32. Back to Liang

Su and Rushuang sat together in the carriage of Qi mansion in companiable silence, both considering the events of the last few days. What had started as a simple request to help solve a murder ended with worries over a possible war, which they would have to prevent. As Shuomo had declared, they'd had a meeting with the emperor. Su had told the emperor what they had discovered, Rushuang had explained the poison that had been used and Yunchuan told her father about the maids. "So somebody went to great lengths to implicate Liang, but it wasn't someone from Liang. Shuomo please find out from which mansions the maids were borrowed and ask the head of the kitchen and the maids who served the tea to the minister. As Yunchuan said it should have been one of the palace maids. Detective Su and Lady Xie, please prepare a report of your findings. We will send it to Liang with our own report." The emperor had ordered. It was clear he wanted to make sure Liang officially knew what had happened, including the false allegations made against Liang. The conversation had then turned to the mark of Xuan and the Ghost Army. "Did you visit the forbidden shrine?" the emperor asked his oldest son. Shuomo had told him about the day that they had visited the shrine. "We should assume that those behind the mark will work to discover who visited the shrine. Either to craft them for their own cause or to stop them. Shuomo, you and Prince Qi of Liang will have to work on this together. It is imperative that we find out who is behind all this and what their next move is going to be. I'll write to the emperor of Liang." It had taken Su and Rushuang a lot of time to write the reports as both still had gatherings to attend. It had occurred to Su that she might meet a lady of the ones behind all this and so she paid more attention to the social gatherings she attended, but nothing had seemed odd. Still she took time to write down her impressions during the precious few free moments she had. She had only seen Yan during the evenings, nights and early mornings, before they were expected at the palace again. The only real relaxing evening was the second meal the group had at Shuomo's mansion. During that meal Shuomo had informed them that he'd found the maid meant to serve the minister. The following day, their last day in Beirong, she'd served them while they had a meeting with Shuomo and Yunchuan. The maid had told them another unknown maid had asked her to do her task. The unknown maid then took the tea to serve. The maid didn't know from which mansion the unknown maid had come. It had been a dead end, at least for now.

"Are you disappointed we didn't find the actual murderer?" Rushuang asked, rousing Su from her reverie.

"It's always a possibility. We also didn't find the murderer of Li Yu. We know what most likely happened, the maid is still alive, so she might be able to recognize the real murderer later. If the one behind this murder is also connected to the murder of Li Yu we might still find them. Especially if they are also behind this Ghost Army, which seems likely." The two ladies remained silent, both not really willing to discuss whether those behind really want to start a war, but for probably the first time Su placed her hand protectively over her belly.

There were no incidents that disrupted their journey home, but the journey itself wasn't pleasant. Su was tired and nauseous during the entire trip. In the morning she usually was fine, but as the day progressed and she started to get tired the nausea would hit. She noticed that the nausea subsided after she threw up, it was fair to say that throwing up was a real relieve. The problem was that after a while the nausea came back. The herbs Rushuang provided did help Su thought, not wanting to consider what she might feel like without those. But what helped the best was to simply sleep or at least rest and that was not really possible in the carriage. The ladies would also on occasion ride, but that didn't help Su much as she would just tire quicker and then feel sick again. Halfway down the journey Rushuang suggested Yan stay with Su in the carriage and she would ride with her own husband. Leaning against Yan and hearing his voice turned out to be quite soothing for Su, and allowed her to take a longer nap in the carriage then she had managed before, which helped. So it was decided Rushuang would ride with Su in the morning and Yan in the afternoon when the fatigue started to set in. Finally they reached the capital and at the gate they were once again greeted by a royal guard, who asked Yan and Su to travel to the palace. This time though Yan refused, Su was still asleep in the carriage, leaning heavily against her husband. Fei Yuan opened the curtain so Yan could see the guard and speak with him: "Please tell the dowager empress that the princess consort Qi is not well and needs to rest. We will come to the palace when the princess has recovered from this long journey. Captain Liu will accompany you and apologize to the dowager empress." The guard who could see for himself that the princess needed rest, didn't press as the dowager empress had told him to do, and let them pass.

When they reached the Qi Mansion Yan carried Su to their bedchamber and laid her on the bed. "Are we home?" Su asked without opening her eyes.

"Yes, my dear. Rest now." Yan replied while he stroked her head. Even though he knew why Su was tired and not well, it didn't stop him worrying about her. He simply didn't like seeing Su in discomfort. He left her to check on the carriage and luggage. Fei Yuan was busy putting all things back. The day was winding down, so Fei Yuan promised to get dinner ready as soon as possible. Yan went to his study and got the letters that had been delivered during their absence. He sat down in one of the chairs in the bedroom so he could keep an eye on Su. After a while Su woke up and a little later Fei Yuan came to announce dinner was ready. Yan and Su relished their quiet evening in their own home.

Just as Yan was contemplating leaving to go to the imperial palace, Fei Yuan knocked on the door and announced the arrival of the emperor and the dowager empress for a personal visit. Yan looked at Su, who had just laid down again after a hellish morning, which had included many empty bowls being brought to the bedroom. "It's actually surprising that my brother has managed to keep her from visiting yesterday, when we got home." Yan commented with a smile. When he saw Su trying to get up Yan quickly stopped her. "No, you need to rest."

"But…" Su protested.

"No, they will understand. Just rest." As Su was really tired she decided to do as her husband said and laid back down. Yan couldn't resist and quickly kissed her. Then he left to greet his brother and the dowager empress, who had been escorted to the best pavilion. "Your majesty. Your majesty." Yan bowed , the emperor told him not to stand on ceremony. "Thank you, your majesty, please excuse the princess consort, she is not feeling well." He saw understanding in the eyes of the dowager empress.

"Yes, please accept our congratulations." The emperor said.

"Where is the princess, I wish to see her." The dowager empress said quickly, already looking around to try and work out where Su's bedroom was. Not wanting to stress his wife by bringing the dowager empress Yan tried to persuade her not to visit, but all to no avail. Even a play for time by suggesting they have tea first didn't work. Sighing Yan showed the dowager empress to their bedroom.

"My dear, her majesty the dowager empress wished to see you." Yan said as they entered. When the dowager empress saw Su trying to sit up, she quickly told her to remain in bed and sat down on the bed. "I just wished to see how you are, my daughter-in-law. How are you feeling?" and with that the two women started talking. When Yan saw that this visit wasn't taxing on Su he excused himself and went back to his brother, the two of them also had a lot to discuss and it wouldn't be nearly as pleasant a topic as a new baby.

Around midday the emperor and Yan walked from Yan's study to the large pavilion to have something to eat. To Yan's surprise they found the dowager empress and Su already seated there. "Here come the men." The dowager empress commented, when she saw the two men walk to the pavilion. Su rose and bowed to the emperor, who quickly told her to rise. He touched her arm to help her rise. "It's good to see you detective Su. Thank you for your hard work in Beirong. The emperor of Beirong was very impressed by you and lady Xie." After she thanked the emperor she invited him to sit and enjoy the meal and he did. It wasn't often that the emperor had the opportunity to really enjoy some time with just his mother and brother. Seated here in the mansion Qi shielded them from business in the imperial palace, giving them more time. As if by mutual decision they didn't discuss the problems they were facing with the Ghost Army. This time they took to just talk with each other gave the emperor an opportunity to watch his brother and his wife. The love between them was so clear, he saw the small touches and looks. There were looks that showed the understanding between Yan and Su and the emperor wondered again how they had established it. How had his brother known Su was the one for him? He remembered the time when Yan had confessed he liked Su, Su had been in prison, and Yan had been so worried about her safety and life that he'd sacrificed his own happiness in exchange for her life. Every time he spend time with Yan and Su the emperor was more certain he wanted to share the same deep bond with the woman he'd marry eventually. So far the only lady that had interested him and still interested him was Xin. She'd answered the letter he'd sent and it had delighted him to read her letter, it hadn't fulfilled his desire to know more about her. On the contrary he'd written back immediately, wanting to know much more about her. He had even considered summoning her family to the capital with some kind of pretext just so he could see her again. The only thing stopping him was that he remembered she hadn't met him, but Pei Zhu. He would need help from his brother to take up the persona again. He would discuss it another time, now was not the right time. His eyes drifted to his mother. She hadn't given up on finding the next empress unfortunately. The news of Su's pregnancy, four weeks ago now, had given her a welcome distraction from that search. He had gladly consented to this visit, his mother had had to wait to see Su for a few weeks and Su had a special place in his mothers heart. He followed the conversation between her and Su enough to be able to participate, but it was clear his participation wasn't really necessary and so he sat back and enjoyed this time with family. In the end Fei Yuan came to deliver the message that the emperor was needed in the palace. The emperor and dowager empress said goodbye, the dowager empress told Su to come to her whenever she had questions or needed somebody to talk to. Su smiled and thanked her for her visit and advice. Both Su and Yan bowed and waited for the carriage to turn the corner before they went back inside.