Chapter 231 Expelled from the Palace
Ye Wanning knew that Murong Xue was trying to sow discord between her and the Empress Dowager, hoping to use the Empress Dowager to suppress her. She calmly took out three items from her bosom: "Your Majesty, this is Cui'er's original statement, with her fingerprints and handprints on it, completely different from the handwriting on the statement in Miss Murong's possession!"
“And this is my mother’s last letter. It doesn’t mention the Empress Dowager at all. It only says that the Wei family forced her to hand over the medical classics, and when that failed, they poisoned her.” She paused, then continued, “My mother made an agreement with the late Emperor that she would not concern herself with politics, would protect the ‘Qing Nang Secret Essentials,’ and would never collude with any faction in the court. The late Emperor also promised not to let the Lin family be implicated in factional strife. My investigation into the truth today is only to clear my mother’s name, and I have absolutely no intention of targeting the Empress Dowager.”
"As for whether the Empress Dowager knew about it back then, I have also found out the truth." Ye Wanning looked at the Empress Dowager. "Back then, the Wei family held a large army. When the late Emperor was seriously ill, the Empress Dowager had to turn a blind eye to the Wei family's actions in order to stabilize the overall situation. I understand the Empress Dowager's difficulties."
Her candor softened the Empress Dowager's expression considerably. She then turned to Murong Xue, her tone icy: "Xue'er, where did you get this false testimony? How dare you sow discord in front of me?"
Murong Xue panicked: "Empress Dowager, I... I only heard it from the Wei family. I was just trying to protect you!"
"Protecting me? You're harming me!" The Empress Dowager roared. "Guards, throw Murong Xue out of the palace and never let her set foot in the capital again!"
When Murong Xue was dragged away by the guards, she burst into tears, but no one paid any attention to her.
The Empress Dowager sighed and took Ye Wanning's hand: "Wanning, I'm sorry you had to go through this. I did have my reasons for what happened back then. It's my regret that I couldn't protect your mother. Don't worry, I will find out the truth for you and give your mother justice."
Ye Wanning breathed a sigh of relief and curtsied, saying, "Thank you for your trust, Empress Dowager."
As she stepped out of Cining Palace, Pei Zhi was waiting for her at the palace gate. Seeing her emerge, he immediately went to greet her: "Are you alright?"
"It's alright, thank goodness you told me about the Empress Dowager's secrets back then," Ye Wanning said, then frowned, "But, is there something else you're hiding from me?"
Pei Zhi's pupils flickered, but he remained silent.
Ye Wanning asked again, "When you investigated the Empress Dowager's secrets, did you owe her a favor? Why didn't you tell me?"
She heard it from Steward Li: when Pei Zhi was investigating the military power of the Wei family, he had promised the Empress Dowager that he would help her nephew from her maternal family find a job.
Pei Zhi remained silent for a long time before saying, "I'm afraid you'll have reservations if you know."
Concerns? Ye Wanning felt a little unhappy: "Do you think I would give up investigating the truth just because of a favor? Pei Zhi, there should be no secrets between us."
After she finished speaking, she turned and left, leaving Pei Zhi standing there dumbfounded.
For the next few days, the two fell into a cold war. When Ye Wanning went to the Heritage Hall, she would deliberately avoid Pei Zhi's residence; when Pei Zhi sent someone to deliver medicine, she would have Chun Tao return it untouched.
Until this day, Pei Zhi went to the Heritage Hall in person, holding a document in his hand.
“Wan Ning, I have repaid the favor I owed the Empress Dowager.” He handed over the document. “I helped the Empress Dowager’s nephew with his job, but I also made it clear to the Empress Dowager that this was my personal promise and had nothing to do with your investigation of the truth.”
He looked into her eyes and said earnestly, "It was my fault for not telling you before. From now on, I will never hide anything from you again."
Ye Wanning looked at the document, then at Pei Zhi's sincere eyes, and her anger gradually dissipated. She said softly, "I shouldn't have been angry with you."
Just after the hour-9 PM bell rang, Ye Wanning changed into a black short-sleeved shirt, carried a lantern covered with black cloth, and quietly headed towards the Cold Palace in the northwest corner of the imperial city.
The other day, Cui'er casually mentioned that three months before her mother, Lin Yuewei, passed away, she had taken the opportunity of treating a deposed concubine in the Cold Palace to visit a former palace maid surnamed Su. The two of them talked for nearly an hour in a side hall with the door closed.
The palace maid surnamed Su was an old acquaintance of her mother's when she entered the palace as a physician. Ye Wanning felt that this might hold a key clue to her mother's murder.
She didn't tell Pei Zhi. First, the Cold Palace was a forbidden area, and the more people who knew, the more dangerous it would be; second, the two of them had just reconciled these past few days, and she didn't want to cause him any unnecessary trouble.
The vermilion gate of the Cold Palace was long rusted, ajar with a crack, and the musty smell mixed with the damp, cold wind rushed in. Large chunks of plaster had fallen off the walls, and the weeds had grown to waist height. The sound of the grass rustling in the night wind was like the low murmur of ghosts.
She followed the path she remembered, heading towards the west wing where the palace maid surnamed Su had lived. Just as she turned a corner in the corridor, she suddenly heard a crisp "crack" under her feet.
Ye Wanning looked down and saw a crack in the rotten wooden floorboards. Before she could back away, a dull creaking sound came from above, followed by splinters falling from the wooden beams of the entire corridor.
"Oh no!" Ye Wanning's heart skipped a beat. She tried to retreat and run away, but it was too late—with a loud crash, half of the corridor collapsed. Splintering wood grazed her arm, and a beam landed squarely behind her, completely blocking her escape route.
She slipped and fell to the ground, the lantern also fell to the side, and the flame flickered twice before going out.
Darkness instantly enveloped her, with only the moonlight barely illuminating a small area. She was trapped in the gap between the corridor and the west wing hall. The door of the west wing hall was half open, and she scrambled to her feet and stumbled inside to hide.
The west wing was even colder than outside; several large holes had been opened in the roof, and the cold wind, carrying dampness, seeped into her bones. She reached into her clothes, groping for a signal flare to call for help, only to find that the fuse had broken when she fell, and it wouldn't light at all.
My heart sank lower and lower. The Cold Palace was already deserted, and in this desolate West Side Hall, I was afraid that no one would hear me even if I shouted myself hoarse.
Just as she was staring blankly at the signal flare in her hand, feeling utterly dejected, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall, along with that all-too-familiar call: "Wan Ning! Ye Wan Ning! Where are you?"
It's Pei Zhi's voice!
Ye Wanning quickly stood up, rushed to the door, and shouted outside, "I'm here! Pei Zhi, I'm in the west wing!"
The words had barely left his lips when a figure in black burst through the night. Pei Zhi was covered in mud and water, his black robes soaked through, and his hair dripping wet—clearly he had braved the rain to get here. His long sword was still sheathed. Seeing Ye Wanning standing there unharmed, his tense jawline relaxed slightly, then hardened again: "Who told you to come here alone?"
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