Chapter 197 - The Empress Dowager’s Drastic Move

The Qiu Family was so scarcely populated that there was not even a distant relative out of Wufu. Qiu Shuxia adopted Liu Zhiyin as his son for the sake of political interest exchange—to let Liu Zhenxi “confess” readily without worries behind.

Yet, since Qiu Shuxia had no son, he had no reason to maltreat this adopted son.

Under the circumstance, Liu Zhenxi, obviously leaving life and death out of consideration, was determined to pave the path for the son adopted by Qiu Shuxia with all his family’s lives and his after-death reputation!

“This man worked in the Ministry of Punishments before, so he must know how to make an ironclad proof.” Song Yixiao immediately realized the gravity of the situation, “Especially Cui Jianlian and Madam Huang are dead, who cannot give witness. Even if His Majesty assigns Prince of Yi to investigate the case, it won’t be easy to handle then.”

Emperor Xianjia could harness the officials but judge from his act of allowing Prince of Zhao to join the court, he only showed partiality for the Crown Prince instead of insisting on his eldest son ascending the throne when he passed away. In other words, once the Crown Prince aroused public wrath, Emperor Xianjia might not necessarily protect him even with the ability to do that!

Emperor Xianjia was a father, but he was also an emperor. The heir he wanted was not only a favorable son but also a man who could be responsible for the whole Great Rui!

By far, he had shown a lot of partiality for the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince still failed… Even Song Yixiao, from the perspective of Emperor Xianjia, had to doubt whether the Crown Prince was able and suitable to be the heir.

Jian Xubai said, “Exactly! But the priority at the moment is Madam Huang’s matter. Yesterday, Liu Zhenxi specially mentioned Madam Huang and left out the Crown Princess at court. Now the Wei Family and the Crown Princess cannot refute openly, but the rumor has been spread in secret. I also heard of it in the street on the way back!”

A repeated slander made others believe. Even if Madam Huang really colluded with Cui Jianlian without the Crown Princess’s prior knowledge or consent, as the rumor lasted, the saying that Side Concubine Cui and her two babies died an unnatural death due to the cruel crown princess would inevitably take root in people’s mind!

“If Cui Jianlian was only the Crown Prince’s favored concubine, it is not a big deal then. After all, the Crown Prince should have a sense of propriety.” Song Yixiao looked down. Even though she didn’t understand, now she should be aware of it under the current circumstance, “But she was Noble Consort Cui’s favorite niece, who was even poisoned to death by Noble Consort Cui. As such, the Noble Consort is still grieving over her these days! If she suspects that everything is schemed out by the Crown Princess, she will endure it for now but in the future… The Crown Princess is not a fool anyway!”

The Crown Princess made so much effort to help her husband to ascend the throne and her mother-in-law to become the empress dowager, even at the sacrifice of her maiden family. Yet, she might be revenged for the past deeds! How could the daughter-in-law picked by Emperor Xianjia be that foolish?

Song Yixiao pondered for a while and suddenly asked, “Who sentenced Madam Huang to death?”

She always believed that Madam Huang’s death was due to the imperial family’s intention of pouring oil on troubled waters, but now she felt that Madam Huang’s death was actually the outcome of Prince of Zhao and Prince of Wei’s conspiration. Their aim was to render no witness so as to give the fullest play to the sacrifice of Liu Zhenxi!

Otherwise, even if Cui Jianlian died, Madam Huang, a third-rank titled lady, could still insist on denying Liu Zhenxi’s accusation, combined with some man-made “evidence” and the partiality of Emperor Xianjia, the whole thing would probably become a mess and end up with nothing definite!

However, the deceased couldn’t be resurrected!

“It’s Grandmother.” Jian Xubai understood what she meant, “But it was Aunt who denounced to Grandmother. Cui Jianlian couldn’t stand being tortured and confessed that it was Madam Huang who worked for her.”

As a supporter of the Crown Prince, when Empress Dowager heard that, in order not to drive a wedge between the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, she surely executed Madam Huang quickly and secretly!

However, by doing that, she happened to fall into Prince of Zhao’s trap!

He mused, “Speaking of that, I heard from the imperial servant today that Grandmother is not feeling well these days. Why don’t you go into the imperial palace and pay respects to her on behalf of me?”

“Okay.” Song Yixiao agreed and pondered, “How long has it been since I met the Empress Dowager last time? At that time, the Empress Dowager was fine. How is possible that she is not feeling well now? She must be considering how to lecture the Empress!”

She noticed that her husband almost finished talking so she mentioned her worry about the safety of Ms. Zhao and her family. Jian Xubai told her not to worry then, “I’ll let Ji Su make the arrangement later. If necessary, they can change their names and reside in a lonely place. Anyway, I will not let them killed!”

Song Yixiao was finally relieved.

That was all for the day. The next morning, she packed some medicine and arrived before the gate of the imperial palace by carriage.

She was a titled lady and wife of the Empress Dowager’s favorite grandson, so after submitting her request of having an audience with the Empress Dowager, she hadn’t waited long before she was permitted to go inside.

Having arrived at the Qingxi Hall, she saw the place full of carriages. As she went inside, she found that perhaps all the concubines were here to ask about the Empress Dowager’s health condition gallantly.

“Greetings, Your Majesty!” Song Yixiao guessed that the Empress Dowager feigned sickness. Now the latter did look pale, but she was still sitting up straight in the seat of honor. According to that, Song Yixiao realized that her guess was more or less correct.

However, after paying respects, she still asked the Empress Dowager about her health condition, “Xubai returned home yesterday and told me that Your Majesty the Empress Dowager was not feeling well. Hence, he asked me to come and pay a visit. May I ask whether Your Majesty is fine now?”

“I’m fine!” The Empress Dowager looked indifferent now but due to her favor for Jian Xubai, she still gave a slightly amicable look at Song Yixiao, asked her to rise and ordered to offer her a seat before saying feebly, “I’m simply old now, so I always reminisce about the past!”

The people present all knew about what Noble Consort Shentu and Madame Zhenyuan did during the reign of the late Emperor, so they just thought that the Empress Dowager must recollect that period of time and realized that it was not easy to give any response. Song Yixiao noticed the presence of Empress Su and thought that she was only an onlooker here. Unexpectedly, she was almost dragged into trouble and felt stunned before saying with a smile, “Your Majesty is not old at all! No offense. I think you look in the prime of life now!”

“Yixiao is correct. Mother, you have such rosy cheeks. How can you say you are old?” Empress Su chimed in and said smilingly, “The other day Prince of Zhao came to the Palace of Weiyang to have dinner with me, during which he mentioned your holding him to watch flowers in the imperial garden a few years ago. At that time, he was seven or eight years old and he was too heavy for me to carry easily. On the contrary, you could hold him and walk for a distance. It hasn’t been a long time since then. How can you say that you are old now?”

The Empress said so obviously to remind the Empress Dowager of her affection for Prince of Zhao.

As expected, the Empress Dowager heard that and sighed, giving a reminiscent look and saying, “It has been two days since I met Prince of Zhao last time!”

“His Majesty has allowed him to go to court. He is still young and has a lot to learn. Hence, he kind of neglects Mother unknowingly!” The Empress said hurriedly, “Later I will ask him to apologize to you. No matter how busy he is, how can he forget to show filial piety?”

“The past that I mentioned just now actually has something to do with Prince of Zhao,” The Empress Dowager shook her head and said with a reminiscent look, “Prince of Su and Prince of Xiang have passed away for years, but these days, whenever I close my eyes, I seem to see their appearances back then. Well, Prince of Zhao is decisive and tough, closely resembling his two uncles in terms of disposition and appearance!”

The Empress Dowager said with a sigh, “Sadly, my two poor sons died in the battlefield unluckily before they got married! They didn’t even have any children! I… I feel so sorry for them whenever I think of them!”

Speaking of that, the Empress Dowager shed tears sorrowfully.

For the moment, the Qingxi Hall became so quiet!

Prince of Su and Prince of Xiang were the eldest son and second son of the Empress Dowager and the late Emperor. It was said that they were both young heroes, who went on expeditions around with their elder generation at the age of 12 or 13. Brave and battlewise, they could beat pretty much any enemy, making them the most important and beloved grandsons of the founding emperor of the Great Rui.

It was a pity that they became famous early and also perished early. They didn’t even get to see the foundation of the Great Rui!

The two titles of Prince of Su and Prince of Xiang were conferred after the late Emperor came to the throne.

Now the Empress Dowager talked of them, their childlessness and Prince of Zhao’s resembling them. Clearly, she was suggesting that she wanted to adopt sons for them and that Prince of Zhao was the chosen one!

“Good for the Empress Dowager. What a drastic move!” Song Yixiao felt awed, “Prince of Zhao is the Empress’s only son. If he is adopted, what can the supporters for making the eldest son of the emperor the heir do? But this is really huge. The Empress will never agree on it even if she has to offend the Empress Dowager in public!”

Indeed, after being shocked, the Empress took a deep breath and held the Empress Dowager’s hand, saying in a soft voice, “Mother, why do you have to do this? The two brothers didn’t have children but there are a lot of good persons of the clan. Isn’t it easy to select two of them to be the sons of the brothers?”

Then she hedged and continued saying sternly, “Sadly, I have only one son, Prince of Zhao, at the middle age, so I really can’t stand leaving him! Otherwise, if he can be adopted by either of the brothers, it will satisfy what you wish for the two brothers and also enable either of the brothers to pass down their blood, which is a great thing!”

The Empress Dowager wiped her eyes slowly and said casually, “What idea did you just put forward? But does it make any difference? As the empress, you take the lead not to give away your son. Tell me, how many women of the imperial clan have two sons or above? Moreover, you know what kind of people Prince of Su and Prince of Xiang were before death! They were ill-fated indeed but in terms of talent and appearance, the founding emperor and late Emperor both thought highly of them!”

The most exalted woman in the Great Rui raised her eyebrows coldly, “Can anybody of the imperial clan be their adopted sons?”

“Please show mercy for me!” Empress Su knelt down before the Empress Dowager without hesitation and kept kowtowing, saying, “Please spare me considering that I have only one son this life!”

Unexpectedly, the peace was broken all of a sudden. Only a few words ignited the conflict between the Empress Dowager and the Empress. Nothing was heard but the constant sound of kowtow in the hall!

Noble Consort Cui was still being grounded now. Among the harem present in the hall, apart from the empress, Virtuous Consort Jiang was the highest-rank, so she had to step forward and mediate, “Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, this is too huge. Shall we discuss later?”

“Yixiao, you see?” Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager didn’t even look at the Virtuous Consort. She just looked at Song Yixiao and sighed, “I claimed that I was old but you denied it. You were clearly lying through your teeth. Now you see I’m really old and useless?”

Song Yixiao felt astounded and pondered, “Your Majesty, why do you forget the saying that love me, love my dog now?”

The Empress Dowager’s words were actually mocking the locust on behalf of the mulberry tree. On the surface, she was scolding Song Yixiao but in fact, she was mocking Empress Su.

Her intention was clearly known to the people present.

However, since she was mentioned by the Empress Dowager by name, how could Song Yixiao not reply?

She held back the depression and was about to respond when someone suddenly shouted in a clear voice, “Your Majesty, please pardon my offense. I think what Her Majesty the Empress said is inappropriate!”

With the voice, an imperial consort in pink stepped forward and spoke boldly, “On the one hand, His Highness Prince of Zhao is Her Majesty the Empress’s birth son but Her Majesty, as the legitimate mother, should be the mother of all the children of His Majesty! On the other hand, from ancient times, the Empress should be a motherly model of the country! And His Majesty always asserts that an emperor must regard his people as his children. Since His Majesty is the father of people, the Empress should be the mother of people! Hence, how can Her Majesty only regard His Highness Prince of Zhao as the son and other people as nothing?”

The imperial consort’s passionate talk certainly made the Empress Dowager give a smile, “I didn’t expect to have such a sensible person in the imperial palace… Good for you!”

The imperial consort reacted fast and immediately reminded the Empress Dowager, “I’m a jieyu from the Palace of Weiyue, surnamed as Fu.”

The Empress Dowager slightly nodded her head, “Jieyu Fu.” After taking down her name, the Empress Dowager didn’t say anything to her but to look at Empress Su, who stopped kowtowing, saying in a casual voice, “Only a jieyu is more open-minded than an empress! Nianzhen, you’ve let me down so much!”

Regardless of the dripping blood on her forehead, Empress Su took a look at Jieyu Fu and then turned to the Empress Dowager, saying, “Mother, I don’t want to part from Prince of Zhao not because I only regard Prince of Zhao as my birth son but because Prince of Zhao is raised by me. How can I give up the affection between mother and son? Do you remember this? When the news that Xubai was caught in Wuhuan was sent back, so many officials appealed to oppose truce. If you didn’t try your best to save the situation, how could he be who he is today?”

A glint of mockery crossed her eyes. “I believe that my current feelings are the same as yours back then!”

The Empress Dowager was hinting that the Empress was too narrow-minded to be a motherly model of the nation? Yet, the Empress Dowager had played favoritism herself before!

However, before Empress Su stopped sneering, she heard the Empress Dowager say calmly, “You’ve made a good point! Then which two persons do you think are suitable to be adopted by Prince of Su and Prince of Xiang among the sons of the Emperor?”

This sounded like a concession of the Empress Dowager, but Empress Su was instantly astonished!

Song Yixiao lowered her head submissively just in case of being involved again. She just sighed in secret, “Old ginger is hotter than new!”