Inside the funeral hall, both people’s mourning clothes had already been removed more than halfway, their hairpins and hair disordered, the scene too indecent to behold.
The pair were frightened stiff by the sudden intrusion. The Emperor kicked Xiao Yi in the shoulder, sending him flying a full dozen feet away.
The reigning Emperor had followed the late Emperor on campaigns north and south since childhood to conquer the realm. By fifteen, his military achievements were already extraordinary.
Forget a pampered young prince—even a military officer would have been sent flying by that kick.
If not for the Emperor remembering that the old prince had only this one son, the kick would not have landed harmlessly on his shoulder.
Xiao Yi rolled on the floor in pain and could not stand. He hastily wrapped his clothes around himself, crawled to the Emperor’s feet, and knelt there trembling so violently his teeth chattered, unable to say a single word.
Secondary Consort Yun had long since been frightened into trembling. She pulled a strip of mourning cloth around herself and prostrated on the ground.
The Emperor paced back and forth in fury, pointing at Xiao Yi and cursing him for a long time before finally issuing an order. “Take him to the Court of Judicial Review. Detain him there pending judgment!”
Xiao Yi went limp with terror. Only members of the imperial clan who had committed serious crimes were imprisoned in the Court of Judicial Review. That place was not fit for human beings.
Yun-niang gathered enormous courage, knocked her forehead against the floor again and again, and cried,
“Your Majesty, it was this servant who seduced His Highness. His Highness is merely young and hot-blooded and lost his judgment for a moment. Please spare him. This servant is willing to suffer death by a thousand cuts to atone for the crime!”
Xiao Yi stared at Yun-niang in shock and emotion. He had liked her before, but his feelings had only gone as far as pleasure and had never become especially serious.
He had never imagined Yun-niang would willingly take all the blame for him. It unexpectedly stirred some genuine feeling in him. Gathering his courage, he wrapped both arms around the Emperor’s legs and begged through tears,
“Imperial Brother, it was all this younger brother’s fault. Ah Yun had nothing to do with it. I forced her into this illicit affair. She is only a weak woman, and her natal family is desperately short of money… Imperial Brother may punish me however you wish. I only beg you to spare Ah Yun.”
Xiao Yi had grown up at the Emperor’s side. Although they were paternal cousins, they were closer than real brothers.
But the sovereign majesty of the Son of Heaven was overwhelming. Whenever the Emperor became angry, even the princes and princesses he usually favored most would tremble at the knees.
Xiao Yi feared his imperial cousin even more deeply. For him to do this much for Yun-niang was already no small thing.
The Emperor had originally been furious. Seeing that even a woman dared admit what she had done while the Son of Heaven’s own younger cousin only knew how to tremble made him even angrier. Yet when Xiao Yi voluntarily accepted responsibility, some of the Emperor’s rage unexpectedly subsided.
Still terrified of being punished too harshly, Xiao Yi hurriedly tried to soften the matter for himself.
“Imperial Brother, Ah Yun and I truly love each other. It is only that fate has treated us cruelly. Ah Yun refuses to violate morality and human relations, but I cannot bear to see the woman I love suffer…”
The Emperor sneered. “Excellent. Then We shall fulfill the wishes of you two tragic lovers. We will reduce you to a commoner, and you may go marry each other and live your lives together. How does that sound?”
Xiao Yi felt as though the sky had collapsed. He cried, “Imperial Brother, you might as well sentence me to death!”
The Emperor snorted. “You know perfectly well We would not allow your father’s line to end, so you deliberately say that to provoke Us? Fine. Then kill her. Guards, strangle her immediately!”
The attendants who had accompanied him moved with extraordinary speed. They instantly seized a length of mourning cloth and looped it around Yun-niang’s neck.
Xiao Yi shouted in panic, “Imperial Brother, she is already carrying this younger brother’s child!”
The Emperor nearly lost his footing from fury. “Take Prince Bao’s heir to the Court of Judicial Review to await judgment! As for her, confine her inside the residence for now.”
Yu Huan had already been waiting outside for orders and immediately led men inside.
Prince Bao’s residence stood closest to the imperial palace. By the time the Emperor returned, it was only the late afternoon. His first destination was the Empress Dowager’s residence.
After hearing the story, the Empress Dowager said angrily, “That little wretch, is he trying to anger this Dowager to death?! Emperor, beat him severely with court rods and confine him afterward, whatever you wish—but you should not have sent him to the Court of Judicial Review.”
Xiao Yi’s mother had been the Empress Dowager’s biological younger sister. Back then, one sister married the late Emperor and the other married a prince, joining the families even more closely.
Naturally the Empress Dowager favored her young nephew.
The Emperor said furiously, “That wretch—anywhere else would have been bad enough, but he chose the funeral hall!”
The Empress Dowager could not refute that and merely shook her head.
The Emperor took a sip of tea and sighed. “Besides, the Empress will not let this matter go either. Better to let him suffer a little in the Court of Judicial Review.”
Xiao Yi’s principal wife was the current Empress’s biological younger sister. The Changsun sisters mirrored the late Emperor and Prince Bao: the elder married the Emperor and the younger married the young prince, another marriage intended to bind the families together.
The Empress Dowager thought it over and could say little more. She asked, “Emperor, how do you intend to deal with Yun-niang?”
The Emperor no longer wanted anything to do with this mess. Rubbing his forehead, he said, “Since it is an inner-household family matter, leave it to the Empress.”
The Empress Dowager sighed. “Then Yun-niang certainly will not survive. I think she is pitiable too. Why not let her give birth first, then send her to Great Ci’en Temple to spend the rest of her life before the lamp of Buddha?”
The Emperor said angrily, “She committed such acts. What is there to pity?! Imperial Mother need not persuade Us further. Our decision is made.”
…
Meanwhile, Ying Changle was at the height of his gossip binge.
[Aaaaah, is this really something non-VIP users are allowed to watch?! This is way, way, way too explosive. Why does it feel like Yun-niang is playing the father and son the way people play with dogs?!]
[The old prince was napping in the inner room, and those two were on the heated couch in the outer room with only a curtain between them…]
The Marquis of Xuanping truly felt his youngest son should not be reading such things. He hurriedly picked up the little golden-tiger bottle. “Ale, it’s time to drink water. Drinking plenty of water is good for you. Have some more. Ale, are you cold? Father will add more charcoal to your hand warmer…”
The ministers in the hall were all anxiously waiting to hear the rest, except the Duke of Zhong, who clenched his fists with rage all over his face.
The Duke of Zhong was the father of Empress Changsun and also the father of Xiao Yi’s wife. He had never imagined that while enjoying someone else’s gossip, he would suddenly discover it concerned his own younger daughter and son-in-law.
From the beginning he had been extremely unwilling to marry his youngest daughter to a wastrel like Xiao Yi. But His Majesty had acted as matchmaker and forced the marriage through. By now the two had been married for five years and still had no children!
The more the Duke of Zhong thought, the angrier he became. His teeth ground audibly. He wished he could rush to the prince’s residence at once and demand justice for his daughter!
He had already made up his mind. If the Emperor failed to handle this fairly, then his daughter would divorce. A daughter of the Changsun family would never be allowed to suffer such humiliation!
At that moment the Emperor strode back in furiously, dropped heavily onto the dragon throne, and ordered the ministers to continue their reports.
The ministers could only resume discussing state affairs in fear and trembling.
This was an imperial family scandal and secret. Since the Emperor had not raised it himself, naturally none of them dared utter a word.
Even the furious Duke of Zhong had to endure for now and wait until the other ministers left the palace before seeking the Emperor out alone to complain.
Ying Changle had no interest whatsoever in military or state affairs and was far too curious about this explosive gossip. He immediately continued reading.
[Huh? This gossip even has a previous-episode summary: Domineering Prince Takes What He Wants, Beautiful Young Woman Takes Ruthless Revenge?]
[So Yun-niang had a childhood sweetheart, a young scholar. Their families had arranged their marriage while they were children, and they loved each other. They were simply waiting until they were old enough to marry.
But shortly before the wedding, Yun-niang went to a temple to pray and happened to catch the eye of the old prince, who had also come to fulfill a vow. The old prince gave the scholar’s family tens of thousands in gold and silver and offered Yun-niang’s family an enormous bride-price.
There’s nothing money and power can’t accomplish. Both families happily accepted the riches, leaving only the two ill-fated lovers to suffer.
They agreed to throw themselves into the river and die together. Yun-niang jumped, but the cowardly young scholar did not. Yun-niang was fortunately rescued and survived, only to be sold into the pleasure quarter, beaten brutally, and forced to receive customers.
The old prince, however, could not forget her. Alive, he wanted to see the person; dead, he wanted to see the corpse. He sent men to dredge the river for months, then practically dug up the entire capital until he finally found Yun-niang. The old prince did not despise her in the slightest for no longer being untouched and still married her with all the formalities due a secondary consort.
Yun-niang is ruthless too. She married the old prince purely for revenge. As soon as she entered the residence, she deliberately seduced the old prince’s only son and swore to ruin him completely. She even got involved with the commander of the household guards…
The old prince’s head was practically an endless green pasture of cuckold horns! Hmph, he deserved it!
Yun-niang’s famous saying: “The world is unjust and living is boring. Better for everyone to go mad together and die together!” — Ah, what a deranged yet beautiful state of mind!]
The ministers all sighed after hearing this, but still believed the same thing: although this demonic woman had suffered, that was no excuse for committing evil and throwing the imperial clan into disorder.
[Wait, that’s not right. Even if Yun-niang managed to win over everyone around the old prince, Xiao Yi’s wife Changsun Wentan couldn’t possibly have seen absolutely nothing and caused no trouble, right?!
Changsun Wentan is the Empress’s own younger sister and the legitimate second daughter of the Duke of Zhong, the foremost founding hero. She has never tolerated Xiao Yi’s nonsense. One is a domineering duke’s daughter, the other a wastrel young prince. Neither submits to the other, and they fight every day.
Ohhh, so Changsun Wentan was too busy competing with the noble ladies and young misses of the capital and genuinely never discovered what those two were doing.
Uh, girl, please grow some awareness!]
The Duke of Zhong’s face had long since turned iron-gray, and his teeth itched with fury. So everyone in the entire residence knew except his daughter? This was intolerable humiliation.
The Emperor coughed awkwardly twice and instinctively glanced at the Duke of Zhong.
He had been the one to guarantee the match and force these two resentful spouses together. Now that little beast had created a scandal like this!
Worse, all the ministers could hear the inner voice. Even if he wanted to conceal the matter for them, he could not.
It was not that the Emperor had never wondered how a tiny child like Ying Changle could know affairs throughout the realm, or why a child who could barely speak aloud could express himself so clearly in his thoughts, or why other people could hear those thoughts, or why he was always mentioning something called a System.
To investigate the matter, the Emperor had even examined eighteen generations of the Ying family’s ancestors, yet found no record of any ancestor possessing a divine art of “knowing all under Heaven in advance” or passing down some sacred artifact.
The Emperor could only conclude that Ying Changle had been born with some divine artifact called the Gossip System. In the end, this artifact seemed to bring more harm than benefit!
[Wow, wow, wow! As expected of a heroic daughter of a military family, the Empress has such nerve. She grabbed a sword and is heading to the prince’s residence to demand justice for her younger sister.
The Emperor and Empress are probably going to fight again. One is obsessed with protecting his younger brother, the other with protecting her younger sister. Is the Emperor going to get so angry he can’t sleep again, climb onto a rooftop in the middle of the night, and drink alone?!]
Listening to these inner thoughts about secret imperial affairs, the ministers were already drenched in cold sweat. They wanted to hear, yet feared hearing too many things they were never supposed to know.
The Emperor suddenly barked, “Today’s discussion ends here. All of you, leave!”
The ministers: …
Ying Ding had just carried his youngest son out through the palace gate when he saw Yu Huan waiting for them after completing the escort assignment.
By the time the three reached home, it was already evening. The wind and snow were still raging, and the cold was extraordinary.
A small figure stood perfectly straight at the main entrance to the front hall. Facing the wind and snow, he hurried over and respectfully greeted them. “Ying Chengqi pays respects to Adoptive Father and Adoptive Mother, and greets Younger Brother.”
After the Emperor gave him to Ying Ding as an adopted son, he ordered the boy’s surname changed to Ying. Since the entire purpose was to sever any connection between him and the imperial family, naturally he could not continue using the surname Xiao.
Yu Huan’s eyes instantly reddened with heartache. She hurriedly removed her own cloak and wrapped it around her young adopted son, choking out,
“Silly child, you’re so badly injured. Why aren’t you resting properly in bed? Why stand here waiting for us so eagerly?
