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That night, Song Lan did not stay overnight. After exchanging a few words with Luo Wei, he went to Yu Suiyun’s quarters.
Summer days were long, and by the early hours of the morning, the horizon was already tinged with light. Yanluo made a trip to the resting place of the officials before their morning audience, returning with dew still clinging to her clothes.
“Lord Pei had Liu Mingzhong pass me a handkerchief.”
Luo Wei had already risen and was seated in front of the bronze mirror washing up. Hearing this, she wasn’t surprised.
Though Ye Tingyan had only arrived in Biandu this year, he was intimately familiar with the paths of the imperial city and had many people like Pei Xi under his command. She had no doubt that even if he claimed to have planted spies within Yu Qiushi’s household, it would be entirely plausible.
A night’s time was likely enough for him to uncover the bottom line of Yu Qiushi’s actions yesterday.
But the handkerchief was blank, without any visible markings.
Luo Wei took the handkerchief and casually dropped it into the copper basin used for washing her face. When she picked it up again, faint characters had emerged—it was a common street performer’s trick. Upon receiving it, she caught a whiff of a slight acidic smell.
The hall was still dimly lit; no one knew the Empress had already risen, and no one was nearby to attend to her.
Yanluo lit a candle and brought the candlestick closer to examine it.
In the flickering flame’s shadow, Luo Wei saw a few brief lines of text.
“The true identity of Lady Feng by Yu Xiaoqing’s side is a result of her outing during the spring hunt at Muchun Field. She is involved in the entanglement of the third year of Tianshou. Does Your Majesty know?”
Just as she read this, Yanluo was momentarily stunned, while Luo Wei’s hands trembled uncontrollably.
On the day of the spring hunt at Muchun Field, Yanluo had gone out once under her arrangement.
That day, everyone’s movements were under her watchful eyes. Even when they reached the back mountain, her brother Su Shiyu was there to ensure everything was safe before she let Yanluo go. How could she have been discovered?
Such a sensitive and special identity... No wonder Yu Qiushi was so bold to change that phrase to “Tinghua has grievances”!
Yu Qiushi had always suspected she knew the truth about the Citang Case, or even if she didn’t, he wanted to design a scenario to make Song Lan believe she did—what if the person she trusted most by her side was the descendant of someone implicated, and she was unaware? How could she prove otherwise? How could anyone believe her?
Even Ye Tingyan ended with an ambiguous question: “Do you know?”
Though he presented the painting Danxia Tashi Tu , revealing Song Lan’s hidden desire to surpass his elder brother, he might not have guessed that the Citang Case was originally orchestrated by Song Lan and Yu Qiushi.
Now, in Ye Tingyan’s eyes, and eventually in everyone else’s eyes, the person she trusted most by her side was the descendant of someone implicated that year.
What would Ye Tingyan think?
He asked, “Do you know?” — If you don’t, why do you trust her so much? If you do, why protect her?
Even if she and Ye Tingyan became inseparable allies before Yu Qiushi was overthrown, during these days, she dared not let him detect any trace of sentiment towards old acquaintances. Such a fatal weakness…
Luo Wei quickly set the handkerchief alight on the candlestick, letting it burn completely in the copper basin below.
The ashes floated up like a handful of incense ash.
Yanluo knelt before her, trembling as she called out, “Your Majesty...”
“...Don’t be afraid, I will definitely keep you safe,” Luo Wei said, her mind overwhelmed. For a moment, she just kept her head down, speaking hurriedly, “When Song Lan came last night, he probably didn’t know about this yet. Yu Qiushi didn’t mention it yesterday because he wanted me to guess his intentions, thereby making me flustered and exposing myself. It’s alright, it’s alright. The sky hasn’t brightened yet. I’ll find a way to send you out of the palace immediately. Go to Youzhou to find A Lang, Xue Chu, or...”
Before she finished, Yanluo hastily interrupted, “Let alone how to escape from this heavily guarded imperial city. If I leave, you will surely be implicated.”
“Then let me be implicated!” The candlelight flickered suddenly, and Luo Wei’s voice shook violently. “As long as I don’t yield, Song Lan can’t do anything to me. If he becomes overly suspicious, it’s exactly what I want—to force him to depose me eventually.”
“But that must wait until you’ve prepared everything—until the north is pacified, the Grand Tutor loses power, and public opinion rises—then you can be deposed! Before that, if he becomes suspicious of you, all our previous efforts will be wasted!” Yanluo clutched her hand tightly, her expression sorrowful. “If you are deposed now and fall into the Grand Tutor’s hands, what fate awaits you?”
“What do you want me to do!” Luo Wei gripped her tightly, falling off the chair. Her beautiful eyes brimmed with blood-red tears. “Back then, I couldn’t save A Qi, nor the 1,241 others. Now, even if I take a desperate gamble, I will protect you—at least give it a try!”
“Some things I said years ago—you preserve yourself today, and in the future, you can save more than 1,241 people.” Yanluo wiped away the tears at the corner of her eyes. “In the end, it must have been my mistake when I went out that day. It’s my fault implicating you!”
Luo Wei shook her head wildly: “No, no, I haven’t thought it through. What did I forget…?”
As she muttered, Yanluo looked up and happened to catch sight of the rose-gold hairpin on Luo Wei’s dressing table. This hairpin was specially crafted for Luo Wei by Song Lan when she was crowned. Among the blooming petals, a few were stained with a faint red pigment, resembling splattered blood. The brilliant gold color intertwined with the crimson hue, creating a dazzling beauty.
The tip of the hairpin was extremely sharp—it was a weapon, even perhaps a deadly one.
When Song Lan gave Luo Wei the hairpin, it was to test whether she would use it to kill him. Over the years, he had never stopped doubting her.
Had she not pretended so well, hiding everything from him; had she not navigated skillfully between the court and the harem, dealing with Yu Qiushi’s power; had she not suppressed all her past thoughts and temperaments, molding herself into a self-restrained golden idol on the throne—she certainly wouldn’t have survived to this day!
With the Yan family army still in the northern frontier, her ministers in the court were all scholarly elites. Various arrangements hadn’t been fully implemented. If she directly killed Song Lan, it would be difficult to clear the wrongs of the past and would inevitably lead to bloody chaos—she had too many, too many concerns.
It was precisely because of these concerns that she struggled within her golden cage, desperately seeking the hardest path to survival.
Others might not understand her hardships, but how could she not?
In an instant, Luo Wei felt her mind buzzing, her thoughts scattered. She knew she was greedy—she had always been greedy since childhood. Back when she studied with Song Ling, Song Qi would shout and laugh across from them, asking jokingly whether His Majesty wanted the world or a beauty. Song Ling refused to answer such a trivial question, but she snatched the book from Song Qi’s hand, proudly declaring, “Why choose? I want both.”
She wanted a solution to break the deadlock and also to protect those around her. In this ever-changing court where fortunes reversed with a flip of the hand, how could she achieve this? If she only sought to preserve one side, there seemed to be drastic measures akin to cutting off a wrist to survive. But if she was greedy...
Before she could sort out her thoughts, Yanluo suddenly stood up, grabbed the rose-gold hairpin from the dressing table, and swiftly stabbed Luo Wei’s left shoulder!
The sharp hairpin pierced through instantly and was quickly withdrawn.
Yanluo had practiced martial arts before, so her strike was clean and precise, avoiding Luo Wei’s vital meridians.
“You...”
Luo Wei clutched her left shoulder, the pain almost rendering her speechless: “What are you doing...”
A flicker of reluctance passed through Yanluo’s eyes, but she quickly stood up, grabbed the celadon box of powder from the dressing table, and fiercely smashed it onto the ground.
The sound of shattering porcelain exploded in the quiet morning, startling some who rushed towards the commotion.
Amidst the swirling powder, Yanluo knelt and kowtowed to her.
“You know what to say. Don’t, don’t... betray them.”
“Take care, Luo Wei.”
Luo Wei tried to reach for her but couldn’t move, only able to choke out, “A Fei—”
Yanluo hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn’t hesitate to turn and leave.
She tore off the female official’s hat with one hand and discarded her leather belt with the other. Then, gripping the short dagger she always carried on her calf, she jumped out through the half-open flower window.
Luo Wei struggled to crawl a few steps on the ground, wanting to stand up but lacked the strength due to the pain.
At dawn in summer, the golden bricks in the palace were still so cold. She was only draped in a few layers of thin gauze, shivering all over from the pain. Blood flowed continuously from the wound on her left shoulder, staining the lotus pattern engraved on the golden bricks.
As if falling into the eight cold hells, the so-called red lotus flames were truly like this.
Finally, after repeated calls went unanswered, a palace maid mustered the courage to rush in. At first glance, she saw the bloodstained golden hairpin on the ground and then the Empress clutching her wound, scaring her witless and shouting frantically, “Your Majesty! Quick, quick, someone come! Her Majesty has been attacked—”
In the moment Yanluo struck, Luo Wei understood her meaning.
If she claimed ignorance of Yanluo’s identity, the trust she had placed in her over the years might not convince everyone. If she admitted knowledge, she could only insist that she had an old connection with Yanluo and couldn’t bear to see her die back then.
But with that phrase “Tinghua has grievances,” Song Lan’s suspicion of her would undoubtedly skyrocket.
It’s not time yet, not time yet.
This hairpin strike was Yanluo’s decision for her, and also Yanluo’s life-risking disassociation—they both clearly understood that with such tight security in the imperial city, she couldn’t possibly escape.
The bustling palace maids approached, wanting to help Luo Wei up but feared aggravating her wound, leaving them momentarily unsure what to do.
Luo Wei trembled, clutching her wound, and closed her eyes forcefully. A cacophony of sounds filled her ears. The Lin guards stationed nearby ran past her hall, armor clashing with weapons; someone in the distance hurriedly ordered, “Call the imperial physician,” “Summon the Emperor,” and there were cries of “Is Your Majesty’s injury severe?”
The myriad sounds changed in an instant.
She lifted her head, dazedly seeing the blood-stained lotus flower.
Her eyes fell shut, plunging into a silent darkness.
•
For some unknown reason, something felt different today. The ministers waited and waited in front of the hall, but the eunuchs never summoned them inside.
A light drizzle began to fall on this summer morning. Ye Tingyan’s scarlet robe was dampened, and he pursed his lips, suddenly recalling the wet sleeve from when he first ascended the Gaoyang Terrace.
Following that memory was the lingering warmth of tender caresses and a pair of misty eyes.
He had exhausted every method yesterday to extract that piece of information from Yu Qiushi. Asking that ambiguous question “Do you know?” was merely to confirm whether Luo Wei knew the identity of the person by her side. With her response, he could plan the next step.
But he vaguely guessed—coming to see him was a matter of life and death secrecy. Luo Wei bringing only this one palace maid showed her trust.
Previously, he had doubts. If this palace maid was an old friend, it would be easier to explain.
She had always been a sentimental person, risking danger to save an old friend—it was something she would do.
But sentimentality belonged to her past self.
Did the word “affection” still hold such weight?
If it did, had she hesitated even a bit when she wrote that letter deceiving him into eating that pastry that drained his strength?
An abrupt pain shot through his old wound. Ye Tingyan slightly frowned, then forced himself to relax, determined not to dwell on these matters.
He steadied his mind, pressing against the old wound that inexplicably throbbed, idly pondering. This situation was difficult to resolve, but
not impossible. He just wondered if there was an opportunity to shift the blame onto someone else. Apart from the Emperor and the Chancellor, his enemies from that year weren’t limited to Lu Heng and Lin Kuishan.
As he mentally weighed who was better, an eunuch suddenly emerged from the inner hall, bowing respectfully to the assembled ministers: “Gentlemen, His Majesty has canceled the morning court today. Please return.”
He was startled, and before he could think further, the eunuch approached, whispering, “Lord Ye, please stay.”
The eunuch held up a bamboo-framed umbrella for him, and Ye Tingyan followed him against the flow of people, asking, “His Majesty retained the Grand Tutor and several ministers from the Chancellery. It doesn’t seem to be due to His Majesty’s health. If so, why cancel the morning court?”
The eunuch leaned closer, his voice carrying the hazy mist of the morning drizzle: “Lord doesn’t know—the Empress was attacked this morning.”
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