When the Deposed Crown Prince Was Reborn as Troublemaker - Chapter 88

Mo Shanshan listened to Li Xiyue’s remark about “climbing the wrong high branch” and could not help but retort. “I didn’t covet his background — I genuinely…”

Li Xiyue cut her off with what seemed like self-mockery. “Genuinely? What does genuine feeling amount to?”

Mo Shanshan assumed Li Xiyue was saying that her own genuine feelings were worthless, yet she had no way of knowing that Li Xiyue’s self-mockery was directed at the genuine feelings she herself had once harbored for You Yuyi.

“We’re here.” Li Xiyue suddenly stopped and pointed at the exquisite and elegant courtyard before them. “This will be your residence from now on. Those maidservants and matrons are all at your disposal.”

Mo Shanshan looked at the fawning faces of the servants in the courtyard and felt a little uneasy, but she composed herself and acknowledged with a word.

“You don’t need to pay your respects at my quarters — if you have nothing pressing, don’t come bothering me either.” With that, Li Xiyue turned and left.

After Li Xiyue had walked away, the servants in the courtyard crowded around and said, “Secondary Consort, please don’t stand outside — do come in.”

The servants in the residence had assumed that being assigned to serve a secondary consort of rural origins was no enviable posting, but who could have imagined that this secondary consort was already with child? And when they further considered that the principal consort of the residence was unable to bear children, the child this secondary consort carried would be Prince Yan’s firstborn child!

In an instant, the servants’ minds began to stir, and their warmth toward Mo Shanshan grew effusive. Mo Shanshan felt as though even the cold and magnificent pavilions and towers had taken on a measure of warmth.

Meanwhile, on the other side of things, You Yuyi found himself in a bind over buying a house for the Mo family. He had secretly pawned Li Xiyue’s dowry in the first place precisely because he had no money to buy a shop — now that a shop had become a residence in the eastern part of the city, he still could not afford to buy one.

“Your Highness, what should we do?” the chief steward of the Prince’s residence asked.

You Yuyi replied with mild irritation, “Just say there are no suitable residences in Chang’an and have them stay in the Prince’s residence for the time being.”

“Yes,” the chief steward answered.

“Find somewhere far off and put them there. When they have nothing to do, I don’t want them wandering in front of me,” You Yuyi instructed.

“Yes.”

And so the entire Mo family moved into Prince Yan’s residence. Father Mo, now living there, never once considered that Prince Yan could not afford to buy a house — he simply took it as the prince’s show of old sentiment, deliberately keeping them in the residence.

And so, the very first thing Father Mo did after moving in was to seek out Mo Shanshan and personally coach her on how to vie for favor.

It was dusk. You Yuyi and Li Xiyue were having their evening meal when a maidservant from Secondary Consort Mo’s side came running over and said, “Your Highness, the secondary consort says she is feeling unwell and asks that you go check on her.”

Upon hearing this, You Yuyi could not help but glance toward Li Xiyue, who was drinking her soup. Li Xiyue’s expression was placid — she appeared to have no particular reaction.

You Yuyi had no choice but to rise and say, “I’ll go take a look.”

“Please do, Your Highness,” Li Xiyue replied.

The moment those words fell, the maidservant from Secondary Consort Mo’s side was visibly delighted, barely able to conceal her triumph.

After You Yuyi had gone, the young maidservant at Li Xiyue’s side could not restrain herself and spat, “What a shameless creature — putting on such an act.”

Li Xiyue, for her part, felt nothing much about it. After all, whatever bond of husband and wife had existed between her and You Yuyi had been severed completely — what sustained her now was vengeance alone.

The old matron nearby observed this and said, “It is of no matter that the principal consort does not take it to heart. Once this old servant reports it to the Imperial Noble Consort, she will surely deal with this rule-breaking wretch on your behalf.”

Li Xiyue coughed several times and then said, “In a few days it will be the Duanwu Festival, and the noblewomen will all be entering the palace for the banquet.”

(TL: The Duanwu Festival, also known internationally as the Dragon Boat Festival, is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar.)

Secondary Consort Mo was, after all, Prince Yan’s secondary consort — appointed by imperial decree, not some lowly concubine who could be beaten or killed at a whim. If she were suddenly unable to attend the palace banquet and Consort Xian were to ask after it, there would be no easy explanation.

Clearly the old matron sent by the Imperial Noble Consort to keep watch over her understood what lay beneath her words, and so she said, “Very well — we’ll spare that wretch for a few days.”

By now Li Xiyue’s coughing had grown considerably worse. The young maidservant beside her hurried to bring over a bowl of pear broth.

“It’s useless — the root of the illness took hold long ago,” said Li Xiyue, pushing the bowl aside.

After her miscarriage, her body had never properly recovered, and then that old woman had fed her slow-acting poison on top of it all. Even now that the poison had been stopped, her body had already deteriorated to a sorry state.

The old matron beside her looked on at Li Xiyue’s sickly and frail appearance with inward satisfaction. The imperial physician who had come to examine her had said that even with the best care, Princess Yan had only a few years to live. Once Princess Yan died, Prince Yan would be free to take another well-born noblewoman as his wife.

That night, Prince Yan’s residence passed in relative calm. The dramatic scene all of Chang’an had been anticipating — Princess Yan tearing into the secondary consort — never materialized.

And so, when the noblewomen of Chang’an gathered, they could not help but whisper amongst themselves.

“Princess Yan’s temper has really improved — a secondary consort arrives out of nowhere and she doesn’t even fly into a rage.”

“Hasn’t it just? In the old days she would’ve been screaming for beatings and blood — wouldn’t that have given us something to talk about.”

“I wonder what Prince Yan’s secondary consort looks like, to have made Prince Yan willingly marry into her family.”

“A village girl — how good-looking could she be?”

“No rush, no rush — tomorrow is the Duanwu Banquet at the palace. With her standing as Prince Yan’s secondary consort, she’s entitled to attend. We’ll get a look at her then.”

And so, as everyone was busy gossiping about Prince Yan’s household affairs, You Yusui was summoned to Xuande Hall.

It had been quite some time since You Fengyun had last seen You Yusui, and after two months away, the boy had grown even thinner. No wonder — the moment he returned to the palace, he had been so exhausted that he had fallen straight to sleep, unable to come and pay his respects at once.

You Fengyun sat with a stern expression and said, “If I hadn’t summoned you, were you planning not to come at all?”

Dragged out of his bedding against his will, You Yusui could not help but say plaintively, “I wasn’t.”

You Fengyun looked at You Yusui, who had lost yet another noticeable amount of weight, and his heart softened. What was the point of quarreling with a sickly child?

With that thought in mind, You Fengyun took the memorial of impeachment submitted by the censors and handed it to An Hai, having him pass it to You Yusui to read.

Once You Yusui had read through it, You Fengyun spoke, “Is everything written here true?”

You Yusui quietly closed the memorial and said, “All of it is false.”

Having said so, You Yusui moved to tear the memorial apart.

“Oh dear, Your Highness the Crown Prince — you mustn’t, you simply mustn’t!” Startled, Eunuch An Hai hurriedly reached out and snatched the memorial from You Yusui’s hands, thus saving it from his destructive grasp.

Having retrieved the memorial, An Hai glanced up at You Fengyun’s expression. Good — no anger. Sure enough, the Crown Prince was the most favored imperial son — even attempting to tear a memorial provoked no wrath.

You Fengyun looked down at You Yusui and said, “Oh? Then tell me — which parts are false? The title of ‘Twin Corrupt Officials of the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace’ has made quite a name for itself among officials from Chang’an all the way to Hedong Commandery.”

You Yusui put on an expression that said, What Twin Corrupt Officials of the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace? I have no idea what you’re talking about.

“Those things were given to this son of their own accord. The fact that this son accepted them cannot simply be called accepting bribes,” You Yusui said, feigning incomprehension.

You Fengyun let out a cold laugh. The memorial was filled with accusations of You Yusui’s offenses in accepting bribes, painting his conduct in the most damning of terms — yet in summary: the Crown Prince had only taken money and done nothing in return. The Crown Prince had been running a con.

And so when You Fengyun brought up the fact that You Yusui had taken money without doing anything for the givers, You Yusui had all the more to say in his defense.

“Since I accepted their money yet rendered them no service, that proves I did not abuse my authority for private gain. If there was no abuse of authority for private gain, how can it be called accepting bribes?” You Yusui countered.

Beside them, An Hai’s eyes went wide — how could anyone argue like this? — while You Fengyun beside him was nodding along.

“Not only did I not accept bribes, but Father Emperor may also dismiss from office those who sent me gifts. Does this not rid the court of yet another batch of parasites?” You Yusui continued.

An Hai listened and could not suppress the cry in his heart: Oh heavens, Your Highness the Crown Prince — do you realize you’ve been conducting entrapment?

Yet You Fengyun, seated upon the dragon throne, said, “Zhen finds the Crown Prince’s reasoning quite sound.”

An Hai, who had expected You Fengyun to roundly denounce the Crown Prince’s twisted logic: ……

Hearing those words, You Yusui could not help but break into a smile and puffed out his chest. He had been right all along.

“However,” You Fengyun said with a perfectly earnest expression, “Zhen believes you ought to share half of what you received with Zhen.”

The smile on You Yusui’s face froze. He wanted to ask You Fengyun — where was his dignity?

In the end, You Yusui, in order to buy himself peace and quiet, handed over half of his earnings to You Fengyun.

You Fengyun watched You Yusui’s retreating figure and allowed the corner of his mouth to curl into a smile. He then turned to An Hai beside him and said, “Have it deposited into the state treasury for Zhen.”

An Hai: “……Yes.”

Your Majesty, why would you take money from a child? Are you really short of that sum?

After returning to the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace from Xuande Hall, You Yusui became listless, drooping like a small cabbage battered by frost — a pitiable sight.

Huo Xiling, who knew what had happened, patted You Yusui on the head and then said, “Your Highness, tomorrow is the Duanwu Festival — shall I take you out boating?”

“There’s still the palace banquet,” You Yusui said.

“We can slip away halfway,” Huo Xiling replied. “I’ll catch fish for Your Highness — what do you say?”

“Alright — catch a few extra to send to maternal grandfather,” You Yusui said with a smile.

You Yusui found himself looking forward to the Duanwu Festival tomorrow.

The next day, in Prince Yan’s residence, Princess Yan Li Xiyue rose early to wash and dress in preparation for entering the palace. As she put on her jewels one by one, her face remained frighteningly pale.

“Consort, shall we add a bit more rouge?” the attending maidservant asked.

“No need.” Li Xiyue said between coughs.

The maidservant beside her had no choice but to set the rouge down.

“Go to my dowry chests and find a ruby pendant — that one is good, it will lend me some color.”

“Also, go fetch that new palace gown of mine.”

Li Xiyue gave a number of instructions, sending everyone out of her room. She then retrieved from a corner a silk handkerchief that had been soaked in medicinal liquid and left to dry, and tucked it into her sachet filled with fragrant herbs, all before anyone re-entered the room.

Once Li Xiyue had finished dressing and grooming herself completely, she said, “Let’s go.”

Before long, Li Xiyue and Mo Shanshan boarded a carriage together and set off toward the imperial palace.