Bai Li’s Dream – Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Old Acquaintance

The magnificent hall was warm as spring, brightly lit, and filled with beautiful servants who were either dancing, singing, or offering wine.

Princess Jinyu sat on a soft couch, her eyes hazy with drunkenness.

“If you had come to me and taken your own life…”

She looked at the young man standing in the hall.

Before entering, the servants had removed Shangguan Yue’s cloak, searched his robes, and even checked his hair.

At this moment, Shangguan Yue’s robes were disheveled, his hair loose, and he looked utterly miserable.

But this did not detract from his beauty.

A beauty that surpassed even the Imperial Consort’s Husband.

Princess Jinyu smiled.

“I would have allowed you a fine coffin.”

Shangguan Yue knelt down and pulled out a red string from his collar, with a seemingly ordinary jade piece tied to it.

“Please, Princess, identify this object,” he said, raising his hand high.

What is it? Princess Jinyu glanced at it lazily. Since the person had been allowed in, the object didn’t matter. She waved her hand at the servant.

The servant hurried forward, took the jade piece, and presented it to her.

Princess Jinyu didn’t take it, but glanced at it in the servant’s hand. Her initially casual expression instantly turned into shock, and she sat up straight.

“You…” she looked at Shangguan Yue and shouted, “Where did you get this!”

The music and dancing in the hall stopped, and silence fell instantly.

Shangguan Yue looked up at Princess Jinyu: “Please allow me to inform you in private.”

Princess Jinyu had nothing to fear. The servants and maids who were playing music, dancing, serving tea, and pouring wine all retreated, leaving only the guards with swords by her side.

Princess Jinyu turned the jade piece in her hand, her fingers brushing over a character carved on it under the lamplight.

This character had long become taboo, and she had almost forgotten it.

“Princess, you still have this jade piece, right?” Shangguan Yue knelt a few steps away and said softly.

Princess Jinyu reached up to her neck and pulled out a red string from among the pearls and jade ornaments.

A jade piece was also hanging on it.

She held the two jade pieces in front of her eyes, looking at one and then the other, a smile appearing on the corner of her lips.

The smile seemed to be both mocking and reminiscent.

“When I was very young, maybe four or five years old, someone presented an auspicious offering ━ a jade stone that fell from the sky. My father personally carved it into two jade pendants and gave one to my eldest brother and one to me. Only the two of us had them, no one else.”

Princess Jinyu spoke with a hint of pride, followed by a touch of melancholy.

That was also the time in her memory when her father was most like a father. Later, as they grew up and their father grew old, the way he looked at them became distant, and in the end, it was like looking at enemies.

Whether it was the Crown Prince who once wore this jade pendant or the other princes who didn’t receive it, they were all dead, leaving only her and her sixth brother.

Li.

Princess Jinyu stroked the character on the jade piece in her right hand.

Crown Prince Li Li, crowned Prince at the age of eighteen.

He was once the most beloved son of the late Emperor.

And the killing between the Emperor and his sons began with him.

The Emperor accused the Crown Prince of privately stockpiling weapons, raising soldiers, colluding with court officials, and attempting to seize the palace and usurp the throne. He was no longer a son, nor were his followers his subjects. First, the Crown Prince was stripped of his title, then convicted and imprisoned, demoted to commoner status, and finally given poisoned wine and white silk.

The Crown Prince cursed the Emperor for being suspicious, tyrannical, immoral, and unfit to be a ruler, let alone a father. He disdained to be the Emperor’s son, threw away the poisoned wine, tore up the white silk, and set himself on fire in the Eastern Palace.

The fire burned for three days.

At that time, she was hiding in the Western Mountains villa, and even in the dead of night, she seemed to be able to smell the burning fire.

It was truly terrifying.

Princess Jinyu reached out and clenched the jade piece, closing her eyes. It’s all over, it’s all over.

“How audacious,” she opened her eyes, looked at Shangguan Yue, and said slowly, “You dare to steal the relics of the deposed Crown Prince! Now you can’t say that I’m intolerant of you, this is a crime for which you deserve to die.”

As she spoke, the guards on both sides were eager to try and kill Shangguan Yue on the spot.

Shangguan Yue bowed to Princess Jinyu: “I am guilty, but not of stealing relics.” His voice seemed to be both laughing and choking, “Everything was burned, buried on the spot. The Eastern Palace was rebuilt, where are there any relics to steal?”

He finished speaking and looked up at Princess Jinyu, tears streaming down his face.

“Aunt,” he called out softly.

Princess Jinyu was stunned and scolded, “What are you calling me!”

Shangguan Yue looked at her: “I am Li Yu, I should call you Aunt.”

Li Yu? Princess Jinyu was momentarily confused, unable to recall who this name belonged to. Then she heard the voice in her ear.

“I was born on the fifteenth of August, my grandfather bestowed upon me the childhood name Yue. My mother said that the moon wanes when it is full, so she named me Yu.”

“Every year on my birthday, Aunt would give me a gold moon plate, until I was four…”

The Crown Prince did have a child.

Her father also loved this eldest grandson and gave him a childhood name.

With the Crown Prince’s power growing, she naturally had to treat this child’s birthday with great care, giving him a gold moon plate every year that was both sincere and pleasing to her father.

Until the Crown Prince’s downfall.

The Crown Prince was no longer the Crown Prince, his entire family was dead, and she no longer had to celebrate the birthday of a little child.

Yu.

Li Yu.

Princess Jinyu felt a buzzing in her ears and pointed at Shangguan Yue.

“Nonsense.”

“Audacious, audacious! How dare you impersonate the Imperial family!”

✿✿✿

“Where is the Imperial Consort’s Husband? Is this a new trick he’s come up with?”

“Bring Shangguan Xue to me!”

“You two are really tired of living!”

Princess Jinyu’s angry voice echoed through the hall.

Since revealing the name Li Yu, although Shangguan Yue was still kneeling, he was no longer as humble as before.

Looking at the furious Princess Jinyu, he showed no fear, only a bitter smile: “Princess, impersonating any other member of the Imperial family is one thing, but who would impersonate the deposed Crown Prince’s lineage? Demoted to commoner status, bones crushed to ashes, it’s a dead end.”

“You can’t be sure, you father and son are crazy about claiming kinship with me,” Princess Jinyu sneered, “Even if it’s a dead end, you still want to be related to me.”

Shangguan Yue didn’t speak, but took out a pre-soaked silk handkerchief from his waist and wiped his face.

Why wipe his face? Was his face disguised, not resembling the Imperial Consort’s Husband, but rather her or other members of the Imperial family?

Princess Jinyu sneered and said, “The world is vast, it’s inevitable that there are people who look alike. Don’t think you can become someone else just by relying on your face.”

“Yes, the world is vast, it’s not hard to find someone who looks alike,” Shangguan Yue said, with another bitter smile, “But the Imperial Consort’s Husband had no reason to specifically find such a child to raise back then.”

The Crown Prince had become taboo, anyone who touched him would die. The Imperial Consort’s Husband wouldn’t risk it by adopting a similar child, just to come to the Princess today and call her Aunt, claiming kinship.

That would be absurd.

As he spoke, Shangguan Yue’s face was wiped bit by bit with the wet cloth soaked in medicine, removing the disguise. His originally flawless, porcelain-white face was like a thin membrane being peeled away.

Under the brilliant lights, he had a jade-like face and almond-shaped eyes, his skin radiant. His features seemed no different, yet he seemed like a different person.

He looked at Princess Jinyu.

“Aunt probably doesn’t remember what I looked like as a child, and I don’t look much like my father, I resemble my mother more.”

“Aunt should still remember what my mother looked like, right?”

He raised his eyes to Princess Jinyu and smiled faintly.

“After all, Aunt was the one who brought my mother and the Crown Prince together.”

Princess Jinyu looked at this face, momentarily lost in thought.

“Princess, your servants have investigated. Shangguan Xue does have a sweetheart.”

“It’s Third Miss Du, the daughter of the Du family, the Assistant Minister of the Imperial Treasury.”

The voices of her servants echoed in her ears.

“Princess, look, that’s Third Miss Du.”

Princess Jinyu seemed to see a group of young women playing and frolicking by the Jinshui River. One of them was taking off her veil, revealing rosy cheeks, almond-shaped eyes, and radiant skin.

Even though she was born in the Imperial Palace and had seen countless beauties, Princess Jinyu was still stunned at that moment.

She threw her fishing rod into the water.

The splashing water blurred the reflection of her face.

“Tell my mother to invite her to the palace,” she looked at the pool where the fish were swimming in confusion, and instructed her personal maid, “Have them push her into the lake in the Imperial Garden and drown her.”

She was a Princess, she wanted to live happily, and anyone she disliked had to die.

She stood on the high tower, watching the girl with rosy cheeks and almond-shaped eyes, wearing a begonia flower dress, being pushed into the lake by the palace maids, bobbing like a flower.

Dying in the Imperial City, she could only blame her bad luck, she couldn’t blame the Imperial Consort, at most, she would let two palace maids be buried alive with her.

But unfortunately, this delicate flower, Third Miss Du, did not wither. She was rescued by the Crown Prince who happened to be passing by.

The Crown Prince, adhering to etiquette, having had skin-to-skin contact with the young lady, took the initiative to propose marriage.

No young lady, or her family, could refuse a proposal from the Crown Prince.

She didn’t need to do anything further. Shangguan Xue no longer had a sweetheart and, before Third Miss Du and the Crown Prince’s wedding, he accepted the Imperial decree to marry the Princess.

And that Third Miss Du became the Crown Princess, and would become the Empress in the future.

What good fortune.

At a family banquet, Princess Jinyu finally couldn’t help but jealously and maliciously tell the Crown Princess, “You have me to thank for your position today.”

Upon learning of this past event, the Crown Princess was surprised, claiming innocence, and explaining that she had no personal relationship with the Imperial Consort’s Husband.

Princess Jinyu didn’t believe it, but she didn’t bring up the past again. Because although the Crown Princess explained that she had no personal relationship with the Imperial Consort’s Husband, she accepted that her current position was thanks to Princess Jinyu. She diligently sent many gifts to Princess Jinyu, frequently visited her, and treated her as a distinguished guest.

Princess Jinyu was very satisfied with the Crown Princess’s attitude and was also proud to have this leverage in her hand. Even if the Crown Princess became Empress in the future, she would have to show her some respect.

Otherwise, she only needed to provoke her brother a little, and the Crown Princess would have a hard time.

At that time, she thought it was good that Third Miss Du hadn’t died. They were both in her palm, and they had to be grateful to her.

She didn’t expect…

When the Crown Prince was first questioned by their father, he had asked the other princes and princesses to help explain to him.

But the princes and princesses all avoided him, afraid of getting into trouble.

The noble families in the capital also avoided him.

Until the Emperor punished him again and again, each time more severely than the last, the Crown Prince, like a trapped beast, finally went mad.

It turned out that not everyone avoided him.

Shangguan Xue actually dared to take the little Grandson of the Emperor under the Emperor’s order to execute the Crown Prince’s family!

Was this for the Crown Prince?

Of course not!

This was for Third Miss Du!

Princess Jinyu looked at Shangguan Yue’s face, as if seeing Third Miss Du sitting in front of her, smiling gently.

This smile was like hot oil poured on her body, burning her all over.

It turned out that what could make Shangguan Xue risk everything was still his sweetheart.

It turned out that in the face of these two people’s deep affection, she was the joke!