ITVCFITB CHAPTER 71

Chapter 71 – The Fake Imperial Grandson

Just as Li Mingjin finally settled into a healthy mindset about why Luo Shuyu hadn’t conceived, the most-watched people in the capital, the Crown Princess and Shen Mingyun, both gave birth on the same day, in the same month, at the same hour… to imperial grandsons. Two at once, what a spectacle.

Everyone praised Emperor Tiansheng’s great fortune.

And for once, the emperor truly was overjoyed. After years of waiting in vain, he suddenly had two grandsons. His minor ailments seemed to vanish. He showered both the Crown Princess and Shen Mingyun with lavish gifts and announced that he himself would name the babies.

Both mothers were principal consorts. Although the Crown Princess outranked Shen Mingyun, the delighted emperor made their rewards nearly equal.

But while the Fourth Prince’s household was all jubilation, the Crown Prince’s manor was strangely subdued.

By rank, the Crown Prince’s son, born the same hour, was more exalted, and it should have been the brighter celebration. Yet neither the Crown Prince nor his princess looked particularly excited. The Crown Prince grew even more taciturn, his smile stiff and thin. Puzzlingly, he never once held his own son.

All eyes turned to the upcoming full-month celebrations. Which banquet would people attend, the one in the Eastern Palace or the one at the Fourth Prince’s residence?

A commoner’s full-month feast is a family affair. In the imperial clan, it’s a declaration of allegiance. Whoever goes East supports the Crown Prince; whoever goes to the Fourth is in his camp. The lines would be plain as day.

The political field had never looked clearer.

While the Eldest Prince still had strength, no one could say who would win the world. Now, the Crown Prince dominated, and the Fourth Prince was merely a rising force, nothing for the Crown Prince’s faction to fear… and yet, not to be ignored either. After all, he had the emperor at his back. That alone made the emperor and the Yan clan open enemies.

The Crown Prince was the Yan family’s chess piece. The Fourth Prince was the blade Emperor Tiansheng had only just drawn.

Whether one stood with the Yans or with the emperor would be revealed by which full-month feast they chose.

As for the Third Prince in the far north, supposedly “eating dirt”, everyone embroiled in the struggle had long forgotten him. He was considered no threat, with no path to the throne. Why care?

Only a few still thought of him: Emperor Tiansheng, who clung to a semblance of “fatherly affection,” and idle gentlemen like old General Wei, who now spent his days tending birds and flowers.

Those who had never stepped foot in the north had no idea what Gucheng had become. They only saw a stream of novelties entering the capital and money flowing outward.

If they did go to Gucheng, they’d find a fortress city: soldiers elite, commoners sturdy. If an enemy came, even tools at hand became weapons. The local spirit was fierce.

The people, grateful to the Third Prince and his consort, loved them even more than they had loved General Wei. Wei had shielded the border so they could live in peace; the Third Prince did that and more. Raising quality of life, solving hunger, reducing taxes. For two years now, households had food to spare.

The Guiyan raids never even reached the border before being driven back, with heavy losses.

Li Mingjin didn’t only fortify Gucheng; he also sowed discord within Guiyan’s royal clan, turning the princes against each other. Last winter, they never sent troops at all. Their tribes fought among themselves instead, bleeding their strength.

Now was Gucheng’s season of recovery. Li Mingjin had room to breathe and time to build his own power.

Only he and his shadow guards knew about the private army. Not even Chen Rong.

The fewer who knew, the safer they all were. Even the elite troops being secretly trained didn’t know who their true master was. That was only for the early stages; once strong enough, they could reveal themselves.

A month passes quickly.

The two newborns became trophies in the struggle between factions and possibly, sacrificial pieces.

On the day of their full-month banquets, Shen Mingyun, smug and glowing, cradled a baby who resembled the Fourth Prince seven parts out of ten, proudly showing him off to visitors. Old Madam Luo came as well, along with Luo Renshou’s newly married “fill-the-room” wife whose background, notably, tied her entire family to the Fourth Prince’s side. Luo Renshou was now firmly in that camp. A political match, yes, but the new wife, delicate and lovely, fit his tastes perfectly and was dearly pampered.

Suddenly, a lady asked Shen Mingyun, “Your Fourth Prince Consort, you’ve given the empire a grandson. The Third Consort married earlier than you, do they have children yet?”

At the mention of the nearly forgotten Luo Shuyu, Shen Mingyun’s smile dimmed a shade. “My cousin? I believe not.”

Another chimed in, “Could the northern cold be to blame? It’s been three years since the marriage, with no issue, perhaps there’s some… problem?”

A third murmured, “We shouldn’t speak of the Third Consort like this. It isn’t proper.”

Shen Mingyun, all magnanimity, said, “It’s fine. We’re only chatting.”

Luo Renshou’s new wife, seated with Old Madam Luo, twitched her lips. Is the Fourth Prince’s consort daft? That’s the Luo family’s legitimate son and your sister-in-law they’re slandering, and you say ‘it’s fine’? He’ll ruin the Fourth Prince’s hard-won reputation at this rate. What exactly was so exceptional about him?

Word of those remarks reached Emperor Tiansheng almost immediately. Even as the father of a newborn heir, Shen Mingyun received an oral decree on his first day out of confinement: he was to remain at home and copy sutras as an apology to the northern soldiers and people. The gossiping ladies were punished as well.

The emperor’s feelings toward Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu were not like toward the others.

People laughed at the Fourth Prince’s household for quite a while. If not for the big, healthy son Shen Mingyun had delivered, the Fourth would have locked him up and soundly thrashed him. Years of painstakingly cultivated reputation, nearly squandered.

Shen Mingyun, of course, felt blameless. “People should have freedom of speech,” he told the Fourth Prince. “So they talk. They didn’t insult him, just discussed the facts.”

The Fourth nearly fainted from anger. “You’re a prince’s consort. Whether or not we’re close to Third Brother, you must preserve the royal family’s dignity. We cannot be a laughingstock.”

“Can’t we be honest?” Shen Mingyun shot back. “We’re hardly close. And they’re up north, they won’t hear what’s said here. It’s just idle talk. How important is ‘face,’ really?”

“Even idle talk shouldn’t come out of a prince’s household!” the Fourth snapped.

“I labored to give you a son, and you’re scolding me over this?” Shen Mingyun shouted.

“We both know what we’re aiming for,” the Fourth said coldly. “This concerns the royal family’s honor. It is a big matter, not a trifle.”

“You still shouldn’t yell at me!”

The Fourth Prince dropped it. The longer he lived with Shen Mingyun, the more he saw, petty, short-sighted, utterly lacking the bigger picture. Compared with Third Brother’s Luo Shuyu, the difference was night and day.

He’d almost died of anger more than once these years.

Forget it. Endure. For now, he still needed Shen Mingyun’s occasional “miracles” to maintain the emperor’s favor. At the very least, Shen still had the knack for pulling out something fresh and the emperor sided with him.

The Fourth wasn’t a fool. He’d also sent people to look into the Crown Prince’s newborn; he even had spies in the Eastern Palace.

Since the birth, few outsiders had seen the baby. People said the Crown Princess, after losing one child, was simply overprotective. No one questioned it.

The Fourth survived without a strong base because he saw what others missed.

He had investigated already. There was something unspeakable about that child. Otherwise, why the airtight secrecy?

What was the truth?

There had to be a story there. He would find it.

---

Gucheng.

At spring plowing, Li Mingjin brought Luo Shuyu to watch the people sow their fields, a line of soldiers at their backs.

The officers stood waiting for the Third Prince’s orders.

After a while, Li Mingjin said, “Shuyu, I’m going down to learn the planting. Wait here for me.”

It wasn’t convenient for Luo Shuyu to go into the fields, so he stayed with Chen Rong at the roadside.

The farmers, catching sight of the ethereal-looking Third Prince and his consort, were so stunned they nearly forgot their work.

“What are you standing around for?” Li Mingjin called to the officers, grinning. “Get to it! This year’s harvest depends on how hard we work.”

The seeds Luo Shuyu had procured the year before had proven high-yield in trials. This was the first year of broad planting. With luck, they’d produce even more grain.

Li Mingjin was first to step into the field. The soil was still cold, but years in the north had hardened him. Watching from the path, Luo Shuyu worried despite himself.

Chen Rong noticed and smiled. “No need, Your Highness. For two years now, the prince has led the officers into the fields. Everyone’s used to it, and the people love him.”

“I know,” Luo Shuyu said.

“Have you heard the news from the capital?” Chen Rong asked.

“What news?” Luo Shuyu had been busy. Gucheng now had two public academies under his management. Drawing on what he remembered from the book, he’d distilled methods and set the deans in friendly competition, who could treat their students better and deliver the best results fastest. Whoever produced the most sought-after graduates would set the standard.

The results were promising; his efforts hadn’t been wasted.

At the same time, he’d opened the Hall of Nurturing Goodness to shelter orphans.

With so much on his plate, he hadn’t tracked capital gossip. If it were truly momentous, Chen Rong wouldn’t be bringing it up casually now.

Chen Rong lowered his voice. “I’ve just heard: of the two imperial grandsons, the Eastern Palace may have a… problem.”

“A problem?” Luo Shuyu raised a brow. “What kind of problem? The child was born safely. His Majesty has already named him.”

The book barely touched on the Crown Prince’s and Shen Mingyun’s children, mostly petty jealousy between the Fourth Prince and his son. In his past life, the Crown Prince had never sired a son.

He’d first chalked the difference up to his own rebirth changing events. But from what Chen Rong said… could the Eastern Palace’s grandson be fake?

“Why not?” Chen Rong smiled faintly. “Ever heard of ‘the civet cat for the crown prince’?”

“That can’t be,” Luo Shuyu said. “How could the Crown Princess’s child be switched? The Crown Prince would never tolerate it.”

“I mean something similar in effect, not a deliberate swap.”

Luo Shuyu’s eyes narrowed. “Then you’re suggesting…?”

“What I’m about to say may be out of line.”

“It’s just the two of us here,” Luo Shuyu said. “Speak freely.” The servants were some distance off; their voices were low.

“That day,” Chen Rong said, “the Crown Princess actually gave birth before the Fourth Prince’s consort. A messenger ran to the palace at once. But the infant died within a quarter of an hour. The Eastern Palace hurriedly found another newborn and brought him in. That’s how we got two ‘simultaneous’ imperial grandsons.”

Luo Shuyu was genuinely shocked. He had known something was off, but not this. So the Crown Prince truly had no son’s fate? Pressed by the Fourth Prince’s rise, they’d resorted to this?

“That would taint the imperial bloodline,” he said.

“Yes,” Chen Rong said. “Those in the Eastern Palace say that’s why the Crown Princess won’t let anyone see the child, he’s already a month and a half old. If people look closely, the secret will slip.”

“And no one saw through it?”

“We deliberately let the Fourth Prince catch the scent,” Chen Rong said. “There should be movement soon.”

“The capital won’t stay peaceful,” Luo Shuyu murmured.

“What won’t be peaceful?”

Li Mingjin’s voice cut in. Luo Shuyu asked him to fetch water so he could wash his feet and pull on his socks and shoes.

On the ride back, Luo Shuyu repeated Chen Rong’s news.

Drying his feet in the carriage, Li Mingjin said, “I know. If this explodes, the Crown Prince’s own parentage will come under fire.”

Luo Shuyu handed him a dry cloth. “Do you think Father Emperor knows?”

“If Fourth Brother knows,” Li Mingjin said, “Father certainly does.”

Of course. The Fourth leaned on both Shen Mingyun and the emperor’s backing; the two must be exchanging information.

“You’re not surprised?” Luo Shuyu asked.

“I’ve doubted the Crown Prince was Father’s son for a long time,” Li Mingjin said with a brief smile. “He would never let Fourth produce the first imperial grandson. The only way was to have a son himself. If they’ve done this before, doing it again would be smoother and premeditated. That’s the only way it would look so neat.”

“True,” Luo Shuyu agreed. The reaction had been too quick, too tidy.

As they talked, the carriage stopped, not at the palace gates, but somewhere unfamiliar.

“What is this place?” Luo Shuyu asked, eyeing the modest courtyard.

Li Mingjin’s smile turned secretive. “To show you something fresh from the furnace.”

A moment later, Luo Shuyu understood. The “treasure” was a newly forged musket.

They were one step closer.

---

Two days later, the capital erupted.

The Crown Princess had tainted the imperial bloodline. She was confined to the Eastern Palace. Those involved were flogged or executed. Emperor Tiansheng raged at the Right Chancellor and ordered him to reflect at home. No court attendance for several days.

When he’d finished venting, the emperor went to Consort Mei’s ChangLe Palace, squatted beside her vegetable patch, and muttered, “Now I just pray Mingjin and Shuyu give me a grandchild.”

Consort Mei snorted and chopped through a weed with her hoe.

“Son or daughter, either is fine,” the emperor hastily amended.

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: Beloved, tonight you’re the frail ruler of a tiny state and I’m the all-powerful prime minister. Only by pleasing me can you keep your splendor. You summon me to ‘attend’ you, clad in the sheerest gauze…
Luo Shuyu: The frail ruler catches a chill from wearing too little, falls gravely ill, and soon… passes away.
Third Prince: …

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Little note(s):
In Song dynasty lore, a concubine gives birth to the emperor's son (the future crown prince), but a jealous rival replaces the baby with a dead civet cat, claiming it was a monster birth. Hence, the line ‘the civet cat for the crown prince’.