Chapter 26 Could it be that Jiang Yu is colluding with the Duke of Chu's mansion?

Royal Palace

The Empress lay reclining on the brocade couch, listening to the palace maids talk about the notices. "I heard they've been posted wherever there are crowds, so I guess everyone in the capital knows about them now."

The Empress popped a piece of pastry into her mouth, and a palace maid leaned closer to her, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"The Marquis said that the fourth young lady of the Qingshan Marquis's Mansion stole the husband of the eldest young lady of the Chu State Duke's Mansion. The Chu State Duke's Mansion will not let this go, nor will the Anyuan Marquis's Mansion."

The Empress wiped her hands with a handkerchief and said, "The Qingshan Marquis's family says that Su Yuezhen is a lucky star, but I think she's more like a jinx."

The palace maid smiled and said, "The Marquis means that the Emperor and the Imperial Concubine should not meet these two days. There should be some big moves going on in the court."

After listening, the Empress lowered her eyes and pondered for a while before saying, "Go and invite the Emperor. Tell him I have something to discuss with him."

"Yes." The palace maid turned and left. The Empress stared blankly at the peach tree in the corner outside the room for a long time.

........

Consort Su was not as leisurely as the Empress at this moment. Upon hearing about the announcement, she smashed a teacup on the ground with a loud bang, her bright face filled with anger.

"All you ever do is create trouble for me. Go and see if the Emperor is done with his work. If he is, tell him that my heart hurts."

The young palace maid responded with a "Yes," and ran out. She returned a short while later, knelt before the Imperial Concubine, and said, "When I arrived at the Imperial Study, His Majesty had already been invited away by the Empress's people."

"Useless." The Imperial Concubine kicked the little palace maid in the chest and said, "Go to the Empress and ask someone to tell the Emperor that I fainted from chest pain."

Despite the pain in her chest, the young palace maid rose and headed for the Empress's Kunning Palace. Just as she reached the palace gate, a sedan chair stopped, and the currently favored Consort Guo emerged from it, then, supported by palace maids, swayed gracefully into the Kunning Palace.

The Imperial Concubine's maid tried to speak to the guards at Kunning Palace, but was immediately turned away. A little while later, the Emperor, holding Consort Guo's hand, emerged from Kunning Palace, and the two then boarded the same sedan chair and departed.

The Imperial Concubine's maid wanted to tell the Emperor that the Imperial Concubine had fainted from chest pain, but she was stopped by the Empress and Consort Guo's men, and could only return disappointed. One wonders what kind of mistreatment the Imperial Concubine would inflict upon her return.

Inside the hall of Kunning Palace, a palace maid asked the Empress with a resentful expression, "Why did Your Majesty summon Consort Guo? You've just wasted an opportunity."

The Empress leaned back on the couch and said softly, "If Consort Su came to see the Emperor and said she had a chest pain, I couldn't stop her. But the Emperor's current darling is a different story."

The palace maid sighed, and the Empress glanced at her and smiled, saying, "I'm already in my forties or fifties, do you think I still have to compete for favor with those young maids? As long as I hold onto my position as Empress firmly, and as long as the Marquis of Chengen's mansion is doing well, I don't care how they fight."

The palace maid still looked somewhat unwilling, but the Empress raised her hand and said, "Help me to wash up and rest."

The palace maid bent down and helped her into the bathroom. The Empress slept soundly that night, but chaos reigned in Consort Su's Chengqian Palace, while the Emperor was making love with Consort Guo in bed...

next day

A quarter before dawn, Earl Qingshan stepped out of the mansion gate, preparing to get into his sedan chair to go to his duty. But just as he reached the sedan chair, a carriage drove up, its emblem bearing the brightly lit character "Chu".

In the capital, only the carriages of the Duke of Chu's mansion would display a plaque engraved with the character "Chu". He was wondering why the carriage of the Duke of Chu's mansion would come to his Qingshan Earl's mansion.

Just then, the carriage stopped, and the steward, Li Zhong, dismounted. He did not bow to the Earl of Qingshan, but instead lifted the curtain, pulled out a lifeless body, and threw it on the ground.

Then he cupped his hands to the Earl of Qingshan and said, "My lord, the Duke, has instructed me to send the people from the Earl of Qingshan's residence back."

After saying that, he climbed onto the carriage, cracked the whip on the horse's rump, and the carriage sped away.

The Earl of Qingshan stood there, stunned for a moment before he realized what was going on. Although the Earl of Qingshan's family and the Duke of Chu's family weren't exactly inseparable, they maintained a respectable relationship on the surface. What was the Duke of Chu trying to do?

He was furious; nothing had gone right these past two days. "Let's go see what's going on?"

The attendant hurried over, looked down, and his face showed a moment of shock as he said, "My lord, it's Yang Tianfu."

Uncle Qingshan walked over, looked down, and sure enough, it was Yang Tianfu. He gave a signal to his attendant, who squatted down, reached out to check Yang Tianfu's breath, and then felt the artery in his neck before saying, "My lord, the man is dead."

Uncle Qingshan looked down at Yang Tianfu's corpse in silence. Yang Tianfu must have been tortured before he died, but Yang Tianfu went to set fire to Jiang Yu. How did that get involved with the Duke of Chu's mansion?

Could it be that Jiang Yu is colluding with the Duke of Chu's mansion?

But the Qingshan Earl's Mansion has no grudge against the Duke of Chu, so why should the Duke of Chu get involved? Moreover, the Duke of Chu is in poor health, and his descendants are incompetent. It seems that the Duke of Chu's Mansion is about to decline. Shouldn't the Duke of Chu be making good connections with others?

What is he trying to do?

Was the Marquis of Anling involved?

What about the Marquis of Chengen's residence?

Just as a thought was about to flash through his mind, a man on horseback galloped up. He dismounted, bowed to Uncle Qingshan, and leaned closer to him, whispering:

"The Imperial Concubine has sent word that someone has impeached her for the matter of the proclamation. Also, the Imperial Concubine has not yet seen the Emperor."

Qingshanbo frowned deeply. He hadn't expected that the Imperial Concubine wouldn't see the Emperor. He had originally planned to have the Imperial Concubine plead for him before the Emperor received the memorial impeaching him, hoping to resolve the matter peacefully.

But things are getting more and more complicated now.

He pondered for a moment and then said, "Go and call Qi Yuanhong over."

The servant replied "Yes," mounted his horse, and galloped away. Uncle Qingshan sent someone to ask for leave from the yamen on his behalf. He turned and went into the mansion, saying to the people around him as he walked, "Call Su Yuezhen to the study."