However, Jiang Suizhou's joy didn't last for long.
After Chen Ti was convicted, because Qi Min refused to let him off, he
repeatedly submitted written statements to the top, taking great pains to
provoke Hou Zhu. Soon after, several members related to Chen Ti in the
Ministry of Rites were convicted. Although the charges were not as serious
as Chen Ti's, they were more or less demoted.
But Jiang Suizhou did not expect for Ji You to also be among those ranks.
This case originally stopped at this point, and in no way was it related to
him, but after two days of him being released from prison, he was demoted
under the jurisdiction of lax charges, and was transferred to Huizhou.
Huizhou wasn't very far, nor was it as remote as Lingnan, but at Ji You's
age, being demoted to outside the capital was equivalent to ending his
career as an official.
Ji You didn't have a criminal charge, yet Pang Shao still tried every means
to make things difficult for him, thus thinking of this idea. When he thought
about it, Jiang Suizhou knew Pang Shao was using Ji You to fight with
himself, to give him a warning.
Pang Shao was telling him, while under Pang Shao's leadership, even if the
rescue of someone was successful, it wouldn't come to a good end.
Jiang Suizhou felt his breath stuck in his chest.
For two consecutive days, he didn't look for Huo Wujiu. In his study, he
found some of the original owner's hidden rare books, along with some silver notes for travel, and had Meng Qianshan deliver them to Ji You's
residence.
Meng Qianshan soon returned.
Ji You accepted those books, but returned the silver notes.
Meng Qianshan gave the silver notes back to Jiang Suizhou, saying, "Your
Highness, Ji-daren said his traveling expenses are sufficient, so you have no
need to spend."
With this said, he fished out a thin letter from his arms and handed it to
Jiang Suizhou. "Ji-daren also wrote a few words, and asked this humble
slave to pass it on to Your Highness."
Jiang Suizhou opened the letter and saw eloquent, unrestrained writing on
the paper.
"Thank you for your Highness' rescue, and I ask Your Highness not to
blame yourself.
"Huizhou has lovely scenery, the plum blossoms are especially lavish, I
have yearned to see it for a long time. If you think about it, if I leave a bit
earlier, I can catch up before I wizen, and see Huizhou's green plums for
myself. Wouldn't it be wonderful?"
Jiang Suizhou read until this point, and the corner of his mouth relaxed,
before finally forming a very shallow curve.
In life, each one has their own preferences and pursuits. But Pang Shao
imposed his preferences on others, thinking that career and wealth were the
things everyone liked, which made him think that ruining Ji You's future
prospects was the most appropriate punishment.
But he didn't know, his so-called punishment was nothing to Ji You. To
Jiang Suizhou, this was luck in misfortune.
But…
Jiang Suizhou studied the letter for a moment, and put it away like it was a
precious thing.
Although this demotion only tickled Ji You, and instead gave him the
chance to enjoy the scenery to his heart's content, Pang Shao's animosity
would never be forgotten by Jiang Suizhou.
He also must make it clear to Pang Shao.
But today, Pang Shao hoodwinked the court, and most of all, the Ministry
of Personnel that was in charge of transferring and promoting officials, was
practically grasped in Pang Shao's hands.
Even if he wanted to oppose Pang Shao, the fact was, it would be extremely
difficult.
——
For two consecutive days, Huo Wujiu did not see Jiang Suizhou at all.
Every day, after taking his medicine, he could only wait in the room.
Sometimes, he could see people going in and out of the courtyard from the
window, but he couldn't go out.
He only felt, after taking the medicine these two days, the pain in his legs
was a bit severe, so much so that his mood was poor. No matter how many
times he thought of solutions to forget the pain, it did not work.
To him, these two days felt a little longer than usual.
Until the third day.
Just like the previous days, Li Changning gave him acupuncture and
moxibustion. When he reached half of the pincushion, he suddenly heard
Huo Wujiu ask, "Did the medicine change these two days?"
Li Changning was stunned. "It didn't!"
He raised his eyes to look at Huo Wujiu, and saw Huo Wujiu sitting there
with a frown. Hearing his answer, Huo Wujiu raised his hand to rub the
space between his brows and hmmed.
Li Changning hurriedly asked, "General, these two days, did you feel
especially different?"
Huo Wujiu paused. "No, just asking."
Li Changning gave a response, and continued pricking his needle.
Wei Kai turned his head to see Huo Wujiu with this expression, and knew
something was wrong. He hurriedly moved to the bed and asked Huo
Wujiu, "General, what happened?"
Huo Wujiu was silent for a moment. "These two days, what's unusual
happening in Jingwang Manor?"
Wei Kai pondered. "This subordinate has not heard any rumors, but this
morning, when this subordinate followed Doctor Li to come here, that
eunuch who's always beside Jingwang told this subordinate to be a little
careful."
Huo Wujiu paused, and lifted his eyes to look at him. "What did he say?"
Wei Kai was dazed for a while. He felt that when the General heard this, he
would speak a little faster.
He hastily said, "He didn't say anything, he just said Jingwang is not very
happy these two days, and asked this subordinate to not invite bad luck."
Huo Wujiu withdrew his gaze.
So something did happen.
He didn't ask again. The two men also gave a meaningful glance and went
to do their work. Only until both finished adding the needles, giving him all
the medicine, and withdrawing, did Huo Wujiu lift his eyes to look outside
the window, the space between his brows furrowed very tightly.
He was perfectly fine two days ago, what happened that made him so
upset?
Huo Wujiu's heart was in turmoil, and he came up with a guess.
Could something have happened in the court? But these two days he didn't
see Jingwang go out, let alone see anyone from the palace visiting Jingwang
Manor.
Huo Wujiu's brows didn't loosen the whole day.
Luckily, when nightfall came, Jiang Suizhou showed up.
By now, Huo Wujiu had had his dinner and was sitting on the bed,
randomly flipping a book distractedly. Jiang Suizhou sat down beside his
bed and asked, "Are you well these two days?"
Huo Wujiu put down the book. He didn't answer his question, and instead
said, "What happened?"
Jiang Suizhou couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
He didn't expect this matter would reach Huo Wujiu's ears, and also didn't
expect he would ask so naturally and as a matter of course.
Huo Wujiu saw him not speaking, and added, "I heard you're not happy
these two days."
Jiang Suizhou's heart inexplicably grew a peculiar warmth.
Ever since knowing Ji You was going to be demoted, he was extremely
irritated that he could feel the others didn't dare to provoke him. Because he
was those people's "master", they didn't dare provoke him, much less to be
so bold as to ask what they shouldn't ask.
He naturally was in no position to bring it up to people, and pouring his
heart out was out of the question.
Although he usually wasn't a sensitive person, such sentiments were always
kept in his heart. There was not a person whom he could talk with, so he felt
suppressed.
But he didn't expect Huo Wujiu would ask, nor did he think that he could
speak about this matter with Huo Wujiu.
He paused, before slowly explaining, "Ministry of Rites' Ji-daren has been
demoted. In a few days' time, he'll be sent to Huizhou."
Huo Wujiu frowned. He asked, "Doesn't it have nothing to do with him?"
Jiang Suizhou said, "He was convicted of lax charges. After Chen Ti was
arrested, this matter was entirely handed over to the Ministry of Justice and
Ministry of Personnel. This Prince is unable to intervene."
Huo Wujiu was silent for a moment and said with assertiveness, "That's an
order by someone below Pang Shao."
Jiang Suizhou smiled, and slowly breathed out, "It's Pang Shao. He has
suffered from this Prince's loss, so he wants to give trouble to this Prince.
Ji-daren is only a troubled fish in a pond*."
* – taken from a literature: there's a fish pond under a city gate. One
day, the gate is on fire, so the people use the water from the pond to
extinguish it. In the end, all of the fish in the pond die as their water is
drained. This is to say, Ji You is only an innocent bystander.
Huo Wujiu said, "Since he joined the palace as an official, he has to be
prepared for such risks. But it's only a demotion, the place he's going to is
also not remote, and far away from the court. To him, it might be a good
thing."
But Jiang Suizhou shook his head.
"Others can think like this, but I can't," he said. "In any case, his disaster is
all because of me, I can't just stay idle." After a pause, he softly sighed.
"That's Pang Shao for you."
Huo Wujiu didn't speak for a while.
Jiang Suizhou also knew he was confined in the residence every day and
couldn't even walk. Naturally, he couldn't do anything. He wasn't hoping
for Huo Wujiu to say anything. After he spilled it out, Jiang Suizhou's heart
felt a little more at ease. He picked up the book Meng Qianshan had placed
next to him and said, "I didn't come for two days, and quite forgot where I
stopped reading."
To change the subject, he proceeded to read the book for Huo Wujiu to
listen to.
Huo Wujiu silently looked at him as he put forth a look as if nothing had
happened, lowering his head as he flipped the book. His chest felt very
stuffy.
…It wasn't something he should bear, but because he was born in the
emperor's house, the pressure fell on his shoulders.
If he really was a cold-blooded, heartless bastard, then it would be fine.
Only, he was an extremely tender-hearted person. Whether it was his
business or not, he had to take all the responsibility on himself. In the end,
even if he couldn't stand it, he had to hold out.
He saw Jiang Suizhou flip to the page he stopped at last time and gently,
quietly read aloud.
But before he could read two sentences, his voice abruptly ceased.
Jiang Suizhou raised his head in surprise, to see Huo Wujiu somehow came
and snatched the book from his hands.
"Let me," Huo Wujiu said.
Jiang Suizhou revealed an astonished face.
He watched Huo Wujiu moving the lamp a little closer. Although his
expression was indifferent and alienated, there was an inexplicably little
awkwardness.
He clearly didn't lift his eyes, much less look at him, but it was as though
he was clumsily comforting him.
Jiang Suizhou was rendered speechless for a while, and only felt that his
chest was rather hot. It was like the dreary feeling that silted up inside him,
was slowly being burned away.
He fixed his gaze on Huo Wujiu, and didn't speak for a while.
He watched Huo Wujiu lower his eyes, flipping open the book in his hands.
His indifferent look suddenly went rigid on his face.
After that, his eyebrows gradually scrunched up, and lifted his eyes to look
at Jiang Suizhou.
"…The book you read a few days ago, it was this one?" he asked.
Jiang Suizhou stared blankly for a moment. "Yes?"
Huo Wujiu's gaze gingerly settled on the book.
It was different from the simple vernacular prose Jiang Suizhou read out
these few days. This book's content was difficult to understand, it was all
rare words placed before Huo Wujiu, just like hieroglyphics. It only took
two glances to make his brain ache.
Jiang Suizhou moved closer to take a look, and realized what happened at
once.
This book was indeed written in extremely obscure classical Chinese. After
all, the one who wrote the book was the previous dynasty's renowned
erudite scholar. All of the wordings and phrasings needed careful study. The
spoken and written language of the ancients were, after all, completely
different. These sentences couldn't be read out, and naturally had to be
translated first before it was able to be read.
Because Jiang Suizhou originally had this job, he could translate with high
proficiency with absolutely no effort.
"It's the same book, but what's written in the book is not easy to read, so I
adjusted it a little," he said.
Huo Wujiu was speechless.
Jiang Suizhou looked at Huo Wujiu in bewilderment.
Although he went to war, he was still a person from the ancients, so he
should be able to understand it, right?
But…why did he have this expression on his face?
Before Jiang Suizhou could make sense of it, Huo Wujiu suddenly closed
the book in his hands and lazily put it to one side. He lightly said, "Change to another book, I feel very bored of this one from two days ago, it's not
interesting."
Jiang Suizhou was even more skeptical.
…No way, when I read it to you two days ago, you looked like you were
listening enthusiastically though?