Chapter 48

When Xue Jin'an arrived at the destination, it was already completely dark. However, the long-abandoned Zhaoyang Palace was brightly lit, and palace maids were waiting outside to greet him.

Even though the Imperial Guards had already guessed that with the Empress Dowager's support, the Seventh Prince's confinement would probably not be too difficult, they never expected that it wouldn't be easy, but rather that it wouldn't be difficult at all!

They had seen the Seventh Prince's residence in the Princes' Palace before. Compared to that, all of this must be a luxury for the Seventh Prince!

However, the emperor turned a blind eye to the Empress Dowager's favoritism, so what could the guards say?

The guards surrounded the entire Zhaoyang Palace in pairs, thinking that as long as the Seventh Prince didn't come out, they could pretend they didn't see what kind of carefree life he was living inside.

Then they soon discover that pretending not to see is really hard.

The palace maids were sent by the Empress Dowager to tidy up the palace. They were all very efficient. In the short time it took Xue Jin'an to come from Qianyuan Palace, they had already tidied up the courtyard and the front hall, and the floor tiles were so shiny they could be seen.

Even so, Granny Su was still not satisfied, feeling that they were too lax, and said in a deep voice, "Why don't you prepare the Seventh Prince's residence first?"

The leading palace maid, Lingzhi, quickly said, "It was my negligence. I originally thought we could clean everything up together so Your Highness could stay wherever you like."

They then hurriedly asked Xue Jin'an for his opinion. Xue Jin'an pointed to the East Water Pavilion, the residence in Zhaoyang Palace in the original owner's memory, and the palace maids immediately filed in.

Su Mama naturally took over the command of the palace maids, arranging things in an orderly manner. When there were not enough people, she even took two guards to watch over them, making them go to the Xixin Department to get charcoal and to the Shangyi Bureau to get a few quilts. In short, she gave them orders to run around in circles.

When the bedding was being changed, the palace maid discovered that the bed seemed to have been left out for a long time, and the wood was damp and rotten, with several pieces broken. Granny Su immediately ordered that all the wooden furniture in the room be replaced and that the guards go to the Construction Department to bring back a whole new set.

Other items like tables, chairs, stools, and shelves are fine; these are consumables, especially for the Third Prince, where the number of items reported for repair or replacement is constantly increasing every year, so the Construction Department has plenty of stock. But when it comes to large items like beds that are time-consuming and labor-intensive, they really can't conjure one out of thin air.

The head eunuch of the Construction Department even came in person with the storeroom's inventory records, but after flipping through only a couple of pages, Granny Su pointed and said, "Isn't there a bed here?"

The head eunuch took one look and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. "This, this... this is to be sent to the summer palace. Eunuch Li Hechun personally ordered it."

The implication is that this is the emperor's dragon bed.

The head eunuch looked at the broken bed, wiped the sweat from his brow, and suggested, "This bed looks fine, it's just missing a few planks. We can fix it and use it for now. I'll work overtime tonight and the new bed will definitely be delivered within a month—no, within half a month. What do you think, Granny?"

Ancient beds differed from modern beds. Even a canopy bed like the one Xue Jin'an slept in, which was considered the simplest in terms of construction, still required carvings on all four sides. Beds for princes, of course, couldn't be made carelessly; half a month was the maximum time required. The most elaborate canopy beds, almost equivalent to those in small rooms, often took a year and a half to complete.

After thinking for a moment, Granny Su asked, "Is this bed finished?"

The head eunuch quickly replied, "Only the carving is missing."

"Then let's move it over and use it for now." As she spoke, Granny Su raised her hand and, to the astonishment of the head eunuch, ordered the original bed to be smashed.

“His Majesty only goes to the summer palace in June or July each year, so you have plenty of time to rush to make another bed. The Seventh Prince needs it urgently, so it’s not unreasonable to use it for now. You can’t expect the prince to sleep on the floor, can you? It’s not against regulations to not have dragon carvings.” Granny Su didn’t make things too difficult for the head eunuch and said, “If His Majesty asks, just tell him it was the Empress Dowager’s idea.”

Although the Empress Dowager didn't say it, Granny Su knew that she must have meant the same thing. The Empress Dowager was dissatisfied with the Emperor, and this was a warning.

Having said all that, the head eunuch had no choice. Besides, the bed had been smashed right in front of him; was he really going to let the Seventh Prince sleep on the floor? The Great Qi Dynasty governs with filial piety in mind, and since Granny Su had already brought up the Empress Dowager, His Majesty couldn't say anything. But as for the Seventh Prince, if he dared to say no, Granny Su would probably make him regret it on the spot!

Thinking of this, the head eunuch secretly glanced at the Seventh Prince, who was sitting quietly to the side: In fact, not to mention Granny Su, they had also heard of the Seventh Prince's reputation for being cruel.

When they first heard that Wang Deming from the Imperial Kitchen had offended the Seventh Prince and was summoned by Eunuch Lu to be flogged forty times, leaving him crippled, they assumed it was because he was blind to offend Eunuch Lu that he suffered such a fate. As for the Seventh Prince, they thought it was just a coincidence. They even mocked him in their hearts: "That old bastard Wang Deming is really used to throwing his weight around in the Imperial Kitchen. He doesn't know his place. Even Eunuch Lu went out of his way to offend him. He deserves to die."

But later Wang Deming went completely insane. Before he died, he cursed Lu Dugong every day in bed, but he would tremble when the Seventh Prince was mentioned. A kind person inquired and found out that Wang Deming had offended the Seventh Prince, and Lu Dugong was just the one who happened to be there!

It is said that the Seventh Prince was about to rip out Wang Deming's heart on the spot, and even pointed the knife at him. Fortunately, Eunuch Lu arrived and saved his life. Wang Deming himself invited the flogging, and initially even said that he requested to go to the Department of Punishments!

Who in the palace doesn't know how ruthless the Censorate is? This is enough to show just how vicious the Seventh Prince really is.

Later, I vaguely heard that the fourth prince, who often clashed with the seventh prince, had also suffered a misfortune. It was said that he had encountered an assassin and was almost ripped out of his heart. He was plagued by nightmares every night and could not find peace. He had lost a lot of weight and stopped studying. In fact, there was no assassin. It was the seventh prince who did it!

The Seventh Prince is terrifying. If even princes who offend him are treated this way, what about them, these servants?

The head eunuch gritted his teeth and finally agreed. He even personally carved some flowers on the bed to make it less monotonous, and managed to finish the work before Zhaoyang Palace was fully tidied up, and then sent the bed in.

Now the head eunuch was rushing back to carve the woodwork, and Granny Su called over two more guards to clean up the broken pieces of the wooden bed in the courtyard.

Four guards acted as a human garbage cart, each carrying a pile of trash out. There were still one or two planks left, and Xue Jin'an instinctively went to help when he saw this.

Xue Jin'an was used to the makeshift team at Qifeng Courtyard. In the beginning, it was just him and Fu Lu. Although Fu Lu did his best to work, there were still times when Xue Jin'an had to step in. Later, with the arrival of Shou Quan, Xue Jin'an was basically free to do his own thing. After that, Li Hechun sent Xuan Shiyi and another spy, and Fu Lu and Shou Quan were freed up.

After all, Qi Fengyuan was so poor that it didn't even have much property. Xue Jin'an had no idea how humans enjoy themselves, so his skills were naturally limited.

However, since the people who arrived later were quite late, Xue Jin'an would still habitually help out with whatever he could when he saw everyone busy.

However, Granny Su stopped her, saying, "Your Highness, these are not things you should be doing."

Granny Su took a damp cloth and wiped his hands, which hadn't even touched the wood, and patiently instructed him, "You are kind-hearted, don't mind doing these dirty and tiring jobs, and don't look down on yourself or others, which is very good. When the Empress Dowager taught the late Emperor, she said that those who are rulers and ministers bear the fate of a country on their shoulders. They can stand high, but they must not forget to come down; they can be down-to-earth, but they must not forget their own identity."

“It’s human nature to bully the weak and fear the strong. If the master is too benevolent and weak, the servants will become unruly. This is the reason why servants bully their masters. You are a prince. You need to establish your own authority and power. You need to let them know who you are so that you can sit firmly in your position instead of being bullied and played with.” As Su Mama spoke, she observed Xue Jin’an’s expression.

The more Xue Jin'an listened, the more familiar the description sounded. He tilted his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Ah, you're implying something about the emperor."

Granny Su was taken aback. She had intended to say that she hadn't been indirectly criticizing the emperor, but Xue Jin'an's words seemed to have awakened something. The more she recalled her words, the clearer the image of the emperor became in her mind.

Granny Su opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, falling into a brief yet long silence.

At this moment, Granny Su finally remembered that the Seventh Prince was someone who could choke someone to death with his words, and even the Emperor almost choked to death.

In the end, Granny Su chose to skip the topic, called Lingzhi over, took a bamboo basket covered with a white cloth from her and forcibly stuffed it into Xue Jin'an's hands, giving him an unquestionable push on the shoulder, "Your Highness, go and talk to your mother."

Xue Jin'an opened it and found a series of sacrificial items such as incense and paper money. Some of the items looked quite familiar. He looked closely at the incense sticks and matched them with the results from the corner of his memory: "It's Consort Zhen's incense."

He had seen him before at the Buddhist hall of Yihe Temple.

Granny Su nodded and whispered, "These are all prohibited items in the palace. The Empress Dowager thought that your mother died of illness as a criminal, and only kept her body for one day before hurriedly taking her out of the palace for burial. She was not buried in the Imperial Concubine Mausoleum and did not have a memorial tablet. This was already extremely unfair. Now that her reputation has been restored and she has received a sacrifice, these items cannot be missing. So they have been used as makeshift offerings."

"These are all top-quality items, but they've been tainted with some bad luck. If you don't like them, you can simply not use them. Her Majesty knows you're a kind and sensible child who values ​​tradition, and she won't blame you," said Granny Su, worried that he might find the items from Consort Zhen unsuitable, and not wanting to offend the Empress Dowager's kind heart.

Xue Jin'an shook his head, not feeling anything was wrong. He greeted Granny Su and headed towards the main palace.

Granny Su thought Zhou Yuting didn't have a memorial tablet, but that wasn't the case.

The original owner overheard palace maids and eunuchs discussing how it was a very tragic thing for a person to die without a tombstone, memorial tablet, or anyone to pay respects to them, as they would become a wandering ghost unable to return to the underworld.

So the original owner secretly carved a piece, using the wooden board from the smashed bed. The original owner and Fulu spent a lot of effort to break off that piece, barely managed to smooth it out, and even because they didn't know what to write on the memorial tablet, they used a stone they picked up anywhere to sharpen it and carved the words "Tomb of Mother Zhou Yuting" crookedly on it.

He originally intended to bring the memorial tablet back to Qifeng Courtyard, but after the incident where the blood dragon wood bracelet was almost taken away, he was afraid that the memorial tablet would be destroyed if it was discovered, so he secretly hid it in the main hall's bedroom.

Fortunately, Zhaoyang Palace had already been ransacked when Consort Zhen was deposed, so there was nothing of value there and people had died, so no one came here to "pan for gold," and the memorial tablet escaped being found.

However, what Xue Jin'an didn't expect was that the first thing he saw when he entered the palace was the memorial tablet that he thought was still well hidden.

Xue Jin'an immediately became alert and used a high-definition camera to scan the entire scene inch by inch, not missing a single detail.

The room was much dustier than the outside, and there were no footprints on the floor, which meant that the other party had cleaned it before leaving. Judging from the amount of dust, it had been there for no more than half a month—no, it should have been no more than ten days.

Xue Jin'an looked at the open window. With the window open, the amount of dust accumulating in the room would be much greater than when it was closed.

The memorial tablet was placed diagonally on the windowsill, as if it were looking out the window at the lush, overgrown weeds and the dark, yet free, sky. Excluding the possibility that the tablet was accidentally moved askew, based on his knowledge of psychology from novels, this was a form of compensation for the deceased.

There were thirty-six burnt cigarette sticks in the incense burner in front of the memorial tablet. Judging from their position and depth, three sticks were inserted each time, which means that the person came a total of twelve times.

The copper basin on the ground was covered with a thick layer of ash. Xue Jin'an turned it over with a stick. In addition to the paper money that was usually burned in the sacrifice, there were also some scattered fragments of paper, and even some red paper pieces that did not conform to the sacrificial regulations.

These are likely memorial texts or letters written by the other party. The red ones are probably good news. They were burned completely, leaving only a small, fragmented corner, no bigger than a thumb, and also scorched by the fire. The only thing you can tell is that the paper is of good quality, not something an ordinary family could use.

...

Xue Jin'an analyzed all the details in the room and had some idea of ​​who the visitor was. He straightened the memorial tablet and saw that the words on it had changed. "Tomb of Mother Zhou Yuting" was corrected to "Memorial Tablet of the Deceased Mother Zhou Yuting". The words "Erected by the filial son Jin'an" were also engraved in small characters on the left.

Although the characters on it were very different from the characters in the original owner's memory, Xue Jin'an had a natural intuition that they were traces left by the original owner's uncle, Zhou Yushu.

Zhou Yushu did not die, and has been hiding in the capital. Recently, he made connections with the palace and successfully entered and exited the palace at least once. Xue Jin'an did not believe that Zhou Yushu was in the palace, because if that were the case, he could not have really let the original owner be bullied to death without doing anything.

Therefore, it is more likely that Zhou Yushu came secretly. He had an identity that allowed him to enter and leave the palace without being discovered, but he could not stay in the harem for long. So he was powerless to help the original owner of the body, or rather, he had to be powerless to help.

From this perspective, it's not him who comes here to offer incense and burn paper money for sacrifices; it's his spy planted in the palace… Zhou Yushu's current identity is most likely one of the following three possibilities:

First, high-ranking officials in the imperial court, whose status was not high, or whose status was initially low, but who were highly valued by the emperor.

Second, sons of noble families, who could enter the palace without being detected as unusual, and whose family members held high ranks, possibly being members of the royal family.

Third, the maternal relatives of the imperial concubines. Currently, only a few principal concubines can summon their maternal brothers to the palace.

Zhou Yushu may possess more than one of these three identities.

These were the relatively certain answers Xue Jin'an had drawn from the existing clues. As for the other options, since there were no details to prove them and their possibility needed to be verified, he temporarily put them aside and did not include them in his consideration.

He also found it difficult to say whether Zhou Yushu's appearance was a clue originally hidden in the original work, or a result of his butterfly effect.

Regardless of who he is or where he is now, Xue Jin'an will not be able to see him for the time being. With Zhaoyang Palace surrounded like this, based on Xue Jin'an's current understanding of the other party's personality, neither he nor his people will risk stepping forward.

Xue Jin'an stopped thinking about it after that and put Zhou Yushu out of her mind. The most important thing now was to offer incense to the original owner's mother and tell her the good news of today, so as to comfort her spirit.

Xue Jin'an finished recounting the whole matter concisely and clearly. The incense had only just begun to burn when he took off the blood dragon wood bracelet from his hand, held it in his hands, gently pressed it against his forehead, and closed his eyes.

"Xue Jin'an, you and your mother can rest peacefully here. I will bring you the truth." Xue Jin'an placed the blood dragon wood bracelet together with the memorial tablet. They both faced the window, looking at the silent night and the vibrant weeds.

Xue Jin'an had just finished setting up the memorial tablet when he heard some noise outside. When he went out to see what was going on, he saw that it was Xuan Shiyi, who had all the blessings of fortune, prosperity, and longevity. Xuan Shiyi was carrying the unconscious Xia Zi on his shoulder.

The guards at the gate didn't recognize Xuan Shiyi and looked at him suspiciously. "What's going on?"

Xuan Shiyi lied without blinking, "Oh, he heard that Master was confined to Zhaoyang Palace, and he was so excited and happy that he fainted."

Imperial Guardsman: Are you... happy?!

Well, this kind of confinement, which is practically a luxury, is certainly something to be happy about. The Imperial Guard twitched his lips and let them in.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar Zhaoyang Palace, Fulu's eyes immediately reddened. "I never thought I would be able to come back here one day."

“We’re going to stay here for a year,” Xue Jin’an reminded him.

"Master!" Fulu wiped away his tears and immediately came over, looking somewhat anxious as he asked what had happened.

Xue Jin'an had just told the memorial tablet once, and didn't want to say it a second time, so he simply changed the subject, "I'm hungry."

Xue Jin'an wasn't lying. He had expended a lot of energy today, and the reason he could still hold on until now was entirely because his magical power had increased dramatically after killing Consort Zhen.

Fu Lu had been trained by Xue Jin'an to react instinctively; as soon as he said he was hungry, Xue Jin'an would immediately take out pastries from his pocket and feed him.

"Eating only pastries is a bit too greasy, isn't it? Let me make you a bowl of noodles." Without waiting for their reaction, the palace maid Lingzhi rolled up her sleeves and went to the small kitchen in the back. Soon she brought back several bowls of clear soup noodles, which tasted quite good.

Xue Jin'an felt sleepy after eating his fill, so he lay down on the soft bed with several layers of mattresses and fell into a blissful sleep. Of course, he didn't forget to turn on some music before going to sleep.

Lingzhi, carrying the bowl, paused slightly before leaving, her expression thoughtful.

While Xue Jin'an slept soundly, no one in the other palaces could sleep, especially the emperor in Qian Yuan Palace.