Before Empress Lu had completely given up on the Crown Prince, what good would it have done for her to speak out? The Crown Prince’s excessive behavior wasn’t something that started just a day or two ago. Back when Zhou Weizhao fell ill, everyone knew exactly what was going on, yet Empress Lu forcibly covered up the matter before Emperor Jianzhang, forcing her to seek her father’s help and ultimately request Master Zhang Tianshi to send Zhou Weizhao to Longhu Mountain.
Princess Rongcheng couldn’t help but fall silent. She could hear the mockery and sarcasm in Crown Princess Lu’s tone, and she could also hear Crown Princess Lu’s dissatisfaction with Empress Lu. But she had nothing to be angry about—it was indeed Empress Lu who had harmed Crown Princess Lu into her current state. If it hadn’t been for Empress Lu back then, Crown Princess Lu and Prince Gong would have been a match made in heaven. She grasped the Crown Princess’s hand, not knowing what to say. After hesitating for a long time, she could only squeeze out a dry sentence: “Cousin, don’t blame Mother Empress. She also had no choice…”
Empress Lu truly had no choice. At that time, it seemed that apart from fulfilling the Crown Prince’s wish by snatching Lu Caiwei away from Prince Gong, Empress Lu had no other way to prove her maternal devotion to the Crown Prince. Crown Princess Lu smiled self-deprecatingly: “At this point now, what’s the use of talking about blame or not?” She set down the cup in her hand, her gaze so calm it was frightening: “I only hope that Aunt will understand this time that the emptiness in the Crown Prince’s heart is a bottomless pit. No matter how hard she tries, even if she offers up her life along with mine and Weizhao’s, she still won’t be able to fill that hole in his heart.”
Princess Rongcheng knew Crown Princess Lu was absolutely right—the Crown Prince had gone completely mad. She opened her mouth, about to ask Crown Princess Lu if she knew how to extricate the Crown Prince from this mess with the Fan family, when she heard a series of voices outside crying out “Long live Your Highness.”
She couldn’t help but tighten her grip on the Crown Princess’s hand. Before she could react, the door was kicked open with a thunderous crash. The Crown Prince burst in furiously, his eyes bloodshot, advancing step by step toward Crown Princess Lu.
Princess Rongcheng instinctively blocked the Crown Princess, shouting “Elder Brother” in a stern voice, looking at him with both shock and anger, her face full of vigilance and wariness.
The Crown Prince’s gaze passed over her to stare straight at Crown Princess Lu, then slowly settled on Princess Rongcheng. Finally, he curved his lips into a smile: “You all knew? What are you afraid of…” He said: “You have Mother Empress as your shield, so what are you afraid of? I knew it—you all knew about Mother Empress’s plans. How capable you’ve all become.”
He pointed at Princess Rongcheng, looking at the frightened expression on her face: “Are you so confident tying the Zhennan Prince’s Manor to her son? Do you look down on your brother that much?”
Princess Rongcheng’s lips moved a few times, feeling there was nothing to say. She walked two steps toward the Crown Prince, her gaze meeting his eyes squarely: “Do you think this whole matter was planned by the Zhennan Prince’s Manor?”
The Crown Prince laughed scornfully: “Isn’t it? Does she have such great ability? I’ve been safe and sound for so many years, and Mother Empress never discovered anything. In just these few days, she discovered it? I recall that the Zhennan Princess’s younger brother was previously a garrison commander at Purple Bramble Pass, wasn’t he? For him to investigate matters in the Northwest, plus with Cui Shaoting’s help, wouldn’t it be twice as effective with half the effort?” Speaking up to this point, he glanced at the Crown Princess with a smile: “Are you really that impatient? The imperial physicians all say I won’t live much longer—are you that eager for me to die? The wedding hasn’t even happened yet, and you can already win over the Cui family to use for yourself. Your abilities are not small at all.”
Princess Rongcheng wanted to say more, but the Crown Princess extended her hand to stop her. Her long skirts dragged an elegant arc across the floor tiles as she took several steps forward to the Crown Prince’s side: “I once said, I said, why don’t we just get along like before—harmonious on the surface while at odds in our hearts. At least we could muddle through our days in confusion. But Your Highness didn’t take it seriously. I know you detest me, and I actually don’t particularly like you either. But Weizhao is your biological son—how could you bear to move against him now? You knew full well that his legitimate wife had just been decided, yet you’re so impatient to create trouble for him, wanting to push the Lu family into the vortex along with him. I had originally wanted to secretly tell you about the illicit dealings you’ve been conducting in the Northwest, to make you restrain yourself. It was you who insisted on pushing things to this point.” She looked at the Crown Prince with undisguised mockery: “Has Mother Empress become somewhat different from before? Your Highness, you’d better believe what Mother Empress says. Behave yourself and stop meddling everywhere or causing me trouble… It’s still the same saying—for you as Crown Prince, having no faults is the same as having merit. Rather than frantically scheming everywhere to amass wealth, wouldn’t it be better to wait steadily for your succession? Don’t you agree?”
The Crown Prince clenched his fists once again. All the women of the Lu family were like this—selfish and cold-blooded, yet they had to make their words sound so pleasant, as if they had suffered so much before, as if they had been so forbearing.
He was now constrained by fear, with leverage held in others’ hands. He truly had no recourse. Finally, he gave Crown Princess Lu and Princess Rongcheng a meaningful look, then turned his head somewhat woodenly, crossed through the garden to the front hall, and sat down on the yellow pear wood armchair in his study. He reached into his sleeve pocket and pulled out a Hetian jade carved in the shape of a peony flower, examined it for a moment, then gripped it tightly in his palm.
It was just the loss of his business in the Northwest, nothing more. He suppressed the fury in his heart and gripped the Hetian jade even tighter. The petals embedded into the flesh of his palm, but he didn’t feel any pain at all. He exhaled lightly—as long as he still had this thing, he wouldn’t be completely crippled.
His brows knitted tightly together. Compared to the Fan family, the business in the Northwest wasn’t actually that important—after all, the Fan family was cultivated by his own hand, had handled matters for him all these years. Once the Fan family was gone, not only would it be inconvenient for him to do things, but in the future Zhou Weiqi would have no maternal clan either… He felt a headache coming on, supporting his head with one hand, utterly exhausted. Yet the fury and hatred in his heart only grew stronger. Empress Lu, who kept saying she had tried her utmost to do everything she could, and his so-called biological son—each and every one of them spoke more beautifully than anyone else, yet one by one they all came to bind his hands and feet, making him unable to move.
He thought of Zhou Weiqi, and the fury in his heart lessened slightly. He still had a son. In the future he would have many sons. He didn’t need any so-called sons that the Lu family bore for him, any so-called legitimate sons. He thought of the serious illness Zhou Weizhao had when he was five years old, and a strange expression of regret appeared on his pale, sickly face. If only that time… it would have been for the best…