Chapter 342: A Story Within a Story
Everyone had hoped to celebrate the Lunar New Year joyfully, but due to the incident involving the Fifth Prince, they could only celebrate in secret.
No one expected the Ministry of Justice to be so efficient.
The speed at which they solved the case was astonishing, causing panic among those who engaged in illicit activities.
At the very least, it served as a deterrent and may have even accidentally saved a few poor souls in the shadows.
Life’s circumstances are unpredictable.
Take the Sixth Prince, for example; just a few days ago, he was the frontrunner to be the next Crown Prince.
In the blink of an eye, he has become a murderer—a fratricide, lacking all human morality, no better than a pig or a dog.
The news quickly spread throughout the streets and alleys.
In the Seventh Princes Mansion, Jiang Wan suffered a minor injury; the sword had pierced her, but it was not serious—just a mere scratch.
It was also because Lu Jiuzhang had never committed murder before; in his extreme rage, he failed to seize the opportunity.
He didn’t even know how to kill properly.
If one strike doesn’t work, you should at least follow up with another.
Killing a person is truly difficult; after all, the target will struggle and dodge—they won’t just sit there and let you kill them.
You have to strike a fish several times to kill it, and sometimes it still gets away.
Let alone a human.
Moreover, Jiang Wan felt that Heaven was helping her; she felt very panicked at that moment and had forgotten to dodge, but the Earthquake suddenly caused her body to recoil, allowing her to avoid a fatal wound.
She was only slightly injured, but she developed a condition of palpitations.
Her heart would start racing at the slightest provocation.
At this moment, in front of her aunt, her face was deathly pale; upon hearing that the Fifth Prince had died, she was startled, and her heart began to race again.
It seemed like the chaos in her dream was much the same.
The Fifth Prince was dead, the Sixth Prince was arrested.
Then, would news of a major defeat at the border come soon?
No, the timeline was a bit confused.
It just didn’t seem to match up.
Perhaps it was because in this lifetime, Meng Shaoxia was kept in Jingzhou for three whole years, delaying everything.
By now, Meng Shaoxia should have already been a renowned young general in the capital.
Old General Meng should also have been long gone.
However, the death of the Fifth Prince and the arrest of the Sixth Prince matched up.
Next, they would likely be waiting for news of Meng Shaoxia’s death in battle.
Jiang Wan’s heart pounded violently.
She felt both excited and nervous.
She was somewhat relieved that when Jiang Changtian had interrogated her earlier, she hadn’t revealed much—only general details; after all, her dreams were intermittent, and she herself only recalled specific details when she encountered the events.
She remained determined to marry Chu Xi.
Her aunt had originally agreed, but now, with the mourning period for her grandmother and the funeral for the Prince, it would likely be delayed for a long time.
Fortunately, her status was secured, and Miss Dong, whom she considered a threat, had been betrothed to someone else.
Everything was moving in a positive direction.
Jiang Wan kept a very low profile in the Seventh Princes Mansion, spending her days accompanying her aunt; initially, her aunt didn’t understand why she was so insistent on marrying Chu Xi, and their relationship had been a bit awkward.
However, because of Consort Song, their relationship improved.
Indeed, sometimes having an extra enemy is not a bad thing.
It was just that in her memories, there was no such person as Consort Song in the mansion.
Jiang Wan felt that when it came to major events, her mind was a blank slate, and she dared not intervene.
She knew too little, so she could only focus on her own small sphere of influence.
She was very restrained.
Everyone knew the news, including the Jiang Family.
Mianmian was a bit panicked.
So this was the capital, after all.
Just two days ago, Father had gone out drinking with them.
Only a few days had passed, and one of his drinking buddies was dead, and the other was in prison.
It was terrifying.
Although she had always heard that palace intrigue and official power struggles were intense, it was all hearsay; she had never seen it with her own eyes.
Yet, how long had her family been in the capital?
The First Prince was under house arrest, the Fifth Prince was dead, and the Sixth Prince was arrested.
This… the attrition rate for princes as expendable resources was too high.
Fortunately, Father was only a nephew, not a son.
Princess Huiyun had no choice; the reason she had lived so long was precisely because she did not meddle in other people’s business.
Was her brother able to become Emperor back then because he was lively and cute? No.
Was her Father able to become Emperor back then because he was kind and amiable? Also no.
Every dynasty throughout history had been like this.
For a princess like her to participate in such matters would be to invite an early death.
She did not participate herself and also advised her son, “Do not get involved in matters of imperial succession; in any case, there will eventually be someone who takes the throne.”
Qin Luoxia had not expected her princess mother-in-law to have such a rare moment of intelligence.
She nodded in agreement, “Mother is right; it’s just like a wealthy man’s sons fighting over the family inheritance, beating each other until their brains are splattered; there is no right or wrong; none of them seem like good people.”
Jiang Changtian nodded and said, “I will listen to Mother; I will definitely not get involved; but Mother, the Seventh Prince seems to have an opinion of me; after all, I killed his mother-in-law, and the Seventh Prince is famously devoted to his wife; he married a side consort, yet he hasn’t even stepped foot into her room once; if he ascends to the throne, he will surely cause trouble for me; I am worried he will want to kill me.”
Princess Huiyun felt a bit stifled when Jiang Changtian mentioned the Seventh Prince.
This was because she had previously taken good care of the Seventh Prince and Jiang Yuluan.
She rarely treated people well, but she had certainly given a lot to that couple.
It was one thing that she hadn’t received any returns for her son, but for them to retaliate against her son was too much.
“Rest assured, His Majesty loathes little Seven; he will not let him inherit the throne; anyone might have a chance, but he certainly does not,” Princess Huiyun stated confidently.
Jiang Changtian thought to himself, ‘You don’t know anything; that fairy Jiang Wan already said that the Seventh Prince eventually ascends the throne.’
Sigh.
Forget it; his mother would likely live her whole life in confusion.
It would be best if she could pass away quickly when the time came—just a sudden snap—without too much suffering.
Mianmian continued to tell the rest of the story today.
Upon hearing Mianmian say, “After Duan Yu mastered the ‘Northern Divine Art’ and the ‘Lingbo Micro-Steps,’ he escaped, and on the way, he accidentally ate the Manggu Zhuha, making him immune to all poisons from then on.”
Qin Luoxia thought to herself, ‘I wonder if our Sister Yu has also accidentally eaten something like that; after all, Sister Yu is a glutton; she puts everything in her mouth; even if she knows it’s poison, she still wants to taste it to see how it tastes; now she was relieved about Sister Yu’s personality regarding marriage, at least she wouldn’t be poisoned to death in household struggles; she heard that the Fifth Prince had been poisoned to death, which was quite terrifying.’
‘And that Northern Divine Art and Lingbo Micro-Steps—if I learned them, wouldn’t I be able to scale walls and vault over roofs? I could run to the border overnight to see if my son is doing well.’
As for Jiang Changtian, he was thinking, ‘I must not let His Majesty hear this story, otherwise he would make me go find this thing; everyone really wants to be immune to all poisons.’
The Grand Princess, on the other hand, thought that this Duan Yu had truly excellent luck, just like she did when she was young—whatever she wanted, she got; countless treasures were within her reach…
She used to think she was a favored child of Heaven, but now she felt that a person’s luck was likely constant; if you use too much when you are young, you have less when you are old.
Therefore, she no longer prayed for luck; it was fine as it was, and what she had before her was enough.
Cong Geer diligently noted down and organized the story, because Mianmian sometimes told it in a jumbled way.
Mianmian never expected that she had originally just wanted to tease Princess Grandma, but now she had turned into a professional storyteller.
However, she also loved the feeling of the whole family being together, just like when the whole family watched “My Fair Princess” when she was a child.
The winter nights were cold, and she couldn’t forget the plot (because it was replayed every summer vacation), but what she couldn’t forget even more was the atmosphere of the family being together.
She loved this feeling—the long, long night.
“Once upon a time, there was a mountain… in the mountain, there was a family… the man’s surname was Jiang, the wife’s surname was Qin… the sunset clouds fly with the lone wild duck, the autumn water shares the color of the vast sky…”
The people in the story were telling a story.
“Once upon a time, there was a mountain… in the mountain, there was a family… and there were the Four Great Evils…”
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