The Crown Prince’s funeral arrangements were handled with great splendor. Although Jinghua had already been deposed during his lifetime, all the ceremonial rites of the funeral were conducted according to the standards befitting a Crown Prince.

Even Kong Yu’s funeral followed the protocol for a Crown Princess!

And the two of them shared the same tomb.

This was specifically ordered by Emperor Qizhen—unable to share a room in life, they would share a tomb in death.

Just after the funeral concluded—

Jingrong left the imperial mausoleum. As he emerged, someone handed him a brocade box wrapped in cloth and a scroll painting.

The person said, “Your Highness, everything has been arranged.”

“Mm.”

He held the box and painting in his arms, boarded his carriage, but instead of returning immediately to Prince Rong’s manor, he headed in the direction of the Kong residence.

At the Kong residence!

Lady Kong had sealed off the Buddhist hall in the manor, extinguished all the incense candles, and moved the Buddha statue inside to a temple for worship.

The entire estate no longer permeated everywhere with the smell of incense candles as before.

Gone was the pungent, unpleasant odor, replaced instead by a faint, pleasant fragrance!

When Jingrong arrived, Lady Kong was in the midst of packing her things, planning to leave the capital that very day.

Juan’er was helping beside her, working in a flustered manner.

Ever since Ji Yinshu’s last visit, Lady Kong had brought Juan’er out of the palace.

Seeing Jingrong arrive, Lady Kong set down her work and hurried forward to curtsy.

“Greetings to Prince Rong.”

“Lady Kong need not stand on ceremony.” He raised his hand to assist her.

“At this time, why has Your Highness come here?”

By rights, at this moment, Jingrong should still be at the imperial mausoleum, or perhaps have entered the palace—why had he come here?

Jingrong deliberately glanced at Juan’er.

Juan’er proved perceptive. She dropped what she was holding and quickly left.

Only Jingrong and Lady Kong remained in the room.

Only then did Jingrong speak: “Lady Kong, this prince has come today to give you something.”

Something?

Just as she wondered—

Jingrong took out the painting he had brought and handed it to Lady Kong while explaining, “Here is a painting. Please take a look.”

Lady Kong carefully took it and unrolled the painting.

In the painting, a woman stood beneath a peach blossom tree, her embroidered hands delicately plucking a peach blossom and bringing it to her nose to smell. A pale blue gown fluttered gently in the wind, peach blossom petals falling upon her hem like scattered pigments.

Hazy and dreamlike!

That delicate face, made rosy and lustrous by the peach blossoms, featured almond-shaped eyes curved slightly like a pool of spring water. Her small lips pressed together, glowing with tiny points of pale red light, subtly alluring.

Beautiful!

Very beautiful!

“This is Yu’er!”

Lady Kong’s voice trembled.

Her hands gripping both ends of the scroll also trembled, somewhat unable to believe it.

Jingrong said, “This portrait was painted by that Master Ji. Keep it as a memento.”

“Yu’er…” Lady Kong’s eyes reddened. Her fingers traced the portrait, and only after a long while did she recover, sniffling as she carefully rolled up the painting.

Looking up at Jingrong: “Please trouble Your Highness to convey my gratitude to Master Ji. This kindness, I will never forget for the rest of my life.”

“Mm.”

“The person I wronged most was Yu’er. When His Majesty conferred the title of princess upon her, I should have strongly opposed it. Then we wouldn’t have reached today’s outcome.”

“Lady Kong need not blame yourself. This prince also erred. If I had given her an answer early on, she wouldn’t have had to wait so long.”

His tone carried guilt.

Yet Lady Kong said, “I believe Yu’er never once regretted waiting for Your Highness.”

With certainty!

Jingrong lowered his brow, drew a deep breath, and didn’t continue this topic further.

Afterward, he handed the box to Lady Kong: “This prince took it upon himself to cremate Kong Yu’s remains. Inside is her ashes. You should take her and leave the capital. Neither the imperial palace nor the mausoleum are places she would have wanted to be.”

“This…”

Lady Kong was extremely shocked. After setting down the painting, she cradled the box, tears flowing uncontrollably.

Slowly lifting the cloth from the box, she gently touched the fine, delicate patterns on its surface, as though cradling her daughter’s face. Her kind countenance bore several traces of grief.

Yet she asked Jingrong with concern, “Your Highness cremated Yu’er’s remains, so in the mausoleum…”

“Only the Crown Prince remains. The other coffin is empty. Rest assured, this prince handled all the Crown Prince’s funeral matters personally. No one will discover this, and now that the burial is complete, no one will open the coffins again. You may safely bury Kong Yu’s ashes in the Kong family ancestral grounds, or scatter them to the wind in a peach grove.”

Jingrong’s tone was very gentle.

He knew that Kong Yu loved peach blossoms.

And that peach blossom grove of his had indeed been planted for Kong Yu, though all along, he had never said so.

Lady Kong clutched the brocade box and nodded, her body unable to support itself, sitting down beside her.

Because Jingrong still needed to enter the palace, he didn’t stay long and departed.

Juan’er only entered the room after seeing him leave, finding her mistress crying while holding that portrait and a box.

“Madam, are you alright?”

“I’m fine!” Lady Kong lifted her sleeve to wipe away her tears.

Juan’er’s eyes also reddened, her small nose sniffling. Looking at the painting and box, she asked carefully, “Madam, are these two items related to Miss?”

Lady Kong nodded, gently patting the back of Juan’er’s hand.

“From now on, we won’t come to the capital anymore. We’ll go to Qingshan together. There’s a peach grove there. We’ll take Yu’er with us.”

“Mm!”

Juan’er nodded emphatically.

…

After leaving, Jingrong hurried to enter the palace. Just as he reached the city gate, before he had even alighted from his carriage, he heard the voice of Jing Zhaoyin from outside.

“These past two days, the First Prince’s funeral has already been pressing enough, and now another troublesome matter has arisen.”

He sighed, full of complaints!

An official beside him asked, “Magistrate Yi (Jing Zhaoyin), what matter could be more vexing than the First Prince’s funeral?”

“These past few days, a woman from Yufu County has repeatedly come to submit petitions. She has no evidence, no witnesses, and the case is from several years ago. Now she comes to the capital to appeal for a retrial—the procedural issues are difficult to handle. Moreover, the case was already closed years ago. To appeal for a retrial now—isn’t this making things difficult for me?”

“Shouldn’t the Court of Judicial Review handle this?”

Better not to mention it—once brought up, Jing Zhaoyin became like he’d been injected with adrenaline, growing somewhat agitated.

Huffing angrily, he said, “The position of Judicial Commissioner under the Ministry of Justice was abolished by His Majesty years ago. By rights, local cases should indeed be handled by the Court of Judicial Review, but this case is thorny! That woman won’t follow proper procedures and came directly to the capital to appeal. Naturally, the Court of Judicial Review won’t accept it, so it can only come to my Capital Magistracy. Tell me, isn’t this miserable? If the Judicial Commissioner position hadn’t been abolished, with just a word, the procedures could be waived, and I wouldn’t have to suffer this headache now.”

Sighing and lamenting!

These words were all heard in full by Jingrong, who had yet to descend from his carriage.