Oct. 20th, 2023 at 4:00 PM
The characters and evidence were there, Concubine Yu had had a genuine miscarriage, and Concubine Yun could not defend herself. She could only kneel on the ground and look pleadingly up and the Imperial Noble Consort and her son King Qing who had rushed over, hoping they could testify to her innocence and help her out.
King Qing immediately pleaded for leniency for his birth mother, and the Imperial Noble Consort also spoke up to help, but the Emperor looked on indifferently.
Concubine Yu wept broken-heartedly, and the Emperor was feeling distressed. He waved his hand and demoted Concubine Yun to First Class attendant on the spot, then forbid her from going out.
After falling two positions in one go and practically becoming the same as she was twenty years ago, First Class Attendant Yun couldn’t take it, she passed out on the spot and had to be carried back.
King Qing also left the conflict area, but glanced off to the side at the witness, Yan Qin, before he left.
King Qing knew why Yan Qin had gone into the palace and inwardly found it strange. Even a fool should know how to take advantage of benefits while avoiding harm, but Yan Qin actually went to stand on that demon’s side, and hearing how he was still as happy as before even when the Crown Prince humiliated him to the extreme, he thought that he might be more than just a fool and that his brain had been completely fried by the fever.
After going back to the Imperial Noble Consort’s palace, the two of them had a discussion.
Subconsciously, they though that someone had to be playing tricks, but after thinking about it carefully, they also felt like it wouldn’t be probable.
Concubine Yu was being doted on, so there was no need to use a child to squeeze out an unfavoured concubine. If there was some sort of scheme, it would have been much more effective to directly use the Imperial Noble Consort, there was no need to use it on Concubine Yun.
Besides, children were not a big bargaining chip. Right now the oldest prince, King Qing, was in his twenties, and the Crown Prince was eighteen years old, those who should have come to maturity had already done so, and there was no need for anyone to target the child in her belly, so why could Concubine Yun go to all that trouble?
King Qing and the Imperial Noble Consort again thought of Yan Qin and felt like this matter might be related to the Crown Prince, after all, everyone knew that the Fifth Prince and the Crown Prince were very close.
But the Fifth Prince had only gone into the palace to play, just as he always had, and happened to see the scene. He couldn’t have known that Concubine Yu would have a miscarriage there unless there was some connection between Concubine Yu and the Crown Prince.
The Imperial Noble Consort had discovered how her trap had failed long ago, the Crown Prince had clearly been affected by the fragrance, and the person sent to follow him secretly had also seen him walking into the courtyard, but he actually walked out as soon as he saw Concubine Yu on the bed, then that dead eunuch had gone in seemingly as though he were possessed and ruined her meddling.
The Imperial Noble Consort didn’t know that the spy she left there had already long since become Lin Sui’s man, so she was absolutely convinced of these events. In addition, she couldn’t find any connection that Lin Sui and Concubine Yu would usually have, so she didn’t think too deeply about it.
The Imperial Noble Consort and King Qing inwardly analysed it until finally believing that it was truly an accident caused by Concubine Yun.
It should have been Concubine Yu who let her favoured status get to her head and was being particularly stupid and careless, she didn’t know she was pregnant, so she fell and had a miscarriage.
When First Class Attendant Yun came back to, she heard the slightly reproachful voices of the Imperial Noble Consort and King Qing in the midst of her sorrow and almost fainted again.
She wept in the room, stupefied. Since her position had fallen, she had to move to a side hall, and the amount of servants she had was also decreased. The elderly woman who had been by her side for a long time sighed and lightly patted her shoulders, her expression conflicted.
“Madam, this old servant has something to say, but perhaps shouldn’t.”
“Aunt Cheng, there’s no need to have such formality between us, you’ve been by my side ever since I entered the palace, naturally I trust you the most, so just say it.”
“This old servant suspects that this matter might have been the Imperial Noble Consort’s handiwork.”
Aunt Cheng had also followed the clues and realised something, and the more she thought about it, the more probable it seemed, so she felt compelled to remind her Mistress to plan ahead.
First Attendant Yun was startled, she lowered her voice a little and hastily asked: “Why would she target me?”
“You are the Prince’s biological mother, do you still remember that time You fell into the lotus pond? Perhaps that was also a way to try to get rid of You while keeping Your son. The Prince is also filial and especially close to You, so how could such a shrewd woman not feel resentful and apprehensive? If she intended to extend a hand out to You, why did You stay a Noble Lady for so many years? The situation at court nowadays is becoming more and more tense, and this servant fears she will not be able to protect You. She wants to be in control of the harem, and even become the Imperial Palace’s Empress Dowager, so how could she allow there to be an irksome Queen Mother by her side? Think about what happened to the previous Empress Dowager Hu…”
Aunt Cheng’s unfinished words were all present in her expression.
They had been afraid of attaching themselves to the Imperial Noble Consort for many years, so much so that they didn’t even dare to say her title, and they only dared to refer to her in private conversations.
“Mistress, we must look after ourselves. That person’s mind is vicious, if the day comes that His Majesty King Qing ascends the throne, she will surely not let You go. Concubine Yu is being held in high regard right now, she surely will hold this matter against you, our situation is no longer optimistic.”
First Class Attendant Yun was flustered by her loyal servant’s words, so she grabbed Aunt Cheng’s hands and asked in a stunned flurry: “What should we do? I don’t want to die, I haven’t seen my Bai’er ascend the throne yet, I still want to hold his children…”
Aunt Cheng muttered: “We can only rely on His Highness King Qing. His Highness is the most filial, he has always been secretly looking at You since he was a kid, and has been using the handkerchief You embroidered for him for a long time. In his heart, You may not be any less important than that woman. He is Your flesh and blood, the child You painstakingly carried in Your womb for ten months even as Your life hung by a thread, he definitely won’t be able to watch You lose Your life!”
First Class Attendant Yun’s eyes glistened with tears, and she nodded.
These turbulent winds did not stir any waves at the Eastern Palace, which was like a tranquil sea, quiet and peaceful.
Liu Zhonghai handed Lin Sui the news he’d just gotten a hold of, and waited for his instructions.
After Fu Xi was dragged out of the Eastern Palace, Lin Sui had promoted Liu Zhonghai, the cleaning eunuch who had been secretly handling matters for him all this time, to Senior Eunuch.
Lin Sui looked at the master and servant pair, and the corners of his mouth lifted in satisfaction.
He knew First Attendant Yun really trusted that old servant by her side, but he did not go and bribe First Attendant Yun’s servant. After all, loyalty in this era was far greater than that of later generations, and those loyal servants who had always been by one’s side weren’t that easily swayed by outsiders. Lin Sui didn’t want to alert them, so he used the method of influencing Aunt Cheng and encouraging her to investigate and think the way he wanted her to, and thereby influence First Attendant Yun.
Lin Sui had not made up the matter of First Attendant Yun falling into the pond at that time, the Imperial Noble Consort must have genuinely considered killing the chicken to get the eggs back then, but hadn’t been successful. In addition, the Empress was still alive at the time, so it was hard for her to make a big move without it being used against her. So, seeing that First Attendant Yun was guileless, she gave up.
Guileless was just an embellished way of putting it, First Attendant Yun was not suited to the palace struggle in this place, she was lucky. When she was young, she became pregnant after being favoured just twice, and she was able to keep the pregnancy even after drinking the contraceptive soup, this was no ordinary luck.
However, she wasn’t shrewd at all. She was used to swallowing her anger and suffering in silence, and even though she had always been resentful about being supressed she had no ambition and was just getting by, secretly seeing King Qing from time to time and giving him handkerchiefs and shoes she’d sown for him.
If she had been born in an ordinary common family, she probably would have been a meek mother, but the Imperial Palace wasn’t a good place at all. She clearly recognised her child’s ambition to seize the throne and didn’t take the Crown Prince seriously, she was more convinced than the Imperial Noble Consort that her son would ascend the throne and become Emperor, and later even wanted to help King Qing poison Yan Qin. She was willing to do anything for her son, she really was a naïvely stupid character.
“Have the spy go whisper a few things ino the ears of this One’s good older brother.”
Lin Sui laughed lightly as he ordered Liu Zhonghai.
He had placed several pieces in position over these past two years, and the concubine which had been staying at King Qing’s residence for over a year now was one such spy.
Liu Zhonghai accepted the order, and Lin Sui watched his back as he left, feeling himself in a rather good mood.
He appreciated Liu Zhonghai very much, he was intelligent and insightful, had a beautiful way of handling things, and a very clear mind. Most importantly, he didn’t have any hindrances, all he wanted was just to live well and have higher standing, Lin Sui liked this kind of subordinate.
Lin Sui then called Lu Sudong, and had him make arrangements to get in contact with Zhong Zhuo.
Lu Sudong had a careful and steady character, and was an outstanding strategist. He was a little shocked the first time he heard Lin Sui issue this order, after all, the entire court knew about Zhong Zhuo’s crafty reputation, but he quickly stopped finding it strange and completed his task very successfully.
These people had not been picked at random by Lin Sui, they were all satisfactory characters which had been carefully chosen through trials and selections.
The muddy waters inside the palace were disturbed by Lin Sui, and the Imperial Court was not spared either.
Last year, Zhong Zhuo had convinced the Emperor to build a hot spring villa in a place to escape winter in, and the bathhouse had already been dug up and was ready for use this year while Zhong Zhuo had fished up plenty of ill-gotten gains from the project.
He had concealed all this in his reports to Lin Sui, but Lin Sui had let him go.
In any case, after he ascended the throne, Zhong Zhuo would have to spit out just as much as he had eaten.
This is a fan translation posted to title-in-progress.dreamwidth.org. Support the author if you can.
In mid-September, half a month after Yan Qin’s seventeenth birthday, Zhong Zhuo advocated for the Emperor to go to the Yunshui mountain villa to escape the cold of winter and use the pure air on the mountain to cleanse away the impurities of this mortal life. He spoke a bunch of good words, but the point of it was to let the Emperor go out and enjoy himself.
The Emperor gladly agreed, and began appointing the people who would accompany him.
He would take both the Crown Prince and King Qing along in order to avoid a fight between them during his absence from the capital, as for the concubines, he would bring Consort Yue, Consort Shu, Concubine Yu, and Concubine Xian.
The Emperor had given this some serious consideration as well, so he deliberately left the Imperial Noble Consort and Consort De behind so they would keep each other in check back at the harem.
As four his councillors, his trusted Zhong Zhuo would naturally accompany them, then there were a few other high-ranking officials he favoured. Xue Dingchun was assiduous in his work and wasn’t fond of these sorts of things, so the Emperor didn’t demand his presence.
The Yunshui mountain villa was certainly a good place, with no bitter rains in Autumn nor blazing suns in Winter[1].
Lin Sui wanted to do some good deeds here, so he also brought Yan Qin along with him.
After all, Yan Qin’s seventeenth birthday wish had been to go out and have fun with him, Lin Sui had said it was annoying, but inwardly he was interested.
The little pup was at a young and vigorous age. Sometimes Lin Sui would get angry after looking at him a few times, though he believed he was hiding it well, since Lin Sui knew him very well and it only took Yan Qin’s eyes drifting over to places they shouldn’t look at for Lin Sui to know what kinds of rotten things he was thinking about.
The pup was also restrained, he could obviously be spirited and filled with vigour at any time, but after Lin Sui fell asleep, he would only dare to kiss and lick, and actually wouldn’t dare to touch those key places.
Lin Sui was fond of seeing him when he couldn’t contain himself but still had to endure, it was very amusing.
Zhong Zhuo was very capable of getting what he wanted at the least expense, so this Yunshui mountain villa was beautifully decorated, and the steaming hot pool made one feel especially cosy.
The Emperor had already taken his concubines to go bathe in the hot springs, and Lin Sui, who wasted no time in doing bad things and enjoying himself, also went in for a soak.
He looked towards the entrance of the pool, and silently counted to ten.
Just as he finished counting, Yan Qin’s head popped up.
“Big brother Crown Prince, I want to be with you!”
Not waiting for Lin Sui to shoo him away, Yan Qin quickly peeled off all his clothes and entered the hot spring, looking at Lin Sui with a foolish smile.
Yan Qin’s smile wasn’t fake, he just looked at Lin Sui’s face that was stained with heat, and at his neck and pale pink shoulders that were exposed above the water, unable to take his eyes away.
He quickly lowered his head and stared at the surface of the water, so that his expression wouldn’t reveal his thoughts.
But the hot spring was crystal clear, and everything was faintly visible underneath the waves of the water.
Yan Qin found it a little difficult to bear, he thought that he shouldn’t have come, but he also felt it was lucky that he did.
Lin Sui saw the puppy’s half-rising thing through the surface of the water, and he moved his arms slightly, making a few waves.
The waves rippled, layer upon layer, gently pushing towards a certain direction, both like a tender touch and also like a teasing motion.
His Highness, the aloof Crown Prince, was still as cold and proud as before, but his lips had been dyed a beautifully vivid colour by the steam.
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