After the Princess Consort left, Shen Wei forced herself to stay alert and accompanied Prince Yan through dinner. Having suffered such a calamity today, she was both mentally and physically exhausted and fell asleep early that night. She didn't even practice her calligraphy.
Prince Yan lifted the deep blue bed curtain and looked at Shen Wei, who was lightly asleep on the bed. Her small face was pale, and even in sleep, she seemed uneasy, like a frightened kitten. In Prince Yan's mind, he couldn't help but recall the words the Crown Prince had told him:
"Yuan Jing, never underestimate the cruelty of women in the inner chambers."
"You know their faces, but not their hearts."
A gloomy expression appeared on Prince Yan's handsome face.
Prince Yan left the bedchamber and went to the study in the Glazed Pavilion to review several submitted case files. As he finished reading the files, Fu Gui arrived under the cover of night, respectfully saying, "Your Highness, the matter from today has been clarified."
"This morning, Mistress Shen went to the White Tiger Temple to pray for your safety amulet and took the opportunity to deliver some summer clothes to her younger brother studying at the Confucian Temple. The Princess Consort, misled by Zhang Yue from the Rose Garden, mistakenly believed that Mistress Shen was having an affair with a man and had them both tied up and thrown into the mansion's woodshed for detention."
"Mistress Shen's brother was beaten black and blue. Only after Mistress Shen explained the truth to the Princess Consort were the two of them released. The rest, Your Highness, you already know."
Prince Yan slammed the case file in his hand down.
Shen Wei had merely gone out for a trip and was targeted by the Princess Consort and Zhang Yue.
Shen Wei came from a humble background and posed no threat to the Princess Consort. The Princess Consort, lacking the magnanimity befitting the head of the household, deliberately targeted a small concubine.
When the truth came out, the Princess Consort shifted all the blame onto a mere concubine, trying to absolve herself completely.
Prince Yan grew increasingly disappointed with the Princess Consort.
As for Shen Wei, she had suffered immense injustice but dared not say a word, silently enduring it all alone.
A slight ache spread through Prince Yan's heart; his Wei Wei always evoked such pity.
Leaving the study, Prince Yan returned to the bedchamber.
The candlestick was lit again, and Shen Wei, who had been deeply asleep, was now awake, sitting dazedly on the bed. Her long, waterfall-like hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her clear eyes looked at Prince Yan: "It's so late, Your Highness hasn't slept yet?"
"Just finished official duties," Prince Yan stopped Shen Wei from getting up to serve him and took off his robe himself.
The two lay down together on the bed.
Shen Wei couldn't sleep. She nestled in Prince Yan's arms, her voice timid: "Your Highness... this humble servant wants a child."
Prince Yan's thoughts stirred. He held Shen Wei's hand, his dark eyes revealing a hint of inscrutable darkness: "Why do you think that?"
Shen Wei lowered her eyes and said gloomily, "If in the future this humble servant is no longer here, there will still be a child to accompany Your Highness. When Your Highness sees the child, you won't forget this humble servant..."
Shen Wei wanted a child to secure her position in the mansion. Children, wealth, favor, power—Shen Wei aimed to gain them bit by bit.
But she certainly couldn't tell Prince Yan directly that she wanted a promotion, a raise, and to secure her position.
So she changed her approach.
She wanted a child because the child would be the crystallization of their love. Having been framed by the Princess Consort today, the timid and pitiful Shen Wei was truly frightened, feeling that her life might not last long, so she wanted to have a child to accompany Prince Yan.
See how pitiful she is.
Hear how humble she is.
This is the art of language.
Prince Yan sighed deeply and tightly embraced Shen Wei's waist: "Don't be afraid, as long as I am here, no one can harm you."
His Wei Wei was frightened by today's events; she even pessimistically thought she might not live long in the mansion...
The woman he cherished was living on thin ice in the mansion, and Prince Yan's heart ached, a sense of male responsibility welling up from deep within. If he couldn't even protect his own woman, what kind of man was he?
Prince Yan said gently, "In the future, when you go out to visit relatives, you don't need to ask the Princess Consort for permission, just inform Fu Gui. I will also assign two guards to the Glazed Pavilion to protect your safety."
Shen Wei's heart stirred.
Great, in the future, she wouldn't need to report to the Princess Consort when going out! The Glazed Pavilion would also have two highly skilled bodyguards!
"Your Highness," Shen Wei moved and hugged Prince Yan's neck, "Meeting Your Highness is a blessing from my previous life."
She leaned in and kissed the corner of Prince Yan's lips.
The bedchamber had a cool ice basin, with the faint scent of mint and mugwort wafting through. With a fragrant and soft beauty in his arms, Prince Yan's eyes darkened.
He clasped Shen Wei's waist: "One child is not enough, let's have several."
Shen Wei appropriately showed a shy smile.
Scented sweat soaked the silk, several times slightly through. The bed curtains swayed, the night was still long...
In the Kunyu Courtyard late at night, dim candlelight spilled down as the Princess Consort stayed up late copying Buddhist scriptures.
The two children, Cheng Ke and Cheng Zhen, were also forced to study at the desk beside her.
The two children's eyelids were heavy, drowsy.
"Mother... I'm so sleepy," the eldest son, Li Chengke, was unbearably tired and pleaded with the Princess Consort, "My brother and I want to go back to our room to sleep."
The younger son, Cheng Zhen, was so sleepy he lay his head on the desk.
The Princess Consort slapped down her brush, her tone full of disappointment: "I can stay up late copying scriptures, why can't you study? If you don't excel in the upcoming Imperial Academy exams, how can you repay my efforts?"
The usually mild-tempered Princess Consort was unusually angry.
The two children trembled in fear.
The Princess Consort sighed and walked over to her two sons: "Listen to your mother, I won't harm you. Others can rank at the top, so can you. My children are not inferior to others."
"If it weren't for raising you, how would I have fallen out of favor with your father? I work so hard, all for you."
Cheng Ke and Cheng Zhen lowered their heads in grievance.
But they were really so sleepy...
After staying up late into the night, the Princess Consort finally finished copying the scriptures, and Cheng Ke and Cheng Zhen were taken back to rest by the nanny.
The Princess Consort forced herself to stay alert and went to the Buddhist hall to kneel and chant scriptures, holding white jade prayer beads in her hand, devoutly burning incense.
Granny Liu brought a cup of calming tea: "Princess Consort, it's late, please go back to your room and rest."
The Princess Consort asked, "How is Zhang?"
Granny Liu's eyes showed a trace of lingering fear and she awkwardly said, "They didn't survive the night, both are dead. It's said that before Zhang Yue died, she kept murmuring the word 'regret'."
Zhang Yue was dead, filled with regret before her death.
She thought Shen Wei's favor was due to luck, but only at death did she realize that women surviving in the mansion's inner chambers never relied on luck.
Another's gain is not my loss.
Because of her jealousy towards Shen Wei, she made one wrong step after another, plunging into an abyss of eternal damnation.
The Princess Consort placed an incense stick in the Buddhist shrine and said indifferently, "Dead is dead, there will be new ones to replace her."
Granny Liu nodded: "Miss Ye from Jiangnan will arrive in two days. That girl is talented and beautiful, skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. For the sake of her family, she will surely fight Shen to the death."
The Princess Consort twirled the prayer beads in her hand: "Let them fight, I will no longer interfere."
This time, being punished by Prince Yan to copy Buddhist scriptures was a wake-up call for the Princess Consort.
She knew she had made a mistake. As a firmly established main wife, there was no need for her to get involved in the struggles of concubines.
From now on, she must not take such risks again.
