Chapter 9: Reveal to Her His Majesty’s Schemes
“Don’t worry, we will definitely arrange Jian Chen’s funeral matters well, then arrange for a time so that you can visit his grave. Siyin, you must have faith in us. We are even more heartbroken then you are that something like this has happened. We still remember how you gave up your own happiness in order to help us. Now that Jian Chen is no longer around, we will definitely treat you well in order to fill in his share as well!” As Ye Hongyi hugged Xie Siyin, his eyes turned ice cold. He couldn’t allow this woman to live any longer.
The stormy night finally passed. The next morning, right after breakfast, Yao Mowan saw Ye Hongyi rush into the palace.
“Your Majesty, Wan er waited for you a long time last night…” Yao Mowan tugged on Ye Hongyi’s robe as she pouted.
“We rushed here as early as we could to apologize for making you wait in vain. Did you sleep well last night?” Ye Hongyi pulled Yao Mowan to sit down next to him, but then felt that it wasn’t enough so he pulled her onto his lap.
“Your Majesty didn’t keep me company, so I didn’t sleep well.” Yao Mowan continued pouting unhappily.
“Haha, we promise Wan er that we’ll never lie to Wan er again, alright?” Ye Hongyi gently pinched Yao Mowan’s nose.
“En, Wan er believes Your Majesty!” Yao Mowan nodded firmly, then shoved a pastry into Ye Hongyi’s mouth.
“Why isn’t Junqing here?” After being here a while, Ye Hongyi noticed that Ye Junqing was around.
“After Wan er threw that plate last time, he got angry and has been annoyed with Wan er this whole time. But Wan er doesn’t like seeing him anyways, so Wan er told Ting Yue to just send his share to his room,” replied Yao Mowan lightly.
“Oh really… Wan er, Consort De hasn’t been feeling well these last few days. Could you help us keep her company?” Ye Hongyi’s request was outside of Yao Mowan’s expectations. She had been planning to approach Xie Siyin somehow, so Ye Hongyi’s request actually made things a lot easier for her.
“Who’s Consort De? Wan er doesn’t want to keep her company.” Yao Mowan pouted and struggled out from Ye Hongyi’s arms.
“But we really don’t have any time to keep her company. Take it as us begging Wan er, alright?” Ye Hongyi pulled her back into his arms and gently coaxed her.
“Wan er will do whatever Your Majesty asks, but can Your Majesty agree to a request from Wan er?’ Yao Mowan looked towards Ye Hongyi very earnestly.
“What is it?” Ye Hongyi lifted his brows.
“Make Ye Junqing go away already! He’s so annoying!” Yao Mowan sighed, then shrugged and returned to her own seat. When Ye Hongyi saw that peeved expression on Yao Mowan’s face, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Yao Mowan stood quietly outside Ordinance Palace. The reason Ye Hongyi had sent her to keep Xie Siyin company was definitely so that she could help him keep an eye on Xie Siyin. If he had sent a different consort, Xie Siyin would have her guard up. Only a fool wouldn’t arouse suspicions and would make her lower her guard.
“Ting Yue, what is this!? Ahhh… Wuwuu, scary!” The moment she walked into Ordinance Palace, she saw that on the left side of the palace doors, there were a lot of dead bugs and even the corpse of a small green snake on top of some bloodstains.
“Your Highness, don’t be scared. They’re already dead, there’s nothing to be scared of!” Yao Mowan rarely tell Ting Yue and Liu Xing about her decisions beforehand because she felt that they were skilled enough to judge the situation. Reality proved her right, because they had never disappointed her before.
Right at this moment, the door to the main hall of Ordinance Palace opened and Yue Chan rushed over.
“What are you guys doing?” Yue Chan demanded sternly with hostility in her eyes. She had yet to meet Yao Mowan since her return to the palace, so this attitude was within reason.
“His Majesty sent Wan er here to keep Big Sister Consort De company, but what happened here? Why are there so many dead bugs? It’s so scary!” Yao Mowan deliberately raised her volume and glanced briefly towards the main hall.
“You’re… Noble Consort Yao? This servant, Yue Chan, kowtows in salute to Noble Consort Yao.” Even though Yue Chan had never seen Yao Mowan before, she had heard about things related to Yao Mowan. Since the woman in front of her called herself Wan er and was dressed in noble consort attire, she was probably the consort that His Majesty currently doted on the most, Consort Yao— Yao Mowan.
“Stop kneeling, the ground’s so dirty. There’s blood, dead bugs, and even a dead snake! Ting Yue, I don’t like this place!” Yao Mowan tugged on Ting Yue to leave.
“Your Highness, don’t be scared, they’re already dead. There’s nothing to be scared of,” Ting Yue consoled her again.
Suddenly, Xie Siyin ran out from the main hall. Her movements were clumsy and weak and she staggered as she ran. Her originally delicate and tender face was now haggard and there were dark circles around her eyes. It had only been one night, but Xie Siyin had changed drastically. Yao Mowan felt guilty, but she had to do this in order to make Xie Siyin tear off Ye Hongyi’s fake mask of kindness with her own hands. In reality, her happiness has always been right there!
“Where are there dead bugs?”
When Yue Chan saw Xie Siyin run out, she hastily walked over to support Xie Siyin.
Yao Mowan pointed at the dead bugs on the ground and said angrily, “Right here, and there’s so many of them. Big Sister Consort De, were you guys putting poison here to kill the bugs?” Yao Mowan looked towards Xie Siyin with earnest confusion on her face. However, Xie Siyin didn’t even glance at her and just stared at the dead bugs on the ground.
“Your Highness, allow this servant to help you back inside. Your Highness Consort Yao, please come in!” The moment Yue Chan saw the dead bugs, she knew that things were getting bad. She really wanted to just drag Xie Siyin back inside, but before she could, Xie Siyin had already flung her off.
“Why would they die? Yue Chan, why!?” Xie Siyin’s eyes turned ice cold.
“Your Highness, please calm down! Her Highness Consort Yao is still here!” Yue Chan looked towards Xie Siyin worriedly as she cautiously reminded her of this.
“Of course it’s because there’s poison in the blood that also ended up poisoning them. This is chicken blood, right? Back at home, that’s what Nurse Gao used to get rid of the bugs too!” Yao Mowan purposefully explained.
“There’s poison in the blood… Why would there be poison in the blood… Why would there be poison in Jian Chen’s blood!?” Yao Mowan’s words seemed to explode like lightning in Xie Siyin’s heart.
“Your Highness, how could you make Consort Yao stand and wait outside?” Yue Chan hastily walked to Xie Siyin and grabbed her tightly. As she resisted Xie Siyin’s attempts to struggle free, she whispered, “Your Highness, no matter what, you should wait until Consort Yao leaves before talking about this. You should be well aware why His Majesty had sent Consort Yao here!”
Yue Chan’s words were effective. Xie Siyin stopped struggling and allowed Yue Chan to help her into the building like a soulless puppet. Yao Mowan was also invited inside.
For the entire day, Xie Siyin just sat motionlessly on the couch like a wooden puppet. She didn’t react no matter what Yao Mowan said or did. The only thing she was thinking about was what Yao Mowan had said, that there was poison in the blood!
“Big Sister Consort De, the things you have here are so pretty. Wan er had never seen a table leg as pretty as this!” Yao Mowan’s eyes sparkled childishly as she touched the leg of the table.
“Aah… the table’s bleeding… Ting Yue, look! It’s bleeding!” Yao Mowan backed away from the table in a fluster. When Xie Siyin heard the word ‘bleed,’ she immediately rushed over to Yao Mowan and saw that red powder was sticking to Yao Mowan’s hands.
“It’s all this servant’s fault. I forgot that I asked the people from the internal affairs department to polish this table. The polish probably hasn’t dried yet, that’s why it got on Your Highness’s hands. This servant is truly sorry.” When Yue Chan saw the red powder on Yao Mowan’s hand, she hastily came up with an excuse.
“Oh, it’s fine. Ting Yue, let’s head back. I’m hungry.” Yao Mowan shrugged and turned to leave. Xie Siyin had seen everything that she had wanted her to see, so this was enough.
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
