chapter 32

“Sir Fucha, your honored self has arrived?” said Li Yu. “Please hurry and take a seat here. Please hurry and take a seat here. His Majesty has been awaiting you for a long time!”

With a face full of doubt, Fucha Fuheng stepped foot into the study of Yangxin Palace.

Looking at the entrance behind him, he asked with some curiosity, “What’s going on with Li Yu? Usually, he’s not this cordial…”

The court eunuchs were like the bricks and roof tiles of the Forbidden City: all of these belonged to the emperor.

Especially someone like Li Yu, a high-ranking eunuch. He was fully aware that the emperor had given him all the glory and favor he possessed now. For this reason, he would only curry favor with the emperor. He did not need to especially curry favor with the officials.

Yet all of a sudden, he had acted entirely out of the norm, and treated Fucha Fuheng with this much courtesy. He truly felt uncomfortable all over because of this.

“Since you’ve come, he won’t be punished to caning by Us.” Hongli was still immersed in the memorial, and didn’t even lift his head. “We told him to find someone, but he still has not found this person after a few months. Truly a useless slave.”

Fucha Fuheng grew even more curious.

“Your Majesty, who is your honored self looking for?” he asked. The emperor before his eyes was actually interested in things other than his memorials. And it was even a person. Was it a man or a woman? Someone from the palace or someone outside of it?

“Enough. Don’t mention them¹ anymore.” All of a sudden, Hongli tossed aside the memorial. “Look at this.”

Fucha Fuheng raised his hands to accept the memorial. Lowered his head to read it. In a flash, he furrowed his brows. “This is… Zhong Yongtan’s² memorial accusing Osan³, the commander of the infantry, of accepting a bribe worth 500 kg of silver…”

“And it isn’t just Osan.” Hongli crossed his hands in front of his mouth. “He also accused Zhang Tingyu⁴! Do you find something amiss here?”

“Zhong Yongtan is Sir Ortai’s⁵ student.” Fucha Fuheng was an intelligent person, detecting the intention of the memorial on the spot. Smiling, he said, “As such, this memorial is basically Ortai declaring war on Zhang Tingyu. They are trying to borrow your honored self’s hand to deal with him!”

Hongli sneered for a good while. “Those two were important ministers of the previous emperor. Therefore, We tolerated them many times. Yet, what exactly have they done?” asked Hongli in a low voice. “Last year, Liu Tongxun⁶ had once tried to impeach Zhang Tingyu. In Tongcheng County, half the government officials are of the Zhang and Yao clans. We thought they were exaggerating. But now, their words seem extremely applicable! As for Ortai, the principal consort of Osi⁷, his second son, passed away not too long ago. So Osi immediately married the daughter of Grand Secretariat⁸ Gao Bin. This way, they could climb up the social hierarchy by being relatives with Noble Consort Gao. What do you think they’re trying to do?!”

His voice had grown louder by the word, like the deafening roar of thunder, spreading a thousand miles. Hongli’s fury was evident.

When the emperor was furious, blood splashed for a thousand miles.

“This slave knows Your Majesty is impatient,” blurted Fucha Fuheng, rushing to appease him. “But right now, most of the Han people follow and stick close to Zhang Tingyu. The Manchu rely on Ortai. Let’s not talk about the high-ranking officials in court. Even the regional civil and military governors are split into two groups! If we want to touch Ortai and Zhang Tingyu, we must wait for the right occasion.”

“We have already waited long enough!” All of a sudden, Hongli rose to his feet. Because his movement was grand, he accidentally knocked over a teacup, splashing a cup of Biluochun⁹ all over him. However, he did not seem to have noticed, and only said to Fucha Fuheng in a cold manner, “To capture a thief, one must capture their leader first. We want to summon Prince Yi of the First Rank, Prince He of the First Rank, Grand Secretariat Ortai, Zhang Tingyu, Xu Ben, and Minister Ne Qin to be put on public trial. First, behead Osan! Fuheng, you’ll be in charge of this!”

One was the monarch. The other, his subject.

Although he had a mind to warn Hongli, the monarch had already come to a decision. As a subject, Fucha Fuheng could only cup his hands in obeisance and say, “Understood!”

After Hongli had vented out his anger, he breathed hard for a while. Once the fire in his heart had been extinguished, he gradually felt a slight chill. Hongli looked down and noticed that his casual clothes had been drenched by the tea. Frowning, he shouted, “Li Yu!”

“This slave is here,” said Li Yu, pushing the door open and entering. He noticed that Hongli’s clothes had a wet spot. Shocked, he rushed to beckon to the outside. A few low-ranked eunuchs hurried over, then hurried away. Shortly after, they carried a tray in. Upon the tray was a set of bright yellow casual clothes.

Li Yu personally helped Li Chen change clothes.

Hongli stretched his arms wide horizontally, enjoying his service as if it were only natural. But suddenly, he frowned. He brought his hand to his neck, holding it.

After he had slowly pulled that hand from his neck and dropped it, he saw a drop of blood on his palm.

Clear to the eye, Li Yu paled. His legs grew weak, and he almost fell to a kneel on the ground. “Y-Your Majesty…”

Fucha Fuheng was frightened as well. In a few steps, he was in front of Hongli, guarding him. Eyes alert as he scanned the surroundings. It was as if he wanted to find this assassin from the chairs and tables, cracks in the walls, as well as other possible places such an assassin could hide.

“There’s no assassin,” said Hongli from behind him. “It’s this…”

Fucha Fuheng spun around, and saw Hongli pulling off the set of casual clothes he had just worn. His fingers, which always gave off the scent of ink, held a silver needle. He gazed at the needle tip before his eyes, which had a drop of blood. Cold enough to freeze, he said, “The Manufacturing Bureau¹⁰ is truly daring.”

His tone was thick with killing intent. Anyone could hear it.

Fucha Fuheng could not bear but urge, “This is a mistake from the Manufacturing Bureau, not a deliberate murder attempt…”

But before he could finish speaking, Li Yu had already crawled to the side of Hongli’s feet, kowtowing repeatedly, the action reminiscent of how one would chop garlic. “May Your Majesty grant forgiveness! May Your Majesty grant forgiveness! Those slaves from the Manufacturing Bureau actually allowed such an outrageous accident to occur. It’s clear that they are undisciplined in their duties. The most hateful thing is that they actually injured Your Majesty’s body. Truly unforgivable. May Your Majesty give the order so that this slave can investigate this matter. Whoever is involved in this must be punished severely!”

All of a sudden, the front doors to the embroidery workshop burst open with a bang.

A crowd of people poured inside. Wu Shulai led them, and each of the members wore a murderous look.

“Who was it?” Wu Shulai looked around, gaze callous. Like a butcher choosing a lamb to slaughter.

They had arrived with ill intentions. The palace maids all stopped what they were doing. Anxious and frightened, they stared at Wu Shulai. Whenever Wu Shulai so much as looked at one of their faces for a bit too long, the target felt as if he were strangling her. Her face would turn green, like she was unable to breathe.

“…It’s her.” With no other option, Granny Zhang pointed at someone.

Everyone’s gaze followed the finger…

…to Linglong’s green face.

“Arrest her!” Wu Shulai raised and waved his hand. The two eunuchs behind him rushed forward.

“No, no, let me go!” She knew that if they captured her, what awaited her was probably death. In a flash, Linglong broke into a struggle, body twisting like a snake’s. As they dragged her out, she knocked over who knew how many tables and embroidery frames. She cried out, “What crime did I commit? Why are you arresting me?! General Wu, your honored self can’t be like this. Your honored self must give me a reason!”

“Reason?” Wu Shulai was angered to the point of laughing. “We let you make His Majesty’s casual clothes, yet you actually were careless and left a silver needle at the collar! Do you know what this is called? If something happened, it would be the heavy crime of attempted murder, and we’d all be beheaded!”

“Silver needle? What silver needle? I didn’t know! Wait, wait…” Linglong’s gaze was full of bewilderment. But at that moment, she thought of something, and looked back at the crowd behind her.

Among the crowd of anxious and frightened people was someone who was calm and at ease.

As if she had predicted long ago this would happen. Her face carried a smile, and she watched the situation’s development with gusto.

“It was you!” Linglong was both frightened and furious. “It was you, Wei Yingluo!”

In that split second, she felt like she was a pitiful bug that had fallen into the web a spider had meticulously woven. The more she struggled, the harder it was to break free.

“General Manager Wu, it wasn’t I who made that set of clothes. It was Wei Yingluo!” The situation had already progressed to this point. As such, Linglong no longer dared to hide this fact. On the spot, she said in a loud voice to Wu Shulai, “She’s the one who was careless. No, she’s the one who purposely left a needle in the clothes just so she could frame me!”

Wu Shulai furrowed his brows. Shifted his gaze to Wei Yingluo.

Compared to the little palace maids by her side who were trembling like quails, she seemed too calm and at ease.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” scolded Granny Zhang suddenly, who was next to him. “You were the one who had personally delivered the set of clothes to me. And you said with your own mouth that you had been the one to make them. So how did it become Yingluo’s out of the blue? Don’t blame other people randomly just to escape punishment!”

“Granny Zhang, you…” Linglong’s eyes were so wide they could practically split open.

Reality finally hit her. She had fallen into a trap.

If other people had said that, then fine. But what kind of person was Granny Zhang?

In her eyes, one’s embroidery was like one’s handwriting, easily recognizable.

She definitely would be able to tell that Wei Yingluo had been the one to embroider the dragon on that set of casual clothes. However, not a word had left her lips about that. She had merely accepted the clothes, then presented them as if they were Linglong’s.

“You two are in it together!” Linglong screamed at Wei Yingluo in a hysterical manner. She nearly broke free from the eunuchs’ grasps and pounced on Wei Yingluo.

But how would those eunuchs allow her to do such a thing in Wu Shulai’s presence? In a flash, they increased the strength of their grasps, throwing her to the ground and restraining her with much force. One side of her face was pressed against the ground. The other side faced the crowd sideways. Linglong stared at Wei Yingluo with a bloodshot eye.

“Look, she’s doing it again,” said Wei Yingluo in an extremely tranquil manner, towering above Linglong as she looked down on her. So tranquil, as though she had long since prepared such words. “Before, in order to escape punishment, you implicated me. Now, you’ve implicated Granny Zhang. Once she is in front of His Majesty, perhaps she might implicate your honored self, General Manager Wu. Perhaps she would say that your honored self did not carefully inspect the set of clothes, and ought to be punished as well for the same crime!”

As soon as Linglong had heard those words, her vision darkened, and she almost lost consciousness.

Even if she originally had a way out, after Wei Yingluo had finished speaking, such a way out no longer existed.

Wu Shulai actually looked at her with a doubtful and suspicious gaze. Cold enough to freeze, he said, “Such a treacherous and murderous thing truly cannot be kept. Take her away!”

As they dragged Linglong out, she kept reaching out to try and grab at anything she could, pillars, the legs of chairs, and even the legs of people. Even the palace maid she had the best relationship with kicked away her hand, before jumping back to avoid her. The others were the same, like a tide rolling back toward the sea, away from her.

“Help! Save me!” cried out Linglong, tears and snot flowing from her face. Like a cuckoo crying blood¹¹, she said, “I’ve been framed!”

From behind, Wei Yingluo smiled as she watched the eunuchs drag her away. Afterward, she slowly clutched the handkerchief in her hand.

Naturally, one corner of the handkerchief was stained.

The stain alternated between red and brown, similar to dried blood.

This was… Jixiang’s birthday present.

Edit June 21, 2020: Changed all instances of “Emperor Hongli” to “Hongli.” “Emperor Hongli” would imply that “Hongli” is his title, which it isn’t. His title is Emperor Qianlong. He’s a real historical figure. Hongli is his given name. Not sure why the author doesn’t add his surname Aisin Gioro. Maybe because it’s too long?

Also, regarding “Noble Consort Gao,” I’m pretty sure there is only one noble consort in Hongli’s imperial harem right now, which is Noble Consort Hui. As such, I’m guessing “Gao” is Noble Consort Hui’s surname, and “Hui” is the title the emperor bestowed her. Additionally, all instances of “inner courtyard” will be changed to “imperial harem.” That was a translation error on my part, since we are dealing with the imperial palace here, not some official’s estate. Similarly, every master’s “courtyard” will be changed to “residence” or “palace,” depending on the master’s rank. Typically, imperial concubines with a rank of Consort and up live in their own palace that is part of the whole imperial palace.

I just love how Linglong’s case was settled. And gosh, our girl Yingluo’s really ruthless and smart, isn’t she? I’m surprised Granny Zhang also helped her.