The smile on Shen Lingshu’s face instantly vanished. Her heart turned cold, and she said angrily:
“Back then, you went to great lengths to curry favor with me, fawning over me at every turn and offering your granddaughter to my son in marriage, all so you could climb onto my coattails. Now that we’ve fallen on hard times, you’re actually kicking us when we’re down? You’ve turned on us faster than a page can be flipped. Aren’t you utterly shameless?”
“Shameless?” Zhu Bingcheng said smugly, without a trace of guilt or shame. “That’s called knowing which way the wind blows!”
“You think you’re a hero? You’re nothing but an ungrateful wretch!” Shen Lingshu’s eyes blazed. “Don’t forget: back then, you were so afraid of death that you delayed the battle and nearly got yourself executed by His Majesty. I pleaded for mercy on your behalf, and that’s what saved your life and official position. And now you repay my kindness with enmity?”
That was Zhu Bingcheng’s most shameful experience, and it was taboo for him. He never allowed anyone to bring it up.
Now Shen Lingshu had actually brought it up in public. Instantly, he flew into a rage and roared:
“I never asked you to save me. You were meddling on your own! Besides, even without you pleading for me, His Majesty wouldn’t have killed me. He was just trying to scare me, and you’re taking credit for it. Have you no shame?”
“You! How dare you distort the truth? Shameless!”
“Old hag, shut up!” Zhu Qingyuan joined the fray in a shrill voice. With one hand on her hip, she pointed at Shen Lingshu. “Don’t forget, you’ve already been deposed. Do you still think you’re the lofty Empress?”
“Oh, right. I heard His Majesty summoned you and that trash Chu Feng back to the capital city from your place of confinement this time to use his heart’s blood as medicine. He’s as good as dead, and you’ll have to bury your own son. Hehehe.”
Amid her laughter, Zhu Qingyuan continued, “So, old hag, I advise you to buy a good plot of land for his grave soon. Once that trash Chu Feng dies, hurry up and prepare his body for burial. The weather’s hot; if he starts to stink, it’ll turn everyone’s stomach!”
Chu Feng was furious. Pointing at Zhu Qingyuan, he said, “You vicious woman, how can you be so malicious? Don’t forget, you’re still my wife, and she’s your mother-in-law. How dare you openly insult your own mother-in-law and humiliate your husband? You shameless slut, raised by a mother but never taught by one!”
“How dare you!” Zhu Bingcheng roared, springing to his feet and gripping the hilt of his saber. “You dare insult my granddaughter? Do you think I wouldn’t start a fight with you?”
“Come on, then! You shameless ungrateful wretch! If you don’t dare fight, you’re a coward!”
Chu Feng wasn’t the least bit intimidated. He was the Emperor’s own son. Even if he had been stripped of the position of Crown Prince, no one could take away his status as a Prince.
If Zhu Bingcheng dared strike the Emperor’s son, it would be the same as slapping the Emperor in the face. He’d be made to pay dearly!
Eunuch Wei was sitting nearby, watching the commotion, so Chu Feng had no fear.
Zhu Bingcheng was so furious he nearly passed out, but he truly didn’t dare make a move.
Forcing down his anger, he said in a sinister tone:
“Go ahead and enjoy your moment of verbal triumph. Tomorrow, when you enter the palace, they’ll use your heart’s blood in His Majesty’s medicine. You’re dead for sure!”
“Don’t worry. I won’t die!”
Zhu Qingyuan giggled. “Do you really think you can survive after they use your heart’s blood in the medicine? Once you’re dead, I can legitimately and properly marry the Second Prince. When he’s made Crown Prince, I can become Crown Princess again—and someday, I might even become Empress, mother of all under heaven.”
Chu Feng instantly understood that the Deposed Crown Prince had probably been cuckolded by his Crown Princess long ago. Furious, he demanded, “Have you and the Second Prince been involved for a long time?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m just making plans for the future.”
“Planning to marry him once I’m dead?”
“That’s right!”
“I’ll fulfill your wish. You don’t have to wait until I die. You can marry him now.”
“Y-you, what do you mean?”
Chu Feng ignored her and went straight to the desk nearby. He picked up the brush and wrote with swift, flowing strokes. Before long, he was done.
Then he flung the paper at Zhu Qingyuan’s face:
“This is a divorce letter. You’re divorced! You can marry the Second Prince now. I wish you two—may the shameless woman and her dog stay together forever!”
The faces of Zhu Qingyuan and her father turned liver-red. They hurriedly picked up the paper and read it. It said:
“I, Chu Feng, married Zhu Qingyuan by imperial command, and we should have stood by each other through hardship. But Zhu Qingyuan is fickle and cold-hearted. She has forgotten the Eastern Palace’s great kindness in supporting her. When I fell on hard times, she looked on coldly, humiliated me, and kicked me while I was down. She even insulted her mother-in-law to her face and humiliated her husband, showing no virtue as a wife. Our marital bond is severed. I hereby divorce her. From this day on, we shall each go our own way, free to marry as we please, and have nothing more to do with one another!”
After reading the divorce letter, Zhu Qingyuan burst into tears.
She had been divorced! She was the Eldest granddaughter of the Great General who pacified the Far Borders, and yet she had become a cast-off wife!
She couldn’t believe that trash Chu Feng had actually dared to divorce her.
He was a deposed Crown Prince. Shouldn’t he have kept his head down? Why was he still acting so brazenly?
Zhu Bingcheng was so furious his beard quivered. Pointing at Chu Feng, he said sharply, “You… you… have gone too far!”
Chu Feng gave a cold smile. “Do you even count as people? Calling you ungrateful wretches is an insult to wolves!”
Then he glanced at the Poisonous Sore between Zhu Qingyuan’s brows with schadenfreude. If she delayed treatment another seven or eight days, once the toxic qi spreading took hold, they would have to cut away the flesh and clean the wound to treat it.
By then, even if she didn’t die of septicemia, her face would be ruined for sure.
Of course, Chu Feng wouldn’t remind her. Why warn such a vicious woman when he could just watch her suffer?
Shen Lingshu laughed heartily and said to Chu Feng, “Feng’er, well done! A vicious woman like that deserves to be divorced! Let’s go!”
The two strode toward the exit.
Eunuch Wei glanced at Zhu Bingcheng, sighed, shook his head, and cupped his hands in farewell. Then he followed with the guards.
After leaving the Grand General’s Mansion, Chu Feng was in a great mood.
He had originally worried that the thing between his legs was obviously bigger and longer than the Deposed Crown Prince’s, and that he’d be exposed when sharing a room with the Deposed Crown Princess. Now that he had divorced the shameless woman, he no longer had to worry.
Once they were outside, Eunuch Wei stamped his foot and said to Chu Feng, “First Prince, you were too impulsive. How can a Prince divorce his wife? It damages the Royal family’s dignity, and His Majesty won’t agree to it.”
The smile disappeared from Chu Feng’s face. “Then what should we do?”
“This servant will report the matter truthfully to His Majesty and make it clear that the words of Great General Zhu Bingcheng and his granddaughter were too offensive, and that you acted out of anger in the moment. It shouldn’t be taken seriously.”
Shen Lingshu had felt nothing but satisfaction at the time, but now she too realized that this was indeed improper. Her son was a Prince; his marriage had to be bestowed by imperial decree, and so did a divorce. How could he take it upon himself to divorce his wife?
Hearing that Eunuch Wei was willing to speak well of them, she hurriedly smiled and curtsied in gratitude. “Thank you, Eunuch, for speaking up for us!”
As she spoke, she took the jade bangle off her wrist and pressed it into Eunuch Wei’s hand.
Eunuch Wei saw that it was an emerald bangle worth a great deal, and his eyes lit up. He made a couple of polite, reluctant remarks, then accepted it. He added:
“I doubt any household in the capital city will be willing to take you in, even for a short stay. Why don’t you stay at the Royal Posthouse for now? Then, if His Majesty issues an imperial edict, this servant can find you right away.”
Chu Feng and Shen Lingshu both agreed, and they went to stay at the Royal Posthouse.
Eunuch Wei took the guards to the palace to report back, but there was no news at all until evening.
Chu Feng, of course, wasn’t just sitting around. He had already finalized a plan in his mind.
Along the way, he had learned that doctors in the Great Yong Dynasty mainly relied on just one medical text, called 《Herbal Miscellany》. The modern Chinese medical classics 《Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon》, 《Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases》, 《Compendium of Materia Medica》, and others did not exist in the Great Jing Dynasty.
However, people from the top to the bottom of the Great Yong Dynasty held medical skill in the highest regard. After all, everyone longed for good doctors and effective medicine, hoping for The medicine cures the illness and a long life. Thus, doctors enjoyed lofty status and were deeply respected by the people of the world.
He would use this as his breakthrough.