Chapter 328: On What Charge Will Prime Minister Su Arrest Us?
The guards holding the tridents couldn’t help but shudder at the sight of Prince Yong’s frantic struggles.
Shang Rong cried out in fear, "Quick! Hold him down!"
To think that even now, Prince Yong still had this much strength.
It took the combined effort of eight men to barely restrain Zhao Minghong. His golden crown was knocked askew, and his hair was a mess.
His face was forcefully pressed against the cold stone floor, the fire in his eyes burning at its peak.
Once they confirmed Prince Yong’s limbs were again pinned firmly to the ground,
Su Fengyue sneered, rose to his feet, and circled Prince Yong before stepping onto his back and shoulders.
The feeling of truly grinding this man of imperial blood under his heel was so exquisite that Su Fengyue felt the wound on his head no longer ached.
"Prince, attacking me in my own residence was utterly foolish. Don’t you understand yet? It’s not just about a woman. Your dignity, your status, your power—it will all be worthless in a moment."
A mocking smile hung on Su Fengyue’s lips.
"I should even thank you for telling me the Emperor has passed away. No wonder I couldn’t get any news from Zhaoyang Hall lately. So, Zhao Mingyan was already dead."
Duan Mingfeng was the Emperor’s trusted confidant. With him on guard, not a whisper could escape the bedchambers.
According to intelligence from Xijin, the Emperor’s injuries were grave and his life was hanging by a thread. Logically, he shouldn’t have been able to hold on for so many days.
’So he died long ago, and they kept it a secret.’
Prince Yong revealed a smile even more derisive than Su Fengyue’s, a smile that made him start to choke and cough loudly.
The coughing interrupted Su Fengyue’s grand visions of the future.
Su Fengyue asked, displeased, "What are you laughing at?"
Zhao Minghong said nothing, just gave him a sidelong glance before his laughter grew even more unhinged.
Su Fengyue stomped his foot onto Prince Yong’s head and roared with uncontrollable rage, "I asked you what you’re laughing at! You’re about to become a pathetic, homeless dog! What is there to laugh about!"
Zhao Minghong said hoarsely, "I’m laughing at you. Gloating, even when your own doom is at hand."
Su Fengyue said, "It seems you’re determined to be stubborn even at death’s door. Drag him to the woodshed and lock him up. No one is to approach him without my order."
The guards hauled Zhao Minghong up from the floor, and Shang Rong was about to personally lead him away.
"The secret room in the woodshed has been discovered."
A voice, calm and indifferent, came from a distance.
Everyone looked over and saw a tall figure standing in the doorway, his face obscured by the shadows cast by the lanterns. They hadn’t noticed when he’d arrived.
Su Fengyue’s right eye was already swollen shut. He squinted with his left, but from several yards away, he couldn’t see clearly.
"Who is it?"
Shang Rong squinted for a few moments before confirming the man’s identity. "Master, it’s a farmhand from the rear courtyard."
Su Fengyue was skeptical of the man’s words.
"He says the secret room in the woodshed was discovered? Why has no one come to report it to me?"
He looked at his steward. Shang Rong shook his head, indicating he knew nothing about it and had received no such message.
Su Fengyue said, "Why did you come alone? Where are the woodshed guards?"
"Dead," the farmhand replied.
Su Fengyue could no longer sit still. He stood up and took a few steps closer, staring at the man’s face.
"Who did it? Did you get a clear look?"
The farmhand stood ramrod straight in the doorway. "I couldn’t see clearly. They seemed to be from the palace."
A nerve throbbed in Su Fengyue’s temple. "Come inside and report."
The farmhand walked in with steady steps and stood in the middle of the room. His gaze swept briefly over Prince Yong, who was being held up by several guards, but didn’t linger.
Su Fengyue said, "You seem capable and level-headed. You have potential. From now on, I’ll transfer you to be a guard in the front courtyard. Now, tell me everything you saw in detail."
The farmhand said, "When I arrived, the woodshed door was wide open, and the secret room had already been breached. There were two men in black guarding the entrance."
After a moment of thought, Su Fengyue asked again, "How did you determine they were sent from the palace?"
The farmhand said, "I heard them say they were here to search for evidence."
The color drained from Su Fengyue’s face. The movement pulled at the wound above his right eyebrow, and he hissed in pain.
His face twisting slightly, he asked, "What evidence?"
The farmhand replied slowly and deliberately, "Evidence of treason and colluding with Xijin."
Su Fengyue’s eyes instantly turned sharp. He suddenly commanded, "Seize him!"
All the guards, except those holding Prince Yong, surrounded the man.
The farmhand showed no sign of panic, letting out a soft chuckle.
"On what charge does Prime Minister Su intend to arrest me?"
He raised a hand to the side of his face, peeled off a skin mask, and revealed a face as handsome as a god’s.
The servants of the residence had never seen the Emperor’s face and didn’t know the man before them was the one rumored to be "dead." But because of the formidable aura he suddenly unleashed, they dared not make a move.
Su Fengyue’s gray eyebrows and beard trembled uncontrollably.
"You..."
"That’s right. It is I," Emperor Wu Su said calmly.
Sovereign and subject stood facing each other. Unlike the usual court etiquette, tonight Su Fengyue stood in the superior position, while Zhao Mingyan stood below.
But presence was never determined by one’s position in a room.
Emperor Wu Su stood with his hands behind his back, seeming to draw all the light in the room to himself.
"I came to your residence specifically to find you, Prime Minister Su. Why are you so unwelcoming? Why order your men to arrest me?"
As he spoke, he walked over to Prince Yong, who was still being restrained by the guards.
"Imprisoning a Prince of the blood—do you know what crime that is, Prime Minister Su?"
The moment Zhao Minghong saw the Emperor reveal his true face, his eyes burned unbearably, and a web of red veins spread across them.
He turned his head away, not wanting his Imperial Brother to see him in such a humiliating state.
"You lot... do you no longer wish to live?"
A single, casual sentence from Emperor Wu Su made sweat bead on the foreheads of the four men holding Prince Yong. Their hands began to loosen.
Shang Rong shouted, "Seize them all!"
The steward said to Su Fengyue, "Master, don’t worry about who he is, whether he’s the Emperor or a farmhand! Since he’s in our residence, we’ll make sure he enters with his life but doesn’t leave with it!"
But Su Fengyue stood rooted to the spot, showing little reaction.
From the moment Emperor Wu Su appeared before him, completely unharmed, he knew he had lost.
He had lost the entire game.
From leaving the palace for ancestral worship to the illusion of returning gravely injured, and even the olive branch Prince Yong extended today—it was all a ruse to confuse him, to make him lower his guard and think the throne of Beili was already in his grasp.
This man before him never fought a battle he wasn’t prepared for.
Since he dared to appear so brazenly, he must have secured his own escape while sealing off all of Su’s.
Su Fengyue’s breaths came out in ragged bursts; it took him a long time to exhale fully.
"Why don’t you let this old subject guess why Your Majesty has the interest to visit the Su family’s front hall so late at night for a reunion."
His mind was still clear. "It is because Your Majesty did not find this old subject’s evidence of guilt in the secret room."
Su Fengyue folded his hands over his abdomen, assuming the same posture he held during morning court.
"The secret room merely contains some of this old subject’s... less presentable hobbies. I am unaware of which of Beili’s laws this old subject has broken."