Fu Qiuwen was still waiting for the Empress Dowager to help her vent her anger and to teach that little bitch Furong a lesson, but instead she only received an imperial edict ordering her to go and attend to the Empress Dowager when she was ill!
Fu Qiuwen asked the eunuch in surprise what had happened, but the eunuch was cold and indifferent, completely businesslike, and left after explaining the situation. Fu Qiuwen cursed him inwardly. With the emperor's decree in hand, she had to hurry to Anci Palace no matter how unhappy she was.
Xu Zifan and the Emperor had already left, and the Empress Dowager remained unconscious. Fu Qiuwen had no one to confide in, so she could only put on the airs of an Empress and ask Mo Yun and Shi Shu, "What exactly happened? Why did Mother faint?"
Mo Yun said calmly, "Your Majesty, I have some chores to attend to and must take my leave now. Please let Shi Shu answer your questions."
Fu Qiuwen waved her hand dismissively, staring at Shishu awaiting her reply. Mo Yun lowered her head and quickly left, while Shishu, looking like she was about to cry, hurriedly knelt on the ground, her voice trembling as she said, "Your Majesty, this morning the Regent and the Empress Dowager discussed the matter of Miss Fu... Miss Furong, saying they wanted to find her an adoptive father before she could enter the palace. The Empress Dowager became emotionally unstable and fainted. Later, the Emperor ordered Miss Furong to be sent to the Fu family to recognize Lord Fu as her father. The Empress Dowager happened to wake up and overheard this, and then fainted again from anger."
Shi Shu lowered her head to the ground, then tightly closed her eyes. Sure enough, the next moment, Fu Qiuwen's furious voice rang out, "What did you say? The Emperor made that slut acknowledge my father as her father?! Nonsense!"
Fu Qiuwen raised her hand and smashed a teacup, which hit Shi Shu hard on the head. Shi Shu did not dare to dodge and could only kowtow and beg for mercy, "Your Majesty, please calm down. This servant dared not utter a single falsehood. Everyone in the palace witnessed this."
Fu Qiuwen's angry gaze swept over the palace servants on both sides of the bedchamber. "You all saw it? Is what she said true?"
All the palace servants immediately knelt down. One of the bolder maids whispered, "Your Majesty, it's true. Miss Furong has already been sent to the Fu family. Eunuch Shun, who went to deliver the decree, has returned to the palace. His Majesty said... that there's no better time than today, so he will have Lord Fu and Miss Furong recognize each other today..."
"What 'Miss Furong'? She's just a lowly servant!" Fu Qiuwen stood up abruptly and strode out aggressively.
The palace servants exchanged bewildered glances, hesitant to intervene and unsure of what to do. They were the most vulnerable to trouble when their masters argued, and with the Empress so enraged, they worried they might be implicated. Their first instinct was to seek out Mo Yun; unknowingly, Mo Yun had become their pillar of support.
Shi Shu was somewhat displeased that Mo Yun had left her to face the Empress alone. She said she needed to stay with the Empress Dowager and sent the maid who had given the reply to find Mo Yun and ask if anything was necessary. When the maid found Mo Yun, she was instructing everyone on what to do. The somewhat chaotic Anci Palace calmed down and became orderly under her commands.
Mo Yun returned to the Empress Dowager's palace after hearing the palace maid's words. She smiled at Shi Shu and said, "Don't overthink it. The Empress Dowager said that the Empress has an excellent reputation, unmatched in the capital, and is very kind-hearted. Her anger just now was probably due to being too hasty. After all, the Empress Dowager is still unconscious, and it's understandable that the Empress is worried and upset." She took Shi Shu's hand apologetically and said, "Shi Shu, I didn't know... I thought the Empress... I'll stay here and watch over her. You should go and bandage your wound and rest for a couple of days."
Everyone knew what she meant by leaving it unsaid. Shi Shu thought about it and realized that Mo Yun's previous actions were perfectly normal. Mo Yun had never taken the opportunity for others to show off. Mo Yun thought the Empress was kind-hearted and good-tempered, so she naturally left the opportunity to reply to her. It's just that Mo Yun had never met the Empress and didn't know that the Empress was actually ruthless, spoiled, and unreasonable. No wonder Mo Yun was like that.
Shi Shu's expression softened, and she nodded before returning to her room. Since she was injured anyway, resting and not doing anything was the best option. Even if the Empress and the Emperor were arguing, she wouldn't attract anyone's attention if she didn't show herself, making her extremely safe.
With Shi Shu gone and the Empress Dowager still unconscious, Mo Yun had completely become the person in charge of Anci Palace. Following her recent plan, she made some personnel changes, seizing on the faults of several people and sending them back to the Imperial Household Department, while replacing them with several new palace servants. These newcomers were all her people, and she assigned them to various parts of Anci Palace for easier future operations.
As for the Empress, she came out early to inform Xiao Shunzi, and she remembered that she should spare no effort to instigate the conflict between these people.
As soon as Xiao Shunzi received Mo Yun's message, he understood her meaning and casually reminded the emperor, "Your Majesty, the Anyue Palace that you ordered for Consort Furong to stay in has been prepared. Would you like to take a look yourself? After all, it is Consort Furong's residence."
The emperor was taken aback. Coincidentally, he was in a good mood today and became interested as well. He stood up and said, "Come on, let's go take a look. If you don't do a good job, I'll have to punish you!"
As Xiao Shunzi left, he subtly winked at a young eunuch, then spoke ingratiatingly to amuse the emperor, heading towards Anyue Palace. Anyue Palace was very close to the emperor's residence, only a quarter of an hour's walk away. Xiao Shunzi had ordered the decorations; the courtyard featured a small artificial hill, a pond, and various flowers, creating a beautiful scene. The palace itself was magnificent, luxurious yet tasteful, with many rare and exquisite ornaments and paintings, even surpassing the standards of the empress's quarters.
Logically, this was against the rules, but Xiao Shunzi's actions pleased the emperor greatly. The emperor was extremely satisfied and immediately rewarded Xiao Shunzi with a pile of fine things, who then happily wandered around the rooms. Xiao Shunzi's witty remarks made the emperor laugh heartily, greatly dispelling the pent-up frustration of the past few days. Furthermore, having found a way to use Xu Zifan to deal with the Empress Dowager, he felt a sense of triumph.
The Empress tried to rush into the Emperor's palace, but the guards quickly stopped her. A young eunuch respectfully told her that the Emperor had gone to Anyue Palace. The Empress was even more furious, mixed with intense jealousy. She turned and headed straight for Anyue Palace. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she was enraged by the beautiful scenery. When she entered the palace, she heard the Emperor's laughter and saw that the furnishings were even better than those in her own palace. She could no longer bear the pent-up frustration of the past day and night and burst out at the Emperor.
"Your Majesty! Do you even remember who your Empress is? Do you have any respect for the Fu family? Do you have any respect for the Empress Dowager? You actually made that wretched woman acknowledge my father as her father and even personally decorated a palace for her! Are you trying to humiliate me and the Fu family?"
All of the emperor's good mood vanished at this moment, replaced by a gloomy expression. "What are you doing here? I ordered you to attend to the Empress Dowager during her illness, how dare you disobey my decree?"
Fu Qiuwen was startled by his rebuke, but then she thought that she was already the Empress, and that she still had the Empress Dowager and the Fu family. What was there to be afraid of? She immediately stepped forward and glared at the Emperor, saying, "Empress Dowager will not agree to let that woman recognize my father as her father! You made Empress Dowager faint. If you insist on doing so, you will be unfilial!"
"How dare you! Who gave you the audacity to yell at me like that? Is this the upbringing of the Fu family? Is this the renowned eldest daughter of the Fu family who commands respect throughout the capital? You're nothing but a shrew! Guards, take the Empress to Anci Palace. The Empress is not allowed to leave Anci Palace until the Empress Dowager has fully recovered!"
"You! Your mother will not forgive you! My father will not agree to it either, you have gone too far!"
The emperor waved his hand impatiently, "Take him away!"
Seeing the emperor's anger, the palace servants immediately rushed forward and dragged Fu Qiuwen away. This was probably the first empress in the dynasty to be publicly carried off—a truly humiliating act. Fu Qiuwen's desperate struggles and angry shouts were useless; the emperor had clearly shown his dislike for her, and naturally, the others showed her little respect. She was directly sent to Anci Palace to convey the emperor's message. A squad of guards stood watch at the entrance of Anci Palace, and as expected, Fu Qiuwen was not allowed to leave.
The Emperor, who had been so pleased before, was now extremely annoyed by her outburst. Following Mo Yun's instructions, Xiao Shunzi subtly brought up Furong again, casually mentioning whether Furong had acknowledged her relatives. The Emperor immediately thought of Fu Qiuwen's words earlier. The Fu family had been acting arrogantly in recent years, relying on him and the Empress Dowager, and Fu Lin was especially haughty. Perhaps he really would defy the imperial decree and disrespect Furong? Knowing Fu Lin as he did, he figured Fu Lin would likely go to the palace to petition the Empress Dowager and complain about him.
Even if he liked Furong, he had to admit that Furong's identity was too dishonorable. Fu Lin would be stupid to acknowledge his relatives. His words as the emperor might not work on Fu Lin. Didn't you see how Fu Qiuwen dared to yell at him just now, relying on the Empress Dowager?
The emperor's dissatisfaction with the empress dowager and the Fu family deepened, and he said in a deep voice, "Let's go and see the Fu family."
With the emperor himself present to preside over the family recognition, he simply couldn't believe that the Fu family would dare to defy the imperial decree to his face!
At this time, Xu Zifan was not idle either. He ordered people to keep an eye on the Fu family. After the Fu family made a fuss about Furong, he sent some information to the Fu family's spies, letting the Fu family know that the people in the Fu family's power who were eliminated during this period were the Emperor's doing. The Emperor was avenging Furong and also weakening the Empress's power!
Fu Lin was furious when he learned of this! They had secretly helped the Emperor deal with Xu Zifan's forces, how could the Emperor take advantage of the chaos to deal with them? They were truly ungrateful wretches! The Empress Dowager had single-handedly put the Emperor on the throne, and all he did was punish a prostitute, yet the Emperor retaliated like this. And his daughter had only just ascended to the position of Empress, and the Emperor was already suppressing Fu Qiuwen to pave the way for Furong. Just how cold-blooded was the Emperor!
The anger was overwhelming, especially since the Emperor had forced him to acknowledge Furong, and the Empress Dowager was also driven to the brink of madness. Fu Lin vented all his fury on Furong. This vixen had seduced the Emperor into turning against them; as long as she lived, how could his daughter ever rise above her circumstances? Perhaps even the Empress Dowager and the Fu family wouldn't be able to protect them. Since they had already formed a deadly enmity with Furong, they might as well go all the way!
Fu Lin summoned his trusted steward and coldly ordered, "Throw that Fu Rong into the pond and drown her. Say she accidentally fell into the water."
"My lord, this... after all, she was sent by the Emperor himself. Seeing so many people surrounding her shows how much the Emperor values her. What if the Emperor gets angry..."
Fu Lin waved his hand. "What can angering her do? At most, she'll demote me. With the Empress Dowager and the Empress around, I'll be promoted back sooner or later, won't I? She's just a woman. Get rid of her, and this matter will be over in three to five years. But if we don't get rid of her, hmph, we might be the ones who suffer. Go! Be quick and decisive, don't let her have a chance to live!"