Had the indentation been used to conceal someone, then there would be no doubt that back when everyone had been paying attention to the Longevity Palace, the Crown Prince’s carriage had been secretly tampered with. Someone with an unfathomable motive could hide within, then wait for a moment halfway through the trip to act against the Crown Prince — assassination would have been the quickest, most convenient method.
However, at the same time, if the Prince had died in the carriage, the assassin wouldn’t have been able to escape. From them, others would have easily been implicated, and the mastermind wouldn’t be getting away.
There was another method, which was to swap identities with the Crown Prince, but Wang Zhi had personally confronted him — the one in the East Palace was the real thing, not any sort of fake. Also, the Prince was completely unharmed. Aside from having been rained on and contracting windchill, he had not encountered any other dangers, and rain was what the Heavens did. It was not something anyone could control. After returning from the Longevity Palace, many officials had fallen ill, not just the Prince.
In that case, what was the purpose of the indentation on the carriage?
Wang Zhi thought and thought, yet couldn’t explain it. He knew himself to not be a moron, but this was so complicated, no one would be able to figure a clue out of it. Maybe Tang Fan could — he was the one that had found this headache for him, anyways — but Tang Fan was currently outside the palace. Water that was far away couldn’t help a fire that was nearby.
The most important point was that Consort Wan was now dead, and every level of the palace was in chaos.She was no Empress, but Wang Zhi could imagine what the Emperor’s reaction was right about now.
“Eunuch Wang?”
His subordinates Wen Sheng and Wen Yuan, and even the eunuch that had reported the news, were looking at him. Wang Zhi’s hard-to-quell impatience had infected them, and they showed slight apprehension.
“What’s with the panic? Is the sky falling down?!” he answered unhappily, standing to walk a few steps off.
He decided to set the carriage aside for now. Since the Crown Prince was fine, there was no need to be caught up in that for right now. Times were perilous, and with the Noble Consort dead, the Wan part had to be more fearful than anyone else. Cornered dogs would jump over walls — they might do something.
He thought for a bit. “Here’s this; each of you separately ask about Liang Fang’s movements. Be careful, and report back to me if you find anything out.”
“Huh?” Wen Yuan was a bit confused. At this time, shouldn’t the Emperor’s movements be the most inquired after?
“Idiot!” Wang Zhi could tell what he was thinking of with one glance. “Use your brain to think! Asking about His Majesty’s whereabouts is taboo, too conspicuous, and easy to be discovered. If we start from Liang Fang, it’ll be a lot easier! You’re both eunuchs, so not many will be on guard about this!”
Wen Yuan had been harshly scolded, but he was thankfully used to this. Tongue slightly stuck out, he quickly agree to this.
Wen Sheng was overall wittier. “Do you wish to know if there’s any connection between him and Wan Tong?”
“Correct!” Wang Zhi gave him an appreciative glance. “He has a lot of secret ties to the Wan party. He wouldn’t be quiet about something like this! Watch carefully!”
In terms of seniority, Liang Fang was a bit higher than Wang Zhi. Of the eunuchs in the palace, only Huai En had been able to sit equally to him. After Huai En’s exile, the two most important departments in the Twelve Supervisories — Royal Steeds and Ceremony Management — had landed entirely in Liang Fang’s hands, giving him all-encompassing power, his word being law. Coordinating with Consort Wan inside and echoed by the Wan party outside, he was practically a fish in water. Communications between her and the party had sometimes relied upon him to spread the word. His power was obvious at a glance.
Wang Zhi had guessed wrong. Upon learning that Consort Wan had died, Liang Fang had immediately spread the news outside of the palace, and exploited his connections to get Wan Tong into the palace overnight.
This had not been according to the rules, and was a crime that should be thoroughly investigated, but at this time, the Emperor’s grief was at its peak. How could he have had the time to care about these trifles? Seeing Consort Wan’s little brother perhaps gave him a trace of comfort.
“You came.”
Consort Wan’s corpse was still placed upon the bed she typically slept in, the Emperor seated beside her. His eyes ere bloodshot and face shot pale, his hand still tightly gripping one of hers.
An Emperor having this level of affection for a concubine had been rare since the dawn of time, yet Wan Tong wasn’t the slightest bit touched, instead secretly calculating how much he could benefit from his sister’s death. “Yes, Your Majesty. This subject entered the palace last night when I heard of my sister’s death. Please forgive my recklessness,” he said, kneeling in courtesy.
The Emperor wouldn’t look into these details, of course. He raised his other hand. “Come over. See your sister one final time.”
His voice held chokes that were hard to conceal as well as immense sorrow. His gaze never left Consort Wan.
To Wan Tong, he might have merely lost a sister that could continue to protect him, allowing him t enjoy glory and wealth, but to the Emperor, he had lost a support beam from half his life.
Wan Tong got up on orders, cautiously came over, stopped beside the Emperor, knelt, and looked at his sister’s closed eyes.
Consort Wan had suddenly collapsed to the ground at noon. By the time physicians had determined they were powerless to resuscitate her, it was already nighttime, the various bureaus having already dispersed for the day. Beforehand, the news of her serious illness had since flown out of palace like it had grown wings, with many officials of the highest seniority having already received it, yet since no one had confirmation of her death, they had were watching, none of them daring to make a move.
And Liang Fang had happened to be one step ahead, taking this opportunity to summon Wan Tong into the palace and meet the Emperor.
This was an extremely important step. If Wan Tong and the Emperor decided upon something and waited until the next day to announce it, it would be too late for the officials to object.
This was the plan that the Wan party now fought for. “Curtail your grief, Your Majesty. My sister in the Nine Springs below will not want to see you be so broken-hearted for her,” Wan Tong consoled.
It would’ve been better for him not to have said that. The Emperor resisted his tears from flowing down for a long time. “We still remember that when we were little, we were put under house arrest by our uncle, unable to meet with our mother even once. Our heart was struck by worry and fear in turn, and we frequently fell ill. People in the palace were of indeterminate emotions, climbing up high to tread upon those below — when they saw us in dire straits, they refused to cause trouble for themselves. But your sister went in the night to request help from the Dowager, then ran to the imperial hospital to request that a doctor treat us. Her accompanying our side every day was why we recovered, and we don’t know where we would be today, otherwise!”
Wan Tong was quiet. He couldn’t understand the Emperor’s ‘baby bird’ complex, but he knew that his sister ha not only been the Emperor’s concubine, but more so his sister, friend, and mother. It was precisely due to this that she had not had the cautious flattery of average concubines in the Emperor’s presence, and the latter had accepted punishment happily. Their relationship had been complex, requiring more than a few scant words to clearly explain.
Wan Tong was very aware that the Wan family would later be convicted. Were it not for laying within Consort Wan’s light, he would have been eating sand at some border region, having none of the omnipotence that he did now. The Wan family could not stand to lose the protective charm that was Consort Wan, which was why his current distress was not a smidgen less than the Emperor’s, if being forcefully suppressed.
“With your sister gone, it likely that our days are not many, as well.” The Emperor lamented. “Since you’ve come, discuss with us her funereal arrangements. The Ministry of Rites is around, but we always worry about handing things off to others. The Noble Consort’s posthumous title is something we must draft ourself before we will be assured…”
His endless babbling was something Wan Tong felt a bit impatient to listen to, but he couldn’t interrupt, obliged to listen to the full chunk before saying, “Your Majesty, there is something more pressing right now.”
The Emperor looked up, gazing at him naively.
Wan Tong did all he could to keep his voice calm and restrained. “Your Majesty, since my sister could not have been made an Empress while she lived, no matter how many posthumous titles you may give her now, It would be hard for her to experience your kind regards.”
His words made the Emperor all the more grief-stricken and guilty. That was what he had let Lady Wan down the most about. He had once wanted to establish her as Empress, but Dowager Zhou had objected calamitously. Seeing that if he actually did made Lady Wan the Empress, his own mother would sever ties with him, he had been forced to choose to disappoint her.
“We… can make Sister Wan Empress posthumously,” he said. It was unknown whether he was speaking to Wan Tong, or Consort Wan through Wan Tong. “This time, even if the Court officials or the Queen Mother objects, we will stick with it until the end.”
However, this was not what Wan Tong wanted at all. No matter how respected an Empress’s little brother would be, it would be no more than an empty title.
“Your Majesty, you know that wasn’t what my sister wanted.”
“…” The Emperor was confused. “What did she want, then? We can fulfill it for her.”
“When she was alive, what she always thought about was nothing less than the hope that she would see the Prince of Xing become the Crown Prince.”
Wan Tong had no idea how overly audacious he was being, but the arrow was on the string and had to be released. If tonight was missed, they might have no chance at all in the future.
Seeing that the Emperor wasn’t speaking, Wan Tong inwardly grit his teeth and summoned his courage. “Even though she has now passed, this subject believes… that if you wish to comfort her spirit in the Heavens, there is no better way than this.”
When Consort Wan had lived, she had urged the Emperor to depose the Crown Prince more than once. The latter knew of that, of course. At the time, he had indeed been moved and prepared to implement it, only for Mount Tai to suddenly have an earthquake, catching everyone off-guard.
He was not of resolute personality, having dismissed the idea at that. Now, Consort Wan had left abruptly, and Wan Tong had brought it up once more.
Within the massive Palace of Manifest Virtue, aside from these two living men, there were no other sounds of breathing. All the palace servants had been sent outside. These circumstances were bound to not persist for very long, as the Empress Dowager would soon be sending someone to check on the Emperor’s condition — Wan Tong had to cherish this available moment.
The Emperor was quite for a good while. Then, he suddenly said, “We know you are not thinking of your sister.”
Wan Tong’s heart jumped, and he tried to explain. “Your Majesty, please listen to this subject—“
“You worry that after the Crown Prince ascends, he will attack your family out of revenge for his mother, so you’re doing everything you can in the hopes that he’ll be deposed,” the Emperor interrupted.
Wan Tong knew that the Emperor was not someone stupid and easy to push around, his sole reliance being the Emperor’s obsession with his sister, but he hadn’t expected that the other would be so merciless as to point out his thought process, blood seen at first draw. His heart jumped wildly and soul flew out of him out of fear, where he kowtowed repeatedly. “Your insight is great, Your Majesty, but this subject has no such intentions! I was only think of my sister’s wishes—“
The Emperor sneered. “Your sister wanted us to depose the Crown Prince. That, we could understand, because she had those qualifications. For as long as we can remember, she was at our side, and has also given us the grace of saving our life. In our heart, no one can compare to her. But you? What qualifications do you have to request that of us?”
Wan Tong had never seen him speak so harshly before, dumbfounded for a time. All he could say, non-stop, was, “This subject has been accused wrongly.”
“However, you are right about one thing,” the Emperor switched topics. “Having the Prince of Xing be the Crown Prince is indeed what she wanted. So that she may go with peace of mind, we will do our best to fulfill her wish. After you return, have Wan An get ready. The Great Court meeting tomorrow is when we will announce the deposition of the Crown Prince.”
Following a great shock came great joy. Wan Tong had nearly sweat through his clothes, already having no strength to speak.
The ever-uncaring-about-everything, ambitionless Emperor now smiled mockingly at him. “How fortunate you are to be born from the same womb as your sister, allowing you to be her brother.”
For this period of time they had spoken in this Palace, no one was listening in. Wang Zhi had no idea that the Emperor was yet again of the idea to depose the Crown Prince due to Consort Wan’s death, but he had long come to know from his subordinates’ reports that Liang Fang had secretly let Wan Tong into the palace, as well as that Wan Tong was slow to leave the Palace of Manifest Virtue after entry. He was clearly having a private talk with the Emperor.
Even if Wang Zhi, who had lived in the palace for many years, didn’t know what exactly they were saying, he already smelled the stench of a conspiracy.
With things like this, the Wan part and those on the Crown Prince’s side were like fire and water. There was absolutely no room for any differences. Every day that the Crown Prince didn’t ascend was another day that he was only a monarch-to-be; there was only a suffix of difference between a monarch and a monarch-to-be, but the difference between them was astronomical.
The Wan party would not stop everything just because Consort Wan was dead. On the contrary, in order to protect their own lives and futures, they would get even more reckless, and do even crazier things.
Wang Zhi knew that no matter how tremendous he was, he was just one person. The palace was now in Liang Fang’s grasp, Huai En was not around, and he could not clap single-handedly. He didn’t care whether or not someone was monitoring him right now, having Wen Sheng go out of the palace to find Wei Mao, who would go to find Tang Fan, and inform him of everything that was going on.
At this same time, Tang Fan and Sui Zhou were already preparing for bed, only to hear the gentle sound of birds singing outside.
“It’s so cold, and the middle of the night. Why are birds singing?” Tang Fan wondered.
Sui Zhou quietly draped clothes over himself, stood, and left, immediately after which the thud of a heavy object falling to the ground was heard outside.
After a short moment, he pushed the door open again and entered, followed by Wei Mao, who was rubbing his arm with a pained expression.
Tang Fan was both amused and annoyed. “I say, Old Wei. You can just come in if you want to, no one would stop you. Why pretend to be a bird?”
Wei Mao smiled bitterly. “This lowly one had no choice. Thanks to the Brocade Guard, no one dares to be impudent around these parts, but there are many people keeping watch around Eunuch Wang’s residence. It was hard for me to find a chance to leave, and I didn’t dare to make too much noise, but the Count here is much too rough. My arm nearly broke!”
Sui Zhou was expressionless. No one would be happy to have a good thing interrupted. Thankfully, it hadn’t yet begun, because if he’d had to go out and grab someone halfway through, his anger would have been even greater.
Tang Fan gave a slightly awkward cough. “It must be something urgent for you to have come here at this hour, yes?”
Wei Mao didn’t speak nonsense, immediately conveying in simple terms what Wang Zhi had wanted him to.
Afterwards, Tang Fan’s brows furrowed tight. “That’s a bit ominous.”
“Sir, is Eunuch Wang going to be in danger in the palace?” Wei Mao said nervously.
Tang Fan shook his head. “You don’t need to worry at all about him, he has more advantages than anyone else and will certainly avoid all poor luck. When I said ‘ominous’, I didn’t mean him.”
Then, he said to Sui Zhou, “It seems like I’ll need to make a trip to the Princess Estate.”
The other had no objection. “I’ll escort you there.”
Sui Zhou wanted to escort him not because he was afraid that something unexpected would happen to him, like getting mugged or silenced — the capital’s public defense had not deteriorated to that extent. Even though Tang Fan was now idling about at home, no baddies were going to be able to get him willy-nilly. Simply, because Sui Zhou was used to being a Brocade Guard, he was familiar with the roads of the capital, so he could bring him down detours that would avoid the senses of those with motives.
After Wei Mao’s departure, the two left out of the back door, one after another, to head for the Princess Estate.
The Estate was currently at rest, the on-duty doorman no exception. In this cold weather, no one wanted to sit there and eat wind; he had long hidden away in a nest of blankets, refusing to come out.
And yet, because it was too cold, he couldn’t fall asleep right away, tossing and turning. Thinking back to the stewed meat he had eaten during the daytime, he felt elated.
Right then, a burst of cold wind seemed to blow past the crowd of his head. He shrank his neck back. Remembering how he had clearly shut the windows and wondering where the wind had come from, he lazily opened his eyes, and couldn’t help but be terrified.
Somehow, there had come to be two extra people in his room. It was dark, their features too blurry to make out.
The doorman went to shout in fright, then quickly found that his mouth was being covered up, leaving him only able to make a whimper-like noise.
One of the people said, “Don’t yell. I’m Tang Fan; a few days ago, Consort Zhou invited me in as a guest. There’s something urgent that I need to find him and the Princess for, so pass along a message for me quickly.”
That voice was indeed a little familiar. The doorman though about it, then nodded, after which the other released him. He panted loudly. “You are… Solon Tang?”
The oil lamp on the table was then lit. By the faint light, he could finally make out the other’s appearance — it really was him.
But, um… they… they had to have jumped over the wall to come in, right?
In the middle of the night, a stately Cabinet Vizier had not walked the proper path, but had instead jumped over a wall to trespass in someone’s home… was that appropriate?
The doorman was tongue-tied, whereupon he saw the one beside Tang Fan coldly say, “Why aren’t you going to inform them? Do you think he came here to play around out of boredom?”
The man’s voice was so cold, it was about to drip slush. The doorman automatically shivered. Too afraid to drag this out, he quickly draped his outer robe over himself and ran off.
With the layers of reports made, the Princess Estate quickly became alarmed. Candles lit up in quick succession. After half an incense stick’s worth of time, Tang Fan finally met Princess Chongqing and Zhou Jing, who remained in that same study.
Tang Fan spoke no nonsense, cutting to the chase by asking, “For what reason did you lie to me, Princess?”
As soon as that was said, it was not only Sui Zhou, but even Zhou Jing that had a look of surprise.
The Princess did not, however. “You found out, Mister Tang?”
“Yes. You knew from the very start that the Crown Prince had not been replaced. Why did you say last time that you didn’t see a scar on his hand?”
Princess Chongqing sighed. “I was forced to do that. When I entered the palace last time, I accidentally overheard two attendants of the Supervisory of Miscellany talking about there being an indentation below the Crown Prince’s carriage. I was scared to death then, but couldn’t go investigate it myself, as that would only alert the enemy. And, honestly speaking, you should also be aware that even though I’m a Princess, my words don’t matter much in the palace.”
She paused. “Needless to say, that indentation had to have been used to hide someone, but if the other had intended to assassinate him, he would long be dead. There must have been some other use for it, and that was likely to have been to swap out the Crown Prince. That might sound hard to believe, but if performed properly, it wouldn’t be impossible. Therefore, after thinking about it, I could only think up this method of getting your help to go check the Crown Prince’s veracity. It was out of need. Please forgive me, Sir Tang — at the time, I was so terrified, I didn’t even tell my husband.”
Tang Fan sighed as well, saying nothing.
When everyone had been thinking that the Wan party would very likely use a fake Crown Prince for a switcheroo, thus implementing a sky-shaking conspiracy, it had done no such thing. The real Crown Prince was living perfectly fine in the East Palace. In that case, why would the party do all these extra things?
It couldn’t be that they were willing to watch the Crown Prince ascend, doing nothing at all?
Seeing Tang Fan’s grim expression, the Princess probed, “Sir Tang, you must have learned of Consort Wan’s sudden fainting spell, yes?”
“The Noble Consort cannot be resuscitated,” he answered. “She’s dead.”
Both the Princess and her husband sucked in cold breaths, deeply shocked.
Had the indentation been used to conceal someone, then there would be no doubt that back when everyone had been paying attention to the Longevity Palace, the Crown Prince’s carriage had been secretly tampered with. Someone with an unfathomable motive could hide within, then wait for a moment halfway through the trip to act against the Crown Prince — assassination would have been the quickest, most convenient method.
However, at the same time, if the Prince had died in the carriage, the assassin wouldn’t have been able to escape. From them, others would have easily been implicated, and the mastermind wouldn’t be getting away.
There was another method, which was to swap identities with the Crown Prince, but Wang Zhi had personally confronted him — the one in the East Palace was the real thing, not any sort of fake. Also, the Prince was completely unharmed. Aside from having been rained on and contracting windchill, he had not encountered any other dangers, and rain was what the Heavens did. It was not something anyone could control. After returning from the Longevity Palace, many officials had fallen ill, not just the Prince.
In that case, what was the purpose of the indentation on the carriage?
Wang Zhi thought and thought, yet couldn’t explain it. He knew himself to not be a moron, but this was so complicated, no one would be able to figure a clue out of it. Maybe Tang Fan could — he was the one that had found this headache for him, anyways — but Tang Fan was currently outside the palace. Water that was far away couldn’t help a fire that was nearby.
The most important point was that Consort Wan was now dead, and every level of the palace was in chaos.She was no Empress, but Wang Zhi could imagine what the Emperor’s reaction was right about now.
“Eunuch Wang?”
His subordinates Wen Sheng and Wen Yuan, and even the eunuch that had reported the news, were looking at him. Wang Zhi’s hard-to-quell impatience had infected them, and they showed slight apprehension.
“What’s with the panic? Is the sky falling down?!” he answered unhappily, standing to walk a few steps off.
He decided to set the carriage aside for now. Since the Crown Prince was fine, there was no need to be caught up in that for right now. Times were perilous, and with the Noble Consort dead, the Wan part had to be more fearful than anyone else. Cornered dogs would jump over walls — they might do something.
He thought for a bit. “Here’s this; each of you separately ask about Liang Fang’s movements. Be careful, and report back to me if you find anything out.”
“Huh?” Wen Yuan was a bit confused. At this time, shouldn’t the Emperor’s movements be the most inquired after?
“Idiot!” Wang Zhi could tell what he was thinking of with one glance. “Use your brain to think! Asking about His Majesty’s whereabouts is taboo, too conspicuous, and easy to be discovered. If we start from Liang Fang, it’ll be a lot easier! You’re both eunuchs, so not many will be on guard about this!”
Wen Yuan had been harshly scolded, but he was thankfully used to this. Tongue slightly stuck out, he quickly agree to this.
Wen Sheng was overall wittier. “Do you wish to know if there’s any connection between him and Wan Tong?”
“Correct!” Wang Zhi gave him an appreciative glance. “He has a lot of secret ties to the Wan party. He wouldn’t be quiet about something like this! Watch carefully!”
In terms of seniority, Liang Fang was a bit higher than Wang Zhi. Of the eunuchs in the palace, only Huai En had been able to sit equally to him. After Huai En’s exile, the two most important departments in the Twelve Supervisories — Royal Steeds and Ceremony Management — had landed entirely in Liang Fang’s hands, giving him all-encompassing power, his word being law. Coordinating with Consort Wan inside and echoed by the Wan party outside, he was practically a fish in water. Communications between her and the party had sometimes relied upon him to spread the word. His power was obvious at a glance.
Wang Zhi had guessed wrong. Upon learning that Consort Wan had died, Liang Fang had immediately spread the news outside of the palace, and exploited his connections to get Wan Tong into the palace overnight.
This had not been according to the rules, and was a crime that should be thoroughly investigated, but at this time, the Emperor’s grief was at its peak. How could he have had the time to care about these trifles? Seeing Consort Wan’s little brother perhaps gave him a trace of comfort.
“You came.”
Consort Wan’s corpse was still placed upon the bed she typically slept in, the Emperor seated beside her. His eyes ere bloodshot and face shot pale, his hand still tightly gripping one of hers.
An Emperor having this level of affection for a concubine had been rare since the dawn of time, yet Wan Tong wasn’t the slightest bit touched, instead secretly calculating how much he could benefit from his sister’s death. “Yes, Your Majesty. This subject entered the palace last night when I heard of my sister’s death. Please forgive my recklessness,” he said, kneeling in courtesy.
The Emperor wouldn’t look into these details, of course. He raised his other hand. “Come over. See your sister one final time.”
His voice held chokes that were hard to conceal as well as immense sorrow. His gaze never left Consort Wan.
To Wan Tong, he might have merely lost a sister that could continue to protect him, allowing him t enjoy glory and wealth, but to the Emperor, he had lost a support beam from half his life.
Wan Tong got up on orders, cautiously came over, stopped beside the Emperor, knelt, and looked at his sister’s closed eyes.
Consort Wan had suddenly collapsed to the ground at noon. By the time physicians had determined they were powerless to resuscitate her, it was already nighttime, the various bureaus having already dispersed for the day. Beforehand, the news of her serious illness had since flown out of palace like it had grown wings, with many officials of the highest seniority having already received it, yet since no one had confirmation of her death, they had were watching, none of them daring to make a move.
And Liang Fang had happened to be one step ahead, taking this opportunity to summon Wan Tong into the palace and meet the Emperor.
This was an extremely important step. If Wan Tong and the Emperor decided upon something and waited until the next day to announce it, it would be too late for the officials to object.
This was the plan that the Wan party now fought for. “Curtail your grief, Your Majesty. My sister in the Nine Springs below will not want to see you be so broken-hearted for her,” Wan Tong consoled.
It would’ve been better for him not to have said that. The Emperor resisted his tears from flowing down for a long time. “We still remember that when we were little, we were put under house arrest by our uncle, unable to meet with our mother even once. Our heart was struck by worry and fear in turn, and we frequently fell ill. People in the palace were of indeterminate emotions, climbing up high to tread upon those below — when they saw us in dire straits, they refused to cause trouble for themselves. But your sister went in the night to request help from the Dowager, then ran to the imperial hospital to request that a doctor treat us. Her accompanying our side every day was why we recovered, and we don’t know where we would be today, otherwise!”
Wan Tong was quiet. He couldn’t understand the Emperor’s ‘baby bird’ complex, but he knew that his sister ha not only been the Emperor’s concubine, but more so his sister, friend, and mother. It was precisely due to this that she had not had the cautious flattery of average concubines in the Emperor’s presence, and the latter had accepted punishment happily. Their relationship had been complex, requiring more than a few scant words to clearly explain.
Wan Tong was very aware that the Wan family would later be convicted. Were it not for laying within Consort Wan’s light, he would have been eating sand at some border region, having none of the omnipotence that he did now. The Wan family could not stand to lose the protective charm that was Consort Wan, which was why his current distress was not a smidgen less than the Emperor’s, if being forcefully suppressed.
“With your sister gone, it likely that our days are not many, as well.” The Emperor lamented. “Since you’ve come, discuss with us her funereal arrangements. The Ministry of Rites is around, but we always worry about handing things off to others. The Noble Consort’s posthumous title is something we must draft ourself before we will be assured…”
His endless babbling was something Wan Tong felt a bit impatient to listen to, but he couldn’t interrupt, obliged to listen to the full chunk before saying, “Your Majesty, there is something more pressing right now.”
The Emperor looked up, gazing at him naively.
Wan Tong did all he could to keep his voice calm and restrained. “Your Majesty, since my sister could not have been made an Empress while she lived, no matter how many posthumous titles you may give her now, It would be hard for her to experience your kind regards.”
His words made the Emperor all the more grief-stricken and guilty. That was what he had let Lady Wan down the most about. He had once wanted to establish her as Empress, but Dowager Zhou had objected calamitously. Seeing that if he actually did made Lady Wan the Empress, his own mother would sever ties with him, he had been forced to choose to disappoint her.
“We… can make Sister Wan Empress posthumously,” he said. It was unknown whether he was speaking to Wan Tong, or Consort Wan through Wan Tong. “This time, even if the Court officials or the Queen Mother objects, we will stick with it until the end.”
However, this was not what Wan Tong wanted at all. No matter how respected an Empress’s little brother would be, it would be no more than an empty title.
“Your Majesty, you know that wasn’t what my sister wanted.”
“…” The Emperor was confused. “What did she want, then? We can fulfill it for her.”
“When she was alive, what she always thought about was nothing less than the hope that she would see the Prince of Xing become the Crown Prince.”
Wan Tong had no idea how overly audacious he was being, but the arrow was on the string and had to be released. If tonight was missed, they might have no chance at all in the future.
Seeing that the Emperor wasn’t speaking, Wan Tong inwardly grit his teeth and summoned his courage. “Even though she has now passed, this subject believes… that if you wish to comfort her spirit in the Heavens, there is no better way than this.”
When Consort Wan had lived, she had urged the Emperor to depose the Crown Prince more than once. The latter knew of that, of course. At the time, he had indeed been moved and prepared to implement it, only for Mount Tai to suddenly have an earthquake, catching everyone off-guard.
He was not of resolute personality, having dismissed the idea at that. Now, Consort Wan had left abruptly, and Wan Tong had brought it up once more.
Within the massive Palace of Manifest Virtue, aside from these two living men, there were no other sounds of breathing. All the palace servants had been sent outside. These circumstances were bound to not persist for very long, as the Empress Dowager would soon be sending someone to check on the Emperor’s condition — Wan Tong had to cherish this available moment.
The Emperor was quite for a good while. Then, he suddenly said, “We know you are not thinking of your sister.”
Wan Tong’s heart jumped, and he tried to explain. “Your Majesty, please listen to this subject—“
“You worry that after the Crown Prince ascends, he will attack your family out of revenge for his mother, so you’re doing everything you can in the hopes that he’ll be deposed,” the Emperor interrupted.
Wan Tong knew that the Emperor was not someone stupid and easy to push around, his sole reliance being the Emperor’s obsession with his sister, but he hadn’t expected that the other would be so merciless as to point out his thought process, blood seen at first draw. His heart jumped wildly and soul flew out of him out of fear, where he kowtowed repeatedly. “Your insight is great, Your Majesty, but this subject has no such intentions! I was only think of my sister’s wishes—“
The Emperor sneered. “Your sister wanted us to depose the Crown Prince. That, we could understand, because she had those qualifications. For as long as we can remember, she was at our side, and has also given us the grace of saving our life. In our heart, no one can compare to her. But you? What qualifications do you have to request that of us?”
Wan Tong had never seen him speak so harshly before, dumbfounded for a time. All he could say, non-stop, was, “This subject has been accused wrongly.”
“However, you are right about one thing,” the Emperor switched topics. “Having the Prince of Xing be the Crown Prince is indeed what she wanted. So that she may go with peace of mind, we will do our best to fulfill her wish. After you return, have Wan An get ready. The Great Court meeting tomorrow is when we will announce the deposition of the Crown Prince.”
Following a great shock came great joy. Wan Tong had nearly sweat through his clothes, already having no strength to speak.
The ever-uncaring-about-everything, ambitionless Emperor now smiled mockingly at him. “How fortunate you are to be born from the same womb as your sister, allowing you to be her brother.”
For this period of time they had spoken in this Palace, no one was listening in. Wang Zhi had no idea that the Emperor was yet again of the idea to depose the Crown Prince due to Consort Wan’s death, but he had long come to know from his subordinates’ reports that Liang Fang had secretly let Wan Tong into the palace, as well as that Wan Tong was slow to leave the Palace of Manifest Virtue after entry. He was clearly having a private talk with the Emperor.
Even if Wang Zhi, who had lived in the palace for many years, didn’t know what exactly they were saying, he already smelled the stench of a conspiracy.
With things like this, the Wan part and those on the Crown Prince’s side were like fire and water. There was absolutely no room for any differences. Every day that the Crown Prince didn’t ascend was another day that he was only a monarch-to-be; there was only a suffix of difference between a monarch and a monarch-to-be, but the difference between them was astronomical.
The Wan party would not stop everything just because Consort Wan was dead. On the contrary, in order to protect their own lives and futures, they would get even more reckless, and do even crazier things.
Wang Zhi knew that no matter how tremendous he was, he was just one person. The palace was now in Liang Fang’s grasp, Huai En was not around, and he could not clap single-handedly. He didn’t care whether or not someone was monitoring him right now, having Wen Sheng go out of the palace to find Wei Mao, who would go to find Tang Fan, and inform him of everything that was going on.
At this same time, Tang Fan and Sui Zhou were already preparing for bed, only to hear the gentle sound of birds singing outside.
“It’s so cold, and the middle of the night. Why are birds singing?” Tang Fan wondered.
Sui Zhou quietly draped clothes over himself, stood, and left, immediately after which the thud of a heavy object falling to the ground was heard outside.
After a short moment, he pushed the door open again and entered, followed by Wei Mao, who was rubbing his arm with a pained expression.
Tang Fan was both amused and annoyed. “I say, Old Wei. You can just come in if you want to, no one would stop you. Why pretend to be a bird?”
Wei Mao smiled bitterly. “This lowly one had no choice. Thanks to the Brocade Guard, no one dares to be impudent around these parts, but there are many people keeping watch around Eunuch Wang’s residence. It was hard for me to find a chance to leave, and I didn’t dare to make too much noise, but the Count here is much too rough. My arm nearly broke!”
Sui Zhou was expressionless. No one would be happy to have a good thing interrupted. Thankfully, it hadn’t yet begun, because if he’d had to go out and grab someone halfway through, his anger would have been even greater.
Tang Fan gave a slightly awkward cough. “It must be something urgent for you to have come here at this hour, yes?”
Wei Mao didn’t speak nonsense, immediately conveying in simple terms what Wang Zhi had wanted him to.
Afterwards, Tang Fan’s brows furrowed tight. “That’s a bit ominous.”
“Sir, is Eunuch Wang going to be in danger in the palace?” Wei Mao said nervously.
Tang Fan shook his head. “You don’t need to worry at all about him, he has more advantages than anyone else and will certainly avoid all poor luck. When I said ‘ominous’, I didn’t mean him.”
Then, he said to Sui Zhou, “It seems like I’ll need to make a trip to the Princess Estate.”
The other had no objection. “I’ll escort you there.”
Sui Zhou wanted to escort him not because he was afraid that something unexpected would happen to him, like getting mugged or silenced — the capital’s public defense had not deteriorated to that extent. Even though Tang Fan was now idling about at home, no baddies were going to be able to get him willy-nilly. Simply, because Sui Zhou was used to being a Brocade Guard, he was familiar with the roads of the capital, so he could bring him down detours that would avoid the senses of those with motives.
After Wei Mao’s departure, the two left out of the back door, one after another, to head for the Princess Estate.
The Estate was currently at rest, the on-duty doorman no exception. In this cold weather, no one wanted to sit there and eat wind; he had long hidden away in a nest of blankets, refusing to come out.
And yet, because it was too cold, he couldn’t fall asleep right away, tossing and turning. Thinking back to the stewed meat he had eaten during the daytime, he felt elated.
Right then, a burst of cold wind seemed to blow past the crowd of his head. He shrank his neck back. Remembering how he had clearly shut the windows and wondering where the wind had come from, he lazily opened his eyes, and couldn’t help but be terrified.
Somehow, there had come to be two extra people in his room. It was dark, their features too blurry to make out.
The doorman went to shout in fright, then quickly found that his mouth was being covered up, leaving him only able to make a whimper-like noise.
One of the people said, “Don’t yell. I’m Tang Fan; a few days ago, Consort Zhou invited me in as a guest. There’s something urgent that I need to find him and the Princess for, so pass along a message for me quickly.”
That voice was indeed a little familiar. The doorman though about it, then nodded, after which the other released him. He panted loudly. “You are… Solon Tang?”
The oil lamp on the table was then lit. By the faint light, he could finally make out the other’s appearance — it really was him.
But, um… they… they had to have jumped over the wall to come in, right?
In the middle of the night, a stately Cabinet Vizier had not walked the proper path, but had instead jumped over a wall to trespass in someone’s home… was that appropriate?
The doorman was tongue-tied, whereupon he saw the one beside Tang Fan coldly say, “Why aren’t you going to inform them? Do you think he came here to play around out of boredom?”
The man’s voice was so cold, it was about to drip slush. The doorman automatically shivered. Too afraid to drag this out, he quickly draped his outer robe over himself and ran off.
With the layers of reports made, the Princess Estate quickly became alarmed. Candles lit up in quick succession. After half an incense stick’s worth of time, Tang Fan finally met Princess Chongqing and Zhou Jing, who remained in that same study.
Tang Fan spoke no nonsense, cutting to the chase by asking, “For what reason did you lie to me, Princess?”
As soon as that was said, it was not only Sui Zhou, but even Zhou Jing that had a look of surprise.
The Princess did not, however. “You found out, Mister Tang?”
“Yes. You knew from the very start that the Crown Prince had not been replaced. Why did you say last time that you didn’t see a scar on his hand?”
Princess Chongqing sighed. “I was forced to do that. When I entered the palace last time, I accidentally overheard two attendants of the Supervisory of Miscellany talking about there being an indentation below the Crown Prince’s carriage. I was scared to death then, but couldn’t go investigate it myself, as that would only alert the enemy. And, honestly speaking, you should also be aware that even though I’m a Princess, my words don’t matter much in the palace.”
She paused. “Needless to say, that indentation had to have been used to hide someone, but if the other had intended to assassinate him, he would long be dead. There must have been some other use for it, and that was likely to have been to swap out the Crown Prince. That might sound hard to believe, but if performed properly, it wouldn’t be impossible. Therefore, after thinking about it, I could only think up this method of getting your help to go check the Crown Prince’s veracity. It was out of need. Please forgive me, Sir Tang — at the time, I was so terrified, I didn’t even tell my husband.”
Tang Fan sighed as well, saying nothing.
When everyone had been thinking that the Wan party would very likely use a fake Crown Prince for a switcheroo, thus implementing a sky-shaking conspiracy, it had done no such thing. The real Crown Prince was living perfectly fine in the East Palace. In that case, why would the party do all these extra things?
It couldn’t be that they were willing to watch the Crown Prince ascend, doing nothing at all?
Seeing Tang Fan’s grim expression, the Princess probed, “Sir Tang, you must have learned of Consort Wan’s sudden fainting spell, yes?”
“The Noble Consort cannot be resuscitated,” he answered. “She’s dead.”
Both the Princess and her husband sucked in cold breaths, deeply shocked.
