Eunuch Fu had entered the palace at the age of five and had already spent a total of thirty-two years there. He got on well with others and...
Eunuch Fu had entered the palace at the age of five and had already spent a total of thirty-two years there. He got on well with others and had always looked after the palace maids and eunuchs under his authority. Of course, someone who could survive in the imperial palace could not possibly be truly kind.
Looking at Eunuch Fu kneeling on the ground, Yuchen asked, "Speak. Who ordered you to murder His Majesty?" In truth, Yuchen already had a rough idea as to the culprit behind the curtain1. There could only be a few suspects. Among them, Yan Wushuang was the most suspicious.
Before Eunuch Fu was brought before Yuchen, he had been forced to drink a potion to prevent him from suddenly attacking the Empress. At this moment, Eunuch Fu was weak and limp all over, though that did not stop him from speaking. He shouted, "Heaven has eyes2, and has also let that vicious woman taste the feeling of losing a blood relative." When he said this, Eunuch Fu's face was full of satisfaction. In his heart, he had not killed the Emperor, the Honoured One of Nine-Five3, but merely the son of his enemy. As for why Eunuch Fu had taken a roundabout path4 to kill the Emperor rather than go after the chief culprit, Empress Dowager Song, only he himself knew.
Hearing this shout, Yuchen realised that Eunuch Fu bore a grudge against Empress Dowager Song. In truth, during the more than twenty years that Empress Dowager Song enjoyed imperial favour, countless people had died at her hands.
Yuchen instructed coldly, "Drag him away! You must make him confess who the mastermind behind this is." The sins committed by Empress Dowager Song ultimately fell upon her children and grandchildren, who were forced to repay the debt.
Logically, in a case as serious as the Emperor's assassination, his biological mother, Empress Dowager Song, should have been informed regardless. However, Yuchen truly did not want to see her, so she did not propose inviting Empress Dowager Song over.
Ever since the disgraceful things Empress Dowager Song had done were discovered, she had been placed under house arrest in Cining Palace and not permitted to leave. Later, after Zhou Jing ascended the throne and learned from Yu Xiyu about Empress Dowager Song's actions, he still kept her under house arrest. It was publicly announced that Empress Dowager Song was unwell and needed time to recuperate in peace. Now, Yuchen had a ready-made reason not to release Empress Dowager Song from her confinement.
Eunuch Fu was very unyielding, and even though the Imperial Bureau of Investigation tried every possible method, he still would not reveal who had ordered him from behind the scenes.
Momo Gui told Yuchen about Eunuch Fu's background details: "Your Majesty, this man's original surname was not Fu. He acknowledged a eunuch surnamed Fu as his godfather, and only then did he take the surname Fu. As for his real surname, it has not yet been discovered."
Eunuch Fu's family was very poor back then. In order to survive, his parents sold him to a eunuch who was looking for young boys. A contract was signed at the time of the sale, but it was later destroyed after Eunuch Fu gained power. So far, no one in the Imperial Palace who knew his exact identity had been found.
Yuchen asked, "What kind of hatred and grievance did he harbour against the Empress Dowager?"
Chen Yu shook his head, indicating that he had not found out. "This matter is probably known only to him." The person Empress Dowager Song had killed must have been very important to Eunuch Fu. To preserve his own life, Eunuch Fu had not dared to speak to anyone else about this matter. Otherwise, his own life would be in danger.
With a darkened face, Yuchen asked, "And the remaining one?" A total of four people had been found. Two of them had killed themselves on the spot. Eunuch Fu was now dead as well. The last person was an old palace maid who had spent years in the imperial palace. She held little power in the palace, only seniority.
Momo Chen had also tried to kill herself at the time, but unfortunately, she had not succeeded. Unlike Eunuch Fu, she lacked both his backbone and refusal to yield even unto death. Under torture, she confessed.
Chen Yu shook his head. "Although she confessed, the information she gave is not very valuable." Momo Chen had acted under Eunuch Fu's orders. As for the person behind Eunuch Fu, he did not know either.
Yuchen took the written confession and read it carefully. There were indeed no important clues. "Chen Daren5, who do you think the mastermind behind the curtain could be?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Yu answered, "There is no one else but *Yan Wushuang. Your Majesty, I have already sent men to ask Lu Daren5 to seal the city gates. Without an Imperial Order, the gates must not be opened." This was to prevent Yan Wushuang from leading troops into the Imperial Palace.
Just then, Shiqin hurried over and exclaimed, "Your Majesty, this is bad. Tang Jieyu6 ate something unclean, and she has seen red7."
Yuchen quickly stood up and ordered, "Summon Imperial Physician Le at once!"
After struggling for half a day, Imperial Physician Le still failed to save Tang Jieyu's child, despite administering acupuncture and writing prescriptions. Imperial Physician Le reported, "Your Majesty, this subject has already done all he could."
Misfortune did not come alone8. Very soon, Yuchen received more news: Hu Xiurong had also lost her foetus. Hu Xiurong was the youngest legitimate daughter of Hu Daren5, the Minister of War, so her rank among the consorts was also considered the highest.
Xiurong Hu had not eaten anything unclean. Instead, she had been knocked to the ground by a palace maid in her own palace hall. The method was simple and crude, but it was very effective. Hu Xiurong had been pregnant for less than three months, and the foetus was not yet stable. After such a collision, how could the child possibly survive?
Yuchen's face turned pale. The mastermind behind this wanted to wipe out cleanly His Majesty's bloodline. At this point, Yuchen could no longer worry about anything else and doubled the number of people protecting Zhou Yan. Anyone who was not her trusted confidant could not get *even one step near Zhou Yan.
In the middle of the night, the Emperor woke up. Seeing Yuchen's red, swollen eyes, he asked, "What happened? Why are your eyes swollen like this?"
No matter how emotionally composed Yuchen was, when she realised that her husband was about to leave her, she could not help but cry. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you will definitely recover."
The Emperor instructed Chen Yu and the others, "Withdraw, all of you." It looked like he was about to deliver his final wishes.
Upon receiving this instruction, Chen Yu immediately ordered everyone inside the palace hall to withdraw. Inside the bedchamber, only the family of three remained.
The Emperor said many things to Zhou Yan.
Hearing these words, which sounded like his last words, Yuchen gritted her teeth and forced herself not to cry out again. But her tears had long since blurred her vision.
After speaking for quite a while, the Emperor told Zhou Yan to take out a pitch-black box from under his wooden couch. "Inside this is the command token for mobilising the hidden guards. With it, the hidden guards will obey your orders. Yan-er, you must keep it safe!"
Zhou Yan was, after all, only a five-year-old child. Hearing these words, he began to cry in hiccuping sobs, saying, "Fu Huang9, you will be fine. You will *definitely be fine."
The Emperor wanted to touch his son's head, but now, he didn't even have the strength to raise his hand. He then looked at Yuchen and said, "Yuchen, I promised that I would grow old with you, but I am going to eat my words10. I am sorry."
Yuchen could no longer hold back. She held the Emperor and cried, "Your Majesty, don't say such spirit-draining words11. You will *definitely recover. *You will."
The Emperor shook his head. "I know my own body best. Yuchen, after I am no longer by your side, you must take good care of yourself." After saying this, his eyes slowly closed.
"Your Majesty..." A heart-rending, soul-wrenching cry of grief echoed through the Imperial Palace. When the people outside heard it, they all knelt on the ground and cried out in unison: "May His Majesty live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!"
"Dong, dong, dong..." The palace mourning bell rang out. Only when someone had died would the palace mourning bell be struck. Depending on the deceased's status, the number of times the bell rang would also vary. The greatest number of times was struck when the Imperial Carriage collapsed12.
The Empress Dowager, who had been under house arrest in Cining Palace all this time, was startled awake by the sound of the bell. Hearing the continuous pealing of the bell, the Empress Dowager Song asked, her face deathly pale, "Who died? Who has died?" For Empress Dowager Song, these past two years had truly been like living each day as though it were a year13.
Momo Ju, who served at her side, went weak at the knees, knelt on the ground, and replied, "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, His Majesty has passed away."
Hearing this, Empress Dowager Song kicked Momo Ju in the chest and cursed angrily, "You actually dare curse my Imperial Son? Someone, drag this lowly slave out and beat her to death." Despite spending the past two years worshipping Buddha and chanting sutras in Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Song's violent hostility had not diminished in the slightest. Over the past year or so, more than ten palace maids and eunuchs had died.
Prostrate on the ground, Momo Ju begged, "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, spare my life, *please spare my life!"
However, Empress Dowager Song ignored her pleas. She got up, got dressed, and prepared to go to Qianqing Palace. Unfortunately, before she could leave her bedchamber, she was stopped by Chief Eunuch Ping.
Eunuch Ping said, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, His Majesty has issued an order: without an Imperial Decree, the Empress Dowager may not take even half a step out of Cining Palace." The main point was that the Emperor had died, yet the Empress had not even sent anyone to inform Empress Dowager Song. This showed that the Empress had no intention at all of letting Empress Dowager Song out. In any case, when the previous Emperor passed away, Empress Dowager Song did not appear either. This time, with His Majesty having ascended to Heaven in death14, it was not strange that Empress Dowager Song did not appear again.
Empress Dowager Song's face was full of anger as she shouted, "Get out of the way! If you dare block my path again, I will make you die without a place to bury your body15." Empress Dowager Song's trusted confidants had all previously been beaten to death by the late Emperor. The current staff of Cining Palace had all been reassigned there later from the Imperial Household Department. After Zhou Jing became Emperor, apart from not allowing Empress Dowager Song to go out, he did not mistreat her in terms of food, clothing, housing, or daily needs.
Eunuch Ping was not afraid of Empress Dowager Song. In a lukewarm tone, he said, "Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, without an Imperial Decree, if this servant lets you out and Her Majesty the Empress blames me later, I truly cannot bear the responsibility." The Emperor had passed away, and the one to inherit the throne would certainly be His Highness the Crown Prince. The relationship between the Empress and Empress Dowager Song was not good. He might not be able to cling to the Empress, but he could not afford to offend her either.
Empress Dowager Song had never expected that there would come a day when she would actually be humiliated by eunuchs and palace maids who were like mole crickets and ants16. With anger burning in her chest, she collapsed to the ground.
Eunuch Ping ordered in a shrill voice, "What are you still standing there for? Hurry and help the Empress Dowager onto the bed!" Eunuch Ping himself did not move to help.
After receiving the Empress's handwritten order to arrest Yan Wushuang, Second Master Lu led five hundred men to the Duke of Yan's residence without hesitation. At this time, it was better to arrest wrongly than to let him go17. Even though Yan Wushuang had an army of one hundred and fifty thousand stationed only a few dozen li from the capital, he still had to be arrested.
The Duke Yan's residence was not so easy to enter. Only after paying the price of more than a hundred corpses did Second Master Lu finally lead his men in charging into the duke's residence.
Looking at Yan Wushuang, who sat expressionless in the seat of honour, Second Master Lu questioned sternly, "*Why did you kill His Majesty? Do you realise that by doing this, the whole realm will fall into great chaos?"
Yan Wushuang sneered and replied, "Hasn't the realm already fallen apart long ago? Saying now that it will descend into chaos is truly laughable." His voice was indescribably hoarse.
Second Master Lu took three steps back, stared at the figure in the seat and exclaimed, "You are not Yan Wushuang! Who are you?" His appearance looked similar, but Yan Wushuang's voice was not like this.
Yan Wushuang laughed continuously. "I am only an insignificant person beside my Lord Master." The Emperor was dead, and his master's plan was about to be realised. His death was worth it.
Second Master Lu looked at Yan Wushuang sitting on the chair and remembered that, since arriving in the capital, Yan Wushuang had spent half his time at the duke's residence. If Second Master Lu was right, the person who had stayed in the duke's residence was a body double. As for the real Yan Wushuang, no one knew what he had been doing for the past year. Such methods and capabilities made Second Master Lu somewhat alarmed.
Despite being a fake Yan Wushuang, he did not simply give himself up. After killing over ten soldiers, he was brought down by arrows.
Footnotes Full List
- 幕后凶手 (mù hòu xiōng shǒu) — the hidden mastermind
- 老天有眼 (lǎo tiān yǒu yǎn) — justice has finally been served
- 九五之尊 (jiǔ wǔ zhī zūn) — an exalted term for the Emperor
- 绕弯 (rào wān) — to go around a bend; to use an indirect method
- 大人 (dàren) — title of respect toward superiors
- 婕妤 (Jiéyú) was an official title/rank for imperial concubines in ancient China's imperial harem. It was first established during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and remained in use, with varying ranks and statuses, through several subsequent dynasties (e.g., Tang, Song, Ming). In the Western Han Dynasty, the Jiéyú ranked second among all imperial consorts, just below the Empress (皇后 / Huánghòu) and the Imperial Noble Consort (昭仪 / Zhāoyí). She was a high-ranking consort with significant prestige and privileges, often holding a rank equivalent to a high-ranking male official (e.g., a minister or marquis in some periods). In later dynasties, her relative rank fluctuated. For example, during the Tang Dynasty, the Jiéyú was a mid- to high-ranking concubine, one of many tiers in a complex nine-rank system of consorts. In the Qing Dynasty, this title was no longer used, replaced by other ranks like "Noble Lady" (贵人 / Guìrén) or "Concubine" (妃 / Fēi).
- 落了红 (luò le hóng) — 'red has fallen'; a euphemism for vaginal bleeding during pregnancy
- 祸不单行 (huò bù dān xíng) — 'disasters do not travel singly'; troubles often come one after another
- 父皇 (fù huáng) — 'father emperor'; Imperial Father
- 食言 (shí yán) — to break a promise
- 丧气的话 (sàng qì de huà) — 'words that lose spirit'; discouraging or despairing words
- 驾崩 (jià bēng) — a formal euphemism for an emperor's death
- 度日如年 (dù rì rú nián) — 'to pass a day like a year'; time feels unbearably long and difficult
- 殡天 (bìn tiān) — '*to be encoffined in Heaven'; formal euphemism for an emperor's death
- 死无葬身之地 (sǐ wú zàng shēn zhī dì) — to suffer a miserable death or total ruin
- 蝼蚁 (lóu yǐ) — insignificant, lowly people
- 宁可错抓, 也不能放过 (nìng kě cuò zhuā, yě bù néng fàng guò) — 'rather catch wrongly than let pass'; better to risk a wrongful arrest than miss the suspect
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