Troublemaker Prince C38
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 38
After this farce came to an end, everyone left Xuande Hall, and You Yusui sat in his palanquin and led Huo Xiling's group back to the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.
After leaving the grounds of Xuande Hall, Cui Yan, who had not spoken all along, suddenly said, "This time the Eldest Princess acted a bit too hastily."
You Yusui, sitting in the palanquin, took a puff of Cui Yan's specially made mint and citrus tobacco before turning his head to look at Cui Yan beside him. He asked, "Then what do you think the Eldest Princess should have done?"
Cui Yan smiled and said, "After rescuing Prince of Yan's consort, she should have directly brought her back to the princess's mansion and had the censors publicly impeach the Prince of Yan in court for favoring his concubine and destroying his wife."
The Eldest Princess bringing the Prince of Yan's consort directly to the imperial palace this time to demand justice and accusing the Prince of Yan of favoring his concubine and destroying his wife was really too hasty. She also failed to lay the matter before everyone and didn't have the civil and military officials and censors put pressure on the current emperor.
If You Fengyun wanted to protect the First Prince, it was merely a matter of one sentence. Even just now, when the imperial edict punishing the Prince of Yan came down, it had already changed from favoring his concubine and destroying his wife to having a quarrel with the Prince of Yan's consort and accidentally pushing her down.
"Imperial Physician Cui, it's truly a waste of your talents not to become an official and engage in factional struggles," You Yusui said with narrowed eyes.
However, You Yusui also understood very well why You Fengyun had to do this. He, the First Prince, and the Third Prince had to maintain balance in the court. If one side was suppressed, the tripod situation would be broken.
Cui Yan beside him smiled and said, "Thank you for Your Highness's praise, but I still prefer watching other people's excitement."
Seeing this, You Yusui snorted coldly, then instructed Huo Xiling, "Xiling, in the future stay away from people like Imperial Physician Cui. If he tries to scheme against you, just beat him back."
Huo Xiling stared at You Yusui beside him with smiling eyes and said, "Alright."
Cui Yan beside them heard this and his face instantly fell. What "alright."
Just at this moment, You Yusui's group happened to run into the Third Prince's group, who had already been enfeoffed as the Prince of Wu.
This was the second day after the Third Prince You Yushan's wedding, and he should be bringing his new bride into the palace to pay respects to his elders. Following beside You Yushan was Su Yingying, the granddaughter of Prime Minister Su.
"Greetings to Your Highness the Crown Prince," Su Yingying gently curtsied.
You Yusui looked at Su Yingying. Her face bore a smile and showed no distress, completely different from her previous appearance when someone had slandered her reputation and she wanted to die. Moreover, when Su Yingying looked at the Third Prince, her eyes also held some affection.
You Yusui couldn't help but wonder what Su Yingying would think if she knew that the one who ruined her reputation was the Third Prince himself, and that he had also wanted to send her to his bed to ruin both their reputations.
"Princess of Wu, no need for formalities." After saying this, You Yusui looked at the Third Prince with a beaming smile.
"Second Imperial Brother Crown Prince," the Third Prince said with a bow.
"Third Brother is going to see Consort Xian, I presume," You Yusui looked down at You Yushan from his superior position, then said with a smile, "I wonder if Third Brother is satisfied with the wedding gift I gave you—the four-piece 'Early Birth of Noble Sons' set?"
Su Yingying beside them didn't know what the "Early Birth of Noble Sons" four-piece set was, and for a moment lowered her head, seeming somewhat shy.
You Yushan, who knew what the "Early Birth of Noble Sons" four-piece set was: ......
He really wanted to know what kind of thick skin the Crown Prince had to come over and ask him after sending such a thing. "Did you receive my gift? Are you satisfied?"
Who would be satisfied with a pile of peanuts, melon seeds, dried longans, and dates? When others wished for early birth of noble sons, they would at least send a statue of Guanyin the Child-Giver. Only the Crown Prince would do something like this.
So You Yushan replied sarcastically, "When Your Highness the Crown Prince marries in the future, this subject-brother will naturally return the favor in full."
Hearing this, You Yusui smiled. He reached out and touched the white jade long-handled smoking pipe in his hand, then slowly said, "To be honest, in order to live longer, this prince has decided not to marry or have children, so Third Brother's kind intentions are appreciated but unnecessary."
As his words fell, You Yushan revealed an expression of disbelief. He felt that the Crown Prince had indeed gone mad to be able to say such things.
"Consort Xian is probably still waiting for you at Jianjia Palace right now. Perhaps there's even good news waiting for you. This prince won't disturb Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law from paying respects to Consort Xian," You Yusui said, then withdrew his gaze and said, "Let's go."
As his words fell, the little eunuchs carrying the palanquin began to move, and the group headed toward the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.
"Your Highness......" Su Yingying looked helplessly at the Third Prince beside her, whose face had darkened.
"It's nothing. Let's go see Mother Consort," You Yushan said, then took Su Yingying's hand and led her toward Jianjia Palace.
"Alright." Su Yingying lowered her eyes. She didn't say that at that moment, she felt the Third Prince, who had been so good to her, seemed to have become another person.
At Jianjia Palace, Consort Xian had been waiting for the Third Prince and Su Yingying for some time. Her face bore a smile as if she had encountered some happy occasion. The Eldest Princess had already sent someone to tell her about today's events.
Although she regretted that the Eldest Princess hadn't consulted with her before acting, allowing You Fengyun to lightly dismiss what should have been severe punishment for the First Prince, this time the First Prince had still suffered a major loss.
"Your Highness, the Prince of Wu and Princess of Wu have arrived," a palace servant outside Jianjia Palace quickly walked to Consort Xian and reported.
Instantly, Consort Xian put on a gentle smile and said to the palace servant, "Why don't you quickly invite Shan'er and Yingying in."
Soon, Su Yingying followed the palace servant before Consort Xian, then gracefully offered Consort Xian a cup of daughter-in-law tea.
"Consort Xian," Su Yingying softly called.
Consort Xian curved her lips and said, "You're part of our family now, why haven't you changed how you address me?"
"Mother Consort," Su Yingying obediently corrected herself.
The difficulties Su Yingying had imagined did not appear. Consort Xian even personally helped her up and removed the jade bracelet of the finest imperial green from her own wrist and placed it on Su Yingying's wrist.
Consort Xian's attitude toward her was kind and affectionate, completely lacking the arrogance and domineering manner of the Li family. This made Su Yingying involuntarily relax.
Then Consort Xian also rewarded Su Yingying with some fashionable silk fabrics to make clothes, and had the palace servants take Su Yingying to stroll through the Imperial Garden.
After sending Su Yingying away, Consort Xian looked at her son with a serious expression and said, "Have you been treating her well as I told you?"
You Yushan said impatiently, "I don't even look for other women, and I try my best to be gentle and attentive to her. Isn't that good enough?"
Speaking of finding other women, Consort Xian thought of today's incident between the Prince of Yan and his consort and told You Yushan about it.
"You must never learn from the Prince of Yan to favor concubines and destroy your wife. The Su family is not to be trampled upon lightly," Consort Xian said, playing with the prayer beads in her hand.
Prime Minister Su was, after all, the foremost among the world's scholars from humble backgrounds. If his granddaughter were trampled upon, wouldn't this provoke public outrage?
"Yes," You Yushan said with half understanding.
Seeing this, Consort Xian couldn't help but sigh. She was so intelligent, and His Majesty also possessed extraordinary talent, so how did they produce a son who only knew martial arts and was completely ignorant of everything else? Thinking again of her younger son who was born with intellectual disabilities, Consort Xian couldn't help but wonder: could intermarriage between close relatives really lead to disabled children?
However, what made Consort Xian feel fortunate now was that the Third Prince was very obedient to her and wouldn't act on his own initiative.
Meanwhile, on another side, Su Yingying hadn't been following Consort Xian's servants for long when she encountered the Imperial Noble Consort, who had deliberately come to block her path.
"If it isn't our Princess of Wu? It's been so long," the Imperial Noble Consort said with sharp sarcasm.
This morning the First Prince had been punished, and she had also been sent someone by the Emperor to scold her, saying she was petty and lacked imperial dignity, and her stipend was reduced for three months. Just when she had a bellyful of anger with nowhere to vent, she heard that the Prince of Wu was bringing the Princess of Wu into the palace to pay respects to Consort Xian, so she deliberately sought her out to warn Su Yingying.
"Imperial Noble Consort," Su Yingying said with a pale face as she curtsied.
Her father and the Imperial Noble Consort shared the same father but different mothers. The sibling relationship between them was shallow, and naturally she was not close to this aunt, the Imperial Noble Consort.
"This consort is telling you, don't think that just because you're the Princess of Wu you can forget your surname. As long as you bear the surname Su for one day, you are a member of the Su family. Consort Xian will never treat you with sincerity. You must remember this well," the Imperial Noble Consort said, then snorted coldly and turned to leave.
Su Yingying was so frightened her face turned pale. A maid beside her quickly asked: "Miss, are you alright?"
After speaking, the maid immediately said indignantly, "If it weren't for the First Prince harming you, you......"
"Xiao Yue, silence," Su Yingying rebuked.
"Yes," the maid replied in a low voice.
Su Yingying then said to Consort Xian's palace servant, "Please do not tell Consort Xian about this matter."
"Princess, rest assured," Consort Xian's palace servant said with a smile.
Consort Xian's palace servant said a few more words then turned to leave, saying she was going to the kitchen to fetch some pastries that were only available at Jianjia Palace for Su Yingying.
The young maid beside Su Yingying widened her eyes at this and said, "Didn't she say she wouldn't tell Consort Xian?"
"Xiao Yue, be quiet. In the palace, speak less and observe more. If you don't want to get us both killed, listen to me," Su Yingying frowned and quietly scolded.
"Yes."
Su Yingying couldn't help but close her eyes. She only felt that her future path would be extraordinarily difficult.
Just at this moment, a stone struck the maid beside Su Yingying, startling her into screaming.
"Why are you screaming?" Su Yingying rebuked.
Xiao Yue stammered and pointed at the stone. "Miss, there's a letter."
Su Yingying quickly glanced around, and after confirming no one was there, picked up the letter from the stone.
The letter read: If the Princess wishes to know the truth about the Spring Banquet incident, when you return to your family home, seek out a young beggar at the back gate of the Prime Minister's manor to contact me.
Su Yingying quickly finished reading, then crumpled the paper into a ball and said to the maid beside her, "Xiaoyue, swallow it."
"Ah? Oh, oh oh oh." The maid quickly ate the paper.
Su Yingying's heart was in turmoil. Could there be hidden circumstances about the Spring Banquet incident that even her grandfather didn't know about?
Behind the artificial mountain, Cui Yan watched Huo Xiling, who had thrown the stone, and said, "Disrupting the young lady's peaceful married life like this isn't good."
Huo Xiling looked at him and said, "Living awake or dying in ignorant bliss are both one's own choices."
"Don't look at me like that. I'm just here to watch the excitement," Cui Yan said.
"Could it be that Imperial Physician Cui became an imperial physician just to watch the imperial family's excitement?"
"Isn't the imperial family's excitement the most plentiful in the world?"