News of Princess Yongning’s miscarriage ultimately reached the palace.

Concubine Liu was furious and insisted on a thorough investigation. The Li family agreed, and outside, people offered various opinions. Some said it was because Princess Yongning’s joyful news had spread before the three-month mark that the King of Hell had claimed the child. This was merely a superstition, and by now many people no longer believed it. Moreover, this time Princess Yongning had indeed stated that she had been harmed by someone at the Li residence.

The words “harmed by someone” were no small matter. This meant it was not that Princess Yongning had accidentally lost the child, but rather a carefully orchestrated conspiracy. Even the Emperor took notice and ordered the Li family to find the culprit without fail.

By contrast, Princess Yongning’s elder brother Prince Cheng did not pay much attention—not because he did not care about his younger sister, but because lately he was busy with more important matters: forcing the palace and staging a rebellion. Therefore, Princess Yongning’s affairs had to be temporarily set aside.

For a time, the Li family became the target of criticism and worked hard to find the culprit. But naturally, in two or three days, they could not uncover any leads. Yet Princess Yongning seemed to have gone mad, relentlessly demanding from morning till night that the Li family provide an explanation. Unable to find the culprit, she vented all her anger on the Li family. She did not seem like the Li family’s eldest daughter-in-law at all, but rather like the Li family’s mortal enemy.

At night, Princess Yongning sat in her room, her expression irritable.

Her body recovered very quickly. A miscarriage should have been something that weakened the body—these past days she should have been too weak to leave her bed. Yet in just one short day, Princess Yongning had recovered and could move about freely. If the Li family did not know she had been pregnant, and if word got out, no one would believe it. People would think she had never been pregnant at all.

But perhaps precisely because of this, Li Xian had not anticipated Princess Yongning’s energy would recover so quickly. Faced with Princess Yongning’s urging to find the culprit, he appeared somewhat flustered and at a loss.

Meixiang entered from outside carrying freshly brewed medicinal soup.

“The Li family still hasn’t given an explanation today,” Princess Yongning raged. “This is absolutely outrageous!”

After losing the child, Princess Yongning’s weakness had also disappeared. She had once again become arrogant and domineering, expecting everyone to accommodate her. Her bad temper was on full display.

She glanced at the medicinal soup Meixiang brought up. The soup was specially prepared to restore her body after the miscarriage—a large dark bowl emitting a bitter medicinal scent. As Princess Yongning looked at it, she thought again of that innocent child who had died, and her heart began to ache faintly. What made her even more bitterly disappointed was that by now, never mind the common people, at least news of her miscarriage had spread throughout the court. Shen Yurun should have learned something about it, yet he had not come to see her. Even if he just had someone bring a letter or pass along a message, that would be something.

But there was nothing—absolutely nothing. She waited and waited, only to receive word that the Li family still had not found the culprit’s whereabouts. She waited for emptiness.

This was Shen Yurun’s own flesh and blood! Yet he showed not the slightest regard for familial affection.

Thinking of this, Princess Yongning felt somewhat sad. She knew Shen Yurun was probably a heartless person—this could be seen from how he treated his wife Xue Fangfei. But she never imagined that one day, this heartlessness would be directed at herself.

The more she thought, the more irritable and unwilling she became. Princess Yongning asked, “Meixiang, did Young Master Shen send any message today?”

After a long silence with no answer, she turned her head to see Meixiang standing before the table, wiping it with an uncertain expression. She wiped the same spot repeatedly, her eyes staring at some point in space, clearly her thoughts elsewhere. Princess Yongning suspiciously called again, “Meixiang!”

Meixiang turned around in panic. “Your Highness?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Princess Yongning’s brows furrowed. “Are you hiding something from me?”

Meixiang had followed at her side for many years and was most stable. It was extremely rare to see her so distracted. Princess Yongning immediately became suspicious.

“This servant… this servant…” Meixiang turned around and walked to the door, looking outside. Seeing no one else, she closed the door and returned inside. Gritting her teeth, she knelt before Princess Yongning and said, “This servant was just returning from outside and passed by a small room where I overheard some things…”

“What things?”

Meixiang proceeded to explain. When she went to fetch the medicinal soup for Princess Yongning, she passed by a dark room whose door was ajar. Meixiang had intended to walk past it. As for the Li family, she was not very familiar—because these past two months she had to stay by Princess Yongning’s side constantly, she had no time to wander about the Li residence and familiarize herself with the place. Just as Meixiang was about to walk past this dark room, she heard people talking inside. This was nothing unusual—Li family servants talking, Meixiang had no intention of eavesdropping. But among the conversation, she suddenly heard Princess Yongning’s name mentioned. Meixiang stopped in her tracks. Since it concerned her mistress, and seeing no one around, she stood beside the door gap and carefully listened to what those people were saying about her mistress.

One person said, “The child in the Princess’s belly is finally gone. Fortunately it’s gone. Now the young master need not painstakingly tamper with the Princess’s fetal-stabilizing medicine, which never seemed to have any effect anyway. Speaking of which, could the Princess not have been drinking the medicine? Otherwise, how could there be no reaction at all? If not for the young master taking drastic measures this time, who knows if it would have succeeded.”

“That’s right. If her belly had grown any larger, it would have been harder to act and could have caused a death. Before this, our young master tried so many methods—putting drugs in oil on the ground, in incense—everything was tried, but there was no reaction. If being pushed down the steps this time still had no effect, I would have suspected she wasn’t a normal person and had practiced some divine skill.”

Another person said, “Keep your voice down. If anyone hears, it’ll be trouble. In any case, now we have the best result. Let’s not discuss these matters anymore and get to work quickly. Once the Princess makes a fuss for a few more days, won’t the young master just produce a scapegoat?”

Meixiang listened from the side with trembling heart. She wanted to investigate further for more secrets, but those two turned to discussing other matters. In the distance, there seemed to be footsteps approaching. Meixiang dared not linger, afraid of having her presence discovered. She dared not burst directly into the room to expose these two people—after all, this was the Li family. If what these two said was true and the culprit was Li Xian, the Li family would certainly silence witnesses. Before she could inform Princess Yongning of this matter, she herself would be silenced and disappear from the world.

Therefore, she pretended nothing had happened, stood up quietly, and left softly. She continued to the kitchen to fetch the medicine, then returned to Princess Yongning’s room. After setting down the medicine, her heart remained uneasy, wondering how to bring this matter up with Princess Yongning.

Finally, Princess Yongning noticed something amiss.

After hearing everything, Princess Yongning’s lips trembled several times. “They have tremendous audacity.” Suddenly she raised her voice. “They have tremendous audacity!”

“Princess, you must not!” Meixiang quickly stopped her.

Princess Yongning’s eyes flashed. “What do you want to do? Li Xian killed my child—I want him to pay with his life! I’m going to find Li Xian right now and demand an explanation. Let’s see what else he has to say. No wonder…” She laughed coldly. “I felt the Li family was being perfunctory about finding the culprit. Turns out Li Xian is the culprit—a thief crying ‘catch thief!’ My actions must seem like a joke to them!”

Princess Yongning was extremely agitated. Meixiang lowered her voice. “Your Highness, this matter has not yet been confirmed. The reason this servant didn’t dare tell you at first was because this servant is not clear whether this matter is true or not. If someone deliberately led this servant to that room to let me hear that conversation, all to frame Young Master Li, wouldn’t we be falling into their trap? Your Highness must stay calm!”

“Oh?” Princess Yongning said in exasperation. “How do you want me to stay calm? Now you tell me Li Xian may have killed my child—even if it’s only ‘may,’ I truly cannot stay calm!”

“This servant is not speaking up for Young Master Li, nor trying to absolve the Li family. Rather, this servant is thinking of Your Highness. Your Highness should consider—if it truly was Young Master Li who acted, why would he do such a thing? Could it be the Li family doesn’t want grandchildren? Or have they already detected something?”

Princess Yongning was startled and slowly calmed down. After a while, she said, “Li Xian must have known long ago that I wasn’t carrying Li family blood. From the very beginning when he looked at me, there wasn’t the slightest bit of feeling in his eyes.”

The first time the imperial physician came to the residence and announced the “joyful news,” Princess Yongning had felt the three Li family men were strange. Especially Li Xian—though his words were gentle and his behavior extremely considerate, in his eyes there was clearly none of the joy belonging to a father learning he would have a child. There was even a trace of disgust. At the time, Princess Yongning had doubted she had seen wrong, but thinking about it now, she had not seen wrong at all. Perhaps Li Xian knew from the start that child was not his, so regarding the child’s appearance, he felt no joy. Regarding the child’s departure, he put on an act of sadness with a few words but shed not a single tear.

“That bastard!” Princess Yongning said through gritted teeth. “He played me like a fool!”

These past two months, the lies Princess Yongning told for the sake of this child must have seemed extremely laughable in Li Xian’s eyes. He clearly knew everything yet had to pretend complete ignorance, even accompanying Princess Yongning in her performance. Thinking back, even Princess Yongning herself found it laughable, as if she had been toyed with, utterly without dignity.

“If Young Master Li truly knew from early on, how did he know? Does he have evidence, or did he hear rumors?” Meixiang remained as calm as always. “These things, we don’t know now.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“What this servant means is, even if Your Highness goes before Concubine Liu or Prince Cheng right now and says Young Master Li killed the child in Your Highness’s belly, no one will believe it. Before that, we must establish evidence. Then use that evidence to test Young Master Li, and we’ll know whether he’s truly the mastermind behind this.”

Princess Yongning asked, “How do we obtain evidence?”

“From the conversation between those two in the dark room, this servant heard that Young Master Li had used various means hoping Your Highness would miscarry, but ultimately none worked. This is also because when Your Highness was at the Li family, you protected the little highness in your belly extremely well. Never mind other things—the fetal-stabilizing medicine brewed in the Li family kitchen, Your Highness didn’t drink a single bowl, fearing someone would poison it. You took only the fetal-stabilizing pills this servant brought from the Princess’s residence. But others don’t know that—they think Your Highness drank all the medicine. Actually, this servant dumped it all under the willow tree by the gate.”

“Some medicine dregs remain in that medicine. Accumulated, there’s quite a lot. If this servant goes to dig now, we should still be able to extract some. We only need to take it to a pharmacy for a physician to examine, and we’ll know whether it contains miscarriage-inducing drugs. If it does, it proves what those two just said was true—Young Master Li truly wanted to destroy the little highness. If those dregs are fine, it proves those two were lying, intending to slander Young Master Li and make Your Highness and Young Master Li destroy each other.”

This reasoning was flawless even by Princess Yongning’s standards. After a long while, Princess Yongning said, “Good, I’ll listen to you. Go dig up those medicine dregs. Tomorrow take them to a pharmacy and get a clear answer. If it’s not true, so be it. But if Li Xian truly harmed my child, even if I must stake my life, I’ll drag the entire Li family down to be buried with me!”

Her eyes blazed with flames of vengeance. Meixiang lowered her head. “Yes.”

……

News of Princess Yongning’s miscarriage spread throughout court and countryside. Shen Yurun was not unaware.

When he returned to the Shen residence, he saw a carriage stopped at the gate—the Marquis Ningyuan’s carriage. Shen Ruyun had come.

He frowned and walked inside. Servants came up to help him remove his outer garments. Upon approaching the hall, Madam Shen and Shen Ruyun were speaking. Seeing him arrive, they immediately stood up.

Since marrying into the Marquis Ningyuan household, apart from the return visit day, this was Shen Ruyun’s first time coming back. Her dress was more elaborate than before, covered in intricate patterns that dazzled the eye. On her head, hands, and neck she wore jewelry—every piece gleaming brightly, as if afraid others wouldn’t notice.

She appeared to be living well, at least her dress and appearance surpassed the past, but the anxious expression on her face had increased considerably. After becoming a married woman, it seemed to have erased even the last bit of girlish charm she possessed as a maiden. She had become a thoroughly official household madam, no different from other madams in Yanjing, except she appeared to be living even less contentedly.

“Elder brother,” Shen Ruyun stood up, immediately launching into: “Do you know or not—the Princess has miscarried!”

Shen Yurun glanced at her and sat to one side. A maidservant quickly poured hot tea. He picked it up, took a sip, and only then said expressionlessly, “I know.”

“How can you not go check on her? You should find a way to see her!” Shen Ruyun said. “Now is when she’s most vulnerable.”

“She is now Li Xian’s wife, the Li family’s eldest daughter-in-law. In what capacity would I go see her?” Shen Yurun said calmly.

“What does it matter if she’s married? In the end, her heart holds only you, not that worthless Li Xian.”

“Shen Ruyun!” Shen Yurun said sternly.

Shen Ruyun was startled. Shen Yurun’s tone was truly too severe. But after just a moment of hesitation, she muttered quietly, “It’s true anyway. The Princess has treated our family well. She’s already miserable after the miscarriage—I’m just sympathizing with her by saying this.”

“Yes,” Madam Shen also couldn’t help but speak up. “Yurun, don’t blame your sister. Your sister isn’t wrong. The Princess’s feelings for you—our entire Shen family knows. You mustn’t disappoint her.”

When Madam Shen spoke, Shen Yurun could not rebuke her as he had Shen Ruyun. A sense of helplessness flashed through his heart. His family members all spoke up for Princess Yongning, not because Princess Yongning had deep affection with the Shen family, but simply because of Princess Yongning’s status—she could make him a prince consort, could make him Prince Cheng’s brother-in-law. That way, he could use this connection to climb step by step upward, effortlessly reaching positions others envied and looked up to.

“She’s already married, Mother,” Shen Yurun reminded.

“I know, but she’s just miscarried now,” Madam Shen said. “She’s miscarried, and her heart still holds you. If you go say a few words, she can divorce the Li family and marry into our Shen family.”

“Right, right,” Shen Ruyun also said enthusiastically. “Our Shen family won’t be like the Li family—we’ll take good care of her!”

Just listening to this, people would probably think this was truly a warm-hearted family, not minding that this woman had been married before and had a child with another man, still not disdainful, eagerly hoping to marry her into their family. This was not even knowing the child in Princess Yongning’s belly was his—if they knew, they would probably make even more of a fuss.

“Don’t think about this matter anymore,” Shen Yurun said coldly. “She won’t divorce, nor will she enter the Shen family’s gates.”

Shen Ruyun and Madam Shen were stunned. Madam Shen was extremely disappointed, but Shen Ruyun said, “Why not? She’s a princess—isn’t it her freedom to marry whomever she wants? The Li family didn’t take good care of her, so naturally she has reason to divorce. It just so happens elder brother has had a wife—marrying her seems most suitable!”

Most suitable… Shen Yurun almost wanted to laugh aloud. So in his sister’s eyes, he and Princess Yongning were suitable matches. Perhaps—they were equally ruthless and cruel.

“There is no why,” Shen Yurun said. “It’s late. Go back.” With that, he paid no more attention to Shen Ruyun. Nodding to Madam Shen, he left the hall and walked toward the courtyard.

Behind him came the sounds of Shen Ruyun arguing with Madam Shen. Shen Yurun had no desire to listen. Actually, his current official position was not low, but somehow, Madam Shen and Shen Ruyun still hoped he could rely on Princess Yongning to climb higher. Once upon a time, they only wanted him to study well, scrimping and saving just to gather enough silver for his school fees, never complaining. But now, though they clearly had adequate food and clothing, they still were not satisfied.

When had they become so greedy? Shen Yurun didn’t know. By the time he suddenly realized things had reached an irreversible state, it seemed already too late.

To obtain higher power and position, his family would not hesitate to have him sell his dignity. Even though the other party was already a married woman, they wanted him to conduct a secret affair with her. Shen Yurun also felt somewhat disgusted.

He truly did not wish to entangle himself further in these matters. And lately, the only thing that brought him comfort was actually that his child—that child in Princess Yongning’s belly—was gone. As a father, Shen Yurun felt not a bit of sorrow. He even thanked that culprit. Whoever they were, he didn’t care—he only felt grateful they had done him this favor.

Completely severing him from Princess Yongning.

……

Shen Ruyun spoke with Madam Shen for quite a while before boarding the carriage back to the residence.

The Marquis Ningyuan household didn’t restrict her—not because she was Shen Yurun’s sister and they dared not control her, but because Marquis Ningyuan’s heir Zhou Yanbang, her husband, simply did not care about her existence. He was utterly indifferent. Therefore, whether she went out during the day or returned to her maiden home at night, no one cared.

This return to the Shen family, besides urging Shen Yurun to reconcile with Princess Yongning, Shen Ruyun had also thoroughly vented her grievances to Madam Shen.

After marrying into the Marquis Ningyuan household, Shen Ruyun’s life had not been easy. Zhou Yanbang frequented flower houses daily, drinking and making merry, only returning home dead drunk at night. Shen Ruyun felt angry seeing this, but Zhou Yanbang treated her like a complete stranger, hardly regarding her as a wife. He even treated that Shen family concubine Jiang Yu’e better than Shen Ruyun.

Jiang Yu’e knew how to be submissive and humble, was extremely attentive to Zhou Yanbang, and had countless base schemes, always keeping Zhou Yanbang wrapped around her courtyard. Shen Ruyun wanted to punish her, but could never catch Jiang Yu’e with evidence. Like a loach, she slipped smoothly from Shen Ruyun’s grasp every time.

Only then did Shen Ruyun discover that in the inner courtyard and back residence, she had no methods whatsoever. Perhaps because the Shen family had no women to begin with and the household was simple. The only outsider, Xue Fangfei, had a gentle and compliant nature. At the Shen family, Shen Ruyun had no opponents, so naturally had no need to learn such things. On the unfamiliar battlefield of Marquis Ningyuan’s residence, she became someone weaponless. The only thing she could rely on was her identity as the heir’s wife, but Zhou Yanbang didn’t even take that identity seriously. As if anyone could be the heir’s wife.

Probably because among the various beauties Zhou Yanbang knew, Shen Ruyun was truly too ordinary-looking. Even up until the palace banquet incident occurred, Zhou Yanbang had no impression of Shen Ruyun whatsoever. This showed Zhou Yanbang did not like Shen Ruyun—didn’t even have a good impression of her.

Unable to gain Zhou Yanbang’s affection and constantly having Jiang Yu’e use underhanded tactics against her, Shen Ruyun in her anxiety and anger could only seek help from Madam Marquis Ningyuan, her mother-in-law.

But though the Madam Marquis appeared loving and comforted her somewhat, she actually indirectly probed whether Shen Ruyun’s elder brother Shen Yurun could speak well of Zhou Yanbang before the Emperor, so Zhou Yanbang could return to officialdom.

This matter, Shen Ruyun had mentioned to Shen Yurun, but was refused. Once her elder brother decided something, nine oxen couldn’t pull him back. Shen Ruyun could only feel helpless. After mentioning it several times with Shen Ruyun only giving evasive answers, Madam Marquis couldn’t be bothered with these matters anymore. The next time Shen Ruyun came to complain, Madam Marquis claimed to feel unwell and simply didn’t bother coming out.

Thinking about it, this made sense. In any case, Zhou Yanbang had no prospects in officialdom anymore. Let him play however he wanted. At most others would gossip behind his back—saying a few words wouldn’t cause flesh to fall off. Why harm mother-son affection over such small matters?

Shen Ruyun truly was at wit’s end. She had wanted to seek help from Princess Yongning. Though Shen Yurun refused to help, Princess Yongning would certainly help. But at this critical juncture, Princess Yongning had married into the Li family. Shen Ruyun panicked. If Princess Yongning married into the Li family and severed contact with Shen Yurun, how much further could their Shen family go? Would the good days be over? Therefore, she had hurried back to the Shen residence to urge Shen Yurun that even if Princess Yongning married, they should not cut ties with her.

Unfortunately, her thoughts seemed to run contrary to her elder brother’s.

Shen Ruyun pleased neither side. At Marquis Ningyuan’s residence she had no way to resolve her predicament, and at the Shen family, Shen Yurun had this attitude. Shen Ruyun suddenly felt—if only Xue Fangfei were still here, at least she would think of a solution for her. She was so clever, she would surely have a way to let herself gain firm footing at Marquis Ningyuan’s residence.

The carriage sped through the night. Shen Ruyun pressed her temples.

Xue Fangfei was already dead. She shouldn’t be reminiscing about a dead person. Moreover, it was precisely because of Xue Fangfei’s death that the Shen family had today’s prosperity.

She was just somewhat dazed by recent troubles, just increasingly unable to understand Shen Yurun, that’s all.

……

One day and one night—four words that sounded quite short, but for Princess Yongning, passed exceptionally long.

Last night, Meixiang had dug up medicine dregs under the willow tree and wrapped them in paper. When daytime came this afternoon, taking advantage of the residence’s procurement time, she left the residence to find pharmacies to examine whether the medicine dregs truly had problems. Princess Yongning stayed alone in her room. Though she had other maidservants, without Meixiang by her side, she always felt like she lacked her backbone. Especially after learning the Li family perhaps harbored conspiracy, sitting alone, Princess Yongning constantly felt danger would descend at any moment.

She had no trust whatsoever in the Li family.

From when the sky was still bright, she waited until evening. She waited until the Li family father and sons all returned home, waited until Princess Yongning had finished her separate dinner, until the lamps in the room were all lit.

Li Xian had looked in on her once in the afternoon. Princess Yongning guessed Li Xian had by now gone to his courtyard to prepare for rest. Just as she was growing impatient, suddenly from outside came the sound of Meixiang speaking with maidservants. Princess Yongning’s spirits lifted. She sat up from the couch, stepped down, and just then Meixiang entered from outside.

Princess Yongning waved to dismiss the surrounding servants and had Meixiang close the door. After Meixiang secured the door and confirmed no one was around, only then did she draw from her bosom that paper packet containing medicine dregs.

“This servant went out today. To avoid errors, I visited several pharmacies consecutively and had them examine what exactly was in the medicine dregs.”

Princess Yongning urgently asked, “Was anything discovered?”

Meixiang looked at Princess Yongning and said in a heavy voice, “In these medicine dregs, there are indeed miscarriage-inducing drugs mixed in. Initially there would be no problems, but after continuous use for over a month, the body becomes extremely weak. Just moving about slightly would easily cause miscarriage, yet pregnant women would find it very difficult to detect this change in their bodies.”

“What those two said was true—Young Master Li truly wanted to murder the little highness!” Meixiang said.

Princess Yongning staggered back a step and leaned against the bed post. Suddenly she clenched her fists, her gaze nearly spitting fire, saying word by word through gritted teeth, “Li Xian—I want your dog’s life!”