Chapter 114

Chapter 114

When Prince Jing heard Wan Linlang admit her guilt, he didn't show much emotion.

Even if Wan Linlang hadn't won the argument with Qiu Xiang, Prince Jing and the Princess Consort weren't stupid.

Fang Yuaner wasn't feeling well, but instead of calling the house doctor, she sent a maid to fetch Wan Linlang—that alone was unusual.

The two of them had butted heads plenty of times.

Why would Wan Linlang leave her own courtyard in the middle of the night to go stir up trouble with Fang Yuaner at Xiachi Courtyard?

Where'd she get the guts?

Sure, the clash was real, but Fang Yuaner wasn't exactly blameless either.

But since Fang Yuaner had just gone through childbirth, Prince Jing couldn't really hold something this petty against her.

Prince Jing said, "Handle the household affairs however you see fit, Princess Consort."

The Princess Consort pursed her lips, knowing Prince Jing hated dealing with this stuff and had dumped it on her again.

The Princess Consort looked down at Wan Linlang. "Wan Shi, for offending the Shu Fei and causing her to go into early labor, you'll lose half a year's allowance, be confined to your quarters for a month, and copy ten volumes of Buddhist scriptures as punishment."

Unless it was a serious crime, punishments in the household were just confinement, docking pay, and copying scriptures—they didn't resort to physical punishment lightly.

Wan Linlang bowed respectfully to the Princess Consort. "This servant admits her guilt!"

Once Wan Linlang was taken care of, Prince Jing headed back to the front courtyard with his people.

He'd barely sat down when Shi An said, "Your Highness, Jing Wu is back."

Prince Jing said, "Tell him to wait in the study."

After changing, Prince Jing saw Jing Wu in the study.

Prince Jing: "What did you get out of the interrogation?"

Jing Wu kept his head down. "Reporting to Your Highness. The eunuch Yuanbao said Aunt Fangchun from the palace told him to do it."

"Fangchun?" A cold smile crossed Prince Jing's face. "Consort Chen's got some nerve!"

Fangchun was indeed one of Consort Chen's people.

Prince Jing was filled with disgust.

This Consort Chen came from a lowly background and only got the Emperor's favor because of her looks.

But she turned out to be sharp-tongued and vicious, bullying and stepping on every concubine in the palace, with a never-ending bag of dirty tricks—and none of them all that clever.

Or maybe, since she had the Emperor's favor, she just couldn't be bothered to hide what she did.

Before, Consort Chen's reach had been limited to the harem, but now she was sticking her nose into the prince's mansion outside the palace.

Prince Jing swallowed the anger rising in his chest and let out a small laugh. "Didn't the seventh prince's favorite chambermaid just die?"

Prince Qi was born to the Empress when she was older, and she treasured him more than anything.

The Empress had big hopes for this son and was extremely strict with him growing up.

Before Prince Qi got his own household and title, he was only allowed chambermaids.

But Prince Qi was a spitting image of the current Emperor.

A lecherous, dissolute type—loved people to obsession and hated them to the point of wanting them dead.

Even though he couldn't marry or take concubines, he never lacked for palace attendants, and recently he'd almost gotten his hands on one of the Emperor's own maids.

The chambermaid who died was a palace maid who'd grown up with Prince Qi, acting like a mother and big sister to him—she meant a lot to him.

Lately, Prince Qi had started to suspect the Empress was behind the chambermaid's death, and he'd been giving her the cold shoulder for a while.

Prince Jing dipped his brush and wrote one character on the paper laid out before slowly saying, "To keep the Empress and the seventh brother from falling out as mother and son, the seventh brother ought to know the truth."

After a pause, Prince Jing added, "Also, dig up stuff on the others in the seventh brother's household and pin it all on Consort Chen too."

Half-truths and ambiguity were what really left a person with no way to defend themselves.

Though Consort Chen, counting on the Emperor's favor, probably wouldn't even bother to deny it.

Suddenly, Prince Jing remembered what Fang Yuaner had said.

A palace collapsing?

Was it really just a dream, or was there something more to it?

After Jing Wu left, Prince Jing practiced his calligraphy in the study.

Before long, Shi An came in with a letter.

"Your Highness, I just found a letter tucked into my clothes. It's addressed to you personally, so it looks like someone meant it for you."

Prince Jing gave it a casual glance. On the envelope were four big blood-red characters—"For the Prince's Personal Reading."

Whether it was written in blood or cinnabar, he couldn't tell.

Shi An said, "I already checked it—it's just a regular letter."

Prince Jing casually opened and read it, his eyes growing darker and darker.

Shi An waited nearby, not daring to speak up.

"Do you know who sent it?"

Shi An kept his head down. "After thinking it over, it probably came from someone close to Shiqie Wan."

"Got it. You can go."

"Yes."

Letter in hand, Prince Jing walked slowly over to the candle and set it on fire.

Fang Shi had just said she dreamed of a palace decorated with nine-tailed luan birds collapsing.

Then Wan Shi sent a letter saying she'd dreamed the night before of a palace in the southeast corner crushed under heavy snow, with a golden hairpin broken in the rubble.

Consort Chen's maiden surname was Jin.

The meaning of Wan Shi's letter couldn't have been more obvious.

Prince Jing gave a faint, enigmatic smile: "How can there be such a coincidence in this world?"

Two people having the same dream at the same time—both dreaming of the palace collapsing and something happening to Chen Consort.

If Prince Jing had merely taken Fang Yuaner's mention as a strange story, then when Wan Linlang brought it up again, he couldn't help feeling wary.

Prince Jing did not believe in ghosts or gods; he believed in human scheming!

With that in mind, he raised his hand.

A figure emerged from the shadows.

"Go check on the situation at Zichen Palace."

The Emperor doted on Chen Consort—he not only gave her the meaningful character "Chen" in her title, but he also found all the other palaces lacking and had Zichen Palace specially built for her.

From the moment it was named, Zichen Palace sparked heated debate in the court.

Its scale nearly surpassed the Empress's Fengqi Palace.

It was only after several protesting officials died in the court that the Emperor reluctantly backed down a step.

If this palace, which consumed countless resources and meant so much, were to collapse just five years after its construction... it would surely rock the court and the whole country.

Prince Jing could already see the storm coming.

In Xiuyue Pavilion, Wan Linlang, dressed in just her inner robe, sat quietly by the bed watching the charcoal fire burn.

After a long while, Sui Yu pushed aside the curtain and came in.

Wan Linlang's eyes instantly lit up, and she asked without thinking, "Has the Prince come?"

Sui Yu stiffened, lowered her head, and shook it quietly.

"The Prince is staying in the front courtyard; nothing's happening."

The smile on Wan Linlang's face vanished instantly, like dark clouds rolling in.

She clutched the quilt tightly and said in disbelief, "How can the Prince not come?!"

Then she looked up at Sui Ci, "Are you sure you delivered the letter to Eunuch Shi'an?"

Sui Ci immediately replied, "I'm certain!"

"I was worried something might go wrong, so I hid in the shadows and watched. I saw with my own eyes Eunuch Shi'an find the letter and stuff it into his sleeve!"

"Unless something went wrong, Eunuch Shi'an would surely have given it to the Prince!"

Wan Linlang pressed, "Then why hasn't the Prince come to Xiuyue Pavilion?!"

"I... I don't know either!"

Sui Yu and Sui Ci were frightened, lowering their heads and not daring to say another word.

No one questioned Eunuch Shi'an's loyalty to Prince Jing.

Wan Linlang was deeply confused: "Could it be that the Prince doesn't believe me?"

"Or has the Prince given up on me entirely?"

"No, that's impossible!"

Wan Linlang refused to believe that Prince Jing would abandon her.

Putting that aside, in her previous life, Prince Jing had ascended to the throne, and he was an extremely ambitious man.

In this life, she had used her gift of foresight to give Prince Jing an advantage; there was no reason for him to have no reaction at all, was there?