Chapter 9: Stirring the Nest
“Your Highness, will you be summoning any of the Attendant Lords to your chambers tonight?” Yin Xin asked tentatively.
Ever since the wedding night was interrupted by the news that Li Xuanyue had gone mad and was killing people, the Attendant Lords had all remained untouched. Yin Xin was worried that they might be harboring ill feelings toward the princess.
Li Xuanyue hesitated for a few seconds before waving her hand in refusal.
“There’s no need. Go and fetch Physician Fang for me. Tell him I am feeling unwell and that he is to come at once.”
Though Yin Xin was puzzled, she obeyed Li Xuanyue’s command and hurried off to summon the physician.
Langya Hall
“You’re saying Princess Xuanyue refused to summon any of the Attendant Lords to her chambers, and instead sent her handmaiden to fetch a Physician Fang?”
When Lang Hua heard the news from his confidant, he was undeniably surprised.
What is she up to? he wondered, his brow furrowed in thought. Is she truly unwell?
But his instincts told him that this matter was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
“Master, should I continue to keep watch?” his subordinate asked.
Although Princess Xuanyue’s actions were inconsistent with the rumors they had heard, his gut told him that she was not someone to be trifled with.
“There’s no need to stir the nest any further,” Lang Hua said after a moment of contemplation. “Have them all return.”
Since Princess Xuanyue was in no hurry to summon her Attendant Lords, they would simply wait and see what she was truly planning.
The other Attendant Lords shared Lang Hua’s sentiment, all adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
Meanwhile, Physician Fang, who had been summoned by Yin Xin, was in Fenghe Hall, anxiously wiping beads of sweat from his forehead.
“Well? Physician Fang, is there anything wrong with me?”
Li Xuanyue’s cold gaze swept over him. That single glance was enough to send a chill down the physician’s spine, drenching his back in a cold sweat.
He withdrew the hand that had been taking her pulse and bowed cautiously. “Reporting to Your Highness, the princess’s health is robust. All is well.”
Clack.
The sound of Li Xuanyue’s teacup hitting the table echoed in the quiet hall.
The physician was so frightened that he immediately dropped to his knees.
“Your Highness!”
“Physician Fang, you have some nerve,” Li Xuanyue said, her gaze as sharp as a knife, pinning him to the spot. “To think you would dare to deceive even me.”
The physician’s face paled. “This humble servant would not dare! I beg for Your Highness’s forgiveness!”
“Hmph. Even now, you still intend to lie to me, Physician Fang?”
Li Xuanyue paid no mind to his ashen face. Instead, she gestured for Yin Xin to present the items she had prepared earlier to the physician.
At first, Physician Fang was confused. But when he saw the letters and bank notes that Yin Xin held out before him, realization dawned. He began to tremble uncontrollably, like sand in an hourglass, before collapsing into a heap on the floor.
“Forgive me, Your Highness! Forgive me!”
Although Physician Fang had no idea how Li Xuanyue had obtained these secret correspondences between him and the Second Princess, the fact that she knew about the drugging meant she surely knew everything else.
He knew it was all over. Still, he kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead hitting the floor with loud thuds.
“Physician Fang, you have been in the Phoenix Clan for ten years,” Li Xuanyue’s calm voice echoed through the hall. “In these ten years, have my Father Consort or I ever treated you unfairly?”
“And yet, for your own selfish gain, you colluded with my dear sister to poison me. Are you not afraid that I will have my Mother Emperor issue a decree to execute your entire family?”
“This servant knows his crime! This servant knows his crime!” Physician Fang was so terrified by her tone that he felt his body might fall apart. “I beg Your Highness to be merciful and spare my wife and children!”
One did not reach the position of a princess by being soft-hearted. Li Xuanyue was no exception. Why would she spare him just because of a few pleas for mercy?
“If you want my forgiveness, it is very simple.” Li Xuanyue’s gaze fell squarely on him. “Tell me everything you know, and I will let bygones be bygones.”
Physician Fang was just one of Li Qinghe’s many pawns. He surely knew what she had done and said. Only by having him confess could Li Xuanyue send people to find evidence and begin to root out the spies Li Qinghe had planted around her.
Left with no other choice, Physician Fang, for the sake of his family and his own life, confessed everything he knew.
“Your Highness, shall I send someone to take care of that physician?”
As they watched Physician Fang scramble out of the hall until he was out of sight, Yin Xin finally couldn’t help but ask. She couldn’t believe that he had been colluding with the Second Princess all along, secretly poisoning the Grand Princess with mind-altering drugs for two whole years. To say she wasn’t shocked and furious would be a lie.
“Do you think killing him will cure the poison in my body?” Li Xuanyue retorted. “Don’t be naive, Yin Xin.”
“We have now confirmed that he is one of Li Qinghe’s people. If I make a move against him now, wouldn’t she know everything? Given her nature, if she found out he had told me everything, do you think she would let him live and give me leverage against her?”
Yin Xin frowned. “So… we just let it go?” Wouldn’t that be letting Physician Fang off too easily?
Li Xuanyue lowered her eyes. “Tomorrow morning, gather all the Attendant Lords. Tell them I have something to say to them.”
As for what she wanted to say, no one dared to guess.
The next day, as soon as the sky brightened, all the Attendant Lords and junior attendants in the palace were summoned by Yin Xin to Fenghe Hall.
Originally, Li Xuanyue had eight Attendant Lords. With the five sent from the other clans, the total came to thirteen. Excluding Lin Yue, who had been taken by Li Qinghe, twelve remained. There were also three junior attendants. Each was handsome in his own way, and several of the Attendant Lords were men Li Xuanyue had gone out of her way to bring back from other clans.
They all stood in two neat rows.
“Why has the princess summoned us to Fenghe Hall in such a hurry? Could she be planning to discuss the matter with the Official Consort?”
The Attendant Lords and junior attendants were well aware that Li Xuanyue had yet to choose an Official Consort (Zheng Jun) or even a Secondary Consort (Ce Jun). The current Phoenix Emperor had never mentioned the matter to her, leaving the decision entirely in her hands—the very picture of a Crown Princess’s authority.
They had been in the palace for years, but their status had never risen beyond that of the Attendant Lord. For Li Xuanyue to suddenly summon them all, it was impossible not to let their minds wander.
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