Rather than answering, Chu Linlang turned the question back: “What exactly… did you hear?”

Seeing that Chu Linlang was unwilling to speak directly, Tao Yashu’s heart plummeted instantly.

Just ten days prior, Tao Yashu’s mother had fallen ill, and her father had asked her to return home to visit and at the same time ease the tension in their mother-daughter relationship.

Whatever else might be said, Tao Yashu had married into what was essentially a widower’s household. No matter how angry Yun Shi was, she still harbored some measure of heartache for her daughter — so much so that after her daughter had married out, she had grown depressed and developed a cough.

Taking advantage of the vulnerability of her sickbed, mother and daughter had managed to soften toward each other somewhat.

But because of her illness, Yun Shi had missed her scheduled visit to the imperial temple to fulfill a vow of gratitude. She simply sent Tao Yashu in her stead.

It would be even better if she happened to encounter the spiritually gifted Great Master Lingxi, who might offer a reading and help improve her daughter’s fortunes.

Tao Yashu had been stifled too long inside the ghost-prince’s manor, never venturing out, and was eager to breathe some fresh air.

The mountain scenery surrounding the imperial temple was at its most beautiful. She had disembarked from her carriage early and, rather than entering through the temple’s main gate, had chosen a secluded mountain path, leading her maids to gather leaves and pick up fallen branches to make bookmarks and flower arrangements.

As they wandered this way, she found herself at the rear hills behind the imperial temple — and just as she lifted her gaze, she happened to see her Fourth Aunt, Tao Huiru, speaking with Great Master Lingxi in a pavilion on the rear slopes. Tao Huiru’s maids and attendants all stood at a considerable distance, and it was impossible to make out what secret or sacred matters they were discussing.

Overcome by curiosity in that moment, she crept forward and concealed herself in a mountain hollow. She had not caught much of what was said earlier, and in the end only caught the tail end of the conversation — hearing Tao Huiru say to Great Master Lingxi: “The Crown Prince has asked me to pass word to you: when Situ Sheng brings back the Third Imperial Prince, please act according to circumstances…”

Just that single sentence was enough to make Tao Yashu’s head roar and ring.

Her mind immediately leaped to the earlier incident — the flower vase dedicated to the Third Imperial Prince, Liu Yi, which had shattered — and to the way Great Master Lingxi had seemingly answered the Emperor’s questions and doubts, after which His Majesty had suddenly taken a liking to her birth characters and intended to betroth her to the Third Imperial Prince.

And she also recalled that when she had initially agreed to marry into the Third Imperial Prince’s residence, the Empress Dowager — perhaps feeling that she owed her something — had offered comforting words, saying the Great Master had calculated that the Third Imperial Prince might perhaps return very soon.

At the time, she had taken it as nothing more than words of comfort.

Now, hearing what Fourth Aunt Tao had said to Great Master Lingxi, Tao Yashu suddenly thought back to the period before her marriage, when her Fourth Aunt had suddenly begun frequent visits to the Crown Prince’s residence — going there every few days to take tea with the Crown Princess.

She also thought of her good friend Chu Linlang, who had suddenly departed for the northern territories alongside Lord Situ, under circumstances that had seemed somewhat inexplicable.

The daughters of the Tao Family were all sharp-minded. With these threads of thought woven together, Tao Yashu had already arrived at a rough understanding.

Had Situ Sheng gone to the northern territories because he had found a lead on the Third Imperial Prince’s whereabouts, and was bringing him back?

But her Fourth Aunt had gone to say those words to Great Master Lingxi — and what did “act according to circumstances” mean?

That day she had not entered the imperial temple. Instead, she had waited until her Fourth Aunt and Great Master Lingxi had gone, then quietly slipped away.

After returning home she had no one she could consult, and yet sleep had become impossible.

Now, having finally waited for Chu Linlang to come back, Tao Yashu could at last seek some clarity.

Chu Linlang listened, her brows knitting slightly, yet she had no choice but to respond to Tao Yashu’s question: “Lord Situ has indeed found someone and brought him back. But whether he is truly the Third Imperial Prince still awaits the Emperor’s verification…”

Upon hearing this, Tao Yashu’s face turned as white as paper in an instant.

She did not even bother to ask what sort of person Situ Sheng had found. Her heart simply sank deeper and deeper.

Chu Linlang said softly: “Don’t lose your composure just yet. Until the very last moment, do not throw yourself into disarray. Your Fourth Aunt has inserted herself into this affair — it cannot be as straightforward as simply recognizing one’s family roots!”

Saying this, she reached out and took Tao Yashu’s ice-cold hands in hers: “You are not alone. Even if things truly develop to their worst, neither I nor Lord Situ will simply leave you to face it alone!”

If that bloated, greasy Gu Youjin truly was the Third Imperial Prince, given the extent of his lecherous nature, how could he possibly leave Tao Yashu — as beautiful and poised as an elegant monthly rose — untouched?

Never mind Tao Yashu — even Chu Linlang felt nauseous just thinking about it.

Things being as they were, this entire matter of recognizing kin was riddled with suspicious details. So Chu Linlang could only pray silently that this Third Imperial Prince was a fabrication engineered by the Crown Prince and her Fourth Aunt, and that His Majesty would surely see through it and spare Tao Yashu this catastrophe.

Meanwhile, at the postal relay station where Situ Sheng was getting the Third Imperial Prince settled and waiting for someone from the palace to come and coordinate matters, he happened to run into Liao Jingxuan, who had come looking for him.

Situ Sheng presented Liao Jingxuan with the letter that Old Gentleman Liao had entrusted him to pass along, and then gave a brief account of his journey through the northern territories.

When he came to the part about offering amnesty to the righteous fighters of the north, Liao Jingxuan smiled and nodded along. But when he heard that Situ Sheng had brought back the Third Imperial Prince from the northern territories, Liao Jingxuan went completely rigid. His voice turned cold as he asked which one it was.

When Situ Sheng gestured toward the fat man standing by the carriage — bellowing and hollering, loudly complaining that he was starving to death — Liao Jingxuan looked as though he had been fired in a kiln and come out a stiff clay figure, his entire body gone stiff and his complexion beginning to turn dark.

“This… this is the husband you found and brought back for Miss Tao?” Liao Jingxuan exerted tremendous effort to restrain himself, suppressing half the roar rising in his throat.

Situ Sheng raised his chin with a touch of helplessness: “What standing do I have to find a husband for Miss Tao? If you find it unsatisfactory, lay the blame on his parents for not producing a more presentable husband for Miss Tao… Besides, Miss Tao is already married. You ought to address her as Third Princess Consort now.”

The reasoning was sound, but Liao Jingxuan found it thoroughly grating to hear.

Unable to believe it, he turned to look at Gu Youjin again.

At that moment, Gu Youjin was receiving an oil-coated flatbread that a guard had bought for him. He opened his great mouth wide and swallowed it with lip-smacking relish, thick lips flapping with evident satisfaction.

His manner of eating was something even the slovenly Liao Jingxuan found difficult to watch — let alone a woman of Tao Yashu’s fastidious nature.

He remembered how, in the past, when she had been tending to his injury and he had been eating sweet shortbread with big bites, that young lady had watched with unwavering focus and held a handkerchief under his chin to catch every last crumb of sugar!

Was it possible that in the long years to come, those slender, fair hands would be held beneath the greasy chin of that fat man?

If he were Tao Yashu, he would have thoughts of not wanting to live — let alone what she herself must be feeling…

Thinking of this, he suddenly grabbed Situ Sheng by the collar: “No! You cannot bring this person before His Majesty!”

Situ Sheng, sympathetic to his friend’s feelings, replied with helpless gentleness: “Brother Jingxuan, calm yourself. This man’s background and trail of evidence was compiled and reported up through the local county and prefecture — it was not something I alone controlled. If you forbid me from bringing him, are you asking me to commit the crime of deceiving the sovereign?”

Liao Jingxuan was rebutted into silence, and could only say with anguished, slightly trembling mustache: “Then… what is Miss Tao… the Third Princess Consort… to do?”

Situ Sheng, evidently lacking the smooth eloquence of his bedside companion Chu Linlang, said with unfiltered directness: “She will probably have some initial difficulty adjusting. But it is still better than keeping a living widowhood. Once there are children in the future, one can muddle through. Though of course this has nothing to do with you or me — there is no use worrying about it.”

Coming from anyone else, such words might have earned them a fist from Liao Jingxuan, a beating for the tactless scoundrel.

But Situ Sheng said it with a face of complete composure, as if he were offering counsel — and at the same time reminding him that the Third Princess Consort’s future dealings with the Third Imperial Prince were simply none of his concern.

The blood of fury still roared through his veins with nowhere to be released. Before Liao Jingxuan’s eyes, the image kept flashing back again and again — the day Tao Yashu married, lifting the carriage curtain, turning toward him with that radiant, bittersweet smile…

By now, Situ Sheng had been away from the capital for more than two months.

Since the Third Imperial Prince had been found, it was naturally necessary for His Majesty to personally verify the matter.

And His Majesty had long since gone ahead to the traveling palace, impatiently awaiting the return of this long-lost son.

Equally eager in anticipation, naturally, was the nation’s Crown Prince.

At this moment he was leisurely feeding fish in the small water pavilion of the Crown Prince’s residence, and asked his trusted attendant Chen Fang: “Is everything arranged? Lord Situ has labored and achieved such meritorious service on this trip — if it is not lively enough, we would be doing him a disservice!”

Chen Fang gave a sly smile: “Finding the Third Imperial Prince is a deed that shakes the heavens — how can we let Situ Sheng slip by so quietly? Please rest assured, Your Highness, everything is in order!”

Hearing this, the Crown Prince gave a cold laugh and tossed all the fish food in his hand into the pond at once.

He had laid his plans so carefully for so long, precisely to let Situ Sheng have a thorough taste of what it felt like to tumble from the clouds.

A powerful minister favored by His Majesty — yet who had dared to muddle the imperial bloodline, presenting a fake imposter to the palace.

If his imperial father were to detect the ruse, he would certainly grow suspicious. An official of lowly origins without powerful backing — once stripped of imperial favor, what would he have left?

As for Gu Youjin — when he had first entered the capital he had still been somewhat excited.

But when Lord Situ led him to meet his “family” that day, the number of people accompanying him on either side gradually dwindled with every step. When the carriage entered through the palace gates and then drew to a halt before a hall, the moment he stepped down from the carriage, his entire person was utterly dazzled — his eyes buried in layers of fat were simply not wide enough to take it all in.

Gu Youjin could only timidly follow at Situ Sheng’s heels and ask in a trembling voice: “M… my lord, just what exactly does my birth father do for a living? How can he live in such an enormous courtyard, with so many guards? This… what size of official would have to be to merit this!”

Situ Sheng turned to look at Gu Youjin, who had just been changed into new garments — the man was tidy and clean, yet still resembled a fat pig draped in silk, no more presentable than before.

When they arrived before His Majesty’s imperial study, Situ Sheng entered first and bowed respectfully: “Your Majesty, the person is waiting outside the imperial study.”

The old Emperor could wait no longer. He had already examined the physical evidence Situ Sheng had brought from the northern territories — the bracelet and the infant’s swaddling garments were indeed the very objects belonging to Little Three at the time he was taken.

Thinking that he was about to see the son he had yearned for day and night, His Majesty was overcome with excitement he could not contain.

Yet the moment Gu Youjin’s ungainly figure came into the Emperor’s field of vision, the old Emperor noticeably leaned back in his chair, silently drew a sharp breath, and stared fixedly at the fat man who had prostrated himself on the floor, before raising his voice slightly to ask Situ Sheng: “It is him? You have not made an error?”

Situ Sheng replied with respectful deference: “All evidence is present. He should indeed be the one. Whether there is any error, I respectfully ask Your Majesty’s sagacious examination.”

Just then, Sheng Hai — the personal eunuch attendant at His Majesty’s side — hurried over and bent down to inspect whether Gu Youjin had any birthmarks on his legs and body.

He had once personally held the Third Imperial Prince and attended to his bathing, and naturally remembered clearly.

Every feature of this fat man proved to match the Third Imperial Prince.

Furthermore, if one looked carefully at his oily brows and eyes, one could discern a few points of resemblance to His Majesty — the eyebrows were quite thick on both, and the mouth slightly wide.

Upon hearing what the eunuch reported, His Majesty at last rose to his feet and walked over to Gu Youjin with a mixture of emotions on his face.

He owed this child too much. He could not refuse to acknowledge him simply because the boy had grown up in the countryside and come out coarse and crude.

Was the very reason His Majesty had never dismantled the Third Imperial Prince’s residence not precisely to wait for the day when the Third Imperial Prince could return with full legitimacy?

The boy may have read little — that could be learned slowly. The flesh he had put on could be shed slowly. But at least this nagging worry in his heart was finally resolved. He need no longer fear that after death, he would be unable to face the beloved woman waiting for him in the underworld.

Thinking this, His Majesty slowly beckoned, gesturing for Gu Youjin to draw closer.

Gu Youjin himself could hardly believe everything he was now experiencing.

If the man sitting in that golden-gleaming chair was truly the Emperor — then he… could he actually be an imperial prince?

This sort of situation was so extraordinary he would not have dared dream it so large!

In that moment, Gu Youjin became so overwhelmed with excitement that he lost control of himself. Scrambling and rolling to his feet, he would have been unable to stand had the chief eunuch Sheng Hai not been there to support him.

The one advantage of being born in the countryside without any courtly etiquette was that when it came to recognizing family, there was not a shred of restraint.

When he came before His Majesty, he threw his arms around the Emperor’s legs and began to wail and sob with abandon: “Father! Your child has finally found you! Father! Father!”

Though the old Emperor had many children, not one of them had ever dared embrace his legs so shamelessly — and for a moment he did not know how to react.

Sheng Hai too was at something of a loss, but seeing that His Majesty had actually reached out to pat the fat pig — oh rather, the Third Imperial Prince’s — head, he quickly signaled with his eyes for Situ Sheng to withdraw, so that the long-separated father and son could spend a moment alone together.

Situ Sheng bowed low, retreated respectfully from the hall, and departed from the traveling palace.

The old Emperor first bent and patted the boy’s head, looked at him carefully, then slowly straightened up. With both hands he lifted Gu Youjin’s pudgy body and studied him from every angle, front and back, before saying in a gentle tone: “We are old, and great joy or great sorrow will both harm the body. Get up and let us speak.”

Though this was the son he had longed for day and night, such an appearance truly made it difficult to summon any tender parental feeling. So after briefly asking Gu Youjin about his life in the northern territories, His Majesty waved his hand to have the eunuchs take Gu Youjin away.

Gu Youjin still wished to spend more tender moments with his imperial father, but the Emperor waved his hand and said in a heavy voice: “You have been exhausted by your long journey. Best go and rest.”

Sheng Hai knew Emperor Jin Ren very well. Seeing the Emperor’s utterly indifferent expression, he could tell that His Majesty was deeply, profoundly disappointed.

But this was still imperial progeny, and he dared not be negligent. He immediately arranged for eunuchs to take Gu Youjin to an empty palace hall to rest, and in a lowered voice instructed the eunuchs and guards to keep strict watch and allow absolutely no one to approach the prince.

When only Sheng Hai and a few eunuchs remained, Emperor Jin Ren’s expression was as calm and deep as a thousand-year-old abyss. After a moment of silence, he said with a tinge of melancholy: “It is We who set Our expectations too high, who imagined that the child born of Us and Lingwei would be too exceptional…”

This “Lingwei” was the given name of Consort Fang.

Fang Lingwei of the Fang Family — what an outwardly beautiful and inwardly wise and spirited woman she had been.

Before meeting her, he had lived as the Crown Prince in a life of rigid routine and duty, unaware that there were so many things in this world he had never yet experienced.

Only when he was with her could he temporarily set aside the burden of his identity and taste what it was like to be an ordinary husband in the warmth of everyday life…

And yet the child he and Lingwei had produced together was this bloated, ungainly creature. If one let one’s guard slip even for a moment, those precious memories so dear to his heart seemed in danger of being splattered with grease stains…

Sheng Hai said carefully: “Could it be… that Lord Situ found the wrong person? But this servant did verify just now — this individual’s characteristics match the records in the case files exactly!”

The old Emperor shifted his gaze to look at Sheng Hai, and said in a deep voice: “When everything matches so exactly, it is difficult even to call it coincidence. How can one say the wrong person was found? He is indeed my child!”

Sheng Hai immediately lowered his head and murmured his assent. But His Majesty seemed to want some solitude, and after dismissing those around him, remained alone in the study.

Yet that evening, an entire table of rare delicacies and fine wines was bestowed by imperial grace and delivered in full to the palace courtyard where Gu Youjin was temporarily lodged. From this it was clear that, deep in a father’s heart, though the initial reconnection had been emotionally distant, His Majesty had still acknowledged this long-wandering son as his own!

Now, as for the Crown Prince — his ears had been straining the whole time, waiting for news from this direction.

He knew his imperial father all too well. Once His Majesty’s favoritism took hold, not even the gods and Buddhas could stop it.

His father had waited so long for news of Third — now that the Third Imperial Prince had finally turned up, he would surely be desperate to announce it to the world, to bring this Third Imperial Prince before everyone’s eyes.

The higher his father lifted this Third Imperial Prince, the harder his face would fall when the imposter’s true identity was exposed — and at that moment, how could His Majesty not fly into a thunderous rage?

After all, this was a man who, in a moment of anger, had once ordered the beheading of the meritorious general Yang Xun and the extermination of his entire family.

A mere Situ Sheng — even killing his household’s watchdogs would probably not be enough to quench His Majesty’s fury.

So when the ears and eyes inside the palace brought word that His Majesty had acknowledged the kinship, the Crown Prince nearly doubled over laughing.

Such a brilliant scheme — why had he not thought of it sooner? And when it came to selecting a suitable candidate to play this “Third Imperial Prince,” the Crown Prince had also invested considerable effort.

Now, with perseverance rewarded, it seemed that everything he had prepared in advance had been put to use after all!

The swaddling garments and the bracelet had both been specially commissioned as replicas and artificially aged.

And all the local personnel involved in turning up these leads had been arranged and placed by him with careful, thorough planning.

As long as His Majesty presented the Third Imperial Prince in public, the true identity of this Third Imperial Prince would begin to be exposed, piece by piece.

Thinking about the candidate he had taken such pains to select — one in a thousand — who not only matched the physical characteristics of the lost Third Imperial Son but had also been one of the children abducted by that woman trafficker, it was no wonder even Situ Sheng, experienced as a former investigating official, had been unable to spot any flaw.

The only thing that caught the Crown Prince off guard was that His Majesty did not seem particularly urgent about it. Though the kinship had been acknowledged, His Majesty had been slow to announce it to the world or bring the Third Imperial Prince out before others.

With that being the case, how was his next move to proceed? The Crown Prince found himself rather unable to eat or sleep.

Equally unable to eat or sleep throughout the capital was Third Princess Consort Tao Yashu.

From the moment she learned that Situ Sheng had found the Third Imperial Prince and brought him into the palace, Tao Yashu had been waiting for the residence to receive its true master.

However… when a handmaiden sent by Liao Jingxuan — under the pretext of asking her to purchase needlework supplies — delivered a letter to her, Tao Yashu was somewhat startled.

Because such a transgression of proper boundaries was completely unlike anything Tutor Liao was capable of doing.

After thinking it over, she chose not to go to the lakeside in the outskirts of the capital where he had proposed meeting, as the letter suggested. Instead, under the pretext of revising a poetry collection and requesting the tutor to come and provide corrections and write a preface, she invited Liao Jingxuan to the front hall of the Third Prince’s residence in a perfectly proper and aboveboard manner.

This was the first time Liao Jingxuan had seen her since her marriage.

The once-serene young woman, in just a few short months in this ghost-prince’s manor, had grown even more gaunt than before. Her entire person seemed to be quietly drained of its very essence by the murky darkness of the residence…

If there had remained even a trace of hesitation in Liao Jingxuan’s heart when he had come, then now that last trace of hesitation completely dissolved.

This leaderless residence had no one to watch over things — even the personal attendants were all maids Tao Yashu had purchased herself — so dismissing those around them would allow for a private conversation.

Tao Yashu asked lightly: “Tutor, you are always so busy. What brings you to seek a meeting with me?”

The lips hidden beneath Liao Jingxuan’s thick beard pressed tightly together: “Did you… or did you not… come to visit me one night, two months ago?”

That night’s vivid, tender entanglement had been too real — so real that even if Liao Jingxuan had wanted to play the fool and ignore it, he could not. And so, having come to see her, he had to ask plainly.

Tao Yashu heard this question and showed not a trace of a maiden’s shyness — she did not even stir the tips of her brows. She only gave an unconcerned smile: “Tutor, the way you speak sounds so fantastical it sounds like a dream. What sort of dream could you have had that you actually took for reality — tell me about it?”

Liao Jingxuan, though many years older than Tao Yashu, was no habitual wanderer among the pleasure quarters. How was one supposed to speak openly about what had happened in that dream? Even if the person who had shared it with him might be this very young woman smiling so carelessly before his eyes.

Where one’s reputation was concerned, if she was unwilling to acknowledge it, so be it!

Liao Jingxuan steadied himself and said: “Yashu… come away with me. Don’t rot away in this tomb any longer.”

The fingers hidden beneath Tao Yashu’s sleeves trembled slightly, clasped together.

He had actually said these words. Could this be… was she perhaps still dreaming even now?

“Tutor… what do you mean by this?” Even with her heart churning like a tempestuous sea, her voice remained as cool and clear as ever.

Once Liao Jingxuan had begun, the words came with increasing ease. He mustered all his courage and said: “I have not been an official for very long, and in earlier years I made a living in other ways. My savings over the years are not great, but they would be enough to find some good farmland and build a couple of rooms somewhere far from the capital. Come away with me — I will provide for you. As for how we are to go about it, Proprietress Chu says she will help us!”

For one brief moment, Tao Yashu felt as though her own heartbeat had stopped. Were these words truly being spoken by Liao Jingxuan?

Liao Jingxuan was not speaking on impulse — he had thought this through completely.

That crude, coarse fat man that Situ Sheng had brought back from the northern territories — he was actually the Third Imperial Prince?

And after Situ Sheng had brought him into the palace, His Majesty had recognized him with imperial words of confirmation.

Then once father and son had reunited in the palace, the Third Imperial Prince was certain to return to the Third Prince’s residence.

He had heard Chu Linlang describe the fat man’s lecherous character. When that time came, would Tao Yashu not be degraded and humiliated by that uncouth, coarse, countryside lout?

Thinking of this, Liao Jingxuan could no longer endure it.

He also had to admit that he had indeed developed feelings and desires — mortal heart and mortal longings — for this woman who was so many years his junior.

Only this realization had come rather late — one misstep leading to misstep after misstep.

But if he did not do something now, he would surely regret it for the rest of his life!

Tao Yashu listened to his declaration — halting at first, then flowing with increasing ease — and the smile on her face slowly, gradually broadened.

By the end, she was covering her mouth with both hands and laughing out loud: “Liao Jingxuan, you are so amusing — no wonder you were so popular with the female students at the women’s academy! What is my identity now? I am the wife of a full-blooded imperial prince. And you — a shabby, minor official from the Ministry of Works — dare to dream of spiriting away the Son of Heaven’s daughter-in-law in a private elopement! How completely infatuated you are — are you not afraid of death? But what a pity — before you uttered these overreaching words, did you not think to ask me whether I am willing to go and live a life of poverty with you?”

—