The Princess Royal Says Nothing—She Just Keeps Seizing Estates - Chapter 1

It began with the victory in the north and the Marquis of Dingbei’s return to court.

Six years earlier, Xiongnu raids had become an almost chronic affliction along the border. The marquis’s heir had inherited his father’s gifts and was beginning to distinguish himself on the battlefield.

Father thought him talented and permitted father and son to go to the frontier together.

Before the army set out, Father asked whether I would marry the heir.

For one thing, the match would put the Marquis of Dingbei at ease. Giving him the emperor’s most beloved daughter, born to the empress, was a promise that Father wouldn’t discard him once his work was done.

For another, Shen Lingchuan really was a rare talent.

I left the palace to meet him. His face was handsome as polished jade, his manner calm and measured. I agreed to the marriage.

After the decree was issued, Shen Lingchuan sent me a jade pendant. It was one of the Shen family’s hereditary Union of Hearts pendants. The head of the family and his wife each wore one.

Shen Lingchuan’s mother had died young. The marquis found it painful to look at the pendants, so he passed the pair to his son early. Lingchuan sent one to me.

To show how highly I valued the marriage Father had bestowed, I wore it every day.

Now Shen Lingchuan stood in the middle of the banquet hall, carefully holding a pregnant woman. The matching pendant hung conspicuously at her waist.

Xiao Chengze stole a cautious glance at me. Finding my face expressionless, he spoke.

“What did the Marquis of Dingbei’s heir just say? I don’t believe I heard clearly.”

Shen Lingchuan helped the woman kneel and bowed his head to the floor.

“I narrowly escaped death many times on the battlefield. Yan’er saved me again and again. Now she carries my child. I cannot repay her kindness with ingratitude or allow her to suffer.”

Chengze tapped the armrest of the dragon throne.

“Get to the point.”

“I wish to marry Yan’er,” Shen Lingchuan declared loudly. “I beg Your Majesty’s permission!”

Another murmur ran through the hall. Chengze took a deep breath.

“I recall that before the army departed, the late emperor bestowed a marriage between you and the Princess Royal. Is that correct?”

Shen Lingchuan’s righteous air faltered. His voice dropped.

“It is, Your Majesty.”

Chengze’s mouth twitched.

“Then you intend to defy an imperial decree?”

Shen Lingchuan bowed again.

“I would not dare. I wish to use the merit of this victory to secure a proper status for Yan’er. Please allow me to marry her as a co-wife when I marry the princess. My eldest son must inherit my title. He cannot be a concubine-born son!”

Excuse me?

You really could laugh when you had nothing left to say.

Yes, the Marquis of Dingbei had died in battle, but the court hadn’t yet issued a decree permitting Shen Lingchuan to inherit. He was still only the heir, and already he was planning the succession for an unborn baby?

Chengze’s expression changed. I rapped firmly on the table, and he swallowed the curses he was about to unleash.

I spoke without warmth.

“If this woman’s child inherits the title, what will happen if you and I later have children?”

Shen Lingchuan answered as though it were obvious.

“Your Highness, precedence has always gone to the elder. With Yan’er as my co-wife, her son will be my eldest legitimate son. What is wrong with his inheriting?”

“So after the Princess Royal marries into your household, she must yield to this woman in everything?”

He nodded without hesitation.

“Yan’er saved my life. Without her, I wouldn’t be here. Once we’re married, Your Highness will be my wife. Naturally, you should be grateful to Yan’er too, and be generous toward her.

“All I’m asking is that you give up one title. You’re gentle and virtuous, a model for all women under heaven. Surely you wouldn’t resent something so small.”

Then he actually had the nerve to ask me, “Am I right, Your Highness?”

Before I could answer, our imperial great-uncle shuffled over and delivered a vicious slap across Shen Lingchuan’s face.

“You brat! How dare you insult the imperial family!”

For a man of his age, he had astonishing strength. Shen Lingchuan’s cheek swelled at once.

On closer inspection, I saw that Great-Uncle had laid a wooden folding fan with iron ribs across his palm before striking. He’d hit him with the fan’s ribs.

He gave me a fright. For a moment, I’d thought the old man had rediscovered his youthful fury.

I signaled Eunuch An to help him away to rest.

The man was seventy. We didn’t need him making himself ill with rage.

Eunuch An had only just steadied him when the woman called Yan’er seemed finally to react. She shrieked and threw herself around Shen Lingchuan’s swollen head.

“His Lordship commands three hundred thousand troops on the frontier! How dare you humiliate him? Aren’t you afraid his cavalry will flatten the capital one day?”

Until then, I’d taken Shen Lingchuan’s behavior for a sudden loss of his senses. Now my heart tightened.

“Insolence! Does Shen Lingchuan intend to rebel?”

“And what if he does?” Yan’er shouted. “Lingchuan has three hundred thousand soldiers!

“Without him, how could the two of you—a child and a weak woman—possibly keep the throne?”

For those words to roll off her tongue so easily, someone must have said them to her before.

There was really no question who.

Shen Lingchuan seemed to recover at last. He turned on me with a savage expression.

“Is this how the imperial family treats a man who has served it? Aren’t you afraid of chilling the hearts of the soldiers on the frontier?”

I laughed coldly.

“So you agree with this woman, General Shen? The Xiao family’s throne depends entirely on you?”

He helped Yan’er to her feet and lifted his chin.

“As long as you understand. You’d better issue the decree now and grant Yan’er the status of co-wife.”

“No. Only a woman as beautiful and kind as Yan’er deserves to be my wife! If you want to keep the Xiao family’s throne, petition to become my concubine instead. Otherwise, I’ll lead the frontier army here and raze the capital!”

The ministers at the victory banquet drew sharp breaths. Shen Lingchuan really had lost his mind.

The officers who had come with him had fallen to their knees the moment he began spouting this nonsense. Every one of them was pale as death.

Honestly, could anyone understand their predicament? They’d arrived at the palace delighted to celebrate a victory and receive their rewards. Their commander had chosen that very moment to go mad.

They weren’t going to be implicated, were they? Please, no. Shen Lingchuan might not want his nine branches of kin, but they still wanted theirs!

I could bear it no longer. Drawing a deep breath, I ordered, “Guards! Seize them!”

The armed guards standing by drew their blades. Shen Lingchuan tried to resist, but he also had his pregnant Yan’er to worry about.

Within moments, bright steel lay across both their throats.

Stiff-necked and defiant, he kept looking back at the kneeling officers.

“Why aren’t you resisting too? I’m your commander!”

His deputy stole a cautious look at Chengze and me. Seeing that we showed no sign of anger, he sneered.

“Exactly. You’re our commander, not our father!”

Shen Lingchuan stared.

The deputy went on, “If you’ve gone mad and want to rebel, don’t drag us down with you! We’re loyal to His Majesty. Do you think a few words from you could turn us?”

Yes, the army had fought under Shen Lingchuan. But every bit of grain and every supply came from the court. They knew perfectly well whose rice bowls they held and whose food they ate.

The deputy’s eyes filled with tears as he declared his loyalty.

“I know that over these past few years, His Majesty and the Princess Royal have cut their own expenses and opened the palace’s private treasury to make up our military pay.

“After such generosity, how could we follow a traitor like you into something that would cost us our heads?”

Well, well. This deputy was a talent. In two sentences, Shen Lingchuan had become a traitor.

An observant fellow!

Chengze and I exchanged a glance. He spoke gravely.

“Rise, all of you.

“I have seen your loyalty. It was the traitor Shen Lingchuan who suddenly lost his senses, not you. He must not be allowed to spoil your victory banquet.”

He signaled the guards to take Shen Lingchuan and Yan’er away into custody.

Then he raised his cup.

“Do not let a traitor spoil your pleasure. It was your bloody fighting on the frontier that won us this great victory. I drink to you!”

I watched with relief. Chengze could now handle matters himself. I began thinking about choosing an empress for him soon. After his wedding, he could take full control of government.

In view of Shen Lingchuan’s military achievements, Chengze and I did show a measure of mercy.

We only had him and Yan’er beheaded.

As for the Shen clan, they were stripped of every rank, barred from the imperial examinations for three generations, and exiled to Hainan to pick coconuts.

After dealing with Shen Lingchuan, I brought up choosing an empress and letting Chengze govern in his own right.

His face fell in horror.

“Sis, don’t you want me anymore?”

He was seven years younger than me. I had practically raised him myself.

I patted his silly head and smiled through gritted teeth.

“Five years! I’ve been reviewing memorials for you for five years! Let me have a rest!”

When Father sent the Marquis of Dingbei and his son north against the Xiongnu, none of us expected such terrible news within the year.

The marquis, hungry for glory, had blundered into a trap and died on the battlefield, taking a hundred thousand soldiers with him.

Shen Lingchuan assumed command in the crisis. He barely had time to retreat with the surviving troops, losing three cities in succession.

When Father heard, he coughed up blood before the assembled court. His health grew much weaker afterward.

But we couldn’t abandon the people on the border. The state treasury was short of funds, so Father opened his private treasury to raise military pay and sent supplies to the frontier without cease.

Our dynasty’s imperial family had never been prolific. Father had only one son left, Chengze. I had once had an older brother too, but smallpox took him when no one was watching closely enough.

Mother died not long after giving birth to Chengze. From then on, Father kept both of us beside him and raised us himself.

He knew he didn’t have long to live. Chengze was still so young that Father began keeping me at his side, having me sort memorials and learn to handle less important affairs.

Fortunately, our dynasty had established joint rule by two sovereigns at its founding. Women’s participation in government had precedent from the start, and I gradually took over some of the work.

Father died suddenly when Chengze was nine. On his deathbed, he made me the Princess Royal, Defender of the Realm, and ordered me to assist the young emperor.

Chengze was fourteen now.

In an ordinary household, a boy of that age could already support the family.

In the imperial family, princes and princesses had to mature even sooner.

His recent reviews of memorials were still a little inexperienced, but they were well reasoned. He was handling affairs smoothly enough. It was time for me to let go.

Chengze crouched down, clinging to my sleeve and howling.

“No, Sis! If you leave, I’ll be all alone in this enormous palace. I’m scared!”

Little brat. All thunder, no rain.

I held his head still, a headache beginning to form.

“Stop wailing! I’m not leaving the palace. But you have to take over this whole realm eventually. Better sooner than later, while I can still keep an eye on things for you.”

He wiped his face and grinned.

“Why didn’t you say so?”

I knocked him on the head in exasperation.

“Have you got anyone in mind for empress?”

He shrugged.

“You choose, Sis. Whoever you pick is fine. If I don’t like her, I can still take consorts.”

I tapped the space between his brows.

“Then I’ll mention it at court tomorrow. We’ll prepare the selection.”

We had barely settled the matter when Eunuch An hurried in, his face anxious.

Chengze and I looked up together.

“Disaster! Disaster!” he cried shrilly. “Your Majesty, Your Highness! The prince consort intends to beat Princess Leyi to death!”

What?

The court recorder looked utterly bewildered. Had Eunuch An gone mad too?

Eunuch An hadn’t gone mad. Princess Leyi’s husband had.

Leyi was an older sister to both Chengze and me, and considerably older than I was.

Her mother had fallen out of favor and died of melancholy. With no powerful family behind her, Leyi attracted little of Father’s attention. When she came of age, he bestowed a marriage between her and Duke Li’s eldest son.

Then upheaval followed upheaval. No one remembered an unloved princess.

I had only a faint impression of Sister Leyi: a gentle woman who had sewn little scented pouches for me when I was a child.

Chengze remembered nothing of her at all. But he glanced at me, and his face immediately hardened.

“What happened? Tell us in detail.”

“Oh, Your Majesty, there’s no time for details!” Eunuch An cried. “Send someone to look first!”

I took out my command token at once and sent one of my female court officials ahead with guards to bring my sister into the palace.

Eunuch An caught his breath.

“I’ve brought one of Her Highness’s attendants here. Will Your Majesty summon her?”

Chengze nodded, and An called her in.

The woman’s clothes and hair were disheveled. Every exposed patch of skin was scraped, her cheek was bruised and swollen, and she had only one shoe left.

Anger rose in me.

“What happened?”

She knelt, choking on her words.

“Please, Your Majesty, Your Highness, save the princess! Her husband… he’s worse than a beast!”

I frowned.

“Tell us exactly what happened.”

“My name is Lüyun. I serve as Princess Leyi’s female court official. When the princess and her husband first married, there was no great trouble.

“But after the late emperor… the palace released a group of servants. One was an old acquaintance of the prince consort.

“He brought her home. They began an affair, and she became pregnant. Then she pulled the princess into the lotus pond with her.”

Hatred filled Lüyun’s face.

“The princess swallowed water. Fortunately, she was rescued in time and came to no lasting harm.

“But that woman lost her baby. The prince consort was furious. He beat the princess and locked her in the ancestral hall. He wouldn’t let us seek further medical treatment for her. He said she had to pay with her life for his unborn child!”

“I was trying to find a way to get medicine to her when I happened to overhear the woman and the prince consort plotting to kill her.

“Then he would raise his concubine to the position of wife and register young Yun as her son. They could take all the property in the princess’s residence. Without the princess between them, they’d be free to live happily together.”

“He had servants surround the residence. I finally found a hole used by dogs and crawled out to seek help. They even tried to kill me as they chased me.

“Luckily, I met palace servants out buying supplies. I showed them the princess’s seal, and they brought me here to make my plea.”

With a crack, Chengze crushed the teacup in his hand.

“Such audacity! They must be tired of living!”

Surprised, I looked at him. Beneath the rage, his glance toward me held worry.

I opened his hand and wiped the tea away with my handkerchief.

After telling Eunuch An to take Lüyun away for a short rest, I held Chengze’s wrist and examined his palm. Only when I found no cut did I breathe easier.

“Why did Your Majesty suddenly lose his temper like that? I’ve sent people to fetch Sister Leyi. She’ll be all right.”

Chengze took my hand in return.

“Sis, if you marry, I’ll give you five hundred household soldiers as part of your dowry. If anyone dares bully you, cut his head off!”

Ah. He’d been thinking of me.

Touched, I stretched out my arm and patted his head. He muttered something about not growing tall if I kept doing that, but he still lowered his head for me.

“That’s thoughtful of Your Majesty. But I’m not like Sister Leyi. I won’t give anyone the chance to climb over my head and act as they please.”

He nodded and let out a long breath.

Before long, the court official brought Sister Leyi into the palace.

She looked exhausted, with injuries even on her cheek. Her husband, Li Yuan, looked healthy and rosy as he stood proudly in the hall.

Well?

He seemed entirely sure of himself. Had Lüyun falsely accused him?

I tested him.

“You’re the man who intends to beat a princess to death?”

He answered without either deference or defiance.

“I merely misspoke during an argument with the princess. Has some malicious person made a false accusation against me?”

Misspoke?

I let my face go blank.

“And saying my sister must pay with her life for your unborn concubine-born son—was that misspeaking too? What about beating her?”

Li Yuan’s expression shifted, but he held his ground.

“A husband governs his wife. Must Your Highness concern herself with how I discipline mine at home?”

Before I could ask another question, he seemed to discover some weakness in me and adopted a righteous tone.

“His Majesty sits above us in the hall. How can the Princess Royal question me before the emperor does? Could it be that—”

Chengze cut him off angrily before he could finish stirring up trouble.

“Enough of that nonsense. Just tell me: did you beat the princess and even intend to murder her?”

Li Yuan denied it flatly.

“Absolutely not.”

“And what about registering Princess Leyi’s child as your concubine’s son?”

His expression didn’t change.

“The princess maliciously killed Qiu’er’s son. Isn’t it only right for her to compensate Qiu’er with her own?

“Besides, they’re both my sons. As long as they’re raised in my household, what difference does it make who raises them?”

The court recorder, writing furiously beside us, wore an expression of pain.

Heaven help us. Where had this lunatic been let out from?

Never mind the death of her unborn son. Even if that concubine’s whole family had died, she still wouldn’t have the right to raise a princess’s son!

And was this really his household? He and his concubine both lived in the princess’s residence and depended on her money. How could he bring himself to say such a thing?

What on earth had Duke Li been teaching his son?

If it didn’t matter who raised whom, why didn’t he go call his own father’s concubine Mother?

There was no need for further questions.

“Guards!” Chengze shouted. “Drag Li Yuan out and behead him! And that concubine of his—take her away and behead her too!”

Li Yuan went white.

“Your Majesty! Spare me! I’m a duke’s son—”

Chengze cut him off.

“Draft a decree! Duke Li’s son has shown contempt for the imperial family and committed gross disrespect. Dismiss the whole family from office, strip their titles, and reduce them to commoners. Confiscate their estate and exile them to Lingnan!”

I left Li Yuan to the guards and turned to Sister Leyi, who had been sitting silently beside us.

“Sister, I’ll have someone take you to the palace where you used to live. Stay here tonight with Yun. Once the imperial physicians have examined you, there will be time enough to return to your residence.”

She wiped away the tears slipping down her face. With gratitude in her eyes, she bowed to Chengze and me and took her leave.

As she passed Li Yuan on the way out, his gaze suddenly landed on the jade pendant at her waist.

He screamed in disbelief.

“It was you! That little girl ten years ago was you!”

What was he making all that noise for? Why hadn’t anyone dragged him away yet?

I waved the guards on. They were to take him out at once. His shouting was giving me a headache.

I put the search for Chengze’s empress on the agenda. After hinting at it during court, I decided to observe the candidates before the formal selection.

Autumn had just arrived. I had the gardeners send their carefully tended chrysanthemums to my separate residence and invited the wives of officials with daughters of suitable age. Those interested in the selection were to bring their girls to enjoy the flowers.

The garden was a riot of blossoms. Young ladies—some dignified, some lively, some reserved—moved among them, lovelier still than the flowers.

I nodded in satisfaction. Over tea, I exchanged carefully barbed courtesies with their mothers and assessed the girls along the way.

Before I could take a proper look, a scream rang out from the side courtyard.

The side courtyard? Hadn’t I ordered it closed off for use only as a kitchen? What was anyone doing there?

Before I could send someone to investigate, the ladies around me all began looking eager.

Well, well. Everyone wanted a spectacle.

Fine. They could all come. I wanted to see who dared cause trouble at my banquet.

Surrounded by the ladies, I entered the side courtyard. One room stood open, with maids and older servants clustered at the door. There was an uproar inside.

I cleared my throat and called for the steward.

Sweat gathered at Matron Wang’s temples. The moment she saw me, she fell to her knees.

“I’ve failed in my duties and allowed something disgraceful to happen. Please spare me, Your Highness.”

Disgraceful?

At that word, the ladies beside me grew even more excited.

I looked at her coldly.

“What happened? Tell me the truth.”

She struggled to speak.

“I only came when I heard the scream. When I entered, I saw the prime minister’s second daughter and a man… His eldest daughter was standing to one side, covering her face and screaming…”

I glanced at the prime minister’s wife, whose expression had frozen.

“Clear out everyone who has no business here. Invite the ladies and their daughters back to the main courtyard for the feast.”

“You may stay, Madam. Your household appears to be involved.”

Deprived of their gossip, the others drifted away in twos and threes, whispering. The prime minister’s wife followed me stiffly into the room.

His second daughter, Xu Zhiwan, and the man had put their clothes in order. Both were being held on their knees to one side.

His eldest daughter, Xu Zhining, knelt on the other side. Her eyes were red and her face looked frightened, but her gaze was perfectly calm.

I noted that oddity, then addressed her first.

“Tell me what happened.”

With reddened eyes, she murmured, “My sister and I were enjoying the flowers in the main courtyard. We’d grown a little tired from walking. She said she’d seen a small kitchen over here and brought me to get some cakes.”

“When we asked, they only had chrysanthemum cakes. I don’t like chrysanthemums, so a maid took me to find something else.

“When I’d finished eating, I came back and couldn’t find my sister. The kitchen servants said she’d had chrysanthemum cakes and asked for some chrysanthemum wine. After drinking it, she said she felt dizzy. A maid took her to an empty guest room to rest.”

“I came to the room to find her. I never expected to open the door and see…”

She looked unable to continue. I listened without revealing anything, then turned to the second daughter.

“Is what your sister said true?”

Tear tracks still marked Xu Zhiwan’s face. Pale, she answered in a voice barely louder than a mosquito.

“Yes.”

I nodded and looked at the kneeling man.

“Raise your head.”

He did, revealing a face that seemed vaguely familiar.

I studied him.

“Who are you? How did you get in here?”

His lips curved into a smile.

“I walked in, naturally.”

What?

Before I could ask anything more, he declared confidently, “As a noble heir, I will of course marry this young lady now that this has happened.”

Xu Zhiwan’s eyes lit up.

“You’re an heir?”

He raised his chin.

“Indeed. I am Xiao Bingxian, heir to the Prince of Liang. Don’t be afraid. I will take responsibility for you.”

The prime minister’s wife’s expression relaxed. A smile crept into her eyes.

Xu Zhining gave a desolate smile. Clutching the sleeve embroidered with a subtle chrysanthemum pattern, she whispered, “In this life, I’ll give you back to her…”

Excuse me?

Whatever love, hatred, and grievances the lot of them had, were they arranging a marriage between the prime minister’s household and a regional prince’s heir right in front of me?

Did they think I was dead?

Xiao Bingxian took Xu Zhiwan’s hand. The two gazed tenderly at each other. The prime minister’s wife looked on approvingly, while Xu Zhining seemed lost in sorrow.

I gave the order without expression.

“A regional prince’s heir who enters the capital without an imperial summons is deemed to be rebelling. Guards, arrest them and take them to the imperial prison.”

The guards behind me drew their swords neatly and laid them across Xiao Bingxian’s and Xu Zhiwan’s necks. Under the others’ incredulous stares, they escorted the pair away.

I turned a false smile on the prime minister’s wife and Xu Zhining, both frozen where they stood.

“Come along, you two. Surely you don’t need my guards to invite you at swordpoint?”

The prime minister’s wife followed me out of the courtyard, sweating coldly. I quietly told the covert guard beside me what I’d found strange about Xu Zhining and instructed her to pass every detail to Chengze.

As for what to do with the rest…

On one side was the prime minister’s household. On the other, the Prince of Liang. I wanted to see how Chengze would handle it now, and whether he could resolve this trouble smoothly.

A few absent guests shouldn’t have mattered. But when the missing guests were people who already drew attention, their absence was obvious.

When I returned to the banquet, the ladies and their daughters quickly scanned the people behind me. Seeing neither the prime minister’s wife nor either daughter, they exchanged meaningful looks.

I ignored their whispers and raised my cup to begin the feast.

By the end of the banquet, I had a rough impression of the girls from each household. Choosing an empress still required a closer look.

When I returned to the palace, Chengze rushed over. His hopeful eyes and eager face all but announced: I’ve discovered something enormous. Ask me!

I rubbed his head and smiled.

“What’s that look for? If you have something to say, say it.”

He teased me.

“Sis, guess what I found out during the questioning.”

I gave him an amused look and turned to the documents on the table.

“If you don’t want to tell me, never mind. I still have memorials to review. If Your Majesty has nothing to do, come and help.”

He quickly held down my hand and leaned closer, full of mystery.

“The prime minister’s eldest daughter says she’s living a second life. She came back from three years in the future.”

I raised an eyebrow. Seeing he had my interest, he continued.

“Xiao Bingxian has been corresponding with Xu Zhining all along. He left his fief without permission this time to meet her.”

“Oh? Then how did Xu Zhiwan get involved?”

Chengze clicked his tongue and handed me Xu Zhining’s testimony.

“I don’t know how to explain it. Read it yourself, Sis.”

I took the statement and looked through it.

According to Xu Zhining, in her previous life she had kept up a correspondence with Xiao Bingxian. They arranged a meeting, which was why he entered the capital without a summons.

They became intimate at a separate residence belonging to the prime minister’s family. Xu Zhiwan discovered them, and they had no choice but to marry.

But Xu Zhiwan claimed she had been the one writing to Xiao Bingxian. Even the prime minister and his wife helped her. They went so far as to sever the tendons in Xu Zhining’s wrists so she couldn’t prove her identity.

Later, Xu Zhiwan was chosen as an imperial consort. She was miserable in the palace and died not long afterward.

Xiao Bingxian thought everything was Xu Zhining’s fault for stealing her sister’s identity. After Xu Zhiwan died, he began tormenting and abusing Zhining. He even took another wife who resembled Zhiwan and brought her before Zhining every day to hurt her.

Even as Xu Zhining died, he insisted she owed it all to Xu Zhiwan.

I frowned, staring at the final line in bewilderment.

“In this life, I have decided to bring Xu Zhiwan and Xiao Bingxian together. I no longer love him. From now on, we will part in peace and never meet again.”

Seeing my expression, Chengze grinned and leaned closer.

“I knew that would be the part you looked at, Sis.”

I tried to find the words.

I failed.

So, true or not, Xu Zhining had been given a second life, and the only thing she’d done with it was match her sister with her lover from the first?

At my speechless expression, Chengze slapped the table and laughed.

“Don’t start puzzling over it yet. Read this too.”

He handed me Xiao Bingxian’s statement. I skimmed it and was stunned.

Xiao Bingxian said he too had returned from three years in the future. Heaven had taken pity on him and granted him another life. He intended to change everything, make the vicious fraud Xu Zhining pay, and spend his whole life with Xu Zhiwan alone—a blissful, devoted couple.

Forgetting my dignity, I scratched my head and looked at Chengze.

“If they’re telling the truth, why didn’t we react to a marriage between the prime minister’s family and the Prince of Liang?”

He struggled not to laugh.

“I knew you hadn’t read carefully. Xu Zhining faked her death before leaving with Xiao Bingxian. That was why it was the second daughter, Xu Zhiwan, who entered the palace.

“The marriage was never made public. No one even discovered Xiao Bingxian’s visit to the capital in his first life.”

I sipped my tea to steady myself. If these were the younger members of the prime minister’s and Prince of Liang’s households, even a marriage alliance hardly seemed worth worrying about.

I’d intended to ask Xiao Bingxian and Xu Zhining whether any major natural disasters or human calamities would occur over the next three years, so we could prepare.

I truly hadn’t expected Xu Zhining to have spent those three years confined and tormented in Xiao Bingxian’s inner household, knowing nothing of the outside world.

As for him, he had either been visiting brothels or bringing his new wife home to torment Zhining. He knew just as little. The pair of them had ground away at each other for three whole years.

I was stunned all over again.

The Prince of Liang’s heir hadn’t attended to his fief’s affairs or paid attention to important matters at court. He’d devoted himself entirely to tormenting a defenseless woman?

Did the Prince of Liang have no other children? A person like this could be his heir?

That was—wonderful!

I almost couldn’t bear to have Xiao Bingxian publicly beheaded. If he inherited Liang’s fief, curbing the regional princes would go splendidly.

Never mind…

On reflection, this was the perfect moment to move against the Prince of Liang with a proper justification.

After Shen Lingchuan’s madness, his officers badly needed military achievements to prove their loyalty to the court.

Besides, we’d confiscated considerable wealth from the Marquis of Dingyuan’s and Duke Li’s estates. It could pay the troops.

I ordered the Three Offices to investigate the prime minister’s household thoroughly overnight.

The next day, the Censorate opened fire with every accusation it had. The chief charge was that secret dealings with a regional prince were equivalent to treason. All the crimes, great and small, from the prime minister’s years in office supported it.

His entire household earned itself confiscation and beheading. All nine branches of his clan were exiled to repair the Great Wall, barred from the imperial examinations for three generations, and made ineligible for any amnesty.

What? It was the prime minister’s daughter who secretly contacted the prince’s heir, and the prime minister himself knew nothing?

Listen to yourself. Does that sound reasonable? How could a sheltered young lady who barely left her home contact a regional prince’s heir a thousand li away?

And keep it up for years without her father’s help? A three-year-old wouldn’t believe it. Let’s not insult the intelligence of the ministers at court.

Chengze summoned the Prince of Liang to the capital to explain his heir’s unauthorized departure from the fief.

Instead of appearing at court to clear his name, the prince raised his banner and rebelled!

Fortunately, we’d anticipated it. A hundred thousand troops stood ready. As soon as the order to suppress the rebellion arrived, they broke camp.

From the army’s departure to the recovery of Liang’s fief, even a fast campaign would surely take at least half a year, I thought. I therefore began the selection, intending to find Chengze an educated, sensible, quiet, dignified empress.

And hand government back as quickly as possible! I had reviewed quite enough memorials!

After round upon round of selection, I carefully asked Chengze’s opinion and chose Pei Qiwu, the daughter of the principal wife in the distinguished Pei family, as his empress.

The unsuccessful candidates were sent home and permitted to marry freely. Pei Qiwu also returned home to await the wedding, while the Ministry of Rites chose an auspicious date for her entrance into the palace.

I assigned several matrons to help her learn palace etiquette.

On the wedding day, the empress approached at a measured pace.

What?

I closed my eyes and opened them again. Three times. At last, I couldn’t help rubbing them and looking at Chengze.

He had just lowered the hand he’d used to rub his own eyes. He looked back at me.

What was happening? Neither of us seemed to have met this empress before!

The resemblance was there, but the woman in those empress’s ceremonial robes was definitely not Pei Qiwu.

Seeing our expressions, her knees buckled. I quickly signaled the palace attendants to support her.

Good heavens, this was the empress’s investiture ceremony. Every civil and military official was watching. What would it look like if the empress suddenly dropped to her knees?

Even if she was about to faint, she had to hold on until the ceremony ended!

I kept my face expressionless and endured the rest. Once the ministers had dispersed, Chengze and I dismissed the attendants. The empress immediately knelt to beg forgiveness.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, please hear me. My name is Pei Yanqiu. I am Pei Qiwu’s younger half-sister, born to a concubine. My sister and the Wang family’s second son love each other. She didn’t want to enter the palace.

“Our elder brother took pity on her. He and the second Wang son threatened me into marrying in her place. Later, my sister would marry young Wang under my name… I didn’t want to do this, but my brother threatened the life of my newborn full brother…”

I felt my expression twisting.

If she didn’t want to marry, why had she come to my banquet? Why had she entered the selection?

All she had to do was tell her parents, and have them quietly inform us. Did she think the emperor and I would snatch an unwilling girl by force?

“Good. Very good.”

Through gritted teeth, I asked, “What does Your Majesty think?”

Chengze laughed in fury.

“I think the Pei and Wang families have a few too many people.”

We exchanged a glance and immediately sent covert guards to both households to find out whether Yanqiu’s account was true.

Before long, they reported that Madam Pei and Pei Qiwu were clinging to each other and crying.

The Pei family’s eldest son and the Wang family’s second son knelt before their respective fathers. The two families were discussing how to force the imperial family to swallow this humiliation in silence.

They were even arranging Pei Qiwu’s wedding to young Wang at the same time!

Such distinguished great families.

I’d been a little too kind lately as I prepared to return power to Chengze. They had begun to forget that the imperial family mattered.

In the previous dynasty, Shen Lingchuan’s and the prime minister’s crimes would have meant exterminating three branches of their clans.

Chengze and I had killed only the principal culprits. That had given these people the courage to make fools of us.

They seemed to have forgotten what happened when I first took charge as regent. Chengze had been so young, and the court had put so many obstacles in our way. How many people had I killed before the imperial family finally held the emperor’s full authority securely in its hands?

One day they formed factions and opposed my decrees. The next, someone was impeached on charges supported by clear evidence. The lightest sentence was dismissal from office and a permanent ban from government service.

At worst, the entire clan was exterminated. We didn’t even bother with exile.

I’d lost count of how many open attacks, hidden blades, poisons, and assassination attempts our covert guards had stopped over those five years.

Now that the imperial family’s hidden blade had rested in its sheath for just two years, people wanted to test whether it was still sharp.

I’d already handed half the covert guards to Chengze. This matter couldn’t be made public. Where would the imperial family’s dignity be then?

This was precisely the time to use them.

“The Pei and Wang families have long harbored rebellious intentions…”

I offered the hint. Chengze added, “I’ve heard the Pei patriarch once tried on an imperial dragon robe in his residence!”

Kneeling below us, Pei Yanqiu trembled all over. Still, she forced herself to speak.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, my full brother is only three months old. Please show mercy and spare his life!”

I admire courage. I nodded.

“We will spare him. Once the Pei clan is destroyed, you may leave the palace under a new identity and raise him. One condition: neither of you may ever use the surname Pei again.”

Overwhelmed with gratitude, she bowed deeply several times. Eunuch An led her to a side hall, where she was temporarily confined.

The covert guards worked quickly. Rumors soon spread through the streets that the Pei and Wang families harbored treasonous intentions.

Faced with the ministers’ impeachments, the Pei patriarch wore the lofty expression of a man whose innocence needed no defense. The Wang patriarch argued desperately on his behalf.

With “no other choice,” Chengze and I sent people to search the households and establish the Pei family’s innocence.

The searchers promptly found an imperial dragon robe in a secret chamber at the Pei residence, and thirty suits of armor at the Wang residence.

The Pei patriarch’s face changed at once. Even as he was seized, he cried that he had been wronged. No one believed him. Even colleagues who had been close to him normally now avoided him like the plague.

Chengze and I exchanged a smile.

Of course. The person framing you knows better than anyone just how innocent you are.

When the Pei and Wang households were executed in their entirety, the covert guards secretly brought Pei Yanqiu’s little brother out and gave him to her.

In consideration of their marriage, Empress Pei Qiwu was spared execution. Chengze issued a decree deposing her and consigning her to the Cold Palace. Three months later, she died of melancholy.

I heard that as the Pei family was being beheaded, one woman was raving that she was the real Pei Qiwu and the woman in the palace was a fake. No one paid any attention to her mad words.

The army sent to Liang’s fief reported victory over the rebellion. After thinking it over, I decided to return government to Chengze before the troops came back to court.

That way, he would take charge with a military victory over a regional prince already to his name. It would make his first dealings with the ministers much smoother.

But Chengze refused, quite solemnly.

He looked at me earnestly.

“This is my sister’s achievement. How could I take it for myself with an easy conscience?”

I was about to argue when he crouched down and laid his head on my knees, just as he had when he was little.

“Sis, I’ve seen all the effort you’ve put into this. I know you’re doing it for me, but I want your name remembered in history too.

“One day, the history books will record that during your regency, you held off the Xiongnu abroad, brought the ministers to order at home, purged the great families, strengthened the center and weakened the branches, set rightful status in order, and upheld the imperial house…”

“All right, all right, stop! That’s a little too much praise. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

I had to interrupt him. If he went on, I’d start claiming a place beside history’s great literary and martial emperors.

Chengze grumbled.

“You’re the best in my eyes, Sis.”

I rubbed his head as I always had. He lingered a little longer, until I finally had to push him away.

“From today onward, you review your own memorials. I’m not doing it for you again!”

At another victory banquet, I raised my cup for the last time on behalf of imperial authority and looked across the assembled ministers.

There was no overbearing general. No prime minister with power clenched in his hands. Even the great families had drawn their heads in and dared not push themselves forward.

I remembered their predatory gazes the first time I led Chengze into court by the hand. Smiling, I drained my cup of victory wine.

Xiao Zhangzhu, Xiao Chenzhao! You’ve done a fine job these past few years. All that hard work wasn’t for nothing!