Chapter 157
Chapter 157
[After Zhu Yuanzhang Returned to the Great Ming – 8]
Madam Wu was startled by this sudden turn of events, and surprise appeared on Lin Lanyi’s face as well.
At that moment, however, no one suffered more than Second Madam Lin. With her throat trapped in another’s hand, how could she possibly feel comfortable?
She struggled desperately, shoving at her assailant, but the huge hand was like a pair of iron pincers. It clamped so tightly around her neck that not the slightest gap remained. Only in the final instant before she suffocated did he at last show mercy and release her.
Fresh air rushed into her throat, bringing a strange relief amid the pain. Second Madam Lin clutched her neck and coughed violently several times as reflexive tears streamed down her face. Her throat seemed injured by the brutal treatment, and a faint taste of blood rose within it.
Yet no one had leisure to care about her condition. Even her own servants stood stunned, because after her brief shock, Madam Wu hurriedly composed her appearance, stepped forward, and bowed.
“This humble woman is Madam Wu, née Deng, wife of the General of Radiant Might. Greetings, Your Highness!”
Although Lin Lanyi was habitually steady, meeting the young man she had encountered before entering the temple again in such circumstances inevitably astonished her. “Your Highness?”
Madam Wu quietly prompted her-and the soldiers as well. “This is Prince Lu, legitimate grandson of Emperor Renzong and cousin to His Majesty the Reigning Emperor.”
Coming back to herself, Lin Lanyi curtsied. “This young woman greets Your Highness.”
Everyone else also stepped forward to pay their respects.
Zhu Yuanzhang motioned for them to dispense with ceremony. Without looking at anyone else, he took one step toward Lin Lanyi and said, “When Consort Mother was alive, she was close to your mother. I was young then and remember little of it. Several days ago, while looking through the things Consort Mother left behind, I found letters from your mother among them. After questioning the old servants who attended Consort Mother, I learned not only that the two shared a deep friendship, but that they had also verbally arranged a marriage between us. Unfortunately, your mother passed away suddenly. Consort Mother did not live long either, and later your father also died, so the matter was set aside…”
The former Prince Lu had been Emperor Renzong’s legitimate son and Emperor Xuanzong’s full younger brother. His status could scarcely have been more exalted. Once enfeoffed in Luoyang, he stood above virtually everyone there. His Princess Consort was naturally the foremost lady of the region, and her every word, action, and social connection drew attention.
Many people had therefore known of the verbal betrothal arranged by the late Princess Consort of Lu and Eldest Madam Lin. The older titled ladies of Luoyang had heard of it, while Eldest Madam Lin’s accompanying household servants knew every detail.
But it had only been a verbal agreement. There had been no written contract or betrothal gifts, nor had any tokens been exchanged. After Eldest Madam Lin died, Eldest Master Lin followed less than two years later, and the Princess Consort of Lu also succumbed to illness. Without the friendship between the ladies of the inner households, contact between Prince Lu’s Estate and the Lin Family gradually faded.
Lin Lanyi had long known about the arrangement. Yet the estate had not maintained contact with the Lin Family for years, and her uncle and aunt did not dare rashly seek favor. As an unmarried young woman secluded in the inner quarters, could she possibly present herself at their door and announce that, many years earlier, the Princess Consort of Lu had agreed with her mother that the heir should marry her?
One misstep would merely humiliate her and make her the laughingstock of the city.
Lin Lanyi had never intended to reach above herself for this marriage. She had not expected Prince Lu to seek her out today. Remembering how they had looked at each other from afar outside the temple gate, their gazes meeting in the distance, she felt both shy and embarrassed, with a faint measure of joy and relief mingled beneath it all.
A young woman had her dignity; she could not voice any of those feelings. She merely lowered her head a little. Her lashes cast two pale shadows across her cheeks, and her gentle voice came out slightly blurred. “So that was what happened.”
They had, after all, been husband and wife in their previous lives. Zhu Yuanzhang detected the shyness and pleasure concealed in her smallest gestures. Relief loosened his heart, followed by secret delight, and he could not help laughing softly.
“I knew nothing of this before. Only after questioning those who once served Consort Mother did I learn the old story. Since our elders made an agreement, how could we juniors refuse to honor it? I then sent men to make inquiries and learned that Miss Lin had not yet been promised to anyone. As the anniversary of your mother’s death was approaching, I planned first to come here and pay my respects to her, then visit the Lin Family to propose marriage. Who would have imagined that arriving at the right moment mattered more than arriving early, and I would actually meet you here?”
Lin Lanyi had reached marriageable age and had naturally considered her future.
Entrust it entirely to her uncle and aunt?
That would be like deciding the first half of her life had gone too smoothly and deliberately adding hardship and turmoil to the second.
Ask her maternal relatives to search for a match?
Her maternal family lived elsewhere, while both her uncles held posts in Jiangnan. Not only did they have no suitable candidate at hand, but even if they found one, she would most likely have to marry far from home.
Choosing a husband herself was even less possible. Outsiders would call her improper, and frivolous wastrels rather than honorable men would swarm around her.
After today’s events, she could no longer delay. Her cousin had married, so she would be next. Her uncle and aunt plainly coveted her vast inheritance. She had suppressed them this time, but who could guarantee there would not be another attempt?
A good husband was difficult to find. Marrying carelessly might take her from a tiger’s den into a wolf’s lair.
Just as Lin Lanyi found nowhere to shelter, Prince Lu extended his hand. Why would she refuse it?
He was tall, handsome, and had committed no evil despite years in Luoyang. Prince Lu’s Estate had neither Princess Consort nor Secondary Consort, leaving the inner residence peaceful. Such a blessed refuge could not be found even with a lantern.
Through Tao Chuqing’s marriage, Lanyi had heard about Prince Lu’s dispute with the Tao Family. Lin Hefeng called him tyrannical, but the Taos had incurred the debt and committed the wrongdoing. Why blame the Prince?
Tao Chuqing was the greatest beauty Lanyi had ever seen. The Taos once sent her to the estate as a concubine, yet Prince Lu returned her untouched. Tao Chuqing spoke of it through clenched teeth, and Lin Hefeng considered it humiliating. Lanyi instead thought Prince Lu an upright gentleman. How many men could resist such beauty? Yet he had not touched her with one finger.
What remained to consider? Their parents had made the agreement, and Prince Lu desired the match. She curtsied gracefully. “My late mother and the Princess Consort made an agreement, and Your Highness is an upright gentleman who came to honor it. How could this young woman refuse?”
Zhu Yuanzhang beamed. He removed his jade pendant and placed it in her hands. “I did not expect to meet you today. Our betrothal lacked tokens, but it isn’t too late to exchange them now!”
Blushing, Lin Lanyi accepted it with both hands, then removed her own pendant and offered it to him. Zhu Yuanzhang wrapped it carefully in a handkerchief and tucked it close to his chest.
Madam Wu had witnessed household intrigue, a prince’s neck-grabbing display, and now a grand romantic drama. She felt like an animal lost in a melon field, unsure which spectacle to consume first.
Recovering quickly, she smiled. “A talented gentleman and a beautiful lady-a match made in heaven. I am blessed to witness it!”
Zhu Yuanzhang had heard her help Lanyi and treated her warmly. “When Lanyi and I marry, Madam must attend the wedding feast.”
Madam Wu covered her smile. “How could I refuse?”
Second Madam Lin coughed red-faced nearby. Seeing her niece about to become Princess Consort while her own son had married the woman Prince Lu rejected made her expression uglier. Yet her husband was only a fifth-rank official, while Prince Lu was an imperial prince beyond the ranks. She dared show no displeasure.
Suppressing her cough, she took Lanyi’s hand with tearful emotion. “When your mother died, you were her greatest concern. If she knows in the afterlife that her daughter will become Princess Consort, she will surely smile. It feels as though only yesterday you were a little girl playing in the garden. How did you suddenly grow into a young woman about to marry? Time passes so quickly!”
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed at Second Madam Lin’s consummate performance. He gestured for Lin Lanyi to sit and rest, then turned toward Second Madam Lin. His expression instantly became glacial.
“Lanyi is compassionate and mindful of family ties. She was willing to close one eye to this filth and let it pass. I am not so easily fooled!”
He seized Second Madam Lin by her hair and dragged her before her maiden nephew. “Who is this man? Do you truly know nothing about why he came here?!”
From the moment Zhu Yuanzhang said Lanyi was compassionate and mindful of family ties, Lin Lanyi stood stunned. Warm emotion and bitter grievance surged together. By the time she recovered, her eyes were wet, and she hurriedly turned away to wipe them.
She was kind by nature and generous to those in need, but that did not mean she wished to show kindness to everyone-least of all those who intended to violate her.
She had spared her aunt not from compassion, but because she could not sever herself from the Lin Family. Madam Wu was present, and Lanyi remained an unmarried Lin daughter. If the scandal spread, the Lin Family might lose a thousand, but she herself would lose eight hundred.
These private difficulties could not be spoken aloud, yet he understood them all-her pain, grievance, humiliation, and resentment.
What more could a woman ask of a husband?
Before, she had compromised because she had no one to rely on and no marriage arranged. Now that she had a good man to entrust her life to, why should she continue swallowing insults?
Second Madam Lin’s cries for help grew increasingly urgent. Lin Lanyi remained unmoved and acted as if she heard nothing.
Zhu Yuanzhang flung the woman to the floor, picked up a stool, and snapped off one leg with a teeth-grating crack.
Second Madam Lin had never endured such rough treatment. Her scalp already burned; at the sight of his violence, half her soul fled. She scrambled away in abject terror, desperate to put as much distance between them as possible.
Zhu Yuanzhang glared at her nephew. “Did someone order you to come here?”
The man had first been beaten half to death by the soldiers. Just when he thought he could breathe again, the ferocious Prince Lu appeared.
Knowing that he and his aunt were insects tied to the same string, he stammered, “N-no one ordered me. It was only a coincidence…”
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, baring white teeth. The club crashed down. Bone split audibly, and every trace of color vanished from the man’s face.
He screamed like a wounded hawk, clutched his left leg, and rolled across the floor.
Madam Wu’s eyelid jumped. She pressed a hand to her chest but did not dare speak.
Lin Lanyi initially looked away. After steadying herself, she turned back, glanced at the writhing man, then fixed her gaze firmly on Prince Lu.
Second Madam Lin had already crawled some distance. The sound left her legs weak, and she collapsed, unable to move another inch.
The man continued rolling, his tears wetting the floor. Zhu Yuanzhang planted one foot on his back and pinned him down. His laugh made the man’s scalp crawl. “Same question. Did someone order you here?”
He tapped the man’s unbroken right leg with the club. “You still have one leg. Think carefully before answering.”