When she rushed over, First Madam Song was already in Old Madam Song’s room, discussing the matter with her with worry written all over both their faces. “Surely it can’t be that they’ve come to interrogate her over this so-called fate business, can it?”
The imperial envoy from the palace refused to reveal even half a word, only saying that Her Majesty the Empress wished to meet Sixth Miss, but wouldn’t say why she wanted to meet her or what she planned to do after meeting her. The Empress had rarely received the daughters of officials’ families in recent years. Even girls from the imperial clan were only summoned during festival occasions.
Yet now she had suddenly issued an edict summoning Song Chuyi into the palace—it truly made one’s heart jump with alarm, and one couldn’t help but suspect it was related to the rumors that had been spreading like wildfire recently about using one life to nourish another, using one fate to suppress another fate.
Those supremely noble fates, among those of appropriate age, were none other than the Grand Prince and Prince Dongping. Speaking plainly, they were both the Empress’s own grandsons. For either of them to be used to suppress Song Chuyi’s fate would be utterly treasonous and would certainly displease the Empress.
Old Madam Song was also somewhat worried, fearing that the Empress was summoning Song Chuyi to interrogate her. She reached out to grasp Song Chuyi’s hand and patted it soothingly, speaking softly, “We’ve already sent for your aunt. Once word comes back this afternoon, we’ll see what’s what.”
Yulan lifted the door curtain to welcome Old Master Song, who had just gone to change into formal attire. Old Madam Song asked him, “In your view, what does Her Majesty the Empress mean by this?”
Old Master Song shook his head. “I’m not in a position to guess at such matters. In the end, there are only two possibilities. Either Her Majesty the Empress wishes to put an end to these rumors that are unfavorable to His Highness the Grand Prince and His Highness Prince Dongping, and arrange a marriage for Xiao Yi to cut off any thoughts our Earl Changning’s manor might have of currying favor with those above, as well as to stop the baseless speculation outside. Or perhaps she’s merely curious.”
The last time Song Chuyi had been declared to have the fate of Heavenly Fiend Solitary Star, portending bloodshed and disaster, a major incident had occurred at the hunting grounds. This time Master Yuanhui had again said she faced bloodshed and disaster. Since Her Majesty the Empress was a believer in Buddhism after all, she probably wanted to witness something novel and curious.
Arrange a marriage? Old Madam Song’s entire body tensed as she braced herself against her chair, frowning as she said, “If they carelessly arrange some marriage for her, won’t Xiao Yi’s entire life be ruined?”
What if she encountered another Shen Qingrang—where would they go to seek justice?! When all was said and done, it was still that bald donkey Yuanhui’s fault, idly fixating on Song Chuyi day and night without the slightest intention of letting her be.
Song Chuyi grasped Old Madam Song’s hand and slowly shook her head. “That won’t happen, Grandmother.” She paused, then smiled as she looked at Old Madam Song. “You’ve forgotten—my aunt was raised by Her Majesty the Empress. There must be some affection there. Even if the Empress considers her feelings, she wouldn’t casually marry me off to just anyone.”
Old Master Song stroked his beard as he looked at Song Chuyi and nodded, saying to Old Madam Song, “Her Majesty the Empress dotes extremely on His Highness the Grand Prince and His Highness Prince Dongping. Having them marry a woman with such a fate is absolutely impossible. But even if she wishes to arrange a marriage for Xiao Yi to eliminate future troubles, she will still consider Princess Duanhui’s feelings. Consort Cui in the palace is close to her—she’ll surely hear some whispers. Be patient a little longer. Later this evening, word will probably come from both the palace and the Cui manor.”
Having finished speaking, he nodded at Song Chuyi and had her follow him into his inner study, where he asked her, “Did everything go smoothly with the matter involving Madam Fang and Third Madam Chen?”
Third Madam Chen was so desperately short of money that she’d be willing to reach into a pot of boiling oil to fish out coins to spend. How much more so when this was such a sure-profit, no-loss deal? Song Chuyi nodded. “She’s still begging Madam Fang to give her a bit more time—she wants to scrape together another thousand taels of silver to put out for lending.”
Old Master Song laughed once and showed Song Chuyi the memorial in his hand, saying as he did so, “Next year’s spring examination chief examiner for Jiangnan has been decided—it’s definitely Elder Chen. Now, through the key that is Third Madam Chen, we can at least say we’ve gotten our foot in the door.”
Master Cheng had once said that being chief examiner for the spring examinations was a double-edged sword. If done well, it naturally led to achievement and fame, smooth sailing in all directions, and greatly increased prestige. But if done poorly, one became a criminal for all eternity.
If they wanted to bring down the Chen family, they absolutely couldn’t allow Elder Chen to complete this assignment smoothly.
However, Elder Chen was different from others. Having weathered the ups and downs of officialdom for decades, he’d long since cultivated himself to be as cunning as a fox, with exceptionally keen senses. If they wanted to dig a pit for him, it had to be dug perfectly.
Otherwise, if it turned out like when Elder Chen had schemed against Cui Shaoting, only to have Cui Shaoting and Lai Chenglong turn the tables on him, leaving him room to maneuver, the situation would become chaotic and dangerous.
Song Jue followed in afterward and only spoke up after quietly listening to Old Master Song and Song Chuyi’s conversation. “How to smoothly string together chess pieces like Madam Fang, Third Madam Chen, Fang Xiaoru, and Third Master Chen, and have them each perform their duties—that’s a difficult matter.”
Song Chuyi then recalled how in her previous life, when Han Zhi served as Commander of the Imperial Guard and was ordered by imperial decree to investigate the Jiangnan examination fraud case, the then-Prime Minister’s son-in-law Qin Xiaochun had been accused of selling examination papers to the great Jiangnan clan, the Feng family, in exchange for the Feng family’s support for the Prime Minister. Though the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Imperial Guard had jointly investigated for over five months without uncovering anything, in the end Qin Xiaochun had still resigned his post in disgrace, and the Prime Minister of that time had also been forced to step down by the censors’ criticism.
When Shen Qingrang had mentioned this matter back then, he’d been quite pleased with himself, mocking how the Prime Minister’s lifelong reputation had been destroyed in one fell swoop.
She thought carefully for a long while before raising her head with blazing eyes to look at Old Master Song and Song Jue, speaking decisively, “Grandfather, I remember that our court currently has a popular established custom called ‘appointed disciples’?”
Song Jue didn’t react at first, but when he did, he understood what Song Chuyi was talking about—as the Great Zhou Dynasty had developed to the present day, such an unwritten rule had indeed formed. Some chief examiners would specifically seek out scholars renowned throughout the land and secretly leak examination topics to them. Once these scholars passed the examination, they would naturally acknowledge the examiner as their teacher and support and rely on each other in officialdom thereafter.
Song Chengru stroked his beard thoughtfully. “You mean to make our move from this angle. But what if Elder Chen doesn’t engage in such practices?”
“Then we’ll make him engage in such practices.” Song Chuyi curled up the corners of her mouth. “Elder Brother just said that stringing together chess pieces like Minister Fang was difficult. If we plan to use the spring examinations to bring down Elder Chen, then how to position these chess pieces becomes quite clear, doesn’t it?”
If they intended to sabotage Elder Chen’s conduct of the spring examinations, then all these chess pieces they currently had—Madam Fang, Minister Fang, Third Madam Chen, and Third Master Chen—every single one could be utilized to perfection.
Third Madam Chen was greedy for money. She desperately needed it. As long as Madam Fang continued to tempt and entice her, she would take the bait almost without anyone needing to set up a scheme—she’d do it herself.