From CEO to Concubine-Chapter 189: Quagmire

Right Prime Minister Ren didn’t waste any time tearing into Zhang Xiu once he stepped into the large hall that was used to entertain guests.

"Where is he?" the man thundered, with not a hint of his crafted benevolence in sight.

Ordinarily, Zhang Xiu would have paid him due respect, especially since it wasn’t every day one could step into the right prime minister’s estate with a personal invitation. But today, he was too shaken to care. The events of the morning court had turned their entire scheme on its head and now, instead of trying to figure out how to bring their enemies down, they now had to scramble to cover their tracks and cut their losses.

If it weren’t for the sixth prince, Zhang Xiu wouldn’t find himself in such lofty company. The Zhang Family was not prestigious enough that the old noble clans would deign to mix with them except perhaps to try and obtain some benefits from Zhang Xiu’s foolish father. As Minister of Personnel, there was a lot of leeway for under the table string-pulling when it came to the assignment of ministerial duties and the old man often assigned himself a self-importance that Zhang Xiu could see only existed in his mind.

Rather than respect, all the old nobles saw in Minister of Personnel Zhang was someone they could manipulate easily to serve their means.

Zhang Xiu had thought he’d learnt his lessons well. He’d watched his father make all the mistakes and vowed never to repeat them. Choosing to support Liu Yao back then and choosing to change his allegiances now, they were all decisions made because he wanted to push his family to greater heights.

The emperor was right; who dictated that there had to only be six old noble clans? If there used to be seven, there could also be eight, nine, or ten.

Without a doubt, the Zhang Family was going to be one of them. If Liu Yao didn’t wish to take Zhang Qian as empress, then someone else would.

Maybe then, and only then, would Zhang Xiu not have to smile in the face of censure and pretend that his pride wasn’t smarting with each vitriolic word.

"This lower official is not His Highness’ keeper and does not keep tabs on his whereabouts, if xianggong (1) wishes to speak to the sixth prince, perhaps it would be more fitting to send word to Respectful Prince Manor."

"Full of guile, aren’t we?" The glint in Right Prime Minister Ran’s eyes was sharp as a blade and the way he surveyed Zhang Xiu made him feel like his worth was being recalculated. Should he be found lacking, he had the feeling he might not make it home tonight. "If this prime minister recalls correctly, I made it expressly clear that His Highness was not to directly involve himself in the affairs on the night of the Festival of Ten Thousand Years. What part of that instruction did this prime minister not do justice, for all of you to disregard it without a second thought?"

Zhang Xiu lowered his gaze. He hadn’t been directly involved. As for the sixth prince, who knew what that lunatic had been thinking?

But he couldn’t very well use that as an excuse. "As far as this lower official knows, His Highness’ involvement was minimal—"

"If you think this prime minister an idiot, Envoy Zhang, think again, now, quickly, before you put your foot any deeper into your mouth."

Zhang Xiu clenched his fists. Of course, he knew it was a dumb thing to say. It had been the perfect setup. The fourth prince had taken the bait during the autumn hunt and allied himself with the barbarians to make an attempt on the emperor’s life before pinning it on Great General Pan. The fox they’d used in the ploy had also been procured then.

Shortly after that, with their return to the capital came the start of the carefully crafted murders, each one more alarming than the last and all pointing towards the work of malicious demons. To the silly common folk, little incited more fear in them than that of the supernatural and this was a weakness that was altogether too effortless to exploit.

Liu Yao’s strongest backing as emperor came from the love his civilians harboured for him. How would they feel if they learnt their beloved liege had abandoned their well-being to protect the nine-tailed fox demon that had seduced him and turned him into a licentious hedonistic tyrant?

It had taken a bit of engineering to find the right people to sell this idea to the fourth prince as well as help him set it up. Zhang Xiu hadn’t initially been aware that the sixth prince had used his connections in the inner palace to plant the seed in the mind of Compiler Wu’s younger sister. It had then gotten around to the rest of the Wu Clan before reaching the fourth prince’s ears. After a couple of conveniently placed supporters spoke up in favour of the plan, the fourth prince’s estate had more or less done all the dirty work for them, even going so far as to come up with the solution for circumventing the curfew.

The final part of their plot had been to implicate the whore. It should have been the simplest part of the plan, should have killed two birds with one stone by removing the whore from the inner palace as well as crippling the fourth prince by incriminating one of his supporters. But when it became clear that the whore had escaped, that the emperor had been waiting all along for them to make their move, the right thing to do then should have been to retreat, not to use the Wu girl to muddy the waters even further. Without dragging her into this, it would have been possible to pin the blame solely on the fourth prince and the Wu Family—as for Compiler Wu’s self-sabotage, well that was just the passionate longings of a drunk man and couldn’t be taken seriously.

But because the sixth prince had gone to great lengths to spirit Attendant Wu from her palace and create such a scandal...everything had fallen apart from there. Till date, Zhang Xiu had no idea how he’d achieved it, how the sixth prince had gone from one of the palaces to the bamboo forest without getting caught and with someone else in tow too.

"This lower official believes it in our best interests to hold our troops (2) until His Majesty makes the next move." Without knowing the results of the Eastern Depot’s interrogations or even what Attendant Wu might have said before she died, it was impossible to know what to do next. Zhang Xiu understood roughly that the sixth prince had intended for Attendant Wu to continue sowing the seeds of discord between the emperor and his whore but unless Liu Yao had been acting the entire morning court, he was just as enamoured as before.

This, more than anything, angered Zhang Xiu. The whore was like a stain on Ziyu’s name, one which he needed to scrub out as soon as possible.

As for Liu Yao...he only had himself to blame for refusing to accept well-meaning advice.

"Hold our troops." The right prime minister didn’t outright scoff but his expression said it all. "Do you know why you were summoned so hastily, Envoy Zhang?"

"Please enlighten this lower official."

"Some days this prime minister doesn’t think it all that surprising that we are at the mercy of a young upstart emperor," Right Prime Minister Ren said mirthlessly. "Hundreds of officials led by the nose this morning in court and not one of us thought to wonder at Minister of Finance Yuan’s absence."

Minister of Finance Yuan...? Zhang Xiu knew of him as an affiliate of the Hua Clan and had also known him to be an integral participant in arrangement of the capital murders. That had led him to suspect before that the Hua Family had thrown in their lot with the fourth prince.

But for Right Prime Minister Ren to be this aggravated...it was more likely that he was on their side instead and something had gone wrong with him.

"My sources tell me that, this morning, the Yuan Estate received a visit by the brocade guard whilst we were all still half asleep and getting dressed to attend court," Right Prime Minister Ren said mockingly. "As of half a shichen ago, the head of the Hua Clan has been summoned to enter the imperial city."

Zhang Xiu felt his blood run cold. "How much does Minister of Finance Yuan know?" he asked. He was more interested in finding out whether Minister Yuan was aware of his dealings with the sixth prince but there was no way to ask that without inviting further ridicule.

"Yuan Zhi might not know much but he is a coward through and through, driven only by greed." Right Prime Minister Ren leaned back in his seat. "You can rest assured, what little he does know, the brocade guard would have no trouble prying out of his lips."

"What do we do now then?" Zhang Xiu asked helplessly.

"This prime minister knows how to distance our faction from Yuan Zhi should it prove necessary. But what I am more worried about is whether His Highness left any other traces of himself behind that we have overlooked. This is why it is imperative I find out exactly how involved His Highness was in all parts of the plan, as well as whether he had any past dealings with Yuan Zhi that we might not know of. Do you understand?"

Before Zhang Xiu could reply, he caught sight of the viciousness on Right Prime Minister Ren’s face and fell silent.

"You might perhaps be having second thoughts right now, Envoy Zhang, is that correct?" the right prime minister asked mildly.

The hairs on the back of Zhang Xiu’s neck prickled.

"This lower official assures xianggong that I do not," he replied quickly. The indignation at being yelled at upon arrival had all but faded, replaced by a gut-churning sensation of dread when he realised just how dangerous the man he was dealing with was.

"Best see that you don’t," was the casual reply. "This prime minister does not take betrayal lightly; the sixth prince is more than worthy of your loyalty, do you not agree?"

His attitude towards the Respectful Prince of the First Rank confused Zhang Xiu. Rather than that of a court official serving his chosen master, Right Prime Minister Ren harboured both the irritation an elder might at the mistakes of a younger that he was nurturing as well as the unconditional support that tended to go hand in hand with it.

But why? Was it because there was no better option for the throne? Because that wasn’t true; if Zhang Xiu had to choose a prince to place as a figurehead upon the throne, none was more ideal than the ninth prince, whose age and sheltered upbringing left him far more malleable than his older siblings.

It was a pity Liu Yao guarded the boy so zealously. Otherwise he might even be tempted to try.

Zhang Xiu didn’t voice his opinions. He was very much of a flexible disposition, could stoop or stand as and when needed to best serve his purposes. He hated it but it was a necessary talent; his little sister could have done well to learn but Zhang Qian had been spoilt rotten.

Falling to his knees, he gave Right Prime Minister Ren a kowtow before swearing on his family’s honour that he pledged allegiance to the sixth prince. Especially now that he knew just how much hope the right prime minister—and by extension, the powerful Ren Clan—had for this most lackadaisical of princes; if Zhang Xiu could carry him onto the throne, if he could perform such an achievement, then there was a guarantee that the Zhang Family would reach a greatness that it never had before.

The sixth prince wasn’t one who would concern himself too much with matters of the court either. Zhang Xiu could already envision a future where power sat firmly in the hands of the officials...and he would be one of them.

When he thought of it that way, even Right Prime Minister Ren’s wrinkled face appeared pleasant to him.

"By xianggong’s leave, this lower official shall depart to seek out the sixth prince immediately. Please rest assured, xianggong’s concerns will be communicated thoroughly to him, to ensure that nothing else goes wrong."