Chapter 56: The Scapegoat Princess Consort is Sentenced to Death (56)

During the following half of an incense stick's burning time, Ding Shui mainly did the talking, while Meng Xuan occasionally chimed in to ask a question or two.

After finishing the necessary arrangements, Ding Shui continued:

"As for the specific seeds and fine livestock, I will meet you again and find a way to hand them over to you once you have your own farmstead. In addition, I have left some rather interesting fruits by your pillow. Just taste them for yourself, and do not share them with others. For the time being, do not mention my affairs to Mom and Dad; remember to keep it confidential."

With that, Ding Shui withdrew from Meng Xuan's dream.

Ding Shui had no intention of letting her sister bring out these superior varieties of crops and livestock while Emperor Tianwu was still alive. For now, she only wanted her sister to plant and raise them for a few years, to see whether the genetic traits of these plants and animals were stable, and to cultivate a larger quantity of seeds and offspring.

The current Crown Prince looked far easier to bully than Emperor Tianwu.

Exposing them after he ascended the throne would probably turn out much better.

Coupled with the immense merit of introducing so many fine varieties, even if Ding Shui's identity were exposed, no one would dare to harm her family, let alone use them to threaten her.

Otherwise, they would inevitably incur the condemnation of all people under heaven.

This was why Ding Shui explicitly instructed that confidentiality was still required at this stage, and those not involved had no need to know for the time being.

As Ding Shui departed, Meng Xuan quickly woke up from her slumber. After lingering in a daze and recalling the events for quite a while, she somewhat doubtfully reached out to touch the side of her pillow based on her memory.

"Oh, there really is something here! It's real!"

"Could it be that I wasn't dreaming?"

Muttering to herself, Meng Xuan turned over and got out of bed, lit the tallow candle on the table, and walked back to the bedside holding it. She successfully spotted the pile of strange fruits that Ding Shui had specially left by her pillow.

There were golden lychees the size of goose eggs, milky-white oval fruits resembling flatbreads, a cluster of round fruits in three colors—red, gold, and green—and a bunch of blue grapes.

Every single item was something she had never seen before.

She didn't recognize most of them.

Regardless, these items instantly made Meng Xuan realize that she had not been dreaming earlier, and that her elder sister had genuinely entered her dream to give her numerous instructions:

"So it was the eldest sister who saved me, and I really was an ingrate. Fortunately, the eldest sister encountered a miraculous opportunity; otherwise, I surely would have died without a doubt. Since my life was saved by the eldest sister, I shall devote the rest of my days to serving her.

At daybreak, I will head back, buy a mountain, build a Taoist temple, and reclaim wasteland to farm up in the mountains so it will be more secluded."

Though she had made up her mind to work for her elder sister, looking at those oddly shaped and peculiarly colored fruits before her, she ultimately didn't dare to eat them.

She merely tidied them up and wrapped them securely.

She planned to carry them with her so they wouldn't be discovered, hoping she might find a way to plant them on the newly purchased mountain later on.

After that, Meng Xuan couldn't fall back asleep at all.

Just as the sky was turning pale with dawn, she brewed herself a cup of strong tea, packed her belongings, and descended the mountain to return home. Upon arrival, she kept her lips tightly sealed, not mentioning anything about her sister to her parents. She merely stated that she was not quite accustomed to living at Yuhua Taoist Temple and wished to purchase a mountain to build a small Taoist temple for her residence.

At the same time, she wanted to reclaim wasteland, farm, and raise livestock on the mountain.

She simply wanted to enjoy the pleasures of a pastoral life.

As for her request, neither the Duke of Shu nor Lady Zhang raised any objections, especially since their family had the means. Under the couple's arrangement, by that very afternoon, they helped her purchase a mountain—specifically, a warm-spring mountain complete with hot springs. Following that, they assembled a small construction crew of a hundred men and sent them up the mountain with an abundance of materials to build the temple.

In short, although technology was not advanced in this era, a vast pool of cheap labor was sufficient to make up for it.

In less than half a month, they successfully built a small Taoist temple of about two hundred square meters on the newly purchased mountain for her. At the same time, they constructed a heated greenhouse over the hot spring, and cleared a total of about twenty mu of land in relatively flat areas, along with four wooden cottages.

The Taoist temple and the hot spring room were naturally for Meng Xuan's use.

The wooden cottages were meant for the hired farmhands.

Although Meng Xuan claimed she wanted to enjoy the pastoral life, no one realistically expected her to farm the land herself. She might occasionally dig into the soil a couple of times, but expecting her to cultivate more than twenty mu of land all by herself was utterly unrealistic. Naturally, her parents thoughtfully prepared people specifically assigned to do the farming for her.

All she needed to do was enjoy the pastoral leisure.

Moreover, the maidservants and cooks she was accustomed to using were all brought along with her. Previously, when she stayed at Yuhua Taoist Temple, it was inconvenient to bring a large retinue of servants along. Now, residing on a mountain purchased by her own family and living in a temple built by them, there was naturally no need for any misgivings.

Everything was basically the same as being at home.

The only slight inconvenience was that purchasing daily necessities while living up in the mountains was not very convenient.

Meng Xuan did not refuse these provisions from her parents, as she was well aware that she could not possibly manage twenty-odd mu of farmland on her own in the mountains. In fact, she didn't even know the specific methods of farming; it was only during the past half-month that she had spent money to buy some books related to agriculture to cram. If she had to rely entirely on herself, she probably wouldn't have been able to grow a single thing.

As all preparations were completed, Meng Xuan quickly moved into the mountain temple to live. Ding Shui very punctually entered her dream once again on the very night she moved in. This time, the conversation lasted even longer, because Ding Shui needed to explain the specific traits of the crops and livestock offspring she had given her, as well as how to plant and raise them.

The explanation lasted for about two hours before it was finally concluded, after which Ding Shui produced the crop seeds and livestock offspring suitable for local cultivation and breeding.

This time, she didn't place them by Meng Xuan's pillow because there were simply too many things; Ding Shui directly stuffed them into the temple's storage room.

After that came Meng Xuan's farming period.

Most of the crop seeds that didn't look particularly unusual were handed over to the hired farmhands to plant. Only a small fraction of the items that looked distinctly bizarre did she keep to cultivate herself. She lacked the capacity to farm over twenty mu, but managing one or two mu was something she could pull off with some strenuous effort.

The same went for the animal offspring.

The farmhands were hired workers receiving wages rather than tenant farmers renting land to pay rent, so naturally, they planted whatever the master of the household told them to plant.

They harbored no complaints on that account.

Within just a few days, everything was running smoothly, and the communication between Ding Shui and her sister became increasingly frequent. After all, her sister's life up on the mountain certainly wasn't as comfortable as it had been in the past, and keeping up with gossip and news on a daily basis was no longer particularly convenient.

And Ding Shui bore a large share of the responsibility for this.

To make up for it, Ding Shui specially provided her sister with a news and entertainment gossip subscription service. This involved entering her dream every night to chat with her sister and concurrently narrating the latest news, lively events, and gossip from the capital.

Occasionally, she would bring along some snacks or fruits that looked somewhat more normal to feed her.

The sisters' bond grew increasingly close.

...

In November of the twenty-third year of Tianwu—three years after Ding Shui's arrival—Crown Prince Zhu Quan, who had been sent out by Emperor Tianwu to inspect the realm on his behalf, fell victim to an assassination attempt, resulting in poisoning and falling into the water.

Although he was successfully rescued in the end, he suffered from pulmonary infection and advanced poisoning, and died three days later.

Emperor Tianwu, upon receiving the news, vomited blood once more.

He immediately suffered a stroke, leaving him hemiplegic and paralyzed on one side.

For a time, undercurrents surged ominously throughout the entire capital. As the news gradually leaked out, it was entirely possible that the entire realm would plunge into turmoil. After all, with the Crown Prince already dead and no new Crown Prince yet appointed, the reigning emperor had suddenly suffered a stroke and paralysis.

To describe the situation as hanging by a thread would not be an exaggeration at all.

Several elder princes who had not yet been enfeoffed and remained in the capital were jumping around, eagerly trying to contend for the position of Crown Prince. Meanwhile, those princes who had already been enfeoffed but still coveted the throne and had planted agents within the capital hurried to transmit the news back to their masters.

Because the relevant news had previously been strictly sealed off by Emperor Tianwu, it only began to leak out after he vomited blood and suffered a stroke due to the Crown Prince's death. At that time, Ding Shui was still accompanying her sister at the Taoist temple, so by the time Ding Shui returned to the capital, the relevant news was already widely circulating, and she only then learned that the Crown Prince had died.

Ding Shui was somewhat dumbfounded at the time.

This completely disrupted her plans.

Originally, she had intended to directly kill Emperor Tianwu in a couple of years. Once the Crown Prince ascended the throne, she would have her sister step forward to present auspicious omens and hand over those high-yielding, superior varieties.

Not only would this provide her family with a protective amulet,

but her own mission would also be completed.

She could then gracefully withdraw and leave.

However, with the Crown Prince now dead, her entire plan was thrown into disarray. If the realm were to plunge into chaos as a result, she would likely bear an inescapable responsibility. Thinking of this, Ding Shui immediately entered the palace, intending to gather more detailed information.

Meanwhile, the situation inside the palace was also in utter chaos.

Following the Empress's passing, the Imperial Noble Consort Guo, who had been temporarily managing the Empress's seal, had been bedridden for half a month and had temporarily entrusted the seal to the Crown Princess. Yet the Crown Princess, who had just experienced the grief of losing her husband, was utterly incapable of controlling the overall situation.

Remaining in such a state was clearly unviable.

Thus, the Crown Princess had no choice but to send her two sons to serve Emperor Tianwu at his bedside while simultaneously inviting the other three imperial concubines of equivalent rank to jointly manage the Empress's seal, striving to stabilize the grand situation within the inner court of the imperial palace.

As for herself, she still had to divide her attention to handle the Crown Prince's funeral.

Through these measures, the situation within the palace was slightly stabilized, and the leakage of related information slowed down somewhat, though the truly crucial news had already been leaked long ago.

Numerous officials and nobles were currently consulting whether they should petition His Majesty to hastily appoint a new Crown Prince to stabilize the overall situation!

Some officials even obtained Emperor Tianwu's medical records,

asking physicians whether there was still any hope of saving him.

Whether he could be saved and whether he could recover would determine their judgment on how to proceed next.

When Ding Shui rushed to the Zijichen Palace, Emperor Tianwu had just woken up, but his condition indeed looked extremely grave. His mouth was crooked, his eyes slanted, and he was drooling. Although he could barely speak, his articulation was indistinct, his emotions were quite unstable, and he kept shouting that he could not see things clearly before him.

The imperial physicians were all shaking their heads, declaring themselves utterly helpless. At best, they could only provide appropriate palliative care, and he could not withstand even the slightest bit of emotional agitation anymore.

Under such circumstances, governing affairs of state was out of the question.

Even taking care of his own daily needs had become difficult.

Looking at Emperor Tianwu's current state purely from the perspective of an enemy, Ding Shui was undoubtedly pleased to see it, even feeling he deserved it. But if she expanded her perspective to encompass the entire realm, this matter was definitely a troublesome issue; if handled carelessly, it would be entirely normal for the realm to plunge into turmoil.

After all, there was more than one dynasty that perished in its second generation, not to mention historical precedents like the Rebellion of the Seven States in the former Han and the Rebellion of the Eight Princes in the former Jin. The number of vassal princes scattered across various regions nowadays was certainly not small either!

Initially, Ding Shui had intended to sit back and watch the show, but as she continuously wandered through the inner court and learned more hidden secrets,

she knew she had to do something.

The reason was simple: there were too many schemers, and too many people eager to seize the opportunity to stir up trouble. Consort Guang, who had just begun to wield power over the palace, was plotting with her second son—the seventeenth prince—to ally with her maternal family and force a coup.

If they didn't seize the moment before the military-holding vassal princes in the outlying regions realized the situation

and seized the throne,

then simply because her second son ranked seventeenth, the imperial throne would never normally fall to his turn no matter how it rotated.

The Crown Princess, the Crown Prince's maternal family, and the entire faction of Crown Prince loyalists were secretly discussing that they must hurriedly appoint an imperial grandson so that all their previous investments and factional alignments would not be rendered in vain. Otherwise, if any other prince were to ascend the throne, none of them would meet a good end.

They would inevitably be completely ousted from the center of power.

If they were lucky enough to encounter a benevolent ruler, they might perhaps be relegated to marginal positions; if they were unlucky—or rather, if they encountered someone ruthless and cold-hearted—silently disappearing altogether would be quite normal.

After all, if the Crown Prince's faction failed to successfully ascend the throne,

the fate awaiting them

had far too many historical precedents in the annals of history.

The newly adult eighteenth and nineteenth princes were also restless at this moment, desperately trying to contact whatever officials they could reach in hopes of garnering support.

In addition, while boiling the medicine, some imperial physicians secretly made adjustments by adding or subtracting certain medicinal ingredients from the original prescription. Under normal circumstances, the impact would be minor, but when the body was already extremely weak, it was somewhat fatal.

When the Empress died of a severe illness seven years ago, his father had been executed by Emperor Tianwu. How could a debt of patricide go unavenged?

Some officials were even eager to try submitting provocative memorials to give Emperor Tianwu a final push. After all, Emperor Tianwu had offended plenty of people over the years, and had killed no small number of them either. On the surface, people might not dare to say anything, but in private, there were countless individuals who loathed him to the core and wanted him dead.

Under these circumstances, Ding Shui genuinely felt that Emperor Tianwu probably wouldn't last much longer. Once Emperor Tianwu kicked the bucket without designating a successor, the realm would inevitably fall into great chaos, with various vassal princes raising armies to contend for the imperial throne.

To prevent the situation from spinning out of control,

Ding Shui immediately returned to the Taoist temple and told her sister that she had some matters to attend to recently and might not be able to visit, telling her to stay put on the mountain and avoid coming down since things were chaotic down below. Having given her instructions, she returned to the imperial palace once more, usurping Emperor Tianwu's body while temporarily sealing his soul deep within the sea of consciousness in his spiritual platform.

Immediately afterwards, she began repairing his physical body.

Through countless synthesis experiments, Ding Shui now had a deeper understanding of the synthesis system, so she quickly restored Emperor Tianwu's primary bodily functions through small, repeated syntheses of identical types of matter.

His stroke had caused damage to many parts of his brain, such as the brainstem and prefrontal cortex. What Ding Shui actually did was rob Peter to pay Paul, synthesizing some less critical parts of the brain with the brainstem and prefrontal cortex to restore those vital regions.

The cost was the permanent loss of certain memories,

because the brain cells belonging to those memories had been misappropriated by Ding Shui and used through synthesis to repair other vital parts.

In addition, a portion of his sensation of pain was also lost.

The lost pain-sensing nerves were used by Ding Shui to repair the nerve cells damaged by his hemiplegia.

Regardless, after this series of manipulations by Ding Shui, Emperor Tianwu's body could now move, and at first glance, he looked no different from a normal person. However, Ding Shui did not rush to announce that she had recovered; instead, she secretly contacted the covert guards and the commander of the Imperial Brocade Guards, ordering them to stand by at all times while refraining from taking any action for the time being.

The sudden death of Emperor Tianwu would plunge the realm into chaos.

However, since Ding Shui currently controlled Emperor Tianwu's body, she could naturally ensure that Emperor Tianwu would not die suddenly, thus providing a timely opportunity to weed out those unstable elements.

And launch another major purge.

Thus, the very next day, the imperial physicians discovered that Emperor Tianwu had entered a moribund state. As the news spread, those who were already restless gradually lost their sanity, and the capital descended into utter chaos.

The Crown Princess and the Crown Prince's faction were simultaneously regretting that they hadn't mustered the courage to make Emperor Tianwu establish the Crown Prince while he was still lucid, and frantically contacting the imperial clan and the imperial noble consort Guo—who had not yet died of illness—promising all kinds of grand benefits in advance in hopes of gaining their support.

They even discussed that if it truly became an absolute necessity,

they would have to forge an imperial edict of succession.

Consort Guang had originally wanted to wait a little longer, but upon hearing that Emperor Tianwu had already entered a moribund state, she immediately felt she could wait no longer and instantly contacted her clan to prepare for action.

Additionally, some truly loyal officials were inquiring with the physicians whether there was any way to make Emperor Tianwu experience a return of lucidity and wake up for a period of time. Even if it damaged his foundation and lifespan, it would suffice; at the very least, he needed to designate a successor. Only if Emperor Tianwu personally named his successor in the presence of everyone could the realm be prevented from plunging into chaos.

Otherwise, as for those sons of his,

not a single one of them would accept it!

Meanwhile, the confidants planted in the capital by other vassal princes were growing frantic, because the rate of Emperor Tianwu's deterioration was simply too fast; judging by the current situation, he wouldn't last more than a few days. In such a short span of time, merely transmitting the news back home was difficult enough,

let alone having the vassal princes rush back.

By the time those vassal princes arrived, the cold porridge would already be served.

An hour or so later, some of the guards, incited by Consort Guang's maternal family, were the first to mutiny, with three hundred armored cavalry galloping into the inner court of the imperial palace. The reaction speed of the Crown Princess's faction was also quite swift, hastily mobilizing the Crown Prince's exclusive Eastern Palace Imperial Guard to intercept them, condemning the imperial guards for rebelling.

A number of nobles also brought in private armies and retainers,

eager to seize the merit of a dragon-assisted restoration.

Before long, the officials who had been waiting in the Zijichen Palace, the officials who had been coerced along, along with Consort Guang, the Crown Princess, the seventeenth prince, two imperial grandsons, as well as the eighteenth and nineteenth princes who also wanted to dip a finger in the pie,

had all gathered in one place,

and stood at a deadlock within the Zijichen Palace.