Chapter 760: Leaving the Crown Prince Abandoned, but Secretly Communicating with the Crown Prince's Personal Study Companion
"Mother." Princess Jiahe's voice trembled slightly. She looked at Princess Yongding who came out of the inner room, as if she had found her backbone and grabbed a life-saving straw.
Princess Yongding saw at once how distraught her daughter was. She waved her hand for all the maids to leave and closed the door of the flower hall herself.
"What did she say to you?" Princess Yongding sat in the main seat with a calm expression, as if she had already anticipated Gu Qingchen's ill intentions.
Princess Jiahe took a deep breath and recounted Gu Qingchen's crazy plan in detail. With every word she spoke, Princess Yongding's brows furrowed even more.
When she heard "exposing my affair with Qian Zhenyun", even someone as experienced as Princess Yongding had a flash of horror in her eyes.
The entire flower hall was so quiet that you could hear the sound of the cold wind blowing through the dead branches outside the window.
"Madman!" Princess Yongding spat out these two words heavily, picked up the teacup, but found that the tea was already cold.
"Mother, she's a lunatic!" Princess Jiahe's voice shrilled. "She'd rather ruin her own reputation than escape from the Eastern Palace! She's gambled with her own reputation, the reputation of the Zhenguo Mansion, and all of us!"
Princess Yongding put down her teacup and looked up at her daughter. The initial shock in her shrewd eyes had faded, replaced by a cold and cautious calculation.
"No, she's not crazy." Princess Yongding slowly shook her head. "On the contrary, she's more sober than anyone else."
"Awake?" Princess Jiahe couldn't understand.
"Why do you think she chose you?" Princess Yongding's voice was calm, almost cruel. "Because you're the only one in the capital who hates her the most, and you're the only one who wants to take the position of Crown Princess the most. If you were to expose her, it would be the most credible, and also the most fatal."
"She's not gambling, she's using a knife to kill someone. Using your hand, she can sever the connection between her and the prince. And you are that knife."
Princess Jiahe was stunned, and the anger of being used rose again in her heart.
"Why does she think I'll help her? I wish..."
"But you have no choice," Princess Yongding interrupted her, hitting the nail on the head. "Would you rather live the glorious life of being the Crown Prince's principal wife, or endure the humiliation of being her concubine for the rest of your life?"
Concubine.
These two words once again pierced into Princess Jiahe's heart like a poisonous sting.
"This plan may sound absurd, but it is the only way out at the moment."
Princess Yongding stood up, walked to her daughter and patted her shoulder gently.
"Gu Qingchen's personality is such that she would rather die than live in disgrace. She is capable of such a thing. And precisely because she is capable of doing it, the Crown Prince will believe it, the Emperor will believe it, and everyone in the world will believe it."
"But... Qian Zhenyun," Princess Jiahe still found it hard to believe. "He was just a companion to the prince, powerless. Why would she..."
"That's her greatest strength." Princess Yongding's lips curled up in a meaningful sneer. "If she had been trying to get close to a prince, there would always be clues in the end, and she might even get into trouble. But Qian Zhenyun is different."
"He is the prince's man and his most trusted companion. Gu Qingchen has a private relationship with him. Who is being slapped in the face?"
Princess Jiahe's pupils suddenly shrank.
It's the prince's face.
"A future Crown Princess, ignoring the Crown Prince, secretly had sex with the Crown Prince's personal tutor."
Princess Yongding's voice was filled with a hint of satisfaction. "This scandal is enough to make the Crown Prince a laughingstock throughout the world. To save his last bit of dignity, he will never marry Gu Qingchen again. He will only wish to tear these two people into pieces."
Princess Jiahe's heart began to beat wildly.
She understood.
Gu Qingchen's move is called removing the fuel from under the cauldron, also known as cutting off one's own arm.
She used herself as bait and Qian Zhenyun as a knife to stab the pride and dignity of Crown Prince Zhao Chen'an.
"Mother, I..." Princess Jiahe was in a state of confusion. The risk of this matter was too great. If she was not careful, she would be doomed.
"Jiahe," Princess Yongding said, holding her daughter's cold hand, her eyes firm. "Wealth and honor are achieved through risk. If you want to sit in that position, you must take this risk."
"After this is accomplished, Gu Qingchen will be disgraced and the Zhenguo Mansion will be humiliated. To restore his reputation and win over our Yongding Palace, the Crown Prince will immediately appoint you as his principal consort."
"Then, you will demonstrate your virtuous character and your understanding to comfort the betrayed and angry prince. He will see who is the woman who can truly stand shoulder to shoulder with him and rule the country."
Princess Yongding's words seemed to have magical power, dispelling the last hesitation in Princess Jiahe's heart.
That unwillingness and humiliation, in the face of the desire for power, eventually turned into firm ruthlessness.
"I promised her." Princess Jiahe raised her head, the weakness in her eyes completely gone, leaving only a cold, determined light. "Mother, how should we prepare?"
Princess Yongding smiled with satisfaction.
"You don't have to do anything." She said slowly, "You just need to draw everyone's attention to Gu Qingchen and Qian Zhenyun on the New Year's Eve palace banquet."
"Leave the rest to Gu Qingchen herself." The princess' eyes gleamed. "Since she dared to set up this trap, she must have prepared all the evidence. We can only watch the show, and then, at the most appropriate time, come out to clean up the mess."
The palace banquet on New Year’s Eve was a festive occasion inside and outside the imperial city.
The sound of firecrackers came one after another, decorating the night sky of the capital as bright as day.
In the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion, Gu Qingchen sat in front of the dressing table, letting the maids comb her long black hair.
The woman reflected in the bronze mirror had beautiful features and a calm expression, as if she was completely unaware of what was going to happen tonight.
She even looked forward to it...
"Miss, how about this jade hairpin? It makes your skin look even whiter."
Huanran picked up a translucent white jade hairpin and gestured at her head.
Gu Qingchen raised his eyes and glanced at her, then said calmly, "No need. Just keep it simple today."
What she wants is not to dazzle everyone, but to escape unscathed.
Qian Zhenyun walked out of the study, still holding the unclosed book in his hand.
He stood in the yard, looking up at the sky lit up by fireworks, his eyes filled with deep worry.
He knew Gu Qingchen's plan and that he was the most crucial link in it. But he couldn't stop it and could only try his best to cooperate.
All he could do was put himself in the center of the storm and fight for her chance of survival.
In the Yongding Palace, Princess Jiahe was dressed in gorgeous palace attire, sitting on a phoenix chariot.
She had specially chosen a bright pomegranate red dress today, with a golden phoenix embroidered on the hem of her skirt, a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin on her head, and jewels adorning her head, and her hairpins trembled lightly.
She looked at her makeup over and over again in the bronze mirror, with a determined glint in her eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
