Chapter 106: Madam's Crushing Defeat

"A death!"

These words fell like thunderclaps on everyone's eardrums. Whether genuinely terrified or merely feigning it, all present abruptly rose to their feet, faces etched with shock.

"Who died?" The first to speak was Second Madam.

Second Madam could not stop trembling. She fixed her gaze on the young Daoist acolyte, desperately trying to read the answer on his face. She struggled to compose herself, her nails digging into her palm.

"Speak!" As if unable to wait for the acolyte to open his mouth, she urged him harshly again, even threatening to charge down the stairs.

Though only a few seconds had passed, she felt as though the acolyte was deliberately stalling.

"It is the Fifth Prince." The acolyte knelt on the ground, weeping.

His voice was choked with sobs.

But the scene fell silent.

Second Madam stood frozen in place.

Everyone present had initially assumed the deceased was Cheng Zhao, hence their earlier expressions—whether shock, surprise, or schadenfreude—had all been performed accordingly. Now, each person seemed to lose their bearings for a moment.

Then, the reaction came flooding in like a tidal wave.

Consort Dou's face drained of color, her voice even more shrill than Second Madam's: "Who?"

Grandmaster Yang's immortal and detached demeanor vanished. His cheek seemed to twitch violently: "The old Daoist... the old Daoist will go see what happened. Where?"

He yanked the young acolyte to his feet and strode downstairs in long, hurried steps.

He wanted to get ahead and inspect the matter with his own eyes. If there was anything to intercept or control, he would act first to prevent it.

Consort Dou shrieked frantically behind him: "Impossible! It can't be Hong'er! He was clearly..."

Grandmaster Yang quickened his pace, and the crowd stumbled and staggered after him, all rushing toward the bamboo grove.

Second Madam was about to hurry after them, but Zhou Yuan Shen pulled her back: "Mother."

"Ah Shen, what happened?" Second Madam asked him urgently, her tone frantic. "What happened? Where is Zhaozhao?"

"Mother, just let things unfold as they will. But speak as little as possible," Zhou Yuanshen said.

He released Second Madam's hand. "Walk slowly."

Zhou Yuanqi then took Second Madam's arm: "Mother, let's go together."

Zhou Yuanshen glanced at his younger brother, gave him a nod, and strode off to catch up with the Dowager Madame. Second Madam and Zhou Yuanqi were left at the rear, with even the maids, servants, and stewards rushing ahead of them.

They had barely entered the bamboo grove when they saw a thin mist, and a person was screaming hysterically.

Daoists and guards tried to restrain her, but she raved like a madwoman: "Stay away! I'm not afraid of evil spirits! You won't kill me!"

She brandished a short dagger, swinging it wildly in all directions, her hand dripping with blood. No one could get near her.

The right side of her face was covered in blood—whether her own or someone else's, no one could tell.

It was Sun Zhiya, the daughter of the Qingyuan Hou Mansion, and the Fifth Prince's betrothed.

Everyone felt dizzy at the sight.

And the Fifth Prince, Helian Hong, lay collapsed on the ground nearby, blood gushing continuously from his neck, soaking his clothes completely.

His eyes were wide open. He did not move.

Grandmaster Yang disregarded the blade in Sun Zhiya's hand, took a cut from her knife, and moved forward to pin her down.

In the struggle, his movements were perhaps too forceful, and her hair came loose.

Huan Qingtang saw Grandmaster Yang remove a wooden hairpin from Sun Zhiya's head. But she quickly averted her gaze.

Consort Dou knelt before her son, gently touching his face. She felt only stiffness under her hand, and then her eyes rolled back as she fainted.

Chaos erupted in full force.

Another young Daoist ran over and said to Zhou Yuanshen: "Lord Duke, something has happened to your wife."

Zhou Yuanshen hurried forward with the Daoist.

Second Madam wanted to follow, but Zhou Yuanqi held her back, preventing her from moving.

It was utter pandemonium.

This Daoist ritual became the talk of the capital for a long time.

The Fifth Prince was dead, Sun Zhiya had gone mad, and the Duchess, Cheng, had been bitten by a venomous snake.

The Dowager Madame sat in Shou'an Courtyard, her face ashen. Nanny Sun, afraid she might faint, kept soothing her and patting her back.

She could not speak.

The Dowager Madame had arranged this ritual. She had enlisted Grandmaster Yang's help to make Cheng Zhao lose face in front of Consort Dou.

Then, the Dowager Madame would put on an act and go weep before the Empress, complaining that Cheng Zhao had disgraced the Zhou family and even implicated the household. The Emperor, hoping to placate her, would order Zhou Yuanshen to take a secondary wife, thereby continuing the family line through a dual marriage arrangement.

By then, neither the Cheng family nor the Guo family would have a right to object.

As long as they did not oppose the dual-marriage arrangement, opposition from other court officials would be far weaker, and the Emperor could override everyone and grant the marriage by imperial decree.

Grandmaster Yang was skilled in arranging formations.

In the bamboo grove formation, if someone wore his talisman while within the array, the concentrated malevolent energy within the formation would afflict them within an hour, clouding their mind.

It might cause confusion for a day or two.

"At most two days. Usually, they can wake up and slowly recover, becoming no different from normal," Grandmaster Yang had said.

The Dowager Madame had thought: "As long as her mind is clouded, she must take medicine."

And what medicine entered the Zhou household was hardly beyond the Dowager Madame's control.

Whether Cheng Zhao stayed confused for a day or two, or dragged on for a month or two, all depended on the Dowager Madame's progress with the dual-marriage arrangement.

She had full faith in Grandmaster Yang.

Nanny Sun was not as convinced: "Is he truly that powerful? If so, how could His Majesty the Emperor tolerate his presence?"

The Dowager Madame replied: "He is a transcendent being beyond the mortal world; the Emperor admires him rather than opposes him. Since he says it can be done, it must be true."

Nanny Sun then said: "Since she can be confused for a day or two, why not make her completely insane? Let her die from madness in two years, and that would save you trouble."

The Dowager Madame responded: "That is possible, but I fear the Cheng family would not let the matter rest. If she falls ill for half a month, the Chengs will surely find a way to intervene. She is already inside the household, and making her suffer is not difficult. First, secure the imperial decree for the dual marriage. Later, we can still toy with her like a little monkey, just for amusement."

The Dowager Madame even thought that having Cheng Zhao mad for a while would work in her favor; killing her outright was disadvantageous, as they needed someone to restrain Huan Qingtang.

Look at the Eldest Madam Song—lacking competition, she had regressed in her ways, which disappointed the Dowager Madame deeply.

To make Huan Qingtang excellent and obedient, Cheng Zhao was the leash to restrain her. The Dowager Madame saw no need for Cheng Zhao's death.

But at this critical juncture, she needed her to contribute to the dual-marriage scheme.

Inviting Consort Dou was a suggestion she had made to the Emperor, and the Emperor had helped make it happen.

Consort Dou's presence at the Chongyang Temple was merely to bear witness: the Duchess had gone mad, and the Zhou family needed a new Duchess.

What no one expected was that the Fifth Prince would die.

And that he would be killed by a maddened Sun Zhiya.

The dagger had belonged to the Fifth Prince himself; he normally wore it as an ornament.

Why had Sun Zhiya gone mad?

The Dowager Madame recollected the earlier incident: Sun Zhiya had bumped into Cheng Zhao, and Cheng Zhao seemed to have tugged at her hair bun. In that single motion, had she switched the hairpin?

Or had Grandmaster Yang's "talisman" been mistakenly handed out from the start?

The Dowager Madame did not know.

Sun Zhiya had killed a prince. How this crime would be sentenced, the Dowager Madame could not say. But she knew this matter would not be easily settled.

Regardless of the law or imperial authority, the Sun family was about to face ruin.

The Sun family was her maternal family, the family she had always championed. Every woman, beyond her husband's household, was also defined by the excellence of her birth.

The "birth family" was part of her social standing, and a crucial part.

"Dowager Madame, please don't be too angry. You must recover quickly and make plans for the Qingyuan Hou Mansion," Nanny Sun said in a low voice.

Sun Zhiya was likely beyond saving.

The Chongyang Temple would also be implicated.

For murdering a prince, the entire Qingyuan Hou Mansion would be...

To save himself, Grandmaster Yang might even reveal what the Dowager Madame had confided in him.

The Dowager Madame became so agitated that she choked and coughed up blood.

Nanny Sun’s face turned deathly pale: “Dowager Madame, Dowager Madame, please don’t frighten this old servant. Lie down quickly and ease yourself.”