Chapter 123
"Should the need arise, this palace will demand..."
Empress Dowager Jiang stared at Wen Yu as if she had seen a ghost, stammering, "You... weren't you at Jianning Palace?"
Wen Yu slightly furrowed her brows, adopting an expression of surprise and confusion at being inexplicably questioned. "Your daughter-in-law did go to Jianning Palace, but feeling somewhat unwell, I returned to Zhaohua Palace. I sent a maid to the palace banquet to inform Her Majesty and the King. When the maid arrived, she saw all the ministers leaving the banquet. Upon inquiry, she learned that Jianning Palace had caught fire and the King was trapped inside. She ran all the way back to catch up with my procession and report this matter. That is why I hurried here."
The senior ministers who had already witnessed King Chen's condition at the front were nearly collapsing. Judging by Empress Dowager Jiang's tone, she likely remained unaware of the truth and intended to seize upon Wen Yu's late arrival as grounds for reprimand. They quickly exchanged meaningful glances with their disciples present.
These disciples had witnessed Wen Yu being "coldly treated" at the banquet and understood that if the Empress Dowager targeted her again, potentially exposing King Chen's preference for male companions, the recently suppressed "voluntary abdication" controversy might resurface. They promptly chimed in, "There was indeed a palace maid from the Queen's side who returned to the banquet. We all saw her."
Wen Yu continued, "I heard that Her Majesty had returned to Lingxi Palace earlier due to fatigue. Yet upon learning of the King's peril, Her Majesty managed to arrive so swiftly. Your daughter-in-law's delayed arrival is my fault."
After speaking, she bowed apologetically to Empress Dowager Jiang, then feigned concern by casting a hesitant glance toward King Chen, who was tightly surrounded by ministers. "How is the King faring?"
The distance from Lingxi Palace to Jianning Palace was considerable; even with prompt notification, the round trip would take considerable time. Yet Empress Dowager Jiang had arrived even before the ministers coming from the banquet.
Previously, everyone's attention had been focused on King Chen's safety. Now, awakened by Wen Yu's words, they pondered the implications, their expressions growing varied.
Empress Dowager Jiang trembled with barely suppressed rage at Wen Yu's ostensibly respectful yet subtly pointed remarks. She knew all too well that King Chen's predicament was undoubtedly linked to Wen Yu.
Yet Wen Yu's explanation had thoroughly absolved herself while implicating the Empress Dowager instead.
By deliberately inquiring about King Chen now, Wen Yu was clearly twisting the knife in the wound. But before the assembled ministers, Empress Dowager Jiang could not show the slightest trace of anger.
Supported by an elderly maid, she took several deep breaths to barely maintain her composure. Her face, pale beneath the makeup, remained fixed on Wen Yu as if she were seeing this noblewoman from Liang for the first time.
The senior ministers, interpreting Empress Dowager Jiang's silence as persistent intent to target Wen Yu, inwardly lamented her shortsightedness. They jostled to block King Chen completely from Wen Yu's view and reluctantly responded, "Your Majesty need not worry. The King... should be largely unharmed, though he inhaled some smoke and suffered shock. We have already summoned the imperial physicians."
They then shot meaningful looks at Empress Dowager Jiang.
The king's faction had always been at odds with Empress Dowager Jiang. But with such an absurd incident occurring tonight, and with Wen Yu to be kept in the dark, only Empress Dowager Jiang could take charge of the situation.Empress Dowager Jiang herself was well aware of this. Leaning on her elderly attendant for support, her meticulously maintained nails had pierced her palms beneath the dark brocade wide sleeves, yet she maintained her usual stern expression. "His Majesty has been frightened. Escort him back to Zhanghua Hall first."
The imperial carriage was quickly brought forth. King Chen, surrounded by ministers and Imperial Guards, boarded the carriage with a dazed and pale countenance. Anyone could see something was amiss, yet no one present dared to voice the unspoken truth.
As Empress Dowager Jiang and all the officials proceeded to Zhanghua Hall, Wen Yu naturally had to accompany them.
While the imperial physicians attended to King Chen inside the hall, Wen Yu waited outside with Empress Dowager Jiang and the ministers, the atmosphere eerily silent.
Only when the physician specifically assigned to King Chen emerged and declared His Majesty out of danger did the assembled officials unconsciously release sighs of relief.
Yet their expressions remained far from relaxed. Some less experienced junior officials, unable to conceal their thoughts, even stole frequent glances at Wen Yu's countenance.
Fortunately, Wen Yu remained perfectly composed, her face as calm and indifferent as ever, betraying no hint of abnormality.
The moon reached its zenith, and the night wind sweeping through the long courtyard carried a bone-chilling cold.
Empress Dowager Jiang gazed at the doors of Zhanghua Hall, the fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes appearing as deep as knife-carved grooves under the swaying palace lanterns.
Seeming utterly exhausted, she addressed no one in particular: "The night is deep, and all must be weary. The Queen is unwell and should retire first. The palace gates are already locked - my esteemed ministers shall all lodge within the palace tonight."
Except for those closely aligned with Chancellor Jiang's faction and the old ministers of the royal party, the remaining officials displayed varied expressions upon hearing this.
Everyone understood perfectly well that having them stay overnight was merely pretext - the true intention was undoubtedly to pressure them into maintaining strict secrecy about tonight's events.
After all... in recent decades, the Chen royal family had never been embroiled in such scandal.
The emperor favoring men was one thing, but to be the submissive partner!
Wen Yu made a slight curtsy to Empress Dowager Jiang: "Your child takes leave."
The bald-headed man had been secretly brought into the palace. The deputy commander of the Imperial Guards who had arranged this for King Chen naturally lacked the courage to confess everything, so he stubbornly maintained his ignorance, temporarily detaining the man in the imperial prison as an assassin while accepting blame for inadequate patrols.
Jiang Yu, unconscious and out of armor, had been carried from Jianning Palace. With ironclad evidence of King Chen's preferences, this inevitably sparked speculation. Chancellor Jiang's faction reacted swiftly, adamantly claiming Jiang Yu had collapsed inside after inhaling excessive smoke while rushing to rescue the emperor.
However, the fire at Jianning Palace was quickly extinguished, with the most severe damage confined to several unused side rooms far from the annex where King Chen had been trapped. Since numerous Imperial Guards and martial generals who had charged in for rescue hadn't been overcome by thick smoke, it seemed implausible that the renowned undefeated General Jiang Yu would faint from smoke inhalation.
Moreover, Empress Dowager Jiang, who had originally been returning to Lingxi Palace, reached Jianning Palace ahead of the officials, strongly suggesting she had received prior intelligence.
But with the Jiang Family's immense power, though others found the matter highly suspicious, none dared question it openly.
Yet with numerous witnesses among the full court officials tonight, while Empress Dowager Jiang and Chancellor Jiang might suppress the rumors temporarily, they couldn't contain them forever.Not long after, rumors began to circulate privately that King Chen, who favored male companions, had emulated the ancient practice of Zhao Ji from the pre-Qin era by finding an exceptionally gifted man from the pleasure quarters. This man, like Lao Ai, possessed the ability to "move a bronze wheel with his yin organ."
Moreover, the rumors grew increasingly rampant, and Jiang Yu—renowned for his striking beauty and dubbed the "Dream Lover of the Inner Chambers" among noblewomen at the royal court—also became one of the subjects of gossip. The most widespread version claimed that King Chen had long been infatuated with Jiang Yu, hence keeping him close as a trusted minister and appointing him as the commander of the Imperial Guards. However, Jiang Yu remained unappreciative of these affections.
Having lost patience, King Chen attempted to force himself upon Jiang Yu during the Mid-Autumn palace banquet, drugging him into unconsciousness in Jianning Palace. When the Empress Dowager received news and rushed to rescue her nephew, it was said that King Chen, while frolicking with his male favorite "Lao Ai," accidentally knocked over a candle, setting the palace ablaze. This drew a crowd of officials to the scene, inadvertently exposing the scandal.
The Jiang Family naturally did everything in their power to suppress such rumors, but the more they tried to avoid the subject, the more fervently the gossip spread within the royal court. Many noblewomen, upon hearing the news, found their hearts secretly broken.
This also led to the uncovering of the "truth" behind King Chen's prolonged refusal to hold a consort selection after his ascension to the throne: all claims that he was prioritizing the alliance with Liang by abstaining from selecting consorts before Wen Yu's marriage were false!
The real reason was King Chen's preference for male companions. The selection of consorts would involve representatives of various factions at court, and King Chen feared that consorts backed by influential families would discover his secret! Yet he could not arbitrarily execute consorts without considering the implications for the court.
As for bringing the once-favored Consort Li from a brothel?
That was undoubtedly a smokescreen to deceive his officials!
Later, when Tong Que relayed these gathered rumors to Wen Yu and Zhao Bai, the master and servants could not help but laugh at the absurdity, though this was a minor detail.
That night, Wen Yu endured until Empress Dowager Jiang dismissed the crowd. Upon returning to Zhaohua Palace, she had barely stepped into the inner hall when she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
This sent Tong Que and the other maids into a panic. As they helped Wen Yu lie down on the couch, Tong Que could not stop blaming herself: "It was all my negligence. I should never have allowed Your Highness to take such a risk, subjecting you to this suffering…"
When Zhao Bai carried Wen Yu away from the side hall of Jianning Palace, Tong Que and the others had already escaped. To retaliate against Empress Dowager Jiang and King Chen for their vicious plot against Wen Yu, she had ordered the Azure Guard to set fire to a few unused rooms in Jianning Palace. She also dispatched someone disguised as a eunuch to the palace banquet to report that King Chen was trapped in Jianning Palace.
Simultaneously, she sent the Azure Guard back to the banquet to announce that she had already returned to Zhaohua Palace, providing ample proof of her absence from Jianning Palace.
Her final appearance outside Jianning Palace was solely to prevent the Empress Dowager and the Jiang Family from having any grounds to accuse her.
Wen Yu had appeared so composed in front of others that even Tong Que and the rest believed she was unharmed. It was only when they saw her coughing up blood that they panicked, sending for the imperial physician while others hurried to fetch tea and water.
Tong Que's voice even trembled with unshed tears as she asked Zhao Bai, "Her Highness is coughing up blood—was the acupoint-sealing method improper?"
Zhao Bai retrieved silver needles, pricked Wen Yu's fingertips to release blood, and frowned. "The Love Incense is potent. The situation was urgent at the time, and Her Highness needed to return to confront the Empress Dowager. I had no choice but to seal several of her major acupoints first. The love toxin accumulated in her meridians, and such congestion is bound to harm the body."
After bleeding all five fingers, Zhao Bai continued needling upward along Wen Yu's arm, unsealing the blocked acupoints.Wen Yu's face was flushed, and sweat quickly beaded on her temples, yet her words were remarkably calm: "I've returned such a heavy gift to the Empress Dowager. She and the Jiang Family will not let this rest. While they're still reeling, send the survivors rescued from Wu Palace to the Imperial Censor."
Her gaze was sharp and penetrating: "I intend to sever another limb of the Jiang Family in the imperial court."
The secret accounts of the Imperial Household Department were merely trivial matters. What could truly deliver a fatal blow to the Jiang Family were the veteran ministers of the royal faction. Following the accusations made by the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department, there would be sufficient grounds to investigate the Jiang Family. By then, what would be uncovered would far exceed the minor embezzlements from the Imperial Household Department's procurement funds. The people's taxes increased year after year, yet the national treasury remained in deficit. These funds must have gone somewhere.
The Jiang Family would either have to fill this massive deficit in the national treasury or sacrifice a few scapegoats from their inner circle.
Zhao Bai withdrew the silver needles, seeming to want to say something, but when a palace attendant announced Physician Fang's arrival outside the hall, she held her tongue.
By the time Physician Fang had finished diagnosing Wen Yu and prescribing medicine from behind the screen, Wen Yu's clothes were drenched in sweat.
The Azure Guard hurried to the small kitchen to prepare the medicine, while Zhao Bai and Tong Que assisted Wen Yu into the bathing chamber. They helped her into a tub filled with ice water, still in her clothes.
Wen Yu felt as if her entire body were burning. The moment she touched the ice water, a needle-like pain pierced her skin, but she made no sound, only tightly closed her eyes. Her face, originally flushed, turned pale.
Zhao Bai and Tong Que supported her on either side to prevent her from slipping underwater and drowning.
Seeing Wen Yu so frail, Tong Que asked with concern, "Your Highness, are you feeling any better?"
Wen Yu was in excruciating pain all over, but the intensity of it made her desperate to distract herself with thoughts. Her lips pale, she said, "Talk to me."
Understanding her meaning, Zhao Bai recalled the question she had held back earlier due to Physician Fang's arrival and asked, "You have now completely antagonized Empress Dowager Jiang and the Jiang Family. King Chen is a man who bears grudges, and the veteran ministers loyal to him may temporarily align with you to overthrow the Jiang Family in the investigation of the Imperial Household Department's accounts, but their future stance is uncertain."
She paused, looking at Wen Yu, pale as a snow figure, and said with some reluctance, "Your Highness, I fear you may face enemies on all sides in the future."
After all, no matter how much the royal faction and the Jiang faction disagreed, they were all ministers of the Chen Kingdom and would prioritize the kingdom's interests.
This was also why, back in Jianning Palace, Zhao Bai had told Wen Yu that if she gave the order, she would gather their people and risk everything to take Wen Yu back to Da Liang.
Tong Que, already flustered by the night's many upheavals, had not yet considered such long-term implications. Hearing Zhao Bai's words, she grew worried and also turned her gaze to Wen Yu.
Wen Yu did not open her closed eyes. Her dark hair, wet from the water, clung to her cheeks, and her teeth chattered slightly from the extreme cold, yet her words remained clear: "The Jiang faction in the Chen Kingdom is no different from the Party of Ao in Da Liang back then. This root of evil must be eradicated."
"Without the Jiang faction endangering the kingdom, and with King Chen having lost the support of his ministers, I can replace him."
These words shocked Zhao Bai and Tong Que, their expressions changing simultaneously. Was Wen Yu actually plotting to change the ruler of the Chen Kingdom?
Zhao Bai hesitated, "Even if Your Highness possesses extraordinary stratagems and the qualities of a monarch, the veteran ministers of the Chen Kingdom may not necessarily abandon King Chen..."This time, Wen Yu did not answer immediately. Her black hair, freed from its ornaments, drifted like clouds of gauze in the water. When she lifted her gaze, her eyes seemed fixed intently on one spot, yet also appeared dazed. "When necessary, I shall have a child."
After a brief moment of astonishment, Zhao Bai understood Wen Yu's plan.
Just as King Chen had schemed tonight, Wen Yu also intended to use a child to secure the entire state of Chen.
Once the Jiang faction was eradicated and King Chen was controlled, no one would know that Wen Yu's child would not be the true royal heir.
The old ministers, long disillusioned with King Chen, would undoubtedly be more willing to support a new king who could be properly nurtured.
After the Azure Guard brewed the medicine and brought it to her, Wen Yu drank it, changed into dry clothes, and wearily lay down beneath the covers.
Layer upon layer of silk curtains were drawn, leaving only a single palace lamp in the corner of the inner chamber for nighttime needs.
Zhao Bai and Tong Que stood guard outside the hall, swords in hand, with only the occasional distant caw of crows breaking the night's silence.
Having soaked in the icy water for too long, Wen Yu felt as if every joint in her body was still trembling, her head heavy and muddled. She reached beneath the embroidered pillow, tightly clutching the carp wood carving.
In her daze, she seemed to dream—of a frozen, snow-covered landscape where someone carried her on horseback at a gallop. The bone-chilling wind cut deep, yet the fabric she gripped desperately in her hand remained steadfast and reliable.
She knelt by the frost-blanched banks of the Wei River, weeping bitterly toward distant Fengyang, vowing with blood-soaked words to seek revenge. That person stood behind her like an unshakable mountain...
The blades he had taken for her, the blood he had shed, the paths he had carried her along, and the gaze that had always rested upon her—all flashed vividly through her mind, scene by scene.
A dull ache clenched Wen Yu's heart. She lifted a hand, yearning to touch the shadow in her dream, but instead felt a warm, moist sensation on her palm and lips.
Startled, she looked up in the dream and saw him leaning weakly against the stone wall, his pale yet handsome face illuminated by the cave's firelight. She was cupping his cheeks.
She had pried his teeth apart to feed him medicine, her touch meeting something soft yet slightly rough. Before she could withdraw, he pursued her like one who had tasted ecstasy, tangling with her, domineering yet clumsy in his exploration, drawing the bittersweet medicine from her.
Knowing this was a memory invading her dream, she watched the cave feeding scene unfold as a bystander. Once she regained control of her body, she continued to cradle that face she might never see again in this lifetime, her gaze dark and somber. Softly, she asked, "If one day I return to Liang, will you still be there?"
—
Tongzhou.
The caw of crows pierced the midnight stillness. Xiao Li pushed himself up from the desk, his eyes red from lack of rest.
He rubbed his face in frustration.
Why had he dreamed of that again?
As turmoil churned within him, a voice called from outside his tent: "Prefect! Scouts have discovered Northern Wei troops marching by night at Wuli Bay!"
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