"Help! An assassin tried to murder the Noble Consort!"
A group of patrol guards rushed into the room surveying the place that was in a mess until they saw a man's body dressed in black lying on the floor dead. The cause of death was an obvious stab mark with a hairpin stuck in his neck. The whole maids and eunuch in the noble consort's palace gathered around to be interrogated but most of them claimed they saw and heard nothing for a while until a scream came from the noble consort's room where they saw her crying after the man fell on the floor dead.
The patrol captain didn't dare go behind the screen that shielded her bed but instead stood a few feet away as he waited for her to come out. He bowed and asked her. "Your Highness, can you tell me if you have seen this person anywhere? What exactly happened here?"
Xue Li glanced at her mistress who was looking very pale holding her chest in fright so she stepped forward. "I will explain everything. I stayed awake for a few hours after my mistress had slept embroidering a few handkerchiefs when I heard a noise coming from the window. I only opened them because my mistress hates heat so I forgot to close them after she had slept. Who knew that a man had somehow managed to enter the room through that window and was holding a sword over my mistress's head?! I was so scared that I could only scream in order to alert my mistress but the man suddenly turned and wanted to kill me! I ran away for my life but he quickly caught up with and grabbed my arm intending to end my life. Luckily, my mistress was brave enough to save me by stabbing that bad man with her hairpin and soon enough he fell down like this." She pointed at the man's dead body.
The patrol captain carefully wrote down what she had said in his report and asked some more questions before he stood up and apologized. "We have failed in our duties to protect your Highness, it's our fault. Please punish us."
"There is no need. As the Noble Consort, I have so many enemies in the harem. Who can tell who is responsible?" Zhan Yanhui waved him off and sniffed a little before she continued. "Tonight has indeed given me a fright. I have just recovered so I fear this will be bad for my health. I like to be alone."
The patrol captain felt bad for this woman who looked like she had seen a ghost for the first time in her life. All the women in the harem were very fragile and weak, he was surprised and thankful that she hadn't fainted when the assassin had arrived. He would undoubtedly lose his head if anything had happened to the emperor's beloved noble consort. "Then I will take my leave. Please excuse me, Noble Consort."
After the patrol guards left with the assassin's body, Xue Li's eyes widened as if she recalled something. "Mistress, we just killed Zou Jin who was one of that person's men. Surely, he will be bearing that mark on his arm. What if they discover it?"
Zhan Yanhui snorted lightly. "That's none of our business. Since I have decided to cut relations with that person, we must slowly get rid of all his people watching us. Xue Li, you must keep an eye on the servants who are behaving strangely and report them to me."
"Yes, Mistress." Xue Li helped her change back to her nightwear before she left the room, leaving Zhan Yanhui to her own thoughts.
She knew that killing Zou Jin was indeed a risky thing but it was well within her plans. If Wen Yating heard that one of the men he had assigned tried to kill her, he would suspect only one person; the empress. Who knows, if she was lucky, she would be able to sow discord between her two enemies. Killing two birds with one stone.
But there was one thing that disturbed her which made her unable to sleep peacefully. She was sure that the emperor was aware of what had happened tonight so why didn't he come to check up on her? Was he truly angry at her because of their earlier disagreement?
Meanwhile, Yi Wenkui who had stayed in Consort Li's place for the night stood up quietly leaving the sleeping concubine who had tried so many times to seduce him throughout the night and stepped out of the room. He stood inhaling the fresh air for several minutes before he called out his shadow bodyguard. "Dai Jie, tell me. Where did the Noble Consort go this night?"
His bodyguard landed on the ground and bowed briefly before he reported. "Noble Consort Yanhui went out to meet with that person, General Wen. He said...."
The emperor closed his eyes in order to suppress his emotions and said. "Zhan Yanhui, why won't you not behave for once? Do you really intend to force my hand this time?"
He knew that she was cunning and ruthless, her name was widely feared even more than the empress through the six big palaces. But he refused to believe that she was so cold-hearted not to spare a pregnant woman. She was precious to him, if he didn't correct her, who will? "Alright, you can leave. Is there anything else?"
"The Noble Consort was also attacked this night." Dai Jie looked up to study his expression but he didn't see anything. He knew that the emperor really loved the noble consort no matter what she did or how she behaved but he didn't think it was right to let her do whatever she wanted. The emperor had tolerated her long enough. "Your Majesty, Consort Xi is carrying an royal descendant...."
Yi Wenkui held up his hand to stop him and said. "There is no need to say these things. Don't worry, if she really does something to Consort Xi....I won't spare her this time."