Everyone Wants To Harm Me - Chapter 78

The princess had left.

Yu Chongrui and I were left staring at each other.

Oh, and also the Third Prince on the bed—half-awake, half-unconscious—mumbling incoherently.

I reached out and felt his forehead. It seemed even hotter than before. His outer robes had long been removed, leaving only a thin layer of inner clothing, yet he still felt overheated. His hands were instinctively scratching and tugging at his chest.

I twisted the towel again, wanting to wipe him down.

Just as I was about to untie the Third Prince’s belt, Yu Chongrui reached out and took the wet towel from me.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

He unbuttoned the Third Prince’s undershirt, opened the collar halfway, stopped, turned around, and looked at me.

I was confused. “What’s wrong? Do you need help?”

“Don’t look at what you shouldn’t.”

Don’t look at what I shouldn’t? He was eleven. What was there not to look at? He hadn’t said anything earlier when the princess and the maids were here, and I had already seen everything. The kid was as flat as a fish belly, rib bones all showing, like a little bean sprout—what was there to see that was so improper?

I looked around the room and found a plain fan for guests to cool down. I took it and fanned the Third Prince.

The child’s skin was delicate, while Yu Chongrui was strong, and his hands were heavy. A red mark had appeared where the towel had rubbed.

I stopped him and said, “Be gentle. Look, it’s red!”

He glanced at me. “He’s just too delicate. A boy shouldn’t have such soft, tender skin.”

How was a child’s skin any different, male or female? And speaking of soft and tender—he wasn’t much better himself. His skin was even fairer than most girls’.

I recalled the scene of Feng Yuan grabbing Yu Chongrui’s collar while he was sleeping, and what I saw at the Heqing County Post Station. I couldn’t help but feel distracted, and my face flushed. I stammered, “I… I have specially checked the books in Wenhua Palace. After taking Wushisan, the whole body becomes hot and red, and the skin becomes congested. Don’t scratch or rub it hard, otherwise it’s very easy to break and get sores. Children need extra care. You’re too strong, let me do it. You take the fan.”

I snatched the handkerchief from him and turned it over. It turned out that a corner of the handkerchief was embroidered with dark lace, using the same color silk thread. No wonder it was rough and left red marks. I folded the embroidery inside, with the smooth part facing out, and wiped the Third Prince’s body carefully. Despite his small stature, he was unconscious and heavy. I turned him over to wipe his back, then back again. He was sweating, and after a lot of effort, I finally covered him with his clothes.

A cool breeze then refreshed me, and I turned to look at Yu Chongrui.

“You’re fanning him, not me.”

He widened his range of motion so that both the Third Prince and I caught the breeze. “You’re drenched too. Wipe yourself off.”

I raised the wet towel to wipe my forehead, but he stopped me. “Don’t use that.”

“What now?”

“You just wiped him down with it. Isn’t it gross?” He pulled out his own sweat towel. “Use this. I washed it yesterday. Haven’t used it yet.”

Although he hadn’t used it, the towel had been close to his body all day. I took it and held it in front of me, and I could smell his scent—lingering, faint, and vague.

I held it stiffly for a moment but didn’t have the courage to cover my face with it. I threw it back to him and said, “No need. I’ll just wash it again.”

I cleaned the wet towel, wiped the sweat off my forehead, and rinsed it with cold water again. I followed the method Deng Zishe had taught me for treating nosebleeds the last time, folding the towel into a long strip and placing it on the Third Prince’s forehead and neck to cool him down.

Yu Chongrui fanned himself and said, “You care about the Third Prince very much.”

“The death of Noble Consort Chu is also related to me. Such a young child has lost his mother, and everyone just wants to use him to fight for power. If I didn’t take care of him, who would?” I turned the towel over. “Who is so cruel that they would attack an eleven-year-old child?”

It was a pity there had been too many guests, so I couldn’t see everything. As soon as something happened, I had sent the Third Prince to Lan Garden. Otherwise, I would have definitely found out who did it.

I glanced at Yu Chongrui, wanting to say something but holding back. There were some things I wasn’t sure if I should tell him.

But he seemed to always guess what was on my mind. “It can’t be Prince Xin. He was getting married today, and the Third Prince caused trouble in his house. He would be the first to be blamed. Besides, the Third Prince is still young. Even if he behaved abnormally and made a fool of himself in public, everyone would forgive him. He’s just a child, and his future won’t be harmed.”

I thought about it, and it made sense. As for childhood mistakes, Prince Xin had left behind countless foolish and bad deeds. As long as he was wise and benevolent as he grew up, there would still be many who would support him.

“Who do you think it is?”

Yu Chongrui said, “Either someone under Prince Xin acted impulsively and on their own, or a third party instigated trouble to benefit from the situation. In any case, there’s nothing to fear.”

He had said this, probably to comfort me, to make me not worry. Even if I knew who was behind it, there was nothing I could do about it.

He kept many things to himself, but I wanted to know.

After sitting in silence for a while, I said to him, “I heard what you said to Grandfather by the river.”

Yu Chongrui turned to look at me, his movements slowing down. He switched the fan to his left hand and continued fanning slowly.

“Yu Xiangnan… who was he?”

He was silent for a moment, then answered, “He was the former governor of Suzhou Prefecture. When Prince Yong started his rebellion, he did not resist. After the war ended, he was convicted of treason, and his entire family was executed.”

“But at that time, Prince Yong’s army was strong, and the entire area south of the Yangtze River was occupied by the rebels. Many local officials were forced to surrender. Didn’t Your Majesty forgive them all?”

“Because it was later discovered that Prince Yong had started preparing for war and hoarding supplies early. Suzhou Prefecture had repeatedly withheld taxes—food, labor, and money—that were meant for the court and sent them to Prince Yong. This contributed to his rapid rise, allowing him to raise an army and make trouble. That’s why he was considered a rebel.”

I asked him, “Is this… true?”

Yu Chongrui said, “The late emperor loved his brother, Prince Yong, very much. He gave him the rich land of Jinling as a fief, allowing him to raise government soldiers and garrison the Yangtze River and East China Sea. In order to please Prince Yong and seek protection, local officials from counties around Jinling secretly transferred benefits to him—not just from Suzhou Prefecture.”

I understood a little. “So, this is a well-known rule in the officialdom, something hidden under the table?”

Yu Chongrui nodded.

“Then why was Prefect Yu singled out as a traitor?”

“Because…” He paused. “Your grandfather testified that all the food, grass, money, and silk that Prefect Yu gave to Prince Yong passed through his hands, and the amount was enormous. The two parties had colluded and conspired long ago.”

My grandfather had been in charge of grain transport in Suzhou Prefecture, so it was natural for him to oversee the transportation of a large amount of materials from Suzhou to Jinling by water.

I wanted to ask why my grandfather had reported and testified against his superiors. Was it because he was involved and, to distance himself from the Yongwang Party, threw the blame on the prefect? Or did he want to gain merit by exposing this shameful matter? Or perhaps he had a personal grudge against Prefect Yu and used the system to take revenge?

But if I asked this, it would mean I suspected my grandfather.

When had my image of Grandfather become so… tainted?

I lowered my head and asked Yu Chongrui in a soft voice, “Does this matter… have anything to do with your family?”

Treason, if proven, could implicate an entire clan. If you were from the same place and shared the same surname, you could be affected by your family’s actions.

“My father and Prefect Yu were distant paternal cousins of the same generation, but our family branches were quite far apart. We followed different generational names—Prefect Yu’s was ‘Xiang’, my father’s was ‘Wen’. Still, because of that distant relation, Prefect Yu helped my father get a position as an eighth-rank scholar official. That’s why my father ended up implicated, imprisoned for three years. He never confessed to any crime. He was only released when His Majesty issued a general amnesty. Ever since then, my father’s health has been poor, and he’s remained at home to recuperate.”

I recalled Yu Chongrui mentioning his father was bedridden, but now I understood why. His father had contracted an illness in prison. The grandson of Grand Marshal Fang had died in a county jail; how could a prisoner who refused to plead guilty and was detained for three years fare any better? Not to mention the torture during interrogation or the toll of enduring the cold, hopeless prison life, which alone could break a person physically and mentally.

I looked up at him, unsure how to express my sympathy. “I’m sorry, I—”

He smiled. “What does it have to do with you? I was just a baby when my father was imprisoned. My family understands gratitude and resentment. We won’t vent our anger on a child in swaddling clothes.”

If I was just born, then he must’ve only been around ten years old when his father was taken away. His household would’ve lost its pillar.

“That period… you must’ve suffered a lot.”

“No. My mother is very capable; she was the backbone of the family, and I have an older brother. One of them is rich, and the other is skilled in combat. No one dared to bully my family. I just focused on studying hard, or else, how could I have passed the imperial examination at sixteen?”

He said it lightly, but I knew it hadn’t been that simple. For him to pass the imperial examination at sixteen, aside from his intelligence and diligence, he likely had the desire to restore his father’s honor.

From Yu Chongrui’s father’s perspective, he had been unjustly imprisoned because of this incident. His career and health ruined, spending the rest of his life on a sickbed. If it were me, I would surely feel resentment toward my grandfather and never want his granddaughter to be my daughter-in-law.

My grandfather, too, had once said that the He family would never be involved with the Yu family.

And here I was, utterly helpless, relying on the Third Prince’s name to survive. Still, I couldn’t let go of the idea that maybe there could be a chance—a glimmer of hope—for Yu Chongrui and me. It wasn’t over yet.

Just like before I went out today, I had never imagined I would see him again, let alone be in the same room with him, so close.

Should I… take this opportunity to say something? There might not be another chance.

I hesitated, then decided not to ask, “Do you like me?” Instead, I asked, “Shao Dongting is also from Jiangnan. Is he related to all this?”

Yu Chongrui didn’t answer right away, so I added, “When I escaped from Lan Garden, I actually met him first. I saw that he wanted to kill my grandfather to avenge his relatives and make my family pay with blood.”

“Nothing, nothing. I could tell what he was thinking, so I didn’t let him succeed. I found an excuse to escape from his carriage and ran into Fan Zeng on the way.” I voiced the guess that had been in my heart. “He’s actually… a descendant of Prefect Yu, isn’t he?”

Yu Chongrui lowered his gaze, his expression darkening. “His biological mother was a concubine. After the incident, she took him away and remarried into the Shao family under an assumed name. Last year, he came to me to recognize his relatives, and I learned that he was this cousin who had escaped.”

Shao Dongting’s attempt to get Yu Chongrui to acknowledge their family ties was driven by the fact that Yu Chongrui’s influence was growing daily. He had seen an opportunity to use that power against my grandfather.

The wrong had a perpetrator; the debt had a debtor. Shao Dongting carried blood hatred and wanted revenge on my family—I had no standing to judge him for that. But still, I could never bring myself to like this person.

As we talked, we forgot to swap out the cold water or fan the heat away. The Third Prince, lying on the couch, started twisting and struggling from the heat again.

I gently wiped his face with a cool towel, and he slowly began to wake. He looked at me for a moment, dazed, before grinning. “You’ve been taking care of me. Thank you…”

Finally, he could speak normally. Had the drug worn off, and had he regained consciousness?

The Third Prince turned his head, feeling the breeze. When he saw Yu Chongrui fanning himself, he suddenly sat up, pointing at him and shouting, “Who are you? Why are you in my room?”

Before Yu Chongrui could reply, he turned to accuse me, “Wife, how could you do this? You brought a strange man into the house while I was drunk! Do you think I don’t know anything? This is too much!”

Well, never mind. He was clearly not back to normal yet.