"They're all fed to the pigs..." The eunuch at the Imperial Kitchen shakily replied. "There are a few kept behind the building…"
He dipped his head down, unsure whether that was the answer the young Crown Prince expected from him.
"Bring us there."
The eunuch looked up, visibly confused. The Crown Prince must have misspoken, or he must have heard something wrong. There would be no way that anyone with a touch of connection to the royal family would ever want to visit that corner of the palace.
"Lead the way," Mu Luming smiled. "And make sure to bring these intruders along with us." He gestured to release A'Hong's family from their binds.
They all followed a narrow pathway that led to a little clearing behind the palace. A pool of mud loomed into view, and the stench immediately assaulted each of their noses. A few hogs rolled round in the mud, snorting as they flipped around.
There was a certain irony about it all. Deep within the golden palace, there was such an area to be found. It would be such a slap in the face to each of the royal family members.
And somehow, Kesi couldn't stop thinking of the Empress's reaction if she ever stumbled here. All it would take would be a slight sticking out of the foot, and she could enjoy a nice spa in the mud.
She shook the thought from her mind. They first had to deal with A'Hong's family.
"What is your plan?" She whispered to Mu Luming.
"Just planning on putting on a nice show." He patted her on the back, reassuring her.
Pulling the cloth from their mouths, Mu Luming smiled warmly at the intruders that he had trapped. "So you're A'Hong's family members."
They each glanced around, their eyes rolling wildly in their sockets. When their gazes rested on A'Hong's frantic face, they reached out, their arms helplessly flailing around in the air.
"A'Hong, what is going on?" The elderly man hissed, completely ignoring Mu Luming's question. It was almost as if his fear dissipated the moment he saw his son, replaced instead by a certain haughtiness. "What's the meaning of this prank? I thought we were being invited in for a feast with the Crown Prince as a reward for your hard work and service."
A'Hong shuffled around uncomfortably, trying to avoid his father's burning gaze and accusations. Confused, he tried to look to Kesi for help, but his eyes instead met the bitter look on his brother's face.
"Yeah, why are we being tied here? Do you know how much time I'm losing here with you when I could be tending to my business instead?" The slightly younger man, A'Hong's brother, chimed in. "Heck, my pregnant wife is still waiting for me at home!"
Letting out a sigh, A'Hong took a few steps back. Whatever resolve and courage he finally gathered earlier when he declared that he wanted to make his family return what they had taken from him had cleared the moment these people stepped before him.
Of the three, only A'Hong's mother seemed to pay any attention to the fact that they were in the palace and nearly dead. Slightly dipping her head, she looked at Mu Luming in fear. "Your… Highness?" She croaked out, her voice shaking.
But without waiting for him to reply, she turned instead to A'Hong, grasping his skeleton-light arms in her coarse hands. "Tell me, did you get into trouble here in the palace with the Crown Prince?"
Her lips trembled. "Are you being punished for something that you did to the Crown Prince?"
A'Hong's eyes widened, and Kesi stepped closer, wanting to pry the woman's iron grip away from his hands.
"Tell me, A'Hong…" A tear slipped down her face.
Just when Kesi thought the woman still had an inch of conscious to care about her younger son, she bowed down in front of Mu Luming, putting her head to the floor. "Please, Your Highness… Whatever crimes A'Hong may have committed is his own doing. We didn't know about anything! We didn't know anything he did!"
Kesi balled her fists. If it wasn't that she couldn't step forward in her current position, she would have gone forward and smacked each of them across the face personally.
A hint of malice flashed before her eyes, and she whispered something into Mu Luming's ears. He nodded in response, pointing to the pigs.
"You must be familiar with pigs, right?" Although there was a toothy grin on his face, there was something about his gaze that was unsettling.
The three people nodded in response, unsure what the sudden turn of events spelled for them.
"A'Hong has committed a grave crime." Mu Luming announced, his voice ringing across the small clearing.
Each of the three pairs of eyes suddenly grew wider.
"But that's not on us!"
"We didn't know about—"
"Let me finish," Mu Luming's grin only grew wider, cutting off their cacophonous pleas.
A'Hong's legs gave out from underneath him, his face turning a pasty shade of white. Kesi barely caught him, cringing as he hit her wounds.
"I'll give you three an offer. If you each are willing to take a part of A'Hong's punishment, I'll spare him and pretend that he has done nothing to ever offend me." He paused. "And if you weren't aware, I'm the Crown Prince of the Hui Empire. Pleasure to meet you."
Kesi took this opportunity to insert herself into the conversation.
"If the four of you, including A'Hong can finish this bowl of leftovers, all punishments will be off." Sensing that they didn't fully understand the meaning of her words, she elaborated. "If you each are willing to eat a bit of these leftovers, A'Hong will be freed without any charges. Otherwise, not listening to the commands of the Crown Prince is punishable by death."
She took a small pail and dipped it into the pigpen feeding trough.
Dragging it along the unpleasant brown mush, she immediately smelled the increasingly foul odor.
Crinkling her nose, she plopped the small pail in front of the three.
"Eat this or your son's life. It's all your choice."