Su Peisheng smiled ingratiatingly, careful not to overdo it.
“Your Majesty, you give this servant far too much credit. How could I possibly know who did it?”
The Emperor glanced up at Su Peisheng, then set down his cup.
Su Peisheng bent even lower at the waist. “If Your Majesty insists on asking this servant, I can only guess. Two selected maidens are staying at the Zhen Residence, yet only one maid was killed. The difference between a selected maiden and a maid is so great that no one could mistake one for the other. So the culprit probably wasn’t targeting a selected maiden. This may have been an accident.”
“An accident?”
The Emperor rolled the beads in his hand, a chill in his eyes.
With the face Zhen had been born with, and the fact that trouble struck just after she was chosen as an imperial consort, could it really have been an accident?
Su Peisheng was an old fox; he was becoming ever more tactful.
“You’re getting better and better at serving me.”
Su Peisheng didn’t dare accept the remark. Putting on a troubled expression, he explained, “Your Majesty, Lady An has only just arrived in the Capital City and hardly knows anyone. Surely she doesn’t have an enemy who’d come after her? Aside from an accident, this servant really can’t think of anything else!”
“Lady An?”
The Emperor looked utterly bewildered.
Seeing that the Emperor had misunderstood, Su Peisheng thoughtfully filled him in on the details.
“Lady An came from out of town, and Mistress Zhen invited her to stay at her home. The incident took place in Lady An’s room.”
The gloom in the Emperor’s eyes faded. With puzzlement tinged by indifference, he said, “How could anything happen to her when she was perfectly fine? Have the Court of Judicial Review investigate it thoroughly.”
Hearing the Emperor’s tone soften, Su Peisheng breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew after receiving his order.
The Emperor picked up the memorial again and read it carefully, perplexed.
It really was Lady An who had been involved, not Lady Zhen.
He calmly set down the memorial and picked up his brush to write on it. The ink flowed with just the right richness, as if he had never been angry.
News reached Jingren Palace just as quickly.
Shortly after breakfast, Jianqiu came to report.
“Your Majesty, word has spread throughout the palace. Someone tried to assassinate Lady An last night, but for some reason, only a maid was killed.”
“A maid?”
Yixiu paused while wiping her hands, her gaze instantly turning cold.
“I overestimated Nian Shilan. She can’t even handle such a small matter.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Yixiu tossed the hand towel to the floor.
Jianqiu immediately crouched to pick it up. Then she silently stood to one side, waiting for instructions.
Yixiu returned to the low couch and sat down, resting her head on one hand. Her expression was cool as she said slowly, “Never mind. We’ll talk about it after she enters the palace. There’s plenty of time. She’ll never escape this palace’s grasp.”
Jianqiu nodded in agreement.
It was also time for the imperial consorts to come pay their respects. Yixiu rose, took Jianqiu’s arm, and left the inner hall.
With Consort Qi at the head, nearly all the imperial consorts had arrived. Only Consort Hua was absent.
Yixiu glanced twice at the empty seat, showing no particular emotion.
The others were astute enough not to mention Consort Hua, and instead shared amusing tales from the past few days.
As the minutes passed, the conversation began to wind down and everyone seemed ready to leave, but Consort Hua still hadn’t arrived. Someone suggested they disperse for the day.
Yixiu glanced at the speaker and smiled.
“We’ll disperse after Consort Hua comes to pay her respects.”
They waited a little longer. Consort Qi grew impatient. “Consort Hua is becoming more and more ill-mannered.”
A simple session of paying respects, and she’d dragged it out until nearly noon!
No matter how displeased everyone was, Consort Hua didn’t care and arrived at her leisure.
Nian Shilan carried herself as if her tail were raised to the sky, yet Yixiu continued to smile warmly. When Shilan bowed to her, Yixiu even had the leisure to lift her teacup and take a small sip.
Nian Shilan bent at the waist a little, as if that counted as a proper bow.
“This concubine is late in coming to pay her respects. I hope the Empress will forgive me.”
After speaking, she raised an eyebrow and explained smugly, “Yesterday, His Majesty told the servants not to disturb me while I slept. So the maids and matrons really didn’t wake me today, making all my sisters wait for so long.”