A Chain Reaction

The True and False Crown Prince Case began with an accusation from a married couple: Xiao Qianyì's adoptive parents.

They had also brought evidence that, on the day the Heir's Consort of Prince Jiujiang gave birth, she had plotted to switch the babies.

From the scent pouch that could induce premature labor to the account of how the babies were switched and who had helped, the chain of evidence was complete and convincing.

The Ministry of Justice hadn't simply taken someone's word for it. Given the gravity of the matter, they investigated the pouch's origins and arrested those involved at the time. Even those who had been silenced weren't overlooked. After examining the other evidence, they finally confirmed that the eldest prince had indeed been switched at birth and carried out of the palace.

In this respect, the Ministry of Justice had really investigated the case. The original owner hadn't been falsely accused.

After the matter came to light, the Heir's Consort of Prince Jiujiang was imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court. The Prince Jiujiang's Heir claimed he knew nothing about it and that it had been entirely his consort's doing. He even said that he, too, was a victim: his beloved concubine's child had been taken and raised at the Heir's Consort's side, leaving the concubine miserable for years. In his indignation, he submitted a memorial declaring that he would divorce the Heir's Consort, Lady Qi, and sever all ties with her.

Prince Jiujiang, meanwhile, submitted a plea for punishment, claiming his family's misfortune had shamed the court and asking for his stipend to be reduced.

Xiao Qianyu found it quite amusing. He was fake, sure, but his original identity wasn't lowly either. He came from a princely house of the imperial clan and carried Royal Bloodline just the same.

For a case as grave as the True and False Crown Prince Case, Xiao Qianyu didn't believe that Prince Jiujiang and his son had known nothing about it. Yet in the end, the Heir's Consort of Prince Jiujiang had taken all the blame herself.

All he'd heard was that the Heir's Consort of Prince Jiujiang had been locked up in the Imperial Clan Court, awaiting Autumn Execution. But what about Prince Jiujiang and his Heir? Had the court held them accountable?

Probably not.

So either Prince Jiujiang and his son were cunning enough to leave the emperor without a shred of evidence against them, or Prince Jiujiang's Estate held such a special position that it couldn't be touched lightly—even to the point that the emperor feared them enough to let them off for the grave crimes of muddling the Royal Bloodline and coveting the Position of Crown Prince.

Xiao Qianyu leaned toward the latter.

After all, had anyone ever seen a princely house entangled in a case serious enough to bring about its downfall, with its Heir still daring to submit a memorial, crying that he was a victim too?

Was cutting Prince Jiujiang's stipend really enough punishment?

The contempt Prince Jiujiang's Estate showed for the court was plain as day. They were no loyal subjects willing to bow their heads. They were ambitious men with their eyes on the throne.

Xiao Qianyu didn't mind this standard villain backstory, but he couldn't accept Prince Jiujiang and his son looking after themselves and tossing the villainous mother out to take the blame alone.

If the Heir's Consort of Prince Jiujiang had orchestrated the baby switch by herself, Xiao Qianyu would save her.

If Prince Jiujiang and his son had planned the case, with the Heir's Consort merely pushed forward as a scapegoat, then he had all the more reason to save her.

For the protagonist, the difference between a supporting character and cannon fodder was merely how many scenes they got. In the end, everyone was cannon fodder.

Why should cannon fodder make life hard for cannon fodder?

Another thing that bothered him was the adoptive parents who had carried the protagonist to safety and then given their lives to pave his way back to the palace.

They seemed like nothing more than tools to set the protagonist back on the right path. They'd worked so hard, gained nothing, and lost their lives for it.

Wasn't the Heir's Consort supposed to have sent assassins after them again and again? How had they still had the time and energy to raise the protagonist into someone skilled in both literature and martial arts? And with all that attention, weren't they afraid she'd find them?

If the princely house had been keeping them under watch the whole time, how had they made it to the capital and struck the Petition Drum without a hitch?

Xiao Qianyu felt there was something wrong with the whole story, as if an unseen hand were pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Setting down the case files, Xiao Qianyu smiled faintly. He was here now, after all. They would see whether this counterfeit, Heaven's chosen one, or the protagonist, the true child of the Heavenly Dao, would win in the end.

With his thoughts settled, Xiao Qianyu closed his eyes and drifted peacefully to sleep.

He had no idea that the upheaval at the Execution Grounds had stirred a storm outside, turning the capital's wealthy families upside down and leaving everyone in a state of panic.

The shockwaves were already spreading toward the areas around the capital and the borderlands.

Countless people's fates were being tugged by unseen threads, and from that moment on, their lives were turned upside down.

Willow Mountain Villa, a hundred li from the capital.

Yu Zhixue had felt uneasy all day. She'd woken up nauseated that morning and thrown up, then lain down to rest without eating a bite.

By noon, she had no appetite when she saw the food and refused to eat. She leaned by the window, lost in thought.

Only when the sky had begun to darken and her personal maid came into the room with a candle did she realize the entire day had passed.

Bi'er carried a wooden tray with several dishes of crisp green vegetables and a bowl of thick, fragrant green-stem rice porridge.

"Miss, you haven't eaten all day. No matter what, please have a little something." Bi'er glanced at her belly with concern. "You're carrying a little young master, after all."

Yu Zhixue silently lowered her head and touched her still-flat belly. A chill filled her heart.

Before she'd married, she'd been swept into the Yan Family on a blazing rush of hope and longing. But after she became pregnant, that dream had been snuffed out with icy cruelty.