The final reply arrived quite late, though it was far more reliable than the earlier responses, which had felt like nothing more than idle gossip.
"One may enter the heartless from the affectionate. Ming Li has spent a hundred years in Tianfang seeking the path without success; it is a good thing that this opportunity has now presented itself."
"Little Immortal A Yu, I ask that you look after her."
This was a warm-hearted Orthodox God.
The Divine Stone suddenly felt the weight of a heavy responsibility, and with it, a renewed surge of energy.
...
Ming Li did not hide the matter. When she returned to the estate and met Jiang Ling’s hesitant, questioning gaze, she remained entirely composed.
Eventually, Jiang Ling could not hold back any longer. "Fourth Miss, what were you doing today?"
"Didn't you see, Second Sister?" Ming Li looked at her.
It was Jiang Ling who had led those noblewomen away; this sister of hers was certainly not one to obsess over petty household squabbles.
Jiang Ling’s fingers tightened instantly, yet she still spoke each word clearly. "I mean nothing else by it. I only feel that you should inform Mother—"
"I know."
"Thank you." Ming Li smiled faintly, nodded at her, and quickly leaned against the carriage wall to close her eyes and rest.
Left behind, Jiang Ling was dazed for a moment before her fingers relaxed. Her heart, usually calm and ripple-free, swelled with a touch of joy.
A Li knows.
A Li said thank you to her.
Thus, when Ming Li returned to the Chancellor’s Estate, she was accompanied by the anxious Jiang Ling and laid out everything that had happened that day. Of course, she omitted the attempted flirtations of a certain cowardly Highness, stating only that she had killed an assassin in the Imperial Garden and happened to run into Yin Xun.
While the Divine Stone was still wondering when she had killed an assassin, the Jiang Family had already quickly deduced the mastermind behind the incident involving her and the Crown Prince.
However, as a subject, one could not simply confront the Empress, so Jiang Qin could only give Yin Chu a cold shoulder in the imperial court.
After all, his good mother had done it all for his sake!This threw the Empress into a panic. For many days in a row, she sent rewards to the Jiang Estate as if money were no object. The Jiang Family accepted them on the surface, but behind the scenes, they returned every single item without missing a piece, making it clear that there was no room for negotiation.
What was truly anxiety-inducing was that, even at this point, the Jiang Family still showed no intention of requesting a marriage decree.
Others were unaware that Fourth Miss Jiang had lost her virtue; the matter could have been completely covered up.
It was at this moment that Yin Xun exerted his influence.
Jiang Qin had initially dismissed him as weak-willed and not a variable worth considering. Yet, within two days, Yin Xun petitioned the Emperor, and the moment he opened his mouth, he declared, "Your son and Fourth Miss Jiang have already shared an intimate encounter."
This not only shocked the informants lurking within Xuanzheng Hall, but even left the Emperor stunned for quite some time. "You and Fourth Miss Jiang?"
"The Jiang Family has already stated they would no longer pursue the incident at the hunt; you need not take it too much to heart."
Yin Xun coughed twice, his cheeks flushing red. "It was not during the hunt, but at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet. Fourth Miss Jiang was framed by someone and happened to run into me."
Consequently, Jiang Qin was urgently summoned to the palace. Upon questioning, he learned that the matter was indeed true, and even gleaned many details that allowed him to guess the mastermind behind the scenes: the Empress.
It was a rare instance of her doing something useful.
"Then, I shall bestow upon you the title of Prince Wen and grant you Fourth Miss Jiang as your Consort. How does that sound?" The Emperor’s tone softened considerably, relieved to have defused a ticking time bomb of an alliance between a powerful noble family and the Imperial clan.
Yet, for reasons unknown, Yin Xun suddenly knelt before the two of them, his forehead striking the floor with a resonant thud.
"Your son is well aware of my congenital deficiencies. I am unskilled in both literature and martial arts, and I am unworthy of Fourth Miss Jiang. I beg Your Majesty not to consider me; please, think this over carefully."
"I did not come here to force Fourth Miss Jiang to marry me."
His clothing was remarkably thin. The pale, fine bamboo pattern on his cyan outer robe seemed to mock him, ridiculing his inability to weather the storm and his willingness to wallow in his own degradation.Compared to the handsome and dashing Crown Prince and the jade-like Second Prince, he was vastly inferior.
Even the other, less remarkable princes looked outstanding by comparison.
Jiang Qin truly looked down upon him, yet now that the young man had lowered himself so far, Jiang Qin found himself unable to say anything harsh.
Not only that, he even had to offer a couple of words of praise.
"Your Seventh Highness need not be so self-deprecating. Since Your Highness saved my daughter twice, it is clear that Your Highness is truly a valiant and unconstrained man. However..." However, who would believe that you did not do this to force our hand?
"If only it were as the Chancellor says. Unfortunately, I am merely mud that cannot be plastered onto a wall... Today, I have come here truly to beg Your Majesty's mercy, to bestow Your humble son in marriage to the Fourth Miss Jiang." He was still kneeling, his head buried against the floor. By the end, his voice was barely a breath, carrying a plea.
There was not the slightest trace of a prince's nobility.
The Emperor, who had just been reveling in the removal of a great menace and had not yet managed to laugh a couple of times in private, saw all his joy vanish completely.
He even snatched up the jade inkstone beside him and hurled it furiously to the ground. As the inkstone shattered into pieces, a fragment grazed the young man's forehead, leaving a streak of blood.
"Old Seven! Do you know what you are saying?!" Bestow in marriage? Was this not eagerly throwing himself to become a mere plaything for that fourth daughter of the Jiang family!
Yin Xun still did not raise his head, only saying, "I beg Father Emperor's mercy."
With that, the interior of the hall fell silent to a dangerous degree.
Jiang Qin chuckled inwardly, but once his mood for watching a show subsided and he looked toward that lowered, insignificant prince who seemed as humble as a blade of grass, he actually sensed a faint, hidden threat.
Yet now, he could only compose his expression and say, "Your Highness, this is contrary to propriety."
Yin Xun lowered his eyes and remained silent.
Of course he knew it was contrary to propriety.
Yet, no one would suspect him, for after all, he could no longer survive in the palace. He would let everyone know this was his only way out, and that taking this path was forced upon him by others.
...
Within a few days, the marriage edict was nevertheless issued.
It was neither the position of Prince Wen's Consort as initially intended, nor the plaything Yin Xun had asked for. Instead, a compromise was struck: Ming Li was betrothed as the Seventh Prince's Consort, and under the pretext of auspicious and inauspicious omens divination, the Seventh Prince was sent to recuperate at the Chancellor's Estate.
To put it bluntly, it was nothing more than a matrilocal marriage with a better-sounding reputation.
Unwilling to lose royal face and needing to appease Chancellor Jiang, the Emperor had no choice but to take a step back, treating the spineless prince Yin Xun as a discarded pawn.
Although this arrangement was not as secure as anchoring Jiang Li through the position of Prince Wen's Consort, it could at least ensure that the marriage alliance would not stir up trouble in the short term.
The Empress, however, was gnashing her teeth in anger. Naturally, she had ways of knowing that her own scheming had paved the way for someone else.Seeing her path to Jiang Li completely cut off by her own hand, she had no choice but to seek another route, petitioning the Emperor to bestow Jiang Ling upon Yin Chu as his primary consort.
Logically speaking, Jiang Ling, being a daughter of a concubine, was not qualified to become the Crown Princess, but the current situation was exceptional. If they wished to steady Jiang Qin, the only strategy left was to secure the other of the two Jiang Family belles.
Thus, arriving alongside the imperial edict for the Seventh Prince's Consort was the betrothal decree for the Crown Princess.
Regarding the imperial edict concerning the Seventh Prince, Jiang Qin had already given Ming Li a heads-up, guessing that this matter might rebound and change after hitting rock bottom.
Yet the Crown Prince...
Jiang Ling's complexion instantly turned pale. Her gaze subconsciously fell upon Ming Li to the side. Unable to see her expression, she only felt that the young girl's back looked exceptionally desolate.
She—she had never thought of this.
"A Li..." No, it should not be like this.
Yet the eunuch's voice was like a spell.
"Such vast imperial grace, Chancellor. Receive the decree."
——
No, do not receive it...