Consort Shu’s suspicions deepened, but the Third Young Lady of the Vice Minister’s Residence had not said a word for so long. She merely sat there in a daze, tears streaming down her face. The palace maids and eunuchs who had been arranged to carry out the frame-up had also abruptly fallen silent.
Her gaze swept over everyone present. Quite a few noblewomen and officials were now looking at her with probing eyes. If she pressed any further, it would only make her seem deliberately vindictive and beneath her dignity.
She therefore cast a meaningful glance at the trusted palace maid at her side. “In that case, we shall do as Heir Shen suggests and summon the imperial physicians. I would like to see just how Heir Shen proves his innocence!”
Before long, two imperial physicians hurried over carrying medicine chests, sweat beading on their foreheads. After paying their respects, they first took Shen Ji’s pulse at Consort Shu’s signal.
The senior imperial physician had barely placed his fingers on Shen Ji’s wrist when he furrowed his brow, his expression growing increasingly grave, with a look of extreme bewilderment. The sight left everyone around them scratching their heads. The old imperial physician hesitantly withdrew his hand. The other imperial physician also stepped forward to take the pulse, then likewise retreated to the side with a baffled look.
On the way over, they had more or less learned what had happened. The two imperial physicians exchanged a glance, and only then did the elder one step forward with a troubled expression, bow to Consort Shu, and reply in a voice tinged with uncertainty and caution:
“To report to Consort Shu… Heir Shen… his pulse is faint and floating, weak of force, and the heart meridians have been severely damaged. This is a congenital deficiency, compounded by repeated blows to the mind and spirit. On ordinary days he must guard against violent fluctuations in emotion, and, above all… he must not engage in intimate relations between man and woman, as it could easily trigger heart palpitations, endanger his life… and shorten his natural span.”
The old imperial physician’s words were like cold water dropped into boiling oil, exploding through the crowd in an instant! Everyone’s gaze turned in unison toward Shen Ji, their eyes filled with disbelief, astonishment, and a hint of indescribable sympathy.
He couldn’t engage in intimate relations between man and woman? Then didn’t that mean… the matter of the young lady of the Shi family had nothing to do with Heir Shen at all? With that frail body of his, which a gust of wind could knock over, the slightest stir of excitement would likely finish him off before anything else could even begin.
Everyone secretly thought to themselves: to say that Heir Shen had taken liberties with her was simply absurd.
Suppressed whispers rippled all around. More than a few noble ladies instinctively hid their faces behind round silk fans, their eyes darting back and forth.
The smile on Consort Shu’s well-preserved face froze completely, her nails nearly digging into her palm. She had never expected Shen Ji to use his frail body itself to break the trap, shaking off all suspicion so cleanly.
The old imperial physician then carefully examined the young lady of the Shi family as well, and only then reported, “This young lady’s pulse is disordered… a sign of excessive fright. There is nothing else wrong with her body.”
Just then, a young official in a crimson brocade robe stepped forward nervously from the crowd, his voice tinged with tension: “R-report to Your Ladyship… your subordinate… had drunk a few cups too many just now, and when I stepped out to relieve myself, I seemed… I seemed to see a young master in an indigo robe hurrying this way…”
At these words, the crowd erupted once more. Now the truth was laid bare… it must have been that blue-robed young master who had taken liberties with the young lady of the Shi family.
Consort Shu’s chest heaved violently, a stifling rage lodged in her heart, unable to rise or fall. Their meticulously laid chain of schemes had turned into a joke after all… Shen Ji had come through completely unscathed.
She stared hard at Shen Ji’s calm, unruffled face, wishing she could tear it to shreds. In the end, she could only clench her teeth and say coldly, “So it seems, then, that it was that criminal in the indigo brocade robe who startled Third Young Lady Shi. Investigate at once! You will drag that criminal out for me and give the young lady of the Shi family justice!”
With that, unwilling to remain a moment longer, she swept away in a flurry of sleeves, followed by her trusted palace maids and eunuchs.
The assembled guests exchanged glances, each harboring their own thoughts, and gradually dispersed back to the banquet.
When the Deer Cry Banquet ended, Shen Ji left the palace safe and sound.
Prince Duan, Consort Shu, and Vice Minister Shi had all failed in their scheming. Each choked back a bellyful of rage, yet there was nothing they could do.
The night was black as ink, making the oppressive atmosphere inside the study of Prince Duan’s Residence even heavier.
Zhao Sheng stood with his hands clasped behind his back before the window, his face dark and grim. Below him, a group of trusted advisers held their breath and concentrated, not daring to make a sound.
“A deadly poison like Lanruo Powder, plus this prince’s strongest squad of shadow guards… and Shen Ji emerged without a scratch? The shadow guards this prince cultivated with boundless effort… now not even a single corpse can be found. They have vanished without a trace.”
He whirled around, his eyes blazing with barely suppressed fury and deep apprehension. Shen Ji was definitely not the frail Heir he appeared to be!
“Your Highness,” the blue-robed adviser at his right hand stepped forward, steeling himself, “there is indeed something strange about this matter. Your subordinate repeatedly searched the area around the side hall and found no trace of anything suspicious. Either Shen Ji is concealing his martial skill… but the two imperial physicians examined Shen Ji’s body today… so it must be that a mysterious expert is aiding him behind the scenes!”
The adviser’s voice was tinged with shock and suspicion. “But in the capital, no such figure has ever been heard of. Duke Zhenguo’s Residence might have such capability, but its shadow guards could never have pulled it off so cleanly. Besides, His Majesty keeps that residence under strict surveillance… it should not be their doing.”
Zhao Sheng’s eyes turned dark and sinister as his left hand unconsciously stroked the jade thumb ring. “A mysterious expert…”
A nagging unease that something was slipping beyond his control crept into his heart. Shen Ji… that sickly weakling he had never once taken seriously… had become the greatest variable and obstacle in his grand enterprise, unfathomably deep.
“Investigate!” Zhao Sheng slammed the table hard. “Investigate at any cost for this prince! Find out every person Shen Ji comes into contact with! And the movements of Duke Zhenguo’s Residence. Keep a hawk-eyed watch on the Pingyang Marquis Residence and Duke Zhenguo’s Residence for this prince… report at once if anything stirs!”
“Yes!” The guard promptly acknowledged and hurried out.
…
Inside Zhongcui Palace, candlelight flickered.
Consort Shu’s chest heaved violently, her beautiful face twisted with rage as she glared at the several trembling palace maids and eunuchs kneeling on the ground, fire nearly shooting from her eyes.
“Useless! A pack of useless wretches! You all went mute at the critical moment? What do I keep you for?!”
The servants wept with tears and snot streaming down their faces, knocking their heads like pestles pounding garlic as they wailed, “Your Ladyship, please see clearly! Your servants do not know what came over us either… it was as if we had suddenly been frozen solid, our minds a complete blank… By the time we came to our senses, the crowd was already dispersing! We would never dare defy Your Ladyship!”
Consort Shu had already been harboring doubts; hearing this, she found it all the more bizarre. She immediately ordered a trusted matron to slip to the Imperial Medical Institute and fetch an imperial physician she could rely on. After the examination, the result was the same as Third Young Lady Shi’s.
She suppressed the shock in her heart, but her fury ultimately prevailed. She gave a harsh order on the spot: “Drag them out! Fifty strokes of the board for each one! Beat them hard for me!”
Soon, the dull thuds of the boards and cries of agony drifted in from outside the hall. Consort Shu massaged her aching temples, her suspicions growing greater than ever. Shen Ji… what on earth had he done? This matter must be reported to Sheng’er at once. This Shen Ji was by no means as simple as he appeared.
…
At Vice Minister Shi’s Residence, Shi Mingyuan sat in a grand armchair, his face so dark it could drip water.
Not only had he failed to remove Shen Ji through Prince Duan’s and Consort Shu’s hands, he had instead forfeited a concubine-born daughter who had been carefully groomed for a marriage alliance! On top of that, he had wasted the Lanruo Powder he had gone to such trouble to obtain from the southern frontier.
Shen Ji had actually managed to escape unscathed from the double killing move of Lanruo Powder and Prince Duan’s shadow guards, and the frame-up intended as a backup move had been thrown off even more cleanly.
The butler hurried forward and presented a secret report.
Shi Mingyuan irritably opened the confidential letter, his gaze sweeping rapidly across it. The expression on his face first turned even colder, then gradually relaxed and softened considerably.
The confidential letter said that Second Master Yan Li of the Yan family had been secretly investigating the Vice Minister’s Residence all this time and had uncovered how the Wu family had driven people to their deaths by lending out usurious loans. Today, Yan Li had gone to the Capital Prefecture to file a complaint. Reading this, Shi Mingyuan could not help snorting derisively… Lord Liu, the Capital Prefect, was on very close terms with him, so the outcome was already predictable. Yan Li, overestimating himself, wanted to use a complaint to the Capital Prefecture to move against him… he was only courting humiliation.
The other confidential letter concerned the Yan family of Jiangnan. Although the Yan family wielded great influence in Jiangnan, starting with the old family head, Yan Huai… that is, Yan Shu’s grandfather… the Yan family members had generally seldom entered officialdom, mostly devoting themselves to teaching and nurturing students. After their disciples left White Deer Academy, apart from New Year and holiday greetings and visits, they ordinarily had little contact with one another.
Shi Mingyuan clutched the letter paper, the nerves that had been taut all day finally relaxing as he slowly leaned back into the chair.
“So that’s how it is… a century-old tradition of upright scholars, a family steeped in books… when all is said and done, they are nothing but a bunch of pedantic literati, ignorant of the ways of the world and knowing only how to bury their heads in books! They actually dream of toppling me with such methods? How naive!”
The wariness he had felt toward the Yan family had now largely dissipated. A family with no foundation of real power in the capital, possessing nothing but empty prestige… even if it had produced a top scholar, what waves could it possibly stir?
A guard hurried in again to report that after Yan Shu left the Deer Cry Banquet, he had gone straight back to the Yan family’s Orchid Garden in the capital, and the guards of the Pingyang Marquis Residence were no longer at his side.
Shi Mingyuan pondered silently, uncertain whether Shen Ji had a hand in the Yan family matter.
After a moment’s deliberation, he instructed the butler, “Prepare a generous gift and send it to the residence of Lord Liu, the Capital Prefect. Say that this official thanks him for handling matters impartially and maintaining the peace of the capital.”
Shi Mingyuan narrowed his eyes like the cunning old schemer he was. He decided to hold back and wait for the time being, watching the fire from the other shore… once Prince Duan had dealt with Shen Ji, it would not be too late to make his move.
“Next, Prince Duan’s counterattack will probably not be so simple…” he muttered to himself, a cold, ruthless curve lifting the corner of his mouth.