When news of Master Yuanhui’s second arrest reached Grand Consort Fan, she was attending to the Crown Prince as he took his medicine. Upon hearing this, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes at the Crown Prince, saying somewhat hesitantly: “Your Highness… Didn’t you say you wanted to keep this monk for Qi’er to use…”
The Crown Prince sat beneath the south window gazing at the Daiyue ancient qin before him. A smile appeared on his pale, haggard face, but his eyes remained gloomy without the slightest trace of genuine mirth: “Even if I think highly of him, I still need to be able to prop him up. He got out of the Shuntian Prefecture yamen only to fall into the Imperial Guard prison. Do you expect me to go to Father Emperor and fish him out?”
Emperor Jianzhang was probably disgusted right now by that phrase about “asking ghosts and spirits instead of the common people,” and in his heart remained extremely displeased about Master Yuanhui’s involvement with the Song family. He likely wished he could immediately settle Master Yuanhui’s fate to silence all the talk throughout the realm. If he went now to pull Master Yuanhui up by a hand, wouldn’t that further confirm the impression that he wanted to fight for power and profit?
Grand Consort Fan felt somewhat regretful in her heart. Master Yuanhui held a large portion of Prince Duan’s forces in his hands, and precisely because of this, the Crown Prince couldn’t openly take him for his own use. He had simply wanted to give him hope and attach him to Zhou Weiqi’s side, which would also count as support for the Eastern Palace. Unfortunately, Master Yuanhui was so disappointing. She couldn’t help but sigh: “It’s also Master Yuanhui’s fault for saying the wrong things. Of all people he could mention, he had to go mention that young lady from the Song family.”
That Song Sixth Miss was truly somewhat uncanny. Previously at the hunting grounds, Master Yuanhui had called her a lone star of calamity, yet she herself was fine—instead, it was Prince Duan who lost his life. Recently Master Yuanhui had read her fate again, and she remained unscathed while Master Yuanhui himself got trapped instead.
The Crown Prince plucked a qin string and sharply raised it, producing a light sound. Then he extended his hand to press on the qin to stop the trembling tone, his face maintaining a half-smile throughout, the trace of sinister malice in his eyes well hidden.
Come to think of it, this matter really couldn’t be blamed on the Song family. Master Yuanhui was too impetuous. Even if he wanted to eliminate the Song and Cui families, he could have waited a bit longer—at least until he had gained a firm foothold, the Eastern Palace had completely risen to power, and Zhou Weiqi was already competing with the Imperial Grandson for that position before making his move.
However, the Song family was indeed a ruthless character. Usually appearing silent and unassuming, when previously schemed against by Empress Dowager Rongxian or Prince Duan, they mostly swallowed their grievances and at most bit back secretly. Yet this time they had made such a huge commotion.
“Didn’t you say that Mother Empress wants to see that young lady?” The Crown Prince raised his eyes to glance at Grand Consort Fan. “If you have nothing else to do, why not go along and take a look as well.”
This time both Consort Xian and Master Yuanhui could be considered to have died at the Song family’s hands. How could Empress Niang-niang not be interested in the Song family? This Song family—even when they bit, they bit so imperceptibly, yet could accurately gauge where Emperor Jianzhang’s bottom line was.
With such perceptiveness and influence, and with this young lady in the family being so shrewd, she had already formed some ideas in her heart and naturally wanted to make good use of this opportunity.
Grand Consort Fan was somewhat hesitant, carefully glancing at the expressionless Crown Prince: “Mother Empress probably doesn’t want to see me…”
In the end, the matter had been pushed onto Little Consort Fan’s resentment that the Eastern Palace wouldn’t plead for Han Zhi’s case. Empress Niang-niang deeply resented that the Fan family not only couldn’t help but also caused trouble, angering the Crown Prince terribly. These past few days, she hadn’t given her a pleasant expression.
Moreover, when Empress Niang-niang wanted to see Song Chuyi, it probably wasn’t for Zhou Weiqi’s sake—in her heart, Zhou Weizhao, who carried the Lu family bloodline, was still closer. Besides, Zhou Weiqi still had the advantage of being the legitimate eldest grandson.
The Crown Prince remembered that when Old Master Song had made up his mind to personally investigate the Yangzhou corruption case, the reason he risked offending Prince Duan was because he wanted to break away from the Eastern Palace and be a pure minister before Emperor Jianzhang.
Song Chengru felt that as soon as his health improved slightly, he was already extending his hand into Prince Duan and Prince Gong’s territories—this was too hasty and too cold-hearted. Therefore, he became wary and wanted to withdraw in time.
Such an old fox with such keen perception was not at all easy to deal with. If the Empress wanted to make the Song family support Zhou Weizhao, then that support would belong only to Zhou Weizhao and couldn’t exert any effort for their Eastern Palace at all. That would be such a waste.
But in Zhou Weiqi and Grand Consort Fan’s hands, it would be different—everything Grand Consort Fan had belonged to him.
He lifted his eyelids to look at Grand Consort Fan: “If you’re willing to send the Song and Cui families over there, it’s up to you.”
Grand Consort Fan slowly sat up straight, her spine held perfectly erect. How could she be willing to give the two big pieces of fat meat that were the Song and Cui families to Zhou Weizhao? Previously, she had also been troubled that Princess Duanhui only knew to be close to Zhou Weizhao and the Crown Princess…
Soon news was sent in—Master Yuanhui had died in the Imperial Guard prison.
This was already expected. Even if Master Yuanhui had an iron frame and steel bones, once he entered the Imperial Guard prison, he probably couldn’t come out intact. Moreover, the one currently in charge of the Imperial Guard was Emperor Jianzhang’s trusted confidant, Lai Chenglong. This person would only obey Emperor Jianzhang’s commands. Since Master Yuanhui was dead, it meant Emperor Jianzhang also hoped for his death.
Zhou Weiqi had been waiting in the hall for half the day before finally seeing Grand Consort Fan, and couldn’t help feeling somewhat anxious: “Mother, I asked you to beg Father, why did you…”
After spending only this short time with Master Yuanhui, Prince Dongping had already detected countless benefits from Master Yuanhui—this monk possessed real ability. He not only knew how to read physiognomy and predict fate, but was also something of a prodigy in martial arts. When facing political matters, he often hit the nail on the head, and he was even quite skilled at military formations and deployments. Moreover, he held in his hands a large network of connections and forces that Prince Duan had left behind.
If he had such a person to assist him, why would he worry about failing to accomplish great things?
Fan Liangdi patted his hand, signaling him to be patient. After drinking a sip of tea, she unhurriedly looked at her son: “You also know that he has now incurred public outrage. Even if your Imperial Grandfather wanted to pardon him, he would probably be cursed by the censors’ memorials for several days—let alone your father?”
Zhou Weiqi was somewhat deflated by these words, hanging his head in discouragement: “What a pity. He was truly a formidable character.”
Grand Consort Fan just smiled: “He’s merely one Master Yuanhui. Besides, doesn’t Huangjue Temple still stand there? Furthermore, think about it—who did Master Yuanhui lose to in this confrontation? Rather than being discouraged about this, you should think about how to firmly grasp hold of the Song family.”
Zhou Weiqi looked toward his mother somewhat bewildered. After thinking for a long while, he frowned at Grand Consort Fan: “But Mother, didn’t you say that Miss Chen or the legitimate eldest daughter from the Cui clan would both be more suitable?”
He had never valued feminine beauty—first, with his status and position, he could easily obtain any celestial beauty he desired; second, having been influenced by Grand Consort Fan since childhood, he felt that taking a wife was simply to consolidate power and have a virtuous helpmate. Since the Song family girl wasn’t good, he could simply switch to someone from the Chen or Cui families. To him, there was no difference whatsoever.