As the twelfth lunar month arrived, the palace gradually began to take on the atmosphere of the New Year.
Every New Year, everything in the palace had to be replaced with brand-new items. Mingluan Palace had begun preparing early, waiting only for the first day of the New Year to replace everything with fresh silks, gauzes, and brocades.
Aside from replacing the furnishings, each palace also had to take inventory of its storerooms. Before the New Year, everything in the storehouses had to be recorded in catalogs and properly arranged. Only then could the previous year be considered properly concluded.
Thus, every palace began to grow busy. After a period of bustling activity, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month soon arrived.
This day was the Laba Festival. The Emperor did not need to attend the grand morning court session, so the consorts in the palace all waited hopefully, wondering whether His Majesty would summon them. But before long, word spread throughout the palace that the Emperor had summoned no one and had gone to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau first thing in the morning.
Whenever the Emperor went to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, he would not come out for at least half a day. Thus, Consort Shu had already instructed the small kitchen to cook porridge early, intending to call everyone to the main hall to eat Laba porridge together.
Unexpectedly, just before noon, Lingfu hurried over to deliver an imperial decree, saying that the Emperor would come to Mingluan Palace for lunch.
Consort Shu had no choice but to put the family meal aside and hurriedly have the small kitchen prepare another meal. Jun Huailang also stayed in the side hall and ate with his younger sister.
After the meal, Jun Linghuan had just fallen asleep when a eunuch came to announce that the Emperor had summoned Jun Huailang to the main hall for a chat.
This was nothing unusual for Jun Huailang.
After tidying himself up, he headed to the main hall. Just as he reached the entrance, he heard laughter and conversation coming from inside. Consort Shu was sitting before a small brazier, clumsily brewing tea. Qingping Emperor was seated in the place of honor, already holding a cup in his hand and laughing heartily.
“Your Majesty, this subject pays his respects.”
Jun Huailang had barely finished his salute when Qingping Emperor waved his hand and dismissed it.
He pointed to the seat beside him and motioned for Jun Huailang to sit down, then asked with a smile, “I heard from your aunt that you were the one who taught her how to brew tea?”
Jun Huailang understood.
Presumably, Consort Shu had brewed tea for the Emperor today and pleased him, causing Qingping Emperor, who was in an excellent mood, to summon him over to praise him for teaching her so well.
Jun Huailang naturally did not dare take credit. He smiled and said, “It was merely something to occupy my time. I didn’t expect Aunt to take it so seriously.”
Sure enough, these words delighted Qingping Emperor even more. He burst into laughter.
“I’ve never seen her able to sit down and do something so tedious and troublesome. I thought it was simply because you taught her well!”
Hearing this, Consort Shu stopped brewing the tea altogether. She tossed the fan in her hand at Qingping Emperor and complained coquettishly, “Your Majesty is truly biased! I worked so hard to brew tea for Your Majesty, yet I haven’t even heard a single word of praise from you!”
Qingping Emperor laughed again, and everyone around them laughed along with him. For a time, the entire Mingluan Palace was filled with a lively atmosphere.
Jun Huailang sat quietly at the side with a faint smile.
In his previous life, after entering officialdom for several years, he had come to understand Qingping Emperor’s temperament to some extent. He was superstitious and rather suspicious. The reason Consort Shu had been able to remain continuously favored at his side for so many years was entirely because of her innocent and somewhat childlike temperament.
Everyone in the Jun family, whether his father or his aunt, made Qingping Emperor feel at ease. Yet who would have thought that it was precisely because of this sense of trust that, several years later, the Jun family would suffer the loss of its members and the destruction of its household.
Having experienced his previous life, Jun Huailang understood better than anyone what it meant to accompany the Emperor as one would accompany a tiger. Thus, even as he watched the harmony and happiness before him, his heart remained calm and cold, standing apart from it all.
Because of this, he was able to keenly notice the commotion gradually developing outside the half-open window.
The center of the disturbance was Dian Cui.
She seemed to have encountered some trouble and was questioning the palace maids and eunuchs in the courtyard.
But she was not fully focused on the matter at hand. While dealing with it, she also appeared to be casually observing the activity in the main hall.
Her actions were highly unusual, and they coincided with Jun Huailang’s suspicions from the previous days.
Jun Huailang’s heart tightened, and without revealing anything, his gaze followed her.
He saw her gradually become anxious and angry before going to the entrance of the western side hall to question Jinbao.
Jinbao appeared hesitant and nervous, as though he was somewhat anxious.
Seeing him like this, Dian Cui seemed to have caught hold of some evidence against him and angrily said something to him.
Jun Huailang felt considerably more at ease.
Sure enough, he had not been mistaken.
Although Jinbao, who stayed at Xue Yan’s side, appeared timid and weak, he was actually very clever. Everything Jun Huailang had told him beforehand, he had remembered clearly.
Sure enough, it did not take long before the commotion outside attracted Qingping Emperor’s attention.
“What’s all that noise outside?” he asked with a frown.
Consort Shu also looked outside, only to hear Dian Cui raise her voice and aggressively say to Jinbao, “If you haven’t been up to some dishonest business, then why won’t you hand over the key?”
Jinbao could be seen stammering, seemingly trying to explain something.
The argument disturbed Qingping Emperor. He frowned and instructed Lingfu, “Go. Bring the two of them inside and ask what happened.”
Lingfu hurriedly accepted the order and jogged out into the courtyard.
Jun Huailang saw that the pleasant expression on Qingping Emperor’s face had indeed turned impatient.
The person behind Dian Cui clearly understood Qingping Emperor quite well and knew exactly what would anger him. Having Dian Cui carry out this matter was precisely intended to make Qingping Emperor grow annoyed with Consort Shu.
Of course, this was not the extent of it.
Jun Huailang sat at the side and quietly waited as Lingfu brought Jinbao and Dian Cui inside.
When Jinbao entered the room, he nervously glanced at Jun Huailang.
Jun Huailang reassuringly blinked at him before turning his gaze away.
Qingping Emperor then asked what had happened between them.
“Your Majesty, this servant truly should not have disturbed Your Majesty, but if there is any dishonest business going on in Her Ladyship’s palace, this servant cannot simply sit by and do nothing!”
Dian Cui kowtowed toward Qingping Emperor as she spoke.
Qingping Emperor took a sip of tea.
“Then tell me. What dishonest business is this?”
Dian Cui continued, “Reporting to Your Majesty, this servant has been taking inventory of Her Ladyship’s storerooms these past few days and discovered that a box of silver notes brought by Her Ladyship from her maternal family has gone missing. This servant searched the entire storeroom and couldn’t find it anywhere. I thought perhaps it had been placed somewhere else by mistake, so I wanted to search the storerooms in the eastern and western side halls.
“But after searching the eastern side hall’s storeroom, Jinbao absolutely refused to let this servant enter the western side hall’s storeroom!”
Qingping Emperor frowned.
Why did such trivial household matters have to be brought before him?
He had come to Consort Shu’s palace precisely to seek some relaxation and peace, but Consort Shu truly had no talent for managing a household. Even the smallest matter had to be turned into a complete mess.
He patiently glanced toward Jinbao and asked, “Why is that?”
Jinbao hurriedly kowtowed, trembling.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, it is simply because this servant doesn’t have the key!”
“No key?” Qingping Emperor asked in confusion. “The storeroom belonging to your own master—where did the key go?”
Jinbao kowtowed again.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, there is only one key to the storeroom in the western side hall. Seven or eight days ago, Auntie Dian Cui said she wanted to take inventory for His Highness and had already taken it!”
Beside him, Dian Cui immediately revealed an expression of disbelief.
Only one…?!
This servant had never spoken to her like this these past few days!
Even just now, he had not said that he did not have a key. He had merely refused to open the door. So how had he suddenly changed his story now?!
Could it be that she had actually been played by this servant?
But everything she had done… No one had ever noticed.
How could this servant possibly have prepared for it in advance?!
Beside them, Consort Shu had been made to suffer a headache by all the noise. She simply called Zheng Guangde over and asked, “You were the one who gave Jinbao the keys to the western side hall. How many keys are there to the storeroom?”
Zheng Guangde did not dare conceal anything and hurriedly replied, “Reporting to Your Ladyship, there is only one.”
Consort Shu frowned and looked toward Dian Cui, still not suspecting anything bad of her.
“Did you remember incorrectly?”
Dian Cui was already thrown into disarray by this sudden turn of events. She could only retreat gracefully with the excuse.
“It was this servant who got confused and forgot that I still had another key… This servant will go check immediately!”
In her heart, she thought that it did not matter.
The matter of the key was only a minor issue.
She had never intended to argue over how many keys Jinbao had in his possession. All she needed was to open the storeroom and let the Emperor see the object she had placed inside.
Once that happened, her task would be complete.
Qingping Emperor waved his hand impatiently and dismissed them all.
“It’s only a little money. Is it really worth making such a fuss over?”
But immediately afterward, his gaze turned cold.
He remembered the divination text the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had given him that morning.
The divination had told him that Mingluan Palace might no longer be able to suppress that evil fiend, and that some minor disturbances would occur in the coming days.
He had not expected it to be so accurate. The divination had only just been issued, and already it looked as though it was about to come true…
Thinking of this, Qingping Emperor’s expression became even uglier.
He thought of the prophecy that followed the divination.
It said that once the fiendish star moved, disorder would inevitably continue to arise.
And the root of this disorder was that the foundation of the place suppressing the fiend was unstable.
As for the reason the foundation was unstable, it was because the people in this place harbored ulterior motives.
And who could the people in this place be, if not the members of the Jun family?
At this thought, Qingping Emperor could hardly drink the tea in his hand anymore.
Beside him, Consort Shu had not taken this little incident to heart at all and had been concentrating on brewing her tea.
But Qingping Emperor had clearly become much quieter.
Consort Shu assumed that the small incident had spoiled his mood, so she stopped what she was doing as well, waiting for Dian Cui to finish searching and return to report.
Consort Shu stared at the little clay brazier, somewhat unhappy.
All because of a little bit of lousy money, her pot of good tea had been ruined.
This was the first pot of tea she had personally brewed.
How much money could buy that?
Just then, a commotion broke out in the western side hall.
Dian Cui had originally been standing guard at the doorway. She saw a palace maid stumble out from inside to report something.
Immediately afterward, Dian Cui’s expression changed as well. She ran all the way to the main hall to report.
“Something terrible has happened, Your Majesty, Your Ladyship! You… please, the two of you, go take a look!”
Dian Cui trembled as she knelt on the ground, looking as though she had been utterly terrified.
But Jun Huailang noticed that she never once raised her head, as though she were trying to hide the panic in her eyes.
“What could have happened to make you this frantic?” Consort Shu asked with a frown, rising to her feet.
Qingping Emperor was somewhat displeased and snapped, “Why are you stammering? Hurry up and explain yourself clearly!”
Dian Cui trembled, doing nothing but repeatedly press her forehead to the floor.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, reporting to Your Ladyship! In the western side hall… we didn’t just find the silver notes. Beneath the box containing the silver notes, there was also another box hidden there…”
“That box contained a voodoo doll used for witchcraft. It was in the handwriting of the Fifth Highness, and written on it… were Your Ladyship’s birth date and Eight Characters of Birth!”