That evening, Nan Shiying received a letter from Nan Chaoyin.
It instructed her to secretly go to the Nan residence.
As it neared midnight, Nan Shiying changed into a set of night-blooming clothes and scaled the wall, leaving the royal residence.
Jia Huan saw a dark figure vault over the wall and silently averted his gaze. In his peripheral vision, another figure flashed by, a fleeting glimpse revealing a figure that seemed to be His Lordship, tall and upright.
Jia Huan lowered his head, looking at his toes.
It was one thing for the Consort, but why was His Lordship not using the main gate?
In Nan residence, study.
“Your subordinate Qing Yuan, greets Master.”
Nan Shiying knelt on the ground, not rising until Nan Chaoyin spoke.
She heard the sound of pages turning. When Nan Chaoyin didn't speak for a long time, the silence seemed to be brewing a storm. Nan Shiying feigned nervousness, not daring to look up and glimpse Nan Chaoyin's expression, but vaguely felt a probing gaze from her right rear.
There was someone else in the study.
Nan Shiying remained composed, fully immersing herself in the role of Qing Yuan, her slightly bent back seeming to exude a hint of trembling.
“Qing Yuan!”
After a long while, Nan Chaoyin's voice came from above.
Nan Chaoyin looked at Qing Yuan kneeling before the desk, his gaze dark, making it impossible to discern the emotions hidden deep within his pupils. His low voice contained no anger, but it exuded a suffocating pressure, like an impending storm.
Nan Shiying trembled at the opportune moment and slowly raised her head: “Master!”
“We haven’t seen each other for many days, yet Qing Yuan’s complexion seems to be getting rosier.”
“Master, your subordinate…”
“Oh, I almost forgot. Looking at your face so often, I almost mistook it for your real face. I’ve almost forgotten what you truly look like. Come, take off the mask on your face!”
Nan Shiying’s heart sank slightly. What did this old bastard mean? Was he suspicious of her identity?
Seeing Nan Shiying hesitate, Nan Chaoyin placed his hands on the desk, leaning slightly forward, a hint of fierceness coloring his brow: “What, do you intend to defy me?”
“Your subordinate dares not!”
Nan Shiying raised her hand, fumbling for the join behind her ear, and removed the human skin mask from her face, revealing Qing Yuan's face.
Fortunately, she had previously raided the Jade Faced Gentleman's stash and obtained all the human skin masks he possessed. Otherwise, she might have had to fight her way out of the Nan residence today.
Nan Chaoyin examined Qing Yuan’s face carefully, his fierceness gradually receding: “Alright, you may rise!”
“Thank you, Master!”
Nan Shiying stood up, not reattaching the mask but holding it in her hand.
“Tell me, what has been happening in the royal residence recently?” Nan Chaoyin asked.
Nan Shiying recounted recent events, of course, with three parts truth and seven parts falsehood. After all that had happened, this old bastard hadn’t asked her to report before. Now, for the sake of Nan Yuan’er, he was willing to let her risk leaving the royal residence. She wondered how much of his affection stemmed from paternal love and how much from her value.
“You mean, Ji Jinmo is truly gravely ill?”
Nan Shiying had found an excellent excuse for the existence of ‘Feng Luan,’ though it wasn’t entirely a lie. Ji Jinmo was indeed gravely ill, but not with sickness, rather with poison.
She nodded, her expression solemn: “Your subordinate has only heard rumors, but I do not know the specific severity of the illness or whether it is curable.”
She didn’t need to provide an explanation; Nan Chaoyin would fill in the blanks himself.
Nan Chaoyin appeared thoughtful, harboring no suspicion of Nan Shiying’s statement. After all, with her current identity as the Nan residence’s lady, earning even a little favor from Ji Jinmo was difficult. If she had provided concrete and complete information, he would have had to consider whether the information was intentionally leaked by Ji Jinmo as a probe for Qing Yuan, or if Qing Yuan had been swayed and betrayed him.
He nodded, no longer dwelling on this piece of news.
When Ji Jinmo led troops to raze the Ministry of Justice’s celestial prison for Feng Luan, he and His Majesty had already harbored suspicions. Now, they had merely confirmed those suspicions.
What concerned him more were the rumors and the poisoning.
“What do you think about the recent rumors circulating that ‘a woman in power will bring disaster to the nation’?”
Nan Shiying said, “Master, your subordinate was just about to mention this matter!”
“In the past few days, as public opinion has subtly shifted towards Nan Shiying, Ji Jinmo sent people to investigate secretly and found traces of your efforts to smear Nan Shiying on behalf of Miss. It is because of this that Ji Jinmo told me about the matter. During his investigation, he coincidentally discovered some clues. He suspects that this entire affair was orchestrated by Yu Chengxuan of Da Li in order to marry Miss.”
Yu Chengxuan?
Before hearing this name, Nan Chaoyin had not considered him at all. He had always believed that the conspiracy targeting Yuan’er and even the Nan residence was the work of His Majesty or Ji Jinmo. He had not expected a Seventh Prince of Da Li to emerge from this.
However, upon reflection, at the palace banquet that day, this Seventh Prince of Da Li had indeed shown an intention to marry Yuan’er.
So, was this matter truly instigated by Yu Chengxuan to marry Yuan’er, and the poisoning… by His Majesty?
No, that was incorrect.
If it were His Majesty, the poison would have been potent!
Given Yuan’er’s fate, even if His Majesty abandoned the idea of marrying her due to the rumors of ‘a woman in power,’ he would never let Yuan’er marry someone else. Therefore, if she did not ascend to the position of Empress, Yuan’er’s only fate would be death.
And what poison did Yuan’er contract? It was a poison that induced a false death, not fatal, merely causing a state of suspended animation. Would His Majesty, out of love for Yuan’er, want her to fake her death and enter the palace under a different identity? If His Majesty truly favored Yuan’er, he would not have remained unmarried until now. Therefore, the only person who would want to create the illusion of Yuan’er’s death was…
The Seventh Prince of Da Li, Yu Chengxuan.
Yuan’er feigned death, Yu Chengxuan stole the corpse.
Even if Yuan’er’s body was lost in the end, would His Majesty and he truly make a fuss over it?
No, certainly not.
A dead person was far from having such value.
So, he was making contingency plans?
If His Majesty, due to the rumors, bestowed Yuan’er upon him, that would be the best outcome. If His Majesty refused, then he would have spies hidden within the Nan residence continue to administer poison, causing Yuan’er to enter a state of false death, and then steal the corpse to leave the capital.
Good, a truly excellent scheme.
If he hadn’t received this news from Qing Yuan, he wouldn’t have been able to guess, no matter how hard he tried, that this entire affair was orchestrated by Yu Chengxuan.
The opponent’s reach was truly long, extending all the way to his residence. Good, truly good!
Seeing Nan Chaoyin’s increasingly somber expression, Nan Shiying inwardly sneered. She knew that even if she had only told three parts, this old bastard would definitely be able to extrapolate ten.
This pot, Yu Chengxuan would have to carry it whether he liked it or not.