Chapter 228: Wildfire Burns the Heart
Inside the Buddhist hall of Princess Ping Le’s mansion, the gilded Buddha statue smiled with a flower in its hand, its brows kind and benevolent.
Nanny Zhou knelt on the ground, staring at the shattered porcelain all over the floor, but dared not utter a sound.
“Good for you, Li Fuyin!” Ping Le grabbed the handwritten Buddhist scriptures from the desk and tore them to shreds. “Acting like a chaste martyr, you seduced the younger Lu, then turned around to instigate the elder! That old scoundrel Lu Jing, who prided himself on being a man of integrity, actually let himself be manipulated by a woman! And that Xue Liu—”
She paced back and forth, growing angrier with every word, her face contorted and her teeth gnashing.
“Imprisoned in a dungeon, yet you can still make the Crown Prince and Prince Duan turn against each other for you. I never realized when you were little that you were a fox spirit reincarnated!”
Gu Jie stood in the shadows of the Buddhist hall, watching Ping Le’s bloodshot eyes, chewing on her words…
Xue Liu was skinny and frail as a child, always bullied by children her age. He didn’t see her as a fox spirit, but he could see that she was pure-hearted, calm in the face of adversity, and always had a fire hidden in her eyes…
Not destined for the ordinary!
But at that time, he was young and infatuated with Xue Yueying, his mind in a daze, mistaking a fish eye for a pearl… tarnishing his reputation for a lifetime and ruining his promising future.
“What are you thinking about, Master Gu?” Ping Le suddenly turned and walked towards him, her slender fingers twining a strand of her hair, lifting his chin and applying a slight pressure.
“Why hasn’t Prince Wei gone to the Ministry of Justice prison yet? Could it be that you pity your old acquaintance and are secretly interfering?”
Gu Jie lowered his eyes and pursed his lips. “Prince Wei has been carousing at the Qunfang Pavilion for the past two days, so drunk he can barely stand… This minister cannot possibly send people to carry him to the dungeon…”
“It seems your esteemed wife is not very capable,” Ping Le suddenly released him and turned to look at the enshrined Bodhisattva.
“Burning incense and kowtowing every day, offering you so much gold and silver ritual objects every month, you should bless this palace just once.”
–
On the day of Frost Descent, it rained lightly.
The lanterns of Zui Xian Ju swayed in the wind and rain. In the warm yellow glow, a few drinkers sat around a brightly burning stove, discussing in low voices.
“Did you hear? The Crown Prince is going to marry into the Duke of Zheng’s mansion, taking Third Miss Guo as his wife…”
“Then the Crown Prince’s wedding date must be before Prince Wei remarries?”
The man chewed on braised beef and said indistinctly with a laugh, “Prince Wei’s remarriage is to a concubine’s daughter from the Minister’s mansion, whose birth mother is also a concubine’s daughter of the Prefect of Chenzhou. Compared to Third Miss Guo… it’s like comparing the clouds to the mud…”
“Hush—” another drinker lowered his voice. “Prince Wei’s birth mother died young, and he has no influential maternal family. It’s already good that he can marry the Minister’s daughter. Unlike the Crown Prince, who was born the legitimate eldest son of the Eastern Palace. Now, with the alliance with the Duke of Zheng’s mansion, the position of Crown Prince is as stable as a mountain.”
Raindrops pattered against the window paper with a rustling sound.
Prince Wei Li Yan leaned against the carved wooden railing of the private room, listening to the discussions of the drinkers in the adjacent room. The wine cup in his hand “bang” against the railing.
“Why is Third Imperial Brother throwing such a tantrum?”
A charming, teasing laugh came from behind the curtain.
Li Yan turned his head and saw Princess Ping Le lift the soft silk curtain and walk in, her fox-fur collar cloak stained with rain.
Li Yan looked up and let out a cold laugh.
“Why is Imperial Sister not at the Princess’s mansion observing mourning for the Imperial Consort, but instead coming to this place of revelry?”
Ping Le waved her maidservants away, sat down with graceful bearing, and personally poured a cup of hot wine.
“Naturally, I’ve come to accompany Third Imperial Brother to relieve his boredom.” She glanced at the empty wine pot in front of Li Yan, a half-smile on her face.
“I heard that Imperial Brother sincerely attended Prince Duan’s wedding banquet, but was humiliated by Xue Liu, and was even kicked into Moonlit Lake by the Crown Prince and treated like a water duck, nearly losing his life and suffering lasting injuries?”
Li Yan clenched the wine cup, his knuckles turning white.
That day, he was beaten black and blue by Li Zhao, flailing like a drowned quail, enduring immense humiliation. Yet, his Imperial Father had only said lightly—
“Harmony among brothers is paramount. You are the elder brother, you should be more tolerant.”
Ping Le’s words at this moment were like sprinkling salt on his wounds, adding pain to pain.
Ping Le continued, “Third Imperial Brother, do you remember that year in the Imperial Garden? You merely knocked over the Crown Prince’s kite, and Imperial Father punished you by kneeling for three hours. But the Crown Prince beat you, and was only punished by copying the filial piety scriptures twice…”
“So what?” Li Yan recalled Li Zhao’s condescending and mocking demeanor from above, his chest feeling heavy. He pushed the wine Ping Le had placed in front of him and drank it all in one gulp.
“He was born the legitimate heir of the imperial family, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. What can I do to him?”
“Even more infuriating—” Ping Le shook her head and sighed for him. “Even Xue Liu’s servant dares to act arrogantly towards you, Prince Wei. Knowing that Xue Si is your person, he dared to slap and humiliate her in public. Can Imperial Brother swallow this insult…”
“It’s truly too much!” Li Yan suddenly gritted his teeth. “Just because he is the Crown Prince, he can treat me like an ant and trample me into the mud…”
Ping Le looked at Li Yan’s reddened eyes, knowing the time was ripe.
“Third Imperial Brother, why do you think Imperial Father is so eager to grant the Crown Prince a marriage?”
“Why?” Li Yan asked blankly.
“Does Third Imperial Brother still not understand? Imperial Father’s actions are merely to use the Duke of Zheng’s mansion’s centuries-old foundation to build a fortress for the Eastern Palace and consolidate his position as Crown Prince.”
Ping Le picked up the wine pot and slowly poured the amber liquid into the cup. “The imperial family is the most heartless. Third Imperial Brother is also an Imperial Prince… Unfortunately, his Imperial Mother died early. If not for the Empress Dowager’s pity and care, it would be difficult to find a place to settle in this vast Imperial City…”
Li Yan suddenly smashed the wine cup, watching the shards of porcelain fly. His chest heaved violently.
“He, Li Zhao, merely holds the title of the legitimate son! In terms of talent, this Prince…”
“Third Imperial Brother—” Ping Le held his hand, her eyes full of sympathy.
“This deep sense of grievance, how can I not understand? You lost your Imperial Mother, and so did I. From then on, I had no one to rely on, no one to shelter me from the wind and rain…”
After speaking, she picked up her wine cup and sighed leisurely.
“Who would have thought that that slut Xue Liu could play both sides, making two Imperial Princes willingly risk their lives for her…”
Li Yan’s pupils contracted sharply.
Ping Le’s words were like a nameless ghost fire, igniting the resentment that had been accumulating in him for a long time.
“She’s not worthy!” He suddenly stood up, snatched the filled wine cup from Ping Le’s hand, tilted his head back, and poured it fiercely down his throat.
“I want to see what kind of seductive tricks she, Xue Liu, has that can make the Crown Prince and Prince Duan go mad for her!”
With that, he kicked over the low table at his feet, his brocade robe stirring up a gust of cold wind.
Ping Le watched him stumble out, a cold smile curling her lips. She wrapped her cloak tighter, sat down leisurely, and poured herself some wine.
“Your Highness, Prince Wei is so reckless, I fear…”
Nanny Zhou hurried in, approaching and hesitating to speak.
“Reckless is good,” Ping Le chuckled.
The candlelight behind her suddenly flared, illuminating her bewitching and cold eyes.
“The more they go mad, the more pure and virtuous this Palace appears.”
This fire has been lit and there is no possibility of extinguishing it.
All that remains is to wait for the fire to spread. And she will, in this great fire, burn away all those who stand in her way, including Xue Liu, Wen Jia, and even the Crown Prince, Prince Wei, and even… her own disappointing elder brother Li Huan and Lu You’an.
She vowed to make everyone who had wronged her pay the price…
Why should Imperial Princes be born with the world in their hands, possessing a prosperous empire, while Princesses can only be confined to their chambers and become pawns for marriage alliances?
She also wanted to break into these nine-layered palaces.
–
The twilight was like an unresolvable dark ink, cast over the Ministry of Justice prison.
The cold night was long, and the damp prison cell was filled with a chilling coldness, much like Xue Sui’s current state of mind—cold, sharp, and allowing no room for retreat.
She remained motionless, sitting on the damp straw pile, watching Xiao Zhao kneel before the stone wall, sharpening a bamboo chopstick.
The bamboo chopstick was gradually sharpened, ground into a sharp bamboo thorn, extremely sharp…
Xiao Zhao wiped the dust from her face, held up the bamboo chopstick to gesture, her eyes shining.
“Killing someone with this will surely be effective.”
“It’s enough,” Xue Sui said softly.
“Whoever dares to offend my lady will have their dog eyes poked out with this…”
The oil lamp outside the cell suddenly flickered—
Xiao Zhao clutched the bamboo thorn and exchanged a look with Xue Sui.
Messy footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor, mixed with Li Yan’s slightly drunken snort.
“Open the door for this Prince!”
“Your Highness, this place holds a major criminal of the court, it is not permissible…”
“Get out of the way! The Crown Prince can enter, Prince Duan can enter, why can’t this Prince?” Li Yan was aggressive, his eyes sinister and arrogant.
“If you babble any more, this Prince will have your heads cut off…”
The jailers exchanged glances. Seeing his ferocity, they dared not stop him any longer.
The moment the iron lock fell to the ground, Li Yan kicked open the cell door and swaggered in.
His brocade robe was stained with rouge, his hair ornament askew, his steps unsteady and staggering, reeking of alcohol. It was clear he had just emerged from some place of debauchery…
He kicked over the dirty bowl on the ground, his gaze fixed on the loose collar of Xue Sui’s prisoner’s robe, not even looking at Xiao Zhao who stood protectively in front of her.
“My beauty, alone in this dungeon, have you missed this Prince terribly?”
Xue Sui leaned against the wall, leisurely pushing back a strand of hair from her temple. The iron chain on her wrist jingled with the movement.
“Has the Prince recovered from his injuries?” She raised an eyebrow dismissively, a cold smile on her lips.
“It seems the Crown Prince’s beating last time was still too light.”
It was better not to mention it. The moment it was brought up, rage surged in Li Yan’s eyes, his drunkenness transforming into a torrent of ferocity.
“You insolent wench!”
Li Yan, his mind clouded by jealousy, took advantage of his drunkenness and strode forward, roughly grabbing Xue Sui by the collar and choking her against the wall…
His breath, full of wine, rained down on her from above, furious.
“You dared to humiliate this Prince at Prince Duan’s mansion that day, today I will let you know…”
“Know what?” Xue Sui suddenly chuckled and interrupted, the iron chain on her wrist making a pleasant clinking sound against his face. “Do you know that Prince colluded with Princess Ping Le to poison Consort Xiao, all to frame the Crown Prince?”
Li Yan froze, veins bulging on his neck.
“You dare to slander me…”
Before his voice fell, a bamboo thorn, sharpened to the edge of a blade, was pressed against his reddened neck, almost piercing his throat.
Xiao Zhao: My hands were itching, and an order came. Oh heavens, how lucky am I…
Xue Sui: …
