Chapter 141

The carved wooden door was pushed open with a creaky sound, and sunlight poured into the hall from the open door and tall window frames. The wisps of fragrant smoke rising from the Boshan stove floated slowly in the air.

The eldest princess Qi Shu, dressed in an elaborate dark green palace dress, walked into the small Buddhist temple in her mother's palace.

Her hair was piled high and decorated with pearl-pins. Her upturned eyes were charming yet a little arrogant. Her lips were bright red. Her slender waist and arms were draped with a light blue gauze shawl. Every move she made was full of charm.

The most precious peony in Dayin is worthy of the title of "national beauty and heavenly fragrance".

In the center of the temple stands a one-foot-tall white jade Guanyin. Its warm color shows that it is made from a whole piece of top-quality mutton-fat jade and was carefully carved by craftsmen. It is worth a lot of money.

Qi Shu looked at the beautiful woman in a sandalwood Zen robe kneeling on the futon with her back to her, and said proudly, "Mother, why did you call me here?"

Concubine An twisted the rosary beads strung together with half white jade beads and half emerald beads in her hand. She did not answer, but continued to recite Buddhist scriptures in a low voice.

The incense used in this Buddhist temple is a heavy Tibetan incense with an ancient and deep scent. Qi Shu does not like this smell.

Seeing that her mother called her over and then left her aside, Qi Shu frowned. Usually her mother would only treat her like this when she did something wrong.

Thinking of the things that Gongsun Yin had recently asked her to help investigate, she tightened her hands clasped in front of her, but her pride as a princess quickly concealed the discomfort.

Concubine An finally finished reciting the sutra, stood up, lit a stick of incense in front of the Guanyin statue, and then spoke slowly: "What have you been busy with these days?"

Qi Shu said calmly, "I learned to play the qin from Qin Shangyi of the Music Bureau. In my spare time, I also copied some Buddhist scriptures for my mother."

Concubine An sat down on the imperial concubine chair, holding the blue and white rosary in her hand. She raised her eyelids slightly and glanced at her daughter: "Is this all you have?"

The mother and daughter look 50% alike, except for their charming eyes, which are exactly the same. However, the corners of Concubine An's eyes have been eroded by time, leaving fine lines.

Qi Shu was spoiled and had a bad temper since she was young. She looked at the concubine and said, "Since mother doesn't believe me, why do you need to ask me again?"

When Concubine An heard her daughter's firecracker-like reply, her brows wrinkled slightly and she couldn't help but shook her head slightly.

She asked, "Why do people in your palace go to the cold palace so often recently?"

Qi Shu felt guilty, her eyelashes trembling, she said stubbornly: "This... There are dozens of maids and eunuchs in my palace, how can I know what they did in private."

Concubine An's face darkened completely. She looked at Qi Shu and called out, "Shu'er!"

After Concubine Dowager An became really angry, Qi Shu was still afraid, but she did not dare to reveal her cooperation with Xie Zheng.

Concubine An also knew that the emperor had granted her and Xie Zheng a marriage, but Xie Zheng did not even let the eunuch announce the decree, and he even cut off one of the eunuch's ears. He was really arrogant to the extreme.

Although not many people knew about this, Xie Zheng defied the imperial order and refused to marry, which was a slap in the face of not only Qi Sheng, but also Qi Shu. Concubine An was quite critical of Xie Zheng.

Qi Shu was secretly happy in her heart. She had tried every means to pass this news to Xie Zheng, but she didn't dare to tell him because she was afraid that her mother would blame her for interfering in the situation in the court.

At this moment, facing the angry Concubine An, she thought for a while and said, "Someone in my palace accidentally discovered that there is a maid in the cold palace who used to work in Concubine Jia Gui's palace. She looked crazy and pitiful, so she helped her once or twice, but she told me some terrible news."

When Concubine An heard that there was a maid from Concubine Jia Gui's palace in Leng Palace, she twisted her rosary beads in her hand and her expression started to look wrong.

Qi Shu carefully observed her mother's expression and continued, "That crazy palace maid said that Prime Minister Wei once...had committed adultery in the harem and had an affair with a concubine..."

With a "snap" sound, the rosary in Concubine An's hand was torn off, and the blue-white seal beads fell to the ground.

"Who else knows about this?"

Concubine Dowager An suddenly stood up and asked Qi Shu in a sharp voice, looking uglier than ever before.

Qi Shu was also startled by her mother's rare outburst of anger. She thought over and over again, and replied, "This is a serious matter. I don't know if the palace maid was just talking nonsense. She didn't say which concubine of my father had an affair with Prime Minister Wei. How dare I tell others about it?"

Concubine An then sat back on the imperial concubine's chair and said tiredly, "Let's leave this matter at that. Don't investigate further. Just pretend you haven't heard the crazy words of that palace maid."

Qi Shu thought Concubine An's reaction today was very strange, and asked, "Why? If Wei Yan is really so bold, this crime is enough to exterminate his entire clan and take back the imperial power from him."

Even though Dayin ruled the world, as long as her surname was Qi, she would always be the most honorable princess of Dayin.

But this dignity also depends on whether the imperial power declines.

For example, when Qi Sheng was in power, after the imperial power was hollowed out by Wei Yan, the entire royal family had to depend on Wei Yan for survival.

When Concubine An heard what Qi Shu said, she sneered: "Exterminate Wei Yan's entire clan? If they could, the bloodbath in the Taiqian Palace wouldn't have happened seventeen years ago."

Taiqian Palace was the sleeping palace of emperors of all dynasties.

Qi Shu's charming eyes suddenly widened: "Did Wei Yan force the emperor to abdicate and rebel?"

Her hands and feet felt cold: "Then the emperor...didn't die of illness?"

Concubine An did not answer any more. She knelt in front of the Guanyin statue with her hands clasped together and said, "Don't ask anything, and don't investigate anything anymore. I closed the palace doors tightly and ignored everything. That's why I am the only one of the four concubines who is still alive today."

Perhaps it was the pride of the royal family that made Qi Shu unable to resist questioning in a cold voice, "Wei Yan has bullied our royal family to this extent. Even if my brother is not fit for the job, it is now rumored that the eldest brother of the Crown Prince Chengde still has descendants in this world. If they unite with the Li family, the Marquis of Wu'an who holds a large number of troops, and my grandfather, I don't believe that we can't bring down Wei Yan!"

Concubine An opened her eyelids and said, "Do you think Concubine Jia Gui's family was weak back then? She, Jia Min, is still the most favored in the harem even though she is middle-aged. Isn't it because of her family's power? The sixteenth prince even wants to compete with the crown prince for the throne. But in the end, what does it matter? Count the officials in the court and see if there is an official with the surname Jia above the fifth rank in the court."

Qi Shu felt a chill down her spine. She asked in a trembling voice, "Since Wei Yan has become so powerful, why... does he still want to support his younger brother to ascend the throne?"

Her eyes changed: "Could it be that the emperor's brother..."

Concubine An interrupted her and said, "Don't make wild guesses. Wei Yan is just a mad dog. Who knows what he is planning? You are my only daughter. Don't get involved in the gossip in the court. We, mother and daughter, and the An family will always be able to live in peace."

Qi Shu looked at Concubine An and said, "Mother, do you know who was the concubine who had an affair with Wei Yan?"

-

Taiqian Palace.

Qi Sheng looked at the palace maids kneeling and trembling at the bottom of the steps. He sat on the dragon chair with one hand supporting his chin and asked with interest: "What did the person who came to the cold palace to see you ask you?"

The palace maid was dishevelled and her dirty clothes were stained with large patches of blood. It was obvious that she had been tortured by the eunuchs before being brought here, and she did not dare to pretend to be crazy at this moment.

She looked at the emperor in a dragon robe above her, and trembled like a sieve: "No...no one asked me anything, they just felt sorry for me and gave me a few meals..."

Qi Sheng sneered: "You have been crazy for more than ten years in the cold palace, why are you not crazy now?"

The palace maid trembled even more violently and didn't know how to respond.

The chief eunuch beside Qi Sheng immediately said sternly: "You lowly slave, if you dare to lie to the emperor again, I will take you out of the Meridian Gate and chop you off immediately!"

The maid turned pale with fear and trembled as she said, "Your Majesty, please spare my life, Your Majesty, please spare my life... I did this... to protect myself."

She trembled and cried, "All the maids who served in the palace of Concubine Jia Gui died. I made a mistake before that and was punished by Concubine Jia Gui to work in the laundry department. That's how I escaped. I was afraid that people would find out that I was the only one alive in Concubine Jia Gui's palace, so I had to pretend to be crazy and go to the cold palace to fend for myself."

She spoke earnestly, but Qi Sheng seemed to have no hands or feet. He leaned into the dragon chair and seemed not to care about what she confessed. He said to the chief eunuch, "Shut up. Use another set of torture."

The maid was so frightened that she kowtowed repeatedly and begged for mercy, crying, "Your Majesty, everything I said is true! Um..."

She could not continue to beg for mercy, as she was soon gagged and held down by several strong eunuchs.

In the Taiqian Palace, the eunuchs did not dare to use torture for fear of dirtying the floor, so they took needles and inserted them into the gaps between the palace maids' fingernails.

The pain of having one's fingers connected to one's heart can only be understood by those who have experienced it personally.

In the palace, this set of punishments was sometimes more effective than beating with a stick.

As soon as the first needle was inserted, the palace maid was convulsing with pain and struggling on the ground desperately. However, several eunuchs grabbed her arms and pressed their knees against her legs, feet and back, holding her down tightly. All her screams were blocked in her throat by a ball of cotton cloth. The palace maid bit her teeth in pain, and the blood from her mouth stained the cloth that was blocking her mouth red.

Qi Sheng didn't call for a stop, so the eunuchs thrust in a second, and a third...

By the end of the stabbing, the palace maid was completely exhausted and collapsed on the ground. The cold sweat from the pain soaked her hair and her thin, torn palace clothes. Her ten fingers that were embedded with the needles were laid at her sides, with only a few small pools of blood dripping onto the ground. The palace maid was almost unconscious from the pain, her lips were as white as her face, and her fingertips were still trembling due to the involvement of her muscles and meridians.

The chief eunuch flattered Qi Sheng and said, "Your Majesty, the punishment is over."

Qi Min watched the entire execution. Compared to his previous lack of interest, he seemed to be in a much better mood now. "Now answer me, why are you acting crazy in the cold palace?"

The needle had not been removed from the gap between her nails. The pain was so severe that the maid could not think at all. She could only answer instinctively: "For self-protection."

After making sure that she was not lying, Qi Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up amazingly, with an inexplicable excitement hidden in them: "Who is so capable as to silence everyone in Concubine Jia Gui's palace?"

Even though she was in so much pain that she felt like she was dying, she couldn't help but tremble when she heard this question. As if she had violated some taboo, she spat out the name with extreme fear: "It's... it's Wei Yan."

The chief eunuch standing by was shocked. Qi Sheng was stunned for a moment, then a gloomy look flashed across his eyes. He continued to ask, "Why did he want to kill the people in Concubine Jia Gui's palace?"

The maid's voice was shaking: "Not only the people in the palace of Concubine Jia Gui, but all those who knew about Wei Yan's adultery and debauchery in the harem were killed by him."

These words were like a bolt of lightning, and the chief eunuch began to sweat coldly on his forehead.

He never imagined that there was such a shocking secret hidden in it.

Qi Sheng's face also turned ugly, "You said Wei Yan was lewd and had an affair with the harem?"

The maid nodded in panic.

Qi Sheng sat back on the dragon chair, his face gloomy: "Continue the torture."

The steel needles had been used, and the chief eunuch ordered the eunuchs under him to pinch the hands and feet of the palace maids.

A row of thin sticks clamped all the fingers in, and two strong eunuchs on the left and right pulled the ropes tight, squeezing the finger bones to the point of deformation or even breaking.

The palace maid was held down by the shoulders by several eunuchs. She had no way to struggle. Her tears had dried up, and her teeth, which were biting the cloth gag, were sore and soft. Her mouth was full of the taste of blood.

After this punishment, the maid was paralyzed on the ground, unable to kneel any longer. She could only mutter, "Please spare this slave... I am telling the truth..."

Qi Sheng did not say anything else, and the chief eunuch beside him did not dare to speak rashly, but looked at Qi Sheng's face cautiously.

After the death of Crown Prince Chengde and the sixteenth prince at the hands of the Northern Jue people, the previous emperor passed away. Wei Yan then took control of the government and placed Qi Sheng, who had no foundation at all, on the throne.

Combined with the palace maids' story that Wei Yan had committed adultery and incest in the harem...

The chief eunuch did not dare to think about it any further, fearing that after today, his head would be gone.

Qi Sheng couldn't help scratching the relief on the golden dragon armrest with his fingernails again. His swollen and bulging eyes looked extremely scary: "Who is having an affair with Wei Yan?"

The palace maid confessed with a pale face: "It was...it was the Concubine Shu."

Qi Shengmu breathed a sigh of relief. Shufei was one of the four concubines. According to the royal files, Shufei, like Concubine Jiagui, died with the late emperor after his death.

His eyes began to reveal an indescribable excitement again: "In order to cover up the ugly things he did, Wei Yan killed Concubine Shu as well?"

"I don't know... That year, Concubine Shu was diagnosed with a pregnancy, but the month of the fetus didn't match the imperial concubine's bedchamber... The late emperor was furious and beat the concubine's maids to death. He also imprisoned Concubine Shu to question her. One night, Concubine Shu's Qingyuan Palace suddenly caught fire and burned everything to ashes. Concubine Shu was also burned to death. The Jinwu Guards on duty that night... saw Wei Yan."

Qi Sheng sneered: "What a man who destroyed evidence. Wei Yan is really cruel and ruthless."

He stared at the palace maid and asked, "My father, did he allow Wei Yan to be so lawless?"

The maid said with a pale face: "The fire in the palace of Concubine Shu burned until dawn. At dawn, Wei Yan led his troops to massacre the palace. The late emperor and Concubine Gui were all killed by Wei Yan's sword..."

Qi Sheng was so angry that his facial muscles twitched. He said coldly, "Well, Wei Yan, he caused chaos in the palace, and after the truth was revealed, he killed the emperor to seize power, and bloodbathed the palace to silence everyone. He is really good!"

He made a gesture, and the chief eunuch understood and ordered the young eunuch in the palace to take the palace maid away.

After the chief eunuch came back, he carefully observed Qi Sheng's expression and said, "The princess helped Marquis Wu'an to investigate this matter, probably to bring down Wei Yan. It's a pity that the palace maid only said it with her own words, and there is no evidence."

Qi Sheng suddenly sneered: "I have to thank Wei Yan. He came up with a good way for me to tie Xie Zheng down."

The chief eunuch looked confused, but Qi Sheng said no more.

But the plan in his heart made his bulging eyes light up strangely again: "This knife forged by Wei Yan will eventually be used by me."

-

A few days later, Xie Zheng led the northern expedition army and returned triumphantly from Zhengyang Gate.

The entire capital city was once again deserted; the street from the North Gate to the Zhengyang Gate was packed with people who were going to welcome the triumphant return of the army.

Fan Changyu got the news in advance and booked three private rooms in a restaurant on the street early, just to bring Changning and Baoer to see Xie Zheng's triumphant return.

As for why she booked three rooms, it was because Xie Wu said that he was afraid that there might be eavesdroppers on the other side of the wall. Fan Changyu thought that someone might eavesdrop on her through the wall, so why not just book the two rooms next to each other.

When Xie Wu and Xie Qi heard Fan Changyu's solution, they looked at each other in silence, but they felt that it seemed to make sense, so they had to do it.

Although Aunt Zhao and her husband had gone out to the streets these days, they could never find it as lively as it was today. Looking down from the window of the restaurant, the streets were full of people.

Chang Ning and Yu Baoer had short legs and could not reach the window, so they had to stand on a stool to see what was happening below.

Fan Changyu was afraid that Yu Baoer would be targeted by Huang Changsun's men, so he prepared a stained-face mask for each of the two children. The two children thought it was fun and put it on without taking it off the entire time.

As the army had not yet arrived here, there was only a lot of noise below. Chang Ning and Yu Baoer watched for a while, then found it boring, so they sat down at the round table and ate some pastries and dishes.

When the cheers outside the window became deafening, the two children crowded to the window to look. Aunt Zhao and her husband also wanted to see the excitement, so when they all rushed to the window, they also looked at the two children.

Changning met a flower seller on the way here and bought a basket of flower petals.

She leaned against the window, listening to the enthusiastic cheers of the people below, and excitedly threw flower petals towards the army approaching not far away.

When she saw the handsome young general riding on the tall horse, her eyes widened and she asked, "Brother-in-law?"

She pulled Yu Baoer's sleeve and said excitedly: "Baoer, look, that's my brother-in-law!"

Aunt Zhao and her husband were old, and their eyesight was not as good as Chang Ning's. Aunt Zhao stared at him for a long time before she said, "It seems to be Yan Zheng's child?"

Carpenter Zhao nodded and said, "Yes, that's right."

Aunt Zhao turned around with great joy and said to Fan Changyu, "Changyu, come and see, Yan Zheng has become successful. Look, he is riding a horse and walking in the front! How majestic! Has he earned himself a high position as an official?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Wu and Xie Qi both smiled faintly.

Relying on his height advantage, Fan Changyu was able to have a panoramic view of the entire street from behind.

Of course, she saw Xie Zheng, who was wearing the Qilin Shoulder Swallowing Mysterious Light Armor and riding a horse at the forefront of the army. However, in front of Xie Wu and Xie Qi, she didn't know how to respond to Aunt Zhao's words for a moment. She only coughed twice and said, "He is quite promising."

In the whole Dayin, there is no one more promising than him among his peers.

After he finished speaking, perhaps because Xie Zheng sensed too many eager gazes in front of the restaurant window, he suddenly raised his eyes and looked over.

When his eyes met Fan Changyu's, his eyelids twitched and he suddenly felt guilty.

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