Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 195: The Culprit

In the Imperial Garden, the flowers and plants suddenly swayed. A cricket leapt out from the bushes, and right behind it, a little boy also pounced out.

“Fifteenth Prince!” A guard hurriedly rushed over and helped the rolling boy up from the ground.

The little boy still had grass clippings on his head and body, but he didn’t care. He anxiously brought his small fist up to his eyes, then carefully opened it to look inside. A cricket’s chirp came from within his palm, and he immediately broke into a smile—innocent and adorable.

This child was the Fifteenth Prince, Yongyan, the youngest son of Wei Yingluo, and also the adopted son of Consort Qing. Unlike his mother, he was very well-liked. Not only did his birth mother and adoptive mother adore him, but many concubines in the harem who had no children of their own also loved him. Even Nalan Chuxue, who had long-standing enmity with Wei Yingluo, liked to keep him by her side to play with. In order to see him more often, she had even set aside her old grudges with Wei Yingluo.

Yongyan carefully closed his palm around the cricket and headed toward the Imperial Study, intending to give this sweetly singing little insect to his teacher.

“Ouch.” As he turned a corner, there came a startled cry. A eunuch collided with him. Yongyan fell flat on his bottom, and the small satchel on his back burst open, scattering brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone all over the ground.

“This servant deserves to die.” The eunuch pressed his cap brim very low and bowed his head even lower, making his face impossible to see clearly. His voice sounded pleasant, and his movements were deft. In no time he had gathered everything up neatly and presented it to Yongyan with both hands. “This servant deserves ten thousand deaths. Please forgive me, Fifteenth Prince!”

Yongyan smiled at him, not minding the collision at all. He reached out to take the satchel and continued on toward the Imperial Study with his guard, completely unaware that behind him, the eunuch was kneeling respectfully on the ground—yet the corners of his mouth were slowly curling upward.

Not long after, someone rushed out of the Imperial Study and hurried straight into Yanxi Palace.

Inside Yanxi Palace, Consort Qing (Lu Wanwan) was visiting Wei Yingluo. Consort Qing held a toothpick with a slice of apple speared on it; before she could bring it to her mouth, the eunuch threw himself to his knees before her, panting heavily:

“Noble Your Ladyship Consort Ling! Your Ladyship Consort Qing! The Fifteenth Prince has met with misfortune!”

The apple slipped from her fingers and fell. Lu Wanwan and Wei Yingluo rose at the same moment, almost speaking in unison:

“What happened to the Fifteenth Prince?”

The child was quickly carried back to Yanxi Palace. His tiny body curled up inside the bed curtains, emitting soft whimpers like an injured young animal. Hearing him cry, Lu Wanwan also began to weep. Wei Yingluo felt terrible inside and kept pressing the imperial physician:

“How is he?”

The physician carefully took the pulse, then lifted Yongyan’s eyelids to examine his eyes. Finally he gave his conclusion:

“The Fifteenth Prince has been poisoned.”

Fortunately the dose was not heavy. The physician prepared licorice boiled with honey water and fed it to Yongyan. Only then did the boy stop trembling and quietly fall asleep in Lu Wanwan’s arms.

“You tell me.” Wei Yingluo summoned the prince’s personal maid. “What exactly happened? How did the Fifteenth Prince get poisoned? What kind of poison was it?”

The whole incident was extremely strange. Yongyan was always accompanied by people, and every meal he ate was inspected beforehand. When and where had the poison been administered?

“The poison was on this.” The maid presented a tray with both hands. On it lay a single writing brush; the ink on the tip had dried and had not been washed off. “Before writing, His Highness has the habit of moistening the brush tip in his mouth. Someone put poison on the weasel-hair brush. Fortunately His Highness is blessed with great fortune—today, halfway through writing, Master Liu saw the brush and liked it so much that he insisted on taking it to admire and play with…”

Before she could finish speaking, Lu Wanwan rushed out of the palace. Wei Yingluo was stunned and called after her:

“Where are you going?”

“I know who the culprit is,” Lu Wanwan said through gritted teeth.

The two of them soon found Nalan Chuxue.

“Yongyan is only six years old—how could you lay such a vicious hand on him!” For once Lu Wanwan lost her usual composure. She threw herself forward and began to grapple with her in a furious fight, looking exactly like a mother beast protecting her cub.

“What are you talking about? Let go! Let go of me!” Nalan Chuxue struggled.

Wei Yingluo quickly ordered people to pull the two women apart. Even so, Lu Wanwan still glared ferociously at the other woman:

“The weasel-hair brush was the one you gave him! There was poison on it! Yongyan has already been poisoned! He’s just a six-year-old child—how could your heart be so cruel!”

Naran Chuxue finally understood her purpose. First shocked, then furious, she said: “The wolf-hair brush was something I bought at a high price from Liulichang. I can swear to heaven that I never tampered with it! Besides, use your head for a moment—if the brush really was the problem and I was the one who gave it to you, do you think I could escape blame? This is a frame-up, a deliberate frame-up!”

Lu Wanwan said angrily: “The brush and ink passed only through your hands and mine. Who else could possibly frame you?”

Naran Chuxue scoffed with icy disdain: “The Fifth Prince has become useless, the Fourth Prince has been sent to the Imperial Clan Court. If even Yongyan were gone… who do you think would benefit in the end, like a fisherman reaping the rewards?”

Lu Wanwan sucked in a sharp breath and blurted out: “The Twelfth Prince?”

Once suspicion took root, everything about the Step-Empress seemed suspicious.

“How dare she—on the surface so quiet and proper, yet behind the scenes so vicious. She’s harmed one after another, and now she’s dragged me into it too.” Naran Chuxue ground her teeth. “This cannot just be let go. I’m going to tell the Empress Dowager!”

“Calm down. There are too many holes in this matter—it doesn’t look like the Empress’s handiwork,” Wei Yingluo advised.

The person who understands you best in the world is not your friend, but your enemy. Wei Yingluo had clashed with the Step-Empress for a long time and knew her character best. If the Step-Empress truly wanted to deal with someone, she would never dirty her own hands—she would find every possible way to make others do the deed for her.

But right now, neither Naran Chuxue nor Lu Wanwan would listen to her. The two of them went arm in arm to the Empress Dowager’s palace and lodged a fierce complaint against the Step-Empress.

The Empress Dowager had always disliked the Step-Empress. Now, having been given “evidence” against her—without bothering to verify whether it was true or false—she immediately summoned her and barked: “Kneel!”

The Step-Empress was stunned. Seeing the Empress Dowager’s dark expression, she had no choice but to kneel and say: “This consort does not know what offense I have committed to anger Your Majesty the Empress Dowager. Please enlighten me.”

The Empress Dowager stared at her coldly: “As long as you behave yourself and manage the inner palace properly, I was willing to let all past matters go. I never expected you to grow tired of being Empress and instead fixate on pushing the Twelfth Prince forward—do you really think you can climb even higher?”

Even if such thoughts had crossed her mind, she could never admit them aloud. The Step-Empress hurriedly defended herself: “Empress Dowager! Such a treasonous idea—I wouldn’t even dare to think it! I don’t know who has been stirring trouble behind my back. This is slander, this is framing! I have devoted myself wholeheartedly to managing the inner palace and serving the Empress Dowager with filial piety. I have never harbored disloyal thoughts!”

“People suffer because they are never satisfied—having taken Long, they still covet Shu!” The Empress Dowager, however, believed none of it. She tossed out one final sentence: “Kneel here for the duration of one stick of incense and reflect properly!” TN: having taken Long, they still covet Shu Long come from Longxi which was an administrative and strategic important region while Shu was one of the fertile, taking Long while coveting Shu simply means taking something and yet after having it your desire grows for something bigger and larger

   The Step-Empress had come without understanding why and was now kneeling without understanding why. Gritting her teeth, she shuffled forward on her knees a few steps and cried: “Empress Dowager, even if you have a million accusations, at least allow me to explain!”

The Empress Dowager refused her even the chance to explain. Without turning back, she said: “I don’t want to hear any of those filthy matters. Remember just one thing: as Empress, you are responsible for the care and protection of the imperial heirs. If any prince or princess in the Forbidden City comes to harm again—regardless of who is responsible—you will be charged with dereliction of duty!”

She claimed she was enforcing justice impartially, but in the Step-Empress’s heart, it felt like: when one is determined to condemn, one can always find a pretext.

One stick of incense does not take long, yet for the Step-Empress it felt as though she had knelt for dozens or hundreds of years—until even her heart had turned to stone.

Zhener supported her arm and cautiously escorted her back to Chengqian Palace. The parrot that Hongzhou had once sent had now grown tame. The moment it saw her, it called out from its perch: “Long live the Empress! Long live the Empress!”

Seeing that its food box was empty, the Step-Empress told Zhener to add some feed and water. She herself sank wearily into a chair, rubbing her temples as she said: “Who exactly is stirring things up behind the scenes, making the Empress Dowager hate me so much? Consort Shu? Consort Qing? Or—is it Wei Yingluo?”

“Consort Qing doesn’t have the guts, Consort Shu doesn’t have the brains—it must be Consort Ling!” Zhener said indignantly while refilling the parrot’s water. “The thief crying ‘thief’—I think she’s the one who poisoned the Fifteenth Prince herself and then pinned it on you!”

But the Step-Empress did not believe it was Wei Yingluo’s doing.

Just as Wei Yingluo understood her, she also understood Wei Yingluo. That woman was deeply scheming, yes—but she was not the type to use her own child as a chess piece.

If not her, then who?

“Your Ladyship.” A soft, serpentine voice—distinctive enough to recognize instantly—belonged to Yuan Chunwang. He entered slowly from outside. “The Prince He has a message for you, which he asked me to deliver.”

The Step-Empress frowned in displeasure: “Why have you gone to see him again?”

In this time of storm and turmoil, Step-Empress was determined to protect herself and act with utmost caution. She would not do anything that could easily give rise to misunderstanding, nor would she meet anyone who might easily cause suspicion—including Hongzhou.

“Prince He has heard about your situation and is furious beyond measure. He intended to go to the Empress Dowager to demand justice on your behalf, but unexpectedly, the Emperor was also present there.” Yuan Chunwang raised one finger and pressed it to his lips. “Although it was not intentional eavesdropping, in the end he still overheard a shocking piece of news…”

Step-Empress understood what he meant. With a glance toward the surroundings, the eunuchs and palace maids serving in the room all withdrew, leaving only Zhener still standing by her side.

“Speak,” Step-Empress said. “What news?”

Yuan Chunwang replied, “Prince He said that the Emperor intends to confer upon Noble Consort Ling the title of Imperial Noble Consort.”

Step-Empress was stunned for a long while before she suddenly stood up and cried, “Impossible, absolutely impossible! I am still standing here perfectly well—how could the Great Qing have an Imperial Noble Consort while the Empress is alive!”

In that instant, an indescribable bitterness surged in Step-Empress’s heart.

The Empress Dowager no longer believed in her. Could it be that… the Emperor no longer believed in her either?

“Empress, since the founding of the Great Qing, aside from Empress Xiaoxian of the Donggo clan, the title of Imperial Noble Consort has only been granted when a Noble Consort was gravely ill and beyond recovery, or…” Yuan Chunwang sighed, “when there was no Empress in the Forbidden City, and an Imperial Noble Consort was established to oversee palace affairs in her place. There has never been a precedent for appointing a deputy empress while a legitimate empress is still in position. And the Emperor also said…”

“What else did he say?” Step-Empress asked numbly.

“The Emperor said that since you; the Empress is ill, you should focus on recuperating properly.” Although Yuan Chunwang’s tone remained respectful, his eyes constantly observed her expression. “By doing this, the Emperor intends to completely strip away your authority. Once this matter spreads, how will the civil and military officials, and the people of the Great Qing, regard it? They will believe that the Empress has committed an unforgivable crime, which is why her rightful honor as Empress is being taken away!”

Step-Empress slowly sank back into the chair, as if she had turned into a statue of stone. After a long silence, she spoke in an expressionless voice: “When?”

Yuan Chunwang looked at her, puzzled.

“When will the formal investiture take place?” Step-Empress’s voice concealed the molten lava about to erupt from a volcano.

The corner of Yuan Chunwang’s mouth lifted in an almost imperceptible arc before he replied respectfully, “Upon the return from the southern inspection tour.”

“Southern tour.” Step-Empress chewed the words in her mouth for a moment, then said coldly, “Yuan Chunwang, go to Prince He on my behalf and tell him—”

Seeing that even now she was still hesitating, Yuan Chunwang pushed her further, feigning indignation on her behalf: “Empress, the Emperor is preparing to hand over all authority to Noble Consort Ling. You truly cannot hesitate any longer!”

The three words “Noble Consort Ling” had already become a thorn in her eye and a dagger in her flesh. Now those three words were about to become four—Imperial Noble Consort Ling. Step-Empress could hesitate no more. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Tell Hongzhou that no matter what, I must meet him once!”

“As you command.” Yuan Chunwang replied respectfully.

After he left, Step-Empress sat alone before her dressing table, gazing at her own reflection in the mirror. She felt that her appearance had changed, that Hongli’s heart had changed, that everything in the world had changed. Unable to hold back any longer, tears streamed down her face.

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