GOSSIP 2

"Of course not! I just like the lessons he teaches, that's it!"

The king huffed. However, now he smiled happily. "I know that I can trust you, Sis." Then he turned to the senior court lady, the main assistant for the queen dowager, and other senior officials. He said, "Now it is cleared, right? Sister and Mr. Su have no forbidden affair, Sister is learning new knowledge and Mr. Su is teaching her. You must erase this gossip, otherwise, this will defame my sister's reputation, as well as Mr. Su's."

Instead of obeying the king's orders, the senior official asked Zhu Su. "Mr. Su, how about you? Do you really have no any deviating intention by approaching the Princess?"

The king shouted in surprise, "Hey, why are you asking like that?!"

"If you want to clear up the problem, you can't do just from one side. The Princess doesn't have any feelings for Mr. Su, but it's not the same with Mr. Su, is it?"

The king was stunned. He was now watching Zhu Su closely, while Zhu Su, trying to adjust his fluctuating anger due to the accusation of the senior official, now faced the king and answered slowly, "Your Majesty, who am I so that I have the guts longing for the love of the Great Princess? I have been very grateful with such high appreciation from Your Majesty, how can I be so immoral by trying to step much further and long for the forbidden thing? I am a man who have been educated to be ethical and uphold the principle of loyalty - and this is my life principle. You can be sure that I am responsible for my life principle!"

The king's smile grew wider. "Look! What else are you doubting about? Clear their reputations all of you have ruined, here and now!"

The king seemed to be very firm about his decision, he could not be contested anymore. The senior court lady as well as the officials, though appeared displeased, were now forced to bow, saying, "As you wish, Your Majesty."

***

"Well, I have warned you before. Sooner or later it will get you into trouble, right?"

Gao Qing sipped his tea. Sitting opposite to him, Zhu Su sighed. "Well, what I hope actually is to give the Princess the lessons that makes her happy, and thus it'll give us a big help since we are only newcomers in Ava..."

"Because you are crashing with social perception. I give you an example; if you see your subordinate gets very close to your wife, won't you think that he is having an affair with her? Even though the reality maybe isn't like that?"

Zhu Su did not refute Gao Qing since he could not help but agree with his teacher.

"Actually you should be grateful, it turns out that Ava King is not too strict and fixated on social perception. I think if a similar thing happens in Ming, it will definitely stir into big trouble. You know it very clearly, what will happen to those who dare to have an affair with a noblewoman, right? That's why when they dragged you just now, I was scared to death that you would be sentenced to death."

"You are right, Sir... I really have to thank Heaven for protecting my life... if this case happens in Ming, a man like me will have been sentenced to death... Gosh, I am very, very careless!..."

"It's been so far, you have no other choice except staying away from the Princess. Don't speak even one word to her, and much better, try not to meet an eye with her. Run away from her as far as possible. And about the lesson she is fond of, leave it to Nayin. Women with women will make no problem even though they are very close."

Zhu Su nid-nodded. Hu Nayin quickly agreed. "Just leave it to me, Your Highness. Your safety is far more important!"

"Yes, thank you very much, Nayin."

***

But Zhu Su was wrong if this problem could be solved so easily. High officials as well as court ladies and courtiers kept on talking about this issue, and day by day, it became even worse. The solution from the king was unacceptable for them, they even felt that the king was so naïve to the extent that he could be easily fooled. Even more, the senior officials who did not like the fact that Zhu Su could hold high positions in the government, did not stop to broadcast provocative words. They were now criticizing the king for believing in Zhu Su and the princess so easily.

"The King is too naïve, he can believe in Mr. Su so easily. If I were him, I wouldn't believe it!"

"What I am worried is, it is Mr. Su who has such immoral thoughts. Our princess is walking on the virtuous path, but if she is tempted constantly, one day she will fall for him, right?"

"Mr. Su is a foreigner, a vagrant, an orphan drifter. Won't it be a big advantage for him to win the princess' love?"

And here was the thing going on, everyone did not stop talking about the gossip the king wanted to stop. As of now, senior court ladies were badmouthing Zhu Su in front of the queen dowager.

At that time, the queen dowager was walking in the park while enjoying the natural beauty. She was still not feeling perfectly well, her head still felt slightly dizzy, but she was sick of lying in the bedchamber for a long time. Being convinced that she had been completely recovered, the queen dowager ventured to take a walk outside the room. She did not walk alone, many courtiers and court ladies accompanied her to prevent the possibility that the queen dowager suddenly fell sick and no one was there to help her.

The queen dowager took a deep breath as she heard senior court lady's grumble. "Speak honestly... I can't believe that Mr. Su is such kind of person... so different from the image he always shows to me..."

A brisk wind suddenly blew when the senior lady responded, "Even the King has been deceived by him, the King stands up for him, and totally unwilling to heed our words. Your Majesty, you must do something!"

The brisk wind that had just passed by was unexpectedly making the queen dowager shivered. "The King has been deceived... by him?..."

"Exactly, Your Majesty! It is so dangerous, isn't it?"

Queen dowager suddenly felt an extreme dizziness. Her whole body began to shiver, and so did her hands and feet. Her steps began to waver.

Then, that terrible incident happened.

"Your Majesty!!!" The senior court lady screamed as she saw the queen dowager fell onto the ground. "Lord Buddha, what's going on with Her Majesty?!"

***

Starting today, it was Hu Nayin who gave lessons to the princess. Zhu Su obeyed Gao Qing's advice to avoid the princess as far as he could. Everytime he saw the figure of the princess from a distance, he would hurriedly run away before the princess saw him.

"The Princess asks about you all the time." Hu Nayin reported to Zhu Su, as they were meeting in the palace corridor. "She asked, why wasn't Mr. Su who taught her? I answered, because of the recent rumors. But the Princess didn't like that answer. She asked, why should we be afraid of what people say if we weren't guilty? By avoiding like this then it would make certain that the gossip was true. The conclusion is, the Princess still insists on meeting with you."

Zhu Su answered grimly, "What should be noted is, I am nobody, and she is a princess. Although there are no feelings between us, this has been the royal etiquette. We must obey it or we will be ended up in big trouble."

"I tried to get the Princess back to focus on the lessons she likes, and after that, everything was going well. Princess is a good student."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Just at that moment, they heard that shocking scream. They looked at each other.

"It seems that a big problem has occurred there," Hu Nayin muttered slowly.

"We have to go there!" Zhu Su shouted.

They soon rushed, approaching the origin of the sound.

"Queen Dowager!" They were stunned as finding the ladies in waiting were surrounding the queen dowager, who was sitting in a limping manner on a park chair. "Does the Queen Dowager faint?!"