Chapter 10

After fleeing in a daze from her sister Cui Yunxi's Mizhu Courtyard, Cui Yunshu didn't know how she got back to her room.

All she remembered was that the night wind was much colder than she had imagined. It felt like a knife cutting into her face, shattering all her pride and arrogance.

She didn't sleep all night.

The moon outside the window rose in the east and set in the west, until the sky turned a pale white. She sat there motionless on the edge of the bed, like a puppet that had lost its soul.

In my mind, two completely different worlds are engaged in a fierce battle.

A world, as cold and cruelly recorded in the "book": the crown prince's rebellion, the destruction of the Cui family, her sister's body hung on the city tower, exposed to the scorching sun, pecked at by birds, leaving not even a complete corpse. It was a predetermined, bloody ending, the foundation of all her actions over the past two years, the deepest fear in her heart.

In another world, there was the gentle yet firm light in her sister's eyes just now, the unwavering trust and love she showed when she mentioned the Crown Prince. Mutual affection, a secret marriage proposal, and the willingness to suffer injustice to protect her reputation... It was all so beautiful, like a romantic story of a talented scholar and a beautiful woman, yet so real that she couldn't refute it.

She couldn't understand it.

She couldn't understand why her sister's trust in the Crown Prince was so unwavering.

She couldn't understand why, given their deep affection, the ending in the "book" was so tragic.

Was her sister blinded by love, unable to see the Crown Prince's true colors? Or... was that "book" lying to her from the very beginning?

"Nothing in this world is certain until everything is settled."

Her mother's words echoed in her mind without warning.

Cui Yunshu's heart skipped a beat.

She closed her eyes in anguish, clutching her hair tightly with both hands. She felt her perception being torn apart, with the "plot" from her "past life," almost equivalent to a divine revelation, on one side, and the most sincere emotions of her loved ones in this world on the other.

Whom should she believe?

If we believe my sister, then everything she did in the past has become a colossal joke. Not only did she fail to save anyone, she also pushed my sister into a desperate situation where she had to sacrifice her reputation.

But what if... what if you don't believe your sister and continue to believe in the "book"?

In an instant, a gruesome image flashed through Cui Yunshu's mind—atop the city wall, mangled corpses, the blazing sun, and circling crows…

A chill that penetrated to the bone instantly gripped her.

No!

She can't gamble!

She can't afford to lose!

My sister can be blinded by love, but she cannot! Because she carries not only the fate of her sister, but also the life and death of the entire Cui clan!

Ultimately, the most primal and profound fear of the "tragic death of the whole family" acted like the heaviest weight, crushing the other side of the scales.

Cui Yunshu slowly released her grip on her hair. When she opened her eyes again, a cold, resolute light rekindled in her previously unfocused, bewildered gaze.

She was convinced that her sister had been blinded by love. It was the prince's superb acting skills that had deceived everyone, including her innocent and kind-hearted sister. And the ending in the "book" was the only true and imminent future.

In that case, her plan cannot be stopped.

Not only can we not stop, we also need to... add fuel to the fire!

"Atao!" she called out.

Ah Tao, who was guarding outside the door, immediately pushed the door open and came in. Seeing that her mistress hadn't slept all night and was frighteningly pale, she was shocked: "Miss, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? I'll go and fetch a doctor right away!"

"I'm fine." Cui Yunshu waved her hand, her voice hoarse but unusually calm. "Go, immediately send someone to the Dali Temple to gather information. I need to know all the progress on the 'Crown Prince Case,' don't miss a single word!"

"Yes!" Seeing her serious expression, Atao dared not delay and immediately accepted the order and left.

An hour later, the servant sent to gather information returned with the latest intelligence.

"Reporting to Fourth Miss, I asked a familiar yamen runner to inquire, and the Dali Temple interrogated the woman all night last night, but... but the case seems to have reached a stalemate." The servant wiped the sweat from his forehead and reported cautiously.

"Stalemate? What do you mean?"

"The woman insisted that she was His Highness the Crown Prince, but His Highness... insisted that he did not go out that night and had been studying in the Eastern Palace. There was no witness to prove it. The attitude of Minister Zheng of the Court of Judicial Review was also somewhat... somewhat ambiguous. He dared not interrogate His Highness strictly, nor did he dare to easily convict the woman. It seemed... it seemed that he wanted to downplay the matter and let it go."

To minimize major issues and resolve minor ones altogether?

Upon hearing this, Cui Yunshu hardened her heart.

She absolutely cannot let this matter be suppressed so easily!

She knew very well that the royal family was best at this kind of muddling through. As long as they delayed, once the enthusiasm of the people in the capital subsided, they had plenty of ways to make the woman "die of illness" or "accidentally die," and then there would be no way to prove anything, and the scandal would naturally fade away.

She and her sister, and indeed the entire Cui family, will completely lose their last chance to escape the Crown Prince's palace!

“Atao.” A sharp glint flashed in Cui Yunshu’s eyes.

"This servant is here."

“Go to the hidden compartment in my dressing table and get a hundred taels of silver.”

Atao was startled, but dared not ask any more questions, and immediately took out the silver notes.

Cui Yunshu slammed the thick stack of silver notes on the table and said to her most trusted servant, Shitou, "Shitou, I'm entrusting you with a matter of great importance. You must handle it flawlessly."

Stone immediately bowed and said, "Please give your orders, young lady, I will do my utmost!"

“Take this money,” Cui Yunshu said in a low voice, her eyes flashing with a cold light, “and go to the capital to find some idlers, storytellers, and singers from the brothels and theaters who are best at spreading news. Have them turn what happened at the Lu family’s spring banquet yesterday into catchy and thought-provoking stories and songs.”

"The content must be sensational enough, highlighting words like 'crown prince,' 'commoner woman,' 'secret pregnancy,' and 'abandonment after seduction.' They can elaborate on the details as they please; the more outlandish the better, the more it will pique people's interest. I want this matter to spread to every corner of the capital in the shortest possible time, so that every peddler, cart driver, and vendor is talking about it!"

"Remember, money is not an issue; what I need is speed and scope! I want this fire to burn so brightly that the entire capital is in an uproar!"

Shi Tou was terrified. He had never seen his young lady like this before; the fierce look in her eyes sent chills down his spine. But he dared not hesitate for a moment, took the silver note, and nodded heavily: "Don't worry, young lady, I understand!"

As it turns out, the power of public opinion is far more terrifying than swords and spears.

Driven by money, a media storm orchestrated by Cui Yunshu against the Crown Prince swept through the entire capital with overwhelming force.

Within just two days, various versions of the "Prince's Amorous Affairs" were freshly published and spread vividly in teahouses, taverns, and brothels throughout the city.

In the teahouse, the storyteller spoke with great enthusiasm:

"On that day, at the Lu family's spring banquet, a hundred flowers were in full bloom! After several rounds of drinks, His Highness the Crown Prince suddenly saw a young lady delivering wontons. She was so beautiful that fish would sink and geese would fall from the sky, and the moon would hide its face and flowers would blush with shame! His Highness was momentarily tempted, so he tricked her into going to a secluded place and did that... cough cough, that romantic thing!"

Inside the tavern, the patrons were engaged in lively conversation:

"Have you heard? That woman is pregnant with the emperor's child! Now she's been kicked out by her husband's family and has nowhere else to turn, so she's desperately filing this complaint!"

"That's not all! I've also heard that His Highness the Crown Prince once promised to bring her into the Eastern Palace, but now he's turned his back on her and abandoned her!"

In the brothels and theaters, the courtesans even wove this story into a sensual yet tragic melody, using their melodious singing to evoke sighs from countless onlookers:

"...Poor woman, she gave her heart to the wrong man. She thought it was a perfect match, but who would have thought that she would be pregnant with a child and then be kicked out of the house..."

The versions of the story became increasingly bizarre, and the details increasingly erotic. From the initial "mistaken identity after drinking" to the later "deliberate forcible possession," and finally "murdering her husband to seize the beautiful woman," the story had completely deviated from the facts, yet it accurately hit the public's most popular fodder for gossip—royal secrets, romantic escapades, and bullying.

Public resentment, like dry tinder thrown into a raging fire, boiled over completely.

In an instant, everyone in the capital, from princes and nobles to commoners, was talking about this. The reputation of the Crown Prince plummeted.

Cui Yunshu sat in her courtyard, listening to Atao and Shitou's vivid reports on the situation outside, but felt no joy whatsoever.

She simply gazed quietly at the pomegranate tree in the courtyard, its blossoms in full bloom, a vibrant red like blood.

She knew that she had lit the fire herself.

The fire had grown out of control, and the pressure from public opinion was like a heavy mountain pressing down on the Dali Temple and the Crown Prince's Palace.

She successfully pushed everyone to the brink, including herself.

She knew there was no turning back. Next, she would face her sister's possible misunderstanding and resentment, the wrath of her father and the clan elders, and even... a fierce counterattack from the Crown Prince's Palace and the royal family.

But she doesn't regret it.

She had no choice but to survive, and for her family to survive.

This is just the first step.

Next, she had to wait for this fire to produce the result she most desired.