Quick Wear: Random Cheats

Chapter 197 Soul Scattered, Heaven-Mending Stone (8)

That night, inside the Shengxiang Hall.

Seeing that Dai Quan had finally returned with the information, the Emperor Emeritus immediately asked anxiously, "What exactly is going on? And why is the Zichen Palace sealed off again?"

Also, what is that auspicious omen?
Could it really be the Jia family's magical jade?

"Your Majesty, the Zichen Palace is heavily sealed off. This servant has only managed to glean some vague information, and I don't know if it's true or not. Please listen to it for now. Some say that His Majesty seems to have had some kind of miraculous encounter and has become young again. Others have heard people talking about the Imperial Seal of the State in the palace, but they didn't hear it very clearly. There is only one thing that is currently certain."

That is, His Majesty bestowed the Spirit Jade upon someone.

It was bestowed upon Lin Daiyu, the daughter of Lin Ruhai.

Even though Dai Quan and his master, the retired emperor, had been operating in the palace for decades, Emperor Yonghe was not a new emperor; he had been on the throne for seven or eight years.

Even if one cannot perfectly control the palace, controlling the most crucial part—one's own residence—is still not a problem.

Therefore, while maintaining a long-term blockade of news from the Zichen Palace would be difficult, keeping it under wraps for a period, perhaps until the morning court session the next day, should not be a problem. So, at this point, the only certainty is that Emperor Yonghe explicitly sent a eunuch to deliver an imperial decree, stating that he would bestow the Jade of Spiritual Enlightenment upon Lin Daiyu.

Other things.

No matter how hard Dai Quan tried, he could only get a few snippets of information.

It's difficult to unravel the logic and find out the truth.

"However, since Old Madam Jia has been to the Zichen Palace, she should have met His Majesty and even had conversations with him. That's why His Majesty bestowed the Spirit Jade upon her granddaughter, Lin Daiyu. This servant has already sent someone out of the palace to the Rongguo Duke's Mansion."

But it's unclear whether Old Madam Jia was telling the truth.

Dai Quan quickly added more.

"That auspicious omen was clearly sent to the palace by the Jia family. There shouldn't be any other possibility besides the Jade of Spiritual Enlightenment. Besides, didn't the palace maids and eunuchs at De'an Palace say that the Jade of Spiritual Enlightenment was given to Consort Xiande? How could it have been given to Lin Daiyu?"

"The fourth boy doesn't even want auspicious omens anymore?"

"Besides, even if you don't want it, shouldn't it be returned to its rightful owner? What kind of nonsense is it to give it to that Lin Daiyu?"

The retired emperor was truly bewildered at this moment.

This is so strange, I've never seen anything like it done before.

"Your Majesty, could it be that the auspicious omen choosing its master today is enough to prove Your Majesty's destiny? Also, the Spirit Jade may not be of any use?"

So His Majesty simply bestowed them away as a reward?

Dai Quan was also conflicted, and he used his imagination while indirectly hinting to the Emperor Emeritus that the current emperor's divine mandate was already confirmed, and he shouldn't cause any more trouble. If things continued like this, it would be fine if he died before the Emperor Emeritus, but if he died after the Emperor Emeritus, he would probably suffer a terrible fate!

After all, Emperor Yonghe would certainly not convict his biological father; at most, he would give him a disgraceful posthumous title.

But others don't need to worry about that.

There are plenty of ways to plot and kill them, not to mention these eunuchs, who are just servants of the royal family.

But he couldn't directly offer such advice.

The only recourse is to give subtle hints and wait for the retired emperor to understand.

There's nothing I can do if I can't understand it...

"If it's useless, then where did the rumors of rejuvenation come from? Although I don't believe in rejuvenation, it can't be entirely baseless. Could it be that the Fourth Prince is too happy and looks younger? That shouldn't be the case!"

"No, I can't sleep if I can't figure it out!"

"Let's go. I'm going to the Zichen Palace. I don't believe he can stop me from going in. Since you can't find out, I'll just go and ask him directly."

The retired emperor may or may not have understood Dai Quan's implied meaning, but in any case, his attitude was quite firm: he had to find out the truth.

As he spoke, he wanted to head straight for the Zichen Palace.

If you can't get any information, confront them directly.

"Your Majesty, it is already late, and when this old servant returned from gathering information at the Zichen Palace, although the Zichen Palace was still sealed off, His Majesty was not there; His Majesty had gone to the Kunning Palace. At this time, it would probably be inappropriate for you to either go to the Zichen Palace to interrogate the eunuchs and maids left there, or to the Kunning Palace."

Perhaps we should slow down and wait a bit.

After the morning court session tomorrow, His Majesty will come to pay his respects, won't he? It'll only be four or five hours from now.

You can just ask me when the time comes!

"At the very least, those eunuchs I just sent out should be able to get some information from Old Madam Jia within an hour."

Dai Quan himself probably didn't realize that after learning that the auspicious omen had chosen its own master and landed in the Zichen Palace, and even possibly in the arms of Emperor Yonghe, he couldn't help but believe that Emperor Yonghe was destined by Heaven.

He also showed a slight inclination towards Emperor Yonghe.

He appears to be thinking of the retired emperor, but in reality, he is also thinking of Emperor Yonghe. He vaguely feels that since Emperor Yonghe does not want to leak the relevant information immediately, he must have his own plans.

However, he was unaware of his subconscious inclinations, while the perceptive Emperor Emeritus noticed them. He immediately grabbed an inkstone and smashed it over Dai Quan's head, roaring:
"You dog of a servant, I am not dead yet!"

"A mere auspicious omen choosing its own master, and you're already planning to betray me and pledge allegiance to your new master?"

Although somewhat dazed, Dai Quan's survival instinct made him involuntarily tilt his head slightly. Even though he didn't completely avoid the inkstone, he wasn't hit either, only grazed his left forehead, and blood started to flow from the left side of his forehead.

Then he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, begging for forgiveness and mercy.

But the retired emperor was now disheartened.

He realized that the tide had turned against him. If even his personal eunuch was choosing his master based on auspicious omens and began to speak up for his son, what about the old nobles outside, who were not so close to him and whose interests were more intertwined with his own, and the civil and military officials of the court?

Even if they don't openly betray you.

He might secretly side with his son.

Previously, the Emperor Emeritus had only vaguely suspected this, but now Dai Quan's actions and words have completely confirmed his suspicions.

For a moment, he was genuinely quite disappointed.

He slumped directly into the chair.

Dai Quan, on the other hand, was still kowtowing and begging for forgiveness, completely ignoring the wound on his head, after all, his life was more important.

After a long while, when he was already somewhat delirious due to excessive blood loss, the Emperor Emeritus finally calmed down a little: "Quickly go down and stop the bleeding and bandage him up."

"Thank you Lord for your grace!"

After forcing himself to express his gratitude, Dai Quan staggered to his feet, bowed again, and then turned to leave.

Go find the imperial physician to bandage the wound.

The Emperor Emeritus was somewhat dejected, remaining motionless in his chair for a long time. An hour later, Dai Quan, whose wounds had been bandaged and who had drunk some ginseng soup to keep himself going, returned to report the situation he had learned from the Old Madam of the Jia family. Only then did the Emperor Emeritus sigh and say, "I understand. Go back and rest!"

He no longer had the strength to be angry.

Dai Quan, being quite sensible, didn't say anything, quickly kowtowed and left in a hurry, secretly relieved that Old Madam Jia had also betrayed them.

That's right, Old Madam Jia from the Jia family said some nonsense, which was basically the same as not saying anything at all. She only mentioned that Emperor Yonghe suddenly mentioned Lin Ruhai, and then said that Lin Ruhai's daughter, Lin Daiyu, was not in good health, so he bestowed the Jade of Spiritual Enlightenment upon her granddaughter, Lin Daiyu. Did she even need to say this? A little inquiry would have revealed all this information!
The truly useful information is what the retired emperor wants to know.

Old Madam Jia revealed not a single word.

The meaning is undoubtedly quite clear: the Jia family no longer wants to play along with the Emperor Emeritus, and it's a relatively explicit break. This is far more explicit than Dai Quan's words, which only hinted at a slight inclination. In comparison, the Emperor Emeritus's anger seems premature, and his treatment of Dai Quan appears somewhat harsh. After all, if Dai Quan's head is to be broken, shouldn't the entire Jia family be executed?
But no matter what, for Dai Quan...

What Old Madam Jia did was actually a good thing.

It's definitely far better than being loyal to the retired emperor.

After all, if the entire Jia family were loyal, wouldn't it make him, the personal eunuch, seem like a terrible person?

There's always the possibility of being punished again.

Unlike now, at least we escaped unscathed.

……

Meanwhile, Emperor Yonghe, who was sleeping in Kunning Palace, completely ignored the Empress beside him and was chatting with her while holding the Imperial Seal, which was Ding Shui's true form.

There are so many things to talk about.

It's definitely more fun than sleeping with the Queen.

"Tell me in detail who might have plotted against you? I am quite familiar with conspiracies and intrigues, and I can help you analyze what you can't understand."

As long as you explain the logic to me clearly.

And just some parts I don't understand.

Who says men aren't gossipy? Emperor Yonghe was quite gossipy at this moment, or perhaps it could be said that he was very willing to help analyze the conspiracies and schemes that Ding Shui was unaware of.

Ding Shui was rather bored by himself, so he took the opportunity to sort through the original owner's memories while explaining the general situation:
"I don't know much, I only remember that a bald monk and a lame Taoist priest were chatting next to my body, talking about how good and interesting the mortal world was, and I was a little tempted when I heard that."

So he took the initiative to strike up a conversation with them...

Please ask them to take me to the mortal realm for a visit.

"Oh, so you've delivered yourself to their doorstep, sold yourself out, and are now counting the money for them!"

Whether before or after becoming emperor, Emperor Yonghe rarely had the opportunity to indulge his true nature and speak frankly with others without regard for his image. It wasn't until he faced Ding Shui, who was not human, that he was able to slightly unleash his true self.

Since it wasn't him who was being foolish, Ding Shui didn't care and continued, "They weren't very willing at first, it was probably a case of playing hard to get, but I didn't understand these things at the time, so I fell for their trick and begged them."

After a long while, they reluctantly agreed.

Then came what I told you before: they told me that Shenying Attendant was going to descend to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation, and they stuffed me into the mouth of Jia Baoyu, who was still in his mother's womb.

She was born at the same time as Jia Baoyu.

And a trace of it was directly refined by Jia Baoyu.

However, your imperial status is indeed quite good. With your drop of blood, you have already erased the Jia Baoyu aura within me. However, the cause and effect of blood and tears are still connected.

I'm not entirely sure how it was done.

I clearly feel like I didn't do anything.

"Do you know what kind of tribulations this so-called Divine Attendant Shenying will have to go through when he descends to the mortal realm to undergo tribulations?"

Emperor Yonghe continued to ask.

"I don't know!" The original owner's memories did not mention this matter, because the original owner did not care at all. Now the plot has obviously changed, so Ding Shui could not say. The future confiscation of the Jia family's property would be a calamity.

Therefore, they simply denied knowing.

Emperor Yonghe, however, clearly did not suspect anything:
"You know far too little. What else do you know besides this? The information you've provided is far too little for me to analyze!"

"I also know that the bald-headed monk and the lame Taoist priest seem to have done a lot over the years. One of the more specific things is that once when I was stolen, Jia Baoyu went into a trance. Then the bald-headed monk and the lame Taoist priest helped find me and cured Jia Baoyu."

It seems that Xue Baochai also met them. They gave Xue Baochai a prescription called Cold Fragrance Pill, which is said to help Xue Baochai suppress the heat toxin in her body.

In addition, when Lin Daiyu was three years old, they also went there and asked Lin Ruhai to give Lin Daiyu to them.

If you keep saying you can't bear to part with her, her illness won't get better.

Unless I stop crying and never see my parents or other relatives again.

It also seems that they abducted a member of the Zhen family to become a monk.

As you know, I followed Jia Baoyu and only heard bits and pieces of information; I don't know much else!

Before Ding Shui could finish speaking, Emperor Yonghe's expression changed, becoming more serious from listening to gossip: "That's not right. The monk and Taoist you mentioned are probably very problematic. They went to the Jia family, the Zhen family, and then to Lin Ruhai and the Xue family."

Aside from Lin Ruhai secretly siding with me.

Aren't the rest all the Emperor Emeritus's forces?
At least before, they were definitely under the control of the retired emperor.

"What are these two monks up to, always wandering around the homes of nobles and dignitaries? And I was completely unaware of it. I will definitely help investigate this matter. Do you have any more information?"
For example, what skills do they have?

"They probably aren't very capable, because neither of them actually succeeded in transforming into human form. The bald monk and the lame Taoist are their illusions; their true forms are a toad and a lame old yellow dog."

Others might not be able to tell, but I can.

However, he seems to be practicing the righteous path, with no demonic aura, and at first glance, he really does have a bit of an otherworldly air about him.

Furthermore, it seems there's another force involved, called the Land of Illusion, whose master is the Fairy Disenchantment. Also, Qin Keqing, who was secretly harmed by the Jia family and was the illegitimate daughter of the deposed crown prince, should also be a reincarnation of someone from the Land of Illusion.

Several years ago, it even carried Jia Baoyu's soul out of his body.

I went to the Land of Illusion.

However, I don't know the specifics of what happened.

If it were the main world of Dream of the Red Chamber, Ding Shui might understand the general situation, but this is a parallel world of Dream of the Red Chamber, or even a fan fiction world. The overall plot, or some character names, may follow the main world, but the details, and even the hidden stories behind them, may not be the same as in the main world.

In addition, the original owner didn't know much.

Therefore, Ding Shui is genuinely unaware of many things.