“Those shoes are… in the Third Prince’s… bedchamber.”
Mu Xueshi’s answer came out weakly, all the sharpness and courage from moments ago gone. After speaking, he glanced toward the Third Prince several times. When the prince did not respond, Mu Xueshi lowered his head with a bitter smile and fell silent.
The Emperor tapped his tea bowl three times and gave Eunuch Li a thoughtful look. The meaning in his eyes was obvious.
The gesture was small, but the Third Prince saw it. He gave a soft, mocking laugh. The sound was quiet, yet everyone in the hall heard it, and the atmosphere immediately tightened until even breathing seemed difficult.
“There is no need,” the Third Prince said.
His tone was perfectly calm, but it made everyone’s hair stand on end. The Third Prince rarely spoke, yet whenever he did, something extraordinary usually followed.
The Emperor’s brows drew together. His gaze followed the Third Prince until the prince knelt before him.
The Third Prince first looked at Mu Xueshi, then turned to the Emperor and said calmly, “Father, this son has just thought of a way to determine the truth without retrieving the shoes.”
The Emperor’s hand trembled slightly on the armrest, anger obvious in his eyes. The Third Prince had promised not to interfere in Grand Tutor Mu’s case, yet now he was stepping forward again purely to dismantle the Emperor’s position.
“Please grant permission, Father,” the Third Prince pressed respectfully.
If the Emperor refused to let him speak now, every official present would see the hearing as unfair. The Third Prince had placed him in a dilemma. Suppressing his anger, the Emperor lifted a hand. “Granted.”
A faint smile touched the Third Prince’s lips. He walked slowly to Mu Xueshi and looked down at him in silence, no one knowing what he was thinking. Mu Xueshi saw the prince’s shoes, hesitated, then finally raised his head. The Third Prince gently touched Mu Xueshi’s swollen cheek, and anger flashed through his eyes.
Mu Xueshi looked dazed. The sharp intelligence that had filled his eyes moments ago vanished, replaced by his usual blankness.
No one in the hall had expected the Third Prince to show affection toward Mu Xueshi so openly in a place like this, almost as though deliberately challenging the Emperor’s limits. Everyone stared in shock and barely dared breathe.
The Third Prince turned, took the clothing from Wu Cai’s hands, and ordered a servant nearby, “Bring me a bucket of water.”
Mu Xueshi had no idea what the Third Prince intended. The Emperor did not know either, though unease had already begun to rise inside him.
Once the bucket arrived, the Third Prince gracefully tossed the clothing into the water, borrowed a sword from a nearby guard, and pressed the fabric beneath the surface.
After a while, a thin layer of dust and debris began floating on the clear water. The particles were easy to see. The Third Prince clapped once and summoned the court apothecary.
“Please tell me what particles are floating on the surface.”
The moment he asked, more than half the people in the hall understood. The Emperor’s face darkened further.
Sure enough, the apothecary soon bowed. “Reporting to Your Majesty and Your Highness, the material floating on the surface includes dust, cotton fibers, and… Zhiluo flower pollen.”
“Enough.” The Emperor cut him off impatiently and waved him away.
Mu Xueshi still only half understood. He could not see why pollen floating in the water mattered. Seeing his furrowed brows, the Third Prince crouched directly in front of him and explained as though the words were meant for Mu Xueshi alone.
“Zhiluo flowers grow to about knee height. Most people’s robes fall below the knee, so the fabric would inevitably brush against the blossoms and pick up pollen. The grains are too small to notice easily, but soaking the cloth lets them rise to the surface where they can be found.”
Now Mu Xueshi understood completely. Light returned to his dim eyes, and he silently marveled at the Third Prince’s intelligence. His earlier fear dissolved too. The prince had not been trying to send him to his death after all. Guilt immediately rose in Mu Xueshi for having doubted him.
Before Mu Xueshi could say thank you, the Third Prince’s face changed. He turned toward the Emperor, then, under the Emperor’s hard gaze, clapped his hands again. Someone entered at once.
Mu Xueshi’s eyes lit up and he almost cried “Master!” Seeing Su Ruhan’s grave expression and the warning in his eyes, however, Mu Xueshi obediently remained kneeling and watched in silence.
The Third Prince noticed where Mu Xueshi was looking. The softness that had just entered his features immediately tightened again.
Su Ruhan had not come alone. He dragged two men behind him. The moment the Emperor recognized them, his expression changed.
The Third Prince looked at the Emperor with an unmistakably mocking smile, though in front of so many officials he did not say the accusation aloud. The Emperor stared darkly at the two battered imperial guards on the floor and pressed his lips together.
The two guards looked utterly defeated. Never before had anyone beaten the pair of them, both renowned experts, so thoroughly within only a few exchanges. They had entered the Third Prince’s courtyard confident they could steal the pair of shoes that served as evidence. Instead, the moment they stepped inside, Su Ruhan captured them with ease.
Kneeling there, the two men felt their pride completely destroyed. They kowtowed to the Emperor and said together, “We ask Your Majesty to punish us.”
The Emperor’s expression had already returned to normal. His fingers tapped lightly against the throne. Almost jokingly, he asked, “What crime have you committed?”
“We…” The guards began to answer, but after catching Eunuch Li’s look they changed course. “We should not have entered the Third Prince’s courtyard without permission. Everyone in the palace knows that his courtyard is forbidden ground. No one may enter without His Highness’s permission.”
The answer cleanly separated the Emperor from any order to steal evidence. In truth, Su Ruhan had not caught the guards with the shoes in hand. He had seized them as soon as they entered the courtyard.
The Third Prince had no real interest in cornering the Emperor further. After all, everything he currently possessed had been granted by the man before him. They shared no blood, yet he had called him Father for many years, and the Emperor had always favored him. The prince was willing to let the hidden maneuver end there.
“In that case, this son takes his leave.”
The Third Prince helped Mu Xueshi to his feet and intended to take him away. Before they could turn fully, the Emperor said coldly from behind them, “Stop.”
The Third Prince paused and turned back calmly. “Please instruct me, Father.”
“Mu Xueshi cannot return to Qinyi Courtyard with you. Until the real murderer is found, he must remain confined. Linhan Palace is already the greatest leniency I will grant. If you refuse, I will have Mu Xueshi sent back to prison by force.”
The hall became so quiet one could have heard a needle fall. No one dared defy the Emperor. Even the Third Prince would ultimately have to obey, or else be openly challenging imperial authority.
The Third Prince was silent for a moment. Then a strange smile flickered across his cool face, cold enough to make the ministers below break into sweat. If this struggle continued, even those who had remained silent might be dragged into it.
“There are now five corpses in Father’s Taihe Hall. Even if this son says nothing, Father understands why they died. I have no wish to offend you, and I hope Father will leave me a way to survive. The civil and military officials of the court are all standing here. I have only one life to lose, but Father still has an empire to govern.”
As the Third Prince finished speaking, a shrill scream rang out nearby. The servant who had slapped Mu Xueshi earlier had already had both arms severed while the prince was talking. The two bloody limbs lay on the floor, filling the hall with horror. The Third Prince looked down at the groaning servant and said softly, “Those twenty slaps. I will return them one by one.”
The Third Prince rose and calmly pulled Mu Xueshi toward the exit. The servant, already stunned with terror, curled on the floor as dozens of cuts appeared across his face, each one shocking to see.
The Emperor’s expression had become almost black with rage. He watched the Third Prince walk away at leisure but could not order him detained. The five corpses in Taihe Hall belonged to elite imperial guards the Emperor had sent to assassinate Mu Xueshi. Each had vanished after leaving, and only now was it clear that all of them had become the Third Prince’s leverage.
Have I favored him too much? The Emperor finally sighed, sorrow appearing on his resolute face.
The officials began taking their leave one after another. Madam Mu, still kneeling in the middle of the hall, had completely fainted. Her maid looked frantic. Seeing the Emperor’s expression, she and Steward Wang hurriedly carried Madam Mu out. The enormous interrogation chamber quickly fell into a deathly quiet.
“Your Majesty, do not think too much about it. The Third Prince is still young and hot-blooded. In time he will understand Your Majesty’s intentions. Besides, there is some truth in what he said. Is that not exactly the quality Your Majesty has always admired in him? If he were like the other princes and did nothing but obey, Your Majesty would never have favored him so greatly…”
Listening to Eunuch Li, the Emperor’s mood eased slightly. With Eunuch Li supporting him, he stood and said wearily, “Return to the palace.”