Chapter 414: Chapter 326: Strange Phenomenon at Prince Mansion
"I disagree, I disagree!"
The Jing Prince swung his hand forcefully, sending the Buddha-Jumps-over-the-Wall soup that had just been placed before him crashing to the ground. With a loud smash, fragments and soup splattered across the floor.
Huang Bao quickly dropped to his knees, repeatedly saying:
"Calm down, Your Highness. Don’t be angry, Your Highness. After all, it’s your birthday—a day blessed with boundless fortune and longevity as enduring as the Southern mountains. Year after year, today is celebrated; age upon age, this moment is cherished."
Upon hearing this, the Jing Prince’s neck stiffened again. He slapped the edge of the bed heavily and roared in fury, "What birthday? What ’year after year, today is celebrated; age upon age, this moment is cherished’?!"
"Your humble servant was wrong! There is no today year after year, no moment age upon age!"
"You mangy servant, are you cursing me to drop dead?!"
The Jing Prince leaped from the bed, grabbing the nearest object and chasing after Huang Bao with it.
Huang Bao darted around the room, jumping here and there, all the while shielding his head. The entire bedroom descended into utter chaos, like a scene of chickens and dogs in disarray.
At this moment, there came a knock at the door from outside—steady, rhythmic thuds.
The Jing Prince stopped abruptly, realizing it was the Princess. He sat back heavily on the bed and announced, "Enter."
The door creaked open, and sure enough, the Princess stepped inside. At first, the Jing Prince prepared to exhale in relief, so as not to worry her. But the moment he saw who had entered behind the Princess, his breath caught and reversed direction.
"It’s you, that Chen fellow!"
The Jing Prince ground out the name through clenched teeth.
Chen Yi looked at the Jing Prince, shrugged, and then said, "Your Highness—no, I should address you as my father-in-law now."
"You, you, you!"
The Jing Prince was so enraged that the curses stuck in his throat, producing nothing but a sputtering, choking sound.
The Princess stepped forward and hurriedly tried to pacify him, saying, "Enough, enough! This Chen Qianhu is despicable. This Chen Qianhu is a scoundrel—monstrous and depraved! If Wei Ying wishes to curse him to death later on your behalf, so be it. But for now, please calm down, calm down!"
"Hmph!" After a long pause, the Jing Prince finally snorted in disdain, having glanced at the Princess’s concerned face.
The Princess lingered a while longer until she saw that the Jing Prince had mostly regained his composure. Then she carefully began to explain:
"The poets at the gathering praised the reputation of the Prince’s Mansion to the heavens. Two daughters marrying one man, old grievances buried with a smile. What’s more, Wei Ying has taken a liking to him and chose him as her ’Golden Youth.’ You already know that Taihua Mountain esteems Jade Maidens and lightly regards Golden Youths. In this arrangement, it’s actually as if he’s marrying into our household—becoming a live-in son-in-law."
A stream of sweet words fell like a gentle drizzle, gradually quelling the Jing Prince’s anger. He flung his sleeve and sat down.
He refused to look at the Princess, choosing instead to gaze at the wall, inhaling and exhaling repeatedly as he calmed himself.
Chen Yi, who had stood idly, observing the prince throw his tantrum, was not unprepared for such a scene. After all, when the Princess had brought him in earlier, she had preemptively explained much, including that "His Highness is only temporarily upset" and so forth.
"What’s with this mess in here? Huang Bao, clean it up." Once the Jing Prince had stabilized, the Princess turned to Huang Bao with a command.
"Understood." Huang Bao promptly replied, squatting to clean up the floor. His hands moved deftly, gathering the shards of broken porcelain in no time and using his own clothes to wipe up the spilled soup on the ground.
In just moments, he had withdrawn from the room. Chen Yi recognized him as the same servant who had extorted three taels of silver from him at the door earlier.
The Princess gestured with her hand, inviting, "Please, be seated."
But the moment Chen Yi stepped forward and the Princess spoke, the Jing Prince immediately protested, "If he’s just a live-in son-in-law, why does he get to sit while I’m sitting?!"
"Then lie down."
"...Oh."
Momentarily caught off guard, the Jing Prince absentmindedly responded, allowing the Princess to press him back onto the bed.
Meanwhile, Chen Yi settled himself into a heavy, sturdy chair, faintly exuding a scent of sandalwood.
Though the Jing Prince had grown calmer, his gaze bore into Chen Yi as if he longed to devour him alive.
But glaring wouldn’t change anything. What was done was done, and moreover, the Jing Prince himself had publicly agreed to the match during the poetry gathering. Reflecting on this only filled him with regret.
Through gritted teeth, the Jing Prince growled coldly, "That stupid girl Wei Ying! Truly blind as a bat. Heaven must be blind too! What fate, what destiny? Tomorrow, I’ll send men to tear down every Daoist temple in the capital! That Wei Ying—foolish! Utterly foolish!" He thundered in a fit of rage, unleashing a barrage of recriminations before pausing to catch his breath. Finally, after a long pause, he turned to the Princess with a question. "Are they getting along? Has Wei Ying truly taken a liking to him?"
"They’re doing well, very well. Qing Lan saw them admiring the snow by the lakeside. And when Qing Lan said Lady Wei Ying returned to her chambers in high spirits, she wasn’t exaggerating."
The Prince’s Mansion was progressive in many ways, but it still wouldn’t allow its daughters to be betrothed recklessly. Thus, when Yin Weiyin spent time in the garden with Chen Yi and another guest, the Princess had sent a maid to tail them from a distance, reporting everything in detail afterward.
Only after hearing this reply did the Jing Prince genuinely relax. At this point, no matter how begrudgingly, the matter was irreversible.
He mulled a long while before finally letting go of his simmering anger.
Chen Yi, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up:
"Your Highness need not vex yourself so much. Even if I hadn’t sought this marriage today, the Empress Dowager would have decreed it sooner or later, bestowing your noble daughter upon me as my wife."
The Jing Prince arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
The Princess looked at him and then answered, "Do you still remember when I entered the palace last time? The Empress Dowager wished to discuss having the Xiang Prince’s daughter adopted into our household so she could be ennobled as a Commandery Princess."
"A Commandery Princess must be married before receiving her title..." The Jing Prince chewed on the thought, then pointed at Chen Yi. "Him?"
The Princess nodded and elaborated, "Moreover, Chen Qianhu will soon be ennobled as a marquis. Even by worldly standards, having Wei Ying marry him as a marquise would bring great honor to our Prince’s Mansion."
In Great Yu, peerages ranked as duke, marquis, and earl. Peerages could only be granted for national contributions or military achievements, and titles required imperial edicts for confirmation. A dukedom, apart from those inherited from the founding of the nation, required exceptional wartime meritorious service. Thus, attaining the rank of marquis was already an extraordinary accomplishment.
The Princess’s words were therefore correct. A legitimate eldest daughter marrying into a marquis’s household was not merely an honor for the Prince’s Mansion; even princesses often sought their consorts among marquises.
Hearing this, the Jing Prince’s anger had all but dissipated, though many lingering uncertainties remained. He pressed further:
"So... the ’second daughter’ Wei Ying referred to—is she the Xiang Prince’s daughter?"
"Correct. Does Your Highness recall anything about her?"
The Jing Prince frowned, racking his brain before shaking his head decisively. "No impression at all."
It was a casual remark, but to Chen Yi’s ears, it was laden with meaning. He furrowed his brows slightly.
How could this be?
According to the little fox spirit, she had met both the Jing Prince and the Princess, yet neither seemed to remember her. How could that be possible?
Chen Yi had come to the poetry gathering at the Prince’s Mansion not just to meet the royal couple but also to unravel the mystery surrounding Yin Weiyin.
Now it seemed his visit had indeed been well worth the effort.
Moreover, based on the little fox’s dreams, the Jing Prince might also be entangled in the matter of the late emperor’s resurrection.
Chen Yi took a deep breath and directly posed the following question:
"Your Highness, are you familiar with the case of the Chancellor?"
The three words landed like a thunderbolt. The Jing Prince’s hair stood on end as he shot upright, staring at Chen Yi.
Seeing his guarded expression, Chen Yi shook his head with a mirthless smile. "No need to be so nervous. I’ve investigated this case for a long time and already know everything there is to know."
"And what do you know?" the Jing Prince ventured cautiously.
"That the Empress Dowager’s sudden death at Chunbo Temple was orchestrated by the late emperor. Furthermore, Your Highness... you aren’t entirely uninvolved."
Chen Yi spoke slowly but clearly.
In his previous life, he had uncovered the full truth of the Chancellor’s case. Nearly all those directly implicated had met their demise long ago.
All except for the Jing Prince and Lin Cabinet Elder.
Lin Cabinet Elder had been spared partly because he had merely accused the Grand Secretary Zhang of hoarding the secret of immortality, and partly because he shared an enthusiasm for mystical cultivation, being a kindred spirit of the late emperor’s.
The Jing Prince, on the other hand, had survived because he was the late emperor’s blood brother. Moreover, the Empress Dowager’s trip to Chunbo Temple had been orchestrated by none other than the Jing Prince himself.
The Jing Prince’s hand trembled for a long time before he coldly muttered, "So what if you know?"
"I merely wish to ask: in all the years since the Chancellor’s case, has your mansion experienced any strange phenomena?" Chen Yi asked in a measured tone.
The matter intertwined itself with Yin Weiyin’s mystery and his own plans to leave the capital. Chen Yi had no choice but to dig deeper. Without clarity, leaving might prove difficult, and even if he managed to leave, Yin Weiyin could be exposed to grave dangers.
The Jing Prince instinctively thought back, his expression growing momentarily uncertain. However, upon noticing it was Chen Yi asking, his pride restrained his words.
Seeing this, Chen Yi sighed and remarked, "Whatever happened in the past, we are now bound as father-in-law and son-in-law. Why let things sour further?"
After a long hesitation, the Jing Prince relented. "Fine. There is one thing—I’m not sure if it counts as a strange phenomenon. Whenever I walk near the back mountain, I inexplicably feel ill at ease. Both Taoists and monks have inspected the area, even Yu Zhen Yuanjun at my request, but no one has found anything."
"The back mountain..." Chen Yi softly nodded.
Just as he prepared to press for more details, a new knock came at the door.
"Mother! Father! Mother! Father!"
The Princess quickly stood to open the door. A boy, the prince’s eldest son, bolted into the room and flung himself into the Princess’s arms. The child, not yet ten years old, had tear-streaked cheeks and began clamoring noisily. The Princess cooed and comforted him, and the bedroom was instantly filled with chaos.
The Jing Prince rubbed his temples wearily and let out an exhausted sigh as he lay back down.
The Princess cast an apologetic glance toward Chen Yi and kindly asked him to leave. Not wanting to overstay his welcome, Chen Yi rose and stepped out.
As he left, the young prince turned his eyes sideways and cast a deep, calculating glance at Chen Yi.
Noticing this subtle motion from the corner of his eye, Chen Yi narrowed his gaze slightly.
How timely. What was this eldest prince doing here at such a critical moment?