Chapter Ninety-Six: Suspicion

"Tell me, do you think the Emperor is hiding something from me?"

"How could that be? The Emperor and Your Highness share such deep mother-and-son affection. Why would he ever keep anything from you?"

Ruo Wei’s words sounded a little uncertain. She set down a fresh cup of tea and said, "Why would Your Highness think such a thing?"

The Empress Dowager’s face, however, remained solemn, unlike her usual self. "I only feel that nothing in particular has happened around me, and yet everything seems to have slipped beyond my control."

"I have searched high and low for the token that commands the Dragon Shadow Guard these past few years, but it has never turned up. Could it be that the Emperor deceived me back then?" The Empress Dowager furrowed her brow as she voiced one possibility. "During the internal chaos of Great Xun, we had no choice but to seek aid from Yunjing. It was the Emperor himself who asked for the hand of Yunjing’s legitimate princess. With nothing to his name at the time, what did he have to persuade Yunjing with?"

She had always suspected that the token was in Jing Lanxi’s possession. Yet now that such a thing had happened, it had conveniently given Qin Zhiyi the opportunity to take it back.

"If the Emperor truly had it, I imagine he would not hide it from Your Highness," Ruo Wei said after a moment’s thought. "After all, such a precious thing..."

"I’m afraid the Emperor is keeping it from me," the Empress Dowager said coldly. She did not wish to believe that her own son would conceal anything from her, but the Dragon Shadow Token, missing for so long, left her no choice but to doubt him. "Have our people look into it."

...

Not long after returning to the Golden Throne Hall, Chang Fu came in with two young eunuchs carrying things.

"Your Majesty, one item was sent from the Phoenix Luan Palace, and another from the Crescent Moon Palace."

Qin Zhiyi looked up. Chang Fu presented the two boxes and first opened the one from the Phoenix Luan Palace. "Please inspect it, Your Majesty."

Qin Zhiyi reached in and lifted out a braided love knot. It was rather large. As his fingertips traced over it, he felt something thin, flat, and hard hidden in the middle.

The thing Jing Lanxi had promised to send had arrived.

He tucked the love knot into his robes, then opened the box sent by Shen Fuyu. The moment the lid came off, a rotten persimmon flew straight out and splattered across Qin Zhiyi’s face.

"Your Majesty!" Chang Fu’s voice changed pitch. "Somebody come quickly!"

"Shut up."

Qin Zhiyi frowned and wiped away the juice with a handkerchief. The small lacquered box contained a hidden mechanism; once opened, it would spring whatever was inside outward. Given his understanding of Shen Fuyu, there had to be something else in the box, but this mechanism, along with that rotten persimmon, had absolutely been planted by that woman to humiliate him.

He would have to find a chance to beat her up later.

Chang Fu hurriedly helped Qin Zhiyi clean the persimmon juice from his robes. Once everything was tidy, Qin Zhiyi waved a hand.

"Leave us."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chang Fu obediently withdrew.

Indeed, what good thing could possibly come from Consort Xian? But since the Emperor happened to like her sort of thing, there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The stench of rotten persimmon still seemed to linger. Qin Zhiyi disliked it intensely and fanned at the air in front of him. After bringing the box closer, he rapped his knuckle against it and, as expected, found that it had a hidden layer.

He cut into the concealed compartment with a dagger. Several sheets of paper fell out. Qin Zhiyi hurriedly gathered them up and read them carefully, his expression growing darker and darker.

Every last line was filthy poetry and bawdy verses.

Infuriated beyond measure, Qin Zhiyi shredded the papers on the spot.

He might as well go beat her up right now.

But he held back and, noticing that the inside and outside of the box still seemed to differ in depth, cut open another layer. Two small medicine vials and a rolled-up note dropped out.

Only after being tricked twice did Qin Zhiyi finally find the thing Shen Fuyu had truly intended to give him.

"Your Highness, is it really all right to put rotten persimmons in the box? Other ladies send food or drink, or at least paintings and calligraphy..." Silver Bell was terrified. When she heard Shen Fuyu say she wanted to give the Emperor a gift, she had been rather happy. After all, it was a common way for the women of the inner palace to win favor. Take Consort Hui, for example—she practically sent soup to the Emperor three times a day.

"You know nothing. Only then will the Emperor remember me. With this move of mine, whenever he sees a persimmon, he’ll think of me!" Shen Fuyu declared shamelessly, not taking it seriously at all. "Look at Consort Hui. She sends him soup three times a day, but how many times has the Emperor gone to see her?"

"Well, that’s true..."

"Let me tell you, you must never keep sending people soup." Shen Fuyu instructed Silver Bell with great seriousness. "Soup makes people fat. What goes into the mouth is all oil, and no one likes to drink oil. If Consort Hui keeps this up, the Emperor will grow tired of her sooner or later."

"Think about it. After drinking that much soup for a while, if the Emperor gets fat, how could he still have his present image of brilliance and martial vigor? Would that make him happy? And if he isn’t happy, who is the one making him unhappy? Consort Hui!"

Silver Bell: ...

It sounded as though it made sense, and yet it also seemed to make no sense at all.

But how could rotten persimmons possibly be any better?

Shen Fuyu was full of confidence. If she sent rotten persimmons, Qin Zhiyi ought to be grateful to her. After all, inside that second hidden layer, she had tucked away something very good for him.

Although she had not managed to find a suitable hallucination-type pill for Jing Lanxi, she had found another kind that would do. Combined with the medicinal herbs in her spatial realm, she strengthened the formula and created an extremely long-lasting puppet pill.

Of course, she did not have a true pill furnace or anything like that. In her spatial realm, synthesizing medicinal ingredients was much like playing a cooking game: a few taps of the fingers, and the finished product was ready.

The so-called puppet pill would make whoever took it wholly obedient to the person who drugged them for a certain period of time. It would not cause any harm, but during the time they were under its control, they would retain no memory of what had happened. Originally, it could only last for half an hour.

With a grand wave of her hand, Shen Fuyu enhanced it into a puppet pill that could endure for five hours.

Also tucked into the hidden compartment was a bottle of disguise liquid. Applied to the face, it would solidify into a material with the feel of human skin, which could then be molded freely. This disguise liquid had also been made from mutated herbs in her spatial realm, and its effect was many times better than any disguise liquid made outside.

With these two things in hand, Qin Zhiyi had already found a suitable substitute: one of the imperial guards stationed in the Golden Throne Hall.

Everything was ready, save for nightfall.

"Look at how they all fawn over Sister now. How ridiculous. They used to avoid her like the plague, and now they’re all running over here with such eagerness."

"I haven’t forgotten that you were the same."

In the Tranquil Grace Palace, Consort Shu flexed her slightly sore wrist and glanced at the woman beside her, who was serving her like a palace maid. It was none other than Lady Jiang, who had previously caused her to lose face before Consort Xian.

"This concubine had her head stuffed full of lard and did not know that Consort Xian was so vicious. This concubine knows that Your Highness does not trust me, and I am willing to prove myself!" Hatred flashed through Lady Jiang’s eyes. She hated Shen Fuyu for having treated her that way back then.

Consort Shu now held the power of the six palaces in her hands, and with it came a newfound confidence. Since Lady Jiang had come to curry favor with her at her lowest point, there was clearly also an intention to turn against Shen Fuyu together. Thinking of this, she gave a soft laugh. "If you want me to believe you, then naturally you must show your sincerity."