That phrase “without support or dependency” truly struck Emperor Chunde’s sore spot.

His face darkened as he said, “His father emperor, is not yet dead; how can he be called without support or dependency?”

Consort Shang was startled upon hearing this, knowing she had misspoken.

Although back in the days at the prince’s residence, this Feng Yuan lived worse than even the respectable servants’ children in the mansion, such family shortcomings really shouldn’t be mentioned before His Majesty.

She was truly agitated by the First Prince’s wild accusations, her heart blocked with anger, and in her urgency spoke such inappropriate truths.

It wasn’t unreasonable for Consort Shang to be angry – Feng Qiting said that on that day, he was conversing with the Third Prince and never saw the First Prince come over at all, so how could he have randomly cursed Feng Yuan as a madman?

Feng Yuan was spouting nonsense.

So Consort Shang turned to ask the Third Prince, “You were also there that day. Tell His Majesty – did the Second Prince ever curse the First Prince?”

Feng Qiwu now felt that everyone in the entire palace had sinister hearts and was spouting nonsense. He had been dragged here early in the morning, listening to incomprehensible talk, and now his elder brother was blatantly lying and framing people.

If it were someone else, the Third Prince would never assist in wrongdoing, but the one being framed happened to be the cunning Second Brother, whom he also found thoroughly annoying.

Feng Qiwu couldn’t help but fall into another moral dilemma of struggle.

So Feng Qiwu habitually lifted his robe hem, then realizing it was inappropriate, he tugged at his belt through his clothes and spoke vaguely, “I didn’t hear clearly either. Second Imperial Brother might have said something, or might not have…”

“You…” Wasn’t this just nonsense?

Consort Shang was rarely so angry that she couldn’t speak.

Her son had poor relations with his brothers and was usually looked down on by his brothers born of consorts.

When the Western Palace was in power before, it was still manageable, but now the drawbacks were showing.

Emperor Chunde rubbed his temples, feeling that those trivial details needn’t be investigated deeply.

That Consort Shang could say Feng Yuan was “without support or dependency” – presumably in the Second Prince’s heart, he held no particular respect for his elder brother either.

If he hit him, then he hit him. He thought with momentary melancholy that when he followed the late emperor in campaigns north and south, he had neglected the education of the children at the prince’s residence, causing several sons to be disappointing.

If Zhan Xue were still here, how could she be like Consort Shang, teaching children to disrespect their elder brothers and be narrow-minded…

Feng Yuan’s mother was gone, but he, the father, was still here – how could he treat this lightly?

So he called to Mu Hanjiang, “Summon the Chief Physician of the Imperial Medical Academy, and have your mother enter the palace.”

Consort Shang had originally intended to make an issue of the First Prince’s concubine’s appearance, but somehow it had turned into a case questioning whether she had poisoned the First Prince.

That day, people came and went constantly in the imperial study.

Princess Anqing explained the situation from the birthday banquet that day.

Although the First Prince accidentally became poisoned, he was able to suppress the toxicity and leave with self-control, truly showing iron willpower that made her look at him with new eyes, realizing how false the previous rumors of the First Prince’s madness had been.

Princess Anqing rarely praised juniors and had always maintained some distance and coldness toward the First Prince.

Previously, when Mu Hanjiang wanted to persuade his mother to testify about the cause of the First Prince’s madness, she had many concerns and wouldn’t easily agree.

Why was she so wholeheartedly testifying for the First Prince before His Majesty today?

Mu Hanjiang looked at his mother without showing any trace, a faint doubt arising in his heart.

After Princess Anqing finished speaking, she stepped aside and said no more.

From Mu Hanjiang’s earliest memories, his mother had been quite unwilling to come to the palace. The few times she had, she stayed briefly in the palace and left immediately.

The Chief Physician took a drop of fresh blood from the First Prince’s fingertip, and after examination, confirmed that within the First Prince’s body was the dormant poison of Ma Shi San that had been activated, and he asserted that this toxicity had accumulated over the years, definitely not overnight.

Although there was no evidence pointing to Consort Shang’s poisoning, as the First Prince said, among the consorts who came and went in the palace and could maintain their footing, there were only Empress Tang and Consort Shang.

And these two were the ones who had nominally taken care of him after his mother’s death.

It was just that when Feng Yuan was poisoned again ten years later, the Empress had already been confined to the palace and hadn’t been seen for a long time, completely unable to arrange for anyone to administer poison.

Moreover, when Princess Ye gave birth, it was a full-term birth, yet the physician slandered it as premature, and when Princess Ye was giving birth, Empress Tang hadn’t yet married over – in the prince’s residence, there was no other concubine besides Consort Shang.

By this reasoning, the one with the greatest suspicion was only Consort Shang.

After all, back then Consort Shang was very popular and got along with His Majesty’s old subordinates, all treating her as the eldest sister-in-law.

At that time, people all felt that if Princess Ye were gone, Consort Shang would be elevated to primary wife, but later the Tang family daughter appeared midway – otherwise, Consort Shang would almost have become Empress Shang.

The First Prince also said that he had several conflicts with the Second Prince before, and the last incident with witchcraft and bewitching words caused the Second Prince to be beaten, creating enmity with the First Prince. This Consort Shang very likely deployed revenge again for her son’s sake…

Consort Shang was furious, glaring at Feng Yuan: “I originally treated you like my own child, yielding to you everywhere, but you cannot slander people like this! You say I harmed you – do you have evidence?”

“Haven’t you done enough harm? When my mother was about to give birth, the famous physician the Ye family specially found for her had his leg broken by someone on his way home at midnight and had to stay home to recover, so the physicians who later treated my mother were all arranged through your hands. Do you think what you did back then was seamless?”

Consort Shang’s heart contracted upon hearing this. Although she had done some bad things, with the passage of years she had gradually forgotten them.

She relied on those physicians being gone and the old matters having vanished like smoke, so she had forgotten most of it with peace of mind.

But this Feng Yuan was like a biting dog that didn’t even bark before suddenly striking, bringing up the old matter of physicians slandering Feng Yuan as premature, truly making her panic.

“How old were you then? Which creature dared to speak nonsense to you, slandering and accusing this palace?”

“My mother’s journal recorded it! At that time, Mother was weak and pregnant, you took charge of household affairs, deliberately reducing my mother’s three meals, attempting to make the child in Mother’s belly smaller and more like a premature baby – isn’t that right?”

Speaking thus, he took out what seemed like two pages torn from a journal from his chest and presented them to Emperor Chunde.

Emperor Chunde never knew that Zhan Xue had left behind journals recording daily life.

When he received and looked at them, the familiar, graceful handwriting of his old beloved immediately met his eyes.

Zhan Xue was broad-minded, and her elegant word choices and phrasing were somewhat different from others.

In this record of meals, she playfully mocked that Consort Shang was fortunate to have entered the prince’s mansion as a concubine, otherwise with her stingy method of managing household meals, wouldn’t she have starved the pigs raised in her family’s countryside? It was just that she was still carrying a child and couldn’t eat her fill every day, only hoping that when her brother Ye Zhong came to the mansion to see her, he would bring her more pastries and fruits.

On a page dated after Ye Zhan Xue’s childbirth, Zhan Xue had only written one simple line: “So that’s how it is! Why must a woman’s poison be more venomous than a scorpion’s?”

When Emperor Chunde read this, the hand holding the paper trembled slightly, and he couldn’t help but look up coldly at Consort Shang.

Consort Shang hastily said, “Your Majesty, this concubine is truly wronged!”

Feng Yuan said indifferently, “Mother should thank you for not poisoning her, causing one corpse and two deaths. Oh, now I remember – if my mother had been poisoned to death, her brother would have come to the door to make trouble, and you would have been a suspect. With Ye Zhong’s temperament, he would have cut you down with one stroke. So it was better to splash dirty water on Mother and me, which would make Father Emperor despise us. Such thoughts are indeed more venomous than a scorpion’s!”

Old matters from years past, yet Feng Yuan had spoken nine-tenths of it in just a few words.

Consort Shang’s heart was filled with hatred – she hadn’t expected that what she thought was an unworthy bastard child back then had, after ten years, become so scheming, keeping quiet all this time.

And that Ye Zhan Xue was even more detestable – back then, she had left behind so much writing without making a sound. What was she trying to do?

With things having reached this point, Feng Yuan’s poisoning case, though filled with doubts, was all attributed to Consort Shang.

However, she was, after all, the Noble Consort of the Western Palace, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to condemn her based solely on some yellowed journal pages without clear evidence.

Emperor Chunde looked at those yellowed journal pages, gently stroking them for a long while, before saying to the tearful Consort Shang, “If you didn’t do it, it will naturally be investigated clearly, but if no one has been wronged, there will also be accounts to settle one by one. You should return to your palace first!”

Consort Shang knew that if she continued to complain, it would only annoy His Majesty. For now, she could only return first and think carefully about countermeasures.

So she rose with the support of palace maids, choking back tears as she took her leave.

Princess Anqing glanced at the First Prince with his cold expression and spoke up: “The world has misunderstood that the First Prince suffers from madness, and thus many fear him. Now that it’s finally been clarified, and that day at the Mu family, the First Prince was able to endure the poison’s effects, this is sufficient proof that his mind is no different from ordinary people. I hope Your Majesty will clear the First Prince’s name and compensate for his suffering all these years… to comfort Princess Ye’s spirit in heaven.”

What Princess Anqing said was exactly what Emperor Chunde had in mind.

Feng Yuan said indifferently, “Speaking of compensation, this son also has something on his mind and hopes Father Emperor will fulfill it.”

Emperor Chunde said, “Speak. If Father Emperor can do it, he will do his best to satisfy you.”

These words seemed generous, but I held some reservations.

Emperor Chunde was clear about what Feng Yuan wanted. After all, a while ago, his eldest son had been turned away by several old ministers at the Ministry of War, causing quite a stir.

He must be holding back his anger, wanting to enter the Military Department early to avenge his humiliation.

However, princes entering the Military Department had many taboos. Emperor Chunde had previously agreed to let Feng Yuan in only because he mistakenly thought his mind was incomplete and that no ministers would attach themselves to him or engage in factional activities.

But if Feng Yuan had never been mad, and he was using his grievances as leverage to force entry into the Military Department, the reasons behind this were worth investigating.

Emperor Chunde had many disappointments with his sons and only hoped this Feng Yuan wouldn’t learn from the Second Prince, with his mind full of scheming thoughts.

Hearing this, Feng Yuan seemed doubtful and looked up to ask, “Will Your Majesty truly agree to anything?”

Emperor Chunde rarely felt paternal affection. After thinking, he felt that with those old comrades from the prince’s residence days in the Military Department keeping watch, even if this inexperienced youth went there, he couldn’t cause much trouble, so he said magnanimously, “Speak. As the Son of Heaven of Great Feng, I give my imperial word.”

Only then did Feng Yuan solemnly bow and say, “This son wishes Your Majesty to grant me a marriage!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall was spectacular.

Not to mention others – Emperor Chunde himself looked completely astonished.

After all, the one who had previously sworn he found looking at women annoying and that if he married one, he’d strangle each one that came through the door was this very rebellious son.

How was it that today, with such a good opportunity to ask for military power and money, he was instead asking for a wife?

Hearing this, Emperor Chunde’s expression relaxed, feeling that such a request could be easily granted, so he laughed and said, “Good! Tell me which family’s noble daughter you fancy, and I’ll arrange the match for you.”

Feng Yuan said indifferently, “She’s not some noble daughter, just a concubine in my mansion.”

Upon hearing this, Mu Hanjiang quickly looked up, staring at Feng Yuan in disbelief. He wanted to marry Yan Xiaoying? How… how dare he!

Emperor Chunde was again surprised as he looked him over: “The one Consort Shang mentioned? You are a prince – how can you elevate a concubine to primary wife? Aren’t you afraid of being laughed at…”

“I’m not afraid. This son has been laughed at since childhood and is used to it. So when I want to return to my mansion to live behind closed doors, I don’t want to still suffer grievances. If I’m to marry, I’ll only marry someone I find pleasing to the eye.”

These words made His Majesty frown: “What does her family do? What official position does her father hold?”

“Her family is salt merchants from Jiangzhe.”

Emperor Chunde felt his head ache upon hearing this: “Ah Yuan, you are the dignified First Prince of Great Feng. Marrying a woman of such status would not only lose face for you alone.”

Hearing this, Feng Yuan looked up coldly: “So-called face is something a man earns for himself. If she looks down upon me in the future, it means I am useless and cannot earn her respect. Father Emperor, isn’t that the truth?”

Emperor Chunde felt this son was too disappointing. Though he hadn’t been blinded by fame and fortune, he had been manipulated by a merchant’s daughter to not know what was important.

He wanted to refuse, but having just learned this child had been poisoned for so long and suffered so much grievance, ten years of imprisonment! Who could bear it?

So Emperor Chunde softened his tone: “First, bring her here and let me see her. What kind of beauty is she that you must marry her?”

Mu Hanjiang’s heart leaped to his throat. If Yan Xiaoying appeared before His Majesty with that face, wouldn’t she be doomed?

At this moment, he heard Feng Yuan say in a deep voice: “Since entering the capital, she has been mocked for her birth and felt she had damaged my reputation, so she has already requested to return to Jiangzhe. When leaving, she said that unless Your Majesty issued an imperial edict for marriage, she would die before setting foot in my capital mansion again!”

Emperor Chunde raised his eyebrows upon hearing this: “She dared to say such audacious words?”

Feng Yuan cupped his hands: “She was certain Father Emperor would not agree, so she spoke words to make your son give up hope. But if I don’t marry her in this lifetime, I’d rather remain unmarried forever!”

Speaking thus, Feng Yuan solemnly knelt and performed a full ceremony to Emperor Chunde.

Since leaving the Desolate Hall, this was the first time the First Prince had made such a solemn request of him.

His Majesty fell into silence for a moment. Though he was in his prime, he couldn’t help but consider future succession. The Crown Prince had been spoiled by the Empress – establishing such a weak and incompetent heir would let the Tang family’s relatives control the court. The Second Prince he had originally favored, was increasingly disappointing.

As for this eldest son, he had never considered him before, since how could a madman govern the realm?

But if Feng Yuan had only been affected by poison and wasn’t mentally impaired… his experiences had been too difficult, he had suffered too much, so how could he have feelings for his brothers? If he one day wielded great power, the Second Prince and the others probably wouldn’t just suffer a beating…

The emperor’s thoughts flowed, momentarily thinking quite far ahead.

Feng Yuan’s childhood had been difficult, but he lacked the saint-like compassion of sage kings. Observing his cold and harsh way of handling affairs, he might make a good supporting minister, but was unfit to be a benevolent ruler.

If so, in choosing a wife for him, there was no need to require noble birth as with choosing a wife for the heir apparent.

Having thought this through, he reminded indifferently: “Princes marry not only for love. If you marry such a woman, it’s not just that people will mock you – it will affect your prospects. Have you thought this through?”

Feng Yuan said calmly, “I have thought it through. Please, Father Emperor, issue the edict to fulfill this!”

“No!” Before Emperor Chunde could agree, a young man’s voice suddenly rang out in opposition. Mu Hanjiang was seen with an ashen face, shouting these words.

This time, Princess Anqing was somewhat surprised, turning to look at her son, not knowing why Mu Hanjiang was suddenly so agitated.

After saying this, Mu Hanjiang realized his impropriety and could only steel himself to say: “As a prince, choosing a wife should be done carefully. The woman’s father and brothers must submit birth charts to the Ministry of Rites, verify compatibility with the prince’s birth date and time, before petitioning Your Majesty.”

This was reasonable, but before His Majesty could speak, Feng Yuan said coldly, “Whether compatible or not, I will only marry her in this life. It’s not choosing a wife for you – why is Young Master Mu so agitated as to speak out in opposition?”

Young Master Mu gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: “I fear this is the First Prince’s wishful thinking! If she truly loved you, how could she leave so easily? Is the First Prince certain she’s willing to marry you?”

Little Ying had told him that she wasn’t truly Feng Yuan’s concubine – it was just a cover story!

Was Feng Yuan asking the woman’s opinion in acting this way?

Hearing this, Feng Yuan gave a contemptuous laugh: “What? Has she told you she’s unwilling to marry me?”

Mu Hanjiang pressed his lips together and was about to speak when Feng Yuan said coldly again: “If Young Master Mu has objections, then I have another candidate. I wonder if Young Master Mu would be willing to give up your sister to marry me!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the Third Prince, who had been casually watching the excitement, was immediately upset, glaring with bull-like eyes as he shouted at Feng Yuan: “Elder Imperial Brother, you dare! Looking at what’s in the bowl while eyeing what’s in the pot – you want all the good ones!”

Princess Anqing also quickly petitioned His Majesty: “Yanyan has been spoiled and pampered, with a fiery temperament. She’s truly unsuitable as a good match for the First Prince…”

Mu Hanjiang was even more enraged, clenching his fists tightly to suppress his anger.

For a moment, the imperial study was in complete chaos.

Seeing Feng Yuan becoming increasingly unreasonable, Emperor Chunde also frowned deeply. Looking at the chaotic situation, he couldn’t help but slam the table: “What’s all this noise? Are you soldiers fighting over supplies? Thinking that if you’re slow, you’ll go hungry and not get wives?”

He looked at the two sons before the table, then at the tight-lipped Mu Hanjiang, really too lazy to sort through these trivial romantic affairs.

Feng Yuan was getting on in years – nearly twenty-four and still hadn’t produced a son or daughter.

This child had always had modest desires and had never asked him for anything. It was just elevating a woman of humble birth to be his princess consort.

It wasn’t such a big deal – why strain father-son relations over this?

Thinking of this, he spoke up: “Since she’s your concubine, you presumably know her well. As for birth charts and such, have the Ministry of Rites supplement them and go through the motions. I will issue an edict to let you bring that woman back to the capital in grand style.”

Hearing this, both Feng Yuan and the Third Prince knelt to thank Father Emperor for his wisdom.

Emperor Chunde frowned at the Third Prince: “What business is it of yours? What are you thanking me for?”

The Third Prince hastily said: “Father Emperor granting one is granting, granting two is also granting. Why not also grant me marriage to Mu Yanyan…”

Before he finished speaking, Princess Anqing said coldly, “Mu Yanyan is already engaged to someone else. Thank you for the Third Prince’s affection, but please choose another good match.”

Now the Third Prince’s bull-like eyes widened again.

Feng Yuan, feeling this had nothing to do with him, confirmed the edict process with His Majesty, then took leave of Father Emperor and turned to exit the study.

Mu Hanjiang, holding his mask, chased after him all the way. When they reached an empty corridor, he called out: “First Prince, please wait!”