Chapter 32 Undercurrents
During the joint raid that night, couples were caught crying and disheveled, a truly unbearable sight.
Ling Wei frowned more and more as she looked at the list in her hand.
The laxity of discipline in the harem was beyond imagination. Her fingertips paused on a few names, her eyes flashing slightly.
These few seem to have some connection to certain recent unsettling developments... but she kept quiet about it, only instructing her subordinates to deal with them according to palace rules, as a warning to others.
Time slipped away quietly amidst the busyness. With her exceptional memory and calm mind, Ling Wei quickly established herself in the Gong Zheng Si organization and became increasingly adept at handling affairs.
However, the more secrets she uncovered, the more she could sense the turbulent undercurrents beneath the calm surface.
As the princes grew up and became more powerful, calls for establishing an heir to the throne gradually emerged in the court. Although His Majesty was in his prime, his suspicions grew stronger, and he tightened his grip on power.
The inner palace has always been closely intertwined with the political landscape of the previous dynasty.
Ling Wei noticed more than once the subtle clues of certain lower-ranking concubines or favored eunuchs passing messages outside the palace; she also overheard some hushed discussions during her inspections, concerning which prince had received what assignment, and which minister seemed to be favoring whom...
Even the palace mistresses' inquiries about His Majesty's whereabouts became more frequent and secretive.
A heavy sense of unease, like the impending storm, descended upon us, as if the air itself were thick with the smoke of gunpowder.
In early autumn, the emperor and empress moved to the hot spring palace on the outskirts of Beijing.
As the head of the Palace Administration Department, Ling Wei was naturally among those accompanying the emperor.
The atmosphere at the temporary palace seemed more relaxed than at the imperial palace, but the invisible tension had not dissipated.
That day, Ling Wei was checking the records of the sentry posts throughout the palace when a young eunuch she didn't recognize rushed over, his voice high-pitched and filled with panic: "Chief Ling! Chief Ling! His Majesty has summoned you urgently to the side hall of Fengzao Palace!"
Ling Wei's heart skipped a beat.
Fengzao Palace was where the Empress stayed during her temporary palace stay.
She immediately put down what she was doing, straightened her official robes, and followed the little eunuch quickly. Along the way, the ominous premonition grew stronger and stronger.
As soon as you step into the side hall, a sense of oppressive atmosphere hits you. The hall is brightly lit, yet eerily quiet.
Empress Xie knelt in the center, her face deathly pale. The fourth prince, Xiao Jin, was so frightened that his face turned blue, and he trembled in the arms of his wet nurse.
The palace maids and eunuchs kneeling all around were ashen-faced.
Emperor Xiao Liheng stood with his hands behind his back at the head of the table, his face ashen and his chest heaving violently, clearly furious. Several high-ranking concubines accompanying him also stood with their heads bowed on either side, not daring to utter a sound.
They arrived as expected.
After bowing, Ling Wei stood to one side with her head bowed, seemingly lost in thought. Her superior, the Empress, was currently at the very center of the storm.
The incident began when a seemingly honest and unassuming eunuch, who was serving outside the Empress's study in her palace, suddenly ran to the Emperor in tears to report the crime.
He claimed that he had inadvertently discovered that Bihe, the empress's trusted head maid, had been frequently seen organizing documents alone in the study late at night, which seemed suspicious.
He once took the opportunity of delivering charcoal to secretly spy on Bihe, and discovered that Bihe had secretly recorded His Majesty's daily schedule, the list of ministers summoned, and even strange symbols after some names in the cover of what seemed to be an ordinary book called "Rules for Women".
He was terrified. After much deliberation, he realized that the matter concerned His Majesty's safety and felt compelled to risk his life to report it.
Upon hearing this, the emperor immediately ordered a thorough investigation, which was swift and complete.
Inside the hard cover of the book "Rules for Women," several sheets of paper filled with tiny characters were found. They clearly recorded the emperor's detailed itinerary and the people he had been talking to in secret at the imperial palace for nearly half a month. After the names of several powerful ministers, circles or triangles were drawn in red ink.
Preliminary comparison of the handwriting showed that it was extremely similar to Bihe's handwriting.
Emperor Xiao Liheng looked at those few thin sheets of paper, but felt they weighed a ton.
His sons grew up one by one, their wings hardened, and the voices in court calling for an heir buzzed like flies, each one a reminder that he was growing old.
He clung tightly to power like a dragon guarding a treasure, and what he hated and feared most was anyone spying on his movements, trying to figure out his thoughts, or even attempting to influence his decisions.
The Empress's move undoubtedly stepped precisely into his most sensitive area.
In a fit of rage, the emperor not only ordered the empress to be confined to Fengzao Palace and all her close attendants to be arrested and interrogated, but also, because the General of the Imperial Guards was the empress's father, he resolutely stripped the Imperial Guards of their right to participate in the investigation of the case.
"This case will be jointly tried by the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice. Zhou Yan, I hereby appoint you as the chief judge to investigate this matter thoroughly! There will be no leniency!" The emperor's voice was icy cold and filled with boundless rage.
Ling Wei felt a chill run down her spine.
The Censorate and the Ministry of Justice... these are places with very complex and intertwined power structures.
If the Empress's crimes are proven true, then the Xie family, and the Fourth Prince's faction who are affiliated with the Xie family, will truly be doomed.
This time, the opponent came with great force, meticulous planning, and struck at the heart of the matter.
Ling Wei was also named, and Emperor Yuanjing ordered her to act impartially and not to show favoritism.
Her official position was granted by the emperor and appointed by the empress, which also proves that Emperor Yuanjing did not actually fully believe that the empress would do such a thing, otherwise he would never have let her take charge of the empress's confinement.
Ling Wei accepted the order.
Just then, the Empress suddenly rushed over and hugged the Emperor's leg, tears streaming down her face, her voice shrill: "Your Majesty! I am innocent! I know nothing about this! Someone must have framed me! Your Majesty, please investigate!"
The Fourth Prince, Xiao Jin, was also frightened by the scene and burst into tears, causing chaos in the hall.
The emperor's forehead veins throbbed from the crying and commotion. He was so enraged that he abruptly threw the empress away, his chest heaving violently.
Consort De, the birth mother of the Third Prince, who was standing in the queue, stepped forward at just the right moment and gently soothed Emperor Yuanjing, saying, "Your Majesty, the matter has not yet been investigated. Please do not get angry and harm your health."
The Second Prince's birth mother, Consort Ning, had always been at odds with the Empress. A mocking sneer curled at the corner of her lips, and her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for the enraged Emperor to hear: "Consort De is right, Your Majesty, please calm down. The Fourth Prince is still young, and even if Empress Sister wants to plan for him, she is being far too hasty."
The Empress trembled with rage: "You're talking nonsense! I didn't do it! Consort! Don't you dare make false accusations!"
"Shut up, all of you!!!" The emperor's head was buzzing from their noise, and his vision was going black. He slammed his fist on the table.
He was so angry that he couldn't speak, and a metallic taste suddenly welled up in his throat.
"puff--!"
A large mouthful of bright red blood suddenly gushed out of his mouth, splattering onto his bright yellow dragon robe and the imperial desk in front of him.
"His Majesty!"
The hall instantly descended into chaos.
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