Chi Ying and Madam Yin waited inside the room for news, but they did not expect Nanny Zheng to return and whisper a few words that would make Madam Yin’s pupils shrink and the color drain from her face.

Madam Yin even abandoned her dignity, grabbing Nanny Zheng by the lapels, her lips trembling. “Is she back?”

Nanny Zheng whispered, “She is back. She is in the front wing. This servant was afraid of alerting the Prince Zhao estate guards, so I did not dare bring the young lady to the back courtyard. Madam should go and ask her personally.”

Chi Ying saw the two of them acting furtively, looking as if they were facing a great enemy. She wanted to ask for details, but Madam Yin suddenly stood up and hurried out of the courtyard.

After a few steps, Madam Yin remembered something. She turned back to glare at Chi Ying, barking in a low voice: “I am going to handle some matters. Stay here quietly. Do not wander around, and you are strictly forbidden from going to Spring Willow Court. The Prince’s guards are everywhere outside. If anything goes wrong, no one will escape!”

As she turned around, she nearly stumbled. Fortunately, she grabbed Nanny Zheng’s arm just in time to steady herself. The two left quickly, not delaying for a single moment.

Chi Ying had no choice but to ask Xiangqin: “You went with Nanny Zheng. Do you know what happened to Second Sister?”

The matter was of great importance; how could Xiangqin dare to speak of it? Yet the Third Lady would find out sooner or later. She could only say with difficulty: “It is better… to let the Madam come back and tell you herself.”

Across the courtyard, Cheng Huai saw the mistress and servant come out with panicked faces. He naturally stepped forward to inquire. Nanny Zheng fabricated an excuse, claiming a manager had made a blunder and the Madam needed to handle it personally.

Madam Yin was deathly pale, but she managed to squeeze out a smile.

Cheng Huai respectfully let them pass, but he secretly made a gesture to a guard standing under the corridor of the outer courtyard, signaling for someone to follow and watch them.

The man took the order and followed immediately.

Madam Yin hurried to the front wing, nearly bursting through the door.

Nanny Zheng had been cautious. This front wing had once been used as a private school and Chi Xingwu’s study. It was structured with a front hall and a back bedroom. Knowing there were outsiders in the estate today, Nanny Zheng had taken Chi Yingyue directly into the back bedroom to hide.

Madam Yin rushed inside. Seeing her daughter wearing a veiled hat, she asked immediately: “What exactly is going on?”

Chi Yingyue lifted the light gauze in front of her. Seeing Madam Yin’s shock and rage, she was also quite frightened. She lowered her eyes toward her own lower abdomen and spoke in a small voice: “Mother, I…”

Madam Yin stepped forward and grabbed her arm, her eyes wide. “Tell me who it is! Which bastard was it! Your pure body, how could it be…”

Nanny Zheng coughed lightly from the side, signaling Madam Yin to lower her voice lest the Prince’s guards hear and cause a catastrophe.

Madam Yin shook with rage, but she could only desperately suppress her burning anger.

“It is not what Mother thinks.”

Chi Yingyue bit her lip and said softly: “His status is noble. We are mutually in love. It is only because of my current situation that he cannot welcome me through his doors yet. However…”

“Mutually in love?” Madam Yin nearly laughed from extreme rage. “Do you know what you are saying? You are the legitimate daughter raised by the Marquis of Changyuan’s estate. Instead of being the dignified Princess Consort of Prince Zhao, you secretly had an affair outside and even got pregnant! Where do you put the face of the Marquis estate? Where do you put yourself? Are you trying to kill me with anger!”

Hearing the name “Prince Zhao,” a flicker of contempt flashed through Chi Yingyue’s eyes. She couldn’t help but tell Madam Yin the truth: “It is Prince Xuan. Mother, the man you call a ‘wild man’ is His Highness Prince Xuan.”

Madam Yin froze. She thought she had heard wrong, but the fire in her chest had already quietly died out. “What did you say? It is… His Highness Prince Xuan?”

Chi Yingyue nodded, the corners of her pressed lips lifting slightly.

Madam Yin did not know much about the imperial relatives, but she knew that several of the once prominent princes had either died in battle, been imprisoned, or gone blind. Now, Prince Xuan was the prince whom Emperor Yongcheng valued most!

She couldn’t help but look at Chi Yingyue’s belly. She was only a month and a half pregnant, so it was still flat, but inside was Prince Xuan’s child! Emperor Yongcheng’s imperial grandson!

Seeing the shock in Madam Yin’s eyes, Chi Yingyue’s expression became smug.

But Madam Yin had not lost her head entirely. She calmed down and asked, “So, Prince Xuan already knows your identity? He knows you were supposed to be the Princess Consort of Prince Zhao, and he knows our family switched you for a concubine’s daughter?”

Chi Yingyue twisted her handkerchief and nodded in admission.

Madam Yin was anxious. “You told him everything? This is the crime of deceiving the Emperor!”

The more people who knew, the more danger there was!

Furthermore, this Prince Xuan clearly knew Yingyue was supposed to be his younger brother’s wife, yet he had no regard for morality or ethics. Not only did he get involved with Yingyue, but he even produced a child… How would they explain this in the future?

Chi Yingyue was indifferent. “So what if he knows? Is His Highness Prince Xuan afraid of that blind Prince Zhao?”

Madam Yin remembered something and asked: “Weren’t you staying safely in the villa? How did you catch Prince Xuan’s eye?”

Chi Yingyue muttered, “I stayed in that house all day. I was bored to death. There was one time I went out to buy rouge, wearing a veiled hat of course, and I unexpectedly ran into Prince Xuan…”

Seeing her daughter’s lovestruck appearance, Madam Yin couldn’t help but frown. “But Prince Xuan is already married. His Princess Consort is the granddaughter of the Grand Secretary. If people find out he has ‘hidden a pearl’ outside, causing a scandal of a brother stealing his younger brother’s wife, how could the royal family and the Princess Consort’s natal family ever let you go?”

Chi Yingyue grumbled, “Mother, you make it sound so ugly! I never married Prince Zhao, so how is it a scandal? Besides, he and the Princess Consort are just a political marriage. He and I are the ones truly in love.”

Madam Yin rolled her eyes at her. “What promise did he give you?”

Chi Yingyue said, “He said once he secures the position of Crown Prince, he will settle everything and give me a proper rank. As for that Prince Zhao, he can deal with him with a single word. Now that I carry his flesh and blood and the Princess Consort does not, who knows who will have the last laugh?”

Madam Yin was actually swayed by her words. If things truly went that smoothly, her daughter would at least be a Noble Consort in the future. Why bother serving a blind Prince Zhao!

Madam Yin snapped back and studied her daughter again. Dressed in a bright red embroidered dress with a hundred butterflies, she was truly fair-skinned and as beautiful as a peach blossom. With such beauty, how could she not be a high-ranking consort?

What’s more, there was a “golden nugget” in her belly!

Madam Yin truly hadn’t expected her daughter to have such fortune.

The most important thing now was to let her focus on nourishing this pregnancy. As long as Prince Xuan could become the Crown Prince, her daughter’s future was bright. Any crime of deceiving the Emperor could be wiped clean in the future!

Madam Yin pondered for a moment and instructed Nanny Zheng: “You personally send the lady back. She must not be bumped or bruised. Once the people from the Prince Zhao estate have left, I will send two meticulous and thoughtful maids to serve her.”

She then turned to Chi Yingyue: “I will go and send that Chi Ying away. I will visit you another day to avoid drawing attention.”

She watched her daughter put on the veiled hat and follow Nanny Zheng out through the side gate.

The guard hidden behind a pillar saw them come out and immediately moved to retreat.

Madam Yin walked all the way back to the rear courtyard, having already thought of what to say to Chi Ying.

Chi Ying did not know what Chi Yingyue had said. Madam Yin had gone from a state of shock and rage to looking normal now. However, her phoenix eyes were slightly turned up, leaking a hint of arrogance and pride, as if she had received grand news that she had to keep secret.

Madam Yin said, “As for the Prince Zhao estate, you continue to handle it. I will have people take good care of Concubine Xue. You can rest assured on that point.”

Chi Ying was stunned. “What does Mother mean? Second Sister is not switching back? Is it that she doesn’t want to switch now, or she never plans to?”

Madam Yin hesitated.

Upon first hearing the world-shaking news, she was proud in addition to being surprised. But after careful consideration, she realized that while this appeared to be only one step away from glory, every detail had to be weighed carefully.

Yingyue was pregnant. She would give birth at the end of the year. After the birth, what then? When could Prince Xuan acknowledge the child? What status would Yingyue use to enter the Prince Xuan estate? The Emperor was still in his prime; when would he appoint a Crown Prince? Nothing was certain. It would require careful planning in the future.

Therefore, she couldn’t give Chi Ying a specific time.

However, Madam Yin understood the current situation clearly. Whether her daughter was the primary consort to a gloomy and suspicious blind prince or the favored consort to the prince most likely to become the heir, the latter was naturally the one with a limitless future. Not to mention she already carried Prince Xuan’s child; they could never consider Prince Zhao again.

Thinking of this, Madam Yin said, “Since you said Prince Zhao and Consort Zhuang treat you well, then stay as the Princess Consort with a peaceful mind.”

Chi Ying was confused. “Do Mother and Second Sister intend to maintain this deception forever? What if I am unwilling?”

Madam Yin curled her lips into a smile. “As long as you do not speak out, you are the glorious Princess Consort. Either way, you are the one benefiting from this. This is like a meat pie falling from the sky; others couldn’t even pray for such a thing.”

“But if you are unwilling,” Madam Yin’s gaze suddenly became sharp, “then I will simply have to stop Concubine Xue’s medicine and let her fend for herself in the back courtyard. In the vast Marquis of Changyuan’s estate, the death of a lowly concubine is no grand matter.”

Chi Ying’s face grew even paler. Her tone was heavy with anger: “I do not owe Mother anything. Why must you treat me like this? It was so back then, and it is so today.”

Madam Yin said coldly, “You can only blame yourself for being born from that concubine’s belly. I am Concubine Xue’s master. You are her daughter. You were born a servant of my Chi family. A servant does the master’s bidding and follows the master’s arrangements. What is the problem with that?”

Furthermore, the girl had been born with a face of exceptional beauty. Madam Yin remembered when her nephew from her natal family came to visit; his eyes lit up when he saw Chi Ying. He had disliked Yingyue’s eldest daughter temper and instead spent all day playing and joking with this concubine-born daughter.

The mother had climbed into the master’s bed, and now the daughter was seducing Madam Yin’s own nephew. How could Madam Yin tolerate that? She had simply designed a way to kick the mother and daughter out of the estate to keep her eyes clean.

Chi Ying pressed her lips together tightly, her nails digging deep into the flesh of her palms. After a long silence, she finally said: “Tonight I will stay at the estate to accompany my mother. Everything else will wait until after I have seen her.”

Madam Yin barked coldly, “Are you mad? There are so many experts from the Prince’s estate outside. Are you afraid they won’t notice?”

“If I do not see that my mother is safe and sound, I will not leave.”

Chi Ying raised her eyes. They were rimmed with red. Her aura became cold and sharp with sorrow, as if she might explode at any moment. “If Mother tries to block me in every way, I am not afraid. My lowly life is worth nothing anyway. At worst, we will all go down together. Mother wants me to return to the Prince Zhao estate? Fine. I will go back today and confess everything to Prince Zhao…”

Madam Yin shook with rage. “You…”

Under the corridor, the two martial maids had been focusing their senses on the movements inside the room. At first, the Princess and Madam Yin were only speaking softly, intentionally lowering their voices. Even with their superior hearing, the maids couldn’t catch everything. But for some reason, the two had started to argue. Scattered fragments of words began to drift into their ears.

What was Madam Yin afraid they would discover?

And what was the Princess… about to confess to His Highness?

Footnotes:

TN1

Front wing (倒座房): Also known as the “reversed-facing rooms.” These were typically located near the main entrance of a traditional courtyard house and were often used for servants, guests, or as studies.

TN2

“Hidden a pearl” (珠胎暗结): A literary euphemism for a woman becoming pregnant out of wedlock or through an illicit affair.

TN3

“Fish and net both broken” (鱼死网破): A Chinese idiom meaning a desperate struggle where both parties are destroyed. Usually translated as “going down together” or “taking you with me.”

Translator’s Note: It looks like the Prince’s martial maids have heard just enough to make things very dangerous. Enjoy, and drop feedback.

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