Once Song Chuyi bared her fangs and claws, she never returned empty-handed. Zhou Weizhao looked at her silently for a long while. This young lady had suffered no less than he had, yet she had always left people room to maneuver. Though the Shen family had treated her so terribly—her greatest nightmare—she could let it go when she said she would, ultimately giving them a way to survive. But now, the Fan clan had forced her into a corner with no retreat.
Fan Liangdi’s original intention might not have been for her to die, but she had condoned taking Song Chuyi along to die at Emperor’s Enlightenment Temple—this was an undeniable fact. All of Song Chuyi’s old and new grudges against the Fan family had surged up at once. She was going to strike back, just as she had with the Chen family.
“Has there been news from the capital?” After a long silence, Zhou Weizhao asked her again: “Counting the days, the spring examinations affair should have erupted by now. The trap you and your eldest brother laid beforehand—it should be time to close the net, shouldn’t it?”
Elder Chen’s ambitions were too great. He was single-mindedly determined to bind the Chen family tightly to the Eastern Palace, and for this he dared do anything—offending Chief Minister Chang, plotting against the Song and Cui families, and during the Yangzhou corruption case even wanting to help the Crown Prince make the matter bigger, and bigger still. People like this who only knew how to cater to their master’s will to preserve their own glory and wealth—there was really no use keeping them around.
“Almost.” Song Chuyi told him honestly: “It’s just that I’ve been too busy recently. I only roughly heard some news from Ma Wangkun and the others. When I return this time, I need to properly question the people who came from the capital with messages to find out exactly what stage things have reached.”
Only by knowing what stage things had reached could they continue forward. The Chen family wasn’t the type to sit passively waiting for death. Elder Chen probably wouldn’t fall so quickly. This fire had to be stoked even more vigorously.
After talking for a while, due to the effects of the medicine, Zhou Weizhao began to lose his strength. Fatigue showed between his brows and eyes. Song Chuyi took her leave and exited. Just as she turned through the covered corridor, she saw Linglong from Old Madam Cui’s side.
Seeing her, Linglong breathed a sigh of relief and came forward with a smile: “Miss, you’ve finally come out. Old Madam is waiting for you to dine.”
These past few days since she’d returned, when Old Madam Cui saw the injuries on her body, she was so frightened she nearly fainted. After all, she was elderly—at her advanced age she couldn’t withstand such shocks. These days Yu Shi had been constantly attending at her side. Song Chuyi had been recuperating in her room with her injuries and, aside from just now going to collect the Qi-Nourishing Pills, hadn’t had many opportunities to speak with her at length.
Old Madam Cui’s lower back wasn’t good. A soft pillow was tucked at her waist, and her whole person looked somewhat sickly. But seeing Song Chuyi, she immediately straightened her body and beckoned to her.
As soon as Song Chuyi reached her, she was pulled down to sit beside her, Old Madam Cui’s expression somewhat anxious: “I dreamed of your mother last night. She blamed me for not watching over you well.”
Old people as they aged became increasingly superstitious about ghosts and spirits. Old Madam Cui had already felt that her daughter’s soul had always returned together with her granddaughter. Last night, perhaps it was a case of thinking by day and dreaming by night—her whole body was trembling: “Grandmother has truly been derelict in her duties. You came to Jinzhong, yet you nearly lost your life.”
Song Chuyi was just someone with a disaster-prone constitution. Yu Shi sighed from the side and hurried over to console her: “Sister-in-law, don’t be so distressed. How could Tingting bear to blame you? And as for Xiaoyi, doesn’t she have great fortune and fate? Didn’t she survive?”
She had great fortune and fate—the Grand Prince had been willing to risk his life to save her. Otherwise who knew what state she’d be in now? Just hearing people describe the scene at that time made Old Madam Cui’s legs go weak. She touched Song Chuyi’s hair and didn’t speak for a long while.
Thinking of this matter, Old Madam Cui felt somewhat heavy-hearted. Her eldest granddaughter had knelt before her begging for half a day just to go see the Grand Prince—she had never begged her like that before. But now anyone with eyes could see that His Highness the Grand Prince hadn’t placed even a bit of his heart on her. She didn’t know where her daughter-in-law got the confidence to still want to bring these two people together.
Looking at it now, it seemed His Highness the Grand Prince had truly placed his heart on Song Chuyi. She had already felt something suspicious when His Highness had sent people to Song Chuyi before.
Old Madam Cui’s thoughts were different from Madam Cui’s. She wasn’t very keen on sending her granddaughter into the Eastern Palace. The Cui family had always been one where if they had a daughter, a hundred families would seek her hand. In her view, marrying into a well-matched family—whether as a clan matriarch or a noble lady—was all good. There was no need to specifically crowd toward the imperial family.
It was just that Cui Hualuan was after all Madam Cui’s birth daughter, and this daughter-in-law was a Princess. Since she wanted to add kinship to kinship, she herself had nothing to say. But now that His Highness clearly had no such intentions, a melon twisted off by force wouldn’t be sweet.
Myriad thoughts passed through her mind several times, ultimately transforming into a sigh. She touched Song Chuyi’s hair and asked her: “The Qi-Nourishing Pills were delivered? What did the officiants say?”
Yu Shi also looked over with some worry. After all, His Highness the Grand Prince had been injured saving Song Chuyi. Though the news had been suppressed, now that the palace had sent down an inner eunuch, if people eventually learned the reason for the Grand Prince’s injury, even if Song Chuyi didn’t want to enter the palace, she probably couldn’t escape it. Originally, Her Majesty the Empress had been especially fond of Song Chuyi. With this layer of connection added, she would likely be even more unbridled. If this news reached the capital, it probably wouldn’t remain calm either.
“They said these Qi-Nourishing Pills are perfectly suited for His Highness’s use. After a few more days when His Highness has recovered somewhat, they’ll perform acupuncture with golden needles on His Highness.” Song Chuyi adjusted the blanket for Old Madam Cui: “Officiant Hu and Officiant Li both have excellent medical skills. Since both of them have said so, His Highness surely has nothing seriously wrong.”
Old Madam Cui glanced at Yu Shi and slowly nodded. Though the Qi-Nourishing Pills could be used and the two officiants could perform acupuncture with golden needles to detoxify His Highness the Grand Prince, to be absolutely safe they still needed to find Master Taibai to put their minds at ease. After all, His Highness the Grand Prince had been injured for Song Chuyi’s sake. The Cui family had previously produced a traitor who colluded with the rebels. No matter what, they had to do their utmost to help with Zhou Weizhao’s matter.
Yu Shi understood Old Madam Cui’s meaning and said softly: “Second Brother and the others have already gone to Yangquan personally to search. The people Sister-in-law sent to Taixu Temple have also been keeping watch constantly. As soon as there’s news they’ll return to report. Sister-in-law, don’t be anxious.”
But the anxiety in Old Madam Cui’s heart couldn’t be suppressed. Even if this matter was resolved, afterward they probably wouldn’t be able to set their minds at ease so easily. Not to mention Song Chuyi’s current relationship with His Highness the Grand Prince that had become too close—just her granddaughter who had always been so proud and haughty, ever since returning from Yangquan she’d been like an eggplant hit by frost. If this continued, sooner or later discord would arise between these two cousins.