The Prince of Jin was tall and powerfully built, with sharply defined features, long brows sweeping toward his temples, deep, starry eyes, and a straight, prominent nose. On his dark blue-black robe, a dragon embroidered in gold thread coiled in a majestic circle, as though it might leap to life.
His gaze swept indifferently over the crowd. He cupped his hands to the grand princess. "Aunt."
The grand princess's expression softened considerably when she saw him. "I looked everywhere for you."
"I had a few too many cups of wine and came in here to rest," the Prince of Jin said coolly. "Why are there so many people? Did something happen?"
Tang Zhuyun bowed with easy composure and said clearly, "I didn't know Your Highness was resting here, and I entered the courtyard without reason. Fortunately, I didn't go inside. Please forgive me for disturbing you."
As soon as she spoke, even the Prince of Jin gave her a second look, while a buzz of discussion rose behind her.
Tang Zhuyun simply wasn't the sort of person who could have said such things.
"It's nothing." The Prince of Jin was as cold as a block of ice.
So you think you're all that just because you're handsome? Hmph!
Tang Zhuyun breathed a sigh of relief. But whether or not it was her imagination, the toadying guard behind the Prince of Jin seemed to be looking at her with deep resentment.
Brother, make do with it. I've already been very polite.
If I'd actually slept with your master, you could kiss your head goodbye.
That fellow, the Prince of Jin, really could keep his composure. I made such a racket when I fell just now, and he still didn't come out...
Wait, that's not right!
It suddenly occurred to Tang Zhuyun: why hadn't he come out to stop her just now?
The Prince of Jin had clearly been fine, yet he'd pretended to be unconscious, while the guard had made himself invisible. What were they trying to do? Turn the scheme against its schemers?
But there were simply too many people around, and Tang Zhuyun had no time to think further.
The grand princess said, "As long as nothing's wrong. It was all a misunderstanding. Come along, everyone's waiting for you."
As she spoke, she looked at Ruan Anruo with a touch more reproach.
Tang Zhuyun looked at Ruan Anruo with a half-smile, mockery in her eyes.
Unexpectedly, Ruan Anruo had steeled herself to get her today. "Your Highness, Zhuyun really did tell me she was going to bring that kind of filthy drug in here to use on the prince... I was afraid something would happen to him, so I..."
Tang Zhuyun raised an eyebrow. "You believed me just because I said it? Then if I told you to die, why haven't you done it?"
Now this was how the capital's wicked woman was supposed to behave. Disgust returned to everyone's faces at once.
Unexpectedly, Tang Zhuyun abruptly changed tack. She clapped her hands and said, "Besides, I never said any such thing, and I would never do it. The prince is a cloud in the sky, and I am mud on the ground. I wouldn't dare cling to him for advancement, for fear of falling and being smashed to pieces."
"Then do you dare take out your pouch? If you don't, I'll ask the matron attending Her Highness to do it for you." Ruan Anruo flushed, her face twisting slightly.
Now that things had come to this, none of them could save face.
If she didn't nail Tang Zhuyun to the pillar of shame today, people would say she had framed her.
Before Tang Zhuyun could speak, Xiu'er panicked, her body trembling uncontrollably. She was the one who had bought the drug; if this came to light, she would be the first to lose her life.
"What gives you the right to search my sister?"
A voice rang out, edged with coolness, and everyone turned toward it.
The man at the entrance stood tall and graceful, with swordlike brows, starry eyes, deep-set eye sockets, and sharply defined features as though carved with exquisite care. His stone-blue robe of coarse cloth was somewhat old, but had been washed and starched immaculately clean.
He held a little boy by the hand. The child looked four or five, with fair, tender skin and eyes like black obsidian. But those eyes held a sternness beyond his years, and his face was dark as still water.
Tang Zhuyun's head swelled to the size of a bushel when she saw such an adorable little boy staring at her with anger and hatred.
The newcomer was Tang Baixin, Tang Zhuyun's only full brother. The child holding his hand was nominally Tang Zhuyun's nephew, but in truth, he was her... own son.
That was right. Five years ago, on the first day of the new year, the body's original owner had given birth to this son and named him Tang Duo, with the nickname Linlin.
She had borne him out of wedlock, and she didn't even know who the man was... Thinking of it now, the present Tang Zhuyun wanted to give the original owner a good beating. How could she have done something so foolish?
Tang Zhuyun had been ruined by the grandmother who raised her back in their hometown.
Her mother had died in childbirth when she was born. Her father had been devastated, but he still had to return to the capital to take up his post. He had no wish to remarry, and, thinking his daughter was still young and it would be most convenient to leave her in his mother's care, he took his son, Tang Baixin, with him to the capital.
It was the decision Tang Mingfan regretted most in his entire life, without exception.
He was an upright official, with a meager salary and no other under-the-table income. Everything in the capital was expensive, and he lived on a tight budget. Even so, he had most of his income sent home, partly to support his parents and partly so his daughter could live more comfortably.
But he truly knew too little about his own mother. He returned home only once every few years and never noticed that his daughter was being raised badly.
In reality, Tang Zhuyun's own grandmother had raised her into a snobbish, vain, spiteful, and sharp-tongued girl who had no idea how high the heavens were or how deep the earth was.
Only when her pregnancy out of wedlock came to light and Tang Baixin hurried home did he discover that his sister had become such a stranger.
Tang Baixin brought his sister back to the capital. By then, the pregnancy was too far along to terminate, so she had no choice but to give birth.
To protect his sister's good name, he discussed it with Tang Mingfan, and they claimed the child was his own illegitimate son by a woman outside the family, ruining his reputation in the process.
Tang Baixin had already placed first in the imperial examinations by then, and his prospects suffered as a result. Even so, the emperor still held him in high regard, so he now served in the Ministry of Personnel.
But without an illegitimate son to stain his personal conduct, he could have entered the Hanlin Academy.
Tang Zhuyun couldn't help thinking, Why did this father and son bother with the original owner? They should have let that woman reap what she sowed!
Though emotionally, she knew that was impossible.
The original owner had raised havoc everywhere. Even after dragging her father and brother down with her, she still wouldn't behave. Not only did she neglect her own son, she also squandered money, leaving all three males in the household, young and old, struggling to get by.
On top of that, she looked down her nose at everyone and was a sucker for a pretty face. She was always convinced she should marry the best man in the capital, and had made herself a laughingstock many times over.
Tang Mingfan had enjoyed a lifetime of honor and never wanted anyone to say a word against him, yet his reputation had been dragged through the mud because of this daughter. If the emperor hadn't repeatedly urged him to stay, he would have hung up his boots and gone home long ago.
Tang Baixin's clothes were worse than those worn by servants, yet they were already the best he had for going out.
As for Linlin, even the meat the household set aside for him had been snatched away by Tang Zhuyun, so he loathed this aunt to the bone.
The original owner truly hadn't cherished her blessings. Her father had placed first in the imperial examinations, her brother had placed first, and her son was a genius... Yet they were all using their reputations to wipe her backside.
It was all her fault.
She didn't even dare meet Linlin's eyes. Guiltily, she said to Tang Baixin, "Brother, I..."
I didn't.
But before she could say it aloud, Tang Baixin snapped, "You shut your mouth!"
Tang Zhuyun: "..."
The original owner committed the sins, and I'm here to pay her debts? Just my rotten luck.
Ruan Anruo said, "Lord Tang, I'm certain Zhuyun has something shameful in her pouch!"
"What is your certainty worth?" Tang Baixin sneered.
"If you knew, why did you wait until now to say so?" Linlin's sneer was exactly like Tang Baixin's.
"Whatever my daughter has hidden on her has nothing to do with you."
Father's here too!