The Slender Waist-Chapter 393 - 282: Plotting Against the Empress Dowager

Chapter 393: Chapter 282: Plotting Against the Empress Dowager

The main show began, and the hundred acts quickly commenced.

Puppet shadow plays, instrumental music, storytelling, and variety entertainment...

With the families of the various envoys present, there was no lack of an appreciative audience, and lively cheers could be heard from time to time.

One good act followed another, creating quite a lively atmosphere.

Feng Yun was right in front of the stage tent, where a shoulder-pole act was being performed.

Two robust men, bare-chested, with a long sash tightly bound around their waists and wearing wide-legged pants and upturned-toe shoes, stood with their legs apart, clashing arms and wrestling with each other, tumbling to the ground, looking extremely fierce and agile...

Their mouths emitted continuous roars, like competing beasts, and even from a distance, one could hear the rough panting.

Tense, thrilling.

The women in the audience blushed at the sight.

"Ah!" One of the men tightened his waist and abdomen, pounced, and firmly pinned the other beneath him. The air stilled for a moment before erupting into the sound of enthusiastic claps.

Feng Yun wiped her lips with a handkerchief, "Xiaoman, change clothes."

She was becoming a bit bored with the performance.

It wasn’t that the performers were bad, rather she suddenly loathed the gaze of these nobles.

In their eyes, those performing were not really human, no different from the monkeys led by street performers...

She had once been a monkey too and no longer wished to watch.

Passing through the corridor, she saw Tang Shaogong outside the dressing room.

He quietly stood there, as if he had been waiting for her specifically.

"General’s wife."

Feng Yun approached with a smile, "Does Mr. Tang have business with me?"

Tang Shaogong said, "The Empress Dowager invites you. I wonder if it’s convenient for the lady at this moment?"

Feng Yun was not surprised and naturally smiled, saying "honored", then followed Tang Shaogong around the corridor.

The crowd was completely drawn to the performances; this place was very quiet.

It was deserted, and the high eaves blocked the daylight, looking very gloomy and oppressive.

Feng Yun waited for a moment before seeing Li Sangruo arrive late with two maidservants, walking past her without a sideways glance, and casually pointed.

"Let’s talk upstairs."

There was a watchtower made of wood, from which the council hall could be overlooked.

Talking up there also ensured no one else could hear and even allowed for avoiding the gaze of the crowd just right.

Feng Yun had personally designed it and knew the structure well.

She replied with a faint smile and followed Li Sangruo up the stairs.

All the attendants were left below the watchtower, and Tang Shaogong stood firmly at the staircase entrance, leaving just the two of them on the tower.

Li Sangruo saw that Feng Yun didn’t take herself seriously and was very relaxed, then suddenly laughed.

"Feng Family. If you weren’t Pei Jue’s woman, I would like you, appreciate you."

With no one else present, Feng Yun couldn’t be bothered to pretend.

She looked directly at Li Sangruo, "So what? Now all that’s left is jealousy?"

Li Sangruo’s face changed slightly, "Why should I be jealous of you? I have what you do not."

Feng Yun demurely pursed her lips, giving her a mocking glance and said, "Indeed, Her Highness the Empress Dowager wields great power and possesses the world, while I, a humble woman, dare not compete with the sun and moon."

She was courteous in her speech, but her eyes were full of disdain.

Seeing her like this, Li Sangruo actually admired her a bit.

In this world, perhaps there were not many who could be as composed as Feng Family in her presence...

What a pity.

They were bound to be enemies.

"I’ve heard you are with child. Is it true?" Li Sangruo looked at her coldly until Feng Yun’s face showed surprise, then she turned her head away and said indifferently:

"You shouldn’t carry his child."

Feng Yun laughed, "What is the Empress Dowager talking about? Shouldn’t I bear my husband’s child, whose should I bear? I am not as exalted as the Empress Dowager, able to conceive with whomever I wish, be it Song Shou’an or Wei Zheng, or any distinguished young man from the Imperial Cavalry Division. As long as Your Highness wishes, regardless of whether they have families, you’d have them sent to your bed to grant you pleasure..."

Li Sangruo’s gaze swept over, landing on her face, causing her to grind her teeth with rage.

"You have some nerve! Do you realize, with those words alone, I could charge you with a crime?"

Feng Yun didn’t hesitate for a second, her smile was open and seductive.

"The Empress Dowager and I are not three-year-old children; why play riddles? If you had a way to charge me with a crime, you would have done so long ago. Not charging me, is it because you don’t want to? Just say it, you called me over here, how do you plan to pin the crime of harming the Empress Dowager on me?"

Li Sangruo was slightly taken aback, the corners of her lips curling slightly.

"I’m growing fonder of you by the minute. I had originally planned to wait until after the performances, but since you’re so eager, let’s do it this way..."

Before the sound of her voice faded, her expression swept sharply across Feng Yun’s face, and suddenly she changed her facial expression, as if frightened, and stumbled back a few steps, loudly demanding:

"Madam, what are you doing?"

"Trying to take my life, are you... Ah..."

With a scream, without giving anyone a chance to react, Li Sangruo suddenly collapsed, her legs giving out as she tumbled down the steps of the watchtower.

Screams erupted.

The palace attendants led by Tang Shaogong quickly rushed over, loudly shouting, but instead of stopping the rolling figure of the Empress Dowager, only Daman and Xiaoman leaped forward to catch Li Sangruo.

"The Empress Dowager!"

The shouts disturbed the distant crowd.

Noise erupted all around.

Feng Yun stood motionless, watching this farce unfold.

Li Sangruo had merely tumbled down a few steps before blood gushed beneath her skirt. Not only that, but blood spilled from her lips as well, and in an instant, it stained her dress.

"Summon the Imperial Physician!"

"The Empress Dowager is injured!"

Amid the horrified shouts of the crowd, Li Sangruo pointed at Feng Yun.

"It was... her... she pushed me."

"Seize her! Quick, catch her..." Li Sangruo cried out in agonizing pain. The expression she wore as she clutched her abdomen and endured the pain was one of madness and hatred. Accompanied by tears streaming down her face, she appeared as frenzied as a demon.

"Where is Wei Zheng? Someone come... seize her... take her to the Imperial Cavalry Division for questioning..."

"Ask her... ask her why she would try to harm me..."

Feng Yun looked on indifferently at her awkward performance, and then glanced over at the Imperial Guards quickly approaching. She couldn’t help but curl the corner of her lips into a smile.

Pei Jue hurried over, ahead of the guards including Ye Chuang, and ignoring the bustling crowd around Li Sangruo, he walked straight to the lookout tower and took hold of Feng Yun’s hand.

"Are you alright?"

"I am fine," Feng Yun said.

Pei Jue frowned slightly. "Your hand is very cold."

"My heart is even colder." Feng Yun thought for a moment, then turned to look at him, her gaze settling into his deep, dark pupils. With a probing look in her eyes, she said, "She claimed that she is carrying a child, yours."

Pei Jue asked, "Do you believe her?"

Feng Yun shook her head. "I don’t. I told her you were impotent."

Pei Jue: ...

As if he had taken a deep breath, he then said, "I thank you."

"No need for thanks. I was joking just now," Feng Yun said as she watched Li Sangruo being carried into a side room with Puyang Li hurrying over with a medical kit. Suddenly, her lips curved into a smile, "But our Empress Dowager might indeed be pregnant. An Empress Dowager who appears before the court every day, if she really is with child, would find an opportunity to have an abortion, to avoid giving people a grip on her, and at the same time, frame me as the scapegoat. It’s like killing two birds with one stone."

She looked at Pei Jue. "I guess no one would believe that the Empress Dowager would risk her life and tumble down the steps just to frame me, right?"

Pei Jue watched her in silence.

"Even knowing this, you still came," she said, straightening her sleeves, her gaze sharp.

"I could not refuse the summons of the Empress Dowager."

She could have, of course, but she did not.

Pei Jue pressed his lips tightly together and looked at her. "How do you plan to end this?"

Feng Yun smiled. "You should ask Empress Dowager Li that question. It was she who started this..."

"But it is also what you wanted to see." Pei Jue’s eyes were bright, yet the depths of his pupils were so dark they seemed almost impenetrable. "You drove yourself into a corner to see how Xiao San would act, or to see if I would go to war for you?"

He had never been so blunt before.

Feng Yun met his gaze.

At that moment, she suddenly felt that Pei Jue was never an unsophisticated person.

He had seen through it all.

"Are you unhappy about it?" Feng Yun asked.

"You are my wife," Pei Jue said with a frown, looking at her. "You are me."

Husband and wife are one; they share honor and disaster.

Behind Li Sangruo was the power of the Great Jin Dynasty; she was challenging the authority of the conventional world.

Feng Yun, of course, knew this, or she would not have acted this way.

"Yet, she always tries to frame me—your wife. Even if I don’t respond, can the general endure it?" Feng Yun said with a half-smile, raising her eyebrows. "Or should we simply keep silent to preserve the dignity of the Empress Dowager, for the authority of the royal family, sacrificing your own woman?"

It had been like that in her previous life.

This time, she wanted to hear what Pei Jue would say.

"Would the general turn me in?"

She spoke with a light smile, seemingly easygoing, yet you could not see much concern on her face, though her almond eyes looked at him with tender playfulness.

"Let’s go," Pei Jue said, tightly holding her hand and slowly descending the lookout tower under the watchful eyes of all.

By this point, the number of people heading this way had greatly increased.

The news of the "Empress Dowager’s assassination attempt" had spread quickly.

Some were saying that the Empress Dowager and the general’s wife had a dispute, and in a fit of rage, the general’s wife pushed the Empress Dowager down the steps.

Now the Empress Dowager was unconscious and possibly in a life-threatening condition...

The crowd buzzed with many discussions.

Pei Jue walked down confidently holding Feng Yun, facing those gazes.

Imperial Guards, the Imperial Cavalry Division, he didn’t take any of them seriously.

Feng Yun leaned on his arm as she walked steadily along, but when they passed the puddle of blood left by Li Sangruo, with just a glance at it, she suddenly felt a heart-wrenching panic, her mind went blank, and she subconsciously clutched Pei Jue’s arm.

"Lady Yun?" Pei Jue’s complexion changed as he steadied her. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing..." Feng Yun’s makeup that day made her look sickly and weak. It seemed as if a gust of wind could knock her over, let alone the notion of her pushing someone.

"General, you should go and attend to the Empress Dowager..."

Saying this, her eyes again filled with concern.

"Doctor Yao is a master of trauma medicine; the injury medicine sent to Bingzhou last time was prepared by him. General, hurry and send someone to fetch him, let Doctor Yao come and save the Empress Dowager..."