Chapter 289: Chapter 290 - Meet at Night

Many people couldn’t sleep well this night.

Not only in the imperial palace, the side hall of the back yard in the mansion of Duke of Yan was still brightly lit at this hour.

Song Yixiao received the rose syrup from Jinxun and took a sip. After she wiped her lips with her handkerchief, she asked with a frown, “The crown princess changed the plan all of a sudden? Was she fooled by the subordinates?”

“The crown princess can even cause the crown prince to become unconscious easily in the Eastern Palace. Who can fool her in something so significant?” Yuan Xuepei shook his head slightly and added, “I am afraid that she got suspicious. On top of that, she got suspicious at this time, not earlier or later, and we were caught off guard.”

Song Yixiao was surprised to hear that. “She got suspicious? Why?”

“If I knew it, why would I come to see you at night?” Yuan Xuepei smiled. “Even Prime Minister Gu is confused. After the morning audience today, we discussed it for a long time but couldn’t figure out why, so they had to tell me to visit you and ask you to go to the Eastern Palace to ask the crown princess.”

He added, “Prime Minister Gu has said that although he doesn’t know what the crown princess is suspicious of, he thinks that she must trust you and Xubai.”

Song Yixiao understood what he meant. She and her husband had personal hatred toward Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao. Although Yuan Xuepei had also offended Prince of Wei and his wife because he defended Jiang Muting, he was a man and didn’t have kinship to the Eastern Palace, so he couldn’t meet the crown princess alone.

She pondered for a moment and then suggested, “How about I go to the Eastern Palace and ask to see the crown princess tomorrow?”

After Yuan Xuepei nodded, she couldn’t help but inquire about her husband as she missed him. “My husband has been in the Palace of Xuanming to serve His Majesty for three days. How is he now?”

“The empress is alert to him. He just served His Majesty to take medicine once when he arrived. The empress found excuses to prevent him from getting close to His Majesty’s bed these days. When she was really busy, she would rather let her trusted maid replace her than let Xubai do the job.” While speaking, Yuan Xuepei sneered. “The empress did so. We don’t know whether it’s because she was afraid that Xubai would harm His Majesty or harm him at an hour when she didn’t hope.”

Song Yixiao leaned her head and pondered for a while. Then she asked, “Did Minister Jin and the others find anything about His Majesty’s sudden illness today?”

“Of course not.” Yuan Xuepei shook his head. “Since His Majesty started to rest quietly, the servants are still almost the same people. If we want to ask why His Majesty’s condition suddenly worsened, of course we need to ask these people besides the royal doctors. However, both the empress and Grand Princess Daiguo said that these people should take care of His Majesty and can’t leave. How would Minister Jin and the others dare to force them? So they just sat for a while in the side hall of the Palace of Xuanming and asked some irrelevant eunuchs and maids. Then they had to say goodbye and leave the imperial palace.”

“It’s all that they got after a whole day. What can they get in the following two days?” Song Yixiao couldn’t help but say, “So it’s pointless that Prime Minister Gu set a deadline. He just waits for His Majesty to make a decision after waking up.”

Her last words should be understood in the opposite way. He just waited till Emperor Xianjia couldn’t sustain himself. A country should be ruled by the emperor. Then they would fight to death.

Yuan Xuepei chuckled. “Although the crown princess changed the plan at the last minute, Qiu Shuxia and the others might not have gained something in the Eastern Palace. Otherwise, it couldn’t have been peaceful today, right?”

Song Yixiao thought that it was true, yet it just ended in a draw at most. If they were in a stalemate all the time, nobody knew when it could be settled.

Next Yuan Xuepei didn’t have anything else to say, so he didn’t stay for long. He said goodbye and left sneakily at night.

Next morning, Song Yixiao came in a carriage to the gate of the Eastern Palace.

The crown princess had been alarmed repeatedly last night and stayed awake all the time. Thinking that Qiu Shuxia and the others would probably come again today, she was afraid that others couldn’t cope with them, so she forced herself to get up and told a maid to dress her up. Hearing that Song Yixiao had come, she was surprised and ordered in a hurry, “Invite her in now!”

After a while, Song Yixiao was led to the drawing room and somebody served tea for her. She sat for a moment, and then the crown princess who was dressed up came in haste with Shiwan. “Yixiao, why did you come in person?” She looked around and waved the servants away. Then she asked in a low voice, “Does Xubai get some information?”

“Your Highness!” Song Yixiao got up and bowed to her before saying, “My husband didn’t send a message to me, but Prime Minister Gu and the others were confused about your actions yesterday, so they told me to ask you. Did you find anything?”

The crown princess’ face darkened after she heard that. She waved her hand and told Jinxun and Shiwan to go out and guard at the door and window before she whispered, “Prime Minister Gu just said that? He didn’t say anything else, for example, telling me what to do next?”

Song Yixiao didn’t understand. “In fact, Marquis Boling sent a message to me last night. He just said that they didn’t know why you changed the agreed plan, and they are in a panic now. They thought that you are always smart and wouldn’t be fooled by others, so you must have found something wrong and took actions before telling them. However, they are unclear about what happened here. As a result, they have no idea how to cooperate with you.”

“It’s my fault.” Because of Jian Xubai, the crown princess didn’t suspect Song Yixiao. The problem was that she couldn’t reveal that it was her idea to put poison in the medicine that Han Ji served, so after pondering for a moment, she sighed. “His Majesty is in a coma all the time, and His Highness is laid up, too, so all people in the Eastern Palace are restless these days, and I am not an exception. Moreover, Zhongling is still young, and I am afraid that there will be something wrong with him after His Majesty and His Highness had accidents. Then how can I stay alive? As a result, I am worried about everything and didn’t expect that Han Ji…”

While speaking, she looked astonished and angry, gritting her teeth. “That bi*ch was once a maid in the imperial palace and it’s her honor to take care of His Highness. I have never expected that she didn’t cherish the chance but even poisoned His Highness when I didn’t notice her.”

Song Yixiao’s heart pounded, and she asked in surprise, “What? His Highness is really poisoned?”

When Yuan Xuepei saw her last night, he talked about another accident in the Eastern Palace this day. The crown prince was poisoned by Han Ji. Song Yixiao guessed the same as Gu Shao and the others, thinking that the crown princess played a trick to make the crown prince continue pretending to be poisoned. She finally knew that the crown prince was really harmed.

Not to mention that Emperor Xianjia was still unconscious, even if he was fine and could make decisions, no matter how much he favored his eldest son, could he bring the crown prince back to life once the young man died before him?

So at this thought, Song Yixiao felt scared and got surprised as the crown princess didn’t look like an incapable woman. Why did she give somebody a chance to harm the crown prince at the critical moment?

However, she heard the crown princess’ explanation. “Han Ji was the most obedient among the concubines who served His Highness, so when I was not free, I told her to feed medicine to him. I thought that since she was His High Highness’ woman and would depend on him in the future, she should try her best to serve him, but unexpectedly, she was treacherous even though she looked loyal. If I didn’t go to His Highness’ bed in advance that day because a young eunuch reported that Qiu Shuxia and the others would reach the Eastern Palace soon, I…His Highness…”

Seeing that the crown princess had the brocade handkerchief in her hand and shed tears, Song Yixiao hurriedly comforted her. “Your Highness, don’t be sad. Fortunately, His Highness is lucky and God helps him. How is he now?”

“The royal doctors said that his foundation might be ruined!” The crown princess sighed and wiped her tears. “Fortunately, he is alive.”

Song Yixiao had just seen the crown prince on royal occasions and had never talked with him in private, so she naturally didn’t have feelings for this heir to the throne. After hearing that his life was not in danger, she heaved a sigh of relief and then asked, “Is his foundation ruined seriously? Can the medicinal materials such as ginseng and ganoderma improve his health?”

The crown princess knew that Song Yixiao asked that mainly because she wanted to know if the crown prince could deal with state affairs like a normal person in the future. Otherwise, it was like the saying that even if Emperor Xianjia, the most powerful backer of the Eastern Palace woke up, he should consider whether his eldest son in poor health could bear the weight of the whole country, Great Rui.

Emperor Xianjia didn’t dare to reveal the fact that he was ill those years, and he delayed it, being in poor health for a long term of many years. Wasn’t it because he was afraid that some people would suggest him “resting well and paying most attention to his health”?

“Yixiao, thanks for your concern. The royal doctors said that he would recover after recuperating for three or five years. After all, he is in good health since childhood.” The crown princess knew that this question was related to the crown prince’s future and his followers’ confidence in him, so she added at once, “In fact, if that bi*ch weren’t so vicious as to use the deadly poison, His Highness wouldn’t be like this. It’s detestable that nobody knows who ordered the bi*ch and she committed suicide by biting her own tongue when I was busy telling people to save His Highness.”

While speaking, she sighed. “Now I will let Qiu Shuxia and the others investigate this matter. I don’t know what they will find.”

Song Yixiao asked about the crown prince’s situation, and the crown princess answered every question. When Song Yixiao thought that she got almost all the information she needed, Shiwan in the outer room coughed in a low voice and raised her voice to remind, “Your Highness, Minister Qiu and the others came again and said that they had something to ask you.”

“Your Highness, I won’t disturb you.” Song Yixiao got up and bade farewell after hearing that.

It was improper to tell a guest to stay in the Eastern Palace now, but the crown princess still walked with Song Yixiao to the door. Seeing that the visitor went away, she turned around and went back to the room. “When I talked with Yixiao, I shed tears and messed up the make-up. Come and help me dress up again.”

Song Yixiao returned to the mansion of Duke of Yan. As soon as she entered the gate, a servant reported to her that Marquis Boling had been waiting for her in the front yard for a while.

“Ask him to go to the small drawing room in the back and tell him that I will come after getting changed.” Song Yixiao was clear that they apprehended danger in every sound as the situation was tense these two days, so she was not surprised when Yuan Xuepei was so anxious. While ordering, she walked into the inner room.

After a long while, she changed into home clothes and came to the drawing room under Jinxun’s support. As expected, Yuan Xuepei couldn’t wait to ask as soon as he saw her. “What’s up?”

“As the crown princess said, it was Han Ji’s fault, and she was caught off guard.” Song Yixiao glanced at the leftover tea next to his hand and told a servant to bring a pot of hot tea. After the servant went out, she added, “But I always think that there is something wrong.”

Yuan Xuepei pondered. “I have seldom seen the crown princess and know little about her, and Prime Minister Gu is almost the same, so please give me instructions, Your Highness.”

“You are modest.” Song Yixiao took a sip of warm water and then explained, “In fact, I have seen the crown princess for only a few times, yet you said last night that the empress told her trusted maid to replace her when she left because she was alert to my husband, while the crown princess has a trusted maid Shiwan next to her. However, she gave the job to take care of the crown prince to his concubine Han Ji, and it is surprising.”

After all, to a man’s wife, her personal maids were more trustworthy than her husband’s concubines.

Moreover, considering the personal interests, Fangyu and Shiwan were unwilling to betray their masters, nor could they afford to because the future of themselves and their families were closely related to the empress and crown princess.

By comparison, even though Han Ji was always obedient, how could she be more reliable than Shiwan? The crown princess was not stupid. How would she make such a mistake at the critical time?

Yuan Xuepei frowned and pondered for a moment. Then he stated, “I will tell Prime Minister Gu what you said. Thanks for going, Your Highness.”

“We are in the same boat, and don’t stand on ceremony.” Song Yixiao nodded slightly. “One day and night has passed. Did Minister Jin find something new? Especially Prime Minister Gu, did he tell you a solution?”