Chapter 70: The Child
After being scolded by Chu Yan like this, Chu Xin just stared at her fixedly, as if accustomed to it, then sighed and sat down.
Chu Yan stood in the room, her face pale and cold, her whole body tense like an iron plate.
The hall was very deep and very spacious, with daylight only illuminating the front half.
She glanced around at the heavy furniture on all sides, the dim seats, and Chu Xin sitting like a soulless sculpture in the depths of the hall, then took half a step back, said not another word, turned around, and left.
The group of maidservants under the door automatically divided into two columns following behind her, making her back view appear exceptionally frail.
Chu Xin, still sitting motionless in his seat, took out a beaded hairpin from his bosom, looked at it for a while in the dim daylight, then cast his gaze toward the empty doorway.
The Heir Apparent Consort’s imperial guard left quickly and hastily; the entire Chu Family didn’t even have time to rush out upon hearing the news to see her off.
Yue Tang, standing with Lan Qin at the alley entrance waiting, saw Prince Duan’s Mansion’s imperial carriage leave and immediately followed after it.
Just a moment later, Prince Duan’s Mansion loomed before them.
Yue Tang watched as the prince’s mansion’s imperial guard filed in through the side gate, her expression gradually darkening.
Lan Qin said, “Prince Jingyang just brought the matter up in the imperial court, and the Heir Apparent Consort returned to the Chu Family. I didn’t expect that after Princess threw out that one stone, the first ripples would actually come from Prince Duan’s Mansion.”
Yue Tang slowly composed her expression: “She left in such haste and returned in such haste, and moreover, the Chu Family’s female relatives all chased out after her to see her off. It shows how urgently she left.
“She finally came back once, and left in such a hurry. It seems this meeting wasn’t that pleasant either.”
“I really don’t understand her.” Lan Qin gritted her teeth lightly: “Isn’t it good to be Prince Duan’s Heir Apparent Consort? In the future, she’ll be the Princess Consort, still the Princess Consort of a prince with real power. Why does she have to make things hard for herself?
“Just because the Chu Family is forcing her? But she could tell the Heir Apparent, tell the prince!
“Surely the prince and the Heir Apparent can’t protect her?”
“That’s exactly what I can’t figure out about what you’re saying.”
Yue Tang said slowly.
Lan Qin withdrew her gaze and suppressed her emotions again: “But maybe she’s willingly sacrificing for the family.
“Although the prince’s mansion has declined, the Dou Family and Huo Family are still there, and they’ve always followed the prince in the Imperial City Department.
“After twenty years, their loyalty is enough for Chu Yan to use.
“If the Heir Apparent Consort truly resents the Chu Family enough, if she really hated the Chu Family’s control since childhood, then marrying into the prince’s mansion would not only allow her to escape the Chu Family but also have these confidants in the prince’s mansion supporting her, so the Chu Family wouldn’t be able to control her tightly anymore.
“She’s a young lady from a great noble family, she has vision. No matter how much she hates her maternal home, if she’s truly in it for profit, there’s nothing she can’t let go of.”
Yue Tang did not continue her words.
After slightly furrowing her brows and pausing for a moment, she said, “Maybe I should go see her.”
Lan Qin was slightly startled: “How can that be?”
Yue Tang said, “Although the Chu Family has already been exposed, I really can’t figure it out. If the entire conspiracy was done by the Chu Family alone, how did they kill Father King?
“Assuming it was Chu Yan who deliberately leaked the message of my return to the palace to Liu Shi, that could at most achieve only that much. How could the Chu Family manage the conspiracy in the palace?”
Lan Qin was stumped by her question for a moment.
Whether it was the news they heard or what Yan Bei learned from the on-site investigation in the palace, Prince Duan died in Zichen Hall where the Former Emperor passed away. Chu Ying’s father, Grand Tutor Chu, was there at the time, holding great power, which is indeed not to be underestimated, but to kill someone in the Former Emperor’s palace, the Chu Family still fell short.
In other words, if Chu Ying, from a civil official family, could kill in the palace, would Empress Dowager Shen still have a chance to push the Fourth Prince up?
“The Imperial City Department has five or six thousand people. Father King controlled it for twenty years; even if not all the subordinates are his confidants, they at least respond to his every call.” Yue Tang hugged her arms and leaned obliquely against the wall, squinting at the prince’s mansion opposite. “Once there’s the slightest mishap, no matter whether Father King or I survive, the Chu Family would be doomed.
“If Father King were alive, he absolutely wouldn’t let me ‘die’ so unclearly.
“And I, that night, if not for Wei Zhang and the others protecting me to the death, I would have died long ago.
“So on the same night, simultaneously laying plans in the palace and the outskirts, how much strength must the Chu Family have to ultimately achieve complete success without fail?”
Hearing this, Lan Qin couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. “This servant initially thought the murderer was after the great power of the Imperial City Department. Then upon discovering someone behind the Du Family, thought it was just someone wanting to use the Du Family to control the Imperial City Department as his henchmen. Now the Chu Family has emerged, and they also have unreasonable points. Princess, this case seems to be getting bigger the more we investigate.”
“Master!”
Just as the words fell, Wei Zhang’s voice came from the alley behind.
He hurried to them: “Prince Jingyang’s Mansion’s guards went to that house again this morning. Sure enough, Master, the beaded hairpin you left behind is gone!”
Yue Tang straightened up from the wall: “What about the Chu Family situation?”
“They’re all in the mansion, no movement. Chu Ying didn’t go out today either. However,” Wei Zhang frowned and thought, “when the Heir Apparent Consort left the Chu Family earlier, she left very hastily. The Chu Family’s female relatives came out to see her off but didn’t catch up. There seemed to be mutual resentment between them. This subordinate speculates that this return visit was not pleasant for both sides.”
“That’s it.” Yue Tang pondered slightly, then said: “They’re already conspiring to harm people, yet still on bad terms, which means she still hates the Chu Family.
“The Chu Family still has secrets.
“This secret I can only learn from Chu Yan’s mouth.”
She looked up at the sky, seeing it was already dusk, and thus asked Wei Zhang: “Do you still remember the route to the prince’s mansion?”
Wei Zhang paused slightly: “Very clearly.”
“There’s more than one hour until dark,” Yue Tang nodded and looked toward Prince Duan’s Mansion. “Let’s eat first. When night falls, we’ll go to the prince’s mansion to see Chu Yan.”
……
After returning from the Chu Family, Chu Yan closed the doors of Anqing Hall and stayed alone for an afternoon.
Until dusk pressed against the windows on all sides, she rose from the brocade couch and opened the door.
The young eunuchs under the corridor were lighting the palace lanterns; the lights were dim and flickering, dimly illuminating the tall and short trees in the courtyard.
In late autumn, the sky darkened by the end of the shen hour.
The prince’s mansion was surrounded on all sides by layer upon layer of buildings; no matter where one walked, it felt cut off from the world.
“Go light the lamps in the Buddha Hall. After the Heir Apparent finishes his homework, have him come to the Buddha Hall.”
She instructed the maidservants under the door, then watched them leave.
This prince’s mansion was too big, and she was really too idle. She didn’t know when it started, but watching these servants’ backs had become a way to pass the time.
Even though the densely packed servants walking under the long verandas looked just like soulless ghosts wandering under Yama’s hall.
She still enjoyed it tirelessly.
After all, in this mansion, there was no one left who could stand on equal footing with her, to chat and amuse her.
She stepped over the threshold, passed through the long corridor, and arrived at the Buddha Hall, which was soon lit up.
It wasn’t easy.
Such a vast prince’s mansion, managed by just her as the master. Hundreds of maidservants, eunuchs, guards—if one person spat, they could drown her. Yet now they still obeyed her words, handling things so neatly, with hardly any major mishaps. This was thanks to Prince Duan, who had thoroughly tamed them all when he was alive.
She first lit three incense sticks before the Bodhisattva, knelt and worshiped, then stood up, walked to the wall niche, and gazed at the memorial tablet placed above.
The memorial tablet bore Yue Rong’s name.
She lit three more incense sticks, held her hands before the memorial tablet, silently contemplated for a moment, then reached out to stroke the name above.
As she stroked, her head lowered, and the hand on the memorial tablet slid down to rest on the edge of the table.
She buried her face in her arms, her five fingers gripping the table edge gradually curling, her neatly trimmed plain nails all dug forcefully into the gaps.
Yue Tang, in the shadows outside the window, watched all this with arms hugged.
“Mother.”
A child’s voice sounded at the doorway.
Chu Yan’s body trembled, and she straightened up.
Yue Tang’s gaze sharpened and looked over as well.
It was a boy around five years old, wearing the familiar Heir Apparent attire of Prince Duan’s Mansion.
After taking a deep breath, Chu Yan lifted her sleeve to wipe her face, then turned and beckoned: “Come kowtow to Father.”
The child was led over by his wet nurse and knelt on the cushion.
The moment the light illuminated him, Yue Tang looked away.
In the past, she had imagined countless times what she would be like as an aunt, but in the end, until Yue Rong died, she never got to see his child born.
That was her gentle and kind brother, who should have been properly existing in this Prince Duan’s Mansion, diligently studying, assisting his father, preparing for the day he would personally take over the family business.
But at this moment, the woman he had deeply loved since childhood brought an unrelated child to his spirit tablet and called him Father.
At this thought, her heart stirred, and she suddenly turned her head to look again.
Chu Yan lit three sticks of incense and handed them to Yue Huan: “Worship properly, offer the incense. Having enjoyed the Yue Family’s fortune and blessings, you must remember the Yue Family’s grace and virtue forever.”
Her voice was flat, numb like reciting a book.
Yue Huan looked up: “Mother, Maternal Grandfather and uncles are good to me too.”
“Shut up!” Chu Yan said sternly, “This is the Yue Family. You are not allowed to mention them!”
Yue Tang, who had already turned her face away, heard this and turned her gaze back.
Under the light, Chu Yan still had a cold expression.
And Yue Huan trembled as he looked at her: “Mother…”
“Get out!”
At her icy voice, Yue Huan scrambled up, panic-strickenly grabbed his wet nurse’s hand, and stumbled away.
The Buddha Hall became as quiet as a tomb again.
Chu Yan straightened her waist, looked at the memorial tablet again, then let out a long breath and sat down on the cushion.
Beside her was a pile of paper money on the floor; she casually took a stack and began throwing it page by page into the fire basin.
The evening wind squeezed in from the door crack, from the window crack, one after another, making the flames surge up and down.
Yue Tang thought for a moment, then turned her head and made a hand gesture to Wei Zhang.
The two circled out from the Buddha Hall one after the other, following the lanterns along the way to catch up behind Yue Huan, who had been led away by the wet nurse.
“After they return to the room, you stake him out. You find a way to get me the child’s handprints and footprints.”
Wei Zhang paused: “Not going to meet her?”
“You get the things first.”
Wei Zhang then glanced around both sides and stealthily headed toward the courtyard where the group ahead had entered.
Yue Tang stayed in the shadows, her eyes bright as she gazed at the familiar scenery ahead, taking all sounds into the wind.
……
A Li slept late last night and got up late today. After napping in the afternoon, he was still wide-eyed at this hour, refusing to sleep and lingering in Yan Bei’s study.
Yan Bei couldn’t bear to scold him and tried every way to coax him, but to no avail.
At this moment, Gao An came running in: “Princess is here!”
Yan Bei, worn down half to death, instantly perked up.
A Li was faster than him, abandoning the eyes and ears he had been poking at for half a day, rolling over and rushing out.
Yan Bei’s long legs surprisingly couldn’t outrun him.
“Mother!”
A Li crashed into Yue Tang’s arms like a ball, unable to express his affection with just the two words “Mother.”
Yue Tang picked him up: “Not sleeping yet? Time to pat the little butt.”
A Li hugged her neck: “Mother carries A Li to sleep, then A Li will sleep.”
Yue Tang had no choice but to carry him inside. Meeting Yan Bei, she spoke first: “Come in. I have something to say.”
Yan Bei shut his mouth and quickly made way, letting her enter first.
Seeing her about to sit on the chair, he rushed over and padded it with his outer robe casually placed nearby: “The stool is hard, sit here!”
Yue Tang glanced at him, switched to a chair with padding, sat down, and said, “How’s the Imperial Clan Court side?”
“I’ve already gotten approval in Zichen Hall to transfer Xu He as Shaoqing. This afternoon I went to the Xu Family and instructed him personally. I’ve also used the rotation of palace bans as an excuse to replace all the guards at the Imperial Clan Court with reliable subordinates. By the way, where were you today? I didn’t see you when I went to the Xu Family.”
“I went to Prince Duan’s Mansion,” Yue Tang said. “Although Chu Xin has been exposed, there are still many doubts. Chu Yan is in the know; I need to pry open this brick.
“So I went to the prince’s mansion first to scout. I originally wanted to see her directly, but instead I saw the adopted son she’s raising.”
“How was it?” Yan Bei lifted the lid of the tea bowl and placed it on the tea table beside her. “Definitely not as good as our son.”
Yue Tang suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.
“Seeing that child, I thought of a problem. The Former Emperor promised Father King that after his retirement, the prince’s mansion’s heir could take over as Imperial City Department Envoy. So after Brother passed away, my child could inherit. Then if I died, the child Chu Yan is raising could naturally also succeed to the position.”
Yan Bei furrowed his brows: “That’s the reasoning. The Chu Family manipulated the Du Family to have Du Minghuan take over this post, isn’t it just to smoothly take it back in the future? The vast Imperial City Department is no smaller than the Chu Family’s power.”
“But Chu Yan has always had friction with the Chu Family. If the Imperial City Department is to be returned in the future, it would only fall into the hands of Chu Yan’s foster son. Do you think the Chu Family would be content?”
Yan Bei suddenly realized: “You mean Chu Yan’s foster son has a problem?”
Yue Tang’s face was full of cold sternness: “Tomorrow you go to the Imperial Clan Court, check this against the child’s household registration file, and tell me the results as soon as possible.”
With that, she drew two pieces of paper from her sleeve, one with dark gray ink marks of two small handprints, the other two small footprints.
