The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 91: The Matter Is Settled, But the Aftershocks Remain

Three full days have passed since that turbulent day.

For the past three days, Tu Chengyu has stayed obediently in his own courtyard and hasn't gone anywhere.

After lunch, Xiao Xuanzi returned from outside.

Tu Chengyu asked him, "Does the Empress Dowager have anything to do today?"

Xiao Xuanzi reported, "Your Highness, the Empress Dowager sent someone to poison us today."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu had only one thought in his mind: Is this ever going to end?

Then he asked, "Oh? Poisoning? How did they do it?"

Xiao Xuanzi said, "The Empress Dowager sent her personal maid to the imperial kitchen, under the pretense of fetching food, to try and poison your food."

Tu Chengyu said, "Lunch is already past, and he only just ran off to poison us. Isn't that a bit late?"

Xiao Xuanzi said, "Your Highness, these palace maids wouldn't dare to actually poison you; they're just here to pretend."

Tu Chengyu asked, "Did you discover it this time, or did they tell you on their own initiative?"

Xiao Xuanzi said, "It was a palace maid who followed the example of Eunuch Zhou and took the initiative to report to the Emperor Emeritus."

Now that the Emperor Emeritus knew, Tu Chengyu was no longer worried. He asked, "Does the Emperor Emeritus have any instructions?"

Xiao Xuanzi said, "Your Highness, the Emperor Emeritus sent someone to say that you should pretend this time."

"Pretend that you almost ate the food before you found out it was poisoned, and then you were scared."

"In that case, the Empress Dowager might stop causing trouble."

Tu Chengyu frowned, feeling quite dissatisfied.

Tu Chengyu believes he is also a victim.

He was assassinated and ambushed repeatedly, and in the end he almost lost his life.

In the end, he only killed Tu Yanzong to save his own life.

Now, Empress Dowager Cixi, regardless of the facts, keeps calling herself an executioner.

Besides the constant insults, she has also caused a great deal of chaos in the palace these past few days.

Tu Chengyu remembered that the news of Tu Yanzong's death spread that afternoon.

Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Cixi went mad.

She first went to the retired emperor and made a scene, demanding that he arrest Tu Chengyu and bring him to pay for his grandson's life.

Seeing her pitiful state, the retired emperor devised a way to coax and frighten her into going back.

After making a scene with the retired emperor, she was still not satisfied. The next morning, she summoned the empress and gave her a good scolding.

Poor Empress Liu, she did nothing but get scolded for nothing.

That's not all; after he finished cursing Empress Liu...

She then went to the palace of Tu Chengyu's paternal grandmother, Empress Dowager Xiaoning.

Then the two empress dowagers had a face-to-face confrontation in the palace.

For two days in a row, she made a ruckus without stopping, as if she was willing to risk her life to turn the world upside down.

On the third day, everyone thought he would stop, but to everyone's surprise, she became even more outrageous.

She actually wanted to rush to the imperial study to confront the emperor.

Fortunately, the people around her hadn't gone mad and tried their best to stop her.

After being stopped, she had nowhere to vent her anger, so she smashed all the items in her palace.

She had treated everyone else this way, so of course she wouldn't let Tu Chengyu, the murderer, get away with it.

However, with the emperor protecting her, she couldn't get close to Tu Chengyu at all, and therefore couldn't unleash her crazy methods.

She couldn't swallow her anger if she couldn't get rid of Tu Chengyu.

So she wanted to achieve her goal through other methods.

But she's someone who's always been taken care of by others since childhood, and now she suddenly wants to get back at someone, she can't think of any way to do it.

All she could think of were unorthodox and devious ideas.

Her first thought was to use witchcraft, hoping to curse Tu Chengyu by sticking effigies in his mouth. In that era, this was indeed the best way to harm others in a secretive way.

She wanted to do it herself, but she didn't know Tu Cheng's birth date and time.

Then he sent out the eunuch Zhou to inquire.

Eunuch Zhou grew up in the palace, and he knew better than anyone that witchcraft was the biggest taboo in the palace.

Anyone who touches this thing will face utter destruction if discovered.
Empress Dowager Cixi might only be banished to the Cold Palace due to her status.

Those eunuchs and palace maids involved were not so lucky, especially the head eunuch, who was certain to die.

Faced with this situation, Eunuch Zhou thought long and hard and decided that he could not help the Empress Dowager do such a foolish thing.

So he mustered his courage and told the retired emperor about it.

The retired emperor naturally wouldn't let her do such a thing, and her antics these past few days had thoroughly annoyed him.

He rushed over and gave her a good scolding before she finally quieted him down.

Having already displeased the Emperor Emeritus, Tu Chengyu thought it was time for her to stop.

Unexpectedly, she came up with the idea of ​​poisoning someone, acting as if she had truly gone mad.

Moreover, this time, the retired emperor even asked Tu Chengyu to cooperate with her and pretend to be frightened by her poison.

Despite his deep dissatisfaction, Tu Chengyu still had to heed the Emperor Emeritus's words.

So he asked Xiao Xuanzi, "When did she send someone to poison her?"

Xiao Xuanzi reported, "Your Highness, the Empress Dowager sent people to feign poisoning the food before lunch."

Tu Chengyu said, "But I've already finished lunch, so I can't cooperate with her acting now."

Xiao Xuanzi could tell that Tu Chengyu didn't want to do this, but there were some things he couldn't help but remind Tu Chengyu of.

"Your Highness, the people sent by the Emperor Emeritus and the Empress Dowager are all outside the courtyard."

"Moreover, Your Highness doesn't need to do anything excessive. Your Highness just needs to pretend to be frightened and shout a couple of times."

Tu Chengyu, watching Xiao Xuanzi's earnest arranging, suddenly asked:
"Xiao Xuanzi, you've grown too big for your britches, huh? You actually want to help outsiders embarrass me."

Hearing Tu Chengyu's accusations, Xiao Xuanzi felt extremely wronged and said:

"Your Highness, how could I possibly help others? I'm just worried about you."

“If we don’t stop the Empress Dowager from making a scene every day, it will inevitably damage the Prince’s reputation once it gets out of the palace.”

"Now, the Emperor Emeritus has given you this idea, Your Highness. You might as well do it."

Xiao Xuanzi spoke with genuine sincerity, and Tu Chengyu knew that this method was indeed for his own good, so he nodded and said:
"Alright, alright, I'll cooperate."

Xiao Xuanzi asked considerately, "Your Highness, are you calling from the courtyard or from inside the room?"

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu felt that shouting like that was silly.

Because he suddenly realized that the palace maid sent by the Empress Dowager could report false information to her.

So whether Tu Chengyu shouts or not, the result is the same.

Tu Chengyu asked Xiao Xuanzi, "Who made me insist on shouting it out?"

Xiao Xuanzi replied, "Your Highness, it was the Emperor Emeritus who said it."

Tu Chengyu grinned, thinking to himself that he hadn't been wrong after all.

The retired emperor was probably also dissatisfied with Tu Chengyu, who was causing trouble, so he deliberately wanted to embarrass Tu Chengyu.

Having figured things out, Tu Chengyu was powerless against the retired emperor.

Moreover, they had to follow the wishes of the retired emperor.

However, just as Tu Chengyu was about to shout, he came up with a good idea that would not only allow him to perform the play well.

Moreover, one could take the opportunity to visit the retired emperor and ask him some questions.

Having come up with an idea, Tu Chengyu glanced at Xiao Xuanzi with a smile, and then, to Xiao Xuanzi's astonishment...

Shout towards the sky:
"Grandpa, save me! Someone has poisoned me again!"

Immediately, he took off running towards the East Palace, shouting the same words as he ran.

(End of this chapter)