The maid's road to success

The Grand Empress Dowager was sitting in the palace. Eunuch Cheng sent someone to report back what happened in the morning court. She didn't expect that the Sixth Prince would have such a situation. The Grand Empress Dowager was both happy and disappointed. She was happy that the Sixth Prince could finally return to Kyoto. He had only been away for a few months, and the Fourth Prince had already dealt a blow to many forces left in Kyoto. She was old and lived in the palace, which was not so convenient at times. Now that the Sixth Prince was back, he could stabilize those people below.

The Sixth Prince knew such important evidence of the loss, but he actually decided directly on how to take action without revealing any information to himself. Eunuch Cheng naturally knew the Empress Dowager's mood. She wanted to control all matters. She had to know the situation of the people below and arrange the Sixth Prince's affairs. Even herself and Zi Gu, who had been serving him, were being monitored. If she hadn't been smart, she would have been discovered long ago.

Unfortunately, the more she acted like this, the more rebellious the people below her became. The Sixth Prince was determined to keep Liu Yan outside, and the Sixth Princess was determined not to let women of low status enter the palace. And this incident was reported at the time, but the Empress Dowager's health was much worse than before. The Sixth Prince was driven out of Kyoto, and the Fourth Prince's power was a great stimulation. The Empress Dowager felt unwell every other day, and even though there were trustworthy doctors in the Imperial Hospital, she did not dare to summon them often. Fortunately, the doctors made the daily medicines into pills, so they could cover it up.

In fact, when the Sixth Prince knew about this, he sent someone back as fast as possible and had sent someone to inform the Grand Empress Dowager, but the Grand Empress Dowager happened to have a headache that day, and Eunuch Cheng deliberately did not let the other party in. The man could not wait, and the Sixth Prince had instructed before leaving that they must act quickly and take action immediately when Duke Cheng'en noticed something unusual, otherwise Duke Cheng'en's power in Kyoto was much greater than that of the Sixth Prince now, and if he was exposed, it would be more trouble than gain.

Seeing that there was no way to meet the Empress Dowager in person, he went directly to meet other officials and discussed the matter overnight. During this period, someone passed the news back to the palace, but Eunuch Cheng did not want to promote the relationship between the Sixth Prince and the Empress Dowager. He secretly used means to expose that person in front of the guards, and the man was locked up in the Ministry of Punishment, where he had already died.

"The Empress Dowager's daily prayers for the Sixth Prince have not been in vain. The Sixth Prince can finally return to Kyoto. We now have hope."

The Grand Empress Dowager nodded, but she felt even more uncomfortable after hearing this. She was already this old, and she had to do her best to pave the way for the Sixth Prince, but instead he was too old to listen. If he had listened to her and driven Liu Yan away before, how could the things that happened later have happened? Because of so many evidences of the Sixth Prince's wife's murder of his offspring, the Supreme Prince was lost and was far away from Kyoto.

Now that he knew of such an important matter, instead of discussing it with himself, he hastily exposed it in the court. Not only did it make people see that the Sixth Prince still had power hidden in Kyoto, but it also gave Duke Cheng'en some time to relax.

After all, he is the Emperor's maternal grandfather and the Empress Dowager's maternal family. If it hadn't been for Duke Cheng'en's protection, the throne might not have been decided upon. Now, in order to return in a hurry, he specially requested an imperial decree to come back in person to try the case. If he took action himself, he would surely prove Duke Cheng'en's guilt immediately, and then return to Kyoto with his merits. Of course, the Fourth Prince would take away some of Duke Cheng'en's power, but the Sixth Prince would get more. What a pity.

Eunuch Cheng knew the Empress Dowager too well. She was a woman of strong means and decisiveness. She would certainly want to trample Duke Cheng'en to death, and it would be best if she could take away the military power in his hands. However, she did not know that the Emperor already knew that Duke Cheng'en's problem was not just corruption. He was someone who might rebel at any time. The only way was to slowly disintegrate his power and not be too hasty. If he was really forced into a corner, he would only quickly gather troops and usurp the throne.

Therefore, the Emperor would not really let Duke Cheng'en fall to the bottom. What he would like to see most is that the Sixth Prince would return to Kyoto to handle the matter personally, giving Duke Cheng'en room to control the situation and preventing him from doing something desperate. The Emperor himself would also have room to investigate, or the opportunity to contact other troops to protect him.

"The Empress Dowager should ask the imperial physician to come and see you. Someone came to hand you a sign a few days ago, but you had a severe headache that day and couldn't see anyone, so you didn't see him. The Sixth Prince will be back soon, and we still have a lot of time to rely on you. You can't fall down."

When the Empress Dowager heard that the Sixth Prince had sent someone to come, she felt relieved, but when she turned around and looked at Eunuch Cheng, she immediately scolded him for acting on his own.

"Since someone is coming, why didn't you tell me? If I were to make the plan this time, Lord Cheng En would probably have to cut off one of his arms. Now that the order has been passed on, it's too late for anything."

Eunuch Cheng quickly knelt on the ground, prostrated himself at the feet of the Empress Dowager, and explained respectfully.

"You had a severe headache that day and almost fainted. The person who came only said that he was sending fruits and treasures, but did not tell me that he was delivering a message. If I had known that the Sixth Prince had such important news, I would not have dared to delay no matter how brave I was."

The Empress Dowager's expression eased a little. Eunuch Cheng was right. After the Sixth Prince was driven away, he was afraid that he would have no one to rely on in Kyoto, so he kept sending things here from the back door. Later, the Empress Dowager rarely saw those people. In fact, it was because she did not give Eunuch Cheng enough power, which made the officials below not trust him and unwilling to say how important the things sent were. This caused delays. If the important information had been handed over early, the seriousness of the matter would have been explained to Eunuch Cheng, and this would not have happened.

Then she thought again, it was actually because the officials under the Sixth Prince did not take her seriously. If Eunuch Cheng did not know the importance of the matter, he could have told him that he had something extremely important to tell him, and Eunuch Cheng would not dare to stop him. They still felt that there was no need to really ask for her opinion on these matters. Ever since the Sixth Prince left Beijing, some of the people under him had wanted to get out of her control. She did not expect that things were more serious than she had imagined.

Looking at the appearance of Eunuch Cheng, the Grand Empress Dowager fell into deep thought. There were not many people she could use now. Although she knew that Eunuch Cheng had done some tricks behind her back, he was her confidant after all. Now Zi Gu was dead. If she hurt Eunuch Cheng's heart again, she was afraid that she would not have anyone to use for a while.

The Empress Dowager asked him to stand up, but seeing his panic-stricken look, she couldn't bear it and told him to go down and rest for a while.

"Alright, look how scared you are. You've been following me for so long and you're still so timid. Well, you've been very busy lately. Go down and have a rest. I'll let you know later. I'll remind you of important matters. Never let this happen again."

Eunuch Cheng nodded hurriedly and backed out with a sarcastic expression on his face. The Empress Dowager was getting more and more greedy now. She was obviously the most ruthless person in the world, but she still had to pretend to be considerate. Had she forgotten her selfishness and viciousness just a few days after executing Zi Gu?

In fact, Zi Gu had been with the Grand Empress Dowager for longer than he had been, but she was still suspected by the Grand Empress Dowager and even sentenced to death. It was simply because he had always been a little cautious, while Zi Gu had completely trusted the Grand Empress Dowager. If it had not been for the fact that her and Wang Liangfei's affair was inconvenient for others to know and she had been carefully concealed, the Grand Empress Dowager would have known about it long ago.

It was already afternoon when An Wenniang received the news. This matter was no longer a secret, and many people knew about it. An Wenniang carefully screened the list. The Sixth Prince would definitely buy a large number of servants when he returned to Kyoto again. They always had their own servants who were responsible for sending many young boys and girls to places in Kyoto that needed servants and collecting information. The Sixth Prince was a vital link to them, so they had to collect as much information as possible from him.

The girl who was previously reported to be pregnant by the Sixth Prince is now living in the backyard under the protection of many people. The Sixth Prince's wife is personally in charge of the matter. Firstly, it is to clear the Sixth Prince's reputation of being jealous and harming her husband's offspring, and secondly, because this child is the Sixth Prince's only child, so he must be protected very carefully.

But An Wenniang knew that the child was not real, or that the concubine was not pregnant at all, she had been faking pregnancy and used special drugs to make herself look like she was pregnant. When he was in the fiefdom, the Sixth Prince had thought about making the child disappear with a legitimate reason, after all, how to have a child without being really pregnant?

The Sixth Princess seemed to be worried that if something went wrong with the child, people would suspect that she was the one who did something with it, so she insisted that her maid Liuju continue to carry the child, even though Liuju was incapable of giving birth to a child.

Now it seems like a coincidence. In just a few months, the Sixth Prince will be able to return to Kyoto. The child becomes extremely important. After all, the Sixth Prince had just announced the difficulty of having an offspring before he left. Now that Liuju is pregnant with a child, it can reassure many of his followers.

Fortunately, the Sixth Prince's wife had some ability, and these things were kept secret. If it weren't for the fact that the concubine was now favored by the Sixth Prince because of her beauty, and the maids around her also rose in status, they wouldn't have known about these things.

However, the Sixth Princess was able to detect the ambition of Duke Cheng'en based on the official positions he was selling. She is also an extremely powerful person. No wonder the Empress Dowager insisted on marrying her to the Sixth Prince as his princess. She is really capable.

If it weren't for Jiaoyan, that concubine would have suffered a lot because of the Sixth Prince's neglect, and would have taken the initiative to compete for favor and accept Zhuye. Now he and An Zizhong would have to pay attention to monitor the Sixth Prince.

"Is there any news from Zhuye?"

Baimei nodded. Zhuye would deliver a message once a month, and every message was very useful.

"Zhuye said that the concubine seemed to have discovered some secrets of the Sixth Princess, but she refused to tell it. Zhuye is wondering if she should stop Jiaoyan and force her?"

The Sixth Princess's secret? What could it be? The Sixth Princess is the same type as the Grand Empress Dowager. She is naturally proud and always thinks that she is the superior one who is high above everyone else. She looks down on the people below her. However, she is also very resourceful. The Sixth Princess is smarter than the Sixth Prince and more difficult to deal with. She suffers because the dynasty is harsh on women. She has a lot of ambitions but cannot realize them. She can only realize them with the help of the Sixth Prince. However, the Sixth Prince hates women like her who are strong but always dignified.

Especially the death of Liu Yan, which made the conflict between the two even greater, and the Sixth Princess was completely immersed in the harem every day. Now she is afraid that she has arrived in Kyoto. She was driven back to her fiefdom and her title was demoted before. I am afraid that many people will be uneasy. The Sixth Prince will pay more attention to the Sixth Princess when he comes back this time, so he still has to find a way to alienate the two.

"Don't stop taking Jiaoyan. If the Sixth Prince leaves Jiaoyan now, he will be in a state of panic, unable to sleep, and irritable. Then it will expose his condition. At that time, I asked Zhuye to give medicine to Concubine Yun in order to stabilize the Sixth Prince. Although Jiaoyan was newly configured by An Qing and An Yun, and no one has seen it before, there is no guarantee that a truly powerful doctor will not detect it, so the medicine cannot be stopped."

An Wenniang had a headache. She couldn't stop looking at her pretty face, but since there was a secret that even Concubine Yun, who was hostile to the Sixth Princess, was trying to avoid, it must be something very important. Maybe she could use this secret to control the Sixth Princess.

"Let Zhuye calm Concubine Yun down first and see if she can get the answer out of him. If she insists, then we can wait until we get to Kyoto to see what my brother can do. An Qing may have something that can help, but don't act rashly. The Sixth Princess is a very meticulous person, so don't do anything around her."

Bai Mei wrote a secret letter directly, tied it to a carrier pigeon and threw it out. An Wen Niang continued to look through the book written by Zi Gu. When she first started reading it a few days ago, she only found out that the Grand Princess was not the biological child of the Grand Empress Dowager. At that time, she thought this was a good opportunity. She could add fuel to the fire between the Grand Princess and the Grand Empress Dowager and make them fight more fiercely. But then she realized something.

The eldest princess seemed to have supported the Fourth Prince from the beginning to the end, and the Grand Empress Dowager had been raising the Sixth Prince since he was a child. Therefore, if her mother had supported the raised prince, even if her daughter had a bad relationship with her mother, she would not have formed two opposing camps with the Grand Empress Dowager from the beginning to the end, and fought against each other for power without mercy.

That means that the Grand Princess knew from the beginning that she was not the biological daughter of the Empress Dowager. So when did she know that? Isn't what Zi Gu wrote useless?

Looking at the flickering candlelight, An Wenniang read carefully, wishing she could study every word in it thoroughly so as to extract useful information from it. After all, their road to revenge must have been planned between the Fourth Prince, the Sixth Prince, Duke Cheng'en and the Emperor. The deeper the conflict between them, the more chaotic it was, the more advantageous it would be for their side.

God helps those who work hard, and finally An Wenniang discovered something. It turns out that the identities of these two people are not only unrelated by blood, but also hide very important information. An Wenniang copied down the text and asked Hongmei to quickly pass it to An Zizhong.