Top Scholar

Chapter 405 Oh my god!

The Prince of Shu's Mansion, Songyun Pavilion.

After listening to the Su family uncle and nephew recount the events of the day Su Lu was arrested, Zhu Binhan sighed heavily:
"The chief clerk of the Prince's residence returned and reported that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had appeared at my benefactor's wedding banquet, causing trouble and attempting to frame him. I was immediately uneasy and ordered someone to inquire about the details. But before I could get any reply, I heard the devastating news that my benefactor had been arrested..."

He said with a face full of self-reproach, "In the end, I, as a vassal king, am truly useless! I couldn't even protect my own savior!"

"Your Highness, what are you saying? The two places are far apart, and the matter happened suddenly. Even if Your Highness wanted to save Hongzhi, it would be too late to help him in his immediate predicament." Su Man quickly cupped his hands and said, "The Han family is already extremely grateful for Your Highness's concern for him."

"Alas, you don't need to comfort me. In the end, it's still because I'm incompetent!" Zhu Binhan sighed dejectedly, his guilt evident in his words.

Fortunately, he quickly recovered from his dejection and said resolutely, "But rest assured, everyone! I have not yet repaid the great kindness of saving my life, and I will never allow my benefactor to be wronged or humiliated! I will definitely rescue my benefactor safely!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" The three members of the Su family were overjoyed upon hearing this. They never expected that Su Lu was actually His Highness the Prince of Shu's savior; now, his chances of survival had greatly increased!

"No need to be so polite, this is to repay Su Jieyuan's life-saving grace." The King of Shu replied solemnly, "It's my duty, why talk about gratitude?"

Su Youcai finally couldn't suppress his doubts and cupped his hands to ask, "Your Highness, please forgive my impertinence. Hongzhi is just an ordinary scholar. How could he possibly have the ability to save Your Highness?"

“Su Jieyuan never mentioned that incident to anyone.” Eunuch Qi said to the Prince of Shu with great admiration, “If this old servant hadn’t thanked him upon meeting him, his family wouldn’t even know that he had saved Your Highness’s life!”

"He does not claim credit for himself, nor does he seek fame. He is truly a gentleman of the highest virtue!" The King of Shu now held Su Lu in even higher esteem.

Then she began to speak emotionally about Su Lu's kindness in saving her life—

"You all see me now, looking healthy and no different from ordinary people. But just over a month ago, I was a sickly man suffering from chronic malaria, with alternating chills and fever."

He raised his hand and pressed his stomach, still looking shaken, and said, "Back then, I was so thin I was just skin and bones, but my belly was huge. I could only speak three sentences before I would start coughing, and I could only move around for half an hour each day before I had to go to bed. The best doctors in the Prince's mansion and the imperial physicians in the palace took turns trying to treat me, but they were all helpless and could only offer me some New Year's greetings to comfort me..."

He sighed deeply and said, "I know my own situation, and I know I only have one or two years left to live."

"Just when I was utterly despondent and could only await my death, I met my benefactor, Lord Su!" A warmth appeared in the King of Shu's eyes, and his words gained vitality:

"After learning of my chronic illness, he gave me an ancient prescription for treating malaria. To be honest, I didn't take it seriously at first—if even the imperial physicians were helpless against this serious illness, what good prescription could a layman scholar possibly have?"

"My benefactor saw through my distrust, yet he still did not abandon me." The King of Shu recalled the past, his tone growing increasingly grateful.
"He repeatedly urged me, and in the poem he gave me before parting, he earnestly begged me to give it a try. I was finally moved by his persistence and thought to myself, since mugwort won't kill anyone, I might as well give it a try."

"So, disregarding the advice of the skilled physicians in my household, I insisted on taking the medicine as prescribed. To my surprise, after only a few doses, the chills and fever in my body gradually subsided. I was overjoyed and increased the dosage according to the prescription each day. Slowly, the lump in my abdomen disappeared, and my overall energy and spirit improved day by day!"

"Just yesterday, the doctor took my pulse and said that my chronic illness had been cured, and I was completely healed!" The King of Shu was so excited that his eyes were red and his voice was choked with emotion.
"Lord Su En is like a second parent to me! Otherwise, why would he go to such lengths and ask for nothing in return to save my life?"

As he spoke, he gripped Su Youcai's hands tightly and said in a deep voice, "I was just wondering how to repay my benefactor when he suddenly suffered such a calamity! This is Heaven's way of allowing me to repay my benefactor. Even if it means exhausting all the resources of the royal palace, I will definitely save him!"

Eunuch Qi, standing nearby, also wiped away tears, and this wasn't feigned... His power as the chief eunuch of the Prince's mansion came entirely from his personal service to the Prince of Shu. If anything were to happen to the Prince, even if he wasn't buried alive with him, he would be sent to guard the tomb and could never return for the rest of his life.

Therefore, when Su Lu saved the prince, he was actually saving him as well.

The King of Shu was deeply grateful to Su Lu and immediately ordered a banquet to be held to entertain his father and brothers, and also wanted the three of them to stay at the royal palace. However, Su Youcai had to continue his efforts to make contacts and could only politely decline.

Seeing this, the King of Shu had no choice but to give up: "Alright, saving our benefactor is the priority, so I won't force you to stay. We'll celebrate our victory together after we've saved him!"

~~
After personally seeing off his benefactor's father from the palace, the Prince of Shu went to Changchun Palace to see his mother.

"Why didn't you bring the child with you?" The Dowager Princess said with disappointment when she saw him return alone. "I wanted to thank him properly."

The little princess standing to the side was even more disappointed, her little mouth pouting.

“Mother, please calm down. Those servants spread the wrong message. It wasn’t Su Jieyuan who was requesting an audience,” the Prince of Shu explained. “It was his father and brothers.”

"What are they doing here?" The Dowager Princess sensed something was wrong. "Could something have happened to the top scholar?"

"Yes." The King of Shu nodded and handed Su Lu's handwritten letter to his mother.

The young princess snatched it away, carefully unsealed it, and began to read the letter—

'Your Highness, before me:'
When this letter was read, the imperial guards arrived at the door, arrested him, and he was hastily taken north.

The treacherous officials coerced me into defaming my sect, distorting the truth, and forcing me to submit.

He would rather die than live in dishonor; he was determined not to comply, and thus he was imprisoned.

My body may be discarded, but my reputation cannot be tarnished; the kindness of my teacher is profound, and my conscience will not betray me.

Lu is not afraid of death, but he is worried about his father and grandfather, fearing that they will be implicated and he will not be at peace in the afterlife!
I humbly beg Your Highness's mercy to protect my family and ensure their safety and well-being, to ward off calamities and safeguard our humble existence. If Heaven does not bless the virtuous, I will offer my blood to the Yellow Emperor, and in my next life, I will repay Your Highness's profound kindness by repaying your kindness with the utmost gratitude.

Su Lu bowed deeply.

This article was so sincere and full of sorrow and indignation; it was truly heartbreaking. The young princess quickly became teary-eyed, her face pale and pale from crying.

"Don't just cry, child. What happened?" the Empress Dowager asked anxiously.

"Young Master Su said that if he sees this letter, it means he has been arrested by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. But he has not done anything against his conscience; he just refuses to accept their coercion and slander of his teacher, Mr. Yangming..." the young princess sobbed.

"Yes," the King of Shu nodded. "They fabricated a crime and arrested my benefactor, taking him to the capital for trial. My benefactor begged me to help protect his family and prevent them from being harmed again."

"Of course we have to protect his family! We should bring them all to the Prince's residence!" The Dowager Princess slapped the kang table and said, "Saving his family alone isn't enough; we also have to save him!"

"Of course!" The King of Shu nodded emphatically, "Su Jieyuan has given me a second chance at life, and I will definitely rescue him from this predicament!"

"Do you have a plan?" the Queen Dowager asked.

"This matter..." The Prince of Shu sighed with a troubled expression, "If the late Emperor were still alive, I would have submitted a memorial, and with his wisdom, he would surely have been able to clear my benefactor's name. But this Zhengde Emperor is truly indescribable... I submit a memorial to pay my respects every month, each time with more earnest words, until it becomes a plea, yet I have never received a reply."

"It's been two and a half years, and you still haven't been able to contact the Emperor!" The young princess was stunned.

"There's nothing strange about that," the King of Shu said awkwardly. "Even the ministers of the cabinet rarely get to see His Majesty's face for months at a time, let alone us vassal kings who are thousands of miles away?"

He paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "In short, relying on memorials and petitions will not save Lord Su; we must go to his door in person!"

"Logically, I should go in person," the King of Shu said with a dejected sigh. "But vassal kings are not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without an imperial edict; those who disobey are punished for treason..."

"I will go in your place!" Consort Wang suddenly said in a deep voice, "The Empress Dowager's birthday is approaching. It is perfectly legitimate for me to submit a memorial requesting to go to the capital to offer my congratulations. The Empress Dowager will surely grant my request."

"Mother, you mustn't!" The Prince of Shu quickly dissuaded her, "You are old and in poor health. How can I bear to see you travel thousands of miles? Even the Empress Dowager would not agree to you going to offer birthday greetings at your age."

"I'm going!" The young princess exclaimed in a clear voice, "I am the dignified Princess of Yibin, representing my mother and the Prince's Mansion to go to the capital to congratulate the Emperor on his birthday. It is perfectly legitimate for me!"

The King of Shu nodded upon hearing this: "That would be acceptable."

"..." The Empress Dowager looked at her son and then at her daughter, and knew that the Prince of Shu had originally wanted the young princess to make this trip.

“But brother,” the little princess said, extending her delicate white hand, “you have to give me the ‘Difficulty of Lust’ scroll as a birthday gift before this matter can be guaranteed!”

"Haha, great minds think alike!" The King of Shu laughed heartily upon hearing this.
"Her Majesty the Empress Dowager values ​​filial piety highly. Upon seeing such a moving article about filial piety, she will surely be touched by the kindness of her mother. Take this opportunity to ask for a favor; she will surely take pity on you!"

He said with absolute certainty, "No matter how mischievous the emperor is, he'll always appear on the Empress Dowager's birthday. How could the emperor not grant the Empress Dowager's requests during her birthday celebration?"

"Yes, yes!" The little princess nodded excitedly, "I've got it, that's how we'll do it!"

"I'm leaving tomorrow!" she said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

"There's no rush in the next couple of days. We need to let the people below make some preparations first," said the King of Shu. "Anyway, you'll be traveling by land, so you'll definitely arrive before our benefactor."

"The sooner the better." The little princess wished she could sprout wings and fly to the capital.

"Shouldn't I first cultivate a relationship with the Empress Dowager?"

“That makes sense, but it won’t be easy…” The King of Shu sighed and said, “Anyway, do your best, sister.”

"Don't worry, I will overcome all difficulties to rescue Young Master Su!" The little princess was so excited that she was afraid of any difficulties as long as she thought about being able to save her idol.

"But did I agree?" the Queen Dowager asked leisurely.

"Mother, please..." The little princess grabbed her arm and twisted her body like a pretzel.

"I can let you go, but you have to promise me one thing." The Empress Dowager said in a deep voice, "Don't let Su Jieyuan know you exist."

"Of course, I didn't intend for him to know anyway," the young princess said nonchalantly, her face flushed. "Otherwise, what would he do if he wanted to repay the favor?"

P.S. This is a post to be edited later. Little Princess, please vote with your monthly tickets!!!

(End of this chapter)