Chapter 15 The Golden Hairpin (Part 2) Once this step is taken, there is no turning back...

Brothels are bustling with people of all kinds, always the most well-informed places, yet also... the most unpredictable places.

Back then, Su Aoshuang was just a fifth-rank official's wife. Entrusted by the current emperor, she went to brothels to gather information. She was soft-hearted and saved a courtesan who had been drugged by a customer who intended to rape her. Unexpectedly, she became pregnant. The courtesan then tried to commit suicide, so Su Aoshuang had no choice but to bring her back to her mansion.

At the time, Su Yiyi was seriously ill, and she did not want to indulge in too much sensual pleasures—even if only superficially, she planned to bring Feng Qin back and treat her as a mere decoration.

Unexpectedly, this person seemed completely oblivious to her intentional neglect, and kept sending over some poorly made little trinkets. Su Aoshuang held them, turning them over and over to examine them, thinking to herself, how could someone be so clumsy? If you laid a cloth on the ground and scattered some rice, even a chicken could peck better than him.

Her husband harbored resentment towards her for taking a male servant in the hospital, but dared not and could not openly express his anger towards her, so he vented all his anger on Feng Qin.

No movement in the mansion could escape Su Aoshuang's notice, and these petty tricks were naturally no exception.

Because of these ridiculous little things, Su Aoshuang wanted to intervene in the affairs of the inner quarters for the first time. But just then, her trusted confidant, who was lurking in the brothel, reported that on the day Feng Qin shared a room with her, someone saw him lying by the flowers at midnight, inducing vomiting some brownish medicine before returning to the brothel.

Su Aoshuang's hair stood on end in an instant—

Before entertaining guests, courtesans in brothels would always take a contraceptive medicine. That day, Feng Qin forced her to swallow it, pinching her nose. Afterward, she went out to find a pimp to bathe in. The whole process took less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea. Yet, Feng Qin managed to endure the effects of the aphrodisiac, silently avoiding the people coming and going in the brothel, vomiting up the contraceptive before returning. How could a mere courtesan in a brothel possibly do that?

Furthermore, no one could find out the origin of this person. In such a large brothel, no one could say when Feng Qin entered the brothel or where he lived. Moreover, his foreign appearance was too conspicuous. How could people not suspect that he was a spy planted by Jiu Yao in Tian Yuan?

Knowing she could no longer keep him, lest she invite a wolf into her house and cause endless trouble, Su Aoshuang ordered someone to administer a colorless and odorless poison, in small amounts and frequently, into his three daily meals over many years. At first, Feng Qin only felt unwell, but as the poison accumulated, his illness worsened, and he became bedridden. Eventually, he could no longer hold on and died.

Young Su Xiaotang was left all alone, struggling to make ends meet in the Su family mansion.

Recalling the embroidered screen that resembled neither ducks nor mandarin ducks, Yuan Mingjin couldn't help but ask, "If Young Master Ruofeng is not a spy of the Nine Luminaries, and..."

"If he's not a spy, then so what?"

Upon hearing this, Su Aoshuang turned around abruptly, took a few quick steps, and rushed towards Yuan Mingjin, staring intently at her with piercing eyes, like an eagle looking at a wolf. "Does Your Highness know what it took for me to rise to the position of Minister of Revenue in just a few decades?"

The aura she exuded was so intimidating that it momentarily rivaled even the Emperor's. Although Yuan Mingjin didn't retreat, she was involuntarily drawn into her presence and subconsciously asked, "What is it?"

"It's based on intuition, ruthlessness, and His Majesty's favor!" Su Aoshuang scrutinized her, scrutinized the still-naive Qianlong, scrutinized the future emperor to whom she would serve, "Better to kill a hundred innocent people than let one guilty person go free—Your Highness has been on military campaigns for many years. Even after winning a battle, you still have to finish off the enemy's corpses. How could you not understand this principle?"

"Whether there is still affection between me and Feng Qin is not important. What is important is that he may endanger Tianyuan and Your Majesty's country. As Your Majesty's subject, I should share Your Majesty's worries and nip the disaster in the bud!"

These resounding words made Yuan Mingjin understand why Su Aoshuang remained favored. He then asked, "What about Xiaotang—"

"Although I was tricked into coming to this child, Xiao Tang, by Feng Qin's scheme, but..."

Su Aoshuang did not continue speaking. After a long silence, she said, "I neglected Xiaotang, moved him to a remote courtyard, and deliberately did not arrange many people for him. I wanted to see if the people from Jiuyao would come looking for him and take him away."

“But they didn’t come.” Yuan Mingjin stated the facts in a very calm tone, “So Wang Fu just stayed in that small courtyard for more than ten years.”

"...All karmic entanglements begin with sons, and should end with sons."

Hearing her address Su Xiaotang as "Wang Fu," Su Aoshuang had no doubts.

She was speechless and could only bow deeply, saying, "Your Highness knows that my husband has arranged for Xiaotang to marry in his place. This farce is entirely due to Xin's stupidity. Although our relationship is shallow, we are still husband and wife. I cannot remain uninvolved in this matter, both morally and logically. A mother's failure to educate her son is also her fault. From now on, I will follow Your Highness's lead and only hope that Your Highness will treat Xiaotang kindly and let Yutang and the others off the hook."

"Lord Su, you are too kind. Now that we are related, we should help each other in the future."

Yuan Mingjin was overjoyed at her surrender, but he remained outwardly calm and took out a gold hairpin from his pocket. "Does Lord Su recognize this?"

"This..." Su Aoshuang took it and examined it carefully. "It looks so familiar, as if I've seen it somewhere before. This hairpin is so exquisitely crafted, if I had seen it before, I wouldn't forget it... Wait, it looks like—the work of the Nine Luminaries craftsmen!"

The more she observed, the wider her eyes widened, and she finally affirmed, "Yes, at His Majesty's birthday banquet last year, in addition to the congratulatory gifts, Jiuyao also presented a batch of gold and silver jewelry, which were all collected into the national treasury managed by the Ministry of Revenue. This craft of twisting gold wire into several strands and then stringing pearls and gemstones on them is indeed unique to Jiuyao."

"Hmph..." Yuan Mingjin sneered, "This is the very same knife that Young Master Su used to slash Little Sugar's face. It's a long cut, so deep that you can almost see the bone. It makes my heart pound."

Seeing that Su Aoshuang's face had turned pale and beads of cold sweat had formed on her forehead, her anxiety was self-evident, Yuan Mingjin then slowly added, "I took out this hairpin not to interrogate you, but simply to ask you, Lord Su—where did your son obtain this hairpin?"

"Do you know that this hairpin belongs to the Nine Luminaries Royal Family?"

Thump!

If Su Aoshuang still didn't understand that Yuan Mingjin was merely testing her, she wouldn't be worthy of being a renowned minister. She immediately slammed her knees to the ground, sweat pouring down her face, her complexion ashen, and hurriedly said, "Your Highness is wise; how could I dare collude with foreign enemies—"

"What are you doing, Lord Su? I have never doubted you." Yuan Mingjin helped her up. "Lord Su only needs to think carefully about the origin of this hairpin."

Reminded by her, Su Aoshuang frantically searched her memory before finally recalling, saying, "It seems that Yiyi snatched it from Xiaotang. He saw that the hairpin had a novel design, so—"

"So, this belongs to Feng Langjun." Yuan Mingjin took the hairpin back from her hand, fiddled with it a couple of times, and the gold beads trembled. "As a mother, you just stood by and watched your child being bullied, and even your late father's heirloom was stolen?"

"..." Su Aoshuang placed her hands on the ground, kowtowed deeply to her, and said in a deep voice, "I am unworthy to be a mother."

"It's alright. As long as Lord Su is willing, there is one last thing we can do for the Prince."

Yuan Mingjin looked down at her from his high vantage point, and after a moment, his gaze drifted to the southeast corner of the Su residence.

That is the location of the Su Clan Ancestral Hall.

"——Wife Wife?"

Yuan Mingjin suddenly came to her senses and saw Su Xiaotang reach out and wave her hand in front of her eyes. When she saw that Yuan Mingjin's eyes were finally focused, she smiled and raised her lips. But before she could finish smiling, she suddenly froze, her eyes gradually filled with tears, and she covered her left cheek and began to sob and whimper.

“Sigh…” Yuan Mingjin sighed, reached out and pulled him onto his lap, then held his chin with his thumb and forefinger and examined him from side to side. “Oh dear, the wound has reopened and is bleeding a little.”

"What should we do?" Su Xiaotang asked in a panic. "Should we have the physician re-bandage me? I can't help myself when I see my wife..."

“What good will re-bandaging do?” Yuan Mingjin deliberately tried to scare him. “If it keeps rupturing like this, even a celestial being couldn’t save you. In the end, you’ll have a long, centipede-like scar on your face…”

Su Xiaotang was terrified when she heard this. Her face turned pale, her long eyelashes fluttered, and she looked at her with teary eyes: "Will the mistress dislike me... for being ugly?"

He had only hoped to hear a few words of comfort from her, but to his surprise, Yuan Mingjin nodded and said with great certainty, "Yes."

Su Xiaotang froze instantly.

Yuan Mingjin seemed oblivious and continued, "Look, your mother didn't love you and your father died early. Besides cooking, you have no other skills. You're not even a proper husband. Even Zhang Mama is still worried about entrusting the household affairs to you."

"If even this pretty face is gone, tsk tsk... I think I'd better divorce you as soon as possible and marry someone else."

Her expression was genuine and not feigned. Su Xiaotang was struck dumb, sitting blankly on her lap. Her already fair face was now completely bloodless. Looking at her, large tears rolled down her cheeks silently, instantly soaking her dark clothes.

It was quite a beautiful scene, with pear blossoms pattering in the rain, a scene of utter desolation. The bandage on his left cheek did not detract from this beauty; instead, it added to his air of a cruel and abandoned husband.

"Hey, hey, hey? Why are you crying?" Yuan Mingjin didn't expect that her playful antics would actually make someone cry, and she quickly tried to comfort her. "I was just joking, how could you not tell? Are you made of water? You can cry so easily, huh?"

She pinched his intact cheek with her fingertips and shook it slightly. Su Xiaotang remained silent, wrapped her arms around her neck, buried her face in her shoulder without a word, and silently shed tears. The tears quickly soaked the fabric, leaving it damp and uncomfortable.

Yuan Mingjin gently patted his back, letting him cry uncontrollably, his eyes gazing at the scenery behind him, a long breath slowly escaping from his nose.

What a poor little thing.

I'd better not tell him what I said to Su Aoshuang.

...

Following the upheaval in the Su family, the patriarch issued an order that everyone remain tight-lipped about the matter. Su Aoshuang personally deployed guards, making the Su residence as impregnable as an iron fortress. For a time, none of the spies within the residence were able to transmit any information outwards. Some impatient high-ranking officials and nobles, unable to sit still, eagerly dispatched more people to investigate.

Su Aoshuang was a favorite of the emperor and a staunch supporter of the monarchy. With the investiture of the crown prince imminent, any disturbance in her household would entice these people to gather inside information and strike first.

Therefore, Su Yutang's scheme actually succeeded. She waited and waited in the villa, from sunrise to sunset, until late afternoon, when she finally heard the rumble of carriages and the neighing of horses outside. The nobleman arrived late and she was so excited that her face turned red and her neck bulged. She even forgot that she was dragging an injured leg. When she saw him enter, she hurriedly bowed, but stumbled and fell to the ground. Before the heat on her face had subsided, it turned into shame and indignation. Her hatred for Su Xiaotang and Yuan Mingjin immediately rose to a new level.

"Your Highness, please forgive my embarrassment..." Su Yutang suppressed his shame and stood up with the help of his confidant, but the expected comforting words did not come for a long time.

"Miss Su..." This nobleman was too lazy to exchange pleasantries with her. He sighed, and without even removing his veil, he sat down at the head of the table. After the servants served tea, he stretched out three long, well-defined fingers, pinched the lid knob, lifted the lid of the bowl, glanced inside, closed it again, and placed the teacup back on the table. "What brings you here now?"

"I--"

Su Yutang had just begun when he was interrupted:

"Since you are from a noble family, you should not have forgotten that the first criterion for selecting officials is: only those with a dignified appearance, good health, and all four limbs intact can be employed. Now that you have lost a leg and have been thrown into this godforsaken place by Lord Su, how can you still serve as an official or a minister, and how can you still be of service to me?"

"...!" Su Yutang's face turned bright red, his expression twisted, and he almost ground his teeth to powder. His hands, hanging by his sides, suddenly clenched tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, not even noticing the blood seeping from his skin.

She had taken the initiative to be friendly to her at the banquet a few days ago, but now she is so cold and indifferent... One by one, they all treat her with such contempt!

If she rises to the highest position in the future, she will definitely—!

Thin drops of blood seeped from between her tightly clenched fingers, falling to the ground in a glaring red.

During those agonizing hours of waiting, she both hoped for the arrival of this important person and wished for her not to come, feeling extremely anxious and uneasy.

Although Su Yutang was mediocre, he was well aware of what this action meant.

However, from the moment she sent her confidant with the token to ask for help, she had already made her choice.

Once a choice has been made, there is no turning back.

Her mother had taught her the Doctrine of the Mean, which she had never understood but always kept in mind—but at this moment, the burning desire for revenge had clouded her judgment, and all that nonsense about the Doctrine of the Mean had vanished into thin air.

And the person in front of him casually remarked, adding the final fuel to this raging fire.

In an instant, Su Yutang made up his mind, raised his head, and looked at the woman's veil. His heart pounded like a storm was about to break, first slow and then faster, becoming increasingly intense.

She steadied herself and spoke each word clearly and forcefully:

“I understand, Your Highness. But as Your Highness said, though my leg is broken, it will eventually heal; and Yutang is my mother’s only daughter, she cannot abandon me.”

Once you take that step, there's no turning back.

"—And I know a secret that is enough to defeat Prince Rui in one fell swoop."

A note from the author:

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The phrase "The chariots rumbled, the horses neighed" comes from Du Fu's poem "The Ballad of the War Chariots".

Jinjiang has updated two theme skins. The pink one is so pretty, hehe [milk tea]. Although I'm used to the green one, it feels a bit strange switching to it.

In the author's note of the previous chapter, I originally wanted to say "it's as satisfying as plucking blackheads," but after thinking about it, I decided against using that metaphor. [Shut up]

Can you guys leave some comments? [Please!]