Chapter 150: The Emperor Has Fled

"Brother, please say no more." Shen Yuejiao's expression flickered between hesitation and uncertainty.

On one side, she truly could not bear to part with Tang Renxian, considering his social standing and family background. On the other side, things had escalated to this point; while his character was undoubtedly flawed, if she were to abandon him just like that, wouldn't her own character be called into question?

Caught between fear of loss and hesitation, she found herself completely unable to make a decision—unable to determine which course of action would inflict less pain upon her.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Although Tang Renxian's actions were utterly despicable, the Prefect still felt compelled to ask. After all, according to Tang Renxian's account, it was merely boasting and a casual wager.

Just as Tang Renxian himself claimed, he would bet on anything under the sun... wasn't anyone foolish enough to actually take that bet equally at fault?

"What do we have to say? We are naturally here to claim our spoils of war," Cao Jinhua blinked and said. She wanted what was hers, and she didn't care about the scoundrel's nonsensical excuses.

"But the racecourse does not belong to him. It is imperial property..." the Prefect tried hard to persuade them. Wouldn't it be better for everyone if this matter were simply dropped here?

Cao Jinhua was about to speak again, but Shen Shizhu stepped forward. Cao Jinhua had already done more than enough; from this point on, he did not wish for her to be further involved.

"My Lord," Shen Shi intercepted Cao Jinhua and spoke up of his own accord.

"Oh, do you have something to say?"

Seeing Shen Shi, the Prefect visibly breathed a sigh of relief. He did not know Shen Shi, but even if he did, it wouldn't matter—surely anyone would be less difficult to deal with than Cao Jinhua.

In truth, officials detested imperial relatives above all else. Offending an imperial relative meant facing pillow-talk complaints that few could withstand.

From his perspective, as long as one was not an imperial relative or connected to the Imperial Uncle's estate, anyone would understand what ought to be done in this situation—take a step back, and the ocean and sky would open up before you.

However, the Prefect's wishful thinking was clearly bound to fail, as Shen Shi said to him, "My Lord, what if His Majesty already knows about this?"

Shen Shi knew that the middle-aged gentleman surnamed Zhao was actually Zhao Zhen, the Emperor of the Zhao family. Moreover, he had known from the very beginning that the racecourse did not belong to Tang Renxian, yet he had remained silent. Even now, he chose to remain silent...

Since the principal party involved chose not to speak up, why should Shen Shi stand on ceremony with him? A free racecourse—why shouldn't they take it?

"What? His Majesty already knows?"

"Ouch..."

Ah! This time, the Prefect did not stroke his beard. But even though he didn't pull out his own facial hair, why did it hurt just as much?

"Have you already notified His Majesty?" The Prefect stared intently at Cao Jinhua, convinced that this was undoubtedly her doing. The formidable pillow-talk power of an imperial relative!

"Young Master Mo, I must trouble you to inquire what is going on here."

Things were going well; how did they suddenly get mixed up with His Majesty? Tang Renxian felt a deep sense of foreboding and asked the Prefect's son to help make inquiries.

"Very well, wait a moment."

The Prefect's son agreed, choosing not to approach his father directly, but instead seeking out the advisor standing nearby. Through the advisor, he relayed the question to the Prefect.

Prefect Mo looked at them and ultimately gave an answer. It was glaringly obvious that he had heavily biased his stance.

Having received the news, the Prefect's son immediately informed Tang Renxian and the others.

Upon hearing Prefect Mo's assessment, the young aristocrats grew intensely angry. "What? He actually reported this to His Majesty? This is utterly infuriating!"

In Prefect Mo's eyes, Cao Jinhua, being an imperial relative, must have whispered poisonous words into the imperial pillow. That was what he thought, and that was precisely what he told Tang Renxian and the others.

"They deliberately set a trap for us to walk into."

"Imperial relatives! The very parasites of our dynasty!"

...

Filled with righteous indignation, they wished they could strangle Cao Jinhua on the spot.

Yet not a single one of them considered that they had been the ones to provoke this in the first place, let alone suspect that the person who had raced horses against them was none other than the Emperor Zhao Zhen himself.

In other words, the entire premise about the imperial relative's pillow-talk was wrong from the very beginning.

But since they were oblivious to this, tragedy awaited them. "Reporting to Your Honor, since His Majesty already knows, this racecourse no longer belongs to this student. If they want the racecourse, let them go ask His Majesty for it!"

Tang Renxian was furious as well.

How could he not be furious? He was the son of a Minister, hailed by countless people as a gifted scholar. This was supposed to be an "elegant pastime" where he used his wit and talent to make a fool of rustic country bumpkins. Smart people playing tricks on fools was a game they frequently played, but now he realized it was never him toying with others—he was the one being played.

The dignified son of a Minister, a man of exceptional intellect, had suffered such unprecedented humiliation!

Weren't you imperial relatives? Didn't you have access to the inner palace? Fine! The racecourse is right there; if you have the ability, go ask His Majesty for it!

He was not acting shamelessly; he had simply been trapped by someone else.

"Very well, very well! My young nephew need not be angry. This matter, this prefecture will handle it."

Imperial relatives were never popular people. With today's incident coming to light, Prefect Mo instinctively concluded that Cao Jinhua and his companions were using their influence to bully others.

He even suspected that the Cao estate had taken a fancy to the racecourse and deliberately engineered this trap. Tang Renxian and his friends were merely a group of pitiful, unfortunate victims of a setup.

With right and wrong supposedly sorted and his mind made up, Prefect Mo declared, "Young Master Tang merely spoke in jest and took the wager too seriously, though the joke was indeed rather grand. It would be best for this to end here, with both sides taking a step back. Or perhaps this prefecture should submit a memorial to His Majesty and let him make the final decision."

It sounded as though Prefect Mo was urging both sides to make mutual concessions. Yet anyone with even a shred of intelligence could hear the underlying threat in his words.

Young masters of their stature feared nothing more than having their misdeeds reported back to their families—let alone having the Emperor himself find out.

"Ha!" Hearing this, Cao Jinhua almost burst out laughing.

Notify the Emperor?

The Emperor was right here, for goodness' sake. The Emperor was—

Cao Jinhua searched the crowd for Zhao Zhen, only to find that Zhao Zhen was gone.

Indeed, when they entered the prefectural grand hall, Zhao Zhen and his party had been the last to arrive, yet not a single person had noticed whether they had actually stepped inside.

"Young Master Cao, my master has left beforehand due to urgent matters," a single imperial guard remained behind to deliver the message to Cao Jinhua.

"What?" Cao Jinhua's expression changed drastically.

Wasn't this setting him up? At the most crucial moment, the key participant had simply vanished.

"Your... did the gentleman leave any instructions behind?" Cao Jinhua asked the guard.

"None," the guard replied.

Hearing this, Cao Jinhua instantly had a sinking feeling that he was being played for a fool.

Cao Jinhua pressed further, "Then what should we do? Why don't you step forward as a witness?"

"Well, Young Master Cao, it's not that this humble servant is unwilling to help. It's just that my position is lowly, and even if I spoke up, Lord Mo might not necessarily believe me."

He was being thoroughly modest. It wasn't that the Prefect might not believe him—he definitely wouldn't believe him. Even if the guard swore that the Emperor himself had placed the wager, Prefect Mo would find it hard to credit. After all, such behavior simply wasn't something an enlightened monarch should engage in.

If Prefect Mo happened to be a die-hard loyalist to the throne who believed a subject should die if his ruler was humiliated, it wouldn't be entirely impossible, but—

Serving within the palace meant knowing what could never be spoken; even if one knew the truth, one had to feign ignorance, or else risk death without ever knowing why.

The guard expressed himself with utmost tact, yet he remained entirely aware that he would never dare to provide testimony on the Emperor's behalf.

"Young Master Shen, what should we do now?"

The Emperor had fled, leaving nothing behind, and the sole remaining guard refused to testify. Cao Jinhua had completely run out of ideas.

"It's fine." Shen Shi smiled and nodded.

Shen Shi had known that Zhao Zhen turned and left without entering the hall. After all, Kaifeng Prefecture was the capital's administration; had Zhao Zhen entered openly, Prefect Mo would have been bound to recognize him.