Love In The Forbidden City (Completed)

Chapter XIII - My Own Marriage (Revised)

Ever since that boat ride, my aversion towards the Fourth Prince subsided. Though I still tried to avoid him, I had no longer felt the "fear" that stand as a wall between us. I had even begun to consider that he was a kind-hearted person, not as cold as he always portrayed himself.

However, when I began to believe that the rift between the princes had waned off, they had gotten worse. One day, the emperor found out that some of the princes had taken a tremendous amount of bribe and had even confiscated the donations which he'd prepared for the victims of some catastrophes. During the meeting, the Eighth Bei'Le asked the emperor to extend his mercy as one of the princes who had committed those misdeeds was the Ninth Prince.

Ice Face stepped out and said in a low voice, "Father, Yin Zhen holds dear to our ancestors' principle that whoever that has committed mistakes has to be punished, regardless of his status. This can be served as a lesson for all of us, including the princes and the ambassadors."

The emperor stroked his beard and said, "Yin Zhen, you are always harsh in handling every matter. In this case, I believe these mistakes will not be repeated again. Right?" He looked at the Ninth Prince and the latter nodded eagerly at the emperor's mercy.

When the meeting was adjourned, the emperor held a private conversation with Ice Face. "Yin Zhen, you should not be so merciless. I know that you want to discipline the wrongdoers, believing that by punishing them severely that they will not have the chance to commit mistakes again. But you are still too young to see otherwise."

Ice Face kept his head low and remained silent.

The emperor paused to sip his tea before continuing, "You must know that even though a pile of dirty water cannot be drunk, it can be used to water the plants. Sometimes, when we keep a certain person, he can be useful to us in the future."

The Fourth Prince nodded but I could feel his disappointment. "Yin Zhen will lock Father's counsel in Yin Zhen's heart. Yin Zhen will not commit the same mistake again."

He left without uttering anything. I exhaled a sigh of relief as the emperor didn't look vexed. Die Hard Thirteen kept looking for Ice Face afterward, and a thought struck me.

"I know where he is. Follow me." I led the way to the lotus lake and found Ice Face there.

Die Hard Thirteen smirked and then laughed all of a sudden. "Fourth Brother, you and I have never kept secrets from each other. But now, how could a maiden know your favour—"

Ice Face raised his hand to shut Die Hard Thirteen up; his lips curled up in a contented way. Three of us broke into genuine laughter as unspoken understanding enveloped us.

On our way back, Die Hard Thirteen asked me, "Ruo Xi, you could always come out with a brilliant idea. Now we have met with a dilemma and I have a quiz for you. Tell us, what will you do to those that had taken away the prosperity of the citizens?"

"You're talking about the Ninth Prince." I balled my fist. "He's such a venomous snake. I agree with the Fourth Prince's viewpoint. We should punish him severely. What about this? Why don't you send your men to follow secretively wherever he goes? When he's in a dark alley, ask your men to cover his head with a gunny sack and beat him until he pleads for mercy."

"No wonder our wise ancestors always caution us not to have a cross with a woman." Die Hard Thirteen pointed mischievously at me. "You are such a demonic lass."

We grinned at each other's joke but Ice Face disrupted our euphoria. "Father has ordered us not to meddle in this matter, whatever you think is useless. Let us head home now."

However, even though the bribery and donation case had been settled, the Ninth Prince didn't want to relent. His grudge towards Die Hard Thirteen and Ice Face magnified like the Black Hole. It swelled until it became an invincible mass of hatred.