Chapter 73#

When Song An entered, seeing the person on the couch open his eyes, he instantly forgot everything else and hurriedly turned around to shout outside: “The Sixth Prince is awake!!!”#

He had probably never run so fast in his life. As his voice fell, the imperial physicians who had been practically living in Wanjun Hall for the past two months jolted awake, nearly forgetting their medicine boxes as they rushed into the hall.

The person on the couch had his eyes open. He seemed a bit disoriented, his gaze fixed on the warm sunlight streaming into the room. Not until the physicians called out did he awaken from the long nightmare and look at the people around him.

“Quickly inform His Majesty!”

“And the Empress Dowager, and the Empress—”

The noise pulled him back to his thoughts. Ying Fusheng could feel the stiffness in his body. As people gathered in front of him, his muddled brain slowly caught up. He only remembered the situation in the northern mountains tent. Thinking of the unfinished scheme, he parted his lips to call for Song An, but the moment he spoke, his voice was so hoarse he couldn’t get half a word out.

“Your Highness, don’t speak yet.”

“Bring some water to moisten His Highness’s throat… Waking up is a good thing, a good thing!”

Ying Fusheng warily looked at Song An, not yet understanding the situation before him.

Wasn’t he at the northern mountains hunting grounds? When did he return to Wanjun Hall?

“Your Highness, it’s now the fourth month,” Song An reminded him.

The fourth month?

Ying Fusheng was stunned.

The imperial physicians hurriedly checked the Sixth Prince’s body. During this time, precious medicines like detoxifying pills had been continuously sent to Wanjun Hall. However, the Sixth Prince’s body was far too weak. No matter how good the medicine, when it entered his body, it could only patch things up without filling the void. Chief Physician Chu had exhausted his lifelong skills to save him. Fortunately, there was also Miss Chen, who understood poisons. When he was unconscious, the palace had almost prepared for a funeral. Thankfully, the Sixth Prince had a lucky fate and had finally awakened!

Ying Fusheng was helped up by Song An to sit. The current situation was beyond his expectations. What happened later at the northern mountains hunting grounds? Did Qi Hanzhou handle the aftermath? Did Shen Changcun and the others deal with the follow-up?

His mind instinctively tried to think, but a sudden pain interrupted his thoughts, and his face turned pale.

The dull pain came and went, leaving him unable to concentrate.

When the Empress Dowager arrived, she saw the young man’s pale face. Compared to his unconscious state during this time, seeing him able to sit up was already a blessing for her. “Waking up is good, waking up is good.”

Behind her, there was another person.

The person was dressed in plain clothes, hair white, standing hesitantly at the door, not coming in for a long time.

That was Empress Xu.

When the Empress Dowager saw it was her, she slightly stepped aside from the couch, letting her come forward a few steps. She seemed to have run in a hurry, still slightly out of breath when she arrived. But as she approached the couch, she seemed timid, afraid to get closer.

Ying Fusheng noticed that her once black hair had turned white.

Empress Xu looked at the child before her. The young man had been asleep for many days, his face still bloodless. But compared to his unresponsive state during this time, his eyes moved, and he had the strength to look at her—it was as if he had truly returned from the gates of hell.

Just a little more, just a little more… She couldn’t control herself as she approached, reaching out to touch the young man’s hand.

The scent of incense lingered at the tip of her nose. Empress Xu always carried the smell of incense. Ying Fusheng looked at the hand falling on his own—pale and clean, a completely unfamiliar sensation. This unfamiliar contact made him uncomfortable, and almost instinctively, he recoiled.

The trembling of his fingertips was like a rejection. Empress Xu noticed Ying Fusheng’s withdrawal. Silently, she withdrew her hand and stood up awkwardly: “The physicians, how is he?”

The young man sat quietly, and those around him said nothing. Such a shocking secret as swapping children—no one dared to speak of it without the Emperor’s permission. The Sixth Prince seemed not to expect Empress Xu to be here, nor did he know why she approached. That moment of fluster appeared to others as a kind of confusion about the unknown.

Ying Fusheng forced himself to calm down. He was almost in opposition to the Xu family.

Logically, Empress Xu shouldn’t be here. Ying Fusheng unconsciously began to think. Suddenly, he looked down at his hand, where a faint sensation still lingered from Empress Xu’s touch. Had something gone out of control?

The Eighth Prince should be fine. The Emperor would be able to detect clues about the Deposed Crown Prince’s side. How far had Qi Hanzhou gotten? At the northern mountains hunting grounds, he had indeed been too rash. Confident that the mastermind valued the Eighth Prince, he had overlooked the possibility of arrow poison. That was indeed unwise, and it could easily turn his existing advantages into disadvantages.

Ying Fusheng had to consider the possibility that the mastermind had set a trap.

The Xu family’s foundation was rotten. Years of financial and power transactions, the facade of integrity—if the Emperor discovered the Deposed Crown Prince’s collusion with the former dynasty, the Xu family would have no chance of recovery. In that case, eliminating the Xu family was necessary. But given the Emperor’s regard for Xu family’s influence, he would likely keep Empress Xu and the Eighth Prince to stabilize part of the court.

Ying Fusheng couldn’t stop the throbbing pain in his forehead. He looked up at Empress Xu.

Seeing her reddened eyes, his thoughts suddenly stopped.

Someone handed over a warm towel.

“Let me do it.” Empress Xu took it. She was almost cautious, gently wiping his face.

Ying Fusheng watched calmly. As the cloth passed over him, it felt like scraping his skin, bit by bit making him feel strange. This unfamiliar concern made him think of a possibility—she knew.

At the northern mountains.

Two lifetimes had been too long. In his previous life, after learning the truth, he had desperately sent letters to Kunning Palace but received no response. The court was buzzing with talk, and the Xu family did nothing. Whether she heard or not was something that could never be verified. Ying Fusheng knew that with Shuangyue by her side, some things were beyond her control. From beginning to end, she had been a victim of the child swap.

But these twists of fate, her indifference and coldness, repeated disappointments, the Xu family’s stance… All these things combined, he had designed the Xu family’s downfall, creating this ambiguous situation now.

Ying Fusheng felt unfamiliar with such contact.

He didn’t understand.

After wiping, Empress Xu handed the cloth to the attendants. The physicians were still checking his condition. He cooperated obediently with the examination until the exhaustion of just waking up overwhelmed him, and he quietly closed his eyes.

“It’s fine, let His Highness rest,” Chen Xiuqiu said. “Now that he’s awake, he will improve.”

News of the Sixth Prince’s awakening reached the Qianqing Palace. The Emperor made a special trip over. By then, Ying Fusheng had already fallen asleep from exhaustion. The Emperor didn’t say much, only noticed Empress Xu standing by. “Go and rest. You haven’t slept in a long time.”

Empress Xu needed help to stand. When the Emperor said this, she knew she couldn’t stay.

Yu, the maid from the Empress Dowager’s side, saw her out and said softly, “Empress, when the Sixth Prince first arrived at Cining Palace, the attendants laid out a warm bed, but he would stare at it for a long time.”

“When the Empress Dowager gave His Highness gifts, he would always repay them in various ways.”

As if he couldn’t adapt to all this, couldn’t easily accept others’ natural concern.

Empress Xu’s expression was dazed. She thought of the child’s rejection when he first woke.

Since Consort Ning knew Ying Fusheng’s true identity, how much had she truly raised or cared for the child over the years? She could even do the evil deed of poisoning a child. What had her child endured under Consort Ning’s care? Every night during these days, whenever Empress Xu thought of this, she felt an uncontrollable ache in her heart.

She didn’t dare think about it—it was endless guilt.

Her child had grown up almost in nightmares, with no one to love or protect him, and so he had grown up with difficulty.

Grown up… Empress Xu could barely stand.

The maids helped her up. Empress Xu said it was fine, but when she looked back, she saw that the child had fallen asleep again. She forced herself not to look back. “I’m fine.”

She thought of the Emperor’s gaze just now.

The Emperor’s liquidation of the Xu family—her father had been in the imperial prison for days. During the time she didn’t know, the Xu family had too many unsettled accounts with traitors from the former dynasty. She knew well what she had done for the Deposed Crown Prince. The Eastern Palace’s debts were one thing, but how many riverslopes were behind the Xu family?

Without the Xu family, with the Empress Dowager’s love for him, he would have been the little prince of Wanjun Hall.

Even if he had no chance at the throne, he could have won the favor of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager and lived smoothly.

But if she acknowledged this child…

The Xu family and other civil officials would seize him like a lifeline, dragging him into the court turmoil again, just as they had used the Eighth Prince before. This time, he had come back from the gates of hell. What about the next time?

Empress Xu barely steadied herself. She felt an unspeakable hatred for this twist of fate, but she knew that at this moment, every move she made was more important. “I haven’t done anything for him in all these years. At this time, I can’t let the Xu family drag him down.”

The news of the Sixth Prince’s awakening spread through the court and among the officials, and many officials breathed a sigh of relief.

Since the Sixth Prince’s accident, the court had been turbulent for too long. The Emperor’s liquidation of the Xu family and the Deposed Crown Prince had been almost thorough. The Deposed Crown Prince had also been thrown into the imperial prison, without even the chance of house arrest in another palace. With the Emperor’s sweeping measures, the court had fallen into a state of panic.

The Xu family was almost defeated. A series of officials were dismissed. Grand Secretary Xu’s reputation was ruined in his old age, and he was ordered into exile.

When some old cases from the Ministry of Works were exposed, the charge of killing people with reckless disregard for life was pinned on him. When this spread among the people, the commoners were shocked. Those countless unaccountable debts turned into slops dumped at the Xu mansion’s gate, endless.

The Xu family was completely finished.

When Ying Fusheng was helped to get up and practice walking, Shen Yunfei told him in fragments. Empress Xu came every day. Sometimes Ying Fusheng was asleep when she arrived, sometimes awake. She would cautiously show her closeness.

The official story, as told by the Empress Dowager, was that Empress Xu was thanking him for saving the Eighth Prince.

Ying Fusheng knew it was just a story for children. His response was slow after his illness, and the physicians privately said his mind might have been affected. Ying Fusheng was sure he hadn’t gone mad, but he didn’t expose this excuse either.

In the current situation, being diagnosed with mental impairment was better than being healthy and lively.

His relationship with the Xu family was exactly as it seemed, and the Emperor’s suspicion was also there.

The Emperor needed a child who wouldn’t pose a threat.

…

At night, the hall was silent. Wanjun Hall still couldn’t do without people. It wasn’t until late at night during rest hours that someone pushed open the night window. When Qi Hanzhou entered, he saw the person sitting fully dressed by the couch, as if he had been expecting his arrival. When he saw him come in, he slightly looked up.

Having been ill for so long, he had lost some of his spirit. There was less cunning in his eyes.

Qi Hanzhou walked lightly closer. The young man’s illness hadn’t subsided. Ying Fusheng looked over. He had been awake for a while and had been waiting for him to come.

“I’ve slept enough, so now I’m somewhat refreshed,” Ying Fusheng said weakly, his voice not loud. “General Qi has come at just the right time. For the matter in the northern mountains last time, I thank you for your help. As for Miss Chen’s matter, I also thank you for assisting.”

He met Qi Hanzhou’s gaze and said softly, “Rest assured, I am still conscious, not burned out.”

Ying Fusheng’s voice was still hoarse from not fully recovering. How could he not know that it was Chen Xiuqiu who had saved his life in time at the northern mountains? She was the medical officer he had brought into the palace, but this trip had exposed her to others, causing much inconvenience in the future. Yet now she could appear normally by his side, which could only be thanks to Qi Hanzhou helping to cover things up.

Qi Hanzhou looked at the person before him. He could only lean against the couch to sit. Chen Xiuqiu had spent these two months studying the alluring substance to find the former dynasty’s secret medicine to detoxify him. The hidden poison in Ying Fusheng’s body was too dangerous; the slightest misstep would cause backlash. During this time, Chen Xiuqiu had been secretly detoxifying him every seven days, avoiding the imperial physicians. But whether he would wake up, even Chen Xiuqiu herself wasn’t sure.

Now he was awake, but his body seemed even worse than when they first met.

No matter what time, he seemed unwilling to rest.

Matters of the court, the Xu family, Empress Xu… So many things weighed on him, and he seemed to accept all this very calmly.

“Your Highness should rest now,” Qi Hanzhou said.

Ying Fusheng looked up at him. “General Qi has come here to persuade me to rest?”

“I thought you came to tell me about Consort Ning. Father has been going to her often; he must have forced a lot out of her, hasn’t he?”

Mentioning Consort Ning, Qi Hanzhou’s gaze froze for a moment. Ying Fusheng’s hair was loose around his forehead. When he mentioned Consort Ning, his expression was nearly indifferent, without any of the pretense of motherly affection. He murmured, “Pity. I didn’t get to see it.”

“But it’s not a pity either. She won’t live long. Will Father grant her a cup of poisoned wine?”

Child swapping—Ying Fusheng had tried to expose this in his previous life. He had stirred up court discussions about the secret of the swap, but it had no effect on the false crown prince at the time. In others’ eyes, it was just the delusion of a madman who had been imprisoned for long. How to prove he was Empress Xu’s biological child was always a difficult task. Blood tests were nonsense when both parties had royal blood. Unless there was concrete evidence, it was impossible to prove the so-called swap.

That it would be discovered through in-womb poison was completely beyond his expectations.

Court news wasn’t hard to come by; he could get most of it from Song An or Shen Yunfei. He had set up a scheme at the northern mountains hunting grounds, intending to pin everything on the Deposed Crown Prince and thus follow the thread to find the remaining Xu family plants. He hadn’t acted, but the matter coincidentally achieved the same goal because of the poison.

Keeping Consort Ning alive was so she could see this.

Dying was simple. But living to witness all this before going to the underworld—that was truly dying with eyes wide open.

How good. Fitting for her.

As Ying Fusheng was thinking, he noticed Qi Hanzhou’s gaze. “For the northern mountains matter, I thank General Qi.”

For covering up the mastermind and protecting Shen Changcun, Qi Hanzhou had done all this.

“This time, the Deposed Crown Prince’s death warriors and hidden lines were all wiped out,” Qi Hanzhou said. “Cleaned up. The military pay matter was pinned on the Deposed Crown Prince and the remnants of the former dynasty behind him. Using this opportunity, His Majesty found a bandit lair in Western Shu, where part of the military pay was hidden.”

The Emperor’s methods were faster than the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s. The spring hunt had been the Emperor’s test. This time, the Deposed Crown Prince had touched a taboo, dragging the Xu family into it as well. Once it was discovered that the Deposed Crown Prince had death warriors around him, the Emperor would rather kill the innocent than let anyone off. Over the past month, those who should be imprisoned were imprisoned, those who should be executed were executed—some in plain sight, some not.

“But there is one thing I still don’t understand,” Qi Hanzhou looked at Ying Fusheng. “Given the mastermind’s ability, why would he support the Deposed Crown Prince?”

With the mastermind’s capability, what connection did he have with the Deposed Crown Prince that he would deploy death warriors to help him unreservedly?

From beginning to end, the mastermind’s motive for supporting the Deposed Crown Prince was too vague—or rather, impossible to trace.

Ying Fusheng looked at him. “You suspect the Deposed Crown Prince’s identity.”

“It’s not just me. His Majesty also suspects why the remnants of the former dynasty would support the Deposed Crown Prince,” Qi Hanzhou said, having pondered this during his investigation. “But the timing of the child swap doesn’t match. Even if Consort Ning took birth-inducing drugs, the fetus would have to be full-term. For the swap to happen at that time, they would have had to prepare from the pregnancy to succeed.”

The Ning family didn’t know, and they didn’t seem to know either.

The mastermind had taken advantage of this child swap at the right time.

Qi Hanzhou understood this. The remnants of the former dynasty chose the Deposed Crown Prince as their supported target, painstakingly planting death warriors around him—this showed a deep schemer. Such a person would be cautious in everything. The Deposed Crown Prince’s actions were too foolish, and his behavior at the northern mountains clearly showed no one interfering. “If I were the mastermind, and the Deposed Crown Prince was the one I intended to support, I would control everything from the root, not allowing any anomalies.”

“Rather than supporting the Deposed Crown Prince, he was using Shuangyue as a chess piece to erode the Xu family through the Deposed Crown Prince’s power,” Ying Fusheng said, lowering his eyes. He spoke softly: “I’m just guessing. If, more than ten years ago, the mastermind accidentally discovered Consort Ning’s actions, then he had a perfect opportunity to take control of the Xu family.”

Planting one or two chess pieces in the Xu family was simple, but to extend his hand deep into the court, into the Ministry of Works, even into the Six Ministries to plant his own agents, he needed a proper reason. When the Emperor valued the Xu family and supported civil officials, among all the princes, only the Xu faction’s hand could most easily reach into all parts of the court.

Qi Hanzhou: “If it was a last-minute decision and he chose the most powerful Empress Xu’s son as his supported target, the Deposed Crown Prince shouldn’t have made such foolish moves.”

“But if he had another purpose, the situation would be different,” Ying Fusheng said. “Was the Deposed Crown Prince really the person the mastermind wanted to support? The Eastern Palace wanted to kill me—it’s clear the Deposed Crown Prince knew the truth of the child swap.”

The mastermind told the Deposed Crown Prince the truth to control the Eastern Palace. The Eastern Palace had many dealings with the Xu family. Using this hand to recruit or plant agents in the court under the crown prince’s name was the simplest thing.

If the Deposed Crown Prince was truly the one he wanted to support, he wouldn’t have raised him to be so foolish. The remnants of the former dynasty should know that military power was still in the hands of the imperial family, and the Qi family was a sharp blade that upheld imperial power without blind loyalty. If the new emperor ascended without virtue, the changes would be exactly like those in his previous life—if the new emperor was off, the Qi family would rebel.

But if it was intentional, it would be different.

From the Deposed Crown Prince knowing about the child swap to the deaf-mute maid in Kunning Palace, Ying Fusheng had already begun to suspect.

Because in his previous life, someone had placed the truth of the child swap before him—that deaf-mute maid from Kunning Palace. Now knowing that she was a person of unknown identity manipulated by the mastermind, this person was deliberately placed by the mastermind beside him—because at that time, someone needed to bring out the truth of the child swap.

In his previous life, he was also a chess piece of the mastermind, needed to stir up court turmoil, to make the child swap known to the entire court…

“Assuming from the start, the Deposed Crown Prince was not the person they wanted to support,” Ying Fusheng looked into Qi Hanzhou’s eyes, his voice soft, but what he said gradually became chilling: “Then in the future, the Deposed Crown Prince would fight and eliminate the factions opposing the mastermind in the court, and then, early in the new emperor’s reign, the secret of the child swap would be exposed, causing doubt among the hundred officials. It would naturally spread to you and the Qi family’s ears… Then it would be revealed that the new emperor lacked virtue and the people were restless. Such an emperor, the Qi family would not support.”

This was exactly what had happened in his previous life.

“You would rebel. If at that time the new emperor was deposed, what would the Qi family do?”

Ying Fusheng stated the answer: “Select a suitable royal bloodline from the imperial family and re-support them as emperor.”

It would be logical and not raise suspicion. It could even use the Xu family’s vast network to cover all motives. Military power would fall into the hands of the new emperor promoted by the Qi family. The Qi family, the most loyal blade of the imperial family, would submit to him, silently and seamlessly completing a true dynastic change.

That was the mastermind’s true goal.

Ying Fusheng’s expression shifted slightly. “General Qi, if the matter at the northern mountains hadn’t been turned around by you and me, who do you think would have been the prince that benefited?”

At the northern mountains hunting grounds, almost all the princes were implicated.

If the northern mountains plan had succeeded, the Deposed Crown Prince wouldn’t have killed the Eighth Prince, and with Ying Fusheng dead, the court would surely be in chaos.

The Emperor would focus on protecting the Eighth Prince. The first to be affected would be the factions of the First Prince and the Third Prince, the two larger factions in court. The Xu family would use the Eighth Prince as cover to regroup and develop. The remnants of the former dynasty would re-plant agents in this situation, and the military pay case would be dropped.

But if the mastermind’s purpose was to support someone else.

A candidate surfaced in Qi Hanzhou’s mind—someone who seemed drawn into the chaos but on whom not a ripple of the storm fell.

“The Second Prince.”