You Weixuan’s courtyard was very lively at this moment, with matrons and maidservants beaming with joy, saying the groom had come to fetch the bride.
But suddenly someone knocked on the courtyard gate, and the servant women who had been laughing moments before exchanged wary glances.
Today was no ordinary day. Though they appeared joyful, they had been instructed early on that all actions required orders before proceeding, especially that the courtyard gate could not be opened casually.
But though no one moved, the courtyard gate suddenly opened.
Only then did everyone see a drab little maidservant standing behind the door—no one had noticed her, and no one knew when that little girl had gotten near the gate.
But everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to the woman at the entrance.
Wind-tousled hair like clouds and mist, an otherworldly beauty.
The female heir was also a beauty, but compared to this woman, she lacked that flowing, charming grace like spring water, especially when the other woman raised her hand to lightly smooth her hair at the temples.
But it wasn’t until she made this gesture, her eyes glancing over obliquely, that everyone realized the woman’s possible identity.
Perhaps it was because when she stood there doing nothing, she appeared extraordinarily elegant and refined.
Faced with such a woman, those normally formidable matrons and servant women were obviously somewhat tongue-tied. Someone stepped forward to block her, but the woman suddenly pushed that matron aside and called out loudly, “I am Young Master Chang’s woman—I want to see the female heir!”
The matron was stunned.
What did this mean?
For a moment she forgot to call the guards.
The woman leaned against the door, covering her face with her sleeve, crying, “This slave has been so terribly deceived. This slave was originally a pure entertainer at Zuixue Pavilion who didn’t sell her body. It was Young Master Chang who promised to redeem this slave’s freedom, so I followed him. Who knew that a few days ago he sent silver, wanting to sever all ties with this slave. Today this slave heard that Young Master Chang was marrying the female heir, so I had no choice but to seek you out, begging the female heir for mercy.”
With that, she began sobbing.
Everyone in the courtyard looked blank.
What kind of situation was this?
Young Master Chang kept a brothel woman outside, and on his wedding day, the brothel woman came to the door seeking the main wife to take her in?
Chunwa continued her beautiful weeping, “This slave has no other intention, only wishing to serve the female heir for life, willing to be a slave and servant by the female heir’s side.”
Everyone: “…”
This scenario is very familiar to us.
All standard tricks.
The guards who rushed to the courtyard gate were also dumbfounded. They had thought someone was breaking in, but it turned out to be the groom’s shameful secret that couldn’t be seen by others—and also the female heir’s shame.
Someone hurried to report to You Jun, while others tried to drag Chunwa away.
Suddenly someone said coldly, “Let her in.”
Everyone turned to see You Weixuan standing under the corridor.
Her face was pale as snow as she said coldly, “Since she says she wants to be my slave, then come in and serve!”
Everyone: “…”
This move by the female heir was quite decisive too.
Everyone felt they had watched a good show, but this was not a play they could savor with relish, nor could they interfere too much. So they could only watch as Chunwa stood dazed for a moment, then indeed gave a cold laugh and entered the courtyard.
The guards looked at her delicate, swaying figure, then at those servant women hidden among the matrons whose eyes gleamed sharply, and withdrew, waiting for You Jun’s orders on how to handle this.
Chunwa lifted the curtain and went in. The matrons and maidservants also tried to follow, but heard the female heir angrily shout from inside, “No one is allowed to follow!”
Everyone stopped, looking at each other.
They understood in their hearts that the female heir was already in a bad mood, and this was adding fuel to the fire. Such private, shameful matters—why bother getting involved and asking for trouble?
So they all waited under the corridor.
The curtain dropped. Inside the inner room, You Weixuan sat down on the couch, and the servant women outside clearly heard her sternly command, “Kneel down!”
Everyone exchanged glances and smiled with pursed lips.
Coming to the door to provoke—what a shameless hussy.
Inside the room.
Someone fell to their knees with a thump.
Embracing Chunwa’s legs.
Looking up with tearful eyes.
Crying pitifully, “Did you come to save me?”
…
“I regret it.”
Everyone in the hall was stunned, and Chang Yuan’s eyes lit up.
“I regret not castrating this kind of hypocrite who deceives the world and steals fame right then and sending him into the palace,” Tie Ci said without looking up. “Though he wouldn’t be worthy of any decent position, there’s always a shortage of people for sweeping and menial work.”
Chang Yuan was silent for a long while, then gave a cold laugh, “You say I’m not worthy of being a man—what about Your Highness yourself?”
“Nephew!” You Jun reprimanded.
But Chang Yuan suddenly put away that sinister smile and gave Tie Ci a long bow, “Speaking of matters between men and women, I just remembered that Your Highness and my humble wife were classmates. Your Highness personally came to drink wedding wine today, but it’s not appropriate to sit in this front hall. Why not go to the back courtyard to see my humble wife? After all, once we’re married, it won’t be convenient to meet again.”
Everyone hadn’t expected Chang Yuan to actually invite Tie Ci to see You Weixuan—wasn’t this inviting the wolf into the house?
Had this groom, after being dismissed and rejected by the Crown Princess back then, been so unable to bear the blow that he’d gone mad?
You Jun also frowned, saying, “Nephew, what status does the Crown Princess have? How can we ask her to go see Weixuan…”
“Uncle’s words are wrong. The Crown Princess came today as a classmate to drink wedding wine, and she’s also a woman—naturally she should enter the bridal chamber to accompany the bride. We can’t have the bride show her face in the front hall before the ceremony is complete, can we? That would be most inauspicious.” Chang Yuan looked at Tie Ci, “I’ve heard the Crown Princess is wise and intelligent—surely she wouldn’t want to ruin Weixuan’s good fortune.”
Tie Ci sat motionless, saying, “During the wedding ceremony, I’ll naturally see Weixuan.”
“Is Your Highness certain? Once the wedding ceremony is complete, Weixuan will belong to the Chang family in life and be a Chang family ghost in death.”
“The way you talk, it’s almost as if you very much want me to disrupt your wedding.”
“That would require Your Highness to have that ability.”
“Then I don’t understand,” Tie Ci’s eyes behind the mask showed no ripples, “what performance are you putting on, insisting that I make this trip? What, are there three hundred soldiers with swords and axes ambushed in the female heir’s courtyard, just waiting for you to throw down a cup as the signal?”
Chang Yuan laughed heartily. Everyone looked at each other, You Jun’s expression was displeased, and Prefect Chang and his son looked apologetic.
“Blood in the bridal chamber wouldn’t be auspicious for this commoner either—Your Highness worries too much.” Chang Yuan bent down slightly, leaning close to Tie Ci. Tie Ci immediately leaned back in disgust, saying, “Keep your distance—bad breath.”
Everyone suppressed their laughter.
They also thought that the Crown Princess was usually noble and peaceful, rarely publicly embarrassing people like this—clearly she found Chang Yuan extremely disgusting.
Chang Yuan’s face became sinister for a moment, his jaw muscles tightening slightly. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and moved back a little, but still bent over slightly, using a voice only Tie Ci could hear, saying softly, “Actually, I don’t mean anything else. This courtyard ultimately belongs to Commander You, not to my Chang family. I just want Your Highness to personally go see You Weixuan preparing for marriage.”
“To see how You Weixuan, who sat as your equal in the academy and whose true status was similarly noble, marries whoever she’s told to marry, marries whomever she’s told to marry, sleeps with whomever she’s told to sleep with, and in the future, bears children for whomever she’s told to bear children for.”
“To see how your former good friend, even after you arrived, still cannot change her fate of marrying someone she doesn’t want to marry.”
“This way Your Highness will understand that this world is actually still ruled by men. No matter how strong women are, it’s men who give them that strength. When men don’t want to give it anymore, they can only obediently listen.”
“Understand what you women should really do and how to do it. Understand that hens crowing at dawn goes against heaven’s will and will sooner or later receive divine punishment.”
“Understand that status and nobility are actually floating clouds in the sky and mist on earth, disappearing in the blink of an eye… Don’t take them seriously.”
The hall full of officials and gentry could only see Chang Yuan speaking at Tie Ci’s knees, unable to hear what he was saying, but judging by his expression, he seemed respectful.
Everyone guessed he was probably apologizing for his earlier rudeness, just too proud to lose face.
Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, they saw Tie Ci raise her head.
Meeting Chang Yuan’s pleased yet malicious gaze.
Then she lifted her foot.
Kicking Chang Yuan in the knee.
A clear, crisp crack of bone breaking rang out. Chang Yuan’s large body suddenly became airborne, crashing through three screens behind him before finally slamming onto the courtyard’s bluestone pavement with a bang. Cracks spread like lightning in all directions across the ground, with dust rising at the ends.
After a moment of silence, people didn’t know whether to laugh, sigh, or be shocked.
Shocked that the Crown Princess would strike without warning, not even saying a word.
Sighing that Chang Yuan, a scholar without the strength to tie up a chicken, dared to provoke a noble with superior martial arts—wasn’t this asking for abuse?
Laughing because this seemed rather too stupid.
But on second thought, Chang Yuan had previously enjoyed great fame in Yannan. He was not only the future heir valued by his family, but also a talent appreciated by the You father and son of the Yannan Prince’s mansion. When Chang Yuan went to the capital for the imperial examinations, the Prince’s mansion had exceptionally held a farewell banquet for him—what glory that was.
Who would have thought that he went to the capital full of vigor and returned south in disgrace? Not only did he fail to win honors as everyone expected, but he was even tainted with the infamy of deceiving the world and stealing fame, his reputation ruined, forever barred from participating in imperial examinations, his path to officialdom cut off.
This would be an unbearable blow for any ordinary scholar, let alone Chang Yuan, who was heaven’s favored son. The taste of falling from the clouds was truly not something a young person could easily bear.
Everyone thought about this and felt that going mad from it would be understandable.
Chang Yuan writhed on the ground, his eyes bloodshot.
What others thought they understood couldn’t compare to his real heart-wrenching pain.
Being unable to participate in imperial examinations meant losing not just fame and honor, but also his position as heir, and the path to success promised by the Yannan Prince’s mansion. That farewell banquet had been a send-off—he had gone with a mission, bearing the responsibility of making connections with young talents for the Yannan Prince’s mansion. Yannan’s literary culture was not flourishing, few succeeded in the spring examinations, and even those who barely made the list were mostly ranked low and would sit on cold benches as minor officials for half their lives. Not to mention ordinary scholars from common families—who could compare to him, born into a prominent family, with extensive connections and great popularity? Not to mention having the full support of the Yannan Prince’s mansion behind him, lacking neither wealth nor ability. With such a great mission, who else but him?
He had felt confident that success was within easy reach, needing only to focus on talent and court connections—how to socialize with talented people, how to penetrate court factions, whom to serve under, how to win people over, and how to steal intelligence… He had given himself ten years. After ten years, he would enter the cabinet, and by then with disciples and old friends throughout the court, not only would the Yannan Prince’s mansion survive for a hundred years, perhaps it could advance even further.
Commander You had stayed up late drinking with him, speaking heart to heart about this ten-year plan. He had listened with burning passion and sworn on the spot that he was willing to die for the cause.
But now, everything was gone.
All gone.
As he rolled about, he rolled to the side of a red wood carved grand chair. Not far ahead were the Crown Princess’s robe hems. Because she was sitting, the robe was slightly lifted, and glancing over, he vaguely felt something was wrong.
But hatred had blocked all his perception. With bloodshot eyes, he stared fixedly at those motionless robe hems, countless times feeling the impulse to pull out the dagger hidden in his sleeve and stab viciously, and countless times desperately restraining himself.
Don’t rush… don’t rush…
The robe moved, and Tie Ci stood up, adjusting her mask, her voice hoarse as she said, “So eager to invite me, even willing to throw a tantrum and roll around at my feet?”
Everyone stood up as well.
Tie Ci walked to Chang Yuan’s side, kicking his face with her toe, saying, “What are you lying there for? Get up and lead the way.”
Chang Yuan’s blood rushed to his head with a roar.
Even he himself didn’t react in time—his whole body had already sprung up, cold light flashing as the knife in his sleeve stabbed viciously toward Tie Ci’s lower abdomen.
The next instant came another tremendous crash, and a red figure was again sent flying out of the hall, through the already shattered screens, across the wide courtyard, toward the artificial mountain at the far end.
A purple and gold figure flashed, and Tie Ci’s form, arriving later but faster, grabbed Chang Yuan’s collar mid-flight and slammed him against the jagged artificial mountain with a bang.
With a thunderous crash, half the artificial mountain crumbled, earth and sand cascading down.
Chang Yuan’s face was twisted and grotesque, no longer human in appearance. After a long moment, dark red slowly flowed from the corner of his mouth.
He stared at that brilliantly gleaming yet sinister and cold mask before his eyes, unable to believe that the Crown Princess had actually killed in public.
The crowd that had followed outside looked at each other in shock.
The Crown Princess was actually so ruthless and merciless!
Before the wedding hall, she had killed the groom!