Chapter 185: The Fox Dashes The Concubine's Hopes

Concubine Lin listed out all the slights she suffered at Xiao An's hands, mentioning several instances of physical violence and abuse, to her and her children. 

"He...he used to threaten my children to get me to do what he wanted," she said, tearfully looking up at Chu Yun.

Chu Yun listened in silence, Gu Wei too said nothing.

Finally Concubine Lin got up from the floor, looking nervous by their lack of reaction. She wrung her hands with a wan, slightly pathetic, smile. 

"Thank you for your testimony, Concubine Lin," Chu Yun said with a nod. "Nanyi, show Concubine Lin out, and tell," he looked briefly down towards the missive," tell Concubine Tang to come next."

The Concubine left with her head hung low, not nearly as haughty as she had walked in.

"Was anything she said true?" Chu Yun asked Gu Wei, when she and Hua Nanyi were almost at the door.

Gu Wei hummed. "Xiao An ignored her, most of the time, he didn't like her, but because of her family's power he didn't risk being outright aggressive. She knew how to cajole him though, he appreciated that, she got gifts from time to time," he shrugged, "he never hurt her children, though. Xiao An couldn't be bothered to know half the names of his youngest children. He ignored all of them and never spent any time with them."

"Let's see what Concubine Tang has to say, next."

According to Gu Wei's notes she was the third omega daughter of a local Haolin merchant family -- not nobility, but richer than many of them.  They had "sponsored" a number of public works. 

She had been the King's favourite for a time, when she first joined the harem. But she was very shrewd, and was constantly trying to use the King's favour to win advantages for her family. From official posts to her brothers to a Ministry position to her father. Military commissions even.

Maybe she had underestimated the nature of the King's feelings -- his interest in his concubines never went beyond sexual. And he didn't appreciate it when they tried to use him, although that was all he did with them.

The King grew tired to Concubine's Tang schemes and she did start suffering from retaliation in the later years. Gu Wei noted that she was initially cruel to him, because it pleased Xiao An, and because she felt superior to Gu Wei -- but as soon as her star dimmed she understood the needless cruelty of her petty actions and apologised to Gu Wei.

They were civil after that. 

She bore the King two omega daughters, which did nothing to endear her to him.

When confronted with the suggestion of divvying up the dowries and compensation the concubines for any damages suffered under Xiao An, she was in favour of it, but she added:

"Some concubines behaved in an unbecoming and cruel manner, inflicting on brothers and sisters the same cruelty the previous King did, however, I'd like to ask his Royal Highness not to blame their children for the parents' actions, and treat them all accordingly." She sighed deeply. "It is my belief that that would only be perpetuating an unfortunate cycle of recrimination and jealousy between siblings.

As it stood, Chu Yun agreed to her.

There was an interesting pattern to Xiao An's children. He had three adult children, all of them alphas, and then there was a large gap, between Xiao Zai and the next child. 

He reviewed all that information in the missive, and eyed Gu Wei from the corner of his eye.

He wasn't sure if Gu Wei had a hand in it, or if it was all coincidence, but there were five years between Xiao Zai and his next sibling. 

No.

He wasn't seeing the full picture.

This didn't start with Gu Wei, but with the late Queen Consort. There was quite an age gap between all the adult children. Which meant Xiao An had focused his attentions on a single person.

If nothing else, the Queen Consort had his attention, if not his love.

Gu Wei had implied as much, saying that she had advised him on how to handle Xiao An often, but he could never quite follow her example.

Chu Yun dismissed Concubine Lin with a sigh, after assuring her that her concerns would be taken into consideration.

They still had a long list of concubines to talk with. He could be here for a while. 

---

Things progressed somewhat normally -- with several concubines exaggerating the level of the abuse they endured, when  mostly they had been ignored, while downplaying the abuse others suffered. 

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Some went as far as to point fingers, without making any mention of their own actions.

At times they would look up at Gu Wei, but seeing him remain silently at the side of Chu Yun's throne emboldened them to say whatever they wanted.

Gu Wei was quick to set the record straight as soon as they turned their backs.

But things changed dramatically when the first of the male omegas walked in. He was perhaps a little younger than Gu Wei, and not as eye-catching, but had the same type of frosty aura to him.

Gu Wei tensed the minute he walked in.

Concubine Zhang went straight to the point:

"I bore the late King no children," he pointed at Gu Wei, "Concubine Gu made sure of that."

Gu Wei didn't flinch, his gaze fixed on the other man. "I'm sure it would bring Concubine Zhang some comfort to believe that."

He scoffed. "Shut up, Bailiu, we all know how much you liked mixing anti-conceptional herbs in with everyone's teas, desserts and meals." Concubine Zhang's expression darkened. "You had a great teacher, after all. And when you had no other use for her you got rid of her." He shook his head in disgust. "I had no love for the Queen Consort, but she was your friend."

Ah.

Chu Yun understood everything now.

He'd been only half-right. So the Queen Consort had been the one responsible for the unusual lack of children, not the King's sole focus on her. After her death Gu Wei picked up where she left off.

Concubine Zhang wasn't wrong in his accusations, but he was wrong about what motivated them. Although, Gu Wei really had painted himself in the corner of 'vicious Concubine desperate to make their child king at any cost'.

Looking at his face now, Chu Yun thought the only thing Gu Wei regretted was that the late Queen Consort was dead at all.

Proving his point, Gu Wei smiled at Concubine Zhang, as if he hadn't made cruel accusations against him. "The Queen Consort was a friend to us all, it is a shame that not all brothers and sisters could see that."

Concubine Zhang scoffed with a shake of his head. He had no interest of understanding Gu Wei's words.

"Thank you for your time, Concubine Zhang, you may go now," Chu Yun said. "Concubines who didn't have any children won't be left out."

The look Concubine Zhang shot him made it obvious he didn't care either way.

"He really doesn't like you."

Gu Wei nodded. "The King used to take all his anger of me out on him. Each time I found a way to escape him, or frustrated his latest attempt to get rid of me and Xiao Zai he would seek out Zhang Mo."

Chu Yun rubbed his temples with a sigh. The politics of the harem were truly twisted. He was only glad that they only had one more person left before being done with the whole thing.

---

Finally, it was time to call all the Concubines back to the throne room. Chu Yun was at least heartened to see that some of the fight had gone out of them. They had been at this for hours, and he was exhausted already. 

It really hadn't been as much fun as he'd hoped -- he suspected that Xiao Zai was having an even more miserable time than him.

He got up from the throne and addressed all the gathered concubines. "I'm sure we are all tired and hungry, so I won't keep the royal concubines long," he paced in front of his throne as well as Xiao Zai's, "but...there are some things we need to clear up."

He paused as they all looked among themselves and then continued: "For instance, Concubine Yin says that Concubine Ran was constantly lying about her conduct so that she'd be punished, and even led to Concubine Yin's child being punished with the disciplining rod so severely that he fell ill...however, according to Concubine Ran it was Concubine Yin who always conspired against her."

He smiled. "The two Concubine's can't be saying the truth, so we need to get to the bottom of it, I would appreciate it if all the royal concubines could help clarify this issue."

The reaction was immediate, most of the concubines started taking sides and attacking each other.

Chu Yun let this go on for a while before clearing his throat pointedly. "I think this just goes to show that perhaps none of you have each other's best interests at heart." He smiled sadly. "So, the decision must fall to me."

He could almost swear he heard Gu Wei suppress his laughter, behind him.

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