Chapter 41: The Secret Passageway Inside Changle Palace
"After Master's reminder, this subordinate feels that there is a suspicious place, which is Ye Hongyi's Central Dragon Palace. This subordinate had discovered a secret room in Central Dragon Palace that contains several porcelain furnaces with all sorts of rare medicinal ingredients. They're probably used for refining pills. This subordinate didn't think that Ye Hongyi would hide Feng Duo in there so this subordinate had left after taking a glance. This subordinate will go tonight to search more closely," said Yin Xue.
"He won't be there. Refining pills in hopes of eternal life has always been an unspeakable secret for monarchs. Which monarch would ever be willing to share their secret recipe for immortality with someone else? Ye Hongyi definitely wouldn't," analyzed Yao Mowan calmly.
"Then where would it be…" Yin Xue frowned, perplexed.
"In Changle Palace!" exclaimed Yao Mowan, then she looked over at Yin Xue.
"Hasn't Changle Palace been sealed off? This subordinate hadn't searched there." Yin Xue looked towards Yao Mowan doubtfully.
"Accompany this consort on a trip to Changle Palace tonight." Yao Mowan's eyes glinted with faint light as her lips curved into a cold smile.
That night, the moonlight spilled down hazily and seemed to give everything the sheen of frost. Yao Mowan walked quietly towards the garden behind the cold palace. Yin Xue kept close watch on the surroundings as she followed. She had a lot of questions, but she didn't voice them.
"Be careful, there's someone there!" Just as Yao Mowan was walking towards the cut bamboo stacked in the north corner of the garden, Yin Xue suddenly moved up and stopped her. They hid themselves in the shadows and watched as a man sneaked over the wall, then walked towards that corner. He moved aside the pile of bamboo then entered the hidden door.
"As I expected, he is here. Let's follow." Yao Mowan's eyes were as still and as deep as a large pond. When Yin Xue saw her master walk forward, she raised her guard even more.
Inside the hidden door was a slender tunnel that had green night pearls embedded in both sides to give off faint light.
Yin Xue controlled their speed in order to avoid alerting the man that had entered before them. Yao Mowan followed her silently. When she had first made this secret passageway, she had done it to keep in touch with her trusted aids in Mangyuan. She hadn't let Ye Hongyi know because she had wanted to give him a big surprise once the business prospered. However, later because she apparently couldn't keep any secrets properly back then, she had told Ye Hongyi about the existence of this secret passageway. Right now, she was really grateful that she didn't tell him about Mangyuan as well. If she had, there was no way she would've had the power to turn the tide on him now.
"Master, that person's entered Changle Palace. Should we follow them?" asked Yin Xue once that man disappeared into the secret passageway ahead.
"No need." Yao Mowan recollected her thoughts, then turned to walk towards the night pearls on the left. She reached out and turned one to the left, then to the right, and a hidden door appeared in front of them. She walked in without hesitation, so Yin Xue quickly followed.
Behind the hidden door was a stone room. The decor inside was very simple. There was just a stone table and four wooden chairs. Even as Yin Xue was looking around to make sure there was no danger, Yao Mowan had already walked towards the wall that was adjacent to Changle Palace and opened the hidden block. The voices inside Changle Palace immediately entered the room.
"This subordinate Zhou Gui kowtows in salute to Second Prince!" Zhou Gui kneeled on one knee. His resounding voice contained unconcealable fatigue. After traveling all this way in such a rush, he was exhausted.
"Hurry and rise. How is the situation in Qi right now? How are Imperial Father and Honorable Mother?" The person that spoke was the second prince of Qi, Feng Duo; the successor to the throne that the previous king of Qi had decided on.
"Replying Second Prince, His Emeritus Majesty is helpless and has been placed under house arrest in the imperial palace by Feng Yihan. However, Consort Hua, she…" Zhou Gui hesitated.
"Honorable Mother… Feng Yihan, that beast! What did he do to Honorable Mother!?" Feng Duo's face darkened as he clenched his fists in anger.
"Second Prince, please hold back your grief! Feng Yihan claimed he found evidence that Consort Hua had poisoned the empress to death so three days ago… He gave an edict ordering Consort Hua to commit suicide…" Zhou Gui fell to a full kneel and kowtowed as he reported this sad news.
"What? Honorable Mother is dead? How dare Feng Yihan!? I'll kill him! AArgh!" The veins on Feng Yihan's forehead bulged when he heard this and his eyes turned scarlet with fury as he swept everything on the table to the ground. He was about to rush into the secret passageway, but Zhou Gui desperately pulled him back.
"Second Prince! Ten years is not too late for a noblemen to get his revenge. If you head out now, you will only end up giving away your own life! If anything happens to you, who will get revenge for Her Highness Consort Hua? Her Highness definitely doesn't wish for you to rashly end up losing your own life either!" persuaded Zhou Gui as he hugged Feng Duo desperately to stop him from rushing out.
"Feng Yihan! Feng Yihan! I'll definitely tear you to pieces and scatter your ashes so that you'd never be able to rest in peace!" Feng Duo finally calmed down after a while.
Inside the secret room, Yao Mowan couldn't help but shake her head. This person's ability to scheme really couldn't compare to Feng Yihan's. Back then, Feng Yihan had clearly known that his Imperial Mother had been murdered by Consort Hua, but he was still able to maintain a respectful attitude towards Consort Hua without a change in expression. How could his heart possibly not hurt? However, he had endured it and face his enemy with a faint smile. The Feng Yihan of back then was just like the current her. The bigger the smile on their faces, the more their hearts hurt.
"Second Prince, a comeback plan is currently more important. This subordinate has already recorded the names of all the civil and military officials that are willing to follow His Emeritus Majesty and Second Prince. As of now, as long as Chu is willing to send troops to help Second Prince return to Qi and we coordinate with the people in Qi that are willing to support us, we'll definitely be able to overthrow Feng Yihan!" said Zhou Gui confidently. As he spoke, he handed Feng Duo a paper filled with names.
"Fortunately these people haven't forgotten the favors they owe. With their support, this subordinate is certain that Second Prince's ascension to the throne will come soon," continued Zhou Gui.
"This prince holds information that would be fatal to all of these people. Do you think they'd be willing to take this risk if it weren't for that? As for Ye Hongyi…" Feng Duo reflexively looked around. When he saw that no one was around, he sat down angrily.
"Ye Hongyi is just throwing rocks at someone who's fallen. He actually made this prince promise him that after this succeeds, he gets ten of Qi's cities! This is practically asking for half of the nation of Qi!" Feng Duo ground his teeth in anger when he recalled the document Ye Hongyi had placed in front of him.
"Ten cities!? The king of Chu is too cruel. He clearly made this outrageous request because he knew that we couldn't reject him. Then how did you answer?" Zhou Gui was angry to find out about this as well.
"As you've said, we can't reject him. How else could this prince respond?" Feng Duo abruptly hit the desk, the light in his eyes flickering.
"Second Prince, endure this for now. Once you return to Qi, there'll still be room to negotiate this." Zhou Gui's implicit meaning was that they'd kill the donkey once the grinding was done.
"Do you think Ye Hongyi is a fool? The document stated clearly that after each battle, every city that is captured must immediately be signed over to him until ten cities have been transferred over!" said Feng Duo angrily.
"He's truly too vicious! You agreed?" Zhou Gui looked towards Feng Duo questioningly.
"This prince would rather be Ye Hongyi's puppet than let Feng Yihan have his way! Since the document has already been signed and we now have a list of names, everything is prepared except for the last crucial thing! Immediately send news to the people on this list that this prince will be fighting his way back to Qi in ten days in order to personally execute Feng Yihan in the throne room!" said Feng Duo fiercely, his eyes sharp and cold.
"Understood!" Having obtained orders, Zhou Gui turned and left through the secret passageway.
Zhou Gui never imagined that this would be his last farewell with Feng Duo. When Feng Duo's wounds-ridden corpse was discovered to be hanging on Changle Palace's door, the relationship between Qi and Chu became tense as never before.
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira's Corner]
Enjoy~
Lol, this is pretty late, but when I first finally got this site going, I was going to give a warning to Celestial fans not to use the $1 pledge to read ahead, because it ends on an awful cliffhanger. I… forgot.