Chapter 83

Chapter 83

Geng Shuning and Yinzhen did not stay long at Changchun Garden. Wrapped tightly in a fox fur cloak ordered by Emperor Kangxi, they entered the palace before the third watch.

Su Peisheng had prepared a sedan chair and waited inside the palace gates with his men.

As soon as they boarded the sedan, Su Peisheng, who was attending nearby, urgently reported the situation in the palace.

"Someone had added a decoction of Tripterygium wilfordii to the Empress Dowager’s digestive tea after her evening meal. Because the amount was small, the serving eunuchs did not react, so no one discovered it."

"A few days ago, the Ninth Princess and the Tenth Princess entered the palace to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager. They mentioned that Qinghai and Northern Mongolia were about to go to war. The Empress Dowager was worried about the Fourteenth Prince, and her spirits were not good. The Imperial Physician prescribed a calming soup."

"The Imperial Physician said that lead white frost and Tripterygium wilfordii together are highly toxic. When I returned, the Empress Dowager had already drunk half of it. We induced vomiting and administered an antidote."

"The Empress Dowager’s condition is not seriously affected for now, but she was startled and has already retired."

"Where did the Tripterygium wilfordii come from?" Geng Shuning wondered.

She remembered Nanny Chen saying that it was very difficult to obtain poison in the palace, but the Empress was too capable.

Su Peisheng glanced at the lifted curtain of the sedan, seeing this ancestor leaning on the emperor, listening as if attending a storytelling session.

The emperor, expressionless, turned his prayer beads, clearly allowing this ancestor to ask questions.

He made a mental note and hurriedly replied, "Tripterygium wilfordii, when pounded, can reduce swelling and pain, activate blood circulation, and unblock meridians. The Imperial Kitchen Bureau prepares some ointments..."

"When palace servants are punished by kneeling or beating, they purchase ointments from the Imperial Kitchen Bureau to prevent delays in their duties."

However, the ointments are very expensive and are considered unofficial perks of the Imperial Household Department.

Due to its toxicity, Tripterygium wilfordii is prepared outside and then brought into the palace through the West Hua Gate. It is still unknown how the Empress obtained it.

Su Peisheng quickly added, "I’ve summoned the officials from the Six Bureaus, the head of ceremonies from the Imperial Kitchen Bureau, and those in charge of the medicine cabinets to the Imperial Punishment Bureau. We will soon find out through interrogation."

Yinzhen said calmly, "What about Prince Yinzhi of Cheng?"

Su Peisheng replied, "Your Majesty, Prince Yinzhi of Cheng visited Consort Suochuo Luo’s courtyard and drank heavily. Consort Suochuo Luo and her maidservant gave the prince... a sterilization potion."

"Lin Main Officer reported that Prince Yinzhi of Cheng hasn’t woken up yet, but his primary consort is furious. The maidservant was beaten to death, and Consort Suochuo Luo has been locked in the firewood room."

Geng Shuning remembered that when she was still serving the Empress Dowager, she had met Consort Suochuo Luo. She was stunningly beautiful, unlike the demure and delicate primary consort. She was a striking beauty.

It just so happened that Prince Yinzhi preferred simple and elegant types.

Niuheru Jingyi had mentioned that this side consort had given birth to two daughters but struggled to gain a foothold, overshadowed by the primary consort and Tian, who had given birth to two sons.

It’s easy to guess the family drama surrounding heirs in Prince Yinzhi’s household, which drove this side consort to take drastic action.

The sedan, carried by secret guards, moved swiftly.

*

With an imperial escort leading the way, the sedan quickly passed through the Taihe Gate, turned at the Right Wing Gate, bypassed the Imperial Household Department and the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and soon reached Yongshou Palace.

Wu Mama from the Bureau of Works had been sent to the Imperial Punishment Bureau, and now attendants responsible for overseeing the inner court’s safety were guarding the entrance.

As Yinzhen stepped out of the sedan, the attendants knelt to greet him.

Su Peisheng immediately silenced them, as Geng Shuning had instructed on the way.

Yinzhen entered the main hall with the coldness of the wind and snow that had blown against him along the way, his face stern.

Geng Shuning followed Su Peisheng into the side room adjacent to the main hall, giving her boyfriend and his wife a chance to speak in private.

*

Ulanara could no longer feel the pain; her body felt as if it were already dead, so heavy that even moving a finger was difficult.

Yet she tilted her head and kept looking at the door, her grayish eyes always carrying a sense of expectation.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Ulanara's eyes lit up instantly.

Her pale cheeks flushed briefly, like a brief respite, and with the help of the servants, she tremulously sat up.

She smiled as gently as ever, her hoarse voice soft as it had always been.

"Your Majesty, did you rush back to send me off?"

Yinzhen stood coldly by her bedside, his lowered eyes showing a bit of complexity and confusion, but soon turned to icy indifference.

He didn't lose his temper; there was no need to with someone who was dying. He calmly sat on the stool in front of the bed.

"I came back to listen to what you have to say."

Ulanara's eyes were also complex, filled with resentment, reluctance, and more affection.

She softly said, "Your Majesty, do you remember the last time we spoke in my chambers?"

Without waiting for Yinzhen to answer, she smiled slightly, with a mix of happiness and sadness in her memories.

"It was not long after you ascended the throne, less than half a year after Honghui was gone."

"I was bedridden from exhaustion due to managing the palace affairs, and you came to comfort me, telling me we would have more children."

"At that time, I was very sad and wanted to ask you, did you forget that I had suffered greatly giving birth to Honghui?"

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Even if I could bear and raise children, even if they were those women's children, they would never be our Honghui. Did you forget how much he adored you?"

Ulanara's words brought back memories of the crown prince for Yinzhen.

Honghui had not been strong from birth, but from the time he began his education, whether in reading and writing or in archery and horsemanship, he had been more diligent and excellent than Hong Yun.

This child had the benevolence of a ruler and the calm intelligence of his father. Yinzhen had held deep expectations for Honghui.

The loss of Honghui had left him no less grief-stricken than Ulanara.

He worked late into the night in the Yangxin Hall, handling state affairs, falling ill several times before barely suppressing the pain of losing his son.

He quietly looked at the queen. "I haven't forgotten, but you have done many wrong things for him; how could he have a good reincarnation?"

Ulanara suddenly became agitated, shouting hoarsely, "If you remembered Honghui, you wouldn't treasure those women and her son like precious jewels!"

"If it weren't for Li Shi, how could I have had a difficult birth!"

"If it weren't for that child Hong Yun crying non-stop after the earthquake, my Honghui wouldn't have died from fear!"

"Even Huai Ge knew to atone for her mother and brother, praying day and night in the chapel for Honghui. What did you do?"

"You made someone else's child the Crown Prince, leaving my Huier without a proper identity underground!"

Yinzhen looked on calmly as the servants restrained Ulanara's outburst, disappointment flashing in his eyes.

"What difference do you have from them? You know very well why Honghui died."

"You hate Li Shi, hate Hong Yun, hate me, but even if you destroy me, you can't bring Honghui back."

Ulanara's eyes went blank for a moment. The emperor knows what she has done... She instinctively shrank back into the canopy.

"No, I am different from them!"

"My lord, Honghui is our bloodline, I know you are just as sad as I am. How could you bear to destroy Honghui's father?"

She saw Yinzhen's cold gaze and felt as if her heart was being cut with a knife. Tears fell down her cheeks.

Crying and laughing at the same time, she said, "I just want to make you feel what it's like to lose the person you love the most."

"Your Majesty, you love Honghui, but not as much as I do, his mother who carried him for ten months. The women in the harem are mere ornaments, but you do have someone you care about... a woman!"

Her laughter grew more maniacal, her eyes filled with unbearable hatred.

"I am the one who should stand by your side as your true wife! But you fell for a lowly woman selected during a small draft!"

Yinzhen was finally provoked to anger by Ulanara. "Ulanara, I think you are insane!"

"If you dare to lay a finger on Sui Ning, the entire Duke of Wu's mansion will be buried with you!"

"The Ulanara family gave you life and raised you. Are you prepared to drag them, to drag Honghui down with you, so that even in the afterlife, you will not have peace?"

The corner of Ulanara's lips turned cold, but the madness and hatred in her eyes were stronger than ever.

"Since I married you, bore your children, managed the inner court, honored my in-laws, and dealt with the sisters-in-law, when have you ever protected me like this?"

Her face was filled with mockery. "Even Li Shi is not as favored as Geng Shi. How can a married woman like Geng Shi be more favored?"

Is it possible that all men from the Aisin Gioro family share the same trait, favoring other men's wives?

Yinzhen couldn't be bothered to say more.

If he hadn't protected her, she wouldn't have been able to maintain her position as the Empress, not even as the Fourth Princess Consort.

So many children of concubines have been lost in the inner court, and behind the foolish fights of those women, she had always been the instigator to some extent.

Even the untimely death of Hongpan, apart from Li Shi's foolish fight for favor, was also her doing.

He was busy outside and couldn't oversee everything perfectly. The Ulanara who was supposed to stabilize the inner court for him had repeatedly disappointed him, which was why he distanced himself from her.

Considering that she had also been harmed, had he ever truly stripped her of her dignity as the primary wife?

His mother and father had many complaints about the lack of offspring in his inner court, and who had helped suppress those complaints?

He wasn't in the habit of bringing up what he had done, nor could he wake someone pretending to sleep.

"Gua Jia has been sentenced to death, and Hong Xi has been confined to the imperial mausoleum. I have already ordered Tuoheqi to surround the Duke of Wu's mansion."

"If you don't want to implicate the Duke of Wu's mansion in house arrest and execution, then confess what you have done. I am giving you this one chance!"

If not for his respect for his first wife, he would have had her dragged out and executed long ago.

But Ulanara felt none of Yinzhen's lingering affection. Her madness and resentment could no longer be sustained by her weakened state.

She fell back heavily, a smile playing on her lips, which appeared particularly eerie in the flickering candlelight.

"His Majesty has never taken me seriously and has always looked down on me."

"The star of ill omen has appeared, deceiving the Emperor into poisoning me, and she misled the Emperor Emeritus, using his hand to kill the Crown Prince and the widow of Emperor Duane. She even plans to get rid of the Empress Dowager to gain power in the imperial harem..."

"Tsk, tsk~ That fox really knows how to play her cards." Although her voice was weak, Ulanara spoke with such calm and confidence that she seemed to believe it herself.

"I am the Emperor’s first Empress, and for the sake of the Aisin Gioro family’s rule, I would risk my life to eliminate the star of ill omen. The witnesses and evidence have been handed over to the right people."

"If His Majesty doesn’t deal with the star of ill omen, someone else will clear the court. At best, the court will become unstable; at worst, the empire will fall."

She looked up at the top of the canopy, lost in thought. "His Majesty can choose for himself—whether he wants the empire... or that vixen..."

"Even if you take away my imperial seal, my blood letter will still hold more weight than any official document from the central palace..."

Yinzhen detected the hidden meaning and, suppressing his anger, felt an even colder chill.

"Are the witnesses Geng Deqing and his daughter? They’re already in the Imperial Punishment Bureau. Perhaps their family has taken the so-called evidence and handed it to the wife of the eighth prince, or even Gali?"

Ulanara pressed her lips into a gentle smile, appearing even more eerie, but remained silent.

In some ways, like Gua Jia, she was a woman who was ruthless to others and even more so to herself.

She would not live to see the day this man regretted his actions, but every day from now on, he would be overwhelmed with anxiety and pain.

She would wait in the afterlife for that vixen, Geng...

A crisp, laughing voice interrupted Ulanara's thoughts.

"Your Highness, it couldn’t be the Lian Prince’s wife. She’s refused to return to the capital, not wanting to bow to the Empress. They wouldn’t conspire together."

Ulanara turned her head sharply, causing her vision to darken for a moment before she could see Geng Shuning entering the door.

Seeing Geng Shuning look down at her with a hint of pity, Ulanara felt an overwhelming urge to slice her into a thousand pieces!

"You bitch..."

"Save your breath, Your Majesty, and let me, the vixen, finish what I have to say," Geng Shuning said with a smile, cutting her off.

"You probably don’t know, but before I left the capital, I sent a message to my father, telling him that if he wanted to become part of the imperial family, he would have to deal with the seventh uncle’s family."

"If they leave the capital, no one, except for the father and son in the Imperial Punishment Bureau, will leave the capital alive."

"Your Majesty, guess what Seventh Uncle and Geng Xue will choose?"

Yinzhen frowned and thought for a moment, then got up and left the room to ensure Geng Deqing's family was contained.

*

Inside the hall, as Yinzhen left, Ulanara gritted her teeth and forced herself to sit up, maintaining the dignity of the Empress, her forehead breaking out in a cold sweat from exhaustion, yet still sneering coldly.

"You heartless and ruthless bitch, you are unfit to be Empress!"

"Even if you become the Empress, you will still kneel before me and always remain beneath me!"

Even without the Geng Deqing family as witnesses, she had the astronomers and monks from Tanzhe Temple all set up...

Geng Shuning raised her index finger, smiling as she gently shook her head. "Your Majesty is wrong. The witnesses and evidence you left behind are all fabricated to frame the imperial family."

"You colluded with foreign enemies and conspirators, attempting to harm the Emperor and the imperial heirs. You will surely be deposed, and a deposed Empress will have no one to pay their respects."

"Oh, by the way," Geng Shuning's smile suddenly vanished, looking even more terrifying than Ulanara, her gaze sinister.

"If something really goes wrong, then this star of ill omen won't just be bewitching the Emperor."

"If a star of ill omen can only bewitch people, wouldn't that be beneath me?"

"A star of ill omen should be able to bewitch even Prince Honghui underground, like bewitching his ghost to harm and kill Princes Hongpan and Hong Yun."

Under Ulanara's increasingly furious glare, Geng Shuning spoke like a demon whispering—

"Your Majesty the Empress, whether I live or die, you won't get to see. But in the afterlife, you will definitely see Prince Honghui demoted to a commoner."

*

As Geng Shuning spoke, Yinzhen reached the door and instructed Lin Fu, who was waiting, to lead men to pursue Geng Deqing's family.

Su Peisheng couldn't be idle either.

Yinzhen ordered him to take the imperial token and surround all the princely mansions.

Then Yinzhen instructed Zhao Song to relay a message to Zhang Tingyu, telling him to quickly draft an edict and command the capital garrison to guard the four city gates with archers.

Tomorrow, not even a fly will be able to leave the capital.

Ulanara was trembling with anger at Geng Shuning, and when Yinzhen re-entered, she hysterically screamed at him—

"Your Majesty, did you hear that? This vile creature won't even spare Prince Honghui!"

Yinzhen turned back to see Geng Shuning patting the back of her head lightly, with a sinister expression.

"There's no need to argue with her, I won't let anything happen to you."

Ulanara had never seen Yinzhen so gentle, and the jealousy and hatred almost made her faint, her lips bitten to the point of bleeding as she struggled to stay conscious.

Geng Shuning considerately ordered someone to bring ginseng and had Qiao He stuff it into Ulanara's mouth, then turned to face Yinzhen, still with that arrogant demeanor.

"She keeps calling me a star of ill omen, and I never bear any title in vain, or else wouldn't it be a waste to let her bully me and my man?"

Yinzhen: "..."

He helplessly squeezed Geng Shuning's hand; this troublemaker dared to say anything.

"Just give me a yes or no!" She shook off his hand and looked askance at Yinzhen.

"If you won't listen to this star of ill omen, then don't blame the star of ill omen when it wreaks havoc and turns the capital upside down!"

"At worst, it's just one life, and I'll go to the afterlife to deal with them!"

Yinzhen: "... Stop cursing yourself!"

For a moment, he couldn't tell if this brat was scaring Ulanara or if she was serious.

Assuming she was just scaring her, he pretended to think seriously for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

"I'll listen to you."

Ulanara, forced to swallow the ginseng slice, felt a sudden choking sensation and spat out a mouthful of blood, her face turning ashen as she looked at Yinzhen in disbelief.

Yinzhen was completely indifferent.

His last shred of affection for his first wife had vanished once he confirmed she had gone mad beyond cure.

He sat calmly to the side, silently savoring the feeling of being cared for and having someone boldly stand up for him.

Pretty good, actually.

Geng Shuning had already been fuming from what she overheard outside, and now, turning the tables, she stood at the side of Ulanara's bed with a gentle and obedient demeanor, gazing down at her imperiously.

Even though Ulanara was in a miserable state, she still glared viciously at Geng Shuning.

Even if the Emperor is blinded by infatuation and insists on protecting this wretch, she won't back down!

She'll drag this wretch underground and settle things there!

Geng Shuning asked with a smile, "You really want me dead, don't you?"

"What a coincidence, we think alike." Her eyes were cold. "Unfortunately for you, when it comes to ruthlessness, the Empress can't hold a candle to me."

"I have secret guards who can disguise people. It's no big deal to keep 'the Empress' alive for another year or so."

Watching Ulanara tremble violently in rage, Geng Shuning's smile widened.

"Your move. Confess your crimes and wait to be deposed... or I'll sling all that dirt right back at you."

Fueled by rage, Ulanara couldn't stay seated any longer. She lunged to the side of the bed, trying to reach out and tear Geng Shuning's face.

Geng Shuning calmly evaded, her smile fading as she coolly watched Ulanara's expression twist into something grotesque.

"My biggest strength is that I always follow through on my promises."

"Empress, think long and hard. Make the wrong choice, and I'll ensure you, the Duke of Wu's mansion, and Prince Honghui are disgraced forever!"

Her face contorted with effort, veins popping on her temples and neck, she could only manage a few hoarse gasps before collapsing in a dead faint from sheer rage.