Rumors grew wings, traveling along trade routes and canal lines at ten times the speed of official dispatches, flying straight toward the capital of Great Zhou, Yong’an City.
The Great Zhou dynasty stood at the height of its power.
More than half of this vast empire had been conquered by the current emperor’s elder brother, Zhao Chengze, revered as the Martial Prince.
While the late emperor still lived, Zhao Chengze had already commanded all the armies under heaven, his prestige unmatched. When the throne was passed down, he rightfully ascended, and all under heaven submitted.
Yet the temperament of this Martial Prince… was difficult to describe.
He loved martial pursuits, but had little patience for governance. Facing mountains of memorials gave him more of a headache than facing a million enemy troops.
Thus, on the twenty-ninth day after his ascension, he did something unprecedented in history. With a flick of his imperial robe, he issued an abdication edict and handed the throne to his younger full brother, Zhao Chengqian.
Zhao Chengqian, the current emperor, was the complete opposite of his elder brother.
He was always refined and gentle, a true gentleman, gifted in literary talent and effortlessly adept at state affairs.
Most remarkable of all, he had been raised by Zhao Chengze since childhood and held a deep, unwavering respect for him. His only condition upon ascending the throne was that his elder brother must not leave the capital. He had to remain in Yong’an City, residing next door in the Yong’an Prince’s residence, honored as a retired emperor and supported by the entire realm.
Such brotherly harmony brought unprecedented stability to the court of Great Zhou.
But precisely because everything was so stable, the nobles of the capital, with little to occupy them, took the greatest pleasure in gossip.
When the nursery rhyme from Leping County drifted into Yong’an City, it detonated like a massive joke in these deep, still waters.
The Wang family, a Third-Rank Censor’s household, was considered respectable in the capital.
“Have you heard? That legitimate son of Censor Wang, Wang Ping!”
“Which Wang Ping?”
“Who else could it be? The one past thirty who still hasn’t married, yet keeps eight concubines!”
“Oh, him! What happened to his family?”
“Hah! Turns out he’s incapable! Those eight concubines are just for show, experimental fields! Eight attempts, and not a single sprout!”
“My heavens! That’s a scandal of the highest order!”
“Exactly! The Wang family has lost all face! No wonder they didn’t dare arrange a marriage in the capital and instead went all the way to Leping County, coercing a Seventh-Rank magistrate into selling his daughter!”
“Tsk tsk, trying to find a scapegoat, but they ran into a resolute girl who would rather hang herself than marry, tearing the veil right off!”
Censor Wang was so enraged he coughed up blood on the spot and failed to attend court for three days. The Wang residence shut its gates tightly, becoming the laughingstock of the entire capital.
Meanwhile, the instigator of this storm, Xie Qingyan, lay quietly in the woodshed, sipping the thin porridge Chun Cao had secretly brought her.
This was exactly the outcome she wanted.
She did not need to prove her innocence, she only needed to make the Wang family filthier and more disgraced than herself.
Harm the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred?
No!
When Xie Qingyan did business, she always traded a single coin for her opponent’s total ruin.
Her reputation was now in tatters, but the story of her fierce resistance and attempted suicide had also spread. Between a man who was incapable and a legitimate daughter forced to the brink of death, the world would naturally sympathize with her.
The marriage had already been called off the moment the Wang family became a joke in the capital.
Yong’an Prince’s Residence.
Unlike the solemn grandeur of the imperial palace, this place was exquisitely luxurious, even carrying a faint air of languid decadence.
It was late autumn, and the lotus pond was filled with withered leaves.
A man dressed in dark robes patterned with cloud motifs leaned lazily against the railing of a waterside pavilion, holding a purple bamboo fishing rod.
He appeared to be around thirty, his features strikingly handsome, sharp brows slanting into his temples and long, narrow phoenix eyes.
Yet those eyes, which should have been keen and piercing, were now half-lidded, carrying a weary indifference toward everything in the world.
He was the legend of Great Zhou, the Martial Prince who had abdicated, Zhao Chengze.
Only he knew that within this powerful and noble body resided an old soul from another world.
He had once been a business tycoon in that other world. After losing his wife in middle age, he never remarried, pouring all his energy into his career. He had never known defeat until he met that woman, Xie Qingyin.
For the first and only time in his life, he lost to her.
That woman had been calm, intelligent, and resilient, like an iron rose blooming in a snowstorm.
He was drawn to her, using every means in the latter half of his life to pursue her, only to receive her formulaic response: “Chairman Zhou, please conduct yourself with propriety.”
He watched her remain unmarried all her life, watched her grow old with dignity. He thought that was the end, but when he himself passed away, that lingering obsession followed him into this new world.
He became the Martial Prince, but what of it?
Without that rival, without the figure he had chased his entire life, this overwhelming power and prosperous empire were nothing but… dull.
The servants of the residence had recently noticed something strange about their prince.
The Martial Prince of old, though he did not attend court, would rise at dawn and practice martial skills tirelessly. But lately, he had become detached and restrained, spending entire days sitting with a fishing rod in hand.
And he often murmured a name.
“Xie…”
The sound was soft, like a sigh, tinged with helpless fondness.
In his previous life, he had pursued her for thirty years, often joking, “Chairman Xie, have mercy, how can I live without you,” only to be met with her cold glare.
The servants speculated endlessly. Who was “Xie”? A young lady from some family, or perhaps a past confidante?
Yet no matter how they pondered, they could not find an answer.
On this day, Zhao Chengze was once again sitting by the pond.
In truth, he was utterly bored. This world was too simple, there was no stock market, no mergers, no woman who could make him focus with all his might.
“Steward,” he called lazily, summoning the chief manager of the residence.
“Your Highness.”
“Anything interesting in the capital lately? Tell me something to pass the time.”
The steward bowed with a smile. “There is indeed an amusing matter, Your Highness, it concerns Censor Wang’s family.”
“The Wang family? Which one?” Zhao Chengze did not even open his eyes.
“The one with eight concubines, Wang Ping.”
Suppressing a laugh, the steward vividly recounted the nursery rhyme from Leping County, the Wang family’s predicament, and Magistrate Xie’s actions, presenting it all as an entertaining tale.
As Zhao Chengze listened, he finally showed a hint of interest, his phoenix eyes opening slightly.
“Heh, eight?” he chuckled, a trace of a businessman’s shrewdness in his tone. “That’s poor cost control. The efficiency is far too low.”
“Exactly. Now the entire capital is mocking the Wang family as testing medicine in all directions, only to end up with a barren line.”
Zhao Chengze laughed, shaking his head. “The people of the capital really do have sharp tongues.”
Just as he was laughing, the steward added, “But Your Highness, the most impressive part is not the nursery rhyme.”
“Oh?”
“It’s the timing behind it,” the steward analyzed astutely. “The rumor did not break early or late, but precisely on the day Miss Xie attempted to hang herself and was just rescued.”
“And it didn’t start in the capital. It began in a small place like Leping County, spreading overnight through the streets in the form of a nursery rhyme, tying together Magistrate Xie’s act of selling his daughter for advancement with the Wang family’s incapacity.”
“By the time the Wang family reacted and tried to silence Leping County, the news had already spread along the canals, sweeping across Jiangnan and charging straight into the capital.”
The steward sighed in admiration. “This method cuts the firewood from beneath the cauldron, a single strike to kill. It leaves the Wang family no chance to defend themselves. Think about it, do they admit it or deny it? Admit it, and their line is finished. Deny it? Then what about the eight concubines? This is an open scheme!”
“This method…” The steward was about to call it ruthless—
But he could not finish.
Because his prince’s laughter stopped abruptly.