Mian Tang didn’t refute Cui Fu, which somewhat eased the latter’s mind. She thought that although this woman came from a humble background, her temperament seemed gentle. Moreover, during the recent incident at the Wang residence, she had reportedly risked her life to save the mother. This showed her to be a kind-hearted person. Even if she was somewhat greedy, it wasn’t a major flaw.
These thoughts significantly alleviated Cui Fu’s earlier concerns for her brother.
In reality, how could Liu Mian Tang not know that Cui Fu was deliberately trying to intimidate her? Unfortunately for Cui Fu, Mian Tang didn’t care much about the things she was fretting over. Mian Tang wasn’t a merchant’s wife married to Cui Jiu from North Street. Even if the Wang household was currently facing financial difficulties, she didn’t need to worry about such matters for her sister-in-law.
However, when the Prince of Huaiyang returned the next day and sat with his mother for a while, he heard her mention that Cui Fu planned to live next door to them in the capital and teach Mian Tang how to manage the household. He snorted and said, “Her own house is in chaos. What can she teach Mian Tang? How to help her husband take concubines, or how to raise illegitimate children?”
Hearing this, the Duchess of Chu remembered her daughter’s family affairs and sighed, “I didn’t want her to marry far away initially, but your father insisted. It resulted in Fu’er being unwelcome in her husband’s family. Such a proud person was worn down, and her personality changed a lot. You, as her brother, should be more understanding. Don’t be so harsh with your words and hurt your sister’s feelings.”
The Prince of Huaiyang stood up and said, “Since she’s a married daughter, she shouldn’t meddle in her maiden family’s affairs. Otherwise, like today, she’ll start by criticizing Mian Tang for not knowing household matters. How can Mian Tang command respect from the servants if they hear this? In the future, Mian Tang will be the mistress of the Wang household. Do we want people to say that the lady of the Huaiyang Prince’s house was taught by the daughter-in-law of the Qing Guo Gong’s family?” After saying this, the Prince of Huaiyang returned to his quarters.
Mian Tang was trying on clothes sent by the household tailors. In a few days, her pregnancy would start to show, and she wouldn’t be able to wear tight-fitting dresses anymore. Fortunately, these dresses only had wide waists, with exquisitely embroidered collars and cuffs. Mian Tang was admiring herself in the bronze mirror when Cui Xingzhou entered the room. She eagerly asked him if these clothes looked good.
Cui Xingzhou knew his sister had said some upsetting things today. He had expected to find Mian Tang hiding in her room, crying from hurt feelings. Instead, he found her admiring herself.
After appreciating Mian Tang’s dresses for a moment, he led her to the couch. Without waiting for Mian Tang to express any grievances, he said, “Don’t take my sister’s words to heart. When we enter the capital, no one else needs to interfere with the Wang household affairs. Even here in Zhenzhou, you’re the one in charge of the household. Why give her the keys?”
Mian Tang smiled sweetly and said, “I truly don’t mind, Your Highness. There’s no need to worry. If such small matters weighed on your mind, it would exhaust you. You might as well not have married and lived alone to avoid such trivial affairs.”
However, Cui Xingzhou felt that Mian Tang’s tolerance and magnanimity were quite unlike her usual self.
Mian Tang asked with a smile, “How is the relationship between your sister and Aunt Lian?”
Cui Xingzhou replied, “My sister has always disliked Aunt Lian.”
Mian Tang said, “That’s it, then. There are so many wedding affairs to handle. If Aunt Lian does something inappropriate in the future that needs to be addressed, it wouldn’t be proper for me, as an outsider, to intervene. Given your sister’s temperament, she won’t be able to tolerate it and will naturally confront Aunt Lian. That’s more convenient than me taking action myself.”
Cui Xingzhou finally understood Mian Tang’s intention. She was using one evil to control another.
He had originally thought that Mian Tang, coming from a humble background, wouldn’t be able to adapt to the complex etiquette of life in the prince’s household. Moreover, his household affairs were complicated and somewhat chaotic due to the lack of a mistress. To his surprise, Mian Tang handled things with ease, which put his mind at rest.
Mian Tang was glad that Cui Fu wanted to take care of the trivial matters in the Wang household. This would free up her time to do other things.
Ever since Cui Xingzhou decided to go to the capital, there had been undercurrents of tension. Reportedly, there had been many impeachments from court officials regarding Zhenzhou affairs, intent on finding fault and tarnishing Cui Xingzhou’s reputation for his military achievements in the Northwest, creating obstacles to prevent him from becoming the Grand Commandant in the capital.
Contrary to Zhenzhou, the good reputation of the wise King of Hui Province had recently spread far and wide. It was said that the King of Sui’s entry into the capital was what the people desired. The new emperor, struggling to win people’s hearts, urgently needed a pillar of the royal family to stabilize the situation.
Although Cui Xingzhou had not yet set out for the capital, the undercurrent of competition had already begun.
At this time, in the Huanen Temple in the capital, Consort Yun, who had left the palace to worship Buddha, took the opportunity to pass a message to the monk arranged there by the King of Sui.
If asked who truly understood Liu Mian Tang, Sun Yun Niang would be one!
Since Yangshan, she had been constantly compared to this suddenly appearing woman, always outshone by Liu Mian Tang. From then on, she paid close attention to Liu Mian Tang’s every move, secretly collecting all information about her.
Everyone in Yangshan seemed to be attracted to Liu Mian Tang. Even the former Eastern Palace faction, while disdaining her bold actions, recognized her abilities.
At that time, Ziyu had been completely captivated by Liu Mian Tang.
Later, she latched onto the King of Sui, finally using his power to bring down Liu Mian Tang. With her tendons cut, Liu Mian Tang was thrown into the water, becoming a cripple, and was supposedly taken advantage of by a deceitful merchant.
Although Yun Niang wanted Liu Mian Tang to suffer even more, she was quite satisfied with Liu Mian Tang’s current miserable state. However, she suddenly learned that Liu Mian Tang had returned to the capital with the illustrious Prince of Huaiyang and that the prince would soon marry her as his principal wife. When she first heard this news, Yun Niang couldn’t believe it. Later, when she attended a palace banquet with her father, she saw Liu Mian Tang dressed in splendid clothes, adorned with gold and silver, leaning against a tall, distinguished man. Upon closer inspection of the handsome man, she felt he looked familiar. After a moment’s thought, she realized it was none other than the merchant Cui Jiu whom she had met in Lingquan Town.
Yun Niang couldn’t believe it at the time. She kept asking several people who the handsome man was, and when she finally confirmed that he was indeed the Prince of Huaiyang, Yun Niang’s heart nearly burst with anger. At that moment, she suddenly realized that after falling into the water, Liu Mian Tang had latched onto a tree large enough to shelter her from the rain. As for why Cui Xingzhou had deceived her at the time, it was unknown, but a little thought suggested he had intended to toy with her. Who would have thought that Liu Mian Tang was a born seductress, using some unknown means to bewitch the Prince of Huaiyang to the point where he was willing to marry her?
After returning from the banquet that day, Yun Niang was so angry that she couldn’t eat for two whole days. It wasn’t until her father agreed to her request to enter the palace as a consort, due to guard Liu Yu’s meritorious service and urgent need to cultivate his power, that Yun Niang’s long-cherished wish was fulfilled. This made her ecstatic, temporarily putting aside the matter of Liu Mian Tang.
Unfortunately, good dreams don’t last long. She had originally thought she could live a fairytale life with the man she loved, after all, that Shi Empress was plain-looking and plump, how could she compare to her youthful beauty? But who would have thought that Liu Yu would show great respect and love for the dough-faced Shi Empress, spending more than half of each month sleeping in the Empress’s chambers? In the remaining days, she had to share his favor equally with several other daughters of meritorious officials who had also been granted the title of consort, leaving her with very limited time to see Liu Yu. Each time Liu Yu came to her palace, he would use the excuse of physical fatigue, fall onto the bed, and immediately fall into a deep sleep. Sometimes, when he had drunk too much, he would call out Mian Tang’s name in his dreams.
Yun Niang had originally thought that marrying into the deep palace would fulfill her long-cherished wish but gradually discovered that she was living in a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up, ruining her entire life…
At this point, Yun Niang hated Liu Mian Tang, the person Liu Yu cared for, even more. We are irreconcilable enemies, and this won’t end until death!
So when the King of Sui sent someone to inquire about Liu Mian Tang’s past details, Yun Niang, knowing full well the King of Sui’s malicious intentions, unhesitatingly revealed that she had an exiled brother.
Liu Mian Tang was quite generous to this brother of hers. Previously, when they were on the mountain, she would send money to her brother every so often. It was likely that she was still protecting her brother now.
The King of Sui’s goal this time was to block Cui Xingzhou’s path to the capital.
If it were to come out in court that Cui Xingzhou had specially helped his wife’s brother escape punishment and flee, it would be a shocking scandal.
At this point, the King of Sui sent people to the labor camp where Liu Zhanpeng was serving his sentence, killed several guards, rescued him, deliberately made a big fuss about it, and then headed straight for Zhenzhou with him. They planned to burst into the Prince of Huaiyang’s wedding feast, which would surely cause an uproar.
The attendees of the wedding feast were all local dignitaries whom the Prince of Huaiyang couldn’t possibly bribe one by one. At that time, the matter of his wife’s brother would naturally spread.
That Liu Zhanpeng was also foolish. Upon hearing that his sister had risen to a high position, he was eager to ride on her coattails and kept urging her to get to Zhenzhou soon.
It seemed that by now, the scandal in Zhenzhou must have broken out, and the Prince of Huaiyang must have lost all face. How could he not regret marrying such a woman of impure origins? Even the most passionate love would sour at this point. Even if Liu Mian Tang was as beautiful as a flower, it couldn’t outweigh a man’s desire for supreme power. Thinking of the Prince of Huaiyang berating and reprimanding Liu Mian Tang, Yun Niang could laugh out loud even as she sat alone in the deep palace.
Just yesterday, a memorial impeaching the Prince of Huaiyang for perverting the law for personal gain and shielding his wife’s brother who had killed someone and escaped from prison had already reached the imperial court. Before the emperor could issue an edict, the senior official Zhang Pangguang, who was currently inspecting the five prefectures of Jiangnan, had also gotten wind of the situation and especially went to Zhenzhou to investigate the matter.
Old Zhang was known throughout the court and the country for his impartial law enforcement and hatred of evil. If he were to investigate this matter, it would further demonstrate the court’s determination to punish the unrepentant and convince people…
Unfortunately, she had just learned from a contact monk that Liu Zhanpeng had gotten into an argument with someone at the city gate of Zhenzhou, was falsely accused of stealing a purse, and was thrown into prison.
Although he didn’t cause a scene at the wedding, Liu Zhanpeng’s unguarded words about being Liu Mian Tang’s brother seemed to have reached her ears. For several days, people had seen carriages from the Wang mansion going in and out of the county jail, and it was learned through inquiries that Liu Zhanpeng was living in luxury in prison, with meat and fish at every meal, receiving special treatment.
As long as Liu Zhanpeng was still in Zhenzhou, once Old Zhang arrived, it would confirm the crime of the Prince of Huaiyang indulging his wife in harboring a criminal.
Yun Niang knew that Liu Mian Tang had always prioritized family affection and was very forgiving towards her family members. How could she not protect her brother now that he had escaped?
Thinking of this, Yun Niang also urged her adoptive father in her letter to the King of Sui to act quickly, lest they miss this excellent opportunity.