Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 148: The Truth Comes to Light

   That night, in Consort Yu’s sleeping quarters.

The palace was empty and desolate. Wei Yingluo had been there for quite a while, yet not a single palace servant came to serve tea. In the end, it was Consort Yu herself who poured the tea for her—yesterday’s cold tea.

“Although I wasn’t the one who masterminded this, the Emperor will never want to see me again.” Consort Yu seemed completely unperturbed. She lifted the teacup and took a sip. “I imagine I’ll soon be sent out of the palace—either to guard the imperial tombs or to a temple to pray for the ancestors. I’ll never return to the Forbidden City in this lifetime.”

Wei Yingluo drank a sip of the cold tea along with her, tasting the bitter flavor of abandonment, then set the cup down and said, “Consort Yu, you lost too quickly.”

Consort Yu smiled at her—warmly, like Boya after finishing a piece of music, listening to Zhong Ziqi appraise its merits.

“Noble Consort Chun instigated you to use an excessive amount of ginseng—how could she possibly let Fifth Prince discover it? Yet he suddenly became clear-headed, waking at exactly the right moment, delivering a fatal blow to Noble Consort Chun.” Wei Yingluo looked straight at her and said with certainty, “Consort Yu, everything was designed by you.”

Consort Yu burst into laughter—a bright, unrestrained laugh, the laughter of someone who had finally been truly understood.

“Exactly right,” she admitted frankly. “Noble Consort Chun used Fifth Prince’s life to threaten me, demanding that I help her deal with you. So I simply went along with her plan, lurked by her side until the very end, and then turned against her.”

“Just as I thought,” Wei Yingluo sighed. “Unlike the rest of us women in the harem, Fifth Prince is exceptionally intelligent and has always been highly valued by the Emperor. Having him personally speak of Noble Consort Chun’s crimes—the Emperor would certainly believe him… But why didn’t you tell the Emperor this yourself?”

“I couldn’t,” Consort Yu said calmly. “If I had told the Emperor that I had only pretended to be close to Noble Consort Chun in order to gain her trust and gather evidence of her crimes, he would surely have believed that you and I had conspired together to frame her.”

Hongli could never have imagined that the woman in the Forbidden City who understood him best was actually Consort Yu. She knew exactly how to make him suspicious, and she knew exactly how to make him believe. It was a pity that she possessed neither the stunning beauty of Noble Consort Hui, nor the grace of Noble Consort Chun, nor even the cunning cleverness of Wei Yingluo. In the end, she remained merely an insignificant Consort Yu.

“Why go to such lengths?” Wei Yingluo sighed deeply. “Even though you brought down Noble Consort Chun, you’ve ended up in this miserable state—truly gaining nothing at all…”

“I don’t need any gain.” Consort Yu gave a gentle smile. Though she was the one most in need of comfort, she turned around to console the still-troubled Wei Yingluo. “Yingluo, I am a cowardly woman. In the past, I could only watch helplessly as my dearest friend died a tragic death, unable to avenge her. If not for the late Empress and you reaching out to help, even Yongqi’s life would not have been preserved. But no matter how cowardly I may be, I still understand the principle of repaying a drop of kindness with a fountain of gratitude. Since I have received favor from others, I should repay it with loyalty until my dying breath. I am not clever enough to think of a better way—only this.”

She paused for a moment, then suddenly stood up, went into the inner room, and retrieved a pastry box. With both hands, she offered it to Wei Yingluo.

“After today’s parting, it will be hard to meet again in this lifetime. In my heart, I have no other worries—only one person… whom I wish to entrust to you.” Consort Yu gazed at her with earnest longing, then opened the pastry box in her hands. Inside lay four neat rows of lotus cake.

It was exactly the box of lotus cake that Wei Yingluo had given to Yongqi three days earlier—seven pieces in total, and now only four remained. Yongqi ate just one piece per day, treasuring them greatly.

Wei Yingluo received the box with both hands, her expression solemn as if she were accepting Consort Yu’s very life. She promised, “Leave him to me.”

Tears welled in Consort Yu’s eyes. She was about to bow when a voice suddenly came from outside: “Consort Ling Your Ladyship, His Majesty summons you to Yangxin Hall. The matter has finally come to light.”

Wei Yingluo had originally thought that “coming to light” referred to Noble Consort Chun’s false accusation of her poisoning someone. But after arriving at Yangxin Hall, she realized the matter was far more complicated.

Hongli’s face was colder than ever before. Wei Yingluo had never seen him so furious—like a volcano on the verge of eruption. The Empress stood beside him and addressed Yuhu, who was kneeling below: “Repeat to Consort Ling what you just told me.”

Yuhu was drenched in sweat from head to toe. In a wooden voice she said, “Noble Consort Chun ordered this servant to approach Wang Zhong, the manager of the fire-preparation section, and secretly bribe him to work for us. That New Year’s Eve, the late Empress was merciful and dismissed us servants early to rest. Noble Consort bribed a little eunuch from Changchun Palace to replace the chrysanthemum charcoal with highly explosive fireworks charcoal. She also arranged for Wang Zhong to tamper with the bottom of water tanks, causing the fire that melted the ice to go out midway—leading to the Seventh Prince perishing in the flames.”

Hongli had clearly already heard this once before, yet hearing it again still filled him with rage. His right hand gripped the armrest of the chair so tightly it seemed it might break. In a deep voice he said, “I originally only ordered the Empress to thoroughly investigate Consort Yu’s case. I never expected that this investigation would unearth such an old tragedy… Back then, if the Seventh Prince had not met with disaster, Rongyin would not have…”

He paused, still half believing and half doubting, and murmured, “But… would she really do something so vicious?”

Why had she worked so hard to get close to Hongli? Why had she gone to such lengths to oppose Noble Consort Chun? Why had she risked her life by falling from a horse, just to drag Noble Consort Chun down? — All for this very day! How could Wei Yingluo let this opportunity slip away? She immediately knelt and declared, “Your Majesty, I have a witness!”

Ming Yu was quickly brought into Yangxin Hall and laid out everything she knew. Thus, the full sequence of events behind a murder case was spread out before Hongli.

Suddenly, Hongli hurled the teacup in his hand at her, almost in a fit of displaced anger: “Why didn’t you speak up back then?”

Ming Yu did not dodge. The cup struck her body, and scalding tea poured over her. Wei Yingluo hurriedly shielded her and said, “Ming Yu has endured in silence for a long time. She had no evidence—only her word. To accuse a greatly favored Noble Consort Chun with nothing but words would have been like throwing an egg against a stone. Your Majesty, even palace maids have parents and family. Even if she did not cherish her own life, she had to think of her family.”

At the mention of “family,” Yuhu, still kneeling on the ground, suddenly shuddered violently and began kowtowing nonstop: “Your Majesty, every word this servant has spoken is true. This servant is willing to testify against her master and is willing to die—only begging Your Majesty, in consideration of allowing this servant to atone with meritorious service, to spare this servant’s family!”

Seeing her like this, Wei Yingluo suddenly understood. She had previously found it strange—Yuhu was not Consort Yu; she had served Noble Consort Chun for so many years and had been her most capable right-hand woman. How could she betray her so easily? It turned out… someone had threatened her with her family’s lives.

And as for who that someone was… Wei Yingluo glanced at the kind and gentle-looking Empress.

You think she was helping Wei Yingluo?

   No. Noble Consort Chun ranked only below the Empress and had given birth to the Sixth Prince. If she fell, the greatest beneficiary would be precisely the kind and gentle-looking Empress standing before them.

   Otherwise, why would she be so invested in this matter?

   Sensing Wei Yingluo’s gaze, the Empress returned a smile—a knowing smile that passed between the two of them—then said to Hongli, “After Yuhu confessed, I interrogated Wang Zhong. His account matched perfectly.”

Hongli’s expression grew extremely dark; his hand clenched into a tight fist. “Then… the matter of Consort Ling’s fall from the horse was most likely also instigated by her?”

When you love someone, you love everything about her. When you doubt someone, you doubt everything about her. The only thing that wasn’t actually done by Noble Consort Chun somehow still ended up being pinned on her head. But at this point, what difference does one more crime or one less crime make?

   Seeing the Empress nod, Hongli could no longer suppress the rage inside him. He slammed the table and declared: “Very well—Noble Consort Chun, how truly vicious you are! Li Yu! Transmit my decree! Noble Consort Chun is guilty of plotting to murder Seventh Prince—a crime that cannot be forgiven. Effective immediately, her title is stripped, she is demoted to the rank of Attendant, and she is to be confined in the Cold Palace.”

The events of that night seemed to have drained all of Hongli’s strength. After issuing the order, he waved his hand, signaling everyone to withdraw. Wei Yingluo lagged a step behind, gazing thoughtfully at the Empress’s retreating figure.

Many things had finally come to light, but there was still one matter she couldn’t quite figure out.

The murder of Seventh Prince had originally been a tightly guarded secret. Very few people knew about it—only Wei Yingluo herself, Ming Yu, Noble Consort Chun, Yuhu, and one Wang Zhong. No one else. And even if there had been others, they had most likely been quietly dealt with by Noble Consort Chun long ago.

Yuhu would never have voluntarily revealed such a huge secret without reason. If she had kept silent, given Hongli’s former deep favor toward Noble Consort Chun, there was a real chance the consort might have staged a comeback later.

Unless… the Empress had already learned of the matter beforehand and used Yuhu’s family as leverage to force her to confess.

“But Empress… how exactly did you come to know about this?” Wei Yingluo murmured to herself.

One person stands on the bridge admiring the scenery, while others below the bridge watch the person on the bridge. Wei Yingluo had been so focused on the Empress in front of her that she failed to notice the complicated gaze fixed on her from behind.

The doors of Yangxin Hall slowly closed behind her, yet Hongli’s eyes continued to rest on her through the closed doors.

“Do all women have two faces?” In the now-empty Yangxin Hall, his muttered words echoed. “Noble Consort Chun wears a kind face but harbors an evil heart. And you… you have been deliberately guiding me all along, making me see her true face clearly so that I would punish her.”

Hongli was no fool. He could not possibly have remained completely unaware of Wei Yingluo’s actions. He did not blame her—the Empress had shown her immense kindness, and it was only natural that she would repay that debt with loyalty. What worried him was…

With a sigh, Hongli slowly moved the brush in his hand, and on the xuan paper he wrote a single character:

“恩”

(Grace / Kindness)

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