking for signs of a disguise. Finding none, they had first tried to move him with affection. They had been brothers for over a decade, and he knew their formidable interrogation methods, so he ought to confess. If he still refused, they would deprive him of a meal, or two, and eat his favorite chive pockets right in front of him.

A Hu remained silent throughout, like a gambling-addicted son who refused to listen to his mothers' earnest pleas and insisted on going his own way until he lost the entire family fortune. He was almost like a different person.

At the sight, Meng Zhou let out a small sigh of relief. The bloodiest scene he had witnessed firsthand was still the sight of Guan Jiasheng and his wife covered in blood in that ruined temple.

Earlier, he had worried that he would walk in on some bloody scene of torture and throw up. Though he had seen his share of things in his previous life, the pregnant Meng Zhou might feel unwell.

One sharp look from Chu Huaiyin sent the shadow guards scrambling to put away the tiger bench and chili oil. In an instant, the interrogation room became as harmonious as a New Year celebration.

They also brought over a grand armchair. Your Majesty, please sit down to talk.

Meng Zhou's lower back ached a little from standing so long. Not daring to rub it, he brushed his palm past his waist and ended up rubbing his thigh instead. Chu Huaiyin noticed and pressed him into the armchair. "There is too much yin energy here. I will only give you one incense stick's worth of time."

A shadow guard lit a stick of incense that burned faster than a sparkler.

Meng Zhou glared at him. That's cheating.

The shadow guard scurried away. It had nothing to do with him. His Majesty had ordered it.

Unable to prevail against His Majesty, Meng Zhou could only slap the table angrily. "Where is A Hu? Tell the truth!"

At last, A Hu reacted. Slowly, he raised his head. "I am A Hu. Have you forgotten, my lord? A Hu lost everything he owned because of you."

Meng Zhou gave an uncomfortable cough. Answer the question properly. Why bring up all that nonsense?

Chu Huaiyin suddenly interjected, "What were you betting on?"

The seven or eight shadow guards around them lowered their heads in unison, inwardly lamenting. Then they all began talking at once, insisting that it had only been a little amusement in their spare time. They absolutely had not opened a gambling den in their headquarters, much less made jokes about their master and Lord Meng.

Chu Huaiyin singled out a tall, imposing shadow guard. "You said you bet that 'there absolutely cannot be anything between His Majesty and Lord Meng'?"

"Yes," the tall shadow guard answered.

What an upright shadow guard! The others wept inwardly with envy. If only they had been as oblivious as Third Brother back then.

Playing with the strands of black hair that had escaped beneath Meng Zhou's official hat, Chu Huaiyin said casually, "Dock his meal allowance for three months."

With that sudden reversal, the shadow guards looked sympathetically at the tall man. Pay up.

What an absurd wager. Meng Zhou pretended he had heard nothing.

He cleared his throat and addressed the tightly bound "A Hu." "Your skill at impersonating A Hu is nowhere near enough to fool me."

A sudden pain tugged at his scalp. Distracted, Meng Zhou straightened his official hat and batted Chu Huaiyin's hand away while he was at it. Why are you pulling my hair?

"You knew that if I investigated that strip of cloth, I would inevitably uncover the secret at the bottom of the lake, so you simply revealed it yourself and lured me into the theater. Merely pulling the strip out could not possibly have lifted the plank. You applied force just so, making it all look like a coincidence."

"If you were A Hu, when I rescued that pregnant woman, firstly, you would not have told me that even an upright official cannot settle family disputes. Secondly, with A Hu's helpful nature, he would have been the shadow guard who escorted her back to the Guan Residence. But you remained unmoved. Even when we mentioned A Hu losing all his money, you showed not distress, but a hint of disdain."

"Therefore, I conclude that you are not A Hu." Meng Zhou stood and walked over to the leader of the shadow guards. "Tell me, does A Hu have a twin brother?"

Recalling the scene when he had taken A Hu in, the shadow guard leader shook his head. "This subordinate is slow-witted."

"Who would want a fool like that for a brother..." The false A Hu suddenly gave a low chuckle. "Playing a fool really does make it easy to slip up. Unlike Lord Guan, who plays clever men no matter which role he takes. Chu Huaiyin, you still don't know, do you..."

A shadow guard tapped the torture rack behind him with a shovel. You dare call our A Hu a fool? Time for torture.

Seeing that the spy was about to drag him into trouble again even with death at his door, Meng Zhou felt a headache coming on. He glanced at the incense, which had nearly burned down, and promptly stood. "The incense stick has burned out. That concludes my questioning. Go look at Li's Pastries in the south of the city. A Hu should be there."

The false A Hu's eyes abruptly widened, and Meng Zhou knew he had guessed correctly again.

Back when he was still using his identity as Meng Zhou, A Hu had often brought him fish, so he had chatted with him a few times and gradually drawn quite a bit out of him. Meng Zhou truly had not done it on purpose. Would he have gone prying into Chu Huaiyin's shadow guards' affairs for no reason unless he had a death wish?

A Hu himself had felt close to Meng Zhou and liked to tell him inconsequential personal matters. At one point, he had suddenly said that he had found his elder brother, from whom he had been separated in childhood. A couple who ran a pastry shop had adopted his brother, and he had recently moved to the capital with them. He had spotted A Hu on the street and, on the strength of their identical looks, claimed him as his brother, even giving him a bag of pastries.

Meng Zhou had reminded him that the capital was full of all sorts and he should be more cautious. A Hu had scratched his head and said he would be careful. Yet he had still let someone worm out even the secret of his gambling losses...

Meng Zhou let out an enormous yawn. Coming up the few steps from the interrogation room, he practically walked with his eyes shut and a hand against the wall, too sleepy to keep his eyes open.

Chu Huaiyin held an arm loosely around Meng Zhou, guarding against a misstep. The moment the little thing heard the false A Hu was about to expose his true identity, he had run faster than a rabbit.

Good thing I already knew and am not holding it against him.

Seeing that he truly could barely stay awake, Chu Huaiyin took him back to the Guan Residence to sleep. Growing increasingly uneasy, he added ten shadow guards to take turns watching over Meng Zhou's room.

After all, even Grand General Jiang could not be used as a drudge. Chu Huaiyin only required Jiang Yi to accompany Meng Zhou on the way to and from court and whenever he went out.

Meng Zhou lay in bed, his blanket smoothed up to his chin and tucked snugly around him by Chu Huaiyin.

Once Chu Huaiyin finished lecturing the shadow guards outside and left, Meng Zhou rolled over and quietly opened his eyes. They stared roundly at the moonlight filtering through the gap in the window. He did not look sleepy at all!

Having successfully avoided going to the palace for a "long, intimate talk" with Chu Huaiyin, Meng Zhou curved his eyes in a smile and pulled the blanket over his head.

He was simply that cowardly, only daring to hide under the covers and snicker.

Jiang Yi led men in digging deep beneath the theater and finally found a small tunnel leading to the iron door at Qianyang Lake.

When they pulled open the iron door, lake water flooded the tunnel. Once the water cleared, soldiers who could swim entered the tunnel and saw the neatly stacked Lake Tai stones outside the iron door. The stones were also wrapped in soft materials such as cotton cloth and straw, each bundled up like a zongzi.

Jiang Yi ordered his men to tie hemp ropes around the Lake Tai stones. Using the water's buoyancy, they easily pulled them through the tunnel into the theater. He could pull a stone with one hand, possessing boundless strength.

"Transport them to the rear garden of Prince Huai's Residence in numerical order." As the emperor's residence before his accession, Prince Huai's Residence was heavily guarded. Once this shipment of Lake Tai stones went in, they would essentially never come out again.

These matters proceeded alongside the interrogation of the false A Hu. Meng Zhou had been strictly forbidden from approaching Qianyang Lake. By the time he woke the next day, the theater and its stage had been altered beyond recognition.

He asked after A Hu and learned that he had been lying in the pastry shop for a month and still could not walk very well. A Hu wanted to come thank Lord Guan, but Meng Zhou told him to recover first.

The couple from the pastry shop had been caught while packing up and fleeing. They were now being interrogated alongside the man who had impersonated A Hu.

Meng Zhou tapped his forehead. Have I forgotten something?

Afu ran in, panting and beaming like a flower. "Master, awake!"

Who's awake?

Meng Zhou slapped his forehead. He had also rescued a pregnant woman yesterday!

After waking, the woman had huddled in a corner without speaking, her face full of misery. For every ten questions Afu asked, she answered three.

Yet the instant Meng Zhou stepped inside, she seemed to come back to life. Staring at him, she cried, "Lord Prefect!"

Meng Zhou was taken aback. What an old title! Was she someone Guan Jiasheng had known while serving as prefect in Suzhou?

Knowing nothing no matter what he was asked, Meng Zhou looked at Afu. Afu reminded him, "She is the wife of your friend from Suzhou, Xue Tianlu."

"Madam Xue, you are with child. Please sit." Meng Zhou's eyes held just the right measure of concern, neither intrusive nor distant.

Madam Xue's original name was Lin Yue. Several years ago, her husband Xue Tianlu had begun trading cloth and silk between the capital and Suzhou. He had made a little money, enough to live comfortably. He and Guan Jiasheng had hit it off and become good friends.

A few months earlier, his wife had become pregnant and could no longer accompany Xue Tianlu on his trips to Suzhou. Unwilling to leave her at home alone, Xue Tianlu had decided to set his business aside for the time being.

Just over a month ago, the couple had returned to the capital from Suzhou. Their thriving business over the past few years had inevitably aroused envy among people from their hometown. On the very first day, the clan head had hinted that Xue Tianlu should make his private assets communal, for only the prosperity of the clan was true prosperity.

Xue Tianlu had always disliked his clansmen's lazy habit of idly consuming their wealth, so he had let the clan head's words go in one ear and out the other. Who could have known that his clansmen would invite him drinking that very evening, and that he would fall into the river drunk on his way home and drown?

Lady Lin could not keep the family business going. Her clansmen repeatedly tried to drive her out, even hiring a thug to harass her outside her home every day. Lady Lin shut her doors, keeping him out of sight and mind. Seeing how composed she remained, the clan head went all the way and conspired with the other clansmen to accuse her of having an affair with that thug. They intended to drown her in a pig cage. Fortunately, she had encountered Meng Zhou.

With tears streaming down her face, Lady Lin knelt and begged Meng Zhou to seek justice for her for her husband's sake.

Meng Zhou helped her up. "As the current capital prefect, this is my duty in any case."

Lady Lin dried her tears, then suddenly remembered something. "When my husband returned to the capital, Lord Guan entrusted him with a letter for Old Madam Guan. I am sorry, Lord Guan. My husband passed so suddenly, and I did not dare go outside. The letter is still at home."

Meng Zhou recalled that Guan Jiasheng had indeed mentioned entrusting a friend with a letter to bring to the capital, but there had been no trace of it. So this was what had delayed it.

They had parted in such haste at the ruined temple. Perhaps Guan Jiasheng had still had clues he had not mentioned. Meng Zhou said, "Would you mind if I sent someone to your home to fetch it?"

"Please do, my lord."

Just then, the physician Afu had sent for arrived. It was none other than Li Wenle.

Li Wenle took Lady Lin's pulse while Meng Zhou stood beside him, watching fixedly.

You understand what I mean, don't you?

"The patient must not be exposed to drafts. Close the door," Li Wenle said.

Meng Zhou took the initiative to close the door and hold out his wrist. Under Lady Lin's astonished gaze, he said with difficulty, "I hope you will keep this secret for me, sister-in-law."

Lady Lin immediately assumed that Lord Guan wanted treatment for a private ailment and could not openly summon a physician, so he was using this means to avoid notice. Her husband had often said that Guan Jiasheng remained upright amid slander and was a true gentleman. Having experienced the pain of malicious gossip herself over the past month or so, Lady Lin naturally understood him completely.

Seeing that she had misunderstood, Meng Zhou was happy to let her. Li Wenle prescribed two medicines. Once Lady Lin's medicine had finished brewing, they only needed to pour out half, add another medicinal ingredient, and brew it again. What remained would be Meng Zhou's.

It was very discreet. They could even say it was all Lady Lin's medicine. There was nothing wrong with the two of them sharing it.

Meng Zhou invited Lady Lin to stay a few more days. She could return home after he had dealt with that pack of insatiably greedy clansmen.

In any case, he did not need to take the pregnancy-stabilizing medicine for long. Once Meng Zhou had replenished the vitality depleted by his journey, that would more or less suffice.

Afu brewed the medicine personally. Lady Lin only knew that whenever she drank hers, Lord Guan often appeared as well. She did not know they were actually drinking the same thing.

The shadow guards reported that Meng Zhou had recently been spending too much time with the woman he had rescued.

A man and a woman alone together-even if one was carrying a child, even if Meng Zhou was not that sort of person, it still provoked intense jealousy.

I have been busy lately and have no time to settle the whole score with Meng Zhou. Can't he take the initiative to come to the palace and eat with me when he has nothing to do?

Hearing that Meng Zhou had gone to see Lady Lin again, Chu Huaiyin immediately threw down his memorials and hurried out of the palace. If he did not catch the little cat once a day, the cat forgot just how much he owed.

In Lady Lin's outer room, Meng Zhou lifted a bowl of black, bitter medicinal broth, preparing to down it in one go.

He blew at the foam along the rim. Just then, someone suddenly pushed open the door.

A figure in bright yellow stood in the light. Even without seeing his face, Meng Zhou knew who it was.

Meng Zhou's hand froze around the medicine bowl, and he nearly dropped it.

Afu had forgotten to lock the door again!