Chapter 223
With half a month left until the Longevity Festival, in the original plot, the festival was also the focal point of the plot’s climax.
So Chu Lishu had to make a lot of preparations. The first and most important task was to help the Fourth Prince improve his reputation, so that his public image could overshadow Yuan Ye’s. This would create direct conflict between Empress Cheng and Concubine Mei.
With Imperial Concubine Huang and Concubine Pei gone, Concubine Mei had officially taken over the management of the harem, and the Phoenix Seal had been entrusted to her care.
Compared to Imperial Concubine Huang, who had a strained relationship with the Emperor, the arrogant and foolish Concubine Pei, and the Empress Cheng, who was just a sister-in-law, Concubine Mei not only had the Emperor’s favor but also conducted herself with great reason and propriety in all aspects. She was a concubine whom no one could find fault with externally. Moreover, given her father, Prime Minister Li’s prestige in the court, her momentum was unmatched.
As trusted confidants, Chu Lishu and Lin Qingyang both knew the prowess of this woman. After all, she was someone who had been ruthless enough to harm even her own son to achieve her goals.
This time, the Fourth Prince’s faction heeded Chu Lishu’s proposal to showcase the Fourth Prince’s prowess during the Longevity Festival. Naturally, this would start with the education of the Fourth Prince. Under Chu Lishu’s tutoring, the Fourth Prince had indeed grown rapidly. However, to demonstrate intelligence beyond his age, he would need to work even harder.
So, in the last half month, the Fourth Prince entered a period of intense studying. Initially, the curriculum set by Chu Lishu was reasonable, allowing for breaks amidst the hard work, and there was no situation of overburdening. Sometimes Lin Qingyang truly felt that Chu Lishu treated the Fourth Prince like a younger brother, genuinely teaching him rather than trying to exploit him.
However, Concubine Mei thought they didn’t dare to be tough on the Fourth Prince. Even if the Fourth Prince studied for a day and returned to rest, he was still forced by Concubine Mei to continue studying. He was only allowed to sleep for two hours a day. This made the Fourth Prince cry and complain every day, and it also caused Concubine Mei to overlook matters concerning the Emperor.
The Emperor didn’t say much about Concubine Mei’s emphasis on the Fourth Prince’s studies. After all, he now had Concubine Xu, whom he enjoyed more. Perhaps due to his frequent discomfort and the many distressing events he had experienced recently, the Emperor needed this gentle and peaceful companionship more than ever. The more they interacted, the more the Emperor felt that Concubine Xu resembled Concubine Liu, and the more he liked her. However, Concubine Xu had a gentle and low-key personality and always complied with Concubine Mei, making it difficult for her to attract attention.
On this particular day, Xu Wenze seemed unusually happy when he arrived, with smiles all over his face. Compared to his previous demeanor, which was burdened with worries and sorrow, he seemed like a completely different person.
Lin Qingyang asked curiously, “Is something good happening?”
Xu Wenze smiled and replied, “You’ll find out in a few days.”
Seeing Xu Wenze’s mysterious demeanor, as if he had some surprise in store, Lin Qingyang became even more curious.
As they were talking, the Fourth Prince ahead started crying.
Chu Lishu frowned as he watched the Fourth Prince, but he didn’t speak to comfort him. On the side, the martial arts instructor wore an anxious expression.
They were taking the Fourth Prince to the palace guard station to help him understand the basic guard situation inside the palace.
“I don’t want to, I’m so tired. Why do I need to know these things? I’m a prince, not a guard,” the Fourth Prince whimpered.
The martial arts instructor hurriedly coaxed, “Your Highness, understanding the palace defense is to help you better grasp the concept of defense in military tactics. Since you cannot leave the palace, we cannot take you to the military camp to learn. This is the simplest way. It’s just to take a look, nothing troublesome.”
“I don’t want to, I don’t want to…” The Fourth Prince refused to listen, continuing to cry out.
The martial arts instructor could only look helplessly at Chu Lishu. Now, everyone knew that Chu Lishu was the real authority figure beside the Fourth Prince.
Lin Qingyang understood that if the Fourth Prince cooperated, Chu Lishu would patiently teach him. But if he kept crying and fussing, Chu Lishu would lose patience.
Moreover, Chu Lishu had a purpose in going to the guard station, and he wouldn’t let the Fourth Prince’s behavior delay their plans.
Xu Wenze had already stepped forward to coax, and Lin Qingyang thought for a moment before leaning close to the Fourth Prince and whispering, “Your Highness, would you like some candied haws?”
The Fourth Prince immediately stopped crying and looked at Lin Qingyang.
Lin Qingyang chuckled. He had once brought candied haws from outside the palace for the Fourth Prince, and the little one had taken a liking to them. In order to appease the child, the kitchen in the palace had learned how to make them.
“As long as Your Highness behaves, you’ll get to have some when we return,” Lin Qingyang coaxed.
The Fourth Prince immediately looked pitiful. “I want to eat it right now.”
It seemed that food was the motivating factor.
Lin Qingyang nodded with a smile. “Alright, Your Highness, you go with everyone first, and I’ll go get it for you immediately. We’ll see the guard post, okay?”
This time, the Fourth Prince nodded in agreement.
Normally, such tasks could be delegated to eunuchs or palace maids, but now that the Fourth Prince was a high-priority protected individual, anything entering his mouth had to be handled with care.
Lin Qingyang bid farewell to Chu Lishu and Xu Wenze before leaving.
Arriving at Chui Xue Palace to fetch the candied hawthorn, he occasionally saw Concubine Mei’s personal maid passing by. He intended to greet her, but she looked grave and hurried, not even noticing him, and disappeared from the corner.
Lin Qingyang wondered what urgent matter could be at hand. Suddenly, a thought struck him.
【Main Mission 2, Mission 17: Help the male lead to split the Li-Xu alliance.】
Lin Qingyang’s footsteps halted, almost dropping the candied hawthorn from his hand. His expression turned grim in an instant. Then, he immediately turned around and dashed in the direction where the maid had disappeared.
The Li-Xu alliance… Wasn’t that the alliance between Prime Minister Li and Duke Wei Guo?
Once again, the system seemed to be playing with people’s lives by issuing such a mission.
In the original plot, the triggering event to dissolve the alliance was… the death of Xu Wenze’s sister, Xu Guiren, and it was even a double tragedy.
Suddenly, Lin Qingyang remembered Xu Wenze’s smiling face today. So that’s it, they’ve reached this plot point. Xu Guiren must have been pregnant, and upon learning this news, Concubine Mei was ready to strike first. After all, she had worked so hard to get to this point, how could she allow any accidents to happen?
Yuan Ye, in the eyes of outsiders, is not the emperor’s son, so everyone has always felt that his position as heir is unstable. Now, the Fourth Prince is the hot favorite for succession. At such a critical moment, they can’t afford to have one of their own turn against them.
Normally, the emperor’s favor towards Xu Guiren could be tolerated, but Xu Guiren was not supposed to get pregnant, at least not until the future of the Fourth Prince was secure. If she did get pregnant, the already unstable alliance between the two families would inevitably collapse, causing many to have other ideas. Moreover, the incident when the Fourth Prince was attacked at Duke Wei Guo’s residence long ago was still a thorn in Concubine Mei’s heart, so she was even more unwilling to let Xu Guiren slip out of her control.
Concubine Mei was always a cautious and ruthless person, so she wouldn’t hesitate in such matters. After all, they had a deep sisterly bond most of the time, and no one would suspect her intentions.
But in the original plot, the male lead still discovered the clues. He felt that everything was going according to his plan, so he watched as Concubine Mei schemed and witnessed Xu Guiren’s tragic fate. At that time, Duke Wei Guo, deceived by the Prime Minister, mistakenly believed it was orchestrated by the Cheng family. Taking advantage of the weakened position of the Cheng family, the male lead revealed the truth to Xu Wenze and provided evidence, then watched as both sides clashed.
Now… he couldn’t be sure if Concubine Mei’s people were planning to act today, but he couldn’t overlook any possibility. If not today, then he would discuss with Chu Lishu later on how to best alert Xu Wenze.
Xu Wenze was their friend, and Xu Guiren was an innocent woman. This was something Lin Qingyang absolutely couldn’t stand idly by.
Perhaps in the future, Chu Lishu would definitely cause this alliance to split. After all, since the incident of the assassination attempt on the Fourth Prince at Duke Wei Guo’s residence, he had already planted the seeds of suspicion between the two sides, laying the groundwork early on.
But Chu Lishu had never used Xu Wenze to poison the emperor before, and this time, he would certainly not exploit Xu Guiren’s death either.
With these thoughts in mind, Lin Qingyang had already started running. If it was really today, he would pretend to accidentally stumble upon it. After all, Concubine Mei hadn’t informed them in advance, so it wouldn’t be considered betrayal. At most, it might cause some displeasure, but it wouldn’t raise suspicion.
Though Lin Qingyang immediately gave chase and reached a secluded garden, he ultimately lost sight of the maid. Anxious, Lin Qingyang debated whether to find an excuse to visit Xu Guiren and confirm her whereabouts.
Then, he passed by a pond near the garden.
In Lin Qingyang’s mind, the nerves suddenly tightened.
In the original plot, wasn’t Concubine Xu the one who fell into the water in the deserted garden?
Lin Qingyang felt uneasy in his heart, unable to help but glance sideways at the quietly frozen lake surface, suddenly his pupils contracted.
Near the shore, a large crack unexpectedly appeared in the ice, and bubbles were slowly emerging.
Lin Qingyang’s heart raced as he hurried over to take a look, and he saw a graceful figure slowly sinking inside.
Lin Qingyang was greatly alarmed and immediately shouted for help several times, hoping to attract the attention of people nearby. Then, he immediately jumped into the lake to rescue the person.
When he caught Concubine Xu, she was already in a state of uncertainty, and Lin Qingyang quickly led the rescue effort upstream. To speed up, he exerted all his strength.
Having finally hoisted the person onto the ice surface, Lin Qingyang found that the surrounding ice had already been shattered, leaving no points of support. The shore was too high, and both of their clothes had become too heavy with water. Lin Qingyang could only support Concubine Xu, barely clinging to the slippery stones at the edge, submerged in the icy water.
Lin Qingyang didn’t have time to attend to himself, quickly checking on Concubine Xu. To his relief, Concubine Xu coughed up water on her own and struggled to open her eyes, as if trying to see something. Lin Qingyang had initially thought of her as a delicate woman, but it seemed she was incredibly resilient in the face of death.
“Lin…”
“Concubine Xu, hang in there. Help will come soon. I have some medicine here for you to take!”
If things continued like this, Concubine Xu’s fragile constitution wouldn’t be able to withstand the cold for long. The child might not even survive, and there was a risk of losing both of them if they weren’t careful. Lin Qingyang had to use all the medicines available in his system. He also needed to take some warm medicine himself, or else he’d definitely develop some health issues from the cold.
Concubine Xu glanced at Lin Qingyang a few times, probably starting to believe that he was genuinely trying to save them. She then obediently took the medicine.
And as expected, his mission displayed a failure, causing his points to plummet straight down to 1200.
That’s just how the system’s flawed judgment worked. Even if later on, following Chu Lishu’s revenge plan would still lead to their separation, if critical plot points were disrupted, it would be deemed a direct failure. Sometimes, the success or failure of a mission really danced on the line of morality.
However, this time Lin Qingyang accepted his failure willingly. As he watched Concubine Xu’s face no longer pale, gradually stabilizing, at least her life was saved. As for the child, it was now up to fate.
Lin Qingyang continued to shout for help, but no one came.
Concubine Xu quickly fell into unconsciousness, and Lin Qingyang felt his strength gradually fading. He could no longer cling to the wet, slippery stones. If things continued like this, both of them would sink, and he had no choice but to keep shouting for help.
“Heh…” Suddenly, a light chuckle echoed, and a figure appeared on the shore.
Lin Qingyang was about to feel relieved, but when he looked up, he was instantly shocked. “Chief….. Steward Ning.”
Ning Ziheng’s face bore a contemptuous smile. “I heard someone shouting for help. So, it’s you. This is…”
Lin Qingyang had to make the most of a bad situation. “Chief Steward Ning, please save her. This is Concubine Xu, who is currently highly favored, and she’s pregnant. If you save her, the Emperor might reconsider and reinstate you.”
Ning Ziheng raised an eyebrow, sneering. “Is that so? But I seem to recall that my downfall has something to do with you all as well.”
“I haven’t done anything, please don’t misunderstand,” Lin Qingyang said, despite being soaked in cold water, he was sweating profusely.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. The Emperor no longer trusts me anyway. But your situation is quite interesting. If you both die here, it might be seen as a scandal of illicit affair meeting a tragic end. Then your cousin will also be implicated. That would actually be beneficial for me. It’s quite convenient. However, you can continue shouting for help. But it seems like there’s no one around here. They’ve probably been deliberately moved away,” Ning Ziheng said with a sinister smile, as if he were interested in watching them die.
Lin Qingyang kept shouting for help, but there was no response. He finally had to face the reality that Ning Ziheng had become the one controlling their fate.
At this point, Lin Qingyang could no longer keep both of them afloat. He could only struggle to tread water, keeping their noses barely above the surface.
“Since you can hold on for so long, your endurance to the cold is quite remarkable,” Ning Ziheng remarked, somewhat surprised. “Let me remind you, in your situation, unless one person steps on the other for leverage, neither of you can get out. Concubine Xu probably won’t wake up. So why don’t you use her as a stepping stone to get out?”
Lin Qingyang cursed inwardly at Ning Ziheng’s perversion. “Chief Steward Ning, as long as you save us, you can name any condition!”
“But I don’t want anything. You should be grateful. Not harming you further is already my mercy,” Ning Ziheng said with a smug smile.
Damn it! Isn’t there any possibility of bargaining or threatening with this kind of pervert?
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Lin Qingyang. Ning Ziheng was most curious about Yuan Ran’s affairs, but that was definitely not something to mention. Otherwise, perhaps…
“Chief Steward Ning, I know some secrets about Qi Ci that you don’t. If you want to hear them, save us,” Lin Qingyang said.
With those words, Ning Ziheng’s expression indeed changed, and he involuntarily took a step closer.
But soon, he stopped and smirked, “Why should I believe you? You might have never even seen him.”
At this point, Lin Qingyang couldn’t hold on any longer. “Won’t you take a chance? If you miss this opportunity, you’ll never…”
Lin Qingyang suddenly lost his footing and sank. Just as he struggled to swim again, a hand reached into the water and grabbed his collar.
Lin Qingyang’s face lit up with joy as he quickly leveraged himself up.
Ning Ziheng’s expression remained stern as he pulled up both of them. About to speak, he heard voices approaching from a distance.
Ning Ziheng’s voice turned cold. “You go first. I’ll find you. If you dare to deceive me, I’ll take your life.”
Lin Qingyang understood Ning Ziheng’s implication. As an outsider, if he were found with a concubine in the water here, it would be difficult to explain, and they could easily be manipulated by Concubine Mei and others. So, it was better for him to avoid the situation altogether.
Lin Qingyang quickly got up and fled in a sorry state. Before leaving, he heard Ning Ziheng shouting that a concubine had fallen into the water.
Finally back at the Wenbo Pavilion, Lin Qingyang had just changed his clothes when he heard the sound of the door opening and hurried footsteps. The next moment, Chu Lishu appeared before him with a cold expression.
“Lishu, you…” Lin Qingyang barely had time to speak before Chu Lishu embraced him tightly.
“Lin Qingyang, you… why do you always have to scare me like this? Can’t I keep you by my side?” Chu Lishu exerted great force, as if he wanted to embrace Lin Qingyang so tightly that he would break in half.
Lin Qingyang exclaimed, “How did you find out so quickly? Surely not everyone knows, right? Will it affect my and Concubine Xu’s reputation?”
“You fool, you even care about reputation! Who allowed you to risk your life for others?” Chu Lishu said angrily, but he was helpless. He knew that no matter how many times he told Lin Qingyang, he would still do the same thing. He couldn’t do anything about Lin Qingyang, only feel anxious and angry.
Listening to the familiar ‘say and forget’ apology method from Lin Qingyang, Chu Lishu could only furrow his brows and pinched Lin Qingyang hard, then quickly asked with concern, “How’s your body? That was an icy lake, and you… why haven’t you soaked in hot water yet?”
“I took some medicine, and the water beneath the icy lake isn’t actually that cold. It’s just the process of running back that’s cold. Tell me about the situation outside.”
“Everything’s fine outside. It’s said that Ning Ziheng encountered Concubine Xu accidentally falling into the water and rescued her. Now the physicians are consulting.”
“What about you…”
“I saw the candied fruits at the lakeside and Ning Ziheng hinted that he would come find you later, so I knew what good deed you had done!” Chu Lishu said, then hurriedly prepared a medicinal bath, forcing Lin Qingyang to soak in it.
As Lin Qingyang bubbled in the hot water, Chu Lishu finally relaxed and asked, “What exactly happened?”
Lin Qingyang quickly explained the sequence of events, including deceiving Ning Ziheng. “What should I do? I tricked him, and if he finds out he’s been deceived, he’ll definitely want to kill me even more.” Lin Qingyang didn’t mention anything about Qi Ci in the original plot, so he definitely doesn’t know any secrets.
As they were talking, suddenly his door was kicked open.
“Lin Qingyang! Come out and fulfill your promise!”
Ning Ziheng had arrived.
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