The strength in which high-rank imperial guards executed the flogging with a stick was beyond the tolerance of ordinary people. After thirty strokes, Madam Sun was on the verge of death, and then she heard that Consort Sun was now kneeling in the Buddhist Hall for self-reflection. After twelve shichen (twenty-four hours), the imperial child would definitely not survive and there is a possibility that both the child and mother would die.
The reason she went to the palace was for her son's marriage. But she did not expect that the marriage would fall through, and the pillar of the Sun family would collapse. Her sister-in-law was favoured and the Emperor had also promised to decree him as a Prince as soon as she gave birth to a son. So why did he want to kill her sister-in-law in the blink of an eye?
Madam Sun was not a fool. How could she not see that the Emperor and Empress were working together to get rid of her sister-in-law? Her body ached as if it was torn apart, but the fretfulness and anxiety in her heart were even greater than the pain in her body. She wanted to return to the manor immediately to have a proper discussion with her son. However, she felt that the sudden change in the Emperor's attitude was not a good sign. It was as if the fate of the Great Han was about to change.
"Madam Sun, has the decree for the marriage been obtained? If so, give it to me, so I can go back and prepare the dowry." The Shen's family carriage stopped on the main road, and Yu Xiang lifted the curtain and smiled radiantly.
A maidservant lifted the curtain and said in a coaxing manner, "Our Madam is very ill. Please make way, Miss Shen."
"Ill? Wasn't she stripped of her trousers and flogged? There were so many guards in front of the palace. In broad daylight, Madam had her lower body exposed. Indeed, it is very interesting. If it were me, I would be ashamed to death." Yu Xiang did not deliberately lower her voice. This was the main entrance to the palace, and the only people passing by were dignitaries, so they turned their heads to look at them.
Madam Sun, who was already on her last breath, was so incensed that she almost vomited blood. She shrieked at the top of her lungs, "Go, quickly return to the manor! Hurry up!" She felt as if she had died one more time here.
"Get out of the way. She's in a hurry to hang herself." Yu Xiang beckoned her coachman.
The driver immediately moved out of the way and watched as the Sun family's carriage disappeared into a sea of finger-pointing. Yu Xiang lowered the curtain and said, "Let's go. The Sun family has a big play waiting for us to watch."
Tao Hong couldn't hold back her laughter when she heard this. She urged the coachman to speed up, while Liu Lu had a hint of helplessness on her face.
The two carriages arrived at the Sun manor one after the other. The doorman had been informed and brought out a bamboo bed to receive the Madam. Lord Sun was still on duty at the magistrate's office and it was Sun Ming Jie's day off. When Sun Ming Jie heard about the flogging his mother was bestowed instead of an imperial decree, he was already waiting at the side door with a few small drops of sweat visibly on his forehead.
His mother must have caused big trouble to have been personally ordered to be flogged by Emperor Cheng Kang and beaten by the guards in front of the Hall of Nurtured Hearts. Now that Consort Sun was kneeling in the freezing Buddhist Hall, it was apparent what had occurred within the duration of twelve shichen (twenty-four hours). He was not a fool, and had already thought of the worst possible outcome.
"Someone come, someone come. Quickly receive Madam." The servants saw the carriage and hurriedly carried the bamboo bed with its thick bedding over.
Sun Ming Jie held Madam Sun's hand and bombarded her with questions, "How are you doing, Mother? How is Niang Niang?[1] What has happened to provoke such anger from the Emperor?"
"Are you Sun Ming Jie?" A clear voice came from the carriage in the back.
Sun Ming Jie turned his head to look towards the back, and what met his eyes was the silhouette he had whipped and toyed with countless times in his dreams. Currently, the person's jaw was slightly raised. She had an arrogant expression and her small red lips spat out hurtful words, "With your appearance, neither a male nor female, you would dare to desire a true Si Nong Xiang Jun?[2] Why don't you look in the mirror and see if you are even worthy?"
One thing Sun Ming Jie hated the most was when people say that he had an appearance that was neither feminine nor masculine. His eyes flushed red with murderous intent visible between his brows.
Yu Xiang laughed contemptuously and waved her sleeve, "Stop glaring. I won't lose a piece of flesh if you keep doing so. I have something here for you, take it."
As soon as she said that, another carriage came ahead of her and several manor servants came down carrying a huge iron cage containing a white swan and several hundred toads. She had gone to a lot of trouble to find all these toads in the middle of winter and placed them on the fire pit to wake them up.
Toads were supposed to be food for swans, but there were so many of them in the cage. What one could see was a densely packed flesh bubbling with white venom. Even a person would be too terrified to look at them, let alone a swan surrounded by them.
The swan craned its neck and let out a loud hiss that it drew the gazes of all passers-by. When they saw the radiantly smiling Yu Xiang leaning out the carriage window, they all wondered-Who is the unlucky person who has messed with this devil incarnate again? If you want to talk about mischievousness, even the dandy boys in the capitals were no match for the young lady of the Yu family. Oh no, it's the Shen family.
Sun Ming Jie stared intently at the iron cage and asked through clenched teeth, "Miss Shen, what exactly is your intention? Sending these toads to disgust me?"
"No, I'm here to teach you a lesson." Yu Xiang raised her eyebrows slightly and her tone was light and slow, "This lady is a swan. You are a toad on the ground. A toad trying to eat the flesh of a swan is pure delusion."
As soon as the words left her mouth, the manor servant opened the iron cage and tossed it towards the gate of the Sun manor. The helpless swan was freed and immediately took flight. It hissed a few times before disappearing as a black dot into the horizon. The toads, however, could not fly and bounced all over the front door of the Sun manor. As their slime was poisonous, the Sun manor's servants immediately dodged out of the way. And somehow someone dropped the bamboo bed causing Madam Sun to fall off, crushing several toads to death in a disgusting and comical scene.
Sun Ming Jie was furious to the point of wanting to kill someone as the onlookers incessantly roared with laughter. If he had a sword in his hand, he would have stabbed Yu Xiang. From then on, anyone who tried to marry into a family of higher standings would be ridiculed with the phrase 'a toad wants to eat swan's meat'.[1] This was something that would take place later, it should not be mentioned now.
Yu Xiang covered her mouth and chuckled softly. Before he could react, her carriage had already disappeared around the corner of the street. Sun Ming Jie's face was so contorted and he shouted with all his strength with a raspy voice, "Shen Xiang, if you ever fall into my hands, I will make sure you live in utter misery!"
What Yu Xiang did was no more than a child's prank in the eyes of passers-by. However, Sun Ming Jie's declaration was a bit overboard. Plus, he had a reputation as a celestial noble son. The masses were surprised and started to murmur when he revealed his true sinister side.
Those who were interested enough had already gone around to find out why the two families were feuding and became even more disgusted by the things the Sun family had done. When news of Consort Sun's miscarriage and sudden death leaked from inside the palace, everyone realised that--the Sun family's good days had come to an end.
Lord Sun was horrified, more terrified than ever. First, he received an anonymous letter at the magistrate's office. Once he opened it, he found a bloody letter recording his son's heinous crime. Not waiting for him to get home to make inquiries, the inner place released the news that his wife had been rewarded with thirty strokes of the wooden board by the emperor for making a ruckus in front of the palace. In addition, Consort Sun was punished for disobeying the Empress and being unaware of social ranking. She was made to kneel while facing the wall to repent.
He dared not send anyone to the palace to inquire about the news. He could only excuse himself and go home amidst the odd stares of his colleagues. Once he walked through the door, he received the news that Consort Sun had passed away due to a sudden miscarriage.
"What on earth is going on here? Why is my Sun family on the brink of extermination in just half a day? What exactly have you done? This is not as simple as killing a maid, quickly tell me!" Lord Sun kicked open the room's door and flung the bloody letter at his son's face.
Madam Sun lay shivering on the bed, and Sun Ming Jie was silent as he tightened his grip on the bloody letter. The servants immediately fled and dead silent settled upon the room.
Lord Sun slumped in the taishi chair[2] and said slowly, "I have just received news that Consort Sun has died a sudden death, and the little imperial son has also died in the womb. Our Sun family was doing well, but how did it end up like this? Upon self-reflection, I have always behaved according to the rules of convention and acted prudently; and I have never been in the eyes of the emperor, let alone angered him to such an extent. If you two are able to bribe this murder case behind my back, you must also be able to plan other things behind my back. You two can tell me. Tell me and we'll figure it out together."
Madam Sun buried her face in the soft pillow and sobbed. Sun Ming Jie stumbled to his father's side. He said with a hoarse voice, "There is no other way out. Father, I'm afraid you have to jump into the fire pit with me. Either we will achieve meteoric success in our career, or we will never live again..."
The Emperor must have suddenly killed Consort Sun because he had discovered something was amiss. Thus, the only way out was to inform the Fourth Prince and tell him to be prepared to usurp the throne. In fact, the truth was that the Dragon Scale Guard and the inner palace had already been infiltrated by the Fourth Prince, and the Crown Prince had handed over all his contacts to the fourth prince. Many of whom were important officials in charge of the capital's defence.
It would not be difficult to surround the imperial city with lighting speed.
-----
Without mentioning the hidden turbulent undercurrents caused by Consort Sun's death, Yu Xiang was on her way home at the moment and had ordered Tao Hong to buy a few catties of fried melon seeds. Relaxed and at ease, she gazed at the street scenes throughout the journey home.
"Wait, isn't that Chang Ya Fu?" She pointed to a mother and daughter in Jinxiu Pavilion.
Liu Lu said in surprise, "Yeah, that's right. Didn't she go to hide in her hometown? Why is she back again? And with a face full of joy."
Chang Ya Fu was trying on a jade hairpin in the silver mirror. She was accompanied by Duchess Jing, who looked very relaxed, chuckling, and talking while covering her mouth.
"Something grand and joyous must have happened in Duke Jing manor," Liu Lu guessed.
"Chang Ya Fu's face is full of shyness, so she must have found an ideal husband. With that reputation, who could she marry? She is not like me to have already taken a wonderful husband on my own." Yu Xiang pondered for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter, "Look at me, how could I have forgotten about Yu Pin Hong, who has just returned to the capital? They've been having an affair for a long time, haven't they? Now that Yu Jun Wei is expected to be reinstated and Yu Pin Hong is expected to be on the path of officialdom and to inherit the feudal nobility title, she immediately sought him out. This pair of dogs have finally come together."
Tao Hong has always loved to hear gossip. She was somewhat aware of the third branch of the (Yu) family's news and wondered, "But Yu Pin Hong is already married in Shu, and the other party is an ordinary village woman that has been brought back."
Yu Xiang sneered and said, "Yu Jun Wei is indeed a sanctimonious hypocrite who was trying to appear moral. He clearly wished to kill his wife, but still brought her back to show that he is trustworthy and righteous. A village woman cannot afford to be a member of the marquis' family, and if a pingqi[3] was brought into the family. No one would be able to pick out any problem with that. If you look at the noble woman in the capital, who would be willing to be a pingqi? The most suitable candidate would be someone like Chang Ya Fu, who comes from an aristocratic family but has lost her reputation. When I first exposed Chang Ya Fu, I didn't expect that I would be able to bring a pair of mandarin ducks together. The affairs of life are truly impermanent."
As she said this, she poured out the melon seed shells from her hand. Coincidentally, Chang Ya Fu looked up. Her eyes first widened, then she chuckled and mouthed the words, 'See, I've still become a Marquess.'
Yu Xiang gave her a cold stare. She put down the curtain and said, "When my elder brother returns, I will immediately marry, so that she will know who the rightful Marquess is!"
Tao Hong quickly comforted, "Yes, there are idiots who have no discernment. How can they be compared to you, Young Miss?"