"No, no," Tang Baixin said, dismissing the idea himself before he had even explained it. "That would cut off your own path too. You wouldn't be able to marry afterward."
She wouldn't be able to marry?
That was exactly what she wanted!
"Big brother, tell me!" Tang Zhuyun wheedled, shaking his arm.
Tang Baixin could hardly resist her. "I was thinking you could pretend to be ill and say you had a terrible disease..."
"That'll work!" Tang Zhuyun jumped to her feet. "Big brother, if you had such a good idea, why didn't you say so sooner? You had me worried all this time!"
Tang Mingfan looked grave. "A-Yun, are you... really going to do this?"
"Father, I truly don't want to marry," Tang Zhuyun said. "As for Linlin's parentage, he actually knows... I've already promised him I won't marry again and will devote myself to raising him. Big brother has been held back by me for so long. I don't want to hold him back any longer."
She was working so hard to earn money now partly because she wanted to help Tang Baixin find a wife and live a normal life.
She was already twenty, and her big brother was twenty-four!
Tang Baixin said, "So you were worried about me. I'm your brother. Everything I've done for you, I've done willingly. Seeing that you can change for the better now is enough for me. Don't worry, I'll still treat Linlin as my own. You can marry into the prince's residence without worrying."
Tang Zhuyun: "..."
How on earth could she make them understand that she didn't like the Prince of Jin?
What was so great about the Prince of Jin anyway?
Tang Zhuyun grew even more agitated when she heard Old Madam He and Xiu'er in the courtyard saying they should prepare incense and candles to fulfill their vow, thanking the Buddha for his blessing now that their young lady had finally found a good match.
She very, very much wanted to die.
"Father, big brother, I can handle the matter of coming down with a terrible disease myself," Tang Zhuyun said. "Go about your business. You don't need to worry about me."
If they really wanted to help, they could hold up the imperial edict and keep it from being issued so soon.
Tang Zhuyun thought she couldn't afford to delay. For the sake of her own happiness, she had to go prepare the medicine at once.
There was an art to coming down with a terrible disease.
After thinking it over, she decided to "disfigure" herself.
If she broke out in a rash that looked like smallpox, the emperor would probably have to change his mind. Even if he felt awkward about it, her father could take the initiative to bring it up, and the emperor would most likely go along with it. He might even give her some reward as compensation.
If the emperor still refused to give up, she would have to leave herself with some "aftereffects" and add a stronger dose, making him feel that granting such a marriage would wrong his son.
She really was a clever little thing!
"Oh, right, Father, there's something else I almost forgot," Tang Zhuyun said. "Ruan Anruo came looking for trouble with me again today. She also told me her older male cousin had passed as a third-rank jinshi."
Tang Mingfan frowned. "I must have a word with Vice Minister Ruan and tell him to teach his daughter properly!"
"Don't. I didn't come off worse," Tang Zhuyun said. "It's a personal matter. It isn't worth it."
Tang Mingfan was very gratified. "I did hear something about this before. Though a third-rank jinshi is barely satisfactory, it's still decent enough, considering he comes from a merchant family."
Merchant families had little atmosphere for academic study. It was only in the past decade or so that the emperor had relaxed the restrictions and allowed merchants to pursue an education.
"No, what I mean is, I knew before that he was a good-for-nothing. How could he have made it to the palace examination?"
"A-Yun, do you suspect someone tampered with the results?"
"Yes!"
Tang Baixin said, "That shouldn't be the case. If it's as you say, he would have had to cheat from the autumn examination to the spring examination, and then again in the palace examination. That would be no easy feat..."
"But it isn't impossible," Tang Mingfan said. "Since your sister has brought it up, check this year's list of third-rank jinshi, then see if you can find any clues."
Tang Baixin agreed.
Tang Zhuyun was very happy. She herself wasn't very sure about the matter she had raised, but her father and brother both took it seriously and were willing to investigate, which showed they respected her.
"Father, big brother, I'm going back to my room."
After she left, the Tang father and son found themselves once again caught up in the difficult discussion of "whether Tang Zhuyun really didn't want to marry the Prince of Jin or was only pretending."
Her repeated changes of heart on this matter had cost her family's trust.
If they really stopped it this time, there would be no chance afterward...
Unaware of the father and son's dilemma, Tang Zhuyun shut herself away and applied herself single-mindedly to her work.
No, she shut herself away to make medicine.
She didn't even make dinner. Old Madam He made it with Xiu'er, leaving everyone at home looking as though they were constipated.
Tang Zhuyun wasn't picky, though. After shoveling down a bowl of noodles, she went straight back to work as if she'd been injected with chicken blood.
Tang Baixin looked at Tang Mingfan. "Father, has A-Yun been given a shock?"
Tang Mingfan said, "Can I still take a meal with me tomorrow morning?"
This was a very serious question, concerning both his dignity and his stomach.
Tang Baixin: "..."
Tang Mingfan sighed again. "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality! A-Yun really has spoiled us all."
Tang Zhuyun worked into the latter half of the night. At last, unable to stay awake any longer, she yawned incessantly, her eyes watering. She put down the medicine in her hands, flopped onto the bed, and fell fast asleep.
She dreamed that she had married the Prince of Jin and was sitting on the bed beneath a red bridal veil.
The Prince of Jin came in and lifted her veil. The sight of her gave him such a fright that he fainted on the spot.
Tang Zhuyun burst out laughing.
"Prince of Jin, so your day has come too!"
"What about me?"
The voice beside her ear sounded a little too real. Tang Zhuyun instinctively mumbled, "You're a bastard, that's what."
The next moment, she felt a sharp pain in her cheek, as if someone had given it a vicious pinch. It hurt so much that she couldn't continue her pleasant dream and opened her eyes.
The Prince of Jin's face appeared in the candlelight, as though coated in a layer of gold, though his expression was decidedly unpleasant.
It took Tang Zhuyun a good while to realize that the bastard had barged into her room in the middle of the night!
"What are you doing!" she demanded indignantly.
This was outrageous. She was nothing to him yet, and he was already making himself at home in her room.
If she really became his side consort in the future, wouldn't he trample all over her every day?
But when she saw the medicine on the table that she hadn't had time to put away, Tang Zhuyun felt a little guilty.
"Sorry for the trouble, but I need you to come with me. Right now."
"Why should I... All right, but make yourself clear." Tang Zhuyun reached out, took the hundred-tael banknote from the Prince of Jin's hand, and tucked it into her purse.
"I need your help saving someone. It's urgent."
"Then why aren't we going?" Tang Zhuyun said. "No, I have to tell my father first."
"Let's not disturb Lord Tang in the middle of the night. I'll explain everything to him afterward."
"What if you kill me to silence me?" Tang Zhuyun asked, her face full of disdain.
"Then if I killed you right now, would anyone suspect me?" The Prince of Jin's eyes plainly said, Idiot.
Even if she wouldn't do it for the Prince of Jin, she had to do it for the silver. Tang Zhuyun reluctantly agreed. "Will there be more money if I save them?"
The Prince of Jin said impatiently, "I'll give you another hundred taels."
This woman had fallen into a money hole.
"All right." Tang Zhuyun beamed. "Tell me, who am I saving?"
"Meng Yulan."
Tang Zhuyun: "..."