When the Deposed Crown Prince Was Reborn as Troublemaker - Chapter 104

At first, You Yuyi hadn’t paid much attention to it. After all, there were plenty of storybooks about wealthy young ladies and charming young men, and the plots within them followed the usual course of events — the endings were more or less the same as any other such tale, with the wealthy young miss and the dashing young man weathering hardship after hardship before finally becoming a devoted couple.

As for whether people were arguing that the charming Young Master Zhao had seduced Zhou Yueniang, or that Zhou Yueniang had shamelessly thrown herself at someone, You Yuyi didn’t particularly care.

It was only when the storyteller at the teahouse began his second telling of The Tale of Lady Yue that You Yuyi noticed something was wrong.

The storyteller’s startling block came down with a crack, and he snapped open the folding fan in his hand, declaring, “Last time, we left off with Zhou Yueniang and Young Master Zhao falling for each other and spending a blissful night together. Who could have foreseen that Zhou Yueniang would end up with child — and with the matter on the verge of being impossible to conceal, Zhou Yueniang went to Young Master Zhao to discuss a marriage proposal…”

“But that Young Master Zhao of the Zhao family had no intention of marrying Zhou Yueniang. Instead, he wanted to marry her off to his own legitimate younger brother. Zhou Yueniang refused, and her voice rose a little too loudly — only to be accidentally walked in upon by Madam Zhou, who happened to be passing by…”

The audience who had been shelling peanuts: ……They had already started picturing Prince Yan in their minds. And was Qianqiu Xue really this bold — writing the imperial family’s gossip into a storybook?

Meanwhile, Cui Yan, who was sitting in the restaurant across from the teahouse, looked at You Yusui across the table and said, “A legitimate son? That’s actually doing Prince Wu a favor in terms of status.”

You Yusui said, “It’s just to make the story more plausible.”

Having said that, You Yusui gazed toward Prince Yan’s estate at the far end of the long street, wondering how long Prince Yan would be able to sit still.

After Huo Xiling finished shelling sunflower seeds for You Yusui, he said, “Every restaurant and teahouse in Chang’an is now telling The Tale of Lady Yue. Your Highness must have spent quite a lot of money.”

“A trifling matter — it’ll be earned back soon enough.” You Yusui smiled and said, “I also had several tens of thousands of copies of The Tale of Lady Yue printed. They’ll surely sell out before long. When that time comes, the profits will be split between this prince and Lord Xiling.”

While they were talking, the storyteller below had already reached the part where, although Zhou Yueniang had married the eldest Young Master Zhao, she was looked down upon for having brought disgrace upon the Zhou family. The Zhou family gave her a dowry and then ceased to regard her as their daughter — yet by some strange coincidence, on the very night of the wedding, the child in Zhou Yueniang’s womb was gone!

In an instant, a wave of sighs broke out from the crowd.

“This Zhou Yueniang is just too foolish, isn’t she.”

“What understanding can a girl who was raised sheltered in the inner chambers have? How could she discern what lies in a person’s heart?” someone retorted.

“Could your own daughter, at fifteen or sixteen, have seen through a heartless man?”

“What terrible luck in love! What terrible luck in love, indeed!”

The storyteller looked at the discussion erupting below and laughed heartily, saying, “Dear patrons, if you enjoy The Tale of Lady Yue and wish to read it for yourselves, you can purchase it at the major bookshops throughout Chang’an. It contains not only the full story of Lady Yue, but also a portrait of Yueniang.”

The storyteller opened the copy of The Tale of Lady Yue in his hands to reveal an illustration — a girl of fifteen or sixteen, just awakening to the stirrings of her heart, holding a red apricot blossom and turning it over in her fingers, with an indescribable air of innocence and beauty.

Sentimental scholars were already on the verge of beating their chests in anguish. They lamented, “How could such a beautiful Yueniang suffer at the hands of such a villain!”

The storyteller smiled and said, “A book like this really isn’t expensive — only ten coins. Likely not even as dear as the paper and ink the gentlemen here use. Won’t you come get a copy?”

When his words fell, several people dressed in the manner of students got up from the teahouse and headed in the direction of the bookshop.

Similar scenes were playing out at restaurants and teahouses all across Chang’an. Some young men of idle, wealthy families, upon seeing the illustration of Yueniang, bought a hundred copies at a time.

When the teahouse storyteller saw people leaving to buy books, he gathered his things and prepared to leave as well — only to find the audience blocking his way, demanding he finish telling the rest of the story.

“Surnamed Chen, keep talking! Don’t run — we’ll pay!”

“Don’t try to fob us off by telling us to buy the book. We can’t read. We just love hearing you tell it.”

“That’s right, that’s right!” someone called out loudly. “We just love hearing you tell it.”

“That won’t do — to tell it properly would take until tomorrow. Dear patrons, same time tomorrow — be here on time.” With that, the storyteller made his escape.

At that moment, the major bookshops were packed to bursting, with everyone clamoring for the latest work by Qianqiu Xue.

“One copy of The Tale of Lady Yue — here you are, patron.”

“The Tale of Lady Yue, the latest from Qianqiu Xue — a story that moves you to the depths of your heart. Would you like a copy?”

“Proprietor, the Cui residence in Chang’an wants twenty copies of The Tale of Lady Yue.”

“Proprietor, Lord Xie’s residence in Chang’an also wants twenty copies of The Tale of Lady Yue!”

As the two voices rang out one after the other, You Yusui — who had come to check on how The Tale of Lady Yue was selling — and Cui Yan standing beside him exchanged a glance.

“Xie Tan reading The Tale of Lady Yue?” That was Cui Yan.

“My maternal grandfather reads this too?” That was You Yusui.

Huo Xiling gave a soft, discreet cough, and You Yusui withdrew his gaze.

“Proprietor, how are sales of The Tale of Lady Yue going?” You Yusui spoke up and asked.

The proprietor smiled and replied, “Selling like mad! I’m afraid it may sell out completely.”

“Would the patron like a copy of The Tale of Lady Yue?” the proprietor asked.

And so, somehow, the three of them found themselves outside the bookshop amid the crowd — each holding a copy of The Tale of Lady Yue.

You Yusui glanced at the copy in his hands. Why had he absent-mindedly paid money for this? Hadn’t he already read it?

Huo Xiling’s expression was equally bewildered — he had just bought a copy of his own book at a bookshop.

The most baffled of all was Cui Yan. What on earth was he buying this for?

In the end, You Yusui looked at the busy bookshop with people coming and going, and said, “I’ve decided to print an additional hundred thousand copies.”

“Can you sell that many?” Cui Yan asked.

Huo Xiling pointed toward the servants of Prince Yan’s estate in the crowd and said, “We have a big buyer.”

Prince Yan, You Yuyi, cared deeply about his reputation — even though that reputation had already rotted through and through, he still made every effort to salvage it. And so the additional hundred thousand copies You Yusui had ordered printed were intended entirely for You Yuyi.

Inside Prince Yan’s estate, You Yuyi had at last received the copy of The Tale of Lady Yue that his servants had gone out to buy.

At first, You Yuyi hadn’t cared much about the matter. But when he heard that the child in Yueniang’s womb had been lost on the wedding night — pushed away by the eldest Young Master Zhao — he finally began to panic.

He hurriedly ordered the servants of the estate to go out and purchase a copy of The Tale of Lady Yue.

“Your Highness, the book you requested.” A servant of the estate handed The Tale of Lady Yue to You Yuyi.

After You Yuyi took the book, he dismissed the servant and opened the cover. The first page bore a print of a young girl holding a red apricot blossom, her expression shyly sweet and charmingly artless — and the sight gave You Yuyi such a fright that he dropped the book straight to the floor.

The first time he and Li Xiyue had met, she had been holding a red apricot blossom and had wandered by mistake into the pavilion where he was resting. At the time, Li Xiyue had looked at him with an expression of guileless innocence and asked in a loud voice who he was — and then he had drawn her in step by step, letting Li Xiyue fall into the web of honeyed words he had woven.

That illustration of the young girl holding a red apricot blossom — while it didn’t look exactly like Li Xiyue, it closely resembled her in spirit.

You Yuyi slowly picked up the book. He told himself that this illustration was surely just a coincidence. After all, only Li Xiyue and he knew what they had looked like when they first met.

Before long, You Yuyi began to leaf through The Tale of Lady Yue. The earlier part of the story was the very typical stuff of romantic storybooks — it told of a wealthy young lady and a passionate young man falling in love at first sight.

As the story moved into the middle and later sections, it began to grow uncannily coincidental in ways that unsettled him: whether it was the loss of the child in Zhou Yueniang’s womb, or Young Master Zhao secretly administering a slow-acting poison to Zhou Yueniang in order to take a new wife — the details were coincidental enough to make his heart seize with dread.

You Yuyi quickly flipped to the ending, and the words “cut off from descendants,” “struck down by heavenly thunder,” and “fell to death from a tower” leapt off the page and stabbed into his eyes.

In an instant, the copy of The Tale of Lady Yue fell from his hands and dropped to the floor.

“Someone come! Someone come!” You Yuyi shouted loudly.

“Your Highness, what is the matter?” the servants murmured in inquiry.

“Go — buy up every single copy of The Tale of Lady Yue in Chang’an and burn them all!” You Yuyi exclaimed, clutching his own chest.

And so, within moments, every copy of The Tale of Lady Yue in Chang’an had been bought up.

When You Yusui heard the news, he said, “Sold out? No matter — a hundred thousand new copies will arrive tomorrow. The only question is whether Prince Yan has a million coins on hand to buy them all up.”

A million coins was a hundred gold taels. As You Yusui saw it, after Prince Yan’s estate had returned Li Xiyue’s dowry, they probably couldn’t scrape together even ten taels.

Just as You Yusui was preparing to contentedly count his money, Eunuch An Hai at You Fengyun’s side, arrived.

“Your Highness, His Majesty is asking you to come over — he says there is something he wishes to speak with you about.” Eunuch An Hai entered the palace chamber where You Yusui was resting, with a smile on his face.

The moment You Yusui heard An Hai’s words, he was immediately on guard. He said, “What matter?”

By experience, whenever You Fengyun came looking for him, it was never anything good.

“This…this servant truly doesn’t know.” An Hai said with a slightly troubled expression.

“This prince will go with you.” You Yusui said resignedly.

“Very good.” An Hai’s smile returned.

A short while later, You Yusui appeared in Xuande Hall.

The mynah from several months ago was still perched on the bird stand. Upon seeing You Yusui arrive, it immediately called out, “A beauty has come! A beauty has come!”

You Yusui: ……What on earth had his Father Emperor been teaching that mynah? Or had the frequency of the harem consorts sending soup to Xuande Hall increased?

“This son greets Father Emperor.” You Yusui suppressed the wild thoughts in his mind and bowed to You Fengyun.

You Fengyun raised his head and looked at You Yusui, saying, “This Zhen has heard that an interesting new storybook has appeared in Chang’an.”

He then produced a copy of The Tale of Lady Yue.

You Yusui: ……Had The Tale of Lady Yue become so famous that even a sovereign with ten thousand affairs to attend to had heard of it?

“Speak — was this your doing?” You Fengyun asked.

You Yusui could only brace himself and say, “After printing with the movable copper type was finished, the type was just sitting there idle. This son thought it would be fine to use it to print storybooks — and besides, did Father Emperor not also invest money in it? Now it’s simply being put to good use.”

You Yusui was already feeling a bit uneasy. Surely not — his Father Emperor couldn’t already know that the characters in the story were modeled after Li Xiyue and You Yuyi… What if he were given the charge of failing to show brotherly affection?

But You Fengyun set down The Tale of Lady Yue and said, “Who asked you about that!”

“Ah?” You Yusui was taken aback.

“What Zhen is asking is — do you know Qianqiu Xue?” You Fengyun asked.

“Hmm?” You Yusui was puzzled.

“The way he describes battle scenes — Zhen likes it very much.” You Fengyun spoke with high praise for Qianqiu Xue’s writing. “The plot is also very well done. The image of a heroine rises vividly from the page.”

“And so?” You Yusui asked.

“And so Zhen intends to have Qianqiu Xue write Zhen a biography!”

“……”

You Yusui felt as though all the air in Xuande Hall was about to be sucked right out of him.