Chapter 19: The Soft Detention of Rong Fei, Changes in Jiangnan

  Kangxi appeared at the door with Yinxiang, Yinxian and Yinbi, his face filled with anger. After all, it was a big deal that assassins were causing trouble in the palace in broad daylight, those guards could be dragged out and beheaded.

  "Pay respects to His Majesty." Everyone bowed towards the door and said.

  "Get up." Kangxi walked in, Rongfei was still sitting on the ground at this time, not far away from a knife, with a frightened look, but when she saw Kangxi looking at the knife, she knew it was bad, after all, there were still signs of her family on that knife. "Who will tell me what happened?" Kangxi's expression was serious, and the atmosphere in the room became heavy in an instant. Kangxi's eyes turned to Rongfei, Yongzheng, and Daiyu, and finally returned to Yongzheng again.

  "Fourth brother, what just happened?"

  "Returning to the Empress Dowager, I and the princess came from the flower house, thinking of paying respects to Consort Rong. As soon as we entered the courtyard, we heard Consort Rong shouting about catching an assassin. I rushed up to help, and the assassin was quickly subdued and killed by the guards."

  Kangxi nodded and said, "It seems that the empress has been frightened." Kangxi stretched out his hand to help the somewhat trembling Rongfei up.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern. I'm fine." Rong Fei's gaze fell on the dagger again, and this was a psychological effect of humans. In fact, others might not have noticed it, but she herself kept thinking that they would notice it, and subconsciously looked at it, which in turn drew other people's attention to it.

  "Let Empress Rong see it." With a single glance from Kangxi, the guard picked up the dagger on the ground and examined it carefully. "Your Majesty, this dagger has the tribal emblem of Ma Jia's clan on it."

  "Oh? So, Empress Rong was hiding weapons in the palace all along." Kangxi's gaze turned cold as he looked at Empress Rong. Daiyu sneered inwardly, thinking to herself: "Keep acting, I don't believe you just found out now, old fox."

  Kangxi seemed to have sensed Daiyu's abnormal gaze, turned his head and smiled at her with a rather sinister smile. Daiyu had no choice but to lower her head and reduce her presence.

  "Your Majesty, I didn't... it was an assassin..." Rong Fei's explanation became somewhat unclear due to her panic.

  "Don't worry, Consort Rong. Let Dr. Li take your pulse first." The Kangxi Emperor had Consort Rong sit down in a chair, and Dr. Li came forward to take her pulse. After a while, Dr. Li frowned and looked at the Kangxi Emperor. "Your Majesty, Consort Rong has been frightened, but there is no serious harm done."

  "Oh? Got a shock, then take a rest for a while. Isn't the Empress's body always poor?" Kangxi's face wore a concerned smile, but Rongfei involuntarily trembled slightly. Rest? That was a euphemism for house arrest. It seemed that the Emperor knew something and would it implicate her own son, Yongqi? Would it implicate her own family? Rongfei's face turned paler and colder sweat began to flow down, but she knew she couldn't retreat. At this point, she had no way out."

  "The Emperor's words are reasonable." Dr. Li lowered his head and didn't say anything else, he was just a doctor after all, there were some things he didn't want to understand nor did he wish to understand.

  "Is the Empress dissatisfied with My arrangements?" Kangxi raised an eyebrow, looking at Rongfei with a hint of danger.

  Rong Fei was taken aback, knelt down to thank the emperor, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness." Things had already reached this point, and she could only accept this temporary outcome. However, she would soon rise again. Rong Fei looked at Yongzheng and Daiyu, these two people must know more than others. Indeed, Lin Daiyu was not as simple as a little girl, and she should deal with her and get rid of her.

  Daiyu felt the gaze of Rong Fei, and she gave a cold smile, thinking that Rong Fei was not enough to pose a threat to her. However, Cheng Junwang Yinxi seemed like someone she had never formally met before, and Daiyu couldn't help but feel some curiosity about what kind of person he was.

  "Fourth elder brother, thoroughly investigate this matter and see how the assassin entered the palace. Give me a thorough cleanup." Kangxi seemed to feel that Rongfei was not worried enough, so he added another sentence, which made Rongfei almost faint with two eyes rolled back. However, Rongfei quickly calmed down again, knowing that she only had contact with Xili and her subordinates, and if the people from Yunxiang Pavilion were caught later, they wouldn't know anything either, which would also help clear up a future trouble for herself, nothing wrong with that.

  "The son obeys the order." Yongzheng calmly accepted the edict, knowing that he might not be able to find out anything. Daiyu couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Yongzheng, as Yinghua had already taken care of everything and was sure to leave no clues behind.

  Rong Fei's Long Spring Palace incident has come to an end, Daiyu followed Kangxi back to Xiaozhuang's place. Xiaozhuang already knew what had happened earlier but didn't mention a word, instead busying herself with preparing lunch together. Daiyu's expression was as usual, as if nothing had happened earlier. Yongzheng furrowed his brow for a moment before also returning to normal.

  Rong Fei was placed under house arrest, breaking the balance of power among the four consorts in the palace. Someone always wanted to take that position, such as Mi Fei who was very proactive, but her humble origins made it difficult for her. The palace was bustling with activity for a while, and some consorts even came to befriend Daiyu, which annoyed her so much that she eventually asked Empress Xiaozhuang for permission to stay home and rest, avoiding everyone.

  The capital was bustling and then quiet, but Yangzhou had a robbery and murder case at this time. Xue Tan killed a scholar to rob a woman, and Yangping, the governor of Yangzhou, arrested him. He was originally going to be sentenced to death, but a letter flew in from Beijing. Yangping looked at the letter, his face changed, it was Wang Ziteng. Yangping frowned, Wang Ziteng's letter said that Xue Tan was his nephew and had only accidentally injured someone in a fight, and that paying some money would be enough. Yangping felt very uncomfortable in his heart, how could he write a letter to beg for mercy? But the situation around him was not good either, obviously there were other people who also spoke up, remembering what Lin Daren had said before about the four big families colluding with each other, and it was indeed difficult to deal with.

  What to do? Executing the death penalty is good, but it has offended many people. Losing the official hat of Yangzhou is a small matter, and not being able to punish the evil-doers in the end is unbearable. If not executing the death penalty, it would be unfaithful to the heavens above. Just as he was hesitating, an imperial edict arrived, promoting him to Jiangnan Road Guardian and Patrol Officer, from a fourth-rank official to a third-rank official. The case was handed over to his successor for trial. Yang Ping let out a sigh of relief, but in his heart, he was worried that the new prefect, Jia Yu Cun, would not handle things this way. With such worries, he left Yangzhou to take up his new post.

  As expected, Jia Yucun's first act after taking office was to release Xue Pan and let the Xue family settle the matter with a sum of money. Madame Xue took Xue Pan and brought Xue Baochai along as they set out on the road to Beijing, adding to the chaos that already reigned in the capital, but that's a story for later.