Chapter 73: All a Dream
Lan Wu’s hair was very long, as dark as splashed ink, and Chu Mingheng had never dried anyone else’s hair before. He was somewhat overwhelmed as he lifted her disheveled locks.
“What is it?” Lan Wu raised her head to look at him, only to have her eyes covered by the cloth again. Her head swayed left and right under his gentle force.
“An incense burner soaked with medicine.”
Lan Wu’s ears twitched. Her intuition told her that if she listened further, she would hear something shocking. Yet, while curiosity tugged at her, she had no intention of interrupting Chu Mingheng.
She didn’t even mind her hair being tousled anymore.
“A’Wu, do you know how many imperial children died in the Late Emperor’s harem?” Chu Mingheng spoke softly, not waiting for Lan Wu’s answer before continuing, “Seven. Among them were four princes and three princesses.”
Lan Wu listened in a daze, stubbornly pulling aside the cloth that blocked her view to look at Chu Mingheng’s expression.
“The Late Emperor’s harem was quite lively. From the time I can remember, any imperial concubine who became pregnant would miscarry if she was even slightly careless.”
“Even if an imperial child was successfully born, they would die unexpectedly afterward.”
“The harem struggles were too fierce, and very few imperial children survived.”
At this point, Chu Mingheng fell silent.
Lan Wu, with her messy hair, reached out and took his hand, asking, “So, Your Majesty, is it because you don’t want to see harem conflicts harming imperial children that you simply prevent the imperial concubines from bearing any?”
But that didn’t make sense. Some concubines had been pregnant before, and Your Majesty even has a little princess.
“That medicine indeed makes it difficult to conceive, but over time, its effects diminish greatly and need to be replaced frequently. The items in Zhaoyun Hall were replaced not long ago.”
Lan Wu let out an “oh,” finally understanding with a hint of disappointment why he hadn’t allowed her to enter.
Thinking back to how Consort Li had been right behind her at the time, it truly couldn’t have been explained clearly.
Her eyes suddenly lifted, scanning the surroundings, only to have her chin gently nudged back into place by Chu Mingheng.
“Don’t look. There’s nothing in your palace, and Longyu Pavilion is the same.”
He gently brushed aside Lan Wu’s messy hair and said softly, “I don’t like children. I’ve seen too many of the Late Emperor’s concubines using imperial children to vie for favor—some died, some went mad, none met a good end.”
“I originally thought that if none of the imperial concubines had children, there would be fewer conflicts.”
“But human hearts are never satisfied, A’Wu.”
Like Consort Rou, whose hands were stained with blood, yet even after climbing to her current high position, she showed no restraint.
He had divided the authority to manage the six palaces between Consort Shu and Consort Rou, allowing them to check and balance each other. Only then did the harem become somewhat stable.
But now, there was Lan Wu.
So it was time to reconsider.
Thinking of this, Chu Mingheng leaned down slightly, meeting Lan Wu’s eyes, his tone carrying a hint of coaxing. “I’ve told you everything, A’Wu. Now it’s your turn to tell me the truth.”
Lan Wu’s heart tightened, almost afraid to look at Chu Mingheng. Her hands, hanging at her sides, clenched slightly.
Chu Mingheng didn’t let her avoid his gaze and continued, “I have issued an edict ordering Shenxing Si to strictly interrogate Yushan Fang. None of those involved will escape.”
The atmosphere around them grew increasingly heavy. After a while, he finally heard Lan Wu speak.
“I did have something added to the food she was going to eat… because she plotted against me first, that’s why I did it.” Lan Wu’s voice sounded aggrieved and stifled.
Chu Mingheng had long guessed what she had done, and now that he had her reply, he wasn’t surprised. But…
“How did you know Consort Rou couldn’t eat that fruit?”
This was the crucial point.
Even the Imperial Medical Academy didn’t know that Consort Rou couldn’t eat it, but Lan Wu knew. Afraid she wouldn’t eat it, Lan Wu deliberately added something to the evening meal served to her, nearly killing her.
Lan Wu opened her mouth, her voice hoarse, unsure how to respond.
“I… I just guessed,” she said, then timidly fluttered her eyelashes. “I was just trying something out.”
Chu Mingheng didn’t even need to look to know she was lying.
He gently pinched Lan Wu’s face and asked, “Did you also guess about the Sanzhou Canal Embankment?”
The report had arrived before the Imperial Presence several days earlier. Just as Lan Wu had told him, there was a risk of the embankment breaching. The Qiu Nan region experienced heavy summer rains. While ordinary flooding was one thing, if it were a continuous downpour as Lan Wu described, the embankment repaired the year before last would be unable to hold back the accumulated water, making a breach inevitable.
The Ministry of Revenue allocated funds, and the Ministry of Works sent officials to oversee the repairs. Who knew how much had been embezzled in the process?
When the report reached his desk, he secretly dispatched people to handle it—repairs where needed, evacuations where necessary. However, he hadn’t acted immediately in court, intending to wait until after Lan Wu’s birthday to address it.
He never expected Lan Wu to sneak around and cause trouble again.
He clearly saw Lan Wu’s eyes widen as she anxiously explained, “Didn’t I say it was a dream? It wasn’t a guess—”
“Why bring this up again? We were just talking about Consort Rou…”
Chu Mingheng couldn’t help but pinch her little face, sneering, “Who told you not to tell the truth? Do you really think I’m as foolish as you?”
“You’re insulting me!?” Lan Wu glared at him, demanding an answer.
Chu Mingheng’s anger subsided slightly. He released Lan Wu and spoke with reason and evidence, “I know exactly what tricks you played in Yushan Fang and who you bribed.”
“The head eunuch of Yushan Fang is Consort Rou’s person. Did you think your little tricks would last long?”
At this, Chu Mingheng noticed a flicker of guilt on Lan Wu’s face.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, “You knew this too?”
Impressive. Knowing the head eunuch of Yushan Fang was Consort Rou’s person, such a major incident would inevitably lead to the eunuch being held accountable. With him dead, how could anyone trace it back to her? And she even used imperial authority to cut off one of Consort Rou’s arms.
Lan Wu panicked inwardly, not expecting him to dissect her motives to this extent. She wasn’t prepared yet.
This plan had many merits, but one flaw—it repeatedly exploited Chu Mingheng.
If not for relying on Chu Mingheng, she wouldn’t have succeeded to this point.
“Lan Wu,” Chu Mingheng called her name sternly.
Lan Wu’s eyes reddened. She got off the bed to approach him but remembered she wasn’t wearing any clothes as soon as her feet touched the ground. Wrapped in a blanket, her hair disheveled, she threw herself against Chu Mingheng.
“This concubine will tell everything, this concubine will tell everything. Your Majesty, please don’t be angry with this concubine.”
“Actually, everything this concubine said about dreaming is true.” Wasn’t her previous life just a fleeting dream?
“All of this was learned in that dream.” Not only learned but also participated in.
“This concubine only wanted to test whether the things in the dream were true, which is why she came up with such a… such a bad idea.” A good idea.
“This concubine didn’t intentionally deceive Your Majesty. In truth, this concubine only became certain just now.” I was deceiving you, and I won’t tell you.
“It must be that the gods and Buddhas are protecting this concubine, allowing her to have such dreams.”
If she were to speak of her death and revival, Chu Mingheng would likely summon the Imperial Medical Academy to examine her head. The truth was too bizarre; she would never tell anyone in this lifetime. She had no desire to be treated as a madwoman.