Empress Dowager Jiang stared fixedly at Wen Yu as if seeing a ghost: “You… weren’t you at Jianning Palace?”

Wen Yu’s brows furrowed slightly as she assumed an expression of surprise and confusion at being inexplicably questioned: “This daughter-in-law arrived at Jianning Palace but felt somewhat unwell, so returned to Zhaohua Palace. I ordered a handmaid to go report this to Mother and His Highness at the palace banquet. When that handmaid arrived, she saw the ministers all leaving. Upon inquiry, she learned that Jianning Palace had caught fire and His Highness was trapped inside. She ran urgently all the way to catch up with this daughter-in-law’s procession to inform me of this matter, which is why I hurried over.”

The old ministers at the front who had already witnessed Prince Chen’s condition nearly swayed on their feet. Hearing Empress Dowager Jiang’s tone, fearing she still didn’t know the truth and wanted to seize upon Wen Yu’s late arrival to vent her anger, they quickly exchanged glances with their disciples present.

The disciples had already witnessed Wen Yu being “coldly treated” at the palace banquet. Understanding that if the Empress Dowager created more difficulties for her and exposed Prince Chen’s preference for men, the “voluntary request to be deposed” turmoil that had just been suppressed two days ago would erupt again, they quickly interjected: “There was indeed a palace maid from the Consort’s side who returned to the banquet. We ministers all saw her.”

However, Wen Yu said, “I heard Mother had already returned to Lingxi Palace first due to physical fatigue. That Mother could still rush here so quickly upon learning His Highness was in danger—this daughter-in-law came late. This is this daughter-in-law’s fault.”

Having said this, she performed an apologetic curtsy toward Empress Dowager Jiang, then pretended concern as she hesitantly cast a glance toward Prince Chen, who was tightly surrounded by ministers: “I wonder how His Highness fares?”

The distance from Lingxi Palace to Jianning Palace was quite far. Even with timely notification, the round trip would take considerable time, yet Empress Dowager Jiang had arrived before the ministers who came from the palace banquet.

Previously, everyone’s attention had been focused on Prince Chen’s safety. Now, reminded by Wen Yu and reconsidering the reasons behind this, they couldn’t help but show varied expressions.

Empress Dowager Jiang was so angered by these words—outwardly obedient yet secretly sharp—that her limbs trembled faintly. She also understood all too clearly that Prince Chen’s matter must be connected to Wen Yu.

But Wen Yu’s words had extricated herself completely clean while instead dragging her into the water.

At this moment, deliberately asking about Prince Chen was clearly continuing to stab knives into her heart, but before the assembled ministers, Empress Dowager Jiang could not display even half a trace of anger.

Supported by the old nanny, she took several deep breaths before barely maintaining her composure. Her face showed a pallor that even powder couldn’t conceal as she gazed at Wen Yu for a long while, as if meeting this noble lady from Great Liang for the first time.

Seeing Empress Dowager Jiang remain silent, the old ministers thought she still hadn’t given up on creating difficulties for Wen Yu. Vexed in their hearts about how the Empress Dowager could be so shortsighted, they crowded and jostled to block Prince Chen tightly, not letting Wen Yu see, and steeled themselves to respond: “Your Highness the Consort need not worry. His Highness… His Highness should be fine, only choked by thick smoke and frightened. Someone has already been sent to summon the imperial physicians.”

Having said this, they cast another meaningful glance at Empress Dowager Jiang.

The old ministers of the royal faction had always been at odds with Empress Dowager Jiang, but after tonight’s absurd incident, if they wanted to conceal it from Wen Yu, the only one who could take charge of the situation was Empress Dowager Jiang.

Empress Dowager Jiang understood this point herself. Only with the old nanny’s support could she stand steady. Under her dark brocade wide sleeves, her well-maintained fingernails had already broken the skin of her palms. She finally managed to maintain her usual cold, hard expression: “His Majesty has been frightened. Send His Majesty back to Zhanghua Palace first.”

Soon the imperial palanquin was carried over. Prince Chen was escorted onto it by ministers and Feathered Forest Guards, his expression still vacant and pale. Anyone could see something was wrong, but no one present dared expose that tacitly understood truth.

Empress Dowager Jiang and the ministers all followed to Zhanghua Palace. Naturally, Wen Yu had to go as well.

When the imperial physician examined Prince Chen inside the hall, Wen Yu waited outside along with Empress Dowager Jiang and the ministers. The atmosphere was eerily quiet.

Only after the imperial physician who exclusively treated Prince Chen emerged saying His Majesty was fine did the ministers present unconsciously breathe sighs of relief.

However, their expressions could hardly be called relaxed. Some junior ministers with insufficient composure who couldn’t hide their thoughts even couldn’t help but secretly observe Wen Yu’s expression repeatedly.

Fortunately, Wen Yu remained completely unmoved, her face as calm and indifferent as ever, revealing not half a flaw.

The moon reached its zenith. The night wind sweeping past the long courtyard carried a bone-chilling coldness.

Empress Dowager Jiang gazed at the doors of Zhanghua Palace. The fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes appeared deep as knife-carved ravines under the swaying palace lanterns at the eaves.

She seemed extremely weary and no longer looked at anyone: “The night is deep. You are all tired as well. The Consort is unwell—return to rest first. The palace gates have been locked. Beloved ministers, you may all lodge in the palace tonight.”

Aside from Prime Minister Jiang’s faction’s close ministers and the old ministers of the royal faction, the other ministers couldn’t help but show varied expressions upon hearing this.

Everyone understood perfectly well that having them lodge here was false—using this to warn them to keep tonight’s events sealed tight was the truth.

After all… such a scandal had never occurred in the Chen Kingdom royal family in recent decades.

That the Emperor preferred men was one thing, but to be the receiving party!

Wen Yu performed a shallow curtsy toward Empress Dowager Jiang: “This daughter-in-law takes her leave.”

The scabby-headed man had been smuggled into the palace. The Feathered Forest Guard vice-commander who had served Prince Chen naturally lacked the courage to confess everything, so he insisted he knew nothing. For now, they treated that man as an assassin and imprisoned him in the heavenly prison, while he himself accepted the charge of negligent patrol.

Jiang Yu, unconscious and without armor, had been carried out from Jianning Palace. With iron-clad evidence of Prince Chen’s preference for men, this inevitably invited much speculation. People from Prime Minister Jiang’s faction reacted extremely quickly, insisting that Jiang Yu had gone to rescue the sovereign and inhaled too much smoke, which was why he collapsed inside.

However, the fire at Jianning Palace was quickly extinguished. The most severely burned areas were several unused wing rooms, still quite far from the side hall where Prince Chen was trapped. So many Feathered Forest Guards and military officers who rushed in to rescue people weren’t knocked unconscious by the smoke, yet the renowned ever-victorious General Jiang Yu fainted from the smoke instead—this explanation really didn’t hold water.

Moreover, Empress Dowager Jiang, who had originally been returning to Lingxi Palace, had also arrived at Jianning Palace ahead of the ministers. No matter how one looked at it, it seemed she had received some advance warning.

But the Jiang family’s power was formidable. Even if others found this matter very suspicious, they dared not openly question it.

However, with so many eyes present tonight, and the entire court of civil and military officials witnessing it personally, while Empress Dowager Jiang and Prime Minister Jiang could suppress the rumors temporarily, they couldn’t suppress them forever.

Not long after, rumors still spread privately that Prince Chen preferred men and, imitating Zhao Ji of the former Qin, had found an exceptionally gifted man from among commoners, and that this man, like Lao Ai, possessed the ability to “pass a paulownia wheel through his member.”

Moreover, the rumors grew increasingly fierce. Jiang Yu, with his outstanding appearance and known among the court’s noble ladies as “the gentleman of spring chamber dreams,” also became one of the parties involved. The most widely circulated story was that Prince Chen had long desired Jiang Yu, which was why he kept him close as a minister and appointed him to the position of Feathered Forest Guard Commander, but Jiang Yu wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings.

Prince Chen lost patience and wanted to force himself on him at the Mid-Autumn palace banquet, drugging and rendering him unconscious at Jianning Palace. The Empress Dowager received word and rushed over to rescue her nephew. Who knew that when Prince Chen was fooling around with his male favorite “Lao Ai,” they would accidentally knock over candles, burning the palace and drawing the ministers over, which was how the matter was exposed.

The Jiang family naturally vigorously suppressed such rumors, but the more they showed such sensitivity, the more vigorously the rumors spread within the court. Many noble ladies of the court, upon hearing of this, had their hearts secretly broken.

The matter of Prince Chen not holding consort selections after ascending the throne was thus excavated for its “truth”: What emphasis on the marriage alliance with Great Liang, not holding selections before Wen Yu married over—all false!

The real reason was that Prince Chen preferred men. Palace ladies entering through selection represented various political forces at court. Prince Chen feared that ladies with family backing would discover his secret! Yet he couldn’t casually execute palace ladies without regard for the court.

The favored Consort Li brought back from a brothel?

That was definitely a smokescreen to mislead the ministers!

When Tongque later relayed these rumors she’d gathered to Wen Yu and Zhao Bai, the master and servants were all left between tears and laughter—but let’s set that aside for now.

—

That night, Wen Yu held on until Empress Dowager Jiang dismissed everyone. Upon returning to Zhaohua Palace and just stepping into the inner hall, she spat out a mouthful of blood.

This frightened Tongque and all the handmaids terribly. As they helped Wen Yu lie down on the couch, Tongque still couldn’t stop reproaching herself: “It’s all this servant’s insufficient consideration. We shouldn’t have let you take such risks, Princess, causing you to suffer so…”

When Zhao Bai carried Wen Yu away from Jianning Palace’s side hall, Tongque and the others had also long since escaped confinement. To repay Empress Dowager Jiang and Prince Chen for the poisonous scheme they’d set for Wen Yu, she had people set fire to several unused wing rooms at Jianning Palace, then sent someone disguised as a young eunuch to report at the palace banquet that Prince Chen was trapped at Jianning Palace.

At the same time, she sent Azure Cloud Guards back to the palace banquet to relay that she had returned to Zhaohua Palace, establishing sufficient proof she wasn’t at Jianning Palace.

Finally appearing outside Jianning Palace was solely to ensure the Empress Dowager and Jiang family had no possibility of turning accusations back on her.

Wen Yu had appeared too composed before others, leading Tongque and the others to think her body was fine. Now seeing Wen Yu vomit blood, they finally panicked—those sent for imperial physicians went for physicians, those pouring tea poured tea.

Tongque’s words even carried a faint crying tone as she asked Zhao Bai: “The Princess vomited blood—was that method of sealing acupoints improper?”

Zhao Bai retrieved silver needles and inserted them into Wen Yu’s fingertips to let blood, frowning as she said: “That aphrodisiac incense was domineering. The situation was urgent at the time, and the Princess needed to return to confront the Empress Dowager. I could only first seal several major acupoints on the Princess’s body. The poison blocked and accumulated in the meridians—under such accumulation, it will inevitably harm the body.”

After bloodletting from all five fingers, Zhao Bai continued inserting needles up along Wen Yu’s arm, unsealing the blocked major acupoints.

Pink flushed Wen Yu’s face, and sweat soon soaked her temples, yet her words remained extremely calm: “I returned such a heavy gift to the Empress Dowager. She and the Jiang family will certainly not let this rest. While they haven’t yet recovered, send the survivor rescued from Wu Palace to the Censor-in-Chief.”

Her eyes grew sharp and incisive: “I want to sever another of the Jiang family’s arms in the outer court.”

The Internal Affairs Bureau’s hidden accounts were but a small matter. What could truly deal a fatal blow to the Jiang family was that the old ministers of the royal faction, following the Internal Affairs eunuchs’ accusations, would have sufficient grounds to investigate the Jiang family. What would then be implicated far exceeded the Internal Affairs Bureau’s procurement funds. The people’s taxes increased year after year, yet the national treasury remained depleted—this money had to have gone somewhere.

The Jiang family would either fill that enormous hole in the national treasury or push out several scapegoats close to the core.

Zhao Bai put away the silver needles, seeming to want to say something, but palace servants outside announced that Physician Fang had arrived, so she held her words for now.

After Physician Fang took Wen Yu’s pulse through the curtain and wrote a prescription, Wen Yu’s clothing was already soaked through with sweat.

Azure Cloud Guards took the medicine and hurried to the small kitchen to prepare it. Zhao Bai and Tongque helped Wen Yu into the bathing chamber, supporting her as she entered a bathtub filled with ice water fully clothed.

Wen Yu’s entire body felt as if on fire. Upon contact with the ice water, a needle-like stinging pain rose between skin and flesh, but she made no sound, only closing her eyes tightly. Her complexion changed from the original flushed pink to pale.

Zhao Bai and Tongque supported her from left and right, preventing her from sliding into the water if she couldn’t sit steady and drowning.

Seeing Wen Yu’s weak appearance, Tongque asked with heartache: “Princess, do you feel any better?”

Wen Yu’s entire body stung with pain, but precisely because it hurt so much, she urgently wanted to think about something to divert her attention. Her lips pale, she said: “Talk to me.”

Zhao Bai understood Wen Yu’s meaning. Thinking of the question she hadn’t asked earlier because Physician Fang arrived, she voiced it: “You have completely antagonized Empress Dowager Jiang and the Jiang family. Prince Chen is also vindictive. Those old ministers loyal to Prince Chen may temporarily stand on the same boat with you in thoroughly investigating the Internal Affairs Bureau accounts because they want to topple the Jiang family, but what happens afterward is hard to say.”

She paused, looking at Wen Yu, pale as a snow person, and said somewhat reluctantly: “Princess, this servant worries you will be attacked from both sides in the future.”

After all, no matter how incompatible the royal and Jiang factions were, they were all Chen Kingdom ministers and would prioritize Chen Kingdom’s interests.

This was also why Zhao Bai had told Wen Yu at Jianning Palace that with just one command, she would summon forces and risk her life to take Wen Yu back to Great Liang.

Tongque had long been flustered by tonight’s many changes and hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. Hearing Zhao Bai’s words, she also grew worried and looked toward Wen Yu.

Wen Yu’s closed eyes didn’t open. Her raven hair, wetted by water, clung tightly to her cheeks. Her teeth chattered slightly from the extreme cold, yet her words remained clear: “Chen Kingdom’s Jiang faction is no different from Great Liang’s former Ao faction. This disaster must be eliminated.”

“Without the Jiang faction bringing calamity to the kingdom, and with Prince Chen having lost his ministers’ hearts, this Palace can replace him.”

These words shocked Zhao Bai and Tongque into simultaneously changing expressions. What Wen Yu was plotting was actually to change Chen Kingdom’s ruler?

Zhao Bai said hesitantly: “Even if the Princess possesses superior strategy and the qualifications of a ruler, Chen Kingdom’s old ministers may not necessarily abandon Prince Chen…”

This time Wen Yu didn’t answer immediately. Her raven hair, freed from ornaments, floated in the water like clouds of gauze. When she lifted her eyes, her gaze seemed to focus intently on one spot, yet also seemed absent: “When necessary, this Palace will have a child.”

After a brief moment of shock, Zhao Bai understood Wen Yu’s intention.

Just as Prince Chen had schemed tonight, Wen Yu also wanted to use a child to completely bring Chen Kingdom into her grasp.

After eliminating the Jiang faction and controlling Prince Chen, no one would know that Wen Yu’s child wouldn’t be the true royal heir.

The old ministers who had long been thoroughly disappointed in Prince Chen would certainly be more willing to assist in raising a new ruler who could be properly cultivated.

When the Azure Cloud Guards finished preparing the medicine and brought it, after Wen Yu drank it, she changed into dry clothes and wearily lay down in the bedding.

Layer upon layer of gauze curtains were lowered, leaving only a single palace lantern in the corner of the inner hall for nighttime needs.

Zhao Bai and Tongque held their swords, standing guard outside the hall. In the night, only occasional distant crow cries could be heard.

Having soaked too long in ice water, Wen Yu’s joints throughout her body still seemed to tremble. Her head also felt somewhat dizzy. She reached under the embroidered pillow and tightly gripped that carp wood carving.

In her daze, she seemed to dream. In ice and snow, someone carried her galloping on horseback. The cold wind cut like knives, yet the fabric she clutched desperately in her hand remained forever solid, reliable.

She prostrated and knelt by the Weishui River bank where frost-withered grass lay white, weeping bitterly toward distant Fengyang, swearing revenge word by bloody word. That person also stood like a mountain at her back…

The blade he’d blocked for her, the blood he’d shed for her, the roads he’d carried her down, the eyes that had always gazed at her features… all became clear scene by scene in her mind.

Wen Yu’s heart felt stifled with pain. She raised her hand wanting to touch that shadow in the dream, but warmth met her palm and lips.

In the dream, she looked up in surprise and saw that person leaning weakly against the stone wall. She herself was cupping his face—pale but still handsome in the firelight reflecting through the cave.

Prying open teeth to send medicine through, touching something warm, soft, yet slightly rough. Before she could withdraw, it was pursued as if savoring the taste, entangling her, sweeping domineeringly yet clumsily, drawing the bitter-sweet medicine from her.

She knew this was memory entering dreams. Like an observer, she watched that scene of administering medicine in the cave. After gaining control of her body, she still cupped that face she might never see again in this life. Her gaze dark, she asked softly: “If one day I return to Liang territory, will you still be there?”

—

Tongzhou.

At midnight when crows cried, Xiao Li sat up from the desk where he’d been resting his head on his arms, his eyes somewhat red from long lack of rest.

He irritably scrubbed his face.

Why did he dream that dream again?

Just as his mind was in turmoil, the voice of a personal guard came from outside the tent: “Lord Governor! Scouts discovered Northern Wei night troops at Wuli Bay!”