Chapter 113: Setting the Stage
Zhao Bai quickly realized who Wen Yu was referring to with "him." The worry on his face froze, transforming into an expression of extreme complexity.
After a brief silence, Wen Yu had already taken a wolf-hair brush from the pen holder, dipped it in ink, and began drafting something. Once the letter was sealed, she handed it to Zhao Bai, who had been waiting quietly nearby, instructing, "Have the Azure Cloud Cavalry personally deliver this letter back to Pingzhou."
She paused for a moment before continuing, "They know what to do."
This "they" was clearly implying something specific.
Those who would see Wen Yu's letter were none other than Chen Wei, Li Xun, and Li Yao. And the one who had caused the situation to deteriorate to its current state was Li Yao's previous transgression.
Xiao Li had suffered false accusations and nearly lost his life.
Regardless of whether he would still be willing to stand with their Great Liang in the future, Great Liang needed to show Xiao Li their stance.
The one who should untie this knot was the very person who had tied it in the first place.
After Zhao Bai left with the letter, Wen Yu leaned her somewhat dizzy head on her hand and closed her eyes behind the desk, lost in thought. However, hurried footsteps soon approached from outside.
Tong Que lifted the bead curtain and entered, her expression grim. "Your Highness, Eunuch Li from King Chen's side is here."
Several days had passed since Wen Yu's marriage to King Chen, yet the king had never set foot in Zhaohua Palace. Although Wen Yu had never cared about such matters from the beginning, Tong Que was responsible for liaising with the Imperial Household Department and gathering intelligence from various palaces in the royal palace to prevent any harm to Wen Yu. Noticing the disdain other palace staff showed toward Zhaohua Palace, she couldn't help but feel resentful.
Upon hearing this, Wen Yu merely lifted her eyelids slightly and said, "Bring him in."
Shortly after, Eunuch Li from King Chen's side followed Tong Que inside. With one arm holding a horsetail whisk and the other lifting his brocade robe to step over the threshold, he greeted Wen Yu in a drawn-out, shrill voice, "This humble servant pays respects to Her Majesty the Queen."
His wrinkled eyes curved as if smiling, but the smile didn't reach their depths.
Wen Yu sat behind the sandalwood desk and asked calmly, "What matter has the King sent you here for?"
Eunuch Li clasped his hands in his sleeves, looking down with false flattery. "The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching. Although Your Majesty is new to the royal court, as the queen of a nation holding the Phoenix Seal, the Empress Dowager is quite fond of you, and the King holds you in high respect. It has been unanimously decided that the Mid-Autumn banquet should still be organized by Your Majesty the Queen."
The Empress Dowager's fondness and King Chen's respect sounded utterly ironic.
No outward emotion showed on Wen Yu's face. She merely raised her eyes slightly and said, "I'm afraid that wouldn't be appropriate. As you said, I am new to the royal court and still unfamiliar with many palace affairs. Moreover, I have not fully recovered from my illness, and the imperial physician has advised against overexertion. I understand this is the Empress Dowager and the King's trust in me, but my health simply doesn't permit it. Which consort handled the Mid-Autumn palace banquet in previous years? Let that consort take charge again this year."
On the second day after the wedding, King Chen had been carousing in Xinyu Palace until afternoon without showing his face. Wen Yu naturally hadn't taken the initiative to pay respects at the Empress Dowager's palace.Since King Chen was at fault first, by claiming illness she could take this matter to court, and the old ministers of Chen would not be able to in good conscience accuse her of being unfilial or disrespectful. To display her own benevolence and maternal affection, the Empress Dowager had no choice but to reluctantly exempt Wen Yu from further morning courtesies, telling her to recover from her "illness" first.
The stalemate lasted until today, when the Empress Dowager and King Chen finally grew restless and sent this eunuch.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival less than half a month away, being tasked to organize the palace banquet now meant that even if the Imperial Household Department managed to procure the necessary items in time, merely drafting a preliminary plan would be extremely rushed.
Moreover... since the Empress Dowager and King Chen had specifically appointed her to handle the banquet, it was highly likely that the Imperial Household Department would feign compliance while secretly undermining her efforts.
This was both a deliberate provocation and an indirect attempt to expose her incompetence before the court officials.
—The court officials would not delve into the intricate power struggles within the palace, but if the banquet failed, it would signify her defeat in the contest against the Empress Dowager and her inability to control the royal palace.
If she could not even secure the inner palace, how could she aspire to influence the royal court? The officials would naturally think twice before aligning themselves with her.
When Eunuch Li heard Wen Yu's words, he seemed to have anticipated her refusal. Feigning regret with an exaggerated "Oh dear," he said, "What a pity. In previous years, the Mid-Autumn palace banquet was always personally handled by the Empress Dowager, but she has caught a chill these past two days and is currently unwell."
It was clear they were determined to force this hot potato into her hands.
Wen Yu raised an eyebrow slightly and asked calmly, "Could it not be delegated to the imperial consorts?"
Eunuch Li wrinkled his pale, flabby face into an expression of feigned distress, though his eyes held a trace of concealed arrogance and mockery. He smiled obsequiously and said, "This... I'm afraid that would be inappropriate."
Wen Yu pressed directly, "Why is it inappropriate?"
Eunuch Li spoke as if revealing a secret, hinting vaguely, "Among the palace consorts, there are only five with official ranks. Four of them have been serving His Majesty since before he went to Liang to seek marriage. They live in seclusion and have never involved themselves in palace affairs. As for Consort Li of Xinyu Palace... the Empress Dowager has never favored her. If the Mid-Autumn banquet were entrusted to Consort Li, I fear it would be difficult to explain to the Empress Dowager."
Wen Yu had no particular interest in how many consorts King Chen had, but to understand the complex web of power in the court and the inner palace, she had instructed Tong Que to investigate the family backgrounds of the various consorts.
To her surprise, there was not a single daughter from an aristocratic family among King Chen's consorts. Apart from the four concubines who had served him since their days as maidservants, the only one granted the title of consort, Consort Li, had actually been brought back by King Chen from a brothel.
Wen Yu had always been puzzled by this. Since Eunuch Li had brought up the matter of the consorts, she took the opportunity to ask, "His Majesty has been on the throne for nearly three years. Why has there been no selection of consorts?"
Eunuch Li lowered his eyes, assuming a submissive posture, and replied, "Your Highness may not be aware, but three years ago, after His Majesty suppressed the rebellion and ascended the throne, he made a promise in the victory report sent to Liang: he would not select any consorts until you were married into the royal court."
This statement made Wen Yu frown. She hardly believed she possessed the charm to make King Chen remain chaste for her.
When King Chen had gone to her father to seek her hand in marriage, his true motive had been to borrow troops to secure the throne. He had never even met her. The public claim that he had fallen in love with her at first sight upon seeing her portrait was merely a pretext to justify his actions to the Party of Ao.Back then, Changlian Wang and his wife had only agreed to this marriage alliance as a stopgap measure to prevent her from marrying into the Ao family.
She had never cared much for her nominal fiancé either. The only time she had seen King Chen was when she had sneakily slipped into her father’s study out of mischief. Hearing footsteps, she had assumed it was her father and elder brother, so she hid behind a screen, ready to jump out and startle them.
Unexpectedly, as the voices of those entering the room reached her ears, she realized with a start that the person accompanying her father was not her brother but a young man. After the study door closed, the young man knelt before her father, bowing his head and tearfully pleading for something.
Out of curiosity, she stole a glance through the gap between the two screens. She thought the young man’s appearance was rather refined and handsome, but he seemed utterly spineless—why would he kneel before her father and do nothing but cry?
There had never been any affection between them in the past, and King Chen’s attitude on their wedding day, now that she had arrived at the royal court, spoke volumes.
After much deliberation, Wen Yu could only conclude that King Chen’s promise back then had likely been coerced by Empress Dowager Jiang—a barely plausible explanation.
After all, at that time, the Liang state was powerful, and Changlian Wang’s influence in the court was growing increasingly solid. His succession was merely a matter of waiting for the ailing Shaojing Emperor to pass away.
Meanwhile, the state of Chen had just endured a major war, plagued by internal strife and external threats, and with a new ruler ascending the throne, the court was unstable. Fearing that Liang would seize the opportunity to attack, Chen had no choice but to sweeten the marriage alliance, promising Changlian Wang that King Chen would not select consorts from among his ministers’ daughters before Wen Yu became the queen of Chen.
In other words, this was to ensure Wen Yu’s absolute dominance in the harem after she married into Chen.
Resentful toward Wen Yu and Empress Dowager Jiang over this matter, and unable to overturn the empress dowager’s strict prohibition against selecting consorts after gaining power, King Chen instead brought a courtesan into the palace, lavishing favor upon her to openly display his displeasure toward Empress Dowager Jiang.
Thus, his deliberate provocation on their wedding day was entirely justified.
As Wen Yu pieced together the entire sequence of events, for some inexplicable reason, she still felt a faint sense of unease.
Eunuch Li, seeing Wen Yu remain silent, assumed she had been dazzled by this “sweet treat.” A flicker of contempt passed through his eyes before he plastered on a smile and said, “Such an important task can only be entrusted to Your Majesty, even if it means troubling you while you are unwell.”
Snapping out of her thoughts, Wen Yu cast a thoughtful glance at the eunuch and replied, “Since Her Majesty the Empress Dowager places such great expectations in me, I can only humbly accept.”
The wrinkles on Eunuch Li’s face deepened instantly with his smile, convinced that Wen Yu had been easily swayed by his flattery. After showering her with more praise, he said, “Then this humble servant will take his leave to report back.”
Wen Yu gave a slight nod and called to Tong Que, “See the eunuch out.”
Tong Que expressionlessly gestured for Eunuch Li to leave. Though the eunuch politely insisted, “No need to see me out, no need,” Tong Que escorted him all the way to the palace gates without any intention of slipping him a bribe.
Having reached Eunuch Li’s position, he was accustomed to being fawned over in every consort’s palace, with palace attendants eagerly offering him bribes—except when he was in the empress dowager’s palace, where he received no such treatment.
Having visited Zhaohua Palace today, Eunuch Li was convinced he had successfully charmed Wen Yu. No matter what, he thought, he wouldn’t leave empty-handed.Eunuch Li walked slower and slower, his peripheral gaze fixed on Tong Que as he pondered whether the people of Zhaohua Palace were unaware of the intricacies within King Chen's palace. Just as he contemplated whether to drop a hint, they reached the palace gate. Tong Que stopped and said to him, "Your Excellency, please take care. This servant will not see you off any further."
Eunuch Li flicked the horsetail whisk in his hand and shifted it to his other arm, eyeing Tong Que with a half-smile. "You are Lady Tong Que, correct?"
Tong Que gave a slight nod to confirm that he had not mistaken her name.
Eunuch Li continued, "The Queen has traveled far from Liang to marry here. I understand the hardships involved. As someone who serves by the King's side, I naturally hope for the King and Queen's harmony..."
Seeing that Tong Que remained unmoved, Eunuch Li couldn't tell whether she genuinely failed to grasp his hints or was feigning ignorance. He had no choice but to make his hints more explicit, lowering his voice to say, "These past few days, the King has been resting in Xinyu Palace, even skipping several morning court sessions.".."
Tong Que furrowed her brows as well, and just as Eunuch Li thought he had achieved his goal, he heard her reply, "If His Majesty neglects his duties, it falls to the court officials to remonstrate."
Eunuch Li choked on his words, feeling that the chief maid of Zhaohua Palace must be a fool. The conversation had veered completely off track. He had no choice but to follow her lead and tactfully suggest, "When the six palaces lacked a mistress, it was one thing, but now that the Queen oversees them all, if the King neglects governance due to indulgence in women, the court officials may inevitably blame the Queen for lacking virtue..."
Tong Que looked baffled. "Your Excellency, that is an improper statement. Even the Empress Dowager could not restrain the King in the past—how could my lady persuade him? If any official makes such an accusation, would it not imply that the King is unfilial?"
After all, if even his own mother could not control him, what could a Queen whom he had repeatedly slighted change?
Eunuch Li was left speechless, pointing at Tong Que in frustration and stammering "You..." several times without managing a coherent response. In the end, he flung his sleeve and stormed off.
When Tong Que returned to report to Wen Yu, the Azure Guard hidden in the shadows had already informed Wen Yu of the incident.
Tong Que entered the room, animatedly recounting the events to Wen Yu, who could not help but shake her head with a wry smile, pressing her temples. "Why bother with such a petty, mercenary man?"
Tong Que twisted her delicate brows. "...Your Highness, you did not see it. That eunuch is shameless and opportunistic, spouting all those convoluted words just to extort tribute money and flattery from us, all to compete for that worthless favor of King Chen. The very thought of it is distasteful..."
As the conversation circled back to King Chen, the smile faded from Wen Yu's face. Remembering her purpose in taking charge of the Mid-Autumn banquet, she interrupted Tong Que, "Go to the Imperial Household Department."
Author's Note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated with nutrient solutions between 2024-07-26 00:20:59 and 2024-07-30 23:59:29~
Special thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Nan Ye's Cat, Cool Cool Yu~ 1 each;Thank you to the little angels who nourished me with nutrient solutions: Treading on Grass 30 bottles; Sending Poetry and Books 29 bottles; Deer and Begonia 24 bottles; 57258007 20 bottles; Simple Words & Wood Chants 10 bottles; Yisheng, The Great Sage's Mother is Stone, kfpy_L 5 bottles; Fat Fox 2 bottles; jenniferCA, Mingyun, Stella, Jiusi, Heart Only for Studying, Warm Sun, Dokyeom, Faery 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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