Chapter 7
Chapter 7
I returned to the Fifth Princess’s Yuning Palace. The moment I stepped inside, I was pinned down by her waiting maids.
The Fifth Princess was named Chu Ning, the daughter of the late Empress Song.
When the Crown Prince and the Empress died, Chu Ning was only a seven-year-old girl.
Emperor Zhengde did not kill her, but he didn’t care for her either, leaving her to fend for herself in the depths of the palace.
A seven-year-old child was an easy target for anyone to bully.
Even the palace maids and eunuchs would kick her whenever they were in a foul mood. No one stood up for her, and no one dared to help her openly.
Only the palace servants who had once received kindness from Empress Song would secretly provide her with food and clothing.
She struggled through life until she was eleven.
During a palace banquet, through a twist of fate, she took a blade meant for Emperor Zhengde.
When Emperor Zhengde looked at his daughter, whose features closely resembled Empress Song’s, he saw a girl who was as frail as a willow leaf yet stood with such unwavering determination to protect him. This unexpected act awakened his long-dormant fatherly love and stirred the deep-seated longing and guilt he felt for Empress Song.
After all, Empress Song had been his childhood sweetheart, the one to whom he had personally handed the jade ruyi scepter as a token of their union.
Once a person dies, their debts are cleared.
The old grievances faded in his memory, leaving only the beautiful moments behind.
He remembered how Empress Song had fallen for him at first sight when he was just an ordinary prince. He remembered her sewing the hem of his clothes after he had torn them while jumping over a wall for a secret tryst. They had once walked hand-in-hand through the flickering lanterns and galloped together across the wild plains. He recalled her in the summer woods, dressed in red as vibrant as fire, playing barefoot in the stream. Her jade-white feet against the red fabric were as striking as a crane’s feathers. As she splashed the water, she had gently tugged at his heartstrings.
They had journeyed through their youth and early adulthood together, only for it all to come to a sudden halt in middle age.
That streak of bright red and intense white had vanished completely from his life.
Did he regret it?
He did.
He proceeded to spoil Chu Ning until she became the most prestigious princess in the palace.
Even Consort Zhao had to avoid her sharp edge.
Once Chu Ning gained power, the first thing she did was beat or kill those who had once bullied her, while promoting and rewarding those who had helped her.
She was actually a girl who clearly distinguished between gratitude and grudges.
However, these actions caused her notoriety to spread far and wide.
One particular poetry gathering pushed her reputation to its absolute lowest point.
At the gathering, several noble ladies asked Chu Ning to compose an inscription.
With her willow-leaf brows arched in anger, Chu Ning kicked over the writing desk and ordered the noble ladies to be severely flogged with planks.
Only then did everyone realize that this princess, so favored by His Majesty, was actually illiterate.
Emperor Zhengde sought out great scholars to tutor Chu Ning, but no one was willing to serve as the Fifth Princess’s study companion.
The Fifth Princess drew up a list herself, selecting noble daughters from various households to be her companions.
Those households were all ones that had been involved in the case of the Crown Prince’s deposition.
She was seeking revenge for her mother and brother.
Among them was my father, Prime Minister Lin Rucheng.
The former Crown Prince had been virtuous, wise, kind, and upright-everything an heir to the throne should be.
However, for some unknown reason, Lin Rucheng had a connection with Consort Zhao. He disliked the Crown Prince and sided with the Zhao Family.
After the Crown Prince’s death, he was the one who adamantly advocated for the Third Prince to be named the new Crown Prince, though Emperor Zhengde had been slow to agree.
This time, when the Fifth Princess was choosing study companions, the various families resigned themselves to their fate, believing they would inevitably lose a few daughters to her whims.
But Lin Rucheng only had one Lin Dieyun, and she was destined to marry into the Zhao Family.
Unwilling to let Lin Dieyun be ruined at Chu Ning’s hands, he remembered me-his foster daughter in name, but his biological daughter in reality.
He sent Lin Chengfeng to find me.