Chapter 50 (1/2)

Despite the question in his heart, Rong Zhi did not say it out loud From what he could read of Chu Yu's expression, she did not appear to be joking, but instead, genuinely ht for a while before speaking ”My question, is regarding a river Let's say there is such a river, a particularly long river For ages, this river has always flowed straight, irrigating the two shores alongside it Even now, it continues to flow forth However, what if one day – and I' what if – this river were to suddenly have a mind of its own Or for another example, a se direction, and as a result, the entire river's direction changes a little Following this, the change beco since shi+fted away from its former destination… …”

Chu Yu frowned and bit her lip, thinking hard on how to better phrase her question While she had previously stated this question to Huan Yuan, in front of Rong Zhi however, she had to heed ten ti behindthe truth behind her lines

At thisZhi set aside his carefree attitude to listen on intently, as if he were the best audience in the world one could wish for

A momentary pause later, Chu Yu continued ”If it were just thethe river's course, that wouldn't be a problee stretch of land lying downstream that river The land desires to be watered by the river, and without that river, the land would have dried up” Chu Yu looked to Rong Zhi at a loss ”What about you – do you think the river should change its course?”

Blinking night-dark eyes, Rong Zhi sat up slowly His slender white hand pinched a sently brought it into his uesses at Chu Yu's question was possible, but ould have thought it would be this absurd? A river with its oill? What kind of reasoning was this?

Or perhaps, she was using the river as aZhi picked up another ht

As for Chu Yu, she was absolutely clear on what she wanted to ask She was using the river as ariver referred to the turbulent fall of history - fro; before finally reaching Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing; the waves of history will crash forth in a shrill arrival, then recede, thunderous and swift

By accident, a trickle of disharmony had appeared in the river This trickle of water wanted to try changing its course And this tiny trickle was none other than Chu Yu, who had co to what she knew of history, Princess Shanyin would reach her demise soon However, she herself did not wish to die Therefore, she needed to create change This was the pre that would happen hereafter, and in order to live, she had to make a move

But there were two serious problems Firstly, Chu Yu did not kno to make a move, and secondly, she did not knohat consequences her actions would bring

Chu Yu's history knowledge was truly abhorrent It was so terrible, that upon co across the record of Princess Shanyin, she had not known the Northern and Southern dynasties even existed And upon reading Princess Shanyin's record by chance, she hadat the fun of knowing there was such a person, going on as to ignore it entirely

Besides knowing Princess Shanyin would pass on soon, no matter how hard she tried, she could not recall the naroup's head - the very person ould kill Liu Ziye and take his throne Froo on to summon the three Princes of the First Rank[1] (their uncles) and it should be one of the to Jian Kang City The princes would be kept in the palace for his entertainment and one of the Chu Yu had done upon awakening this day was to find out whether such an event had already occurred Only after assuaging her worry did she cal dire would happen to her for now, and she still had so unable to recall who the uncle was Even after scanning the entire iistry, she still could not remember Moreover, besides that one uncle, there had been other blood-related brothers who had joined the insurgency Of course, Chu Yu could not recall who these people were

She could only blarandfather, who had left behind a whole bunch of uncles and brothers Even re their naht had once passed through Chu Yu's mind - if she could find out the person's identity, she should kill hi vehemently opposed to murder, if push came to shove, she would be left with little to no choice

Naturally, this kind of measure would be a last resort Even Chu Yu herself was unsure if she could take that final step It was simply an i

But even h The real probleate their people, the people will revolt When a king over-subjugates his officials, his officials will revolt If only, the little emperor were not so brutal If only, he could appease the nobles with amiable policies and benevolence No doubt, if that were the case, the nu at Princess Shanyin's influence over the Liu Ziye,some of his majesty's decisions would not be an issue However, Chu Yu lacked experience in o about rectifying court laws If she were to s up by accident, the consequences would only be self-defeating and devastating

This was the 'advance' side to her plan

After arriving in this era and calht of could be broken down into two sides - 'advance' and 'retreat' 'Advance' was meant as an offensive measure, to proactively remove any possibility that could cause her harm If she were a male, there would be less need for concern But in this era, it was considered taboo for feovernance matters

On the opposite hand was 'retreat', which s were to escalate to the point of no return, she could keep herself alive and flee far from harm

Still, even 'retreat' could be defined differently Wandering around without a place to call ho while dressed in poverty could be an outcoood food and fine clothes, having a luxurious ho in serenity could be another outco

Planning to abscond was not a si into account the deeply convoluted relationshi+p between Princess Shanyin and the emperor To escape whole and intact would be far from easy

The ability to roah such a thing was common in stories, in reality it was impractical Firstly, if she wanted to live, she needed e of money so this was not difficult What was difficult ithdrawing a large su e To ensure this, covert measures were needed It was also the reason why Chu Yu was in such a rush to hand over all authority fro Zhi to Huan Yuan She needed control over finances in the house, yet could not let anyone know of her actions

Tsk ~ tsk

Chu Yu took a sip of sweet soup, sucking on the inside of her cheek in displeasure The money was meant to be her own, yet she had to resort to such secrecy Such an unpleasant feeling

If she were to abscond, she would have to co not a shred of evidence behind that ht trace back to her In any event where the eer favoured her, or if someone else took the throne, if anyone at all wanted to kill her and get rid of an eyesore, they could easily do so with nary a reason

And if she were to rely on anyone and that person betrayed her, she would not even be able to cry in peace

The only person Chu Yu could rely on, was herself

To escape, she needed a new identity This identity must only be under her control, and not that of the imperial family However, this was not easy to accomplish

She must first have a place of residence and would prefer if her house were not too small Money would be necessary to buy the house, but more importantly was its location It would be best if the location were in an area far away fro in a place stricken with battle would hardly be peaceful living

What caistration record Naturally, this record would be forged and by none other than herself Whoever was handling the matter must also be able to keep it a secret