Chapter 72: Just Wanted To Surprise You
Du Yu had just left the Imperial Clan Court when someone immediately reported the news to the Bureau of Military Affairs.
Yan Bei heard the full account from Cui Xun, then took a sip of tea, his gaze sweeping over a box on the table: “Got it. Keep investigating.”
He added: “Send someone to tell your aunt that I’ll go to the Xu Family to see her tonight. Don’t tell A Li. I want to go alone tonight.”
……
The He Family blood case secretly involved Princess Yongjia’s case as well, and it was already spreading like wildfire on the street.
Wei Zhang had been out all day, and Lan Qin took the chance while buying vegetables and sewing needles to inquire around and come back.
Du Minghuan was already under strict watch by the Three Judicial Offices. Shen Yi had already gone to the palace where Empress Dowager Shen resided. The Mu Family showed no new moves on the surface for now, and the Chu Family had not contacted any family, but at midday, they had sent some food and paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones to Prince Duan’s Mansion.
No need to say, these things were for Yue Huan.
When the man Cui Xun sent delivered Yan Bei’s words, Yue Tang was carefully making a slingshot.
A Li was getting more energetic, so he would cause more trouble in the future.
Yue Tang needed to find a way to expend some of his energy.
Besides, boys shouldn’t be too pampered.
His father’s approach wouldn’t work.
Too indulgent.
He was three and a half. He needed to learn everything he should.
Waiting for Yan Bei to go to the Imperial Clan Court to compare and conclude the case was an extremely tormenting process.
If she hadn’t accidentally seen Yue Huan last night, she would have already met with Chu Yan.
The comparison result would directly affect her entry point through Chu Yan.
But Yan Bei had only said he would come, without mentioning the result at all, which really made her anxious.
While doing the final polishing on the slingshot, Lan Qin leaned on the doorframe and let out a sound of surprise, then turned back: “What’s wrong with Xu He? He’s pacing circles alone outside.”
Yue Tang looked up.
Through the doorway, she indeed saw Xu He in the twilight, full of sorrow on his face, sitting blankly on the stone bench. He was still wearing his official robes, clearly having returned from duty at the yamen without even entering the gate.
Yue Tang thought for a moment: “Call him in.”
She took the slingshot and turned to go inside the room.
After just washing her hands, Xu He was brought in.
And before anyone could ask, he dropped to his knees with a thud in front of Yue Tang: “Madam, save me!”
The master and servant in the room exchanged a glance. Yue Tang walked over: “What did you do?”
Xu He trembled all over, tears already falling: “The Prince promoted me to Junior Secretary of the Imperial Clan Court, but on my first day on duty, Du Yu pushed me into a huge pit! Madam, for the sake that I’ve been obedient lately, please spare my life, Xu He!”
Lan Qin said anxiously: “What exactly happened? If you keep hesitating, the Madam will throw you out!”
“Du Yu,
“What?!”
The two inside the room both drew in a sharp breath.
Lan Qin’s fingers were pale: “How do you do your job? What kind of place is that? How could you let him go in? You, you even dare to let Madam save you! You might as well go die early!”
This was truly a bolt from the blue.
Yue Tang’s reaction was already fast enough. Upon hearing that Du Yu had designs on the Imperial Clan Court, she had already been on guard. And after overhearing the masked man’s words, she immediately realized what they intended to do and had Yan Bei make preparations!
I didn’t expect Du Yu to still get his way!
Without the household registration file, and if the Princess’s Seal cannot be found either, how is Yue Tang supposed to prove herself? Even if someone at the Imperial Court can recognize her, for a person who is publicly acknowledged to be already dead, how can it be proven that she is the original person?
Frost also appeared on Yue Tang’s face. She pushed Lan Qin away, and her right hand grabbed his nape: “Say that again—how did Du Yu get in?”
Even though her body was recovering, she was still quite thin. Her pale white five fingers were like cold silver claws, mercilessly digging into his flesh.
Xu He began trembling all over, but he still couldn’t let himself pass out, lest he not even know how he died when the time came!
“Yes, it was he who forced me… I didn’t expect him to be like this! I never imagined he would be so bold and reckless!”
“You’re the Top Scholar, what can’t you think of?!” Lan Qin was already so anxious that tears were coming out, “You must still be in cahoots with the Du Family, still secretly colluding with them! Master, what’s the use of keeping this person? Have Prince Jingyang kill him right now!”
Xu He hurt all over his body, and being misunderstood like this left him speechless to defend himself, making his heart and lungs ache with anxiety!
He was the only son in the family, with a fairly good family background. Because his studies went smoothly, he was even extremely valued by his parents and family. After becoming the Top Scholar, he rose rapidly in rank. Even after being pitted by the Du Family, it had not reached the point of being so infuriated that he wanted to spit blood!
Even if the Du Family acts arrogantly again, they can’t take his life. On Prince Jingyang’s side, isn’t it just a matter of one word? What’s more, this time he was the one who was wrong first!
Xu He collapsed onto the ground, suddenly realizing how much he had looked down on Yue Tang back then. It turned out that she hadn’t made a move at the time not because she couldn’t do anything to him, but because she simply didn’t want to!
“What is this? What’s wrong?”
Yan Bei’s voice suddenly rang out in the courtyard.
Xu He could no longer hold back. After his chest heaved wildly, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Lan Qin gritted her teeth and stepped forward: “Xu He put Du Yu into the Imperial Clan Court and destroyed Princess Yongjia’s case closure!”
“Is that so?” Yan Bei slanted his eyes at the trembling Xu He and rebuked: “Take him down first!”
“Prince, Prince!”
Xu He cried out hoarsely, tears and snot streaming down together.
But soon his mouth was covered by the guards.
Yan Bei looked at Yue Tang, whose face looked very bad: “Alright, don’t be angry.”
Yue Tang glared at him: “Is this how you, Prince Jingyang, handle things? Yan Bei, I misjudged you!”
She turned and walked inside the room.
Yan Bei hurriedly followed: “Hear me out—”
Yue Tang spun around and kicked him right in the waist!
Yan Bei, who was rushing forward, fell flat on his back.
By the time he scrambled up quickly, Yue Tang had slammed the door shut.
Yan Bei went around to the window and threw the two booklets from his bosom inside, roaring: “At least read this before you say anything!”
This fierce woman!
Seeing the two booklets thrown to the ground and splayed open, Yue Tang, who had just picked up a basin of water, stopped.
Then she set the basin down and picked them up.
Then she stood up in surprise and doubt: “You’ve already gotten them out?”
These two booklets were actually her household registration file!
All the official seals and vermilion endorsements from the court offices above were complete! Everywhere the former emperor had penned was in handwriting Yue Tang recognized!
No doubt, these were real!
Yan Bei outside the door looked furious, hands stuffed into his sleeves, glaring back through the window: “Either poisoning or hitting, you’ve completely swept away the face of me, the Regent Prince!”
Yue Tang opened the door and looked him up and down: “Serves you right for playing coy!”
Yan Bei dropped his hands and smirked: “I just wanted to give you a surprise.”
Yue Tang turned and went back inside.
He followed her in and saw her sitting under the oil lamp again, flipping through the contents of the household registration file, completely immersed in thought, the earlier flash of temper fully retracted, so he sidled up to her again and pulled out another booklet of the same size from his bosom, waving it in front of her: “And this. I didn’t neglect a single thing you tasked me with.
“Even transferring Xu He to the Imperial Clan Court was something I deliberately arranged.
“Du Yu has designs on the Imperial Clan Court and has already forced Xu He into a sworn brotherhood. Knowing Xu He went to the Imperial Clan Court, he absolutely won’t pass up such a good opportunity.
“See, I killed two birds with one stone.”
Du Yu went all out to destroy the household registration file, and now thinking his goal achieved, he will surely let go of the Imperial Clan Court side and relax his vigilance.
And by using Xu He’s hand to get the real household registration file in hand, it also eliminates any worries later.
Now even if Yue Tang’s identity is exposed, no one will dare claim she’s fake!
Doesn’t this merit of his count as big?
Yue Tang took this booklet without a word.
Sure enough, it was Yue Huan’s, with that handprint and footprint she had Wei Zhang fetch overnight yesterday tucked in the middle.
She looked at Yan Bei: “So you’re pretty capable.”
Yan Bei instantly straightened his waist: “Small matter.”
He then slanted a glance over: “But if you want to treat me to a meal, I’m not above giving face.”
That kid Cui Xun has it, so he should too.
Yue Tang raised a brow and looked back at the item in her hand.
After comparing Yue Huan’s handprint and footprint with the yearly records preserved in the household registration file, she frowned: “Just as I guessed!”
The new and old records didn’t overlap at all!
“Yue Huan is not a member of the imperial clan!”
She closed the booklet. “The Chu Family’s ambition is huge! After seizing the Imperial City Department, they muddled the Prince’s Mansion bloodline. They want to steal the entire Prince Duan’s Mansion and turn all its forces to the Chu Family’s use!”
“Evidently.” Yan Bei picked up the slingshot she had made to look at it. “After all, the former emperor once promised your father king that the Imperial City Department could be passed down generation after generation. The future is hard to say, but at least two or three generations is no problem.
“Now among the three families, the Mu Family backs the Emperor with imperial power as their force. Empress Dowager Shen holds the seal and can even hold me down. Only the Chu Family are mere civil officials.
“Of course they let Du Minghuan take over the Imperial City Department, but how could the Chu Family rest easy letting them hold it forever? They must have preparations.
“Once this child comes of age, the Chu Family will bring out the former emperor’s promise from back then and let him take it over seamlessly.
“So the Du Family has been their chess piece from start to finish. They just never expected the Chu Family to secretly swap pillars for beams, using adoption of an imperial clan child as a pretext to stealthily cross Chen Cang.
“With this, the Chu Family targeting Prince Duan’s Mansion is a profit.
“Right now we just don’t know when this conspiracy of theirs began? Who else cooperated with them in the palace that night?”
Just the Imperial City Department alone has five or six thousand troops, enough to propel the already fallen Du Family to rise. If it actually falls into the hands of the already powerful Chu Family, what massive role would it play?
Nominally still under the management of Prince Duan’s Mansion, but the one in power in Prince Duan’s Mansion is the Chu Family’s daughter, completely different from the Du Family that’s connected only by interest!
Yue Tang crossed her arms and took a deep breath. Moments later, she suddenly grabbed Yue Huan’s household registration file, and with her other hand tugged his sleeve: “I must go to the Prince’s Mansion to meet Chu Yan!”
Yan Bei said: “You go if you want, why drag me?”
“Go together!”
Yan Bei chuckled: “You just kicked me!”
“Forget it if you won’t go.”
Yue Tang grabbed her sword and went out the door.
Yan Bei swiftly darted to her side: “Which gate do you plan to enter from? I’ll send someone to scout the way first!”
……
Night had fallen over Prince Duan’s Mansion, quiet enough to hear heartbeats.
With only one master, the target was easy to lock onto.
Not to mention that Yue Tang had already come to scout once last night.
Chu Yan was still living in the Heir Apparent’s quarters on the east side of the Prince’s Mansion.
Yue Tang sneaked to the courtyard outside, looked up at the three words “Chengping Hall” hanging on the door lintel, then lightly and swiftly leaped onto the wall top. Her figure, agile as a civet cat, slipped under the back window.
Yan Bei followed along, observing the layout similar to Prince Jingyang’s Mansion yet with a completely unfamiliar atmosphere. Thinking that three years ago this had been his father-in-law’s home, and now it was actually his first time coming, his heart felt particularly stirred.
Then thinking that this golden son-in-law’s first visit to the door actually required such sneaking around, his stirred heart sank again.
Amid such random thoughts, he could only fall behind Yue Tang and act as a follower.
“Withdraw.”
A soft female voice came from inside the window.
Yan Bei steadied his mind and looked, only to see that the window screen had already been cut open by knife by Yue Tang beside him.
Through the three-inch-long slit, the scene inside the room came into view.
On the brocade couch by the window, a young noblewoman was reclining, gently coughing with a silk handkerchief over her mouth.
On the kang table before her, a table full of bowls and dishes was laid out. But almost none had been touched. The maidservants were standing by the couch, packing them one by one.
No need to say, this must be Chu Yan.
Yan Bei looked at Yue Tang: “I’ll go extinguish the lamp, you sneak in in the dark.”
“No need.” Yue Tang straightened her waist, sturdy like a young green pine. “This is the home where I grew up, why should I sneak around?
“You go wait by the family temple, help me check if there are any other ambushes nearby. When I arrive, help me draw away the people under the door.”
With that, she left Yan Bei behind and went around to the courtyard where Yue Huan lived.
Yan Bei anxiously shouted lowly, but couldn’t keep her, so he could only mutter curses under his breath while obeying the order.
After the maidservants withdrew, the vast room became exceptionally quiet.
Chu Yan got down, picked up the feather duster from the slender-waisted vase, and began dusting a suit of silver armor hanging on the wall.
A maidservant came in clutching her hands tightly: “Reporting to the Heir Apparent’s Consort, the Heir has gone to the family temple.”
Chu Yan turned, paused, and said: “What did he go for?”
“The Heir… went to offer incense to the Heir Apparent.”
Chu Yan stood in the room, glanced at the pitch-black sky outside the window, and walked out.
From Chengping Hall to the family temple, one had to pass through a very long corridor.
Under the cover of night, the path seemed even more distant.
Yue Huan had entered the mansion already two years ago. Although every first and fifteenth of the lunar month in these two years, she had strictly required him to go offer incense and kneel before Yue Rong’s spirit, and these past few days with Yue Rong’s anniversary of death approaching, he had gone daily, but for Yue Huan to go on his own initiative was still quite strange.
However, Chu Yan was no longer afraid of any strange things.
Sometimes she even hoped that this deathly still Prince’s Mansion could have some strange movements.
“Wait here for me.”
Before entering the hall, she instructed the maidservants, then crossed the threshold alone.
On the cushion directly ahead, a small trembling figure was kneeling—it was Yue Huan.
Chu Yan walked slowly to his side, looked around once, then lowered her gaze to him: “So late, what did you come here for?”
Sorry. Spent the whole day sorting out the plot, later than planned.
