Chapter 9: Scheme Nine

Everyone in the hall had seen the young gentleman by now. Their faces stayed as before, but their hearts were struck. A few even found it easier to understand why the Prime Minister had snatched this beauty.

Yun Qian never associated with men. Serving in court together, she was strictly business and had almost no private contact.

The Empress Dowager held the highest seat; until she spoke, none in the hall dared say a word. Lin Yao, seething, stared at the youth and shouted without restraint, “Qin Mo, you truly won’t annul the marriage with the Prime Minister’s Residence?”

A willful brat of sixteen or seventeen—harsh, overbearing, a green fruit covered in thorns with nowhere to bite.

Qin Xiang dared a glance at Lin Yao. In beauty, Lin Yao couldn’t match Yun Qian. In bearing, there was no comparison. The only thing she had left was her youth.

All in the hall held their breaths, eyes down. Qin Xiang knelt in the hall, obedient and proper, imitating Yun Qian’s posture: back straight, waist and shoulders in one line.

The Empress Dowager examined the handsome youth. The boy hadn’t yet had a capping ceremony—a face like polished jade, a rare beauty.

She asked the youth first: “Lin Yao says you abandoned the Lin family and climbed onto the Prime Minister’s Residence. Do you admit it?”

Abandoned the Lin family, climbed onto the Prime Minister’s Residence…

The words made Qin Xiang jump. She hastened to reply, “In reply to the Empress Dowager, this humble one—this humble one walked into the wrong residence. I asked for the Lin house, and someone pointed me a direction. I didn’t expect to enter the Prime Minister’s Residence.”

Since ancient times, walking into the wrong house was no strange thing. A stranger in a strange land, unable to tell directions—one could always turn back.

No, the strangeness lay with the master of the house, who had known the error and accepted the match anyway.

The fault fell on Yun Qian.

The Empress Dowager looked at Yun Qian. Yun Qian showed no tension, full of confidence, her clear eyes on Qin Xiang. “If Lin Yao wants the marriage, fine—I’ll annul it. Then, Lin Yao, do you truly wish to marry him?”

At “annul the marriage,” Qin Xiang snapped her head up to look at Yun Qian, the light in her eyes dimming.

Yun Qian pretended not to notice, her gaze fixed on Lin Yao. “If you dare marry him, I’ll yield him to you.”

“I—” Lin Yao’s red lips parted. Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants—the Qin family was a piddling merchant house. She was the legitimate daughter of a marquis, of a storied noble clan. How could she marry down to the lowly?

A sense of pride rose in her. “He’s unworthy.”

Grand Princess Yongning withdrew her smile on hearing that. Lin Yao was no match for Yun Qian at all. She’d snatched the person—so what? I give him back; do you dare take him?

Yun Qian was certain Lin Yao wouldn’t marry him, and pressed again and again until Lin Yao revealed her true face.

If you don’t want to marry him, why keep making a fuss?

Just annul it, and you can even owe Prime Minister Yun a favor.

Grand Princess Yongning didn’t meddle, nor did she warn Lin Yao. She had no wish to make an enemy of Yun Qian. She’d come purely out of curiosity about why the Prime Minister had snatched someone else’s fiancé.

Sure enough, no one could resist beauty—even Yun Qian.

Yun Qian smiled. “If he’s unworthy, annul it.”

“The Empress Dowager and Her Majesty the Empress are both here. Let me ask Prime Minister Yun: knowing full well that Qin Mo was already betrothed, why did you keep him for yourself?” Lin Yao seized on Yun Qian’s weak point.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t accept the match. After all, becoming an imperial consort is far more glorious than being a merchant’s wife.” Yun Qian’s tone was unhurried, utterly unconcerned with Lin Yao’s words. “Lin Yao, do you even have a brain?”

Grand Princess Yongning sighed lightly. “A-Yao, you really don’t have a brain.”

If she wanted to enter the palace as a consort, she should have let this go. No one in the world would have known she had a betrothal. Someone else had taken the Qin marriage off her hands; all she had to do was swallow her pride. But she couldn’t, and she’d dragged the matter before the Empress Dowager.

Grand Princess’s words made Lin Yao’s face burn. “Your Highness! Will you let a merchant’s son bully me too?”

Yun Qian suddenly asked, “I’m curious—why did the Lin family settle a betrothal with a merchant family?”

A world apart, far apart—how had such a match been made?

Lin Yao was stumped. Qin Xiang seized the opening. “The Old Marquis borrowed silver from my grandfather. The two settled the betrothal.”

Yun Qian asked again, “How much silver?”

“A hundred thousand taels.”

A dramatic twist. Yun Qian’s smile turned warm. She addressed the Empress Dowager: “Empress Dowager, what do you think—should your subject annul or not?”

The Empress Dowager had listened to the whole debate and now understood the entire matter. But she didn’t answer. Instead, she looked at the Empress. “Empress, what do you think?”

The Empress was startled. She hadn’t expected to be asked, and she could offend neither side.

“Empress Dowager, I do not know how to judge.”

The Empress Dowager gave her a look of disappointment, then turned to the young master of the Qin family. “You are a man. If you err, you must be punished. You can’t keep all the good things to yourself. As for Yun Qian…” She paused, expression grave, and considered a moment. “Three years’ salary forfeit.”

Finally, she looked at Lin Yao. “The Lins kept a betrothal secret. From this day onward, Lin Yao shall not set foot in the palace.”

“Empress Dowager!” Lin Yao fell to her knees in panic, instinctively looking to Grand Princess Yongning. “Your Highness, save me!”

Yongning curled her lips. “The crime of deceiving the sovereign, without punishment to the whole family—that’s already great mercy. Hurry and give thanks.”

Lin Yao was dumbstruck, then stared hard at “Qin Mo.” “Empress Dowager, your subject does not accept this. Qin Mo should be punished too.”

Yongning looked at her with distaste. How had she still not seen that the Empress Dowager was clearly favoring Yun Qian? No brains. She had thrown away her chance at the palace for a moment of anger—a loss of more than the gain.

The Empress Dowager looked at Yun Qian. Yun Qian walked to Qin Xiang’s side and knelt. “Qin Mo’s fault is not malice. I beg to take it in his stead.”

“Lin Yao.” The Empress Dowager sighed. Lin Yao on the floor shuddered, not knowing why.

The Empress Dowager said, “All say Prime Minister Yun is cold by nature. But in my view, Yun Qian is not cold—she simply had never met someone who moved her heart. Lin Yao, look carefully. What Yun Qian does today is the way of a wife. You, on the other hand, wish only to get Qin Mo killed. Even if you won him, you would be a pair of resentful lovers. I will decide: you annul the Lin betrothal and let Qin Mo and Yun Qian be.”

The hall went still.

This time, Lin Yao was smart. The Empress Dowager had spoken. What more could she do? She could only hate her own lack of power and watch the pair of dogs and bitches stand together.

After a long moment, the Empress Dowager spoke again. “Qin Mo, you broke the betrothal first. If you aren’t punished, every youth in the world will imitate you, and how many daughters will be harmed?”

Qin Xiang wasn’t stupid. She understood at once that the Lin engagement was done for. Even without her stumbling into the Prime Minister’s Residence, Lin Yao would never have accepted the match.

She bowed her head and gave thanks.

The Empress Dowager looked at Yun Qian. “Don’t speak anymore.” She had raised this child before her and knew her temper well. This business was Yun Qian snatching someone’s husband mid-road—utterly improper.

Then again, Lin Yao would never have accepted the match. What seemed improper had a thread of reason in it.

The Empress Dowager addressed Qin Mo: “I’ll give you a choice. Walking into the wrong residence is no great crime. Thirty lashes, and I will bestow a marriage upon you two and redo the ceremony. Alternatively, you may annul the marriage with Yun Qian and return to Zhenjiang—the matter is closed.”

Yun Qian narrowed her eyes and poked Qin Xiang’s shoulder, mouthing silently: Go home.

Back home, she’d still find a way to make Qin Xiang marry her. Why take a beating?

Qin Xiang felt the pressure on her shoulder—secretive, like two children conferring after a mistake. Flustered, she didn’t notice the Prime Minister’s lips, and her heart wavered.

She remembered what Yun Qian had said earlier: You’re marrying for yourself now, not Qin Mo.

She hesitated. Thinking of the past few days, her heart was set on a fire to roast.

Yun Qian poked twice; the dull youth didn’t react. She was about to poke again when the Empress Dowager on high couldn’t bear it anymore: “Yun Qian, stop poking.”

Yun Qian lowered her eyes and reluctantly withdrew her hand. She said to the Empress Dowager, “Empress Dowager, he’s a little dull. I’m afraid you’ll beat him silly.”

“Then get a new one if he goes silly.” The Empress Dowager leaned back, indifferent. “Qin Mo, have you decided?”

Qin Xiang didn’t answer. Yun Qian tried a circuitous strategy: “Qin Mo, if you go silly, I won’t want you.”

Qin Xiang came back to herself and looked up at Yun Qian.

Those peach-blossom eyes had shed all their authority, brimming with spring light, thick and warm. She seemed to see herself in them. Beneath the warm lamplight, her heart burned.

“I… I won’t annul the marriage.” Qin Xiang spoke as if in a trance.

Yun Qian was exasperated. How could the girl be so stupid, without even a survival instinct? Was the vicious Empress of her past life truly this silly girl before her?

“Empress Dowager, your subject wishes to annul.” Yun Qian spoke like one weary of life.

Too dumb. Can’t have her.

The Empress Dowager glanced at the two. “Do you take my halls for a market, haggling like this? Yun Qian, your husband is decided. After the punishment, lead him home. No one will steal him now.”

Yun Qian hummed, sweeping a cold gaze over the terrified Lin Yao.

Grand Princess Yongning pulled the collapsed girl to her feet and headed out. Naturally, she wouldn’t stay to watch the show. Off she fled.

Qin Xiang had earned herself a beating, plus a wife who towered to the heavens. Whether that was joy or sorrow, she couldn’t tell.

Outside the hall, Yun Qian’s long, slender fingers drifted toward Qin Xiang’s pink-white cheek. Qin Xiang started, her lashes sweeping an arc; inexplicably, she felt hot all over.

Yun Qian poked her cheek. “Before you know it, the Empress Dowager will have beaten you to death, and you won’t even have your wife.”

The Empress Dowager had felt killing intent, but had let her go in the end. Perhaps Qin Xiang’s timidity convinced Her Majesty that a weak scholar was harmless.

Qin Xiang suddenly lifted her head. “Sister, why did you try to annul it just now?” You were the one who said not to—why go back on it before the Empress Dowager?

Yun Qian paused. “I don’t want to collect your corpse.”

She could swear her conscience was clear before heaven and the people—she had never wronged anyone. But to this day she didn’t understand: in her past life, it was clearly the Empress Qin who had won in the end, so why had she herself lived to crown a new emperor and found a new court? And the Empress Qin, in turn, had been given poisoned wine by the Emperor.

Did the Empress Qin show mercy, or was it pure luck?

Either way, there were too many questions.

She had collected one corpse already; she didn’t want to collect a second.

Qin Xiang blinked, her gaze radiant. Yun Qian stopped and told her, “They’ll go easy for my sake and won’t hit hard. But you still need to put on a show—make some noise, like you’re supposed to.”

“Fake crying—I can do that.” Qin Xiang understood instantly.

Just then, two eunuchs came over, smiling as they greeted Yun Qian, then led Qin Xiang away to her punishment.

Yun Qian watched the girl’s silhouette growing distant, then slowly lifted her feet and walked on.

After a while, she saw Lin Zhiting, the Marquis of Chengxin, come running in a fluster, feet barely touching the ground, drenched in sweat.

Seeing Yun Qian standing at the gate of the Empress Dowager’s Changle Palace, Lin Zhiting’s feet slipped beneath him, and he nearly fell.

Yun Qian was annoyed. “Am I that frightening?”

Qin Xiang had called her “Sister, Sister” so sweetly. She thought for a moment, then told him, “I’m very gentle. Don’t make such a frightened face.” Don’t scare Qin Xiang; after all, the wedding still had to be redone.

Lin Zhiting’s feet slipped. Bang—he fell flat on his back.

Yun Qian: “…” I really am gentle.