The earthquake only knocked a few tiles off some of the Palace’s oldest, rarely used warehouses and deserted dormitories, cracking the walls a bit. So when Emperor Taihe heard that the main residence of the Jin Wang Manor had collapsed, burying Prince Jin under the rubble, his initial shock soon flared into real fury. He suspected his son’s mansion was nothing but a shoddy piece of work.
But now was not the time to hold the Inner Court officials accountable for the construction and upkeep of the imperial clan’s estates. The urgent task at hand was to rescue his son unharmed.
Upon hearing the news that her son had been buried, with his fate uncertain, Concubine De flouted protocol and hurried to the Qianqing Palace’s entrance to beg Emperor Taihe for permission to visit Jin Wang Manor. Emperor Taihe first let her in and had her sit down to regain her composure before sending someone to find out what was happening.
While waiting for his confidant to return with information, the reports from the patrolling censors were brought together by the Imperial Cabinet: due to the earlier snow disaster, people whose homes were at risk had taken shelter in the capital’s temples and Daoist shrines, so the casualties this time were limited. There were very few deaths—up to that point, only three had died, and all were frail elderly.
This only made it more absurd that Prince Jin was buried under the rubble of his own home.
Less than half an hour later, news came back: Prince Jin had already been rescued by Princess Minhe and her husband, and now the princess was awaiting the Emperor’s instructions. Should they bring Prince Jin into the palace?
The moment Emperor Taihe heard this, he knew his son was not gravely injured. Otherwise, his confidant’s first report would have been about his son’s wounds.
But since Minhe asked, he intended to make sure, and besides, the Jin Wang Manor was not fit for occupation at the moment.
Concubine De, sitting by Emperor Taihe, finally allowed herself to sigh in relief, though tears streamed down her face all the same.
It was not long before Prince Jin was escorted by the Imperial Guards back to the palace. Along with him came Princess Minhe and her husband, as well as his future consort, Lady Yang.
The palace’s specialist Imperial Physicians examined Prince Jin. Though he looked pitiful, his injuries were only superficial—a little rest would do, and it was nothing serious.
Furious, Concubine De slapped her son right then and there, her voice trembling as she chided, “And yet you were groaning the whole way here!”
Prince Jin no longer played the part of the dying man. He candidly confessed before his father, “Mother, I was fishing! Who knows who meant to harm me? If I didn’t pretend to be seriously hurt, they’d try something again. If one trick fails, another will follow. If something else happens before February, will I still be able to get married?!”
To be honest, he was sure he hadn’t been knocked out by falling debris: his injuries were definitely not just superficial. It hurt so much he’d blacked out—there was no way that was merely a flesh wound.
When he woke up, his arms were being pulled by his uncle, while his aunt, shovel in hand, stood behind, looking down at him with an inscrutable smile.
He figured he’d never forget this scene for the rest of his life… Maybe his aunt and uncle had done something to him, but he sensed they meant him no harm. At this moment, he was starting to believe that his beloved really had “lived another lifetime.” Furthermore, according to what she’d told him, in her past life his aunt had not married his current uncle. Could he then suspect that his uncle had also had some extraordinary encounter?
He was saved by his uncle, his beloved was at his side with reddened eyes gazing at him—he thought it was worth it. All the ones blessed with fateful encounters were in his corner. Having supporters with extraordinary luck was at least as good as being fortunate oneself.
That Prince Jin was unscathed did not mean everyone else was fine.
Emperor Taihe ordered an investigation at Jin Wang Manor. The ultimate conclusion was that its architecture had no issues, yet the collapse itself was…very strange.
Unconvinced, Emperor Taihe disguised himself and toured the site. He found that the Ministry of Works and the Inner Court officials in charge of the inspection had spoken nothing but the truth.
He had no choice but to bury his doubts for now and set people to repairing the Jin Wang Manor, since his seemingly carefree son still wanted to hold his wedding on schedule in February.
As for the real mastermind, Prince Chu, after “working his magic” and causing his fifth brother to be buried under rubble, was so drained that he fainted and did not wake for an entire day.
If not for Prince Chu's prior instructions, and the fact that he revived after twenty-four hours, his steward would have ignored orders and gone directly to the palace to report.
When Prince Chu awoke, his steward first informed him that Prince Jin had been buried. He immediately put on a look of shock and concern, but before he could voice his distress, the steward added cheerfully that Prince Jin had been unharmed and it was merely a false alarm.
This time, Prince Chu was truly shocked. Next came fury: Who ruined my plan? I went to great effort to cause a house collapse! Now it will be a long time before I can create another “accident.”
He tidied himself up and went to the palace to visit his injured fifth brother. From his birth mother, Noble Consort Wan, he learned that because Princess Minhe and her husband lived close by, they’d arrived in time and successfully rescued Prince Jin, then brought him to the palace.
On the surface, Prince Chu said, “Fifth brother… surely good fortune awaits you.”
But in his heart he was thinking: Even in my peak condition, I would never dare make a move inside the palace!
After two failed attempts, Prince Chu was starting to grow frustrated, but the thought that seizing the throne wasn’t child’s play comforted him a little. If it could be accomplished too easily, that would make no sense.
He determined to conserve his strength and look for the next opportunity.
Back at his own residence, he claimed he needed rest, sent away the Inner Attendants and the ladies-in-waiting, then reviewed everything that had happened recently with his powerful intuition. The more he mulled it over, the more convinced he became that Lady Yang and Princess Minhe with her husband were suspicious.
As for Lady Yang, he remembered unintentionally disciplining her before. Since then, she’d hated him… Yes, his intuition told him that Lady Yang had figured out he was the mastermind!
So here was the problem: if Lady Yang weren’t special, how could she know he’d made a move and thus start to hate him?
Moreover, his father had always favored Princess Minhe, so much so that all the siblings paled in comparison.
But the strangeness he sensed from Princess Minhe came even more from her new husband, Er Jingzhou.
Just the thought of directly dealing with Er Jingzhou struck Prince Chu like lightning—he immediately blacked out.
By the time he woke again, the sun had set. He now had both a good and bad outcome: the good was that he’d found his true opponent, the bad was that he stood no chance against him for the time being. Clearly, the other party’s background was far greater… He might even be some sort of sage reborn.
But for someone who was supposedly the reincarnation of a sage to marry a princess, he could only accept that his aunt and her husband genuinely loved each other.
After yet another defeat, Prince Chu was much more cautious for a while.
Prince Jin’s superficial injuries healed quickly, and with the officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Works and the Inner Court working earnestly and overtime, the Jin Wang Manor was fully repaired before the wedding—Lady Yang knew how to win people over, realizing that you had to provide real benefits if you wanted people to devote themselves to such an effort.
So the next day, she sent her steward to the construction site with boxed meals, distributed bolts of fabric and medicine, and handed out a handful of small silver ingots to reward the craftsmen. The principal officials received not only better meals but also custom-made outer robes and a fifty tael silver ticket… She couldn’t give too much at once, or it would look like a bribe.
Lady Yang handled affairs smoothly. Even the Emperor Taihe praised her.
Concubine De, who admittedly harbored a few reservations about Lady Yang though she hadn’t shown it, regarded her with a cold eye but had to acknowledge she was an outstanding help—their son had chosen well.
Especially notable to Emperor Taihe, however, was his sister and brother-in-law.
His sister had personally taken charge of resettling those affected by the snow disaster and earthquake, initiating a program of work for relief: providing warm coats, boots, and gloves, along with a meal including meat and ten mantou, each the size of a grown man’s palm—so long as the commoners wore the new cotton clothes and followed experienced foremen out to clear the snow and repair unsafe houses, they were paid directly for extra work completed.
By the Lantern Festival, all those affected had already returned home.
After reviewing the reports submitted by his sister and her husband, especially the thorough accounting done by his sister-in-law, Emperor Taihe felt it was worth a try to promote such measures further.
Who better to oversee this work? Naturally, the newlywed Prince Jin and his consort, back from their marriage leave.
On the court, Prince Chu clenched his fist. It was a good post, but unfortunately, his fifth brother and his wife had managed to secure it…
If his fifth brother were allowed to rise unchecked, bit by bit, he might one day become as strong as Er Jingzhou, so powerful that he could be struck down at a whim.
And then there was Er Jingzhou—a most formidable roadblock. He could not just sit back and do nothing.
If only he could get rid of both of these threats in one go, all the better.
So he sent many people out to gather intelligence, but made sure not to target Princess Minhe’s residence or the Jin Wang Manor directly—that would be too obvious.
His father, sitting high atop the dragon throne, would not tolerate even a speck in his eye.
After much maneuvering, he really did find some possible openings.
First, the Mi family—a father and son who bore a grudge against Er Jingzhou and Er Xiao after being utterly humiliated in their broken engagement, as well as the youngest and most spoiled son of Prince Qiyang.
Second, there was the former Jin Wang Consort, Concubine De’s own niece—no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t escape being sent back to her maiden family, and no matter how she wept, her family refused to intervene. In the end, she came to hate both the Prince Jin couple and her own family.
Third, the wife of Marquis Wu'an and her children, especially the son and daughter born to Marquis Wu'an’s principal wife.
Fourth, Er Jingzhou’s eldest daughter, Er Yao. With a little investigation, Prince Chu discovered this girl was a real treasure. She was the only one who responded the instant he sent someone to make friendly overtures.
Er Yao was not incautious. She replied quickly, but as soon as she seemed sure it was he who had reached out, the tone and style of her letters changed. From her words he could see the flattery, along with resentment for her father and older brother, and genuine hatred toward the PrinceJin couple...
This was all very curious.
Prince Chu probed again with his intuition: Er Yao seemed to have something supernatural about her, too. So he decided to see what she knew and whether she had any fateful encounter.
Sure enough, after dangling her for a few days, Er Yao cracked.
She wanted to join him, but unless she was right there at his side, she wouldn’t share her secrets.
Excited, Prince Chu thought that with his aunt and uncle away staying at the Warm Springs Manor outside the capital, he just might have a chance to steal her away.
With his intuition, he was not worried about any complications in such a minor matter.
So on her way from Marquis Wu'an’s Mansion to visit Old Madam, Er Yao... disappeared.
Chief steward Qin Jingzhou waited until the subordinate who’d hurriedly reported left before saying to Ling Jing, “Prince Chu is quite cautious.”
Ling Jing replied, “No matter, she’ll be sent back soon. Er Yao is a hot potato. Prince Chu would never bother keeping her.”
Just as they expected, in the middle of the night Er Yao was knocked out and dumped at the entrance to the Princess’s Residence.
The princess and her family were still staying at the Warm Springs Manor. The steward had to bring Er Yao inside first, then quickly send someone to report what happened.
When she came to, Er Yao saw her elder brother and little sister sitting at her bedside, both looking at her with indescribable expressions.
Remembering the pill Prince Chu had made her swallow, and recalling that she seemed to have blurted out all her secrets in a daze, she rolled over and bent down, trying to force up everything in her stomach… She knew perfectly well it was too late for that.
Xiao Xi could only sigh, “Big sister, how does it feel to run headlong into a wall? You really think you were the only one to live another life?”
Er Yao stared wide-eyed at her little sister, but for a long while, she could not utter a word.