The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort

le? I am a prince, what are you doing?” Xuan You was filled with fear.
The two men advanced on him and then, a blood-curdling scream was heard.

* * *

In the capital, on the second day of the wedding celebration of the Langzhong, Zuo Jiang, the entire city was buzzing with rumours.
On the one hand, some were saying that Zuo Langzhong appeared to be a good man who placed great importance on human relationships and righteousness, but one should really never judge a book by its cover, as he secretly possessed some disgusting obsessions, such as being fond of enjoying his wife together with outsiders.
In this world, there was nothing really wrong with men having secret obsessions, but this wife was his di wife, and to toy with her this way was immoral.
On the other hand, it was also rumoured that Zuo Langzhong was willing to be cuckolded by his own wife, since he neither divorced his wife, nor made trouble for that lecherous prince.

Because of this situation, Jiang Li was unable to lift her head in the capital.
Like a bird startled by the twang of the bow, she stayed in her room the whole day, not daring to go out.
The Langzhong fu’s servants all looked at her with peculiar expressions, and there was no need to mention Zuo Jiang, who beat and scolded her at the slightest pretext.
Her daily life was extremely difficult.
Moreover, Jiang Quan had flown into a terrible rage due to this situation concerning Jiang Li.
The imperial ministers all glared at him with contempt, and the Imperial Censors had even presented a petition to the Emperor accusing Langzhong fu of being a debauched place, while also conveniently accusing Jiang Quan of not having properly educated his children.

If it could be said that all of this was already shocking enough, then what came next caused an even larger uproar within the capital.
This was due to Xuan You’s death.

Xuan You had died in his own fu, and in the entire place there was not one person left alive; all of them had died a violent death by a single stroke of a sword.
Furthermore, Xuan You had suffered a more wretched death because his body had been chopped into pieces and his severed head had vanished without trace.
If it had not been for the clothes and official seal on the body, no one would have guessed that it was Xuan You.
Such a ruthless and brutal means of killing caused people to conjecture that it must have been Xuan You’s enemy coming to enact vengeance.
The patrol station had already appointed people to investigate, but unfortunately, they had made no headway in the case.

Third Prince, Xuan You, had been a tyrant.
He had used his status as a prince to oppress the citizens of the capital, and had ruined a considerable number of daughters and daughters-in-law.
He had long since been the target of scorn, a passing rat who was yelled at by everyone.
When the news of his demise reached the ears of the common people, everyone was full of praise and celebration, for it felt as if an evil aura had been expunged.
However, because Xuan You had collected so many enemies, no one knew who had perpetrated this crime.
Thus, in this way, Zuo Jiang, as the person whom Xuan You had greatly embarrassed just a few days before, became the biggest suspect.

Zuo Jiang was in a bind.
With Xuan You dead, Imperial Consort Chen already suspected him of being behind it.
Since she was a vicious person, when she publicly expressed her dissatisfaction, it was difficult not to become anxious about some unexpected retribution from her.
Because he was the biggest suspect, his every movement was being monitored, and several pairs of eyes were always staring at him in secret.
How could he dare to act rashly? Aggrieved, and without recourse, life was suffocating.

When Jiang Ruan finally heard about these matters in the capital, she was somewhat startled.
She had stayed at the Jinying Wangfu overnight and so Xiao Shao sent a letter to the General fu to explain that Jiang Ruan had been tricked by someone and was now resting in his fu.
To outsiders, he let it be known that Jiang Ruan had returned to the General fu to visit Zhao Guang and his wife.
The Jinying Wangfu did exceptionally well at keeping secrets, and thus, no one discovered the truth.

Listening to Tian Zhu’s report, Jiang Ruan thought to herself that, in the capital, apart from the Jinyi Guard, no one else could have pulled off, or would have dared to pull off, such a grandly overt killing of a prince of the realm.
This kind of violent method which made a clean sweep of everything was very much in keeping with Xiao Shao’s disposition.
Naturally she had not intended to let off Langzhong fu or Xuan You, but Xiao Shao acted first, and it had to be said that his quickness of action saved her much inconvenience, and also enabled her to release her anger and frustration. But, would it bring him trouble?

Jin Yi and Jin Er, and Jin San and Jin Si, sat in a tree not far away observing Jiang Ruan.
The situation at Langzhong fu had put Xiao Shao on high alert, and it was clear that Tian Zhu alone was not sufficient.
Xiao Shao had given orders that Jiang Ruan was to be tightly protected for the next few days.

Jin Yi and Jin Er had been the ones to carry out the complete massacre[2] at Third Prince fu the day before.
They were killers, and bloodlust ran deep in their bones.
However, Xiao Shao had personally settled Xuan You.
A hundred and eight sword cuts, each cut as deep as bone, and Xuan You was only allowed to die after the final cut.
The Jinyi Guard had no lack of torture methods, but the coldness in Xiao Shao’s eyes the previous night had caused even his most hardened personal guards to shudder.

[2] 片甲不留 (pian jia bu liu) – lit.
not even a single piece of armour remaining.

In recent years, Xiao Shao had mellowed considerably, and to see him display such a murderous intent was very rare.
Before Xuan You had finally died, he had experienced the world’s most painful torture; it could be said that it was his honor to die by Xiao Shao’s hands.

Jin San fiddled with her hair as she said, “Master has recalled Ye Feng; does he want to use him again?”

Since that time three years ago when Ye Feng had been sent to Yi Bao Pavilion, Xiao Shao had ceased to use him, and everyone knew that it was because Ye Feng had committed a big blunder.
He had almost caused the future Young Furen and Young Master to become estranged- as distant as fire and water- so for Young Master not to have cut him off completely in anger was already considered highly benevolent.
In that case, for him to start using Ye Feng again was truly very baffling.

Jin Si frowned and said, “I think it’s better not to use him, Ye Feng is too stupid.” Although Jin San and Jin Si looked alike, their personalities were vastly different, so it was easy to tell them apart even when they wore the same clothes.
Jin San was full of grace, while Jin Si abounded in heroic spirit.
Jin Si and Ye Feng had never gotten along, and Jin Si did not want Ye Feng to carry out tasks for Xiao Shao again.

Propping up his head in his hands, Jin Er said, lazily, “This time, Ye Feng has been given a great assignment.”

“What assignment?”

Jin Er smiled and said, “To deliver a big gift to Imperial Consort Chen.”

* * *

Today the atmosphere in Si Meng Palace was very strange.
It was not at all like it was in former days, where whispers of love and ecstasy intertwined like smoke tendrils of frivolity and watoness; now a sense of fretfulness seemed to hover in the air.
This was because the usually dainty and sweet-tempered lady who occupied the main seat was currently impatiently tossing to one side the scroll which she held in her hand.

“Imperial Consort, the clothes made yesterday have arrived,” said a palace maid as she offered up a small box with both hands.

The Imperial Household Department was most diligent in sending clothes to the Si Meng Palace.
Everyone knew that, within the palace, Imperial Consort Chen was practically sacred, the most favoured, and thus everyone was exceedingly attentive to her.
Today was no different.
The palace maid had spotted the box when returning to the main hall, and had assumed a subordinate had sent it over.

On seeing the box, Imperial Consort Chen’s expression took a turn for the better.
She commanded the palace maid to bring it forward, then gently opened it.
It was an ordinary action, but she abruptly exclaimed, “Ah!” The box in her hand fell to the ground with a clear sound.
A round object rolled out, leaving a trail of glistening red behind.

Not understanding what was going on, the palace maids and eunuchs looked down and almost screamed when they caught sight of the object.
The object in the box was nothing else but the severed head of the recently killed Xuan You!

Xuan You’s face was fixed in an expression of fear and fury; the mouth was open wide, as if he had suffered terribly before dying.
The head had been severed neatly at the neck, which was all bloody, but the face was very clean – it seemed someone had painstakingly washed it.
Xuan You’s eyes were glaringly large, gazing intently at Imperial Consort Chen.
Imperial Consort Chen turned as white as a sheet and almost fainted.

“Imperial Consort, please spare my life!” The palace maid knew that she had committed a great crime and hastened to kneel down and kowtow.
All the palace maids in the Si Meng Palace rushed to kneel down in a flurry of rustling skirts as Imperial Consort Chen called out sharply, “Lao[3] Chen, Lao Chen!”

[3] 老 (lǎo) – prefix used before the surname of a person to indicate affection or familiarity; lit.
old (of people) / venerable (person).

Eunuch Chen hurried in and turned pale in fright when he saw the object on the ground.
He quickly bent down to pick it up and put it back in the box, before glaring at the palace maids and barking, “Withdraw!”

The palace maids beat a hasty retreat.
Imperial Consort Chen took a gasping breath, looked at Eunuch Chen and said, “Lao Chen, it’s him, it is definitely him.” There was a rare anxiety in her voice.

Eunuch Chen had been her maternal family’s servant whom she had brought to the palace.
From the time she had entered the palace, he had risen in the ranks from a low level palace eunuch to his current status.
He was Imperial Consort Chen’s most trusted aide and confidant.
Eunuch Chen knew all about the situation with Jiang Ruan, and although he did not approve of his young lady’s thoughts about Xiao Shao, Eunuch Chen would leave no margin for error in helping Imperial Consort Chen make a clean sweep of the obstacles in her path.

That Jiang Ruan had escaped was a disaster, but Xiao Shao was no pushover, as was clearly seen from today’s incident.
She had known for some time that Xuan You’s death was his doing, but she had not realised until now that Xiao Shao had reached this point of being without any scruples, that he dared to openly send the severed head of a prince of the realm to her. Was this a warning, or a sign?

Imperial Consort Chen stared fixedly at the box in Eunuch Chen’s hand.
Out of the blue, she laughed heartily and said, “He actually wants to oppose me! He actually dares to risk the world’s condemnation to set himself up against me!” She ground her teeth, and the madness in her eyes gradually faded, until she was once again her ice-cold and beautiful self.
However, if one looked closely, one could see the jealousy and scorching heat within.
She whispered, “All right, since he wants to do things this way, don’t blame bengong for being merciless. Bengong wants to see how far he is willing to go for that woman!”

Eunuch Chen’s lips moved, but he did not say anything.
Imperial Consort Chen glanced at him and said, coldly, “You know what to do with the palace maids who were present.”

Silence them before the news leaked out. Eunuch Chen bowed, and replied deferentially, “This servant will take care of it.”