Chapter 224: A Counter-Move
Xiao Zhao spoke with righteous indignation.
She spoke while gesturing.
“The maidservant was like this at the time, a slap to the left, a punch to the right, I beat the Fourth Miss until her hair bun came undone!”
She spoke vividly, then blinked and smiled playfully.
“And now, I’ve come to accompany you to squat in prison.”
Xue Sui watched her roll up her sleeves, with dust clinging to her nose. She looked fierce and cute, and her originally gloomy and heavy mood was lightened, and she coughed and chuckled.
“You’re getting wilder and wilder. The Young Madam of Marquis Jingyuan’s Mansion is someone you can hit…”
“She deserved it!” Xiao Zhao squatted down, took out clean clothes and soft-soled shoes from her bundle one by one, and then took out an oiled paper packet, stuffing it into Xue Sui’s hand.
“The chestnut cake stolen from the kitchen is sweeter than what you make.”
Xue Sui: “…”
Just as she was about to reach for the chestnut cake, she suddenly saw Xiao Zhao retract her wrist into her sleeve cuff.
A fresh scratch mark was very conspicuous.
“How did you get this injury?” Xue Sui grabbed her hand.
“The Fourth Miss has long nails. Not only did she not let me hit her, but she also tried to resist…” Xiao Zhao shook her wrist, as if showing off her spoils of war, and said dismissively, then suddenly and cautiously took out a blue porcelain small bottle.
“Eldest Young Master gave me this cold relief powder, saying it’s a hundred times more effective than the ones from the Imperial Hospital.”
Xue Sui: …
With so many things, didn’t the jailer search them?
It was obvious that Li Huan had let things slide, which was why the jailer turned a blind eye.
What was this? Guilt for using a borrowed knife to kill, or some other scheme?
She looked at Xiao Zhao with helplessness and heartache, amused and annoyed.
“Didn’t I tell you? You don’t need to rack your brains to see me, nor do you need to risk coming to deliver things to me. It’s better for you to live comfortably outside than to worry with me here…”
“That won’t do. I said long ago, wherever Miss is, Xiao Zhao will be there…”
She paused, and Xiao Zhao mysteriously lifted the hem of her clothes again.
“I have something else for you…”
Xue Sui narrowed her eyes slightly, quickly glanced in the direction of the prison door, and pulled out a letter from the gap in her clothes.
The letter was written in Tianshu’s strong and powerful handwriting.
From Gu Jie finding Jinshu, to Xiao Zhao beating Xue Yueying, and then to Spirit Feather delivering a message to the Eastern Palace.
The Old Mausoleum Swamp chess game was a chain reaction, a step-by-step plan…
Her expression sharpened, and she saw Xiao Zhao secretly smile, “Eldest Young Master said that everything has been handled according to Miss’s instructions. We just need to wait for the east wind to rise and burn all the evil in the city…”
A jailer’s scolding came from a distance.
Xiao Zhao quickly tidied her bundle.
“Miss, eat the cake quickly. I’ll go ask them to prepare hot water. The gold leaf wasn’t taken for nothing…”
Xue Sui: …
She looked at Xiao Zhao’s slender figure and suddenly remembered the days at the Old Mausoleum Swamp.
The red heat from the charcoal stove mingled with the scent of green plum wine, spreading through the simple room, which was filled with the warmth of everyday life. Year after year, in every difficult moment, Xiao Zhao was by her side…
—
The Prince Wei’s Mansion in the twilight, its gates tightly shut.
Xue Yueying huddled in the carriage, clutching a handkerchief stained with blood, staring intently at the majestic and towering eaves and corner towers. The child in her arms was so tightly held that his face was purplish, yet she seemed unaware.
Two kitchen women whispered to each other as they emerged from the corner gate, carrying bamboo lanterns. The dim yellow light cast pools of light like ghost fire.
“Those two concubines from last night, weren’t they sold off to the pleasure quarters…”
“Is this kind of thing rare? In the Prince’s Mansion, concubines aren’t considered people. Wasn’t the one from Madam Wang’s side beaten to death the other day?”
“Exactly. In the eyes of the masters, servants are not even as good as cats and dogs.”
The two coarse old women from the kitchen, chattering, gradually moved away.
“Young Madam…” Qing Zhu looked at Xue Yueying cautiously and asked softly, “It’s getting cold, are we still waiting?”
Xue Yueying released her hand, touched her injured head and scratched cheek, then hugged the child in her arms tighter, her eyes teary as she gritted her teeth.
“We’ll wait…”
“We must wait until the Prince returns to uphold justice for me…”
The cold wind swept fallen leaves against the vermilion lacquered main gate.
The Prince Wei’s Mansion at night was like a dormant beast, its shadows heavy, making it suffocating.
Xue Yueying stared at the faint light filtering through the wall, then looked down at her child’s wrinkled little face, gently wiped the tears from his eyes, kissed his forehead, and a wave of heartache surged in her throat.
“How good it would be if you were born the Heir Apparent of the Prince’s Mansion…”
—
Outside the corner gate of the Prince Wei’s Mansion, Li Zhao, dressed in dark Xuan-colored attire, hid in the shade of the locust tree.
Mei Ruhui, a guest of the Crown Prince, stood silently beside him, stroking his beard and shaking his head.
As a strategist for the Crown Prince, he increasingly couldn’t understand this perilous situation.
“Would Prince Wei be that stupid? It’s perplexing.”
“Once people become stupid, even they are afraid of themselves…”
Mei Ruhui didn’t know who he was speaking sarcastically about, and was even more perplexed…
“Then Your Highness, should we make arrangements early?”
Li Zhao gripped the sword at his waist and looked at the crows circling above the Prince’s Mansion.
Twenty years of ups and downs in the imperial harem had long since made him thoroughly familiar with the art of power. But for the first time, he tasted the meaning of his Imperial Father’s frequent saying, “Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish”—
One moment too much heat and it overflows, one moment too little and it’s cold.
It was only at this moment that he could see himself and the other Imperial Princes from Emperor Chong Zhao’s perspective, and understand why he had repeatedly weighed the options between him and Li Huan, unable to make up his mind.
This pot of dishes, with its mix of meat and vegetables, its light and heavy flavors, its precise heat control…
all depended on his single thought.
How much salt to add, how much seasoning, what flavor to stir-fry it into, all concerned the fate of the empire and the continuation of the dynasty…
“No rush,” Li Zhao stroked the ink jade on his belt, which gleamed with a cold light. “Let Prince Duan make the first move, and then the Eastern Palace will act accordingly. This merit can be given to him.”
—
Crows flew past the palace walls, and the morning drum began to sound.
The weather had grown a few degrees colder, and lately, there had been constant undercurrents in Shangjing City.
Duke Lu contacted censors and court officials to impeach Princess Ping Le, with Grand Tutor Lu being the most active instigator.
With the two elders joining forces, most of the court chose to stand by and watch, awaiting a clearer situation.
At the third watch of the Mao hour, the morning mist had not yet dispersed.
The Two Princes, along with the Three Judicial Offices, would jointly try the case of the imperial consort assassination in Qing Hui Hall.
The news exploded like thunder, and discussions spread throughout the streets and alleys of Shangjing.
The trial hall was set up at the Supreme Court, with the Minister of Justice, Vice Minister, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Supervising Censors, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Vice Director, and other officials all present.
In the main hall, the plaque “Enlighten the Law and Educate the People” hung high, and in the beast-headed incense burner, blue smoke curled.
Li Zhao, dressed in a dark Xuan-colored python robe, sat in the main seat. Several files were stacked on his desk, his expression lazy, with a half-smile, making him somewhat inscrutable.
Li Huan, dressed in plain white mourning clothes, made his face look gloomy. His fingertips unconsciously stroked the jade pendant at his waist, his lips pursed in seriousness…
The officials of the other Three Judicial Offices were in their respective positions.
Xie Yanzhan, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, sat behind the wooden desk, clenched his five fingers, and struck the gavel.
“Bring in the prisoner, Xue Shi!”
The black-clothed yamen runners on the left and right columns stood motionless, holding their water and fire clubs.
Xue Sui was helped into the hall by the jailer—
Her pale face was so thin it was almost transparent, her lips dry and cracked, her emaciated shoulder blades slightly protruding beneath the prison clothes, yet her back was held straight.
Li Zhao put down his teacup, his gaze paused on the shackles on her wrists, and he gripped the jade pendant at his waist, the hardness digging into his palm…
Li Huan lowered his eyes, staring at the cracks in the floor tiles, the cold light reflecting in his dark eyes.
“Prisoner, kneel and answer!” Xie Yanzhan saw that she, despite being pressed on the shoulder by the jailer, still held her head high and refused to bend her knees, and shouted sternly, striking the desk with the gavel, making it tremble.
“Xue Shi—” Li Huan suddenly spoke, his voice as cold as an ice pick.
“On the night Consort Xiao passed away, why did you have a Xizi Wolf Guard jade pendant in your coin purse?”
Xue Sui tilted her head up and met his gaze, just as she met the icy coldness in his eyes…
“Didn’t Your Highness bestow that jade pendant upon me?” she chuckled. “At the banquet before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Your Highness said that the jade pendant matched the pattern on my embroidered shoes very well, and gifted it to me to celebrate the auspicious occasion…”
The hall erupted in an uproar.
Li Huan’s fingertips suddenly tightened.
“Presumptuous!” he slammed the table and stood up. “How can you twist black and white in court?”
Xue Qingzhi, as the Minister of Justice, sat stiffly in the first seat on the left.
Hearing the reprimand, he hurriedly stood up and bowed, “Your Highness, please calm your anger. My humble daughter… the criminal wife Xue Shi may have contracted a fever in prison and is delirious, which is why she spoke such madness!”
“Minister Xue has taught his daughter well!” Minister Xie of the Supreme Court suddenly sneered.
He then slowly narrowed his eyes, looking Xue Sui up and down as if appraising prey.
“Xue Shi, with both human and material evidence present, how can you deny it?”
“I do not admit it.” Xue Sui suddenly raised her head, her voice imbued with a bone-chilling coldness. “Since Lord Xie knows the human and material evidence, you should have inquired thoroughly. At the time of the incident, everyone in Qing Hui Hall saw that the poisoned handkerchief was taken from Second Young Lady Lu’s embrace…”
“What is your explanation for the jade pendant?”
“That was just a trick to fool people.” Xue Sui glanced at Li Huan, a trace of tragic mockery appearing in her eyes. “Your Lordships, please see clearly, why is that jade pendant broken in half? It’s because that night, when I argued with the Prince, he accidentally dropped and broke it. I thought the Prince was just angry for a moment, but I didn’t expect him to leave the fragments and publicly misrepresent facts, slandering me…”
The Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, surnamed Wu, was a portly official in his fifties. As he spoke, he stroked his round belly and said slowly.
“Since the jade pendant was gifted, it shows that Your Highness regarded you with special favor. Why did you argue with Prince Duan?”
Xue Sui hesitated for a moment, her voice as light as a feather falling on snow, yet it made everyone in the hall hold their breath.
“Because… it was about the private matters between the Prince and me, and the Prince was angered into shame!”
Amidst the uproar in the hall, the sound of a teacup being lightly tapped came from the Eastern Palace seats.
Everyone looked at each other, unable to understand.
The matters within the imperial harem were difficult for outsiders to know the full picture of, nor could they be witnesses.
She insisted on blaming Li Huan, leaving the Three Judicial Offices officials present at a loss and very embarrassed.
The hall was as silent as a graveyard, as if breathing had been cut off.
After a long while, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and the Left Censor-in-Chief exchanged glances.
Xie Yanzhan gripped the gavel, looked around the silent surroundings, and then gently put it down.
“You have no proof, how can this official believe you?”
Xue Sui looked at Li Huan’s cold and warning eyes, and the corners of her lips curved slightly.
Li Huan had the ability to make her unable to defend herself.
Then she might as well accept the mud he was slinging, use poison to counter poison, and turn the tables.
Under everyone’s gaze, Xue Sui suddenly raised her hand and pulled up her sleeve, revealing the vigilance sand on her elbow, as red as blood.
“Simply because, since I married into Prince Duan’s Mansion, I am still a maiden. This shows that the Prince’s favor was all an act, and every step was a scheme…”
Li Huan: I… forget it, I can’t beat this vicious woman, I admit defeat.
Li Zhao: I’m enjoying listening, she’s not a vicious woman, she’s clearly a little cutie~
