The Fake Phoenix Reigns - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Pei Zhao and I looked at the trunk at the same time.

Outside the hall, wind brushed past the paper windows, and the red candles flickered.

Another sound came from inside the trunk.

Very soft, but unmistakably real.

My throat tightened.

“Dead people don’t scratch at trunks.”

Pei Zhao glanced at me.

“Living people don’t obediently lie inside dowry trunks and enter the palace either.”

He had a point.

But there had already been far too many things tonight that made no sense.

He drew a short blade from beneath the pillow. Its hilt was pitch-black, with none of the palace’s markings.

I asked in a low voice, “You hid a knife on the dragon bed?”

“It was here when I woke up.”

He handed me the knife.

“The emperor died beside me, and the eunuchs told me to get dressed and attend court. I had to leave myself something.”

I took the blade.

It was very light, but its edge was frighteningly sharp.

Pei Zhao used the tiny tooth on his Jade Thumb Ring to pry open the lock.

The instant the lock sprang free, the trunk lid popped open a crack.

A pale hand reached out from inside.

I almost screamed.

Pei Zhao moved faster than I did, grabbing that wrist.

The person inside struggled once, revealing half a face hidden beneath a bridal veil.

It was not the emperor.

It was my elder sister, Shen Mingzhu.

Her mouth was stuffed with cloth, her eyes swollen red, and blood marked the corner of her forehead.

All the blood in my body rushed upward.

“Sister?”

The moment Shen Mingzhu saw me, tears spilled down her face.

Pei Zhao helped her out of the trunk.

Her legs were so weak she could not stand. She collapsed into my arms, her fingers clinging desperately to my sleeve.

I pulled the cloth from her mouth.

But her first words were not an explanation.

“Don’t drink the wedding wine.”

I turned back to look at the golden cups on the table.

The wine was clear, reflecting the red candlelight.

Pei Zhao walked over and sniffed it.

“It’s poisoned.”

Shen Mingzhu nodded, trembling.

“The Empress Dowager doesn’t want to kill you. She wants to kill him.”

Pei Zhao’s expression did not change.

“Then it seems my disguise isn’t half bad.”

I steadied my sister.

“Didn’t you run away? Why are you in the trunk?”

Shen Mingzhu glanced at Pei Zhao, as if unsure whether she should speak.

Pei Zhao was tactful. He turned his back and went to inspect the wine cups.

My sister lowered her voice.

“I didn’t run. Before Father died, he had someone deliver a letter to me. He said the imperial edict was not a favor. It was to silence us.”

“He said what the palace truly wanted was not me, but the Shen Family’s original military reports.”

My chest tightened.

Before Father died, he had also asked a jailer to deliver half a piece of old jade to me.

He had said, “If Mingzhu enters the palace, hide this piece of jade well. Do not give it to anyone.”

Back then, I had thought Father was biased-that even at death’s door, he only cared about his legitimate daughter.

So what he had given my sister was the letter, and what he had given me was the key.

I reached for my chest.

That half piece of old jade was still hidden close against my body.

My sister continued, “Last night, I wanted to leave through the back gate, but Mother stopped me. She cried and told me to hide in the trunk, that you would enter the palace in my place first, and once things settled down, she would find a way to save me.”

I froze.

Mother had said my sister had fled.

She had said I was the only one left who could save the Shen Family.

She had not said my sister was inside the trunk.

She had sent both of us in.

Pei Zhao suddenly turned around.

“Is your mother’s surname Liu?”

I nodded.

He looked at the two cups of wedding wine.

“The Empress Dowager’s surname is Liu too.”

It was as if someone had dumped a basin of cold water over the hall.

My sister’s face turned even paler.

“I heard Mother speaking with someone from the palace. She said as long as both of us sisters entered the palace, the Shen Family’s matter could be brought to an end.”

“That person from the palace said, ‘The elder sister is alive, and the younger sister is alive. Then Lord Shen’s mouth will be closed for good.'”

My hands clenched tight.

Father was dead, and the daughters of the Shen Family had entered the palace.

One had openly become a new consort, while the other was secretly hidden in a trunk.

As long as the Empress Dowager used one cup of poisoned wine to send the “emperor” to his death, then pinned the crime of regicide on the Shen Family, no one would ever investigate the original military reports Father left behind concerning the Northern Border.

Pei Zhao poured the wine into a pot of orchids.

The orchid leaves quickly blackened and curled.

My sister covered her mouth.

But I looked at Pei Zhao.

“Why are you here?”

He did not answer at once.

I tightened my grip on the short blade.

“You said the real emperor was dead. Where is the body?”

Pei Zhao walked behind the dragon bed and pressed his hand against the dragon carving on the bedpost.

A hidden compartment behind the bed slid open without a sound.

A corpse in inner robes lay curled inside.

He had a face exactly like Pei Zhao’s.

My mind exploded with a roar.

Pei Zhao said, “Now you know.”

He looked at the corpse, his voice utterly calm.

“I am not a substitute for the emperor.”

“I am the backup face he kept outside the palace.”