Noble Consort Su was a very suspicious person, and Bai Xiangxiu didn't even think a moment further before saying, "This matter definitely has something to do with her. To be able to turn her face into that... I'm fairly certain those doctors are all dead."
"Face?" Yu Kuang asked out of curiosity. Bai Xiangxiu went over the particulars of Noble Consort Su being Su Yun and how her appearance had completely changed.
"So you mean to say that she killed all the doctors after becoming beautiful in order to cover up the truth?" Luo Yunzheng could barely believe his ears. It just seemed too ludicrous. Bai Xiangxiu however, knew that Su Yun was absolutely capable of something like this.
"So you mean that we don't need to look for the doctors because they're most likely all dead?" This was Long Heng.
"Yes," Bai Xiangxiu responded.
"Hmm, if they're dead, I want to see their corpses. If they're alive somewhere, I need to find them." Yu Kuang rebutted.
"Hah! I may not know much else, but you'd never be able to imagine the various methods that the imperial court has for disposing of bodies," Luo Yunzheng snorted. Those of the jianghu also had various grudges with the imperial court, so Yu Kuang nodded in agreement as well.
"It's impossible for them to do so without leaving some kind of trace behind, but there's no need for us to look into it. Since she did it, then we'll have her slip up herself," Long Heng mused.
"What do you mean?"
Bai Xiangxiu seemed to understand what her husband was getting at and looked at the two from the wulin, "If you want justice for the doctors, then I'll leave this in your hands."
"Aren't you afraid of trouble in the imperial court?" Luo Yunzheng smirked.
"Come what may, they've already gone to this length, what else would I be afraid of them for?"
"Good, I've been quiet for too long. I've been longing for some exercise."
"Then just leave this matter to me and Luo Yunzheng," Yu Kuang declared. The group brainstormed some more and realized exactly how ruthless a character this Noble Consort Su seemed to be. She was as careful as she was ruthless, so they couldn't uncover any evidence that night. However, they also weren't building a case for prosecution. It was enough to know that she'd done it.
When the men left, Long Heng remained sitting at the table, his fingers tapping on it with a cold smile.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm wondering how to switch out the master of this imperial court."
"Eh... can I ask who this new master will be?"
"Guess." Long Heng lightly tilted up Bai Xiangxiu's chin and smiled faintly, drawing close to murmur by her ear, "What do you think about being empress?"
"Well, I don't mind if you really want to."
"Haha, I knew you'd say that. Mother and Xiao Lin are just about ready to return to the countryside, I'll arrange for them to travel to Tranquil City after that."
"You want to go back? But the emperor will never allow you to return to your stronghold."
"Hah, what if I become more of a threat in the capital?"
"That will only force the tiger up the wall."
"What if they don't even have the chance to go up the wall?"
"What do you have in mind?" Bai Xiangxiu asked, perplexed. For some reason, she felt that Long Heng already had a plan in mind.
"Kick up a fuss with them first, the bigger the better. Keep all of their attention on you and not on me, the prince with nothing to do."
"Oh I see, you want us to be bait and switch up the target. We should make a big deal of whatever we can get our hands on, right?" This was great! She loved doing stuff like this. No wonder Long Heng had kept a particularly low profile lately, acting like he didn't have a care in the world. However, she didn't have a complete handle on things. Did he want to be the emperor, or have someone else be the emperor? But who else had the ability to be emperor?
The crown prince was only ten, could it be... Prince Rong?
He was the only royal relative, but he'd always been an honest man and thought nothing of power and glory. He didn't have any real authority in the imperial court, but of one thing she was certain. He was certainly not a fool. A fool would not have lived as long as he had. She'd had the feeling when she was in Tranquil City that Prince Rong wasn't just another small fish in the pond. He'd never shied away from responsibility when it was his turn to do so, he'd just kept a low profile and sometimes gave all the credit to Long Heng. She'd wondered why he'd done so back then, but now that she thought about it, he was likely afraid of attracting attention from the miserly emperor and being suspected of treason!
It wasn't legitimate for a subject to revolt, but things were a different matter when it came to him. She wasn't familiar with these kind of intrigues in the olden times, but they somehow felt very real to her. Relatives were few in modern families, so they were usually quite close. There were rarely cases of folks fighting each other in struggles for power.
Since Long Heng wanted her to kick up a fuss, then she would do so to the best of her abilities. Yu Kuang and Luo Yunzheng called together a group of jianghu folks and started spreading rumors that Bai Xiangxiu crafted. One set said that there was a noble consort in court that used to be very ugly, but had invited wondrous doctors to look at her face in order to win the emperor's favor. When she grew beautiful, her life grew brighter as well and so she became the noble consort.
The second set told of the emperor carrying off a concubine from one of the enemy princes, but her face had been disfigured. The emperor had invited many doctors to fix her face, but alas her heart wasn't as beautiful as her face. She killed all the doctors to prevent her previous ugly face from being talked about.
More than one doctor had gone missing, so there was already some attention being paid to it. More attention was drawn to it once the rumors spread. Those searching for their kin found their way to the capital and started lodging official protests. The doctors were powerful existences to begin with, particularly their families. They had no shortage of connections or wealth, and were willing to bring it all to bear to find their missing family!
Things had been relatively quiet before the rumors, but once they started spreading, clues started flying in from all directions. The matter grew larger and larger, but there was no response from the palace, nor did any official pay any attention to them. This had the opposite effect as those affected decide to lodge an imperial petition!
Of course, Luo Yunzheng and Yu Kuang were the ones behind connecting all these families together. They usually wouldn't oppose the imperial court so blatantly, but the two doctors who'd vanished from the jianghu were all well respected and beloved. Many of them had been helped by the two doctors, so there were plenty willing to raise a racket on their behalf. Luo Yunzheng was here precisely because of those circumstances, and the wulin alliance head was naturally here to uphold the peace of the wulin. Bai Xiangxiu had learned of all this when she'd thanked them with some embarrassment. She'd originally felt quite ashamed, as if she was using them. That was when she found out that they had their own responsibilities, and she was just a catalyst.
It was through them that she learned roughly twelve doctors had disappeared from various places, not including the ones covertly captured from enemy nations. How could twelve people just disappear like this? Bai Xiangxiu really couldn't wrap her mind around it. Su Yun has gone absolutely crazy! Or has she lost her sense of reality after reading so many novels?