259

Chapter 259: Untitled

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

In this month, Consort Hua had not just once snatched the Emperor’s favor from her.

Her face flushed pink, and her breathing was uneven. She dug her nails deeply into her palms, and she trembled with so much anger that the beads of her hair accessories collided into each other, making clear and sharp noises.

Pretending not to see, Meng Fuyao ordered for Consort Shu’s corpse to be taken away. She instructed her attendants to deliver the news of the death and to prepare for the funeral. Then, she said, “Everyone is dismissed.”

Afterward, she turned and slowly stepped out of the door as her attendants followed, and she looked up at the sky. The snowflakes had finally spiraled down.

How many corpses would this round of snow cover?

Three days later, another strange incident in the palace astonished the whole of Xuanyuan.

Apparently, Noble Concubine Yao and Consort Hua had an argument during their encounter. Both shoved each other and Noble Concubine Yao pushed Consort Hua into the pond. However, the chilliness of the pond in winter was too much for a weak palace woman to handle. When Consort Hua was finally brought onto the shore, she was found to be dead.

While Xuanyuan Min howled beside the corpse, “Empress Yuwen” did nothing but send Consort Hua’s family into the palace. Consort Hua’s father, the Minister of Revenue, Hong Xi, had only one daughter out of his many sons. If Meng Fuyao had not appeased his wife, his wife would have cried until she fainted. His wife knelt and begged the Empress to seek justice for her daughter.

However, Meng Fuyao opened her palms and said, “It was cold, and no one else was on the street, and only a few attendants pointed to Noble Concubine Yao as the murderer. However, there is no concrete evidence, and Noble Concubine Yao will not admit it. Furthermore…” she leaned forward and whispered by Mrs. Hua’s ear, “Noble Concubine Yao’s father, Grand Scholar Yao Ling, entered the palace a few times and swore that no such thing happened. Mrs. Hua, you must know that Grand Scholar Yao is a favored official in the Regent King’s camp. Well, I’m in a very difficult position…”

Mrs. Hua raged. “Yao Ling, how dare you abuse your power to harm the lives of others!”

She crawled to her knees, and without even thanking the Empress, she rushed back home to find her younger brother, Li Yuan. He was the Commander of Capital Defence and had true authority over the military power in Kunjing. Though he was a subordinate of the Regent King, similar to Yao Ling, both of them were foes.

When Li Yuan heard that his niece was harmed, but her family could not seek justice, he was extremely furious. Immediately, he mobilized 3,000 soldiers from the Capital Defence and charged towards Yao Ling’s residence. Before Yao Ling could reason out the situation, Li Yuan had already dashed into his residence with a swarm of armed soldiers and grabbed him by the collar. “You old dog, you won’t be able to make up for your misdeed even after 100 deaths!” And he slashed down with his silvery sword, and out came the bloody weapon.

Then, this aggressive general killed everyone in the residence, wiped the blood off his soles and strode away, as though nothing had happened.

The bloody incident sent shockwaves throughout the court. Yao Ling was part of Situ Mo’s camp, and within the camp, marriages across families were common. Yao Ling’s wife and daughter-in-law were all esteemed ladies of officials under Situ Mo’s circle of influence. Since Li Yuan opened a can of worms, these officials were prepared not to let this matter slip. Some Commanders, who were also in control of the capital defense forces, gave the Li clan and Hua clan a taste of their own medicine, and the Li camp retaliated. As such, Kunjing ended up in chaos as the two camps fought endlessly with each other.

The chaos between the two camps with deep grievances completely erupted because of the death of a concubine and the act of a person who intentionally sowed discord. It affected the entire Xuanyuan court at an uncontrollable speed, and almost 80% of the officials were involved in this scandal. In the end, there were even cases of assassins being hired to kill others or rows of corpses being laid out on the streets. Everyone’s safety was at risk, and many took sick leave from the court. Additionally, as senior officials under Prince Wen Yi’s camp stirred trouble and aggravated the situation, the Xuanyuan court ended up in a dysfunctional state. When the chaos ended, there were more than 100 casualties amongst the officials and Kunjing, and it included both minor and highly-ranked officials.

In the 12th year of the Zhaoning era, amongst the bloodshed in Kunjing, the citizens were restless. Through the continuous and bloody conflict of the two major camps, they seemed to witness the end of the reign of the Regent King, who used to have ultimate power.

This seemingly strange but planned chaos was later labeled as “Bloodshed of Kunjing” in history.

At that moment, Xuanyuan Cheng had a taste of the consequences of balancing the powers between the two major camps. He cultivated each camp to the point that they could no longer incorporate with one another, and any spark would cause a conflict between the two. He also equally distributed military power amongst the two camps, and though on the surface he said that it was to equally govern the city, it was meant for the two camps to spy on each other. Now that the camps were in a messy fight, their military subordinates had also become restless, even though he ordered them not to be involved in the fight.

The core members of the two camps who were the steadiest and could control the situation were despatched to a far land, and he could only manage it himself. Not only did he have to control the mess amongst the officials in the capital, but he also had to face calls from Prince Wen Yi’s camp to re-investigate the case, and still constantly monitor the next move of King of Han. Though he knew that something was wrong in the harem, he was too busy to take care of that.

And the woman who stood on the pinnacle position of the harem, smiled as she watched on the well-choreographed incident. Finally, it had come to the final stages of the plan.

The final plan targeted the Regent King’s last and most loyal official, the father of Consort Xian, the Gao clan.

However, before that, she had to first make Consort Xian, “kill” the Empress!

It was December 27, after the snow ended.

Meng Fuyao smiled as she and her attendants stepped into the palace that Consort Xian was grounded in. Consort Xian walked up to her unsettlingly, and she asked, “Your Highness, are you here to release me?”

As Meng Fuyao continued to beam at her, she became so uncomfortable that she knelt obediently. Then, Meng Fuyao nodded as a cue for her decree to be read. Ever since the chaos, the attendants within the palace were swiftly changed out by Xuanyuan Min, and the ones under them right now were trustworthy people.

While Consort Xian listened to the decree, her expression changed.

It stated that from the time she entered the palace, she was easily jealous and not virtuous, killed people like scything grass, was unrespectful to the Empress, bullied the other concubines…

“No! I did not!” Halfway through the reading, Consort Xian barked. She crawled over to rip the decree. “You’re maligning me!”

“You did not disrespect me?” Meng Fuyao smiled. “On the day that I entered the palace, why did you not come to pay your respects?”

“I sent my attendant to request for absence!”

“Oh?” Meng Fuyao took her time to tidy her clothes. “Then, do you remember what I said at that time?”

Since Consort Xian could not possibly remember, Meng Fuyao reminded her out of goodwill. “I said, go and treat it if you have a disease.”

“Yes, yes, that’s what you said. If I have a disease, I should treat it.”

“Yes.” Meng Fuyao grinned from ear to ear. “But did I give my consent for you to not come?

“As for saying that you kill people like scything grass…” Meng Fuyao smiled. “Someone… bring those beautiful bones forward, to remind our forgetful Consort Xian.”

The ghastly-white bones of the gardeners buried were brought forward, and the creepy bones which were coated with slightly red mud were right in front of Consort Xian’s eyes. The rancid mud smell and the rotten smell unique to a corpse caused her to scream. Her eyes flipped upwards, and she was about to faint.

But Meng Fuyao was not willing to let her faint. There were still things that Meng Fuyao wanted her to do.

Hence, she walked forward and gently patted Consort Xian. When Consort Xian regained consciousness, she saw the beaming Meng Fuyao lean towards her like a monster. The latter’s collar was open, and a small pair of golden scissors was tied to a string on her collar.

‘Scissor…’

Consort Xian stared into Meng Fuyao’s eyes, which were radiant and gleaming. They were blurry and shiny, as though the eyes were trying to say something.

Say what?

Consort Xian started to feel giddy again. The blurred feeling overwhelmed her layer by layer, and she felt as though she was floating for a moment, and then falling and moving for another moment.

It was as though she was about to float and turn to dust, fog or smoke, and evolve into a free spirit in this universe.

Then…

Consort Xian had no idea what happened afterward.

When Consort Xian became slightly awake, she found herself in a room filled with eunuchs and generals. The Empress’ body was coated with blood on the ground, and the Emperor was crying miserably beside the corpse.

Meanwhile, she felt that her hands were slightly cold and gluey. When Consort Xian looked down, she realized that her hands were full of blood and she was holding on to a small pair of scissors.

Then, she saw the Emperor charge towards her furiously, and he pointed at her nose and scolded her about something. He said something else to the generals, and those dirty and rugged soldiers came forward and picked her up aggressively.

Consort Xian’s hair was in a mess, her dress was stepped on mercilessly, and her precious accessories were messily thrown to one side. Consort Xian did not struggle, but she stared dumbfoundedly at the Emperor, the one who had called upon her every night, whispered into her ears and called her his “precious baby,” “obedient sheep” and “little rabbit.” He was the same Emperor who had sworn to favor her as much as possible using his authority as an Emperor.

Yet, he ignored her, and those eyes stared at her with rage. His expression was cold, and there were no feelings in it. It was so unfamiliar, so disgusted, and so pressing.

No wonder…

Consort Xian slowly smiled.

“What a joke…”

This was the last sentence left behind by Consort Xian, the most favored woman in the harem.

The news of Consort Xian murdering the Empress sent shockwaves through the capital. As evidence was concrete, and the entire harem had heard her saying that she would let the Empress pay the price, everyone said that she was worse than a beast to murder the Empress, who had treated her with so much care.

After she was banished to the cold palace, the entire court called to punish the Empress’ murderer. The Gao clan begged the Regent King to help them, and the troubled Regent King agreed after much hesitation.

However, even before he had time to arrange, that night, Consort Xian committed suicide.

She did not die because of the conspired plan, but due to her romantic feelings to the Emperor.

To the politicians who carefully planned their steps, her death was merely an arrow that attacked the last of the Regent King’s defenses.

Though Consort Xian obviously committed suicide, when her father entered the palace, the Xuanyuan Emperor showed him evidence of Consort Xian being strangled to death and even passed the murderer to him, who was someone he recognized. The murderer was none other than one of the double-identity spies that were placed in the palace to monitor the Emperor and Empress, as per the Regent King’s instructions.

At that moment, no other explanation was needed. The Regent King must have known that there was no way that Consort Xian could be saved, so in his helplessness, he decided to kill Consort Xian first! And he would make it seem as though it was an act of suicide!

Xuanyuan Min watched as the father wept and he had a heart-to-heart talk. “Come… my most favored concubine is actually still Consort Xian. Originally, I sent her to the cold palace just so that the hype would die down, and then I would spare her life, but who knew that… Sigh… it was actually not uncommon to see people getting rid of others once their purpose has been served…”