“Your Imperial Majesty! I want to see Your Imperial Majesty!”
“Lord Cheng, you must realize that this matter has long been settled once and for all by His Majesty.”
“No, I have things to say to His Imperial Majesty. I beg Grand Eunuch Wu to pass on my words.”
The Third Prince of the State of Yue, His Highness the Prince of Xing, or rather, at this moment he was merely a commoner named Zhao Cheng. He knelt beside Grand Eunuch Wu, the Chief of the Directorate of Ceremonies and the emperor’s closest confidant, clutching the eunuch’s sleeve and weeping tears of snot and sorrow. It was a thoroughly miserable sight.
Grand Eunuch Wu did not even spare him a glance from the corner of his eye, flicking his sleeve and sending Zhao Cheng crashing to the ground.
If Lu Huiyi had been here at this moment, she undoubtedly would have shouted aloud: “Serves you right!”
It was the spring of the forty-fourth year of Jianping. In Shouyang, the capital of the State of Yue, the weather had already turned warm, yet Lu Huiyi remained snuggled deep inside the Prince of Xing’s manor.
Everyone else had already changed into light, thin spring garments, leaving only her still wrapped in a heavy, thick fur coat.
By early evening, the sky was gloomy and overcast, and the brazier before her crackled, sending out sparks.
Perhaps due to the sheer physical and mental exhaustion accumulated over the past few years, her health had been failing drastically since the onset of winter last year. Even though she was only twenty-eight years old, she felt a bone-deep chill radiating from within.
She stretched out her hand. The letter in her grasp slipped from her fingers, and the flickering firelight was reflected in her pupils, consuming the paper.
Thirteen years ago, her Second Uncle had been incriminated and put on trial because the Yue River had burst its dike in Ganzhou. At that exact time, her grandfather had retired from office, and her First Uncle had been implicated in a treason case. Back then, she had always assumed it was merely the act of base, opportunistic villains kicking a person while they were down.
That was right. At the time, she hadn’t understood. She had naively thought it was solely the handiwork of Wei Wulang. How could she have known that when she later entered the Prince of Xing’s manor as a concubine and spent a decade stirring up the winds and clouds of the imperial court from behind the scenes, the Ganzhou faction was actually part of the Prince of Xing’s sphere of influence all along? The Prince of Xing had been deeply involved in it.
Back then, the Prince of Xing had wanted to murder the then-Prefect of Ganzhou, and it just so happened that Wei Wulang, the person truly responsible for breaching the dike, belonged to the faction of the Sixth Prince, the Prince of Yu. The two princes had hit it off instantly: one sought to eliminate political rivals, while the other found a convenient scapegoat.
Thinking of how she had entered the manor a decade ago, working conscientiously and diligently to help the Prince of Xing vie for the succession, she wondered if all of this looked like a huge joke in the eyes of the Prince of Xing.
Still, it didn’t really matter. She had merely treated the Third Prince, the Prince of Xing, as a vehicle to seize political power.
What made her even more furious, however, was that this Prince of Xing was simply an utter and absolute fool!
Late last winter, the military situation on the front lines had grown tense. The powerful Northern Chen army was pressing hard at the border, threatening to march directly on the capital, while the Yue army suffered defeat after defeat. At such a critical juncture, the Prince of Xing actually dared to embezzle provisions from the military camp, causing the Yue forces to collapse entirely!
This matter was not exposed until after the New Year, when the Seventh Prince, the Prince of Jing, submitted a thick stack of memorials detailing the Prince of Xing’s wrongdoings, every single one of which was too numerous to record.
His Majesty was furious. First, he placed the Prince of Xing under house arrest within the manor, and then, on this very day, the final judgment fell.
Only after Lu Huiyi personally confirmed that the incriminating letters had been reduced to ashes did she lift her feet and head toward the front courtyard of the Prince of Xing’s manor.
Her close personal servant, Mama Qing, knowing how much her mistress dreaded the cold now, picked up a warmed hand-warmer and handed it to her, then tightly retied the sash of her fur coat.
“You should go find a way out for yourself as well. You don’t need to follow me anymore.”
Mama Qing’s hands froze mid-motion as she tied the sash, standing there at a complete loss.
Lu Huiyi glanced at Mama Qing. She was a person Lu Huiyi had brought with her from the Lu family, and before her marriage, her name had been Wanqing.
Lu Huiyi thought to herself that this name was truly poorly chosen: Wanqing, Wanqing, clear weather arriving far too late. She was truly so cold.
She stepped past Mama Qing and walked out the door.
Cold. It was simply far too cold.
She let out a deep sigh and tucked both hands firmly into her sleeves. Fortunately, she still had the hand-warmer steadily radiating heat into her palms, allowing her to step outside.
The Prince of Xing’s manor had fallen into absolute chaos, with servants fleeing in all directions throughout the estate.
By the time Lu Huiyi reached the front courtyard, Grand Eunuch Wu had already returned to the palace. His personal visit to proclaim the imperial decree was also intended to grant the final shred of dignity to this once dazzlingly prominent prince.
Lu Huiyi stood right at the threshold, watching with a cold, detached gaze as the Prince of Xing and the Princess of Xing sat collapsed on the ground.
Hearing footsteps, Madam He, the Princess of Xing, raised her eyes.
That breathtakingly beautiful woman, the woman who always haunted her nightmares in the dead of night and made her heart pound with dread, was standing right outside the door now, wrapped in an aura of bitter cold.
The weather had clearly already grown warm, yet she was still wearing a heavy winter fur coat. What a truly eccentric woman.
With her back to the light, all expression on her face was obscured by the dim shadows.
Yet, based on the Princess of Xing’s understanding of her, no expression would ever grace that beautiful visage. She had always stood there with a cold indifference that invariably made the Princess of Xing feel as though she were being mocked.
Just like right now: even though she couldn’t clearly see Lu Huiyi’s face, she distinctly felt that the other woman was laughing at her.
Lu Huiyi spoke up, asking, “Where is His Majesty’s imperial decree? What does it say?”
No one inside the room bothered to answer her, nor did she care.
Lu Huiyi finally lifted her foot, crossed the threshold, and walked into the room. She had already spotted the bright yellow fabric clutched tightly in the hands of the Prince of Xing, who sat collapsed on the floor in utter silence.
“The third imperial son, Cheng, has constantly treaded upon perversity, held benevolence and righteousness in contempt, and alienated upright men while cozying up to base flatterers. There is no evil he has not committed, no virtue he has not turned his back on. His indulgence in wine and women has reached the depths of depravity, and his passion for extravagant architecture and luxury knows no bounds. The arts of actors and musicians played day and night without rest; the amusements of dogs and horses pursued without restraint. Wealth and silk scattered among villains, whippings and beatings inflicted upon servants and concubines. His offenses and transgressions accumulate day by day and month by month. This is the decree on stripping the third imperial son, Cheng, of his rank and reducing him to a commoner.”
Scanning the text swiftly, Lu Huiyi saw at the very end that Zhao Cheng was demoted to a commoner and banished to guard the imperial tombs on the outskirts of the capital.
With a sense of deep regret, Lu Huiyi let out a long sigh in her heart, knowing full well that Zhao Cheng would never get the chance to guard the imperial tombs.
“Earlier this year, at such a crucial moment, Your Highness, ah no, I should call you Lord Zhao. Lord Zhao actually had the audacity to embezzle military rations. Such conduct has truly opened this concubine’s eyes. Today, Lord Zhao has even managed to receive such a grand imperial decree from His Majesty, which has also allowed this concubine to fully understand the true meaning of the imperial bloodline.”
Lu Huiyi smiled faintly at Zhao Cheng, her tone leisurely and dripping with extreme mockery.
Zhao Cheng had long since detested this attitude of hers, and knowing things couldn’t possibly get any worse, he abruptly scrambled to his feet, pointed at Lu Huiyi, and cursed furiously.
“What kind of thing do you think you are! Back then, if I hadn’t shown mercy and allowed you to enter the manor as a concubine, did you really think you’d have today? You probably would have been casually married off to some old codger as a second wife long ago!”
“The Prince of Xing was merely moved by beauty; there is no need to make yourself sound so important. Besides, if I hadn’t misjudged people ten years ago and entered this Prince of Xing’s manor, I’m afraid that you, the dignified Prince of Xing, would have long since died without a whole corpse amid the capital’s various upheavals.”
Lu Huiyi replied with a gentle smile.
Her slender, delicate fingers pointed at Zhao Cheng and Madam He: “What a pair of fools. Truly a match made in heaven.”
Madam He grew frantic with rage and snapped, “Impudent! Who gave you permission to speak to the Prince and Princess like that? All these years, I can honestly say I have not treated you poorly. Your food and clothing matched my own, and everyone in the manor respectfully addressed you as ‘Imperial Concubine Lu.’ Yet you are a greedy wretch who always tries to claim all the credit for work done for the Prince.”
Whether it was imperial princes, commandery princes, or other royal lords in the State of Yue, none of them had an official system for secondary consorts. From beginning to end, Lu Huiyi had only ever been a concubine to the Prince of Xing. However, because she functioned as the chief strategist under the Prince’s command and held a special status, everyone respectfully honored her with the title of “Imperial Concubine.”
“You still refuse to believe it when I call you a fool. His Majesty has already issued his decree: from this day forward, there is no longer any Prince of Xing. Where on earth are you finding a Prince and Princess here now? Furthermore, I possess talent and intellect. Even if my provisions and privileges surpassed yours, Madam He, what could you possibly have done about it? Weren’t you losing sleep night after night, worrying that I would snatch away your position as the primary princess consort? Well, you can rest easy now. If the Prince had ascended the throne previously, I naturally would have bestowed upon you the posthumous title of Primary Empress; but now that the game is completely lost, I can only have all of you accompany me to the grave as burial sacrifices.”
Madam He burst into bitter laughter. “You’ve always looked down on the Prince and me as dull-witted, but just how smart are you, really? The abortion medicine I personally had administered to you, the one that ensured you could never bear children again, didn’t you remain completely oblivious to it all? And yet you still worked yourself to the bone making wedding clothes for me.”
The hand-warmer pressed tightly against her lower abdomen, holding back the chill settling there. Counting on her fingers, she realized she had already been in the Prince of Xing’s manor for a full ten years. Ever since her miscarriage eight years ago, she had never been able to conceive again.
Later, she naturally came to know that it was Madam He who had poisoned her, and she also knew that the Prince of Xing harbored deep suspicions of her.
So what if she knew? Time could not be reversed, and she could never bear children again.
Yet hearing Madam He admit it with her own lips today still sent a surge of raging fire straight to Lu Huiyi’s heart, despite already knowing the truth.
Lu Huiyi grabbed Madam He by the collar. With two sharp slaps, smack and smack, Madam He’s meticulously pampered cheeks instantly swelled high.
Madam He opened her mouth, the burning pain on her face rendering her speechless.
Still unsatisfied, Lu Huiyi delivered a couple of kicks to Zhao Cheng standing beside her.
Even though she was currently ill and reluctant to exert herself, beating these two decadent, good-for-nothing former royals posed no problem at all.
For that, she really had to thank those three years of observing mourning in her old hometown of Tancheng before her marriage, where she had to endure every kind of hard labor and bitter toil, forcefully transforming a pampered young lady of a wealthy family into a rugged countrywoman.
“One harmed the Lu family, and the other harmed me, Lu Huiyi. Did you two really think I was someone to be trifled with?
“And as if that weren’t enough, you bunch of fools spent every day trying to be clever. My great lifelong ambition! It was all ruined by you people!”
Lu Huiyi shouted with a ferocious expression.
Seeing Zhao Cheng and Madam He trying to struggle to their feet, only to find themselves unable to even utter a sound, she threw her head back and laughed heartily toward the heavens.
“Heavens, I am taking all these wicked people off your hands. Zhao Cheng, Madam He, considering that we are about to meet underground in just a moment, I’ll kindly let you in on a secret: I personally poisoned the water today. Not a single master or servant in the Prince of Xing’s manor will survive past tonight.”
Just as her voice trailed off, Madam He clutched at her own throat and rapidly drew her last breath.
Zhao Cheng’s eyes widened. His fingertips trembled as he tried to point at Lu Huiyi, but he lacked even the strength to lift his hand.
As Zhao Cheng’s hand dropped limply to the ground, he followed closely behind Madam He and expired.
Lu Huiyi tossed aside her hand-warmer and staggered out of the front courtyard.
The sky had grown pitch black. Lu Huiyi walked through the Prince of Xing’s manor holding a torch, surrounded everywhere by corpses lying horizontally and vertically from the poison.
Passing by Mama Qing’s lifeless body, Lu Huiyi ruthlessly ignited the garments on the corpse.
A creature who merely knew how to sway with the wind, selling out her mistress for nothing more than a few hairpins and trinkets from Madam He.
Lu Huiyi’s thoughts wandered chaotically as she poured oil with one hand and set fires with the other.
Hot, it was so hot.
The raging inferno blazed upward, burning away the lingering chill deep within Lu Huiyi’s bones.
By the time someone finally discovered the bodies at the entrance of the Prince of Xing’s manor, the flames within the estate had already begun to catch. The fiery tongues quickly surged higher, licking the eaves and rapidly consuming the overlapping tiers of buildings.
Lu Huiyi sat all alone inside her room. She had spent ten years here, her hands stained with countless sins. Today, let this roaring fire reduce all her past deeds to nothingness.
If there is an afterlife, perhaps it’s better not to have one. A person like her would likely be sent to hell to suffer every imaginable torment before being cast into the path of beasts in reincarnation.
Uncertain whether it was because she had finally let go of everything, she felt an incomparable sense of relief in her heart.
Yet, had she already crossed over into the netherworld, or was she simply hallucinating?
There seemed to be someone outside the door, calling out her name, rushing directly into the raging fire to search for her.
Was it a messenger of the netherworld, or an old face from the mortal realm?