The next morning the palace brightened up with a clear winter sky and for Xing the warm sun rays were like a mirage in a desert and gave her no warmth. Xing woke up as usual and made a list of things she must do that day. She had hopes that she might meet Shengli tonight and that lightened up her heavy heart but she had this deep uneasy feeling in her heart that something big will happen today and never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that tonight she"s going to face a trial and lose something she values a lot, wishes for a lot...Xing went to meet her father after the morning court and tried to convince him to take in Ran Weici but he refused as she expected. Xing could feel her father getting too heated up and so she just let him be and went to find her uncle who"s been hiding from her.
"You cannot wander around in the outer court as you please, Mingxia!", AoTian warned her. Xing knew it but if she does not act today, she knew everything will change. If they had planned to burn the city and make another Emperor, it is possible that Shengli or s.h.i.+hong would be the likely candidates as Lord Ran was promised a higher status as said by Ran Weici.
Xing cornered her uncle in an alley. All her plans were depending on her uncle as he seemed to have the biggest secret.
"For someone who is directionally challenged, you are pretty good at cornering people", Feiye had his usual smile.
" Yes, Uncle Feiye, I"m told to be lucky", she smiled back and her uncle took her to a secluded place to have a good talk.
"Tell me about the secret guards of the previous Emperor", Xing came to the point.
"Couldn"t you find any details, "Ghost of Empress Shu"?", her uncle rubbed her head smiling, "It"s not just the previous Emperor but all the previous Emperors", his expression turned sombre.
Feiye told her about the secret tradition of the Emperors having secret guards and told her all about it. With that Xing knew what to do to end everything wrong in the inner place.
Xing told her uncle the plans of the Ran family and asked him to follow her plans and left to the inner palace to meet the Eunuch she always had a bad feeling about. Turns out all her suspicions are right and Eunuch Xin cannot be allowed to die peacefully.
On the way she was met with some Eunuch who asked her to meet a doctor for routine medical checkup which was normal.
That Physician Meng had a weird look at her and had cold sweats like he was nervous but just asked her to rest and Xing politely nodded and pretended to go to her courtyard but went to meet Eunuch Xin in his office in the inner palace.
Little did she know that Physician Meng is part of a conspiracy planned against her by Eunuch Xin and he is currently going to meet the Emperor.
Xing went right into Eunuch Xin"s office and saw him doing the accounts of the inner palace. She sat in front of him and he looked at her with a sneer.
Xing who thought she was the one with an important detail against him felt weird seeing that look from him but ignored it. It won"t matter because he won"t survive today!
Xing who always had an arrogant temperament as everything always worked in favour of her, sometimes ignored the minor details which was one of her flaws Haru knew. She picked up the wine jar that the eunuch had beside him and took a sip.
Even children knows not to get eatables from others especially your enemy! Haru calls her stupid for a reason!
"This tastes weird!", she said in a mocking tone. She knew Eunuchs were supposed to drink certain medicine that would allow them to be... Well.. Healthy Eunuchs.
She didn"t know because of that one minor sip she"d lose something important to her that day.
"It won"t harm women.. Drink all you want", he said and Xing just threw it to the ground and that porcelain jar smashed to pieces.
"What brings you here, n.o.ble Consort?", he asked not minding that broken jar. She really tries to mock him but she"s the one who"s been mocked. All these time he tried and failed but now, she accidentally poisoned herself.
"Do you work with s.h.i.+hong?", she asked and noted his face going pale. He did work with him, the poison she drank now was given by s.h.i.+hong.
"You really care a lot about the Emperor, don"t you? You made sure he was safe from other women especially the previous empress, you made sure no one could compete with him by making sure he didn"t have any younger siblings and you even made sure to kill all his other siblings so that he can have the throne using the previous Emperor"s secret guards, didn"t you? ", Xing added, making his face go pale. To think for this Emperor to have the throne, so many people had worked together without even knowing.Xing knew Shengli didn"t kill the other princes and it was this eunuch.
" You did this for his mother? ", Xing sneered, "For someone who didn"t love you, you had mutilated yourself and spent twenty years in this place doing awful things and protected her son, like a fool!". Xing suspected from the moment she learned that he and the Emperor"s mother are from the same town, this must be some twisted love story. And judging by the Eunuch"s reaction, that seems to be true.
" She loved me... She was forced to be here...she hated it here! ", he gritted his teeth and seeing her don"t care look he composed himself. If she is telling these things now, what is she planning?
"What do you want?", he asked.
"You had protected the Emperor till now, that"s admirable. But you are also helping s.h.i.+hong, whose sole objective is to kill the Emperor. Are you that stupid?"
"What? You think I didn"t know? I used him for certain instances", he sneered. Like to bring you, the Huangs and the Zhongs down.
"Then, Did you know Lord Ran gave the Emperor buckwheat wine that day in the banquet?"
Now that got the eunuch and his face paled. Was it the day he stayed in her courtyard? He noticed the Emperor sneakily taking medicines. Was he really poisoned?
"Do you know the Ran family is leaving the city this evening? Do you know they are planning to make the Third Prince Emperor?", she smirked.
"The Third Prince is dead!", he shouted. He must be! He searched high and low for him and got no details about him. He should be dead!
"Send the secret guards you stole to kill the entire Ran family. I got information that the Ran family is hiding the third prince as one of their sons. You know hair colour can be changed temporarily... It is said that he even has a son!", Xing stood up. She knew this is the only way to ensure the extermination of the entire Ran family. She knew once she gets the Ran family she could get s.h.i.+hong. The sooner, the better!
" What secret guards? ", he feigned to be ignorant.
" The secret guards you used to kill all the princes... I mean, I can get why you had to use them", she leaned and whispered in his ear, "After all, someone who didn"t even have the b.a.l.l.s to kill an unconscious twelve year old lying on the snow must use the help of others right?", she stood straight with a mocking smile.
Eunuch Xing"s eyes were wide and his breathing got heavy because of stress, "Why is she knowing all this? Perhaps the girl I saw with the tiger... Is that her?" And mocking me for not having b.a.l.l.s... How original!
"I want the Ran family gone today!", Xing declared, "Or you will be explaining to the Emperor tomorrow why you killed all his siblings", she dusted his shoulder, "You know him well... He won"t be pleased with you", she said softly.
"You think he"ll believe you over me?", he tried to intimidate Xing who was looking down on him with a regal aura and was intimidated by her. She really is the "Divine Ruler ". That Poison should have killed her by now and she is still standing unaffected. Is my little Emperor going to be overthrown by her? But right now it is the Ran family that is the bigger problem it seems. They must be eliminated along with the third prince they hide!
Xing gave an elegant smile and pointed his accounts book , "Your calculations are wrong, Eunuch Xin. It"s not too late to correct it! ", she pointed at his mistake and turned and left to her courtyard.
She is right! Did she do the accounts upside down, while talking to me? How smart is she? d.a.m.n Huangs.... And that undertone of her phrase... Should I follow her advise? The Emperor seems to be faltered by her beauty and he is too straight-cut. He definitely would believe her over me. And even if she is lying about the Ran family, they are a liability! They dared to Poison my little Emperor! They should be eliminated from the face of earth. No one is worthy to be Emperor other than my little Emperor!
Eunuch Xin grinned evily and prepared to eliminate the Ran Family.
Meanwhile AoTian entered the Imperial Study to meet the Emperor when the physician"s arrival was announced.