Shen Xihe’s lips curved upward as she lowered her gaze. “Tell the Princess I am weary and don’t wish to move.”
As if anticipating Shen Xihe’s refusal, the palace maid said, “The Princess instructed me to inform you that it concerns the Young Master.”
The Young Master she referred to was naturally Shen Yunan.
“What’s wrong with my brother?” Shen Xihe asked with furrowed brows.
“This servant doesn’t know,” the palace maid lowered her head, appearing fearful.
“Biyu, go find my brother,” Shen Xihe commanded coldly after glancing at the maid.
“Yes,” Biyu immediately bowed and retreated swiftly, disappearing into the moving crowd in an instant.
The palace maid sent by Princess Changling stood with her thumbs clasped before her chest, head lowered properly as she waited.
After about fifteen minutes, Biyu returned, her expression somewhat grave: “Princess, I couldn’t find the Young Master. I asked people along the way, but no one has seen him.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Xihe fixed a heavy stare on the palace maid. At first, the maid maintained her composure, but gradually she began to feel the bitter cold, her feet growing cold.
Only when the maid’s face had turned pale and her back involuntarily hunched did Shen Xihe withdraw her gaze. “Let’s go.”
The Lotus Garden was divided in two by the Qujiang Pool. Today’s birthday banquet was held on the water palace side, with many performances along the shore. The palace maid led them to a waterside pavilion, passing through increasingly sparse crowds until they reached a secluded corner where a small boat was moored.
“Princess, please board the boat. The Princess awaits you at Purple Cloud Tower,” the palace maid stood aside by the river to make way.
Shen Xihe gave an almost inaudible laugh. Biyu boarded first and reached out to help Shen Xihe aboard. The palace maid followed, but when Hongyu tried to board, the small covered boat was clearly overloaded, so the maid said, “Princess, the boat is too small to take more passengers.”
“You deliberately prepared this small boat, didn’t you?” Biyu frowned in displeasure.
“This servant doesn’t know,” the maid responded, head bowed.
“Hongyu, you stay here,” Shen Xihe commanded.
The Qujiang Pool was brilliantly lit, with many boats coming and going. Even Emperor Youning was accompanying the Empress Dowager on the water. Shen Xihe didn’t believe they would dare act on the water, and if they did, they would only be disgracing themselves.
Therefore, throughout the boat ride, Shen Xihe sat composed and unperturbed. The small boat skirted the unpopulated edges to reach the opposite shore, where a wooden platform backed onto a densely wooded grove. Apart from lanterns hung at distant intervals in the treetops, swaying in the wind, almost nothing else was visible.
Shen Xihe and Biyu followed the palace maid ashore as the boatman rowed away. Before they even entered the grove, Shen Xihe detected a faint scent of datura flowers. What appeared to be a cold mist in the night contained strands of aromatic smoke.
The datura scent wasn’t particularly strong and was mixed with several hallucinogenic fragrances. With incense burning throughout the garden, unusual fragrances were hard to detect. Shen Xihe coughed lightly into her handkerchief.
“Princess, the night wind is strong, mind you don’t catch a cold,” Biyu stepped forward to block the palace maid’s view while fastening Shen Xihe’s cloak, secretly passing her two tiny cotton plugs. Under the cover of her handkerchief, Shen Xihe inserted them into her nostrils. The rice-grain-sized cotton plugs had been long soaked in mind-clearing aromatic medicine.
After finishing, Biyu stepped aside and followed the palace maid forward. Walking behind Shen Xihe, Biyu also inserted nose plugs when the other couldn’t see.
After just twenty or thirty steps to the end, the palace maid’s legs suddenly went weak and she collapsed.
Shen Xihe promptly fell directly onto the palace maid, while Biyu seemed slightly better off, crying out in alarm and moving to support Shen Xihe, but as soon as she crouched down, her vision also went black and she passed out.
Moments after the three collapsed, a man in night-traveling clothes rushed out, fixed his gaze on Shen Xihe, and drew a gleaming blade. The cold steel flashed sharp in the night as it plunged straight toward Shen Xihe.
The instant the blade tip fell vertically, Biyu’s eyes suddenly flew open. She drew the flexible sword at her waist to block the deadly blade, while her long leg swept at the assassin’s lower body. The black-clothed man immediately leaped to dodge, but at that moment an arrow flew from the distance, piercing his shoulder.
The blade fell from the assassin’s hand and he was instantly subdued by Biyu. Before they could question him, he bit down on a poison capsule and took his own life.
Biyu helped Shen Xihe up and restrained the unconscious palace maid. Soon someone came running carrying a dead body, threw it down, bowed to Shen Xihe, and silently left carrying the poisoned assassin’s body.
Shen Xihe smiled as she looked at the delivered corpse, then raised her eyes toward the distant tower whose brilliant lights brightened even the night sky.
As the banquet was drawing to a close, Emperor Youning accompanied the Empress Dowager on a boat tour and returned to the water palace. The assembled nobles, officials, and ladies were all waiting for the Emperor to dismiss them and allow everyone to return home when a piercing voice rang out from beyond the doors: “Your Majesty—”
Everyone, their faces still showing traces of pleasure, turned to look as Shen Xihe, her hair disheveled and clothes bloodstained, was supported in by her two maids, her face deathly pale.
Emperor Youning’s expression darkened as he strode forward. “Summon the physician!”
Since court physicians from the Imperial Medical Office were present at the banquet, they reached Shen Xihe almost simultaneously with the Emperor.
“Your Majesty…” Shen Xihe’s voice was weak. “Someone tried… to silence me…”
The main hall was now completely silent; even Shen Xihe’s faintest words were heard by all.
“Let the physician examine you first. I will certainly see justice done!” Emperor Youning was extremely angry that someone would cause trouble at the Empress Dowager’s birthday celebration.
“Your Majesty, it was… it was Prince Kang…” Shen Xihe seemed to use her last breath to speak before collapsing into Biyu’s arms.
The entire assembly erupted in shock, everyone staring at Prince Kang. Those near him involuntarily stepped away.
Prince Kang’s face showed both shock and fury as he rushed forward and knelt before Emperor Youning. “Your Majesty, please investigate clearly. I did not plot to harm the Princess!”
Emperor Youning coldly glanced at Prince Kang and ordered the physician: “Treat the Princess first!”
Shen Xihe was carried to a side hall by palace maids. After checking her pulse, the physician found that she had fainted from extreme shock. Given Shen Xihe’s weak constitution, the situation was extremely dangerous. He reported this grave assessment to Emperor Youning.
The Emperor commanded the physician to spare no effort in treating Shen Xihe, then turned to question her two maids. At this moment, Shen Yunan and Xue Jinqiao also hurried back, both looking somewhat disheveled. Shen Yunan rushed to Shen Xihe’s side, his face ashen.
“Your Majesty, Princess Changling sent a palace maid to summon our Princess…” Biyu related the entire sequence of events. “Fortunately, this servant has trained in martial arts since childhood and protected the Princess. The assassin was killed by this servant and refused to say anything before dying, but the Princess was inexplicably terrified the whole way back, mumbling that Prince Kang wanted to harm her.”
After hearing this, Prince Kang felt slightly relieved. “Your Majesty, the Princess must harbor some misunderstanding toward me, leading her to mistakenly believe I was behind this.”
Unexpectedly, Shen Yunan gave a cold laugh. “Your Majesty, I know why Prince Kang wanted to secretly harm my sister.”
“Speak!” Emperor Youning commanded.
“A few days ago, my sister went to the southern mountains and accidentally discovered someone secretly manufacturing weapons, and saw Prince Kang enter the mountain!”
This statement shocked everyone present.