Part 2
“It’s on fire!!!”
Su Yin ran out barefoot.
The flames were burning behind her, the orange-red light flickering.
Such chaotic scenes appeared frequently in the Prime Minister’s Mansion, but they were kept well-hidden. Few outsiders knew the Su family had a simpleton daughter.
Su Yin broke into Su Xueyi’s room, and the maids couldn’t stop her at all.
Amidst the noise in the courtyard, the butler, Su Fu, directed the fire-fighting in a hoarse voice.
No one was found in Su Yin’s bedroom, but the light was on in the guest room.
She hugged Su Xueyi’s neck in the guest room, her face full of panic and dismay. She cried and said, “Save me, Elder Brother!”
Su Bei set down his teacup and looked grim. “Let go. You caused the trouble through your own stupidity, yet you expect others to save you. What kind of behavior is this?”
After Madam He died, Su Bei had another wife who bore him two sons and a daughter.
After forming another family, their feelings grew distant; Su Yin was afraid of him.
“Father, lower your voice.”
Su Xueyi said scathingly, “When the stepmother’s nephews do something stupid, they should have the ability to handle it themselves. Don’t come to me.”
Su Bei said displeasedly, “What kind of talk is that?”
After hearing the full account of tonight’s situation, Su Xueyi held Su Yin and shook his head coldly. “You’ve gone mad.”
“It’s impossible for me to pull strings and say that no one checked the Princess’s night travel registration.”
“If His Majesty finds out, he won’t let a single person in the Su family off.”
“At least, His Majesty doesn’t want to kill me right now.”
Su Yin hugged Su Xueyi’s neck blankly, her eyes blinking rapidly.
Su Bei suddenly stood up and walked behind the siblings. “Stop. The family lifted you to the position of Prime Minister—is it so you can leave them to die?”
Su Xueyi turned around and stated calmly, “I am in a high position because I am capable.”
Su Bei nearly fainted from anger.
Today, the opposition had again been scared half to death by Ying Xi in court.
Ying Xi had many tricks up his sleeve, all aimed directly at the power in their hands.
After court was dismissed, the officials gathered around Su Bei for a meeting. Lu Zhuo, the nephew of Su Bei’s second wife, had just come of age and was among the group of recommended officials.
Lu Zhuo was good-for-nothing. Seeing that he could soon mix in as a minor official, he was naturally more anxious than anyone.
So he used family connections to find out that Princess Huachao would be returning to the city during the curfew, two days early.
The Princess was naturally hiding from the Barbarian King. Lu Zhuo found some cronies to dress as barbarians.
As long as they saved the Princess and let her speak a few good words to the Emperor, saying that these disciples were all talents, the Emperor’s persistence in wanting to test their lessons would be shaken, and the matter would be settled.
Lu Zhuo implemented the plan without telling anyone, but who knew the fake barbarians would meet real ones!
The Barbarian King’s envoys had already sent five or six people to wait day and night on the official road for the Princess to pass.
When the two sides met, the real barbarians were furious!
Not only were the twenty-odd ruffians beaten on the spot, but Lu Zhuo was so scared he followed the Princess’s carriage all the way into the Imperial City.
After entering the city, Lu Zhuo’s heart was pounding like a drum, fearing the secret would come out.
Lu Zhuo told Madam Lu, Madam Lu told Su Bei, and Su Bei came to find Su Xueyi.
Thinking that with Su Xueyi’s methods he could contend with Ying Xi, he must be able to protect Lu Zhuo and ensure the entire opposition would not be implicated.
Su Bei hadn’t expected Su Xueyi to have this kind of attitude.
“Have you been poisoned by Ying Xi, or has he blinded you?” Su Bei said sternly.
“Since you became Prime Minister, you’ve suppressed everyone regardless of whether they are friend or foe! I tentatively thought you wanted to gain Ying Xi’s trust.”
“Now that Ying Xi trusts you implicitly and almost allows you to oversee the state when he isn’t around, you’ve actually fallen further and truly stood on his side.”
No matter how harsh Su Bei’s tone was.
Su Xueyi habitually turned a deaf ear.
He picked out the words “trusts implicitly” from his father’s reproach, like scraping a piece of candy from a knife’s edge.
He tasted this trust bloodily, while the image of Ying Xi keeping him a thousand miles away appeared before his eyes.
Su Xueyi: “After you’re finished, Yin-yin needs to sleep.”
Su Yin hugged Su Xueyi tightly.
Like a needle striking cotton.
The dignity of being a father lost to the rebellious son who had grown more powerful.
Su Bei said, “You are presumptuous!”
Su Xueyi smiled. “You are stupid.”
A mouthful of old blood rose in Su Bei’s throat. Su Xueyi’s appearance took after him, but his character was exactly like his deceased wife, Madam He.
The women of the He family were ugly and scathing. Su Bei was a disciple of a branch of the Su clan; he had spent two years of painstaking effort on flowery writing before he managed to marry the legitimate daughter of the He family, which raised his status in the Su family significantly.
The night wind suddenly picked up, the main doors of the hall were wide open, and the candlelight in the dark hall flickered, now bright, now dim.
A layer of sweat broke out on Su Bei’s forehead.
He heard Su Fu shouting outside: “The wind is up, the fire is spreading, lift the water vats and splash it!” “You lazy things, how can the young lady be left alone?” “Don’t let it burn the other rooms, save the fire…”
Su Xueyi said, “Lu Zhuo has already been exposed. He should be tied up, and Madam Lu should take him to see His Majesty.”
“The Lu family and our family are related by marriage. His Majesty has some thin face for me, so he shouldn’t go as far as collective punishment.”
“Father should further distance himself from the opposition, return the silver funds, destroy the evidence, and tuck his tail between his legs. If His Majesty wants reform, let him reform.”
“Why do you still dare reach out your hand?”
Su Xueyi paused and took a light breath.
He thought that while he was full of calculations, Ying Xi was always a step ahead.
Su Xueyi licked his lips longingly. “His Majesty is not the Yuantai Emperor. Your brain cannot fool him.”
Slap—
Su Bei delivered a loud slap.
He seemed to see Madam He, despising him for his stupidity after their marriage.
He also seemed to see Madam He taking her children away to another villa for upbringing, as if fearing they would be tainted by his stupidity.
But he had played with the Yuantai Emperor and moved the national treasury for him, winning status step by step and lifting their branch higher and higher—for whom?
Madam He had cursed him: “A traitor to the state.”
His deceased wife and his children were all unreasonable.
Su Xueyi held Su Yin and had no way to block it. He took a solid slap, and his cheek swelled high, already turning purple.
The finger marks on his face were clearly discernible; how could he attend court the next day?
Su Yin scrambled down and hugged Su Bei’s leg, scratching at it. “Elder Brother is good. Father is very stupid and bad!”
To this day, these three were still one!
Though Madam He was dead, she had left him two enemies.
Wretched woman.
Su Bei delivered another slap. A father hits a son, and the son cannot strike back.
Yet Su Bei’s striking did not make Su Xueyi feel pleasant; it was not “flavor,” only humiliation.
A phoenix that could have soared through the nine heavens was unfortunately dragging along a group of stupid chickens that couldn’t fly.
Su Xueyi gritted his teeth hard.
The taste of rust filled his mouth, and his head buzzed incessantly.
He suddenly lowered his head and curled his lips, his blood-stained teeth staring at Su Bei. Sweat soaked his forehead hair, looking like broken jade. The muscle lines on his arms tightened as if he could flip Su Bei over and tear him apart at any moment.
Su Yin’s crying was mixed with the sounds of fire-fighting.
Su Yin wanted to separate the two and pulled down the sachet Su Bei was wearing.
“I won’t let Yin-yin go to her death with you,” Su Xueyi said hoarsely. “You won’t be able to win against His Majesty either. No matter what methods you have, stop while you’re ahead. Otherwise, I’ll take Yin-yin to Weiyang Palace immediately and surrender…”
Su Bei flicked his sleeve and left.
The sachet’s opening loosened; this was a refined item of a literatus.
The contents spilled out: mugwort, agarwood, perilla, mint, and a Liuding Liu-jia talisman.
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