When leaving the palace, First Madam Song felt somewhat uneasy—Xie Siyi, who had escorted Song Chuyi to Fengzao Palace, seemed different from usual. Her face had lost its former composure, her expression quite complex. First Madam Song couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Song Chuyi had done something while at Qingning Hall, or perhaps there had been an unpleasantness with Her Majesty the Empress over the matter of the Lu family young lady?
But she didn’t ask. Though her heart was troubled, she knew Song Chuyi well enough. This young lady was not at all as harmless as she appeared on the surface. What should be done and what shouldn’t—she was perfectly clear about it all.
Upon arriving at the Earl’s residence, First Madam Song first led Song Chuyi to Old Madam Song’s chambers to pay respects, then returned to her own rooms to change clothes. Just as she stepped out, she heard Old Madam Song ask from inside: “Did you tell the Empress everything?”
Her footsteps paused, but ultimately she didn’t linger, quickly descending the steps—she couldn’t make the same presumptuous mistakes as before. The Old Madam was sharp-eared and clear-eyed, not at all muddled. If Song Chuyi consulted with her about something, it at least meant it wasn’t harmful to the Song family.
Song Chuyi knelt at Old Madam Song’s knee and nodded. “I told her. Her Majesty the Empress should make a decision now.” She had said long ago that the justice the Crown Prince refused to give, she would seek herself. Fan Liangdi had repeatedly schemed against Zhou Weizhao and even tried to take her life—she didn’t consider herself good-natured enough to act as if nothing had happened.
Old Madam Song nodded. “The Crown Prince has been acting increasingly outrageous these years, and this incident is even more incomprehensible.” Such a vicious matter—a concubine trying to kill her master’s legitimate son, and having already acted on it, nearly succeeding in killing his only legitimate son—yet he could act as if nothing had happened. Old Madam Song had wracked her brain but couldn’t fathom what the Crown Prince was thinking—the reason the Eastern Palace’s position remained relatively stable was precisely because he had both legitimate and illegitimate sons. Once he lost his legitimate son, Prince Gong would probably be the first to make trouble. Perhaps he’d been ill for too long and his mind was no longer clear. Old Madam Song curled her lips in a cold laugh and asked Song Chuyi: “Has the person been brought back to the capital?”
Song Chuyi pulled up the blanket that was slipping down Old Madam’s lap. “She should arrive in the capital in about seven or eight days, but a letter has already been sent ahead. She wrote it herself. She’s been copying scriptures for Her Majesty for years, so Her Majesty should recognize her handwriting. I’ve already given it to Her Majesty. I believe Her Majesty will come to understand.”
Her Majesty the Empress would eventually realize that if the Crown Prince continued like this, he was utterly unreliable. Rather than let the Crown Prince be seduced by Fan Liangdi into doing incomprehensible things, it would be better to eliminate Fan Liangdi, root and branch.
While the Song family had reached some subtle understanding with the Empress, Zhou Weiqi was somewhat flustered. This embarrassment stemmed from his people being unable to handle even two women—those he’d sent out had sunk without a trace, not a word of news.
At first, he thought it was simply difficult to send messages while traveling, so he waited a few days. But then the Ministry of Justice received case files from the Lu region about water bandits. These matters now fell under his jurisdiction, and initially he hadn’t paid much attention. Not until later, when those he’d sent returned to report that the first group had met their end in the Lu region, did he realize something was wrong.
Though these men couldn’t compare to well-trained death warriors, they were still a group of martial practitioners. Yet eight of them couldn’t handle a total of six or seven elderly, weak women and children combined, letting them escape without a trace!
Wei Yanxi couldn’t even raise his head in front of him, lowering it as far as it would go, his voice barely audible: “This subordinate has already ordered them to continue pursuing along that waterway. Even with wings, there’s no way they could have flown away so quickly. Besides, they need travel permits to journey anywhere. I’ll have people make some inquiries, and we’ll know where they’ve gone.”
Zhou Weiqi’s temples throbbed with anger as he glared at him viciously, but ultimately reined in his temper: “That better be the case! No matter what, you must find them for me!”
Chen Mingyu still had half the seal—that represented over two hundred thousand taels of silver! Only by obtaining that seal could the money be used!
Fan Liangdi also found it somewhat incredible. She raised her eyebrows at her son, her tone rising: “They escaped?! They’re just a few women, at most with a few common servants. Just like that, you let them escape?!”
Zhou Weiqi sat down irritably on the goose-neck chair beside her, picked up his tea for a sip, his tone also less than pleasant: “Yes! They escaped. How strange—Wei Yanxi’s men were all lost too. Could the Chen family have left behind some backup plan?”
This wasn’t necessarily impossible. Old Madam Chen was able to produce over two hundred thousand taels of silver at the end. It wasn’t impossible that she’d arranged people in advance to secretly protect her granddaughter. She exhaled heavily, sinking her back into the soft pillow behind her, her brow creasing with agitation: “No matter what, send people to pursue and investigate! We cannot let her escape!”
Why had everything been going so poorly lately? The assassination of Zhou Weizhao had not only failed but also implicated Huangjue Temple. Now even dealing with a lone orphaned girl had met with unexpected complications. Fan Liangdi felt stifled in her chest and couldn’t help but agitatedly wave her round fan.
Zhou Weiqi was even more irritated than she was. Hearing her words, he nodded expressionlessly.
Seeing her son somewhat listless, Fan Liangdi rallied her spirits to discuss today’s palace affairs with him: “Your Imperial Grandmother has kept the Lu family young lady in the palace as a guest.”
When she said this, her tone was considerably better than before, prompting Zhou Weiqi to curl his lips slightly: “It seems Imperial Grandmother still values her maternal relatives.”
The more she valued them, the better. Best if she bestowed Lu Chonghua upon Zhou Weizhao, making the Crown Prince disgust the Lu family even more.
“I wonder what she’s thinking. Does she take the Song family for fools?” Fan Liangdi lowered her head to look at her brightly red, lustrous nails. “The Song family is not easy to deal with, and that Song family girl doesn’t seem easy to handle either.”
Having said this much, Fan Liangdi was about to order someone to serve the meal when a young eunuch suddenly arrived from outside, saying that Qingning Hall had summoned her. She looked at her son in surprise. After Nanny Fang dismissed the young eunuch, she thought for a moment before her brow smoothed out again: “It must be about your marriage prospects.”
Otherwise, given the Empress’s aversion to her, she would never want to see her. Since it concerned her son’s affairs, Fan Liangdi turned and ordered them to find a set of fashionable silver-red palace attire. After washing and grooming, she headed to Qingning Hall.