Chương 24: A Spark in the Dark

【Public announcement: Gu Zhao, that troublesome Director of the Bureau of Astronomy, has been dealt with. For harboring a rebel, he was arrested and thrown into prison this morning. 】 【What the hell is this? Don't joke about something like that. 】 【They just posted the notice on a wall in Yongning Ward. Stage boss down. Anyone looking for clues should head to the Bureau of Astronomy now. 】 【?!?!! What the hell is wrong with you, talking about a living person like he's some boss you just cleared?

】 【Lord Gu Zhao isn't some random NPC! He saved my goddamn life! I mean he literally saved my life! Somebody please save him!! 】 【@Greenfeather, are you there?! Please, please save Gu Zhao!! I'm begging you! When we were arrested as baleful stars, he was a light to every last one of us!! 】 【Please don't get so emotionally invested. And why are you calling Greenfeather? He/She don't get involved in NPC business. 】 Gu Zhiwei only saw the post when she got tagged. She read the line listing his crimes three times.

She knew every word, yet strung together, they felt horribly unreal. She didn't spare the malicious comment about Gu Zhao a second glance. All she wanted was to confirm whether the news was true. At the same moment, Oliver sent a message to the group chat. Oliver: The post is telling the truth. Sorry. I was watching the palace and completely missed this. I just slipped into the Metropolitan Prefecture to investigate.

A player reported Gu Zhao, claiming he personally saw Gu Zhao smuggle Yan Qi away in a carriage half a month ago. Yang Jingchu later went to the Gu residence to question him, but didn't bring anyone out. The Yong Emperor flew into a rage when he saw the report this morning and immediately sent men to search the Gu residence. They found strips of bloodstained cloth in the woodshed. Wang Pu: So what? They're just strips of cloth! Can't they just come up with some excuse and explain that away?!

Oliver: The real problem is that one of the Gu servants confessed under torture. He told them everything about Gu Zhao hiding Yan Qi, treating his wounds, and helping him escape. Gu Zhiwei: Oliver, please deliver calling cards to the Yang residence and the Empress on my behalf. Buy us as much time as you can. I'll start heading back. I'll think of something. I just need to think. For the first time since coming to this world, Gu Zhiwei couldn't think clearly. Chen Li: Don't panic yet.

As things stand, he's only been imprisoned. Chancellor Yang and the Empress shouldn't stand by and do nothing. Zhiwei, make your way back as fast as you can. Oliver, take the seal I gave you last time and go to the manager of my teahouse. Have him give you as much cash as he can spare. Use it to grease every palm in the Metropolitan Prefecture prison so Gu Zhao won't suffer too much inside. Oliver: Understood. I'll go to the Yang residence first and keep you updated. Gu Zhiwei: Thank you both so much!

Wang Pu, keep your head down. Once I've saved my brother, I'll make straight for the northern frontier. Chen Li: Don't mention it. Go. Wang Pu: You got it. I'm perfectly safe right now. Brother Zhao's situation is more urgent. Everyone noticed the word Gu Zhiwei had used without thinking. Brother. It had come so naturally, as though Gu Zhao truly were her family. For a moment, they all fell silent. No one corrected her. Gu Zhiwei closed the panel and swiftly spread out the map.

She studied every checkpoint, waterway, and mountain road, searching for the fastest way back. They had already traveled too far. No matter how she rearranged the route, even riding through the night and changing horses without rest, it would take more than a month to reach the capital. Mountain wind swept over the dead grass. The coarse reins bit into her palm, pressing a deep groove into the flesh. By the time she came to her senses, she was already galloping down the road toward the capital.

"His Majesty ordered us north." The accompanying soldier's voice was dry.

"Turning back without permission would be defying an imperial command, my lord."

"Remain here and await orders." Matt left the soldiers behind to protect Aglaya, then spurred his horse after Gu Zhiwei.

The gates of the Yang residence were tightly shut. Fine rain had darkened the stone steps outside. Oliver waited a long time before someone finally answered his knock. Upon hearing that he had come on Gu Zhiwei's behalf, the old steward showed none of his usual warmth. This time, he did not even dare accept the calling card.

"The master will receive no visitors today."

"About Director Gu..." Compassion and distress crossed the old steward's face. A moment later, he shut the gate. The instant Yang Jingchu heard the news, he rushed away from his post and stormed into his father's study. Yang Chongli sat in the shadows beneath the window. Beside his hand lay a letter sent from the palace, signed by the Empress herself. The tea on the table had gone completely cold. He listened quietly to his son, then let out a long, heavy sigh.

"We cannot save him this time."

"You haven't even tried. How can you know that?" Yang Jingchu was drenched in rain, his voice sharp with urgency.

"Go to the palace and plead for him. At least get him out first. The imperial prison is no place for Cousin Zhao. When has he ever suffered anything like that?"

"Get him out?" Yang Chongli looked up at him.

"Jingchu, when did you become so naive? Do you truly have no idea what Gu Zhao has been accused of?" Yang Jingchu clenched his teeth.

"They didn't find anyone in the Gu residence. How can they convict him of treason based solely on an unknown informer's word and a confession beaten out of a servant?"

"Then how did that informer know you had visited the Gu residence?" Yang Jingchu fell silent at once. Yang Chongli slammed his palm onto the table.

"If you had decided to let Gu Zhao go, then you should have cleaned up everything afterward! Who in the ward saw that carriage? Was anyone watching the Gu residence? Did you investigate any of it?"

"I..." Yang Chongli's voice was thick with furious disappointment.

"Now some rat has caught wind of it and used it to claim credit. Gu Zhao may have acted foolishly, but Jingchu, do not come begging me. Half the responsibility for this lies with you!" Muffled thunder rolled beyond the window, rain streamed from the eaves.

"Out of respect for me, His Majesty will take no action against you this time. But Gu Zhao..." Yang Chongli's voice trembled.

"His Majesty has already ordered his execution for the day after tomorrow." The color drained from Yang Jingchu's face.

"How can that be?!" Yang Chongli turned away, looking utterly exhausted.

"I have already submitted a report begging for His Majesty's pardon on your behalf. Do not report to the Garrison for the time being. Go bring your aunt from the Gu family here, then confine yourself at home and reflect upon your conduct." Yang Jingchu stumbled out of his father's study in a daze. At noon that same day, an imperial edict of censure arrived at the Yang residence. His seal as a commandant of the Insignia Guard was revoked, and he was suspended from duty to reflect upon his misconduct.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. After nightfall, lamps still burned in a wine shop in West Market. Yang Jingchu sat alone at a low table in the corner. Four or five wine jars already lay empty around him. He ordinarily despised the cloudy wine sold in West Market, yet tonight he drank bowl after bowl. Oliver waited until he was half drunk, then took on the face of a young nobleman whose family had some dealings with the Yangs.

He sat opposite Yang Jingchu and refilled his cup.

"Brother Yang, is there any word about Gu Zhao?" Yang Jingchu raised his eyes to him. He seemed to recognize the face, though he could not remember when they had become familiar enough to share a table and drink together. But very few people dared ask about Gu Zhao now. And he desperately needed someone to talk to.

"It's over. His Majesty... His Majesty wants him dead. Three days from now, they'll execute him." Oliver recoiled in shock.

"How can that be? The Gu family still has the Empress, and Chancellor Yang..." Yang Jingchu smiled, and somehow it looked worse than tears. He choked on his wine and bent over coughing for a long time.

"That is precisely why he has to die." Oliver poured him more wine and did not press him.

"Even the Empress's nephew dares harbor a rebel. If His Majesty allows him to live, which of the great clans will ever fear the throne again?" Yang Jingchu stared at the lamplight trembling in his bowl. Only now did he finally understand what his father had left unsaid.

"Gu Zhao's death is a warning to the great clans."

"How could he be so foolish? How could he do this... for commoners who had nothing to do with him..." Yang Jingchu could say no more. His tears finally fell, dropping soundlessly into the wine.

Over the next two days, a crowd gathered outside the palace gates. Most were common people whom Gu Zhao had once spared and set free. There were also former subordinates from the Bureau of Astronomy who had been helped by Gu Zhao and his father, and even some Imperial Academy students who admired Gu Zhao for what he had done. They did not shout or protest. They merely knelt in silence along both sides of the street outside the palace gates, pleading for Gu Zhao's life.

The imperial guards found the situation deeply troublesome and could only keep driving back the ever-growing crowd.

"What do you think you're doing?! Disperse, all of you! If you continue gathering to cause trouble, you will all be treated as rebels!" No one rose. What they did not know was that their heartfelt devotion would only hasten their savior's death. When word reached Yanying Hall, the Yong Emperor hurled the inkstone from his desk.

"Good. Very good." His face darkened.

"So the traitor truly has ambitions of his own. He dares use the will of the people to force my hand!" That night, the Ministry of Justice received an imperial order written in vermilion ink. Gu Zhao had colluded with rebels and plotted treason. He was to be beheaded outside Meridian Gate at noon the next day, without delay. The matter was not to be discussed again.

The previous night, Oliver had relayed Yang Jingchu's words to Gu Zhiwei, along with the news that Gu Zhao was to be executed in three days. At the time, she had just changed to her second horse. The relay station reeked of hay and horse manure. When the fresh mount was led out, it tossed restlessly, white foam spraying from its mouth. Gu Zhiwei leaned against a wooden pillar as she read the message. Her vision went black for a moment.

She remembered how, when she first arrived in Great Yong, she had joked about having the Empress for an aunt and the Chancellor for an uncle. The protection of a great clan had seemed like the ultimate cheat code in the ancient world. Only now did she clearly see the limits of that shelter. The road streamed backward beneath the horse's pounding hooves. By day, heat shimmered above the main road beneath the blazing sun. By night, the mountain wind cut to the bone. She scarcely stopped.

Each horse was soon drenched in sweat. At every relay station, she changed mounts immediately, drank only a few mouthfuls of water, and gnawed on a little dry food without even dismounting. The reins had long since rubbed the skin from her clenched hands. Sweat seeped into the wounds, stinging her palms. When the horse charged across a muddy ford, Gu Zhiwei lurched violently in the saddle. The next instant, she steadied herself. Every calculation told her the same thing with merciless clarity.

She would never make it in time. She did not stop. She simply rode on in silence. As though, if she could only go a little faster, then faster still, she might yet save someone. She had lived through this scene several times already. This time, it was Gu Zhao. The elder brother who had cared for her from the moment she arrived in Great Yong. Then Oliver sent the news that drove her deeper into despair. The execution had been moved forward. Gu Zhiwei snatched up her waterskin and poured the cold water over her head.

It streamed down her hair and jaw, soaking into her collar. She shivered so hard her teeth chattered, but the shock cut through some of the haze. Then she mounted again.

On the night before the execution, Oliver slipped into the imperial prison. Wearing the face of a Ministry of Justice clerk, he strode openly inside on the pretext of conducting the final pre-execution review. The prison passage was cold and damp. Moss filled the cracks in the walls, and the feeble torches gave off a choking stench as they burned. Given his status, Gu Zhao was held in a solitary cell at the very end. He wore plain white prison clothes.

His long hair was tied with an old strip of cloth, and shackles had rubbed bloody wounds around his wrists. Oliver ordered the jailer to open the cell, then handed him two silver ingots.

"Someone of high standing ordered me to see him off. Withdraw for now. You need only stand guard outside." The jailer knew Gu Zhao's status and found nothing strange about this. He took the money and left. With so many guards outside, the prisoner could not possibly escape. Once the jailer was gone, Oliver hurried to Gu Zhao's side and lowered his voice.

"Zhiwei sent me here." Gu Zhao looked at him in confusion.

"You are...?"

"That doesn't matter right now." Oliver glanced back toward the jailer and dropped his voice even further.

"In a moment, you'll put on my clothes and walk out. I'll take your appearance and stay here in your place for the time being. I'll find a way out afterward. It's risky, but it can be done." Shock flickered across Gu Zhao's face, followed by gratitude.

"Thank you for risking yourself to save me, but this is still far too dangerous for you... Truly, there is no need." Oliver froze: "You don't want to live? Your sister is riding herself to death trying to get back!" Gu Zhao's fingers twitched. He lowered his head.

"Please persuade her to stop."

"She won't listen!" When Matt had privately messaged Oliver and asked him to think of a solution, he had also told him about the terrible state Gu Zhiwei was in after riding without sleep or rest.

"Zhiwei is perceptive. Once she calms down, she will understand." Pride warmed Gu Zhao's eyes, threaded through with sorrow. Oliver stared at him.

"Lord Gu, if you stay here, you will die!"

"If I flee, then I will truly become a fugitive, and the whole realm will take it as proof that I am a rebel. But if I remain..." He paused. His voice had gone hoarse.

"Then perhaps I can kindle a spark in the hearts of the people. This age has already driven them to such desperate straits. They must rise and resist." He looked toward the darkness beyond the bars.

"Perhaps they need someone to show them that they can no longer cling to the hope that they will somehow be spared." His voice was utterly calm, as though he had made this decision long ago.

"And there is my father. I cannot allow his stand against the emperor to be remembered as a coward's flight." He paused.

"I want my blood to finish the stroke he left unfinished." Beyond the cell door, water dripped quietly onto stone.

"You never had to do any of this," Oliver said.

"You were born into a great clan. No matter how chaotic the world outside became, your rank and wealth would remain untouched. Yet you turned against your own class, all for the uncertain hope that the people might finally wake up." This was the first time Oliver had truly spoken with Gu Zhao. Yet he had wanted to ask him this for a long time.

"Was it worth it?" Gu Zhao shook his head with a soft laugh and said nothing more, as though the answer itself no longer mattered. The lives saved by every stroke of his vermilion brush had already answered for him. Thousands upon thousands of times. He lowered his head and drew a tightly folded letter from inside his clothes.

"Please give this to Zhiwei." The calm in Gu Zhao's voice finally trembled.

"Before she left for Yunzhou, I was angry with her for acting recklessly. I never gave her a proper farewell... That was my fault." Oliver knew further persuasion was useless. Silently, he accepted the letter. Gu Zhao looked toward the faint firelight at the end of the passage.

"I'll finish what my father began." He paused.

"Tell her not to return to the capital, and not to avenge me." The torch above them cracked sharply. Not far away, the jailer was already growing impatient. Oliver lowered his head, folded the letter that suddenly seemed heavier than gold, and hid it inside his sleeve.

On the Forum, several posts discussing ways to rescue Gu Zhao appeared overnight. The Vice Minister of Personnel's third daughter alone made more than a dozen posts, listing every plan she could think of, from bribing the jailers to raiding the execution ground. By the end, her posts had dissolved into frantic incoherence. 【@Greenfeather, are you there? Are you there?! Are you there?! Please save Director Gu! 】 【My skill is awful, but I still want to try. If it hadn't been for him, I would've died ages ago.

I still remember him coming to the prison himself in the middle of the night, carrying this huge stack of case files just to get us out. 】 【Don't do anything stupid. Gu Zhao went to all that trouble to save your life. He wouldn't want to watch you throw it away for him. 】 【We can't let someone who carried the firewood for everyone else freeze to death in the storm! Who's in the capital? We have to think of something together! 】 Someone asked whether Yan Qi might bring men to raid the execution ground.

A reply soon appeared, saying that he could not be found anywhere in or around the capital. Even the displaced people he had once supported could no longer reach him. More and more people began tagging Greenfeather in the replies. On the day of the execution, noon drew near. The iron gates of the imperial prison burst open. Wearing a heavy cangue, Gu Zhao was led out of the dark passage by several imperial guards.