Chapter 229: Zhou Yuanshen's Plan Takes Effect
Fan Xiao entered and, seeing the Second Madam’s dark expression, asked with a smile, “What happened? Who upset you?”
“Your nephew!”
“Yuan Qi was being naughty again?” Fan Xiao asked.
“The other one.”
“Yuanshen? Then it must be a misunderstanding.”
“Are you trying to make me angry too?” the Second Madam snapped. Then she took out her frustration on him as well. “Why have you come? Don’t tell me you’re here to plead for him?”
Fan Xiao had no idea what had happened.
The Second Madam poured out the whole story in one breath.
Fan Xiao smiled. “Sister, if you ask Yuanshen about this, he may not be willing to tell you. Ask anyone else, and they won’t know the details. But I know everything.”
The Second Madam’s anger subsided somewhat.
She looked at Fan Xiao doubtfully. “You know?”
“I was there.”
The Second Madam fell silent.
Fan Xiao then told her what had happened.
“Every year when the first snow falls, His Majesty disguises himself and goes to the hot-spring estate at Mount Jing. Mount Jing is normally guarded with extreme strictness—you know that, don’t you?” Fan Xiao asked.
The Second Madam said, “I’ve long heard there’s an imperial residence on Mount Jing. But they borrowed someone else’s name for it, I suppose, to prevent the censors from making a fuss and accusing His Majesty of extravagance.”
“There’s no ‘imperial residence,’ exactly, but there is a hot-spring estate and a hunting ground. They were originally registered under Prince An’s name, and are now registered under Helian Xuan, Prince of Andong. He and his father manage Mount Jing for His Majesty,” Fan Xiao explained.
The Second Madam fell silent.
No wonder the Prince of Andong was so favored.
It was not merely because he was a close blood relative. He had also done a great deal for the emperor.
Zhou Yuanshen had likewise earned the emperor’s trust by carrying out killings on his behalf.
An emperor like this could never raise scholars of integrity or worthy ministers. Of course, saying that would also mean insulting her own son and younger brother.
The Second Madam let the words circle once around the tip of her tongue, then swallowed them.
“This year, when the first snow fell, His Majesty selected several people to accompany him, and Yuanshen invited me as well,” Fan Xiao continued.
The emperor was rather fond of Fan Xiao too.
Compared with Zhou Yuanshen, Fan Xiao was witty and eloquent, and could always amuse His Majesty.
“He had a young servant with him. I could tell at a glance that something was off—the boy was far too slight. But we were accompanying His Majesty, and no one had the time to concern themselves with it.
“Mount Jing stands high, so it receives much more snow than the capital. The whole mountain was blanketed in white, a magnificent sight. While the skies over the city remained cloudy, by midafternoon the sun had appeared over Mount Jing.
“Toward evening, the attendants and the rest of us accompanied His Majesty along the mountain path to admire the snow. That was when we saw someone dancing beneath a tree. The dance was so beautiful, set against the evening glow and the white snow, that I was completely transfixed.”
The Second Madam glared fiercely at him.
Fan Xiao was simply being honest. “That scene had been carefully arranged by Yuanshen. Black hair, a red dress, an alluring dance—and the heavens themselves had provided the perfect backdrop. It drew everyone’s eyes more than any scenery could have, including Helian Xuan’s.
“Yuanshen reached out and knocked the dancer’s veil from her face. She was Xian Si, the concubine His Majesty had bestowed upon him. Yuanshen apologized and claimed that Xian Si had disguised herself as a servant and followed him out without his knowledge. He said that he had been too busy to spend nights at the Jade Brocade Residence and therefore did not know her very well.”
The Second Madam stared at him. “And the emperor believed such nonsense? How could a servant accompanying him be replaced without him noticing?”
A personal servant was his master’s right hand. How could he not know if his own hand had been switched out?
Fan Xiao said, “Sister, people only hear what they want to hear. You heard only the word ‘disguised.’
“But at that moment, His Majesty was captivated and confused by desire. All he heard was Yuanshen saying that he had never touched Xian Si. And Xian Si was originally a dancer from the imperial estate at the hunting ground. She was His Majesty’s servant.”
The Second Madam fell silent again.
So the emperor’s desire for this woman was perfectly reasonable.
At the hunting ground, the emperor had chosen two dancers—one to give to Zhou Yuanshen and one to give to Helian Xuan. It was a warning to both of them.
When he had selected Xian Si, His Majesty had clearly been captivated by her seductive beauty. Fan Xiao even suspected that the emperor’s original intention might not have been to give her away at all.
But once matters had developed to that point, the emperor had no shortage of women and simply used the two of them as tools. When striking someone, one used whatever happened to be at hand.
Thus, Xian Si had been bestowed upon Zhou Yuanshen.
Zhou Yuanshen had returned her untouched, sending her back exactly as she had come. It had become a celebrated story—so long as an explanation could make sense, the emperor was willing to accept it.
“We descended the mountain that very night. His Majesty didn’t come down until the following day,” Fan Xiao said. “As for Xian Si, she has been in the palace these past few days.”
The Second Madam said nothing.
“Sister, you’ll never guess how she ended up in the palace,” Fan Xiao added.
“How difficult can it be to guess?”
“His Majesty dressed her as a palace maid and secretly brought her back. These past few days, he had her settled in Consort Wu’s palace,” Fan Xiao said.
The Second Madam frowned. “Then why send her back?”
“The Zhou family needs someone like her,” Fan Xiao replied. “Have you forgotten about the pregnant Mu Jiang?”
The Second Madam sat stunned for a long while.
Then she shuddered violently, nearly retching.
“That’s disgusting!” she cried, furious and horrified. “Ah Shen has to suffer that humiliation all over again? Why should he? He’s a subject, and an exceptionally capable one at that. He isn’t the emperor’s slave!”
Fan Xiao also felt sorry for his nephew.
However, this entire matter had been planned by Zhou Yuanshen.
Even his staying the night at Consort Wu’s palace had been arranged after Zhou Yuanshen subtly prompted Consort Wu to persuade him.
Zhou Yuanshen seemed to want things this way.
“Go ask Yuanshen yourself. Perhaps he simply couldn’t be bothered to explain it to you,” Fan Xiao said.
The Second Madam fell silent and sat there for a long time.
Zhou Yuanshen had not yet returned when Cheng Zhao arrived.
Seeing Fan Xiao, Cheng Zhao stepped forward and paid her respects. “Little Uncle.”
Then she offered him her congratulations. “Congratulations, Little Uncle.”
Fan Xiao accepted her felicitations.
“I know you’re very curious about Third Miss Song. I’ve already sent someone to make arrangements with the Song family. In a few days, they’ll be going to Jin’an Temple to offer incense. You can arrange to encounter them there and meet the Song family,” Fan Xiao said.
The Second Madam was no longer in the mood.
She reproached Fan Xiao. “How could you be so thoughtless? What if the Song family misunderstands?”
“They won’t. The Song family is quite understanding. If such a small matter creates a rift between us, then the two families simply aren’t meant to be connected,” Fan Xiao said with a smile. “Sister, don’t worry. Just go with the Duchess.”
He turned to praise Cheng Zhao as well. “With the Duchess there, you’re sure to have an enjoyable outing.”
The Second Madam was speechless.
Cheng Zhao picked up the conversation. “We’ll go. Which day has been arranged?”
“The twenty-fifth,” Fan Xiao replied.
Cheng Zhao said, “That works perfectly. We’re free that day.”
It was getting late. Second Master returned, and Yuan Qi also came over for dinner.
Only Zhou Yuanshen arrived very late.
The Second Madam looked at her son and nearly burst into tears from heartache.
The moment Zhou Yuanshen appeared, Zhou Yuan Qi immediately shouted, “Did you bully my sister-in-law?”
The Second Madam shot him a look. “Shut up!”
Since Fan Xiao had come, Cheng Zhao instructed the servants to go to the main kitchen and have two additional dishes prepared for him. Dinner was fairly simple.
However, Fan Xiao had not come merely for the meal.
He repeated to everyone what he had just told the Second Madam.
He described everything with vivid flair.
In particular, when he recounted Xian Si dancing against the evening glow and snow-covered landscape, everyone listening felt as though they were witnessing the scene themselves.
That included Cheng Zhao.
She had seen Xian Si before and knew how alluring she was.
With a little imagination, Cheng Zhao could easily picture how enchanting she must have been that day. The emperor had been drawn to her from the beginning; otherwise, she could never have been chosen from among so many dancers.
It was an obvious beauty trap.
Cheng Zhao glanced at Zhou Yuanshen.
It was a common and unremarkable strategy—yet its effect had been extraordinarily good.