Chapter 53 You Are My Own Sister

Inside the main hall of the Black Yamen, the atmosphere was stern and solemn. Several civil officials were continuously compiling and summarizing incoming reports, while the chief constables stood by, ready to deploy for patrols at a moment's notice.

Dongfang Liren sat upright at the front of the hall, commanding and dispatching personnel. Having been targeted by an assassination attempt last night, she had initially expected the Empress to summon her into the palace for a reprimand, and she had been bracing herself for an imperial edict from the palace.

To her surprise, no imperial messenger came from the palace. Instead, a manor maid hurried into the main hall and whispered in her ear:

"Your Highness, His Majesty—the Sovereign has arrived..."

"What?!"

Dongfang Liren still had a man hiding in her bed. Hearing this, her pretty face naturally drained of color, and she asked nervously:

"Is the Sovereign in the Mingyu Tower?"

"No, waiting for Your Highness in the garden. Urging you to go over quickly."

Dongfang Liren breathed a secret sigh of relief, quickly stood up to adjust her robes, stepped out of the Black Yamen's main hall, and then whispered instructions over her shoulder:

"Hurry up and have Ye Jingtang sent back. Let him leave through the back door, and make sure he is not run into by the Sovereign."

"This maid understands."

Having made the arrangements, Dongfang Liren suppressed the chaotic emotions churning in her heart, and with her maid in tow, she slowly walked through the Mingyu Tower and arrived at the manor's flower-filled garden.

The manor garden was vast. To the side of the Mingyu Tower lay a lake, stocked with tens of thousands of colorful brocaded koi fish.

Along the lakeside veranda, the Great Liang Empress, dressed in a sweeping red gown, leaned against the balustrade, holding a porcelain cup and feeding the fish. Several manor maidservants stood respectfully not far away, bowing their heads and waiting to be of service.

Dongfang Liren dismissed the maids with a gesture and approached alone:

"Sister, why have you come?"

The Empress gazed at the koi in the pond, her tone rather affectionate:

"You were targeted by rebellious assassins yesterday; naturally, I had to come and check on you. Sit down."

Dongfang Liren hesitated for a moment, then sat down beside her. The silver, dragon-patterned official robe she wore, placed next to the Empress's vibrant red gown, presented a striking contrast reminiscent of ice and fire.

"Did Sister just go to the Mingyu Tower to look for me?"

"I saw you were busy with official duties in the Black Yamen, so I didn't go up."

"Oh..."

Dongfang Liren felt a wave of relief wash over her: "I didn't slip up at all last night. It's just that the assassins haven't been caught yet. I will definitely deploy all my forces to patrol and bring those scoundrels to justice..."

The Empress turned her head, looking at her good younger sister:

"Who was protecting you by your side last night? To be able to fend off the Blood Bodhi, they must possess extraordinary skills."

Dongfang Liren did not dare to brazenly deceive the Empress, so after a moment of thought, she said:

"It was a newly recruited helper in the Black Yamen, named Ye Jingtang. He is a scion of a merchant family from Tianshui Bridge, and his martial arts are quite exceptional. I am planning to bring him fully into the Black Yamen and assign him an important post..."

"With alertness that high, and loyalty fierce enough to defy death, he should naturally be entrusted with heavy responsibilities. The culprits have yet to be captured. If they were to sneak into the imperial palace and cause trouble, it would be difficult to explain to the court ministers. Have that Ye Jingtang patrol the imperial city alongside the elite of the Black Yamen starting these next few days. The Empress Dowager is timid and suffered a fright yesterday; have him patrol around the Fushou Palace more often so the Empress Dowager can sleep a little more soundly."

Huh?

Dongfang Liren felt utterly baffled—patrolling the imperial palace was one thing, but having Ye Jingtang patrol the Empress Dowager's bedchamber? Wasn't this inviting a wolf into the house... no, driving a lamb into a tiger's den?

Could the Empress Dowager, whose boudoir solitude was so hard to endure, possibly sleep a wink with him around?

This was not something she could easily speak of plainly, so Dongfang Liren merely replied tactfully:

"Ye Jingtang protected my safety last night and sustained some injuries..."

The Empress, however, had just seen a lively and vigorous Ye Jingtang shortly before, and asked with concern:

"Are his injuries severe? Should I send an imperial physician to take a look?"

Dongfang Liren found it rather awkward to answer and hesitated:

"They aren't terribly serious; he is fully capable of handling patrol duties. I'll go arrange it shortly. Ah... the Blood Bodhi is truly formidable. With my men dispatched to the imperial city, I wouldn't feel secure staying in the manor either, so I will enter the palace to keep Sister company for the next couple of days, lest my mind be distracted."

The Empress could see that her sister simply wanted to run into the palace to continue her sweet and cozy time with her lover. Since she had told Ye Jingtang to enter the palace for patrols precisely on a whim to satisfy his curiosity about the millennium-old trees, she didn't object:

"Very well. State affairs have been quite numerous lately; with your help, I can have some leisure. Speaking of which, you are not so young anymore. As you select a husband, have you set your eyes on anyone lately?"

Dongfang Liren sat up a bit straighter: "Sister, why do you bring this up again? Even you don't have a partner by your side. As the younger sister, if I found a good candidate, I should let Sister have him first. How could I dare to jump ahead of you?"

?

Liren, how on earth do you have the face to say such words?

The Empress gave her real sister a deep look, feeling a complex mixture of emotions that defied words. Choosing not to expose her, she simply cast her gaze back out over the lake's surface:

"Heh~ I'm just afraid you'll grow anxious and do something foolish."

"Sister worries too much. How could I ever be anxious... anxious..."

Dongfang Liren's gaze followed the fish food the Empress had scattered into the water, only to see at the bottom of the clear lake, resting there, was a... a certain cylindrical object...

!!

Dongfang Liren's proud, aloof, and aristocratic face froze, shock and bewilderment flashing deep within her eyes!

The Empress sighed softly: "Items used in the boudoir, if tossed about carelessly, can end up being seen right here in the garden. Just how many are hidden in your room, I truly dare not imagine."

Dongfang Liren felt her scalp go numb as she hurriedly retraced her thoughts—the Empress Dowager had said yesterday that she wanted Hongyu to throw this filthy thing away...

To think that dead girl Hongyu had simply tossed it right outside my manor gate?!

Is your head filled with water or something...

Seeing her sister's misunderstanding, Dongfang Liren hurriedly explained:

"No, no, Sister, you must listen to my explanation. This thing was ordered to be thrown away by the Empress Dowager..."

Having seen Ye Jingtang destroy the evidence with her own eyes, the Empress felt an even greater speechlessness upon seeing her sister still trying to shift the blame onto the Empress Dowager:

"Sigh~ You aren't a child anymore. It's completely normal to yearn for the joys of romance. If there is a man you fancy, just say the word to me. No matter what, he'll be much warmer than a stone..."

Seeing that her sister didn't believe her and having grievances she couldn't voice, Dongfang Liren could only explain the whole sequence of events behind the item in detail, and then commanded coldly:

"Someone, fish that thing out and throw it away, and drag Wang Chihu out to be given twenty heavy strokes with a staff. If he ever dares to come up with such a rotten idea again..."

The Empress had initially thought her sister and Ye Jingtang had progressed to the point of using props to spice things up between the sheets.

Yet, seeing Liren's indignant and genuinely aggrieved reaction, she realized it probably wasn't the case. Shaking her head, the Empress said:

"Very well. Wang Chihu's original intention was to eliminate a hazard for the people; I was merely joking with you. Are you certain you have no one in mind?"

Dongfang Liren had no desire to discuss this topic with her sister any further, so she deflected:

"No, let's not talk about this anymore. Ah... Sister loves poetry and prose the most. Have you come across any fine pieces lately? Recite them to me, and I'll help Sister critique them."

The Empress leaned sideways against the railing, her hand gently stroking her delicate brow, a hint of helplessness clearly visible between them:

"There is one~ When the ninth month of autumn arrives on the eighth day, after my flowers bloom, a hundred flowers die. The soaring fragrance pierces the clouds of Yunzhou, and the entire city is clad in golden armor. What do you think of it?"

Dongfang Liren was well-versed in poetry and literature. The moment she heard this poem, her brow furrowed with a grave seriousness:

"This poem is heavy with killing intent, and seems to harbor defiance against the imperial court... Who wrote it? I'll go drag them back for interrogation."

"There is no need."

The Empress tossed a few more morsels of fish food into the lake:

"A ruler must possess the capacity to tolerate others. If you forbid people from writing this or speaking that, chasing shadows and launching grand literary inquisitions, it only reveals a guilty conscience. I have never cared for the ink-and-brush scribblings of scholars."

"Sister's insight is profound..."