Chapter 585 -586: Chaos

Rong Ruiyuan stayed in the courtyard for an hour before finally leaving, looking like a lost soul.

Gu Antong knew her words had some effect, though she couldn’t be certain exactly how much. Regardless, the seed had been planted; it was only a matter of time before it took root and sprouted.

Looking at her obese body and this miserable life, she didn’t want to endure it for even one more day. She had helped as much as she could. It was just a pity she still didn’t know who her enemy was.

She called Cai Hua into the room. “You have accompanied me for a while now. By this point, the bond between master and servant that we once shared has long been exhausted.”

Cai Hua was bewildered. “Your Highness, this servant knows I was wrong before. I only beg Your Highness to give this servant a chance to make amends. From now on, this servant will wait upon you with absolute devotion.”

She had thought Gu Antong’s life was completely hopeless, but unexpectedly, the Prince had visited today. And it was all because of a single letter! That alone was enough for Cai Hua to see a glimmer of new hope.

“Take these,” Gu Antong said, pushing a small lockbox in front of her. “If you can find a way to leave this place, then go as far away as possible. If you can’t, then that is simply your fate.”

“Your Highness, what are you planning to do?” Cai Hua felt a surge of panic. By now, she understood perfectly well that her fate was tied to Gu Antong’s. If something terrible happened to Gu Antong, her own life would be as good as forfeit.

“You only have this one chance. Although there isn’t much silver here, it might be enough to get you out of this place. You don’t have much time, so make the most of it.” After saying this, Gu Antong closed her eyes. It wasn’t that she had any deep affection for the maid, but rather that she wanted to accumulate a little good karma for herself in the end.

Cai Hua remained silent for a long time before she finally picked up the box. She bowed respectfully and then turned to leave.

She returned to her room in the corner. The other servants had left, and the only upside to this was that she could have the room all to herself. Closing the door, she opened the box with trembling hands. No wonder it had felt so heavy. Inside, apart from a hundred taels of loose silver, there was a complete set of head ornaments and several smaller pieces of jewelry.

She recognized them. The head ornaments were part of Gu Antong’s dowry, purchased by the Gu Family for several dozen taels of silver back then. As for the other trinkets, they were rewards bestowed by the Princess Consort and the other concubines during the tea-serving ceremony—mostly just superficial tokens to keep up appearances.

“This…” Cai Hua licked her dry lips. The loose silver consisted of the monthly allowances that the Princess Consort had sent over recently. Cai Hua had previously toyed with the idea of using this money to bribe her way out, but she never expected it to fall into her hands so easily.

What should have been a moment of joy was suddenly clouded by a layer of gloom. With these funds to grease the wheels, she could definitely leave this place. But what would happen to Gu Shufei?

Her pupils dilated in sudden realization. Her Highness was arranging an escape route for her. She was saying her final goodbyes.

A wave of boundless regret washed over her. What kind of bastard’s deeds had she done before? How could she have treated a master who cared for her so much in such a despicable manner? Yet, looking at the box before her, she was unwilling to return it and continue wasting away in this courtyard.

There was truly not a single shred of hope left in this small place. Gritting her teeth, she took out the loose silver, stuffed it into her robes, and strode toward the courtyard gates.

Watching this scene unfold through the window, the corners of Gu Antong’s mouth curled up. “Don’t blame me…”

Three days later.

The entire Capital City was in an uproar. Gu Shufei of the Prince Ning Mansion had perished in a sea of fire.

The inferno had burned down half of the Prince Ning Mansion and shocked the entire capital. Everyone knew that a concubine’s courtyard, no matter how poorly she was treated, would still be swarming with maids and older female servants. How could it possibly have caught fire so disastrously?

The rumors that had been circulating in secret were now dug up once again. The most outrageous version claimed that ever since Gu Shufei entered the mansion, she had monopolized Prince Ning’s favor, provoking intense jealousy among all the other female family members in the inner courtyard. Unable to stand the mutual affection between Prince Ning and Gu Shufei, these women supposedly utilized every vicious scheme and underhanded tactic at their disposal against her.

As the gossip spread, not a single woman in the mansion was deemed innocent. The rumor-mongers even described the exact poisons they had supposedly used with convincing detail.

This inevitably dragged the maternal families of the Prince Ning Mansion’s women into the crossfire. Even the married daughters of these families fell under suspicion by their respective in-laws. To protect themselves, these prominent families initiated massive internal investigations and interrogations. Surprisingly, they actually uncovered traces of foul play within their own households.

It was like opening Pandora’s box. Panic swept through every noble estate, with everyone terrified that such vicious, scheming individuals might be lurking right beside them. A perfectly lovely young lady had entered the Prince Ning Mansion only a few months ago, only to meet such a tragic end.

The entire capital was gripped by paranoia. As the noble houses conducted their own internal sweeps, the scandalous secrets they unearthed provided fresh, sensational stories for the public every single day. The officials lost all interest in attending court sessions, instead focusing their energy on bitter rivalries and confrontations between families.

In the imperial court, the memorials submitted to the Emperor were no longer about affairs of state, but an endless stream of impeachments against one another. After reading through them for an entire day, the Emperor felt a cold sweat prickling his back.

If the households of ordinary officials were riddled with this much treachery, what about his own imperial harem?

The Emperor suddenly felt entirely unsafe. He quietly ordered his guards to conduct a covert search of the inner palace. The results of the search were astounding—not a single consort was innocent.

Staring at the dazzling array of confiscated bottles and jars lined up on his desk, the Emperor felt that it was a sheer miracle he had lived this long. The palace eunuchs attended to him with trembling fear, terrified that his wrath would descend upon their heads. In their hearts, they cursed every single concubine in the harem. They had such comfortable lives—why did they have to constantly stir up trouble? If the Son of Heaven unleashed his fury, would any of them live to see tomorrow’s sun?

“Was there nothing found in the Empress’s quarters?” the Emperor asked, carefully examining the labels on the vials. The sole exception in the harem made him feel a profound sense of disbelief.

He knew he owed the Empress a great debt, which was why the ultimate authority over the inner palace had always remained in her hands. But the Empress had no children of her own. How could she not harbor resentment in her heart? He admitted to himself that over the years, he had been deeply guarded against her. He had even been steadily weakening the power of her maiden family, the Duke Mansion.

“To answer Your Majesty, we have searched the Empress’s quarters several times. There was truly nothing…”

“Have you checked the servants who attend to her?”

“We have checked them all.” It was widely known that the Empress was not favored in the palace, so the investigators naturally hadn’t shown her any leniency or turned a blind eye.

“Good. Very good indeed,” the Emperor sneered, slamming his hand on the desk. “Summon the Imperial Physicians.”

The Imperial Physicians arrived in a hurried panic. Seeing the table covered in suspicious vials and jars, they all fell silent as the grave. They were fully aware of the recent upheaval in the palace. Today, it seemed unlikely they would be able to leave this room unscathed.

“Take a close look at what kind of drugs these are and record them for me, one by one,” the Emperor ordered, before summoning his imperial guards. “Investigate! Through what channels did all of these enter the palace?

“You guard the palace gates. You are responsible for the safety of the Imperial Palace, and this is how you protect it?!”

The guards all dropped to their knees. How were they supposed to answer that? They guarded the gates, yes, but they couldn’t possibly strip-search every single person who entered. At the very least, they couldn’t lay a finger on the high-ranking ministers or the titled madams who came to attend banquets. Furthermore, much of this contraband had likely been smuggled in long ago. How were they supposed to track it down now? Were they expected to throw all the imperial concubines into the dungeons and interrogate them under torture?

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