Chapter 95

Because Jiang Xiurun set off at noon, the guards were busy packing up the luggage. After browsing and buying a few things, Jiang Xiurun quickly lost interest.

Just thinking about Feng Liwu’s restrictions on her made Jiang Xiurun feel utterly unenthusiastic about returning to Luo’an City—she was completely dejected.

As she passed by a general store, she noticed a set of black-gold stone playing cards, exquisitely carved. She thought about buying a set to play with the beauties and maids of the Crown Prince’s residence, hoping to reconnect with those she had previously neglected.

After all, they would all be confined to the same courtyard in the future, and it wouldn’t do to see each other every day with sour faces. It was frustrating that she hadn’t put more effort into this earlier—besides Princess Jing, who had pledged her loyalty, she had no reliable aides. Clearly, she had wasted too much energy focusing on her studies at the academy.

Upon returning to the courtyard, someone reported that the steward from the Crown Prince’s residence had arrived and had been waiting for the Crown Prince and Tutor Jiang for half a day.

Jiang Xiurun knew it must be something important and immediately invited the steward in.

Upon seeing Tutor Jiang, the steward paid his respects, but immediately asked anxiously about the Crown Prince’s whereabouts. Upon learning that the Crown Prince had traveled to the Wei-Qi border with no set return date, the steward’s face grew even more distressed.

Jiang Xiurun dismissed the other guards, leaving only Qian’er, and then asked the steward why he was looking for the Crown Prince—had something serious happened in the capital?

The steward was already burning with anxiety. Upon hearing that the Crown Prince’s return was uncertain, he became so overwhelmed with emotion that he wept bitterly, falling to his knees.

Clutching Jiang Xiurun’s robes, he cried, “Tutor Jiang, you have always been capable—please, find the Crown Prince quickly! Otherwise… otherwise, the heavens will be torn apart in the capital!”

For an elderly steward to personally rush from the capital, something truly catastrophic must have happened.

Jiang Xiurun instinctively asked what had occurred.

The steward hesitated before saying, “This matter is of great importance—it must not reach a third person’s ears. Tutor Jiang, you must find the Crown Prince first.”

Jiang Xiurun immediately ordered Qian’er to summon the Crown Prince’s personal guard and have him send a carrier pigeon message to the Crown Prince.

However, even after half a day, there was no response.

When another messenger was sent, a group of personal guards who had accompanied Feng Liwu returned in a hurry.

They reported that Feng Liwu had initially believed capturing some bandits at the border would be a simple matter, but unexpectedly, the bandits had gone mad—they had actually started digging up dikes, and not just in one place, but simultaneously in multiple locations.

Several dikes had already been damaged.

In truth, the damage to the dikes was not irreparable.

Since it was discovered in time, repairs had been made quickly.

However, the earthen bridges along the route had been washed away by the river, making travel difficult for carts and horses.

It was unclear how many days it would take for the Crown Prince to return.

Hearing this, the steward was so distraught that he nearly banged his head against the ground.

As he had said, this was a matter of utmost urgency—every moment of delay was critical.

But the Crown Prince couldn’t return.

If he was the only one aware of this crisis and failed to handle it properly, even dying three times over wouldn’t be enough to atone for the consequences.

The steward knew that Jiang Xiurun was highly favored by the Crown Prince, essentially his most trusted aide.

Since the Crown Prince was unavailable, his only hope rested with Jiang Xiurun.

He looked at Jiang Xiurun, his mouth opening and closing hesitantly, struggling to speak.

After a long pause, he still couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.

Finally, he pulled a letter from his sleeve and handed it over, steeling himself as he said, “This is a letter from Concubine Cao to the Crown Prince. Please, Tutor Jiang, read it, and you will understand everything.”

Jiang Xiurun hesitated for a moment.

After all, this letter was meant for the Crown Prince.

Reading it without permission—regardless of how urgent the situation was—could easily offend Concubine Cao.

That was a minor issue, but if the Crown Prince saw this as an act of arrogance, he would have a reason to resent Jiang Xiurun in the future.

Right now, the Crown Prince might not say anything, but if he ever grew displeased with Jiang Xiurun, he wouldn’t even need another excuse—just the fact that Jiang Xiurun had read his private correspondence today would be enough to have him executed.

However, the capital’s situation remained unknown, and judging by the steward’s anxiety, it was likely something that would greatly impact the Crown Prince.

If Jiang Xiurun didn’t grasp the details and act swiftly, the Crown Prince might face a disaster later.

As she hesitated, wavering between choices, Jiang Xiurun ultimately decided that it would be best not to read the letter.

However, seeing her reluctance, the steward became even more certain of her reliability.

Without another word, he directly unfolded the silk letter and placed it in front of Jiang Xiurun—whether she wanted to read it or not, she had to now!

The letter was not short, but Jiang Xiurun read it quickly, scanning ten lines at a glance.

After finishing, her face turned pale. She immediately read it again, more carefully, remaining silent for a long time.

Just as the steward had said, something major had happened in Luo’an City.

It turned out that ever since Feng Liwu had left the capital, Concubine Cao, having little to do, had been visiting the Empress frequently to pay her respects.

Recently, however, the Empress claimed to be feeling unwell and had not been receiving visitors. But during one of Concubine Cao’s routine palace visits, a palace maid secretly handed a wax-sealed pellet to her personal maid.

When Cao Xi opened the pellet back at the residence and read the cloth strip inside, she was stunned to learn that the Empress was pregnant—but the child was not of the Feng family’s bloodline.

The Empress had done everything she could to keep it a secret, but Emperor Duanqing eventually found out. As a result, he confined her within the palace, forbidding any contact with the outside world.

Desperate, the Empress bribed an outer-palace maid responsible for sweeping the grounds, who eventually managed to pass the message to Cao Xi. Emperor Duanqing, unconcerned with the dignity of either an emperor or an empress, had decided to wait until the pregnancy became visibly obvious before publicly announcing it in court.

At that point, he would depose her, leaving no room for the officials to argue against it.

The Empress knew that she could not turn to her father for help.

If her family learned of this, they would likely go to great lengths to secretly plead with the Emperor to have her executed—to preserve both the family’s honor and the Crown Prince’s reputation.

With no allies left in the palace and unable to seek help from her own family, the Empress had no choice but to turn to the Crown Prince.

When Cao Xi read the letter, she felt as though the sky had collapsed.

The Empress had always been her greatest supporter and strongest backer.

Now that the Crown Prince no longer favored her, if the Empress also fell, her fate would undoubtedly be tragic.

Moreover, based on what the Empress had said, Emperor Duanqing’s ultimate goal was to ruin the Crown Prince’s reputation and, in the end, depose him.

Cao Xi, feeling miserable, cried several times before finally deciding to write to the Crown Prince to explain the situation.

However, when Feng Liwu had left the residence, he had given strict orders that all correspondence from the household was to be written by the steward.

As for letters from concubines lamenting trivial matters, he had explicitly stated that they should not be delivered to him at all.

With no way to get her letter past the steward, Concubine Cao had no choice but to inform him of the situation.

The steward was utterly horrified upon hearing it. Having served by Feng Liwu’s side for many years, he knew that such a grave matter could not simply be relayed through a letter.

If it were intercepted along the way, the consequences would be disastrous.

This had to be reported to the Crown Prince in person.

Without hesitation, he selected several guards and set off from Luo’an that very day, traveling tirelessly through wind and rain to reach Jiang Xiurun.

By this point, Jiang Xiurun already understood everything clearly.

After all, in her previous life, rumors of the Empress’s illegitimate pregnancy had circulated with convincing detail.

Back then, however, Emperor Duanqing had been unable to make a big scandal out of it—likely because Feng Liwu had still been in the capital and had managed to find a way to cover up the disgrace for his mother.

But in this lifetime, who knew what kind of miraculous tonic the Empress’s illicit lover had taken? Not only had the Empress conceived far earlier, but Emperor Duanqing had also caught hold of undeniable evidence.

How could he not take full advantage of it?

Jiang Xiurun had no doubts about the letter’s authenticity.

She was someone who knew the course of past events.

However, she now deeply regretted reading it.

She shouldn’t have let herself get involved in this mess.

Angrily, she shot a fierce glare at the old steward who had forcibly unsealed the letter and shoved it in front of her.

She knew this matter could not be delayed. She and her brother were both tied to the Crown Prince’s carriage—if the Prince were to be overturned, they too would be doomed, with no chance of escape.

Slowly, she sat down. This mess was far too big for her to handle. Yet, at such a critical moment, Feng Liwu was inexplicably entangled with a group of bandits, making it impossible for him to break free.

There was something deeply suspicious about it.

Taking a deep breath, she asked the steward, “Do you know… how far along she is?”

She was well aware of Steward Lin’s background.

Back when the Crown Prince had been confined in the Cold Palace, Lin had been nothing more than a lowly eunuch responsible for lighting the palace corridors.

Because he frequently passed by the Cold Palace, he had taken pity on Feng Liwu and secretly given him leftover steamed buns to eat.

Later, when Feng Liwu was named heir, Lin followed him out of the palace and became the steward of the Crown Prince’s residence.

However, Jiang Xiurun believed that mere kindness wouldn’t have been enough to earn him such a position.

Feng Liwu had never kept useless people around.

Since Lin was an old hand in the palace, he naturally had his own ways of obtaining information.

Sure enough, after a moment of hesitation, Steward Lin replied, “I had someone inquire with the inner court’s supply bureau. The Empress’s palace hasn’t requested white cloth for three months now.”

A true palace veteran—he had discreetly asked about the internal tribute records.

After all, if the Empress really was pregnant, she wouldn’t need white cloth anymore, as she would have stopped menstruating.

By questioning it this way, he avoided drawing attention, and it was unlikely that even Emperor Duanqing had thought of this detail.

Jiang Xiurun quickly did the calculations.

If the Empress was already three months along, then by the fourth month, her pregnancy would start to show.

Emperor Duanqing was ruthless—he didn’t care about preserving his imperial dignity.

He was willing to let his own Empress stand before the court with a swollen belly, utterly disgraced.

Even if Feng Liwu was undeniably the Emperor’s son, how could a man with such an unchaste mother be considered fit to inherit the throne?

Jiang Xiurun gestured for the steward to come closer. The two of them leaned in, and she whispered, “Does His Highness have anyone in the Office of Imperial Records?”

The steward lowered his voice as well, “That can be arranged.”

Jiang Xiurun thought for a moment and said, “If possible, have someone alter the imperial records. Doesn’t His Majesty love to drink? Find a day when he was half-drunk and add an entry: ‘The Empress briefly visited the Emperor’s palace.’”

Steward Lin was starting to understand her intent, but he found it impossible.

Alarmed, he said, “But the Empress hasn’t attended to His Majesty for years! The Emperor himself must approve any record of imperial favors—how can we deceive him?”

Jiang Xiurun responded, “The point isn’t to deceive the Emperor—he’s already been thoroughly humiliated, yet he refuses to bow. The Empress doesn’t need to have entered his chambers—we can alter the records to say that they happened to meet in the garden corridor, near the rockery… The key detail is this: as long as there’s a record of this ‘brief visit,’ it provides a reasonable explanation for the Empress’s pregnancy.”

She continued, “After all, it’s no secret that His Majesty has wanted to depose the Empress for years. The court officials all know how much he despises her. But if the Emperor insists that he never touched her and outright denies the child as his own, there will be those who believe otherwise.”

“The Empress’s family is not to be underestimated either. If they can stall for time in the capital, they just need to hold out until the Crown Prince returns. But if the Empress’s disgrace is officially sealed, then what good would it do for the Prince to return at all?”