TL: Hua
Empress Qu’s graceful eyebrows furrowed. She sighed with a smile and said, “I don’t insist that he marry and have children. If he can find a kindred spirit, I’d be thanking heaven and earth.”
What an open-minded empress! But alas, the Crown Prince’s heart was like iron. Pei Xiting pursed his lips and smiled, saying, “His Highness is of imperial descent, skilled in both civil affairs and martial arts, and unparalleled in beauty. Why would he worry about not finding a kindred spirit? Your Majesty, don’t worry, your wish will surely be granted.”
“I’ll take your auspicious words!” Empress Qu said, smiling and patting Pei Xiting’s hand. “The more I look at you, the more I like you. If you have nothing to do in the future, you can visit the palace more often to keep me company. The Crown Prince is a blockhead, and he’s going to turn Lu’er into a little blockhead too. I have nothing to entertain myself with in the palace.”
She complained to Pei Xiting, holding his hand, and after talking for a while, she had a close palace attendant escort Pei Xiting out. Outside Fengyi Palace was a garden. Pei Xiting followed a small path but saw the Crown Prince standing with his hands behind his back in a triangular pavilion. A woman in splendid robes knelt before him.
The Crown Prince looked up, his gaze calmly falling on him. Pei Xiting’s steps paused. He turned towards the pavilion, standing at the foot of the steps and bowing with cupped hands. “Your Highness.”
The palace attendant behind him also bowed. Eunuch Xiao Lai[mfn] He was addressed as 公公 [Gonggong], a respectful term for older eunuchs, in this case the eunuchs that serve the emperor.[/mfn], standing behind the Crown Prince, glanced at her and said, “No need to escort him further. Go back.”
The palace attendant dared not say more, nor did she dare to look up to see who was kneeling in the pavilion. After bowing, she quickly left.
The Crown Prince did not speak, but Pei Xiting understood the great leader’s intention and waited by the side. As he waited, he overheard the conversation in the pavilion and couldn’t help but regret taking this path.
The kneeling woman was Consort Chen from the imperial harem. She had an illicit affair with someone and, accidentally, became pregnant. Today, she had plotted to enter the Emperor’s bedchamber to register the child’s birth, but not only did she fail to enter the Chenle Palace, but Eunuch Xiao Lai, who served the Emperor, also noticed something amiss. And so, a complaint was brought before the Crown Prince.
In the secluded palace, it was impossible for there to be no improprieties, but once scandalous affairs were unearthed, they could not withstand exposure to the sun.
Pei Xiting knew that this woman wouldn’t survive this. He then couldn’t help but suspect that the Crown Prince indeed wanted to sever his delusional thoughts, but not through such a gentle method as arranged marriage. Instead, he would soon use the excuse of preserving the reputation of the royal family to directly silence him.
Thinking this, Pei Xiting glanced at the Crown Prince. Even with such a scandal in his father’s harem, the Crown Prince showed not a trace of anger, merely appearing to be handling a routine matter.
The Crown Prince wanted to find the adulterer, but Consort Chen refused to speak. It seemed that it wasn’t just a moment of passion late at night but a genuine love affair.
There were records of everyone entering and leaving the palace daily, and the approximate range could be determined by the month of the pregnancy. The Crown Prince instructed Eunuch Xiao Lai, who was standing nearby, “Draw up a list and summon them to the East Palace. Cut open her belly and let the child identify its father.”
Pei Xiting’s eyelashes trembled, and he instinctively looked up at the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince noticed and looked back, his eyes like still water, devoid of intimidation, truly intending to see blood.
Consort Chen’s face turned pale. She dared to cuckold the Emperor but feared being disemboweled in public. She cried and reached out to grab the Crown Prince’s noble robes. Before she could touch them, Xiao Lai kicked her away. She tumbled down the steps and bumped into Pei Xiting’s leg.
Pei Xiting was knocked back half a step. He looked down at the woman’s tear-streaked face and suddenly said, “I have heard that Chen-shaoqing’s family is well-rounded in their studies, strict in their governance, and their children are upright and honest in their manner. If they knew that Consort Chen was deceived by a shameless scoundrel and thus committed a grave mistake, how heartbroken they would be. Perhaps even death wouldn’t be enough to atone for the sin.”
His words seemed to threaten Consort Chen into revealing the adulterer to protect the Chen family, yet the force was gentle, more like a reminder. Furthermore, Pei-wenshu, being kind-hearted, not only characterized Consort Chen, who actively engaged in illicit relations, as merely having been carelessly deceived, but also wanted to speak well of the Chen family and distance them from the affair.
Eunuch Xiao Lai glanced at Pei Xiting upon hearing this, clearly not expecting such an imprudent person to be a follower of His Highness.
Consort Chen reached out to grab Pei Xiting’s robe. Pei Xiting didn’t kick her away but just looked at her quietly. Under his eyes, she gradually sobered, understanding his words. She suddenly turned and crawled to the steps, kowtowing. “It’s Shangguan Ming, it’s him! My father has been an official for half his life. Even without great achievements, he has always been diligent and never slackened. I have failed to live up to his nurturing and guidance and the Chen family’s precepts. Please, Your Highness, only kill me and do not implicate my father or the Chen family. I beg Your Highness, I beg Your Highness…”
Consort Chen wept bitterly, her forehead hitting the steps repeatedly. The Crown Prince remained unmoved. He looked at Pei Xiting twice, with a faint, unreadable smile. “You are very good.”
Pei Xiting knew he shouldn’t have interrupted without permission. He cupped his hands and said, “This humble subordinate knows his mistake. Please punish me, Your Highness.”
“What mistake has the compassionate Pei-wenshu made?” The Crown Prince said, “Since you have an opinion, how about you handle her for me?”
Anyone with a brain would know to kneel and beg for mercy at this point, asking the Crown Prince to make the final decision. Pei Xiting’s palms were sweating, but he met Consort Chen’s gaze.
Her forehead was bloody, her face smeared with tears, looking truly pathetic and disheveled, but it still couldn’t hide her youthful bloom. This flower, when at its most vibrant, was moved from its pot, its soil loosened, and then, without sunlight or rain to nourish it, it could only wither in a noble yet dark corner. As it barely clung to life, it stretched out its petals, hooking a passing gardener, fearfully yet ignorantly sucking in the only living breath—*snap*, but it was still destined to shatter.
As if stabbed in the eye, Pei Xiting shifted his gaze, meeting the Crown Prince’s eyes, which conveyed neither joy nor anger.
After a moment’s hesitation, Pei Xiting cupped his hands and said, “This matter should not be publicized. This humble subordinate requests that Consort Chen be granted death on the spot.”
The Crown Prince’s gaze deepened, yet a hint of a smile appeared. Pei Xiting’s heart pounded, feeling that this hint of a smile was more chilling to the bone than direct killing intent.
The Crown Prince still looked at him and said, “Do as Pei-wenshu says.”
Xiao Lai nodded in response. The two palace attendants behind him went over to seize Consort Chen. As her embroidered skirt brushed against Pei Xiting’s robes, he lowered his eyes and met Consort Chen’s gaze. Consort Chen looked at him gratefully and was soon dragged away.
“Shangguan Ming…” The Crown Prince murmured the name. Xiao Lai immediately said, “He is the fifth son of Marquis Shangguan and is currently serving in the Right Imperial Guard of the Imperial Guard Division. He is not on duty today.”
“In that case, Shangguan Jie, the Deputy Commander of the Left Imperial Guard, has no control over him,” the Crown Prince said. “There’s no need to summon Shangguan Ming to the palace. You make a trip. If the matter is as reported, it will save the Shangguan family some face.”
This meant asking Marquis Shangguan to handle his son personally. Pei Xiting’s eyelids twitched, but he sensed something was amiss.
Shangguan Ming was having a forbidden private affair outside. Why did the Crown Prince mention Shangguan Jie? He found it strange, feeling he had missed something, but couldn’t quite figure it out.
Xiao Lai quietly assented, bowed, and stepped back three paces, then turned and left.
As Xiao Lai brushed past Pei Xiting, he quickly darted a glance sideways. Pei Xiting detected a sneer aimed at him, this fool who was seeking death. The Crown Prince looked at the person below the steps and said, “Come here.”
Pei Xiting didn’t dare to hesitate and immediately stepped forward, stopping at the bottom of the steps.
But the Crown Prince said, “Come up.”
“…” A sword to the neck, whether you stretch or shrink your head, is still a sword. Pei Xiting gritted his teeth and stepped up two levels of stairs.
A single step separated him from the Crown Prince’s new, spotless black boots. Pei Xiting’s head drooped lower and lower. Suddenly, his chin tightened, lifted by the Crown Prince’s two fingers.
The Crown Prince was standing against the light. Pei Xiting couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face, only seeing his eyelashes, like the wings of a white butterfly resting in the sunlight. The two fingers just lightly touched the tip of his chin, but he seemed to be under force, tilting his head back and not daring to hang it down.
After observing him quietly for a moment, the Crown Prince said, “Open your mouth.”
His phoenix eyes widened slightly, and his chin, held by the fingertips, tightened further, as if he hadn’t understood. The Crown Prince was immensely patient. He pressed his thumb against Pei Xiting’s lower lip with light force and said again, “Open your mouth.”
“…Your Highness wants to cut out my tongue, uh!” Before Pei Xiting could finish, the Crown Prince’s thumb pressed against the surface of his tongue. He widened his eyes, unable to close his mouth, as if he couldn’t even breathe.
“Xiting, I’m used to your private insolence, but this is the first time I’ve witnessed your audacious and imprudent remarks in front of others.” The Crown Prince’s tone was very light, even three parts gentler than usual, like someone reprimanding a mischievous child. “Polluting the palace, attempting to adulterate the imperial bloodline, trespassing into Chenle Palace—each of these is a capital offense. You wanted to grant Consort Chen a swift death and plead for the Chen family, knowing you shouldn’t, clearly hesitating, yet you still couldn’t control this tongue of yours—if this continues, I don’t think you can hold onto my jade pendant.”
Pei Xiting listened to the Crown Prince’s unhurried words, his tense mind racing, finally seizing upon a point—Chenle Palace.
Eunuch Xiao Lai served the emperor personally, yet he clearly showed respect to the crown prince. He wasn’t forbidding Consort Chen from entering Chenle Palace; rather, he forbade any outsider from entering Chenle Palace. He was the Crown Prince’s eyes placed in Chenle Palace, and everyone in Chenle Palace was the Crown Prince’s eyes.
—The Crown Prince has controlled the East Palace for five years, and now the Emperor is a puppet. The Crown Prince holds all the power—Pei Xiting recalled this rumor.
Polluting the palace, adulterating the imperial bloodline, and trespassing into Chenle Palace—all three were capital offenses. But perhaps the Crown Prince himself didn’t care that Consort Chen cuckolded his father or even tried to secretly add a younger sibling to the imperial family. What he couldn’t tolerate was Consort Chen plotting to enter Chenle Palace.
And Consort Chen’s plot to enter Chenle Palace might not have been just to register her pregnancy!
The Crown Prince had just mentioned Shangguan Jie and stated that Shangguan Jie couldn’t control Shangguan Ming, implying that, for now, this matter was deemed unrelated to Shangguan Jie or the Shangguan family. However, Consort Chen’s father, Chen-shaoqing, and Pei Xiting’s cheap father, Pei Yan, were former classmates and long-time friends.
Pei Xiting’s momentary soft-heartedness had, in fact, unknowingly put himself in a precarious position, committing a huge folly and a grave taboo. Whether he could clear himself depended entirely on the Crown Prince.
His phoenix eyes suddenly gleamed with astonishing brilliance. The Crown Prince smiled slightly, even showing a hint of praise, saying, “It seems you’ve understood.”
Saliva slid from the corner of Pei Xiting’s mouth, wetting the Crown Prince’s fingers, but the Crown Prince didn’t care. He still pressed down on Pei Xiting. The disobedient tongue beneath his thumb was soft and warm, wanting to plead but unable, wriggling helplessly against him.
The Crown Prince’s expression was normal. He calmly watched as the face flushed and paled, his nostrils flaring as if he were about to suffocate. Finally, Pei Xiting could bear it no longer and raised his hand to grab the Crown Prince’s sleeve, turning his head away to escape.
With the airway released, Pei Xiting gasped, breathing rapidly, coughing twice, utterly disheveled. He turned his head to look at the Crown Prince, his eyes welling up with tears.
He had a flaw: sometimes he cared too much about saving face. Nothing mattered more than his pride, for instance, at this moment. If the Crown Prince truly wanted to kill him, he couldn’t escape, but he absolutely wouldn’t beg for mercy. Yet the Crown Prince was lecturing him, subtly and vaguely, without causing physical harm, like a parent correcting a child’s mistake, using a whip, and even if it looked bloody, it was just a superficial wound, not truly touching the bone.
With this shift in thought, Pei Xiting’s rather impractical pride didn’t need to assert itself anymore. Meeting the Crown Prince’s deep gaze, he said, “If Your Highness wishes to abandon me, why bother reprimanding me? I made a mistake, and Your Highness punishes and scolds me, which I accept, but you still want to abandon me?”
His eyes were slightly red, as if he had suffered an immense punishment, and his words were resolute, as if he held the highest moral ground. The Crown Prince was speechless. Before he could speak, Pei Xiting grabbed his sleeve, adopting a pitiful and obedient gesture very smoothly:
“I know I was wrong,” Pei Xiting said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe the Crown Prince’s thumb. He half-raised his head to beg for mercy. “I was stupid and spoke too quickly, getting involved in the wrong things. Please teach me again… Teacher.”
He said the last word with utter tenderness, forcing out every bit of his sparse inner softness.
The Crown Prince looked at those wet, reddened eyes, and his gaze suddenly darkened.
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