Chapter 134: Jiao Cang "Delicate Concealment" (Are You the One)

 FlamingoBees 

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 Jiao Cang "Delicate Concealment" / Are You the One

 

 Chapter 134: 

 

As expected, after several basins of hot water were sent in, it wasn't long before basins of deep red blood were carried out. Just from the sheer amount of blood, it was clear that the situation was dire.

Li Mama supported Old Princess Consort Chu as she felt faint from the scene and took her back to the sleeping quarters to rest. Cui Fu's heart tightened with worry.

She knew well how much her brother Xingzhou cherished Mian Tang. If Mian Tang were to die from complications during childbirth with no doctor to assist, it would be a heavy blow for her brother.

Moreover, with the Emperor having been poisoned after consuming the tiger whip presented by Xingzhou, she couldn't shake the thought that someone was behind this malice. With Xingzhou being taken into the palace, she feared for his safety.

Indeed, the Huaiyang Mansion was in a state of utter chaos. With no way to help, Cui Fu could only clasp her hands in prayer, hoping for the safety of the young couple.

While the inner courtyard was in turmoil, a figure quietly opened the back door of the outer courtyard and whispered to the guards stationed there, "Pass word to the master. The situation in the inner courtyard is critical; they've sent out several basins of blood, and it looks like she's bleeding out..."

One of the small commanders, upon hearing this, immediately mounted his horse and rode off at full speed towards Prince Sui's Mansion to deliver the news.

Prince Sui was waiting for news from the palace with several trusted advisers when he heard that Princess Consort Huaiyang was on the brink of death. He immediately felt relieved.

He had been waiting for this day for a long time. The palace had supported Liu Yu's ascension to the throne precisely because Liu Yu was a sickly man. When he escaped the East Palace, the toxins in his body had not been fully purged, leaving him with lingering aftereffects.

It was reasonable to support a short-lived ruler, as Liu Pei could then ensure his nephew remained securely on the throne.

However, to his surprise, after ascending to the throne, Liu Yu still appeared frail, yet he had produced a surprisingly robust line of offspring. Moreover, Shi Yikuan was a man adept at navigating court politics, and his influence as Prince Sui's father-in-law was growing steadily, completely beyond his control.

Now, Liu Yu had brought Prince Huaiyang with him.

If Liu Yu continued to consolidate his power like this, it would become difficult for even the palace family to shake him.

Liu Yu had many beauties in his harem, but he only cherished the Empress, leaving the others to feel resentful. Taking advantage of this, Prince Sui had secretly given Consort Yun and Liu Yu a medicinal concoction that was said to be antagonistic.

In fact, not only Consort Yun, but two other concubines had also been given this aphrodisiac. As long as Liu Yu was near them, even without any overt actions, just sleeping together could trigger the effects.

However, Consort Yun, Sun Yunniang, had applied the concoction to her body early on. Her skin, being sensitive, began to fester and reveal the poison much sooner than expected.

Ashamed and furious, Sun Yunniang naturally confronted Prince Sui for an explanation.

Prince Sui was unbothered by her discovery. After all, her intentions were far from pure. If Liu Yu ever learned that she had been seeking such lowly drugs to harm the imperial offspring, she would certainly fall out of his favor.

So, Prince Sui decided to take things a step further. He threatened Consort Yun, using his spies in the Imperial Medical Bureau to slip the remaining secret medicine into the tiger whip Prince Huaiyang had presented.

Sun Yunniang, realizing she had made a grave mistake and that every move she made was now wrong, felt trapped. If she refused to comply, Prince Sui would certainly expose her secret. The festering wounds on her skin would also soon be impossible to hide.

Moreover, it was clear that Prince Sui's scheme was meant to frame Prince Huaiyang. Liu Yu's distancing from her father had become obvious, and despite the disciplinary action taken last time, her father had yet to be reinstated.

If things continued this way, she would age and fade, eventually dying alone in the palace. This was not the life Sun Yunniang wanted. Her affection for Liu Yu had always been tied to her dream of one day becoming Empress.

But now that dream had shattered, leaving her only with endless nightmares. Prince Sui promised that if the plan succeeded, he would elevate her father's position, allowing her to leave the palace with dignity.

Though Consort Yun didn’t fully trust Prince Sui's words, she was more than willing to conspire against Prince Huaiyang. After all, she had once framed Mian Tang, severing her tendons.

Although Mian Tang had lost her memory and didn't recall the specific events, she knew that as long as this couple remained, they would always pose a threat to her.

After weighing the pros and cons, Sun Yunniang put the drug into the tiger whip soup that was being prepared. However, she didn’t want Liu Yu to actually die. She secretly instructed the imperial physician to use the excuse that His Majesty had been experiencing internal heat recently and reduce the amount of danshen in his medicinal prescription.

In this way, even if the poison acted up, it wouldn't take His Majesty’s life. Sun Yunniang could then work with Prince Sui’s arrangement to eliminate Prince Huaiyang and Mian Tang.

For now, this pair of sworn father and daughter harbored their own schemes but shared the same goal of framing Prince Huaiyang and Mian Tang.

Although Mian Tang had personally cleaned out the inner courtyard of any suspicious people, the outer courtyard, which was filled with rough laborers, wasn't as easy for her to control.

The moment Mian Tang’s labor began, word spread to the outer courtyard. The tiger whip soup served to Liu Yu today was arranged by the Imperial Medical Office, and it just so happened that Liu Yu drank it. When the poison acted up in his body, the Empress Dowager immediately rushed to His Majesty’s chambers, issuing a decree to summon Prince Huaiyang for interrogation.

Thus, the earlier scene occurred.

This time, Prince Sui was determined to ruin Prince Huaiyang’s reputation. Otherwise, with his achievements in defending the northwestern borders and the people’s deep admiration, Prince Sui would risk being seen as plotting against a loyal subject.

Once the accusations of Prince Huaiyang’s rebellion and poisoning of His Majesty were confirmed, along with the claim that he took advantage of his wife’s childbirth to cause her to hemorrhage to death, Prince Huaiyang would be branded as an unfaithful, heartless, and immoral villain that everyone would want to eliminate.

Prince Sui had been planning for a long time, and now that everything had come together in one night, he was naturally in high spirits.

However, one of his advisors had a lingering doubt. "Your Highness, how did you know that Mian Tang would suffer from a difficult labor and hemorrhage?"

Prince Sui smiled triumphantly. "Mian Tang is from a humble background and has always liked street food. Although the prince's residence is heavily guarded, the same can't be said for places outside. The food she loves from the fried cake shop and several snack stalls have all been tampered with by my people. They used a specially prepared cooking fat that contains substances to enlarge the baby. Such additives won’t be detected in a poison test. With the baby growing too large and without any doctors to assist her, how could Mian Tang possibly give birth safely? Her difficult labor fulfills the rumors circulating in the capital, making everyone believe that Prince Huaiyang is so ruthless that he would harm even his own wife and child!"

The advisors, after hearing this, began to sweat profusely, but they couldn't help but admire Prince Sui’s meticulous planning. He had set an inescapable trap for Prince Huaiyang.

Prince Sui smiled faintly and said, "If not for the suggestion from my adopted daughter, how could I, as a man, have known about these vicious tricks of inner-court rivalry? My dear daughter has been wishing for Mian Tang’s death for quite some time, and now it seems her wish is finally coming true..."

With Prince Huaiyang detained in the palace, once he learned that his beloved wife couldn’t survive childbirth, he would surely be devastated and lose control, speaking erratically and in despair. At that point, the elders and censors gathered by the Grand Empress Dowager could bear witness, confirming that Prince Huaiyang harbored ill intentions toward the imperial family, plotted to harm the emperor, and had ambitions of rebellion!

With this thought, Prince Sui stood up and said, "Since the happy occasion in Prince Huaiyang’s mansion has turned into a funeral, I should go to the palace to bid Prince Huaiyang a final farewell!"

Perhaps it was fate assisting him—over the past few days, the city’s defenses had been rotated, and Prince Huaiyang’s troops had been sent outside for training, while the palace was now guarded by the imperial forces.

As long as Prince Huaiyang was detained inside the palace gates, he would be like a caged beast, easily subdued.

As for Sun Yunniang's little schemes—did she really think he hadn’t noticed? She believed that reducing the dosage of salvia root would save Liu Yu’s life? Liu Yu was no longer useful as a pawn. What good would it do to let him live a little longer? In the end, a mere pillow could smother that sickly emperor.

Once Prince Huaiyang’s guilt was cemented, by tomorrow morning, the emperor would surely be dead.

Prince Sui would have captured the treacherous minister, stabilizing the Great Yan dynasty. At that point, he could ascend the throne without blemish, acclaimed by all, and be remembered in history as a wise and illustrious ruler of the Great Yan!

For this day, Liu Pei had waited a long time, so much so that as he stepped into the palace gates, his heart trembled slightly with excitement.

By now, night had fallen, the palace lanterns hung high, casting dim and hazy light across the intricate eaves and ridges.

Because the Emperor had fallen into a coma, the palace staff were all in a state of fearful silence, each standing rigidly in their assigned places.

Inside the grand hall, the Grand Empress Dowager, who had long distanced herself from state affairs, wore a grim expression as she stared directly at Prince Huaiyang, who was kneeling before her. In front of the gathered senior ministers, she coldly asked, "Prince Huaiyang, the Emperor has always treated you well, raising you from your post in Zhen Prefecture all the way to a high-ranking position in the military. Yet you, insatiable in your ambition, dared to poison the Emperor. What do you think your punishment should be?"

Prince Huaiyang raised his eyes to meet the Grand Empress Dowager’s gaze, the corners of his thin lips curling into a mocking smile as he replied, "The tiger from that day’s hunt was not something I brought privately. The tiger had been raised at the hunting grounds in the western outskirts. I used the bow and arrows provided by the Department of Internal Affairs, and after I killed the tiger, it was the Imperial Guard hunting camp that skinned the tiger and butchered its meat. The tiger’s whip was then handed over to the Imperial Medical Bureau to be processed into medicine. Now, not only is it uncertain that the tiger whip was actually poisoned, but even if it were, what does it have to do with me? While I understand the Grand Empress Dowager’s concern for His Majesty, isn’t this verdict being reached a little too hastily?"

Cui Xingzhou's handsome and striking features usually made him quite captivating, but when a mocking expression appeared in his eyes, his thick eyebrows arched slightly, and his disdain was impossible to hide. Anyone could see his utter lack of respect for the Grand Empress Dowager's words.

The old ministers, from the moment they heard that the Emperor had been poisoned and had fallen into a coma, whether or not they had any personal connection with the new Emperor Liu Yu, were all weeping profusely, with a pious look on their faces as if they wished they could die in His Majesty's place.

But in contrast, here was Prince Huaiyang, displaying a complete indifference to the Emperor’s fate, even speaking rudely to the Grand Empress Dowager. The face of a deceitful and wicked official was revealed for all to see!

In an instant, the ministers, forgetting to wipe their noses that were running like rivers, angrily denounced Prince Huaiyang, accusing him of having evil intentions and speaking with disrespect.

Prince Huaiyang watched these old fools leisurely, waiting for them to tire out from their scolding before asking, "May I ask if His Majesty has already passed away? The way you’re all wailing and sobbing, are you preparing to mourn for him?"

The ministers were stunned into silence. According to the imperial physicians, the Emperor was only unconscious and hadn’t yet breathed his last. But their excessive grief moments earlier had indeed been somewhat over the top.

"His Majesty has always been frail—how could he possibly endure another bout of severe poisoning? Prince Huaiyang, with your malicious intent, how dare you criticize these esteemed officials for their unwavering loyalty to His Majesty?" 

At that moment, Prince Sui suddenly entered the hall and sternly rebuked him.

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