ITVCFITB CHAPTER 35

 Chapter 35: Ulterior Motives

In the days after the chrysanthemum banquet, invitations fell on Luo Shuyu like snow. Friends, strangers, everyone was sending cards. He’d gotten more posts in a few days than he had in six months in his past life.

Clearly, that “brush” with the Crown Princess had ended without fallout, and everyone had seen the Third Prince’s ability—and his regard. After all, the Third Prince had personally come to fetch him. Quite the triumphal exit.

Following Her Highness’s feast, this madam and that marchioness all announced their own autumn chrysanthemum parties. Even Li Mingjin started receiving invitations from dukes and marquises, though no one truly expected him to attend. Those were “include him for form’s sake” kinds of posts.

Luo Shuyu eyed the stack on the table and didn’t want to go to a single one. He was far more interested in how Shen Mingyun was faring at the Crown Prince’s villa.

Answer: something new every day.

Shen might bear the Luo Minister’s name, but it was the Crown Princess he’d offended. Luo Renshou had wanted to intercede until he heard Shen had dragged the Third Prince Consort’s name into it, at which point he nearly spat out his tea. After thinking it through, he gave up the idea entirely. The boy was in the wrong; a few days tending flowers at the villa would do him no harm. Country-bred and all, who would care?

Who would care? Shen Mingyun, of course.

Luo Shuyu made sure of that. He slipped silver to the watchers and kept Shen busy every waking moment: hauling water, spreading fertilizer, no breaks.

Shen liked to sleep in? Wake him at the Tiger Hour¹.

Shen favored lavish meals? Feed him steamed buns and pickles. Filling, never starving.

Shen had a habit of zoning out to chat with his invisible “system”? At the first sign of a daze, have someone clap him back to work.

In Shen’s book-wrought worldview, “fertilizer” was clean and odorless. Not here. Not now. Here they used human and animal waste. So Luo Shuyu arranged for Shen to join the latrine crew every day.

Refuse? There were other ways.

The supervising matrons didn’t beat or curse. They kept a ledger. Every day’s work list sat on it; anything unfinished rolled to the next day. He wasn’t leaving until the ledger was clean.

He’d picked a rare bloom at a royal feast. Who else should be punished?

Word spread fast. Those present had been the capital’s finest families; a single inquiry and everyone knew the Crown Princess had punished Shen. Light or heavy? Call it… humiliating. Shen wasn’t a major celebrity, but his two cosmetics shops were popular with young ladies and gers. Once he slipped, the whispers began.

Luo Shuyu’s comment: the wheel turns.

As long as Shen suffered, he was satisfied.

Still, protagonists have protagonist luck. Even mired in trouble, the tide soon shifted.

On the seventh day, the watcher returned to report: the Fourth Prince had taken Shen Mingyun away.

Luo Shuyu was surprised. The villa belonged to the Crown Prince. How did the Fourth stroll in and walk out with a man?

“Explain,” Luo Shuyu said. “He only worked a week. Barely enough to tan.”

This was Dark Nine. Since Luo Shuyu entered the Third Prince’s household, Dark Nine and Dark Ten had been alternating surveillance on Shen. Today was Dark Nine’s turn to report.

As it happened, the day after the Crown Princess’s banquet, the Crown Prince hosted one of his own yesterday.

He’d invited learned men, most of them chrysanthemum enthusiasts.

While Shen was pruning and watering, the Crown Prince chatted with scholars about bloom times. His Highness composed a poem on “chrysanthemum” on the spot and was showered with praise. The gentlemen took turns reciting their own.

Then one scholar, eyeing a black-purple treasure chrysanthemum, failed to recognize it and casually asked a nearby gardener about its lineage.

By chance, the “gardener” was Shen Mingyun.

Shen despised “ancients,” but six days of drudgery had taught him to bow under low eaves. Seizing the opening, he rattled off the flower’s pedigree and obscure details, courtesy of his system. Eyes turned. He moved down the row, pointing and discoursing, and dazzled the lot.

Even the Crown Prince took notice. If Shen hadn’t had dirt on his face and rough linen on his back, His Highness might have claimed him as a concubine on the spot.

So that’s how Shen put himself on display.

“But what’s that got to do with the Fourth Prince?” Luo Shuyu asked. “Wasn’t it the Crown Prince who first saw his ‘talent’?”

Dark Nine said that was the twist. The Fourth had gone to the villa to request a rare chrysanthemum. He recognized Shen. The Crown Prince was in high spirits; when the Fourth said he knew the young man and suggested there’d been a misunderstanding, His Highness waved it off and let the Fourth take him.

He also decided, naturally, that this whole punishment had been the Crown Princess’s idea. He did share a bed with her, after all; no one knew her temper better.

Just like that, a single word freed Shen.

The Fourth Prince then personally escorted Shen back to the Luo residence.

Luo Shuyu stopped being surprised. Protagonists meet under “special circumstances” and that was the most predictable outcome.

He wasn’t disappointed either. Those seven days of reports had been delicious. Let Shen taste “ancient” rules for once.

He didn’t know that Shen had attended the banquet with a task to “befriend the Crown Princess.” Obviously, this mission had FAILED in thick black letters. After days of grime and humiliation, “setback” didn’t begin to cover it.

Shen didn’t care. So he hadn’t gained Her Highness’s trust but he had what others didn’t: a system. That was his superiority.

Still, the grudge lodged. He began to resent the Crown Princess.

Luo Shuyu was very happy to see that.

One thing worried him, though: Shen and the Fourth Prince were drawing closer.

How to keep them from becoming too close?

Shen had the system; with it, he could sidestep danger. On that front, Luo Shuyu had no leverage.

Maybe… work from another angle? Add some seasoning in a field he could control.

In their last life, the Fourth and Shen “naturally” grew together due to trial by ordeal, shared experiences, then marriage. A bond like iron.

Shen, back in the modern world, had “seen many men.” Here, too, he mingled with several so-called power players. After comparing his options, he’d concluded that the Fourth Prince, future holder of the empire was the optimal choice.

Could Luo Shuyu stop him from meeting those “big shots”? Unlikely. Too many unknowns.

If he couldn’t control the board, he had to change the play. A new strategy, tailored to the present.

If Shen was destined to be the Fourth’s consort… then what if he simply altered the sequence? Skip the slow-burn courtship, shove them straight into marriage, and then let Shen meet his “big shots.” Wouldn’t that scramble fate?

The more he considered it, the more tempting it seemed. Execution, though, would be hard.

Step one: make the Fourth marry Shen.

A principal consort? Too difficult. A concubine, then?

And who would set the pieces?

The Fourth wasn’t Shen. He wore gentleness like silk, but his mind was a maze. Vigilant. Untrusting.

Force him and Shen together with an obvious scheme, and he’d smell a rat and perhaps abandon Shen outright.

Still difficult.

Li Mingjin had just come in when he heard Luo Shuyu sighing at the window, staring at a pot of orchids.

He slipped behind him and covered his eyes. “Guess who?”

“Not guessing.” Luo Shuyu tugged his hands down, smiling despite himself. “You’re back.”

The autumn wind cut cool through the open window. Li Mingjin drew him to the couch. “Mm. What’s with the sigh?”

“Puzzling over something,” Luo Shuyu said. With Li Mingjin, he shared what he could.

“What is it?”

A knock. Nanny Feng came to ask about supper.

“Bring it,” Luo Shuyu said. “Your Highness has been out all day; he must be hungry.”

“Not very,” Li Mingjin lied, heart guilty for reasons known only to him.

Luo Shuyu didn’t bring up his scheme to push the Fourth and Shen together. If he said it out loud, how would Li Mingjin see him? As a conniver? Why was he targeting a relatively unobtrusive prince? He had no clean explanation and he couldn’t hide behind “the mysterious northern sage” every time.

After supper, they strolled the grounds to settle their food. Then to Luo Shuyu’s surprise, Li Mingjin went to bed like an impeccable gentleman. It left Luo Shuyu vaguely… unmoored.

—

He slept decently and rose at his usual hour.

After breakfast, Qingwang presented a newly made autumn outfit with a cloak.

Luo Shuyu blinked. “What’s this for?”

“By His Highness’s order,” Qingwang replied.

“So we’re going out?” A cloak was lighter than a greatcoat, right for the season.

Qingwang smiled. “His Highness is waiting at the gate.”

So they were going somewhere. Why the secrecy last night?

Puzzled but obliging, Luo Shuyu went to see.

At the gate stood a different kind of Li Mingjin, dressed for riding beside a glossy black horse. The stallion twitched its tail, tried to nudge him, and got pushed back. A saddle gleamed on its back.

Its name was Chasing Wind.

Luo Shuyu remembered its fate from the book.

After they were imprisoned, the Fourth had taken the horse. One day, Shen insisted on learning to ride and chose Chasing Wind at a glance. The groom warned him off; he refused. Chasing Wind already had a master and a temper. It recognized no rider but Li Mingjin. Shen had barely swung up before it bucked him clean off and broke his leg.

The Fourth, hearing this, ordered the horse put down.

Seeing Chasing Wind now, sleek and spirited, Luo Shuyu couldn’t help the pang. Still alive.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Up,” Li Mingjin said, offering a hand. “Mount first. You’ll see.”

“Chasing Wind won’t let me ride,” Luo Shuyu warned. “I should take another.”

“Don’t worry,” Li Mingjin said. “With me here, it wouldn’t dare.”

With you here… He patted Chasing Wind’s back. The horse didn’t protest. Perhaps it was a little cowed.

Once he was seated, he realized something else was off. He gathered the reins. “When did your foot heal?”

Last night he’d still been limping. Was that an act?

Li Mingjin swung up behind him, arms banding his waist. “Mm. The last couple of days.”

“You hid this from me.” Luo Shuyu turned his head, only to have his ear stolen by a quick kiss. “Your Highness, we're outside!”

“Mm. Let’s go.” Li Mingjin pretended not to hear, fished out a veil, and passed it over. “Put this on. Wind’s strong.”

“…Right. Just the wind,” Luo Shuyu thought, tying it on while Li Mingjin calmly took the reins. Veil on, nestled in his arms perfectly. No one would be seeing that face today.

They set out.

They rode ahead. Seven or eight guards and Qingwang followed.

Early morning, the Third Prince and a beautiful ger riding out of the city together. Many saw them. Within an hour, rumors ran like wildfire: less than a month into marriage, the Third Prince was already riding out with a ger! So disrespectful!

The storytellers at the tea houses had fresh material.

Half an hour later, the mountainside blazed into view, the maple grove Li Mingjin had promised.

From afar, the slope burned like a hill of coals.

“Pretty?” he asked.

Luo Shuyu nodded, a verse rising unbidden: “Stopping my carriage to love the maple grove at dusk, the frosted leaves redder than second-month flowers.”

He breathed in the clean mountain air. So Li Mingjin did do as he said, he’d really brought him to see the maples.

Li Mingjin winked and tapped his cheek, leaning close. “Isn’t there something you should do? Here.”

Luo Shuyu tweaked his cheek. “No.”

Li Mingjin didn’t sulk. He caught that hand and nipped the back of it, then laid out his plan. “We’ll soak tonight, head down tomorrow.”

“Hot springs?” Luo Shuyu blinked. Two lifetimes and he’d never known there were springs here.

“Mm,” Li Mingjin said. “I acquired the place earlier and forgot about it. Talking about Fuxin Ward jogged my memory. Perfect season.”

Less than two quarters later, they reached a lodge mid-slope. The mountain wasn’t high; the climb was easy.

It wasn’t as artfully arranged as the prince’s manor, but it had its own rustic charm. The maples were stunning. As soon as they dismounted, the two of them wandered the grove, returning with a handful of leaves to press in books.

They finished just in time for lunch, a hunter’s fare from the hills, fragrant and rich. Luo Shuyu’s mood soared and nearly overate.

In the afternoon, with soft sun and mild wind, Li Mingjin suggested the springs.

They changed indoors, about to step into the steaming pool, when Luo Shuyu, hanging up his husband’s clothes, brushed something hard beneath the folded robe. He lifted the hem and found a row of small porcelain bottles.

His hand paused. His ears went hot. “…”

Ah. That’s why they’d come to the maple grove.

Author’s note:
Third Prince: “Do you like it, wife? A night you’ll never forget!”
Luo Shuyu: “…”

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