Chapter 686 The Astute Fourth Prince
Zhang Yurou was still very scared. It happened to be the time when the Ninth Princess was getting married. She also met the still-living Consort Su by chance. She did not expect that Consort Su would not be able to attend her daughter's wedding outside the palace. She said that all of this was because Jiang Fenghua was trying to kill her.
She even kindly escorted her out of the city, but when she returned, Consort Su went straight to her again.
Originally, she was unwilling to help Consort Su, but she revealed the secret she had kept hidden in her heart. She knew that Consort Su had always been in love with Xie Shang, and she also said that Jiang Fenghua had used underhanded means to kill Su Tingwan.
She knew that Su Tingwan was less skilled, but she acted impulsively and agreed to help her.
She didn't care about any of that, because she was already the Fourth Princess Consort and there was no way she could marry Xie Shang in this lifetime.
Consort Su added that she was acquainted with Consort Chang when she was in the palace, and knew that Consort Chang and the Fourth Prince had suffered a lot from Empress Dowager Cheng. All the concubines in the palace who had given birth to sons had also suffered from Empress Dowager Cheng.
Empress Dowager Cheng most wanted to see the sons of the concubines being good-for-nothings, so she always turned a blind eye to it.
The Fourth Prince was different. Consort Chang took him to live in the West Palace early on, which also fostered his timid and cowardly nature.
Consort Su could not bear a son, so she would never have a chance to ascend the throne, but the Fourth Prince had the opportunity to become the emperor.
She cannot be Xie Shang's empress; as long as the Fourth Prince ascends the throne and becomes emperor, she will be empress.
Zhang Yurou's heart pounded. With Xie Yang's cowardly nature, how could he possibly defeat Xie Shang to become emperor? However, she had been Xie Yang's wife for so many years, and she still didn't know that he had another side to him.
Just then, the lantern in Wuxin's hand suddenly went out, and the surroundings became pitch black again. Wuxin said, "Your Highness, please wait here. This servant will go find a tinderbox to light the lantern."
Before the Fourth Princess could agree, Wuxin had already left quickly.
Zhang Yurou felt that there was no end in sight ahead, and the air seemed to be filled with mist, giving her a sense of gloom and terror.
The palace maid carrying the lantern and Consort Su in her gorgeous dress reappeared in her sight. They seemed to be floating rather than walking in the corridor, which frightened Zhang Yurou so much that her legs trembled.
Her voice trembled, and she squinted, not daring to look ahead: "Consort Su, is that you? You..."
"I am dead. She killed me. Why didn't you come to meet me that day?"
It was Consort Su's voice. Zhang Yurou was so frightened that she collapsed to her knees. "After we parted that day, I didn't know that Madam would be in trouble. I went to meet her, but I haven't heard from her since."
"Help me get revenge, you must help me get revenge..."
"Rest assured, Madam, I, the Princess Consort, will definitely..."
Just then, Xie Yang, who was already lying on the bed, suddenly ran out of the side hall, interrupting Zhang Yurou. He stumbled to Zhang Yurou and said, "My beloved concubine, you've come."
Zhang Yurou slowly opened her eyes, and Xie Yang pulled her into his arms, saying, "My beloved concubine needs a kiss."
Zhang Yurou said, "Your Highness, please release me, this is not..."
Xie Yang suddenly bit Zhang Yurou's neck, "This king wants a kiss."
Zhang Yurou felt a sharp pain and instantly woke up. When she looked at the thick fog ahead again, there was no longer any palace maid carrying a lantern or Su Qingqing. Only the pitch-black night remained, as if Su Qingqing had never been there at all.
Xie Yang leaned close to her earlobe, his deep, cold voice ringing in her ear: "Idiot, what are you doing?"
"Your Highness..." she covered her mouth.
"Hold me tight and help me into the house," he said again.
Zhang Yurou nodded repeatedly. She had been so frightened that she was completely powerless, but now that Xie Yang had pinched her, she had no choice but to help him up and go back into the house.
Meanwhile, Wuxin stayed in the shadows with Jiang Fenghua, quietly watching everything unfold.
Wu Xin said, "So the Fourth Prince was faking fainting? We servants didn't notice anything when we were helping him up."
Jiang Fenghua curled her lips, "He not only pretended to faint, but he also saw through someone impersonating Su Qingqing to scare Zhang Yurou. It seems that the cowardly and weak Fourth Prince is not what everyone thinks he is."
Wu Xin said worriedly, "He saw through us. What do we do now? Did we alert him?"
"Even if it is confirmed that the Fourth Princess Consort was the one who contacted Su Qingqing, Su Qingqing only wanted to kill me, which does not prove that the Fourth Princess Consort wanted to kill me."
Jiang Fenghua's mind worked quickly. "To say she's a traitor, she didn't do that. She just helped Su Qingqing. Even if these things are exposed, given the Fourth Prince's status, the punishment would be insignificant. Let's think about it again. It's not without its gains; at least the Fourth Prince has been exposed."
Wuxin looked somewhat worried. "Did Your Highness desecrate the ancestral graves of the Fourth Princess's family? That would allow her to harm Your Highness like this?"
Jiang Fenghua smiled slightly, "It would make her even angrier than if her ancestors' graves were dug up."
"What's wrong?" Wuxin asked, completely puzzled.
“I married the man she could never have in her entire life.” Jiang Fenghua said with a hint of schadenfreude. “I love seeing her hate me so much that her teeth itch, but she can’t do anything about it. And Shu Ronghua, and the other concubines, they all hate me for taking Xie Shang away from them, as if Xie Shang originally belonged to them.”
Wu Xin was speechless. She was now the Empress, the mother of the nation. The Emperor belonged to the Empress. Who would dare to question her?
After the Empress lost her memory, she no longer took the initiative to arrange for the concubines to serve her in bed. If the Emperor continued to favor the Empress exclusively, a bunch of resentful women would emerge in the harem.
Jiang Fenghua has achieved the result she wanted; sometimes, stirring up trouble is the only way to lure the snake out of its hole.
If Zhang Yurou knew that she already knew that she and Su Qingqing were colluding, she would probably be even more panicked.
Jiang Fenghua recalled the banquet hall earlier, where everyone wanted the Fourth Princess Consort to showcase her talents. Zhang Yurou acted all pretentious, and coincidentally, the Fourth Prince sobered up and vomited all over the place.
She recalled that just as the Fourth Princess was about to reveal her secret collusion with Su Qingqing, Xie Yang interrupted her.
There's no way it's such a coincidence, so she's certain that Xie Yang isn't the most timid and cowardly member of the Xie family. Instead, he's cunning and intelligent. On the contrary, Zhang Yurou is timid and afraid of trouble. How much trouble could she and Su Qingqing possibly cause? Xie Yang probably already knows they're colluding.
Xie Yang pulled Zhang Yurou into the house, pushed her to the door and pretended to kiss her, but actually he was using Zhang Yurou to peek outside through the crack in the door.
Everything outside was normal; no one was peeking or eavesdropping.
Xie Yang asked, "Who did you see while you were kneeling on the ground? Who were you kowtowing to?"
He was inside the house and couldn't see the outside clearly, and there was nothing in the yard except the corridor.
Zhang Yurou's mind was filled with images of Su Qingqing. "Your Highness, I saw Consort Su. She died, but she reappeared in the palace. She looked so terrifying."
Xie Yang thought he had misheard. "How could you see her? Wasn't she already..."
"I don't know either. Her subordinates clearly said they had captured Jiang Fenghua, but in the end she died at Jiang Fenghua's hands," Zhang Yurou blurted out.
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