Xiao Jingheng was stabbed on the boat, and after investigating for five full days, there were still no clues.
The palace maid who was responsible for dressing Qu Yanran that night was thrown into prison and tortured, but she insisted firmly that when Qu Yanran left her, her body was clean and she absolutely could not have hidden a dagger.
In the end she was tortured to death alive, but never changed her statement.
As for the one who had selected Qu Yanran, it was the county magistrate of Tonglu County in Lin'an,
but on the night of the incident, there was a water leak in the county magistrate's home,
and his family of thirteen were all burned to death, so there was no way to investigate further.
To get to the bottom of this matter, Xiao Jingheng's prestige and power did not diminish at all.
He dismissed the Chief Inspector of Lin'an to be investigated, and ordered the Admiral of the navy to take over the case and spare no effort to arrest and bring Qu Yanran to justice.
More than ten days after this matter, Xiao Jingheng's shock finally settled down completely.
On this day, Consort Yao went to his room early in the morning to serve tea and stationery.
She had stopped eating mutton, and the dark sores on her face had indeed shown signs of improvement and did not look so horrifying.
And because she had protected him, Xiao Jingheng's attitude towards her had also turned much friendlier.
But after all, she still could not compare to a beauty like Song Zhao to accompany his side and delight his mood.
As Xiao Jingheng was thinking of Song Zhao, Jiang Deshun came to report,
"Your Majesty, the Noble Consort has made some pastries and sent them over, and is now waiting in the warm pavilion."
Xiao Jingheng immediately put aside his brush and paper, and laughed, "Just in time, I'm also somewhat hungry. Quickly invite the Noble Consort in."
When Song Zhao came, Xiao Jingheng exempted her from greeting ceremoniously, and directly sent Consort Yao down from the hall to make room for Song Zhao.
Consort Yao was dissatisfied in her heart, but on the surface she was extremely respectful. She also greeted Song Zhao,
"This concubine pays her respects to the Noble Consort."
Song Zhao smiled, "Sister, why are you being so formal with me? These past two days have been hot, so I made some mung bean cakes to cool down. Sister, please try some too."
Consort Yao politely declined Song Zhao's kindness, and could only stand stiffly at the bottom of the hall, watching Xiao Jingheng be intimate with Song Zhao.
After Xiao Jingheng tasted two mung bean cakes and praised Song Zhao for her improved skills, he also mentioned the fortune-telling in Suzhou that day,
"Does my darling still remember that 'charlatan' in Suzhou?"
"Is Your Majesty referring to Tan Yue Zhi?"
"That's right. That day he said that I would encounter a disaster of bloodshed on my southern tour, but with the help of a noble person, I could turn calamity into blessing."
Speaking of this, Xiao Jingheng took out the dragon-patterned jade pendant that he wore close to his body, "If not for the jade you gave me that day, the assassin's blade would have stabbed directly into my heart chamber. Thinking back now, it really frightens me."
Song Zhao did not claim credit for herself, only saying: "How could it be thanks to me? Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, blessed by the gods and Buddhas everywhere, how could those petty villains possibly harm Your Majesty's dragon body?"
While they were talking, Xiao Yinzi came in to report,
"Your Majesty, the Chief of the Imperial Observatory requests an audience."
This Imperial Observatory made predictions based on the heavens, which was somewhat similar to Tan Yue Zhi's innate eight trigrams.
Xiao Jingheng did not originally believe in such things, but after the assassination attempt, he inevitably had some doubts in his mind.
"Send him in to speak."
After the Chief came in, he first paid his respects to everyone, then said:
"Your Majesty, I observed the stars and used turtle shell divination last night, and calculated that Your Majesty was able to turn this calamity into good fortune thanks to the help of a noble person."
This statement was remarkably consistent with what Tan Yue Zhi had said at the time, but saying it now seemed somewhat like hindsight.
Xiao Jingheng said lightly, "Go on."
The Chief said, "Your Majesty's five elements are water. On the day of the assassination, it was a great Yang fire day, which is why Your Majesty fell into danger. But there was a noble person of the wood element who blocked the sinister fire and warded off the calamity for Your Majesty."
Xiao Jingheng said, "The wood element? Which person in the harem has the wood element? Could it be the Noble Consort?"
The Chief carefully calculated and said:
"The Noble Consort's birth horoscope is not wood. As for the concubines of the wood element, apart from the Imperial Consort whose birth details are unknown to the Imperial Observatory, the only ones left are Consort Yun and Consort Ruchang, whose birth horoscopes are wood."
"Consort Yun and Consort Ruchang?" Xiao Jingheng asked in puzzlement: "They are both in the palace now, how could they be the 'noble person' who warded off calamity for me?"
"This..." The Chief was somewhat embarrassed. After stroking his beard for a while, he said: "If there is a wood character in her personal name, then it's possible. However, I do not know the concubines' personal names, so I cannot calculate exactly who Your Majesty's noble person is."
Upon hearing this, Song Zhao immediately looked eagerly at Consort Yao,
"Sister's private name is Chunying, with the 'ying' character containing wood. Isn't that considered having a wood character?"
Consort Yao was completely at a loss, but the Chief quickly said: "If so, then that's right. It was indeed Consort Yao who saved Your Majesty that day."
Xiao Jingheng had thought that the so-called noble person who could help him turn calamity into fortune must be Song Zhao,
but hearing that it was Consort Yao, he was somewhat disappointed, though he did not show it on his face. On the contrary, he smiled at Consort Yao and said:
"So the auspicious person turned out to be Consort Yao."
Consort Yao was still confused and said, "This... At the time, this concubine only thought about not letting the villain harm Your Majesty at all, and did not consider much else..."
Song Zhao said with a smile, "Consort Yao sister performed great merit in protecting Your Majesty. The situation was so dangerous that day, I heard sister didn't even think and just rushed forward, she really had Your Majesty in her heart."
Xiao Jingheng then said, "Consort Yao has been serving me for a long time, and has always been proper. Now that she has performed great merit, she shall be promoted to Noble Consort."
Consort Yao was overjoyed, staring with wide eyes, stunned in place, even forgetting to thank him.
Song Zhao quickly prompted her, "Congratulations to Noble Consort Yao sister."
Only when prompted did Consort Yao come back to her senses. She hurriedly kowtowed to Xiao Jingheng to thank him for his grace,
"This concubine... kowtows to thank Your Majesty's holy grace!"
Song Zhao nestled in Xiao Jingheng's arms and said gently, "Noble Consort Yao sister is truly Your Majesty's lucky star."
Xiao Jingheng patted her slender shoulder lightly and laughed loudly,
"You are too."
At the same time, the news of Xiao Jingheng's assassination had also spread back to the palace.
Although the Empress was often at odds with Xiao Jingheng, after all they had many years of marital ties.
She sent Shuang Ruo out to carefully find out what exactly had happened.
But Shuang Ruo went out and did not come back for a whole day.
By night, the vast Kunning Palace was oddly quiet. When it was time, not even a palace maid came to serve washing up.
The Empress vaguely felt it was strange, so she called out to the door:
"Where is everyone?"
The door of the front hall creaked open, but the person entering was Consort Hui.
She came in bathed in moonlight, with a faint smile at the corners of her mouth,
a smile that was indescribably sinister, making people uneasy.
After closing the hall door behind her, she stopped right in the center of the hall, then looked up at the Empress with raised eyebrows. Then she let out a few clear, silvery laughs,
which sounded even more eerie in the stillness of the night, scaring people to the bone.
"Hehe~ This concubine has come to send the Empress on her way~"
