Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In my fifteenth year, I reached the age of hair-pinning.

The Eldest Princess presided over my coming-of-age ceremony. Looking at me in my formal attire, she couldn’t help but remark, “You’ve grown up. You look just like your mother.”

For many years, no one in the palace had dared to mention my Empress Mother.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized her slip. With a long sigh, she fell silent.

I was delighted. The fact that I resembled my Empress Mother was excellent news.

Another person who was stunned by the resemblance was my Imperial Father.

When I went to pay my respects, he actually stood up from his throne, staring at me blankly. His mouth opened as if a name were about to escape his lips, but at the last moment, he clamped it shut. His eyes flared with a mixture of fury and humiliation.

Over the years, I had come to understand what my Imperial Father truly wanted.

He wanted to be a sentimental hero.

He wanted to have women on both sides while ruling over a vast empire.

Unfortunately, the Princess Consort of Anyang didn’t choose him; she preferred to follow Prince Anyang into exile in Lingnan.

Because he couldn’t have her, he developed an obsession and sought out a substitute. What he expected even less was that my Empress Mother would also turn against him and leave.

In this life, he would pursue what he could not have and refuse to let go of what he should, only to end up with nothing at all.

With an expressionless face, he bestowed upon me gifts of gold, pearls, and jade.

I thanked him with a smile. “Thank you, Imperial Father. But shouldn’t you also give me the share that was meant for my Empress Mother?”

He replied coldly, “What do you want?”

“I want Lingnan as my fiefdom.”

“Absurd! You are a woman; how can you have a fiefdom?”

“In history, Princess Guantao, Princess Pingyang, and Princess Zhao all had fiefdoms. Why can’t I? Is it because I am a woman that you refuse, or is it because you only want to protect that person?”

Imperial Father was enraged. “It is not your place to lecture me on my affairs! Get out!”

I gave a cold laugh, turned around, and strode away.

Behind me, he smashed the paperweight at his hand and overturned his desk.

Just then, a young eunuch entered with the day’s memorials.

The one on top was a petition from Prince Anyang and the Princess Consort of Anyang, requesting permission to return to the capital to visit the Prince’s ailing mother, the Old Lady.

Imperial Father rejected it immediately, gave Prince Anyang a harsh verbal lashing in his decree, and then sent imperial physicians to attend to the Old Lady.

I breathed a small sigh of relief.

After fifteen years of not seeing the Princess Consort of Anyang, I feared my Imperial Father’s longing was becoming uncontrollable.

But I didn’t want Gu Qinglan to return to the capital. If possible, it would be best if he never came here in his life.

If they never met, they could never harm each other.

However, I still underestimated the power of the plot.

One winter morning, a youth dressed in white rode alone into the capital and went to Prince Anyang’s Manor to visit the Old Lady.

The Old Lady wept bitterly and insisted he stay.

He was Gu Qinglan.

Nominally, he was a distant nephew of Prince Anyang, but in reality, he was the Prince’s biological son.

After Prince Anyang and the Princess Consort of Anyang had him, they feared the Imperial Father’s wrath, so they secretly sent the child out of the manor to be raised by a peasant family.

Gu Qinglan was exceptionally gifted, possessed a photographic memory, and was extraordinarily talented. He was the prize pupil of many great scholars. At a young age, he had already placed first in the county and provincial examinations.

He came to the capital under the pretext of taking the spring imperial examinations, staying at Prince Anyang’s Manor while also attending to the Old Lady’s illness.

Everything was perfectly legitimate. He easily earned a reputation for filial piety and was praised by everyone in the capital.

At the same time, another girl was brought back to Marquis Changxing’s Mansion.

The Marquis Manor announced to the public that she was a daughter who had been recovering from an illness at a rural estate. They claimed she was the twin of the family’s other young lady, but because she was born sickly, a master had prophesied that she needed to live outside the manor for fifteen years to survive.

Now that the time was up, they had brought her back.

When the Marchioness took her two daughters out into society, it was obvious to any keen observer that the two girls bore no resemblance to each other.

Furthermore, the Marchioness clearly favored the one who had grown up by her side and detested the one raised on the farm, criticizing her for having no manners.

That girl was Su Qianyu.

She held the script of the ‘true versus false’ young lady, and she would ultimately emerge victorious. Alongside Gu Qinglan, they would support each other, overthrow the old system, change the dynasty, and ascend to the highest positions.

The male and female leads had arrived, and the villainess was already in place. It seemed a grand show was about to begin.

In the end, I couldn’t stop the plot from bringing us all together. So, let us see who will emerge triumphant.