Chapter 128: Breaking the Deadlock

The people of the Second Branch returned to the Crimson Clouds Courtyard.

Everyone was silent.

“...It’s late. You should go rest. Yuan Qi, you’ll sleep in the inner warming chamber,” said Second Master.

But Second Madam said, “Don’t go, don’t go!”

The fear she had been holding back suddenly surged up, and she began to tremble.

Cheng Zhao stepped forward and firmly wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Mother, it’s over. We’ve escaped this calamity.”

Second Madam looked at her in panic. “He killed that imperial physician without a second thought! If—if there hadn’t been this man, he would have killed Yuan Qi, or you!”

Whether it was hatred or lingering terror, tears welled in Second Madam’s eyes.

She knew nothing of Doctor Feng’s secret.

In that moment, she had been utterly at a loss for how to untangle the situation, convinced that Zhou Yuanqi was about to be framed for plotting against Mu Jiang’s unborn child.

And Cheng Zhao would have been implicated as well.

But she hadn’t expected Cheng Zhao to simply ignore the “lip balm” and instead insist that Doctor Feng was the culprit, using his connection to Consort Dou and his past misdeeds to shift the blame for the incident.

Thank heaven for her quick wit.

“Thank goodness we brought in this Doctor Feng; he bore the brunt of the Emperor’s wrath. Otherwise, what would you have done?” Second Madam said, inhaling deeply.

Cheng Zhao replied, “Mother, Grandmother knew full well that this man had improper ties to the Consort, yet she insisted on summoning him. Perhaps he was the backup plan she had prepared all along.”

The Dowager Madame had also feared losing control of the situation.

After the Fifth Prince’s death, Consort Dou had become the Zhou family’s formidable enemy. Naturally, her connections within the Imperial Medical Institute had to be eliminated.

Thinking more deeply, every imperial physician who took Mu Jiang’s pulse had reported her condition to the Dowager Madame. And skilled physicians might well have discerned the gender of the child in Mu Jiang’s womb.

Perhaps the Dowager Madame had long known that Mu Jiang was carrying a girl, and that the fetus was weak.

So then...

—Where, then, was the true stage for this play?

As Cheng Zhao delved deeper, she felt as though she had plunged into total darkness.

Could people truly be so wicked?

Or was she merely projecting her own suspicions onto others?

Second Madam leaned heavily on Cheng Zhao, unable to calm herself for a long while.

Zhou Yuanqi remained uncharacteristically silent.

Blood makes one grow up fast—faster than any lecture ever could.

It was his first time being caught up in schemes and conspiracies, and he understood that “silver-tongued eloquence” was useless; he needed to be like his sister-in-law—planning ahead and staying composed in a crisis.

“Mother, sometimes during midsummer, there are thunderstorms with fierce winds and lightning. I find them frightening too. But I can’t stop them, and they always pass quickly,” Cheng Zhao said.

Zhou Yuanshen glanced at her.

Second Madam took her words to heart. She seemed to gather all her strength and cast aside her lingering fears.

She was the elder. It was her duty to spread her wings and shelter her children. How could she afford to be weak at a time like this?

What was there to fear?

What use was regret?

As Cheng Zhao said, the most critical moment had passed, and the Emperor was not coming back to kill anyone.

Second Madam straightened up and smoothed Cheng Zhao’s collar. “It’s late. You’re tired, too. Go rest. We’ll talk after we’ve had some sleep.”

Then she looked at Zhou Yuanshen. “Go on.”

The young couple left. The servants laid out bedding in the warming chamber, and Zhou Yuanqi went to sleep. Only then did Second Master and his wife lie down.

Neither felt the least bit sleepy, but neither spoke.

In the darkness, Second Madam thought, “If the Emperor ever dared to point a sword at my children, I would kill him!”

And after killing him?

Would her entire clan have their heads chopped off?

At that thought, Second Madam turned over, her back to Second Master.

Then she turned again.

By the time she had turned for the fourth time, Second Master gently took her hand. “Don’t blame yourself. You did well.”

He understood her.

She didn’t need to say a word; he already knew.

“Not well at all!”

“You didn’t say a single unnecessary word. You kept your temper under control, and you even managed a few fake tears. Being able to swallow your pride for the sake of your children—that takes true courage,” Second Master said.

Second Madam gave a bitter laugh.

From the warming chamber, Zhou Yuanqi’s voice chimed in: “‘Conquering others takes strength; conquering oneself takes true might.’ Mother, overcoming your impulsive nature and staying silent was indeed an act of extraordinary courage.”

Second Madam chuckled despite herself. “You really do know how to read and how to talk.”

Her mood lightened considerably.

And so, she drifted off to sleep.

In the Verdant Blossom Courtyard, the young couple lay awake, but they had changed into nightclothes and were resting to conserve their energy.

In the darkness, Cheng Zhao spoke. “Lord Duke, was it discreet of you to leave the Capital Garrison?”

If the Dowager Madame caught hold of evidence that he had slipped through the city gates in the middle of the night, she would not let him off easily.

The Emperor valued Zhou Yuanshen—on the condition that he acted prudently.

If he violated the law, the Emperor would abandon him without hesitation. After all, Zhou Yuanshen was merely a blade; even if the Emperor regretted it, he would still discard him.

“I never went to the Capital Garrison,” Zhou Yuanshen said.

Cheng Zhao turned her head toward him. “Then you left the estate because of the concubine’s matter?”

“I prepared for both scenarios. I had someone cause trouble at the garrison and expelled two troublesome commanders—one was a member of the Guo family, the other belonged to the Piguo Duke’s estate,” Zhou Yuanshen said.

Then he added, “I’ve been putting it about that I was in the camp’s headquarters, but I never showed myself; I let my deputy commander handle everything. In reality, I’ve been in the city this whole time, with disinterested witnesses to corroborate it.”

He paused briefly before continuing, “As for what happened at home, I wanted to see how it would play out. When I struck in the Splendid View Courtyard, I was slapping Grandmother in the face. Naturally, she had to retaliate.”

Cheng Zhao fell silent.

There were times when the ugliness of human hearts was so unbearable that she wished she could cover it with a veil. She couldn’t bring herself to look directly at it.

So she didn’t press him further.

“Cheng Zhao, I obtained some evidence of crimes committed by the Changling Marquis’s Song family. At the critical moment, I could drag the main branch into this mess.

That way, Grandmother wouldn’t dare insist that the Second Branch was responsible for harming Mu Jiang. She would have to make a choice. I wouldn’t have thrown you all into danger without a safety net,” Zhou Yuanshen said.

Still, Cheng Zhao’s method had worked well.

She had shoved forward the scapegoat the Dowager Madame had prepared, rendering the “lip balm” matter entirely irrelevant.

Even if the Emperor hadn’t killed Doctor Feng on the spot, the man’s guilt would have been impossible to explain. He had harmed more than one palace consort before.

With such precedent, if the Zhou family insisted that he was the one who harmed Mu Jiang, he wouldn’t have been able to prove his innocence.

As for whether the lip balm containing bitter almond and sweet gardenia had actually caused Mu Jiang’s miscarriage, no one could confirm it.

If no other cause could be found, then that accusation would have had to stick—and that was when Zhou Yuanqi and Cheng Zhao would have been made to bear the blame.

“Lord Duke, are you saying that Grandmother might have known all along that the child in the concubine’s womb was weak, and thus decided to sacrifice it? And using this incident, she intended to bring disaster upon us?” Cheng Zhao asked.

After a pause, she added, “The eldest sister-in-law also did her part. She wanted to take the opportunity to push me into the abyss.”

Zhou Yuanshen was silent for a moment before saying, “Another soul enslaved to evil.”

Cheng Zhao replied, “I admit that the eldest aunt-in-law is a pitiable, hateful victim consumed by Grandmother. But the eldest sister-in-law is not the same.”

Huan Qingtang’s actions had nothing to do with the behavioral patterns forged by the Dowager Madame’s oppression. From the very beginning, she had carried her own open ambition.

Those of the same kind could most keenly sense each other’s presence.

It was Cheng Zhao’s own fierce competitiveness that allowed her to so sharply detect Huan Qingtang’s thriving ambition.

“The truly innocent one was the child of the concubine,” Cheng Zhao said.

She wanted very much to say, “Lord Duke, please accept my condolences,” but so much had happened tonight, and countless details had pieced together a horrifying truth—one that was almost fully exposed before Cheng Zhao. She simply could no longer pretend to be blind.

Of course, as long as Zhou Yuanshen chose not to speak of it, she would never bring it up.