Xue Yan suddenly became unhappy, leaving Jun Huailang somewhat baffled.
They had only been halfway through taking his measurements, and they had been talking perfectly well. Yet he suddenly turned cold, hurriedly let Jun Huailang finish measuring his waist, and then issued him an order to leave.
This was the first time Jun Huailang had encountered Xue Yan’s cold expression. He did not understand what had happened, but he had always been considerate and knew that everyone had times when they were in a bad mood. He figured that the shoulder width and waist measurement were probably enough, so he gathered up the measuring tape, paper, and brush and left the western side hall.
He knew that Xue Yan had always experienced much more than ordinary people and had a deep mind. He must have thought of something just now that had suddenly put him in a bad mood.
It was just a pity that there was still one thing he had not managed to ask.
When Dian Cui had gotten into trouble before, it had been Xue Yan who suggested that Qingping Emperor search Dian Cui’s quarters. Afterward, when the medicine was discovered and Dian Cui took her own life, Xue Yan had also been the first to cover Jun Huailang’s eyes, preventing him from seeing that bloody scene.
At the time, Xue Yan had turned his line of sight away and then withdrawn his hand. Thus, the moment Jun Huailang opened his eyes, those amber-colored eyes had immediately met his at close range.
Everyone in the room had been horrified. Even Qingping Emperor had taken a step backward, while Consort Shu had screamed and nearly fainted. Only Xue Yan’s eyes had remained clear and calm, like a deep pool.
It was as though everything had been within his expectations and nothing had surprised him at all.
Jun Huailang had wanted to ask him whether he had anticipated it from the beginning, or perhaps whether this had all been part of his plan.
Unfortunately, he had not had the chance to ask just now. Now, as he walked beneath the corridor and the cold wind of deep winter blew against him, he had also regained his senses and felt that he had probably been overthinking it.
Xue Yan currently had only Jinbao available to him. How could he have discovered Dian Cui’s intentions, and what could he have used to make plans? If Jun Huailang had not noticed something beforehand and made preparations that day, Xue Yan would surely have been framed.
It was simply that in his previous life, he had never heard even the slightest rumor about this matter occurring in the palace.
Thinking this, Jun Huailang could not help looking back.
The door of the western side hall was quietly shut tight. There was not a single person entering or leaving.
Jun Huailang turned back around and headed straight for the eastern side hall.
Naturally, he did not know that separated from him by only a single wall, the person inside the western side hall was leaning against the door with his back to him in utter disarray. In the silent palace chamber, heavy breathing echoed through the room, filled with the panic and helplessness of a young man experiencing the first stirrings of love.
——
Meanwhile, Yingcui Palace was bathed in bright sunlight, yet it was quiet enough to feel somewhat desolate. The servants in the courtyard each worked silently, with only the parrot beneath the corridor chirping.
When the wind blew, the plum branches in the courtyard swayed, and the snow accumulated on their branches rustled down.
The main hall of Yingcui Palace was equally quiet.
Consort Yi was sitting at the table painting, with sandalwood incense burning beside her. She was painting ink orchids. Every branch and leaf possessed a clear and elegant bearing. At a glance, it was obvious that her skills were profound, making it a rare masterpiece.
Taozhi stood at her side, grinding the ink for her.
After finishing the painting, she slowly blew on it to dry the ink, then picked it up and quietly examined it for a while.
Then she let out a faint sigh. With a sweep of her delicate hand, she crumpled the painting into a ball and casually threw it onto the floor.
There were already several ruined paintings of ink orchids scattered across the floor.
Taozhi knew that Her Ladyship was in a bad mood.
She carefully spread out another sheet of xuan paper for Consort Yi. Seeing her lazily propping up her chin as she slowly prepared her brush and dipped it in ink, Taozhi smiled cautiously and said, “The painting Your Ladyship made just now was excellent. Why did you discard it?”
Consort Yi held the brush without putting it to paper for quite some time. Then she slowly said, “His Majesty has been going to her place every day for more than half a decade.”
Taozhi understood immediately. Ever since Dian Cui’s failed attempt that day, which had ended with her crashing into death, her mistress had not smiled again.
Originally, they had intended to use Dian Cui to drive a wedge between Mingluan Palace and frame Consort Shu so that she would lose the Emperor’s favor. They had never expected that not only would the scheme fail, but Dian Cui, whom they had spent years bribing, would also be lost. Even the matter of Her Ladyship secretly giving Consort Shu medicine all these years had been discovered.
Fortunately, Dian Cui was not completely foolish. She had killed herself first, severing the trail and preventing the disaster from reaching Her Ladyship.
However, the Emperor had been enraged because of it and had thoroughly cleaned out the palace, making it much harder for their people to act. Moreover, he had developed sympathy for that woman Consort Shu. He had already favored her enough before, but now he had completely neglected the other three palaces and six courtyards, exclusively favoring her for several days in succession.
Not to mention Consort Yi, how could anyone in Yingcui Palace feel comfortable about that?
Taozhi was inwardly indignant, but could only gently console her.
“Your Ladyship need not take it to heart. Who doesn’t know that Consort Shu is someone who loves to make a scene? His Majesty is probably only interested in her for a few days. Once the novelty wears off, he will become tired of her. When that happens, His Majesty will remember Your Ladyship’s virtues again.”
Consort Yi continued staring at the blank sheet of painting paper on the table without saying a word.
Although she had once been enamored with the young and handsome Emperor, no matter how much love she had possessed, years of neglect had long since worn it away. Now, she did not care in the slightest whom the Emperor favored. What she cared about was the consequences brought about by this misstep in her plan.
At present, the Jiang and Xu factions had already aroused the Emperor’s suspicions, and he had begun leaning toward giving greater importance to the non-competing, non-grasping Jun family. Her scheme this time had not only failed to drive a wedge between them, but had instead caused the Emperor to feel indebted to the Jun family, making them even more favored by him.
This would make the Xu family’s plans in the imperial court considerably more difficult. But the Xu family now held high status and great power, with many supporters. Even if some trouble was added, it would not be difficult to resolve.
What made her even more uneasy was another matter Lingfu had sent someone to tell her.
The Spirit Platform Official of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had originally been a Daoist priest from the mountains. From childhood, he had been deeply versed in the theories of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Later, he entered the secular world together with his master, only for his master to die mysteriously.
It was at that time that he had received her kindness and become enamored with her. After she entered the palace, this man entered government service and went to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, becoming her source of assistance.
He was skilled at divination and calculation, and his predictions were especially accurate. Thus, the Emperor trusted him greatly and often spoke with him alone. The fact that Qingping Emperor was superstitious about divination was known by very few people, and it was precisely he who had told Consort Yi about it.
From then on, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had become Consort Yi’s weapon.
She had always been cautious in her actions and meticulous in her planning, never doing anything she could not be certain of. Thus, with the assistance of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, her schemes had proceeded much more smoothly, and in the Emperor’s eyes, the Bureau had become increasingly “uncannily accurate.”
But this time, she had failed.
The Imperial Astronomical Bureau had said that the Fiend Star had stirred and that something was amiss among the people of Mingluan Palace. Yet in the end, it was merely a servant who had developed treacherous intentions and framed her master. This so-called “disturbance” had also changed from Xue Yan committing evil to Xue Yan being wrongfully accused.
Lingfu had sent someone to tell her that when Qingping Emperor left Mingluan Palace that day, he had looked at Xue Yan several times—a rare occurrence—and had not punished him.
At that time, Xue Yan had stood there without saying a word, yet he had protected the aunt and nephew of Mingluan Palace perfectly.
That night, Qingping Emperor did not favor anyone. Instead, he ordered his carriage to go to the palace of the late Consort Rong, where he spent the night.
The next morning, on the way to court, the silent Qingping Emperor suddenly said something to Lingfu.
“His eyes really are exactly like his mother’s.”
Who else could that “he” have been? In all of Chang’an, apart from Xue Yan, the only person who had amber-colored eyes was his dead mother.
That news was what made Consort Yi the most uneasy.
The shadow left behind by Consort Rong still caused her restless nights whenever she thought about it.
Back then, who in the imperial city did not know of Consort Rong’s beauty?
When Consort Rong entered the palace, Consort Yi had only been a beauty for less than three months. Among the daughters of official families who entered the palace, she had been the most beautiful and had immediately won the Emperor’s favor.
At sixteen, she had barely even seen a few unrelated men. Suddenly receiving the tender affection of a young emperor, the romantic feelings of a young girl blossomed like a flower.
But Consort Yi’s beautiful dream had not lasted even two months before Consort Rong was presented to Great Yong by the Turkic envoys.
At that time, the Turkic Khagan had not yet been overthrown, and Great Yong and the Turks were relatively friendly. Consort Rong was the younger sister of Na Rishong, the great general under the Turkic Khagan, and the most beautiful woman among the Turks.
The Turkic envoys said that she was a gift bestowed by the Eternal Heaven.
When Consort Rong arrived in Great Yong, by law she should have been made a Beauty. But the moment she removed her veil before Qingping Emperor, she stunned everyone present. After only one glance, Qingping Emperor seemed to have even forgotten how to breathe.
Those amber-colored eyes were long and alluring, their outer corners raised as though they could ensnare the soul. She was exquisite and seductive, with a slender willow waist that could be grasped with one hand, yet her gaze was pure and innocent, like a spring in an uninhabited stretch of grassland.
Qingping Emperor immediately issued an imperial decree, making her a Jieyu. From then on, she enjoyed exclusive favor in the palace, and before a year had passed, she directly became a Consort.
And Consort Yi, the Emperor’s new favorite before her, was cast aside and forgotten by Qingping Emperor. Of the several consorts who had entered the palace at the same time, not one failed to mock her coldly.
At that time, Consort Rong’s favor was something even today’s Consort Shu could not compare with. Even Consort Yi, who had enjoyed the Emperor’s favor for two months, had never seen Qingping Emperor, who had always been so self-controlled, lose his composure over a woman to such an extent.
It was as though this woman was the one destined for him, while his former favorite had merely been a stepping stone, a joke that had paved the way for her.
Later, when her circumstances became difficult, Consort Yi exhausted every means at her disposal to regain the Emperor’s favor. Taking advantage of one occasion when Qingping Emperor was drunk, she became pregnant with the imperial heir.
Qingping Emperor had very few children. This child finally attracted his attention, earning her a fraction of his concern, which he bestowed upon her belly.
But only a few days later, news came from the palace that Consort Rong was also pregnant.
At that time, the Empress had no son, and everyone’s attention fell upon Consort Rong’s belly. As for her own imperial child, which was immediately ignored, it once again became the stepping stone that paved the way for someone else.
Consort Yi cried for an entire night before making up her mind.
This time, she could not give Consort Rong another opportunity to suppress her. Her own child and Consort Rong’s child would be born one after another. When that happened, neither she nor her child would ever have a chance to rise again.
Relying on the child in her belly, she established contact with the Eastern Depot through her elder brother.
She bribed the chief eunuch beside Consort Rong, promising that after the deed was done, she would recommend him to the Eastern Depot. She had him administer medicine to Consort Rong so that mother and child would die together.
Thus, she successfully gave birth to the Fourth Prince, while Consort Rong carried her pregnancy for eleven months before finally and with great difficulty giving birth to a prince.
But another change occurred.
There had been an error in the dosage of the medicine. Although Consort Rong died, her child was still alive.
Consort Yi knew that when pulling out weeds, one must remove the roots as well.
Fortunately, at that very moment, she remembered something the old acquaintance who had become the Spirit Platform Official at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had once told her. He had said that the Emperor had even asked him to calculate whether the child Consort Rong was carrying would be a boy or a girl.
And precisely at that time, the Turks fell into chaos. The old Khagan’s son murdered his father and seized the throne, tore up the treaty of submission to Great Yong, and declared war against Great Yong.
So she sent someone overnight to find the Spirit Platform Official and had him tell Qingping Emperor that he had observed the celestial phenomena throughout the night and discovered the descent of a Killing Star. The Purple Tenuity constellation had shifted abnormally. Surely that very night, the Killing Star had taken human form and descended into the imperial palace.
This Killing Star, having descended into the world, would bring ruin upon his parents, damage his familial bonds, and overcome the Imperial Star. He had to be eliminated.
Consort Yi thought that this time, the son she had struggled desperately to give birth to would also have to die.
Yet she had never expected that Qingping Emperor still harbored lingering feelings for Consort Rong. Even though the child’s destiny had already been determined, he still spared that child and named him Yan, sending him far away to Yan Commandery that very night.
Therefore, all these years, because of that lingering affection Qingping Emperor had once held, Consort Yi had never dared relax for even a moment. She had kept Xue Yan firmly pressed into the dust, never daring to let him rise.
But this time…
The “fate” had failed to work, and Qingping Emperor had even been reminded of Consort Rong because of it.
This left Consort Yi unable to sleep peacefully for many days.
She held the brush and quietly stared at the pure white sheet of xuan paper on the table.
The variable back then had been the love Qingping Emperor had hidden deep in his heart.
But the variable now was not in Qingping Emperor’s heart.
It was in Mingluan Palace.
A casually given scented pill?
Qingping Emperor might believe that explanation. The other servants and palace attendants might believe it.
But Consort Yi absolutely would not.
That heir of the Jun family looked gentle and aloof on the surface. She had never expected that there were so many twists and turns hidden within his heart.
Consort Yi’s lips curved slightly. Her brush descended, and a long, slender orchid leaf immediately appeared vividly on the paper.
It was clearly a graceful and delicate curve, yet hidden along its edge was a sharp intent to kill.
“There is one more thing. Go and take care of it for me.”
Her voice was gentle as she instructed Taozhi.