Chapter 42: The Jade Thumb Ring

Liu Yiyi smiled and shook her head. "It doesn't matter, this maid is very quick with her hands and feet. I'll go right now."

Ji Hua did not hold her back. After expressing her appreciation for the hard work, Liu Yiyi curtsied and withdrew.

Returning to her seat, Ji Hua's mind drifted to other matters.

She truly had no idea that Liu Yiyi possessed the skill to make masks. This revealed a flaw of her own: she did not yet have a thorough understanding of the people under her command.

If she wished to exact revenge on Ling Moxuan, relying solely on herself was completely unfeasible.

Although she had currently uprooted all the spies planted by Liu Qingmei, it did not mean that everyone currently in the courtyard could be put to good use.

Those kept by her side needed not only loyalty, but also capability. Possessing just a single skill was far from enough...

At this thought, Ji Hua frowned.

It seemed she could not slack off yet; she needed to cultivate a pool of specialized talent.

For instance, during the recent horse-racing festival, she had no capable people of her own at hand and was forced to rely on Rong Yujiang.

After all, her relationship with Rong Yujiang was strictly cooperative. Once Rong Yujiang's poison was cured in the future, she would no longer be able to ask him to act on her behalf.

It was imperative to cultivate her own people...

Having formed a rough plan, Ji Hua stood up, freshened up, blew out the lamps, and went to bed.

Having been busy all day, she was indeed exhausted.

Right now, she needed to take good care of her health and conserve her strength. Before Ling Moxuan fell, she was determined not to fall first!

***

Eastern Palace.

The night sky was dotted with a sparse few stars as two carriages slowly came to a halt outside the Eastern Palace.

A servant respectfully stepped forward to place a mounting block beside the first carriage. A pair of finely crafted black boots stepped down from the carriage, closely followed by another figure.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, Lord Gu."

The head steward hurried down the steps to greet them.

Gu Zirui instructed the steward, "Go to the rear carriage, carry the person down, settle them in a side room, and summon a physician to examine him."

Upon hearing this, the steward was momentarily startled, only then noticing that a second carriage followed the Crown Prince's. Without asking further questions, he immediately led two servants to carry the person out.

The one carried down was none other than Feng Yueyang, who had already fainted after receiving twenty board beatings.

Gu Zirui stood beside Ling Yuzhao, watching as Feng Yueyang was carried away, the air still faintly lingering with the scent of blood.

Gu Zirui furrowed his brows deeply and could not help casting a glance at Ling Yuzhao.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, this..."

"Let's go inside to talk."

Ling Yuzhao cut him off before he could finish, ascending the stone steps and walking straight through the main gates.

Gu Zirui pressed his lips together and hurriedly followed.

With a soft creak, Gu Zirui pushed open the study doors for Ling Yuzhao. Once Ling Yuzhao entered, Gu Zirui stepped in right behind him and closed the door.

Unable to hold back the words bottled up inside him any longer, he looked at the Crown Prince, who had remained utterly silent ever since returning from the Imperial Study, and said angrily,

"Your Highness, the Emperor is simply too biased! This time, King Xuan plotted against us with both human witnesses and physical evidence complete. Even if the fellow surnamed Dong retracted his testimony halfway through, it was solely because King Xuan threatened him right before the Emperor's eyes!"

"I refuse to believe the Emperor couldn't hear or see it. King Xuan was clearly using the fellow surnamed Dong's family as leverage to prevent him from identifying the mastermind, King Xuan himself."

"Later on, Dong Yufang even smashed his head against a pillar and committed suicide right in front of the Emperor—that was taking the blame to shield others! If even I could see through it, how could the Emperor not? The Emperor is deliberately favoring and shielding King Xuan!"

Uttering such words was an act of extreme treason.

Had they not been inside the Eastern Palace where the presence of King Xuan's or anyone else's spies was impossible, Gu Zirui would never have dared to speak thus.

Ling Yuzhao gave him a calm, indifferent glance without a word. Instead, he sat down and drew a jade thumb ring from his sleeve—the very one the Emperor of Great Chu had bestowed upon him just moments before.

Ling Yuzhao fondled it in silence, a flickering light dancing in the depths of his eyes.

Seeing that the Crown Prince remained mute, Gu Zirui assumed the Crown Prince was equally consumed by rage and immediately vented further.

"Your Highness, since the Emperor favors King Xuan to this extent, why bother naming you Crown Prince in the first place? If he holds King Xuan in such high regard and partiality, he might as well hand the position of Crown Prince over to him!"

"That way, King Xuan wouldn't harbor the delusion that you stole his rightful place and spend all these years incessantly plotting and scheming against you."

Gu Zirui let out a scoff of derision.

"And to think the Emperor had the nerve to say you are brothers whose affection shouldn't be undermined by outsiders or objects. It is entirely the fault of a father's blatant partiality..."

"Gu Zirui!"

Ling Yuzhao's voice was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable authority that cut off Gu Zirui's remaining words.

Gu Zirui's rationality cleared slightly, though stubborn resentment still lingered in his eyes.

Ling Yuzhao, however, placed the jade thumb ring onto the desk and raised an eyebrow at Gu Zirui.

"You didn't notice anything amiss in the Imperial Study today, but I have a vague feeling something is not quite right."

Gu Zirui froze, then asked in puzzlement, "What's not right?"

As he spoke, his gaze instinctively drifted toward the thumb ring on the table.

"Is Your Highness referring to this thumb ring?"

Ling Yuzhao's gaze drifted into the distance, as if recalling the past.

"The jade thumb ring that shattered today was given to me by Imperial Father when I was seven years old and suffering from a persistent high fever."

Still failing to detect anything strange, Gu Zirui paused, assuming the Crown Prince was merely feeling hurt.

After all, that jade thumb ring served as proof of the Emperor's care for the Crown Prince. Now that it had shattered into pieces like this, the Emperor acted as though it were of no consequence, casually tossing him a replacement jade thumb ring just to shut him up.

Hmph, who would care for such a substitute?

The significance of the two rings was entirely different!

Gu Zirui could not resist offering comfort.

"Your Highness, the Emperor is indeed somewhat biased... But please do not take it to heart. You still have the Empress doting on you..."

Ling Yuzhao, however, waved a hand, his eyes revealing a mix of cold detachment and shrewd insight.

"That is not what I mean. That jade thumb ring was indeed given to me out of Imperial Father's care, but it carries an even deeper significance."

Saying this, Ling Yuzhao looked directly at Gu Zirui.

"That jade thumb ring was once given to Imperial Father by the Grand Emperor. When Imperial Father bestowed it upon me, he told me that the ring possessed the power of an amulet and that I must guard it with the utmost care."

"He warned that if it were to shatter, it would bring misfortune to me and to Great Chu, and could even affect the nation's destiny. At the time, I thought Imperial Father was merely coaxing me as a child, but I later asked the Empress about it."

"The Empress confirmed that the jade thumb ring was indeed passed down from the Grand Emperor to Imperial Father. It belongs exclusively to the future Son of Heaven of Great Chu and must never be easily lost or destroyed. Its symbolic value is second only to the Imperial Seal."

Rivaling the Imperial Seal!

Upon hearing this, Gu Zirui's eyes widened in astonishment.

He had truly never imagined that the jade thumb ring held such monumental significance. He had only known from childhood that the Crown Prince used to wear it around his neck on a red cord.

As he grew older and could wear it securely on his hand, the Prince had kept it on his finger continuously. Gu Zirui had simply assumed the Prince was fond of it, never dreaming of such a profound layer of meaning behind it.

Yet, if it was truly that crucial...

Gu Zirui furrowed his brows, his tone turning even more unfavorable.

"If that jade thumb ring held such immense importance and was deliberately destroyed like this, the Emperor ought to investigate it to the very end, especially since damaging the ring could impact the destiny of Great Chu."