Chapter 244: Coming To The Rescue
Zhang Zhaodi came out of the outhouse and found that the palace maid who had brought her there earlier was gone.
These slaves in the imperial palace are used to fawning over the high and trampling the low. When she was brought to the outhouse earlier, the maid was already reluctant. It was expected that she would leave directly now.
“Luckily, this old lady is not directionally challenged. I can remember after walking once, otherwise I would really be harmed to death by these slaves who judge people by their appearance.”
Zhang Zhaodi followed the earlier route back and soon saw a familiar figure—Su Rende.
If it was only Su Rende, she would pretend not to see him. The other party was General Su, and she was just a small village woman. There was no need to rush forward to curry favor.
However, the ones walking past from the front were not just Su Rende alone; there were also two eunuchs supporting Su Rende.
Su Rende had lost consciousness and was being supported by the two eunuchs walking forward. He looked like he had drunk too much, and the eunuchs were trying to find a place for him to rest.
“Something’s not right…” Zhang Zhaodi was about to step past that corner when she thought of the earlier situation and felt more and more that something was off. “Aren’t those two eunuchs acting too sneaky? Look at their tense expressions; they seem a bit abnormal.”
Zhang Zhaodi quickly turned around and followed them swiftly.
She wanted to follow and see.
At the very least, she needed to figure out where Su Rende was being taken.
The palace banquet was nearing its end, and the Crown Prince was preparing to wrap up the final matters when he saw the commander of the imperial guards rushing in and saying to the Crown Prince, “Your Highness, something has happened.”
“So startled, what happened?” The Crown Prince frowned.
“The Great General Who Protects the Nation, he… he seems off. You should go take a look quickly!” The commander of the imperial guards said loudly.
“Lead the way ahead.”
When the other officials heard that something had happened to the Great General Who Protects the Nation, they followed the Crown Prince one after another, wanting to see what could happen to the Great General Who Protects the Nation in the palace.
The officials went, and of course the female relatives could not stay behind. After all, no one loved gossip more than the female relatives.
Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu had originally been hiding in the pavilion outside the palace to avoid the bustle, planning to wait until the palace banquet ended before going back. But then they saw so many people coming out in a grand procession.
“What happened?” Su Yaoguang asked Zhang Yingdi.
“I don’t know. My husband and I were still drinking with others when suddenly someone said something had happened, and then everyone followed to take a look.”
While they were talking, they saw Xiao Yanci walking over from the side.
Su Yaoguang got annoyed at the sight of this person, pulled Zhou Wangshu to avoid him, and asked the others again. Only then did she learn that it was the Great General Who Protects the Nation who had met with trouble.
“What could happen to the Great General Who Protects the Nation in the palace?” Su Yaoguang muttered to herself.
The current plot was completely different from her previous life, and even if it was the same, she wouldn’t know, since she had never attended a palace banquet.
She thought of Su Rende and did not want such an upright person to meet with trouble in the palace, so she also pulled Zhou Wangshu to follow the people ahead.
“Have you seen my mother?” Su Yaoguang asked Zhang Yingdi.
Zhang Yingdi said she had not seen her.
The group entered the rear palace in a grand procession and arrived at a place called the Palace of Virtue and Grace.
“Isn’t this Consort Rong’s palace? Earlier, Commander Wang said the Great General Who Protects the Nation had met with trouble and told us to come find him. How did we end up in Consort Rong’s palace? Could it be…” The officials made a bold guess and immediately dared not speak.
Did that Great General Who Protects the Nation have such audacity?
Consort Rong was the Emperor’s new favorite, and the Emperor doted on her. If something happened, it was feared that not even nine clans would be enough to chop.
Muffled moans came from inside the palace. The sounds made it easy to imagine the scene inside.
The Crown Prince flew into a rage and said to the imperial guards beside him, “Who dares to commit debauchery in the harem? Men, drag out the people inside.”
At this moment, the Crown Prince was furious on the surface, even more so inwardly.
From earlier until now, it was obvious that someone had set up a trap, and this trap was aimed at Su Rende.
As the Great General Who Protects the Nation, Su Rende commanded three hundred thousand troops, and he was part of the Crown Prince’s faction, a key supporter of the Crown Prince.
If Su Rende committed debauchery in the harem right under everyone’s noses, then as Crown Prince, he would have to execute a loyal retainer to convince the masses. Even if he knew it was a scheme to deliberately cut off his wings, he would still have to painfully sacrifice this capable general.
Such a despicable method, who knew which of his imperial brothers had come up with it. No matter what, the opponent’s methods were dirty, but they had cut his lifeline.
The imperial guards pushed open the door and rushed in.
When the door opened, officials at odds with Su Rende rushed inside.
They could not wait to add insult to injury.
“General Su, you truly have great audacity…” The first minister to speak froze in expression upon seeing the scene before him.
The ones making the muffled moans were not Su Rende and Consort Rong, but two old and ugly eunuchs.
The two eunuchs were playing in a very fancy way; the scene was too unsightly and made one feel nauseous just looking at it.
“Ah…” The female relatives behind accidentally caught sight of it and nearly vomited.
“Reporting to Your Highness the Crown Prince, inside are two old eunuchs engaging in filthy deeds. There is no General Su or Consort Rong.”
“What are you doing here?” An old wet nurse returned from outside, saw so many people in the hall, and asked puzzledly, “Consort Rong is currently attending the Emperor. Do you have business with Consort Rong?”
“Commander Wang, explain what this is about. Didn’t you say General Su had met with trouble? Now tell me, what trouble has General Su encountered?” The Crown Prince looked sharply at Commander Wang opposite him.
Commander Wang wiped his cold sweat and said, “Reporting to Your Highness the Crown Prince, this subordinate also heard it reported by his men. This matter is of great importance, and this subordinate dared not act without authorization, so he asked Your Highness the Crown Prince to decide. Who would have thought it was two old eunuchs being so reckless here.”
“Men, take those two old things away and give each twenty strokes of the board, then throw them to the Department of Punishments for Lord Li to properly manage his men.”
“Your Highness, we still haven’t seen General Su up to now. What if General Su really has met with trouble? We should still find General Su.”
“You’re looking for me?” Su Rende walked in from outside. “This general was passing by here earlier, heard many people talking, and someone mentioned me, so I came specially to see what happened. Your Highness the Crown Prince, Lords, why are you in the rear palace? Isn’t it too much for unrelated men to enter the rear palace?”
“Then how did General Su end up in the rear palace?” An official asked.
“The reason this general is in the rear palace is, of course, because the Emperor summoned this general. This general has just come from the Emperor and was preparing to leave the palace.”
“It seems now that someone used the pretext of General Su meeting with trouble to expose the scandal of those two old things. Alright, this farce should end.”
The Crown Prince dismissed everyone.
The Crown Prince’s final gaze lingered on Su Rende.
“General Su, come with me.”
The palace banquet ended, and everyone had to leave the imperial palace.
The Crown Prince took Su Rende away to the Eastern Palace.
Just as they entered the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince’s attendant summoned the imperial physician to bandage Su Rende’s wounds.
Su Rende boldly rolled up his sleeve, revealing several dagger cuts on his arm.
“The Crown Prince’s nose is truly sharp. To have such a caring lord, your subordinate general is truly fortunate.”
“General Su, what exactly happened earlier?”
Mentioning the earlier matter, Su Rende’s expression became grave.
Earlier, he had been splashed awake with water and, upon waking, saw Zhang Zhaodi’s worried face. Zhang Zhaodi pointed to his side and said, “I saw two eunuchs supporting you in, and they even moved you onto the bed. There’s a very beautiful woman lying next to you now. Do you want to see what’s going on?”
Before Su Rende could analyze the situation, she pointed to the two eunuchs lying on the ground and said, “It was they who carried you here. I thought since we know each other, I couldn’t just watch you be schemed against by two eunuchs with shrill voices, so I knocked them out from behind.”
Su Rende looked at these people and the scene, and it was not hard to guess what trouble he had encountered.
He noticed aphrodisiac incense in the room and had Zhang Zhaodi extinguish it first. After Zhang Zhaodi extinguished the aphrodisiac incense, he got off the bed and splashed the Consort Rong on the bed awake with cold tea, then told her the news that someone in the palace wanted to borrow a knife to kill and eliminate them both, urging her to go find the Emperor immediately. Only if Consort Rong was with the Emperor would those rumors fall apart on their own.
After Consort Rong left, Su Rende had Zhang Zhaodi go out first. After Zhang Zhaodi left, he lit the aphrodisiac incense again, then took Zhang Zhaodi far away from Consort Rong’s palace.
He had been affected by the aphrodisiac incense and was somewhat losing control. To keep himself rational, he cut wounds on his arm with a dagger to force himself to hold on.
As for Zhang Zhaodi, she was a simple village woman; there was no need to implicate her in this bloody storm.
He worried he might offend Zhang Zhaodi, so he cut wound after wound on his arm just to stay rational.
Zhang Zhaodi originally did not need to meddle in trivial matters, but to save him, she risked following the two eunuchs and rescued him from their hands.
She had now been settled by him and should have reunited with her family.
The palace banquet ended, and Zhang Zhaodi hurried back to the palace hosting the banquet, met up with Su Yaoguang who had come looking for her, and then the family went home.
“Mother, where did you go earlier?” In the horse-drawn carriage, Su Yaoguang asked Zhang Zhaodi.
Zhang Zhaodi said, “To the outhouse! The outhouses in this imperial palace are even more fragrant than outside, without a bit of odor.”
Seeing Zhang Zhaodi’s natural expression, not like something was wrong, Su Yaoguang did not ask further.
“I never thought there would be a day I could enter the imperial palace.” Zhang Yingdi said, “And our child has also gained some experience in our belly.”
“Little maternal aunt, maternal uncle did so well in the exam that an official position will soon be assigned. Then you will be an official’s wife. Congratulations to you both, little maternal aunt and maternal uncle.”
“I think this girl just wants us to praise Wangshu. After all, who can compare to Wangshu in excellence? Rest assured, we prepared gifts. In the future, when Wangshu and your maternal uncle serve as officials together, we will inevitably have to rely on this nephew-in-law.” Zhang Yingdi teased Su Yaoguang.
Su Yaoguang hugged Zhou Wangshu’s arm and said, “Our Wangshu is already amazing. People outside are saying this year’s newly appointed top scholar is more handsome than the third scholar.”
Zhang Zhaodi looked toward the palace gate, watching it turn into a small black dot, a flash of worry in her eyes.
“Have any of you seen the Great General Who Protects the Nation?” Zhang Zhaodi asked casually.
Su Yaoguang and Zhang Yingdi exchanged a glance.
When did Zhang Zhaodi become so close to the Great General Who Protects the Nation?
“Mother, something dirty happened in the palace earlier.” Su Yaoguang said, “You were at the outhouse and didn’t see that scene. It was said that when the commander of the imperial guards rushed into the palace to find the Crown Prince, he said General Who Protects the Nation had met with trouble, drawing everyone to Consort Rong’s palace. After entering the palace, there were ambiguous sounds, and everyone thought it was the Great General Who Protects the Nation and Consort Rong. But when the door opened, it turned out to be two eunuchs.”
“Even if the eunuchs usually play too wildly, they would never do such dirty business in their master’s palace. There is clearly something wrong with today’s matter. Mother, what do you think happened in the palace tonight? Why is it so bizarre?”
Zhang Zhaodi said, “It’s actually not that bizarre. Someone just put the Great General Who Protects the Nation into a coma, then sent him to Consort Rong’s bed. Consort Rong was drugged with aphrodisiac incense and lying on the same bed as the Great General Who Protects the Nation. If someone burst in at that moment, they could not explain even if they tried. Your mother is an unnamed hero who happened to stumble upon this scandal. I first knocked out those two eunuchs, then woke General Su, and told him what I knew. But he seems to have not left the palace. Could it be that because of Consort Rong, he still received punishment?”
“Mother, do you mean tonight’s incident also involved you?”
Several pairs of eyes looked at Zhang Zhaodi in surprise.
Zhang Zhaodi felt a bit uncomfortable being looked at like that and said, “I just happened to come across it and thought he was at least a decent person. If he was schemed against like that, it would be too pitiful.”
“Mother, you are truly bold.” Jiang Jing said, “That is the imperial palace, after all. Moreover, the one scheming against General Su is definitely not simple. By helping General Su, aren’t you putting yourself in danger?”
“I’m just an ordinary person; no one should come looking for trouble with me, right? No one else saw it at the time, and General Su wouldn’t tell.”
“Mother did nothing wrong. General Su is an upright person and should not be harmed by such despicable means. If this matter were really convicted, General Su would likely not survive. After all, that is the Emperor’s woman. The Emperor’s woman can be discarded by him, but absolutely no other man can covet her.”
“In that case, you are General Su’s benefactor. General Su is truly lucky to have met big sister.” Zhang Yingdi said, “If he had met another woman, he might not have had such good luck.”
“In that situation, the Great General Who Protects the Nation actually stabbed his own arm with a dagger, several times in a row, to sober up. His perseverance is extraordinary; it shows how much hardship he has endured in the army these years.” Zhang Zhaodi said.
“Mother, you seem very concerned about him.” Su Yaoguang said, “Don’t tell me it’s because he looks like Father, so you…”
“No. Your father is your father. I like him as a person, not his face. How could I like someone just because he looks similar?”
