Having seen his daughter in this world with his own eyes, Qin Jingzhou was in good spirits.
As long as her father and brothers were safe, Yan Yun had no interest in whether her younger brother was partial to outsiders or hopelessly infatuated with the Noble Consort. In any case, she would never walk the doomed path scripted for her in the original plot.
Qin Jingzhou comforted his daughter for a while and promised he would visit her at the palace whenever he could. Only then did he finally leave, under his daughter’s reluctant gaze.
After walking out of the Yikun Palace where his daughter lived, Qin Jingzhou gave a few final instructions to the bodyguards at the gate, then hopped gracefully onto the rooftop, waving at the guards and inner attendants below with their heads craned up toward him.
At this sight, the guards and inner attendants all straightened, wearing the same unspoken phrase on their faces: “Master’s martial skills are unmatched, destined to unite the world.”
That the gate guards, being his own people, had such a reaction was no surprise. But even the palace’s inner attendants admired him, which showed just how little support Emperor Yongning truly had.
If the original host hadn’t held firm at West Gate Pass, Emperor Yongning would have gone down the same “surrendering land and paying reparations” road his own father did. As for the Emperor’s treatment of such a great contributor as the original host—far from lavish rewards, his first instinct was always to cut the grass at its root. Truly, the people’s eyes are sharp and clear.
Following Ling Jing’s guidance, Qin Jingzhou made his way onward.
Speaking of Ling Jing, she had improved her cultivation again. Using Third Lady Min’s mortal disguise, flitting from rooftop to rooftop was easy for her.
She stayed a while atop Yikun Palace, but listening to the father-daughter heart-to-heart did not interest her. So she roamed over to Empress Wang’s Kunning Palace and the female lead, Noble Consort Guo’s Jingren Palace. She did glean some tidbits from her eavesdropping: “Empress Wang should be pregnant. She intends to keep the child and become Empress Dowager herself, and wants to win you to her side. Meanwhile, the Noble Consort is in her chambers cursing her father, Guo Sida, resenting the mismatch between her ambition and her capabilities. All she thinks about is biting into a peach.”
Qin Jingzhou chuckled softly.
Ling Jing continued, “In the plot I received, after Yan Jingzhou’s death, the one who tried to kill both Yan Jingzhou’s sons was Emperor Yongning. Guo Sida, on the other hand, targeted Yan Yun, trying to pin adultery and treasonous intent on her. After all, Yan Yun is wise and beautiful. If, seizing on Emperor Yongning’s flickering guilt, she got pregnant and bore him a son, there might yet be a chance for her to turn the tide.”
Qin Jingzhou laughed, “Now that we’re here, why don’t we check out the one my daughter fancies in the plot?”
Ling Jing tilted her head slightly, “Sure.”
As they moved along, she gave more background: “Currently, Xue Yi—who in the plot died after rising to Deputy Commandant of the Imperial Guard—is just an Imperial Guard Leader in charge of exactly ten men. He’s not on duty today, but doesn’t want to go home, so he’s staying in the staff dorms for guards at the north end of the inner palace. By the way,” Ling Jing grew serious for a moment, “this probably never showed up in your version of the story, but Xue Yi was killed by Yan Duan, indirectly. Also, it’s because of Xue Yi that Yan Yun completely gave up on her brother and broke ties, never again showing mercy to Yan Duan or the Noble Consort.”
Qin Jingzhou stopped short in midair. “Then he ought to take the initiative to come pay his respects to me. I need to properly assume the bearing of a father-in-law.”
Ling Jing did not explicitly say so, but her meaning was clear: his daughter and Xue Yi had already fancied each other for quite some time; and Xue Yi was a fine young man.
Seeing that the Boss, as always, grasped her meaning between the lines, Ling Jing smiled and said, “Xue Yi is a rare military talent. Even though you don’t think much of Yan Duan, when he’s in his right mind he’s both civil and martial, whereas Yan Jun is much stronger in civil affairs than in martial skill. You’ll need to prepare to balance the two sooner or later… The best part is, Xue Yi will never side with Emperor Yongning.”
Xue Yi’s own father was a Prince Consort… but after his mother died of a sudden illness, his father remarried within three months—married to Emperor Yongning’s little aunt. It’s plain to see that Xue Yi’s mother died because her father was eager to cling to a princess.
Qin Jingzhou made a gesture. “Got it.”
Upon returning to Marquess Jingwen’s Mansion, Qin Jingzhou did not idle. He set about drafting a training method suited to this world’s military, while Ling Jing took over two whole chests of account books, willingly assuming the role of chief housekeeper.
With a quick check, she discovered that in these few years since Lady Li had married in, not only had she poisoned her husband, but she had also withdrawn over a hundred thousand taels of silver from the Marquess’s accounts. She seemed to assume that once her husband died, the mansion would be hers, so her withdrawals were brazen—just a stamp on the documents and the steward would enter it in the books.
That night, the Li couple did not sleep, interrogating every lady-in-waiting, old maid, and steward who had served their daughter. They obtained eyewitness testimony and a small amount of physical evidence proving that the Madam Guo’s nephew had willingly worked for the Wang family, persuading their daughter to murder Yan Jun.
Madam Guo hurriedly sent word to her brother, Minister Guo, who lost no time sending people to arrest his nephew—but the nephew, having caught wind of trouble, had long since fled.
When Lady Li learned she’d ended up in disgrace for the sake of such a cowardly and unfaithful wretch, humiliation and anger made her fall into a fever that night.
By the next morning, the Li couple, when they came again, were looking haggard.
With a hoarse voice, Madam Guo recounted what the couple had uncovered during their questioning. She emphasized they had no malice, and the mastermind was none other than Duke Cheng'en's Wang family.
Qin Jingzhou remained calm. “I know.” Which was why he hadn’t given the Li family a hard time.
The Li couple breathed a little easier at this.
Ling Jing passed over the evidence she’d organized the night before. “All accounts settled, both in money and in sentiment. Now, let’s deal with the Wang family together.”
Madam Guo took the ledger and glanced through it. Her bloodless face immediately gained a few hints of color.
Lord Li leaned in for a look and flushed as well.
Next, as the couple inventoried their daughter’s dowry, their outrage soared.
Apart from shops and manors that were impossible to liquidate, all the cash and most valuable antiques and calligraphy had fallen into that bastard’s hands.
A hundred thousand taels of silver was not a sum a second-rate family like the Li family could easily muster, but refusing to pay was clearly out of the question.
In the end, the Li couple were sensible enough to put the loss on the Wang family, not Marquess Jingwen, though they would inevitably harbor some resentment.
They slunk away in defeat, and that same afternoon, even though Lady Li was still ill, her parents, furious to the core, had her bundled off to a yamen in the suburbs.
The next day, news came from the Li family that Lady Li had died of her illness.
Lady Li had always been in good health and was still young—how could she possibly have died of anger? Once her elders learned all she’d done behind their backs, they simply and decisively erased her name from the family register.
Officially, Lady Li was gone, so Yan Jun did not need to go through a formal divorce and became a widower.
Yan Jun was quite pleased about this.
Next, his father sent him to inspect the family’s manors in the outskirts of the capital, where he happened to run into Xue Yi, who was on leave, relaxing at a hot spring villa. Yan Jun went ahead and pulled Xue Yi back home with him.
When the eldest son returned, Qin Jingzhou was chatting with Ling Jing about the Min family. The head of the Min family had personally escorted his daughter to the capital, having sent word ahead hoping Third Lady Min might help her out a bit.
When his eldest son and Xue Yi came to pay their respects, he asked Yan Jun, “You heard?”
Yan Jun rubbed his nose. “Xiaoyun mentioned it briefly in her letter.”
The brief exchange between father and son made Xue Yi blush before uttering a word.
Amused, Ling Jing sent a sound transmission: “That’s a confession without needing to say it. I always feel the three Yan siblings have a subtle hereditary trait—either fiercely loyal in love themselves or attracting such devotion from others.”
Qin Jingzhou responded, “That’s a loaded statement.”
“Both of them have their hearts set on someone at the same time.”
Qin Jingzhou, amused, eyed Yan Jun and Xue Yi. “You’re right. My son’s beloved is actually related to Xue Yi by blood.” He added sincerely, “Family ties within family ties. Makes my job easier.”
Xue Yi was invited to stay for dinner. His pleasure at being welcomed by Xiaoyun’s family was obvious, his efforts to get close and win favor plain for all to see—even Yan Duan couldn’t help but glance at him repeatedly.
When Yan Jun invited Xue Yi home for dinner, and Xue Yi returned the courtesy, he naturally wouldn’t drag Yan Jun to his father and stepmother’s Princess mansion, but instead took him to his uncle’s home.
And there, Yan Jun met the very person who made his own heart pound.
Later, when Yan Jun came home to pay his respects to his father, he still had the faint scent of wine on him, and a suspicious flush on his cheeks.
After sending the tipsy son away, Qin Jingzhou commented to Ling Jing, “It’s good to be young. I’m just happy he didn’t end up heartbroken and depressed because of Lady Li.”
Ling Jing teased, “People can find their own partners.”
Qin Jingzhou frowned slightly. “I get the feeling you’re making a jab at me.”
Ling Jing giggled.
In a blink, it was already late October, and the Min family head finally arrived in the capital. His wife’s personality was overwhelming, and if she made trouble in the capital, he couldn’t bear the consequences. So this time, he brought the Old Madam and their two daughters along.
The eldest Miss Min was to enter the palace as a companion for the Emperor, while the specially selected Seventh Miss was to be presented to Duke Anguo, Guo Sida. However, Seventh Miss Min was not the legitimate daughter, so making her Duke Anguo’s second wife was a bit of a stretch. Still, the Min family head didn’t think he had much room to bargain. He sent a visiting card to Yanguo Mansion and then went back to the Min family’s house in the city to wait.
Duke Anguo, Guo Sida, was recovering well, and after drinking enough medicine could pretend he didn’t even have a wound.
Compared to seeking vengeance on Yan Jingzhou, he was now more concerned with covering up his own situation—rumors were already circulating in the capital that he’d suffered an unspeakable injury. The Min family head’s card was just what he needed to deflect attention.
No sooner had the Min family head sent his card than the Yanguo Mansion’s Grand Steward arrived with a small sedan chair.
Their eagerness set off warning bells in the Min family head’s mind. Having heard some of the rumors himself, he had a growing sense of dread.
That sense was almost entirely justified by nightfall.
As soon as Seventh Miss Min saw Duke Anguo Guo Sida, she threw herself at him, sobbing about her wretched fate.
Originally, it was supposed to be Third Lady Min, but Yan Jingzhou had intervened, so they sent out this foolish girl who cried at first sight. Guo Sida, annoyed the more he thought about it, shook her off on the spot with a curse and strode away.
Back in the study, Guo Sida dashed off another letter to his daughter in the palace, urging her to think of something.
But Noble Consort Guo had no intention of responding. As she thought to herself, putting on an act for Emperor Yongning day after day had drained her in both body and spirit, but she had no other way if she wanted to survive. As for her father selling her out for his own gain, she, a Transmigrator, could not care less whether that useless lump lived or died.
Guo Sida, having received no reply, grew even more irritable. One day, entering the palace, he happened to run into Ling Jing, who was paying respects to Noble Consort Min. With a fire in his heart, he was about to act when he spotted a team of Imperial Guards rushing over with blades drawn.
Having suffered yet another defeat, Guo Sida returned home seething. If Yan Jingzhou wants to rebel, let me help him a little!
He ordered someone to write a letter in his daughter’s name, along with a box containing a yellow imperial robe, sending it through her usual secret messaging route to Yan Duan.