Inside the palace.
Upon hearing the news, Consort Xue immediately sought an audience with the emperor.
"Your Majesty, the Chu family has gone too far! You must stand up for your humble consort!"
The emperor had already received word before her arrival and quickly helped her up. "Beloved Consort, what is this? I’ve heard about the matter concerning the Marquis Chengen. I understand your distress for your brother..."
Sensing the emperor’s evasive tone, Consort Xue pinched herself to force out tears. "Your Majesty, he is my only brother! After suffering such humiliation and being forced into a severance of relations, how is he to live from now on?"
The emperor thought to himself that the marquis wouldn’t be in this state if he hadn’t schemed against others first. Still, he placated her, "Then what would you have me do, beloved?"
Consort Xue lifted her tear-streaked face. "Yu Ru investigated for me. Zhang Ji claimed he was struck unconscious upon entering the room and even fed a Revival Pill. Someone must have orchestrated this! I beg Your Majesty to summon Chu Jing to the palace for questioning!"
The emperor felt a headache coming on.
His previous conflicts with Duke Chu over the Yan Family had already strained their relationship.
Summoning the duke’s sister now over this matter might push the old minister away entirely.
"Beloved, it’s not that I won’t help you, but interrogating someone without evidence is unreasonable. Besides, Cao Yang was present at the time—you know him, impartial and fair. That’s why I entrusted the Ministry of Justice to him. If he didn’t raise any objections, it must have been a coincidence."
Seeing her tearful face, he softened his tone. "Let this matter rest. Instead, there’s something important I wish to discuss."
The emperor rarely spoke with such gravity. Consort Xue wiped her tears as he continued, "I intend to name our Cong'er as Crown Prince!"
Consort Xue was overjoyed.
Her Cong'er was the fifth prince, with four older brothers ahead of him—including the second prince, Murong Rui, the Empress’s legitimate son.
Great Xia traditionally followed primogeniture or succession by the legitimate heir. Her son was neither the eldest nor of legitimate birth—this fortune was entirely her doing!
"Your Majesty, but the Empress..."
"Pay her no mind. The appointment of the Crown Prince is a matter of state; she has no say. However, many senior ministers, including Duke Chu, insist I follow tradition and appoint the second prince. We must proceed cautiously. I’m telling you this now to ease your mind. Now, I must meet with the Marquis of Anning shortly. You may retire."
With this assurance, Consort Xue forgot all about the Xue family’s troubles and knelt in gratitude.
Upon returning to Yaoguang Palace, before she could savor her joy, Aunt Yuru rushed in. "Your Highness, terrible news! The Marquis Chengen’s Mansion sent word—the marquis is... no longer functional!"
Consort Xue was thunderstruck.
Aunt Yuru hastily clarified, "I don’t mean it that way! The marquis is alive, but..."
She whispered a few words into the consort’s ear. Consort Xue’s expression shifted from shock to disbelief before she cried out, "What? You mean my brother... Then the Xue family line will end with him?"
Aunt Yuru dared not respond—how could she outright say the marquis was traumatized after his ordeal?
Consort Xue took a deep breath to suppress her fury. "Have the mistress and her son been found?"
"No. Miss Ling personally escorted them out of the city. She’s returned to the Chu family and refuses to see anyone from the Xue family..."
"Summon Xue Ling to the palace at once! I’ll ask her myself—does she bear the surname Xue or Chu?"
But Aunt Yuru shook her head. "Your Highness, the Chu family seems prepared. Early this morning, Chu Jing took her daughter to Guardian Temple, claiming they’d be reciting sutras for some time. They’re no longer in the capital."
Consort Xue laughed bitterly—this frustration of having no outlet for her rage was unbearable.
"Who remains in the Chu family, then?"
"Only the previously divorced Eldest Miss Chu and the third miss are still at the mansion."
"Bring them both here!" Consort Xue commanded. Aunt Yuru hesitated. "But the emperor..."
She sneered. "The emperor only forbade me from investigating further. He never said I couldn’t receive them!"
When the summons reached the Duke of Chu’s Mansion,
Chu Ruolan paced anxiously. "Mother, what do we do? Consort Xue must be targeting us over Aunt’s affairs! Had we known, we should’ve gone to Guardian Temple with them!"
Lady Jiang the Younger was equally terrified. After much deliberation, she swallowed her pride and approached Chu Ruoyan. "Eldest Miss, Ruolan may have quarreled with you before, but she’s still your sister. You can’t abandon her!"
Chu Ruoyan sipped her tea leisurely, not even glancing up. "Stepmother jokes. I can hardly protect myself—how could I shield another?"
Chu Ruolan wrung her hands. "Mother, what if I feign illness to avoid the palace?"
Lady Jiang considered it, but Chu Ruoyan interjected lightly, "Stepmother, Consort Xue isn’t so easily fooled. If she discovers the ruse and sends a royal physician, what then?"
Chu Ruolan burst into tears. Lady Jiang knelt abruptly, her voice pleading. "I was wrong in the past. I admit my faults here and now!"
The servants gasped at the sight of their mistress kneeling.
Chu Ruoyan studied her for a moment. "Aunt, we’re both clever women, so I’ll be blunt. The past cannot be erased, but from today onward—"
"You have my word—no more trouble. Your allowances will be doubled—no, tripled! How does that sound?"
Lady Jiang watched her desperately. Chu Ruoyan drawled, "And my dowry..."
Lady Jiang gritted her teeth. "Thirty-six shops, six hundred acres of fertile land, six estates—along with the servants’ contracts!"
Even the dowry tripled?
Chu Ruoyan smiled. For all her faults, Lady Jiang truly cherished her daughter.
She agreed. Once in the carriage, Chu Ruolan couldn’t resist asking, "Do you really have a plan?"
"Third Sister is free to doubt me."
Chu Ruolan hastily backtracked. "I don’t doubt you! It’s just... if you’re so capable, why didn’t you act before? And Father dotes on you—if you spoke, he’d surely..."
Chu Ruoyan lowered her gaze with a faint smile. "Then do you think Father could bear to keep your mother afterward?"
Chu Ruolan froze. A soft sigh followed. "To learn his longtime companion was a viper—even if he could bring himself to punish her, his heart would break. I won’t let him suffer that. So, it’s best we coexist peacefully henceforth. Otherwise..."
She fixed Chu Ruolan with a piercing look.
The younger girl shuddered. "Never! We’d never dare!"
At the palace gates, the two alighted from the carriage.
Following the eunuch escort, they paused when he announced, "Someone approaches. Please step aside, young misses."
They pressed against the wall, eyes downcast.
A breeze carried a familiar scent—medicinal yet not.
Chu Ruoyan glanced up.
A figure in white robes, seated in a wheelchair—none other than Yan Zheng.
