Luo Zhen waited a few days, but when he saw that Duke Jing Guo's only punishment for his daughter was to have her kneel in the ancestral hall for two days, as if this was all he owed the second branch, his heart was inevitably resentful. He had five sons, and because of strict parenting, and teaching each child according to their ability, two of them successfully passed the imperial examinations, and although the other three were still young, they were already showing promise.
Whether a family flourished or not depended solely on the offspring's brilliance or incompetence. Luo Zhen dared not vocalize it, but he absolutely believed that the second branch would eventually surpass the main branch, so whenever he faced Duke Jing Guo, he not only didn't feel inferior, he felt quite proud.
Duke Jing Guo humiliated Luo Zhen in such a way, and he himself was also not very interested in keeping ties with Jing Guo Duchy, if he was going to properly manage his small branch, wouldn't it be better to separate? That Duke Jing Gou was so short sighted, he'd already made up his mind to help the Gong Prince usurp the throne, not even thinking about whether he had the talent to accomplish it, or what would happen if the plan failed.
Luo Zhen had secretly advised him a few times to no avail, so he felt like a guillotine was hanging over his head at all times, its fall imminent. He resented the Empress Dowager for pulling him into this muddy water, and racked his brain for ways to turn things around, in the end, he could only think of the route of absolute loyalty to the Emperor.
The Emperor was ruthless, but he was also very benevolent, and he paid great attention to talented people. He believed that as long as he didn't make a mistake, his family wouldn't be implicated. Thinking of this, Luo Zhen felt increasingly thankful for having such a wise Emperor, in this way, he could use his talent to serve the country at ease.
After coming to a decision, he became more and more active in the imperial court, and clearly felt the Emperor becoming more appreciative of him. Years ago, the Jing Guo Duchy had tried pushing for more power, and the Empress Dowager tried monopolizing the imperial court to improve her status, but even though the Emperor began suppressing the Empress Dowager and company, he'd left him alone. Back then, he really should've realized how broad and open-minded the Emperor was.
This day in the imperial court, Luo Zhen once again witnessed the Emperor's fine governance, his wisdom once again touching his heart and mind. Back at his official residence, he found his wife sitting in the living room, her expression gloomy, she seemed to have been waiting for a long time.
"Is something wrong?" Luo Zhen asked, his heart filling with an ominous premonition.
"Our daughter has been sick for many days, even the imperial physician hasn't been able to take care of her, so I invited the famous healer, Doctor Jin Lao, to look over her. Guess what he discovered." Lady Luo forcefully rubbed the tears filling her eyes away, then calmly opened, "Lan-er is not in shock, she's been drugged."
"What drug?" Luo Zhen asked, his complexion ashen. The Lady would never joke about such a thing, she certainly investigated things thoroughly before reporting to him.
Indeed, Lady Luo did secretly investigate for a few days. She'd invited Doctor Jin Lao to diagnose her daughter's pulse three days ago, the man had exposed a hesitant expression at that time, but seemed to be afraid of being questioned closely, and gave a vague explanation, prescribing a dosage of medicine before hurriedly leaving.
Lady Luo was intelligent and capable, how could she not see the clues? Her heart tightening in anxiety, she forced herself to calm down, and repeatedly recalled Doctor Jin's expression, more and more convinced that something was wrong. So, she secretly invited more doctors, carefully observing their expressions when she asked about her daughter's condition, and unexpectedly, each of them had evasive eyes and gave vague explanations.
Lady Luo grew even more uneasy, so she asked her maternal home to arrange a reliable doctor for her, and was finally informed of the truth. Turns out, Luo Lan's body was actually contaminated by Han [cold] poison, presumably ingested with a some kind of medicine.
Because of long term use, they feared that any future heirs would be compromised. Children were the lifeblood of women, and also their foothold in their husband's family, if their daughter couldn't bear children, she would only suffer in her future in-law's household. The person who gave their daughter this poison destroyed her life!
Lady Luo quickly locked down her daughter's rooms and interrogated all the servants who served her one by one, through coercion, torture, all kinds of means, even capturing their families to threaten them, she finally found the culprit.
That person was not just any old servant, it was Luo Lan's personal head maidservant, Xi Er, the first class palace maid the Empress Dowager had personally granted her a few days ago. In order to please the Empress Dowager, Luo Lan had immediately appointed her the head maid, and put all her confidence in her.
"Why would the Empress Dowager hurt Lan-er, she has no reason to ah!" Luo Zhen retorted on intuition.
"It's not the Empress Dowager, it's the Gong Prince." Finally reaching the main topic, after patiently enduring the whole conversation, Lady Luo's eyes suddenly flushed, tears almost spilling.
"How can it be him? What does he gain from making Lan-er infertile? Those are his heirs!" Luo Zhen found his wife's suggestion ridiculous, he really didn't understand what in the world would cause a man to deliberately make his wife infertile. Does he not need heirs? What about trying to seize the throne?
Lady Luo finally couldn't bear it, she broke out in tears, choking out, "Xi Er also didn't know the details, she only knew that the Gong Prince has someone else in his heart, so he was willing to let Lan-er occupy the first wife position, but didn't want to have children from anyone other than that person. We thought we were making Lan-er an honorable princess, but she was just becoming that man's display piece. If we hadn't found clues from this sickness, we would've condemned our daughter to a lonely and bitter life. How could they be so cruel to the poor girl! My husband, Qi Jin Yu is too wicked, you must get justice for Lan-er!"
Luo Zhen's head throbbed, he rubbed his aching temples while asking his wife if she knew who the Gong Prince's lover was. However, Xi Er didn't know those details, and even when she was tortured to the brink of death, she couldn't tell them any valuable clues. Helpless, Lady Luo had no choice but to send her away, to let someone else look after her.
She'd wanted to kill Xi Er, but was afraid of inadvertently alerting the enemy, and had to endure. The husband and wife considered their options for a whole day, then one took responsibility of nursing their daughter back to health, while the other sent spies to investigate, determined to find out the identity of the hidden lover.
Luo Zhen was extremely smart and quite handy, since the Gong Prince was willing to let his daughter be his wife, then the hidden woman must be someone he now couldn't possess, but was very sure he could get in the future.
To be infatuated to this extent, she was unlikely to be a woman he only met a few times, they must've been in contact for a long time. He followed these threads in the investigation and suddenly discovered- When the Gong Prince was younger, he got lost during a festival and was brought to the Wen Yuan March by Zhao Bi Xuan. Then he became Zhao Xuan's acquaintance, and frequently travelled between the palace and the Wen Yuan March to train with him in martial arts, only stopping when Zhao Xuan was sent to campaign in the Northwest.
Zhao Bi Xuan had beauty to fell countries, enough beauty to bewitch every male in China, how could the Gong Prince be unaffected? Moreover, all the women he was known to associate with were from illustrious backgrounds and well-matched statuses, he just had to open his mouth, and whether he wanted to take them for a wife or concubine, he'd have all his wishes fulfilled.
What kind of status would a woman need to be inaccessible to him? Luo Zhen looked through all the information one by one, and became certain that Zhao Bi Xuan was the Gong Prince's lover. No wonder he poisoned his daughter but wanted to let her be his wife, because he couldn't marry the one he truly wanted to marry.
Such obvious anticipation for an inevitable abdication, he didn't want his daughter to get pregnant, because someone would obviously be replacing her in the future- Killing the king and usurping his throne, forcefully taking away his brother's wife ah! Thinking of this, Luo Zhen's back was inexplicably covered by a layer of cold sweat.
The Gong Prince's ambition was far bigger than he'd imagined, and even more difficult to shake. For just one woman, he behaved like a total madman!
Luo Zhen was more and more determined to cut off all relations with the Gong Prince. Jing Guo Duchy was the prince's maternal home, they protected him from childhood to adulthood, but for this outsider, and moreover, the Emperor's imperial concubine, he actually committed such a treacherous assault.
This showed that he didn't have the slightest care for the Jing Guo Duchy, and they would probably be readily discarded after they were used up. If he only needed Lou Lan to temporarily occupy the first wife's seat, what would he do when he finally accomplished his goal?
In order to not offend the Jing Guo Duchy, he would never throw Lou Lan away or treat her coldly, the most effective way to get rid of her was to kill her. Such appalling ambition, such vicious methods, but of all things, his mind was muddled by a beauty, so his behavior was absurd, and he heeded no laws, in the end, it would be difficult for him to become a capable ruler.
If he usurped the throne, he would become another fire beacon trickster like King You of Zhou.
[King You of Zhou- Wikipedia "The twelfth king of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. In 779 BC, a concubine named Bao Si entered the palace and came into the King You's favour. It is said that Baosi did not laugh easily. After trying many methods and failing, King You tried to amuse his favorite queen by lighting warning beacons and fooling his nobles into thinking that the Quanrong nomads were about to attack. The nobles arrived at the castle only to find themselves laughed at by Baosi. Even after King You had impressed Baosi, he continued to abuse his use of warning beacons and lost the trust of the nobles."]
The more Luo Zhen pondered over it, the more he despised the short-sighted and inept Gong Prince, so he made up his mind – no matter what it took, he had to decline this marriage.
He walked to the rear courtyard to visit his daughter, looking at her emaciated figure, baggy dress, and eyes flushed red from long nights of endless weeping, completely different from her former spiritedness, he felt like a knife was digging into his heart.
However, he couldn't directly oppose the Gong Prince and the Empress Dowager, and also couldn't let the poisoning become gossip, unfortunately, he could only forcibly choke back this mouthful of resentment.
"The Gong Prince has defiled us, his relatives. He only wanted to use us as a ladder, a stepping stone to be discarded at any moment. One day, I will let him understand that if you don't watch where you step, you might suffer a fatal fall, especially when you roam high in the clouds." After comforting his daughter, he sent his wife into the palace to have an audience with the Empress Dowager.
Soon, news of the future princess' sickness and approaching death spread throughout the capital. The Empress Dowager sent several imperial physicians to look over her, and they all shook their heads and sighed, refusing to comment, showing that the illness was far more critical than the rumors. Luo Zhen couldn't help but sneer when he sent the imperial physicians off.
The high medical courtyard's physicians were accustomed to keeping dark secrets, and as expected, all of them were very experienced, they were clearly able to tell that his daughter was poisoned from her pulse, but not one of them spoke up. After all, it wasn't their daughter, they naturally weren't troubled.
When the imperial physicians returned to the palace, they didn't dare conceal the matter, they truthfully reported to the Empress Dowager as quickly as they could. The Empress Dowager felt her head throb painfully at the news, after considering for a few days, she wished to cancel her son's engagement with Luo Lan, but dreaded bringing it up.
No matter how capable Luo Zhen was, she wouldn't let her son take an infertile wife. Fortunately, Luo Zhen was very sensible, he took the initiative to visit the palace and ask for a marriage withdrawal. The Empress Dowager declined a few times before 'reluctantly' agreeing, that evening, Luo Lan was sent back to her home state, Jiangxi, to 'wait for death'.
After Duchess Jing Guo heard the news, she immediately visited the palace, and recommended her daughter with an upright expression. The Empress Dowager was very annoyed, driving her out without a trace of politeness, then she took out the candidate list and browsed through it, uncertain.
Now that the matter had progressed to this step, Zhou Yun Sheng felt it was time to present her his preferred wife candidate for Qi Jin Yu.
"Qian Fangfei? Zhenbei General Qian Tong's first daughter?" The Empress Dowager's eyes brightened. The Zhenbei General held eight hundred thousand troops, his strength was only second to Zhao Xuan, in the imperial court, he had quite a lot of sway. Before the Emperor purged the imperial court, he'd gathered up his troops, clearly wanting to replace the Emperor, but because he couldn't find a justifiable reason, he gave up.
This showed that Qian Tong was a very crafty person. Even more wonderful, when the late Emperor proposed setting up an heir, he'd supported the An Prince. He was never a fan of Qi Yi Ning, who he felt resembled an embroidered pillow, and he'd even sent several memorials to the previous Emperor to express his opposition. Once he saw that Qi Yi Ning was chosen as heir, he asked to be stationed at the border, and hasn't returned to the capital in the last fifteen years.