Chapter 141: Flaw
Empress Dowager Shen explicitly stated in the invitation to Yue Tang that she wanted her to enter the palace to discuss the matter of establishing an empress. This was indeed to win her over, but it also clearly expressed her own stance.
Shen Yizhu, however, took this opportunity to kneel and beg Yue Tang to help her come up with a plan, as she did not want to contend for this empress position.
This put Yue Tang in a dilemma.
No wonder she unhesitatingly showed her stance to her.
On the way back to the palace, Shen Yizhu held that invitation, twisting her hands so hard she nearly broke the skin.
The content of the invitation must have been deliberately written by her aunt. She guessed what she wanted to do and knew that if Yue Tang agreed, she would certainly have the ability to fulfill her wish, so she struck first to gain the advantage, making her hit this wall.
Now it’s good. The Princess knows she is a trap and probably won’t want to see her anymore.
She really lifted a rock only to smash her own foot.
When she dragged her heavy steps back to Yongfu Palace, she saw Empress Dowager Shen watering several pots of orchids in front of her.
“Back?” Empress Dowager Shen glanced at the silent her, her expression as usual: “Did it go smoothly?”
She held the invitation and pursed her lips: “The Princess said she knelt to receive Empress Dowager’s kind intentions but dared not claim credit. If Aunt recovers, please remind the Grand Tutor to fulfill his promise and come to apologize in person.”
Empress Dowager Shen paused her hand, thought for a moment, and looked at her again: “What else did she say?”
Shen Yizhu shook her head.
Empress Dowager Shen sighed, gave her a sidelong glance, and continued watering.
……
Mu Shuyun’s death had indeed caused quite a chaos in the Mu Family’s inner residence.
The Mu Family’s Old Madam fell ill and clamored to go see her grandchild to have a talk.
Mu Chang had already realized that the game he had been playing for many years had changed when the Emperor refused to let him target the Imperial City Department. In the past, he might have even encouraged the old lady to go, but now it was too late to stop her.
These past few days, he instructed Lu Zhao to stay indoors and handle family affairs while biding his time.
When the most promising move went wrong, he had to regroup.
But after thinking for several days, he was actually starting to feel some panic.
The Emperor, who had grown up under his watch, actually dared to act against his wishes and even incite various factions to fight each other. When did he learn this skill? When did he gain this courage? Mu Chang did not know.
In the past, to account to the Former Emperor, he had naturally put effort into the Emperor’s education. Even Yue Tang, a Princess, was qualified to study literature and martial arts, so the Emperor naturally had to as well.
But while knowledge was fed into the Emperor’s mind, how to guide him was something Mu Chang and his old father had their own methods for.
So the consistent principle was to let him become accomplished while clearly grasping his background.
But now he could not grasp it.
When Empress Dowager Shen sent someone with the imperial decree, Mu Chang held it and stood silently by the window for a long time.
Madam Mu heard the news and came to ask him: “What does the Empress Dowager want?”
Mu Chang showed her the imperial decree: “She wants me to fulfill the agreement and go to Prince Duan’s Mansion to apologize in person.”
Madam Mu’s face twisted again upon hearing this, but considering the current situation, she held back. She asked: “Are you going?”
“Of course I have to go.” Mu Chang looked at her, “Go prepare the gifts.”
Madam Mu was naturally full of resentment.
But as she reached the doorway, she stopped and turned back: “You say, if we had raised this girl back then…”
Mu Chang’s body shuddered under the window.
……
The Mu Family butler delivered the invitation from Mu Chang saying he would come to apologize.
Mei Qing sneered: “This move is strange. If the Princess doesn’t ask the Empress Dowager to remind him, he pretends to be dead!”
“Let him pretend, as long as he comes.” Yue Tang put down the invitation and told her to reply to the butler: “I’m not free now. Tell him to come again at the Shen hour.”
The Mu Mansion butler felt the disdain and humiliation toward their Grand Tutor from Prince Duan’s Mansion. He returned to the mansion fuming to report, adding fuel to the fire: “I clearly saw the female attendant who received the invitation heading into Yong Qing Hall. The Princess is clearly in the mansion; she did it on purpose, deliberately making things difficult for the Grand Tutor!”
Mu Chang did not comment, stood for a moment, then waved his hand: “Shen hour it is then. It’s not exactly a glorious matter anyway. Wouldn’t it be better to come after dark?”
He no longer wanted to bicker with Yue Tang over trivial matters. If he was to fight, he wanted absolute certainty to kill her in one strike.
It was a quarter hour before the Shen hour, dusk had enveloped the land, and Mu Chang arrived at Prince Duan’s Mansion in a horse carriage filled with gifts.
At the same time, Yue Tang was combing her hair in front of the mirror.
The Prince’s Mansion only opened the side gate, with a eunuch waiting under the door and Wei Zhang, the guard who had always stayed by Yue Tang’s side through life and death.
Mu Chang ignored the fact that he could only enter through the side gate. Since he was destined to come with a smile anyway, what was there to fuss about.
But as he stepped through the door and saw the majestic Prince’s Mansion surrounded by high walls, his steps were not as steady as usual.
He had been to Prince Duan’s Mansion before, but back then he was kin, the Emperor’s uncle, and an honored guest. Now, he felt the shadows of old acquaintances everywhere.
“The Princess will arrive soon. Grand Tutor, please go into the hall and have a seat first.”
The eunuch led him all the way to Yong Qing Hall and then withdrew together with Wei Zhang.
Mu Chang frowned, not expecting to be brought directly here.
He suppressed the strangeness in his heart, and looking at the cold and empty surroundings, a trace of gloom arose.
Even knowing he would not receive any warm reception, being so openly snubbed still left him displeased.
Since his return to the capital, no one had dared to treat him with such neglect. If he had known he would have to come to suffer this humiliation today, why had he boasted so boldly back then?
He gazed through the doorway at the courtyard, where three or four servants stood guard in the corner, but because no one was moving and it was now completely dark, it seemed exceptionally quiet.
Mu Chang clenched his fist, trying to stay calm.
He wanted tea to drink when suddenly he heard the sound of qin and se from beyond the wall. After listening quietly for a moment and still not seeing Yue Tang, he involuntarily stood up, stepped over the threshold, and followed the sound toward the right-side treasure-bottle door.
He remembered this was a study.
There was also lamplight inside the door, not bright, but it illuminated a person and a qin beyond the withered banana trees.
Mu Chang knew there was no one in Prince Duan’s Mansion except Yue Tang. The qin music was truly pleasing; if it was Yue Tang playing, it was not strange.
But this piece…
Something seemed to be crashing in Mu Chang’s chest, and his feet involuntarily stepped forward!
The withered banana trees blocked the shadow of the person playing the qin, and his steps quickened, almost running to go around the cluster of bananas.
But just as he was about to reach it, the qin music abruptly stopped. The person stood up from behind the dim qin stand, dragging a robe of purple embroidery, with high bun, stepped out from the qin stand, turned around, and faced him directly!
“Qing E!”
This face appeared so suddenly that Mu Chang’s skin tightened all over, he staggered violently, and shouted out involuntarily!
Qing E was his sister Empress Mu’s maiden name, and this piece was called “Autumn Goose,” a tune she had loved since her maiden days.
This purple robe and high bun was also her usual attire after becoming empress!
And then suddenly matching this face that crashed into view! —
Mu Chang’s vision blurred, and his body collided with the banana tree.
“Qing E” stood before him, her ghostly gaze slightly raised.
A fishy sweetness seemed about to surge from Mu Chang’s throat. He wrapped his arms around the banana tree behind him, bit his tongue, and looked at her.
The lights around grew even dimmer, eerie like a tomb.
The qin music came again from an unknown corner, like demonic sound piercing the brain, making his head buzz.
Impossible… impossible!
He swallowed, then shouted loudly: “Come! Come!”
Torches lit up outside the courtyard gate, and people came.
The lanterns under the corridor glowed dimly, like white funeral banners.
Wei Zhang arrived with many people, scanning him with suspicious eyes: “Grand Tutor, why are you here?”
Mu Chang turned abruptly, looking at Yue Tang’s face illuminated clearly by the lights, and gritted his teeth: “I should be asking the Princess, how are you playing tricks here?!”
Yue Tang said calmly: “Then why did the Grand Tutor, in my home, react like he had seen a ghost and call out Empress Mu’s maiden name to me? And how could you recognize it at a glance?
“Is there any blood relation between me and the Empress?”
Mu Chang was speechless.
The sweat that had broken out on his forehead from fright was chilled by the cold wind, sending shivers down his spine.
He straightened his body that had been pressed against the banana tree: “I have fulfilled the promised visit to apologize. The gifts have been delivered to the mansion. Farewell!”
With that, he strode toward the courtyard gate, his steps hurried as if someone were chasing him.
But even in such haste, he did not take a single wrong turn. After going around the central hall, he quickly took the side path toward the front hall.
No one followed him from the spot.
A sharp glint appeared in Wei Zhang’s eyes: “When people see a similar face, they will always first assume it’s the most familiar person.
“Yet in uncertainty, he definitively called out Empress Mu’s maiden name.
“It seems there’s no mistake, Princess.
“The secret Chu Yan mentioned is your background!”
A deeper chill appeared in Yue Tang’s eyes. She slowly walked to under the courtyard gate and, looking at Mu Chang’s receding figure, said: “Did you notice? He is also familiar with the route in Yong Qing Hall.”
……
Mu Chang desperately wanted to calmly leave the mansion, but his feet still eagerly crossed the Prince’s Mansion side gate without stopping, then boarded the horse carriage.
Only when he collapsed onto the seat did he feel immensely relieved that he had come by carriage rather than on horseback.
He tightly closed his eyes, but “Qing E’s” figure still appeared before him, even overlapping with her figure from a certain moment years ago!
“Everything you taught me, I took to heart. If you must blame someone, blame yourselves for insisting I become empress! Since I am empress, I naturally must live up to the Emperor, to the realm, to this title!
“I did not betray the Mu Family. Sending you back to Jiangling was for your own good, for the Mu Family’s good. I believe the Mu Family ancestors will forgive me and understand me!…”
The clear yet slightly bitter voice stabbed at his eardrums like a knife tip. He suddenly covered his ears with his hands.
But he underestimated the power of this voice; it penetrated his palms and continued drilling into his ears!
“Since you so firmly believe that high monk’s words, then as you wish, take the Second Prince away. But you must swear in writing not to harm him or plot against him, or the Mu Family will face extermination!…”
“Shut up!”
He suddenly sat up, and his outburst made the guards at the front of the carriage abruptly rein in the horses!
The carriage lurched to a stop and jerked forward. Mu Chang rolled inside the compartment and only slowly climbed up after a while.
……
Madam Mu was checking accounts under the lamp when she suddenly heard “Master is back.” She was stunned for a moment before standing up, but at that instant, Mu Chang had already pushed the door open with a bang.
Under the lamp, his face was pale, and his usually refined demeanor was now restless, his gaze flickering.
“Why are you back already?” Madam Mu’s heart sank. “Why this appearance? Did she set some trap?”
Mu Chang sat down on the nearest chair, his voice hoarse from panting all the way: “I’m afraid I revealed a flaw.”
Madam Mu hurriedly poured a cup of water and brought it to him in shock and suspicion: “Revealed what flaw? You did all the proper courtesies. Did she still dare to openly make things difficult for you?”
“No making things difficult.” Mu Chang took the cup, letting the water spill on the back of his hand. “But I mistook her for the Empress.”
Madam Mu’s hand trembled.
Mu Chang tilted his head back and drained the water, the spills wetting his collar.
He exhaled a turbid breath and said heavily: “She was dressed as Qing E, playing Qing E’s favorite piece. The moment I saw her face, I called out Qing E’s name.”
Madam Mu’s fingertips turned cold as she steadied herself on his shoulder: “How could she—”
“I don’t know.” Mu Chang’s voice was low. “But whether she is or not, I definitely showed my hand.”
“How did you fall for it?” Madam Mu sat anxiously beside him. “You knew full well—they look somewhat alike. You knew it was Prince Duan’s Mansion! You should have been on guard. How could you fall for her trick? This call of yours reveals the problem, doesn’t it?”
“—Precisely because it’s Prince Duan’s Mansion!” Mu Chang said. “Precisely because it’s Prince Duan’s Mansion, do you understand?!”
Madam Mu was speechless.
Yes, precisely because it was Prince Duan’s Mansion, it made one unable to control oneself!
“So she deliberately delayed until evening for you to come—that was her intention! …But how did she figure this out? If she suspects this much, she must have doubts in her heart. If she can think this far, she’ll definitely think of the other layer too! This wretched girl, what exactly has she been doing quietly behind the scenes?”
After her annoyance, she looked at Mu Chang and softened her voice: “Forget it, it’s not a big deal.
“She already resembles your sister somewhat. In the early years, because she never appeared before outsiders, no one suspected. Now that she’s out, there will inevitably be risks of someone noticing.
“Besides, she has no evidence. If she had evidence, she wouldn’t use this method to probe your words.
“Let her suspect all she wants.”
“I know this isn’t a big deal, so the flaw I’m talking about isn’t this.” Mu Chang placed the cup on the table. Under the lamplight, his eyes gleamed strangely. “She set the trap in Yong Qing Hall.
“The eunuch led me in through the main path, but when I left, I took the side path.
“And not only did I take the side path, I did so urgently without a single pause.”
Madam Mu’s facial muscles twitched, and she stood up.
Yong Qing Hall was the main hall of the Prince’s Mansion and once the bedchamber of Prince Duan and his wife.
Mu Chang had indeed visited the Prince’s Mansion a few times as kin, but he absolutely should not have had the chance to enter the master’s Yong Qing Hall.
Since he had not been there, he naturally should not know there was a side path from Yong Qing Hall to the front hall side gate!
He had walked it and not gotten lost.
This could only mean one thing.
He had been there before.
