Everyone Wants To Harm Me - Chapter 71

“I finally understood why the Concubine ordered me to marry the daughter of the He family.”

I held the pen and looked at Prince Xin without saying anything.

“But I think the Dowager Consort might have misunderstood,” Prince Xin chuckled. “She somehow heard—or guessed—that your family received guidance from a great master. The family’s feng shui favored daughters but brought misfortune to sons, so they washed the baby girls to maintain the family fortune. When it came to the generation of the Imperial Consort, for some reason, the washing was not successful. This daughter had gathered the auspicious fortune of several generations of the family and was extremely helpful to her husband. With her help, the Emperor not only survived disaster but transformed from a neglected prince into the true Son of Heaven. In recent years, the Dowager Consort noticed that whenever the Emperor encountered important and difficult matters, he would seclude himself with the Imperial Consort in the secret room. In the end, after some mysterious discussions, the problems always seemed to resolve themselves, disasters turning into blessings. It must have been the effect of the Imperial Consort’s help.”

The Emperor was right. Dowager Consort De was indeed like Grandfather. They believed in the same things and had similar views and guesses about Aunt’s assistance to His Majesty.

“Thinking about it now, what the Emperor and the Imperial Consort discussed in private was probably just like the conversation we’re having now.”

I continued to remain silent.

“When I was nine, the Emperor took me with him to perform the Crown Prince rites and offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth. He even mentioned passing the throne to me, though the court officials strongly opposed it. When we returned to the harem, the Imperial Consort spoke to me alone. She said that from then on, I must never harbor such ambitions before the Emperor again. She would forgive me this once, but not again. If I ever dared try, the Emperor would find out. At the time, I wondered—I’d hidden my thoughts so well, no one suspected a thing. Did the Noble Consort really have the power to see through people’s hearts?”

He picked up the cinnabar pen and played with it in his hand. “I knew too little when I was a child. My childish suspicion turned out to be true. And the adults, who thought too much, ended up getting it wrong.”

It had never been easy to help him rise to power without drawing attention.

“So from then on, Your Highness, you really never thought about it in front of the Emperor again?”

“If you knew that thinking about it would cost you your life, you’d also restrain yourself from thinking about it.”

I thought about it and felt that probably, it wouldn’t work. I knew that I shouldn’t think about Yu Chongrui anymore, and I couldn’t let the Emperor know that I liked him. But the more I tried not to think about him, the more I did. Especially when I saw him in person, I couldn’t even control my behavior, let alone my thoughts, and I almost lost my composure in front of the Emperor.

Was there really anyone who could control their thoughts so completely? Just choose not to think something and succeed?

Even the Emperor, knowing I could see others’ thoughts, could only try to deceive me by fabricating malicious intentions. His true reactions and feelings—he couldn’t fully suppress them, he couldn’t turn something into nothing.

Grandmother once said: if someone wasn’t a pure-hearted sage yet could still suppress their own thoughts at will, that kind of willpower was terrifying.

Prince Xin was such a person.

What about Yu Chongrui? Was he the same?

Prince Xin turned back and asked, “So, is this the ability your He family can pass down to girls but not boys? They feared it so much that you killed all the girls?”

Speaking of this, I felt heavy in my heart. “It has nothing to do with the bloodline of the He family.”

“What about Lan Yue?”

“She doesn’t have it,” I said in a deep voice, “and no girls in our family will have it in the future.”

Prince Xin said “Oh” and turned away.

I looked at him and said, “Are you disappointed? You’ve already been engaged to Lan Yue. You won’t break your promise and regret the engagement, right?”

Prince Xin smiled, looked down at the picture on the table full of symbols, and suddenly pointed at Wei Jie’s name with his pen. “Sister Yao, do you think Wei Jie is handsome?”

I just said it casually to match the person and the name. “Not bad.”

“Wei Jie was indeed a famous handsome man in Luoyang when he was young. It is said that his parents gave him this name because he was handsome since he was a child, comparable to Wei Jie.” Prince Xin spoke leisurely. “So, sister Yao likes this kind of handsome and bookish man?”

I frowned. “I don’t like him.”

“Then sister Yao, who do you think has the best appearance at the banquet today?”

“Officials who can reach the fifth rank and are invited by the Emperor to attend are at least 30 or 40 years old. What does their appearance have to do with me?”

“Not necessarily. Isn’t there a twenty-something Prime Minister?”

Hearing Yu Chongrui mentioned again made it hard to stay composed. I was calm and said, “Is Your Highness planning to spend the evening discussing court ministers’ appearances and ages with me?”

Prince Xin became serious. “Have the three Prime Ministers taken a stance?”

“Prince Song has always been the leader of the clean stream, loyal to the country rather than the emperor, and disdains to participate in the dispute over the succession. My grandfather has two granddaughters—one married to you, the other to the Third Prince—so he plans to stay neutral. He’s not on your side.”

“You still don’t understand your grandfather,” Prince Xin said. “He married his granddaughter to me. If I was beheaded by the Emperor, could he escape unscathed? The Emperor doesn’t have that kind of magnanimity. But if I succeed, I’ll not only forgive the fact that your grandfather was once the Emperor’s father-in-law—I’ll probably praise him as a great contributor. What do you think he’d choose?”

I was speechless. “Grandfather is cautious and knows how to judge the situation and take advantage of it. He’s already a Duke—how much higher can he go? He won’t take that gamble.”

“What is a duke? At today’s banquet, calculate where your grandfather ranks and how many people are ahead of him? Power has no end.” Prince Xin sighed. “In the past, your grandfather was the prime minister and the Imperial Consort was the most favored in the harem. Of course, he looked down on me. Even when the Dowager Consort asked on my behalf, he rejected the proposal. But it’s different now. Otherwise, why would he be in a hurry when you’ve only been away from home for a few days to acknowledge another granddaughter to marry her off to me? When he was Prime Minister, he played it safe, yes—but back then, he also risked his life under Prince Yong’s banner to rescue the Emperor and earned his current position. Every decision depended on circumstances, internal and external conditions, and weighing the pros and cons. Nothing was fixed. Now that you’ve returned, and the Emperor has promised to make you the Third Prince’s empress, your grandfather’s thoughts are surely shifting.”

It was too complicated. Understanding the factions and alliances was just the beginning. I had to track every changing variable and try to predict what decisions these people might make next. Just keeping track of the web of relationships was exhausting. I really couldn’t handle this.

Even if I could read minds, I was still just an ordinary person. There were things I simply couldn’t do.

Prince Xin changed tone. “But all this is my concern. You don’t need to worry about it.”

I said to him, “I left the banquet early tonight. The Emperor will likely summon me for questioning tomorrow. Please, Your Highness, work through the night if necessary and give me a response by morning. Tell me how to deal with the Emperor.”

“Don’t worry, sister Yao, I’ll have an answer before dawn,” Prince Xin promised. “There’s still one more Prime Minister we haven’t discussed.”

I didn’t react for a while and looked up at him.

“You only talked about two of the three former and current prime ministers,” Prince Xin said. “What is Prime Minister Yu’s attitude?”

My eyelids twitched, and I lowered my head and turned my eyes away. Yu Chongrui—what would he think? Would he support the Third Prince, Prince Xin, or the Emperor?

“I haven’t noticed anything special,” I answered in a light tone, trying to be understated. “It’s probably about the same as Prime Minister Song. Your Highness should not count on him.”