Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 192: Alienation [Part 2]

   Inside the Yangxin Hall, Hongli’s expression turned icy. “What did you say?”

Fuheng, acting on his orders, had gone to investigate the recent entry and exit records at the armory and had now returned to report: “Ten days ago, the Fourth Prince’s trusted eunuch Jinzhong visited the armory. He claimed he was there to select crossbows and arrows, and stayed for nearly half an hour. Afterward… the musket that the Fifth Prince is skilled at using became damp and unusable. The Prince had no choice but to hastily borrow a new one from the Green Standard Army.”

Hongli said nothing, only clenching and unclenching his fist repeatedly.

“Are the people in the Armory all dead?” After a long pause, he finally spoke in a darkly suppressed tone. “Something this big—why has no one ever reported it!”

Fuheng spoke up in defense of the Armory staff: “Your Majesty, the Armory is in charge of weapons and equipment for imperial and official use; its management has always been strict. It’s just that this past month has been the time for airing and storing the cotton armor used in the military review inspections. The entire Armory has been extremely busy with preparations, and besides…”

Seeing him hesitate to continue, Hongli scoffed with icy disdain. “And besides, this matter involves Fourth Brother—so no one dared to speak up, no one dared to interfere. Is that it?”

Fuheng fell silent. The room was oppressively quiet, like the stillness before a storm.

“Get out!”

“Fourth Brother, you cannot barge in like this!”

“I have urgent business—I must see Royal Father at once! Royal Father! Royal Father, your son has an emergency—please, you must see your son! Royal Father!”

Hongli slowly raised his head and looked darkly toward the door. “Let him in.”

The guards outside finally stepped aside. Yongcheng stumbled and staggered in. The moment he saw his father, he dropped to his knees and crawled forward on them until he reached Hongli’s feet, weeping bitterly: “Royal Father, save me! Royal Father, save me!”

“You came at just the right time.” Hongli looked down at him coldly. “I have something to ask you—did you send Jinzhong to the Armory?”

Yongcheng was stunned.

Hongli barked sharply, “I’m asking you a question!”

Yongcheng immediately began to stammer. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but plans could never keep up with changes. At that moment, a flurry of footsteps sounded outside—it was the Step-Empress who had hurried over. The moment she saw him, she frowned deeply: “How outrageous! How did I teach you all these years? To commit such a heinous, treasonous act—and you still have the face to cause such a commotion in Yangxin Hall!”

“Who exactly is the one who committed a heinous, treasonous act?” Seeing that she showed him no mercy and was about to expose his plot against Fifth Brother, Yongcheng decided to go all in. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Royal Father, yes—your son did send Jinzhong to the Armory, but that was—”

Fuheng suddenly interjected: “Fourth Prince, you sent someone to sabotage Fifth Prince’s bird gun, didn’t he?”

Realizing it was him who spoke, Yongcheng immediately understood: Hongli had most likely already sent people to investigate the comings and goings at the Armory. His actions had almost certainly been exposed.

“Royal Father, I did order someone to damage the firearm he usually uses—but that was only out of momentary jealousy. I only wanted him to make a fool of himself in front of you; I never intended to take his life!” His mind was in chaos, and even his voice began to tremble with panic. Suddenly he turned and pointed at the Step-Empress: “Fifth Brother borrowed a new bird gun from the Green Standard Army—I never touched it! It was Royal Mother—it was her! She wanted to get rid of Fifth Brother. It was her—it must have been her!”

The Step-Empress snapped, “Nonsense!”

“She even wanted to kill me!” Yongcheng clung to Hongli’s leg and sobbed, “Royal Father, tonight your son stayed at the Prince Residence. Zhener, who serves Royal Mother, brought wine and food. That bowl of wine-fermented tangyuan was poisoned! Royal Mother harmed Fifth Brother, and now she wants to harm me too!”

The Step-Empress’s face turned ashen. Yuan Chunwang drifted out from behind her like a ghost, his voice soft and sinister: “Fourth Brother, if the tangyuan was poisoned, how is it that you are still standing here perfectly fine?”

Yongcheng shot him a look of disgust. “Zhener’s conscience got the better of her—she told me the truth!”

“Fourth Prince, you really are full of lies.” Yuan Chunwang smiled. “Zhener has caught a cold and is bedridden. The Empress specially summoned an imperial physician for her. Everyone in Chengqian Palace knows this. How could someone seriously ill go around poisoning food?”

Yongcheng was stunned for a long moment. Then he suddenly looked up and shouted at Hongli: “The poisoned food is still at the Prince Residence! I was afraid someone would destroy the evidence, so I specially arranged for people to guard it. If Royal Father doesn’t believe me, just send someone to investigate—it will be clear at once! If that’s not enough, summon Zhener!”

The Step-Empress sighed and slowly knelt down. “Your Majesty, I never imagined that the child I personally raised would, in order to escape blame, unhesitatingly turn around and accuse me. It truly breaks my heart. But I can swear to Heaven: I have never harmed Fifth Brother, nor did I know anything about Yongcheng’s evil deeds. If I am lying, may I suffer the wrath of five thunderbolts and die without a peaceful end.”

Including Yongcheng, no one present had expected her to utter such a vicious oath. They were all stunned into silence.

“Fourth Prince, please calm yourself for now,” Fuheng finally spoke. “Whether it is true or false, we will know once it has been properly examined.”

And so Hongli issued an order. Court Physician Zhang hurried over in the middle of the night. Together with the supervising eunuch of the Princes’ Mansion, they inspected the already cold dishes left on the table. The results were reported back to the Yangxin Hall.

“—No poison,” Li Yu reported. “As for Zhener, with the imperial physician’s testimony, she is indeed bedridden with illness. She stated that she never saw the Fourth Prince tonight.”

“Impossible! This is impossible!” Yongcheng cried out in shock. “Royal Mother clearly wanted to poison me! She wanted to poison me—I heard it with my own ears, saw it with my own eyes!”

Only he had seen it with his own eyes. Only he had heard it with his own ears. No one else could corroborate it. Even the little eunuch who had always been loyal to him, Jinzhong, had now vanished without a trace.

Without evidence, nothing had happened. Everything he had heard and seen was either an illusion—or else a slanderous accusation against the Step-Empress.

“I understand now—it was you! You orchestrated everything!” Yongcheng suddenly lunged forward, seized the Step-Empress by the shoulders, and shook her violently. “Royal Mother, why would you do this to me? I treated you as my real mother! Why? Just because I’m not your own flesh and blood, you want to send me to my death? In your heart, am I nothing but a disposable pawn, to be sacrificed at any moment?”

Yuan Chunwang pulled him away with one tug—not using much force—but Yongcheng, already unsteady, staggered back several steps and collapsed to the floor. He burst into loud, anguished sobs:

“I know my talent is limited, so I worked twice as hard… yet I still can’t compare to Twelfth Brother. Is it only because I’m not your biological son…? But Royal Mother, were all these years of my filial devotion fake? How could you… how could you be so cruel, using me as nothing but a stepping stone for Twelfth Brother? Royal Mother! Royal Mother!”

Each cry carried tears; each wail bled anguish.

Even after Hongli ordered him to be escorted to the Imperial Clan Court, those piercing, wretched cries of “Royal Mother!” continued to echo in everyone’s ears.

When the Step-Empress emerged from the Yangxin Hall, she walked with perfect composure for a long while—until her legs suddenly gave way. Fortunately, Yuan Chunwang reached out to steady her, preventing her from falling to the ground.

“Your Ladyship,” Yuan Chunwang said softly, “the Fourth Prince was foolish and ignorant, committing a grave mistake. Now the truth has finally come to light, and His Majesty has already confined him to the Imperial Clan Court… It’s over now.”

The Step-Empress slowly turned her head and stared at him with a dark, gloomy expression.

“Speak,” she said coldly. “What exactly did you do?”

Yuan Chunwang replied with utmost respect: “Without your command, this servant would not dare act on his own.”

“You have taken plenty of liberties on your own before. After the first time, how can I still trust you?” The Step-Empress looked at him with suspicion. “Tell me—does the matter with the Fourth Prince have anything to do with you?”

“Your Ladyship truly wrongs this servant,” Yuan Chunwang said, his demeanor even more deferential. “The Fourth Prince has ended up like this entirely through his own fault. In order to seize that position, he did not hesitate to harm the Fifth Prince… It was his trusted eunuch Jinzhong, afraid of taking the blame himself, who secretly reported the matter to me.”

At this point, he raised his eyes to meet hers and smiled. “This servant would not dare conceal anything from you, so I informed you at once.”

The Step-Empress remained silent, her face still clouded and grim.

At first she had not believed Yuan Chunwang’s words, thinking he was trying to drive a wedge between mother and son. Who would have thought that the moment she stepped into the Yangxin Hall, she would hear Yongcheng spinning lies to frame her?

What “poisoning him”? Clearly, the moment he realized things had gone wrong, he turned around and tried to throw all the filth onto her!

   “But after all, he is still a child I raised myself…” At last the Step-Empress withdrew some of her wariness toward Yuan Chunwang. She lowered her eyes wearily. “His actions have harmed others and himself—utterly foolish. Though His Majesty has confined him to the Imperial Clan Court, in his heart he has surely begun to suspect me as well… Sigh…”

Hongli had indeed grown suspicious.

Inside the Yangxin Hall, he gazed in the direction the Step-Empress had left, his fingers tapping slowly and deliberately on the tabletop.

“Do you think this was the work of Yongcheng?” he asked.

Fuheng replied: “Your Majesty, this servant does not know.”

Hongli cast him a sidelong glance. “You don’t know… or you don’t dare to say?”

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