Pei Yue learned from the gatekeeper upon returning from Baohua Temple that the Crown Prince had sent gifts, which made Pei Lin stare at her for quite a while.
Madam Pei, however, showed no surprise. After asking what gifts had been sent, she simply told Pei Yue to handle them as she pleased—if she didn't like them, she could toss them into the storeroom.
The Eastern Palace had sent calligraphy scrolls, antique vases, and hair ornaments, each more precious than the last. By all logic, it was perfectly normal for a betrothed man to send gifts to his fiancée, yet Pei Yue couldn't bring herself to feel happy upon seeing them.
Since gifts had been sent, it seemed the Crown Prince was satisfied with this marriage arrangement.
But Pei Yue had hoped the Crown Prince would be dissatisfied—ideally, he would go to the Emperor to call off the engagement, so that the blame wouldn't fall on the Pei family.
Pei Yue didn't keep a single gift and had them all thrown into the storeroom.
The spring rains were like Pei Yue's melancholy—even when the skies briefly cleared, new worries soon followed.
After several days of drizzling rain, Bizhu went to the storeroom to collect newly arrived silk fabrics. Upon returning, she sorted the silks while sharing the gossip she'd heard. "Yesterday, that man who cursed the Crown Prince outside the Eldest Princess's residence was executed by beheading. The rest of the Zhang family was sentenced to exile. But Madam Zhang apparently couldn't accept reality and dashed her head against the wall in prison. People really shouldn't be too foolish, or they'll harm both themselves and others."
Hearing this, Pei Yue lazily turned her head. "You said Madam Zhang died by dashing her head against the wall in prison?"
Bizhu nodded in confirmation. "Madam Zhang came to our residence to make a scene that day, so the gatekeeper made a point of inquiring about it. It can't be wrong."
Pei Yue slowly sat up straight, her heart pounding. She hadn't liked Madam Zhang, but upon suddenly hearing that Madam Zhang had died in prison, her thoughts immediately turned to Prince Shou. She didn't believe Madam Zhang's death had nothing to do with Prince Shou. Such a person—outwardly one thing, inwardly another—if she were to be dragged into the struggle for succession, she would have to become his enemy.
Pei Yue again thought of the two choices her parents had given her. These events, one after another, seemed to be urging her to make a decision.
Just then, someone arrived from the main courtyard, saying that the maternal aunt's wife had come with the young miss from the maternal side.
Hearing that her cousin had arrived, and being in need of someone to talk to, Pei Yue immediately rose to change her clothes. But no sooner had she changed than An Yingying arrived at her room.
An Yingying looked listless, with a hint of dark circles under her eyes, looking far more haggard than she had a few days prior.
"Cousin, what's wrong with you?" Pei Yue pulled An Yingying to sit down. Seeing An Yingying glance at the others in the room, she dismissed the servants, leaving only the two of them.
With no one else present, An Yingying could no longer contain her grief. She immediately embraced Pei Yue and began sobbing softly, her shoulders trembling.
Pei Yue comforted her for quite a while, and only after An Yingying had cried until her eyes were dry did she slowly explain what had happened.
An Yingying had married Lin Dong, the new tanhua of the previous year's imperial examination, and they had been married less than a year—still in the honeymoon phase of their union.
Lin Dong was a handsome and distinguished man. When the spring examination results were posted last year, An Yingying had taken a liking to him at first sight. She was a forthright woman, and having set her eyes on a young man herself, she went home and openly declared her interest.
The elders of the An family immediately sent people to investigate. After confirming that Lin Dong had no wife and was not betrothed, and though his family background was modest, he made up for it with his handsome appearance and his scholarly achievements, Princess Huiping sent someone to arrange an introduction. After multiple rounds of vetting, they confirmed that Lin Dong was humble, courteous, and elegant in manner, and only then agreed to the marriage.
Yet no one could have imagined that Lin Dong, though unmarried in his hometown, had kept a mistress nearby. That mistress had borne him a son, now already two and a half years old. Originally, Lin Dong had sent money every month, but after marrying An Yingying, he gradually forgot about the mistress. With no money coming in, the mistress could barely afford to eat. After learning that Lin Dong had placed third in the imperial examinations, she borrowed some money and brought their son to the capital to seek him out.
When the mistress showed up at the door yesterday, An Yingying took a long while to collect herself. Had the maids and matrons not held her back, she would have grabbed a knife and gone straight for Lin Dong.
Though the Lin family was not a great aristocratic clan, they held considerable standing in their locality. For Lin Dong to have kept a mistress before marriage and fathered a child—if such a matter came to light, it would not only expose his flawed character but also bring great shame upon both the Lin and An families.
An Yingying immediately returned to her natal home. Princess Huiping was also hot-tempered by nature. She had not only made repeated inquiries back then but had also personally asked Lin Dong about his marital status, and his answer had always been that he dared not harbor other intentions before achieving success in the examinations.
Huiping was furious, but also vexed that she hadn't investigated Lin Dong's background more thoroughly. Her husband was far away in Changning fighting river bandits, her father-in-law was indecisive, and her mother-in-law was a second wife. After lying awake until dawn, she hurriedly brought her daughter to the Pei residence to seek counsel from her capable sister-in-law.
Pei Yue listened in a daze. Her cousin sister was always singing her cousin brother-in-law's praises, often making her envious.
But now something like this had happened, and Pei Yue couldn't quite process it at first. Seeing her cousin sister's eyes swollen from crying, she quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears and asked gently, "Then, cousin sister, what do you yourself think?"
"Me?" An Yingying had also not slept a wink all night. She was so angry her head was buzzing, and she hadn't yet figured things out. "I'm just angry—angry that Lin Dong deceived me. In the past, I always told everyone how happy I was. Now that this has happened, how am I supposed to show my face in public? My pride is being ground into the dirt!"
Pei Yue let out a soft sigh. The matter had come so suddenly. She had only ever heard of such things happening in other families, never imagined it would strike her own kin.
"You didn't see her—that mistress with her slender waist and plump backside, speaking in that syrupy, affected voice, looking like she was trained in some filthy establishment." An Yingying grew angrier as she spoke, her chest heaving up and down. "If it were just her, it would be easy to handle. But there's a son—I can't very well kill a two-and-a-half-year-old child, can I? But as long as that child exists, I'll feel sick to my stomach."
"From what you're saying, cousin sister, do you still want to stay with cousin brother-in-law?" Pei Yue asked.
"Ah, I… I can't say." An Yingying was lost.
When she calmed down a little, An Yingying felt she still loved Lin Dong deeply. But whenever she thought of that mother and son, she couldn't get past this hurdle—it was like a thorn lodged deep in her heart.
Pei Yue herself was not yet married and didn't know much about the workings of a marriage, but based on her current thinking, if she ever encountered such a situation, she would definitely demand a divorce and absolutely refuse to tolerate being deceived. But when she thought of her own circumstances, she could only sigh helplessly, because she had been betrothed to the Crown Prince by imperial decree. If she truly married the Crown Prince, she could only ever be deposed in the future—she no longer had the right to divorce. At that thought, she too felt a wave of sorrow alongside her cousin sister.
"Yue'er, in the future, don't let yourself get swept away by a man's sweet words—your cousin here is a lesson in that. If I had no feelings for Lin Dong, I could easily deal with that mother and son pair, or simply walk away. But the problem is, I still have him in my heart, which is why it's so hard." An Yingying let out a long sigh, took a sip of tea, and leaned against Pei Yue's shoulder, dejected. "If you truly marry the Crown Prince, don't fall in love with him. When he becomes Emperor in the future, he won't just have three wives and four concubines—he'll have a whole harem of three palaces and six courts. If you don't love him, you won't have to suffer."