I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

Chapter 051: Consort Wei Returns South

At the end of June in the twelfth year of Shaoxing, something happened in Lin'an City that was neither too big nor too small.

Consort Wei is coming back.

The news came from the Imperial Household Department.

On June 26, Zhao Gou summoned Qin Hui, Wang Ciweng, and Wan Qixie to the Chongzheng Hall and announced that Consort Wei would be returning south with Emperor Huizong's coffin in early August. He ordered the Ministry of Personnel to prepare for the reception.

When Qin Hui received the imperial decree and left the palace, his expression remained unchanged. He wore a purple gauze over his official robes and walked with unhurried steps.

But that night, the gauze lanterns at the back gate of the Qin residence stayed lit all night long.

Qin Keqing received the news at 3:45 AM.

The source of the news was not the Inner Palace Secretariat, but Feng Yi.

While serving Zhao Gou as he changed clothes in Deshou Palace, the old eunuch overheard Zhao Gou instructing Shao Chengzhang to "renovate Cining Palace and make sure the bedding is made of brocade from Xiuzhou."

He deliberately delayed for a moment when he was tying Zhao Gou's belt, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a silk book from the Five Kingdoms City spread out on the imperial desk, with an ebony box pressed against the corner of the book.

The box was small, only slightly larger than a man's palm, with silver-plated corners and a half-open lotus flower carved on its surface.

"An ebony box." Feng Yi stood in the corner of the Prince's study. "This old servant has been in the palace for forty years and has only seen a box like that once."

In the seventh year of the Shaoxing reign, the emperor wrote a secret letter by hand, which the messenger hid in this lotus-shaped ebony box before placing it into a wax pellet.

The destination of that message was the City of Five Kingdoms.

Zhao Bozong sat at his desk, holding a pen in his hand, but the pen tip hesitated to fall.

He had read this history before he traveled through time and knew that Consort Wei's return to the south was one of the biggest political events in the twelfth year of the Shaoxing era.

But the history books he had read did not tell him that Consort Wei brought back not only Emperor Huizong's coffin, but also a letter from Zhao Gou to the Jin people, in which he acquiesced and sought peace.

He had seen fragments of the original letter in his notes on the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, which he read in later generations.

"Your subject Gou says: Now that I have received your gracious permission, how dare I not comply? I now wish to present this memorial and acknowledge myself as your subject to the Great Jin Emperor."

Twenty-six characters, each one etched into the hearts of the Song people like a knife.

But that's just a sentiment expressed by later generations when reading history.

At this moment, he sat in Lin'an, the city of Shaoxing, facing the fact that this letter was about to be brought back, and what it would mean for Zhao Gou, Qin Hui, and the entire pro-peace faction once this letter was made public.

"Zhang Quwei," Zhao Bocong suddenly spoke, "besides the palace maids and eunuchs accompanying the Empress Dowager, who else is by her side?"

Feng Yi was taken aback.

Zhang Quwei was a palace attendant serving Consort Wei. In the seventh year of the Shaoxing era, he accompanied Consort Wei north to Wuguo City and stayed in the Jin Kingdom for a full five years.

Few in the court remembered his name; an old eunuch who had been captured and taken north carried no weight in Lin'an, the capital of the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era.

But Zhao Bocong not only remembered his name, but also knew that he was the only one who could return alive from Wuguo City.

"How does Your Highness know about Zhang Quwei?"

"Before Consort Xian was abducted, he was the eunuch she trusted most." Zhao Bozong's voice was calm.

In the seventh year of Shaoxing, Qin Hui sent three groups of people to Wuguo City to probe for peace terms, but each time they were turned away by Zhang Quwei.

This matter is recorded in the old archives of the Dali Temple. Zhou Sanwei presided over the trial, but the case was later dropped.

Feng Yi was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Your Highness remembers correctly. Zhang Quwei stayed in the north for five years, and he deserves half the credit for the Empress Dowager's survival."

When will he arrive in Lin'an?

"Based on the distance, it should be around the third day of the eighth lunar month."

Zhao Bozong put down his pen and glanced at Qin Keqing.

Qin Keqing stood by the door, leaning against the door frame, holding a cup of tea that had gone cold.

She didn't say a word from beginning to end, but her eyes were always fixed on the tip of Zhao Bozong's pen.

"Miss Qin," Zhao Bozong closed the booklet, "after Zhang Quwei returns to Lin'an, Qin Hui will definitely try to get close to the Empress Dowager."

I need you to do something for me: before the Empress Dowager arrives in Lin'an, let Zhang Quwei know one thing: the Prince of Pu'an has an old acquaintance there.

"Whose old acquaintance?"

"Zhijia".

Qin Keqing's fingers paused for a moment on the rim of the teacup. "Does Master Zhijia know Zhang Quwei?"

"In the seventh year of Shaoxing, Zhijia delivered a secret letter to Wuguo City on behalf of Yue Fei. The messenger was Zhang Quwei." Zhao Bocong stood up and walked to the window.

June in Lin'an was already summer, and the cicadas outside the window were chirping incessantly. His voice was made far away by the cicadas' chirping. "That letter was written by Yue Fei to Consort Wei."

I don't know the contents of the letter, but after Yue Fei's death, Zhang Qu sent a message via Jinbao's ship to Zhenjiang. The message contained only seven characters—"Yue Fei's letter is still here."

The study remained quiet for a long time.

Qin Keqing placed the teacup on the table and stood up.

"Your Highness, Zhang Quwei has been in Wuguo City for five years. The first thing he will do upon returning to Lin'an is to be targeted by Qin Hui's men."

I need to meet him at the welcoming ceremony, but I can't show my face.

All the palace maids and eunuchs around the Empress Dowager were repeatedly questioned by the Imperial City Guard; I couldn't get in their way.

"You don't need to interfere." Zhao Bozong turned around. "You just need to have someone deliver something to Zhang Quwei on the day you receive the emperor."

"What is it?"

Zhao Bocong picked up a chipped copper coin from beside the brush washer and placed it in Qin Keqing's palm.

Before his death, Zhijia divided this copper coin into seven pieces. Xin Qizong had one, you had one, and the remaining five were scattered among his former subordinates. The chipped coin was the one Zhijia used when he met with Zhang Quwei.

Qin Keqing looked down at the copper coins in her palm. "I'm only responsible for handing them over, but whether Zhang Quwei is willing to accept them is not something I can decide."

"He will." Zhao Bozong sat back down at his desk, picked up his pen again, and said, "A man who has survived five years in the Jin Kingdom will not let go of any straw that can give him a foothold."

On the first day of the seventh lunar month, preparations began in Lin'an City to welcome the emperor.

Shops on both sides of the Imperial Street were ordered to repaint their facades and hang red lanterns.

The main road from Yongjin Gate to Houchao Gate was blocked in three sections by patrol soldiers from Lin'an Prefecture, who repaired the stone pavement in each section.

The number of inspectors from the Imperial City Guard increased, with nearly two hundred drawn from various neighborhoods and stationed in the alleys around the Cining Palace.

Ostensibly, it was to protect the Empress Dowager, but in reality, Qin Hui wanted to control every person entering and leaving the palace after the Empress Dowager returned.

Qin Keqing continued her daily routine of washing clothes, delivering goods, and returning home.

Her bamboo basket contained intelligence gathered from various drop-off points for dead letters, and her bamboo hairpin held the latest personnel transfer records. The tiny characters on the booklet grew denser with each page.

Using her identity as a laundry worker, she moved freely within the inescapable net set up by the Imperial City Guard, and no one gave her a second glance.

But on the evening of the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, when she returned to her residence, she saw Qin Hui at the corner of the Imperial Street.

Qin Hui's sedan chair stopped in front of the Cining Palace. It was a large sedan chair carried by eight men, with the curtain half-lifted.

Inside the sedan chair, Qin Hui held a string of Buddhist prayer beads in his hand, his gaze fixed on the newly painted red gate of Cining Palace, as if he were examining a piece of porcelain that was about to be acquired.

Behind the sedan chair stood twelve imperial guards, each with an iron ruler and rope hanging from their waist.