The Fake Phoenix Reigns - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My sister was so frightened she took a step back.

I stood frozen for a long time as well.

It was not strange for two people in this world to resemble each other.

But to resemble each other so closely that even the attendants by the dragon bed could be deceived-there was no way that was a coincidence.

Pei Zhao took a handkerchief from the hidden compartment and covered the dead man’s face.

His movements were very slow. Not like he was facing an enemy.

I asked, “What was he to you?”

“My half-brother. Same mother, different fathers.”

After saying that, he added,

“And the emperor who killed my entire family.”

My sister sucked in a sharp breath.

I thought of the massacre at the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Mansion three years ago.

At the time, rumors had raged through court, saying the Marquis of Zhenbei had colluded with the Northern Di and intended to rebel.

The Marquis of Zhenbei had killed himself. His direct line had been executed to the last, and only one frail young son had gone missing.

Pei Zhao’s age matched.

I looked at the blood on his shoulder.

“You entered the palace to kill him?”

“I came to ask him something.”

He closed the hidden compartment.

“Before I could do anything, he was already dead.”

“Who killed him?”

“I don’t know.”

Those three words, coming from his mouth, made me believe him instead.

Because if he had killed the man, there would have been no need to save me, and no need to leave my sister alive.

My sister clutched my sleeve and whispered, “Ah Yao, let’s go.”

I looked toward the palace doors.

Outside Weiyang Palace, the Imperial Guard was everywhere, and the Empress Dowager’s people had just delivered poisoned wine.

We could not get out.

Pei Zhao saw what I was thinking too.

“Before dawn, the Empress Dowager will send someone to check the wine again.”

“And if I’m not dead?”

He said flatly, “Then it proves the new consort was useless, and the entire Shen Family will still have to die.”

My sister looked at me with reddened eyes.

“I’m sorry, Ah Yao.”

I did not answer.

In truth, I very much wanted to ask her what that apology was for. For hiding in the trunk? Or for knowing Mother meant to use me as her scapegoat and still getting into the bridal sedan?

But I did not ask.

Now was not the time to settle old debts.

I took out the half piece of old jade my father had given me.

The jade was rough, with half of the character for “north” carved into it.

The moment my sister saw it, she immediately pulled the other half from her hair.

When the two pieces of jade were joined together, there was actually a thin piece of gold leaf tucked inside.

Names were engraved densely across the gold leaf.

Pei Zhao swept one glance over it, and his expression changed.

“This is the roster from the Northern Border Grain Case.”

I lowered my voice. “Father died because of this?”

“Not only that.”

Pei Zhao pointed to one of the names.

“Liu Cheng’an, the Empress Dowager’s own younger brother.”

I followed his gaze down the list.

At the very end of the roster, there was a tiny line carved with the tip of a needle.

It was not a name, but a sentence.

“The emperor is not a son of the Liu Clan. The proof lies in Yongning.”

My sister did not understand.

But I did.

The current Empress Dowager was surnamed Liu. In his later years, the previous emperor had favored her and supported Xiao Jingheng, the son she had borne, onto the throne.

If Xiao Jingheng had not been born of the Liu Clan, then the Empress Dowager’s ten years of ruling from behind the curtain and the power of the Liu Clan had all been stolen.

Pei Zhao brought the gold leaf closer to the candle flame.

“Yongning is the cold palace where the Late Empress once lived.”

I looked at him.

“Your mother?”

He did not deny it.

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall.

“Your Majesty.”

It was the palace maid who had delivered the wine earlier.

Her voice was trembling terribly.

“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has decreed that His Majesty and Consort Shen are to go at once to Changle Palace to give thanks for her grace.”

I lowered my head and glanced at the empty wine cup on the table.

The Empress Dowager could not wait until dawn.

Pei Zhao gripped the Jade Thumb Ring and raised his eyes to me.

“You can pretend to faint. I’ll go alone.”

My sister immediately said, “No. Ah Yao can’t go.”

I looked at her.

The fear in her eyes was real, and so was the guilt.

But I remembered what Mother had said when she pressed the phoenix crown onto my head.

You are the only one left who can save the Shen Family.

She had meant to use me as a blade.

But a blade could turn as well.

I tucked the gold leaf back into the jade and hid it up my sleeve.

“I’ll go.”

Pei Zhao frowned.

“Do you know what kind of place Changle Palace is?”

“I do.”

I picked up the nuptial wine cup and touched a trace of the remaining poison to my lips.

My tongue quickly went numb.

Pei Zhao’s face darkened, and he immediately seized my hand.

“What are you doing?”

I put the wine cup back where it had been.

“Someone who’s been poisoned will look more like she drank the wine on her wedding night.”

Outside the palace doors, the maid urged us more anxiously.

I looked up at him.

“Your Majesty, help your consort up.”

He stared at me, and for the first time, his gaze turned utterly cold.

“Shen Yao, you will die.”

I smiled.

“Then move faster.”

“Don’t let me have drunk it for nothing.”