Chapter 63: Using Myself as Bait
Yinlan's death caused a wave of turmoil in the Forbidden Cavalry Division, causing several leaders to feel an unprecedented sense of crisis.
Chunniang and Yaoniang have followed the Grand Princess for many years and never thought that the day when they would be in opposition to the Grand Princess would come so soon.
Just as Yao Niang said, the Imperial Cavalry Department belongs to His Majesty, not the Grand Princess. The fact that someone could poison Yinlan to death right under Chun Niang's nose means that there are still people in the inner prison who obey the Grand Princess's orders, and the number of people is unknown.
After Fu Chen knew that Yinlan had been poisoned, he gathered Chunniang and Yaoniang for a closed-door meeting. It was not known what they discussed, but the Forbidden Cavalry Division began a round of strict self-inspection shortly afterwards. The Feng Department was fine and there were no problems. Fu Chen had been in control of it for the past few years and had long since eliminated the unstable factors.
The Inner Prison and the Shadow Department are more troublesome.
It was originally the Grand Princess's territory, and even Chunniang and Yao Niang were once her people, not to mention that the people below had been loyal to the Grand Princess for many years. Although she took away the core members of her own subordinates, there was no guarantee that there were still hidden chess pieces buried.
Once Chunniang made up her mind, she executed it with swift and resolute action. She quickly gathered her subordinates and found out who had been to the cell on the day of Yinlan's death. She used the bodies of two of her subordinates to show the results of her self-examination to the Fengbu and Yingbu. By the way, she let her subordinates recognize the master they should be loyal to, and not think of anyone else except His Majesty the Emperor.
Yao Niang was not willing to be outdone. She took her new apprentice to check all the strongholds in the city and carried out a large-scale personnel transfer. Dozens of people were eliminated and transferred to unimportant places. Overnight, all the worldly airs on her body were restrained, revealing the majesty of the head of the Shadow Department. She looked like a completely different person.
Tang Ying: “…” I always feel like I’m following a fake master.
Yao Niang had been running around for seven days in a row. She was so tired that she sat down with her head propped up to rest for a while. She was an excellent sleeper and could fall asleep in seconds even leaning on a chair. She woke up half an hour later and was still full of energy. Her energy was so strong that even the young Tang Ying felt ashamed of herself.
Tang Ying had a bad sleep to begin with, and she was so busy that she was dizzy and had no time to catch up on her sleep. When Fu Chen saw her seven days later, he suspected that Yao Niang had abused her.
"Aunt Yao, did Zhang Ying upset you? Or did she not do something well enough?"
Yao Niang was a delicate woman. No matter how tired she was, she would never look depressed. She had been busy for three days, but she looked no different in front of Fu Chen. On the other hand, the young apprentice Tang Ying had a sickly complexion, and she was not a girl who liked to dress up. Her dark circles under her eyes looked like someone had painted her with green paint as a prank. She looked as pale as a ghost, and she floated in like a wandering soul. She leaned against the door frame and slipped out. She was about to sit cross-legged on the floor in Fu Chen's room, and put a broken bowl in front of her so that she could start begging.
"No, the little girl is very smart and has nimble hands and feet, so it's easy to use her." She glanced at her with disdain: "But she looks too sloppy." It seems that she has tolerated Tang Ying for a long time. If she was not still in mourning, she would have been dragged away by Yao Niang to be dressed up by herself.
Tang Ying had been tortured to the point of being miserable by Yao Niang's working day and night. Saying any more words was a waste of energy, and she turned a deaf ear to her mother's disgust. She just wanted to find a place to sleep and die.
Fu Chen took a few steps forward, grabbed Tang Ying by the back of her neck and dragged her to sit on a chair. The back of his hand accidentally brushed across the skin on her neck, and he felt it was incredibly hot. He said angrily, "If it's easy to order her around, why is she like this?"
"Are you standing up for the little girl?" Yao Niang heard concern in his words. This was a rare sight. She smiled and joked, "Hey, Fu boy, who are you to the little girl?"
Yes, who are you to her?
Lord Fu's breath was choked and stuck in his throat, neither going up nor down, just like his mood over the past two days.
During those seven days, while the Forbidden Cavalry Division was in turmoil, many things were also happening in the outside world.
First, Huan Yanbo was escorted out of the capital by people from the Ministry of Justice and went to Lingnan three days ago. Baozi followed him all the way with a little brother, and no one knew where they went.
The eldest princess sent her only son off at the Ten-Li Pavilion outside the city, and when she returned home she announced to the public that she was "bedridden". Imperial doctors came in and out all day long, the small medicine furnace in her yard was running day and night, and the maids serving her were all smelling strongly of medicine. Even the emperor in the palace was alarmed, and he gave many precious medicinal materials as a way of comforting her.
Perhaps the Emperor's reward did not soothe the Grand Princess's pain of bidding farewell to her only son. Her condition showed no improvement. Medicines were still brought into her room day and night, but the prescriptions written by the imperial doctors did not seem to be suitable for her condition and failed to allow the Grand Princess to sit up from her sickbed.
The Second Prince came to visit the Grand Princess in person and stayed in the house for about an hour before leaving. It seemed that the aunt and nephew had a very pleasant conversation and had a good conversation. It is said that the Grand Princess will be able to leave the next day.
None of these were enough to make Lord Fu, who always had a deep frown on his face and a mind as quiet as the water in a cold pond, difficult for outsiders to understand, feel irritated.
What disrupted Lord Fu's overall plan was the imperial decree issued by the emperor two days ago to grant marriage, granting Tang Yao's daughter to be the second prince's consort, with the wedding date yet to be determined.
"She left my house and I had no intention of handing her over to you, Aunt. You took her away by force. You should at least take care of her for my sake. Aunt, you're so kind that you didn't torture her to death. Aren't you unhappy about that?"
"You make me sound like a street thug who robs women." Yao Niang smiled frivolously: "You can feel sorry for her if you want, but why do you have to put the blame on me?" When she mentioned this, she had a lot of complaints: "This girl is so young and doesn't know how to take care of herself. She has so many worries in her heart that she is almost tortured into a dried-up woman. This is none of my business."
Fu Chen was in a bad mood: "...You are good at shirking responsibility."
She stretched seductively, stood up, and said rudely: "Forget it, forget it, this girl is useless and sick. Anyway, there is nothing serious here for the time being, you might as well take her back and find a doctor to take good care of her. Otherwise, let alone continuing the family line in the future, you might become a widower within a few years of marriage."
Fu Chen: “…”
Yao Niang casually gave a few words about the results of the film department's self-examination, then walked away gracefully, twisting her waist.
Only Tang Ying and Fu Chen were left in the room.
Tang Ying had a slight fever two days ago, but she held on without saying anything. As a result, her condition got worse day by day. When she followed Yao Niang back to the Forbidden Cavalry Division on horseback, she didn't feel it, but when she entered the office and walked on her own, she always felt like she was walking on clouds. It was as if there was a wall between people's words and she couldn't hear clearly. She walked with one foot higher than the other. It was all because of her amazing willpower that she controlled her facial expressions and didn't let Yao Niang notice anything.
Some people had a fever and their faces were red, as if they were drunk. However, Tang Ying was seriously injured when the city was captured and almost died. She had already lost her body and had not recovered. When she had a fever, even the cherry color on her lips seemed to fade to white. If she didn't say it, others would hardly notice it. Hongxiang muttered to Wanyu: "She used to be respectful to us, but this time she was valued by aunt, so she put on airs in front of us and didn't even want to talk to us."
Wan Yu was more tolerant and had no prejudice against Tang Ying, so he said a few fair words: "I don't think Xiaoying is putting on airs, but she is too sleepy to speak. She hasn't rested for several days, and I see she barely took a nap."
Yao Niang was still a young apprentice and had never experienced the situation of self-examination. It was the first time she witnessed the skills and abilities of her master, and she was so busy that she didn't notice that she was sick.
She left her tired and sick apprentice to Fu Chen as if she had thrown away a burden, and went back to her room to catch up on some sleep.
Fu Chen closed the door and placed his cold big hand on the little girl's forehead. She felt as if she was pressing on a hot iron with her bare hands. The person whose forehead he touched felt her brain was burned into a paste. She just rubbed it twice on his palm instinctively and almost sighed with comfort.
He therefore concluded that the little girl was definitely not in her right mind at the moment.
When she was sober, although she did not keep a distance from him on purpose, the fake smile on her face and the insincere nonsense she spoke told him one thing - she regarded him as an outsider, and was neither prepared to open her heart to him nor to develop the slightest dependence on him.
When Fu Chen realized this, he couldn't help but mutter to himself: "What a cruel girl!"
The cruel girl seemed unable to hold up her head, and kept pushing it into his palm, like a large dog-skin plaster. As long as it touched him a little, she would want to stick the whole thing on.
Fu Chen gradually felt the weight in his palm, and he supported her forehead and moved to the side. She actually adjusted her posture automatically, with half of her face rubbing against his palm. He could even feel the burning warmth of the air exhaled by this girl.
It was a pretty little nose with two small nostrils, but the hot air exhaled seemed to be able to burn at any time, burning Fu Chen's palms so much that they were sweating.
Liu Zhong pushed the door open and saw the two people's strange appearance. He was surprised and said, "Sir, you should think twice before you act. If you like Miss Zhang again and use drugs to knock her out, Aunt Yao will definitely make a big fuss if she finds out. Let's... let's not offend Aunt Yao, right?"
Yao Niang is moody and protective of her subordinates. She has no problem bullying and exploiting her subordinates, but she will never allow others to bully her subordinates.
"Shut up!" Fu Chen seemed to be holding a piece of hot charcoal with nowhere to put it. He decided to go all out. He put his arms around Tang Ying's waist and picked her up. He ordered Liu Zhong: "Send someone to the Imperial Hospital to invite an imperial physician who is good at treating women and bring her to my house." He carried Tang Ying out.
Liu Zhong, a married man, didn't know where his thoughts were going. He was holding onto the door frame and was almost frightened by Master Fu's speed: "...Sir, you have to consider the girl's reputation before we get married, right?"
What if I get pregnant?
When he came to his senses, he was shocked by his bold guess: "Could it be what I thought?" He ran to the Imperial Hospital to ask for a doctor.
Fu Chen held Tang Ying in his arms and mounted the horse. During the process, the little girl opened her eyes once in his arms, her eyes were unfocused and her mind might be completely confused. She looked up at his handsome chin and muttered, "Brother...you are back?" The joy on her face was quickly wiped away by the deep sleepiness, and she fell into an unconscious state again.
The biting cold wind blew across his cheeks, but Lord Fu remained calm as he wrapped the person in his arms with his cloak. He wondered in his heart if the intimate "brother" she called was actually referring to Tang Jue?
I think they must have a very good relationship as siblings.
He lowered his head, and the person in his arms huddled together, brows furrowed, unable to smile because of the heavy burden on her mind. He reached out and smoothed her brows, as if he could take this opportunity to share some of the burden for her in her dream.
When Zhang Qing saw Fu Chen carrying Tang Ying back, his face turned pale with fright.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He stretched out his hand tremblingly to take it, but was afraid that the person under the cloak would be stained with blood again, so he hesitated to move forward, his panic and fear were obvious.
"I'm sick. The doctor will be here soon and take me to her room."
Zhang Qing was calmed by Fu Chen's calm voice, and he led the way into Tang Ying's room.
The room was extremely simple, with only a table, chairs, bed, and a washbasin stand. It seemed as if one could leave at any time and never come back.
Fu Chen stepped into the room, put the person on the bed, and frowned: "Why is there not even a brazier?"
Zhang Qing poked his head to look at the woman on the bed, and saw her huddled up in a ball while whimpering. Even covering herself with a thick quilt did not help. He finally believed what Fu Chen said: "Is this... a cold? " He quickly lit a brazier and brought it over. The person in the quilt was still huddled up in a ball. Without the warm embrace of Lord Fu, she even shivered, her upper and lower teeth chattering, and she managed to pull back a little consciousness and opened her eyes.
"How are you, girl?"
Tang Ying's eyes were filled with Zhang Qing's nervous and concerned face, as well as the blue coarse cloth curtain at the head of the bed. She hesitated for a moment before she understood what was going on. She returned to the courtyard and lay down on her own bed.
She tried to cheer herself up and forced a reassuring smile: "I'm fine, I'll be fine after two days of sleep, don't worry, big brother."
Fu Chen went out with a stern face and came back in about a quarter of an hour with a hot water bottle. No one knew where Xiong Yu got it from. He silently lifted the quilt and stuffed it into Tang Ying's arms.
Tang Ying used her remaining consciousness to think about why Fu Chen appeared in her room, and suddenly realized: "Did the adults send me back?"
Fu Chen stuffed her restless arm out of the quilt back into the quilt: "Close your eyes and rest, the doctor will be here soon."
Tang Ying was indeed confused due to the fever. She said incoherently: "Thank you for sending me back, sir. I'm sorry to bother you to come here... No, you were supposed to go home anyway, I just stopped by..." She only told the truth when her mind was not clear: "I'll be fine after a while. There's no need to hire a doctor. It's too expensive..."
"Is she so stingy?" Fu Chen asked in confusion, staring at the little girl who had fallen asleep again.
Zhang Qing rubbed his hands, his face flushed, not knowing how to answer: "...I have been poor all the way, maybe he is afraid of poverty, and only has a little loose change in his hand."
"His Majesty awarded me 100 taels of silver, and the account office paid out 20 taels of the monthly allowance for the palace. Did you spend it all?" Fu Chen calculated the accounts carefully: "You didn't have to pay for food and lodging, and I didn't see her buying new clothes." The official uniforms of the Imperial Cavalry Division were also free: "Where did you spend your money?"
"The young lady has almost spent all her silver." Zhang Qing couldn't help but tell the truth in the condemning eyes of Master Fu, who called them "these two prodigal sons": "She knows a group of beggars outside, and she spends silver without counting. It's winter, so she often gives them some money..." Money is something that has never been forbidden to spend.
Baozi, with the mission of surveillance, followed Huan Yanbo's footsteps in exile to beg, and also took ten taels of silver for emergency.
Fu Chen: “…” Let’s finish seeing the doctor first.
Liu Zhong acted quickly. He went to the Imperial Hospital and fetched an imperial physician who was good at treating women. The imperial physician thought he had committed a crime, or had diagnosed someone he shouldn't have, and had offended the people from the Forbidden Cavalry Division. But when he was brought into Fu's residence and followed Xiong Yu into the servants' courtyard and saw the patient sleeping on the bed, he finally felt relieved - as long as he was not arrested and imprisoned in the Forbidden Cavalry Division's cell for interrogation and torture, he would be a blessing.
He took the patient's pulse and prescribed medicine, and then nervously discussed the patient's condition with Fu Chen. He heard Lord Fu say, "Please ask the imperial physician to stay at the mansion for a few days. I will prescribe some recuperation prescriptions for her after she regains consciousness." He nodded in agreement hastily and was soon taken away by Xiong Yu. He was ready to provide a one-stop service of seeing the patient and boiling medicine. It would also be a good thing to have some friendship with Lord Fu.
Zhang Qing went to see the imperial physician off, and when he came back he found that Master Fu was not in the room, but standing in the courtyard. He looked up at the narrow sky of the small courtyard and asked casually, "Are they siblings very close? On the way back, she asked me in a daze, 'Brother, you're back?' She wasn't talking about you, was she?"
"Of course it's good." Zhang Qingru was struck by lightning, and his face showed pain: "They have a very good relationship between brother and sister. The young master loves the young lady very much!"
Fu Chen: "How did Tang Jue die in the end?"
Zhang Qing: "... Who are you talking about, sir?" He quickly recalled whether he had let anything slip before, and then hesitantly replied: "I don't know much about Marshal Tang's affairs." Tang Ying had told him everything else, but she kept her mouth shut about her relationship with Sir Fu.
A cold light flashed in Fu Chen's eyes: "How come your master is dead? You don't know? Who are you trying to fool?"
"My master?" Zhang Qing vehemently denied: "My lord, you must have made a mistake, right?"
Fu Chen: "Your young lady has admitted it! The one in the Second Prince's house is a fake Miss Tang, and the real Miss Tang is in my house. You are a loyal servant of the Tang family, escorting the young lady all the way to the capital, there is no reason for you not to know!"
Zhang Qing was stunned: "Miss has told you everything?" Once the secret between the two was revealed, he collapsed and squatted down, covering his face with his hands. Even though several months had passed, what happened was still vivid in his mind, as if it had just happened yesterday, and it instantly defeated him: "In order to cover the messenger's escape from the city, the young general used himself as bait to break into the enemy camp... and he didn't even find a body..."
Fu Chen's heart tightened. He felt that even the air in this narrow courtyard was so thin that he almost felt suffocated.
