When the Deposed Crown Prince Was Reborn as Troublemaker - Chapter 98

Faced with Mo Shanshan’s question, the maidservant hemmed and hawed. This was a shameful matter that could not be spoken of in the Prince of Yan’s household — a laughingstock for all of Chang’an — and a mere maidservant naturally did not dare to say more.

But when Mo Shanshan saw the maidservant’s deep reluctance to speak, she said, “You’re not going to say anything, are you? Then I’ll send you to the Princess Consort. What you said just now would be enough to have you killed a thousand times over.”

Mo Shanshan was simple and inexperienced, but she was no fool. Everything she had witnessed at the Duanwu Banquet had changed her view of the world. As it turned out, power could strip away another person’s title at will; as it turned out, a grandmother could truly lay hands on her own biological grandchild; as it turned out, the ruthless struggles of imperial power were this terrifying.

At the same time, Mo Shanshan had learned how to use power to protect herself.

The maidservant was instantly frightened by Mo Shanshan’s words. In her imagination, Mo Shanshan and the Princess Consort Li Xiyue ought to be completely at odds with each other — how could she have expected Mo Shanshan to hand her over to Li Xiyue for punishment?

Then Mo Shanshan snapped. “Are you going to speak or not?”

Upon hearing this, the maidservant immediately knelt down and then stammered. “The Princess Consort… before she married His Highness Prince Yan… was already… with child. This matter was… spread… until everyone knew of it. And then, then, on the day of the wedding… on the wedding night, His Highness pushed the Princess Consort… the Princess Consort miscarried.”

“Imperial Physician Cui, who saved the Princess Consort, said that she would never be able to bear children again.”

Although the maidservant had summarized the matter in just a few words, Mo Shanshan could still imagine how devastating it must have been — a woman pushed down by her own beloved on her very wedding night, then losing the life she had been nurturing. What grief that must have been. Yet an even greater blow followed: the Princess Consort could never conceive again after that.

“So it was like this…” Mo Shanshan felt her hands trembling slightly.

At the same time, she felt an ever-growing dread of the Prince’s household.

The maidservant was trembling with fear, terrified that what she had said might be overheard by someone, which would cost her her life.

“And then? What happened after that? Did His Highness Prince Yan secretly sell the Princess Consort’s dowry?” Mo Shanshan remembered what she had heard Prince Wu say before she left home, and could not help but ask everything at once.

The maidservant was so frightened by Mo Shanshan’s manner that she fell back onto the floor in a sitting position, yet she could only answer. “Then, then, the Princess Consort was locked away by His Highness, and after that came the dowry affair, and later the Princess Consort came forward to clear His Highness’s name. As for what exactly happened in between — this servant, this servant truly does not know.”

When she had finished speaking, the maidservant kept kowtowing to Mo Shanshan, hoping she would still be alive after having said all of this.

Mo Shanshan was stunned. She could not believe that the man she had loved was such a ruthless, hypocritical scoundrel beneath a virtuous facade, yet the facts kept telling her, again and again, that You Yuyi was exactly that kind of person.

When his child had been lost, he had not come to see her at the first moment, had not sought to uncover the truth, had shown not the slightest trace of grief on his face — and had even remained in the company of the one responsible for it all.

Thinking of this, Mo Shanshan could not help but burst into tears. She cried. “Where is my family? I want to see my mother!”

The maidservant kneeling on the ground said, “His Highness will not permit your family to move freely within the Prince’s household, so…”

Mo Shanshan’s face drained of color. She said, dazed, “He actually locked them up.”

Upon hearing this, the maidservant did not know how to explain. Putting it that way was not wrong — fearing that the Mo family would cause an uproar over Mo Shanshan’s miscarriage and put His Highness in an impossible position, Prince Yan had ordered them confined.

“I want to see the Princess Consort!” Mo Shanshan said. “I want to see the Princess Consort!”

At this moment, the only person she could turn to for help turned out to be the very Princess Consort her own family had wanted to harm.

By now it was already afternoon. After eating a little, You Yuyi had risen and gone to the imperial palace to offer his apologies, while Li Xiyue was taking jewelry from her dowry to adorn herself.

Just as Li Xiyue inserted a golden step-trembler hairpin into her hair bun, the maidservant outside, Xiao Lian, said softly, “Princess Consort, Secondary Consort Mo requests an audience.”

Li Xiyue was somewhat puzzled — Mo Shanshan had only just suffered a miscarriage not long ago; why was she not resting in bed, and instead coming here?

In the end, Li Xiyue said, “Very well, let her come in.”

Having said so, she herself rose and went to the outer reception room.

Mo Shanshan was seen walking in from outside the door. The moment she entered the room she caught a whiff of a delicate fragrance, its source being Li Xiyue, who was seated in a chair.

“Why have you come today? Instead of resting properly in your room and taking care of your body, why come here to me?” Li Xiyue finished speaking and then had Xiao Lian go and help Mo Shanshan to a seat, then had a servant pour Mo Shanshan a cup of tea.

“I wish to ask the Princess Consort to help me.” Mo Shanshan looked at Li Xiyue as she said this.

Li Xiyue gave Xiao Lian a meaningful look, and Xiao Lian immediately dismissed the surrounding servants, then closed the door for Li Xiyue and Mo Shanshan.

Seeing this, Mo Shanshan immediately knelt down and said, “I wish to ask the Princess Consort to help me free my family.”

Upon hearing this, Li Xiyue rubbed her temple and said, “I can barely protect myself — how can I help you? Get up. They are being kept in the courtyard now; perhaps that is actually the best thing for them.”

“Princess Consort?” Mo Shanshan looked at Li Xiyue, not understanding.

Li Xiyue said, “If they were released, your father would make an unrelenting fuss demanding an account for your miscarriage, putting His Highness in an impossible position. One cannot be certain it would not give him thoughts of killing them.”

“Thoughts of killing? How could that be?” Mo Shanshan’s expression turned to one of disbelief.

“At that point, once they were dead, it would simply be said that your parents could not bear life in Chang’an and had returned to their hometown. Who in all of Chang’an would care what had become of your parents? As for what actually happened — it would be whatever You Yuyi chose to say.” Li Xiyue said softly.

She had seen through You Yuyi entirely. Nothing he did could surprise her anymore.

Li Xiyue looked at Mo Shanshan and said, “You had better focus on keeping yourself safe. Where there is a first time, there will be a second.”

“A second time?” Mo Shanshan’s face went pale. She looked at Li Xiyue and said, “She wants my life?”

Li Xiyue nodded and said, “That is right. You are a girl from a farming family who has taken the position of secondary consort, and yet you cannot provide His Highness with any advantage — of course they would want to remove you and replace you with someone of higher standing and better connections.”

At this moment, the expression on Mo Shanshan’s face was beyond mere ugliness to describe.

After a moment, she looked at Li Xiyue. She vaguely remembered that Li Xiyue had lost the backing of the Li family after having done something wrong.

Li Xiyue said, “They dare not let me die just yet — were I to die, it would give others a hold over him.”

Li Xiyue understood perfectly well: were she to die, it would certainly move the Li family, the Grand Princess, and the Third Prince’s faction to attack the First Prince together. Unable to withstand that, he did not dare let her die for the time being.

As for Mo Shanshan, her mind was in complete chaos. She had grown up in a humble household, pampered by her parents all her life, and had never before encountered methods this brutal and sordid.

She could not help but ask, “Then can I seek a divorce from him?”

All of a sudden, Li Xiyue laughed — laughing at her naivety. She reached out and stroked Mo Shanshan’s delicate and guileless face, saying, “When you marry into an imperial family, there is no divorce — only death.”

In an instant, Mo Shanshan’s heart went half cold.

After a moment, Mo Shanshan raised her head and looked at Li Xiyue, saying, “Then what if Prince Yan were to die?”

Upon hearing this, Li Xiyue was momentarily taken aback, and then laughed. She had not expected Mo Shanshan to be capable of saying something like that.

Yet Mo Shanshan simply wanted to protect her family. Though they harbored a desire to attach themselves to power, they truly cared for her — otherwise they would never have brought in a stranger who had lost his memory as a live-in son-in-law on her account.

“If Prince Yan died, the Imperial Noble Consort would not spare you either. Do you think what you did could withstand scrutiny? Not only would you die, your entire family would be buried along with her son.” Li Xiyue said, word by word. “Unless the Imperial Noble Consort were to die.”

Mo Shanshan stared blankly at Li Xiyue, not knowing what to do.

“Go back and think it over carefully. What you need to do right now is try your best to keep yourself safe.” Li Xiyue picked up her teacup, signaling the end of the visit.

“I understand.” Mo Shanshan struggled to push herself up from the table and stand.

When those words fell, Li Xiyue watched Mo Shanshan leave.

At least compared to herself, Mo Shanshan still had family who cared for her, did she not?

Afterward, Li Xiyue called for Xiao Lian and had her send word to Mo Shanshan’s family that they were safe.

Within the imperial palace, You Yuyi had already finished offering his apologies. Seeing that he truly looked worn and exhausted, You Fengyun finally let him off, allowing him to rise only after he had knelt before Xuande Hall for a full hour.

“Father Emperor still refuses to see me?” You Yuyi asked Eunuch An Hai at the entrance.

An Hai replied, “His Majesty is still in a fit of anger, and I fear he does not wish to see you. Your Highness would do better to come another day.”

Upon hearing this, You Yuyi did not press the matter and, supported by a young eunuch, limped his way out of the palace.

As it happened, he was spotted by Cui Yan, who was carrying his medicine chest on his way to take the pulse of Consort Hui, who was pregnant in the palace. The moment Cui Yan saw You Yusui’s haggard complexion, he knew that Li Xiyue had used the Zhufang Pills — and more than one at that.

And so he seemed to understand why You Yuyi had been absent from morning court.

Thus, after finishing Consort Hui’s pulse examination and prescribing her a pregnancy-stabilizing medicine, Cui Yan changed course toward the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, intending to relay this news to His Highness the Crown Prince.

At this moment, You Yusui was being particularly clingy. No matter what Huo Xiling did, You Yusui kept his gaze fixed on him — not speaking, just watching him quietly like that.

Huo Xiling found the Crown Prince at once pitiable and endearing, so utterly unlike the cold, aloof, and lofty manner of their first meeting. This version of You Yusui — he only wanted to keep hidden away, unseen by anyone.

So when Cui Yan walked into the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace, he felt he had come at the wrong moment and wanted to turn around and flee on the spot.

Yet he was seized by Huo Xiling, with no way to run.

Beside them, You Yusui’s eyes lit up at the sight. Oh my, Xiling was catching a fox for him.

“Your Highness, how is your health?” Cui Yan, having been hauled before You Yusui by Huo Xiling, opened his mouth to ask.

“Not bad,” You Yusui answered.

Then Cui Yan continued. “Today I saw Prince Yan — dark circles under his eyes, his steps unsteady and weak. He must be suffering from a severe depletion of kidney essence.”

(TL: exhaustion from excessive s*x)

You Yuyi: ??? How did the topic end up here?

At this moment, Huo Xiling said quietly, “Prince Yan was absent from morning court today. His Majesty was furious.”

Upon hearing this, You Yusui looked toward Cui Yan and said, “You mean he indulged himself in sensual pleasures and missed morning court because of it?”

Cui Yan nodded, and You Yusui fell into silence.

Hadn’t You Yuyi always called himself a virtuous prince? He had never missed morning court — so why now…

So You Yusui looked at Cui Yan and said, “What did you get up to?”

“Your Highness, I was merely acting on Heaven’s behalf,” Cui Yan said with a smile. “Prince Yan’s household will have quite a show to watch from now on.”

Huo Xiling leaned close to You Yusui’s ear and said softly, “Zhufang Pills.”

“Zhufang Pills?” You Yusui looked at Huo Xiling, puzzled.

“Zhufang Pills are a sterilizing drug. That Li Xiyue used this method to take revenge on him — she truly hates Prince Yan to the bone,” Cui Yan said softly. “He directly and indirectly caused the deaths of his two children. It was only fitting that he would be left without heirs.”