Chapter 113
Grand Empress Dowager Chen was overcome with shock and fury. She looked at Cui Lanyin’s belly. “Were they targeting you?”
Thinking of what had happened in the past, Empress Dowager Xu said gloomily, “I lost my child for no apparent reason that year. I suppose I must have been set up as well.”
By now, Cui Lanyin had pieced everything together. Suppressing the fury that was about to erupt, she shook her head at the two women. “The poison was meant for the Empress Dowager, but the culprit intended to frame either Grand Empress Dowager Chen or me.”
Aunt Gao had also calmed down. She nodded and said, “Everyone in the kitchens knows that Her Ladyship hasn’t been able to have broth lately, while Grand Empress Dowager Chen has never liked broth.”
“I never realized I could be useful in such a way.” Empress Dowager Xu shook her head with a bitter smile.
Rubbing her chest, Dowager Concubine Wan leaned against her chair and said weakly, “So I was merely brought in to make up the numbers?”
Although the two women had already guessed what had happened, Cui Lanyin still needed to give them an explanation.
She instructed Buyu, “Go and summon Eunuch Qi, Eunuch Le, and Aunt Xia.”
Before long, Qi An, Leping, and Aunt Xia hurried over. Buyu had already informed them of the situation on the way.
The palace was currently being managed by the three of them together, so they would naturally be held responsible for what had happened.
The three immediately pleaded guilty, but Cui Lanyin waved them off. “It was my negligence. You were only carrying out orders. If anyone is at fault, I am the first one.”
The tension in Leping’s expression eased. He had been terribly anxious on his way there.
Empress Dowager Xu had nothing but the empty title of Empress Dowager and no backing whatsoever. If not for the respect Grand Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Cui showed her, her situation would have been worse than Dowager Concubine Wan’s.
Dowager Concubine Wan had Princess Yongjia, and Princess Yongjia had a fiery temper. None of the consorts or concubines with sons dared provoke her, so the palace servants naturally did not dare slight her either.
In the early years, there had been countless incidents of people being drugged or poisoned in the palace. Yet when had anyone ever managed to uncover the person behind them?
It was only after Prince Duan was born that those overt and covert schemes gradually ceased.
Leping was deeply afraid that if they failed to find the culprit this time, Empress Cui would make him answer both to Princess Yongjia and to Fu’an Palace. In the palace, it was all too common for someone to be sacrificed to take the blame.
Qi An said fiercely, “I’ll conduct a thorough investigation of the imperial kitchens. I would rather kill a hundred innocents than let a single suspicious person go.”
Cui Lanyin suddenly laughed. “Why waste the effort? I’ve been thinking that there are only so many palaces with people living in them. Why do we need so many servants? I was already considering releasing a batch of them. Take the roster to Fu’an Palace and ask Grand Empress Dowager Li to set an example by releasing all the old servants in her palace. Tell her that His Majesty and I are grateful for her understanding, so we’ll give her a separate kitchen and let her use everyone from the imperial kitchens. We hope she’ll eat well, enjoy every convenience, and live in wealth and comfort for many years to come.”
Everyone, including Grand Empress Dowager Chen, stared at her in astonishment. Qi An could barely get the words out. “The… the entire imperial kitchen staff… all of them are to be sent over?”
“There are only a little over two hundred people. Fu’an Palace is large enough to house them,” Cui Lanyin said with a nod. “Tell Cao Liang that he has worked hard managing the kitchens all these years. Since Empress Dowager Li is broad-minded and not one to quibble, tell him to take advantage of this opportunity and go recuperate.”
The corner of Qi An’s eye twitched repeatedly. Wasn’t she simply telling Cao Liang to go cause as much trouble as he could in Fu’an Palace?
After what had happened, Cao Liang, as the chief eunuch of the imperial kitchens, could not escape responsibility. Being demoted to the Directorate of Palace Affairs would already count as a great stroke of luck.
Now that the Empress had let him off, Cao Liang would be willing to dig through the ground itself to make a name for himself in Fu’an Palace.
Everyone in the palace, even the lowest-ranking eunuchs and palace maids, knew exactly what went on behind the scenes all these years.
Even if nothing could be uncovered, everyone would still know that Fu’an Palace and the Li family could not escape responsibility for the incident.
For all these years, however, the Li family had acted without fear, convinced that without concrete evidence, no one could do anything to them.
Now they had encountered Cui Lanyin. She could not even be bothered to investigate. If they refused to let her live in peace, she would make sure they could not live in peace either.
No wonder she was known as Cui the Fierce. This tit-for-tat retaliation was truly masterful.
Grand Empress Dowager Chen slapped her thigh. “Good girl, Lanyin! How did you even think of that? I feel so satisfied!”
Empress Dowager Xu said nothing, but the brightness in her eyes made it clear how pleased she was.
Cui Lanyin, however, felt that this still was not enough. She turned to Qi An again. “Tell Empress Dowager Li that His Majesty is currently short on funds and having difficulty making ends meet, so the palace’s expenses need to be tightened as well. Of course, I wouldn’t dare cut back on anything belonging to Empress Dowager Li—but even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. I hope she will take pity on me and lend me her stipend for the time being.
“Naturally, I wouldn’t dare use that money elsewhere. It will still go toward food and supplies for Fu’an Palace. I’m not shameless enough to keep borrowing indefinitely. Once I recover financially in ten years or so, I will certainly repay her.”
Qi An swallowed. “What if the Li family spreads word that Your Ladyship is withholding Fu’an Palace’s stipend? Wouldn’t that damage Your Ladyship’s reputation?”
Cui Lanyin flicked a finger. “A reputation can’t be eaten or used to keep warm. It’s useless. My great-uncle taught me long ago that living freely and happily is more important than anything else. Besides, no one would dare openly agree with them and say anything bad about me right now. Chief Minister Li is a man who understands the bigger picture. He knows better than anyone how to choose.”
Cui Lanyin was not only the Empress—she was also the Emperor’s sole woman. Half of Yanhua Hall had been given to her. Only someone with a death wish would speak ill of her.
Chief Minister Li would merely exert pressure behind the scenes. He would not openly obstruct the Emperor at a time like this.
“I’ve lived to this age and still never understood how to live properly.” After sighing repeatedly, Grand Empress Dowager Chen burst into hearty laughter again. “I thought I was satisfied before, but I never imagined there could be something even more satisfying. The older I get, the more hopeful life becomes!”
Empress Dowager Xu thanked Cui Lanyin. “I’ll spare you the formalities. If you can make use of Leping, then keep him as long as you like. There’s no need to rush him back.”
Cui Lanyin teased her, “Does the Empress Dowager know that I don’t want to release him and is merely saying this because you have no choice?”
After she made the joke—and after such a satisfying plan had been put into action—the good moods of Empress Dowager Xu and Dowager Concubine Wan returned, and they laughed along with her.
Qi An went out to select people to send to Fu’an Palace. Cui Lanyin then said to Leping, “Set up separate kitchens in Luanju Palace and Funing Palace as well. The palace still needs to prepare meals for all these people, so the imperial kitchens cannot be shut down entirely. But they must be streamlined. The staff cannot exceed a hundred people. You’ll oversee all the arrangements.”
The Empress had actually entrusted him with such an important task alone. Leping’s expression grew animated, and he accepted the order eagerly before leaving with a spring in his step.
After a great deal of activity, Cui Lanyin and the Emperor returned to the rear hall of Yanhua Hall almost at the same time.
The Emperor looked her over. “Something happened?”
“Mm.” Cui Lanyin nodded. Looking at him, she said, “I want to ask you for a favor. Can the members of Empress Dowager Xu’s maternal family be pardoned?”
The Emperor sat down beside her and leaned back lazily. “You were going to ask sooner or later. If you didn’t bring it up, I was going to have Buyan remind you.”
Cui Lanyin stared at him. “You were waiting for me to say it?”
“Mm. Didn’t you want to repay Empress Dowager Xu’s kindness?”
“There’s nothing that can escape you.”
“I didn’t know about what happened on your side today.”
“That’s because you don’t concern yourself with matters of the inner palace.” Cui Lanyin’s heart suddenly stirred. “Every time I dine at Funing Palace, Grayfeather lands on my shoulder and inspects me before allowing me to eat. Was that something you instructed him to do?”
The Emperor’s smile faded. “They found poison in the midday meal?”
“It was aimed at Empress Dowager Xu.” She gave him a brief account of how the poison had been discovered in the soup, then asked, “Was Chief Minister Li trying to kill the plan by realizing you intended to use Xu Xian?”
After the Chief Secretary’s reminder, Cui Lanyin’s thoughts became much clearer. Empress Dowager Xu was of little consequence in the palace. For the Li family to use her death to frame either Cui Lanyin or Grand Empress Dowager Chen would be utterly pointless. It might stir up gossip for a couple of days, but afterward she and Grand Empress Dowager Chen would go on living as before, without losing so much as a strand of hair.
The Li family was best at calculating gains and losses. They would never bury a valuable connection in the palace merely to create a little commotion. Just look at Liansheng’s case: it had been at least a threefold victory—the Fang family’s wealth, her position as empress, and the Shang family’s exemption from commercial taxes. Once all that was accomplished, they could even support another of the Nine Trading Houses. That was the sort of move the Li family made.
Therefore, if the Li family had poisoned Empress Xu, they must have been pursuing a much greater objective.
Empress Xu had no children. Her only ties were to the Xu family, and Xu Xian was a peerless general. The answer was obvious.
The Li family wanted to use Empress Xu’s death to make reconciliation between Xu Xian and the imperial family impossible. Once the Tatars moved south and the Emperor had no general to call upon, if Meng Zhen and Wang Xiao refused to cooperate, the Li family could seize the opportunity to step forward and take control of the situation.
If the Li family had not intended to drag her and Grand Empress Dowager Chen into the plot today, and had simply poisoned the Empress Dowager Xu’s residence in Luanyu Palace, Empress Dowager Xu would never have escaped.
Seeing the lingering fear in her eyes, the Emperor held out his arms. “Want me to hold you for a while?”
The Emperor truly never let his guard down, no matter the circumstances. Even now, he remembered the rules she had laid down for him: she had to be the one to initiate things, and the Emperor was not allowed to take the initiative even with a single finger. Otherwise, he would have to sleep in the outer room.
She shot him a sidelong glance. “Aren’t you being awfully careful?”
First Liansheng, then Empress Dowager Xu—one incident after another. The Li family was utterly unscrupulous, treating human life as worthless.
At Fu Ning Palace, so many people had been waiting for her to take charge and make decisions. She could not afford to show fear.
But now, in front of the Emperor, she could no longer maintain her usual steel. Rather than take the hand he offered, she opened her arms and wrapped them around his neck, burying her face against his chest.
“Empress Dowager Xu nearly died. I haven’t even repaid the debt I owe her…”
Tears slipped down her cheeks without her realizing it, soaking the front of the Emperor’s robe.
Feeling the wetness against his neck, the Emperor held her more tightly. “What you feared will not happen. The Li family’s appetite is too large. They would never make a move unless every part of it benefited them.”
“So that’s why you taught Grayfeather to keep watch over me?”
“Yes. Chilin can detect poison. He taught your bird for several days, and it seems to be quite intelligent.”
“She has a name. Stop calling her ‘that bird.’”
“Grayfeather, then. I’ll call her that, all right?”
“And the Xu family…”
“I’ll issue the decree tomorrow morning.”
“Will that Xu Xian truly be able to serve you without resentment?”
“It is Empress Dowager Xu who owes you, not the other way around.”
“Oh. Why are Emperors always wary of generals whose achievements might overshadow the throne? What if Xu Xian…”
“As long as he does not rebel, I can tolerate anything he does.” The Emperor gave a derisive snort. “Even if he did rebel, I would not fear him. I may not be able to sweep aside thousands upon thousands of troops, but taking a man’s head from amid an army of thousands would be effortless for me…”
He spoke as though it were nothing, yet an overwhelming aura of confidence radiated from him. Cui Lanyin found herself staring, unable to conceal the admiration in her eyes.
She nestled even more closely against him, then suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
“You… We were discussing serious matters… You need to keep yourself under control…” She tried to pull away.
The Emperor held her in place. His breathing grew heavier as he murmured against her ear, “How could I control it? It belongs to you now.”
“It’s been so long. Don’t you want to?”
“Practice makes perfect. After neglecting it for so long, shouldn’t you inspect it thoroughly?”
“I’ve always obeyed Your Majesty. If you tell me to lie down, I’ll never sit. If you tell me to sit, I’ll never stand.”
“You’re still angry with me, aren’t you? Otherwise, you could tie me up too. You have a whip…”
The more he spoke, the more indecent the conversation became. Afraid he would say something even worse, Cui Lanyin clapped a hand over his mouth. In the end, she could not resist the temptation.
“Just once. If you…”
Before she could finish, the Emperor swept her up into his arms. By the time she recovered, he had already carried her into the inner room and set her on the bed. He deftly drew the bed curtains shut.
One article of clothing after another was thrown out from behind the curtains, scattering across the floor…
Aiye was just about to enter and ask when they would be dining, but after hearing the sounds inside, she hurriedly retreated.
Buyu and Sangzhi immediately understood what was happening. One ran to the small kitchen to say that dinner would have to be delayed, while the other exchanged a knowing glance with Aiye. During this period, with the Emperor and Empress having refrained from intimacy, both women had been worried sick.
Although it was customary for a pregnant woman and her husband to sleep in separate rooms, the Emperor had only Cui Lanyin. If abstaining for too long drove him into the arms of another woman, it would be the Empress who suffered.
Both women had followed Cui Lanyin since childhood and knew her better than anyone. She often claimed that after marriage she would not interfere if her husband took a concubine, but they knew that while Cui Lanyin would keep her word, she would never share a bed with him again afterward.
Cheng Gui might have been pretending when he said he would not use the same privy as anyone else, but Cui Lanyin was sincere. Not only could she not share a privy with an outsider, she could not even mix her clothes or shoes with another person’s.
One only had to see how she could not stand the Emperor returning to their chambers without changing his clothes to understand. When it came to intimate matters, she could not accept a third person.
Here I am [kiss kiss].
