"Ha." The eunuch kicked her in the shoulder, and Xiaoqiao, unable to withstand the force, rolled a long way. "You even dared to poison His Highness the Crown Prince. Why didn't you think you'd end up like this? You died in her place, what are you anyway, you..."
Before he could finish speaking, someone in the courtyard sang, "Long live the Emperor and Empress!"
"Your Majesty." Upon seeing Jiang Yuan enter, the eunuch immediately dropped his previous arrogance and became meek and obedient.
"I have a few words I would like to say to Jiang Chongyi."
This was a signal for him to step down. The eunuch's eyes darted around, and he immediately smiled and agreed, taking only a few men to guard outside the palace gate.
Jiang Yuan looked at the dagger and white silk on the ground. Bi Fan quickly bent down and put them away. If Jiang Yuan were accidentally injured, the sin would be great.
"Why did you poison her?" Jiang Yuan had no intention of saying anything more to her, and only stared at the woman on the ground.
"My family is ruined, isn't it?" Jiang Yanting slumped onto the cold ground, her heart already plunged into an icy abyss. "I am a sinner of the Jiang family, am I not?"
"Tell me the truth, and I can try my best to spare your life, allowing you and your servant to live to old age." Just a pawn, Jiang Yuan thought, perhaps it was because he was getting old, and many people and things were not worth sacrificing his life for.
Really? Xiao Qiao's eyes lit up. Her mistress was saved. She opened her mouth to say everything when she heard Jiang Yanting's voice ring out in the hall.
“But my brother is still alive.” So she couldn’t say it. Jiang Yanting looked up at Jiang Yuan, her sorrow barely concealed, a far cry from the arrogant figure she remembered. In her past life, Jiang Yanting’s child hadn’t survived either, but she had been given the title of Zhaoxun, second only to the three ladies. Now, however, she was left destitute and miserable. Her eyes darkened, and her words seemed somewhat nonsensical, “What does Your Majesty think of the fragrance I wear? This fragrance is called Beauty Fragrance. When young, it can be used in medicine and perfume, but once mature, it becomes poisonous, just like a beautiful woman—rare, beautiful, yet poisonous.”
"Why bother filling your clothes?" Jiang Yuan's fingertips twitched slightly in his sleeve.
"Please, Your Majesty and Empress, leave behind a cup of poisoned wine." Jiang Yanting stood up and bowed three times to her, her eyes pleading.
Xiao Qiao watched as Jiang Yuan came and went, her lips trembling. Just as she was about to fill her wine glass and leave with Jiang Yanting, she was grabbed by the arm tightly.
"You can't die." Jiang Yanting's eyes burned with intense hatred.
"Miss?" Xiaoqiao didn't understand. If her mistress was dead, what hope was there for her to live on?
Jiang Yanting pulled Xiao Qiao's arm and whispered in her ear, "Xie Jiayan won't let her live, but she can't let her have an easy time either."
Seeing Xiaoqiao's eyes widen, Jiang Yanting held back her tears, grasped her hand, and stuffed the things into her arms. "Xiaoqiao, remember my words. If one day the Empress comes looking for you again, that will be the day you avenge our Jiang family."
Jiang Yanting took the cup and drank the poisoned wine in one gulp. She had painstakingly crafted a rare and exquisite fragrance.
Beauty is like fragrance, rare and poisonous, often paired with bitter herbs, like an unparalleled beauty, loved and possessed by only one person in the world.
Author's Note: It's time to untangle this knot! Time to roll up my sleeves and get back to writing!
Chapter 84 On the Eve of the Explosion
"Your Majesty," the Prefect of the Capital said, glancing at Xie Shengping, who stood with his sleeves neatly in his robes, before stepping forward, "a strange thing has happened recently in a small village around Lin'an."
Song Yanji calmly looked at the eloquent Lord Helian. He knelt down, lifting his robe, and presented a gold-inlaid jade waist pendant with dragons and phoenixes entwined around it with both hands. "A few days ago, it rained in Lin'an and washed away a piece of land in Zuojia Village. Strangely enough, a young corpse was found in the cemetery of Zuojia Village. The clothes of the corpse had long since decomposed to the point that only bones remained. Only this waist pendant was pressed under the body. The villagers did not know the value of the jade and sold it to a pawnshop in Lin'an."
The waist pendant gleamed with a warm luster, and at first glance, it was clearly not an ordinary item.
"The pawnshop owner happens to be somewhat acquainted with me. He brought it over for me to examine yesterday, and I recognized it as a royal item at a glance." Before the Prefect of the Capital could finish speaking, the voice of the Palace Attendant Liu rang out in the hall, filled with barely suppressed surprise, "This is the waist pendant of the Li family of the previous dynasty. I personally presented it to Li Jing when he offered sacrifices to Heaven."
"Didn't His Majesty die in the fire?" the Grand Chancellor asked in surprise. "How did this pendant end up in a village outside the capital?"
“I ordered the village sealed off last night, and the remains have been moved to the mortuary. The autopsy results were presented to me this morning.” The Prefect of the Capital presented the body with both hands. “He died of poisoning, and all four limbs were broken. He must have suffered a lot before his death. The villagers all said they did not recognize him, so he was probably not from the village. Moreover… he had six toes on his right foot.”
The hall was silent. The former emperor of the Li family was born with six fingers. The ministers kept their eyes down and their minds at ease. The great fire in the palace that year came strangely. The Di'an Hall, such a large palace, was burned to the ground. Not a single palace servant escaped.
"What does the Prefect of the Capital want?" Song Yanji's brows relaxed, but his eyes held little smile as he coldly observed the drama unfolding in the court.
"Investigate thoroughly! I suspect there are other hidden circumstances surrounding Li's death."
"Lord Helian seems to have forgotten that the world now belongs to the Song Dynasty, not the Li Dynasty!" Meng Taipu said, bowing. "What is the point of further investigation?"
"Lord Meng, you are mistaken. Let alone involving the former imperial family," the Prefect of the Capital said with a sneer. "Even a simple human life should be thoroughly investigated."
“The Prefect of the Capital is right. Items from the palace should not appear among the common people.” Song Yanji looked down at the black cloth in front of him and casually said, “Let Qu Si’an handle this matter.”
Da Xingling had just opened his mouth when he caught a glimpse of Xie Shengping looking straight ahead. After a moment of contemplation, he swallowed back the words that were about to come out.
Song Yansi's fingertips twitched slightly. He was now racing against his circumstances. Xie Shengping dared to bring out Li Jing's corpse, clearly having made thorough preparations. His ascension to the throne was based on the petition of his ministers, and he had served as a virtuous minister and capable general. Now that he had come to power, it wouldn't be so easy to bring him down. However, if he were first accused of regicide, things would be quite different. In the future, whatever the Xie family did would have a more legitimate reason to act.
Inside the Fengqi Palace, Zhang Xiangui served tea, keenly sensing the unusual atmosphere. He had caught Jiang Yuan's eye during the Crown Prince's drowning incident, being the first to respond and summon all the imperial physicians, and was thus transferred to serve in the Fengqi Palace. He never expected so many things to happen one after another. The people of Shu believed in fate; could the Emperor and Empress think of him as a jinx? Zhang Xiangui lowered his eyes, feeling somewhat uneasy.
The surroundings were so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Jiang Yuan stared at Bi Fan, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "What did you say?"
"This is a message from Zuo Shuang to me." Zhang Xiang lowered her head and tugged at Bi Fan's sleeve. Bi Fan glanced at her with a puzzled look. Zuo Shuang had instructed that this matter must be told to her mistress. Seeing that Jiang Yuan's reaction was not right and Zhang Xiang kept tugging at her, she began to feel uneasy. "She said that a waist pendant and skeleton of a former emperor from the previous dynasty were found in Zuo Family Village, which seems to belong to the former young emperor."
Silence, a deathly silence.
Jiang Yuan staggered back two steps, her body unsteady. Zhang Xiangui quickly caught her arm, and she slumped into the armchair, asking again in disbelief, "Dead?"
"Hmm." Bi Fan nodded. Rumors circulated that this matter was inextricably linked to Song Yanji, but she didn't dare to say it.
Will you come looking for me?
Yes, I will. You'll even make me grasshoppers then.
Jiang Yuan leaned back in her armchair, stunned. Something suddenly welled up in her eyes, and when she reached out to touch it, her palm was ice-cold. The child who had been with her for so long was dead, dead before her. How could he be dead? She had been so certain that Xie Jiayan hadn't had time to act, and that Song Yanji wouldn't kill him. In her past life, he had clearly let that child live for so long, hadn't he? In this life, he would grow up peacefully among the common people, insignificant as a grain of sand, and wouldn't hinder him at all.
"Your Majesty." Time was long and agonizing. After a long while, Bi Fan finally spotted Song Yansi standing behind the curtain.
His dark robe was embroidered with golden dragons that seemed to be swallowing clouds and spitting out mist as he strode up to Jiang Yuan, the sound of palace servants retreating in response.
"Why?" Jiang Yuan looked up and saw Song Yansi's cold face. He was so close to her, yet so far away, unreachable and ungraspable. "You know it was me who did it, right?"
Jiang Yuan asked the question with an undeniable certainty.
"Yes," Song Yansi nodded, but Jiang Yuan felt increasingly sorrowful. "Why? You know I want to save him, you know I want to save him!"
If he was unwilling, he could have simply told her why he was hiding it from her, and why he was keeping it from me.
"He is the emperor. If he doesn't die, it will be like a thorn in my side, and I will never be able to sit securely on this throne." So, even knowing that she would be heartbroken, knowing that Xie Shengping would not let Li Jing live, and knowing that he had a chance to save that child, he gave it all up. Jiang Yuan only remembered the child's innocence and the child's grief, but forgot that the hatred between him and Xie Shengping could not be erased, and that all his suffering was orchestrated by Xie Shengping.
"If it hadn't been discovered, were you going to keep it from me forever?" Jiang Yuan wept uncontrollably, her voice trembling. "I was so foolish to think he would live a good life, that he could finally read the books he wanted to read, see the mountains and rivers he wanted to see, and then live a peaceful life in the countryside, marrying and having children, growing old in tranquility." She had promised that child so much in her past life, and in this life, she thought she could do it all, but in the end, it was all a joke, a pipe dream.
"Jiang Yuan!" Song Yansi's eyes lost all warmth, as cold as an unbreakable ice seal in the depths of winter.
"Song Yansi!" Jiang Yuan took a small step forward, staring intently at him, her gaze seemingly trying to pierce through his skin and into his soul. "How much more are you hiding from me?"
Doubts began to grow in her heart, and the thoughts she had been suppressing in her mind, like withered branches meeting rain and dew, broke through the shackles of darkness and grew wildly.
"Where's A-Yuan? How much has A-Yuan been hiding from me?" Song Yansi was a head taller than her, and he looked down at her. After a long silence, he chuckled softly, a hint of sadness in his voice. "A-Yuan has also been hiding a lot from me, hasn't she?"
This was the last conversation between Jiang Yuan and Song Yansi. In the days that followed, Song Yansi took charge of the Zuo Family Manor, while Jiang Yuan quietly stayed in Fengqi Palace, refusing to leave. The two fell into an inexplicable cold war.
Children are very sensitive, and Cheng Yu was no exception. Whenever Jiang Yuan forced a smile at him, he wanted to ask but dared not. This time, no matter how much he tried to act cute and charming, it was to no avail. He could only watch helplessly as his parents, who had always been respectful and loving, became more and more distant.
"If only Father weren't an emperor." Cheng Yu sat in Anyuan Hall, holding a calligraphy brush, her little head hanging low, her eyes filled with grievance.
“How could Your Highness think such a thing?” Zhu Chuan put down the inkstone in his hand, met his eyes, and comforted him, “Your father is above all others, enjoying unparalleled honor.”
"But after entering the palace, my father and mother have never been happy. My father spends all day in his study and has never taught me to ride a horse again. My mother is always surrounded by a group of women, and she has never touched my copy of 'Night Retreat Records' since she promised me." He studied hard and learned etiquette, just wanting to make his father and mother happy. But now, no matter how well he writes or how much Mr. Wei praises his articles, it is not as good as the worries in their hearts.
"Your Highness..."
"Never mind, let's grind the ink." Cheng Yu blew her nose, picked up her brush and started writing. "If I don't finish today's lessons, the teacher will scold me again tomorrow morning."
In the candlelight, Cheng Yu stood tall and straight. He had somehow shed his soft and delicate appearance and taken on the look of a refined young gentleman, more like a prince than a child. Zhu Chuan suddenly felt a pang of sadness. He was still so young, yet he had gradually learned to hide all his emotions inside.
"Step down." Song Yansi had his back to the desk, and his expression was obscured by the backlight. On the desk were Cheng Yu's articles from a long time ago, all of which had been annotated with red ink, clearly showing that he had put a lot of thought into them.
The gates of Chang Le Palace opened, and Xu An hurried in. He met Zhu Chuan briefly, nodded slightly, and then quickly stepped inside. Zhu Chuan paused, turned her head, and glanced at the tightly closed gates. She had said what she should and shouldn't have said, wondering how much of what she said had Song Yansi taken to heart. She sighed and walked away without stopping.
The matter in Qi'an did not go smoothly. Xie Shengping indeed sent a message to obstruct it, but the place was impenetrable. Fu Zhengyan's years of efforts were not in vain. The iron ore was forged into weapons and sent to Mu Qing and Wang Yuancheng in batches. The weapons were escorted by the two men's confidants. They were attacked several times, but fortunately, they escaped unharmed. Mu Qing took the opportunity to remove a few spies planted in the military camp.
However, one wave subsided only for another to rise. This rumor came too quickly. As soon as Mu Qing received the news, he sent a secret letter to Song Yansi. He would never believe that no one was stirring things up behind the scenes.
"The news came from Wei." The letter Xu An brought this time was increasingly bad. He didn't know how the news that Jiang Yuan had been trapped in the An Sui Marquis's mansion suddenly broke out. Rumors were spreading all over Wei and the border town had long been told, but Mu Qing's iron fist had managed to suppress them. "However, this is not a long-term solution. It can't be suppressed. I'm afraid it will become more and more outrageous."
If the rumors were to spread, it would be a huge blow to Jiang Yuan's position as Empress. With such a serious vulnerability, the Xie faction in the court would certainly not let it fester without taking advantage of it.
"Xie Shengping is trying to cut off all my escape routes." Song Yansi's voice was devoid of any emotion, but he was burning with anger. First, he smeared him with accusations of regicide, and then he made a fuss about Jiang Yuan. People love to dig up other people's secrets. Public opinion can be deceiving, and accumulated rumors can destroy even the strongest bones. As long as more people deliberately steer the conversation in the wrong direction, people will start to question whether his achievements were earned honestly and fairly.
Xu An hesitated before speaking, "Then what should we do?" Rumors can't be stopped, and even if he didn't say it, Song Yansi should understand this.
“Have you ever heard the saying?” Song Yansi touched the ebony table, sunlight filtering through the carved window and casting dappled shadows, his eyes swirling with a myriad of emotions, “To be reborn is to be put in a desperate situation.”
Chapter 85 Clearing the Clouds to See the Sun
The rumors continued to spread, reaching every corner of the Shu Kingdom within days, and the matter of deposing the empress and replacing her was once again on the agenda. This time, the Xie faction came prepared, seizing every opportunity to attack the emperor and empress, whose innocence remained a mystery. For many days, Song Yanji remained silent.
As the setting sun cast its golden rays, the imperial city gradually dimmed, shimmering like ripples on water. Xu An, weary from his journey, arrived at the gates of Chang Le Palace, his heart pounding with excitement. A rare smile graced his face. Behind him was a silent maidservant with her head bowed. In a flash, they entered the palace.
News within the palace was also very well-informed. The women of each household were shrewd and perceptive; they could tell whether the east wind or the west wind was stronger with just a gust of wind. Everyone was watching to see how the Emperor and Empress's affairs would unfold.
“This time, Master has done our Madam a great favor.” Bao Yun stood respectfully to the side, gently massaging Xie Jiayan’s shoulder. “What virtue or ability does a woman who has been captured have to become the Empress of Shu?”
Everyone in Wei knew that the Duke of Zhenguo had a penchant for beautiful women, and rumors circulated that his mansion's harem was overflowing with jewels and contained beauties from all over the land. Jiang Yuan had been there for over half a year; who knew what had happened?
Xie Jiayan closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, but the upturned corners of her mouth betrayed her good mood. "Even if she's not crippled, she'll be skinned alive. Let's see how she still has the face to act so arrogantly."
Fengqi Palace was quiet from morning till night, and the palace servants dared not make a sound even when walking, for fear of displeasing the emperor and empress.
Zhang Xiang squatted to the side, carefully peeling oranges for Jiang Yuan. A small incense burner was lit beside her. Her slender fingers flew, and orange segments fell one by one into a glass bowl. Honey was in a silver spoon. Hot water was boiled over the orange segments, and the honey was gently stirred. After a while, she picked up a glass of sake and poured half a cup into it. The aroma of sake mixed with the aroma of tea wafted out, creating an exceptionally rich fragrance.
Zhang Xiangui looked down at the carpet on the floor, which was gorgeous and thick. The hall was as warm as springtime, and he did not feel cold even though he was only wearing a single layer of robes.
Jiang Yuan had heard a lot of rumors in the palace, but Song Yanji had never shown up. She held the cup and gently blew on the water, causing the fruit tea to sway slightly and the aroma to become even stronger.
"Where is His Majesty?" Jiang Yuan suddenly asked.
Bi Fan stopped what she was doing, exchanged a suspicious glance with Zhang Xiangui, and then said, "At this hour, we should be at Chang Le Palace."
Jiang Yuan seemed lost in thought as she tapped the thin wall of the teacup with her fingertips. The cup in her hand loosened its grip and finally slipped straight through her fingers, leaving tea stains on her dark purple palace dress. The stains darkened like embroidery hidden in her dress, suddenly blooming.
"Your Majesty!" Bi Fan exclaimed in alarm and rushed over to check if Jiang Yuan had been burned, but she was stopped by her hand.
As her thoughts returned to reason, Jiang Yuan's gaze grew increasingly resolute. If he wouldn't come, then she would go. Some things couldn't be changed, but she no longer wanted to hide; she was fed up with the cat-and-mouse game with Song Yansi.
"Your Excellency, please take a cup of this fruit tea to His Majesty later." Jiang Yuan took the handkerchief handed to him by Zhang Xiang and wiped the water stains from his fingers as he said, "Make sure to deliver it at the exact time of Xu Shi (7-9 PM)."
"Here you go."
Seeing that Zhang Xiangui agreed, Zhang Xiang was about to start making another bowl of hot tea when Jiang Yuan stopped her, smiling gently, "It's been a long time since I've brewed these kinds of teas."
"Your Majesty was most skilled at these things back then." Zhang Xiang tidied up the items before presenting them to Jiang Yuan with both hands.
The wine was warmed by a small stove, and the orange segments, marinated in honey, were cut with a few small slits. When the wine was hot enough, it was poured over the orange segments, releasing a burst of fruity aroma that was incredibly intoxicating.
Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then casually dropped a red plum blossom onto the water before placing it in the food box and handing it to Zhang Xiangui. Before Zhang left, she reminded him of the time.