Chapter 127 Cascades: Heartless

Gan Qingjia hummed along to himself as he slowly headed home, filled with happiness. Never did he think that he would fall prey to a girl like her, having always been the predator himself. Now that things were finally on the right track after much effort, he was filled with glee.

“Young master!” The head steward approached him frantically the moment he entered the household. “Please head to the study right now; the Heir and Master are both waiting for you.”

“The Heir?” Gan Qingjia's eyes glinted, but quickly reverted to his usual lazy look. “Why would I go over if the Heir is discussing things with Father?”

“But it's something to do with you.” The head steward did not hear many details clearly from the outside of the study, but whatever he heard had made him uncomfortable. Things seem to be serious. Too worried to care for the usual pleasantries, the head steward dragged Gan Qingjia towards the study.

“Master, the young master is here.” The head steward knocked lightly upon the door.

The Minister of the Left opened the door and looked Gan Qingjia over. He muttered under his breath. “Punk.” He let Gan Qingjia in. “Your Highness, my son has returned.”

The Heir looked at Gan Qingjia, a light smile on his lips.

“Greetings, your Highness.” Gan Qingjia bowed.

“Can I take your bow as your pledge of allegiance towards me? What an important bow for a man like you, the Head of the Villa of Mount Baicha, the man as rich as the kingdom itself.” The Heir laughed and motioned for Gan Qingjia to take a seat. The Minister's face changed; he did not expect such directness from the Heir.

“You seem very confident, your Highness.” Gan Qingjia was unfazed. “If I was to have this conversation with you as the Head of the Villa, then I will be a man of the Jianghu. I'm sure you know that if there is one thing the men of the Jianghu long for, it is freedom.”

The Minister's face changed again; he did not expect Gan Qingjia to admit his ident.i.ty so quickly, especially without any discussion prior. The Heir's face changed as well; Gan Qingjia's confession threw him off guard and he swallowed his prepared speech.

“Qingjia, you are before the Heir of the Kingdom right now; you are to speak as an official of the court. Mind your manners.” The Minister spoke harshly to Gan Qingjia, hoping that his son would understand his hidden intentions.

Gan Qingjia looked at his father with a slight smile on his lips and saw the worry in the Minister's eyes. He turned back to the Heir. “Your time must be very precious, your Highness. Let's just talk openly, or we'd be wasting your time.”

The Heir hid the dark look in his eyes and put on his signature warm smile. “I heard that you're close to Miss Qi, Inspector1.” The Heir paused. “Inspector, you must know that I have feelings for Miss Qi, but yet you continue to woo her. It seems as if your feelings for her run deep indeed.”

Gan Qingjia smiled. “You are very observant, your Highness. My feelings towards Jianqiu are as true as the Moon and the Sun. In fact, I was just about to discuss with my father my proposal to the Qi household for her hand in marriage.”

The Minister's face was as dark as it could be – not from anger that his son has been harbouring feelings for the daughter of his rival, but for his son's willful provocation of the Heir, knowing that the Heir had intended to win Qi Jianqiu's hand in marriage as well.

Naturally, the Heir was furious, but he kept it well in check. He put his best smile and looked at Gan Qingjia. “I understand your feelings, Inspector. I have a question for you: if you can only choose one between the Villa of Mount Baicha and Miss Qi, which will you choose?”

That gave the Minister a fright. He stepped forward, wanting to fall to his knees to beg for forgiveness on behalf of Gan Qingjia but was quickly stopped by the Heir with a wave of his hand. The Heir looked at Gan Qingjia.

“What is your decision, Inspector?”

Sweat beaded the forehead of the Minister and he glanced at his son. This is the moment that would decide his future! I never thought that my son would be the wealthy Head of the Villa that even the Emperor feels threatened by! And how was I to know that the Heir would disregard all the hard work I'd put in for him these years and force his hand upon us? 

A silence descended over the study.

The Minister could not help himself any longer. “Qingjia!”

Gan Qingjia came to his senses and laughed loudly. “I'd thought that you'd make good use of my secret ident.i.ty, Heir. But to think that you were foolish enough to come straight to me and have me choose myself!” Gan Qingjia waved a hand in the air. “Isn't it obvious enough? Of course, I'd want to keep both! Jianqiu is the person that I love, and the Villa is the fruit of many years of hard work. Who do you think you are to have me let go of these things with just your mere words, my Heir?” Mockery dripped from his words like venom; not even the Minister had thought that his playboy of a son was capable of such a speech.

The Heir jumped to his feet and raged. “Then it remains to be seen if you have the longevity to keep both of these things!” He turned to leave the study.

The Minister came to his senses and quickly stopped the Heir, pleading, “Please calm down, your Highness! My son never meant to speak so harshly against you with his words! Please forgive him and give put the matter on hold for a while on behalf of all the help and advice I'd given you all these years! I will convince him to make the correct choice!”

The Heir laughed harshly. “Years of help and advice? Pray, tell me, Minister: what exactly have you done for me these days? I don't believe that you had no idea of his true ident.i.ty! No wonder you'd let him woo the woman I was chasing after; you must have harboured rebellious thoughts against me for a while now, haven't you!”

The Minister looked at the Heir with his mouth agape, shocked at how such words had come out of the mouth of the Heir he'd known. The Heir treated his silence as an acknowledgement and turned to leave, stalking out of the residence.

On their way back to the palace, the Heir's trusted advisor, Yu Ming, looked cautiously at the Heir's expression. “Your Highness, how are you going to handle the situation?”

The Heir was still angry. “If he can betray me, it is only natural for me to do whatever is in my best interests!”

Yu Ming chose his words carefully. “Judging from his personality, the Minister of the Left would definitely look for you again in the next few days. Seeing as how you still have your hands tied investigating the case of the Imperial Treasurer, why not give it a rest for a few days? You can demonstrate your benevolence to your other followers.”

The Heir was still angered, but he did not reject the proposal.

Meanwhile, in the residence of the Minister, Gan Qingjia looked carefully at his father, who looked as if he might pa.s.s out any moment from the shock of the events that have just transpired a few moments ago.

“Father?” He called out softly.

The Minister came back to his sense and sighed, taking a seat himself. His eyes were conflicted as he looked at Gan Qingjia. “You punk.”

Gan Qingjia smiled sheepishly and sat down, a little guilty seeing the state of his father.

“How could you have done so many things behind my back!” The Minister seemed to have accepted his fate as he sighed again. “Do you know that this will either bring glory to our family or destroy us once and for all? The honour of the Gan clan depends on your fate.”

“Don't be so pessimistic, Father.” Gan Qingjia handed a cup of tea to the Minister. “As long as the Heir does not say anything to the Emperor, I am confident that I can hide it from the Minister of the Right.”

The Minister of the Left took the cup of tea and glared at him. “It might be possible if it was in the past, but the Heir has become much more impatient and pettier these days. Your refusal of both of these things has definitely infuriated him; I'm just afraid that he'd speak badly of you to his Majesty and you'll be thrown into jail without much investigation.”

Gan Qingjia toyed with the fan in his hand. “Aren't you a very senior advisor to the Heir? Will he not be more lenient on this on behalf of the things you've done for him?”

The Minister merely sighed, obviously disappointed by the actions of the Heir.

“If you believe that I am not wrong, Father, please be a.s.sured that I will not cause any trouble for you, nor bring shame to our clan.” Gan Qingjia was suddenly serious. “Regardless if the Heir tells any of this to the Emperor or not, I have a solution that can defuse the situation. Please do not worry.”

The Minister was surprised by his words; his son seemed like a different person. If only he can stay like this forever.

His hopes were quickly dashed, for Gan Qingjia dropped all seriousness in the next second. “Will you promise to stay out of my marriage affairs if I can indeed solve the problem at hand?”

The Minister frowned. “Do you really like the girl from the Qi household?”

Gan Qingjia smacked his chest in rea.s.surance. “From the bottom of my heart. It took all I had to make her smile at me; please don't destroy the result of all my efforts, Father!”

The Minister saw the seriousness beneath his smiling façade and relented. “Though the Minister of the Right and I have been rivals for many years, I'm not foolish enough to rope the next generation into our feud. But that does not mean that the Minister of the Right would be glad to have the son of his rival as his future son-in-law; I can't do anything to stop him if he interferes.”

“That's all I need from you.” Gan Qingjia relaxed. “It's getting late, Father; you should rest.”

The Minister shook his head as he left the study, his face clouded with worry, obviously not a.s.sured by Gan Qingjia's promise to defuse the situation. However, Gan Qingjia toyed with the fan in his hand, confidence oozing from every pore on his body.

Another two days pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye. In the hall of the palace, Situ stood in front of the Emperor, reporting the developments in his investigation.

“Your Majesty, I have uncovered the ident.i.ty of the man who'd bribed the jailor of the Imperial Prison.” Situ lowered his head as he relayed the information. “He used to be one of the advisors of the 7th Prince; the group of them had left Chang'an silently after the fall of the prince. They were spared back then and had enough money on their hands to finance the operation.”

“Did he confess anything regarding the ident.i.ty of the mastermind behind the entire operation?” The Emperor frowned, deep in thought.

Situ handed the transcript of the interrogation to the attendant. “All they said was that they were dissatisfied with the fate of the 7th Prince and harboured hate for the Heir. They heard of the Heir's implication in the case of the embezzlement and a.s.sa.s.sinated the Imperial Treasurer in a bid to increase the suspicion of the Heir. He was unwilling to say anything else.”

The Emperor looked through the transcript carefully. “It is reasonable for the men of the 7th Prince to harbour such feelings against the Heir, but it just seems a little too convenient to me. All this only served to make me suspicious about the link between the Heir and the case of embezzlement, and punishment for a prince in a faraway land. Everyone else has something to gain.”

“Your Majesty, are you suspecting that the suspect had fed us a false clue on purpose, to throw shade onto the 7th Prince?” Situ looked surprised, a very rare occasion. “And that there is a true mastermind behind all of this?”

“I know very well who had worked under the 7th Prince in the past; I'm sure that he no longer has any intention to go against the Heir anymore.”

“I am ashamed to lack your attention to detail, your Majesty.” Situ remarked, “Do I continue with the investigation?”

“Definitely.” The Emperor set the transcript back onto the table. “I have a nagging feeling that this isn't as simple as it seems. My 7th and 8th Princes are sons to the same mother; I don't believe that the 8th Prince did not know anything about his brother's attempted a.s.sa.s.sination on the Heir that time.”

“Your Majesty, what exactly are you trying to say?” Situ hesitated, not jumping to conclusions.

The Emperor was pleased to see the hesitation on Situ's face and decided to trust him even further. He walked a little closer to Situ. “My Duke, I'll have to trouble you even further to look in the other direction.” He sighed. “I'm getting old, and the last thing I want is the see my sons fighting amongst themselves. Such practices must be stopped once and for all.”

“I understand, your Majesty.” Situ was sombre. “I will continue my investigation and report all findings to you.”

“Your help is much appreciated.” The Emperor patted him on the shoulder and sighed as he returned to his throne.

The voice of an attendant sounded from behind the door. “Your Majesty, the Heir requests to be seen.”

“Oh?” The Emperor was surprised, but he ordered the Heir to be let in.