On the eighth day of the sixth month, the female heir was to be married.
On the night of the seventh day of the sixth month, the Crown Princess was attacked by an assassin. The assailant dug a hole through the wall to enter the residence where the Crown Princess lived, but was quickly discovered. When the assassination attempt failed, the assassin simply set fire to the place. Due to the recent dry weather, the flames spread extremely quickly. The Crown Princess suffered minor burns to her face while rescuing subordinates trapped in the fire.
This incident spread throughout all of Kunzhou the very next day. Common folk, supporting the elderly and carrying children, went to visit that residence near the Prince’s mansion. They indeed saw that half the residence was charred black from the fire—the blaze must have been quite severe, so the Crown Princess being burned was likely true as well.
Thus, the recent debates in teahouses and wine shops about the You father and son shifted topics. Tea drinkers and wine patrons began discussing the Crown Princess’s injuries. As a woman whose face had been injured—essentially disfigured—a disfigured woman always provided much conversational material. Her future and marriage prospects became topics of great concern. The Crown Princess’s special status meant her marriage was probably not a worry—after all, even if a future emperor were ugly as Wu Yan, there would still be plenty wanting to marry her. Those making such comments would count on their fingers, listing the Crown Princess’s male confidants. As they counted, arguments would break out, dividing into the Dean Rong faction, General Qi faction, and the Rong Wei faction, leading to heated disputes. The teahouse proprietors grinned from ear to ear—after all, the more talk, the more water consumed, and they could sell several more pots of tea each day.
Such arguments inevitably dredged up old matters, like how many in the harem roster were part of the “engagement-breaking party.” On this point, the Rong Pu faction felt triumphant—among all those idiots whose brains had been squeezed by doors, only Rong Pu had far-sighted vision and stood out from the crowd, being the only one back then who chose not to break the engagement.
Those fond of arguing about gossip were all young people. Some middle-aged men who considered themselves mature, steady, and far-sighted were more concerned with thinking: the court had always had rules that those with imperfect appearance or physical defects could not serve as officials. If the Crown Princess was indeed disfigured, could she still become emperor?
After all, throughout thousands of years, no one with a disabled body had ever ruled from the throne.
Perhaps this was Commander You’s purpose—why he would attempt to assassinate Tie Ci again before the female heir’s wedding.
When news reached that estate outside the city, someone spat out the pit of a candied fruit with a “pah.”
“Bullshit.”
“When did I send people to assassinate her again?”
“Do I need to alert the enemy at this time?”
“If assassination could succeed, I would have sent hundreds of assassins long ago to resolve this matter. Do I need to send people to their deaths now?”
There was still someone else in the room, quietly drinking a bowl of medicinal soup. The soup was neither cold nor hot, with the sweetest candied fruits placed on a gold-rimmed small dish beside him.
After finishing the medicinal soup, a pair of hands reached over gently, wanting to wipe away the medicine stains at the corner of his mouth. But he was absorbed in his own thoughts and lightly blocked the gesture, as if afraid of being disturbed. Halfway through the motion, he came to his senses and turned to smile at the person beside him.
But that smile carried a somewhat absent-minded quality.
Those hands withdrew.
You Jun looked at him gently. Seeing he was about to speak, he said, “Rest well and recover. Don’t worry about these matters—we can handle things here.”
He continued, “Don’t think we’re retreating on all fronts. The greatest weapon is still in our hands.”
He added, “Even if the Yannan army doesn’t listen to us now, they won’t listen to her either. Though her troops are numerous, they can’t easily enter our territory. Three thousand guards compared to our influence in Kunzhou and the surrounding areas—they’re not even enough for one bite.”
“Moreover…” He smiled and tossed a candied fruit into his mouth.
The carved wooden door was knocked upon, and someone outside softly reported, “Sir, the young master has come.”
You Jun sneered and glanced at the person sitting across from him, saying, “There’s nothing for him to do here now. Tell him to go back. When guests arrive later, be alert.”
After a pause, he added, “Tell him to be at ease and not to overthink things.”
Light and shadow flickered as the person outside retreated to relay the message.
In the courtyard, You Weinan heard the reply and snapped open his folding fan with a “whoosh,” covering half his face. Behind his fan, he said slowly, “Listen to father—time to go.”
With his eight boy and girl attendants, he departed with great fanfare.
Only then did the person who had finished the medicine in the room say gently, “This matter is rather suspicious—we cannot be unguarded.”
His voice was somewhat weak, but his tone was unhurried, carrying a profound calm and elegance that seemed to penetrate to the bone.
You Jun said, “I also know it’s suspicious, but the problem is, she was attacked and disfigured—what harm does that do to us? At most, street rumors will say we wanted to harm her so she couldn’t become emperor. But what does her not being able to become emperor have to do with us? We only care about Yannan’s allegiance.”
The person across from him fell silent, clearly also unable to understand what kind of scheme this was. Perhaps it really was another group who had grievances against the Crown Princess and assassinated her?
Perhaps they could seek out this ally.
The sound of gongs and drums came from outside—the auspicious time was drawing nearer, and visitors should be arriving soon.
You Weixuan should by rights be married from the Yannan Prince’s mansion, but now everyone knew this wedding feast was more like a Hongmen Banquet. All the proper rules and ceremonies were no longer cared about by anyone. This estate covered an extremely large area, divided into two sections. You Weixuan was placed in the Eastern Courtyard, while the bridal chamber was in the Western Courtyard. The two sides were relatively independent—the back door of the Eastern Courtyard faced the front door of the Western Courtyard. You Weixuan would marry from the Eastern Courtyard to the Western Courtyard, and riding the bridal sedan around the Eastern Courtyard once would count as “leaving home.” Guests would first eat at the Eastern Courtyard for the maiden family feast, then cross the threshold to the Western Courtyard for the in-laws’ feast.
This was certainly most improper. If the old Yannan Prince were alive, such a situation would never occur. Even You Jun, just days ago, would not have arranged the female heir’s wedding this way. But now they had torn off all pretenses.
You Jun stood up, dusting off his somewhat worn long robe. The robe was stained with some candied fruit juice, looking rather slovenly, but he didn’t care. He stretched lazily and said, “Old robes are just comfortable to wear. All these years, first controlled by father, then watched by elder brother, and later I had to be a good uncle—eating, drinking, housing, traveling, every move was not my own choice. Now finally I can eat what I want, wear what I want. If I don’t like this good niece of mine, I can wear old clothes to her wedding. This is far more comfortable than making her marry Chang Yuan!”
The person across from him said calmly, “So in less than half a year, the snow-white good teeth you’ve had for half a lifetime are almost completely rotten.”
“So what? Even if they rot away completely, I’m the one in pain. No one can control me anymore.” You Jun stepped on the threshold to knock mud off his boots. “From childhood, father constrained me. Though I was better at studies than elder brother, he wouldn’t let teachers praise me or let the clan elders know. When my archery and horsemanship surpassed elder brother’s, when I tamed that stallion king by myself and won praise throughout the army, he had that horse poisoned and sent elder brother to the military camp early to cultivate connections. From small to large, similar incidents were countless. Why? Just because I was born half a month later, just because elder brother held the position of legitimate eldest son.”
“I never wanted that position. I wanted to roam the world as a knight-errant, but he blocked that too, fearing I would use the knight-errant name to make connections with the court. So I chose to be a wastrel. After being a wastrel for long, I became good at entertainment, and the sons of Kunzhou officials liked spending time with me. He became fearful again and had the fathers of those who befriended me demoted or reprimanded. Over time, no one paid attention to me anymore. So I could only be mediocre, until elder brother securely inherited the position.”
“And elder brother? He claimed to love and value me, to feel guilty toward me, but his compensation was to make me a chief clerk in the Prince’s mansion—to make me a steward!”
“He said he trusted me, entrusting the Prince’s mansion to me—he just made me a lifelong nanny to his children! How am I different from a loyal servant?”
“He had three children—a girl, a fool, and a weakling. Not one was good. This is retribution.”
“Your grandfather wanted to adopt you to him, but he refused. Not only did he disagree—I disagreed too. My son—why should he also be given to him!”
“But when he disagreed, I was also angry. The Yannan Prince position should belong to his family, right? Even if passed to a woman or a fool, it shouldn’t benefit me, right?”
“But actually, I truly don’t care that much about this worthless prince position.”
The person across from him held a tea bowl, quietly waiting for him to continue, to say what he truly cared about.
But You Jun had already broken free from that moment of intense emotion, quickly returning to calm, resuming that carefree, unconcerned appearance.
This was a habit formed from years of living—no matter how angry or wronged, he would only hate for that moment, then force himself to learn to be detached.
Because if he didn’t quickly lighten up, heavier blows might fall upon his head.
You Jun rolled up his sleeves and strode away.
Behind him, a gaze lingered long and enduringly on his retreating figure.
What he truly cared about—he never did say.
…