The Treacherous Concubine’s Guide To Whitewashing

Chapter 4, Pt 2 - Empress

How did that increase favorability? Was this even reasonable considering what she said? This young boy is literally inhumane. Even persuading a normal person, as a victim, it was consequently impossible to dissolve their hatred.

Suspecting that he had auditory hallucinations, Yuan Luo couldn't help but to poke the young man's forehead.

She poked backward so quickly that Gu Yi frowned and stared at her in confusion.

Determined to maintain the added point, Yuan Luo withdrew her hand.

What was this person going to do? Gu Yi felt ill at ease and, pulling on his hand with force, he broke free from Yuan Luo’s restraint.

From the brief contact, Yuan Luo had already seen the scratch on the back of his hand. She smiled: "How did you get this scar?"

Gu Yi’s body shivered gently. He pursed his lips and didn’t answer.

"As far as this matter is concerned, you returned to the capital to apologize. You didn’t beg the Emperor for mercy, but unexpectedly had the audacity to sneak into a palace court at night and dared to attempt to assassinate an imperial concubine. This boldness is comparable to treason. How should this criminal charge be judged?"

Gu Yi’s body at once shivered. To his surprise, she had actually recognized him.

The past few days, Yuan Luo recalled the circumstances during her crossing over. Obviously, someone had pushed her into the water. The murderer had covered his face and didn’t exposing his movements. However, according to the favorability prompt at the time, she could naturally determine who it was. Moreover, at a critical moment she had scratched the opponent with a hairpin and now there was a scar on the back of Gu Yi's hand.

After that, she briefly learned about Gu Yi's background. Before following his father onto the battlefield, he served as an imperial bodyguard in the palace for several months. As a result, his path inside the palace was very clear.

This young boy must have returned to the capital from the border, burning with hated. Immediately that evening, he most likely stole into the imperial palace to assassinate her. As to the matter of the assassination, it would be impossible for him to accomplish it alone.

As second-rank high officials, the Gu family also had a certain influence in the palace. The imperial concubine, on the other hand, had antagonized countless people, some of whom harbored unfathomable motives and helped one or two people in secret. Even if she was unable to determine with confidence, she could at least infer who one accomplice might have been. That night, Shen Dong Liu had invited her to the garret to enjoy his skill playing a song on the qin.

Because of Shen Dong Liu’s invitation, the original owner went alone to the appointment, which gave Gu Yi an opportunity to exploit the situation.

Gu Yi was not stupid enough to directly try to kill her. In order to avoid leaving traces behind, he pushed her into the water, creating the illusion that she slipped and drowned. Otherwise, with his martial arts skills Yuan Luo would have already been choked to death.

Unexpectedly, there was too much of a time delay and the attempted murder was left unreported.

The incident happened when Yuan Luo had crossed over and, not knowing the situation, she did not say anything about it, otherwise, her entire court may have been unavoidably implicated and sent to prison.

Gu Yi lowered his head and his thick eyelashes drooped, covering his expression. In fact, his heart was far from being as calm as he appeared on the surface. He was truly astonished. There had been silence in the heavenly palace. It stood to reason that, based on the character of this woman, after the attempted assassination there would certainly be an immediate reign of terror to clear away dissidents.

"Ah… this palace has been contemplating these days, having walked the fine line between life and death, and believes that our prior methods have been a bit too excessive. Therefore, your life has been spared.  Think of it as a decision considering the past."

Yuan Luo felt awkward saying these words.

"It’s also because," Yuan Luo paused and finally mustered up the courage to tell him the bad news.

"You are unaware. In order to plead with the Emperor to deal with the situation leniently, both Madam Gu and eldest lady hung themselves three days ago."

According to the original text’s timeline, Gu Yi entered the palace to humbly beg for forgiveness. He knelt in front of Qianqing palace hall for several days. The imperial court discussed at length how to deal with the Gu family. One faction claimed Gu Liang Yong commanded inappropriately leading to the front line being defeated and the country’s territory being lost.  This crime can’t be pardoned. Another faction asserted that victory or defeat was commonplace in military operations, so the Gu family should be regarded as martyrs who died for their country. They should be given a reprieve from death. During this time, it was reported that Gu Yi’s second brother had returned after being captured by the northern barbarians. Then shortly thereafter, evidence was uncovered that the Gu family colluded with several of the northern barbarian tribes. By that point, the Gu family was thoroughly unable to turn their fortune.

Gu Liang Yong’s mother, the Dowager Gu, knew that this time it would be difficult to avoid disaster. Gu Liang Yong’s first wife had long since passed away from illness and he had not remarried. The Dowager had given both of her two grandson’s wives a letter, dismissed her servants, took her eldest daughter-in-law, and committed suicide. With her end, a memorial was presented begging that Gu Yi’s life be pardoned. As a second-rank citizen, she was entitled to have her death memorial submitted to the imperial court.

After court discussions, Gu Yi life was finally spared and he was exiled to the border.

The original owner, Yuan Luo, upheld the spirit of chopping the grass, but not eliminating the roots, yet, spring winds will blow again and give birth to vitality, so murderers were dispatched to kill them all ruthlessly.

On the way to exile, the male protagonist exchanged identities with another.

The imperial concubine’s assassin mistakenly killed the wrong target, but, because of that mistake, he thought he had already completed his mission, so was able to relax.

The imperial concubine was unaware that the male protagonist had changed his name and surname in Northern Xinjiang where he started as a low-level soldier and rose through the ranks step by step. In the end, he relied heavily on his meritorious service, trying his best to turn the tide and save the world from danger.

Before coming, she had inquired of her subordinates to confirm if the Gu’s family had been destroyed according to the original text’s timeline.

Gu Yi had been trapped in the palace for the past few days and was unaware of the bad news. Suddenly hearing it, he was unable to contain an unbearable sadness.

The broken expression made Yuan Luo's heart tighten.

The tragedy of the death and destruction of his entire family that she had seen in the original book, now settled right before her, becoming an extremely cruel reality.

Carefully looking at the young boy before her, he was actually only thirteen years old. Due to training from a young age, his martial arts skills gave him a resolute bravery beyond his age, but he still maintained a somewhat childish nature.  He was like a young eagle that had just recently spread its wings. He impatiently wanted to spread his wings and fly to the broad sky, but cruel reality had caused his nest to capsize because of an unexpected strong wind and heavy rain.

She left the room without saying anything, leaving a calming space for the other person.

Outside the door, she found that Si Xi and Tian Pan were both standing in front of the door, waiting. The little eunuch who was originally responsible for taking care of his medicine had disappeared.

Yuan Luo blinked. Considering the situation, she had just stayed alone in that room with Gu Yi for a very long time. It seemed as if she had not conformed to the established rules, but then again she had done a lot of unruly thing recently, so she didn’t want to bother worrying about it.

Warning Tian Pan repeatedly to take proper care of the wounded, she left with Si Xi.

Walking in the garden behind the Zichen Palace, Yuan Luo began to think about the two important tasks given by the system. It was a matter of raising the male lead’s favorability. Let’s walk before we run and take it easy for now. It was already negative anyway.

The other mission was to save the world, that is, striving to resolve the natural calamities and man-made disasters that have occurred over the years…

While thinking about it, Si Xi suddenly whispered, "Queen Empress."

Yuan Luo was taken aback by this title and raised her head, only to discover that she had unconsciously wandered into the small grove behind Qianqing Palace.

In front of her was a small hill with white stone steps layered on top of each other. On the hilltop was a pavilion. Within the pavilion there was a slim and graceful woman dressed in a purple palace dress. The young woman was sitting in front of a stone table looking at her with unfriendly eyes.

Since there are imperial concubines, of course, there are also Imperial Consorts.

Calculating the passage of time, Sikong Lin had inherited the title of Emperor for three or four years, so he had already taken a wife. The Imperial Consort was a daughter from the grand aristocratic Wei clan and that was the young girl before her.

She had a pair of big bright eyes and a lovely face with a touch of baby fat, which was a favorite. She looked more like a little princess than the Empress Wei.

Yuon Luo’s mind began to brood. She is the Imperial Consort, I am the imperial concubine. She is his wife, I am a concubine. Should I offer salutations? While she hesitated, Empress Wei stared at her somewhat apprehensively and slowly stood up.

The female officer behind her gave a low cough. The Empress Consort suddenly came to her senses and only halfway sat back down, causing her cheeks to flush.  Her eyes which had been staring at Yuan Luo became angry, as if it was Yuan Luo's who had caused her to lose face.

Yuan Luo immediately realized how the two of them could get along.

This Empress Consort had only been in the palace for more than half a year. Considering this, she had most likely been suppressed by this imperial concubine all the time.

She smiled and went up the steps toward the pavilion. Before Empress Wei could open her mouth to speak, she sat opposite to her.