Chapter 787 A Complete Sweep! (Second Update)
The Imperial Preceptor's Hall was brightly lit.
With Consort Han gone, there was no need to keep that spy around. Gu Jiao let him "break" something and then had him sent back to the palace.
Regardless of whether Zhang Dequan suspected him or not, he would never use this clumsy palace servant again after he was sent back.
While the old chief priest was asking Xiao Heng about the situation of the ten great families, Empress Dowager Zhuang was holding a jar and eating her daily portion of candied fruit with great relish.
Gu Jiao stood up and said, "I'll go cook."
The Imperial Preceptor's Hall has a cook, but she wanted to cook a meal of her hometown dishes for her family.
Empress Dowager Zhuang said angrily, "Come back! Who wants to eat the food you cooked?"
It's so hot going into the kitchen on a sweltering day!
Gu Jiao said, "But didn't my aunt say at noon that she wanted to eat Zhao Kingdom cuisine?"
I was just saying it offhand… Empress Dowager Zhuang glared at the old Grand Master of Ceremonies: “Go.”
The old chief priest didn't want to go: "There's a cook in the Imperial Preceptor's Hall, what are you doing here...?"
"I'll go," Xiao Heng said, as he could also cook Zhao Kingdom cuisine.
The old chief priest's body stiffened, and he stood up with a wave of his hand: "You are not allowed to go! I will do it!"
Xiao Heng: "..."
To avoid eating his disciple's terrible cooking, the old master braved the sweltering heat of midsummer to go to the kitchen to light a fire and cook.
The young princess has returned to the palace.
Xiao Jingkong was led by Gu Chengfeng to the street to buy candied hawthorns.
Only Gu Jiao, Empress Dowager Zhuang, and Xiao Heng remained in the room.
Gu Jiao grunted and said, "Grandma, with all that commotion in Han's palace today, the Third Princess's claim of having multiple mothers must have been exposed, right? What will they do?"
Actually, if it were just her and Xiao Heng, they would also want to, but since their great-aunt and great-uncle were here, they could slack off.
Empress Dowager Zhuang calmly replied, "They will come knocking on our door."
Speak of the devil and he appears.
A disciple from the Imperial Preceptor's Hall arrived at the Qilin Hall and bowed to Xiao Heng outside the door: "Your Highness, two people have arrived. They say they were sent by His Majesty to visit the Third Princess."
Xiao Heng and Gu Jiao exchanged a glance.
Empress Dowager Zhuang nodded slightly.
Xiao Heng said to the disciples of the Imperial Preceptor's Hall, "Let them in."
"yes!"
A quarter of an hour later, a eunuch and a woman dressed as a maid arrived at the Qilin Hall.
In the corridor, the old woman kept her head down, her figure blocked behind her by the eunuch.
The eunuch looked at the young palace maid guarding Shangguan Yan's door and said kindly, "We've come to deliver clothes to the Third Princess...Is His Highness the Grandson not here?"
The palace maid said, "His Highness just went to the restroom."
That's perfect, saves us the trouble of finding an excuse to send His Highness Changsun away.
The eunuch smiled and said, "Then when I go to pay my respects to His Highness the Grandson again, may I go in and see the Third Princess?"
“Alright.” The little palace maid Huan’er stepped aside.
The eunuch and the old woman went into the room.
A moment later, the eunuch's voice came from inside the room: "It seems a bit ill-fitting. Take the Third Princess's measurements and have a few new outfits made later. I'll wait for you outside."
After saying that, he went out of the house and smiled at Huan'er, "I'm a little thirsty, could you please pour me a glass of water?"
"Please wait a moment, sir."
Huan'er was successfully distracted.
Inside the room, a woman dressed as a matron went around to the back of the screen and coldly looked at the tightly closed curtains: "Stop pretending, Third Princess, come out now."
The sound of someone getting up came from inside the mosquito net.
The curtain was lifted, revealing Shangguan Yan's bright smile: "Consort Wang, it's been three days. How have you been?"
Consort Wang sneered, "So soon you've stopped calling me Mother Consort?"
Shangguan Yan retorted, "Are you worthy?"
Consort Wang was so angry she nearly fell over. She really was a heartless person who used someone and then kicked them aside!
Consort Wang said arrogantly, "Shangguan Yan, don't be too smug. I know everything you've done, and everyone else knows your true colors. Tomorrow morning, everyone will bring His Majesty to examine your injuries. At that time, I'm afraid you won't even have time to cry!"
Shangguan Yan raised an eyebrow: "Oh, really? So Consort Xian came all this way to remind me, is it because she doesn't want to see me cry?"
Consort Wang's gaze was icy: "Shangguan Yan, stop your nonsense! You have so much dirt on you that we can't hold against you. Once it's exposed, your fate will only be worse than before! Right now, only I can save you!"
Shangguan Yan asked, "Why did Consort Xian save me?"
Consort Wang said, "I'll make a deal with you. As long as you continue to fulfill your original promise, I have a way to resolve tomorrow's crisis for you!"
Shangguan Yan didn't ask her what her solution was, but instead smiled faintly and said, "I just tricked you, and you still dare to come to me for a deal? Have you been soaked in the rain too much and lost your mind?"
Shangguan Yan could infuriate someone with just three sentences. Consort Wang took a deep breath and struggled to resist the urge to stab her to death!
Consort Wang said with a powerful aura, "I dared to come because I'm not afraid of your betrayal again! Because you have no choice!"
Shangguan Yan narrowed her eyes: "That sounds reasonable. What does Consort Xian intend for me to do?"
Seeing that she was somewhat reasonable, Consort Wang's expression softened slightly: "It's very simple. In the middle of the night, you'll pretend to be in a situation. You can figure out what kind of situation it is yourself. Once the news reaches the palace, I will come to visit you with His Majesty. At that time, all you need to do is open your eyes, take my hand, and call me Empress Dowager!"
Shangguan Yan looked at her strangely: "You want me to pretend to be crazy?"
Consort Wang snorted coldly: "You've even faked amnesia, so what's so special about pretending to be crazy?"
Shangguan Yan raised an eyebrow and said, "What if His Majesty doesn't believe me?"
Consort Wang's face darkened: "That's your problem. If you can't convince His Majesty, then you can expect to be exposed first thing tomorrow morning!"
This old hag wants me to acknowledge her as my mother, how could she even think of that!
Shangguan Yan put on her shoes, got out of bed, and slowly walked to the window. She gave Consort Wang a meaningful look and said, "Consort Wang's conditions are very tempting. I personally want to agree, but... I don't know if these ladies will agree."
As she spoke, she pushed open the window with a whoosh.
Consort Wang looked closely and saw Consort Dong, Consort Yang, Consort Chen, and Consort Feng hiding outside the window!
The four were caught off guard and stunned when Shangguan Yan opened the window without warning.
Consort Wang was also stunned.
Their eyes met.
An epic-scale social death scene.
"How...how did you get here?"
It took Consort Wang a long time to find her voice.
Shangguan Yan was delighted to watch the show, arms crossed, leisurely observing Dong Chenfei and the other three.
Consort Dong cleared her throat and questioned, "We should be asking you the same question! Didn't you say we'd go to His Majesty together tomorrow to report this shameless scoundrel? So you were just stalling for time so you could come and make a deal with her yourself!"
Shangguan Yan glanced at her: "Hey, watch your words."
Who's shameless?
Are you as shameless as you?
One or two of you are so eager to betray your teammates, is this what you call an alliance? It's laughable.
"Aren't you the same?" Consort Wang asked coldly.
“We…” Consort Dong choked, her face flushed, and she glanced at Consort Feng, “She arrived first!”
Consort Feng's delicate body trembled: "I'm the third one! When I arrived, Consort De and Consort Shu were already hiding outside the window!"
"Consort De arrived first!" Consort Chen decisively betrayed Consort Yang.
She was in the middle of a deal with Shangguan Yan when she heard someone coming from the palace. She climbed out of the window to hide, only to find Consort Yang standing in front of her.
God knows what she was feeling at that moment!
Then, Consort Feng arrived.
When Feng Zhaoyi climbed through the window, she was also shocked.
Following them were Consort Dong and Consort Wang.
Consort Wang was furious; she was so angry she saw stars.
It was clearly her plan, so how come she ended up being the slowest one?
There have never been any stupid women in the imperial harem; if there were, they would have died long ago. Who could have survived until now?
They were outmaneuvered by Shangguan Yan because they had never expected her to win through such a surprising move.
In addition, Shangguan Yan knew them very well, but because Shangguan Yan had stayed in the imperial mausoleum for more than ten years, her personality had changed drastically, and she was no longer the Crown Princess they knew.
The saying "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle" is not without reason.
"Let's not fight amongst ourselves!" Consort Wang calmed down and stabilized the situation. "Everyone wants to be Empress, but it seems none of us can. So let's settle for second best and think about how to get revenge! Of course, if you're willing to be played like fools by Shangguan Yan, then just pretend I didn't say anything!"
Consort Dong said sarcastically, "You wouldn't be trying to send us away again so you can pull some dirty tricks behind our backs, would you?"
Do you mean you didn't resort to underhanded tactics?
They're all more impatient than me, and they even have the nerve to mock me?
Consort Wang suppressed her anger, deciding not to start a fight with Consort Dong at this critical juncture. She said seriously, "Let's go to the palace together now and invite His Majesty here! We shouldn't say that we've seen her; her testimony alone isn't enough to convince him! We should find a way to let His Majesty see her injuries!"
The four remained silent.
At this point, they naturally understood that their deal with Shangguan Yan was doomed to fail.
These five noble consorts were truly unable to swallow their pride at being tricked by a junior.
“Okay, I agree!” Consort Chen was the first to express her opinion.
"I agree too!" Following that, Consort Feng and Consort Yang also expressed their opinions.
Consort Dong frowned impatiently: "You've all agreed, what can I do? Fine, go back to the palace!"
Shangguan Yan said slowly, "Are you sure you're just going to leave like this?"
Consort Wang warned, "Shangguan Yan, don't even think about making a move against us here. Our people aren't pushovers! If this gets to His Majesty's ears, we'll just say we were worried about you and that's why we secretly left the palace to visit you. You won't get away with it!"
Shangguan Yan took out a stack of papers from her wide sleeve, patted them in her palm, and said, "It seems that you are also indifferent to this."
The group instinctively turned their heads to look at the paper in her hand.
Fearing that the others might not be able to see clearly, Shangguan Yan specially took out a copy to show them.
The pupils of the group contracted!
Consort Dong was astonished: "This is..."
"Yes, it is the promise I wrote to the ladies. It's in black and white: you help me overthrow Consort Han, and I will help you ascend to the position of Empress. Sign it, I, and the ladies."
Consort Feng hurriedly took out the written agreement she carried with her.
"Stop looking, what you have are fake, these are the real ones. If you don't believe me, compare the fingerprints on them yourselves."
Feng Zhaoyi looked at the fingerprint she had pressed on the paper. It was her right thumb, which had a whorl pattern, commonly known as a snail. However, the fingerprint that should have belonged to her on this paper was a winnowing basket.
They are definitely different.
Here's what happened—
Xiao Heng first secretly obtained the handwriting of several empresses from the library of the Imperial Preceptor's Hall, and had Shangguan Yan write five promises in advance. Then, he had the old chief priest imitate the handwriting of the empresses, sign his name, and press his fingerprint on them.
Most people wouldn't bother comparing fingerprints afterward if they had nothing better to do.
After all, they signed and sealed the agreement in person. Who would have thought that Shangguan Yan was so quick that she managed to switch the items right under their noses?
If it were just a matter of placing a few figurines, Xiao Jiu could have done it herself. Why did she have to send Shangguan Yan to find these concubines overnight?
Empress Dowager Zhuang was not just a woman whose vision was limited to the inner palace; she was a powerful regent empress dowager who dominated the court!
From the very beginning, she wasn't simply plotting against Consort Han. In fact, Consort Han was just a side project; what she really wanted to catch were these big fish from the powerful families!
Consort Wang sneered: "Shangguan Yan, so what if you have this evidence? Does it prove that we colluded with you? Didn't you participate yourself?"
Shangguan Yan smiled faintly: "But I'm not afraid of death. Aren't you afraid either?"
Consort Dong was furious: "You!"
Shangguan Yan's smile faded, and her gaze gradually turned icy.
She approached them step by step, like a vengeful ghost.
"The Xuanyuan family is gone, my mother is dead, and my son is seriously ill and won't live past the end of the year. What else do I have to lose! You are different. You have a large maternal clan behind you and healthy, long-lived children. I only ask you one question: do you dare to perish with me? Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose! I am now the one who has nothing to lose!"
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(End of this chapter)
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