76. Lin Ao's Counterattack
◎Survival in the palace depends primarily on intelligence.◎
Qi Gu clapped her hands towards the door, "Fu Lian, bring the person up!"
The second princess almost lost her footing when she saw who it was! How could it be her!
Qi Gu pointed at the newcomer, "Second Sister and Madam Guo must recognize this person."
The second princess broke out in a cold sweat. Hadn't she ordered her mother and Zhong to have her killed? Why was she still alive?
Madam Guo shouted in a shrill voice, "How could you be here?!" Her expression was as if she had seen a ghost.
"What Madam Guo wants to ask isn't why she's here, but rather why she's alive," Qi Gu said, shaking her head.
"What exactly is going on?" Emperor Jin Yuan recognized Lin Ao. She was a palace maid who had previously served Lady Guo. Lady Guo disliked Lin Ao for being clumsy and not to her liking. Some time ago, she cried and begged him to allow Marquis Huicheng to send another capable person to serve her. He thought it was not a big deal and agreed.
Unexpectedly, Jin Fu later revealed his whereabouts to exchange for money, and the Empress carried out a thorough purge of the palace staff. Because Zhong Ao was an outsider, the Empress wanted to expel her from the palace. However, he had already promised to Lady Guo that he would agree to her request, thus going against his wife's wishes.
Looking at Lin Ao now, he frowned and asked, "I remember you served by Madam Guo's side? Why did the eldest princess have you captured?"
Lin Ao knelt on the ground, completely calm, as if she had been waiting for this day all along.
She bowed deeply, then rose and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, I was not captured by the eldest princess, but rescued by her."
"What? What's going on?" the emperor asked.
Zhong Ao continued, "I am indeed a palace maid serving Madam Guo. But ever since Zhong Ao came to Pixiang Palace, I have been regarded as a thorn in her side. I am old and only wanted to ask for the grace of leaving the palace to live out my old age. However, Madam Guo suspected that I was sent by the Empress to monitor Madam Guo and even planned to have Zhong Ao poison me!"
"You lowly slave, how dare you frame me!" Madam Guo shouted excitedly, "Guards, drag this babbling slave away and beat him to death with sticks!"
Lin Ao remained unmoved, showing no fear despite Madam Guo's words. She had been waiting for this opportunity ever since she learned that Madam Guo intended to kill her.
Honghu was horrified. Lin Ao... Could it be that from the very beginning, when Lin Ao came to her for help with the Second Princess, she had already sided with the First Princess and the Empress? All of this made sense, and she had actually done so much right under the First Princess's nose...
"How could this be? The eldest princess has only been back from the common people for a few months. How could she know so much about the secrets of the palace!" Honghu was in turmoil.
"Even if I die today, this old servant will make things clear!" Lin's voice rang out: "That day, when the Second Princess saw me being punished by Madam Guo, she deliberately waited there and told this old servant that as long as this old servant could help her frame the First Princess, she would plead with Madam Guo to save this old servant's life and let this old servant leave the palace."
"Shut up! You're not only framing me, but you're trying to frame the Second Princess too! Guards, are you all dead? Drag this damned lowly slave away!"
Empress Guo's voice was calm and authoritative. "Let Lin Ao finish speaking so we can discern whether Honghu's words are true or false, lest I show favoritism towards the eldest princess. Don't you agree?"
"Your Majesty, let's not pursue this matter today, perhaps..." Madam Guo finally lost her nerve. She didn't understand why such a change had suddenly occurred when they were so close to success!
"Ha!" The Empress sneered, "So you're saying you won't pursue this matter!" The Empress stood up and said, "If we don't get to the bottom of what happened today, how will His Majesty govern the country, how will I manage Changyang Palace, and how will I face these old brothers?"
The Empress turned to the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, don't you agree?"
The Empress's words were exactly what the Emperor had just said, but times had changed. Now, the Emperor understood that the Empress was using his own words to shut him down.
"You audacious servant, tell me what you know right now! If you dare to utter another lie, I will chop off your entire family!"
"In order to save my life, I listened to the Second Princess. She took out two pills and asked me to befriend Honghu, who serves the First Princess, and have her find a way to put one of the pills in the Princess's palace, while Honghu would use the other to frame the First Princess."
"Aunt Lin, I have no grudge against you, why are you making false accusations? Have you been bribed by the First Princess and the Empress to harm me and my mother?" The Second Princess argued tearfully. Even now, she still believed her plan was flawless. So what if Aunt Lin was alive? She had no evidence!
"Second Princess, this old servant only wants to save my lowly life. I know that no matter whether I can help you succeed or not, I am doomed to die."
"So you conspired with the First Princess to frame me instead!" the Second Princess couldn't help but ask.
Lin Ao looked at the Second Princess. She was almost fifty years old and had experienced so many struggles between concubines in the previous dynasty. She considered herself to be very knowledgeable about palace affairs, which was why she chose to stay in the palace back then.
Without some means to protect herself, how could she dare to continue serving in the new dynasty's palace? She thought she could make a name for herself under Madam Guo's command, but unfortunately, Madam Guo did not trust her and even had Aunt Zhong slap her in the face. That was bad enough, but she also wanted to kill her!
Thinking of this, Lin Ao's eyes became even more determined. She could die, but Madam Guo and the Second Princess would not get away with it either. Today, she would teach Madam Guo and her daughter a survival rule in Changyang Palace: servants are also human beings. Don't treat these servants as less than human. If you push them too far, they will bite!
Lin said, “I was torn. On the one hand, I admired the Empress. She was a good leader and her rewards and punishments were fair. The eldest princess was the daughter that His Majesty and the Empress lost during the war. I dared not do this. But Zhong was under the orders of Madam Guo and she was pressing me hard. If I didn’t do it, she would kill me immediately. So I could only pretend to obey. But I did not give the real pill to Honghu.”
"What!" Honghu exclaimed in shock.
Lin Ao smiled sarcastically and took out two pills from her bosom. "These are the pills that the Second Princess gave me."
The second princess panicked and said, "Nonsense! I never gave you anything, nor did I ask you to do this. You were clearly bribed by the eldest princess to frame me."
"Second sister, are you saying that I bribed my maid Honghu and then bribed Aunt Lin to frame me?"
"Eldest sister, you're so cunning!"
Qi Gu walked up to the Second Princess, whose face was pale. "Don't worry, Second Sister, the real show is just beginning. We need to get to the bottom of things clearly today."
"Bring them up!" Qi Gu turned around.
At the entrance of the palace, two palace guards were brought in. The emperor recognized them at a glance as guards from the Pixiang Palace!
The two guards were tightly bound, and their mouths were stuffed with walnuts. The men who brought them up removed the walnuts from their mouths.
Suddenly, a figure stepped forward. It was Sima Hong. He appeared before the two like lightning, grabbed their chins, and with two sharp cracks, their jaws dislocated.
"Xiuyuan, what skill!" Zhang Jun said from behind. Sima Hong's lightning-fast movements were exactly the same as when he cut off Arunji's arm in the training ground that day.
As Qi Gu watched his fluid movements, she wondered if this was still the same pure and untainted Sima Hong, whose hands were only used to play the zither.
She glanced at Sima Hong, then asked Madam Guo, "Madam Guo, you don't even recognize the people in your own palace, do you? Why did those two kill Lin Ao?"
"I...I don't know, I don't know! What they did has nothing to do with me."
Qi Gu laughed: "Is that so? That's alright. Take the two of them to the jail. Cousin, I believe you have a way to interrogate them and find out that they were instructed by someone else."
"Hmph, that's easy." With that, he dragged the person away.
Madam Guo avoided Qi Gu's gaze, and Qi Gu then looked at Hong Hu, "Hong Hu, don't you plan to say anything? Even Lin Ao was eliminated by Madam Guo after she finished everything. What do you think your fate will be?"
"Speak up. If you do, your whole family's lives will be spared. If you don't, things might get complicated," Qi Gu said threateningly, looking at Hong Hu.
"I...I..." Honghu understood that she had no chance of surviving today, no matter what.
Honghu closed his eyes. "It was all... the Second Princess and Madam Guo who instructed me. Long before the First Princess entered the palace, they gave me and my family 100 taels of gold, telling me to keep an eye on the First Princess's movements. Later, Aunt Lin said that the Second Princess sent her to give me the pills. She told me to put one in the First Princess's bedchamber and another on me, waiting for today's banquet. When Sima Langjun and the Ninth Princess were alone, I was to put the pill in Sima Langjun's wine. But Sima Langjun was very cautious and couldn't find an opening. The Second Princess changed her plan at the last minute, telling me that if I was discovered, I should say what she taught me, and she would definitely be able to keep me alive."
Madam Guo's eyes were bloodshot, her gaze fierce. She pointed at Qi Gu, "Nonsense! All nonsense! Hong Hu's words are contradictory." Madam Guo looked at the Emperor, "The Empress and the Eldest Princess are trying to kill us!"
Emperor Jin Yuan's expression was already quite unpleasant, and his eyes revealed anger as he faced Lady Guo.
Qi Gu then asked the second princess, "Second sister, well, aren't you going to tell the truth now?"
The second princess trembled, "You have no evidence, this has nothing to do with me!"
Qi Gu shook her head, truly showing no mercy until faced with dire circumstances. She looked at Lin Ao, who said, "These three pills were brought into the palace by Zhong Ao, who serves Madam Guo. Zhong Ao is skilled in pharmacology. I overheard her outside the door that day. There are actually three pills. The Second Princess gave me two, and the third is still with her. I'm afraid that after framing the Second and Ninth Princesses this time, she can find an opportunity to give them to Lord Sima next time, thus securing a good marriage for the Second Princess."
The second princess looked at the emperor and said, "Father, I didn't do it. It's all fake." Then she said to Aunt Lin, "Aunt Lin, you are truly wicked!"
At that moment, a figure hiding in the shadows was preparing to slip out of the palace along the wall.
Qi Gu looked up at the figure and asked, "Aunt Zhong, where are you going?"
Fu Lian stood tall and imposing in front of Zhong Ao, who shrank back. "Princess, I was just going out to relieve myself."
Qi Gu gestured to Fu Lian, who then picked up Zhong Ao and carried her like a chick to kneel down next to Lin Ao.
Looking at Zhong, who used to boss her around, Lin Ao's anger subsided. Now, Zhong was in the same situation as her, or even worse.
The Guo family, nouveau riche, thought that by finding someone knowledgeable in pharmacology to enter the palace and concoct some low-grade medicines and poisons, they could achieve everything. Little did they know that the ways of the palace were not so simple! Survival in the palace depended on one's brain.
[Author's Note]
I've delayed again. [laughing and crying emoji]
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