QYT - 28

Three days later, at the Gao Residence.

The nanny leading the way brought Qingwei to the flower hall, asked someone to serve tea, and then bowed, “The eldest cousin can wait here. I will go and invite the cousin now.”

Qingwei nodded. “Thank you.”

This flower hall was located in the west wing of the Gao Residence. Qingwei had never been here when she lived here. Now that she was married and had returned, she was a guest. To a guest, it was very impolite to bring them to a side courtyard.

Qingwei didn’t mind and sat down in a circle-backed armchair.

She had waited at the Jiang Residence for three days straight, but not only did Jiang Cizhou not return, Chaotian and Derong didn’t either.

Jiang Zhunian had recently gone to a nearby prefecture for business, and she was alone in the large mansion, feeling as though she had returned to her drifting days.

She had originally wanted to sneak into the Kyōfu Prefecture to see Fudong, who was being held in jail. However, the Zhezhiju case was of great significance, and if she acted rashly, she might alert the enemy. After much thought, she remembered that Gao Ziyu was the assistant prefect of the Kyōfu Prefecture and came here to ask for Cui Zhiyun’s help.

Qingwei hadn’t been sitting for long when she heard a voice from behind her.

“Sister?”

Qingwei turned around. Cui Zhiyun’s face was pale, and she was so frail it looked like the wind could carry her away, even more haggard than when she first arrived in the capital. But when she saw Qingwei, she was very happy and hurried over. “Sister, you’ve come to see me?” She took Qingwei’s hand. “Since you married into the Jiang Residence, I’ve always wanted to visit you.”

She had lost so much weight that her fingers were all skin and bones.

Qingwei guessed that she wasn’t having a good time. After some thought, she still asked with concern, “How have you been lately?”

Cui Zhiyun lowered her eyes and smiled. She let go of Qingwei’s hand and saw that she hadn’t touched the tea. She picked up the teapot to pour for her, but when her hand touched it, she found it was cold. “Xishuang has been pregnant lately and hasn’t had an appetite for anything. The baby in her belly is the eldest grandson of the Gao family, so it’s only right for the people in the residence to care for her more. I’m just an uninvited cousin living under someone else’s roof, so I’m dispensable.”

She put down the teapot, turned around, and said, “Let’s not talk about that. What about you, Sister? How have you been at the Jiang Residence?”

Qingwei didn’t really care where she was. She just said she was fine.

She had come here today with a favor to ask and quickly got to the point. “Zhiyun, I have something to ask of you.”

Cui Zhiyun said, “As long as I can help, Sister, please feel free to say it.”

Qingwei thought about her words. “You know what my husband is like. He’s always been a playboy. A few days after I married him, he took a liking to a courtesan and even hosted a banquet for her at Donglaishun. As a result, he was set up and nearly ambushed. Now, that courtesan is a suspect and is being held in the Kyōfu Prefecture. Can you help me ask Gao Ziyu about it? Is this courtesan really the culprit? If she is, please make sure she is punished severely. If not, please let me know when she is released. I’ll give her some money and send her on her way.”

Cui Zhiyun was shocked to hear this.

She knew that Jiang Cizhou’s character wasn’t good, but she never expected him to go out for drinks and frequent courtesans just a few days after getting married.

Cui Zhiyun lowered her eyes and gave a bitter smile. “I’m sorry, Sister. I should have been the one to marry into the Jiang family. It’s all the same for me no matter where I am, but you are capable and shouldn’t be trapped in a noble residence like this.”

She looked at Qingwei. “Don’t worry, Sister. I can handle this small matter. When my cousin comes back, I’ll ask him and find a way to let you know.”

After not seeing her for a while, Cui Zhiyun had become much more composed. Seeing that she understood the gravity of the situation, Qingwei didn’t give her any more advice.

She sat with Cui Zhiyun for a while and then said she had to return to the Jiang Residence. Cui Zhiyun was very reluctant and walked her all the way to the mansion gate. Qingwei stopped at the gate, thought for a moment, and said, “Take good care of yourself at the Gao family. You are you, and others are others. As long as others don’t bother you, you don’t need to take it to heart.”

Cui Zhiyun understood. Today, Qingwei’s visit and conversation had greatly lifted her spirits. She said softly, “Don’t worry, Sister. I’ll remember what you taught me. In the end, no one can be relied on, and a person can only rely on themselves. I will just take good care of myself.”

Qingwei nodded, walked to the alley entrance, and looked back again.

Cui Zhiyun was still standing at the Gao Residence gate, watching her. When she turned back, Cui Zhiyun smiled and waved at her. She stood there all alone, without even a maid beside her.

But what could she do?

People were meant to walk alone. She was the same.

Just as she was about to arrive at the Jiang Residence, Qingwei heard a falcon cry out from above. She went around to a back alley, held out her arm to catch the falcon, and took a note from its foot.

“Meet at the East House tonight.”

Qingwei returned to the mansion, waited in her room until dusk, changed into night clothes, put on a black cloak, and climbed over the wall. She quickly arrived at a small corner gate on the east side of the Zixiao City.

Dunzi was already waiting by the corner gate. He let the guards on duty let her in and took her to the East House courtyard. He pushed open the door and called out, “Godfather.”

Only one lamp was lit in the room. Cao Kunde was sitting in the middle, his eyes closed, and was rubbing his forehead. “You’ve come?”

Qingwei let Dunzi close the door and said, “Godfather, you look tired.”

Cao Kunde said slowly, “Princess Ronghua returned to the palace yesterday, and the palace has been in chaos. The attendants of the Inner Province haven’t had a moment’s rest and have been working around the clock. I’ve wanted to call for you for a long time, but only had time today.”

He opened his eyes. “I heard that you and that young master of the Jiang family had a big fight a few days ago?”

“Yes. Godfather told me to keep an eye on him, but he’s addicted to pleasure and doesn’t spend much time with me. He’s been hosting banquets for days, and I found it suspicious, so I disguised myself as a Xuan Ying guard to follow him.”

Cao Kunde asked, “Did you find anything?”

Qingwei said, “He seemed to have taken a liking to Miss Fudong from Young Master He’s estate and was bickering with a commander named Zou Ping over her. Zou Ping was jealous and set up an ambush to kill him. He hired many death warriors and later detonated gunpowder.”

“According to you, that gunpowder was indeed prepared by Zou Ping?” Cao Kunde’s voice was cold and sharp. He took a bamboo stick from a wooden box and carelessly cleaned his nails. “Couldn’t it have been prepared by Jiang Cizhou himself, crying thief to catch a thief and framing Zou Ping?”

Qingwei’s heart tightened. She glanced at Cao Kunde and quickly lowered her eyes.

“I have also considered that possibility, Godfather. But there were too many death warriors at the time. I was busy dealing with them and didn’t see who threw the gunpowder. Later, I heard that Zou Ping’s father is the Minister of the Court of the Imperial Insignia. Logically, it should have been him.”

“Logically?” Cao Kunde sneered. He looked at Qingwei. “If everything could be deduced logically, it would be simple.”

“Logically, Jiang Cizhou is just Jiang Cizhou and shouldn’t be the Deputy Commander of the Xuan Ying Division. Logically, you are the daughter of Wen Qian and should have died at the hands of the court’s soldiers long ago. Logically, the new emperor is young and weak, and with Zhang and He’s influence, he shouldn’t have been able to overcome all opposition to reactivate the Xuan Ying Division. Logically, Princess Ronghua wouldn’t have returned to the capital early, and Xue Changxing wouldn’t have disappeared. Logically, the Xijintai shouldn’t have collapsed five years ago!”

As he spoke, his voice became more urgent, chilling to the bone. The bamboo stick in his hand broke in two.

Qingwei immediately knelt on one knee. “Qingwei was not capable enough. Please punish me, Godfather.”

Cao Kunde looked at her leisurely. After a long while, he said, “You’ve been married to Jiang Cizhou for a while. You didn’t fall in love with him after becoming his wife, did you, and can’t control your heart, so you’re trying to hide things from your godfather?” He threw the broken bamboo stick into the wooden box. “Don’t forget, you are the daughter of Wen Qian. If the court finds out, without your godfather’s protection, not only will you be in trouble, but even that Yu Qi might be implicated.”

Qingwei heard the threat in his words and lowered her eyes. “You are right, Godfather. But for all these years, I have lived without any attachments and have not taken life and death to heart. If the court wants my life, it can take it. I know my own innocence. And as for my master, whom you mentioned, I have been looking for him for many years simply to fulfill my filial duty. If I die, everything will be in vain, and I won’t be able to care if he is implicated or not.”

Cao Kunde’s gaze was cold as he stared at Qingwei.

He knew she was stubborn, and being met with such a sharp retort angered him.

He calmed down a bit, thinking that Qingwei had several crimes on her head and had even broken into the jail in the south of the city a while ago. But now? She was still living in the Jiang Residence.

She might say she “doesn’t fear death,” and she might not, but she still had things she hadn’t finished. She probably didn’t want to die.

As long as she didn’t want to die, she wouldn’t fall out with him. They were just using each other, so what was there to talk about sincerity?

With this thought, Cao Kunde’s brows relaxed, and his tone softened. “Look at you. I was just giving you a little advice, and you’re taking it so seriously?”

He said calmly, “Alright, I’ll send someone to investigate the gunpowder case myself.”

He stood up, opened the door, and called for Dunzi. “Give her your lantern and cloak.”

Dunzi quickly brought them. Cao Kunde saw Qingwei put on the attendant’s cloak and said, “It’s late, and I can’t sleep. Walk with me in this deep palace tonight and talk for a while.”

Qingwei nodded. “Okay.”

Although he said they would walk in the deep palace, they only walked along the courtyards outside the three palace gates.

The autumn night wind blew, and the crickets cowered at the base of the wall, chirping in alarm. Cao Kunde’s voice was old and cold.

“Princess Ronghua, have you heard of her?”

“I have.” Qingwei was silent for a moment. “She is the full-blooded sister of the late Emperor Zhaohua and was said to be very favored by him.”

“Yes. When the late emperor was alive, the late empress passed away early. The current Empress Dowager He was just a consort at the time and didn’t even have the ‘noble’ title. So for a long time, the authority to manage the imperial harem was in the hands of Princess Ronghua.”

“This was against the rules, but the princess’s husband, the consort, committed suicide by jumping into the Canglang River to remonstrate. After he died, the late emperor made the decision to bring her back to the palace to live. The Canglang River, the Changdu River, the Xijintai... these things, one after another, are something that people of our generation can never get over. The late emperor pitied Princess Ronghua for losing her husband this way. Not only did he bring her back to the palace, but he also brought her and the consort’s son to raise and mentor him, making him a prince—the Young Prince Zhao, who later became famous in the capital.”

Qingwei walked beside him, holding the lantern, and listened quietly. She asked, “Why are you telling me this, Godfather?”

“Zhang Heshu previously wrote a memorial to rebuild the Xijintai. The court officials have been arguing endlessly, but yesterday, an imperial decree came down, saying that the emperor has approved it.”

“The Xijintai is to be rebuilt, Princess Ronghua has returned to the capital, and the Xuan Ying Division has been reactivated. Still water runs deep, with undercurrents below. Your godfather sees the whirlpool forming and wants to catch his breath, so I’ve said a few extra words.”

Cao Kunde’s steps stopped outside a small door in the corridor. Looking through the small door, one could see a deeper corridor that seemed to connect to a magnificent palace.

Qingwei didn’t know that in this deep palace, there was such a palace hall where not an emperor or a concubine lived, but a mother and son who had lived in the deep palace for a long time.

The wind was strong, and the iron wind chimes outside the palace hall clanged in the cold night.

Cao Kunde stopped walking and turned back. “Your godfather may not be a good person, but I will never harm you. When the Xijintai collapsed back then, the smoke and dust were so great that they got into the water of this deep palace, making it very murky. So the people trapped inside had to wear masks, one by one.”

The iron chimes were too noisy. As Qingwei followed Cao Kunde back, she couldn’t help but turn her head and look at the palace hall again.

The lights were still on in the palace, and it seemed that the people inside had not yet gone to sleep.

But looking further inside, she couldn’t see anything clearly.

“Your godfather will only take you on the periphery of this deep palace. I won’t let you get involved in the inner parts. Because you don’t know who is hiding behind those masks. Will they be good to you, or will they use you and harm you?”

...

Late at night, the lights of the Zhaoyun Palace were still on, and the iron wind chimes on the eaves clanged wildly in the wind.

A palace maid brought medicine to the palace gate and said to the young eunuch in front of the door, “Take a pole and take down these eaves bells so they don’t disturb His Highness’s rest.”

The young eunuch said “Yes” and went to find a pole.

The palace maid then carried the medicine inside, passed through the main hall, and arrived at the inner chamber, placing the medicine on a tall pear blossom wood cabinet.

Besides the physician, there were also guards and servants in the inner chamber. On the inner side was a bed with the curtains raised, and a silver mask was placed on a cabinet beside it.

Jiang Cizhou woke up from his chaotic dream, smelling a familiar, pungent scent of medicine.

He slowly opened his eyes. The look in his eyes was no longer as unfocused as it had been for the past few days, alternating between a state of wakefulness and sleep. It slowly regained some clarity.

The physician leaned over and tentatively called out, “Your Highness, Your Highness?”

Jiang Cizhou’s Adam’s apple moved up and down. He let out a low “Mm.”

The physician immediately instructed, “His Highness is awake! Quick, bring the medicine!”

Chaotian said “Yes” and quickly brought the medicine soup. At the same time, Derong walked quickly to the inner chamber door and said to the palace maid from before, “His Highness is awake. Go and inform the princess.”

The palace maid nodded, hurried to the door of the Zhaoyun Palace, and her voice scattered in the late autumn night wind, “Go and inform the princess and the emperor quickly. His Highness, the Young Prince Zhao, is awake—”