"Princess, shall you summon any of the consorts to attend to you tonight?" Yinxin asked tentatively.
Ever since the rumors of Li Xuanyue’s madness and the murder that had cut short her wedding night began to circulate, the several consorts in the palace had remained untouched. Yinxin worried that they might harbor unfavorable thoughts toward Li Xuanyue.
Li Xuanyue hesitated for a few seconds before waving her hand in refusal. "No need. Go and summon Imperial Physician Fang to this Palace immediately. Tell him I am feeling unwell and that he must come to diagnose me at once."
Though puzzled, Yinxin followed Li Xuanyue’s instructions and hurried off to fetch the imperial physician.
***
At Langya Palace:
"You say Princess Xuanyue refused to summon any of the palace consorts, and instead had her maid fetch Imperial Physician Fang?" Lang Hua felt undoubtedly astonished when he heard this report from his confidant.
What was she planning? He lowered his gaze, lost in thought. Could she truly be ill? His intuition told him that this situation was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
"My Lord, shall I continue to keep watch?"
Even though this Princess Xuanyue’s actions differed from the rumors they had heard, his gut told him she was not someone to be trifled with.
"There is no need to risk alerting the enemy," Lang Hua mused for a moment before speaking, "Tell them all to return."
Since this Princess Xuanyue was not busy summoning consorts for her bed, they would watch and wait to see what she was truly plotting. The other consorts felt the same, maintaining a cautious, wait-and-see attitude.
***
Meanwhile, inside Fenghe Hall, Imperial Physician Fang, summoned by Yinxin, was trembling, his forehead slick with sweat as he frantically wiped it away.
"Well? Imperial Physician Fang, is my health in good condition?" Li Xuanyue’s cold, sharp gaze swept toward him. That single look left the physician’s back drenched in cold sweat.
He retracted his hand from checking her pulse, bowed deeply, and said cautiously, "Reporting to the Princess, Your Highness is in excellent health; everything is quite well."
*Clack.*
Li Xuanyue set her teacup down with enough force that it rattled sharply against the table. The physician was so startled that he immediately dropped to his knees.
"Princess!"
"Imperial Physician Fang, you are quite bold," Li Xuanyue said, her eyes piercing like blades, "to think that you would dare to deceive this Palace."
The physician’s face paled. "This humble servant would not dare! I beg the Princess for mercy!"
"Humph. At this point, do you still intend to lie to me?" Ignoring his ashen face, Li Xuanyue signaled Yinxin to present the items she had prepared.
At first, the physician didn't understand, but as soon as he saw the letters and promissory notes Yinxin placed before him, his realization dawned. He began to shake like sand in an hourglass before collapsing completely onto the floor.
"Princess, have mercy! Princess, have mercy!"
While he didn't know how Li Xuanyue had obtained his secret correspondence with the Second Princess, he knew that if she had uncovered the drugging plot, she surely knew everything else as well. He knew it was over. He stayed on the floor, kowtowing repeatedly until his forehead thudded against the ground.
"Imperial Physician Fang, you have been with the Phoenix Clan for ten years," Li Xuanyue’s voice rang out, steady and measured. "In those ten years, have my Imperial Father Consort or I ever mistreated you?"
"Yet now, for your own selfish ends, you have conspired with my dear sister to drug me. Do you not fear that I might have the Phoenix Emperor issue a decree to execute your entire family?"
"This servant knows I was wrong! I know I was wrong!" The physician was so terrified by her tone that he felt as if his body were falling apart. "I beg the Princess to show mercy and spare my wife, children, and kin."
One does not sit in the position of Crown Princess by being soft-hearted. Li Xuanyue was no exception. She would not spare him simply because of a few pleas.
"If you want me to spare you, it is simple," Li Xuanyue said, her gaze fixed directly on him. "Tell me everything you know, and I shall let the past be the past."
The physician was merely one of Li Qinghe’s many pawns. He knew exactly what he had done and what had been said. Only by having him confess could Li Xuanyue send her own people to gather evidence and systematically root out the pawns Li Qinghe had planted around her.
Having no choice, and for the sake of his family and his own life, the physician confessed everything he knew right there in front of her.
"Princess, would you like this servant to have someone deal with Imperial Physician Fang?" Yinxin asked, unable to contain herself as she watched the physician hurry out of the hall.
She had not expected that he had been colluding with the Second Princess all along, or that he had been secretly administering mind-altering drugs to the First Princess for two years. To say she was shocked and furious would be an understatement.
"Do you think killing the physician will purge the poison from my body?" Li Xuanyue countered. "Don't be foolish, Yinxin."
"We have confirmed that he is Li Qinghe’s person. If I move against him now, wouldn’t Li Qinghe know everything?"
Given her nature, if Li Qinghe learned the physician had revealed their deeds, she would never leave him alive, nor would she let Li Xuanyue seize the evidence.
Yinxin frowned. "Then... we just let it go?" Would that not be getting off too lightly?
Li Xuanyue narrowed her eyes. "Tomorrow morning, go and summon all the consorts. Tell them I have something to say to them."
As for what that might be, no one dared to guess. By the following morning, as soon as the sky grew bright, Yinxin had gathered all the consorts and junior attendants in Fenghe Hall.
Originally, there had been eight consorts in the palace, plus five sent by the Five Clans, totaling thirteen. Subtracting Lin Yue, who had been taken away by Li Qinghe, there were twelve remaining, along with three junior attendants. They all stood in two lines, each possessing their own unique charm, some having even been snatched by Li Xuanyue from other clans.
"Why would the Princess summon us to Fenghe Hall in such a hurry? Is she preparing to discuss the appointment of a primary consort?"
The palace consorts and attendants knew well that Li Xuanyue had yet to select a primary or secondary consort, nor had the Phoenix Emperor brought it up, leaving it entirely to Li Xuanyue’s discretion—in the true style of a Crown Princess.
They had been in the palace for years without any advancement in status. With Li Xuanyue suddenly having Yinxin summon them all, it was hard not to let their imaginations run wild.