Chapter 26

Chapter 26

[Prince Consort, the Princess Has Been Beaten to Death – 25]

Princess Qinghe sat upon an embroidered stool, laughing under her breath. Princess Zhaoyang was furious. “You are still laughing? I am about to die of anger!”

She puffed out her cheeks at her sister. “Are you not angry?”

“I am. But I have no feelings for him, so after the first wave of anger passed, I found it bearable enough.”

Princess Qinghe put the pearl earring on. After thinking carefully, she smiled again. “Looking back now, I actually feel rather fortunate. Thank goodness I never consummated the marriage with him and had little intimate contact with him. If we had consummated it on our wedding day and I learned this now, that would be truly revolting.”

Princess Zhaoyang considered this and could not resist laughing as well. When she finished, she leaned closer and asked quietly, “Sister, do you still want to remain with him?”

Princess Qinghe was briefly startled by the question. After several moments of thought, she gently shook her head.

Princess Zhaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. “Then I can stop worrying.”

…

If they truly followed Princess Zhaoyang’s proposal and took four hundred manor guards to the Lü Family, the affair would probably become a public scandal.

Princess Qinghe knew how far to go. She did not allow Princess Zhaoyang to muster men from her own residence. Instead, she selected one hundred and fifty from her own manor guards. One hundred remained outside the Lü Family home, while the other fifty entered with her.

Even so, the display was considerable.

A princess naturally traveled with many servants and attendants, but this was the first time she had arrived with so many manor guards.

When the Lü Family gatekeeper saw the formation, unease rose within him. He ran all the way into the residence to report it, making Madam Lü’s heart beat faster as well.

“What is the meaning of this?” she asked with a frown, turning to the senior maid beside her. “Does she mean to intimidate me?”

The maid looked worried and said softly, “Could it be that your proposal to take a concubine for the Second Young Master displeased the princess?”

“She was displeased? I was displeased too!”

The mention of that visit filled Madam Lü with fire. The instant she opened her mouth, lava began to pour out. “For every sentence I spoke, she retorted with ten. Who beneath heaven has ever heard of such an insolent daughter-in-law? If she had not been born to the imperial family, she would have been repudiated and sent home long ago! Besides, she never agreed to the concubine. In the end, she even talked me into retreat. By what right would she come here to intimidate me?!”

The maid could only smile placatingly and soothe her with care. “She is a princess, after all, and you are magnanimous. Young people lack sense. You must show them greater forbearance.”

Madam Lü could only complain behind Princess Qinghe’s back. She dared not trade abuse with her face to face.

The princess was the emperor’s beloved daughter and had brought three hundred manor guards with her when she married. If anything happened to her under Madam Lü’s roof, the consequences would be unbearable. No one could shoulder that responsibility.

After venting before her trusted attendants, Madam Lü forced herself to go outside and welcome her guests. The instant she stepped through the doorway, she saw Princess Qinghe and Princess Zhaoyang approaching side by side. They were equally young yet possessed two distinct kinds of beauty, graceful and radiant, with the awe-inspiring bearing of phoenixes. Behind them marched dozens of armored soldiers carrying weapons, a sight that made every heart tremble.

Madam Lü suppressed her displeasure and smiled amiably. “What auspicious day is this, that two honored guests have arrived at once? How very rare.”

Then she turned with exceptional warmth to Princess Zhaoyang. “This is your first visit to the Lü Family, Princess. Please do not stand on ceremony. This is your elder sister’s marital family, so treat it just like your own home.”

Princess Zhaoyang smiled. “If you put it that way, I shall take you at your word.”

“…” Madam Lü sensed vaguely that something was wrong but could not identify what. Faced with Princess Zhaoyang’s half-smile, she could only force herself to answer, “It was the truth to begin with. There would be nothing strange about taking it seriously.”

She appealed to Princess Qinghe for help. “Is that not so, Princess?”

Mockery crossed Princess Qinghe’s face, but she did not answer.

Princess Zhaoyang’s expression chilled. Turning, she ordered the accompanying guards, “Form teams of ten and have maids lead you. Search Madam Lü’s courtyard thoroughly. We saw that female thief sneak inside. What if we fail to find her and she injures someone? Mind your hands and feet. If anyone dares behave wantonly here, I will take his head first!”

The manor guards acknowledged the order and departed, led by maids toward the inner residence. Madam Lü paled in alarm. “What does the princess mean by this?”

She knew Princess Zhaoyang would heed neither soft words nor hard ones, so she could only hope Princess Qinghe might intervene. Signaling the servants beside her to stop the men, she said, “This is the women’s inner courtyard. How can outsiders simply be allowed to search it?”

Then she appealed to Princess Qinghe. “What has come over Princess Zhaoyang? Such an enormous display will make outsiders think some great disaster has occurred in the family.”

Princess Qinghe smiled. “On our way here, my sister and I saw a female thief slip inside. Afraid something might happen to the household, we brought men with us. For safety’s sake, it is best to search carefully. Then I can be at ease, and Madam may sleep soundly as well.”

Without waiting for Madam Lü to respond, she continued, “My elder brother-in-law holds a post outside the capital, and his wife accompanied him. Father has no concubines, and you yourself are standing here. Presumably, no other female family members are in the courtyard, so there should be no risk of violating anyone’s privacy. Besides, my sister is meticulous. She has maids leading the way, and the manor guards were selected from the palace. They certainly will not dare misbehave here.”
Hearing this, Madam Lü knew disaster was imminent.

The sisters kept mentioning a female thief and had sent people to search her courtyard. Eight or nine chances out of ten, they had come for Gao Yanyan. Who knew what they had already discovered?

Gao Yanyan was effectively Lü Xiuzhen’s concubine despite possessing no formal status, and she carried his child. That alone could prove fatal. Worse still, she was a fugitive government slave. Once the affair was exposed, the Lü Family would certainly suffer!

Madam Lü burned with anxiety. Although the weather remained chilly despite the first warmth of spring, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Forgetting everything else, she stepped forward to block the men. “You may not!”

She forced herself to show no weakness. “This is my courtyard. What propriety is there in allowing a group of strange men to search it? How am I to face anyone afterward?”

Then she suggested, “Let the Lü Family’s own maids search instead. She is only one female thief and can hardly create much trouble. Sending manor guards after her is using a great talent for a trifling task. It flatters her far too much.”

Princess Qinghe remained serene and smiled without speaking. Princess Zhaoyang dismissed Madam Lü’s words as so much hot air and did not take in half a sentence.

Madam Lü’s face took on a faint green cast. Sweat poured more heavily from her brow, and her heart raced.

The older woman behind her was more alert. The instant Princess Zhaoyang ordered the search, she sensed something wrong. After listening to the two sides exchange several remarks, she guessed they had come for Gao Yanyan. Concealing herself behind those nearby, she quietly headed toward the inner courtyard to warn her. Before she could step across the threshold, however, the guards protecting the two princesses stopped her.

“Princess, this old woman tried to slip into the inner courtyard while no one was watching. Her behavior is exceedingly suspicious. She may be in league with the female thief and intend to warn her!”

Princess Zhaoyang turned an unfriendly gaze upon her.

The old woman’s face changed instantly. She hurriedly begged for mercy. “This old servant’s family has served the Lü Family for generations. How could I betray my masters? This servant’s stomach truly hurts terribly. I feared behaving discourteously before Your Highnesses and merely wished to find a place to relieve myself…”

Madam Lü added, “Mama Liu is a trusted servant at my side, the steadiest and most reliable of all. She would never collude with an outsider to harm her masters. I ask the princess to judge clearly.”

Princess Zhaoyang ignored Madam Lü and merely regarded Mama Liu coldly. She said mockingly, “The instant we say there is a thief in Madam Lü’s courtyard, your stomach begins to ache? The timing is a little too convenient. Besides, even if your stomach truly hurts, is Madam Lü’s courtyard the only place in the entire Lü Family with a privy? You would brave an encounter with a thief and risk your life just to relieve yourself there?”

Mama Liu stammered wordlessly, unable to defend herself.

Princess Zhaoyang gave a cold, mirthless sound. Princess Qinghe nodded in agreement. “My sister is entirely right.”

She turned to Madam Lü and said softly, “This old woman’s conduct is suspicious, and she plainly harbors deceit. Who knows what schemes turn within her mind? How can such a sinister creature remain at Madam’s side? Attend me. Seize her immediately and drag her away for thirty strokes of the board. I would very much like to know what ideas are twisting through her guts.”

Thirty blows would cripple even a grown man, much less an elderly woman.

Mama Liu’s face turned ashen with terror. She dared not talk back to Princess Qinghe and looked pleadingly toward Madam Lü.

Burning with anxiety, Madam Lü had no choice but to humble herself and salute Princess Qinghe in supplication. “She is an old servant long accustomed to attending me and has always been exceptionally loyal and diligent. She would never commit such a foolish act. Please show mercy, Princess, and spare her this once.”

Princess Qinghe smiled. “It is not that I am hardhearted or determined to make matters difficult. But she chose precisely this moment to behave in such a way. I cannot help suspecting her. Investigating her now is also for Madam’s own good.”

As she spoke, the guards had already dragged Mama Liu away. Seeing that softness had failed, Madam Lü immediately hardened her stance. She straightened her back and said coldly, “First you mean to search my inner courtyard, and now you punish the matron beside me. Princess, this is the Lü Family home. Have you forgotten that I am its mistress?!”

The instant Madam Lü’s expression changed, Princess Qinghe’s chilled as well. “Madam Lü, this is indeed the Lü Family home. But do not forget: all beneath heaven is the sovereign’s soil, and all within its shores are the sovereign’s subjects!”

Madam Lü shuddered and dared argue no further.

Princess Qinghe’s expression turned stern. She ordered those around her, “Why are you still standing here? Search! Anyone who dares obstruct you must be the thief’s accomplice. Seize them without hesitation!”

The manor guards acknowledged the command and departed. The Lü Family servants hesitated, not daring to block them. Outside, Mama Liu had already been forced to the ground. A board rose high and fell heavily. Unable to withstand the pain, Mama Liu screamed and repeatedly cried, “Madam, save me!”

Madam Lü could barely protect herself and had no attention to spare for Mama Liu. Her complexion alternated between green and white as she tried to imagine how the day’s events could possibly be resolved.

Gao Yanyan was inside Madam Lü’s courtyard. At first, she paid little attention to the unusual noises outside. Then orderly footsteps sounded beyond the window, and bewildered alarm rose within her. She was about to summon the servants outside and ask what was happening when startled cries came from the maids.
“Who are you?”

“You cannot go in there!”

Gao Yanyan rose uneasily from her embroidered stool. The hanging curtain over the inner room lifted, and a young court lady in palace dress entered. Her gaze was keen as a blade. She swiftly examined Gao Yanyan from head to toe and demanded, “Who are you, and why do you live here?”

Foreboding had already risen in Gao Yanyan’s heart. Avoiding the question, she frowned. “And who are you?”

The court lady ignored her. Turning, she instructed the manor guards behind her, “This should be the one. Detain her. Seize the servants outside as well. We will take them all before our masters for questioning shortly.”

The manor guards answered in unison. Others seized the two servants Madam Lü had assigned outside. Realizing she was in danger, Gao Yanyan glanced at the half-open window. She retreated several quick steps, braced one hand against the sill, and nimbly climbed through it.

The court lady sneered but made no attempt to stop her. The manor guards outside saw a beautiful young woman suddenly emerge through the inner room’s window. They immediately seized her and pinned her against a nearby wall.

Gao Yanyan struggled fiercely. “Who are you? You force your way into a woman’s room in broad daylight. What outrageous nerve!” One guard was caught unprepared, and she scratched his face.

The court lady emerged unhurriedly from the inner room and said coldly, “Why stand on courtesy with her? Dislocate her arms and gag her. All this shouting is nothing but an annoyance!”

She served Princess Zhaoyang, so her words naturally carried authority. The manor guards no longer hesitated. In a few swift movements, they dislocated Gao Yanyan’s arms, stuffed a rag into her mouth, and marched her toward the front courtyard.

Madam Lü’s courtyard was neither especially small nor especially large. The manor guards searched every part of it and ultimately found only one suspicious person: Gao Yanyan, her arms dislocated and mouth gagged, resentment and fear churning together in her heart.

The court lady reported to the two princesses. “She lived in a small courtyard in a rather secluded corner. The furnishings inside were quite tasteful, showing that considerable care had been taken. Her clothing and jewelry were fine as well, and she wears her hair as a married woman. This servant had a physician examine her pulse. Her pregnancy is established, and she is nearly three months along.”

Though Princess Qinghe had expected as much, her heart still chilled.

Calculating the dates, Lü Xiuzhen had found another woman as soon as she confronted him. At the latest, the affair had begun one month after their marriage. Never mind a Prince Consort of the Imperial House-who in an ordinary family would dare such a thing?

The court lady continued, “This servant had those attending her detained and questioned closely. Madam Lü assigned every one of them. The woman is the Prince Consort’s concubine. They merely dared not acknowledge her publicly because of the princess’s status…”

The moment she finished, a manor guard came forward to report. “Mama Liu has confessed. She was not suffering from an urgent need to relieve herself. She feared the princess would discover that the Prince Consort had privately taken a concubine and meant to hurry inside to warn them.”

Princess Qinghe gave a cold laugh. Princess Zhaoyang was even more furious. Madam Lü stood stiffly to one side, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with a trembling hand and a handkerchief.

A storm gathered in Princess Zhaoyang’s eyes as she stared icily at Madam Lü. “Have you nothing to say?”

The woman had been captured, and everyone who needed to confess had done so. There was no longer any point in Madam Lü holding out.

Her legs weakened. She barely produced a smile and said gently, “I wondered why both princesses came together today. So it was for this. You need only have sent someone with a message. It is nothing more than a single dose of abortifacient. Why make such an enormous display? Once word spreads, people will only laugh.”

Madam Lü might be incapable of most things, but when it came to reducing a great matter to a small one and a small matter to nothing, she was a master.

Disgusted, Princess Zhaoyang stopped looking at her. She turned to Princess Qinghe instead and called inquiringly, “Sister?”

Princess Qinghe closed her eyes for several moments, drew a deep breath, then opened them again. Her expression sharpened with rare severity. She ordered those beside her, “Slap her mouth!”

To have one’s mouth slapped in public was a profound humiliation. Madam Lü came from a distinguished family and was mistress of a noble household. Her expression changed instantly. “You dare! In public standing, I am an Imperially Titled Lady appointed by the court. In private, I am the Prince Consort’s mother-your mother-in-law. How dare you humiliate me this way?!”

“Strike her!” Princess Qinghe snapped. “If they reduce my fief, I accept it. If they dock my stipend, let them. I will bear the consequences!”

With such an order, what reason did the servants have to hesitate? Two matrons restrained Madam Lü while another rolled up her sleeves and approached.

At first, Madam Lü uttered threat after threat. When Princess Qinghe remained unmoved, her voice softened. She lowered herself and began to reason and plead. Her sentence was only half-spoken when the first slap landed. A sharp crack sounded, followed by a fierce, burning pain. Madam Lü screamed, “Ah!” and tears sprang involuntarily to her eyes.

After thirty slaps in succession, Madam Lü could no longer speak, and her skull rang. The two matrons restraining her released their hands, and she collapsed to the ground. A long while passed before her consciousness gradually drifted back into her head.

“Nothing more than a single dose of abortifacient-you make it sound so simple!”
Princess Qinghe’s elegant brows rose sharply, her heart full of scorn. “If that had truly been your intention, why did you let the woman live in your courtyard for so long? Why did you have a physician prescribe medicine to stabilize her pregnancy? Why did you allow her to carry the child for nearly three months? Only now, after I have come to your door, do you pretend it was nothing more than a dose of abortifacient. Do you take me for a fool you can brush aside with any casual excuse?!”

Before Madam Lü married, her natal family had been powerful, and she grew up in a jar of honey. After marriage, her husband came from a great family, took no concubines, and showed her considerable respect. Her disposition had only grown more domineering.

Now her daughter-in-law had ordered her slapped thirty times. Shame and hatred raged within her, but she knew she could do nothing to the princess for the moment. She forced herself to endure and lowered her head. “I was foolish. Please forgive me for Xiuzhen’s sake, Princess. I will dispose of that woman myself and never allow her to trouble you again.”

Princess Qinghe sneered. “What affection does Lü Xiuzhen possess in my eyes? Do you imagine this affair concerns only the concubine’s pregnancy? Do you think that woman alone disgusts me?”

Madam Lü’s heart tightened. The Lü Family was in the wrong, and so was the Prince Consort. She dared not argue and could only humble herself further. “Matters have reached this point. Making a greater scandal will benefit neither the Lü Family nor the princess. You have beaten whom you wished and seized whom you wished. Surely your anger should be appeased now?”

Princess Zhaoyang stared at her as though she could not believe her ears.

She had often run wild around military camps as a child and heard every variety of obscene joke and filthy curse. The instant Madam Lü finished, she swore, “Fuck your mother-what bullshit are you spouting? You bully my sister to this extent, take a few light slaps, and dare say the matter ends here? Do you think everyone in the Luan Family is dead and my sister is yours to push around?!”

The words touched an enormous taboo. She dared speak them, but no one else dared even hear them.

Madam Lü immediately replied, “How could I dare harbor such a treasonous thought? For Princess Zhaoyang to say this is to condemn me first and search for the charge afterward.”

Princess Zhaoyang’s brows shot up. Instead of arguing, she turned to her guards. “Fetch my whip. I need to reason with Madam Lü!”

One guard departed at her command. Madam Lü had no doubt Princess Zhaoyang would carry out the threat. Nearly wetting herself in terror, she trembled and said to Princess Qinghe, “Princess, please calm yourself. Let us speak slowly. We can discuss everything…”

“What remains to discuss?”

Princess Qinghe said coldly, “Have you read any books? Has Lü Xiuzhen? Do you understand what it means to marry a princess? Lü Xiuzhen and I have been married only four months, while that woman is nearly three months pregnant. Even an ordinary family would not dare such a thing, much less Lü Xiuzhen, a Prince Consort married into the imperial family. You knew of the affair. Not only did you fail to stop him, you actually housed the woman in your own courtyard and supplied her with every comfort. How can anything so absurd exist beneath heaven?”

Madam Lü looked terrified and had no idea how to respond. Outside, Court Lady Du carefully questioned the two maids who had attended Gao Yanyan, then entered to report. “Princess, everything is clear. The woman was brought back by the Prince Consort before your wedding. The maids do not know her surname. They only heard the Prince Consort call her Yanyan. She has lived in Madam Lü’s courtyard ever since entering the household. Madam Lü probably understood the taboo, so she never permitted the woman to leave. These two attendants lived close by to serve her and were likewise forbidden from going out…”

Princess Qinghe heard a strangely familiar name and frowned slightly. “What is that woman called?”

“Yanyan,” Court Lady Du replied.

Astonishment crossed Princess Qinghe’s face. Then she remembered Lü Xiuzhen’s words on the night they confronted each other after the wedding and recalled each detail of her time with him. In an instant, everything became perfectly clear.

No wonder Lü Xiuzhen had spoken in defense of the Gao Family.

No wonder Lü Xiuzhen accused her of cruelty and forgetting old affection.

And no wonder he felt neither gratitude nor emotion when she mentioned what had happened years ago, then repeatedly caused trouble afterward.

After all, Gao Yanyan had been present when she saved Lü Xiuzhen!

A mocking smile appeared on Princess Qinghe’s face. She ordered, “Bring Lady Gao here.”

Court Lady Du was startled. Seeing this, Princess Qinghe corrected herself. “The woman named Yanyan.”

Court Lady Du found this strange. The princess had never met the woman. How could she know her surname was Gao?

Though she wondered, nothing showed on her face. She ordered the guards to bring Lady Gao. They pressed down upon her shoulders and forced her to kneel before Princess Qinghe.

Two manor guards had only recently dislocated Gao Yanyan’s arms. The pain was excruciating, and tear tracks still stained her palm-sized face. With her pointed chin, she looked genuinely delicate and pitiful.

Princess Qinghe had not seen her for several years, but she still remembered the general contours of her face. After several glances, she recognized the kneeling woman as the Gao Yanyan she had once known.

They had been separated for years, only to meet again in such circumstances. Princess Qinghe could not help feeling rueful. “I truly never imagined that Lü Xiuzhen’s concubine would be you.”

“Gao Yanyan?!” Only now did Princess Zhaoyang recognize her. “You shameless bitch! First you seduced my elder brother, and now you become Lü Xiuzhen’s little wife? How can your skin be so thick?!”
Both Gao Yanyan’s arms throbbed with pain, and she had been forced to kneel before the person she hated most. Naturally, resentment filled her. But then she remembered that despite becoming the daughter of a convicted official, she had successfully stolen Princess Qinghe’s husband. Satisfaction rose within her instead.

Mockery glinted in her eyes as she said smugly, “There are many things the princess never imagined. You never imagined that I am the woman your husband loves most, that I am the woman to whom he swore eternal devotion, or that his first child is inside my belly. But then, nothing in this world can be perfect. Even a princess high above everyone else cannot possess everything, can she?”

Princess Qinghe did not fly into a rage and lose all decorum as Gao Yanyan expected. She merely lowered her gaze, looked at her, and shook her head in pity. “How pathetic.”

The smugness vanished from Gao Yanyan’s face. “What did you say? I am pathetic?”

Her expression turned deranged, and she shrieked with laughter. “You are the pathetic one! Princess Qinghe? A precious branch of jade? Your husband does not love you. He would not even touch you. Do you know how he describes you before me? You are the truly pitiable creature!”

“If Lü Xiuzhen does not love me, then he does not. What significance could that possibly have? What great treasure is he supposed to be in my eyes?”

Princess Qinghe remained calm. “I am glad he never touched me. Otherwise, seeing you today and learning that he is not only a vile and revolting man but keeps a base and shameless concubine as well-that would be truly nauseating.”

Gao Yanyan’s triumphant laughter stopped as abruptly as though someone had cut it with shears. “You!”

Princess Qinghe looked down upon her with pity. “After falling to such a wretched state, the so-called love in which you take pride and place your trust is nothing but a false thing built upon a despicable lie. The flesh and blood you carry is merely an illicitly conceived bastard that the world is destined never to accept. I truly do not understand what there is for you to celebrate.”

Princess Qinghe’s voice was not sharp, but her words pierced Gao Yanyan’s heart like a blade, leaving blood and unbearable pain in their wake.

Gao Yanyan’s face twisted. She spat, “You only say these things to conceal your failure! You could not win your husband’s love. You are a failed woman!”

Princess Qinghe answered calmly, “Lü Xiuzhen is my Prince Consort, not my husband. He is merely someone who attends me, and he can be replaced.”

She adjusted the silk stole draped over her arms. “I originally thought that if power had forced you to become his concubine, there might be mitigating circumstances and no need to pursue the matter. But now it appears you willingly debased yourself and acted with full intent. There is no longer any reason to sympathize with or pity you.”

Gao Yanyan’s expression changed. She leaned back in alarm and asked uneasily, “What are you going to do?”

A sharp severity entered Princess Qinghe’s face. She said coldly, “Take her away and beat her to death!”

The manor guards acknowledged the order and stepped forward to seize her. Madam Lü’s legs weakened. She collapsed loosely against her servants’ arms and barely avoided falling.

Gao Yanyan had always been fierce only on the surface and weak beneath. Hearing Princess Qinghe order her beaten to death, her face turned white with terror. “You dare?! When Xiuzhen learns of this, he will never let the matter rest with you!”

“You are mistaken.” Princess Qinghe looked at her. “This affair has not ended. I am the one who will not let matters rest with him.”

Seeing that she did not fear Lü Xiuzhen in the slightest, Gao Yanyan grew even more terrified. She immediately softened, prostrated herself, and wept. “Jingrou, do not be angry with me. I truly had nowhere left to turn. If I had not claimed to be Lü Xiuzhen’s savior, he would never have rescued me. I had no choice! Do you remember how close we were as children? All these years, I…”

Princess Qinghe did not listen. She merely ordered, “Gag her.”

Gao Yanyan struggled without end but could not overcome the guards. In the end, they gagged her. She whimpered with wide eyes, looking imploringly at Princess Qinghe in the hope that she might speak and grant mercy.

“The Gao Family deserved its punishment. It has nothing to do with me. You fell to this state because your father violated the law and brought the consequences upon himself. That too has nothing to do with me. Whatever friendship existed between us ended when you used my name to scheme against my elder brother.”

Princess Qinghe said flatly, “I neither care what you have experienced over these years nor have any interest in your grievances or sorrow. Take her away and beat her to death.”