Chapter 8: “Ah, look at you, covered in wounds and burning with fever.” Su Yingxue sighed softly.
Driven by a heart full of remorse, Su Yingxue silently touched his scorching forehead and let out a light sigh.
She ordered Qiushuang to fetch a basin of cold water for wiping his face, while she herself sat by the bed, tending to this unconscious “ancestor.”
“Ah, look at you, covered in wounds and burning with fever,” Su Yingxue sighed softly as she tucked Chu Xingchen’s hand under the brocade quilt.
When Qiushuang brought the cold water, Su Yingxue soaked a cloth in it, wrung it dry, and gently applied it to his forehead to reduce his fever physically. She repeated this process several times as the cloth warmed up. Thus, Su Yingxue quietly cared for him for a long time.
Until Xiahe entered the side hall and reported, “Your Highness, Eunuch Shen has the guards and that palace maid kneeling in the main hall. Does the Eldest Princess wish to go now?”
“Very well. Qiushuang, accompany me,” Su Yingxue said upon hearing this, heading toward the main hall with Qiushuang.
As their footsteps faded, Chu Xingchen, who had been lying unconscious on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes—clear and alert, shining like stars.
He sat up straight, frowned slightly at the clumsily bandaged wounds on his body, and picked up the porcelain bottle of ointment placed beside the bed. Opening it, he sniffed lightly—it was indeed high-quality medicinal ointment.
He then glanced coldly at the empty bowl that had contained the herbal decoction. When Su Yingxue fed him the first sip, his knowledge of pharmacology had already told him it was excellent medicine for reducing fever and treating colds.
Could it be that Su Yingxue still clung to her obsession with making him her male consort? Had she changed her tactics—abandoning coercion and bribery for a soft approach, trying to win him over with care and affection?
Impossible! At this thought, Chu Xingchen’s eyes turned icy, sharp as arrows. If the timing weren’t still premature, and considering all she had done to him in the past, he would have gladly torn her to pieces!
Did she think calling an imperial physician, applying medicine, and offering petty favors could erase the harm she had inflicted upon him? Dream on!
In the side hall, a shadowy figure appeared in the empty room, kneeling and kowtowing. “Your Highness, you have suffered!”
Zhao Ying was Chu Xingchen’s shadow guard, planted in the Qi State palace years ago.
During the incident two days ago, Zhao Ying had witnessed everything from the shadows when Chu Xingchen was captured. Chu Xingchen signaled him not to act rashly, lest it ruin their long-laid plans in the Great Sheng Dynasty.
In truth, the present Chu Xingchen was no longer the Hostage Prince who had first arrived in the Sheng Kingdom. With his current martial skills and methods, not to mention a mere Inner Eunuch Directorate, even the Eldest Princess’s palace was a place he could come and go from freely.
But for now, playing the role of a bullied hostage made it easier to avoid suspicion. After all, those in high positions seldom cared about the thoughts of those they oppressed and humiliated.
The alliance between the Great Sheng Dynasty and the Great Qi Dynasty was already precarious—war between them was inevitable sooner or later. And he was now the most successful spy of the Great Qi Dynasty. What did a little physical suffering matter?
Once their plans reached fruition, it would be time for him and his shadow guard to return triumphant to their homeland for rewards. What Chu Xingchen desired was far more than a mere Third Prince title. The better he performed in this covert mission, the higher his ennoblement would be upon returning home.
“Go and carefully conceal yourself inside. See what schemes that Eldest Princess is plotting.Chu Xingchen thought of Su Yingxue’s strange and unusual behavior today, fearing she harbored malicious intentions. For caution’s sake, it was better to keep watch lest she ruin his grand plan in the near future.
“Recently, hand over your current tasks to Zhaoxue. You shall spend all day monitoring this Su Yingxue. Report to This Palace everything she does daily, whom she meets, and what she says.” Chu Xingchen coldly commanded.
“Acknowledged.” Zhao Ying nodded upon hearing this and departed.
The Eldest Princess’s Palace was brightly lit, with candles shining brilliantly.
Eunuch Shen knelt in the palace hall with the yellow-robed palace maid and several guards. By the time Su Yingxue entered the Main Hall supported by Qiushuang’s hand and took her seat on the high couch, the room below was already filled with kneeling people.
“Good evening, Your Highness the Eldest Princess.” Eunuch Shen was the first to kneel upon seeing Su Yingxue enter the hall.
He knelt with a smile, speaking volubly, “Your Highness, this servant has brought the person you requested. As for how to conduct the interrogation, since Your Highness wishes to handle it personally, this servant shall merely assist from the side.”
Eunuch Shen’s words were exceptionally subtle. Everyone in the Great Sheng Dynasty knew that Su Yingxue was the one and only good-for-nothing in the entire Dasheng Royal Palace.
When Zhang Susu read the original novel, she felt it was truly a miracle that this Eldest Princess managed to survive until the kingdom’s fall in the Great Sheng Dynasty.
The Eldest Princess was willful and cruel, simple-minded yet venomous. She was skilled at wielding a red leather whip to lash others – regardless of who they were, if they displeased her, she would personally administer flogging.
But within the deep palace walls, she was indeed the most brainless and easily manipulated.
Moreover, with just a few provocative words from others, she would become impulsive and act as someone else’s pawn. Her emotions were transparent on her face, her thoughts shallow. Were it not for Your Majesty’s partial protection, given her talent for causing trouble and earning hatred, there would have been no place for her, Su Yingxue, in this deep palace long ago.
Though Eunuch Shen’s words now appeared to consider her interests, the amusement in his eyes wasn’t for apology. Rather, he clearly understood that by throwing this hot potato back to the Eldest Princess, given her capabilities, she could neither solve the case nor implicate the Inner Service Directorate.
With the case handed to the Eldest Princess, no matter what outcome she uncovered – or even if she caused trouble – Your Majesty would cover for her. It was more convenient than wading into the muddy waters himself.
“Eunuch Shen, thank you for your trouble.” Su Yingxue was an elegant beauty, pearl-like and jade-like, naturally exuding royal nobility. If one judged the Eldest Princess by appearance alone, she was truly beautiful. Even now with her jeweled coiffure loosely tied and lightly made up with lead powder, her subtle cosmetics enhanced her innate elegance.
“Are you the one who personally witnessed Chu Shizi push This Palace into the lake?” Su Yingxue rose and paced to where a yellow-robed palace maid knelt trembling on the ground, asking coldly.
“Y-Your Highness the Eldest Princess… y-yes… it was this s-slave… this slave personally s-saw Chu Shizi push you…” The palace maid had worked in the Imperial Palace long enough to know Su Yingxue’s temperament well.
Rumors said the Eldest Princess was moody and unpredictable, extremely proficient at wielding her leather whip with effortless grace. She was merely a lowly maid – how could she not be afraid? Now, even her voice carried a stutter.
“In that case, where exactly did you see Chu Huangzi push This Palace into the lake that day?” Su Yingxue said coldly. Now that she had no memory of Su Yingxue’s past, she could only rely on the novel’s plot she had read and the words of others to deduce what had happened.