When Wang Chan’er regained consciousness, she found herself already lying in the sleeping chamber of Changchun Palace, her body terribly weak.
The sleeping chamber had been modified with an additional partition wall, allowing the fire chamber behind the hall to burn coal and blow hot smoke through it. Although the entire sleeping chamber couldn’t be said to be as warm as spring, it was still much better than the freezing cold outside the hall.
Lu Qingxia held a whisk and sat on an embroidered stool before the cotton daybed. Seeing Wang Chan’er wake, she said: “Yesterday, a palace maid fornicated with a guard in the palace and gave birth to a son. Without consulting the Empress Dowager, this servant ordered those two fornicating dogs beaten to death with rods, and had the newborn infant sent out of the palace to be raised by a farming family in the countryside.”
“Is this child sturdy? Is the farming family he was sent to prosperous?” Wang Chan’er asked weakly.
“That farming family is fairly prosperous and will certainly care for the child meticulously. The Empress Dowager need not worry about this matter anymore; what’s important is to recover your health quickly. The Empress Dowager has been bedridden from this illness for far too long. If His Majesty hadn’t been entangled with trivial matters during this period, it would have been very difficult to conceal the Empress Dowager’s condition from His Majesty,” Lu Qingxia said in a bland tone.
“Since Palace Director Lu has arranged everything properly, then I have nothing to worry about,” Wang Chan’er said softly.
Yao Xishui stood behind Lu Qingxia. Seeing that the Empress Dowager’s expression and reactions seemed normal, she relaxed slightly. This matter had finally been settled for now. She leaned close to Lu Qingxia’s ear and said: “Elder Sister Hongyu sent someone saying she has matters to discuss with me. Perhaps she’s worried about the situation on the north bank. Since there’s nothing more here, I’ll head into the city with Chun Shisanniang shortly.”
Lu Qingxia lowered her voice and said to Yao Xishui: “Emperor Liang Zhu Yu is skilled at using extraordinary stratagems. You must tell Zhigao to respond carefully and protect the foundation he’s worked so hard to build.”
Yao Xishui nodded, indicating she understood this principle. She then left the sleeping chamber to find Chun Shisanniang. The two made simple preparations and readied their carriage and horses before heading toward the East Flower Gate.
……
……
The heavy snow had just stopped, and Jinling City was blanketed in white, covering everything crude and even ugly beneath the snowy whiteness. The beggars from the streets and alleys had also been driven out of the city—out of sight, out of mind.
However, news of the water forces’ annihilation had already spread through the market streets and alleys. Yao Xishui lifted the carriage curtain and saw the common people in the streets hurrying along, their faces showing not a trace of the joy and delight that auspicious snow brings for a bountiful year.
These times could hardly be called a peaceful prosperous age.
That Yao Xishui and Su Hongyu both came from the Wanhong House was something many people knew. For her to visit General Li’s residence with Chun Shisanniang to see Su Hongyu and reminisce as sisters required no avoidance of suspicion.
They stopped the carriage in front of the general’s mansion. Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang entered the hall and proceeded directly toward the rear residence. But while still some distance from the Shuqiu Tower where Su Hongyu resided, they saw that the middle courtyard of the residence was completely empty, with no servants or maids moving about.
Yao Xishui glanced suspiciously at Su Hongyu’s personal maid who had been sent to the mansion gate to greet them: “Is something happening in the mansion? Why are there no people here?”
“Madam has an honored guest visiting, so she specifically sent all idle persons away,” Su Hongyu’s personal maid said.
Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang exchanged glances, not knowing what kind of guest would make Su Hongyu so urgently summon them to meet.
Pushing open the courtyard gate and entering the garden of Shuqiu Tower, Yao Xishui suddenly discovered that among the several people standing behind the courtyard gate, one was actually Kong Xirong. Instinctively, she moved to draw the short sword hidden in her sleeve.
Kong Xirong, prepared in advance, moved even faster. His hand shot out like lightning to grasp Yao Xishui’s wrist, saying: “My lord has been waiting here for quite some time. For Miss Yao to draw her blade at the slightest disagreement shows far too little understanding of the etiquette of receiving guests, wouldn’t you say?”
Yao Xishui’s beautiful eyes were icy as she stared at Kong Xirong. Seeing that the several men behind him were all martial experts, she withdrew her hand and turned to see Su Hongyu sitting in the garden pavilion accompanying two people.
And that person wearing a blue robe who turned to look at her—who else could it be but Han Qian?
Yao Xishui stood there in a daze. She had imagined ten thousand possibilities but had never thought she would encounter Han Qian here.
Kong Xirong glanced at Chun Shisanniang, who appeared somewhat more composed than Yao Xishui, and gestured for those behind him to close the courtyard gate first, to prevent unrelated servants in Li Zhigao’s mansion from inadvertently witnessing what was happening here.
“Miss Yao, Chun Shisanniang, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?” Han Qian turned around and greeted Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang.
Yao Xishui forced herself to remain calm and walked into the pavilion with Chun Shisanniang. Seeing that Su Hongyu showed no signs of being held captive, she felt even more confused, truly unable to understand why Su Hongyu would cooperate with Han Qian to deceive them into coming to the city.
However, seeing Xi Ren—that woman who wore silver bells on her feet yet could walk silently—standing beside Han Qian, Yao Xishui suppressed any thoughts of rash action. Her eyes merely stared fixedly at Han Qian.
“Are you very surprised to see me in Jinling?” Han Qian asked with a smile. “During this period, you’ve devoted all your energy to preventing others from prying into Changchun Palace, so you’ve inevitably become somewhat dull to events occurring outside Changchun Palace. You fool, release that short sword in your sleeve. I’ve come this time to save your lives.”
Yao Xishui looked hesitantly toward Su Hongyu.
Though she wasn’t certain how Han Qian had coerced Su Hongyu into cooperating, Han Qian’s words implied he had long known everything happening in Changchun Palace, which gave her quite a start.
Of course, though shocked at failing to keep the secret, she wasn’t particularly afraid.
If this matter got out, wouldn’t Yang Yuanpu in his fury first exterminate the Han clan?
This was a secret neither side could reveal.
She composed herself and reviewed events once more. Confirming that the infant had been sent out of Changchun Palace overnight yesterday without being followed, she became even less afraid of Han Qian using this matter to threaten them.
“You think I’d use what happened in Changchun Palace to threaten you?” Han Qian stared at Yao Xishui’s suspicious and uncertain eyes, laughing disdainfully. “Do you know what Wen Ruilin’s true identity is? Do you know that when I originally handed Wen Ruilin over to that fool Duke Changguo, was it truly because I feared my achievements overshadowing my lord and didn’t want to claim great merit?”
“…” Han Qian calling everyone fools left and right infuriated Yao Xishui, but the information implied in Han Qian’s words shocked her even more. She asked in disbelief: “Wen Ruilin is a Liang spy?”
“It seems you haven’t reached the point of being beyond salvation,” Han Qian said. “The water forces falling into the trap and suffering heavy losses, as well as Chen Mingsheng and Li Chong successfully capturing Zhongli City, making the situation appear not so terrible—all of it is nothing but Emperor Liang Zhu Yu’s calculations. Emperor Liang Zhu Yu’s goal is to pin down the main Forbidden Army forces on the north bank and deliver a fatal blow, completely destroying Great Chu’s military power in Huaixi. Yao Xishui, think about it—if I hadn’t come today to give you advance warning, how much of everything you’ve worked so hard to secretly cultivate could be preserved in the end?”
“If you knew all this long ago, why did you wait until now to step forward and speak? Isn’t it somewhat too late?” Yao Xishui stared at Han Qian. She still didn’t believe Han Qian’s words, suspecting some trap awaiting her.
To preserve the old troops of the Left Guangde Army, Han Qian had no choice but to delay until now before stepping forward. But the catastrophe of the Left and Right Five-Tooth Naval Forces’ annihilation still pressed on his heart like a heavy stone, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Yet now he still had to bear all this sin. His mood had deteriorated to the extreme, and his voice became ice-cold and sinister. He wanted nothing more than to kick Yao Xishui out of the pavilion, asking coldly in return: “What benefit would there be for Xuzhou if I gave early warning? Could I have run to tell that boy that Li Zhigao is actually a chess piece carefully cultivated by Lu Qingxia over these years, and would that boy have believed me?”
Han Qian didn’t directly reveal Li Zhigao’s background, but he wouldn’t deny that he had long known Li Zhigao had been secretly communicating with Lu Qingxia and Yao Xishui.
Otherwise, the entire plan still wouldn’t work.
Chun Shisanniang looked in shock toward Su Hongyu, whose expression was anxious. Presumably Han Qian had used these very words to force her to cooperate willingly.
Yao Xishui, however, continued staring at Han Qian and pressing him: “Then what benefit does Xuzhou gain from your warning now?”
“In the current crisis, it cannot be resolved unless Xuzhou’s water forces advance eastward,” Han Qian said coldly. “If I can obtain a handwritten edict from the Empress Dowager, I can legitimately lead Xuzhou’s water forces eastward into Jianghuai. That is Xuzhou’s benefit!”
“…” Yao Xishui wanted to ask more, but Han Qian had no intention of giving her another chance to speak. He said: “I’ve said all I have to say. Tonight at the hour of the Rat, if I haven’t received the Empress Dowager’s handwritten edict at Yandang Jetty, I’ll return to Xuzhou. Everyone can fend for themselves. Perhaps in the future there will be another opportunity for Miss Yao and me to reminisce about our feelings and affections…”
Han Qian and Xi Ren then left Shuqiu Garden first, exiting through the side door on the east side of the garden and leaving General Li Zhigao’s mansion. They boarded their carriage and headed toward the East Flower Gate in a cloud of dust.
Kong Xirong continued to guard the garden with several men, watching over Yao Xishui and Chun Shisanniang. Only after the time it takes to burn a stick of incense did he quietly withdraw with his men!
Yao Xishui stood there in a daze, barely able to believe the scene that had just occurred was real. She could hardly imagine that Wen Ruilin was a Liang spy, could hardly imagine that Li Pu’s strong advocacy for the main water forces to raid Hongze Lake was all part of Liang’s secret scheme, could hardly imagine that Liang’s scheme this time aimed to completely destroy Great Chu’s military power in Huaixi, could hardly imagine that Han Qian had known all this long ago, could hardly imagine that Han Qian had been lying low in Jinling City all along, and could hardly imagine that he had delayed revealing all this until now solely to obtain Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er’s handwritten edict so he could return to Great Chu’s central authority and call the wind and rain…
She couldn’t help but want to moan as she asked Chun Shisanniang and Su Hongyu: Is all this real?
“We should return to Changchun Palace to see Madam first,” Chun Shisanniang urged Yao Xishui, her own heart turbulent. She thought to herself: Could this be what they call the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind? Has Han Qian’s scheming mind truly become dark and sinister to this degree?