Xue Lin smiled. “I’ve already informed Father that I intend to marry the Third Young Lady. Today, I saw someone impersonating her, so I came to stand up for her.”
He was deliberately using His Majesty’s name to put pressure on us. My older brother’s expression darkened. I gave my eldest sister a look, and she took Shu Yan from my hands and held her back.
I stepped in front of my older brother and smiled. “If you only intend to marry her, then you haven’t made a final decision. Regardless of whether Shu Yan is the Third Young Lady of our general’s residence, she is still an unmarried woman. If you speak this way, Third Prince, and His Majesty ultimately doesn’t decree that you marry Shu Yan, wouldn’t that leave her with no choice but to die? Your words today have already ruined her reputation.”
The Third Prince hurriedly said, “Of course I’ll make it official!”
I smiled at the guests around us. “You are all distinguished people in the capital. Please bear witness for Shu Yan: whether or not she is the Third Young Lady of the general’s residence, the Third Prince wants to marry her. I never knew His Highness was so devoted.”
The Third Prince snapped, “Shu Yan is the Third Young Lady of the general’s residence!”
The Second Prince’s voice came from outside. I tugged my older brother back. I’d chosen the Second Prince as my ally, and when the crucial moment came, it was only right for him to step forward.
If you have an ally and don’t make use of him, you’re a fool. The Second Prince approached with a smile. “Third Brother, you really are devoted. I’ve already sent someone to tell Father that you want to marry Shu Yan. I’m sure the imperial decree of marriage will be issued soon.”
Xue Lin went pale. “You!”
Xue Xing didn’t give him a chance to speak. He came over to Yun Dao. “You must be the Third Young Lady newly welcomed into the general’s residence. You do look a lot like the Second Young Lady—even your dignified bearing resembles the Eldest Young Lady’s.”
He smiled at Father. “Now that you’ve found your beloved daughter again, General, you must cherish her dearly.”
With just a few brief words, Xue Xing established that Yun Dao was the Third Young Lady of the general’s residence. From then on, no one would dare question it.
To question Yun Dao’s identity was to question the Second Prince’s decision. Our whole family thanked Xue Xing. My eldest sister kept a firm hand over Shu Yan’s mouth, not letting her utter a word.
Before long, the imperial decree of marriage arrived. Unlike Xue Lin, who had no maternal relatives to rely on, Xue Xing’s mother was the empress herself. With her help in the palace, things became much simpler.
Xue Lin knelt and accepted the decree, unwillingly, while Shu Yan acted triumphant. As she left, she glared viciously at our family. “Just you wait. One day, I’ll kill every last one of you!”
Her gaze fell on Yun Dao and me. “I’ll be the Third Prince’s consort now. You’ll have to bow and kowtow when you see me!”
I ignored her and shut the main gate tight.
It wouldn’t be long before she came back to the general’s residence in tears, begging for help.
10.
Before half a month had passed, Shu Yan, her eyes red, stopped the carriage carrying Mother and me.
“Mother, are you really going to abandon me?”
Over the past half month, Shu Yan had acted outrageously, relying on the fact that she was about to become the Third Prince’s consort. First, she went to the Chu family to try to disrupt my eldest sister’s proper marriage.
When that didn’t work, she sent word to the young lord of the Chu family, who was returning to the capital, claiming that my eldest sister had been unfaithful. Fortunately, he not only didn’t believe her, but also wrote an entire memorial impeaching the Third Prince.
The young lord of the Chu family had spent the past few years training in the army and had earned an official rank. The Third Prince had been trying to win him over, but now Shu Yan had ruined everything.
The day after the young lord of the Chu family returned to the capital, he went straight to the Second Prince’s residence. His position was now unmistakable. The Third Prince was so furious he wanted to kill someone.
I lifted the sedan curtain for Mother. She gave a cold laugh. “I’m not your mother.”
Shu Yan pushed her maid into the sedan chair and knelt at Mother’s feet, hoping to use the same trick as before to soften her heart. But she didn’t know that what she had done to my eldest sister had completely extinguished Mother’s hopes for her.
“Mother, Xue Lang and I are about to be married, but I have no dowry. I’m your own daughter, too. I should leave for my wedding from the general’s residence.”
Mother mercilessly kicked her in the shoulder. “Get out!”
Shu Yan was dragged away. She would never know that before she arrived, I had applied eye drops to Mother’s eyes. “Mother’s health is getting worse. After everything Shu Yan has been through, she should have grown up a little. If she comes back, she’ll be more concerned about your health.”
But Shu Yan was hopeless. When she saw Mother, every word she said was about her own interests. She didn’t even ask once how Mother was feeling.
How could Mother, who had loved her for more than ten years, not be heartbroken? How could she not be disappointed?
After she was dragged away, Shu Yan shouted at Mother, “What kind of mother does that?! You want me to go die, that’s what! You want me to go die!”
She became the only bride in Shangjing without a dowry, leaving for her wedding from her maternal aunt’s home—her husband’s relatives.
11.
During the six months after Xue Lin and Shu Yan’s wedding, no one from the general’s residence ever visited the Third Prince’s residence. They even kept the gates shut and refused to receive them when they came calling.
The closer I grew to the Second Prince, the more rumors spread through the capital that he and I were discussing marriage.
Xue Lin finally couldn’t sit still. He understood that he had completely lost the support of the general’s residence, and that Shu Yan had become a daughter the household had cast aside.
The Second Prince, meanwhile, had not only his maternal family to rely on, but would soon have the general’s residence as his powerful in-laws. He must have been planning to rebel, just as he had in my previous life—but where would he get the troops?
With no way out, Xue Lin resorted to a desperate gamble. If he couldn’t win the general’s residence’s support, then even if he had to ruin me, he wouldn’t let the Second Prince gain its help.
He had Shu Yan arrange a meeting with me. Even though I knew it was a trap, I went willingly. Xue Xing raised an eyebrow and asked, “Aren’t you afraid? My Third Brother is notorious for his underhanded tactics.”
I smiled at him. “Of course I’m afraid. Your Highness, would you be willing to help me?”
He chuckled, crushed the fish food in his hand, and tossed it into the pond. “I’ll gladly do everything I can to help.”
That night, I drank the cup of wine in front of Shu Yan. Before long, Xue Lin stumbled in, dead drunk. By then, Xue Xing had already spirited me away while Shu Yan was out.
The person lying in the bed in my place was Trương quý nhân, the woman Xue Lin was secretly seeing in the palace. Xue Xing forged Xue Lin’s handwriting and wrote a letter to Trương quý nhân.
Clearly, they had done this before. Trương quý nhân knew the routine well and quickly slipped out of the palace disguised as one of her maids.
The torch in a guard’s hand woke Xue Lin. Xue Xing stood with his arms crossed, leaning against a nearby pillar. His gaze drifted downward as he remarked, “Red mandarin-duck underpants. My Third Brother certainly has taste.”
He curled his lips in an inscrutable smile and raised a hand. “Seize him. Take him to the palace and hand him over to His Majesty.”
12.
His Majesty flew into a rage and fainted. Trương quý nhân was ordered to die on the spot, while Xue Lin was thrown in prison. This charge alone, of course, wasn’t enough to have Xue Lin executed.
Besides, for the sake of his own dignity, His Majesty couldn’t very well announce to the world that Xue Lin had committed an act of moral depravity. If they wanted to nail Xue Lin for good, they had to make his crimes public.
Xue Xing was a seasoned hand in court politics. I didn’t need to say anything; he understood perfectly.
The next day in court, the young lord of the Chu family revealed that Xue Lin had once tried to recruit him, promising that if he helped raise troops and rebel, Xue Lin would make him a marquis as soon as he ascended the throne.
His Majesty was furious and sentenced Xue Lin’s household to confiscation and exile. During the search, they found evidence that he had colluded with the enemy. His sentence was changed from exile to immediate execution.
Shu Yan, as the Third Prince’s consort, couldn’t escape implication either. On the day Xue Lin and Shu Yan were beheaded, they died in the very place where my entire family had been executed in my previous life.
My eldest sister told me to close my eyes, and my older brother assured me it wouldn’t hurt. Our parents regretted everything, but we still couldn’t bring ourselves to forgive them.
Even now, with Shu Yan on the verge of death, it couldn’t erase the rift between us and our parents.
I looked at Yun Dao, who was holding cloaks for the three of us siblings, and couldn’t help reaching out to touch her face.
She thought I wanted a cloak. “Second Sister, I added another layer of velvet lining. It’s so warm when you wear it—you won’t feel cold at all.”
I held back my tears and stroked her head. “That’s right. I’m not cold at all.”
13.
Xue Xing ascended the throne, and everyone assumed I would enter the palace as empress. Even Xue Xing thought so. He brought me the phoenix seal and an imperial decree.
I returned them both. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You don’t want them?”
“That’s right. I don’t.”
Our eyes met. He restrained the tenderness in his gaze and gave a mocking smile. “Do you look down on me?”
I shook my head. “The Shu family must not become the emperor’s in-laws.”
Once a daughter of the Shu family entered the palace, there would be no escaping the family’s fate of becoming the emperor’s in-laws, no matter how hard they tried.
Throughout history, only loyal ministers have ever met a good end. The emperor’s in-laws, meanwhile, have always wielded power for generations—until one misstep brings the death penalty and the destruction of the entire clan.
Xue Xing tapped the phoenix seal with his long, slender fingers. “Think it over a little more. There’s no rush.”
I said calmly, “In a few days, I’ll be returning to defend the frontier. Your Majesty, don’t you think it would be better to have me guard the frontier for you than to make me compete for your favor with all the women in the palace?”
After a long silence, Xue Xing finally smiled. “That’s true. The Second Young Lady has lofty ambitions. I was presumptuous. Then I wish you a safe journey and success in all you undertake.”
“Your servant thanks Your Majesty for your gracious favor.”
[THE END]