Not Your Typical Villianess - Chapter 213

Prince Wu mansion, the main courtyard.

Su Liya sat at the wooden table opposite the stove while Rong Rong stood on the raised platform containing the stove while stirring the steaming pot of porridge. She leaned forward, her elbows on the table with her head resting on her hands. Lu Yaozhu had come down with a slight cold a few days earlier. Su Liya planned to make him some porridge to help warm him up before he left for morning court.

After stirring the porridge for some minutes the consistency had gotten better, Rong Rong looked up from the steaming pot and glanced to Su Liya and Baozhai who sat by the table. “Mistress the porridge is ready”.

Su Liya raised her hand from the table and sat up straight, “finally, pour out two bowls for his highness and I” she glanced out the window, the sun had risen and the day had gotten brighter. “His Highness must be awake by now, let us not keep him waiting. When you are done with ours, pour out two bowls for yourself and Baozhai”.

“Thanks, your highness” Rong Rong said smiling.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the front door of the main courtyard, Su Liya took the tray of porridge from Baozhai and went into the bedroom. Lu Yaozhu was seated on a stool in fresh clothes with his hair half packed up instead of the usual upward bun he wore for court sessions. He looked up as the door was pulled aside, his lips tugged up as she walked in. Lu Yaozhu passed the scroll in his hands to Yu Tao and stood.

Yu Tao who knew better than to stay back in here as a sore thumb retreated silently. Su Liya placed on the table, picked each bowl of porridge off the tray and kept them one-two side of the table. Lu Yaozhu took a set on one side of the table, she picked the small spoon lying beside the bowl and put it inside the bowl. He scooped a spoonful of porridge and brought it close to his lips, blowing gently to cool the temperature to a more tolerable temperature before putting the teaspoon into his mouth.

“How is it”, she asked putting the empty tray said. She pushed the stool out and sat opposite Lu Yaozhu.

“mm, not bad” he grinned above the rim of the bowl of porridge. Lu Yaozhu narrowed her eyes at him and picked up the spoon next to her plate. She ignored his jab at her and are a spoonful, nodding as the taste rushed to her brain. Su Liya was proud of her handwork although she didn’t prepare it alone she had directed Rong Rong on the recipe since preparing the porridge herself from scratch would be hard because she wasn’t familiar with the way the kitchen and kitchen stove at this time worked.

She pursed her lips as her eyes fell on the scroll he left in the bed, the official red stamp from the ministry of appointment drew her attention. She held the spoon in the bowl and gazed up at “I thought today was your day off, why the official documents.”

Lu Yaozhu frowned and dropped the spoon, “his Majesty has appointed me as a civilian official. He approved my withdrawal from active duties at the military. I will resume active duty at court”.

“Oh”, she nodded, “that is okay for now. How are things with the Crown Prince, I heard that things were not looking well”.

“it is not, the evidence is looking very true. Even I am surprised at what is being discovered, it seems that I don’t know the crown prince as well as I thought” he sighed looking away. “It won’t be easy to get him out of this without making a few sacrifices”.

“Sacrifices? Please tell me you are not thinking of getting rid of the witnesses”

Lu Yaozhu laughed softly as she heard that, “no I am not, that will make it too obvious. Since the accusers have had dealings with the other princes, discrediting them won’t be that hard.”

“I don’t know how I feel about you doing that, I think that we are enabling the Crown Prince by doing that. If he did something wrong, he should pay for that and even though he might not have been directly involved in the act. I think he is watching his subordinates and thereby allowing them to commit these crimes”.

“I wouldn’t normally result to such methods if there was a better option, his highness although naive in certain areas is the best choice out of the other princes to inherit the throne after the Emperor. If I thought that there was someone better out there I would have turned a blind eye.

“He is the best option we have got if he loses his position. Northern Wei might just become a war zone. Those other three princes will get into a blood bath and after the war, the citizens cannot handle another war.”

Su Liya nodded, “I just hope that we are making the right decisions right now”.

Lu Yaozhu held her hands and rubbed her knuckles gently, “some times there is no clear right choice, you just have to choose the best of the worse. This is a good example of a situation like that, we just have to trust that we have made the right decision”.

“And if we didn’t?”

“Then we have a hot mess in our hands”

Yu Tao rushed in as Lu Yaozhu spoke, “Your highness!”

Lu Yaozhu and Su Liya both turned to the door, Lu Yaozhu let go of Su Liya’s hands, pulled back his seat and stood. “What is it?”

“There has been a murder, your highness. The body was dropped at the intersection opposite the ministry of justice”

“Has the victim been Identified?”

“Yes, it is Team leader Ning Boran of the ministry of investigation”.

Lu Yaozhu sighed rubbed in between his eye, “call in the leader of the team I put on the Crown Prince. I need to know where and what his highness did it has been”.

“Yes, your highness” Yu Tao nodded and left the room.

Su Lita pushed the bowl forward, “isn’t Ning Boran the man in charge of investigating the Crown Prince’s case? Things just took a turn for the worse, since you want to look into the Crown Prince actions. You must suspect his involvement in this, I don’t think discrediting the witnesses will cut it.. His highness just created human-sized evidence, he is done for”.