Her reputation preceded her, hailed as the first beauty of the capital.
However, Consort Liang had seen Pei Wu at a palace banquet two years ago. The beauty was indeed a rare sight, but she was cold as ice, showing no kindness to anyone, as if everyone owed her money.
Although reluctant to admit it, Consort Liang had to acknowledge that Jiang Xinyue's beauty surpassed even that of Pei Wu.
Because her beauty was more lively, with a myriad of charms that evoked tenderness. She possessed all the qualities that men adored.
Wasn't this type of woman more endearing than a cold, aloof one?
But, it was hard to say.
What if the Emperor grew tired of sweet and charming women, and wanted to find something exciting and challenging?
Consort De watched Jiang Xinyue's retreating figure: "Can't you see it clearly?"
Consort Liang frowned: "What are you muttering about?"
Consort De's eyes flashed with a cunning light, looking in the direction Jiang Xinyue had gone, as if sensing a kindred spirit. She exclaimed excitedly, "She has already declared war on us. Just wait! Once she gives birth to this child, she'll have time to deal with you."
"Me?" Consort Liang's eyes widened. "I... what did I do? Why would she deal with me?"
She wasn't favored, nor was she the Empress. What benefit would dealing with her bring to Concubine Zhen?
Consort De's slightly sharp phoenix eyes looked at her knowingly, her tone mocking: "When you slapped her palace's eunuch Jiang Chuan back then, you put something else on his clothes, didn't you? So why do you think nothing happened to her?"
Of course, it was because they had discovered it.
If Jiang Xinyue knew someone wanted to harm her, wouldn't she investigate?
Hearing such a secret thing that only she knew coming from Consort De's mouth, Consort Liang's eyes grew even wider: "You mean..."
"Shh!" Consort De gave a light laugh. "I didn't say anything. You figured it all out yourself."
So whatever you do next has nothing to do with me.
Consort Liang bit her lip, her mind in chaos.
Consort De didn't insist on her company to see the cycad. She took the arm of her palace maid and gracefully left.
Jiang Xinyue returned to Hexi Palace, and Jiang Chuan came forward: "Your Highness, while you were away, Chief Clothing Officer Fang came by. She said there was something strange about what you asked her to investigate last night."
"What's strange?" Wasn't it just asking her to check which palace the fabric of the voodoo dolls' clothes came from?
Jiang Chuan replied, "Chief Clothing Officer Fang said it seems someone has been investigating her recently. She couldn't stay long in Hexi Palace and also warned Your Highness to be careful. She's worried someone might discover that you two worked together to trap Concubine Su."
Jiang Xinyue nodded: "I understand. What else did she say? What was strange about the fabric?"
Jiang Chuan recalled, "Chief Clothing Officer Fang said that the clothes on both dolls were made of Floating Light Brocade. This Floating Light Brocade is... it's from the Zhou Dynasty. Our Great Yan has strictly forbidden the wearing of clothes made from Floating Light Brocade, so there shouldn't be such fabric in the palace."
Even if there was, it would have been destroyed long ago.
Sixty years ago, the Zhou Dynasty emperor was an unjust ruler, indulging in debauchery to the point where the people could barely survive.
Among the noble families, the Saint Ancestor Emperor came from a military background. Back then, there were hundreds of civilian uprisings. After suppressing countless rebellions, the Saint Ancestor Emperor, at the urging of his confidants, rebelled against the Zhou Dynasty.
The Zhou emperor held the Saint Ancestor Emperor's wife and children hostage in the capital, executing them on the battlefield.
It's said that at the time, the Zhou emperor wore a dragon robe made of Floating Light Brocade.
After the Saint Ancestor Emperor breached the city, he killed the Zhou emperor but couldn't bring back his wife and children. In his fury, ignoring the objections of his officials, he burned the Zhou emperor's body and searched out all the Floating Light Brocade in the palace, burning it all.
After ascending to the throne, he further decreed that Great Yan would no longer produce Floating Light Brocade, and anyone found hoarding it would be punished by death.
Floating Light Brocade had long since disappeared.
As time passed, there were almost no palace maids left who knew about Floating Light Brocade.
If it weren't for Fang Rumeng's family having been in the fabric business for centuries, and her own keen interest in her family's trade, having seen descriptions of Floating Light Brocade in the family records, probably no one would have recognized it.
How could a forbidden fabric, not found in the palace, appear here?
It must have been brought in from outside the palace.
Who could bring prohibited items from outside into the imperial palace, make them into voodoo dolls, and place them in Hexi Palace?
Were they biding their time, waiting for the right moment?
Jiang Xinyue felt as if a thick fog obscured her path ahead, making it impossible to see clearly.
She nodded to show she understood, then asked another question: "Did she reply about whether there's a way to remove the writing from the fabric?"
"In response to Your Highness, Chief Clothing Officer Fang said that Floating Light Brocade has special properties. No matter what stains fall on the fabric, they can be completely removed by soaking in heated water with vinegar and salt, making it as good as new. This was one of the reasons why Floating Light Brocade was used for dragon robes back then."
After hearing this, Jiang Xinyue's lips curved into a smile: "Since we can't find the person who cursed the Emperor and Empress, let's have the Emperor look for them."
What she didn't know, the Emperor surely would.
For instance, who would be most likely to secretly keep Floating Light Brocade?
Shuang Jiang was excellent at needlework, having studied for a few days in the Clothing Bureau with Fang Rumeng. She could tell at a glance that the stitching on the dolls was very crude, likely done by someone unskilled in needlework.
There were no palace maids unskilled in needlework. In the palaces of the consorts, the easy task of mending clothes was always fought over.
Those not good at this weren't destined to serve others, unless they were the masters of the palace themselves.
A beautiful face immediately popped into Jiang Xinyue's mind.
As for whether it was true or not, she only needed to guide the Emperor a little and let him seek confirmation.
Late at night, while Nanny Li and Nanny Xiang were asleep, Shuang Jiang and Xi Que took action separately.
One took out the "sinister" little box, removed the doll representing the Empress, altered its clothes to resemble those of an ordinary consort, took off the phoenix crown on its head, and replaced it with two silk flowers, making it look much plainer.
Xi Que prepared salt and vinegar mixed with hot water, removed the strip of cloth with the Empress's birth date and time written on it, and soaked it in the water. In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the water in the basin turned black.
After soaking it in another basin of fresh water, the white cloth strip, shimmering with flowing light, was left clean without a single character.
Jiang Chuan had been practicing imitating the writing on the cloth strip for a day and a night without eating or drinking, and had achieved about 70-80% similarity. Jiang Xinyue felt it was sufficient.
After wringing out the water from the cloth strip, Jiang Chuan imitated the original handwriting, replacing the Empress's birth date and time with Jiang Xinyue's.
When the two dolls pierced with steel needles were placed together again, they looked completely different.
The Emperor's doll now had many more small embroidery needles all over it, leaving no space untouched. Surely when the Emperor saw this, he would think the person who made the voodoo dolls harbored an intense hatred for him.
The doll that originally wore the phoenix robe and crown, representing Empress Zhu, had now been transformed into Jiang Xinyue.
