Chapter 66 The Empress Dowager, A Chess Piece
Qiu Shuzhi laughed indifferently, “This subordinate is indeed a sinister petty person. If the lady thinks that even with the military tally in my hands, the Yulin Army will not listen to my commands, then let’s try it out.”
“You—” Li Mian was furious. She drew her sword and pointed it at Qiu Shuzhi’s heart.
Suddenly, the sound of shattering porcelain came from behind her. Qiu Qiushuang had wanted to bring some tea for Qiu Shuzhi, but unexpectedly saw the scene of Qiu Shuzhi being threatened with a sword pointed at her heart. He was shocked, thinking she was going to make a move on Qiu Shuzhi. His hands loosened and he rushed in front of her without regard for anything, using his weak male body to block the sword for her.
Qiu Shuzhi looked at the person blocking in front of her and silently protected him behind her back. Ordinary men were all kept in the inner chambers and not allowed to see other outsiders. She also didn’t want her male cousin to be seen by a woman like Li Mian, whose heart was filled with lust.
The tea was spilled all over the ground, the tea fragrance slowly evaporating and permeating the air. Li Mian looked at the man who suddenly appeared before her eyes.
Wearing light blue clothes, he had a tall and slender figure like a precious orchid or jade tree. His face was as beautiful as jade, his thin lips seemed to be painted with rouge, and the ribbon tying his hair hung in front of his body. The young gentleman was gentle and elegant, floating like an immortal.
Li Mian’s eyes were full of greed. Such a beauty, how could he be compared to the brothel-born male courtesans in her residence?
Unfortunately, such a beauty was hidden in the residence of a sinister petty person like Qiu Shuzhi. If she could get her hands on him, she would definitely dote on him properly.
Qiu Qiushuang hid behind Qiu Shuzhi, not daring to look at Li Mian. It wasn’t that he was afraid of her, but her gaze was truly disgusting, lewd like a brothel eyeing customers. He had never seen a woman with such blatant and vulgar eyes. The disgusting gaze falling on his body made him feel as if he was stained with something dirty, both angry and nauseated.
Qiu Shuzhi sensed his unease and gently patted his hand to comfort him. Then she took a step forward, disarming the sword from Li Mian’s hand.
“It seems the lady has not used weapons for a long time. Your wrist is weak and powerless like a three-year-old child.” Her tone was playful and mocking.
Only then did Li Mian sober up from Qiu Qiushuang’s beauty. She wished she could tear Qiu Shuzhi’s smug face apart. She gritted her teeth and said, “Qiu Shuzhi, you just wait. Sooner or later, I will ruin you.”
Li Mian left the Qiu residence in a sorry state and got into the carriage to return.
“Aunt, how was it? Did you get the military tally back?” As soon as she got into the carriage, Li Liang, who was waiting inside, asked anxiously.
“Don’t even mention it.” Li Mian was furious. She had come with full prestige to demand the military tally, but not only did she fail to get it back, she was also humiliated by that thief Qiu Shuzhi.
“It seems this Qiu Shuzhi is determined to seize your authority. She’s just a lowly Chief Rider, yet she dares to step on your head. Aunt, you mustn’t forgive her.” Li Liang added fuel to the fire beside her. She was Li Mian’s niece and had been oppressing women and dominating men in the Yulin Army, relying on her relationship with Li Mian. If Qiu Shuzhi really seized power, she would no longer have it easy in the future.
Li Mian’s face grew darker and darker, her brows knitted tighter and tighter. Suddenly, she lifted the curtain of the carriage and shouted at the coachman, “Change course to the Ministry of War!”
In the evening, Qiu Shuzhi estimated that Li Mian’s accusatory memorial should have reached the Empress Dowager by now, so she got up and entered the palace.
As soon as she stepped through the door of Qingning Palace, she saw the Empress Dowager Qin Qing sitting lazily on the stone bench in the courtyard. On the stone table were pairs of memorials, with red annotations scattered in a mess.
In the courtyard grew a Yurui tree, a famous species from the Tang Dynasty. The Yurui flowers it bore resembled Albizia flowers, white with a hint of pink, but more languid than Albizia, just like a beauty’s lotus face. Yurui flowers were extremely rare, but only something so precious and rare could match the noble status of the Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
The midsummer evening breeze came gently, the fragrance of Yurui flowers permeating for miles, blowing away the stuffiness of the courtyard. The delicate and boneless flowers swayed in the wind, silently falling in the air, looking just like peach blossom jellyfish floating in the sky.
Qin Qing lazily rested his chin on his hand, languidly opening a fan and waving away the offending memorials with the fan, using it to catch the falling Yurui flowers.
A Yurui flower was fortunate enough to land on his fan, the delicate flower stamens mingling with the falling apricot blossoms on the fan, creating an interesting sight. He stared at this scene, seeming to think of something, and smiled softly. The other ill-fated flowers fell silently into the small pond in the courtyard, creating gentle ripples.
“This subordinate pays respects to the Empress Dowager.” Qiu Shuzhi knelt on one knee, with piles of memorials swept away like garbage under her knee.
Since Qin Qing returned to the capital, his weakened body had mostly recovered. It seemed he was indeed a young master from a noble family, raised on gold and silver, just like the purebred cats from her previous life. If the cat food was slightly inferior or the drinking water was slightly worse, they would make a big fuss. They had to be carefully held in the palm of the hand and well cared for.
Yue Guanyi was better, growing wildly like a weed, like a little puppy. Apart from being a bit self-conscious and always whimpering and wagging his tail for favor, he was good in every other way.
Just as she was thinking this, a soft laugh suddenly came from above her head.
Qin Qing used the end of his fan to lift her chin and picked up the Yurui flower he had just caught with his fan, gradually getting closer.
Qiu Shuzhi only felt a warmth on the tip of her ear, her long hair being played with by his fingers, the fragrance of the Yurui flower lingering around her.
When he withdrew his hand, the Yurui flower in his hand was gone. Instead, he rested his head on his hand, his gentle eyes smiling even more softly, “Lady Qiu looks as handsome as a young gentleman with the Yurui flower in her hair.”
Only then did she realize that Qin Qing had actually put the Yurui flower in her hair. In the Daqi Dynasty, it was a common custom for women to wear flowers in their hair, especially during the summer when hundreds of flowers were in bloom. Both men and women liked to wear flowers in their hair. But Qiu Shuzhi felt a bit unaccustomed to it. Apart from wearing an apricot blossom once at the Qionglin Banquet, she had never touched it in private.
She wanted to take it off, but Qin Qing stopped her by holding her hand, “This is a reward from Us. You are not allowed to take it off. Do you wish to disobey Us?”
His tone was playful, but there was not a hint of displeasure in his words. Instead, it was like a playful banter between lovers.
“This subordinate wouldn’t dare.” Qiu Shuzhi sighed silently. She indeed didn’t dare to disobey the Empress Dowager, especially in this situation.
Qin Qing said with a light laugh, “Get up.”
Qiu Shuzhi silently picked up the scattered memorials on the ground. By the time she sat on the stone bench, Qin Qing had already personally poured her a cup of clear tea. The ice-patterned white porcelain was cool to the touch, dispelling the heat from her body.
This was probably the first time Qin Qing had poured tea for someone else after becoming the Empress Dowager. With his noble status, he didn’t need to do it himself, she thought.
“Before, you would never enter the palace to see me unless I summoned you. Today, you are so attentive. You must have gotten into trouble outside, right?” He handed her a memorial that hadn’t been annotated in red. It was the memorial from Li Shen, the Vice Minister of War.
Qiu Shuzhi opened the memorial and saw that, as she expected, it described in great detail her evil deeds of forcibly occupying the military tally.
She admitted to these evil deeds, but the rest about her oppressing women and dominating men, even openly consorting with male prostitutes in the army, were all nonsense. These were clearly things they did themselves.
Qin Qing tapped his fan, his long brows slightly raised, “Oppressing women and dominating men, consorting with male prostitutes in the army. Lady Qiu seems to have had a much more comfortable time in the army than in the Hanlin Academy.”
“Utter nonsense! This subordinate has never done these things. This subordinate is not even married yet, yet they dare to slander my reputation like this.” Qiu Shuzhi put down the memorial.
She knew that Li Mian’s backer was the Vice Minister of War and also knew that he would complain to the Empress Dowager. This was all within her expectations. But she didn’t expect the memorial to be embellished like this.
She was a bit worried. Yue Guanyi had eyes and ears everywhere, and all the memorials from the court officials would pass his eyes. They had just expressed their feelings for each other, and now an official was reporting that she openly consorted with male prostitutes. She didn’t dare to imagine Yue Guanyi’s reaction at this moment.
“Alright, Us knows best what kind of person Lady Qiu is. Besides, those male courtesans in the army are fat and old. Us believes Lady Qiu would not be interested in those old men.” Qin Qing couldn’t help but laugh and tugged on her sleeve, “But did you really seize the military tally from Li Mian?”
“Yes.” Qiu Shuzhi took out the Yulin Army tally she had been keeping and placed it in front of Qin Qing, her attitude sincere, “This subordinate awaits the Empress Dowager’s punishment.”
“You—” Qin Qing’s voice sank for a moment, then he smiled with gratification, “Us thought Lady Qiu was truly unconcerned with worldly affairs. It turns out everything before was just lying low. With one move, you seized the authority of the twenty-thousand-strong Yulin Army.”
“This subordinate just felt that with the Yulin Army in Li Mian’s hands, military discipline was lax and they couldn’t shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting the imperial city. It’s fine if there’s no war, but once there’s an enemy situation, the Yulin Army should be the most elite troops protecting the Empress Dowager and His Majesty.”
“You did the right thing.” Qin Qing sighed softly.
“The Empress Dowager is not blaming me?” She pretended to be pleasantly surprised.
Qin Qing smiled and gently played with her hanging long hair, “How could Us blame you? Us even has to reward you.”
Under the control of the Qin clan, the court was becoming more and more corrupt, and there was not a single official who was not greedy.
With Qin Shu’s death, Qin Zheng insisted on killing Jiang Si despite his objection, completely making an enemy of the Prince of Dian. He was an old man and would soon be buried. But when that time came, Qin Zheng would still be young. If the Prince of Dian invaded with a great army, the court would truly have no one to use.
Qiu Shuzhi’s action could be said to have relieved a worry from his heart. He quietly looked at Qiu Shuzhi, who was lowering her eyes gracefully. She could be patient and grasp the right timing. She was indeed someone he valued.
Qiu Shuzhi lowered her head, a faint smile passing the corner of her mouth. She knew the Empress Dowager would definitely help her.
Li Mian’s backer was Li Shen, the Vice Minister of War, and Li Shen was a trusted confidant promoted by Gu Zheng, the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture.
Although Gu Zheng was the daughter-in-law of the Qin family, her power was growing. And the Qin family was in a mess because of Qin Shu’s death. With the death of the main daughter, those from collateral branches or born from concubines started to become active.
Some collateral branches began to gather all forces in order to succeed as the head of the Qin family. The biggest one was Gu Zheng. She had been a married-in daughter-in-law of the Qin family, enduring for many years. Finally, she waited for this moment and began to take advantage of the chaos to gradually erode the power of the Qin clan. Qin Zheng was weak and wanted to stop her but was powerless. This burden fell on Qin Qing’s shoulders.
The forces in the court were originally balancing each other. If Qin Qing wanted to restrain Gu Zheng’s development, he had to have a chess piece. And at this moment, she was the chess piece that had actively delivered herself to his door. Silently seizing the Yulin Army’s military tally, a twenty-thousand-strong army, and the heavy responsibility of guarding the imperial power were indeed no small blow to Gu Zheng.
She was now a chess piece in Qin Qing’s hands to restrain Gu Zheng, and Qin Qing had also become a part of her plan.
Having gotten what she wanted, Qiu Shuzhi left Qingning Palace and led the Yulin Army to patrol the rear palace.
Without the arrogant and domineering Rong Fei making trouble, it was said that the rear palace had become much more peaceful. Especially the Empress Qin Zhengya, with her biggest rival gone and her natal family having a strong backer, none of the concubines in the rear palace dared to contend with him. Every morning and evening, they paid respects to him, finally showing the stance of the master of the six palaces.
As she passed through the Imperial Garden, it was just when the sunset was like fire, illuminating the scene of hundreds of flowers in full bloom. The scarlet clouds in the sky were like burning brocade, almost igniting the earthly flowers.
Amidst the myriad of flowers, almost all the concubines of the rear palace had gathered. Dressed in splendid clothes, the concubines wore pearl and jade hairpins, gold and precious stone ornaments. Their fragrant powdered cloud-like hair was even more delicate than the various charming flowers.
“What are they doing?” Qiu Shuzhi asked in a low voice.
Ji Mei said, “He just returned to the palace today…”
Qin Zhengya was sitting in the small pavilion in the garden, his light white clothes adorned with green and vigorous bamboo. He held a branch of pearl plum blossoms to his nose, gently sniffing the small and compact flower petals like pearls piled on snow.
