Yu Sangning’s fear of Shen Xihe had reached its peak since that incident at the temporary palace when Shen Xihe had left her hanging from a cliff.
She had previously only thought of Shen Xihe as sharp-witted and willful, but given her noble status and meticulous way of handling matters – she even dared to hang the Emperor’s Noble Consort from a tree in the capital’s outskirts, and afterward, neither the Emperor nor the Noble Consort could do anything but let the matter go.
So what was she in comparison?
To avoid directly confronting Shen Xihe, she had tried her utmost to find another path, no longer wanting to marry into the royal family. Unfortunately, heaven did not grant her wish. She failed to secure the Xun Prince, and now Yu Sangzi’s marriage to the Zhao Prince had been put on the agenda. She could only proceed down this path.
Fortunately, she had never intended for Yu Sangzi to marry the Zhao Prince. Yu Sangzi herself didn’t want to be a stepmother, and now she even had someone she loved. Under her scheming, the two had already been intimate. These past few days, Yu Sangzi had been in a daze, and today the palace would send the betrothal gifts…
Some things she simply couldn’t accomplish alone – she needed the entire Yu family’s assistance.
Yu Sangzi was, after all, the legitimate daughter of a Marquis household. Marrying a Prince as his second wife, and with the Prince already having a legitimate son, Emperor Youning, considering his relationship with the Marquis of Pingyao, had arranged for Yu Sangzi’s betrothal gifts to match the specifications of the previous Princess Consort of Zhao, without any reduction.
The entire Yu household was overjoyed, except for Yu Sangzi, whose face was deathly pale.
Lady Yu noticed her daughter’s unusual behavior and, after repeated questioning, finally forced out the truth that her daughter was no longer pure. She immediately fainted from shock. The shrewd Old Madame also sensed something was amiss. She directly questioned Yu Sangning, as the two were almost always together – there was no way Yu Sangning wouldn’t know what had happened to Yu Sangzi.
Yet Yu Sangning stubbornly refused to speak, even when Old Madame punished her by making her kneel in the courtyard. She wouldn’t utter a single word.
Though she wouldn’t speak, Old Madame had her means. She discovered that Yu Sangzi had been in close contact with a destitute scholar. Thinking Yu Sangzi merely had feelings for someone, she angrily summoned Yu Sangzi to explain both logically and emotionally that this wasn’t a simple engagement with an ordinary person that could be broken off with humble apologies and compensation.
“Grandmother!” Yu Sangzi fell to her knees with a thud, her pale face trembling as she said, “I… I am no longer pure…”
The current dynasty was very open-minded about widows remarrying – they would even punish in-laws who prevented widows from remarrying. But that applied to legitimate widows, not to unmarried women who had been intimate without proper matchmaking and had lost their virtue and chastity.
Upon hearing this, Old Madame’s mind buzzed, experiencing a moment of complete blankness. Unlike Lady Yu, she didn’t faint, but her finger trembled as she pointed at Yu Sangzi, unable to speak for a long while. Finally, she forced out through clenched teeth: “Go, summon the Marquis and the First Young Master!”
When the Marquis of Pingyao arrived with his eldest son, Old Madame’s courtyard was terrifyingly quiet. Yu Sangzi knelt there with her head bowed in silence, and even Lady Yu knelt beside her. Seeing this scene, the Marquis felt his heart clench and hurriedly stepped forward, saying: “Mother, if Ayun has made a mistake, just tell me. I will surely guide her properly. She is, after all, the Marchioness – if others see her kneeling here, they might think I don’t know how to teach my wife.”
“Not only do you not know how to teach your wife, but you also don’t know how to teach your daughter! Your daughter is shameless, having been intimate with someone without proper matchmaking. Our Marquis household is about to face great disaster, and you’re still protecting them!” The hall had already been cleared of servants when Old Madame spoke with a cold laugh.
The Marquis and the Heir’s expressions changed instantly as they looked at the kneeling Lady Yu and Yu Sangzi. The Marquis immediately flew into a rage: “Worthless daughter!”
The Heir stopped his father from raising his hand, respectfully saying: “Father, please calm your anger. Let’s first think of a way to get through this crisis. If this matter isn’t handled properly, it truly would be the crime of deceiving the Emperor!”
For a Prince betrothed to lose her virtue before marriage, making the Emperor’s son a cuckold – if the Emperor found out, even if they weren’t executed as an entire household, they would still face exile!
“Handle it properly?” The Marquis stared at his son with bloodshot eyes, his motherly and sisterly connections having reduced his fatherly love, “How do you plan to handle it? Even if I gave her a cup of poison right now to make her die suddenly, the palace would still send someone to examine the corpse!”
The identity of a Prince’s betrothed was no small matter. While the post-mortem examination wouldn’t violate the corpse and couldn’t determine her virginity, they could easily tell whether someone died from poison or other causes. They couldn’t pull off what the Northwestern Prince had done, faking a death that fooled all the doctors in the city!
The room fell into silence, everyone’s hearts burning with anxiety. Yu Sangzi felt both guilt and regret.
She truly didn’t want to marry the Zhao Prince, but she also knew imperial orders couldn’t be defied. Although she admired Scholar Wen, she had always maintained proper boundaries. That day, for some unknown reason, she had acted on impulse and made a foolish mistake.
If she could atone for her crime by killing herself, she wouldn’t hesitate. But if she were to take her own life now, it would only give the Yu family’s political enemies ammunition to accuse her of being dissatisfied with the Emperor’s arranged marriage and attacking the Yu household. She had thoroughly become the Yu family’s sinner.
“What if… what if we tamper with the wedding night sheet?” Lady Yu suggested, having heard of such things before.
The Marquis swept a cold glance at her: “Do you think the Zhao Prince is a fool?”
The Zhao Prince had been with many women – he would know whether someone was a virgin or not during intimacy. This method was purely something that only ignorant women would think of – it was like covering one’s ears while stealing a bell!
Now Yu Sangzi couldn’t marry, couldn’t run, couldn’t die – one wrong move would implicate the entire family.
“Perhaps we should be honest with the Zhao Prince. I don’t think he seems content with mediocrity. You…” Old Madame looked at the Marquis of Pingyao, “You should discuss it with him. Tell him our Marquis household will follow his lead in the future…”
The Marquis of Pingyao was the Emperor’s man, deeply trusted by His Majesty. Just revealing a few things would be enough to make the Zhao Prince cover up this matter, but afterward, the Marquis would no longer be a pure official, instead becoming the Zhao Prince’s pawn.
“Tell the Zhao Prince?” Although the Emperor had arranged the marriage, the Marquis had never intended to align with any prince. The Emperor’s thoughts were hard to fathom, and the future ruler might not be the Zhao Prince – he needed to keep his options open. “What man could endure such humiliation? Even if the Zhao Prince tolerates this shame today for his benefit, wouldn’t the day of his success be the day of our family’s destruction? And if he doesn’t succeed, our early allegiance would only lead us to share in his defeat!”
After another oppressive silence, the Heir Yu Sangbai suddenly raised his head and looked at his father: “Father, I received news a few days ago that the eldest son of the Yu family’s main branch plans to assassinate the Zhao Prince after he pays respects to his late Princess Consort.”
After Yu Zao became a false Yu Zao due to the Zhao Prince and Shen Xihe’s maneuvering, it did indeed preserve the Yu family, but Yu Zao’s wife and children became the ones who suffered. Especially those who didn’t know the truth called them bastards, and since Yu Zao’s death, they had lived a life where everyone bullied them.