Chapter 127
The power struggle between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor was out in the open, creating an atmosphere of tension in the court. The inner palace became visibly quiet and peaceful, with the mistresses of each palace staying at home and living their own lives. Fu Lu received far fewer messages, and the palace was more peaceful than ever before.
Even the foreign envoys who came to offer their congratulations sensed the impending storm, and within two days, most of them had left. In the vast post station, only the envoys from the Rong and Di tribes and the envoys from the Russian Empire remained.
Of course, neither side wanted to stay. Or rather, the Rongdi envoys wanted to leave but couldn't. Their two leaders, the Third Prince Galdan and the son of the Prime Minister Weng Tianxin, had long been arrested and imprisoned in the Shenxing Division by the Empress Dowager, who was known for her foresight. They have not been released yet, and all their petitions requesting their release have been ignored, like stones sinking into the sea without any response.
At first, some officials might have helped them pass on messages or offer them some convenience out of consideration for money. However, after the Empress Dowager directly punished a group of people for treason, the courtiers became fearful and would avoid people with foreign features as much as possible when they went out.
After all, the Empress Dowager had only dealt with the offender swiftly and decisively, without retaliating against his family or going so far as to exterminate them. This was already a lenient approach. If anyone dared to defy the rules afterward, it would truly be a tragedy of confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan. The court officials were all very sensible; no matter how many ulterior motives they had, they would hide them carefully at this point, making sure no one discovered them. Many even secretly rejoiced and were grateful that the Empress Dowager had left them room to turn back.
Human nature seems to be like this: a good person who does ninety-nine good deeds but only one bad deed will only receive scorn and insults, and will be angrily rebuked with words like, "I never thought you were such a filthy person, I misjudged you." However, when a bad person does ninety-nine bad deeds and suddenly has the idea to do one good deed, they will receive comments like, "This person can still be saved, he is not completely bad, he actually has such a soft heart."
This theory applies to Xue Jin'an, and it also applies to the Empress Dowager.
The only thing the Rong and Di envoys could do now was to stay quietly in the post station and wait for their verdict, including those who had received the Khan's orders to ensure that the third prince, Galdan, died a worthy death—well, to kill someone, you have to be able to come into contact with them, right? They could only wait for Galdan to be released from there.
However, that would likely be their death day. Xue Jin'an and the Empress Dowager shared the same idea: they would release Galdan back to the Rongdi at the appropriate time to disrupt the Rongdi court, but the other Rongdi people, including Weng Tianxin, would only face certain death.
They must pay the price for the war they had just experienced, and for the repeated provocations against the Great Qi since the Rong and Di envoys entered the capital.
The Empress Dowager is not the emperor. She will not show weakness to the enemy country just because she does not want to go to war. On the contrary, the more she does not want to go to war, the fiercer she will bite: "Hyenas can only learn to run away with their tails between their legs when they are hurt."
Xue Jin'an wholeheartedly agreed.
If the Rong and Di envoys stayed in the capital because the court wouldn't release them, then the Russian envoys stayed simply because their Princess Irina didn't want to leave.
Irina was the only one among all the envoys who stayed in the capital who genuinely wanted to remain. From the information Fulu gathered from Jiu Tianyi, there were many fragmented mentions of her, saying that she would visit the Princess whenever she had free time, and the Princess would accompany her to many banquets in the capital. She had even stayed overnight at Yongchun Palace, and even Xiao Taile had become familiar with her and no longer avoided her when she saw her.
Xue Jin'an knew that Princess Irina from another country was not someone to be trifled with, but since she was from another country, he didn't care at first, until he discovered that this princess seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally sowing discord among the princes.
A banquet that sends an invitation to the Princess's residence is certainly not an ordinary event; it's usually an event organized by scions of powerful and influential families. In fact, the Princess herself didn't usually attend such banquets. She wanted to maintain her relationships with these families, but she knew that people flocked to her because they could gain enough benefit from her. Once that benefit was gone, those who didn't kick her when she was down were the truly good people.
The eldest princess never believed that there were any good people in powerful and aristocratic families. In this circle, good people only get devoured and don't live long at all. The eldest princess was good at scheming, but that didn't mean she liked being in an environment where everyone was scheming against each other all the time. So, she generally refused to attend such banquets unless absolutely necessary. However, for those necessary banquets, the eldest princess would not bring a foreign princess with her.
The banquets Irina attended were mostly leisure and entertainment events, where people would enjoy the scenery, compose poems, and chat about romance. Most of the attendees were younger members of powerful and wealthy families. Such banquets were dispensable for the eldest princess, who already held a position in the capital, but they were a good opportunity for the younger princes.
The most significant banquet that the eldest princess took Irina to was the Spring Appreciation Banquet hosted by Princess Kangtai. Although it was called a Spring Appreciation Banquet, it was actually a matchmaking banquet. Her only son, who was also the Grand Secretary Jiang Wen, had been observing mourning for his deceased wife for three years. Now that the mourning period was finally over, Princess Kangtai naturally couldn't wait to find an opportunity to hold this banquet.
The banquet not only invited prominent families, but also some talented candidates who had passed the imperial examinations. It was a grand and lively event. Apart from the seventh prince, who was still under house arrest, almost all the princes and princesses with names and surnames were present.
At a banquet hosted by the Kangtai County, the princes should not show any of their disagreements.
The eldest prince was never one to cause trouble. Recently, due to his background, he has become even more low-key and humble. Moreover, he intends to establish himself as a reliable older brother. Even if someone does provoke him, he will try his best to resolve the situation peacefully.
The Second Prince was eager to curry favor with Jiang Wen, and frequently visited Princess Kangtai's residence to ingratiate himself with her. On the day Chu Wenwan and Xiao Shu were dealt with, the Imperial Guards ransacked the entire Prince's residence. The Second Prince was not there at the time; he had come to offer birthday wishes to Princess Kangtai's husband.
The Third Prince dared to beat his elder brother at the Princess's banquet and even led a group to block the gates of the two princes' homes, leaving them hungry and cold in a sorry state. He certainly had a rather lawless personality. However, this time, Consort Xian gave him a serious talking-to, telling him not to act impulsively.
Consort Xian wanted to find a good wife for the Third Prince, but the Third Prince's violent temper had already spread, and he had also lost a leg, making him ineligible for the throne. Finding a suitable princess was therefore quite difficult. In order to help her son find a partner smoothly, Consort Xian could only try her best to maintain her outward appearance. Just in case, she specially ordered several Imperial Guards to accompany the Third Prince. If the Third Prince was provoked and went berserk, the guards would beat him half to death and drag him back to the palace. This was a trick Consort Xian learned from Xue Jin'an. She discovered that beating her son lightly was useless. To stop her foolish son from doing something stupid, she had to use a heavy hand.
These three princes at the head of the group didn't cause trouble. The fourth prince, who came with the eldest prince, the sixth prince with a stutter, and the eighth prince who followed the third prince naturally wouldn't act on their own initiative either. Oh, it's not that there weren't any princes who wanted to cause trouble. The fifth prince and the ninth prince were not exactly peaceful. However, the fifth prince wouldn't force himself to take the lead. When no one else stepped forward, he would temporarily lie low. As for the ninth prince, he was purely full of malicious thoughts but lacked the means to achieve them. Perhaps Consort Zhuang had been on guard against him for a long time, and had her head maid, Qingye, always by her side.
Logically, under such circumstances, the princes should have behaved themselves.
But Irina was just that capable; she could shatter the pretense of peace with just a few words. It was fortunate that it was Princess Kangtai's affair; the princes looked displeased but didn't actually cause trouble. The Third Prince waited until after the banquet before rushing over and punching the Second Prince.
The blow landed on the abdomen, and the second prince vomited on the spot, rendering all the delicious food he had eaten useless.
Of course, Irina's provocations weren't actually that excessive. She didn't deliberately fabricate any facts, or rather, she simply recounted what they had done, such as talking to the First Prince about barbarian customs, talking to the Second Prince about the Third Prince blocking the door, and discussing treatment for the disabled with the Third Prince... all of which were sensitive topics.
Fu Lu described the princes' expressions at the time: "The eldest prince didn't seem to know anything. After chatting with the Russian princess, he didn't take the initiative to talk to anyone else. He just sat in the corner, drinking by himself until the banquet ended. The second prince couldn't maintain his composure when he heard the third prince's name. He made an excuse to end the topic after saying only a few words. The third prince, on the other hand, seemed the most composed. He didn't show any unusual behavior until the end of the banquet."
Well, then, the moment the Imperial Guard relaxed after the banquet, he rushed out and punched the Second Prince. He originally wanted to hit the First Prince, who came out at the same time, but this guy was very cunning. When he found that the Third Prince hadn't left, he was careful and deliberately walked behind the Second Prince. When the Second Prince was hit, he immediately retreated behind the guards, not letting the Third Prince catch him.
After the Third Prince returned to the palace, he was naturally scolded by Consort Xian. He was then detained in Yonghe Palace on the pretext of requesting to be confined to his quarters. Consort Xian's move of retreating to advance was quite clever. She punished the Third Prince first, and no one else could say anything. The Third Prince knew that Consort Xian was doing it for his own good, so he did not resist.
Throughout this whole affair, no one thought that Irina was stirring up trouble; they only believed that the conflict between the three princes was irreconcilable.
If Xue Jin'an hadn't pointed out that all three of them had spoken with Irina, Fu Lu wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with it.
Fulu couldn't help but ponder: "I feel that this Russian princess's style of doing things is very familiar..."
“The complete version of the Fifth Prince,” Xue Jin’an explained to him.
"Oh, right!" Fulu suddenly understood, then began to worry, "Master, she won't be trying to sow discord between you too, will she?"
Xue Jin'an thought he was overthinking things and said matter-of-factly, "I have nothing to provoke, and I don't get along with any of them."
Fu Lu: "..."
March arrived in the blink of an eye, and the imperial examination was just around the corner. Even if Irene wanted to stay in the capital, she had to leave. Consort Min held a banquet at Yongchun Palace to bid farewell to Irene, and the eldest princess once again personally went to Zhaoyang Palace to deliver an invitation.
Xue Jin'an hadn't planned to go, but the Eldest Princess brought up something he was very interested in: "The body of the Rongdi assassin was found in the abandoned palace. You've been there, haven't you? Do you want to know about Consort Hui?"
"Oh?" Xue Jin'an didn't show a strong desire to know, he just lifted his eyelids and glanced at her.
The eldest princess smiled gently, her voice as light and airy as a breeze reaching Xue Jin'an's ears, "Consort Hui actually had a chance to live back then. A divine physician said there was a curse that could save her..."
Xue Jin'an grasped the key information and said calmly, "A miracle doctor?"
The eldest princess nodded: "The divine physician Zhang Jinghua."
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