Chapter 13

After that harrowing "night talk" with her sister Cui Yunxi, Cui Yunshu locked herself in her room and didn't come out for two days straight.

She didn't cry or make a scene; she simply sat quietly, letting the sun rise and set outside the window, the light and shadow shifting. An overwhelming sense of guilt and absurdity, like an invisible tide, engulfed and soaked her, almost robbing her of her ability to think.

She was wrong.

It was so wrong, so ridiculous, so...unforgivable.

What she considered a "rescue" was nothing more than a self-righteous farce. The media storm she stirred up did not become a sword to break the shackles, but instead turned into a butcher's knife that forced her sister to sacrifice her reputation to prove her innocence. Like the most foolish, self-proclaimed clever chess player, every move she made on the chessboard precisely pushed herself and the person she most wanted to protect into a deeper abyss.

That "book," that "plot" she held as her guiding principle, appeared so pale, fragile, and utterly vulnerable in the face of her sister's sincere and resolute love.

All her struggles and scheming over the past two years have become a huge joke.

Outside the door, Ah Tao and the cook in the courtyard would bring all sorts of exquisite food every day, only to have it taken away untouched. Her mother, Madam Song, had also come a few times, but only through the door, offering a few words of comfort in soft voices. Seeing that Ah Tao did not respond, she would only leave with a long sigh and not force her way in.

Mrs. Song knew that her youngest daughter needed to figure things out on her own. Some hurdles could only be overcome by herself.

Cui Yunshu sat there listlessly, letting herself sink into boundless self-loathing. Until the morning of the third day, when the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone into her dim room, a piece of news, like a thunderclap, finally jolted her out of this chaotic quagmire.

The "Crown Prince Case" is closed.

[Dali Temple, Heavenly Prison]

The Dali Temple's prison was the darkest and dampest place in the entire capital. It was perpetually dark, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench of mold and blood.

After Cui Yunxi's earth-shattering "self-proof" in the Dali Temple court, the suspicion against Crown Prince Tang Jingcheng was completely cleared at the official level.

Upon hearing this, the emperor on the dragon throne reacted with extremely complex emotions. On one hand, he greatly admired the future crown princess's courageous act of sacrificing her reputation to protect the crown prince, and was delighted. On the other hand, he felt an unprecedented rage at the mastermind behind the scenes who had stirred up trouble and attempted to frame the crown prince.

An imperial edict, more severe than ever before, was issued to the Dali Temple. The emperor's patience had run out. He ordered Zheng Xiu to bring the real culprit to justice within 24 hours and punish him according to the law, so as to serve as a warning to others!

This imperial edict was a death warrant for the Dali Temple, but for the brother and sister imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison, it was the last straw that broke their psychological defenses.

Zheng Xiu, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, personally presided over the interrogation.

This time, he didn't ask the woman again, but instead brought up her burly brother, the man who sold wontons in the East Market, separately.

In the dimly lit interrogation room, the man was pinned to the ground by two fierce jailers. He looked at the court official before him, whose face was ashen and whose eyes were sharp as an eagle, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

"Speak," Zheng Xiu said, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Who instructed you and your sister to commit this heinous crime of falsely accusing the Crown Prince?"

The man's lips trembled, his eyes darting around, still trying to be defiant: "Sir...this humble subject...this humble subject doesn't know what you're talking about..."

"Don't know?" Zheng Xiu sneered. He pulled a confession from the file and slammed it lightly on the table. "Miss Cui has already testified for His Highness the Crown Prince that he spent the entire night with her. Your sister's repeated claims of being abused by His Highness and becoming pregnant are now clear to be nothing but nonsense. Falsely accusing the Crown Prince is, according to the laws of our Great Qin, a crime punishable by the extermination of one's entire clan. If you do not confess the truth, not only you, but also your sister, your infant nephew, and indeed your entire clan, will pay the price for your foolishness today!"

The words "extermination of the clan" pierced the man's last line of defense like the sharpest knife. He abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with bloodshot eyes and despair. He could die, but he couldn't bring his family down with him!

"I'll talk! I'll talk! Your Honor, I'll tell you everything!" He completely broke down, wailing and crying, "This...this has nothing to do with my sister! She...she was forced into it! Everything...it was all because I was blinded by greed!"

Under immense pressure, the man recounted the entire story.

It turned out that his sister had indeed been defiled and was pregnant, but the man was not the crown prince. After being driven out of their home by their in-laws, the brother and sister were destitute. Just then, a steward claiming to be "a servant of a nobleman" approached him, offering him a large sum of money to have his sister identify the crown prince. The steward assured him that after the deed was done, he would not only give him a large sum of hush money but also find his sister a quiet estate, ensuring her a comfortable life for the rest of her days.

Money can be a powerful motivator. Faced with immense temptation and a desperate situation, the man ultimately chose to take the risk.

"Who is that manager? And who is his powerful backer?" Zheng Xiu demanded sharply.

“I…I don’t know…” the man cried and shook his head. “I only met him once. He was wearing a mask. All I know is that he gave me a silver note. It was…it was a note from the Tongyuan Money Shop in the west of the city.”

The trail seems to have ended here.

However, just as the Dali Temple was preparing to investigate the case by starting with the money exchange, an anonymous letter was quietly placed on Zheng Xiu's case file.

The letter contained no superfluous words, only a few sentences, yet every word was startling.

The letter stated that on the night of the incident, someone saw Wang Chong, the nephew of Wang Dehai, the Minister of Rites, acting suspiciously near the back gate of the Lu residence. This man had a history of misdeeds, was notorious for his womanizing, and was a notorious playboy in the capital. The letter even included a small, mud-covered fragment of a jade pendant, stating that it belonged to Wang Chong and was found in the corner of the courtyard where the woman was discovered.

Zheng Xiu looked at the jade pendant fragment, then at the small "Pu" character stamped in cinnabar at the end of the letter, and his expression became extremely solemn.

Prince An's Mansion, Prince Tang Pu.

Zheng Xiu was deeply shocked. He knew that although this young prince seemed carefree and unrestrained, he was actually favored by the emperor and had extensive connections. The clues he provided were definitely not unfounded.

"Guards!" Zheng Xiu ordered decisively, "Go immediately to the Ministry of Rites and bring Wang Chong back to me!"

[Cui Residence, Qing Shu Courtyard]

When Atao brought back the final verdict from the Dali Temple, Cui Yunshu was sitting by the window, staring blankly at the pomegranate tree in the courtyard.

"Sister! Sister! The case is closed!" Atao ran excitedly into the house, her face beaming with joy. "The real culprit has been caught! It wasn't His Highness the Crown Prince! It was a bastard named Wang Chong!"

Cui Yunshu's body trembled slightly, and she slowly turned her head.

Ah Tao recounted everything she had learned, pouring out her heart like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

After the Dali Temple arrested Wang Chong, the nephew of the Minister of Rites, the young playboy's defenses crumbled instantly in the face of irrefutable evidence. He tearfully confessed that on the night of the incident, he was drunk and saw a beautiful woman in the back alley of the Lu residence, so... he lost control of his lust and forcibly defiled her.

Afterwards, when he sobered up, he was both shocked and frightened, fearing that the matter would be exposed. Just then, an advisor from the Second Prince's faction approached him and offered a treacherous plan that would kill two birds with one stone—to frame the Crown Prince Tang Jingcheng for the incident. In this way, he could both exonerate himself and severely damage the reputation of the Eastern Palace.

Thus began the subsequent series of framing and scapegoating.

"Now that the truth has come to light, His Majesty is overjoyed and has issued an imperial edict in court, sentencing Wang Chong to exile three thousand li away, never to return to the capital! Minister of Rites Wang Dehai has also been implicated and fined three years' salary, forced to reflect on his actions at home. The woman... has also been sent back to her parents' home, and the government has given her brother a sum of compensation. It's truly... truly a case of injustice being redressed, a great relief to the people!" Atao said, her face beaming with excitement.

The injustice has been redressed...

Upon hearing these four words, Cui Yunshu felt an indescribable bitterness welling up in her heart.

The Crown Prince's innocence has been cleared, but what about the elder sister's reputation? What about the mudslinging she instigated against the Eastern Palace and the Cui family? How can all of this be washed away?

She knew that this matter was far more complicated than it appeared on the surface.

Sure enough, when her mother, Madam Song, came to her courtyard that evening, she brought a different, deeper interpretation.

At that time, Cui Yunshu had composed herself and personally served her mother a cup of hot tea.

"Mother." She lowered her head, her voice filled with deep remorse.

Instead of comforting her as usual, Madam Song simply looked at her quietly for a long time before slowly asking, "Have you figured it out?"

Cui Yunshu trembled and nodded.

Do you know where you went wrong?

Cui Yunshu bit her lip and whispered, "Daughter... shouldn't have been so self-righteous, shouldn't... shouldn't have dragged my sister into this..."

“You’re wrong about far more than that,” Madam Song interrupted her, her voice cold and serious. “Your biggest mistake is that you underestimated the power struggles in this world and overestimated your ability to control the situation.”

She picked up her teacup, gently blew on the steam, and continued, "You think that taking down Wang Chong is enough to close this case?"

Cui Yunshu was taken aback and looked up.

"Do you really think that a mere nephew of the Minister of Rites has the guts and ability to devise such a meticulous conspiracy to frame the Crown Prince?" Madam Song's eyes gleamed with all-knowing wisdom. "That Wang Chong is nothing more than a scapegoat hastily pushed out by the Second Prince's faction after the matter was exposed."

"The real mastermind, the advisor who devised the plan for Wang Chong, and even the Second Prince himself, are still hiding in the shadows unscathed, watching us with smug satisfaction."

“What Mother means is…” Cui Yunshu’s heart sank.

"The sage's mind is as clear as a mirror; he knows everything. The reason he only punished Wang Chong and closed the case was not because he couldn't investigate further, but because he didn't want to. Because if he continued to investigate, it would shake the foundation of the country and make the internal struggles within the royal family completely public, which was a situation he did not want to see."

"So, he reprimanded the Minister of Rites, which was considered an explanation to the Crown Prince; and he severely punished Wang Chong, which was considered an explanation to the people. But the real storm is far from over. After this battle, the Crown Prince's faction and the Second Prince's faction have completely broken off relations and are now locked in a life-or-death struggle. And our Cui family, because of your sister, is now completely tied to the Crown Prince's war chariot, with no way out."

Every word Song said was like a heavy hammer blow to Cui Yunshu's heart, giving her a deeper and more painful understanding of her past actions.

She was upset and her mind was in chaos.

But at the same time, an unprecedented calmness began to quietly grow in her heart.

Yes, Mother is right.

She was too naive and too presumptuous. She always treated the world as a book that she could freely peruse and do whatever she wanted with her "prophecy," but she forgot that people's hearts are alive, power is complex, and everyone in this world has their own desires and calculations.

For the first time, she began to truly and calmly consider the power struggles in this world, and to think about the position and future of the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, the Emperor, and their Cui family in this vortex.

“Shu’er,” Madam Song said, looking at the complicated expression on her daughter’s face. Her tone softened, and a hint of heartache appeared in her eyes. “Mother knows that you did all this to protect your family. But you must remember that many times, good intentions can lead to bad outcomes.”

"This world is far more complex than you imagine. From now on, you must never act so impulsively and recklessly again."

Cui Yunshu nodded heavily, tears welling in her eyes: "Mother, your daughter... knows she was wrong."

She knew that from this day forward, she could no longer rely on that "book," the truth of which was unknown. She had to learn to see with her own eyes, think with her own mind, and truly understand the world and everyone around her.

She will never forget this painful lesson.