Chapter 1027 - 106: Reluctance
"The second possibility," Bai Shan also stretched out a finger, "is that the Crown Prince still has no son, and the Third Prince still wants to compete with his older brother for the emperor’s throne. Knowing this, the Prince of Yizhou divulged the news after learning that one of the Crown Prince’s concubines was pregnant, resulting in the Third Prince arranging for the concubine to have a miscarriage. Then the Prince of Yizhou informed the Crown Prince about this, and the Crown Prince, furious, confronted the Third Prince. The emperor, even angrier upon knowing this, then ordered us to accuse the Prince of Yizhou."
"And then, and then," Bai Erlang said anxiously, "the child was actually lost because of the Prince of Yizhou, who then framed the Third Prince for the deed. The Crown Prince, being rather slow, failed to find out the truth, but the Emperor did, so he was angry with both of them—he punished the Crown Prince and commanded us to denounce the Prince of Yizhou."
Manbao, infuriated, slammed the table, "Aren’t all these their own damned family issues? Why should we be the ones to stick our necks out?"
Bai Erlang shrank his head and said softly, "You can’t say it like that. The emperor has no personal affairs; this is also a matter of the state. Manbao, you need to speak more quietly."
Bai Shan wasn’t pleased either, "Since it’s a matter of state, we have to take it even more seriously. Look at the official histories, the unofficial ones, and those storytelling scripts—whenever has a struggle for succession not led to rivers of blood?"
He said, "Whether we like it or not, we have already been dragged into this. Further complaints or dislikes won’t change anything."
Bai Shan, with a glint in his eyes and tightly pursed lips, conveyed his displeasure, "If there’s a mountain in front, we’ll climb over it; if it’s a river, we’ll wade through it."
Manbao asked, "What if it’s fire, or a knife?"
Bai Shan glanced at her, "Can we even retreat? We’ll just have to grit our teeth, bleed a little, suffer some injuries, and then it’ll be over once we get through it."
Retreating was indeed not an option. Manbao felt her spirits sink and with tears welling up in her eyes, she asked, "But, what if we can’t get through?"
Bai Shan lowered his eyes, hiding the tears within, "Then we would die."