ITVCFITB CHAPTER 78

Chapter 78 – Bolt from the Blue

A royal consort eloping? It sounded like a joke, an outrageous one.

The matter could be spun small or explode big; either way, it stained the royal house.

Luo Shuyu wasn’t worried. News reached Gucheng within half a month, urgent, yes, but the Fourth Prince would smother it. This was his critical window; he wouldn’t allow a scandal to stick.

The Fourth moved fast. Publicly, he claimed his consort was abducted in the street. In truth, Shen Mingyun had left the capital with Hachi. Where to? Even he didn’t know.

At this point Shen wasn’t merely “lacking propriety.” He’d abandoned the most basic rule of being someone’s spouse.

The Fourth could have split him in two. Three years married and not a thimbleful of home sense. There was a newborn, for heaven’s sake.

Anger or not, he still had to send men to find him.

Shen, in his infinite earnestness, had even left a note: he disliked being caged in the inner court; the world was vast and he wished to see it; he would go trade jade with Hachi and amass wealth for their son’s future empire.

It's touching, if you were a brainless NPC in his game.

Had the Fourth been a love-addled fool, he might have wept. He wasn’t. He saw Shen clearly: a man who put himself first, feelings second, and others never.

Go see the world, after the enthronement, after your usefulness ends. For now: nowhere.

The Fourth’s eyes and ears webbed the capital. An outsider like Hachi had a limited range; foreign face, foreign tongue, easy to remember. Shen was sloppy; a trail would exist.

As for the “anomaly” around Shen after years together, the Fourth had noticed. Shen never used that thing against him; with a child between them and affection not entirely dead, he chose not to fear the unknown. If it meant him harm, he’d be bones by now.

One thing, though, curdled him: Shen loved rescuing stray men, gods-favored looks, carved-from-wood bodies, and playing sworn-brother with them. Was his brain waterlogged?

If he brought Shen back this time, he wouldn’t touch him. Who knew what they’d done on the road. Vile thought.

Thankfully, there was still the son.

Holding the baby, the Fourth felt, absurdly, like a spurned wife left at home while a faithless husband roamed. He almost laughed.

One day, Shen would regret this.

Everyone wants to see the world, but you need the power and timing to do it. Ignore consequences, and consequences will crush you.

Even so, the Fourth underestimated both Shen’s feral streak and the Ghost-Yan prince’s reach in the capital. He turned the city upside down and still couldn’t find them. His search was loud; within three days the whole metropolis knew the Fourth Prince’s consort had been “abducted.” But unlike the Third Prince’s famous daylight rescue, seen by all and sung by storytellers, no one had witnessed Shen’s supposed capture. Witnesses, instead, swore they’d seen the consort enter an inn with a stranger. The tale even had details.

Abducted? More like eloped.

The Fourth could only swallow blood with his teeth. Each near-true rumor made him want to strangle Shen and bury the humiliation. What a disgrace to marry.

—

While the capital flailed, Luo Shuyu and Li Mingjin ordered all new arrivals into the border towns watched.

Mingjin’s network now ran beyond Gucheng; three neighboring cities were tied by shared harvests, profits, and policies that served the people.

If Shen and Hachi wanted out of the realm, odds were they’d come through this border.

They couldn’t know what disguises the pair would use; they simply told their people to look harder.

Shuyu alone knew it might be pointless. Shen’s system could exchange a face-changing mask; he could stroll past a guard. This interception would likely fail.

But plans meet weather. Calculations lose to chance.

They forgot to calculate luck.

It was a clear, breezy day, good for going out. Mingjin took Shuyu to a famed mutton-vermicelli shop he’d been meaning to try.

“The offal soup’s good, want a sip?”

“Order one. I’ll try two spoonfuls,” Shuyu said. He rarely ate offal; Mingjin ate everything and was happiest with meat every meal. Shuyu kept him balanced.

They slurped and chatted.

“That storyteller you mentioned with tales of the sea, shall we go later?” Shuyu asked.

“Let’s. He does deserts too,” Mingjin grinned.

A voice cut in from the door. “Your Highness is the model of a good man.”

Lin Haiming, off duty, strode in and dropped into the seat beside Mingjin like he owned it, pouring himself tea.

“Out,” Mingjin grouched. “Don’t spoil our noodles.”

Lin flashed Shuyu a smile. “Don’t, Your Highness. It’s rare I see Sister-in-law; let me pay respects.”

“Every time you show, it’s trouble,” Mingjin said. “Want him to scout another ‘perfect gentleman’ for you?”

Shuyu laughed. “The general’s unwed. A little urgency is natural.”

After one notorious “prospect” turned out to be a spoiled, sedentary gourmand whose “four arts” were all fatherly fiction, Lin had nearly sworn off marriage altogether.

“Not here for that,” Lin said. “Almost forgot the real news.”

“Can’t it wait till we finish?” Mingjin sighed.

“My sister-in-law doesn’t mind. What’s your problem?”

Years in Gucheng had fused their friendship. Those who truly knew Mingjin didn’t fear him; they trusted his spine on the field and his fairness off it. People followed him because he also had their backs.

“Spit it out,” Mingjin said.

“I nabbed two at an inn,” Lin said, lowering his voice. “Tried to leave without paying. Guess who.”

“What?” Shuyu asked, indulging him.

“They claimed to be jade traders. Purse ‘stolen,’ no coin for the bill; nearly hauled off by constables. But they were… off. The short ‘man’ has skin like a pampered youth—clearly a son, not a lad. The other isn’t one of us, accent smells of Ghost-Yan. Sounds an awful lot like the pair you had us looking for.”

Shuyu’s interest sharpened. “Where are they now? Names?”

“Haven’t pressed them yet.”

Shuyu glanced at Mingjin. “Shall we take a look?” What if it was Shen?

It seemed too easy.

It was exactly that easy.

They followed Lin to a guardroom and there was Shen Mingyun.

Years hadn’t refined him; before Shuyu even crossed the threshold, Shen’s voice was filling the room with oaths that would shame a dockhand. For someone who’d lived royal for years, he sounded like a market shrew. Eye-opening, really. The Fourth’s taste was… robust.

Spotting Shuyu, Shen cut off mid-curse. After a long beat: “Cousin Shuyu?”

Mingjin ignored Shen’s theatrics and looked to the other prisoner, the calm man sitting to one side.

“Hachi,” Mingjin said. “Didn’t expect to meet here.”

They’d crossed weapons before; he knew the face. Lin had never seen the prince plainly.

Hachi lifted a thumb. “Third Prince. Good to see you, good to see you.”

“Untie him,” Mingjin told Lin. “He’s an important guest now.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Hachi drawled.

Shen blinked. “What do you mean, ‘prince’?”

“He’s a Ghost-Yan prince,” Shuyu said. “You ran off to the border and didn’t know?” At this point he didn’t know if Shen was dim or willful. Either way, not worth explaining the obvious.

Hachi hadn’t gotten his deal in the capital and had used the fool who saved him as a ready-made hostage. Voluntary, even.

Defeated by Mingjin in the field didn’t make Hachi brainless. He simply lacked battle seasoning. In palace games, he was slick. If he’d reached the steppe with Shen, he could have leveraged him into a crown and then bartered with the Fourth to seize Great Xia. That was the book’s track.

But now both sat in Mingjin and Shuyu’s hands. No leaving the realm. Shen’s “see the world” dream ended here.

They dispatched a fast rider to the capital: We’ve intercepted them. Shen is safe and in our custody.

Shen stared, stunned. So he had “saved” an enemy prince?

Wasn’t he a jade merchant?

Settled in a guest room, Shen immediately pinged his system. How could an enemy prince be my business partner?

The system wanted to explain, but the data web was too heavy; better to go silent than crash. Its host was truly dense, more than a month and the pattern still hadn’t clicked. The mission had been to connect the prince and the Fourth, with “jade” merely a pretext.

Going in circles, Shen gave up and went to find Shuyu.

They hadn’t seen each other since Shuyu entered the Third Prince’s household. Shen had never bothered to inquire after him; their relationship had always been poor. Shuyu, on the other hand, knew Shen’s every capital antic.

Shen barged in without courtesy, addressing him like a country cousin. “Cousin Shuyu, why is your place in Gucheng so small?”

“Address me as ‘Third Prince Consort,’” Shuyu said mildly. They were not the same kind of people.

“Fine,” Shen said, swallowing it.

“What do you want? If you need something, tell the steward,” Shuyu said.

“That’s not it. I just... Is Hachi really a prince?”

Shuyu’s smile was cool. “Thinking of remarrying him?”

Shen flushed. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Shuyu knew he despised “ancient rules,” but someone had to say it: this wasn’t a world where you could do as you pleased.

“You married the Fourth Prince. Observing rites isn’t optional. Sneaking off with a stranger to an enemy land, who knows what happened on the road? Your reputation is gone. How will your child hold up his head?”

Color rose and fell in Shen’s face. Shuyu wasn’t sniping; he was laying out the consequences, exactly the condemnations waiting the moment Shen stepped outside.

He had traveled with Hachi for over a month.

Shen’s pride wouldn’t let him admit fault. “The innocent remain innocent. I’ve nothing to fear.”

“Whether you fear is none of my affair,” Shuyu said, turning his teacup. “But since you asked about Hachi, I’ll tell you.”

Shen suddenly wanted to hear nothing more about Hachi. In Shuyu’s eyes, he was the cheating husband who refused to repent.

“I didn’t do anything,” he muttered.

“Hachi is a Ghost-Yan prince,” Shuyu said lightly. “He’ll have a chance at the throne. If you did remarry, you might even be queen there.”

Even Shen understood the barb. He had no retort.

Shuyu spelled out, point by point, the costs of Shen’s choices. Stung, Shen stomped back to his courtyard. After dinner, rage and shame churned together and he fainted.

Shuyu sent for a physician at once.

After the examination, the doctor delivered a thunderclap.

For Shen Mingyun, it was nothing short of a bolt from the blue.

He was pregnant. Again.

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: Wife, still interstellar campus!
Luo Shuyu: Sure.
Third Prince: I’m an A, you’re an O. You’re my fiancé. We attend the same high school. You’re mad for me; this time you’re perfectly healthy, no terminal illness!
Luo Shuyu: And then?
Third Prince: To get my attention, you force a cohabitation. You force yourself into my bed.
Luo Shuyu: To avoid me, you refuse me entry. I scale your balcony. Slip. Fall from the 23rd floor. Splat.
Third Prince: …

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