Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 537 Closest to the Closest to the Most Distant

When Green Willow carried a cup of calming soup and walked lightly into the inner room, Meng Shu was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, resting.

"Your Majesty," Green Willow gently placed the soup cup on the small table beside her and couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "His Majesty clearly has doubts about the Empress, so why didn't he just grant the Consort's request and order a search of Renming Palace?"

"It's not that we don't want to investigate, it's just that the time isn't right yet."

Meng Shu explained slowly, “Renming Hall is the Empress’s main palace, representing the face of the Empress and the dignity of the nation. If we conduct a search without solid evidence, it will surely cause turmoil in the court and the harem, which will damage the Emperor’s wisdom. Although the Emperor has doubts, he needs to weigh the overall situation and cannot take such drastic action based on mere speculation.”

"Secondly, given what has happened today, the Emperor has placed the Empress under house arrest and sealed the palace gates, which is already a great deterrent."

If the search continues now, it will push the Empress to the brink. In my opinion, the Emperor is waiting—waiting for a legitimate opportunity, either until the Zhenbei Marquis case is settled, or until he makes a bigger mistake in the Renming Hall. What the Emperor wants is a decisive strike, not to alert the enemy.

"So that's how it is." Green Willow nodded in realization.

"This calming soup was prepared by Donggua at the request of the Imperial Concubine. The prescription was written by Physician He and Imperial Physician Jian. Your Highness, please have some. Your complexion still looks a bit pale."

Meng Shu took it, and after relaxing, she felt warm all over. She took a small sip, looked up at Lvliu, and said gently, "I'm not really hurt. You even did my makeup. But I saw Donggua looking so anxious that her face turned pale. Go and call her over. The three of us can talk and put her mind at ease."

"Oh, by the way, when Madam Yun entered the palace a few days ago, she brought with her a copy of the account book that Miss Baolian had made. It's in the secret compartment of the study. Go and get it."

Green Willow obeyed and quickly brought over a thin booklet. After handing it to Meng Shu, she turned and went to the small kitchen to find winter melon.

Meng Shu had already read through the contents of the account book. She flipped through the pages to the end, but she did not see the record about the flow of the Xiongnu tribute that the Emperor had mentioned.

'Could it be that Madam Yun received the news later and added them at the last minute?'

She stared at the copy in her hand, and suddenly everything became clear to her.

This copy of the account book, seemingly irrefutable evidence, actually has two fatal flaws: First, what is being circulated and promoted in the marketplace is a copy, without the seal of the Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion as proof. The Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion could easily claim that it was forged and framed by others.

Secondly, the account books only record monetary transactions, and there is no direct evidence to prove that Marquis Zhenbei himself knew about or instructed these dealings. He could easily shift all the blame to the Jiang family, claiming that he was kept in the dark and that the Jiang family was using his name to commit illegal acts.

However, the tribute did indeed pass through the hands of Marquis Zhenbei. Its appearance was like a decisive move on a chessboard, binding Marquis Zhenbei and the Jiang family together inextricably.

It must have been Madam Yun who was meticulous and secretly patched up this loophole before ordering people to copy and spread it.

In the past two days, Madam Yun should have already sent the news to Lin'an by express courier. Presumably, the people from the Marquis's residence are already on their way to the capital to escort Qin Baolian.

Once Meng Shu understood this, she couldn't help but secretly admire him.

The matter of the tribute was so closely guarded that it would have been impossible to uncover such evidence without an extremely thorough investigation into the hidden properties under the Jiang family and even the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion. This reveals the extent to which Tang Xian and Madam Yun had schemed against the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion. Their cunning and patience alone are truly astonishing.

......

Renming Hall.

Consort Yang and Consort Ye had just been secretly delighted to have come to Renming Palace to attend to the Empress's illness, as ordered by the Emperor, thinking it was a rare opportunity to show their faces. Unexpectedly, the palace gates of Renming Palace were heavily sealed off by the Imperial Guards the next moment.

The two of them were confined here together, and their initial joy instantly turned into panic and unease.

Overwhelmed with anger and exhaustion, the Empress collapsed back onto the bed, her eyes glazed over as she stared blankly at the ceiling.

Yang and Ye stood far away in the outer room, looking at each other with fear in their eyes. Neither dared to approach and risk trouble.

When Zhixue came in and sent them to the side hall, her face was full of worry when she returned to the inner room.

She whispered, "Your Majesty, it was Wei Ying who personally led people to guard outside the palace gates, saying that he was acting on the Emperor's strict decree, allowing entry but not exit. I tried to find out the reason just now, but he... he had a cold and hard expression and refused to reveal a single word."

"Wei Ying is the Emperor's confidant; his loyalty is naturally only to the Emperor." The Empress murmured to herself, her voice wavering and hollow. "These past few days... I haven't even had time to do anything yet, how did I end up in this situation in the blink of an eye? Zhi Xue, tell me... shouldn't I have stopped harboring delusions from the very beginning, shouldn't have continued to cause trouble...?"

Upon hearing this, Zhixue's eyes instantly reddened, and she choked out, "Your Majesty, what wrong have you done? If... if your first child had been born safely, the eldest prince who is now growing up healthy should be your legitimate son, and you would be the rightful empress of this harem."

A faint, bitter smile appeared on the Empress's lips.

Right and proper? In this deep palace, where is there any true legitimacy?

"I grew up in the southwest and returned to the capital with my father when I was thirteen." Her voice was very soft, as if she were telling a story that had nothing to do with her. "When I was fourteen, I met the Emperor outside the gate of the Duke of Qing's mansion in the winter."

The snow fell heavily that day, blanketing the entire capital in white. The image of the Ninth Prince emerging from the Duke of Qing's mansion was etched into her fourteen-year-old memory.

Later, she became a princess, and then she was crowned and entered the palace as his empress.

The Emperor bestowed upon her honor and dignity, but was stingy with his sincerity. She had once believed that everything would be different if she gave birth to a prince, but even that small hope was taken away by Heaven.

Otherwise, why would she need to resort to such a method...?

No, it's not heaven.

The emperor never expected her to have a child, and perhaps there were other hidden reasons behind her miscarriage.

She wasn't unaware of it.

Her father and brothers hold military power. If she gives birth to a prince, the influence of her maternal relatives will be at its zenith, which the emperor will absolutely not allow.

Just like the second prince born to Consort Chun, the emperor has always been indifferent to him, and his eyes have never shown any affection for him. On the contrary, he thinks about the eldest prince born to Consort Jin, who has no maternal family to rely on, and places high hopes on him every day.

It was not the will of Heaven, but the will of the ruler.

A cold glint flashed in the Empress's eyes as her fingertips silently traced her lower abdomen. "The highest and brightest sun and moon, the closest and most distant husband and wife. I used to only find these words poignant, but now I know they are stained with blood. The sun and moon in this deep palace have never warmed the hearts of men."

A chill crept into her eyes as she raised her hand and said calmly, "Go and invite Physician He over here."

......

At the Lin'an wharf, thousands of miles away, a gentle breeze stirs the river.

Inside an unassuming passenger ship cabin, a woman wearing a veiled hat sat silently. Guards sent by the Marquis of Lin'an, disguised as ordinary servants, stood watch outside the door.

This woman was none other than Qin Baolian, who had been missing for a long time. On the table in front of her, two account books were neatly arranged.

"Third Miss, this trip to Jinnan will take five days and nights by water. Our young master has already sent a letter to Magistrate Qin, and someone will be there to meet you."

Qin Baolian responded softly, took a slow breath, carefully put the account book into her bosom, and hid it close to her body.

From the day she left Yuzhou, she was no longer a woman of the Jiang family.

At the same time, in a secluded valley 500 miles away from the capital.

Madam Zhou and Zheng Shan's group had been lying in ambush here for three whole days. The mountain wind blew through the gaps in the forest, carrying a chill that seeped into the bones, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the narrow official road below.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves grew louder as they approached, and a procession appeared at the end of the road.

The leader was none other than Marquis Zhenbei, who had been ordered to return to the capital. His sharp eyes swept across the silent forests on both sides. His intuition, honed by years of warfare, allowed him to sense an unusual atmosphere in this deathly silence.

On the cliff face, Zhou Niangzi stared intently through the gaps in the branches and leaves at the "Chiang" flag fluttering in the wind, her gaze gradually hardening.

She held her breath and exchanged a glance with Zheng Shan beside her.

"coming."