Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 218
Chapter 218 - The Empress Dowager Faints with Rage
The Chrysanthemum Viewing Banquet continued on.
Originally, the Empress Dowager was also meant to grace the floral banquet with her presence.
However, word arrived from over there that a minor incident had occurred at the Empress Dowager's Kangning Palace, rendering her temporarily unable to come.
The Empress's brows furrowed tightly as she detected an unusual atmosphere. Feeling somewhat uneasy, she bade the crowd continue admiring the blossoms while she herself rose and dispatched people to investigate what had transpired.
With the Empress's departure, the guests admiring the flowers were freed from restraint, becoming even more relaxed and at ease.
Concubine Yin pulled Chu Hongyu down to sit beside her, remarking testily, "When exactly did Her Highness Consort Yuan cross you, for you to deliberately rush over and knock her flat?"
Chu Hongyu stuck out his tongue: "Imperial Grandmother, you've misjudged me; I didn't do it on purpose."
Concubine Yin had also found Consort Yuan eyesores for a long time, so she did not dwell on the matter, instead ordering delicacies to be brought for the two children.
While Chu Hongyu ate on his own, Concubine Yin patiently fed Changsheng bite by bite.
Before long, her senior maidservant stepped forward and murmured in a low voice, "Your Highness, when Xiao Lizi went to the Prince's Manor earlier to deliver items, he happened to overhear something."
Concubine Yin's hand paused. For her maidservant to come and report regardless of the setting, it was certainly no ordinary matter.
After feeding the last piece of pastry in her hand, she smiled and said, "The two of you must be tired after staying here for so long, so it is time to return and rest. Come, Imperial Grandmother will take you back to the palace."
Chu Hongyu was rather reluctant to leave.
He cast a secretive glance in Yun Chu's direction.
There were constantly various noble wives and young ladies coming over to converse with Mother; it was simply far too annoying.
It seemed he would not find an opportunity to be alone with Mother today.
Ah well, it would only be a matter of a few days anyway.
The brother and sister secretly waved their hands toward Yun Chu, then obediently followed Concubine Yin back.
Along the way, the senior maidservant recounted what she had heard in a low voice: "...Xiao Lizi said that a few days ago, after midnight, His Highness brought a woman back from outside, hiding her in the Prince's Manor and forbidding anyone from seeing her..."
"What?!" Concubine Yin was thoroughly dumbfounded. "My third son could actually do such a thing?"
This son of hers possessed utterly zero interest in women. Had it not been for the two children needing maidservants to attend to them, one would hard-pressed to find a single young woman in the entire Prince's Manor.
She truly found it difficult to imagine that Yi'er would bring a woman back to his manor in the dead of night.
"Xiao Lizi intentionally lingered at the Prince's Manor for a while, making subtle inquiries for quite some time, only to learn that the woman actually resides in Yanhui Courtyard," the senior maidservant added. "Yanhui Courtyard—that is the very courtyard where His Highness resides! Letting that woman move in, does it mean he intends to make her the Princess Consort? Your Highness, could His Highness's defying of the imperial decree and rejecting the marriage proposal be connected to that woman?"
Deep, heavy creases gathered between Concubine Yin's brows: "It might very well be the case. Have Xiao Lizi make a few more trips. Find out clearly what that woman's surname and name are, who she is, what exact relationship she shares with my third son, and what attitude he holds toward her."
The senior maidservant took her orders and left to see to it.
Meanwhile, Kangning Palace was in utter chaos.
The senior maidservant whose arms had been severed knelt before the Empress Dowager, weeping bitterly: "...Prince Pingxi did this deliberately for Your Majesty to see! This is a direct slap to Your Majesty's face..."
Bang, bang, bang!
The Empress Dowager smashed every single tea vessel on the table onto the ground.
The eight people specifically tasked with harvesting heart's blood for Rui'er were her trusted confidants; seven were dead, and the sole survivor had her hands severed, reduced to a useless cripple.
To think that not a single usable person remained at her side just like that.
"Chu Yi!" the Empress Dowager roared in fury. "This Dowager asks herself if she has ever mistreated him! How dares he act against this Dowager's own people?!"
Suppressing her agony, the senior maidservant said, "This old servant suspects that Prince Pingxi and that eldest daughter of the Yun family might harbor a secret affair..."
"Oh, is that so?" A cold smile surfaced on the Empress Dowager's lips. "A widow and a rejected wife—Chu Yi actually dares to meddle with her, going so far as to ruin this Dowager's plans for this woman's sake. Very good, marvelous indeed. In that case, this Dowager has conceived another scheme..."
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" A palace maid from outside rushed in frantically. "Disaster has struck!"
The Empress Dowager's expression turned frigid: "Stop acting so flustered. Speak!"
The palace maid hurriedly reported, "Young... Young Master Feng has fallen off his horse!"
The Feng family was the Empress Dowager's maternal clan. The Feng family had two sons, both nephews of the Empress Dowager; one was the General of Chariots and Cavalry guarding the southern border, while the other was Official Feng, a third-rank official in the imperial court.
The Empress Dowager relied heavily on her maternal family. Upon hearing this, she stood up from her chair: "How badly was he injured?"
"He... he died..." The palace maid trembled in terror, falling to her knees with a thud. "Also... just now, Prince Pingxi had someone deliver a jade pendant."
When the jade pendant was presented, vision went black before the Empress Dowager's eyes—it was the signature jade pendant of the Feng family.
Which meant the death of the Feng family's young master was orchestrating directly by Prince Pingxi! Furthermore, he had made no attempt to hide it, informing her directly. This was a provocation, and equally a warning!
The senior maidservant at her side asked guardedly, "Your Majesty, Prince Pingxi acts with such utter disregard... shall we still retaliate?"
The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and collapsed back into her chair: "We can only ask the Emperor to step in. Even if the Emperor merely sentences him to twenty strokes of the cane, it will count as venting this foul rage."
The moment her words fell, another young eunuch hurried inside.
This young eunuch was a servant attending to Prince Zhuang, causing the Empress Dowager's heart to tense up immediately: "Has Rui'er's condition flared up again?"
"Your Majesty, just now... His Highness went to the Imperial Study!" The young eunuch knelt on the ground to report.
The Empress Dowager breathed a sigh of relief. If he could still go see the Emperor, it meant his health was manageable. Presumably, he had gone to demand justice for his deceased maternal cousin of the Feng family.
"His Highness... His Highness went to petition the Emperor to revoke his title of Prince Zhuang and reclaim his fief!" The young eunuch sobbed bitterly. "On this servant's way to Kangning Palace, His Highness had already departed the capital by carriage!"
"What?!"
Blood rushed wildly through the Empress Dowager's veins, her emotions overflowing beyond control. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed directly to the ground, unconscious.
The commotion surrounding Prince Zhuang and the Feng family stirred up a storm of rumors across the capital.
It was said that the young master of the Feng family had fallen off his horse and died because he frequently abused the beast, driving it into a violent frenzy that ultimately threw him to his demise.
Meanwhile, Prince Zhuang's abrupt petition for the Emperor to strip his noble title and reclaim his fief allowed many imperial ministers to sense an unusual undertone.
"To think this cousin of mine would truly discard all of this," Chu Yi's face looked exceedingly grim. "Leaving the Empress Dowager, leaving the capital, and relinquishing his prince's title and fief... I fear he will not live much longer."
Indeed, he should not go on living either.
To extend his life up until now at the cost of hundreds of palace maids, letting so many innocent people perish within the deep palace—he truly deserved death ten thousand times over.
Yet Chu Yi also knew full well that none of these atrocities were Chu Rui's wish; they were entirely orchestrated by the Empress Dowager.
Cheng Xu stepped forward, whispering in a low voice, "Her Highness Concubine Yin has dispatched Xiao Lizi over again."
The corners of Chu Yi's lips curved upward: "Arrange a few people to receive Xiao Lizi, and intentionally let slip the news regarding that woman."
Cheng Xu scratched his head: "If this news reaches the Yun family, I fear..."
"Which is why I shall go inform her first," Chu Yi rose to his feet. "The green crystal brought back earlier—has it been packed?"
This was a fine treasure he had brazenly begged his Imperial Father for. Gifting it to Yun Chu in a moment would surely win a radiant smile from her face.
However, before he could even step out the doors of the Prince's Manor,
Eunuch Gao from the palace arrived: "Your Highness, His Majesty requests your immediate presence! The Empress Dowager wept until she fainted in the Imperial Study, so Your Highness had better proceed with caution."
Chu Yi rolled up his sleeves: "Eunuch Gao, pray look—I suffered an injury in the palace and am on my way to have my pulse taken. I shall enter the palace to seek forgiveness at a later hour."
To express his apologies, he stuffed a purse of money into Eunuch Gao's hands, then mounted his horse and rode away.
Eunuch Gao was left entirely dumbfounded on the spot.
Prince Pingxi had slaughtered seven or eight people in the Empress Dowager's palace, and the Empress Dowager even accused Young Master Feng's death of being connected to Prince Pingxi, weeping and complaining before the Emperor with tears and snot.
Did Prince Pingxi truly still have the mind to go attend to other matters?