Chapter 39: The Catalyst
Unexpectedly, the Emperor was muddled at this moment. So many self-proclaimed "immortal masters" had met their end by his hand, yet now His Majesty fiercely protected Taoist Master Xu, claiming he possessed unique divine abilities unlike the others.
The morning court was bustling; it was impossible to endlessly debate over a single Taoist. Gu Yan's actions were either swift and decisive, striking like thunder to eradicate problems completely, or he would bide his time, plotting in the shadows, making his intentions inscrutable.
After probing the Emperor's stance, Gu Yan weighed his options internally and casually let the matter drop. Everyone assumed it was merely another skirmish between the Virtuous Prince Faction and the Crown Prince's faction, unaware that Grand Tutor Gu harbored a venomous hatred for Fang Zhixu. If overt methods failed, he had a hundred ways to ensure his demise.
He was never an honorable gentleman—just wait and see.
...
His calloused palm sent a shiver through her; her dark hair cascaded over her snow-white chest, and Yan Xuerui hastily pulled her disheveled garments together.
"No, I'm not in pain."
Her slender, delicate frame was no match for his strength. Gu Yan easily held her down, pressed her lower abdomen, then forcefully parted her legs, probing inward along her inner thighs.
"Gu Yan!"
Yan Xuerui's voice was tinged with panic. She was on her period and wasn't afraid he would force himself, but being manipulated and examined like a fish on a chopping block—even knowing he meant well—was profoundly humiliating.
Gu Yan disregarded her refusal. In his eyes, they had shared a bed countless times and engaged in far more intimate acts. For her to still hold back from him would be unreasonable.
Though not a physician, Gu Yan had practiced martial arts since childhood and possessed some rudimentary medical knowledge. Regarding Yan Xuerui's chronic ailment, by palpating her lower abdomen and taking her pulse, he could make a fairly accurate diagnosis.
He stated earnestly, "Today, the flow is gentler and more regular, better than yesterday."
"I suppose the sedative decoction is working. Keep drinking it."
Yan Xuerui trembled with anger but was powerless against him, so she merely turned her head away. Gu Yan chuckled, lifted her legs onto his arm, and carried her onto the bed.
"Alright, I've even changed your menstrual cloth for you. It was just a glance—since when have you become so delicate that you can't even be looked at?"
As long as she didn't cross his boundaries, Gu Yan reserved all his patience for Yan Xuerui. Though she sulked in silence, he wasn't annoyed. Considering her discomfort today, he held her gently and coaxed her softly.
Yan Xuerui initially didn't want to engage with him, but as the saying goes, "even the fiercest woman fears a persistent suitor." Unaware of the morning court affairs, she feared he might go mad and harm her cousin Zhixu, and also...
She squirmed uncomfortably and whispered, "Gu Yan, I'm on my period today."
She couldn't attend to him.
Gu Yan chuckled softly, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "Then don't provoke me."
Grand Tutor Gu was in his prime, accustomed to rich delicacies. These days of forced abstinence had left him ravenous, his eyes gleaming with hunger. Fortunately, heaven rewards the diligent. Through his investigations, he had summoned Yan's father and mother for interrogation today. Multiple testimonies, faint clues from years past, the words of the younger Empress Xu... Gu Yan secluded himself in his study for a long time. All existing evidence pointed to his audacious conjecture.
His Rui'er's background was extraordinary—she was actually of royal blood!
His previous investigative direction had been correct: wealthy households, stunningly beautiful concubines... all accurate. His error lay only in the location.
Yangzhou and the capital were a thousand miles apart. His Rui'er's body was flawlessly smooth, without any red mole. He had briefly harbored doubts but quickly dismissed them.
He had forgotten that the Yan family were merchants. Merchants traveling far and wide was perfectly normal.
Yan's mother recounted that, having been barren for a long time, she traveled to the capital to purchase spices and seek medical treatment. She stayed in the capital for several months, but her womb remained silent. Just as despair set in, she encountered a middle-aged woman.
The woman wore fine silks but had dirt on her face, as if she had just escaped a fire. In her arms was a swaddled infant crying loudly.
Though not young, the woman clearly didn't know how to soothe a child and was frantic. Yan's mother couldn't bear it and approached, gently asking if she needed help.
Yan's mother was desperate for a child at the time. Her movements were gentle and precise, and in her embrace, the baby gradually ceased crying. She tucked the blanket around the child and asked concernedly, "Madam, the child is hungry. I see you are in a hurry—have you encountered difficulties?"
"Husband, there's some goat's milk in the bundles. Let's give it to the child for now. Oh, you poor little thing, don't cry, don't cry."
Her genuine tenderness and affection for the child were unmistakable, and the woman slowly lowered her guard. Through their conversation, Yan's mother learned that the woman wasn't the child's birth mother but a household servant. A fire had broken out, making the residence temporarily uninhabitable, so she was tasked with taking the child out first.
Yan's mother found it strange but didn't pry into others' family matters. Once the child was calmed, the woman suddenly knelt and begged Yan's mother to care for the young mistress for a moment, as she was worried about her lady and wanted to check on her.
Yan's mother readily agreed. She and Yan's father waited and waited—from dusk till dawn, and from dawn till dusk. For three full days, they waited at the same spot, but the woman never returned.
Whether she had entrusted the child to them that day or had met with misfortune on the road, they could never ascertain. But the child was truly beautiful—long eyelashes, dark eyes, skin as white as a drift of snow.
Yan's mother thought: what a coincidence that just when she had been unable to conceive, this child came into her arms. It was a gift from heaven.
Two more days passed before they could set off. Coincidentally, the city was sealed, and a widespread search was launched for a female infant with a red mole on the sole of her foot. Yan's mother was slightly alarmed, but that child... she was perfectly formed, flawlessly smooth, without any birthmarks or moles.
A month later, they smoothly left the city gates. The round trip, plus the months delayed in the capital, meant that by the time she returned, she claimed to have become pregnant on the journey and given birth to a daughter. None of the neighbors doubted it, merely remarking that the capital was indeed a fortunate place—she conceived as soon as she went.
From then on, the Yan family had an additional daughter. She was as fair as snow, as lovely as a flower bud. Yan's mother, not well-educated, gave her a simple and pleasant name—Xuerui.
...
As for Yan's mother tearfully recounting years of meticulous care for this unexpectedly acquired daughter, Gu Yan had no time to listen. He confirmed one crucial detail: the time and place where Yan's mother obtained Yan Xuerui coincided perfectly with when Princess Changle went missing.
As for the red mole on the sole of the foot...
Did Princess Changle truly have a red mole on her foot? This information was told to the Emperor by Consort Chen, and it was only after the Emperor ordered an investigation that it became widely known.
No one had ever suspected that Consort Chen might have lied to the Emperor.
Gu Yan hadn't considered it initially, but there were too many coincidences—only the red mole was missing for everything to align perfectly. Though uninterested in those old grievances, for Yan Xuerui's sake, he painstakingly unraveled the truth.
He had asked the younger Empress Xu about Consort Chen's death. The younger Empress Xu sneered, "My sister was the Empress of the central palace—what was she? A wild girl unworthy of dirtying her hands."
"If it truly were my sister who harmed his favored consort, given His Majesty's temperament, would he have taken another Xu daughter as Empress? My sister was wronged!"
The younger Empress Xu still protested Empress Xu's innocence to this day. Initially, Gu Yan only half-believed her words—after all, people favored those close to them. Even if it wasn't Empress Xu, it likely involved other women in the harem.
After Consort Chen's death, hadn't the Emperor purged the harem extensively for this very reason?
Gu Yan naturally thought so. He considered that perhaps, after experiencing palace intrigues, Consort Chen had become disillusioned and didn't want her daughter buried in the palace, hence risking everything to send her out. But upon closer scrutiny, this didn't hold up.
A once-favored consort, who nearly died giving birth to her daughter—why would she give up being a princess to risk deceiving the emperor and live as a commoner?
Too absurd.
Most records related to Consort Chen had been destroyed, and it was all so long ago. Despite Gu Yan's full investigation, he only gathered fragments of information about her. Just as he was pondering inexplicably, inspiration struck—he thought of Prince Su's Mansion.
Earlier, when he had people investigate Yangzhou's nobility, Prince Su's Mansion was the first target. Of course, it was a wrong lead—yielding nothing but wasting much time due to Prince Su's philandering and the internal conflicts among his concubines.
The tactics among those women were intricate, giving Gu Yan a headache. Without exception, when a group of women competed for one man, jealousy was inevitable.
Hence, framing, miscarriages, and disfigurements were rampant. There was even a woman so beautiful that out of envy, others in the inner court scarred her face, causing her to lose favor and remain alone in her room day after day.
The poison Yan Xuerui was born with was called "Beauty's Adornment." Those afflicted had graceful figures, peach-blossom faces, and eternal youth.
Gu Yan shut his eyes tightly. So that was it!
Beauty's Adornment, Beauty's Adornment—just imagine, a woman in the harem wanting to harm a favored consort: what method wouldn't work? Why ensure she retained her beauty forever?
Consort Chen wanted to die.
He immediately dispatched a messenger on horseback to Empress Xu's residence to retrieve the imperial records of that year. As he had suspected, though there were no entries about Consort Chen, the dates showed that during the time she was pregnant with Princess Changle, the emperor spent about fifteen days a month with other consorts in the harem.
The remaining half of the month had no records, likely meaning he stayed in Consort Chen's palace. Occupying the emperor for half a month while the rest of the harem shared the other half truly deserved the title of "sole favor."
But Empress Xu had also mentioned that the emperor and Consort Chen lived together like an ordinary couple, sometimes even addressing each other as husband and wife.
According to the imperial records, when Consort Chen first entered the palace, the emperor, despite having three thousand beauties in his harem, had eyes only for her, paying attention to no one else.
In Gu Yan's mind, he roughly pieced together the sequence of events.
The emperor, traveling incognito, met a woman from the jianghu by chance, fell in love at first sight, brought her back to the palace, bestowed upon her the title "Chen," and granted her unparalleled honor and favor.
At first, the emperor had never encountered a woman of such authentic personality, and the two were deeply in love. Gradually, Consort Chen disregarded palace rules, clashed with the empress, and caused resentment among the other consorts. Perhaps to maintain balance in the harem, or perhaps simply because his interest waned, the emperor gradually began showing favor to other consorts.
In Consort Chen's eyes, the man who had once pledged eternal love to her had changed his heart. She had given up the freedom of the outside world to follow him into the palace, willingly imprisoning herself, yet he was the one who changed. Gu Yan speculated that there must have been fierce arguments between Consort Chen and the emperor back then. As the emperor grew distant, it drove her to such a drastic decision.
Consort Chen never expected she would become pregnant.
The poison had already been ingested, irreversible. By the time Consort Chen consumed the *Meiren zhuang*, she had already given up on the emperor. Unwilling to gradually become just one of many faces in the palace, spending her days longing for the emperor's favor, she refused.
She wanted to die when he loved her most, when she was at her most beautiful.
As for this untimely child, she secretly sent the baby away, falsely claiming her daughter had a red mole on the sole of her foot. Perhaps it was to protect her from the persecution of Empress Xu, whom she had offended, but Gu Yan believed that, given Consort Chen's fierce nature, it was more like revenge against the emperor.
She wanted him to live with regret and unrest for the rest of his life.
...
Gu Yan pressed down on Yan Xuerui, planting a kiss near her temple.
He whispered, "Rest assured, just a few more days. I will definitely cure you."
Regardless of the grievances of the past, Gu Yan knew only one thing—he was close to finding the catalyst for the cure.
Though Rui'er's background was twisted and complex, it had taken him a great deal of effort to uncover. Judging by the emperor's attitude, he might have also deduced Rui'er's background.
When the emperor suddenly stopped searching for baby girls with red moles on their soles and turned to cultivating the Dao instead, he likely suspected that his beloved consort might have deceived him.
The aging emperor, who had searched for Princess Changle for over thirty years, suddenly saw Yan Xuerui and noticed that the soles of her feet were flawlessly smooth. What must he have thought at that moment?
Did he dare admit it? Admit that the woman he loved most had deceived him, that she hated him. The emperor had killed so many people for Consort Chen back then, only to realize that he himself had driven her to her death. How ironic it was.
He would never admit it.