Chapter 5
“Your Highness, what are you thinking about?”
Seeing her remain silent for so long, Qinghao asked cautiously.
If the Princess was thinking about how to kill Xie Meiying, she had plenty of good ideas.
He Fangting sighed softly. “I miss Grandfather and Grandmother.”
Ever since they passed away, there had been no one left in this world who truly cherished her.
Though Yu’er and Ying’er were still by her side, it was not the same.
Jiang Zhixiu, her husband, had been carefully chosen for her by her grandparents.
Her grandfather had once said that the great aristocratic clans feared her background. Even if she were reluctantly married into one of those families, her future would never be smooth. It would be better instead to find a talented man from a humble family. That way, the Emperor would feel reassured, and she would not suffer bullying from her husband’s household.
Then, with her dowry, she could gradually support and elevate her husband’s family. After enough years passed and the Emperor grew old, he would no longer harbor resentment over past events. By then, her husband’s family would also have become a prominent clan, and she would be the honored matriarch of the household, no worse off than any other princess of noble rank.
Jiang Zhixiu had been chosen because he was exceptionally talented and held great promise for the future. He also possessed the pride and integrity of a scholar, along with a somewhat stubborn temperament. Without support, he would never go far in officialdom. She could become the one to support him, benefiting them both.
Naturally, his appearance had also been taken into consideration. Jiang Zhixiu was tall and handsome, graceful as a jade tree in the wind. Even her notoriously picky grandfather admitted he was worthy of his granddaughter.
Her grandmother, meanwhile, had said that Jiang Zhixiu’s eyes shone when he looked at her—that it was love at first sight. With such affection at the beginning, they would surely be able to endure the long years ahead together.
Her grandparents had foreseen everything.
The only thing they had not anticipated was how quickly human hearts could change. Jiang Zhixiu’s change of heart had come far too soon.
After returning to Chunming Courtyard, Madam Kong listened as Qinghao recounted what had happened at Songrong Hall. She cursed the Jiang family for their heartlessness, and at the end, wiping away tears, choked out,
“Fang-jie’er, you should have been the most honored princess in the entire Great Zhao Dynasty…”
He Fangting stopped her at once. “Nanny, never say such things again!”
Madam Kong immediately realized she had misspoken. “I won’t, I won’t say it again!”
He Fangting dismissed her to rest and smiled bitterly to herself.
Indeed, if fate had not taken such cruel turns, her circumstances would have been far better than they were now.
Her mother, Princess Fuzhuang, had been the full younger sister of the former Crown Prince. Both were born to the late Emperor and Empress.
Had the Crown Prince ascended the throne successfully, Princess Fuzhuang’s status would have risen accordingly, and He Fangting’s position would naturally have risen with it.
But accidents are called accidents precisely because no one can predict them.
In the late years of the former Emperor’s reign, he fell gravely ill. At that time, the Second Prince joined forces with the Fourth Prince to contend against the Crown Prince. No one knew exactly what happened during that struggle, but both the Second and Fourth Princes died. The Emperor believed the Crown Prince was responsible and, in a fit of fury, imprisoned him.
The Crown Prince had grown up deeply loved by his parents and could not endure such treatment. He wrote the words “Wrongfully Accused” on the courtyard wall in blood, then set fire to the rear courtyard and perished together with his wives and concubines.
When the Empress learned of the news, she died on the spot.
The Emperor himself coughed up blood and ordered a thorough investigation. Only then did he discover that the Crown Prince truly had been innocent. It was the Fifth Prince who had murdered the Second and Fourth Princes. Enraged, the Emperor ordered the Fifth Prince executed to avenge his three sons.
After that, only the Seventh Prince remained—the son of Consort Su.
The Emperor established him as Crown Prince, and soon afterward, he too passed away.
Within just a few days, Princess Fuzhuang had lost her brother and both parents in succession. Overwhelmed with grief, she became convinced that the Seventh Prince had been involved in those events and repeatedly confronted him over it.
The Seventh Prince—now the new Emperor—always acted humble and fearful in response, making Princess Fuzhuang appear unreasonable and hysterical. He repeatedly showered her with favor as well, sending rewards and gifts endlessly to her palace.
The ministers all praised the new Emperor’s magnanimity and benevolence, but discerning people understood well enough that the Emperor deeply disliked Princess Fuzhuang.
Some time later, the Prince of Zhenbei entered the capital under imperial decree and fell in love with Princess Fuzhuang at first sight. Before the entire court, he asked for her hand in marriage.
Princess Fuzhuang refused.
She caused a huge scene in the throne hall, humiliating both the Emperor and the Prince of Zhenbei.
The Emperor flew into a rage and quarreled fiercely with her, accusing her of selfishness and disregard for the nation’s greater good. The Prince of Zhenbei returned overnight to the northern frontier and declared that he was unworthy of a royal bride and would never again seek marriage with a woman of the imperial family.
After that incident, the Emperor’s disgust toward Princess Fuzhuang became openly apparent. He no longer concerned himself with her marriage and left her to fend for herself.
From then on, no one in the capital dared marry Princess Fuzhuang.
Only when the Marquis of Changning returned from the western frontier did he request her hand for his third son. Princess Fuzhuang had little choice left and thus married into the He family. Yet she remained depressed year after year, plagued by illness, and ultimately died young in the prime of her life.
With her death, the grudges of the previous generation also seemed to fade into the wind. The Emperor neither suppressed the He family nor targeted He Fangting, Princess Fuzhuang’s daughter. Before her marriage, he even made an exception and granted her the title of Commandery Princess, along with a generous dowry.
According to the customs of the dynasty, daughters of princesses could only receive the lesser title of County Lady, while only daughters of princes and royal dukes could be made Commandery Princesses. By granting her such a title, the Emperor intended to demonstrate that he held no resentment toward Princess Fuzhuang’s lineage.
Yet the title he bestowed upon her was “Shun’an”—which could mean “peace and contentment,” but could also be interpreted as “obedience brings peace.”
The officials at court were all astute enough to discern the Emperor’s displeasure from such subtle details. As a result, her marriage prospects remained awkwardly suspended between high and low status, causing her grandparents endless worry.
Then Jiang Zhixiu appeared and solved that difficult problem.
In a certain sense, she was grateful to Jiang Zhixiu and to the Jiang family. Even when they occasionally overstepped their bounds, she chose to smile and tolerate it.
But serving two family lines at once—
That was something she could never tolerate.
