Watching his son’s classmate, Prince Cining was quite impressed by this young man who remained calm in crisis and acted with resourcefulness. At present, he urgently needed fresh talent in court, and since the fourth son of the Cheng family was about to sit for the imperial examinations and enter officialdom, only by gathering capable men could his grand enterprise be secured.
Thus, Prince Cining spoke kindly, rewarded him, and carefully instructed him to keep a close watch on the matters ahead.
Taking the opportunity, Cheng Tianfu casually mentioned the strange affair of his cousin Sheng Xiangqiao secretly consorting with men behind her family’s back and her governess’s supervision. He revealed that her outings had all been at the invitation of Tian Peirong, the legitimate daughter of the Tian family, implicating them deeply.
The Tian family was the Empress’s natal clan, wielding great power in court and beyond. Even Prince Cining had to give them some deference. Back when the Empress was still a concubine, she had vied for favor and treated Prince Cining’s mother with hostility, even plotting against her several times. Now she could not bear to see Prince Cining replace her own frail and sickly son as the Son of Heaven.
Prince Cining, sharp-minded as a royal, immediately grasped the meaning behind Cheng Tianfu’s veiled words. No wonder the Empress was so eager to summon Sheng Xiangqiao—she intended to drag his princely household into the mud, never to rise again!
After submitting a memorial against the Tian family, Cheng Tianfu took his leave from the lodge.
Tian Peirong’s malice was unforgivable—she had nearly caused his mother to be repudiated. Though Sheng Guiniang was unaware of his father’s schemes, Cheng Tianfu would not let that woman off lightly, and he was determined to sever his father’s infatuation.
At the lodge gate, Prince Cining’s heir, Jin Lianyuan, stood facing the wind, looking somewhat melancholy.
Seeing Cheng Tianfu approach, he suddenly struck fiercely at his stomach, but Cheng Tianfu easily deflected the blow with a skillful maneuver.
Cheng Tianfu stepped back a few paces and bowed: “Your Lordship’s martial skills grow ever more formidable—this humble one truly cannot withstand them…”
The young heir spat to the side: “Fourth Brother, stop pretending. Who in the capital doesn’t know you once knocked me and two other heirs into the palace pond? If not for my imperial grandfather’s leniency, your head would’ve been on the city wall when you were six! And that Sheng family is outrageous! Your cousin may have been found, but she’s certainly lost her chastity. How the hell am I supposed to stomach that?”
Though nominally studying with his peers, the heir had secretly apprenticed to martial masters through Cheng Tianfu’s connections, picking up the slang of the jianghu and cursing freely before his childhood companions. He did not know that the returned Sheng Xiangqiao was an imposter. He simply believed her to be wanton and unworthy. Yet his father, eager to please the Emperor, forced him to marry this “worn shoe” to delight the sovereign.
The heir had never cared much for marriage. Apart from seeing Sheng Xiangqiao a few times in childhood, he had hardly met her since. To the seventeen-year-old heir, she was only remembered as a spoiled, domineering girl. Now, with the scandal of elopement added, his fury had been simmering ever since her return.
Glancing at the servants standing nearby, Cheng Tianfu calmly consoled him: “Those who achieve greatness must not be bound by trifles. In ancient times, the Buddha offered his body to feed a tiger; today, Your Lordship sacrifices chastity to attain Buddhahood. This marriage concerns the fortunes of the Sheng, Cheng, and princely households alike. Allow me to thank Your Lordship for your noble sacrifice…”
Such solemn nonsense amused the heir: “My chastity was already given to a palace maid! I’m far from becoming a Buddha. But don’t worry—I know what’s at stake. If her disgrace spreads, I’ll lose face too. I’ll treat it like filth in the bed—just cover it up tight!”
Lowering his gaze, Cheng Tianfu understood why Prince Cining had ordered him not to reveal Sheng Xiangqiao’s imposture. The heir was too outspoken; if he learned he was to wed not only a fallen woman but a rustic village girl, a fool’s child bride, he would surely cause an uproar.
Cheng Tianfu had intended to consult his uncle, perhaps letting the little village girl serve as a stand-in in public. If Sheng Xiangqiao could not be found, then once the scandal of her elopement was buried, they could announce her death from illness. At that time, the girl would be given some money, and the matter would be settled.
But now that Prince Cining had learned of this matter, he actually began to consider having the heir marry the false Xiangqiao. The little girl was being fetched by men sent from the prince’s household, and they should be arriving in the capital soon.
Far away in Jiancheng, the child bride had no idea that her fate had already been arranged by nobles long before.
On the fourth day of Wang Qiao’s service as a helper, the steward suddenly summoned her. He said the old estate still lacked a rough servant girl, and since he’d heard her family had a child bride, she might as well be brought to help. Her monthly pay would match Wang Qiao’s wages.
Wang Qiao’s eyes lit up at once! That meant two taels of silver each month. Such a good thing could not be missed, and she agreed repeatedly. The next day, she brought the girl to the Cheng family’s old estate.
The steward then assigned her to work inside the inner residence.
Half a day later, terrible news spread: while feeding coal into the great alchemy furnace of the inner estate, the little girl slipped and fell into the fire. By the time she was found, she was nothing but charred remains.
Wang Qiao wailed loudly, demanding that the Cheng family pay for the life lost.
Since the Prince’s men had secretly arranged the matter, the steward himself did not know the strange circumstances of the girl’s death. He only felt that a fatal accident in the Cheng household left him unable to shirk responsibility. To protect the family’s reputation, he first compensated Wang Qiao with fifty taels of silver. Later, it was said that the young master sent word by carrier pigeon, adding another hundred taels.
Such a sum could buy land and houses and marry off ten daughters-in-law for her son!
Yet Wang Qiao was still unsatisfied. Seeing how easily the steward gave in, she resolved to cry and make a scene again to demand more silver.
So she brought her husband and foolish son, rolling on the ground before the Cheng estate gate beside the charred corpse on a stretcher. Just then, a carriage stopped, and several unfamiliar men stepped down, coldly watching the commotion before entering the estate to ask the steward what was happening.
Recognizing them as men from Prince Cining’s household, the steward could only smile bitterly: “They are the in-laws of the deceased…”
The newcomers snorted and ordered: “By the Prince’s command, this matter is not for the Cheng household to meddle in. Mind your own duties.”
After Wang Qiao’s crying brought no further response from the Cheng family, she had no choice but to take the blackened corpse home. Wrapped in a reed mat, it was thrown into a mass grave.
Unfortunately, word of her sudden windfall spread quickly. Within days, thieves came at night.
The neighbors all heard the noise.
Had it been another family, the neighbors would have beaten drums, carried axes, and rushed to help drive off the robbers.
But Wang Qiao’s sharp tongue had offended everyone, and her profit from her daughter-in-law’s death had stirred envy. When disaster struck, the villagers simply guarded their own doors, watching the spectacle from behind walls.
It was said that more than ten masked men slaughtered the entire Xue Sheng household, then set fire to the house and left.
When the case reached the county office, only a few men were sent to go through the motions, and it was left unresolved.
From then on, the villagers sighed over the Xue family tragedy for a while, but gradually forgot it. As for the nameless little child bride, she was even more quickly cast from memory.
None of them could have imagined that the girl who should have been burned to ashes was, at that very moment, already on a carriage bound for the capital.
Back at the Cheng ancestral shrine, the girl had been plotting her own escape. When she entered the courtyard, she noticed that craftsmen often passed through the side gate of the outer yard. If she found the right chance, she could slip onto one of the carts carrying timber outside.
In recent days, while digging wild vegetables, she also gathered herbs. Her late father had taught her medical texts, so she recognized the common plants well. She sold them at the village herbal shop for a few coins, and the kindly old woman who bought them promised not to tell Wang Qiao.
Though the money was little, it was enough for emergencies. She planned to disguise herself as a beggar and somehow make her way south to her grandmother’s home in Lingnan. The road ahead was uncertain, and for a girl her age, there seemed no dawn in sight. Yet she felt no fear. After her father’s murder and being sold off by villains, any hardship was just another louse on a filthy garment—hardly worth counting.
As she chopped firewood and brooded over her thoughts, suddenly a damp cloth pressed over her mouth and nose. Her head spun, and she lost consciousness. When she awoke again, she was in a jolting carriage. The interior was lined with green silk—not luxurious, but far beyond what ordinary households would use.
She now wore a clean pale gown. Opposite her sat a stern-faced matron with a meek little maid at her side.
Seeing the girl awake, the matron wasted no words: “Congratulations, miss. Fortune has come to you. Because your looks resemble a young lady of our household, and since our lady has sadly passed away, the old madam—who adored her—must not be told of her death, lest her health suffer. So the family devised a plan: you will take her place, to comfort the old madam. Consider it a good deed.”
This matron was Nanny Zhao, the tutor-maid of the prince’s residence, sent by Prince Cining to guard the false heiress and prevent mistakes.
Of course, the deeper schemes between the prince’s household and the Sheng family were not for a rustic girl to know. She was simply told she was to please the Sheng family’s grandmother.
The girl frowned slightly and asked hesitantly: “The Sheng family in the capital? Which daughter of the Sheng family?”
Nanny Zhao thought the question foolish, as if the girl knew the Sheng daughters, but answered curtly: “The legitimate daughter, Sheng Xiangqiao.”
The girl blinked, silent for a while, then asked: “And… my in-laws agreed to this?”
Nanny Zhao sneered: “Naturally. Just follow us in peace.”
Thinking of the greedy Xue family, Nanny Zhao smirked inwardly. Fortunately, Prince Cining had been thorough, fearing that Cheng Tianfu was too young and soft-hearted, so he sent trusted men from the princely household as well.
The Xue family had been no easy lot, but to prevent future trouble, the Prince’s men had already wiped them out. Now it only remained to see if this girl would obey. If she proved uncooperative, she would be harshly disciplined.