What?!!
Princess Shou'an actually slept... slept with her own younger brother-in-law???
Upon hearing this news, Yanshu's jaw dropped, and she remained stunned for a good half cup of tea's worth of time.
Tsk...
Now that's truly a fierce woman!!!
After half a cup of tea, she remembered to ask the system, [So what's the deal with her brother-in-law Mu Zhengping? Did he just let himself be... slept with without any resistance? And how did he react afterwards?]
The system sighed and said, [We have to start from the beginning to explain this. You see, back when Princess Shou'an had just married into Nanzhao, Mu Zhengping fell in love with his sister-in-law at first sight. But he knew she was his brother's wife, so there was no possibility between them. From the start, he just suppressed his feelings. Later, for the sake of family interests, he had no choice but to marry his current wife, Lady Pu, who is now the Princess Consort of the Mu Prince's Mansion.]
[Not long after, his elder brother died. At that time, his nephew was too young, and his sister-in-law Princess Shou'an was an outsider with no power base in Nanzhao. Naturally, Mu Zhengping's father-in-law's Pu family supported him to take over the position. This man also wanted to stabilize the situation on all fronts, so he accepted his brother's position and became the Prince of Mu.]
[However, Lady Pu was rather petty by nature. Seeing that her widowed sister-in-law was beautiful and noble, she always felt uncomfortable, especially since Mu Zhengping was quite good to his infant nephew. She felt even more uneasy about this. Later on, she discovered that her husband had called out Princess Shou'an's name while drunk. She then knew Mu Zhengping's secret and, in a fit of anger, started using various methods to harm Princess Shou'an and her son, from poisoning to assassination attempts.]
[Princess Shou'an wasn't a fool, how could she let her succeed so easily? Seeing that these methods kept failing, Lady Pu came up with another vicious plan. She spread rumors that her sister-in-law had been intimate with a guard in the mansion before becoming a widow, and that the child might even be the guard's. In response to this, Princess Shou'an angrily decided to sleep with her husband. As it happened, Mu Zhengping had drunk quite a bit that day and was lamenting his unexpressed feelings, so...]
[In short, Princess Shou'an definitely did it on purpose for revenge, while Mu Zhengping was in a state of half-drunk, half-awake, half-resisting, half-willing.]
Yanshu: [Tsk tsk tsk tsk...]
How melodramatic, how melodramatic, how melodramatic...
After thoroughly expressing her astonishment, she couldn't help but ask, [So what happened after that? How did these two view each other after this incident? Did they do it again?]
The system sighed and said, [It didn't go that far. After all, Princess Shou'an isn't the type to get entangled in such matters. After this incident, she became thoroughly fed up with the Mu Prince's Mansion and simply found a house outside to move into, leaving Mu Zhengping behind in a state of despair.]
Yanshu: [...]
Well, there's another one who fell for it.
So she asked again, [What about Lady Pu? Does she know about this?]
The system said, [Lady Pu doesn't know about this yet, but Mu Zhengping never liked her to begin with, and after learning about all the schemes she used against Princess Shou'an, he treated her even more coldly. As a result, Lady Pu became even angrier and found a way to poison the child's wet nurse. She thought that if the wet nurse drank it and then the milk was fed to Princess Shou'an's son, wouldn't that solve everything? Unfortunately, the wet nurse died before she could feed the child that day.]
[When Princess Shou'an learned the truth, she was so angry that she went to confront her brother-in-law Mu Zhengping and caused a huge scene. Of course, Mu Zhengping was also furious and punished Lady Pu severely, warning her that if anything happened to his nephew in the future, she would be the first one he'd hold accountable. From then on, Lady Pu finally quieted down a bit.]
Yanshu shook her head and sighed, [It's truly not easy for that child to have grown up. What happened next?]
The system said, [From then on, Princess Shou'an basically had leverage over her brother-in-law. She wasn't one to be confined by the inner palace rules anyway, so when the child grew a bit older, she simply left him with her brother-in-law to raise and started living life to the fullest, traveling around. When she had enough fun, she'd return to see her son and annoy her sister-in-law Lady Pu. She lived quite happily.]
Yanshu: "..."
She only had one thing to say after hearing all this—
Fierce woman!
Princess Shou'an truly is a fierce woman!
I suppose when you stop caring about everything, you can live so freely.
But come to think of it, it seems that Mu Zhengping is quite good to his nephew?
The system said, [Of course he's very good to him! After all, his mother Princess Shou'an is still around.]
Yanshu thought to herself, that's true. This Mu Zhengping is basically a lovesick fool, single-mindedly devoted to his sister-in-law, so of course he'd be good to his nephew!
But wait, doesn't Mu Zhengping have his own children? If he's too good to his nephew, wouldn't his own children be jealous?
But she heard the system answer decisively, [He doesn't have any.]
Yanshu thought for a moment, then frowned and said, [That's not right. I remember hearing someone mention before that the Princess Consort of Nanzhao has a child, right? Seems to be only about ten years old?]
Unexpectedly, the system said, [That child actually isn't his. Back then, Lady Pu's family wanted to help her secure her position, so they brought in a child from outside.]
What???
Yanshu was shocked once again, [How is that possible?!! Didn't anyone find out? How could Lady Pu be so bold???]
The system sighed and said, [It's not a matter of being bold or not, it was something she had to do! You need to understand, Mu Zhengping rarely shared a bed with Lady Pu from the beginning, and after the poisoning incidents, he didn't even want to see her anymore. Lady Pu was getting desperate, so one day she took advantage of an opportunity when Mu Zhengping was drinking with his officials. She got him completely drunk, then pretended to have slept with him. Later, she claimed to be pregnant, and when the time came, she brought in a boy from outside and said she had given birth to him. At that time, Princess Shou'an was out enjoying herself, and most of the servants in the mansion were Lady Pu's own people. As for what happened that night, Mu Zhengping was too drunk to remember clearly himself, so wasn't it all settled?]
Yanshu: "..."
Tsk tsk tsk tsk.
Forgive her lack of words.
At this moment, she really couldn't think of any other expression besides "tsk tsk" to convey her thoughts.
This... looking at it this way, isn't Nanzhao just a complete mess?
It's too melodramatic and chaotic!!!
The system said, [You could say that Nanzhao has only been peaceful on the surface for these past ten or so years. Once all these truths come to light one day, it will surely be chaos. We'll have to see how things develop.]
Yanshu thought to herself that this was all they could do.
After all, she wouldn't dare to write a novel exposing such important and scandalous matters!
Tsk, it's quite a shame though, because this kind of melodramatic story would surely be very popular if written.
However, after hearing so much about the love and hatred between Princess Shou'an and her brother-in-law, it made her appreciate even more the precious nature of the CP she shipped!
Relationships like the one between her idol Mr. Qi and the number one boss Empress Dowager, with such restraint and consideration, are truly rare in this world!
Wuwuwu, she hugged her CP tightly and refused to let go!!!
After gossiping for half the day, Yanshu noticed it was already evening.
Today the Emperor finished work early and actually had time to join her for dinner.
Of course, to accommodate her, the dishes on the table were all light fare, such as cold lotus root slices, stir-fried cucumber, mustard spinach, and water celery soup.
It was quite considerate of the Emperor, who was used to eating meat, to often eat vegetarian meals with her now.
Of course, the food wasn't important. For Yuwen Lan, being able to have dinner together with his beloved consort was what mattered.
—Especially since he had a belly full of curiosity he wanted to ask her about today.
After just a few bites, Yanshu heard Yuwen Lan ask, "I heard there was some commotion in the Hall of Gentle Ceremony today?"
Yanshu's eyes lit up, and she quickly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I was just about to tell you. Everything was fine at noon, but as we were eating, the Princess Consort of Ruyang and Princess Shou'an started bickering."
Yuwen Lan asked curiously, "How did they start bickering?"
Yanshu explained, "First, Princess Shou'an said that the Princess Consort of Ruyang's niece wasn't virtuous. Then the Princess Consort of Ruyang retorted that Princess Shou'an had flirted with many men before, like the son of the Wang family from Pingzhou, and the son of Governor Sun from Jin'an..."
As soon as these words were spoken, before Yuwen Lan could say anything, Fu Hai, who was serving the meal nearby, paused inwardly.
"Is it true or false? The young master from Sun, the Prefect of Jin'an's family back then, isn't he the current Sun Jialiang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works?"
Yuwen Lan silently nodded in agreement, confirming that Sun Jialiang's father had indeed once been the Prefect of Jin'an.
Unexpectedly, he had a past with Princess Shou'an?
He frowned and asked, "Is it true?"
Yanshu nodded, "At least that's what the Princess Consort of Ruyang said, and Princess Shou'an didn't deny it."
She continued, "There's more. From Princess Shou'an's words, it seems the Princess Consort of Ruyang might be connected to a concubine's miscarriage in their prince's mansion many years ago."
Upon hearing this, Fu Hai couldn't help but marvel inwardly, "My goodness, so much happened in the Hall of Gentle Ceremony today? What a pity to have missed it! If only His Majesty had been there, he could have witnessed all this juicy gossip!"
Yuwen Lan silently listened and thought to himself that if he had been there, those two might not have revealed all this information.
Of course, he was now even more curious, "What caused Princess Shou'an and the Princess Consort of Ruyang to start bickering?"
Yanshu explained, "The Princess Consort of Ruyang wanted to match her niece with Mr. Qi. You probably noticed Princess Shou'an's interest in Mr. Qi that day? So when the Princess Consort suggested this, the two of them started arguing."
Yuwen Lan: "..."
He hadn't expected it to be because of Qi Shuguang.
How could this man be so popular among women?
While he was still bewildered, Yanshu coughed and said, "Actually, what I've told you so far isn't even the most shocking part."
Yuwen Lan paused, then quickly asked, "Then what's the most shocking part?"
He saw her glance around.
Understanding her meaning, Yuwen Lan immediately raised his hand and ordered the bystanders, "Everyone, leave us."
The crowd responded and began to withdraw from the hall, heads bowed.
Yuwen Lan then heard Fu Hai's anxious inner thoughts, "Oh, Your Majesty! Oh, Your Highness! Can't you let us stay and hear what the most shocking part is? To start a story and not let us hear the end is truly torture!"
His footsteps seemed to drag, and while others had already left, he was still several steps from the door.
Yuwen Lan: "..."
He gave Fu Hai a warning look.
Fu Hai startled, then quickened his pace and finally exited.
When the room was quiet, Yanshu finally said, "The most shocking part is that Mu Zhengping has actually been deeply in love with his sister-in-law, Princess Shou'an, all these years. After the Princess Consort of Mu discovered this, she tried various ways to poison and frame Princess Shou'an and her children. Then, to take revenge on her sister-in-law, Princess Shou'an impulsively slept with Mu Zhengping."
Yuwen Lan: "???"
While he was still stunned, she continued, "There's one more crucial piece of information. The current heir in the Mu Prince's Mansion isn't actually the Prince's biological son. His wife pretended to be pregnant and adopted a child from outside the palace to secure the princely title."
Yuwen Lan: "???"
...
After a long silence, he just wanted to say, what a messy situation!
How could the Mu Prince's Mansion have become such a chaotic place?
Of course, after calming down a bit, Yuwen Lan also knew that the situation in Nanzhao was indeed unstable.
Mu Zhengping's father-in-law, Pu Jiachang, had always wanted to interfere in Nanzhao's political affairs.
Moreover, he wasn't truly loyal to the Mu family and had been secretly communicating with Tibet behind their backs.
It was foreseeable that if Mu Zhengping were to age and pass on, once Nanzhao fell into the hands of his wife's family, the Great Liang Dynasty might lose an ally and gain an unpredictable enemy instead.
However...
Yanshu's information today was quite timely.
Although Princess Shou'an, as an aunt, wasn't very reliable, she did have half of the Yuwen family's bloodline.
At that moment, an idea formed in Yuwen Lan's mind.
