Has the Crown Prince Been Deposed Today? - Chapter 13

Chapter 13. Drawing Out the Snake

As soon as Wei Zhao left, Gao Jili stealthily crept into the bedroom, “Your Highness, quickly get up and eat your midnight snack.”

The freshly made mung bean cakes were specially wrapped by him in three layers of oil paper. He carried them in his bosom, and they were still very warm.

Behind the bed curtains, Mu Yun, who was concentrating on “feigning unconsciousness,” slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were clear and bright. He lazily stretched and yawned before sitting up, showing no signs of being poisoned.

Gao Jili looked him up and down by the candlelight, confirming that His Highness was unharmed and had not been subjected to the Marquis of Dingbei’s personal revenge. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly unfolded the cape and wrapped his precious Highness tightly in it. He said with heartache, “You must be starving.”

It was all that Zhou Shen’s fault, he was so fussy and stubborn, guarding the bedroom and refusing to leave. It took him a lot of effort to lure the man to the kitchen to make medicine.

The youth nodded, took a mung bean cake from the oil paper package, and slowly nibbled on it, bite by bite. In Gao Jili’s eyes, he looked like a lost kitten on a rainy day, wandering the streets, not having eaten for days. Unspeakably weak and pitiful.

Gao Jili’s eyes reddened uncontrollably.

Mu Yun asked strangely, “Why are you crying?”

Gao Jili wiped his eyes with his sleeve and choked, “This old servant’s heart aches for Your Highness.”

To break the enemy’s plot, he had to risk his own safety and poison himself. Afterward, he didn’t even have a chance to catch his breath before falling into the clutches of his nemesis, the Marquis of Dingbei. You probably couldn’t find such a pitiful Crown Prince even if you searched through all the history books.

Mu Yun didn’t feel pitiful at all. Instead, he felt a little sorry for his Eldest Brother, who was still lying on his sickbed, dying.

Even if he took ten or a hundred times the poison, he would only cough up a few mouthfuls of blood at most.

His poor Eldest Brother, besides his heart condition, would probably suffer from insomnia and nightmares from now on.

The candlelight cast shadows on the bed curtains, just covering half of the youth’s jade-like profile. In the dim light, the corners of the youth’s mouth curled up slightly. He finished the second mung bean cake in a very good mood.

If people don’t offend me, I won’t offend them. If people offend me… then let’s all play rough.

Mu Yun contentedly began to nibble on the third mung bean cake. When Zhou Shen returned with the freshly brewed medicine, he saw that the floor, which had been clean when he left, was now inexplicably littered with a few green crumbs. He suspected that there were mice in the residence.

He should have Wang Da from the back street, who sold rat poison, come and do a thorough sweep one of these days.

The little mice these days were really getting bolder and bolder!

***

When the first sliver of dawn tore through the dark sky, a figure stealthily appeared at the corner of the street, peeking cautiously at the First Prince’s residence not far away.

The entrance was empty, with only two servants dozing lazily. It didn’t look like there were any fierce northern frontier cavalry guarding it, as the rumors in the neighborhood suggested.

Wang Adou clenched his little fist in excitement. The boss’s information was wrong. He had to hurry up and complete the task before someone else snatched this lucrative job.

After all, in these peaceful times, people were living comfortably and were more generous. They were willing to give more rice and flour to beggars, since it would just rot if they hoarded it anyway. This had led to a boom in the begging business, and competition was getting fiercer. If he didn’t perform well, he might be expelled from the beggar’s guild by his ruthless boss.

He had already completed his quota for this month. If he could successfully complete this task, he might even be able to compete for first place and get a reward of two pieces of cured meat. It was the boss’s own homemade wild boar cured meat, and everyone who had tried it said it was delicious.

As if he could already see the fragrant cured meat waving at him in the distance, Wang Adou cheered himself on, crouched down, stuck close to the wall, and moved nimbly towards the First Prince’s residence.

The two servants were sound asleep and didn’t notice anything. Wang Adou crept up to the gate, looked around, and confirmed that no one had seen him. He then took out a long wooden box from his bosom, placed it on the most conspicuous stone lion at the entrance, and thoughtfully left a note on top.

In a roundabout way, he had also entered a prince’s residence. He could brag about it for at least half a year when he got back.

Wang Adou hummed a little tune, full of ambition. Just as he was about to retreat along the same route he came, he suddenly felt a darkness before his eyes. He was pressed to the ground by several people and stuffed into a sack.

“Your Lordship, we’ve caught him.”

Through the sack, Wang Adou heard someone say loudly.

He was tied up and thrown into a strange room. Wang Adou still didn’t understand how he had been discovered. But he knew that he wouldn’t be eating his boss’s homemade cured meat this month.

Wang Adou trembled and looked up. He first saw a very large desk made of some unknown, high-quality wood. A man was sitting in the grand master’s chair behind the desk. He was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, wearing a silver-white archer’s robe embroidered with an intricate kirin pattern. He had a handsome appearance, cold eyes, and an imposing aura.

A soldier with a sword hanging from his waist presented the wooden box and note that he had placed on the stone lion. The man casually glanced at them, then tapped the desk with two long fingers, unhurriedly. “Who told you to deliver this?”

For some reason, even though the two fingers tapping on the desk were moving elegantly and the force was very light, Wang Adou had a feeling that if those fingers were tapping on his head right now, they would easily poke holes in it.

“N-No one told me to deliver it. I wanted to deliver it myself.”

Everything he had was given to him by his boss. Without his boss, without that membership contract stamped with a little red seal, his life would have been so bleak. Out of absolute loyalty to his boss, Wang Adou decided to take all the blame himself.

However, the young man sitting in the grand master’s chair chuckled, completely unmoved by his loyal and courageous act.

Wang Adou felt that his dignity had been deeply insulted.

“Read to this Marquis, what is written on this?”

Wei Zhao casually picked up the note, tossed it to Wang Adou, and his tone was quite gentle.

Wang Adou looked at the note that fluttered and landed in front of his knees, and his dignity was once again dealt a blow.

He was so focused on protecting his boss that he forgot a very important thing.

He was illiterate!

“You refuse to read?” Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow. “Then you should know the laws of this dynasty. Do you know the punishment for theft?”

Wei Zhao pointed at the wooden box. “The contents of this box are worth at least a thousand gold coins. You, a little beggar who makes a living by begging, if you didn’t steal it, did you rob someone?”

Wang Adou’s mouth fell open.

One thousand gold coins. The most he had ever earned for his boss was five taels of silver, a full five thousand copper coins, which couldn’t even fit in ten jars. One thousand gold coins, he couldn’t even imagine how much money that was.

Just then, Imperial Physician Zhang rushed over from the inner hall with an excited expression, holding a dark object in his hand. “Your Lordship, it really is a golden snake gallbladder, the one that specifically counteracts Wenshu orchid. The First Prince’s poison can be cured!”

Wang Adou vaguely felt that he was involved in something extremely dangerous.

He heard the young Marquis say, “That’s right. The First Prince was poisoned and unconscious, his life hanging by a thread. And what you delivered just happens to be the cure for the First Prince’s poison. The note also clearly states the usage and dosage. This Marquis now has every reason to suspect that you are the poisoner. Harming a prince is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family. The mastermind will be subjected to death by a thousand cuts. Wang Adou, will you confess now?”

Wang Adou’s body went limp. He finally realized that the moment he approached the First Prince’s residence, he had already stepped into the gates of hell. He broke out in a cold sweat and said somewhat blankly, “I’ll confess, I’ll confess everything.”

According to Wang Adou’s confession, the note, the box, and the contents of the box were all given to him by his boss, a beggar leader named Zhang Dawang. Zhang Dawang was an ambitious beggar. Seeing that the beggar gang was growing and that its members were no longer satisfied with just basic food and shelter but were demanding a higher standard of living, he took advantage of the beggars’ ability to go anywhere and everywhere to actively develop many branch businesses, such as gathering information, running errands for old ladies, and delivering meals for wives to their husbands who were working away from home. Since they were going to beg anyway, they might as well earn a few extra coins along the way.

Wang Adou was quick-witted, sweet-tongued, and efficient, and was usually well-liked by Zhang Dawang. Last night, he was sleeping when he was suddenly woken up by Zhang Dawang, who said he had an important task for him.

“The boss said it was a tricky job, delivering something to the First Prince’s residence, and it had to be done before dawn. A prince’s residence is definitely heavily guarded, so there was a risk of losing one’s head. The boss initially didn’t want to take this job, but the client was extremely generous. They paid a deposit of fifty taels of silver without saying a word, and there would be another fifty taels upon completion. So, the boss asked me if I was willing to do it.”

Wei Zhao asked, “Do you know the identity of that client?”

Wang Adou shook his head. “For such a big client, the boss always handled it personally.”

Wei Zhao waved his hand, ordering his men to take Wang Adou away. He then instructed two of his personal guards to apprehend Zhang Dawang.

Compared to his underling Wang Adou, Zhang Dawang, as the leader of a gang, was much more tactful.

“Your Lordship is wise, Your Lordship is mighty. Even if Your Lordship didn’t ask, this lowly one was planning to turn himself in. That stinking Taoist is obviously not a good person. It’s all this lowly one’s fault for being blinded by the one hundred taels of silver and taking on such an obviously improper job, putting Adou at risk. Adou lost his father when he was three and his mother when he was five. He’s been with me since he was six. He’s a pitiful child…”

Wei Zhao had no interest in listening to his tearful account of the deep affection between a boss and his underling. He frowned and asked, “You said the person who asked you to deliver the thing was a Taoist priest?”

Zhang Dawang’s crying stopped abruptly. He said shrewdly, “He claimed to be a traveling merchant from out of town, but I could tell he was a Taoist priest at a glance.”

“How so?”

“My family has been running Taoist temples for three generations. Even if he turned to ashes, I could still smell the incense in his bones.”

“…..”

Finally having a chance to atone for his crimes and get his little brother out, Zhang Dawang tried his best to perform. “Besides, what kind of merchant only eats vegetarian food and is so thin? Your Lordship, you didn’t see him. His arms were thinner than bamboo poles, and his fingers were like eagle claws. It was abnormal. Our Great Mu Dynasty is now peaceful and prosperous, and life is abundant. How could he, a stinking Taoist priest, be short of food? He must have done something unethical and harmful to his virtue. For example, poisoning the First Prince, such a heinous and outrageous act, is definitely related to him.”

Wei Zhao didn’t express an opinion and only asked, “Do you know where that Taoist priest practices?”

Zhang Dawang looked troubled. “That’s hard to say. There are dozens of Taoist temples, big and small, just on the outskirts of the capital, not to mention those hidden in the mountains. There are too many Taoist priests.” They could just set up a stall and tell fortunes for several taels of silver, which was more profitable than being a beggar. If he hadn’t been so sick of the smell of incense, he wouldn’t have sold off his ancestral property.

“I understand. You may leave for now.”

Wei Zhao ordered his men to detain Zhang Dawang and Wang Adou together in a side hall. He stood up and walked to the back hall, his silver-white robe billowing like flowing clouds, gradually disappearing behind the curtain.

***

After taking the golden snake gallbladder, the First Prince, Mu Jue, had gradually regained consciousness. He was now sitting up in bed, being served medicine by a maid.

Seeing Wei Zhao stride in with an imposing air, his phoenix eyes slightly lowered. He was looking at him quietly, clearly having seen through everything. Mu Jue’s heart trembled inexplicably. He struggled to get up, knelt on the ground, and sobbed, “It was all Yurun’s fault for not managing his subordinates properly. The servant in charge of the wine clumsily spilled the Lindan powder that Yurun takes before meals into the wine, causing His Highness to suffer so much. It was all Yurun’s fault. Please, Your Lordship, report this to Imperial Father and severely punish Yurun!”

He had also mistakenly ingested the “poison” and suffered a great deal. Now, dragging his sick body and kneeling on the ground, he looked so pitiful. Yet he didn’t mention his own grievances and suffering, only repeatedly admitting his guilt and taking responsibility for his servant’s mistake.

Anyone who saw this scene would be reluctant to blame him further.

No wonder everyone said that the First Prince, Mu Jue, was of noble character and had the demeanor of a gentleman of ancient times. The entire court was swayed by him. It was a pity that he had bad luck and had his position as Crown Prince snatched away by a former Crown Prince.

Wei Zhao helped him up without revealing any emotion. “The floor is cold. Please rise, First Prince.”

“In that case, this subject is being presumptuous.”

He had never fallen for such acts of frailness and pity.