SEHE Chapter 14
Leverage
The second day.
Pei Yanci received a message from someone sent by Jiang Yi, saying that Song Qi’an and Fang Hongchun had tactfully declined his request.
This was completely within Pei Yanci’s expectations.
At the time, he didn’t know what those scholars were planning. When he contacted them through Jiang Yi, it was only to learn their method of rescuing those students.
Afterward, he deliberately made a request that would be difficult for them to accept on the spot, simply to make the academy people refuse him.
Of course, if they had agreed, he wouldn’t have lost anything either, and things could still develop according to his wishes.
Having received this news, Pei Yanci strolled over to the tea house, but his good brother wasn’t there.
“Where is Wu Can?”
A nearby servant hurried forward with an apologetic smile. “Steward Pei, Wu Can is resting today.”
“Why is he resting for no good reason?” Pei Yanci asked with concern.
“Wu Can started coughing a few days ago, probably caught a cold. He’ll be fine after resting for a day or two.”
“Then you’ll be responsible for the tea house affairs for these two days,” Pei Yanci casually assigned the task to the person who had spoken. “Tell Wu Can to rest for a few more days. Taking care of his health is the important thing.”
The man was overjoyed and immediately agreed.
The tea house had always been the hub for news and gossip within the mansion. If you asked which Steward had left the mansion, they might not know, but if you asked which subordinate had returned to see the Crown Prince, when they came, where they met, they knew everything clearly. This was related to whether they needed to serve tea, when to serve tea, and whether the tea served was precious or ordinary.
After spending half a day at the tea house, Pei Yanci finally waited for someone to return from outside the mansion to see Gu Jiuqing.
Estimating the time, he poured out the tea in his hand and got up to leave.
****
Gu Jiuqing was currently in the garden. He had just listened to his subordinate’s report, saying they had seen a professor from Qingcheng Academy hand a visiting card to Cui Ya.
This undoubtedly verified Pei Yanci’s words.
If we’re talking about complete allegiance and taking sides, it was still too early to draw conclusions, but Qingcheng Academy at least wanted to rescue people through Cui Ya, that much was certain. With this matter at hand, their stance wouldn’t be so impartial in the future.
While he was contemplating, he caught sight of Pei Yanci passing by on a path not far away from the corner of his eye, and beckoned to Zhang Huairu.
Pei Yanci was strolling in the garden, kindly moving a flower to a different position. He had just straightened his back when he heard Zhang Huairu calling to him from outside a pavilion not far away, asking him to come over.
He walked over in confusion, performed a bow, “Didn’t know Your Highness was here. This humble one has disturbed Your Highness’s spring viewing.”
“No matter. Come and have a cup of tea together,” Gu Jiuqing said indifferently. “Speaking of which, this tea was just brought from the tea house you manage. Let’s see how well the servants below brewed it.”
“Yes.” Pei Yanci respectfully took the teacup and took a light sip.
He didn’t really like Great Yu’s tea, which had a bunch of seasonings added, losing the original taste of the tea.
“Have the tea house affairs been going smoothly these past two days?”
“Can still manage. Those servants and maids below are all quite good.”
Gu Jiuqing put down his teacup and sighed leisurely, “Now that you’re already a steward in the mansion and one of this prince’s right-hand men, for a criminal slave to reach this position is already quite remarkable. If your family knew, they should be very happy.”
“Yes, but unfortunately this humble one doesn’t remember anything. Now even if this humble one wanted to reunite with them, this humble one wouldn’t know where to start looking,” Pei Yanci said.
“You’ve forgotten so completely?” Gu Jiuqing didn’t quite believe it.
At this time, Zhang Huairu, standing by the pavilion, joked, “Steward Pei, you’ve forgotten your family, but there’s still that rough laborer called Wu Luo. Why don’t you take this opportunity to ask His Highness for a favor and transfer him from the garden to the tea house too.”
Gu Jiuqing’s eyes immediately lit up, “Oh? What’s your relationship with him?”
“Steward Pei is thin-skinned, probably still having unrequited feelings,” Zhang Huairu’s voice became high and thin when he laughed, carrying malicious glee that was somewhat unpleasant.
“This is a good thing,” Gu Jiuqing said. “If you’re together with someone from the mansion in the future, then this mansion will also be your home.”
“Your Highness, this humble one would like to ask for another favor,” Pei Yanci said. “Recently, Wu Luo’s condition keeps recurring and doesn’t seem to improve. Could we please invite a doctor from outside the mansion to come in and examine him properly?”
“A small matter.” Gu Jiuqing gave Zhang Huairu a look, and the latter respectfully withdrew.
“You can work peacefully in the mansion. In the future, Wu Luo can also rely on your benefits and thrive in the mansion,” the Crown Prince assured him.
Pei Yanci showed joy on his face and said gratefully, “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Such good fortune was something his “family” had no blessing to enjoy; only Wu Luo would have to bear this burden.
From his questioning, Pei Yanci also deduced a possibility: that the original body’s family members were probably no longer in this world.
Otherwise, Gu Jiuqing’s subordinates would have directly brought them here to use as leverage to threaten him not to have divided loyalties, rather than fishing for information about his family with words like this.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
In his eyes, the only person who could be called “family” was, all things considered, only his father emperor.
Although he had left behind a pile of mess and enough scandalous deeds for historians to curse for dozens of pages.
Perhaps in the more distant past, there was another person…
Here, Gu Jiuqing’s expression finally relaxed a bit.
Wu Luo’s existence finally gave his heart an anchor point where he could trust Pei Yanci, and he began to consider the loyalty this person had expressed to him before.
“Just now I received news that people from Qingcheng Academy went to Cui’s mansion near noon today,” Gu Jiuqing said. “What you said yesterday, your intentions, this prince understands them all. Your concerns are indeed problems that should be considered.”
What did he have left now besides his reputation for benevolence?
He couldn’t just watch those pedantic scholars ally with Cui Ya and then turn around to throw mud at him.
“I also can’t bear to see those examination candidates suffer, but now this prince is also walking on thin ice, can only endure in hiding and wait for the right opportunity.” He once again emphasized his helplessness in standing by and watching, as well as his own predicament, which seemed to have become his perfect excuse for inaction.
“Your Highness, you don’t need to say more. This humble understands everything,” Pei Yanci’s eyes flashed with sympathy and heartache.
“These few days—no, tonight—help this prince make a trip outside. Before they develop dissatisfied emotions, convey this prince’s words to those people at Qingcheng Academy and persuade them properly.”
“Your Highness,” Pei Yanci said with difficulty, “do you really trust this humble one?”
Gu Jiuqing was stunned for a moment and blurted out, “Naturally.”
But seeing Pei Yanci’s somewhat hurt expression, he inexplicably felt guilty.
“Your Highness, such an important matter should still be entrusted to someone you trust,” Pei Yanci deflected.
“This prince said I don’t distrust you,” Gu Jiuqing spoke steadily and firmly.
In repeated confirmations, those suspicions, guilt, and wavering gradually dissipated.
Having said it many times, it seemed his heart also believed that he did trust the person before him.
“Your Highness, this isn’t this humble one being willful,” Pei Yanci said. “Scholars have always been proud, and their social circles are very exclusive to outsiders. This humble one is not familiar with those people at Qingcheng Academy. If this humble one were to persuade them, it would be twice the effort for half the result. Therefore, this humble one sincerely suggests that Your Highness find someone else to mediate. It would be best to find someone familiar with Qingcheng Academy or with Great Scholar Fang, as this would more easily move them.”
“You think about problems very carefully,” Gu Jiuqing considered for a moment and agreed. “Do you have any suitable candidates?”
Pei Yanci smiled bitterly, “This humble one had just become a steward in the mansion. How would this humble one have the opportunity to know such capable people?”
“This prince was confused,” Gu Jiuqing said. “You may withdraw. This prince will look for another candidate for this matter.”
“Yes.” Pei Yanci’s lips curved slightly as he quietly took his leave.
For this one sentence, he had been busy all day.
Coming out of the garden, he didn’t return to his own courtyard but went out again.
The gatekeeper woman had received many favors from him these days. Opening and closing the gate was a matter of the blink of an eye, and ordinary people couldn’t tell that someone had slipped out.
Less than half an hour later, as the sky was getting dark, Pei Yanci finally returned.
Just as he entered from outside, he ran into Steward Zhao and several others head-on. A wooden board was being carried at its four corners by servants, covered with white cloth and vaguely shaped like a person.
Steward Yue was just wondering how there was suddenly an extra person in the back door clearing when he had only just turned his head. Looking closely, it was Pei Yanci, and he asked puzzledly, “What are you…”
“I just borrowed the latrine here. The one at my courtyard was occupied,” Pei Yanci casually pointed to the side, then said, “What are you doing here? What’s that? It looks like a person.”
“Ah!” Steward Zhao had no mind for other matters and said painfully, “Wu Can is dead.”
“What happened? Didn’t Fei Yuan just die a few days ago?” the gatekeeper woman asked in confusion. “Oh right, there was also that Ji Laosan. What’s going on in the mansion this year? Could it be haunted?”
“What haunted? Don’t spread such ominous words here. We have His Highness’s protection,” Steward Zhao said. He then moved closer to the two and whispered, “I have to say, Yanci, you’ve been close to His Highness recently. You really lucked out, kid, getting good fortune for nothing.”
Pei Yanci raised his eyebrow slightly, “How so?”
“When you went out with Fei Yuan, Fei Yuan died and you came back alive. Wu Can switched rooms with you, you luckily avoided disaster, and he contracted tuberculosis and died.”
“Tu…tuberculosis…” The gatekeeper woman was so frightened she couldn’t speak properly.
That was something that could infect people.
She still didn’t believe it. “Did the doctor make a mistake? Tuberculosis takes at least several months to kill someone. I saw him looking perfectly fine just a few days ago.”
The evening breeze gently blew past, lifting a corner of the white cloth on the wooden board.
The woman immediately screamed.
The young man on the board had a face like gold paper, emanating a thick aura of death. His mouth was slightly open as if calling out, and the small fingernail-sized growth beside his nose would never twitch again.
“That’s why they say the Crown Prince is benevolent,” Steward Zhao re-covered the white cloth.