The intricately carved wooden door creaked open, allowing sunlight to pour into the hall through the wide entrance and tall window frames. Wisps of fragrant smoke rose languidly from the boshan incense burner, drifting through the air.
Long Princess Qi Shu, dressed in an elaborate dark cyan palace gown, stepped into the small Buddhist shrine set up in her mother’s palace. Her hair was piled high in an ornate style, adorned with numerous pearl hairpins and ornaments. Her upturned eyes were alluring yet somewhat disdainful, her red lips vibrant. A light cyan gauze shawl was draped around her slender waist and arms. Every movement exuded charm and grace. She was truly the most exquisite peony of the Great Yin dynasty, worthy of being called a national beauty.
In the center of the shrine stood a white jade statue of Guanyin, about one foot tall. Its smooth, lustrous appearance indicated it was carved from a single piece of high-quality mutton-fat jade by skilled craftsmen, making it extremely valuable.
Qi Shu looked at the beautiful woman in sandalwood-colored Buddhist robes kneeling on a prayer mat with her back turned, and spoke haughtily, “Mother, why have you summoned me?”
Consort An continued fingering her prayer beads—half white jade, half emerald—without answering, quietly murmuring Buddhist scriptures.
The incense used in this shrine was the heavy-scented Dazang, with an ancient and profound aroma that Qi Shu disliked.
Seeing her mother call her here only to ignore her, Qi Shu frowned. Usually, her mother only treated her this way when she had done something wrong. Thinking of the recent investigation she had undertaken at Gong Sun Yi’s request, she clasped her hands tightly in front of her, but quickly masked that moment of unease with her innate royal pride.
Consort An finally finished reciting the sutra. She rose to light a stick of incense before the Guanyin statue, then spoke unhurriedly, “What have you been busy with lately?”
Qi Shu replied nonchalantly, “Learning to play the zither from Court Lady Qin of the Imperial Music Department, and copying some Buddhist scriptures for you in my spare time, Mother.”
Consort An sat down on the noble consort’s chair, holding her string of blue and white prayer beads. She raised her eyelids slightly to look at her daughter. “Is that all?”
Mother and daughter bore a slight resemblance, but their alluring eyes were identical, although Consort An’s eye corners showed fine lines from the passage of time.
Qi Shu had been spoiled since childhood and had always been strong-willed. She looked at the consort and said, “Mother, if you don’t believe me, why bother asking?”
Hearing her daughter’s fiery response, Consort An frowned slightly and shook her head gently.
She asked, “Why have your palace maids been frequenting the Cold Palace recently?”
Qi Shu’s heart skipped a beat, causing her eyelashes to flutter. She stubbornly replied, “I have dozens of maids and eunuchs in my palace. How could I know everything they do in private?”
Consort An’s expression darkened completely. She called out, “Shu’er!”
When Consort An was truly angry, Qi Shu became afraid. However, she dared not fully disclose her collaboration with Xie Zheng.
Consort An knew about the Emperor’s decree of marriage between her and Xie Zheng. But Xie Zheng hadn’t even allowed the imperial messenger to announce the edict and had even cut off one of the messenger’s ears—truly outrageous behavior.
Although few people knew about this incident, Xie Zheng’s defiance of the imperial edict and refusal of marriage was not only a slap in Qi Sheng’s face but also in Qi Shu’s. Consort An had quite a few complaints about Xie Zheng.
Qi Shu was secretly delighted, as she had gone to great lengths to pass this news to Xie Zheng. However, fearing her mother would blame her for meddling in court affairs, she had kept quiet all along.
Now, facing Consort An’s barely concealed anger, she carefully considered her words before speaking, “Some people from my palace happened to discover a maid in the Cold Palace who used to serve in Consort Jia Gui’s palace. Seeing her in a pitiful, deranged state, they helped her once or twice. But they heard some shocking news from this mad maid’s mouth.”
When Consort An heard that there was still a maid from Consort Jia Gui’s palace in the Cold Palace, her hand paused in fingering the prayer beads, and her expression changed.
Qi Shu carefully observed her mother’s reaction and continued, “That mad maid said that Grand Chancellor Wei had once… committed adultery in the harem, having an affair with a consort…”
With a snap, the prayer beads in Consort An’s hand broke, scattering blue and white precious stones across the floor.
“Who else knows about this?” Consort An suddenly stood up and asked Qi Shu sternly, her expression unprecedentedly grim.
Qi Shu was startled by her mother’s rare display of great anger. Her mind raced as she replied, “This matter is of utmost importance. That maid might have been spouting nonsense in her madness, and she didn’t specify which of Father Emperor’s consorts had an affair with Grand Chancellor Wei. How could I dare to tell others rashly?”
Consort An sat back down on the noble consort’s chair, saying wearily, “Let this matter rest. Don’t investigate further. Pretend you never heard the mad maid’s ravings.”
Qi Shu found Consort An’s reaction today very strange and pressed on, “Why? If Wei Yan truly had such audacity, this crime alone would be enough to execute his entire clan and reclaim power from his hands.”
Although as long as the Great Yin dynasty bore the surname Qi, she would always be its most noble princess, this nobility also depended on the rise and fall of imperial power.
For instance, with Qi Sheng on the throne but with power usurped by Wei Yan, the entire royal family had to live at Wei Yan’s mercy.
Hearing Qi Shu’s words, Consort An laughed coldly, “Execute Wei Yan’s entire clan? If that were possible, the long steps of Taixian Palace wouldn’t have been washed in blood seventeen years ago.”
Taixian Palace was the residence of emperors throughout the generations.
Qi Shu’s alluring eyes widened suddenly, “Wei Yan staged a coup?”
A chill ran through her body, “Then Father Emperor… didn’t die from illness?”
Consort An didn’t answer. She knelt before the Guanyin statue with her hands clasped and said, “Don’t ask anything, and don’t investigate further. I survived to this day as the only one of the four consorts by keeping my palace doors tightly shut and not meddling in anything.”
Perhaps due to royal pride, Qi Shu couldn’t help but ask coldly, “Wei Yan has bullied our royal family to this extent. Even if the Prince is incompetent, rumors are spreading throughout the court that the eldest brother of Crown Prince Cheng De still has descendants in this world. If we unite with the Li family and the Marquis of Wu’an who commands heavy troops, along with Grandfather and the others, I don’t believe we can’t overthrow Wei Yan!”
Consort An raised her eyelids, “Do you think Consort Jia Gui’s family was weak back then? Jia Min could still be the most favored in the harem at her age, relying on her family’s power. The Sixteenth Prince even dared to contend for the throne with the Crown Prince. But what happened in the end? Count how many officials surnamed Jia above the fifth rank you can find in the entire court now.”
Qi Shu felt a chill run down her spine. She asked tremblingly, “If Wei Yan has such overwhelming power, why… does he still support the Prince’s ascension to the throne?”
Her gaze shifted, “Could it be that the Prince…”
Consort An interrupted her, “Don’t make wild guesses. Wei Yan is like a mad dog. Who knows what he’s planning? I only have you as my daughter. Don’t get involved in the rights and wrongs of the court. We, mother and daughter, and the An family can always live in peace.”
Qi Shu looked at Consort An and said, “Mother, do you know which consort had an affair with Wei Yan back then?”
In Taixian Palace, Qi Sheng looked at the trembling maid kneeling at the bottom of the steps. Sitting on the dragon throne with one hand supporting his chin, he spoke with interest, “What did the person who came to see you in the Cold Palace ask you?”
The maid’s hair was disheveled, and her dirty palace maid outfit was stained with large patches of blood, clearly having been tortured by the inner court officials before being brought here. She no longer dared to pretend to be mad.
Looking up at the emperor in dragon robes, she shook like a sieve, “They… they didn’t ask this slave anything, just took pity on this slave and gave me a few meals…”
Qi Sheng sneered, “Weren’t you mad all these years in the Cold Palace? How come you’re not mad now?”
The maid shook even more violently, not knowing how to respond.
The head eunuch beside Qi Sheng immediately said sternly, “You wretched slave, if you dare to deceive His Majesty again, you’ll be beheaded at the Wu Gate immediately!”
The maid’s face turned pale with fright. She stammered, “Your Majesty, spare me, spare me… This slave did this… for self-preservation.”
She trembled and wept, “All the servants from Consort Jia Gui’s palace died back then. This slave had made a mistake and was punished by working in the laundry by Consort Jia Gui before that, which is why I escaped. Fearing that someone would discover that I was the only survivor from Consort Jia Gui’s palace, I had no choice but to pretend to be mad and go to the Cold Palace to fend for myself.”
She spoke earnestly, but Qi Sheng seemed uninterested in her confession. He sank into the dragon throne and said to the head eunuch, “Gag her and use another set of torture.”
The maid was terrified and kowtowed repeatedly, crying and begging, “Your Majesty, everything this slave said is true! Mmph…”
She couldn’t continue pleading as several strong eunuchs quickly gagged her and held down her hands and feet.
Fearing to dirty the floor of Taixian Palace, the eunuchs dared not use severe torture. Instead, they took needles and began inserting them into the gaps between the maid’s fingernails.
The pain of all ten fingers connected to the heart is truly known only to those who have experienced it firsthand.
In the palace, this torture method was sometimes more effective than caning.
As soon as the first needle was inserted, the maid’s body convulsed in pain. She struggled desperately on the ground, but several eunuchs held her arms firmly, pinning her legs and back with their knees. All her agonized screams were muffled by the cloth stuffed in her mouth. The maid bit through her gums in pain, and blood seeped through the gag, staining it red.
Qi Sheng didn’t call for a stop, so the eunuchs inserted a second needle, then a third…
By the end, the maid had no strength left. She lay limp on the ground, cold sweat from the pain soaking her hair and tattered palace robes. Her ten fingers, embedded with steel needles, lay at her sides, with only a few small pools of blood dripping onto the floor. The maid had almost lost sensation from the pain, her lips as white as her face. Her fingertips still trembled due to the tension in her muscles and nerves.
The head eunuch fawned at Qi Sheng, “Your Majesty, the torture is complete.”
Qi Min, who had observed the entire ordeal, seemed to be in a much better mood now compared to his previous disinterest. “Now answer me, why did you pretend to be mad in the Cold Palace?”
With the steel needles still in her fingernails and extreme pain, the maid could barely think. She instinctively replied, “For… self-preservation.”
Confirming she wasn’t lying, Qi Sheng’s eyes suddenly lit up alarmingly, hiding a strange excitement: “Who was so capable as to silence everyone in Consort Jia Gui’s palace?”
Even though she felt like she had already died once from the pain, upon hearing this question, the maid couldn’t help but tremble all over. As if touching upon some taboo, she uttered that name with extreme fear: “It… it was Wei Yan.”
The head eunuch beside them was stunned. After a moment of surprise, Qi Sheng’s eyes flashed with a hint of darkness as he continued to ask, “Why did he kill the people in Consort Jia Gui’s palace?”
The maid’s voice was shaking uncontrollably: “Not just Consort Jia Gui’s palace, everyone who knew about Wei Yan’s adultery in the harem was killed by him.”
These words struck like a thunderbolt. Cold sweat began to form on the head eunuch’s forehead.
He never imagined such a shocking secret was hidden within this matter.
Qi Sheng’s face also darkened, “You say Wei Yan committed adultery in the harem?”
The maid nodded fearfully.
Qi Sheng sat back on the dragon throne, his face gloomy: “Continue the torture.”
The steel needles had already been used, so the head eunuch instructed the other eunuchs to apply finger clamps to the maid’s hands and feet.
A row of thin rods clamped all her fingers. Two strong eunuchs on either side tightened the binding ropes, squeezing the finger bones until they deformed and even broke.
The maid was held down by her shoulders by several eunuchs, unable to struggle. Her tears had dried up, and her teeth clenching the gag were softened. Her mouth was filled with the taste of blood.
After this round of torture, the maid lay on the ground, completely unable to kneel. She kept mumbling, “Please spare this slave… everything this slave said is true…”
Qi Sheng didn’t speak again. The head eunuch beside him didn’t dare to speak rashly, carefully observing Qi Sheng’s expression.
After Crown Prince Cheng De and the Sixteenth Prince both died at the hands of the Northern Khui people, the previous emperor passed away due to illness. Subsequently, Wei Yan took control of the court and supported Qi Sheng, who had no foundation, to ascend to the throne.
Combined with what the maid said about Wei Yan’s adultery in the harem…
The head eunuch dared not think further, fearing that after today, his head might roll.
Qi Sheng began to uncontrollably scratch at the dragon armrest’s carvings with his fingernails, his bulging eyes looking extremely sinister: “Who had the affair with Wei Yan?”
The maid confessed with a pale face: “It… it was Consort Shu.”
Qi Sheng suddenly let out a sigh of relief. Consort Shu was one of the four consorts. According to the royal archives, Consort Shu, like Consort Jia Gui, had passed away following the previous emperor’s death.
His eyes began to show an indescribable excitement again: “Did Wei Yan kill Consort Shu to cover up his misdeeds?”
“This slave doesn’t know… Back then, Consort Shu was diagnosed with pregnancy, but the fetus’s age didn’t match the records in the imperial bedchamber register… The previous emperor was furious and beat to death the palace maids in Consort Shu’s palace, then confined Consort Shu to interrogate her. One night, Consort Shu’s Qingyuan Palace suddenly caught fire, burning everything to ashes. Consort Shu was also burned to death. The imperial guards on night patrol… saw Wei Yan that night.”
Qi Sheng sneered, “How convenient that all evidence and witnesses were destroyed. Wei Yan is truly ruthless.”
He stared at the maid: “Did my imperial father just allow Wei Yan to act so lawlessly?”
The maid, pale as a sheet, said: “The fire in Consort Shu’s palace burned until dawn. At daybreak, Wei Yan led troops to massacre the palace. The previous emperor and Noble Consort Jia… both died by Wei Yan’s sword…”
Qi Sheng was so angry that the muscles in his face twitched. He said coldly, “Well, well! Wei Yan committed adultery in the palace, and when exposed, he murdered the emperor and seized power, massacring the palace to silence everyone. How very good indeed!”
He made a gesture, and the head eunuch understood, ordering the young eunuchs in the hall to take the maid away.
When the head eunuch returned, he carefully observed Qi Sheng’s expression and cautiously said, “The Long Princess is helping the Marquis of Wu’an investigate this matter, presumably to bring down Wei Yan. It’s a pity that there’s only the maid’s word, without concrete evidence.”
Qi Sheng suddenly laughed coldly: “I should thank Wei Yan. He’s given me a good way to control Xie Zheng.”
The head eunuch looked confused, but Qi Sheng said no more.
However, the plan in his heart made his protruding eyes light up eerily again: “This blade forged by Wei Yan will ultimately be used for my benefit.”
A few days later, Xie Zheng led the Northern Expedition army back through Zhengyang Gate in triumph.
The entire capital was once again deserted as people flocked to the streets. The main road from the North City Gate to Zhengyang Gate was packed with citizens welcoming the victorious army.
Fan Chang Yu had received the news in advance and booked three private rooms in a street-side restaurant early on, just to bring Chang Ning and Bao’er to see Xie Zheng’s triumphant return.
As for why she booked three rooms, it was because Xie Wu had mentioned fears of eavesdropping through walls. Fan Chang Yu reasoned that if people could eavesdrop through one wall, she might as well book the rooms on both sides to solve the problem.
When Xie Wu and Xie Qi heard Fan Chang Yu’s solution, they were speechless but felt it made sense, so they went along with it.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Zhao had been out on the streets these days, it was never as lively as today. Looking down from the restaurant window, the entire street was filled with people.
Chang Ning and Yu Bao’er were too short to reach the window, so they had to stand on chairs to see the situation below.
Fearing that Yu Bao’er might be noticed by the Imperial Grandson’s people, Fan Chang Yu prepared a flower-patterned mask for each child. The two kids found them fun and wore them throughout the event.
Since the army hadn’t reached this area yet, there was only a cacophony of noise below. Chang Ning and Yu Bao’er watched for a while, got bored, and sat at the round table to eat from the array of pastries and dishes.
When cheers erupted outside, the two children squeezed into the window to look. Mr. and Mrs. Zhao also wanted to see the excitement and joined them at the window, keeping an eye on the children as well.
On the way there, Chang Ning encountered a flower seller and bought a basket of petals.
She leaned out the window, listening to the enthusiastic cheers of the people below, excitedly throwing petals at the approaching army.
When she saw the young general with cold, handsome features riding a tall horse, her eyes widened: “Brother-in-law?”
She tugged at Yu Bao’er’s sleeve excitedly, “Bao’er, look quickly, that’s my brother-in-law!”
Mr. and Mrs. Zhao, being older, didn’t have eyesight as good as Chang Ning’s. Mrs. Zhao squinted for a while before saying, “It does look like Yan Zheng!”
Mr. Zhao nodded in agreement, “That’s right, it’s Yan Zheng.”
Mrs. Zhao turned to Fan Chang Yu with delight, “Chang Yu, come quick and look! Yan Zheng has made something of himself too. Look, he’s riding at the very front! How impressive! Has he earned himself a high official position too?”
Hearing this, Xie Wu and Xie Qi both had slight smiles on their faces.
Fan Chang Yu, taking advantage of her height, had a full view of the entire street from behind.
She had of course seen Xie Zheng riding at the front of the army, wearing a qilin-shouldered armor that absorbed light. But in front of Xie Wu and Xie Qi, she didn’t know how to respond to Mrs. Zhao’s words. She just coughed twice and said, “He has indeed done well for himself.”
In the entire Great Yin dynasty, there was no one of his generation more successful than him.
As she spoke, whether it was because Xie Zheng sensed too many eager gazes from the restaurant window, he suddenly looked up.
As their eyes met, Fan Chang Yu’s eyelids trembled, and she suddenly felt a sense of guilt.