The crown prince began to hesitate when he heard that not only could he not punish Zu An, he also had to put him in an important position. “But…”
The crown princess glared at him. “What, do you not even believe my words?”
The crown prince was dispirited. He quickly giggled and said, “I believe you, I believe you! Linglong’s words are always right. Men, award Zu An a hundred taels of gold and five hundred taels of silver. Also, grant him… Grant him…”
He was momentarily stunned. He gave the crown princess a pleading look. “Linglong, what rank should we give him?” He didn’t have any concept of the eastern palace’s various official ranks.
The crown princess said indifferently, “Just make him the crown prince’s chamberlain.”
The position of crown prince’s chamberlain was extremely high. Its name made it sound similar to a secretary-general or chairman’s assistant, but it had real authority comparable to a prime minister in feudal China. Of course, that was still limited to the eastern palace.
“Then let’s just give him the position of chamberlain.” The crown prince didn’t treat it as a big deal and just did whatever the crown princess thought was right.
The crown princess nodded slightly and looked at Zu An. “Why aren’t you thanking the crown prince yet?”
“This subject thanks the crown prince and princess!” Zu An exclaimed, shocked. In his time here, he had obviously found out what kind of position this was. He hadn’t expected to suddenly be placed in such a vital position! It seemed the crown princess was true to her promise, promoting him at an insane rate after he saved her.
The crown princess said some more things to the crown prince, causing his expression to immediately improve. Then, he happily called out to Little He and Little Xu so he could play with them.
When they left, the smiling crown princess’ face suddenly sank. She gave a lesser eunuch who was shaking in the corner a look and said, “Someone, drag him into the prison to have him beaten to death.”
That lesser eunuch finally collapsed. He fell to the ground and pleaded, “Crown princess, spare my life, please spare my life!”
The crown princess’ expression was cold. She didn’t pay him any attention. Her trusted aide soon brought away the lesser eunuch, who was so scared he pissed his pants. Then, she looked coldly at those who remained. “This is the result of gossiping around the crown prince. I hope no one else will do something so foolish in the future.”
“Understood!” The attendants bowed respectfully, keeping quiet out of fear.
The crown princess really was formidable. She knew everything in the eastern palace like the back of her hand. She had been able to discern who was responsible immediately, and then had dealt with the situation swiftly and decisively. It didn’t look as though anyone would dare to double cross her again.
“Sir Zu, follow me. I have something to ask you,” the crown princess said before heading into the inner chambers.
Zu An was stunned. He thought, Isn’t the crown princess being a bit too daring? There was just a sex scandal between the two of us, yet you aren’t avoiding me at all? But he had many questions to ask her as well, so he followed her inside.
Piao Duandiao nudged Jiao Sigun, who was next to him. “Hey, do you think there really is something between big bro Zu and the crown princess?”
Jiao Sigun immediately moved a bit farther away from him. “Don’t drag me down with you if you wanna die.” Piao Duandiao immediately realized what he meant and knew that it was a warning. He quickly shut his mouth.
…
Meanwhile, Zu An followed the crown princess into the inner chambers. The crown princess said, “Bring Sir Zu a seat.”
A maid quickly brought over a chair for Zu An. When Zu An sat down, he asked respectfully, “May I ask what the crown princess needs of this subject?” He still had to show her basic courtesy in front of other people.
The crown princess waved her hands, and the maids withdrew outside. There was no way they could close the door, as that would lead to endless gossip.
The maids guarded the entrance outside. At this distance, they could clearly see what was happening inside, but it wasn’t to the point that they could eavesdrop on what was being said.
“How was your time in the imperial prison?” the crown princess asked when she saw that the maids had all left.
Zu An replied, “It really is a terrible place! His majesty’s people immediately forced an interrogation on me as soon as I arrived. He wanted to know if I violated his daughter-in-law. Then, King Qi’s people came and did the same thing, wishing to force me to admit that there was something between us, so they could use that to bring down both you and the crown prince. However, I remained steadfast and held on. I absolutely didn’t yield!”
“Forced an interrogation?” The crown princess had an ambiguous expression as she said, “But I don’t see any injuries on you.”
Zu An remained unfazed. “That’s because I recover fast. Also, I have Divine Physician Ji’s medicine, so that’s why I was able to recover quickly. Crown princess, you don’t need to be too grateful; true men don’t talk about their pain. Also, please don’t like me because of that; I’m a married man.”
The crown princess was speechless. After a moment, she asked, “Why are you always like this?” She rolled her eyes. “I heard that your relationship with Right Guard General Guo Zhi was quite good, so your days in the imperial prison were spent quite comfortably. The only thing missing might have been some government brothel courtesans to serve you.”
Zu An sighed. “I didn’t expect the crown princess to know so much about everything, even though you were locked up inside the eastern palace all day. You’re right, General Guo and I are pretty close, and he didn’t make things hard for me inside either. However, I was interrogated quite frequently, and many people wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible. Oh, right, I was once attacked by someone in the imperial prison. It wasn’t someone you sent, right?”
The crown princess’ expression changed as she replied, “Why would I do something like that? Even though the dead can’t speak, my innocence would come into question. How could I take this type of gamble? I would never do something so foolish!”
Zu An smiled and said, “I didn’t think it was too likely to be you either.”
The crown princess smiled. “Thank you for trusting me. I indeed wronged you this time, and it was because of you that I was able to survive. However, how did you survive Sir Libationer’s trial?”
This was what she was the most curious about. Who was the Libationer? In all these years, no one had ever been able to tell a lie in front of him. Back then, she had already despaired when she heard that the Libationer was getting involved. How could she have expected this sudden turn for the better?
Zu An replied ambiguously, “I naturally have my methods. Crown princess, you don’t need to worry about it.”
He didn’t say that the Libationer had secretly helped him, because he felt there was more to it. He had to look into this himself.
The crown princess was a bit distracted when she looked into his eyes. Even though this man was normally a bit unrestrained, he had many secrets on him. He had actually even been able to make it through the Libationer’s questioning! If it could be said that she had merely viewed him favorably before, now her impression of him was that he was an enigmatic and incomprehensible person.
“By the way,” Zu An asked out of curiosity, “Why didn’t Sir Libationer question you? I was actually more scared about your end.”
The crown princess thought to herself, Sure enough, this fellow didn’t fear the Libationer’s questioning after all! She really didn’t know what he had up his sleeves. She thought to herself that she had to look into the situation given a chance. She said, “I’m still the crown princess in the end, and his majesty cares about the royal family’s reputation. As long as the interrogation on your side went well, then I’d naturally be fine. If there had been something wrong on your side, then all that would have awaited me was the rope.”
When he heard the lingering fear and rare dejection in the crown princess’ voice, Zu An knew that she really had been scared badly this time. He instinctively tried to console her. “Heaven helps the worthy. The crown princess is destined to become the mother of our empire, so you have the heavens’ protection.”
The crown princess smiled sweetly. “Your mouth is surprisingly sweet.”
Zu An suddenly remembered how the two of them had hugged and kissed that day in the rock garden to get past Zhuxie Chixin. For some reason, he suddenly remarked, “I think the crown princess’ lips are sweeter.”
The crown princess also couldn’t help but remember that night as well. Her pretty face turned red. However, when she heard what he said, her face instantly fell. “Sir Zu, I’ve already forgotten what happened before, and I hope you can do the same. Otherwise, it won’t be good for either one of us. I don’t know how many pairs of eyes are watching us. We can’t make the slightest mistake.”
Zu An also regretted saying those words, using this chance to say, “Fine.”
The crown princess got up and said, “Follow me.”
“Where are we going?” Zu An asked, stunned.
“Obviously, to get revenge on the main culprit of all this!” A hint of ruthless killing intent flashed through the crown princess’ beautiful eyes.
