Liao Jingxuan still remembered the scene of Tao Yashu speaking those cold, heartless words to him and sending him away.

His words just now had been teasing her, throwing her own words from last time back in her face.

But once the words left his mouth and he saw Yashu’s face drain to a deathly white, he felt a pang of regret.

The sight of her clutching the scissors — in all these days, how much fear must she have been carrying in her heart. Yet she had forced herself to put on that hard and pitiless front before him.

With that thought, Liao Jingxuan’s expression gradually softened.

When he had learned the truth of his own origins, it was not without pain and struggle. He knew all too well that once he stepped back into the arena of power that his birth mother had wished him to avoid, extricating himself would no longer be easy.

But if he refused to acknowledge his own identity, there would be a woman trapped inside this ghost-prince’s manor without a master, quietly withering away alone.

And as Chu Linlang had said — in a world of unstable politics, how could anyone truly live a pastoral, idyllic life?

He could not, like an infant with no understanding of the world, simply close his eyes and run away.

With that thought, he let out a sigh and reached out to pull the still disbelieving Yashu into his embrace. He murmured softly at her ear, “This time, I won’t take you away with me. I’ll stay here and keep you company — will that do?”

Yashu’s lips trembled, and she reached up and locked her arms tightly around the man’s neck. In that moment, she did not even dare to ask about the circumstances of how all this had come to pass.

She was afraid that if she asked too many questions, this beautiful dream would shatter.

Even if he was deceiving her, let the dream last just a little while longer.

And Liao Jingxuan — no longer needing to be constrained by the roles of tutor and student, for he was her husband — could at last, in all rightfulness and propriety, pull this beautiful woman, who had drifted through his dreams so many nights, close and hold her tightly…

The news that the ghost-prince’s manor had found its master spread at a rapid pace, moving faster than legs could carry it.

But the full story behind it left people utterly bewildered.

The most widely circulated version, with the most branches and leaves attached, was that the Third Prince had been found in the north by Lord Situ — that he was coarse and uncouth, and had even made advances upon the Crown Princess while inside the palace.

On his very first night back in the Third Prince’s manor, he had wasted no time moving into the Princess Consort’s bedchamber — a true case of a carp leaping through the dragon’s gate!

But the one most shaken by all this was the Crown Prince.

He knew better than anyone what had become of Gu Youjin. After the Emperor had seen through the fraud, he had long since had the man beaten to death — how could he possibly have turned up at the Third Prince’s manor still playing the part of an imperial scion?

Yet the informant he had planted in the palace told him without any doubt that the Emperor had indeed, with Situ Sheng’s assistance, formally acknowledged someone as the Third Prince.

As for the full details, even that informant wasn’t entirely clear.

The Crown Prince was both shocked and furious, agitated as an ant on a hot pan, and went directly to the Tao Ducal Mansion to consult with his maternal grandfather on a course of action.

Duke Taoguo, however, felt the Crown Prince was being overly anxious.

“Your Highness, you must know that no matter how many more sons the Emperor may have scattered outside, your status as the eldest legitimate son cannot be changed. Remaining unperturbed in the face of change — that is the way of a ruler.”

But the Crown Prince felt his maternal grandfather did not grasp the severity of the situation, and said only, “You are not aware of the full picture. That Situ Sheng is cunning and scheming — he already presented a fraud once to deceive the Imperial Father. Who knows where he has dug up yet another person this time. My cousin is now the Third Prince’s Consort — I wonder when she might return home to her family; it would be good to ask her about what happened.”

Duke Taoguo let out a sigh. “That girl had a falling out with her mother when she was married off. She has been married this long and hasn’t even paid her return visit home, which is rather improper. I’ll have her father go and ask her to come back.”

But Duke Taoguo did not know that the authority Tao Yashu’s father now wielded over her was far less than it once had been.

Though Tao Haisheng personally wrote a letter to his daughter claiming her mother was unwell and asking her to come home and pay a visit, Tao Yashu replied with only a breezy note, explaining that the Third Prince had recently been indisposed, and that as his principal consort, she truly could not leave.

Such a reason could not be refuted, yet it drove Wu Shi at home into such a rage that she cursed loudly, unable to believe that her daughter, who had always been so obedient and sensible, had merely gotten married and become an entirely different person — so defiant and unfilial.

But for all the cursing, the more pressing matter was to determine who this Third Prince who had suddenly appeared was.

The ghost-prince’s manor had always been cold and desolate, and even after Tao Yashu’s marriage into it, she had never associated with anyone. The only person who seemed to come and go freely was that sixth-rank Lady of Comfort, Chu Linlang.

Left with no other option, Wu Shi could only summon Chu Linlang, hoping she might serve as a bridge to mend the rift between mother and daughter, and persuade Tao Yashu to come home once.

Surely she, as the mother, could not be the one to come forward and apologize to her daughter in person?

When Chu Linlang arrived, she was shown directly to Wu Shi’s sickbed.

Wu Shi had a wide headband wrapped around her forehead and was helped upright by a serving woman, and with a weak and weary manner, spent some time recounting to Chu Linlang the supposed offenses of her unfilial daughter who refused to come home to see her.

After hearing Wu Shi out, Chu Linlang thought to herself that anything which an outsider could untangle wasn’t really a deeply entrenched grievance at all.

What was more, she knew all too well how this mother and daughter had come to be at odds. Asking her to persuade Yashu to forgive the family who had sold her out — she was simply not up to that task.

Besides, just two days ago, Wu Shi had been sprightly enough to go visit the Crown Princess, who had allegedly been frightened into distress. How had she fallen so gravely ill so suddenly?

To Chu Linlang’s eye, with the room full of medicinal brews and a sick mother lying in bed accusing her unfilial daughter — if Yashu actually came, she would only end up suffocated under the weight of this mother’s pressure.

So not coming — that was entirely the right choice.

After listening to Wu Shi’s resentful complaints to the end, Chu Linlang asked without a trace of hesitation, “If you count the time, the Third Princess Consort has been married for nearly half a year now. How is it, Madam, that you felt no urgency to see her all this while, yet suddenly cannot wait a single day?”

Wu Shi had not expected that Chu Linlang, who had always greeted her with a smiling face, would suddenly go on the offensive. She was briefly stunned, her eyes widening slightly as she stared at Chu Linlang.

Chu Linlang’s words were ones that left no room for the other party to salvage their dignity, yet the expression on her face was one of twelve parts sweetness as she continued, “Madam, please don’t blame me for speaking too plainly — I only want to understand the situation more clearly, the better to help the two of you reconcile.”

The reasoning was sound, and Chu Linlang smiled with every appearance of goodwill.

Wu Shi had no choice but to swallow her irritation and say, “You know what she’s like. She looks gentle and compliant, but she’s stubborn as a bull underneath it all. Just because I said a few things to her at home, she’s gone and harbored a grudge against her own birth parents! But I am her mother after all — can there be a grievance between mother and daughter that doesn’t pass with the night?”

Chu Linlang had been waiting for precisely this kind of remark. She said quietly, “Madam speaks wisely — for any mother who truly cherishes her child, even the gravest of wrongs is something a child ought to forgive. Presumably the Third Princess Consort has some misunderstanding, and because of the cold indifference you showed her in the past, she came to believe she had been cast aside by the family. And now that the Third Prince has recovered and seems well enough to go about in public, you press so urgently to see her at this moment — it might cause her to misunderstand, and think you are like all the other consorts’ families and relatives who wish only to fish for fresh gossip, while utterly forgetting your own affection as a mother.”

These words were expressed with impeccable courtesy and nothing that could be faulted, yet they left Wu Shi’s face shifting between purple and blue. Unable to retaliate, she could only say with visible discomfort, “So that’s why I invited the Lady of Comfort here — precisely because I hoped you could give her some words of persuasion, since you and she are on very good terms.”

Chu Linlang could see that Wu Shi still had not grasped where the true problem lay, and had no patience to continue the exercise in futility. She simply stated it plainly, “For a daughter in this world, life is not easy. However fortunately she is born, when it comes to marriage it is like being reborn yet again — and this rebirth determines the happiness of the second half of her life. The Third Princess Consort was fortunate, born into the Tao Ducal Mansion, a family of high rank and distinguished heritage. But naturally, the rules and constraints she must observe are far stricter than those of someone like me, raised in the countryside without refinement. Now that she is married to the Third Prince, her conduct must be even more careful and measured than when she was at home, placing her husband above all. As long as your heart is always fixed on your daughter’s well-being — and not on serving as someone else’s instrument without knowing it — I believe the Third Princess Consort also longs to see you often.”

That last line caused Wu Shi’s face to darken. Her brow arched as she said, “I wonder where that last remark comes from, Lady of Comfort. Who am I supposed to be harming my own daughter on behalf of?”

Chu Linlang let out a cold scoff in her heart, thinking to herself: Haven’t you harmed her plenty? You used your daughter entirely as an object to bring glory and prestige to the family!

But on the surface she feigned flustered embarrassment and covered her mouth with a laugh. “Please forgive me, Madam — as you know, I read little in my day, and have no sense of depth or measure in my speech. I’ve been imposing on your household for quite some time today — let me take my leave of you now.”

With that she rose, made her obeisance, and took her leave. But stepping out of the reception room, she turned a corner and discovered that Duke Taoguo and his son Tao Haisheng were standing by the window.

From all appearances, they had been listening to her entire exchange with Madam Wu.

Chu Linlang immediately stepped aside to avoid them, made her obeisance to the two men, and departed.

Madam Wu came stepping out of the room as well, supported by a serving woman, and was so furious she didn’t even need to pretend to be ill — her face had genuinely gone an unhealthy shade of purple. “What a case of a petty person rising in the world! A country woman, a divorced merchant’s wife — just getting through the gates of the Duke’s mansion is more than she deserves. And she has the nerve to put on such airs!”

But Duke Taoguo watched the retreating figure of Chu Linlang with a long and thoughtful gaze. Turning to his son and daughter-in-law, he said, “What she said must represent Yashu’s own meaning. Don’t forget — she is no longer merely your daughter. She is also the Princess Consort of the Third Prince, whom the Emperor cherishes above all. You should stop meddling in the affairs of the Third Prince’s manor, and stop trying to force Yashu to come home. Simply select some supplements and send them to the Third Prince, in the name of her parents-in-law.”

Tao Haisheng was momentarily taken aback, and said quietly, “But the Crown Prince is still pressing us…”

Duke Taoguo looked at his son with a meaningful gaze. “Is your judgment truly inferior to that of the new Lady of Comfort — that merchant woman? Has she not already made the point in her words — that we should not put Yashu in the position of being torn between her husband and her maternal family? The Crown Prince is my own maternal grandson and the future Son of Heaven — his fate is for His Majesty to determine. What business is that of us ministers to worry over? What is more, the Third Prince is also my granddaughter’s husband by legitimate marriage. For the Tao family to lean too heavily to either side would not serve us well.”

These words brought Tao Haisheng to a sudden realization.

That’s right — even if the Third Prince came to power one day, it would not be the Tao family that needed to be anxious. If they were still suspected of leaning toward the Crown Prince at this moment, wouldn’t that plant seeds of resentment in the Third Prince’s heart for the future?

What remained unknown for the moment was what sort of background this Third Prince actually came from.

Though the Emperor had publicly claimed that the Third Prince had been in his manor all along, merely recuperating in seclusion, those veteran officials at court knew perfectly well that was not how it had been.

A child raised outside the palace, who had received none of the education in imperial strategy and statecraft — to stumble suddenly into the struggle for power among the princes, with the Crown Prince watching him with such jealousy and hostility, was not a particularly favorable position at all.

Duke Taoguo was naturally aware of this as well, and let out a quiet sigh. “Let us wait and see. The mid-autumn palace banquet is coming up soon. Now that the Third Prince’s health has ‘fully recovered,’ he should be in attendance as well.”

A horse and a mule — they still needed to be led out and walked before you could tell them apart.

It remained to be seen what manner of man this Third Prince, returned from life among the people, truly was. If he was sensible and capable, and the Emperor favored him deeply besides, it would not be out of the question for the Tao family to place a further wager and throw their full support behind him.

—

And the upcoming mid-autumn palace banquet was, for the imperial family, a rare occasion for the whole family to gather under one roof.

So the Emperor announced that it would be celebrated grandly within the palace.

This also became the moment when everyone would finally lay eyes on the Third Prince in person.

Chu Linlang, as the imperial family’s lucky charm, had been invited by the Empress Dowager to attend alongside her.

The Empress Dowager had also heard that it was the experience of Chu Linlang’s mother in her early years that had left the rare clue leading to the discovery of the Third Prince.

The Empress Dowager had also personally seen the Third Prince, Liu Yi. Without even needing to verify his identity, a single glance at him made the matter plain — he was the exact image of the Emperor as a young man.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager even saw in this child the shadow of the late Emperor. Lady Fang’s son had been born extraordinarily well-favored. Among all the Emperor’s many children, none bore a closer resemblance.

No wonder the Great Master Lingyun had said that Chu Linlang’s birth chart was of great benefit to the imperial family. Such a lucky carp, whose fortune truly blessed the imperial house, had a genuine gift for auspiciousness.

And so, the Empress Dowager had taken to calling Chu Linlang to her side at every opportunity, keeping her close like an auspicious jade figurine that nourished one’s spirits, to accumulate a little more longevity and blessings.

Because of this, at the palace banquet, Chu Linlang’s seat was placed even ahead of Situ Sheng’s — right beside the Empress Dowager, several tiers higher than the rest, from which vantage point the entire scene lay spread before her in full view.

From that vantage point, the expressions on the faces of everyone below made for a wonderfully vivid display.

Especially when the Third Prince — who had been “secluded from the world” for so long — appeared before the assembly in a long crimson gauze robe embroidered with patterns, a gold crown shaped like a tiger’s head upon his brow, and the equally resplendently dressed Third Princess Consort on his arm. Not only did he capture every gaze in the hall entirely.

Most notably, the Crown Prince actually lost his composure — so shaken was he by this man’s resemblance to his imperial father that he momentarily lost his grip on his chopsticks. With a clatter, the piece of crystal-braised pork he had been holding fell straight onto his robe.

How could the resemblance be so extreme? Even if he wished to stir up the veteran officials to question the Third Prince’s legitimacy, he would find it hard to justify the position. After all, who could look at a prince who was practically a stamp made from the same mold as the Emperor and entertain doubts — who could suspect that the man the Emperor had acknowledged was not truly his own son?

With that thought, the Crown Prince turned and fixed a furious glare on Situ Sheng.

All the fault lay with that treacherous, scheming minister. He had clearly already had leads on the Third Prince in hand, yet had feigned ignorance and made a false trip north to create a diversion, bringing back a fraud and causing him to disgrace himself before the Imperial Father.

Only to turn around and present this man in his place.

The Tao family father and son were also studying this newly minted legitimate son-in-law of theirs.

Apart from the Third Prince’s striking resemblance to the Emperor — which left little doubt as to his identity — their daughter Yashu also seemed to be highly satisfied with this husband who had appeared out of nowhere.

When the Third Prince and his consort paid their respects to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager and returned to their seats, the Third Prince naturally and attentively helped his principal consort to her place, carefully arranging the folds of her skirt, and exchanged a warm smile with her — carrying a tenderness about it that suggested newlywed sweetness.

For this palace banquet, the Crown Prince had long since made his preparations.

He was simply waiting for the meal to commence before striking at this Third Prince who had materialized out of nowhere.

Before attending the banquet, he had pulled Sixth Prince Liu Ling aside for quite a lengthy conversation, the general thrust of which was that this Third Prince who had appeared without explanation was suspicious in origin, and that as the Emperor’s sons, they had a duty not to let their father be deceived.

At the time, Sixth Prince had nodded his thin neck up and down in agreement. But now, looking at him, he had absolutely no intention of challenging the Third Prince — instead, his face was plastered with a fawning smile as he scrambled to raise his cup and rush over to his newly discovered third brother to ingratiate himself, a stream of “Third Brother this” and “Third Brother that” flowing from his mouth, the very picture of someone desperate to rush over and perform a show of brotherly devotion to an elder sibling.

The Crown Prince realized his earlier efforts to stir things up had been entirely wasted.

Sixth Prince was simply no use at all — utterly spineless. At this moment, the Crown Prince even found himself missing his exiled Fourth Brother.

If Fourth Brother were still here, he probably would not have needed any stirring up — he would have attacked without hesitation.

Brothers are most needed at a time like this, and regretting the absence of Fourth Brother now was useless.

Still, though today was a family banquet, all the prominent ministers of the court were present.

He could not very well attack Old Third’s origins directly — that would incur the Imperial Father’s displeasure — but he could find an opportunity to raise matters of state policy, and steer this Old Third into responding.

Looking the same was one thing. Imperial cultivation began from the age of four — he had studied under so many distinguished teachers. How could he allow himself to be overshadowed by a prince returned from among the common people?

With that thought, the Crown Prince felt somewhat steadier at heart, and followed Sixth Brother’s lead in offering cups back and forth to this long-parted brother of his.

This Old Third, whatever else one might say of him, had real nerve — suddenly thrust into a gathering of this density of powerful and prominent figures, he showed not a trace of nerves, his bearing relaxed and dignified in conversation.

When the banquet had progressed to roughly its midpoint, a minister seated diagonally across from the Third Prince caught the Crown Prince’s meaningful look and understood, and deliberately steered the conversation toward the situation in the north, sighing and lamenting over the matter of the Jin kingdom sending a princess for a peace marriage. He went on to bring up the recent military engagement, and the depletion of the court treasury — saying it would perhaps be better to seize this opportunity and properly discuss peace negotiations.

This was nothing more than idle after-dinner chatter among ministers, but someone turned the topic and asked, “One wonders — having long resided in the Prince’s Manor, does the Third Prince have any familiarity with the state of affairs in the north?”

When this was raised, the sounds of conversation throughout the hall suddenly diminished.

After all, the ministers were also curious: what manner of man was this Third Prince who had appeared out of nowhere? To observe a person, one had to hear them speak — only then could one judge how much learning he actually carried.

The named Third Prince slowly raised his head, and out of habit reached up to stroke his beard — but when his hand met a clean-shaven chin, he remembered he had shaved it off.

He looked at the minister who had spoken, and with deliberate nonchalance turned to Situ Sheng beside him. “Lord Situ, would you be so good as to introduce me — this gentleman is…?”

Situ Sheng glanced at the instigating minister with a cool, measured look and said neutrally, “In reply to the Third Prince: this gentleman is Minister Xin of the Ministry of Finance.”

Liao Jingxuan adopted an expression of sudden understanding. “Minister Xin, your name has long been known to me. Though I have not left the manor, I am well acquainted with your distinguished record of accomplishments. However, for you, as an official of the Ministry of Finance, to say that the treasury has been depleted by the war — that seems a rather significant exaggeration. Though I recuperate in the manor, I have some knowledge of current affairs from what I hear. The military deployment in the north this time used frontier stockpiled provisions for logistics and supplies, with a defensive posture as the primary approach. And thanks to Lord Situ’s earlier reforms to official landholdings, the treasury has in fact seen a considerable increase. As for the depletion you mention… could you be referring to the funds spent recently on the construction of waterworks in the north?”

His confident, fluent discourse momentarily stunned everyone present.

Liao Jingxuan had frequently traveled to the north in the past. Though he had since returned to the capital, he had been confined to the academy, engaging only in broad academic discussions.

Most of the court ministers had no memory of an obscure official posted away from the capital to the Ministry of Works. Yet some thought they recognized the voice — among them, the Qi family father and son — but with his beard shaved off, Liao Jingxuan’s appearance had changed considerably, and even if the Qi family felt a sense of familiarity, they did not dare make any hasty judgment.

Minister Xin had been acting on the Crown Prince’s instructions, hoping to embarrass this “reclusive” Third Prince — yet he had never anticipated that the question he tossed out happened to fall squarely within the area this Third Prince, who had spent years deeply engaged with the north, knew best.

He was briefly rendered speechless, and could only respond awkwardly under the gaze of the assembled company, “Indeed… indeed, those waterworks construction costs were… quite considerable.”

Liao Jingxuan smiled, and continued, “Even a common villager knows that when the roof beam cracks, you sell the pot if you must, but you repair it at once — otherwise the house collapses and everyone perishes under it. And the waterworks of the north benefit both the troops and the people of the entire region — they resolve the most urgent pressures on grain supply. If the works are done well, they need not be overhauled again for thirty years, while the returns they generate are realized year after year. Minister Xin, you oversee the imperial treasury on His Majesty’s behalf — you cannot calculate only the small ledger while ignoring the large one.”

This response struck directly at Minister Xin’s pettiness, making the point that managing the imperial treasury was not the role of a miser who only accepted deposits and never allowed withdrawals.

The Third Prince’s words were well-reasoned and fluently delivered, and combined with his imposing, magnificent bearing and his striking physical resemblance to the Emperor — which carried in itself the natural authority of imperial blood — Minister Xin was sweating at his brow under the questioning, breaking into repeated awkward smiles of concession.

The Crown Prince, for his part, was listening with shock and unease, deeply shaken within. He suspected that all these words had been coached and drilled into this wild-born prince by Situ Sheng beforehand.

Otherwise, how could a prince who had only just returned be so well-informed on so many matters of state?

Then he glanced up at the Emperor, seated in the place of highest honor — listening to Old Third’s words, the Emperor’s face wore the smile of a proud and loving father, the very expression of approval the Crown Prince had always sought and never obtained.

The sight instantly filled the Crown Prince with sourness, his thoughts consumed entirely by the notion that if this Third Prince had Situ Sheng backing him, even an embroidered pillow stuffed with straw could be made to appear like a sagely and benevolent prince. If this continued, would not his own position as heir to the throne come under threat?

The assembled ministers — including the Tao family father and son — were also inwardly startled by what they had just witnessed of the Third Prince’s confident and fluent discourse.

No one knew what path in life this Third Prince had traveled, but his bearing and conversation were clearly not those of an ordinary man.

And moreover… they found themselves momentarily confused, beginning to wonder whether this Third Prince had in fact returned to the capital long ago, and had truly been quietly recuperating in the manor as he had claimed, observing and understanding all the shifts in the political landscape from within.

If that were truly the case, this man’s composure and depth of character were not to be underestimated.

For a moment, many of the ministers’ hearts quietly raised their internal scales, placing this Third Prince who had appeared before them for the first time into the balance and weighing him carefully.

The Empress Dowager had grown old and had not caught what was being said in the discussion below, and asked Chu Linlang at her side, “All that chattering — what were they talking about?”

Chu Linlang smiled and said, “They were doing sums, competing to see who knows best how to manage a household.”

This explanation actually drew a laugh from the Emperor in the seat of honor. He asked Chu Linlang, “And in your view — whose sums were the better ones?”

This was not an easy question to answer. To put Minister Xin down would risk the implication that the Third Prince was arrogant and disrespectful toward ministers.

Chu Linlang had never been one to flinch from this kind of head-cutting question. She simply replied with unruffled composure, “This humble servant truly cannot say — I only feel that with everyone working so hard at their sums, Your Majesty can rest at ease without a care. At the very least, the household will grow more and more prosperous day by day. And the master of any establishment is most delighted when the staff and managers below put their whole hearts into their work. That, after all, is exactly how a master who lets others handle everything comes to be.”

These down-to-earth words once again drew a hearty laugh from the Emperor.

But the Crown Prince — inside the Emperor’s laughter — felt his expression grow darker still.