ITVCFITB CHAPTER 49

Chapter 49 — Hard to Tell If It’s Good or Bad

Li Mingjin did not report that the “assassin” was Princess Jiayang. Too many interests intersected there. He wouldn’t prop Luo Shuyu up on a wall to be pelted. Even if he told the Emperor, it would be only Luo Shuyu’s word against a foreign royal; suspicion could just as easily fall on them. Better to hold back and gather proof.

All Luo Shuyu needed was to present as the injured party.

So he was summoned into the palace twice to be smothered in “concern” from the harem. Once the wave broke, the two of them finally had quiet days again.

Catching the assassin though, that fell to Li Mingjin.

Among the princes, the Third was tied to neither Crown Prince nor Eldest Prince. The Emperor had considered sending the Fourth, but after the latter refused marriage to Jiayang, he dropped the idea. At least the Third could fight, and he had competent men. Hunting an assassin would be good training.

So Li Mingjin combed the capital and its outskirts every day.

Per Luo Shuyu’s advice, he screened every soul coming through the gates, down to the farmers selling cabbages and pears.

He was rewarded.

Jiayang hadn’t gone back into the city…but hadn’t run far either. Not exactly what they guessed but close enough.

Time and again, Li Mingjin marveled at his spouse’s foresight. If he’d been born a man, he’d be top scorer at the imperial exams.

His men flagged a few odd accents at the gates and tailed them to an “abandoned” manor outside the eastern villages. It sat apart, unremarked by neighbors.

Three days of stakeout later, the picture darkened further: the “abandoned” house saw plenty of traffic. Many faces were familiar, some even court officials. Li Mingjin ordered logs of every arrival and departure and their snatches of conversation.

Either these people were fearless, colluding with foreigners at such a time or they were Zhou plants who had simply climbed higher than most.

Some of them also kept close company with the Crown Prince or the Eldest.

Li Mingjin reported straight to the Emperor, who flew into a rage, handed him more men, and told him to keep digging, no alarms raised.

While he lived in the saddle, Luo Shuyu worried. The days grew colder. Every night, as soon as he stepped through the door, he got a steaming bowl of ginger soup.

Compared to the wind and snow outside, palace visits and harem chess were easy. The Crown Princess had withdrawn since her loss. She only came to pay respects to the Empress, and her pallor said enough. The Eldest Princess Consort, by contrast, carried herself with rosy glow and smug smiles, pregnancy had plumped and brightened her.

After consorts sniped, the Empress and Noble Consort Lin took up their old duet. No new princes or princesses had been born in a long while; the Emperor’s health wasn’t what it had been, and he no longer cared much about “branches and leaves.” Everyone else did though, half the palace courted the Empress, half flattered Noble Consort Lin. The seesaw never stopped.

Luo Shuyu watched it all with practiced boredom. On the way out, he always dropped by Consort Mei to sit a while, then left with fresh fruit. If you saw his basket, you’d think he’d spent the morning at South Gate market, not the inner court.

This time, despite all his guard, the topic still boomeranged back to him.

The Crown Princess, sour at the world, said little. With the Empress at her back, no one dared prod her grief.

The Eldest Princess Consort, newly bold with a belly, wouldn’t poke the Crown Princess, but Luo Shuyu, unpregnant, was fair game. Boredom made people inventive.

“Shuyu,” she trilled, “we all hosted gatherings this year. Why haven’t you? Things are so dull. Why don’t you hold one, too?”

Luo Shuyu wanted to plug her mouth with Li Mingjin’s sock. Shouldn’t you be resting? If he hosted now and anything happened to her golden lump, who would he argue with? The Eldest Prince would bite his head off.

He smiled instead. “Sister Ruoyao, His Highness told me the sheds outside the city are full of refugees. It’s deep winter; instead of feasting and maybe catching cold, why don’t I put that budget into grain and send it out?”

The room shifted. Even the Empress softened, and the topic slid away from parties to famine.

Concubine Wei, also a ger, spoke up. “Your Majesty, I think the Third Prince Consort is right. Why not organize a charity drive, grain and quilts for the sheds? It would also ease His Majesty’s worries.”

The Empress’s gaze warmed. “Agreed.” She almost regretted not choosing Luo Shuyu as the Crown Prince’s side consort.

Luo Shuyu was a little surprised to be seconded by Virtuous Concubine Wei. The quiet court favorite rarely joined their little wars.

Wei Xie, child of the Northern Garrison General, was indeed favored, and watched by the Emperor. He had never had a child, perhaps as a way to live longer; his father held real military power. If Wei bore a child, today’s harem map would look very different.

Naturally, the Empress handed this “charity” to the Crown Princess. Why waste such easy virtue points? And the Crown Princess, fresh from loss, had perfect cause to “do good.”

Luo Shuyu felt no resentment; he preferred the weight off his shoulders. He’d had enough spotlight after the hostage incident.

On his way out, he slowed to thank Virtuous Concubine Wei.

Wei smiled. “No thanks needed. Consort Mei often sends me vegetables. I like them. It was nothing.”

So Consort Mei and Concubine Wei had ties? Maybe. Or just a polite excuse.

Outside the palace, Wei’s attendant was just as puzzled.

“My lord, why help the Third Prince Consort today?”

Wei lifted out a wooden hairpin. “What do you think?”

“You pity him?”

A light laugh. “He needs no pity. That one’s sharp.”

“Then… enlighten me?”

“Didn’t you see the Eldest Princess Consort trying to trip him?”

“Isn’t hosting a banquet normal?”

“What time do you call this?” Wei said, patient. “The Crown Princess just miscarried; the Eldest Princess Consort is carrying big. Who could he invite? If anything happened, who would shoulder it? He deftly used current events to dissolve a trap and left no handle for anyone to grab. He gently refused the Eldest Princess Consort and handed the Crown Princess a step down. Pity the Eldest one refused to take it.”

“A triple win,” the attendant breathed.

“He also cares for common folk,” Wei added. “While the others jostle with babies for favor, he’s looking outward. That alone speaks to scope.”

“If only you had a child, my lord…”

Wei smiled faintly. “Being alone has its uses.”

“And… you also acted because of the General’s recent letter?”

“More or less.”

The Northern Garrison was no easy seat; otherwise, why would the general’s son be in the palace at all? Helping Luo Shuyu served Wei’s own quiet ends, resentments that never quite died.

Back home, Luo Shuyu told Li Mingjin what had happened.

It was odd. Virtuous Concubine Wei helping him didn’t fit his past life’s script.

And it wasn’t just help. “Vegetable friendship” with Consort Mei? Hardly. Consort Mei hardly spoke to anyone. Even if she sent Wei vegetables, that didn’t explain speaking up, much less risking offense to Noble Consort Lin and the Eldest Princess Consort.

Of course, no one would touch Wei either. Both sides wanted him; winning the Northern Garrison tipped the scales.

Slicing an apple, Li Mingjin fed him a wedge. “Wei spoke for you?”

“Mhm. Strange, isn’t it? He said he likes Mother Consort’s vegetables. I doubt that’s the reason.”

“My guess is the Northern Garrison General,” Li Mingjin said.

“How so?”

“Father issued an edict yesterday, ordering him to return to court.”

“Now? In winter?” Luo Shuyu frowned. Nomads raided in winter, and travel was harsh.

“Someone advised it,” Li Mingjin said. “Father’s considered… something.”

“And who replaces him?”

“The Crown Prince’s and Eldest’s factions are fighting over it. They’ll brawl for a month or two.”

Luo Shuyu raked memory. In his past life, he remembered the recall, not the replacement. The Fourth Prince’s northern expedition with Shen had been later.

His return had pulled a lot of strings early, his own marriage, Shen’s entrance into the Fourth Prince’s household…

He opened his mouth for another slice. It didn’t come. “Your Highness, the apple?”

Li Mingjin tilted his chin. “Call me ‘gege’ and I’ll give you some.”

“…Your face grows thicker by the day,” Luo Shuyu muttered.

“Yuer, I want to hear you say it.”

“Then I’m not eating.” Warmth crept up his ears as he turned away. Trust Li Mingjin to slip nonsense into serious talk.

“No, eat.” Li Mingjin bit the last slice, then leaned in, feeding it mouth-to-mouth. Luo Shuyu had to take it. “Good?”

Cheeks flaming, Luo Shuyu glared. “You’re sleeping on the small couch tonight!” He moved to get up, but Li Mingjin caught him from behind.

“All right, I was wrong,” Li Mingjin murmured. He did want to hear “gege.” If not now, then later, in bed. “Let’s continue.”

“Hands off,” Luo Shuyu huffed.

Li Mingjin smacked his own wrist. “Oh, must have moved on its own. Not my fault.”

Luo Shuyu snorted despite himself. “Sit properly. Keep fooling around and I’m done talking.”

“I’ll behave,” Li Mingjin promised.

The mood had been thoroughly stirred, but Luo Shuyu let it go, settling his head on Li Mingjin’s thigh.

“Continue,” he prompted.

“Where were we?”

“Replacement for the Northern Garrison.”

“No name yet. But I think Fourth Brother wants it.”

“Do you really think that’s wise?” Luo Shuyu asked. “He has Shen Mingyun.”

“True. Then we won’t let him have it. We’ll put our man in.”

“Who?”

“Lin Haiming.”

Pushing their own man was right but they’d need the opening. For that, Li Mingjin would talk things through with Chen Rong. Luo Shuyu knew his limits; the book he’d read recorded results, not the how. He could warn of patterns, not fill in the names.

All the details Shen had once ignored, Luo Shuyu now had to watch like a hawk.

---

The Crown Princess’s charity drive swept the capital’s noble houses: grain, old clothes, and quilts piled up. It was a short-term salve, but it would save thousands in the sheds.

The Emperor praised her, and for once she smiled.

That very day, the Eldest Princess Consort returned to complain to her husband.

“It wasn’t even her idea,” she said. “The Empress stole it.”

“Whose idea, then?” the Eldest Prince asked.

“I wanted Third Sister-in-law to host a banquet, but he said the timing was wrong and proposed the charity instead. The Empress agreed; I thought he’d be put in charge. Who knew she’d hand it to the Crown Princess? Isn’t it infuriating?”

“Third Sister-in-law is magnanimous, then,” the Eldest Prince said. “Didn’t even get angry?”

“Hard to tell. He’s polite to everyone, but distant.”

“Maybe Third Brother really doesn’t want the throne,” the Eldest Prince mused. “Otherwise why yield such a chance?”

“And you, Your Highness?”

The Eldest Prince sneered. “If the Crown Prince gets the praise, the northern command should be ours. I’ll recommend Fourth Brother.”

“Fourth would do well,” she echoed twice, as if to convince herself.

---

Meanwhile, Shen Mingyun, listless lately, finally noticed the Fourth Prince had gone cold on him, sleeping in the study for days.

He barged in and asked why. The Fourth promised to come back to the main room that night.

After all, Shen had launched a few new recipes and made a lot of money. And the Fourth had confirmed there was nothing between Shen and the Crown Prince.

That night was especially… energetic. Both were satisfied.

In the morning, Shen felt a twinge in his belly and saw a smear of red on the sheets.

---

Half a day later, Luo Shuyu read Dark Nine’s note twice.

Shen Mingyun is pregnant???

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: Sweetheart, gege wants to run through you head to toe tonight.
Luo Shuyu: …

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