Her true appearance revealed: "Qin family's little Wei Xi, my seventh daughter..."
After the palace banquet, the high-ranking officials left the palace one after another.
Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Kang Le, his steps unsteady, was helped by his trusted and favored ministers as he walked towards his bedchamber.
Emperor Kang Le, looking slightly tired, rubbed his temples with his fist and sighed, "Has the Crown Prince not returned from the palace yet?"
Chen Guiyi respectfully replied, "This servant will go and take another look."
Emperor Kangxi frowned: "Zhenhui has also left the palace?"
Chen Guiyi laughed: "Perhaps he went to Lord Luo's residence. This servant saw that Your Highness, Lord Luo's younger sister, and Young Master Tao are all getting along well!"
Emperor Kang Le chuckled, and as the palace doors closed, he looked at the kneeling palace maids and eunuchs inside, their heads pressed to the ground, trembling. His gaze sharpened like a sword in an instant, and the lingering effects of the wine vanished completely.
Chen Guiyi looked at the palace servants and said succinctly, "Your Majesty, now that you are here, please tell us the truth about what happened in Princess Zhenhui's palace today."
The palace servants were ashen-faced, knowing that the usually amiable Empress's nephew had suddenly become filled with murderous intent, intending to kill the princess's guards. He and Marquis Jingning had then led the palace guard Meng away from the palace. Perhaps they had unfortunately stumbled upon some secret within the palace. Even if they managed to leave the Emperor's Hall of Mental Cultivation alive today, they would never be able to return to Princess Zhenhui's quarters.
Upon seeing this, a trembling eunuch with cold sweat beading on his forehead crawled forward on his knees and kowtowed.
It was the same young eunuch whom Zi Shu had begged in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony today.
"Return to Your Majesty..."
Before the eunuch's voice could echo in the cold, murderous hall, a palace servant announced something outside, and then Chen Guiyi went downstairs.
Not long after, Chen Guiyi entered the palace again and whispered something to Emperor Kang Le behind the dragon desk above.
Emperor Kang Le's deep gaze flickered for a moment: "...So late, all those children have arrived?"
Chen Guiyi replied, "Your Majesty, that's right, and there's also Luo Zhanshi, who just left the palace."
Emperor Kang Le looked at the palace servants below the table with a furrowed brow, then waved his hand and said, "Tell them to leave."
Outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Crown Prince Jiang Yuanjun led the way, with Chu Yening, Luo Ling, and Tao Qingyun flanking him, escorting a girl in a hooded cloak into the hall.
Emperor Kang Le remained seated on his throne, looking at the few people who had quietly entered the palace with some surprise, but his expression was no longer as solemn as before.
His calm gaze swept over the five people below the table, then settled on the eldest of the five, and he smiled, "Ah Ling, do you have something to say to your royal uncle?"
"There is something." Qin Weixi stepped forward and removed the brim of his hat from his head, then looked calmly at Emperor Kang Le at the head of the table.
In a short while.
"you--"
"Narrative—"
Emperor Kang Le suddenly rose from his throne, propped one hand on the dragon table, and stared wide-eyed at the girl below him, whose gaze was full of composure.
"Xi, Xi, little girl—"
"You're not dead!" After a long period of shock, Emperor Kang Le suddenly fell backward uncontrollably. Since Emperor Kang Le had not dismissed his attendant, Chen Guiyi rushed forward to steady the emperor, who was still deeply mired in horror.
Qin Weixi stood up straight and said to Emperor Kang Le above, "There are no cowards in my Qin family who are afraid of death. I am not afraid of death, but I must live now."
Emperor Kang Le suddenly recalled the events that had begun in the spring, and then glared angrily at the empty seat beneath him. But before he could speak, the four young men in brocade robes who had been standing shoulder to shoulder behind Qin Weixi took another step forward.
Several people said in unison, "It's me..."
But Jiang Yuanjun stepped forward and said, "It was all my fault, Father Emperor, it was all my willful act."
Emperor Kang Le stared intently at Qin Weixi, who remained calm and composed below him, and slowly asked, "...Where is Xing'er?"
Qin Weixi smiled: "Your Majesty, isn't this humble woman standing right in front of you?"
Emperor Kang Le stood up again, and this time he re-examined the nephews and nieces surrounding her, whom he could no longer treat as children as before, including his beloved son.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: the Luo family now in Jiangnan, and how his beloved nephew Qingyun, whom he cherished like a son, had managed to sneak out of the city in Ding Wei's carriage, and how he had lied to everyone that Xu Zhi's daughter had already been killed by river bandits and perished in the river.
The Luo family, the Luo family.
Emperor Kang Le felt numb all over, then suddenly everything went black before his eyes, and he stumbled back a step and fell onto his throne.
"You don't believe me?"
"Yes or no?"
The others stared at him silently, but Jiang Yuanjun stepped forward and said, "Father, how can I believe you? Back then, your treatment of the Qin family case..." He gritted his teeth and said with difficulty, "It was utterly heartless."
It also reveals his restraint and forbearance towards his ruler and father over the past ten years.
"Crown Prince—" Emperor Kang Le casually grabbed an inkstone from the dragon desk and threw it at Jiang Yuanjun without any mercy.
This time, however, the other four protected him with their own bodies.
Chu Yening grabbed the inkstone with one hand and said casually, "Uncle, please calm down."
Only at this moment did Emperor Kang Le finally fix his gaze on him. He suddenly closed his eyes and then abruptly opened them wide: "...Ye Ning, you? Don't you believe your imperial uncle's decision either? Can you believe that my old friend Xu Zhi has never committed any treasonous act?"
Chu Yening's deep voice rang out: "I've never disbelieved it."
Emperor Kang Le then fixed his gaze on Luo Ling and Tao Qingyun beside him. The two of them, like Chu Ye Ning, stepped forward, their eyes filled with determination.
Luo Ling began, “Your Majesty, my younger sister, Wei Xi, lost her father at a young age. More than a hundred members of her entire clan were executed, or committed suicide by poison to preserve their innocence. Wei Xi was only eight years old at the time, yet she used her small body to provide an indestructible shield for the entire Qin family. I saw this and felt extremely distressed and heartbroken.”
“My grandfather passed away early. Before he left, he held my hands and admonished me with words of advice: to be loyal to my duties, not to covet fame and fortune, not to be misled by treacherous officials, and to wholeheartedly assist His Highness the Crown Prince, just like my father, to be loyal to the monarch.”
“Your Majesty, I have fulfilled my duty as a loyal subject. I am now twenty-eight years old and have served His Highness the Crown Prince since childhood. But in these twenty-eight years, I have often thought of my grandfather’s dying words and I still do not know what it means to be a loyal subject.”
"The descendants of loyal and meritorious service—"
"Loyal ministers and generals who sacrificed themselves for their country—"
"Could he also be a loyal minister?"
"Before his death, Gao Jian left behind a thousand-word blood letter in the imperial prison, and sixteen characters were etched into his flesh. Your Majesty, may I ask: could Gao Jian truly be considered a loyal subject?"
As soon as Luo Ling finished speaking, Jiang Yuanjun stepped forward again, her voice trembling slightly, and said, "I beg Father to thoroughly investigate the case of the Duke of Dingguo."
Tao Qingyun followed closely behind, saying, "I request that my uncle-in-law reinvestigate the case of the Duke of Dingguo."
Chu Yening slowly stepped out from behind, grasped Qin Weixi's icy hand, and looked up at Emperor Kang Le on the throne: "Uncle, it has been ten years. When will my father be able to rest in peace in the afterlife?"
The hall fell silent for a moment. Emperor Kang Le suddenly felt a metallic taste rise in his throat. He then raised his eyes and looked at the youthful face that resembled his old friend. He rested one hand on the dragon table and a mouthful of blood spilled from his mouth.
Jiang Yuanjun, sitting below, suddenly narrowed her eyes, while Chen Guiyi also needed to immediately summon the imperial physician to the palace.
But Emperor Kang Le waved his hand and slowly choked out, "I know. Gao Jian, Li Yuanda, and Liang Shuwen's eldest son were all responsible for what you did. I know you all blame me, not one of you doesn't blame me."
"Xi'er, your royal uncle will not dwell on the past today. Your royal uncle will only ask you one question... Why have you been lying low for ten years?"
Qin Weixi met Emperor Kang Le's eyes with indifference and detachment; they were not as piercing as those of the Great Xia Emperor.
"I want the truth, to wash away the humiliation of my Qin family for ten years and restore the peace in my heart for ten years."
Emperor Kang Le was also staring at her. He asked again, "Xi'er, do you know why the Qin family was convicted back then?"
Qin Weixi said, "I am under the protection of Grandmother Zhao of Xiaguang Peak. The women of the Qin family are innocent, and even Your Majesty, as the emperor, cannot decide my life or death. Besides, my Qin family is completely innocent."
Rather than letting Liang Xi leave the Qin family's old mansion alive, and rather than having her father and brothers personally inform the emperor, who holds the power of life and death, that she is still alive, it would be better for her to seize the initiative first.
Liang Xi, the daughter of the current Grand Secretary, left the palace with the Emperor's beloved daughter in full view of everyone. Furthermore, her third brother, Qingyun, held Meng Yu hostage in full view of everyone, and everyone serving in Zhenhui's palace knew about it.
She can't do anything to Liang Xi right now.
Because she has the Luo family behind her, which is also her weakness; she still has her only remaining relatives in Jiangnan; and she still has her good elder brother in the imperial court.
Now she has no choice but to take the risk so that the Luo family behind her can find some peace.
She had also imagined many times that one day in the future, she would stand again in some form before the emperor who had executed all the adult males of the Qin family. Would she wait until the Qin family was exonerated? Or would she one day become a prisoner, her story reaching the emperor's ears through the mouths of others?
But I never expected it to be like this.
Under that persimmon tree laden with orange-red fruit, a little girl, dressed in a splendid dress, adorned with jewels, her bright eyes curved into crescent moons, held a persimmon in her hands to show her—the little princess of the royal family.
"Seventh Sister, what a huge persimmon! It's so sweet."
"Seventh sister, we are truly good sisters. In the future, with your sixth sister protecting you, I will never let you suffer any grievances."
She hugged the branch laden with orange-red blossoms, leaped down from the tree in a few quick movements, brushed the wood chips off her hands, and said with a smile, "Okay!"
"From now on, year after year, my friendship with Afu will last forever."
"I'll protect you too—"
The winter night was deep.
The group walked away from the palace in the biting cold wind, but at that moment they felt incredibly happy.
This time, the old emperor said nothing, but the fact that the imperial physician was suddenly summoned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation on the night of the first day of the first lunar month in the winter of the thirteenth year of the Kang Le reign was already known throughout the palace.
Empress Tao watched as her daughter returned to the palace without saying a word, and learned from the palace maid Zi Shu about Meng Yu's death. When she suddenly heard that several people had entered the palace, she felt something was wrong and hurriedly sent her trusted eunuch to stop her only nephew.
But it was too late.
Jiang Yuanjun saw them off all the way to the outside of Donghua Gate. Jiang Yuanjun looked at the girl in the snow-white silk dress, moved her lips but felt that any words she could say at this moment would be as light as a feather.
After a long silence, he said in a hoarse voice, "Seventh Sister, I will have the Qin family case thoroughly reinvestigated." He glanced at the three people behind Qin Weixi, then suddenly lowered his eyes, seemingly clenching his teeth tightly: "As for Afu..."
"I don't want to hear it," Chu Yening suddenly said.
He took another step forward, his deep eyes looking at Jiang Yuanjun: "As for what they said at the Qin family's old house today, I don't care. In short, if there had been even the slightest mistake that day, your seventh sister wouldn't be standing here talking to you today. She would have turned into ashes like A-Shuo. No, even those ashes wouldn't be found; her body would have been fed into the river, leaving her without a burial place."
Qin Weixi turned deathly pale in an instant.
Chu Yening continued, "Jiang Yuanjun, I once said that it would be better to leave this filthy Forbidden City, and I, Chu Yening, do not want to stay here a moment longer. The Qin family, the Chu family, the Luo family, and the Jiang family—back when they had not yet unified the world, none of them were inferior to the others. If one day, I would not mind personally killing my way into the capital and writing down the Qin family's injustice! As for Jiang Yuanfu, the Oath of the Peach Garden was pure nonsense, and I would not mind killing her with my own hands."
"Ye Ning..." Luo Ling suddenly stepped forward and stood between the two of them, speaking.
Chu Yening smiled and said, "Brother Luo, you are overthinking it. Jiang Yuanjun and I, Chu Yening, could never do the absurd things that the Four Swordsmen could do back then. With you all by my side, he and I will not have made it to that day."
His eyes, like a galaxy, gazed for a moment upon the myriad palaces beneath the dark night.
"My dissatisfaction is only directed at this palace."
*
Snow suddenly fell on a cold night, and the planned trip to Xiaguang Peak could not be fulfilled.
Inside Tingyu Pavilion, Qin Weixi stared blankly at the withered trees and the falling snow in the garden, and asked Pu Niang to bring out the clear wine buried in the bamboo forest.
Pu Niang lovingly embraced her, but Qin Weixi laughed and said, "My dear Pu Niang, isn't it better now that we can no longer trouble you to do my makeup?"
She was finally able to return to the way her father and mother remembered her, and no longer had to worry that they wouldn't recognize her when she returned to the Qin family's old house.
Qin Weixi's bright eyes were tinged with a blush. He held a pot in one hand and a cup in the other. The aroma of the wine filled his nostrils, with a hint of spiciness that was intoxicating.
In her drunken haze, she suddenly remembered the old eunuch from Cining Palace that Chu Yening had told her when he brought her tangerines that day. The old eunuch, who was nearly fifty years old, was indeed a madman, who was only focused on the flowers and plants left by Grandmother Zhao and was deeply immersed in them.
Truth and falsehood are intertwined; what is true? What is false?
Qin Weixi took another sip of the strong liquor, looked up at the cold wind outside the window, and suddenly shivered, feeling a chill on her forehead. She reached out a fingertip to touch it, and found that a snowflake had quietly vanished.
A soft laugh suddenly reached my ears.
When she looked up again, she met a pair of bright eyes burning with fiery passion, and white frost on her long, black eyelashes.
Chu Yening snatched the wine cup from her hand and said gently, "Qin Luo, you can't drink anymore."
Qin Weixi sat in the rose chair, tilting her head slightly and smiling: "Fourth Brother, shouldn't you have told me we'd drink until we drop?" Then she looked at him covered in snow: "Chu Yening, didn't you go home?"
Chu Yening removed the cloak covering him with one hand. There were only the two of them in the room at some point. He chuckled again: "Qin Luo, home is here. Where do you want to send your fourth brother?"
Her bright, sparkling eyes looked at the man in front of her, whose features were sharp and striking: "...Home? Fourth Brother, just turn two corners after you leave this street."
She spoke earnestly and methodically.
Chu Yening found it amusing and reached out to gently pinch her delicate cheek: "Qin family's little Weixi, my seventh daughter, is so adorable when she's drunk."
Qin Weixi hissed, pretending to be in pain.
In the blink of an eye, Chu Yening lifted her up from the chair and carried her to the cushioned daybed behind him.
"It's uncomfortable to sit there."
Qin Weixi rested one elbow on the flower table on the couch, gently rubbing his forehead with the other hand.
Just as Chu Yening was about to go to the outer room to pour a pot of water, he saw this and turned back to sit behind her, then stretched out his hands and gently massaged her.
"Qin Luo, who said that drinking alcohol is harmful to health?"
Qin Weixi's eyes curved slightly, then she seemed to fall into deep thought: "Who is it? Is it... Luo Qiniang? Qin Luo doesn't recognize her." As she spoke, she took advantage of her drunkenness to direct the man behind her: "Blow out the candle by the window."
Upon hearing this, Chu Yening raised his eyebrows slightly, but the girl on the couch looked left and right as if searching for something, and he understood.
He got up and walked to the bedside, reaching under the soft pillow and quickly grasping two round, cool beads.
"Looking for this?"
In a few breaths, Chu Yening blew out the candle and returned to the girl's side with two luminous pearls. He quickly pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear, "You like her that much?"
Qin Weixi grasped his outstretched hands tightly and chuckled softly, "Fourth Brother, none of my eyes are as sharp as yours."
Chu Yening's brow furrowed slightly, then he turned her around and sat her up, using the light of the snowy night and the night-shining pearl to look at the girl in front of him who was blinking her bright eyes.
A moment later: "Qin Luo? You're not drunk?"
Qin Weixi suddenly smiled.
This time, Chu Yening leaned over and gently bit her lips, which still smelled of wine.
In an instant, Qin Weixi grabbed his shirt and pulled him into her arms without thinking, then bit his smooth neck.
In the darkness, a muffled groan came from him.
"Qin Luo, do you know what it means to play with fire?" Chu Yening leaned over again and pushed the low table behind her with one hand. The luminous pearl and a lampstand with an extinguished candle on the table rolled onto the couch one after another as the low table was moved.
Chu Yening still placed one hand behind her head, but in a few breaths, he pulled her completely under his body.
In the darkness, his voice came again: "Qin Weixi, your fourth brother isn't exactly a gentleman either."
The room was filled with enchanting beauty and the rich aroma of wine. A pair of long eyelashes gently landed on her cheek, yet it felt as if they had landed on her heart, like a feather lightly brushing against her.
Chu Yening gently kissed her snow-white neck, a deep and loving kiss, and then pulled her up.
In an instant, he took a thin blanket from the side and wrapped it around her, saying softly, "Fourth Brother has something to tell you."
But before he could speak, the girl in front of him said first, "I know. Chen Guiyi."
Chu Yening smiled.
Qin Weixi added, "I observed him carefully today."
Chu Yening asked, "What did you find?"
"Hmm...unusual."
Chu Yening chuckled again, stood up, took a water glass, poured a cup of water and handed it to her, then said seriously, "Sun Daban was also a favorite of the emperor back then, so he was naturally loyal to the emperor. But if Chen Guiyi is loyal to Empress Tao, then the two brothers will be like oil and water."
"But have you noticed that the emperor originally sent people from the Ministry of Justice to investigate my unprovoked assassination attempt, but in the end it was Chen Guiyi who went?"
Qin Weixi continued, "So if Chen Guiyi is the Empress's man, why hasn't the Empress taken any action all this time?"
Chu Yening said, "And there's Feng Gongxing. If Chen Guiyi is known in the palace as a peaceful person, why would he slap a eunuch who works with him? This is completely different from the image of Chen Daban in the eyes of those palace servants."
The room fell silent for a moment. After a short while, Qin Weixi suddenly spoke up: "Fourth Brother, do you think that was Ma Lianren? The same Bai Sheng that Gao Jian saw outside Woxue Pavilion that day?" His voice was filled with excitement.
Chu Yening nodded.
“These past few days I’ve been thinking about your visits to the palace since you returned to the capital. Every time you run into Chen Guiyi, he secretly scrutinizes you…”
"Perhaps I saw you by chance at some point back then. Qin Luo, back then, Old Man Qin took you to the palace many times, or perhaps it was because of something you did after you returned to the capital that Chen Da recognized you but did not say anything. Just like when you mentioned the Gu Zhu Purple Bamboo Shoots to me in the Imperial Garden after we returned to the capital, I also had a feeling at that moment."
"Perhaps he rose to become a favorite of the emperor so quickly because he was investigating the death of his elder brother, Chen Daban. If that's the case..."
Chu Yening suddenly drew out his words, and Qin Weixi chimed in, "Fourth Brother! He might not be the Emperor's man or the Empress's man!"
Chu Yening smiled and gently ruffled her hair: "Until today, when you appeared in the Hall of Mental Cultivation as the daughter of the Duke of Dingguo, the sudden summons of the imperial physicians to the Hall of Mental Cultivation when we left the palace meant that the whole palace would know about it soon. And tomorrow, your quiet appearance in the capital as the daughter of the deceased Duke of Dingguo will surely cause a stir throughout the court."
"But why is Chen Guiyi so calm? This further confirms my suspicions."
"I think that after Zhuang Shijun returns to Beijing, if some things further confirm our conjecture, we will need to find an opportunity to arrange a meeting between Chen Guiyi and his brother!"
Qin Weixi said, "But now that the old emperor knows my identity, Zhuang Shijun's return to the capital will probably be quite difficult. After the incident at the Star Gazing Tower, the city's officials and soldiers are even more rigorous in searching for suspicious people entering the city."
Chu Yening smiled dismissively: "Qin Luo, think about why the Emperor hasn't said anything about our actions in the capital all this time? After I was assassinated, he immediately sent people from the Ministry of Justice to thoroughly investigate the matter, which shows that he had no idea about the Woxue Pavilion."
“Now that you have revealed your true face, if he wants to investigate the matter of Woxue Pavilion that day, the cunning Chen Guiyi behind that stupid brain will find even less of a clue.”
Qin Weixi pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned her head to look at the snow falling outside the window and chuckled softly: "Fourth Brother. It's because he felt that all those people died after the heavy snow that year. Now, only I, an orphan girl, am left who can't stir up any trouble."
No sooner had the words been spoken than a light footstep was heard outside the door, followed by the lighting of a candle outside.
Upon seeing this, Chu Yening got off the bed and opened the tightly closed door. Qin Weixi immediately smelled a whiff of meaty aroma.
Ah Xia stood outside the door, holding a lamp in one hand and a plate of meat dumplings in the other, smiling at the two of them: "This servant was cooking soup noodles for Miss in the small kitchen. The Marquis said that Miss loves this dish the most, so this servant quickly made a dish with Pu Niang."
Qin Weixi craned her neck to look outside the door and whispered, "A-Xia? You're still awake?" She then looked at Chu Yening standing to the side and asked, "Fourth Brother, what's something delicious?"
"These are your favorite lamb dumplings."
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