The Crown Prince Chases His Wife
Chapter 136 Ending
The mountain wind began to rise, and the sound of pines swaying in the forest echoed faintly.
The midday sun broke through the gaps in the clouds, casting a bright and almost blinding light.
Qin Yan and Shen Shiying returned to their chairs and slowly sat down. Both of them picked up the freshly brewed hot tea by their sides, sipping gently, while attendants held umbrellas to shield them from the sun, providing at least a sliver of shade.
At this moment, strange bird calls echoed from the bottom of the cliff to the mountaintop.
After listening attentively, Shen Ying reported to the casually seated Qin Yan, “Master, the secret guards have confirmed that the two of them are dead.”
Upon hearing this, Qin Wenzheng slumped in despair, his face turning ashen.
But falling from such a high cliff… wasn’t survival already highly unlikely?
What had they, Shen Shiying and Qin Yan, gone through back then…?
Behind him, Qin Yan’s cold voice interrupted Qin Wenzheng’s still somewhat dazed thoughts.
“Prime Minister Qin, do you need me to report this to the authorities?”
“No, we cannot report this!” Upon hearing Qin Yan’s words, Qin Wenzheng’s heart tightened, and the pain in his eyes vanished in an instant.
He immediately braced himself on the ground, stood up, turned around, and looked at Qin Yan with a furrowed brow. He repeated forcefully, “We cannot report this!”
Qin Wenzheng was just guessing that the Taizi were probably aware of what happened today.
Qin Yan kidnapped an imperial concubine, a prime minister, and a prime minister’s wife in the capital city, and was able to take them out of the city smoothly. Among them, the Southern Yamen Imperial Army must have let him go.
If this was true, then Taizi was not only an insider, but he was also using the power of the Taizi Mansion to escort Qin Yan’s actions today.
Qin Wenzheng understood clearly that if he reported this to the authorities as a victim, he would find himself in direct opposition to the powerful Taizi, with no chance of winning.
Although Qin Yan was involved in kidnapping, setting up a private court, and inducing others to kill, with the help of the Taizi, it could be said that Qin Yan only threatened Imperial Concubine Shu and Song Mei, and did not really intend to cut the rope.
But Qin Wenzheng himself really raised the knife to kill Imperial Concubine Shu and Song Mei.
Song Mei was one thing, but Imperial Concubine Shu, who had given birth to an imperial prince, was another matter entirely.
If he reported this to the authorities, the matter might eventually be buried due to the Taizifei Qin Yan’s intervention. But for Qin Wenzheng, even if he managed to avoid punishment, this incident would undoubtedly become a fatal blemish on his career.
———–
Qin Wenzheng stood in silence for a moment, then finally made his decision, “Shiying, Yan Yan. Song Mei and Imperial Concubine Shu have attempted to harm both of you, mother and daughter, multiple times. Though they failed, good and evil will eventually be repaid.”
“Today, Imperial Concubine Shu and Song Mei went up the mountain together. They accidentally lost their footing and fell off the cliff. In the end, there was no way to save them, and they perished at the bottom of the cliff.”
Having said that, Qin Wenzheng stood motionless.
He gazed in the direction of Shen Shiying and Qin Yan, seemingly waiting for their approval of his version of events.
Qin Yan leaned back in her chair, an ambiguous smile playing on her lips as she watched Qin Wenzheng by the cliff.
Beside her, Shen Shiying set down the pastry she had been nibbling on, wiped her hands with a napkin, and then clapped her hands together, laughing softly, “Qin Wenzheng, should I admire your calmness and composure when dealing with matters, or should I sigh at your heartless and cold-blooded nature?”
“Just now, the two people who fell off the cliff were your own sister and the childhood sweetheart who had been by your side for many years.”
“Oh, you must have wanted to kill Song Mei long ago. When you swung that knife, you didn’t hesitate for a second.”
“No matter what happens, the most important thing in your heart will always be your own position and interests.”
“Qin Wenzheng, you are indeed a qualified official, but you are neither a qualified husband, a qualified father, nor a qualified brother.”
After saying this, Shen Shiying casually took a sip of tea, not bothering to keep her gaze on Qin Wenzheng.
Qin Wenzheng’s body stiffened slightly. He didn’t argue against Shen Shiying’s words, but…
Was this how she saw him?
———-
Qin Wenzheng fell silent for a moment before speaking with a pale face, “Shen Shiying, Yan Yan, I’m sorry. I failed you both.”
“Back then, I was indecisive, and they… “
His words were interrupted by Shen Shiying raising her hand.
“I don’t need your apology, nor does Yan Yan.”
“You don’t need to tell me you were indecisive.”
“The thought of having a son to carry on the Qin family line has always been your most steadfast intention.”
Qin Wenzheng was left speechless by Shen Shiying’s half-mocking, half-sarcastic remarks.
Shen Shiying stood up, adjusted her skirt, and said to Qin Yan, “Yan Yan, let’s go. Your performance today was impressive. I’ve witnessed quite the drama.”
“Have your people collect the bodies for them. Imperial Concubine Shu and Song Mei attempted murder, but they aren’t heinous criminals. No need for their corpses to be left exposed in the wilderness.”
She turned to Qin Wenzheng and added with a cold smile, “Don’t you agree, Prime Minister Qin?”
Qin Wenzheng felt a stab of both shame and heartache at the disdain in Shen Shijing’s glance.
Attempted murder…
When Shen Shiying and Qin Yan had fallen from the cliff all those years ago, Qin Yan had been only five years old. If Qin Yan survived, it must have been at Shen Shiying’s cost, shielding her with her own life. How many injuries must Shen Shiying have suffered at the time?
Shen Shijing had always worn a red dress. Was it possible that her red dress had been stained with blood back then?
“Shiying…”
Qin Wenzheng stepped forward, his voice choked as he tried to call out to Shen Shiying, but was stopped by Qin Yan’s subordinates before he could say more.
Shen Shiying and Qin Yan didn’t stop their steps. It was as though they hadn’t heard Qin Wenzheng’s call at all, and they continued walking, heading down the cliff without looking back.
At the top of the cliff, only Qin Yan’s subordinates remained, tasked with handling the scene, while Qin Wenzheng stood frozen in place.
The thick clouds that had once covered the sky had completely dissipated, and the warm sunlight now bathed the mountainside. But to Qin Wenzheng, the warmth felt like a chill.
What should he do now…?
———–
That same day, a shocking rumor spread through the streets of the capital.
One of the Emperor’s four high-ranked concubines, Imperial Concubine Shu, along with Madam Song of the Prime Minister Qin Mansion, had tragically fallen off a cliff while hiking. Both were presumed dead.
Imperial Concubine Shu’s body was escorted back to the imperial palace by Right Prime Qin Wenzheng, and laid to rest in the Imperial Palace’s Chengqian Hall.
By that evening, in a white mourning robe, Jin Wang, Feng Xian, arrived at Prime Minister Qin Mansion, riding a fast horse.
The Prime Minister Qin Mansion was also draped in mourning, but Feng Xian was not here to offer condolences. He did not enter the hall where Madam Song’s body had been laid, but instead instructed the Prime Minister Qin Mansion steward, Zhang Quan, to lead him directly to Qin Wenzheng’s study.
Inside the study, with the door tightly shut, only Jin Wang Feng Xian and Qin Wenzheng were present.
Feng Xian did not sit down. Instead, he glared coldly at Qin Wenzheng and demanded, “Uncle, my mother had originally planned to visit her mother today. How is it that she suddenly decided to leave the city and go hiking?”
“Today, the palace servants who escorted my mother out of the palace, along with the guards from the Northern Yamen Imperial Army, have all returned. They claim that they were ambushed on the way and knocked unconscious. Beyond that, they remember nothing.”
“The circumstances of my mother’s death are suspicious. What exactly happened?”
Feng Xian’s tone was cold, his gaze unwavering as he stared at Qin Wenzheng. He did not believe Right Prime Minister Qin would harm his own mother, after all, Imperial Concubine Shu was his pillar in the imperial court, and her death would bring him no benefit.
But the body of his imperial mother had been returned by Qin Wenzheng himself, meaning that Qin Wenzheng knew exactly what had happened.
There was a trace of suspicion in Feng Xian’s heart, and he sought to confirm his doubts by directly confronting his uncle.
Qin Wenzheng, upon hearing Feng Xian’s words, lowered his gaze without speaking. He had expected this moment and had prepared for the confrontation, knowing that he would need to offer a response that would hit Feng Xian where it hurt the most.
After a long silence, Qin Wenzheng finally looked up, his face grim. He spoke with the same stern tone he had used when addressing his subordinates, “The assassination attempt during the autumn hunt… it’s related to your mother. That was treason, a crime of the highest order.”
“Your mother has passed, and with her death, the secrets of those actions are buried with her. It ends here.”
“You remain as Jin Wang, an imperial bloodline, untarnished by this. Think carefully, are you truly willing to continue digging into this matter?”
Qin Wenzheng’s words carried an almost pleading weight. He had not directly accused Imperial Concubine Shu of being behind the assassination attempt, but he knew full well that Feng Xian, from the expression on his face, likely already knew the truth.
Qin Wenzheng was very confident in his heart that he had guessed correctly.
That this mother and son pair was truly audacious beyond measure!
Qin Wenzheng took a step and left, leaving Feng Xian alone in the study to sit in silence for a long while.
————
That night, at the Prime Minister Qin Mansion.
When Qin Wenzheng, exhausted, entered the old madam’s room, he saw the elderly lady lying on the couch, weeping bitterly. No matter how the servants tried to comfort her, they could not stop her.
Hearing the sound of servants greeting Qin Wenzheng, the old madam suddenly raised her head and angrily said to him, “Which part of your brain is wrong, that you want to resign from office?”
Qin Wenzheng furrowed his brows, waved the servants out, and had them close the door. The room was now only left with him and the old matriarch.
Qin Wenzheng was about to speak, but the old madam cried out, “Even if you won’t do it for yourself, you must do it for Ming’er!”
“Wenzheng, why can’t you understand?” The old madam continued to clutch her chest, crying sorrowfully.
Qin Wenzheng’s face turned ashen. Ming’er? Qin Ming!
The old madam continued to cry, “Bring Ming’er back to me, my Ming’er…”
“Mother.” Qin Wenzheng coldly interrupted the old matriarch’s words. After much hesitation, he finally spoke the uncomfortable truth, “Qin Ming may not be my son.”
After saying this, Qin Wenzheng tightly shut his eyes.
This was the distressing matter he had intended to keep hidden from the old madam for the rest of his life, yet it had to be said by his own mouth.
Qin Wenzheng could not allow the old madam to continue worrying over that illegitimate child, Qin Ming, and adding more to her troubles.
The old matriarch was so shocked that she forgot to continue crying, “What?”
“What did you say?”
At this point, Qin Wenzheng decided to tell her the whole truth, “Song Mei had an affair with another man. Qin Nian and Qin Ming may not even be blood-related to the Qin family.”
As he said this, a bitter smile appeared on the corners of Qin Wenzheng’s lips.
Qin Nian and Qin Ming, although not of the Qin family’s bloodline, might still carry the Qin surname.
The old madam was so stunned she couldn’t speak, while Qin Nian, who had just arrived at the door, was equally shocked, her hand covering her mouth in disbelief.
Qin Nian had come from the mourning hall to find her father. She had intended to plead with him once again to help her with her divorce from He Xiao.
As there were few servants left in the Prime Minister Qin Mansion at the moment, and with the chaos of the funeral proceedings when Qin Nian reached the old madam’s courtyard, the servants guarding outside the room were nowhere to be found. No one had announced her arrival, and so, she overheard this huge secret regarding her own identity.
———–
Inside the room, Qin Wenzheng, recalling the things that Song Mei and Imperial Concubine Shu had mentioned earlier, sighed deeply and asked, “Mother, why did you insist on bringing Song Mei from Yangzhou to the capital?”
“Why did you push me to the point where Shen Shiying and I have come to this, which has led to such a situation today? Our Prime Minister Qin Mansion has never known peace since.”
The old madam, hearing the tone of Qin Wenzheng’s voice, both blaming and reproaching her, became angry, “Are you blaming me, your mother?”
“Wasn’t it because Shen Shiying refused to give our Qin family a son?”
Qin Wenzheng sighed again and said, “Mother, at the time, Shen Shiying had just given birth to Qin Yan. Her body hadn’t even fully recovered, and you kept urging her to get pregnant again and give birth to a son. That was…”
Old Madam, displeased that Qin Wenzheng was still speaking up for Shen Shiying even now, quickly realized the direction the conversation was going and interrupted him, “Is it Shen Shiying who did this to Huilan and Song Mei? Is it Qin Yan? What do you mean by ‘climbing the mountain’ and ‘slipping off the cliff’? Huilan was supposed to come to the mansion to visit me today, my Huilan…”
The old madam cried out, banging her hand on the couch in anguish.
Huilan was the maiden name of Imperial Concubine Shu, the eldest daughter whom the old madam had always favored.
Seeing that the conversation had not strayed from this topic, Qin Wenzheng furrowed his brows and spoke, “Mother, do you know that my elder sister and Song Mei had tried to assassinate Shen Shiying and Qin Yan multiple times? Even the disappearance of Shen Shiying back then…”
The old matriarch abruptly interrupted him with a sharp tone, “So you’re saying that it was them? Shen Shiying and Qin Yan are taking revenge? What’s wrong with assassinating them? They’re still alive, aren’t they? My Huilan…”
Qin Wenzheng couldn’t bear to look at his mother, who was being so unreasonable.
Their family prides itself on being a scholarly family, yet look at what they have become.
Qin Wenzheng closed his eyes for a moment, and after a pause, he looked at the still-weeping old madam and said tiredly, “Today, it was my own hand that killed Song Mei, and it was also my own hand that accidentally killed my elder sister.”
The old madam’s eyes went wide, her body stiffened instantly, and she stared at Qin Wenzheng in disbelief.
Qin Wenzheng had struggled for half his life in the official world to reach his current position. How could he have easily resigned?
Now, because of his legitimization of Song Mei as his equal wife, the Imperial Censor Bureau had found evidence to hold over him, and he didn’t know when they might bring it up for impeachment.
And today, he had also acquired a murder charge. Given Qin Yan’s and the Taizi’s attitude toward him…
Resigning from officialdom was the result of careful consideration.
Leaving now, taking a step back to preserve his reputation, was far better than staying in office, living in constant fear, not knowing when disaster would strike, and losing everything in the end.
———-
Outside the room, Qin Yan covered her mouth with both hands and quickly left.
She was thankful that she hadn’t brought her maidservant with her and had come alone. If these matters were to spread…
No wonder her mother had been acting so strangely before.
No wonder Qin Ming had insisted on going to the Northern Border to enlist. He must have found out about this.
Qin Yan forced a bitter smile. No wonder her father had stopped showing affection for her. Even though He Xiao had turned out to be such a scoundrel, her father had remained indifferent, leaving her to fend for herself in the He family.
Qin Yan numbly returned to the mourning hall, but she had no more tears left to cry.
What was there to cry for?
Who was she crying for?
For her mother, who had betrayed her marriage vows?
Or for herself?
Her father was about to resign, and with him gone, she would have no more support from the Prime Minister Qin Mansion. He no longer trusted her, and would not protect her. Her mother was also gone…
What was she supposed to do? What could she do…
After Qin Nian left the old madam’s courtyard, the old woman was struck by the series of shocking revelations. Overcome with emotion, she spat up several mouthfuls of blood.
The moment Prime Minister Qin heard the news, he immediately had the steward, Zhang Quan, summon the physician to come to the mansion, and the entire Prime Minister Qin Mansion was thrown into chaos that night. Servants were running back and forth, and the mansion was filled with sorrowful faces and the sounds of weeping.
———-
The next day, while the city was still reeling from the rumors that had spread the day before, another piece of news came from the Qin family estate that caused even more sighs of sympathy.
The old madam, who had been in poor health for some time, had suddenly worsened overnight and passed away before dawn.
People couldn’t help but shake their heads at this misfortune, realizing that now Prime Minister Qin Mansion would have to handle two funerals at once.
In the Prime Minister Qin Mansion’s main hall, the old madam’s coffin was placed, while Song Mei’s coffin was moved to a side room.
Despite the family’s grief, many of the city’s noble families still came to offer their condolences, as a sign of respect for the Taizifei and Prime Minister Qin’s longstanding influence.
Though Qin Yan had never been close to the old madam, out of respect for her being Qin Yan’s grandmother, she still came in person to pay her respects.
As soon as Qin Yan stepped into the mourning hall, Qin Nian, who had been kneeling before the altar, immediately sprang up and rushed toward her. However, she was stopped by Qin Yan’s subordinates before she could get close.
With manic eyes, Qin Yan shouted at Qin Yan, her voice filled with fury and grief, “It’s all because of you! It’s all because of you! If it weren’t for you, my mother wouldn’t have…”
With a loud “slap,” Qin Wenzheng, who strode over, swung his hand sending Qin Nian crashing to the ground.
Furious, his beard trembling with rage, Qin Wenzheng shouted, “What nonsense are you spouting? Get out of here!”
Qin Nian, one hand clutching her face, looked up through her tears at the father who had just struck her.
In the past, he had always been so… in the past…
A bitter smile spread across her face as she thought, what past?
Dazed, Qin Nian was roughly dragged out by two maidservants.
Qin Wenzheng, his face filled with awkwardness, quickly turned to the guests and apologized in a positive tone, “My daughter is grieving the loss of her mother, which makes everyone laugh.”
After Qin Yan had completed her formalities and offered her condolences, she left the mansion with her people.
Qin Wenzheng personally escorted Qin Yan to the gate, watching her carriage disappear down the road. His heart was heavy with bitterness.
He couldn’t help but wonder, was he really becoming estranged from his only daughter? Was he destined to be alone for the rest of his life?
—————
The day after Qin Wenzheng had returned the body of the Imperial Concubine Shu to the palace, he submitted his letter of resignation.
The ministers in the court deliberated on the matter and attached a note opposing his resignation. According to the laws of the Great Xia, officials were not permitted to resign without a compelling reason. The official duty to serve the country was considered lifelong unless there were exceptional circumstances, and Qin Wenzheng’s justification was deemed insufficient. Therefore, the request for resignation was to be rejected.
The petition was then sent to the Taizi Mansion, where it was left unaddressed. Eventually, it was forwarded to the Emperor for a final decision. The document sat on the Emperor’s desk overnight with no conclusion.
However, early this morning, the news of the sudden death of the Old Madam of Prime Minister Qin Mansion added a new complication to Qin Wenzheng’s resignation request.
A decree from the Emperor soon followed, granting Qin Wenzheng permission to retire and return to his hometown for three years of mourning for his mother.
Of course, after three years, if Qin Wenzheng decided to return to politics, his former position would be gone. He might be assigned some idle post, but that would be a matter for the future.
Upon receiving the imperial edict, Qin Wenzheng prostrated himself in gratitude. He then decided to leave the capital while the weather was still cool, taking his whole family and the two coffins back to Yangzhou.
Qin Wenzheng, once a mere Hanlin scholar, had risen through the ranks after being chosen by the Duke of Zhenguo’s family as a son-in-law, eventually becoming Prime Minister. He had held his prestigious office for twenty years.
Now, after nearly two decades of glory, the Prime Minister Qin Mansion’s prominence had come to a quiet and abrupt end.
Meanwhile, a shocking event also occurred this morning in the Emperor’s palace, Shou’an Palace.
The Empress Dowager Xiao and her trusted confidante, Xia Ying, had mysteriously disappeared overnight.
With such a series of unsettling events, it seemed clear that the empire would not remain peaceful for much longer…