Pu Wuyong raised his eyebrows slightly. Of course, he’d already sent people to investigate all of Qi Yuan’s past.
This New Year’s truly left him feeling choked with frustration.
It was one thing for Eunuch Xia to replace him in accompanying the Emperor to the ancestral temple and assisting with incense offerings—but even after Emperor Yongchang returned to the palace and summoned the Grand Secretariat ministers, he hadn’t allowed Pu Wuyong to attend.
That was the real problem!
Pu Wuyong narrowed his eyes. He knew very well why Emperor Yongchang had suddenly distanced himself.
He had always maintained good relations with Duke Chu’s household. Back when Noble Consort Xiao Liu was favored, he’d often spoken up on her behalf.
And when the Emperor had favored both Noble Consort Xiao Liu and Duke Chu’s faction, Pu Wuyong had reaped many benefits from it.
But now, all of that had become evidence of guilt.
Expression cold, Pu Wuyong pulled his cloak tighter as he walked down the long street toward his own quarters. Just as he was about to turn the corner, he spotted a young eunuch bowing and groveling in wait, causing him to raise a brow again.
The little eunuch immediately dropped to his knees when he saw him, smiling obsequiously:
“Godfather, Her Highness Princess Baorong said she’d like to see you. She has something she wishes to discuss with you.”
Pu Wuyong sneered faintly.
Looking throughout history, there were virtually no princesses who were ever allowed to return to court after being married off in a diplomatic union.
So just like Qi Wang, Princess Baorong had now become a discarded pawn—completely worthless.
Expression blank, he brushed past the young eunuch and said coldly: “Tell the princess, this is her last New Year’s in the palace. Don’t think too much. The only thing that matters now is taking care of herself.”
Marrying off to Japan—what good life could possibly await her?
For years, Japan had been raiding the coastal borders of Great Zhou—defeated time and again, yet always returning. They had petitioned countless times to become a vassal state of Zhou, but what was the use?
Such a treacherous, base nation was expert only in backstabbing.
They didn’t even have a unified monarch. For a long time, the archipelago had been plagued by endless infighting among the regional daimyōs.
One day, this daimyō might seek peace with Zhou— The next day, another would turn hostile.
And tonight, after the palace banquet on New Year’s Eve, Emperor Yongchang had kept the cabinet ministers behind. The meaning was obvious—it was to announce the princess’s marriage alliance.
If Baorong wanted to see him, it was clearly to beg him to intervene.
But Pu Wuyong had no reason to help her—and no ability to change the outcome.
He took a few more steps before the eunuch quietly said behind him: “Godfather, Her Highness also asked me to pass along a message: You’ve come a long way, and it hasn’t been easy. Back when the noble consort was favored, no one dared to touch you—but now that the consort is gone, do you think the Eastern Palace will really let you go?”
Back when Qi Wang was the greatest threat to the throne, Pu Wuyong had offered him no shortage of strategies and counsel.
Pu Wuyong halted, turning back with a blank expression to stare at him. “Is Her Highness threatening me?”
Did she even understand the current situation?
Yes, Pu Wuyong might have to lay low for a while—but slipping a few people into the diplomatic delegation and having Princess Baorong killed en route?
That wouldn’t be hard at all.
This so-called princess still thought she was the same noble darling she’d been before Noble Consort Xiao Liu’s death. She hadn’t realized how far she’d fallen.
The young eunuch dropped his sycophantic demeanor and gave Pu Wuyong a smile: “How could you say that, Godfather? Her Highness said she knows it’s hopeless now—but she simply doesn’t want to see her enemies gloating. She wants to share some ideas with you. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be difficult for you, having to defend against the Eastern Palace on one side and guard against the Lai family on the other?”
After saying that, the eunuch fell silent, merely lowering his head and waiting quietly.
Only now did Pu Wuyong take a proper look at him. “You’re Eunuch Xu’s nephew.”
The boy smiled and nodded, “Yes.”
Pu Wuyong gave a nod. “Once the princess is gone, come serve under me. How about it?”
He spoke with logic and clarity, conveyed messages accurately—he even seemed like he might have some education. Not bad. A promising seedling worth cultivating.
Why bother helping those cheap wretched islanders of Japan?
Little Xuzi immediately knelt and kowtowed. “Godfather, you flatter me. I’ll do whatever Her Highness and you command!”
Pu Wuyong gave him a look that was half a smile, half a sneer—but in the end, he still went to Princess Baorong’s palace.
In the past, every time he saw this princess, she was decked in pearls and jade, so dazzlingly noble she nearly made others avert their gaze.
But now, her hair was simply loose, not a single ornament on her body. Even when she saw him arrive, she didn’t show much expression at all.
That, however, made Pu Wuyong look at her with newfound respect. “Isn’t Your Highness afraid?” he asked.
“What use is fear?” Princess Baorong stood up from the floor with clear impatience, then turned to glare at him. “Let’s not waste words. The reason I and Duke Chu’s house have ended up like this is all because of that b*tch from the Qi family! I want her whole family dead and rotting in the wilderness with no burial!”
As she said it, even she almost laughed.
Isn’t it ridiculous?
That wretched girl—who once wasn’t even qualified to kneel before her and polish her shoes—had now flipped her to the ground, dragging her from the clouds into the mud.
It was laughable. Utterly laughable.
Pu Wuyong raised an eyebrow, his tone indifferent. “Your Highness, she’s just the daughter of a minor Marquis.”
“A Marquis’s daughter?” Baorong’s voice turned sharp. “Then why is it that when Qi Zhen spent years under orders looking for Liu Wangfei, he came up with nothing—yet as soon as that long-lost daughter returned, Qi Zhen suddenly found the Wangfei?”
“If you underestimate her, you’ll be the next to die!”
Pu Wuyong’s face shifted slightly.
That hit a nerve.
He, too, had seen the confrontation at Baiyun Temple between Qi Wang and Qi Yuan.
Qi Wang had been like a raving madman, but that girl—she remained calm and composed from start to finish, as if the whole thing had nothing to do with her, as if the prince were shouting at a stranger.
And more importantly, Pu Wuyong suspected she’d been hiding a weapon at the time.
He didn’t waste words either. “If that’s the case, then I have even less reason to make an enemy of her. I’ve always been a peaceable person—why provoke someone so dangerous?”
Princess Baorong gave him a cold, mocking smile and stared at him with contempt. “Oh? Then what if I told you she might become the Imperial Grandson’s Consort someday? Think carefully—who was behind the incident on the road to Mao Mountain when the Imperial Grandson was being sent there? Still think you won’t be her enemy?”
Pu Wuyong’s face instantly changed.
That incident—he had orchestrated it as his pledge of allegiance when he sided with Noble Consort Xiao Liu.
Back then, when Empress Feng begged the Eldest Princess to send Xiao Yunting to Mao Mountain in Jurong, it had been Pu Wuyong who tampered with the journey, almost causing the Imperial Grandson to fall off a cliff.
The Eastern Palace knew this. And he knew they knew.
He looked at Princess Baorong, only to see her lips curl into a sinister smile. “Go on, test my words if you dare.”
If that terrifying girl might truly become Imperial Grandson Consort—
Then she must die.
As for Qi Yuan, on the first day of the new year, she had no other plans. It had been a while since she’d visited the countryside, so she went to the family estate on the outskirts of the capital to see how the green peaches and pear blossoms were doing.
Besides, she also had… another matter to take care of.
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