Chapter 222 New Storm in the Imperial City (2/2)
Yun Shang lowered her head to think for a little while. ”The Empress
h a baby in her arms. ”Congratulations, Your Majesty! Lady Jin gave birth to a little Prince.”
A little Prince...
Yun Shang was delighted. She went nearer to see her little brother. He was ruddy in the face, and was sleeping tight.
”Although brother seems thinner than normal new-born babies, he is quite healthy. He will be blessed by the Buddha.” Yun Shang said in a pleasant tone. She turned to look at Emperor Ning. The Emperor seemed in a trance as he stared at the baby.
Yun Shang was perplexed by the Emperor's behavior. She said to him with a smile, ”Your Majesty, please give a name to my brother.”
Emperor Ning pondered for a short while. Then he said, ”Chenxi. I want to name him Chenxi.”
Chenxi literally meant the sun in the morning. Yun Shang grinned. That was a really nice name. Even she felt all warm, as though touched by the sun, when she heard the name.
Yun Shang stepped into the inner chamber while Emperor Ning was watching his lovely son. The inner chamber smelled of blood. Lady Jin was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. She seemed to have fallen asleep. But Yun Shang knew that her mother was not sleeping as her eyelashes were quivering. She tiptoed toward her, and sat on the bedside.
”Brother looks cute. He will be a handsome Prince when he grows up. A lady-killer. His Majesty named him Chenxi. The sun in the morning. Do you like it, Mother?” Yun Shang said gently.
Lady Jin slowly opened her eyes. A smile emerged on her lips. ”That is a nice name.” But Lady Jin was so tired that she fell asleep soon.
Yun Shang still felt worried after Lady Jin's delivery. Prince Jing was in the Imperial City now...
It had been many days since Prince Jing had returned to the Imperial City. Yun Shang knew nothing about the situation in the City. Even Ning Qian had not sent a letter with her report. Yun Shang wondered what was stopping her.
A letter finally came from the Imperial City on the fifth day after Chenxi's birth. However, it was to Yun Shang's surprise that this letter was sent neither by Ning Qian nor Prince Jing. It was from Lin.
Lin was a servant at the Huanyi Bureau. Since he had been loyal to Yun Shang before her poisoning at the age of eight, she intended to promote him and find a job for him in her Palace. But Lin had refused the Princess. He rationalized that if he worked for the Princess in her Palace, he would not have access to much information lest people worry that he leaks it to the Princess. It was better that he kept a distance from the Princess by continuing to work at the Huanyi Bureau. He was nobody in the Huanyi Bureau, but he would be useful one day. It was beyond Yun Shang's expectation that Lin was able to play a key role at this critical moment.
According to Lin's letter, the Empress had reinforced the security in the Imperial Palace on the pretext of stolen valuable items. Thousands of guards had been assigned to protect the Imperial Palace. Even a rat could not escape the guards! The Empress even worried about a breach by outsiders who were good at Qinggong*. As a result, she had dispatched tens of thousands of bowmen on the the wall of the Imperial Palace to dissuade outsiders from sneaking into the Imperial Palace.
(*TN: A Chinese martial arts technique that supposedly helps one lift and travel in the air.) So panicked was the Empress that she had even cancelled the monthly visit by the servants' relatives. She was afraid that the servants in the Imperial Palace would secretly pass on something from the Imperial Palace to their relatives who lived outside.
In Lin's opinion, all these arrangements were by no means normal. As ordinary servants were not allowed to leave the Imperial Palace either, they were unable to send information to people outside. It was lucky that Lin found a way around the Empress's arrangements. As he worked for the Huanyi Bureau, the department that washes all the imperial clothes, he needed to collect water from a river outside the Imperial Palace. Lin was able to send the letter with the help of the river. The Empress must know nothing about the river, otherwise she would have guarded the river, too. Yun Shang had told Lin how to contact her secret guards. Lin tired his best to make contact with Yun Shang's men, and told them how he was able to send the letter.
The content of the letter was indeed beyond Yun Shang's expectation. Something terrible was going to happen in the Imperial City. It seemed that Prince Jing must have held back the bad news from her on purpose lest she worried him. But, how about Ning Qian? Before Yun Shang left the Imperial City, she had asked Ning Qian to take orders from Prince Jing...
Yun Shang had been worried about the Prince for all this time. The contents of the letter only served to put her on edge. 'I must return to the Imperial City secretly and immediately.' Yun Shang thought...