Determined to take down Emperor Chu, Shen Fengyue, who had obtained a mysterious drug, began to administer it to the Emperor in various ways – in his tea, food, and even when he was alone practicing martial arts. Shen Fengyue would even remember to pry open his mouth and force the drug down his throat at night.
The high dosage of the drug was enough to affect even the strongest of individuals. Emperor Chu couldn’t help but be affected and gradually became weaker as a result of Shen Fengyue’s actions.
The drug was designed to only cause physical weakness and nerve exhaustion, and was both colorless and tasteless, making it difficult for anyone to detect that they had been drugged. Instead, they would simply believe that they were feeling tired from their daily exertions. Shen Fengyue saw this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
Recently, Emperor Chu had been suffering from severe headaches. When they were at the Guangju Palace, Shen Fengyue had the Emperor lie down on the bed and massaged his scalp gently and with just the right amount of pressure. The Emperor closed his eyes and hummed contentedly.
While he was enjoying the massage, Eunuch Shen entered through a side door and bowed respectfully, saying, “Your Majesty, a representative from the Qintian Observatory is here to see you.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Fengyue’s lips curved upwards.
“Bring him in,” Emperor Chu said, his eyes still closed.
Eunuch Shen then went outside to speak with the Qintian Observatory’s representative. After the representative entered, he paid his respects to the Emperor before doing the same to Shen Fengyue. He then cleared his throat and began to speak, his beard quivering slightly.
“Your Majesty, I have something to say,” he glanced at Shen Fengyue unintentionally.
Shen Fengyue lowered his head, suppressing a malicious smile. The show was about to begin.
Eunuch Shen seemed to sense something and caught the clearly amused expression on the Concubine’s face.
“Speak,” said the Emperor.
Qintian Representative said, “Recently, I observed the starry sky at night and discovered an ominous celestial phenomenon with Mars in the center. I was greatly alarmed. As this is a major issue, I had to be careful. I continued to observe for several days and found that as time passed, the disaster became more and more obvious. I’m afraid it will harm Your Majesty, so I came here as fast as I could to report it.”
Mars, or “yinghuo”, is a red planet that represents disaster in ancient times. The appearance of the celestial phenomenon with “yinghuo” in the center symbolizes the death of an emperor.
Once this celestial phenomenon comes out, it will inevitably cause unrest, so the royal family has always taken it seriously.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chu opened his eyes, which had been closed the whole time. He sat up from the bed with his weak body, his eyes slightly narrowed, exuding a sense of majesty without anger, and said calmly, “What did you say?”
Scared, Qintian Representative immediately knelt down and stammered, “Your Majesty, every word I say is true and I dare not deceive you!”
Emperor Chu turned his body and moved to the edge of the bed, putting his feet into his boots and sitting up straight. Qintian Representative would never deceive him on such matters, and he thought that his recent unexplained weakness might be related to this matter, so he was already half convinced.
“Is there any reason for the appearance of this phenomenon?”
Knowing the reason would lead to a solution.
Unexpectedly, Qintian Representative began to tremble and dared not speak.
Emperor Chu said, “Speak!”
Only then did Qintian Representative say, “The Mars… the Mars is pointing to the Weiyang Palace.”
The Weiyang Palace is the palace of the Empress.
The atmosphere suddenly became extremely quiet, and Qintian Representative lowered himself even more, almost lying on the ground, wishing to find a hole to crawl into and cover it with dirt to resist the wrath of the emperor.
Rashly accusing the empress, this is a great act of treason…
At first, Emperor Chu made an indistinct sound from his nostrils, then he sneered and said to Qintian Representative, who was kneeling below him, “Do you know that accusing the empress is a great act of treason?”
Qintian Representative replied, “I… I know.”
Emperor Chu was completely enraged by his response, and after a burst of anger and laughter, he suddenly slammed the bed underneath him, making a painfully loud noise.
Emperor Chu’s face turned red with anger, and he said, “The empress is my wife whom I’ve had for many years. I know how she treats me. How could the disaster of mars be caused by her?! If she wanted to harm me, I would have been killed long ago.”
Qintian Representative was so frightened that he cried out for his own death.
Shen Fengyue was also startled by Emperor Chu’s actions just now. He didn’t expect the empress to be so important in the emperor’s heart. He quickly and softly advised, “Your Majesty, please calm down!”
Due to Shen Fengyue’s presence, Emperor Chu refrained from scaring him and his anger slightly subsided, but there was still a cloud of darkness over him. He stared at Qintian Representative, who dared not lift his head. Neither the emperor nor the minister spoke another word.
Not speaking won’t work, it would ruin his plan.
Shen Fengyue began to instigate and sow discord, “Sanlang, this humble servant is foolish, but in this humble concubine’s opinion, how could the empress possibly plot against you? She is your wife, and you have been lovingly married for so many years. Moreover, her father is the Imperial Duke, and her second uncle is the current prime minister, what reason would she have to plot against you?”
With his subtle hints and suggestions, the Emperor became suspicious and took out something from his pocket.
Wei Yunping… Wei Yunan…
He grew suspicious, pondering over it for a moment, and finally made a decision, “Send some people to search the Weiyang Palace.”
Thinking that it might sound heartless, he added, “Be gentle and don’t frighten the empress.”
The people below took their orders and went to work.
Shen Fengyue felt a chill in his heart, partly sarcastic and partly sympathetic. The emperor’s cruelty was real. Regardless of the years of marriage and respect, as long as there was doubt, there would be no mercy.
Soon, the servants reported that they had indeed found something, a piece of paper with the birthdate and several stacks of letters.
“Your Majesty, there is still a Buddhist censer in the Empress’s bedroom that we cannot move,” a servant reported.
Emperor Chu took the stack of letters and read the contents, becoming infuriated. He immediately wanted to go to the Weiyang Palace to confront the Empress.
