Chapter 73 — TVF Chapter 73

The Table-Flipping Old Father 13

Yang Shi had been without reliable servants at her side, making everything inconvenient, until the Former Emperor's downfall.

Although Prince Haicheng carried out sweeping purges within the palace, there was always an underlying principle to these purges, namely that the normal functioning of the palace could not be disrupted.

Once the Inner Attendants, female officials, Imperial Princess' Attendants, and bodyguards from the Prince’s Household arrived in the Capital, Prince Haicheng carried out another round of purges. Only, this time the “remnants of the Former Emperor” had already been prepared. After scrubbing away thousands of “nails,” Prince Haicheng thought he could finally rest easy in the palace, unaware that those heart confidants and close attendants of the Former Emperor who had survived went one after the other to offer their loyalty to Yang Shi.

So Yang Shi finally had some breathing room, and for the first time, she had spies and planted agents of her own at her command. No longer holding any official rank but residing in Jingren Palace by royal decree, she began to handle the affairs of the inner palace and thus became someone impossible to overlook.

Once Yang Shi took control of the palace’s matters, the consort of Prince Haicheng, who had arrived late, paid respects to the prince and her son who had already moved to the Crown Prince's Residence. Forcefully restraining her excitement, she had every intention of moving into Kunning Palace!

Yet, a day later, what she received was a royal edict instructing her to reside in Xianfu Palace...

As one of the Western Six Palaces, Xianfu Palace was the farthest from Qianqing Palace in the western sector and was vastly inferior in position compared to the best-preserved and most spacious Jingren Palace. With Prince Haicheng showing such favoritism, it was little wonder people began to speculate.

On the surface, Yang Shi seemed rootless as the daughter of a criminal, but with the favor of Prince Haicheng and a baby son still in swaddling clothes, she seemed a possible contender as well.

Previously, people had supposed Yang Shi would become a Noble Consort at most, but now it appeared she was not just favored, but a Noble Consort who had directly won over the heart of the prince and risen above even the mother of the Crown Prince. The palace servants, sensing this shift, already treated Yang Shi much the same as they would treat the Empress.

Of course, the Third Prince, Consort Dugu, and the Dugu Clan were bound to respond.

Yang Shi did not care in the slightest. She wanted revenge. She had always wanted to use the Secret Medicine that the Former Emperor had given her, to perish together with Prince Haicheng. But upon calm consideration, she realized she might not be able to succeed... Ever since Prince Haicheng had been outmaneuvered by the Former Emperor multiple times, he had become extremely cautious with food and drink. Never mind anything outright poisonous, even foods that clashed or counteracted each other could not reach his table.

Thinking of this, Yang Shi could not help giving the Former Emperor credit for his ingenuity. The Former Emperor really should not have been emperor... The powder she got from him could induce vivid dreams and occasional hallucinations, yet was entirely colorless and tasteless, undetectable even when mixed with ginseng tea.

But even if she truly managed to poison Prince Haicheng, the Third Prince’s master, Si Jingzhou, would likely step in again, as he had before when he offered a secret pharmacopeia to Prince Haicheng as an antidote.

Yang Shi specially sent people to investigate thoroughly. When the spies sent back coded messages, she realized she had underestimated this martial master of the Third Prince.

Fortunately, Prince Haicheng was now wary of Master Si, and the Third Prince, though reliant on him, was actually very much like his own father, Prince Haicheng. He had already decided he would get rid of Master Si as soon as he was secure.

After some hesitation, Yang Shi finally decided to take the risk and make contact with Master Si—mainly because he had just sent his second son and disciples to the border, which gave her hope.

She instructed her most trusted Inner Attendant to send a letter to Master Si as he was leaving the Crown Prince's Residence. In less than two quarter-hours, she received his reply. Reading that single line written on the note, her lips curled slightly, and her whole demeanor softened.

She crumpled the note and murmured, “What, does he think I’m a fool?”

For over a month afterward, everything remained calm. Consort Dugu, as the Prince had not yet ascended the throne, dared not demand anything for herself and focused on currying favor with him in every conceivable way.

Yang Shi met with Prince Haicheng every other day, patiently bestowing a thumbnail’s worth of Secret Medicine in his tea each time.

What weighed on her mind by day would surface in his dreams by night. Prince Haicheng frequently met his White Moonlight in dreams, and upon waking, he was all the more tender to the gentle-natured Yang Shi. In his leisure time, he doted on their youngest son and personally taught Yang Shi how to manage people and handle palace affairs.

This drove Consort Dugu nearly mad with jealousy.

Though the Third Prince viewed Yang Shi and her son as enemies, he also realized Yang Shi harbored great ambitions. Still, he thought there was no rush to deal with Yang Shi while her son was so young... Accidents could easily befall a toddler. For the moment, his priority was to win his father’s favor and secure his position in the Crown Prince's Residence.

If his father one day changed his mind, he could adapt accordingly.

The Third Prince's plan seemed solid enough, but after watching Yang Shi rule the harem as an uncrowned queen for just a month, he couldn’t contain himself. He had to discuss with his mother and maternal grandfather how they might first clip Yang Shi’s wings.

But simply seeking Yang Shi’s life on account of her favor was far too extreme, he thought.

Consort Dugu praised her son’s prudence to his face, then immediately started plotting with her confidantes to kill Yang Shi—while keeping her own involvement hidden from the prince at all costs.

These confidantes, hearing such orders, lowered their eyes and assented, but upon leaving Xianfu Palace, they went straight to Old Master Dugu to complain—this particular confidant being of the Dugu Clan.

Old Master Dugu’s response was, “Do your best. If you cannot do it, you will not be blamed.”

The confidant swore under his breath on the spot. In a fit of agitation, he was much less careful in his next moves, or perhaps he meant to be careless.

Even Qin Jingzhou, who made a daily habit of stopping by the Crown Prince's Residence to watch the goings-on, noticed that Consort Dugu was looking to make a move. When he got home, he used it as a prime example and made a prediction: if Consort Dugu kept acting out like this, she wouldn’t last until Prince Haicheng’s formal accession.

“Prince Haicheng killed the Former Emperor and felt a surge of relief. With careful recuperation, his lifespan is a bit restored.”

Dalang asked, “Do you think he has three to five years?”

“About that,” Qin Jingzhou replied, assuming Yang Shi did not suddenly snap and take drastic measures.

Dalang exchanged glances with Third Miss Si, then tentatively said, “I suspect the prince is wavering. He favors Yang Shi and the youngest son but must realize making a child emperor comes with endless troubles, and Yang Shi can’t win everyone’s support. As for the Third Prince... he’s really a bit dull, isn’t he?”

Qin Jingzhou smiled with appreciation. “In terms of cold-bloodedness, they really are father and son, but the Third Prince is terrible at guessing what his father thinks. The prince himself can behave without feeling, but he cannot abide a son who is not benevolent. The prince deliberately neglects me. Although the Third Prince depends on me, he fears his father, and so he neglects me as well. He fails to see that the prince ignores me because I am his son’s teacher.”

Dalang gave a snort. “This so-called good prince expects others to be loyal to him and the throne, and not to complain. He wants the benefits but does not want any risk. In that way, he's worse than the prince.”

Third Miss Si added, “The Third Prince is neither benevolent nor brave. He wants to deal with Yang Shi but keeps himself out of it and lets Consort Dugu do the dirty work... The prince knows this—how could he ever entrust Yang Shi and the little son to him?”

Han Xuanfeng and the other disciples present were in complete agreement.

Seeing her father seemed to be encouraging her to continue, Third Miss Si thought for a moment and asked, “Doesn’t the Dugu Clan warn the Third Prince?”

His wife’s relatives were but local gentry of Haicheng Prefecture and could only help so much... Still, all Prince Haicheng’s sons had married daughters of local prominent families. In that respect, he’d treated them all equally.

But the maternal Dugu Clan not sending a proper trusted advisor to assist was rather odd.

Qin Jingzhou explained, “Old Master Dugu was meticulous with legitimate daughters, but left the illegitimate ones to grow as they might. Outwardly, Consort Dugu relied on her maiden family, but inwardly she resented them, especially her father.”

Dalang mused, “More than resentment, even. Consort Dugu was rather petty in her youth.”

Qin Jingzhou replied, “Their loves and grudges have nothing to do with us.” Unless they brought trouble right to his door, for now, he’d use the rare peace to build up his own strength.

The children and disciples all responded in unison.

The morning after this small family conference, Si Chenghui and the Prince’ Daughter arrived in the Capital as well.

The Prince’ Daughter’s birth mother had passed away, but since she was a married daughter and her mother was an imperial concubine, according to the etiquette of Great Qi, she was required to observe a year’s mourning—different from the old customs in Qin Jingzhou’s native region.

Even with her father triumphant over the Former Emperor and on the verge of accession, the Prince’ Daughter insisted on spending a full year in mourning before traveling north to the Capital with her husband, Si Chenghui.

After entering the Capital, the young couple first paid respects to Prince Haicheng, then to Yang Shi and Consort Dugu, and finally moved into the Princess Residence that had long been prepared for them.

Though the Prince’ Daughter’s mother was also a Dugu, her relationship with Consort Dugu, her aunt, was only for appearances' sake. After her mother died, even that fragile bond dissolved.

She had long suspected her mother’s death was connected to Consort Dugu.

As she was thinking about this, Si Chenghui told her he wanted to visit his elder uncle’s home, and asked if she would go.

The Prince’ Daughter snorted. “Didn’t your uncle already bet everything on my third brother? I am not going. You should advise your uncle to open his eyes.”

Even if the Third Prince could not approach his master too closely, he at least recognized his master’s skills: what he could not do himself, he could have others do on his behalf. Now, with his younger sister and brother-in-law in the Capital, he could ask his mother to think of a plan... Dealing with women was, after all, his mother’s area of expertise.

When her son begged, Consort Dugu could not refuse, but it was clear the Prince’ Daughter was suspicious of her. Back when the Princess Consort lost her mind and wanted to eliminate all the prince’s women in one swoop, Consort Dugu, to save herself, let her pregnant younger sister stand in her place... She had felt guilty and wanted to make amends, but since the Prince’ Daughter refused her overtures, that was that.

So she told her confidant to go to her maiden family and have her stepmother send a few girls over.

Consort Dugu was not yet forty, but her mother, now thanks to her daughter’s position, was basically the matron in the family.

This time, the confidant got things done efficiently. Three days later, Consort Dugu’s sister-in-law brought four daughters of the house into the palace.

How could the uproar in Xianfu Palace go unnoticed by Prince Haicheng and Yang Shi?

Yang Shi made no attempt to hide her meaning. “Is Sister Consort addicted to the taste of winning favor?”

Prince Haicheng chuckled. “Let’s see who these are for. Guess right and there’s a reward.”

Yang Shi clung to his arm. “One for the Third Prince, and I'm guessing you think Consort Dugu wouldn’t let Master Si off, either.”

Prince Haicheng shook his head. “You...”

Yang Shi guessed most of it, but not all. Consort Dugu was not only preparing consorts for her own son and for Master Si as a main wife, but also, to spite the Prince’ Daughter, had even targeted Si Chenghui.

That night after dinner, Si Chenghui encountered a Dugu girl who stopped him right at the gates as he was returning home.

He feigned polite acceptance, then promptly went home and tattled to his wife.

The Prince’ Daughter was furious, and Si Chenghui, not forgetting to have someone secretly enter the palace and relay a message to Yang Shi, quickly arranged to inform the mistress of Jingren Palace.

Before her anger could even subside, Yang Shi's reply arrived.

While heading to the privy, Si Chenghui heard the spy sent by Yang Shi mimicking her, saying "What a bargain you got." He laughed heartily, pressed his brow, and muttered, "Maybe... I should rescue my uncle while I’m at it?"

Meanwhile, Qin Jingzhou had his own encounter with a beauty blocking his way, but his response was to shout, “There’s a thief!” and immediately kick both carriage and beauty over at once.

Consort Dugu’s confidantes hiding nearby: ... Is the girl going to die just like that...?