Chapter 55: Can’t Let Him Off
Before meeting Yan Bei, Yue Tang had always thought that now he held sole authority to command troops and controlled the Bureau of Military Affairs because it was power given to him by the Emperor after he returned to the capital under imperial decree, or perhaps something he had fought for himself.
However, the fact was that the Former Emperor had already promised him authority over the Bureau of Military Affairs in the secret order sent to him by messenger long before.
Holding both authority to command troops and authority to deploy troops in one person’s hands—this was a great taboo of the Imperial Family in recent times.
The Former Emperor had ruled for over twenty years without making any major mistakes in governance, so why did he suddenly issue such an order?
Had he become muddled?
From the fact that he chose to issue a secret order, it was clearly not the case.
He was extremely cautious. He even seemed afraid that Yan Bei would refuse to return to the capital, so he proactively handed over control of the Bureau of Military Affairs.
It was just like how the Former Emperor suddenly established Consort Shen as Empress when he was gravely ill—this action was equally incomprehensible.
And because Yan Bei strongly entered the Imperial Court, he successfully suppressed the rapid expansion of the Shen Family’s power, so that even when Empress Dowager Shen held the Former Emperor’s decree and controlled the Imperial Seal at such an excellent opportunity as the Former Emperor’s sudden death, she still could not cover the sky with one hand or subvert imperial power.
So, could it be that the Former Emperor’s secret order for Yan Bei to return to the capital had long foreseen this situation?
If so, then why did he, when gravely ill, appoint Consort Shen as Empress Dowager, making such a self-defeating move of lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s own feet?
Since he had never appointed a crown prince and insisted on waiting until the Second Prince turned sixteen and returned to the capital after his calamity, it was clear that he still favored his legitimate Second Prince in his heart, so he should not have set up these obstacles for the Second Prince.
So apart from the mystery of Prince Duan’s Mansion, the Former Emperor’s own actions also had many puzzling aspects.
Furthermore, since Yan Bei said he had personally seen the corpses of the Emperor and Prince Duan, and they matched the officially announced causes of death, then Prince Duan very likely truly died from external injuries.
On that day, Prince Duan had even sent someone to urgently summon Yue Tang to return to the capital immediately. If Prince Duan had truly committed suicide, why wouldn’t he wait for Yue Tang to return before hurrying to his death?
If it was not suicide, then who killed him?
At that time, only Empress Dowager Shen was in charge in the Imperial Palace.
Moreover, she was just one step away from becoming a regent Empress Dowager with real power.
Prince Duan was a highly influential figure both in the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Court at the time, so the Shen Family had ample reason to kill him as an obstacle.
But if it really was the Shen Family who did it, the Chu Family, as the Shen Family’s mortal enemy, three years had passed, and with Prince Jingyang’s Mansion under Yan Bei supporting the Emperor’s side, why didn’t the Chu Family expose this handle of the Shen Family and take the opportunity to suppress them?
Was it because they couldn’t control Yan Bei, who helped no one in the Imperial Court, or because the Shen Family had no handle in the Chu Family’s hands at all?
In any case, with so many things that didn’t add up, it was no longer just a matter of Prince Duan’s Mansion alone.
All the doubts pointed to the conspiracy behind the Imperial Court.
That day at the Du Family, suddenly meeting Yan Bei, there was no time to think so much.
The timing was also not right.
Now thinking it over carefully, this person held such great power in the Imperial Court; on the path of revenge, it would be a waste not to use it.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to give instructions, voices speaking came from outside the courtyard wall.
Lan Qin walked out the door, stood for a moment, then hurried back to report: “Du Yu is here.”
Yue Tang paused, and she and Wei Zhang both walked out the door to the foot of the courtyard wall.
Through the flower window on the wall top, they could see a group of people entering the doorway, led by Xu He accompanying Du Yu, followed by several servants from the Marquis’s Mansion.
Yue Tang looked at the gradually darkening sky and said to Lan Qin: “Go to the Prince’s Mansion and ask Hua Lin what exactly is wrong with A Li?
“And by the way, ask Yan Bei if he has time to come out tomorrow.”
Thinking for a moment, she changed her mind: “Forget it, tell him that early tomorrow morning, I will go to the Prince’s Mansion to see A Li.”
After sending Lan Qin away, she immediately called Wei Zhang back to the room: “Come on, let’s go listen to what they say.”
……
Du Yu had come on his father’s orders.
That day, after Marquis of Guangling returned from seeing Yan Bei at the Prince’s Mansion, Du Yu also went through the list of all the guests at the banquet.
The result was that every household consisted of familiar relatives and friends, with no sudden appearance of any strangers.
The only possibility was that there was a problem among the people brought by the guests.
Du Yu quickly thought of He Shi.
For some reason, he had a deep impression of that woman.
Although she had not socialized with anyone from beginning to end and hardly spoke, just sitting there alone made her stand out from the crowd.
But as Marquis of Guangling gritted his teeth and explained the ins and outs of why Yan Bei had come to find him, Du Yu put He Shi out of his mind and couldn’t help feeling shocked and uneasy.
Yan Bei’s sudden visit was already abnormal; being able to enter the study silently in the gap while so many people were coming and going, and then leave without a trace, would only be reasonable if done by someone from Prince Jingyang’s Mansion.
But he was a bit panicked: “Those pieces of evidence all belong to officials subordinate to the Shen Family; might he follow the vine to the melon and investigate something?”
“Impossible.” Marquis of Guangling said confidently, “Not to mention him, could even you have guessed it?”
Du Yu could not guess it.
He frowned tightly: “But now that the Prince already knows, and the things are in his hands, if the person behind this finds out, won’t they surely blame us?”
At the mention of this, Marquis of Guangling felt his head throb.
Pacing back and forth with hands on hips, he stopped under the curtain: “They’ve been constantly harping on this Xu He lately; I guess they want to use Xu He for something.
“We should first tie Xu He to us.
“Act fast; things have been extremely unlucky lately—don’t let any more mishaps occur.”
And so Du Yu arrived at the Xu Family.
Led by Xu He into the main hall, he looked around: “Why don’t I see Madam?”
Xu He’s face twitched: “Women are foolish and clumsy; it’s fine for her to stay in the inner quarters—how could she easily come out to meet guests?”
Du Yu’s gaze lingered on his face: “Your Madam arrived at a very opportune time; you were just one step away from successfully arranging a marriage with the Duan Family, but she stuck her oar in—aren’t you annoyed about it?”
Xu He braced himself and replied: “I married her first, and back then threatening her to sever ties wasn’t exactly proper procedure either. Now that she’s come, I naturally feel deep regret.
“But with things as they are, it wouldn’t do to send her away again and cause the Marquis’s Mansion to ruin its reputation.”
Du Yu’s expression was not very pleasant.
Back when the Du Family came to propose marriage, he hadn’t been so paragons of virtue.
From this, it was clear that Xu He knew all about the fishiness surrounding He Shi.
This made it even more imperative not to let him go.
Du Yu brought out two identical documents: “Thanks to the Top Scholar not disdaining us, he has taken our family head as godfather; these are two documents containing both parties’ birth charts.
“Sign here and press your handprint, and the relationship will be settled.”
Xu He frowned: “Recognizing kinship requires a ceremony, and witnesses present—how can it be so easily settled with just two documents?”
Du Yu dismissed it, lowering his head to sip tea: “The ceremony can be held later; if you’re in a hurry, it can be tomorrow or the day after. As for witnesses, who is more authoritative than the government seal? Sign it, and I’ll take it to the officials to get it stamped when I go back.”
