“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty! Somebody help. Empress Chen blacks out!”
At once, everyone flooded here. Servant girls and eunuchs went around to send the message that Empress Chen blacked out. In spite of losing consciousness, Empress Chen was still able to hear what people around her said. She clearly realized that she had fallen into the trap of Sima Ray, a ruthless and ungrateful man who she spent ten years bringing up.
In front of her, Sima Ray suddenly was not as obedient and humble as he used to be. She miserably grinned and wore a bitter smile. Then the knockout drops in her tea worked again, and she completely lost her consciousness.
Sima Ray, who looked excited, tended to step forward but was stopped by Leng Wu. He shook his right hand slightly but held himself back, merely staring at Leng Changxi who was indifferent.
“Empress Chen is under fierce emotional changes now. We don’t know whether she is all right. Prince Ray, you’d better not stay close to her.” Leng Changxi said while keeping up his chin slightly. How could he allow Sima Ray who was able to kill people without being noticed to get close to Empress Chen? Earlier, Leng Changxi had sent people to investigate him, but he hid himself so well. Nevertheless, Leng Changxi managed to find out his secret from an old servant girl living in the suburb of the Royal City whom Minister Liu mentioned before.
Sima Ray! Back to the year when the Weiyang Palace caught fire, he was just ten years old, and someone had clearly seen him leave the fire scene in haste.
Thinking of this, Leng Changxi couldn’t help shaking his fingers. Qin Yunuan, who saw this gently, held his hands, which hurt Sima Ray again.
“Doctor Sun is taking care of Empress Chen, so Prince Ray, don’t worry.” Qin Yunuan smiled at Sima Ray and said. She gave him an ironic glance. “Doctor Sun will cure her.”
Cure her? This must be the least thing Sima Ray wanted to see.
The Fushou Palace, where Empress Chen lived, was always a peaceful and quiet place. But today, there seemed to be an endless serious atmosphere here.
Sun Miaoyang was treating Empress Chen in her living room. Meanwhile, Emperor Zhaoxuan called up all servant girls in charge and eunuchs working in the Fushou Palace to the side chamber. He put on a serious look to interrogate them one by one.
However, all these people behaved as if they had rehearsed this before. Some answered that they worked in outer rooms, so they didn’t know what happened inside, while others said that there was nothing wrong with Empress Chen who practiced Buddha worship every day. In their opinion, Empress Chen was graceful and virtuous, doing nothing inappropriate.
Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi waited aside quietly. Next to them stood Sima Ruo and Sima Ray. Saichun, whose current top priority was to take good care of her unborn baby, had been sent back to the Jingxi Palace to rest.
“You all, go out.” Emperor Zhaoxuan pinched his nose bridge, looking tired.
All servant girls and eunuchs left except one who dressed like a third-class servant girl. When others had walked out of the inner room, she turned her head all of a sudden and kowtowed to the emperor.
“What are you doing?” The emperor frowned.
The servant girl had a long face and looked not pretty. Having rough skin, she might take on rough work. The longer she kowtowed, the more terribly she shivered. She didn’t say anything until her forehead was swollen. “I have seen something I shouldn’t see, and thereafter, I live in fear of being killed every day. Now, I only hope that Your Highness can pardon and protect me. I will tell you everything I know.”
Emperor Zhaoxuan said loudly and magisterially, “Just say it out. I promise nobody in Qi can hurt you.”
The long-face servant girl replied immediately, “Not long ago when I did cleaning in the garden, I was so tired and fell asleep behind the rockery. When I woke up at midnight, I heard a man and a woman talking before the rockery, a place barely walked. In the beginning, I thought it was a servant girl and her eunuch partner dating there. But after I heard what they said….”
After a pause, the servant girl bent and went on, “The servant girl was Chun’er, Empress Chen’s close maid. She took out several yellow packages from her sleeves and handed them to a eunuch who looked unfamiliar. Chun’er told him which package should be added into the meal of Imperial Concubine Yun and which into the meal of the Grand Prince’s Wife. She specially mentioned that Empress Chen didn’t want Imperial Concubine Yun to recover and the Grand Prince and his wife to go out of the Palace.”
“Bring Chun’er in.”
Steadily and gradually, the situation came to one end. Qin Yunuan leaned towards Leng Changxi and lowered her voice, “This time, Empress Chen may not be able to save herself.”
Leng Changxi titled his head slightly but still looked straight ahead. “I don’t care about her. It’s none of my business whether she is alive or dead. I’m just a little surprised about how vicious Sima Ray is. But I can understand why he has such a personality. Living under the absolute control of Empress Chen for a long time, he can’t help becoming mentally disturbed.”
Hearing this, Qin Yunuan couldn’t help smiling. Then she felt someone looked straight at her coldly. It was Sima Ray. He looked at Qin Yunuan as if he was evaluating a prey. Qin Yunuan turned her head away, pretending that she didn’t notice his glance. Then, Chun’er came in.
Chun’er was pretty, and she said she didn’t understand what the long-face servant girl said at all. After a while, however, knockout drops and drugs that were harmful to babies had been found in her room, which explained everything.
“Your Highness, I’m not meant to do this. It is Empress Chen that forces me to do so.” Facing a series of evidence, Chun’er started to pass the buck to Empress Chen.
“Evidence are here. How can you deny everything you did?” Emperor Zhaoxuan was furious. He always respected and thought highly of Empress Chen by regarding her as his wonderful helper and a good wife. However, she was actually a vicious woman who hurt imperial concubines, poisoned her unborn grandson and even found a killer to murder herself deliberately.
At this time, Sun Miaoyang sent a servant girl to report that Empress Chen was awake, but she couldn’t talk, undergoing emotional disturbance. She insisted on having a talk with the emperor.
Emperor Zhaoxuan clenched his fist and said, “I don’t want to see her.” Then he stood up. “Inform everyone that Empress Chen was so frightened in the feast that it caused her palpitations. She needs rest, and servants in the Fushou Palace should leave and not bother her. From now on, Empress Chen is not allowed to leave the Palace, and no one can visit her.” After issuing the decree, he angrily turned to Sima Ray and said, “You’d better keep clear-minded and don’t step on the road your mother chose.”
Sima Ray knelt down quickly and made his promise as if he was a filial child and felt sorry for what Empress Chen did. When Emperor Zhaoxuan left, Sima Ruo walked to Sima Ray in silence and looked sad. Qin Yunuan subconsciously wanted to step forward but was stopped by Leng Changxi. He said, “He knows what he’s doing.”
Sima Ray looked up slowly, and his face was left with tear stains. Before saying something, he was slapped fiercely by Sima Ruo.
Then, Sima Ruo’s hands were shaking. “I’m on behalf of our mother and Saichun to slap you. Ray, do you know who planed this? I know, and so does God. You will pay for what you did.”
Sima Ray still knelt down and wore a bitter smile. Seeing Sima Ruo walking far away, he murmured, “I will pay for it? Right. That day is coming.”
On the carriage which headed to the mansion, Qin Yunuan was a bit mind-absent. She knew the Grand Prince and Leng Changxi were in the same camp, and they two always helped each other. So, when the Grand Prince asked for help, she told Leng Changxi immediately. But unexpectedly, Sima Ray hadn’t exposed all his tricks. He directly sacrificed “his pawn” to save “the queen.”
Suddenly, a piece of scrip was passed to them from outside. It was a message from the Palace. Glancing at it briefly, Leng Changxi said in a deep voice, “Empress Chen suicided.”
Qin Yunuan was shocked and stared at him.
Leng Changxi took off his mask. When he stayed with Qin Yunuan alone, he rarely wore the mask. He massaged his temple and asked, “Do you believe this is true?”
After thinking for a while, Qin Yunuan shook her head and said, “No, I don’t. Empress Chen is sophisticated and tactful, never giving up easily. To achieve her ambitious goal, she is willing to adopt, raise and cultivate a child who shares no kinship with her. Although losing this battle, she will never give up. She must have plans to help herself rise again. Empress Chen will not commit suicide easily.”
Leng Changxi nodded, and he agreed with Qin Yunuan. “Right. Besides, scouts report that,” Leng Changxi took a pause, “Before Empress Chen suicided, Sima Ray asked to enter her bedroom to fulfill his filial responsibility for the last time. About an hour later, it was said that Empress Chen suicided.”
“Hasn’t nobody suspected that he killed her?”
“Some may feel suspicious, but they can do nothing.” Leng Changxi shook his head indifferently. “When a person falls from power, his followers will disperse. The emperor has shown his attitude towards Empress Chen who plays hideous tricks. Therefore, it now doesn’t matter too much when she is killed and who kills her.”
All sorts of feelings flooded. A few days later, another message from the Palace came that Imperial Concubine Yun had recovered. Imperial Concubines led by Imperial Concubine Yang went together to tell the emperor a years-long secret. The emperor was so furious and ordered not to bury Empress Chen in the Imperial Mausoleum. Being the mother of a nation, Empress Chen was even not allowed to be buried there, which must be the harshest insult for her.
When the message came, Qin Yunuan was sewing a cloak for Leng Changxi. The weather was getting colder. Leng Changxi inspected the military camp three times a month. The journey from home to the camp was long and tiring, and Qin Yunuan worried that he would catch cold.
“A years-long secret?” Qin Yunuan finished sewing. “What’s that?”
Leng Shuang, who sent the message, said in a plain tone, “I’ve heard that it is related to Imperial Concubine Shu who committed suicide to avoid punishment ten years ago.”
Ten years ago? Qin Yunuan frowned. The fire accident Leng Changxi was investigating also happened ten years ago. Was there any connection between these two cases?
