A Precious Pearl in the Imperial City

Prince Huai was drunk, and everyone at the table could tell.

"Second Brother, Fifth Brother, come." Prince Huai raised his cup, wine spilling over the back of his hand. "Let your elder brother toast you again."

After draining his cup, Prince Huai sighed. "Not long ago, there were five of us brothers. Now only three remain. Fourth Brother... he was narrow-minded and underhanded. He got what he deserved."

"Third Brother..." Prince Huai's voice was bitter yet angry. "It's only natural for people to choose what benefits them."

"Still, I'm glad you're both here today." Prince Huai poured himself more wine, gulping it down. "Your elder brother owes you a great debt."

"We're family. What debt is there?" Prince Chen couldn't stand Prince Huai's drunken sentimentality. "You exaggerate, Elder Brother."

Hearing this, Prince Huai grew even more emotional, his eyes brimming with tears. "Fifth Brother, your elder brother wronged you. You treat me with such kindness, yet I once planted spies in your residence. It was my fault."

Princess Huai hastily stuffed a bite of food into his mouth—enough talking, or he'd offend everyone present.

"Fifth Brother," she set down her chopsticks, "your elder brother did act foolishly in the past and went too far. But since moving into the palace, he has never schemed against you again."

"Congratulations on your appointment as Crown Prince." Princess Huai poured herself a cup of wine. Seeing Prince Huai about to speak again, she pressed his head down onto the table. After a weak struggle, he passed out drunk.

"My lord and I are both willing to support you, Fifth Brother, and safeguard the future of Dacheng." Princess Huai raised her cup solemnly, her expression earnest.

Today, Yun Duqing had shattered the rumors about her husband. When he ascended the throne, he would not mistreat his brothers.

This toast, she offered willingly—her submission just as sincere.

"Fifth Brother, your Second Brother is mediocre and ineloquent," Prince An stood as well. "But like Elder Brother and his wife, I pledge to support you as your right-hand man."

"When brothers stand united, no challenge is insurmountable." Princess Consort An rose beside him. "Let us all drink together."

No moving words, no grand declarations—yet Jiuzhu sensed sincerity in their simple vows.

By the time all three brothers had drunk themselves into a stupor and been carried to their chambers to rest, the lively gathering had dispersed. Prince Jing and Princess Consort Jing never appeared.

Court of Judicial Review.

A colleague dropped a case file, and Ming Jiyuan bent to pick it up for him.

"Thank you, Lord Ming." The colleague smiled. "This case actually involves your family."

"How so?"

"The criminal slandered the imperial family—Prince Chen himself delivered her here." Since the case involved the Ming family, it hadn't been assigned to Ming Jiyuan. The colleague couldn't elaborate but added, "She's young but bold and malicious. Today, the Imperial Guards submitted new evidence—turns out she even committed an act of betrayal in her youth."

"She fell into water once, and a neighbor girl saved her, only to drown herself from exhaustion. The criminal sneaked home without raising the alarm. The poor girl's family thought she'd slipped and drowned. To this day, they don't know she died saving an ingrate."

Evidence from the Imperial Guards?

Had the Emperor ordered a full investigation?

"Thank you for telling me." Ming Jiyuan had a suspicion about the criminal's identity. After his shift, he changed out of his official robes and went to the prison.

Ming Zhenyu was locked in the farthest cell. When she noticed someone at her door, she lifted her head—then immediately buried it back in her arms upon recognizing him.

Silence hung between them.

"So it's you." Ming Jiyuan's voice was icy. No wonder his mother had mentioned the Ming family of Lingzhou repeatedly lately, with undisguised disgust. Everything made sense now.

As the Deputy Chief of the Court of Judicial Review, uncovering the truth was easy—and it only deepened his revulsion for the Ming family of Lingzhou.

"What separates humans from beasts is a sense of shame." Disgusted, Ming Jiyuan turned to leave.

Ming Zhenyu lunged for the bars. "Brother, I was wrong! Please, tell them to release me!"

"Silence." Ming Jiyuan halted, glaring coldly. "I, Ming Jiyuan, have only one sister—her name is Ming Jiuzhu."

"When you impersonated Jiuzhu to infiltrate our family, you should have known everything you gained there belonged to her." Ming Jiyuan's gaze was piercing. "Years later, not only do you feel no remorse, you've grown worse—even attempting to blackmail the Ming family with Jiuzhu's past. Beneath your skin lies not a human heart, but the guts of a treacherous beast."

Ming Zhenyu wanted to plead, to play the victim.

"Have you ever thought of that neighbor girl who drowned saving you? In the dead of night, does her memory haunt you?"

Ming Zhenyu paled. How could anyone know about that?

"Ming Zhenyu, evil always meets its reckoning."

Ming Jiyuan left, his steps hurried—as though staying a moment longer was unbearable.

"Is this information accurate?" Consort Xu smiled, setting the letter down after reading it. "Who would have thought the Ming family would dare conceal Jiuzhu's past and arrange her marriage into the imperial family? If this gets out, will the royals tolerate it, or will the Ming family pay the price?"

"Your Highness, what do you propose?"

"With only rumors about my son circulating, things are too dull. Why not let everyone discuss the Crown Prince-elect's... colorful past?" Consort Xu chuckled. "It'll be quite the spectacle."

"I doubt it'll be entertaining." Empress Su strode in, her sleeves sweeping a shelf of porcelain to the floor—shattering everything.

"Mother!" Jiuzhu followed, gasping at the broken shards. "How could you break these?"

Consort Xu smirked, amused by Empress Su being chastised by her daughter-in-law.

"You're delicate—what if you cut yourself?" Jiuzhu carefully guided Empress Su around the debris. "If you want to break something, let me do it for you."

Consort Xu's smile vanished. This mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair was insane, storming into her quarters to cause chaos. She grabbed the letter, trying to tuck it into her sleeve—

But two of Empress Su's maids intercepted it, handing it to their mistress.

"Empress, as your subordinate, I ought to respect you. But isn't this going too far?!" Consort Xu's panic outweighed her anger as she watched Empress Su take the letter.

"Too far?" Empress Su arched a brow. "Would you like to see what going too far really looks like?"

Consort Xu lunged for the letter, but Jiuzhu blocked her path, arms spread. "Consort Xu, how dare you assault the Empress?!"

Consort Xu froze mid-step, glaring at Jiuzhu. "Princess Consort of Chen, what is the meaning of this?"

"Whatever Her Majesty means, I mean the same." Jiuzhu's face clearly declared, "I'm the Empress's loyal little follower," an expression that infuriated Consort Xu to no end.

"My daughter-in-law is truly considerate." Empress Su smiled warmly. "Unlike my useless son, who's still passed out drunk with his two elder brothers."

She opened the envelope and shook out the letter.

"Empress!" Consort Xu turned deathly pale, collapsing weakly into her chair.

"Jiuzhu, smash it." Empress Su glanced at the letter's contents. "Break whatever you like—let's hear the sound and vent some frustration."

"Your Majesty, that's not the right way to settle accounts." Jiuzhu picked up a white-glazed vase but carefully set it back down. "Since you are the mistress of the inner palace, doesn’t that mean everything here belongs to you? Rather than smashing these fine things, why not take them away? Such treasures shouldn’t go to waste."

Empress Su stared at her daughter-in-law in astonishment. Between the two of them, who was the one raised in a merchant family?

"Take them, then." Empress Su nodded. These exquisite porcelain pieces were indeed too precious to destroy.

"You go too far!" Consort Xu roared as palace maids and eunuchs began carting away her belongings. "I am a consort recorded in the imperial lineage, and I bore His Majesty his first son! How dare you humiliate me like this?"

"As a consort of the inner palace, you colluded with outside forces to pry into confidential cases of the Court of Judicial Review. What were you scheming?" Empress Su ignored her protests. "Consort Xu, did you ever consider the consequences for the Eldest Prince?"

Consort Xu stared at the letter in Empress Su's hand and suddenly realized. "This was a trap you set!"

No wonder the Court of Judicial Review had kept the matter so tightly guarded—yet the information had reached her with suspicious ease in less than half a day.

"Rumors about the Eldest Prince have been spreading outside. As Empress, it is my duty to clear his name." Empress Su waved the letter. "This was merely a coincidence."

A coincidence?

Since when did the world have so many coincidences?

The moment she obtained the letter, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo barged in without even waiting for an announcement.

"I said it was a coincidence. Whether you believe it or not is your concern." Empress Su studied Consort Xu, who had abandoned her pretense of illness. "You look much better when you’re not faking sickness."

"Instead of worrying about how I look, Your Majesty should think harder about your daughter-in-law’s past associations—and whether she’s truly pure." With her schemes exposed, Consort Xu cast a venomous glare at Jiuzhu. "I refuse to believe you can look at this girl every day without suspicion!"

Mothers-in-law were always critical of their daughters-in-law, let alone one with such an unclear background.

Empress Su laughed and extended her hand. Jiuzhu cheerfully took her arm.

"Spare your concern. Jiuzhu and I get along splendidly." Empress Su tilted her chin up. "Jiuzhu, tell Consort Xu when we first met."

"Consort Xu, Her Majesty and I met nine years ago." Jiuzhu blinked her large eyes and spoke earnestly. "So even if your rumor-mongering had succeeded, His Majesty and Her Majesty would never hold it against me. Are you disappointed?"

Consort Xu’s face twisted with fury. She whirled toward Empress Su. "When did you start suspecting me?"

"When?" Empress Su pondered. "Perhaps the day you arrived for morning greetings in a palanquin?"

Consort Xu turned sharply to Jiuzhu—that palanquin had been Jiuzhu’s idea!

"Then again, it might have been the day Lady Wei was demoted from Noble Consort to Concubine, or when you refused Physician Liu’s examination. But none of that matters now." Noticing the hatred in Consort Xu’s gaze directed at Jiuzhu, Empress Su pointed at the carved chair beneath her. "Take that chair too."

How dare Consort Xu glare at her Jiuzhu while she, Su Meidai, was still alive? The woman had the audacity of a leopard that had feasted on bear bile!

Two maids "assisted" Consort Xu to the floor and carried the chair away.

The once-elegant Zhaoxiang Palace now stood as an empty shell.

"Consort Xu, don’t take it to heart." Jiuzhu offered consolation. "After all, you won’t be living here anymore, so these things aren’t yours anyway, right?"

Consort Xu’s vision darkened, and she crashed to the ground with a thud.

"Consort Xu’s acting skills are truly impressive." Empress Su nodded approvingly. "A professional at feigning illness for over a decade."

"Mhm." ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‍Jiuzhu nodded along.

Physician Liu, who had accompanied the pair, hesitated to speak.

This time, it probably wasn’t an act.