There weren't many lights in the courtyard, but one was lit in a secluded room, from which faint voices could be heard. Xin Kui drifted into the courtyard like a falling leaf, and, using the artificial hills and flowers as cover, silently approached the lit window.
Inside the room, Liu Yiyi was pacing anxiously, with a middle-aged man who looked like a butler sitting opposite her.
"...The princess is pressing us hard! The Empress Dowager is clearly on her deathbed. News from the palace says there will definitely be a banquet after the funeral! This is our last chance!" Liu Yiyi's voice was filled with suppressed excitement and ruthlessness. "Is everything ready?"
The steward respectfully replied, "Second Miss, rest assured, everything is prepared. The counterfeit 'Nine-Tailed Phoenix Hairpin' has been successfully replicated and is indistinguishable from the real thing. When the time comes, we only need to bribe a palace maid responsible for presenting the tribute and slip it into Miss Xin's dressing case amidst the chaos... Hmph, wearing a counterfeit phoenix hairpin at a national mourning banquet is a grave disrespect! It's an act of contempt for the royal family! She'll be in big trouble! Even if she doesn't die, she'll be severely injured!"
A malicious glint flashed in Liu Yiyi's eyes: "Fine! And another one! What about that 'love letter'? The one that imitated Qi Huaiyu's handwriting?"
“It’s all settled.” The steward pulled out a letter sealed with wax from his pocket. “As you instructed, the forgery is perfect. When the time comes, we’ll say that Miss Xin was lonely and had an affair with her former lover, and the letter was accidentally left in the Imperial Garden… With witnesses and physical evidence, let’s see how she tries to deny it! Even if the Sixth Prince wants to protect her, he can’t silence the gossip of the world!”
"Two-pronged approach! Let's see how she dies!" Liu Yiyi's face revealed a ferocious smile. "Remember, be clean! The palace maid who was responsible for inserting the hairpin, and the little eunuch who delivered the 'love letter,' after it's done..." She made a throat-slitting gesture.
The butler understood immediately: "I understand, it was all an 'accident'."
Xin Kui, listening from outside the window, felt a chill run down her spine and was consumed by rage! What a vicious scheme! Framing someone for overstepping authority and showing utter disrespect, and then slandering her for having an affair with an old lover—any one of these accusations would be enough to condemn Xin Jiuwei to eternal damnation! She suppressed the urge to rush in and kill, and continued to listen intently, holding her breath.
After hearing Liu Yiyi explain some more details, the butler acknowledged the order and withdrew. Liu Yiyi was alone in the room, fixing her makeup in front of the mirror, her face showing a smug look of certainty.
Xin Kui knew she couldn't wait any longer. She retreated silently, stealthily disappearing in the direction the butler had gone. In a secluded corner, she pounced like a cheetah, covering the butler's mouth and knocking him unconscious with a karate chop, quickly dragging him into the shadows of the artificial hill. She swiftly searched the butler's body and, sure enough, found the forged "love letter" and a brocade pouch containing a replica phoenix hairpin!
With the evidence in hand, Xin Kui dared not linger. She shoved the butler deep into the artificial cave, ensuring he wouldn't wake up or escape for a while. Just as she had come, she silently scaled the high wall and disappeared into the vast night.
Inside Jingyuan Garden, the lights were still on.
Xin Jiuwei waited anxiously. When she saw Xin Kui's familiar figure slip through the window like a wisp of smoke and stand unharmed before her, her heart finally settled.
"Miss! I got it!" Xin Kui, slightly out of breath, handed the brocade pouch, damp with the chill of the night dew, and the forged letter to Xin Jiuwei, her eyes flashing with excitement and anger. "They're going to make their move at the palace banquet after the Empress Dowager's funeral! They'll frame you for wearing an unauthorized phoenix hairpin and then falsely accuse you of having an affair with Qi Huaiyu!"
Xin Jiuwei took the cold brocade pouch and letter, her fingertips trembling slightly. Looking at the replica of the nine-tailed phoenix hairpin in the pouch, which gleamed coldly in the candlelight but carried a deadly trap, and then at the handwriting on the letter, which was deliberately imitated but still bore a resemblance to Qi Huaiyu's, a chilling killing intent spread from the bottom of her heart.
What a cunning Yongjia! What a clever Liu Yiyi! What a... Xiao Zhuo! This series of insidious schemes, each linked to the next, strikes directly at the heart of the problem!
"Miss, what should we do? Should we report to His Highness immediately?" Xin Kui asked anxiously.
Xin Jiuwei's eyes were icy cold, like a sharp blade tempered with ice. She slowly placed the brocade pouch and letter on the table, a cold and resolute smile curving her lips.
“No.” Her voice was unusually calm, yet it carried a ruthless edge, as if everything would perish. “Telling His Highness is certainly necessary. But simply telling His Highness is not enough.”
She raised her eyes to look at Xin Kui, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of wisdom and revenge: "They want to play with fire? Then let's make this fire burn even brighter! Burn it back at them!" She needed crucial evidence or witnesses to turn the tables and completely turn the tables, and that required Xiao Xun's power.
"Xin Kui, you did a great job. Go and rest." Xin Jiuwei took a deep breath, suppressing her surging emotions. "Tomorrow morning, you'll come with me to see Chen Qing. It's time for us to put on a big show for them!"
The evidence Xin Kui brought back was like a stone thrown into a deep, still pool, stirring up a tidal wave in Xin Jiuwei's heart and giving her a clear prediction of the impending storm. She quickly organized her thoughts, using the details of Liu Yiyi's conversation with the housekeeper, as well as the counterfeit phoenix hairpin and forged love letters as irrefutable evidence, and secretly passed them on to Xiao Xun through Chen Qing.
Upon seeing those items, Chen Qing's expression turned extremely grave, and he immediately grabbed the items and hurriedly left.
Xin Jiuwei didn't know how Xiao Xun would react. Would he be furious at Yongjia's audacity, or annoyed by her unauthorized actions? Or perhaps... he felt that she, as a pawn, had caused too much trouble? She forced herself not to think about it and focused only on the next step of her plan—how to turn the tables at the palace banquet and completely destroy Yongjia and Liu Yiyi!
However, before she could even fully consider her plans, an even more pressing and unexpected turn of events occurred.
Late at night, a rapid and heavy knocking broke the silence of Jingyuan. Chen Qing returned, his face more severe than ever before, followed by a pale-faced, beardless eunuch dressed in the attire of a palace servant.
"Miss Xin!" Chen Qing's voice was urgent. "A messenger from the palace has arrived! The Empress Dowager... has passed away!"
Xin Jiuwei's heart sank! Although she had expected it, the moment it truly arrived still brought a heavy, suffocating feeling. The Empress Dowager had passed away, and the national mourning had begun!
The eunuch stepped forward, his voice high-pitched yet carrying an undeniable authority: "By order of Her Majesty the Empress! All princes, princesses, imperial concubines, and those already designated as imperial concubines, are to immediately enter the palace to keep vigil! Miss Xin, please change your clothes quickly and come with me to the palace!"
Keeping vigil! Xin Jiuwei instantly understood what this meant. During the national mourning period, especially on the night of the vigil, these "filial sons and grandsons" were required to kneel before the coffin day and night, never leaving its side. And as the "prospective sixth prince's consort," she would inevitably be arranged to be with Xiao Xun!
As expected, when Xin Jiuwei, dressed in plain white mourning clothes, hurriedly arrived at the Fengxian Hall, where the Empress Dowager's coffin was kept, accompanied by Chen Qing and Xin Kui, the hall was already filled with white banners like snow, and the sound of weeping shook the heavens. Princes, princesses, members of the imperial family, and concubines of the harem knelt in the hall according to their rank, creating a solemn and sorrowful atmosphere.
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