After learning that the Zhang-shi before them was a fake, all of the other Concubines said to themselves: no wonder. Zhang-shi was normally a quail. How can she be so vicious to even kill the 6th Prince. This was really exceeding their expectations. But this person was actually a fake. They were also worried, since this person had treated the 6th Prince like that, how would she treat them?
With victory within her grasp, Princess Langya felt pretty good and said with a smile: “Are you guys thinking that I had taken advantage of a good moment to impersonate Zhang-shi and soft-imprison the Emperor?”
The concubines didn’t dare to nod their heads, but they, including the Emperor and Jing-wang as well, had all thought this.
Princess Langya said smugly: “Actually Zhang-shi died a long time ago. Recall back then, I had entered the Imperial Palace not even three days, with a desire for death. After attempting to assassinate the Emperor, I was discovered and bestowed death. Empress Xiao Hui had ordered someone to bring me the poisoned wine. The person who brought the wine to me just happened to be the maid from Changchun Palace, Zhang-shi.”
“That despicable Zhang-shi looked timid and afraid outwardly, but she was actually someone who bullied the weak and was afraid of the strong. She actually wanted to take advantage of my misfortune to steal away my head jewelry. That was the last of my dignity. I was so furious, I used a bracelet as bait and took her life instead. Originally, I could have disregarded everything and left the Imperial Palace, going wherever I wanted. I was someone who had experienced life and death at that point and should have let go of worldly affairs. However, I really couldn’t figure it out.”
Princess LangYa loudly recounted her hatred and grudges during these years. The fact that her hands were covered with fresh blood made her tremble with excitement: “How come the person who had made me suffer so, could sit firmly as ruler of a nation, living worriless and sleeping soundly. Why do I, the legitimate daughter of a King, have to force on a smile and bear children for my enemy?”
“I didn’t want to yield and fawn for favor. You eradicated Lou Lan and stole away my everything. Why should I allow you to rule your nation so easily?” Princess LangYa glanced at the Emperor and gave a laugh of contempt: “Your majesty, since ancient times, there’s the saying, what goes around comes around. This is only fair.”
“Zhang-shi died in my hands. No one knew this. Then I started thinking perhaps I could substitute her. I once had a loyal subject close to me that was good at changing their appearance. Therefore, I learned how to change my appearance when I was in Lou Lan. I changed my face and became Zhang-shi, then served by Empress Xiao Hui’s side. She didn’t notice anything at all. What an utter fool!”
Princess LangYa gave a profound smile. She actually knew how to change her face. This was the crux of her impersonation of Zhang-shi. It was also something that Li Yu had never thought about.
So after all the twists and turns, this world really did have a skill to change one’s face here.
After finally learning that Zhang-shi had been replaced a long time ago, the Emperor was so angry his liver hurt. Returning from his thoughts, he asked accusingly: “So it was you who poisoned Xiao Hui’s kids?”
The Emperor had ordered Luo RuiSheng to investigate the cause of death for the 1st Prince and the 4th Prince. However, Luo RuiSheng had lost contact for many days already. Because the Emperor had been imprisoned by “Zhang-shi” in the last few days, he deduced from this that Luo RuiSheng had probably been captured as well.
Since Princess LangYa had deliberately impersonated Zhang-shi for so long with malicious intentions, and the Emperor had already been suspicious of the 1st Prince and 4th Prince’s deaths, he was feeling hot headed and blurted this question out.
Princess LangYa said with a cold smile: “The 1st Prince’s life was short. It had nothing to do with me. However, his death helped me find a good way to torment you. The 4th Prince and Jing-wang were indeed because of me.”
“Pu Liu and Zhang-shi were working together inside ChangChun Palace. She had trusted Zhang-shi quite a bit. As the princes’ wet nurse, she had to drink nutrients everyday according to the Imperial Physicians orders. I looked through the prescription of what she was drinking and learned that there was ginseng inside. Therefore, I quietly placed a secret Lou Lan drug into her tea.”
Li Yu was just hiding inside the fish tank, eavesdropping right out in the open. Upon hearing “a secret Lou Lan drug,” he suddenly flicked his fin, thinking: Lou Lan had snowy mountains. This secret drug should be Snow Crow which could only be found on snowy mountains. Princess LangYa had mentioned the 4th Prince. Did the 4th Prince also die because of Snow Crow?
Sure enough, Princess LangYa said: “This secret drug was originally a strong supplement, however, when encountering Ginseng, it’d become poisonous. Because a prince wouldn’t have only one wet nurse, and the schedule of feedings can change. I built a good relationship with Pu Liu and figured out when she was on duty. Every time she was on duty, I’d feed her the drug. When she’s off work and resting, I’d give her the antidote. The poison from this secret drug does not have an immediate effect. Pu Liu was fine. The 4th Prince wasn’t quite so fortunate…… However, since the poison was given through breastmilk, the effect was slower. Nevertheless, the 4th Prince didn’t end up living for many days. Everyone all said that he had a frail body and poor health. I was the only one aware that he had actually died of poison.”
Princess LangYa looked towards the Emperor, her tone containing unrestrained joy: “Watching you suffering several times by the death of a child gave me such satisfaction from achieving my revenge. Empress Xiao Hui felt so regretful about letting you down. Therefore, I persuaded her to have another child and use this to torment you again. I thought giving poison through Pu Liu all the time was too troublesome. Empress Xiao Hui’s nutritional tea also had ginseng, so I just did what I did before, to try to make this unborn child die in her stomach. However, he was very persevering.”
Princess LangYa suddenly glanced towards Jing-wang. “This child”– was clearly Jing-wang.
Princess LangYa continued to say: “I originally bribed the imperial physician and midwives, wanting them to act while Empress Xiao Hui was giving birth. However, I unexpectedly discovered that because this child was poisoned, he was born mute.”
“The Emperor and Empress Xiao Hui had wished for a son for so long. A mute son would probably only torment the Emperor even more and not less. Therefore, I decided to keep him alive for a few days longer and let him be like the 4th Prince, dying slowly due to “poor health.” However, later on Pu Liu had discovered the secret drug. Thus I had told her– she was also responsible for the 4th Prince’s death, that she had already unknowingly become my accomplice. I also threatened her with the lives of her family members, forcing her to have no choice but to take the secret drug and once again poison the 5th Prince through breastfeeding.”
“However, her conscience ultimately couldn’t take it. She wanted to arouse the Emperor and Empress Xiao Hui’s vigilance, but ended up being banished from the Imperial Palace and dying from the effects of poison. Her family also died tragically after her. This was the result of her lack of appreciation for my kindness…… Nevertheless, because of this, the 5th Prince was moved out of ChangChun Palace. The Emperor appointed him with a new wet nurse so I couldn’t do anything more at that time.”
Princess LangYa’s words terrified everyone who was present. So this was the source of Jing-wang’s disability. Meanwhile Pu Liu, who Li Yu had originally believed to be the culprit of Jing-wang’s poison, was actually only a person with a very unfortunate life.
No wonder. That’s why she did her best to leave a clue inside the cloth tiger that she had made for Jing-wang. She had hoped that Jing-wang would discover it in the future and use it to treat his poison.
Li Yu finally knew the truth behind all of this and felt extremely sorry for Jing-wang. Jing-wang’s mutism actually turned out to be a barrier that had saved his life. Just what kind of malicious heart would commit such evil crimes? Li Yu only regretted that he was too far away from Princess LangYa. He had slapped the bastard 6th Prince, but didn’t get a chance to give a hard slap to the utterly deranged princess as well.
Princess LangYa had committed such numerous crimes. Yet she continued to say with a smile: “The 5th Prince was ‘born’ mute. Empress Xiao Hui was in such agony she wished she were dead. Therefore, I gave her a hand, so that she wouldn’t feel too sorrowful.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“You–” The Emperor couldn’t take the sharp pain, feeling like a knife was being twisted in his heart: “Who’d have imagined that Xiao Hui was also murdered by you!”
“Vb ktja?” Uglcmfrr OjcuTj gjlrfv tfg mtlc qgbevis: “Coafg fzqfglfcmlcu fnfgsatlcu klat Swqgfrr Wljb Lel, P jirb atbeuta bo j cfk qijc ab ufa ws gfnfcuf. Qtja vbfr j vfmfjrfv klof jcv vfmfjrfv rbcr mbeca obg? Ycis ys ajxlcu jkjs sbeg cjalbc, mjc P rbbatf atf tjagfv lc ws tfjga! Qtfc sbe fcafgfv JtjcuJtec Ujijmf ab uglfnf obg Swqgfrr Wljb Lel, P ujnf sbe j vgeuufv vglcx jcv wjvf sbe wlrajxfcis atlcx atja sbe tjv mbqeijafv klat wf. Ktfc P yfmjwf j mbcmeylcf lcrlvf atf lwqfglji qjijmf bcmf jujlc. Ljnlcu jc boorqglcu cfza kjr bcis fzqfmafv.”
“I found a child that had Lou Lan bloodline and made him into the 6th Prince. If he were to ascend the throne, then this nation would ultimately become Lou Lan’s nation. I was originally worried that there’d be holes in this plan. However, because you had no feelings towards Zhang-shi and only sat briefly whenever you visited YongFu palace, you never discovered the secret at all.”
“All of these years, I did my best to impersonate Zhang-shi. Even Mu TianXiao(6), my nominal son, didn’t know anything. However, the only issue was that he was not very reliable and couldn’t even compete with a mute. Since he was seized by Jing-wang, then forget him.”
Princess LangYa looked directly at the Emperor and said in a heavy voice: “With my current position, I can make you abdicate your throne directly to me, why the hell not!”
Li Yu, who was listening from the side, jolted up like he had just woken up from a dream: ???
Oh fck. Everyone thought that this princess wanted to place the 6th Prince on the throne. Who could have imagined that after listening to the end of this speech, she actually wanted to become the female Emperor herself?
The 6th Prince was also not even the Emperor’s son, but was instead, a dispensable puppet?!
Villains all have an issue with talking too much. Princess LangYa shouldn’t have lied at a time like this. She also didn’t have any reason to lie.
Abruptly hearing several truths, the Emperor was furious and heartbroken. He didn’t actually respond to Princess LangYa’s blatant coercion.
Princess LangYa also didn’t care how the Emperor would respond. Having unburdened all of her feelings in one breath, she proudly regarded everyone who was present, gaze landing on Jing-wang.
She gave Jing-wang a slight smile and said: “Although I never expected you to be cured of your mutism, you must have figured out Snow Crow. However, in the end, you were still one step too late. I was even quicker than you and soft-imprisoned the Emperor. In these years, you have always been like a fish that had escaped the net. Although I couldn’t manage to take your life, in the end, I was still one step ahead of you. Now you have no chess piece to threaten me, what can you possibly do about me?”
Jing-wang mumbled to himself for a moment, then glanced at the fish tank that the 8th Prince was protecting with his body. Relaxing his hand, he let his dagger fall to the ground.
Li Yu knew that Jing-wang was looking at him.
According to Jing-wang’s original plan, he was going to use the 6th Prince as a hostage, and force Concubine Zhang to exchange with him. This was originally the best plan. However, unexpectedly, Concubine Zhang’s real identity was Princess LangYa, who didn’t care about the 6th Prince at all.
The 6th Prince wasn’t a good enough bargaining chip.
Jing-wang had captured the 6th Prince. Then Princess LangYa sent the 6th Prince to meet his maker. Even in death, the 6th Prince didn’t know anything. In his whole life, he had used so many people, but actually, he was the one who was exploited the most. How hilarious. How sad.
He had planned to frame the 8th Prince and Bao#1 for not being royal blood, but didn’t even know that he was the one with the impure bloodline.
Meanwhile, Princess LangYa had focused wholeheartedly on toppling the Emperor. She had denounced the Emperor for his abuse of human lives, but hasn’t she harmed countless innocents herself as well?
Empress Xiao Hui, the 4th Prince, Pu Liu, Jing-wang, even the current 6th Prince.
She hated the Emperor, and with good reason too. However, didn’t the other people also become sacrificial lambs for her revenge?
How nice she had made it sound, but in the end, it was only to satisfy her selfishness.
Now that Jing-wang lost his bargaining chip, it was impossible for his original plan to work.
He had released his weapon and was waiting to be captured, it was also because he was afraid of implicating Li Yu.
The look that he had tossed over held a thousand unspoken words; Li Yu understood them all.
Princess LangYa ordered people to come over and take Jing-wang and the Emperor away together.
The 8th Prince picked up the fish tank on his own and stood next to Jing-wang.
“I’ll give you one more day to think this through. If you’re smart, then abdicate quickly. Or else I can also have someone replace you.” Princess LangYa urged the Emperor with a stern voice.
The Emperor felt a chill in his heart.
Jing-wang shook his head slightly at the Emperor. Although Princess LangYa can change her face, she couldn’t impersonate the Emperor so easily. She also couldn’t pretend to have the royal bloodline. If Prince Li and the royal clan joined forces and questioned this, Princess LangYa’s puppet would be exposed easily. That’s why she needed the Emperor to abdicate willingly.
No matter how unreasonable transferring the throne to an irrelevant woman was, as long as the Emperor said it from his own mouth, it’d be justified. If Princess LangYa wanted to ascend the throne legitimately, this was the only way. If the Emperor agreed to be exploited like this, the only path left for him would be death.
If Princess LangYa changed her mind and pushed the other two little princes onto the throne, it’d be extremely disadvantageous towards the Emperor. However, since she hated the Emperor and hated the Emperor’s bloodline, she shouldn’t take this step.
Therefore, even though they were all prisoners at the moment, they were still temporarily safe.
The Emperor also knew these crucial facts. After they were separated from the concubines and taken to the side hall with guards standing in position outside, the Emperor said dispiritedly: “TianChi, I was too careless.”
“When Li Yu had asked me if the harem had any foreigners, I immediately recalled Concubine Mei. In my whole life, I only accepted this one foreign Concubine. At that time, I wanted to search for clues at LuoXiao Palace where Concubine Mei had once lived. Unexpectedly, I encountered Zhang-shi along the way. In a moment of carelessness, I fell into Zhang-shi’s hands. I had never even imagined that she’d be Concubine Mei……”
“She was the one who had used my name to summon you guys into the palace, planning to capture everyone all at once. In the end, I was the one who caused trouble for you.” The Emperor had an extremely mournful expression. After learning the truth behind Empress Xiao Hui and the 4th Prince’s death and the reason for Jing-wang’s poisoning, the Emperor only regretted not annihilating Lou Lan completely from the start.
The two nations were hostile towards each other anyways. The King of Lou Lan had once vowed to fight all the way to the Imperial City. At that time, the Emperor was young and full of vigor. How could he allow King ChangAn to rave such nonsense.
The two nations waged war. If he had been defeated in a fair and upright manner and died on the battlefield, he’d have nothing to say. However, in the end, the one who lost was King ChangAn. When King ChangAn had arrived at the Imperial City to present his daughter, the Emperor really believed everything had ended.
Who would have thought that the presented Princess Langya was actually the true beginning of all evil.
At that time, the Emperor wasn’t really particularly interested in Princess Langya. He only gave her a title to placate the original Lou Lan citizens. Back then, he had planned to treat her the same as his other concubines; however after Princess LangYa entered the imperial palace, she was focused solely on assassinating him. He knew that he couldn’t keep this woman. Therefore, he had unhesitatingly bestowed her death. He never even investigated the force that survived behind this woman.
To be honest, ultimately it was because he had underestimated his enemy; and also because his enemy was too crafty.
The Emperor was extremely regretful of his past actions. Jing-wang extended a hand and lightly patted him on the shoulder.
“Save your sorrow, father. This is not the end.” Jing-wang said quickly: “If I may be so bold as to ask you for an imperial order to summon troops for rescue.”
Ultimately, the Emperor was someone who had experienced great tumult before. He quickly pulled himself together.
Jing-wang mentioned an imperial order to summon troops for rescue, Of course the Emperor knew what this meant. Wanting him to write a summon edict was not hard, however, the edict must be handed to someone who was completely trustworthy. Only through this can the soldiers defending the Imperial City be gathered to besiege the Imperial palace and rescue out the Emperor. However, if this edict fell into the wrong hands, the result was too horrible to contemplate.
“TianChi, are you…… confident here?” The Emperor asked.
“Yes.” Jing-wang responded resolutely.
The Emperor looked at this son of his for a long time. When he had fallen into despair and thought that it was impossible to turn the tide, Jing-wang still remained calm and composed. The Emperor unconsciously believed in Jing-wang, that only Jing-wang had a plan to save him.
“Very well, I trust you.” The Emperor said.
The Emperor pulled out an emerald jade box out of his sleeve. This box was about the length of a finger and was completely empty inside. This was probably why this item still remained on the Emperor at this time.
The Emperor directly threw the emerald jade box on the ground and broke it into pieces.
From the pieces of broken jade on the floor, half of an iron seal was revealed from where it was embedded in the jade. On the iron seal was carved the image of a ferocious tiger.
This was……
Jing-wang was startled.
“This is my Tiger Seal. It pieces together with the Tiger Seal in the hands of the General guarding the city and can be used to mobilize the troops. This item was cleverly hidden. It’s funny that Princess LangYa had ordered people to search me all over, but they still didn’t find it.” The Emperor smiled and handed the tiger seal to Jing-wang.
“With this seal, you can summon troops for rescue.”
Jing-wang nodded and accepted it cautiously.
The Emperor asked curiously: “Ganqing palace is already under the control of that woman. The security is tight. How do you plan to send the Seal out?”
Jing-wang’s gaze landed on the fish tank not far away and walked towards it holding the Tiger Seal in his hand.
Li Yu was already on the same wavelength as him. He had already raised his fish head and was waiting impatiently.
“Xiao Yu……”
Jing-wang crouched down.
Li Yu blew a bubble towards the direction of the Tiger Seal. he knew only he could leave here without anyone realizing, and bring the Tiger Seal to mobilize the rescue troops.
“Give it to fish, no problem!” Li Yu wagged his tail energetically, ready to fight.
Jing-wang had planned just this. However, he didn’t immediately hand over the Tiger Seal. Instead, he placed his fingers into the water and generally stroked fish’s back. Li Yu felt so comfortable that the tip of his tail trembled. After getting his back stroked, he didn’t feel it was enough and even flipped over, belly side up, also letting Jing-wang touch fish’s stomach.
There’s a little sweetie pie in here, although you can’t feel her yet hehehe!
Jing-wang halted, reluctantly caressing fish’s stomach.
“Everything will be fine!” Li Yu knew that Jing-wang was also feeling worried and hastily wrapped his tail around Jing-wang’s fingers while he himself went to nudge the Tiger Seal impatiently with his mouth.
Jing-wang finally nodded his head and found a string to tie the Tiger Seal to fish’s body.
“TianChi, you want this fish to deliver it?” The Emperor was dumbfounded.
To let a fish deliver the Tiger Seal, wasn’t this too…….
“Father, trusting him means trusting me.” Jing-wang said.
The Emperor saw that Jing-wang had a serious expression and was definitely not joking right now. Plus, Jing-wang’s fish seemed very connected with humans and even knew how to slap the 6th Prince’s face. The Emperor had seen this just now with his own eyes.
The astronomy department and Liao Kong both praised this fish before. This fish should be blessed.
The Emperor convinced himself and accepted Jing-wang’s arrangement.
There was a pond in the side hall of Ganqing Palace that just happened to connect to the outside. People couldn’t pass through it but a fish can.
Jing-wang picked up Li Yu and gently placed him into the water. Li Yu entered the water and gave Jing-wang a flying kiss from afar. Then, he waved his tail and quickly swam away.
After leaving everyone’s view, Li Yu immediately stored the Tiger Seal into his interdimensional space.
Such a precious thing, express delivery fish will definitely hide it well and carry it where it needs to go!
Thank you for the chapters everyday!! Oh god!! This is so exciting 😭 Does this mean the og shou knows everything ever since he got a title and now an accomplice? Omggggg
Yeah it’s possible that he is also someone from Lou Lan and that’s why the Lou Lan princess supported him.
Wait! He worked for the 6th Prince in the novel too. So, maybe Jing-wang always had someone from Lou Lan with him in the OG novel.
As for Chu YanYu, I don’t think he knew in the og timeline bc he really was in love w the 6th prince and only gave up on him in this timeline bc the prince kept using him and then abandoning him too many times bc of his failed schemes. It’s stated that Chu YanYu pleaded with Jing-wang to spare TianXiao in the og timeline, I feel like if he was placed near the 6th prince by Langya, he defo would’ve given up on him the moment Jing-wang ascended in the og timeline. Instead, it took him FORTY YEARS to fall in love w our dear Jing-wang after losing the 6th prince.
I guess you’re right!
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Caught up with the latest chapter. Thanks for the translation! So excited for what happens next 😁
I’m on the edge of my seat, omigod everything was set up so well!!!
Go! Go, little fish! Save your husband and father in law
Thank you for your translation 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
You can do it Xiao Yu. I want them to get what they deserve (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ
I’m very suspicious of chu yanyu but nope! It’s actually ‘Zhang-shi’
Thank You for the chapter (=^w^=) ❤
Oh my god what a plot twist, completely caught me off guard 😮 but incredibly intricate and well thought out
thanks for the chapter!
Fast as lightning fish! Off to save the day!
Tbh the emperor totally deserved it….
Li Yu is all aghast at the loss of life but if we’re being real about this, a total hostile takeover from the inside WHILE undercover as a maid is a feat fr fr. And absolutely a fair response to HIS hostile takeover of her country?
Ah, this chapter made me so conflicted. If she just killed the emperor and left the characters I like alone I’d be her greatest supporter.
She should’ve killed him when she drugged him, quite literally her only mistake.
Thank goodness! 😌 i thought he was going out dangling the tiger seal around his neck for everyone to see.
K, the princess is a crazy b!+©# and I’m in no way way excusing all that coldblooded murder of babies, etc. but, honestly? I get it. The Emperor is absolutely the villain of HER story.
The setting of this world is very much ‘might makes right’, so rather than weighing the moral justifications of the various side characters, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy and cheer for our cute fish couple.
That princess langya is just mad because she didn’t become a ruler and instead became a concubine in another nation. She has ambition and just used the excuse of having her country fallen. It’s a war what did she expect? She’s like a hypocrite. The other Luo Lan survivors will be affected because of her deeds. she’s not even thinking of her people she only thinks about her lofty self