Chapter 138: Fox Tail
Entering the Grand Tutor’s Mansion drew the attention of those on the corner tower in the back garden away, allowing Yue Tang and Yan Bei to take the opportunity to enter.
When they came out, the mansion’s defense had clearly reacted by then, having ended the pursuit of Huo Yun and the others, quickly returning to their positions and carefully searching every place.
Yue Tang and Yan Bei groped along the wall corner for half a circle, unable to find an opportunity for the moment, so they first found a corner to stop in and tossed a personal token over the wall top.
The guards would patrol around outside, and upon discovery, they would come to cover their escape.
It was already deep into winter by then, with moonlight peeking through a sliver from behind layers of dark clouds, shining on the snow piled in the corner and reflecting a cold, eerie glow.
The icicles under the eaves were illuminated like cold blades.
The chill hit their faces, not a pleasant sensation.
Yan Bei said, “Why not find a nearby room to wait for a bit first.”
Yue Tang shook her head.
Yan Bei was about to speak when he suddenly heard a slight noise from beyond the wall, followed by barking dogs about ten zhang away in the distance.
The sentries on the nearby corner tower and the patrolling people around quickly shouted and headed forward.
Yue Tang perked up: “The guards are here to pick us up!”
Just as she turned her body, a figure indeed leaped down from the wall top above her head.
This person called out “Princess” in a low voice, then pulled down his face covering: “Brothers are all waiting under the wall, let’s go quickly!”
Yue Tang also knew it was not the time to delay and they needed to leave quickly, but she was stunned upon seeing this person: “Zhou Yun! How is it you?”
The person before her was the passerby whom Yan Bei had sent to her mansion just a few days ago, the one he had caught in the alley earlier.
Yue Tang looked at the high wall top, astonished in her heart: “You actually managed to get in?”
With such a high wall and such tight guard patrols, logically only Wei Zhang, Jiang Shao, and those guards who had undergone strict training could infiltrate so silently like this.
Zhou Yun quickly covered his face again: “This little one has roamed the rivers and lakes, done all sorts of jobs, all honed through practice.”
Yue Tang looked at his exposed pair of eyes, then glanced back at Yan Bei: “Let’s go.”
They exited beyond the wall from the spot where Zhou Yun had jumped in, and Ye Chuang immediately waved from under the wall.
It was not suitable to linger here, so without much talk, they directly ran out of the alley and got into the horse carriage.
Yue Tang lifted the carriage curtain and looked at Zhou Yun running along with the escort team, seeing his agile figure keeping up without falling behind the group of guards with Ye Chuang.
“His kung fu is pretty good. When you questioned him back then, you really didn’t find any flaws?”
She turned her head to ask.
Yan Bei had just taken off his night clothes: “Nothing seemed off. I even tested his martial arts at the time, and it was indeed good.
“But since you said you wanted to see him personally, I didn’t bother sending someone to verify by following his travel permit to Wu Hu.”
At this point, he looked up, glanced along with her, then said: “If you’re not at ease, I can send someone to check now, it’s not too late.”
Yue Tang thought for a moment and pulled her body back in: “I’ll have Xiao Huo go later. He travels more with me among the common folk.”
Yan Bei straightened his sleeve, tilting his head and seeing her deep in thought again, his movements slowing involuntarily: “From what Mu Chang said earlier, he really went to Zichen Hall to whisper in ears, still targeting the Imperial City Department.”
“I heard.” Frost appeared on Yue Tang’s face. “Their moves against me are just those few: either directly take my life or target the Imperial City Department.
“But targeting the Imperial City Department is also to weaken my strength, so they can seize me.
“So in the end, it’s still about killing me.
“With Mu Shuyun dead, they naturally have even more reason to kill me.
“That’s why I said before that I always feel uneasy about the Imperial City Department side.
“Between me and the Mu Family, we’ve reached the point of you die or I live.
“But he won’t succeed so easily!”
Yan Bei thought for a moment and directly dropped his hand that had paused on his sleeve: “Then how will you respond?”
Yue Tang glanced at him and smiled: “Tomorrow I’ll post a notice to marry a husband: wed in one month, pregnant in three.”
Yan Bei nearly jumped up: “You’re treating marriage like a game!”
Yue Tang smiled brightly, completely ignoring him now, propping her cheek and gazing at the cold moon outside the window, gradually falling silent.
Yan Bei propped his elbow behind him, eyes slanting at the back of her head: “If you’re really in a hurry for a son, I wouldn’t mind lending you one.
“But you have to hear me out: this matter of lifelong marriage needs careful thought, you can’t act rashly…”
Yue Tang seemed not to hear his mumbling, sighed, and pulled her body back in. She said: “The Emperor rejected Mu Chang, so it seems he still doesn’t plan to provoke me. For him, he can’t discard the Mu Family either; keeping me to check the Mu Family is better.
“That’s not a big deal.
“But I’m increasingly suspicious: as a noble prince, he must have enjoyed supreme treatment in the Mu Family, so why could he hide himself so well?
“If Mu Shuyun hadn’t jumped out to provoke him, making him determined to strike with the knife, we’d probably still be in the dark about him.
“After all, he’s a prince; it’s impossible he has no strategy at all.” Yan Bei pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face.
After hearing this from him, Yue Tang furrowed her brows for a while, then said: “I’ve already got the measure of the Imperial City Department and the Emperor’s scheming.
“But later they also mentioned the drowning of the two princes three years ago.
“And that before Chu Ying died, the Emperor suddenly brought it up.
“What do you think that means?
“The Emperor fell into the water with the First Prince, and he suddenly asks if the First Prince is really dead or not—shouldn’t the Emperor know best whether he died?
“Moreover, it’s been three years since the incident; why bring it up suddenly? Could it be there’s something fishy about the First Prince’s death?”
“Not strange if there is.” Yan Bei snorted: “The Mu Family is dead set on supporting the Second Prince to the throne. The Former Emperor didn’t leave an imperial edict naming the Crown Prince. If the First Prince were still alive back then, upon return there might still be contention in the Imperial Court.
“If your father was done by their hand, then naturally they’d finish the job and kill the First Prince to make it worthwhile.”
Yue Tang stared fixedly below the window, slowly saying: “Maybe so.”
After a long pause, she said again: “From Chu Yan initially saying I have a secret on me, to the suspicions piling up along the way.
“From Mu Chang’s words tonight, it’s clear this secret unknown to outsiders is entirely in the Mu Family’s grasp.
“Even this secret concerns the Emperor, yet they didn’t tell even him.
“They just single-mindedly put him on the throne.
“Since Mu Chang wanted to kill me from the start, and Father King’s death is still unclear, this secret clearly concerns me too.
“I can even speculate that Mu Chang, precisely because he grasped this secret, underwent the changes I mentioned later: their ambitions swelled, wanting to tightly control the Emperor and become the uncrowned king.
“If this secret isn’t unraveled, even if the Mu Family falls, how would I know the crisis isn’t hidden elsewhere?
“Moreover, I think the Shen Family has big issues too; currently, Empress Dowager Shen seems very unclear in Father King’s death.
“But right now, there are no clues pointing to collusion between the Shen Family and Mu Chang.”
Her eyes gazed outside the window; under the moonlight, her eyes appeared even deeper and more profound, filled with questions.
Yan Bei sat silently with her for a while, then said: “Mu Chang said this secret can’t be told to the Emperor, or the Emperor would fear the Mu Family.
“But only if it threatens imperial power and status would it be worth the Emperor destroying the Mu Family, which is tightly bound to him by both interests and favors.
“Mu Chang’s madam also said that without their Mu Family, the Emperor couldn’t have ascended the throne at all.
“So could it be that the Former Emperor didn’t intend for the Second Emperor to take the throne? Your Father King actually supported not the Second Prince?
“So in the Mu Family’s view, people from Prince Duan’s Mansion are all obstacles on their path to the pinnacle of power?”
Yue Tang turned her head to look at him.
Yan Bei lowered his eyes, his words carrying some comfort: “No matter what, according to the accounts of those who were with them back then, they encountered a storm while on the boat. The two princes were drinking tea and chatting in the cabin.
“When parting, both slipped off the deck into the water.
“The Second Prince was luckily rescued, but the First Prince was swept away by the water. All the guards stayed there for many days, searching everywhere, but no one was found.
“Since no body was seen alive or dead, it’s not impossible for the First Prince to have survived, with that one-in-ten-thousand chance.”
Yue Tang straightened her body a bit. “After Yue Yuan left the city heading south, Father King took some things from Consort An’s hands, seeming to have some secret plans.
“This clue overturned my previous views.
“In fact, Father King had deep ties with Consort An and her son.
“So who says he had to support the Second Prince?
“But if Yue Yuan is really still alive, and like me has been lurking these past few years, then even I managed to emerge after three years of recovery.
“Moreover, everyone under heaven now knows I’m alive and back at Prince Duan’s Mansion, so he should have appeared too.
“Why has there been no sign of him all along?
“Why hasn’t he come to find me?”
Yan Bei thought for a long time, finally sighing: “Actually, for a person to survive safely in this world all alone isn’t that easy.
“When I was in Mobei watching them fight, no matter big or small, once blades met, they died on the spot.
“There are many living people in the world, many lucky ones, but more die from illness and accidents.
“Even if he luckily reached shore three years ago, no one can guarantee he stayed safe in the following years.”
This seemed to make reason. Yue Tang asked no more.
From the clues obtained this trip, she was even more certain that something must have happened when Empress Mu gave birth back then, making the Mu Family feel this secret threatened whether the Second Prince could inherit the throne.
At the same time, it allowed them to keep it tightly sealed, not even telling the Emperor himself, to avoid arousing his fear.
Sorting to here, the conclusion was already faintly emerging.
Only if the Emperor originally had no qualification as Crown Prince would the Mu Family have so many people to kill.
But who to establish as Emperor wasn’t up to Prince Duan.
Even if Prince Duan was an obstacle, he couldn’t contend with the Second Prince for Crown Prince position, not enough for Mu Chang to plot so painstakingly to kill him, let alone spend so much to hire over a hundred assassins to murder Yue Tang.
So this secret certainly wasn’t limited to the succession itself.
It must be even more bizarre than they currently thought.
And First Prince Yue Yuan, whom Prince Duan proposed to go welcome his younger brother, even without knowing the full truth, must know a part related to him.
So, is Yue Yuan really dead?
If he’s still alive, where would he be?
Yue Tang looked at the moonlight outside the window again.
The horse carriage had already stopped under Prince Duan’s Mansion gate.
The guards didn’t dare interrupt their talk and had been standing at a distance without moving.
She dropped the carriage curtain and said: “It’s late. Disperse for now. I’ll talk to you another day.”
She bent down to get out.
But just as she turned, she heard distant hoofbeats.
Soon after, Huo Yun’s figure appeared in view.
“Princess!”
After dismounting, he dashed right up to them.
Yan Bei had just landed, hearing him panting and lowering his voice: “That advisor surnamed Lu from the Mu Family just went looking for two groups of people.
“He first went to two deputy commanders in the Imperial Guard Camp; couldn’t hear what was said, but this subordinate saw from afar that the one surnamed Lu stuffed a stack of banknotes to them.
“Then this subordinate sent people to follow those two deputy commanders when they left, and found they didn’t return to the mansion but went to the Imperial Guard Yamen instead.
“The next group was eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department.
“That eunuch handles affairs in the Imperial Palace; the one surnamed Lu also stuffed banknotes to him.
“He didn’t stay long and hurried back to the palace.”
Yue Tang and Yan Bei exchanged a glance: “Even Ruan Fu, who was silenced, could be bought by Mu Shuyun, showing it’s far from an isolated case.
“The Mu Family must have planted quite a few eyes and ears in the Imperial Palace.
“The Imperial Guards and Imperial Household Department eunuchs are key figures in the palace; Mu Chang went to the palace to whisper but failed, and instead the Emperor used scheming. For their common interests, he probably won’t confront openly.
“Having people stuff money to these folks now must be to keep them from causing trouble.
“After killing Chu Ying back then, the Mu thief stayed quiet for a while, only emerging after I caught Mu Shuyun.
“This man is cunning and patient; tonight he’s probably greasing these people to handle the aftermath of the disturbance Mu Shuyun caused.”
Yan Bei nodded: “Since the Emperor’s stance is clear, he’ll likely hide his fox tail again for the next while.
“But since he mentioned the Imperial City Department in the palace, we still can’t be careless. If not openly, then covertly.”
“Can’t be careless.” Yue Tang wrapped her cloak tighter. “But there’s also the Shen Family.
“That imperial edict sent to the Censorate today, the Shen Family can’t be unaware.
“Then Mu Chang entered the palace; the Shen Family likely got the news too.
“A while back, to pull me and you in, they petitioned to establish their Shen Yizhu as empress and have sent me several invitations already.
“This time I helped them expose Mu Shuyun, truly doing them a solid favor, and letting them see I’m irreconcilable with the Mu Family.
“I don’t believe with such a good opportunity right in front of them, they’ll sit still next.”
Yue Tang pulled out from her sleeve that silk scarf written on with balsam flower juice, looked at it against the light, then raised her brows and tucked it back.
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