ITVCFITB CHAPTER 72

Chapter 72 – A Key Figure

The fake–imperial grandson scandal was the talk of the upper circles, even if commoners in the capital remained oblivious.

In an instant, the Crown Prince lost Emperor Tiansheng’s trust. For more than half a month he wasn’t granted an audience. The empress pleaded on his behalf, but the emperor’s years of resentment toward her only deepened; he snubbed her too. In the harem, concubines grew restless, eager to climb into favor.

Unfortunately for them, Emperor Tiansheng had long wearied of beauty. What pleased him most was watching Consort Mei garden in Changle Palace. He even helped her sow seeds and harvest vegetables for a few days. Somehow, his spirits lifted. The imperial physicians praised his improved health.

The emperor began visiting Changle Palace frequently, staking fences, doing small carpentry, watering beds. In less than a month he was tanned, and the number of medical visits dropped. The physicians confirmed he was sturdier than the month before.

Who knew farming could do this much good? The emperor fell for rustic life.

When the harem heard, they yanked out their precious ornamentals and scrambled to learn “Mei-style” farming. Those who couldn’t get to Consort Mei pestered her maids and eunuchs, anything to catch the emperor’s eye. Their aims were obvious.

As for the Eastern Palace deceiving the emperor with a fake heir, no one believed the Yan clan was uninvolved.

After that fiasco, the Crown Prince and his faction kept their heads down. The Fourth Prince’s influence, by contrast, shot up like bamboo after rain, suddenly everywhere.

The Crown Prince had indeed done a foolish thing. An imperial grandson would only have been icing on the cake. He was already heir apparent; lacking a grandson for the moment was no disaster. With the Yan clan’s support, his path to the throne had been steady, until now. Speculation swirled, and whispers about whether he was truly the emperor’s son resurfaced.

For years, everyone had kept that question off-limits. Now it was a cudgel. The Crown Prince roasted over the fire while the emperor pretended not to hear a thing, refusing audiences with both prince and empress, and continuing to enjoy his pastoral retreat.

The capital churned with hidden currents. In the north, life remained calm.

This was Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu’s third year in the north, the eighteenth year of Tiansheng’s reign.

Their third summer there.

By the pond, Luo Shuyu watched the fish and silently counted the time to their deaths in the previous life: Lantern Festival of Yuansheng Year Twenty about a year and a half from now. Not much time left.

He’d never expected to remain in the north nearly three years. He and Li Mingjin had accumulated much. Now the Crown Prince was being pressed by the Fourth, and with Shen Mingyun’s help and that uncanny “system”, the book’s logic suggested the Fourth would defeat the Crown Prince anyway. Their true opponent would still be the Fourth and Shen Mingyun and above all, the system behind him, whatever strange powers it held.

At least they’d had these years to breathe. Even with the hindsight of a second life, Luo Shuyu didn’t regret choosing Li Mingjin.

The next year and a half would be packed.

“Why are you here? I’ve been looking everywhere.”

Li Mingjin’s voice.

Luo Shuyu smiled. “What is it? I came to feed the fish. Qingwang, have someone catch one for dinner.”

Qingwang withdrew.

“It’s sweltering,” Li Mingjin scolded lightly. “What if you get heatstroke?”

“I’m not that delicate,” Luo Shuyu said, amused. “I’m in the pavilion, just a bit.”

Li Mingjin slipped an arm around his shoulders. “Shuyu, do you underestimate how precious you are to me? I wish I could keep you in my arms all day.”

Luo Shuyu laughed. “In your arms, hm? The things you say.” He knew the feeling was real.

They went inside. A bowl of iced mung-bean soup cooled the heat and soothed the nerves. Li Mingjin wanted two bowls; Luo Shuyu forbade it, too much cold harms the stomach.

Once settled, Luo Shuyu dismissed the servants and raised the matter of returning to the capital.

With the Crown Prince’s standing plummeting, propped up by the Yans yet harried by the Fourth, Shen Mingyun, as the story’s “protagonist,” would likely tip the scales. The question was when, and how.

As he peeled grapes, Luo Shuyu asked, “Your Highness, have you thought about when we should return to the capital?”

“I have,” Li Mingjin said, “but given the current situation, it won’t be soon.”

“You know the Crown Prince’s position has never been steady. Father’s health is uncertain. If... just if—”

“Mother Consort wrote yesterday,” Li Mingjin cut in. “She says Father has been gardening with her. He’s getting healthier.”

The longer the emperor lived, the later their return.

In the book, the emperor lived long enough to watch the Fourth defeat the Crown Prince; only at the end did he write a new edict, passing the throne to the Fourth Prince, Li Mingchun.

“Healthy, yes,” Luo Shuyu said, feeding him a grape. “But a harem is a pitfall-ridden place. I’m not cursing Father, I just think we should prepare early. The Fourth is surging and may stay that way. He has the Left Chancellor and the emperor behind him.”

“I know what worries you,” Li Mingjin said. “You’re afraid that if the Crown Prince falls, Father will hand the throne straight to Fourth Brother.”

Luo Shuyu nodded. “Exactly.”

They had added their own nudge, from the shadows, to the smearing of the Crown Prince’s reputation. The Fourth worked in the open; they, out of sight. No one would suspect Li Mingjin had a hand in it.

And he had done far more than raise troops. Before leaving the capital, he’d already planted people in court. Without a powerful maternal clan, he actually drew less suspicion. Once he and Luo Shuyu exited the political center, they slipped from everyone’s mind.

The Wei family had volunteered themselves; since they dared step forward, Li Mingjin dared use them.

Old General Wei and Noble Consort Wei were invaluable allies. As for Consort Mei, so easily overlooked, she simply kept gardening. Who would suspect?

Winning a realm was no simple thing.

Li Mingjin had weighed what Luo Shuyu feared and reached his own conclusion: the Fourth’s road to the throne wouldn’t be easy.

He peeled a grape and offered it back. “You’re forgetting, Fourth has no military command.”

“The Crown Prince, through the Yan clan, does,” Luo Shuyu said after spitting the seed out. “And Father does.”

“Father’s ruled nearly twenty years,” Li Mingjin said. “He won’t hand armies to Fourth, not unless it’s the final hour. If anyone gets them, it’ll be Old General Wei.”

And the general supported them.

That eased one worry. The other circled back to Shen Mingyun. The “system” on him could guide future events, steering him straight to their flaws.

That was the truly unpredictable threat. Luo Shuyu was certain the Fourth had noticed Shen’s strangeness and was using it. Without Shen’s background and the Fourth’s ambition, Shen would never have become principal consort. During the Eldest Prince’s rebellion, the Fourth had weaponized “deep devotion,” binding Shen to him and winning the emperor’s heart, securing Shen as his main wife and reaping both face and advantage.

Since moving into the Fourth’s manor, Shen often said and did improper things, frequently contradicting himself. He claimed not to care about rank yet constantly complained that if they loved each other, why wasn’t he principal wife; he declared that if the Fourth ever took another, he would flee the capital at once.

To remove that threat, the Fourth gave him the principal seat, a stabilizing pill for Shen and a safeguard for himself. Shen was simply too useful. As long as he was indulged, unexpected benefits followed. Once the Fourth grasped the pattern, why abandon the shortcut? If a consort’s title and feigned deep love could be traded for a throne, why not?

“What if Old General Wei flips and backs the Fourth?” Luo Shuyu asked.

Ice flashed in Li Mingjin’s eyes. “If that day comes, remember his two sons and families are in Gucheng. We won’t resort to threats unless it’s the endgame. Besides, we still have a final trump card.”

They had an army yet unseen. Ideally, they would never need those weapons to fight internally. Save the losses; keep the secret for enemies beyond the borders.

Li Mingjin’s vision extended beyond this small slice of Great Xia. He wanted more. A nation grows on three pillars: people, weapons, and a ruler’s ambition. Narrow hearts chase short-term gains and miss the long horizon.

After a careful comparison, Luo Shuyu felt calmer. Their foundations were sturdier than the Fourth’s. He depended on external power, Emperor and Left Chancellor, and Shen Mingyun. Theirs lay in their own hands.

---

The spring exam scandal and the fake heir remained mealtime chatter. But the Yan clan had stood a century in Great Xia; three months after the fake-heir debacle, they were back in vie, perhaps they had never left. The Right Chancellor was still the Right Chancellor; simply standing there, he exuded authority. No one dared mock the Yans to his face.

Flies don’t swarm an uncracked egg.

You couldn’t scold the Yans, but you could scold the Crown Prince. Suspicions about his parentage now sat squarely on the table. The Yan clan had to move to tamp the rumors down.

Tiansheng Year Eighteen, Mid-Autumn.

The Fourth Prince and Shen Mingyun entered the palace with their child for the family banquet.

By rights, the Eastern Palace couple shouldn’t have crossed paths with them. But that day, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess detoured to admire a few newly transplanted southern lychee trees in the imperial garden and ran straight into the Fourth and Shen Mingyun.

The two households were oil and water by now.

The Crown Princess had a blunt temper; Shen Mingyun could never hold his tongue. The moment they met, barbs flew. Shen Mingyun, full of himself, even swore at her in his hometown dialect. The Crown Princess’s temper ignited; she reached out and yanked his hair.

The Crown Prince tried to pull his wife back; the Fourth thought the prince meant to bully Shen and stepped in to defend his consort. The men started swinging.

“Equality between men and women” was Shen Mingyun’s favorite slogan, and he didn’t show the Crown Princess any mercy—kicking and shoving as needed. She was no match for a man who knew how to brawl; within moments she was shrieking. The scene devolved into chaos until Noble Consort Wei happened by. She watched for a while, apparently entertained, then finally ordered people to separate them.

Within a quarter of an hour the whole palace had heard. It sounded like a farce.

The Mid-Autumn banquet opened under this awkward cloud. The emperor’s face was like thunder; he gave neither side a pleasant look. Afterward, he summoned the Crown Prince and the Fourth to the study and gave them both a blistering dressing-down.

The fury set off a bout of illness, though his months of rustic living had strengthened him, and a few calming pills sufficed. The Crown Prince and the Fourth both put on anxious faces. Whether it was real or not, who could say.

After this, the two households tore the mask off for good. Whenever the Crown Princess and Shen Mingyun crossed paths, they were nearly at each other’s hair again.

The Crown Princess had even considered striking at their child, but the Fourth and Shen guarded him too well. She never got close.

For all his faults, Shen doted on his son. He bought a host of defensive gadgets. Bringing him down through the child would be difficult.

Then, in early tenth month, just when everyone assumed the stalemate would continue, a key figure, one who could topple the Yan clan, arrived in the capital.

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: Beloved, tonight you’re a fox spirit who’s cultivated for a thousand years. I’m the grand exorcist destined to subdue you. You fancy my looks, disguise yourself as a handsome man to seduce me, and plan to spend the night—
Luo Shuyu: The fox succeeds, gets the exorcist drunk, digs out his heart, takes a bite, and says: “Tastes awful.”
Third Prince: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴!!!

PREVIOUS           TOC           NEXT