Chapter 32.1 - A fishy death
The emperor looked at the object in his hands and was so angry that he started laughing.
But his laughter was terrifying and everyone immediately kneeled.
“Go investigate for this emperor! Everyone, go investigate until you find out who it is that wants to harm this emperor’s Ying’er and child! Ah! You definitely have to find this criminal! This emperor will rip his body to shreds! This emperor’s Ying’er ahhh ….”
The emperor’s despairing roar frightened the whole Liuhua Palace and everyone’s expression was grave.
The imperial doctor sprawled on the floor opened his mouth, about to say something, but seeing the anger on the emperor’s face, swallowed back what he was about to say.
He was a doctor so he never believed in voodoo or witchcraft but there was something strange about consort Ning’s body as well as how the little prince died.
He also couldn’t find the cause of death and at this crucial point of time, he knew, that if he spoke out, he’d become the sacrificial lamb for the emperor’s anger.
Lou Qingwu looked at the cloth doll and her expressionless face didn’t betray what she was thinking.
Only her dark eyes were extremely deep.
In the past lifetime, it was exactly like this.
But at that time, she hadn’t come back to the capitol yet and when she did come, this affair had already finished up and everyone in the palace had sealed their mouths.
It was only because she became the empress that she came in touch with the inner palace’s deepest secrets; this was the only reason why she was so clear about some of the palace’s secret history.
Because the voodoo this time had later been discovered to be the work of the empress.
Even when her son, the second prince Xiahou Rui, the most likely contender to be crown-prince, kneeled outside of the palace for three days and three nights, he still didn’t get even a chance to meet with the emperor once.
Furthermore, after this, the emperor became increasingly distant and downright avoided Xiahou Rui, to the point where later on, he seized his military power and sent him to a wild and desolate desert to be his fiefdom, forever unable to return to the capitol.
The empress would then be sent to the cold palace, and in a few years, would die of depression.
As for the seventh prince, Xiahou Liuyun …
Thinking about when she had seen Xiahou Liuyun in her last time, Lou Qingwu’s eyes became even darker …
She believed it wouldn’t be long before it would be traced that the thread used to st.i.tch the voodoo doll was from a snow silkworm which was reserved for the private use of the empress’ palace.
It would also be this time that Xiahou Rui would suddenly break out into a violent fit and attack the person who leaked this knowledge.
The emperor, in a fit of anger, would then order the imperial guards to suppress him which would lead to Xiahou Rui violently resisting, nearly also committing regicide.
Finally, Xiahou Liuyun would knock him unconscious and drag him away and by the time he woke up, this whole affair would be neatly tied up, the empress’ offense of using voodoo to harm someone would be firmly nailed to her head.
When Lou Qingwu read this in the inner palace’s history, she thought it was strange that this second prince, Xiahou Rui, who had been rumoured to be constantly cold and cool-headed, would suddenly burst into a fit of rage and go crazy?
Go crazy?
When she thought of this, Lou Qingwu’s heart skipped a beat.
She slowly narrowed her eyes. The only way to let a person suddenly burst into a fit of rage and go crazy would only be to poison them.
Lou Qingwu’s mind flashed the word, “hysteria”, and its namesake powder, “hysterical powder” which would make the user become hysterical and lose themselves in anger.
And not long before, hidden in that gown that Ruan Zhen sent her, was hysterical powder.
No wonder her first thought was that powder.
Then could this palace-shaking event be related to Ruan Zhen?
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TL note
Inner palace - nicer translation for the emperor’s harem, the chambers for the imperial concubines
Cold palace - where the concubines who had offended the emperor would be sent to live the rest of their lives, most likely in squalid conditions where they would be bullied by servants and treated like trash until they died from awful conditions, starvation or suicide. There’s a reason why concubines and just generally women back then, would literally fight for the affection of their husbands, and it’s because sometimes, their lives literally depended on the man’s affection. In this case, the emperor literally sentenced the empress to life in imprisonment over the death of a lowly concubine whom he doted on, despite the fact that the empress was his legitimate life.
Leave a comment and to see Lou Qingwu being cute in the next chapter! We haven’t seen her act innocent in a while xx
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