Up in the great hall, at this moment there remained only Governor Chu of Chu River and Consort Zhen.
"Chu Changhe, as for that matter just now, what are your feelings on it?" Consort Zhen asked.
Governor Chu of Chu River smiled faintly. "However the Consort would have your servant think it, so your servant thinks it."
"Crafty old fox!" Consort Zhen gave a cold little laugh. "In that matter just now, apart from the little Princess being the focal point, there was another core figure of whom I said not a single word."
These words were, of course, pointing at that adulterous Empress within the story! For one must know, that was the focal point of this "scandal." Normally speaking, up in the great hall just now, Consort Zhen ought to have directly sent people to summon the Empress for interrogation. And there was, besides, that other point remarked upon earlier as very strange: by rank and station, if the Starlight Emperor didn't come, then the one presiding at the scene ought as well to have been the Empress — and not she, a mere consort.
"You said not a word of the Empress's matter; but did you speak, then, of this matter of His Majesty suddenly falling gravely and irrecoverably ill?" Governor Chu of Chu River said coldly.
"Did I not just say, up in the hall earlier — that the reason His Majesty didn't come to the conferral ceremony in person was precisely his bodily indisposition." Consort Zhen turned herself about, her back to Governor Chu of Chu River.
"Is that so…" Governor Chu of Chu River bored his gaze into Consort Zhen.
Consort Zhen went on, "Yesterday, in the dead of night, you took the Empress off to your courtyard-residence, and to this moment she hasn't returned. This is, perhaps, somewhat improper. I'll shortly send people to fetch the Empress."
"No need. The Empress, on account of the First Prince's death, is poor in body, poor in spirits, melancholy and joyless. Let the Empress be settled, for the time being, to recuperate in the residence His Majesty granted me. Do you not, as well, wish to keep me in the Capital Star? Then I'll stay in my own courtyard. Want to take the Empress away? Then your people may give it a try. Or else, take me first to have a meeting with His Majesty — and perhaps I'll change my thinking!" Having said this, Governor Chu of Chu River, paying no regard whatsoever to Consort Zhen's face, turned and left.
Consort Zhen watched the figure of Governor Chu of Chu River departing, somewhat incensed.
"This undying old thing!"
"Sister, don't be anxious. All of this is now within our control!" Huang Zhixiong and Qin Ming, at this point, came back after having gone, appearing before Consort Zhen. That's right — Consort Zhen was Huang Zhixiong's elder sister. The Huang family that Huang Zhixiong belonged to had, too, come by its present standing by relying on Consort Zhen, and it was thus that Huang Zhixiong had been able to obtain the position of five-star marshal.
"Uncle is right; so long as little brother kills that little bitch, the kingly power is mine!" Qin Ming said with a cold laugh.
Consort Zhen rubbed at her own temples, and said with some worry, "But that old rascal Chu Changhe is still here; in my heart I'm, after all, still somewhat uneasy. And now he's, moreover, sheltering that woman, the Empress! Who knows what deviltry he'll get up to — and he must, of all things, insist on seeing… on seeing His Majesty."
Qin Ming laughed. "Wants to shelter the Empress, does he — then let him shelter her. Without that pair of children of hers, what's there for an Empress to fear? Now the Central Star Region's Lü family has married into us; I have wed the Lü family's young miss, and the Lü family, along with that Lü-family marshal, stand on our side! Little brother, too, has married into the Pegasus Star Region's Ma family! The Azure Star Region's Huang family is our own house; the Azure Governor supports us as well! The Snow-Swallow Star Region's Prince Yan and the Bai family have both signaled their tacit consent to our actions. The Perilla Star Region's Su family, after we promised them a great sum of resources, have leaned our way too! And now, besides, the Grey Moon Star Region! Of the whole Starlight Empire's power-map of the eight great star regions, high and low, we've directly grasped well over half! Once everything's readied, we'll then release the news of father-emperor's grave illness and coma. And I'll be able, as a matter of natural course, to grasp the throne! The remaining Chu River Star Region and North Wind Star Region — how big a wave can they yet stir up?"
"Just so; when the time comes, our Huang family will strain every effort to secure His Highness Qin Ming's ascension to the throne as emperor!" Huang Zhixiong said in excitement, in his eyes for all the world already seeing his own resplendent future. That Chu Changhe — however capable, however able. Could he, after all, measure up to him, the uncle of the emperor-to-be? By then, their Huang family would be the Starlight Empire's greatest family.
"I hope all this can go smoothly." Consort Zhen clutched at her own chest; set against her son and her brother, she was, more often than not, a timid little woman still. Over this stretch of time, doing all these things, she hadn't slept a single peaceful night's sleep.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
It was just at this point that Qin Ming's handheld terminal flickered with a comm notice; he cast a glance at it, and, with a light laugh, said to his mother-empress and his uncle, "Look here. There we are — it's a comm request come from the Grey Moon Star Region's old governor." So saying, he tapped it open.
There before them was a very aged elder, standing leaning upon a cane. And kneeling at his side was a middle-aged man, his flesh a bloody mangle, both his hands and both his feet cuffed, his mouth beaten so he could no longer speak, his mind foggy and unclear.
"Your servant pays respects to His Highness the Second Prince, and to Lady Consort Zhen. This old fool pleads guilty here!" The Grey Moon old governor wore a whole humble, abject posture.
"No, no! What guilt could the old governor possibly have!" Qin Ming wore a whole considerate, warm air.
The Grey Moon old governor, a whole face of helplessness, pointed at that bloody-mangled man beside him. "This old fool disciplined him without proper method; this rebellious son of mine, of all things, dared to, with the Empress… haah… I've already personally interrogated him, and he confessed to the matter without any denial. Only, just now I was too enraged, and directly beat his mouth to ruin, so that he can no longer speak. Else, right now, I'd surely have him plead guilt to the two of you in person!"
Consort Zhen and Qin Ming exchanged a glance.
This old fox was quite skilled at handling things.
"Ah — this matter is but the crime of these two persons. It has nothing to do with the old governor, nothing to do with the Zhou family!" Qin Ming, at this point, suddenly turned the drift of his words. "Those matters I spoke of with the old governor before, I will bring them all to pass."
"Many thanks to His Highness the Second Prince! Then I still have this rebellious son's matter to deal with here, so I'll not go on troubling His Highness the Prince and Her Ladyship the Consort." The Grey Moon old governor took his leave.
The video comm ended, and up in the great hall, Qin Ming, his mother-empress, and his uncle exchanged a smiling glance.
A thousand li away, the Zhou family residence of the Grey Moon Star Region.
The Grey Moon old governor looked at that youngest son beside him, beaten past the power of speech, and heaved a long sigh. "Zhou Qian, ah — don't blame your father. All of this is for the sake of the family. We of the Zhou family, from the moment we're born, this one life of ours is for the rise and fall of the family. Never mind you — even this old frame of mine can be thrown in for it."
Having said this, the Grey Moon old governor waved a hand, signaling his subordinates to take this Zhou Qian away, not sparing him so much as another glance of his eyes. For all the world as though what was being dragged out were merely a lump of flesh, and not his own son.
From this day forward, the last news Zhou Qian would leave to this world would be only this: that, en route to being escorted to the Capital Star, he was set upon by a surprise attack from the rebel fleet led by the little Princess, his life or death unknown, his whereabouts unknown.
And at the same time —
Within a certain star system of the Grey Moon Star Region.
The once boundlessly resplendent royal fleet of the little Princess — those royal interstellar warships were, at this moment, for all the world like interstellar refuse, scattered outside a small asteroid belt. Among them, no small number were T3-grade interstellar warships! Upon the wreckage, the royal crest could be seen, clear and plain.