Chapter 42 A Series of Schemes Within Schemes

Xie Shang listened and quickly understood that Xie Yu wasn't after the Empress and Granny Xi, those two middle-aged women, but rather after the beautiful Jiang Fenghua.

However, Jiang Fenghua had never met Xie Yu, let alone knew him. How could he know that Jiang Fenghua lived in Chenxi Palace? Unless someone wanted to harm Jiang Fenghua and did it on purpose.

Xie Yu was beaten and begged for mercy repeatedly. The emperor stepped forward and kicked him, saying, "You unfilial son, how did you end up in Chenxi Palace? If you don't tell the truth today, I will kill you."

Xie Yu trembled with fear. "Your subject has never met Princess Heng. I only came to see her because I heard she was beautiful. Your subject really had no other intentions. I just came to admire her beauty. Jiang Fenghua is Princess Heng's wife. Even if your subject had wicked thoughts, I wouldn't have the guts. Father, please spare me. Your subject really just came to see her."

He insisted that the charge of seeing was much less serious than the charge of doing, and he held firm to this testimony.

At this moment, the Empress was already dressed in full attire and walked majestically in front of him. "What do you intend to do? You came uninvited, quietly pushed open the door and barged in. You scoundrel! If I weren't here today, what else would you want to do besides look? Who sent you here? Tell me the truth, or I will not let you off the hook."

The Empress had long known that Consort Su had sent people to keep an eye on Jiang Fenghua. Now that this had happened, she also suspected that Consort Su was the mastermind. If she could use this incident to deal with Consort Su, why not?

"Your subject heard the palace maids talking about how beautiful the Princess Consort of Heng is, so I came to see for myself out of curiosity."

"Where did you come from, palace maid?" Xie Shang grabbed his collar, wanting to punch him again. "I want to see how you're going to make up a story to cover this up today."

Xie Yu and Xie Shang were already at odds, and now that Xie Shang had been beaten like this, he was so angry that he wanted to kill Xie Shang. "How would I know who that palace maid was? I just overheard her on the road..."

"Father, regarding today's events, whether for the sake of the Empress Dowager or the Princess Consort, I must get to the bottom of this." Xie Shang knelt before the Emperor.

The Empress's anger had not subsided. "Shang'er must find out who is behind this. I also want to see who dares to cause trouble in this palace."

Now that things have come to this, the Emperor has realized that Prince Yu did not come to Chenxi Palace unintentionally, but was led there by someone.

The Emperor said, "Chief Steward Cao, immediately assist Prince Heng in investigating this matter."

Soon, the palace maid who had been following Jiang Fenghua was caught. The maid denied everything, saying, "I did not talk about the princess. I am innocent."

Xie Yu had no recollection of what the palace maids looked like, but in order to exonerate himself, he insisted, "It was she and a bunch of other palace maids who spread rumors about how beautiful the Princess Consort of Heng was, saying she was as beautiful as a fairy and that she was a rare beauty in the world. I only came to see her out of curiosity."

Chief Cao said, "Your Majesty, this palace maid is Xiao Ju, who serves in the palace of the Noble Consort. I can find out who she was with today with just one investigation."

The palace maid had been following Jiang Fenghua all day, and even though she hadn't spread any rumors, she was still trembling with fear.

Xie Shang said, "As long as we follow the clues, we will eventually find out who is lying, whether it is Prince Yu who is behaving improperly, or whether he is audacious and born with thieving intentions. I will definitely find out."

The Emperor addressed Chief Steward Cao, "Go and summon Consort Su for questioning."

Consort Su walked gracefully in, "Your Majesty, this concubine greets you..."

The Empress was filled with hatred the moment she saw Consort Su's face. She immediately condemned Consort Su, saying, "Su Qingqing, what a mess you've made! Only you would do something as despicable as instructing a prince to do such a vile thing..."

Consort Su knelt weakly on the ground, kowtowing and crying out for justice, "Your Majesty, I am innocent! I did not instruct the prince to do anything despicable!"

"Is this palace maid from your palace? You sent her to follow Princess Heng all day. What are you trying to do? Do you want to ruin Princess Heng's reputation?" Empress Cheng's words immediately revealed that she had known all along that someone was following Jiang Fenghua.

The Emperor glanced at her and asked, "What exactly happened?"

The Empress secretly regretted her haste and spoke quickly, then said, "Your Majesty, this is what happened. Fenghua went to the ancestral hall to copy scriptures. I was afraid she wouldn't know the way, so I asked Granny Xi to send someone to follow and take care of her. They only discovered that someone was following Princess Heng by chance. I was afraid she would be frightened, so I didn't tell her. Who would have thought that Xie Yu would suddenly break into Chenxi Palace that night? That's when I thought about whether the events of the day were related to this. The person who followed Fenghua was from Consort Su's palace. So I guessed that Consort Su had her maid guide Prince Yu to plot against Fenghua. How could you, Su Qingqing, be so wicked?"

The emperor narrowed his eyes and asked Consort Su again, "What are the people in your palace doing following Princess Heng?"

Consort Su looked aggrieved, as if she had been wronged. "Your Majesty, I am innocent! I really did not let the palace maid follow Princess Heng, and I had no idea what happened. I did not let the palace maid guide Prince Yu to do anything to Princess Heng. Please investigate thoroughly, Your Majesty."

Princess Heng knew she was beautiful, and once she entered the palace, she should have behaved herself. It's normal for the palace maids to gossip about her when she ran around. It was Prince Yu who overheard and couldn't control himself; this matter truly has nothing to do with me!

The palace maid's life was in Consort Su's hands, and she would rather die than reveal that Consort Su had ordered her to go.

"Can't you speak normally, you vixen?" The Empress was furious. "You want to ruin Fenghua's reputation, make her disliked by Shang'er, and then replace her with your niece Su Tingwan as the Princess Consort of Heng. You used to have your niece seduce my son, and now you want to help her deal with Shang'er's princess consort. Only you, Su Qingqing, would do something like this, and that's why you're doing this."

Empress Cheng began to criticize again, which was her most foolish point.

When Su Tingwan was mentioned, Xie Shang was dumbfounded. It turned out that Consort Su had this idea: to ruin Jiang Fenghua and let Wanwan take her place, which was why she used Xie Yu.

He believed that Wanwan would never do such a vicious thing. Wanwan had grown up in the border region since childhood and did not understand the etiquette of the noble families in Shengjing City, but she was just straightforward and he trusted her character.

This matter is related to Consort Su, but has absolutely nothing to do with Wanwan.

Jiang Fenghua frowned, feeling that she had encountered a terrible teammate like Empress Cheng. Well then, let her take the lead!

"I shouldn't have let Eunuch Wuxin take me to the ancestral hall to copy scriptures. The palace maids saw my face and started gossiping." Jiang Fenghua nestled in Xie Shang's arms and whispered, "Your Highness, did I do something wrong again?"

Looking at the innocent Jiang Fenghua, who was clearly the one being framed, she was now being targeted by Xie Yu and gossiped about by the palace maids simply because of her beauty. How could she have done anything wrong? It was these people who had ulterior motives.

He quietly took Jiang Fenghua's hand and noticed that her palms were sweaty and trembling slightly, as if she were afraid.

He gave Consort Su a deep look, his eyes revealing a cold glint. He thought about how Consort Su had sent her capable assistants to Su Tingwan's side to help her devise strategies, and how she had sent people to follow Jiang Fenghua when she entered the palace. He thought that if it weren't for the Empress Dowager and Granny Xi being in Chenxi Palace today...

Given Xie Yu's character, whatever might happen, he might only be a corpse when he sees Jiang Fenghua again, which would truly fulfill Consort Su's wishes.