Qing Luo bit her lip, appearing extremely conflicted. After a long while, she finally lowered her head to stare at the ground and, in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, confessed to Song Chuyi: “It was Yuan Jin who told me to go find Madam Fei, and then Madam Fei handed us over to the Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping.” Qing Luo bit down on her teeth and pushed away Han Yan’s outstretched hand. Han Yan didn’t like her family because her stepmother constantly abused her. But Qing Luo herself absolutely could not disregard her parents. If she stubbornly refused to speak here, her parents at Longhu Mountain would certainly come down to force her to talk. She knew the Celestial Master’s methods all too well. Finally, her voice completely softened and became choked with sobs as she said: “The Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping asked us for your birth date and time, and also asked if we had any of your personal belongings with us.”
What came after didn’t matter anymore—that name at the beginning was the key.
Song Chuyi looked at her deeply. The fact that they had brought her personal items bestowed by the Empress with them when meeting the Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping at least indicated they intended to do something to her. Even without Yuan Jin, the Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping, and Chamberlain Wang, if they had returned to Longhu Mountain, they would likely have tried other methods anyway.
After finishing her confession, Qing Luo clutched at Song Chuyi’s skirt hem and knocked her head on the ground: “Please spare my parents, Miss.” She bit her teeth: “As for my life, I’ll use it to atone to you, Miss. I beg you to calm your anger.”
Song Chuyi didn’t kill them. Upon leaving, she specifically instructed Song Jue: “Find a few more people to watch over them. Although they’ve already been drugged and no longer have the strength to scale walls and roofs, they are still clever girls—don’t let them escape.” She was keeping them because she still had uses for them.
Song Jue nodded in agreement. Seeing that she was still wearing a white fox fur cloak trimmed with silver, he helped pull up her hood and instructed her in a low voice: “Don’t tell His Highness yet. Let me investigate first.”
Yuan Jin was no ordinary person. He was one of the six Dao soldiers who had come down from Longhu Mountain with Zhou Weizhao. Qing Zhuo and Han Feng needn’t be mentioned—they had fought life-and-death battles alongside Zhou Weizhao. Cui Ting and Ming Tai would also go through fire and water for Zhou Weizhao. Although Yuan Jin and Qing Bo didn’t appear often, they were also extremely important to Zhou Weizhao. All six of these people had grown up together with Zhou Weizhao—they shared bonds forged since childhood. For this matter to involve one of these six people was truly thorny. One misstep could offend this entire group of people who had accompanied Zhou Weizhao from childhood to now.
Song Chuyi nodded: “Elder Brother, investigate freely. If there’s any news, inform Luo Gui as soon as possible to notify me.”
Song Jue walked with her for a stretch before stopping beneath a plum blossom tree: “Didn’t Chamberlain Wang ever mention anything about the people around the Grand Prince?”
This didn’t make sense. Since Qing Luo and Han Yan’s information had been leaked by someone close to the Grand Prince, they must have had contact with Chamberlain Wang and the Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping—otherwise, how could they have communicated?
Qing Ying understood this matter even more clearly. Hearing this, she sighed and shook her head: “Threatening him with his family members right before his eyes, he told us everything he should have said. There was no need to conceal such a minor detail. When he mentioned Han Yan and Qing Luo, he said the Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping had given them to him and asked him to handle them by taking them to Jin region. He didn’t say another word beyond that.”
The implication was that at least Fei Zhan had been aware, but unfortunately, Fei Zhan had slit his own throat on the spot.
Song Jue saw Song Chuyi rarely furrowing her brow and understood the anxiety in her heart—this traitor was like a bomb planted right beside Zhou Weizhao and her, one that could blow them to bloody pieces at any moment. It was truly worrying.
He patted Song Chuyi’s head: “Your Ladyship need not worry excessively. Since the other side has made a move, the fox here will soon reveal its tail as well. Besides, don’t we already have a specific name now? Whether or not we’ve wrongly accused him, we’ll know once we investigate.”
At the same time, he personally escorted Song Chuyi onto the Grand Prince Consort’s regulation carriage and watched as the carriage headed toward the Imperial City before turning back. He first went to his study to find Wang Yue: “When you went to Jinling previously, didn’t you become quite familiar with Cui Ting and Ming Tai who serve by Brother Yan’s side?” Seeing Wang Yue nod, he instructed: “Then go find them and ask them about this person Yuan Jin.”
Wang Yue had always been clever. Sending him to gather information was the most reliable option.
After Wang Yue left, Song Jue thought for a moment, then personally left the city to find Zhang Tianshi at Qingxu Temple. Thanks to Zhou Weizhao, he got along quite well with Zhang Tianshi and they could talk readily.
These six Dao soldiers, including the female Dao soldiers Qing Luo and Han Yan whom Zhang Tianshi had originally sent to serve Zhou Weizhao, totaled eight people. All of them were descendants of prestigious Daoist masters at Longhu Mountain. Since they had status, perhaps subtly probing Zhang Tianshi might yield some harvest.
When he went to find Zhang Tianshi, Song Chuyi had already entered the palace. She first returned to Yong’an Palace to change her clothes before leading Qing Ying and Qing Tao toward Qingning Hall.
Empress Dowager Lu was already mostly recovered. Because Imperial Physician Hu was still performing acupuncture on the Crown Prince, it was Supervising Judge Sun who had come. He was responding to Crown Princess Lu’s inquiry: “Qi rushing to attack the heart caused the blood to temporarily not return to its proper channels. This old official will prescribe a formula to nourish the qi and calm the spirit to take for a while, but recovery will still require gradual recuperation.”
Not long after, Emperor Jianzhang also arrived. For a moment, Qingning Hall was packed with a dark mass of kneeling people. Emperor Jianzhang waved his hand to excuse them all from their courtesies and dismissed everyone, then sat beside Empress Dowager Lu and looked at her: “You know?”
Empress Dowager Lu forced herself to sit up with her remaining strength and nodded toward Emperor Jianzhang. This time she had no more tears left to shed: “I know. How laughable that both sons I’ve raised have fallen for that scoundrel Han Zhengqing’s tricks.”
Han Zhengqing actually coveted having the Crown Prince raise a son for him—what vicious intentions!
And Prince Gong was even more foolish. Since ancient times, those who switch allegiances have never been trustworthy, yet he practically enshrined the man and worshiped him morning and night. Someone who could betray the Crown Prince could naturally turn around and betray him too, but unfortunately he was currently blinded and completely failed to understand this principle. Once Han Zhengqing gained power, would Prince Gong be able to control him then? Simply foolish.
She was somewhat weak and smiled: “Your Majesty should stop trying to save face. It was I who gave birth to such an unfilial son. Such a treasonous son is not worth us covering up for in every way.”
Such a thing without human morality deserved to be cursed for a lifetime.
Emperor Jianzhang patted her hand: “Originally I had no intention of covering up for him anymore. Earlier I ordered the Grand Secretariat to come up with a plan. Now the Grand Secretariat has presented it. Li Fengru went to Guyuan to help Shaoting, and as for this treasonous son, we can have Shaoting submit a memorial saying he discovered that Prince Gong actually didn’t die but faked his death to plot treasonously.”
This way, there would be a perfect explanation for how Prince Gong came back to life. After exposing Prince Gong’s identity, they would naturally need to raise troops to suppress him.