War Prisoner - Chapter 43

Time flew by, and the sun was already shining brightly overhead when Su Yi began to squirm around in bed and gradually awaken. He shifted slightly, but even such a small movement made him hurt, it seemed as though there wasn't a single part of his body that did not ache, his bones in particular seemed as though they had been shattered and could no longer provide a framework for his body. As he was struggling to get up from the bed, Zi Nong came in. Bearing down on him gently, she prevented him from rising and said: “Empress Consort please rest for a while, let Zi Nong sooth and warm up your muscles and tendons before you try to get up again.” She suddenly say Su Yi look up at her, with a hint of entreaty in his eyes, he said: “Miss Zi Nong, please don't address me like that. Could you please keep on calling me Young Master instead?”

Zi Nong's heart skipped a beat and she immediately understood that Su Yi was still unable to accept what had happened. With a heavy heart, she forced a smile and said: “Of course I can. You have already become our... we should carry out all your instructions faithfully. Besides, I'm used to addressing you as Young Master, after such a long time, it's also difficult for me to change the way I address you.” So saying, she called over a few palace maids, together they helped him to wash up and dress. They sent for his breakfast, and after he had eaten, Zi Nong asked Su Yi: “Does Young Master have any further instructions?”

Su Yi was silent for a long time before he suddenly spoke: “I wish to go to the prison to visit... visit them.” Before the sound of his voice had faded, Zi Nong said urgently: “There’s nothing interesting there to see.” When she saw that Su Yi was giving her a puzzled look, she hurriedly tried to calm her flustered self down and gave him a smile before turning back to straighten out the bedding and freshen the bed, saying at the same time: “Your humble servant means to say that Young Master's body is still not feeling well and even in the best of circumstances, the jail is not a nice place to be. Besides, those people should have returned to their homes by now. I distinctly heard his Majesty instruct Zi Nan to release those prisoners yesterday.” 

When Su Yi noticed that she looked shifty, also that her words were evasive, his heart began to fill with doubts and suspicions. He did not betray any hint of them on his face however, and he said placidly: “Is that so? Well then, please fetch a few books for me to read.” At his words, a genuinely happy smile brightened Zi Nong's face and she said: “Yes, I’ll do so immediately.” But just when she had left, Zi Liu stepped into the room shortly after. Pausing to look around for a moment, she asked inquisitively: “Young Master, did Zi Nong not come here?” 

Su Yi replied: “She just left, were you looking for her for a specific reason?” He heard her reply: “Yes, I need to get some money from her.” After the words left her lips and she realised that they sounded a bit off, she quickly looked at Su Yi and hurried to clarify: “Zi Nong... Of the four of us, she's the one who is in charge of monitoring all the expenses and handling money in the palace, the Emperor's concubines take no part in these matters. But Young Master, ah, no, it should be Empress Consort... since you have become the Empress, if you wish to take charge of these matters in future, the job would be yours by right.” 　

When she noticed that Su Yi was looking at her with gleaming eyes, she suddenly realised that she might have said too much. Feeling guilty, she gave a dry laugh and quickly said: “About that... Empress Consort... your humble servant still has other tasks to attend to, if you have no further instructions, I will leave to tend to them.” 

Su Yi was even more astonished, what exactly was happening today? The Zi Liu he had come to know always managed to keep her composure and remain calm even during the most important and unexpected events, today was the first time he had ever seen her flustered. There was something fishy at play here. In his mind, he was speculating over what it might be, but he knew perfectly well that this was not something that they would let him know just for the asking; they must be induced to speak by other means. When Zi Nong returned with the requested books, Su Yi only read for a while, before his body seemed to feel tired and drowsy and he reclined to rest his eyes for a bit and also to go over in his mind Zi Liu and Zi Nong’s strange behaviour.

Could it possibly be that Wanyan Xu had already executed all those people, but decided to keep the truth from him? When this thought occurred to him, he immediately dismissed it as impossible, reasoning in his heart that they were still more useful alive than dead to Wanyan Xu. If they were alive they could still be used to threaten Su Yi, but he could get no mileage if they were dead. If he killed them, not only would he lose this most reliable tool, but he would also not be able to produce them if Su Yi called his bluff and demanded to see them as evidence that he had kept his promise. Furthermore, in his heart he still believed that although Wanyan Xu could be cold and ruthless, it was because he had been the ruler for quite some time and had accustomed himself to not letting his emotions dictate his actions, becoming somewhat hard-hearted in the process. However, he did not believe that Wanyan Xu was totally depraved or without conscience.

When he thought over what had transpired on that day carefully, from the way Wanyan Xu shifted his focus from one hostage to the next, he probably just wanted to force Su Yi to agree to become his Empress and did not really have any desire to kill them. Maybe even if Su Yi had managed to harden his heart and steadfastly refuse, he might not have been able to carry out his threat anyway. When Su Yi thought of this, he could not help but feel some regret but he knew quite clearly that if the same situation occurred again or if he were to be given a chance to relive it, the result would be the same. No matter the consequences, he would never dare to gamble with the lives of those people.

The voice that answered her belonged to Zi Liu, in a happy tone she asked: “Has the Empress Consort really fallen asleep? He really gave me a scare just now and I almost let the cat out of the bag. Let's go some other place to speak, in case we disturb his sleep.” 

Their footsteps gradually faded away as they left, but he could hear Zi Nong's voice as she instructed a palace maid: “Go spread the word to all the people in the palace, when they see the Empress, they are not to address him as the Empress Consort, rather, they should address him as Young Master.” Su Yi felt deeply grateful to Zi Nong as he furtively crept out of the window and followed the two maidens. Because he was now the Empress, the palace guards did not prevent him from leaving his room this time.

When he saw that the two had stopped and seated themselves at a little pavilion in the courtyard, he quickly dodged behind a large stone that was part of the decorative rockery. He heard Zi Liu give a long exhale before saying loudly: “Aiya, only now do I dare to say this openly. Today, you can finally reimburse me the money I paid to Young Master's friends and relatives as their salary for acting, surely?” [1]

Salary for acting? Su Yi's curiosity was further bestirred, and he listened even more intently as Zi Nong said: “I'm fine with it, but you have become so fixated on that little bit of silver. Harassing me for this makes you appear so stingy. If Young Master sees through the ploy because of this, I would like to know how you can account to our Great King.”

Zi Liu laughed and said: “He's now the Emperor, but you still keep going Great King, Great King. I wasn't originally short of money, but I received a letter from my family. My parents wish to find a wife for my brother and build a new house for him. Although I cannot return to attend the ceremony but I should still send a gift and I also sent more to help support the family. That's why I suddenly lack money. Besides, as you know, His Majesty wanted Young Master's old friends and close neighbours to collude with him to put on a scene of potential murder in front of Young Master to force Young Master to agree to marry him. He agreed to pay each of them ten taels of silver, when you consider that there were at least twenty-odd people, the total cost was no small sum. I hardly managed to cobble it together. Hurry up and reimburse me, I still have a few debts to pay off too.”

Zi Nong retrieved a small ledger from her person, before she even had to ask, the other young woman had already offered her a brush and ink. As she wrote, she continued teasing Zi Liu: “The money you've worked so many years to earn must have been frittered away. You even have more avenues of income when compared to the rest of us, at least you can still prepare some precious herbs for sale. To come up with a sum of around two hundred taels of silver, you even had to resort to borrowing, if word gets out, who would believe it? Who knows what you have been spending money on...” Her speech was left unfinished, because they suddenly heard a steady but forbearing voice say: “That's right, I'm also interested in hearing about how more than two-hundred taels of silver was spent. Zi Liu and Zi Nong, what you’ve said had no proper start nor finish, now I’ll have you both tell me the whole story from beginning to the end.”

When the two maidens heard that voice, they were so scared that their souls nearly departed their bodies and dissipated into thin air. As one, they turned to look in the direction of that voice, only to see Su Yi emerging from behind the rock with a face as grim as death.