After Transmigrating Into A Love-Brained Scumbag Villain - Chapter 5

Since they had decided to enter the palace, they could not delay any longer.

Wang Yaoshuang needed to go back and prepare her clothes and jewelry, while Zhao Shangrong also needed to tidy up her own attire again.

The Chief Clerk had already sent someone to the palace first to report to the emperor, empress, and grand consort that His Highness and the princess consort were unwell, and that they would only be able to set off after noon.

Fortunately, the emperor and empress did not blame them. In fact, before the two of them had even entered the palace, palace servants sent by the emperor had already arrived at the prince’s manor with medicinal herbs and tonics for them to nourish their bodies.

The maidservant Wang Yaoshuang had brought from home could not help saying to her mistress, “His Majesty truly dotes on His Highness.”

Wang Yaoshuang fell silent.

Did the emperor dote on the Prince of Yingchuan?

Judging from everything in her previous life, he did care about the bond between siblings, but he might not truly love his younger brothers.

The emperor, Zhao Jinfu, was Emperor Wu’s second son. His birth mother was Consort Hu Jieyu. When the emperor was still young, he had already displayed exceptional talent. Because Consort Hu was favored, she developed the ambition of wanting her son to become crown prince.

However, Emperor Wu had already made his eldest son, Zhao Xiwen, the crown prince. Consort Hu believed that because the crown prince’s birth mother was Lady Zhang, he was neither the legitimate son nor particularly capable, and he was addicted to play. Her own son, who possessed a reputation for virtue, was more suited to being heir apparent than the crown prince.

Of course, this was only her guess. The new emperor’s thoughts ran deep, and no one could say for certain what he had been thinking at the time.

In the end, the three great noble clans all collapsed one after another.

With the support of the three powerful ministers, Zhao Jinfu was welcomed as the new emperor. After lying low for a year or so, with the support of the last remaining regent minister, Xu Daoji, he decided to eliminate the three powerful ministers who had participated in deposing and killing the deposed emperor.

Wang Yaoshuang believed that the new emperor might not have truly intended to ambush them. He had deliberately released rumors to test their reactions, forcing the three powerful ministers to rebel. That way, when he killed them, his actions would be even more justified, and no one would accuse him of burning the bridge after crossing the river.

It was not until May of the year before last that Xie Mian, Xue Rao, and Fu Yanzhi—three of the four regent ministers Emperor Wu had left behind for the crown prince—became dissatisfied with Zhao Xiwen spending all day playing around and ignoring court affairs. Even when the Yan Kingdom invaded the border, he paid no attention. Thus, the three decided to depose him in the empress dowager’s name.

At that time, Zhao Xiwen was spending the summer at Hualin Garden. The three men brought private soldiers into Hualin Garden and imprisoned Zhao Xiwen.

After the three of them agreed on a candidate to inherit the throne, they deposed the emperor as Prince of Haichang in the empress dowager’s name. Then they sent people to Xu Province to bring Zhao Jinfu, who had always been regarded as the prince with the weakest power base, back to the capital to inherit the throne.

As for the Prince of Yingchuan, if one judged by birth, her maternal clan’s status and family background were much higher than the new emperor’s maternal clan.

No one knew what words Emperor Wu had used to reprimand Consort Hu Jieyu. They only knew that after Consort Hu returned, she committed suicide.

She had rashly discussed the matter of the crown prince before Emperor Wu, originally thinking that even if Emperor Wu did not want to replace the crown prince, he would not do anything to her. Who could have expected that Emperor Wu, who had still doted on her the moment before, would immediately fly into a rage after hearing her words and harshly rebuke her?

Yun Qingxuan, a nobleman, aristocrat, and imperial son-in-law, was ordered to send troops to suppress the rebellion. In the end, he was defeated and killed by Xun Xuan.

Zhao Jinfu had only been twelve at the time. From a favored prince with boundless prospects, he became the “son of a guilty consort” whom everyone avoided.

After Princess Changming entrusted her young daughter to her husband’s nephew, Yun Hongxun, she followed her husband in death.

People of the time called this the “Hualin Incident.”

But he was Emperor Wu’s son after all, so when he was fifteen, Emperor Wu granted him the title Prince of Pengcheng and sent him to Xu Province to serve as Inspector.

In April of this summer, the new emperor summoned Xie Mian, Xue Rao, and Fu Yanzhi into the palace for a discussion as usual. In truth, he had already set an ambush behind the palace gates. As long as the three entered the palace, he would convict them for deposing and killing the deposed emperor.

The three of them learned of the new emperor’s plan one step ahead of time. Xie Mian felt the sorrow and helplessness of “when the hare is dead, the hounds are cooked,” and chose to go home and commit suicide. Xue Rao and Fu Yanzhi, unwilling to accept that the person they had supported to the throne would turn against them after crossing the river, raised troops in rebellion.

Her birth mother, Grand Consort Yun, came from a prestigious family. Her mother was Princess Changming of the previous dynasty, and her father was Yun Qingxuan, a powerful minister of the previous dynasty. More than thirty years ago, Grand General Xun Xuan usurped the throne. After killing Princess Changming’s father, Emperor Luxi, he proclaimed himself emperor, established his capital in Jiankang, and named the country Wu.

Zhao Jinfu had some doubts about this. In order to make him hurry back to the capital and inherit the throne, Xie Mian and the others killed the already deposed Prince of Haichang, giving him the posthumous title of “Huang,” meaning “pleasure-loving and negligent of government.”

After that, Zhao Jinfu remained extremely low-key and forbearing, not daring to show any covetousness toward the position of crown prince.

Zhao Jinfu stopped and started throughout the journey, taking many detours, and spent over a month before finally returning to the capital.

Afterward, Emperor Wu, who at that time was merely living under Xun Xuan with a not particularly high official position, used hunting as a pretext to gather more than seventeen hundred remnants of Yun Qingxuan’s troops and raised an army in rebellion.

Emperor Wu’s call received support from the Yun clan’s private forces and military commanders from various regions. Waves of resistance against Xun Xuan rose everywhere.

After several years of campaigns, Xun Xuan was defeated, and the noble clan forces that supported him also collapsed one after another. Emperor Wu gradually grew from a minor general into a great general who held heavy military power.

The young emperor, the youngest son of Emperor Luxi, was placed on the throne, while Emperor Wu was granted the title Prince of Luo, appointed Minister of Works and Grand General, with a fief of three thousand households. Grand Consort Yun, who was thirteen that year, was sent by her cousin Yun Hongxun into the rear courtyard of the Prince of Luo.

One year later, the young emperor abdicated. The Prince of Luo ascended the throne and used his noble title as the country’s name, “Luo.” He became Emperor Wu of Luo.

With Grand Consort Yun’s background, she originally could have received an excellent rank. However, after she miscarried, she often fell into madness, ruining Emperor Wu’s goodwill toward her. Emperor Wu therefore only granted her the rank of Beauty.

Three years later, Grand Consort Yun gave birth to Emperor Wu’s seventh son, Zhao Shangrong. Because of her madness, she was constantly worried that her child would be harmed, so she kept the child with her all day long and allowed no one near. Even when Emperor Wu came over, he could hardly get within half a step of the child.

Emperor Wu had no choice but to let her be.

Zhao Shangrong lived in the palace until she was ten, when she was granted the title Prince of Yingchuan and left the palace to establish her own manor.

By this time, Zhao Jinfu was already twenty-two and had long since gone to Xu Province. Before Emperor Wu’s death, the two brothers had not even formally met once.

So if one were to say that the new emperor and his younger half-brother, the Prince of Yingchuan, were close, that was truly not necessarily the case.

Moreover, if he really doted on this younger brother, he would not have kept pretending ignorance and refused to let the Prince of Yingchuan go to her fief to govern it and command the local troops.

There was also the matter of Grand Consort Yun. Since the Prince of Yingchuan had already been granted a princely title and Emperor Wu had passed away, Grand Consort Yun, as the Prince of Yingchuan’s birth mother, should have been sent out of the palace to live with her.

During the deposed emperor’s reign, Grand Consort Yun had to observe mourning for Emperor Wu and remained in a palace temple, so that could be set aside. But under the new emperor, Grand Consort Yun still lived in the palace temple of the empress dowager’s palace together with those consorts who had never borne children for Emperor Wu. This clearly did not conform to proper rules.

Therefore, everyone believed the new emperor was deliberately using Grand Consort Yun as a hostage to restrain the Prince of Yingchuan.

Wang Yaoshuang believed that the other princes, who were already adults, had children, and were stationed in their fiefs, seemed to pose a greater threat to the new emperor. Was he deliberately picking on the soft persimmon?

Zhao Shangrong did not think that much. She simply believed that the Prince of Yingchuan was rather unlucky. Among the elder brothers ranked before her, apart from those who had died, all of them had gone to their fiefs to become local rulers before Emperor Wu’s death. Yet she happened to encounter a string of events: Emperor Wu’s death, the deposed emperor’s love of play and negligent rule, and the new emperor’s intention to gather military power. As a result, she had been unable to go to her fief and become a local ruler as she wished.

But if Zhao Shangrong had to say it, even if she were truly allowed to go to her fief, she would not be willing!

If things went as stated in the original novel, after some twists and turns, she would be sent by the emperor to Yu Province. In all likelihood, she would end up facing off against the Yan army. She did not understand war. Even if she relied on the fierce generals under her to win battles, she would still have to guard against the emperor killing her because her achievements were too great and threatened the throne.

Working herself to death like that without earning any gratitude was worse than taking advantage of the emperor’s guilty conscience and sense of debt to gain more benefits, then living an early retirement life of raising cats and teasing birds.

Therefore, after entering the palace later, she absolutely could not mention going to her fief.

The carriage was ready. Wang Yaoshuang heard that Zhao Shangrong had not yet finished preparing, so she went to wait in the carriage first.

Not long after, Zhao Shangrong entered with a deathly pale face, startling Wang Yaoshuang. “Y-Your Highness?”

Zhao Shangrong looked up at her. “What is it?”

“Your face…”

Zhao Shangrong said, “Oh. I applied a little powder so my complexion doesn’t look so healthy.”

Although she truly was feeling unwell, her complexion did not actually look like that of a sick person. So she had gone to apply some powder, making herself look as though she were terminally ill. This would make it easier for her to play pitiful in front of the emperor, in hopes that the emperor would, seeing how miserable she looked, give her a raise and bonus.

Wang Yaoshuang: “…”

Suddenly, she remembered that the reason the Prince of Yingchuan had agreed to marry her was because the emperor had once mentioned to those around him that ever since ascending the throne, he had been busy handling court affairs and dealing with treacherous ministers like Xie Mian. Because of that, he had forgotten to arrange matters for his two younger brothers, the Prince of Yingchuan and the Prince of Yiyang. He felt guilty toward them, and only after they had married and established families could he, as their elder brother, feel at ease sending them to their fiefs.

After those words were leaked, nearly everyone—including the Prince of Yingchuan—believed that once they were married, they would be able to go to their fiefs.

Who could have expected that the emperor did not bring up this matter? Or rather, before the emperor had time to bring it up, Grand Consort Yun went mad and ruined the Prince of Yingchuan’s appearance.

After that incident happened, everyone was too preoccupied to discuss whether or not the Prince of Yingchuan should go to her fief. The Prince of Yingchuan also shut herself away and kept silent.

Three years later, when the Prince of Yingchuan reached adulthood, discussions at court increased. The emperor, forced by circumstances, appointed her Inspector of Yu Province, granted her the privilege of establishing an office with the same ceremonial status as the Three Excellencies, and sent her to Yu Province to command its provincial troops.

After that, in Yu Province, the Prince of Yingchuan met the Yan Kingdom’s crown prince, Tuoba Mumo.

Tuoba Mumo used the alias Yuan Si. “Yuan Si” itself carried the meaning of crown prince, but no one could have imagined that the crown prince of a nation would run away from home.

Speaking of Yuan Si running away from home, the cause was Yan’s system of “the son is honored, the mother dies.” To prevent the empress dowager from ruling in the emperor’s name after the crown prince succeeded the throne, the emperor of Yan would, after naming a crown prince, order the crown prince’s birth mother to die.

Yuan Si’s mother was sentenced to death after he was named crown prince. After learning of it, he was deeply grieved, and so he ran away from home and went to Yu Province, where, through a twist of fate, he became acquainted with the Prince of Yingchuan.

And after that…

Wang Yaoshuang withdrew her wandering thoughts and thought to herself, His Highness wants to play pitiful. Is it because she hopes to go to her fief as soon as possible?

To be fair, Wang Yaoshuang did not hope His Highness would go to Yu Province, because as long as she spent even one day there, there was always the possibility that she would encounter Yuan Si again.

But she also knew that His Highness had become resentful because she had never been able to obtain real power. If enough time passed, it would be hard to guarantee that she would not become fixated on it and be incited by others into betraying the country.

As the princess consort, what should Wang Yaoshuang do?

Author’s Note:

Princess Consort: Sigh. A violent-tempered Highness is the hardest to serve.

Your Highness: Meow?