Chapter 68: The Old Prince Next Door 21

Murdering one’s own husband, a live version of it happening right across the street. The feeling made Su Huandan shudder all over.

This was a shudder that only a modern person could truly understand.

In modern terms, the land where the Duke of Yi Household stood across the street wouldn’t be worth a dime for a long time to come because people had died there.

And it wasn’t just one death, but one after another.

Immediately following the funeral for the Duke of Yi, word spread that Concubine Qiu, who had been living comfortably in the Duke of Yi Household, had also died. It was said that the Duke had been calling for someone to be sent away before he died but never succeeded, and now Concubine Qiu had followed him.

The official story was that she died of a broken heart, martyring herself for her love.

Heh, was that kind of woman really the type to die for love?

Who were they trying to fool?

“Of course she didn’t die for love, but I wanted to vent some frustration for you. When she came to our door last time, you were too kindhearted. You only hit her on the head and left her legs intact. I didn’t intend to take her life either; I just sent someone to break her legs. As it turned out, the Duchess of Yi took the opportunity to strangle her to death.” Strangled to death, which was then staged as a hanging.

Su Huandan felt this was simply retribution.

When one did too many wicked things, how could there be no retribution?

Su Huandan hadn’t expected Prince Chen to deal with Concubine Qiu. She had been thinking that the next time she saw the Duchess of Yi, she would drop some hints about her own dislike for Concubine Qiu. That way, she could deal with the woman without getting her own hands dirty. It seemed like a wonderful plan, but before she even found a chance to act, Prince Chen had already settled the matter efficiently.

“She is, after all, the daughter of the Imperial Preceptor¹. She lacks neither schemes nor methods. The Duke of Yi had only two sons and one daughter in total. The eldest legitimate son was born to the Duchess. Of the remaining two, Concubine Qiu bore one, and there is a younger concubine-born son who isn’t even a year old. His biological mother died right after he was born, and now he is being personally raised by the Duchess. She even plans to have this concubine-born child adopted under your ex-husband’s name. This way, the boy won’t be a stumbling block for her own son, but will instead become his helper. As for the daughter Concubine Qiu bore? I doubt she’ll live to see the end of the year.” Prince Chen explained this in detail to Su Huandan because he wanted his Princess Consort to understand.

The noble ladies of the Great Jing Dynasty appeared as pure as driven snow on the surface, donating incense money² everywhere and looking like living Bodhisattvas. But in reality?

Once their own interests were touched, every single one of them could turn into a venomous snake or scorpion. They never hesitated to kill; they were all ruthless characters. He hoped that if Su Huandan encountered them in the future, she wouldn’t be deceived by their outward appearances.

Did she understand?

“I understand. If I meet them, I don’t need to hide, I just shouldn’t get too close. As for them wanting me to do things for them, I’ll just pretend I don’t understand. If someone tries to plot against me…” Before she could finish, Prince Chen exploded.

“Good grief! Let them try plotting against you. I’ll beat their brains out.” When Prince Chen said this, his eyes were filled with excitement.

Su Huandan felt quite helpless. This man was truly someone who loved watching a good drama and didn’t mind if things got messy. If it weren’t for his status as a Prince supporting him, he probably would have been beaten to death in a dark alley long ago.

However, Prince Chen’s gossip about the neighbors across the street was always spot on. By the time autumn arrived and Su Huandan gave birth to a son with relatively little effort, the daughter born to Concubine Qiu had drowned in the lotus pond of the Duke’s household.

Su Huandan only heard about this after she finished her month of postpartum confinement³.

This was because Prince Chen had been grumpy for an entire month. The day that little girl drowned happened to coincide exactly with the day his son was born.

“It would be better if their entire family died out. I’ve never seen such annoying creatures. Every time something happens, it has to clash with a happy occasion in our house. Why are we so unlucky?” Prince Chen had been angry about this for a month, and he was still huffing as he spoke to Su Huandan.

Su Huandan burst out laughing. “Maybe it’s because our household is too prosperous, which makes the neighbors across the street look even more miserable by comparison?”

These words finally managed to make Prince Chen laugh.

Gui Xi secretly wiped away some sweat. The young heir born to the Princess Consort was the Prince’s very lifeblood. When couldn’t that little girl across the street have died? She just had to pick the joyous day the little heir was born. The Prince had been so furious he almost wanted to go over there to commit murder and arson.

Fortunately, Gui Xi had managed to stop him by saying he should accumulate merit and blessings for the little heir.

Now, the gloomy expression that had been on the Prince’s face for a month had finally cleared up.

“If you put it that way, I suppose it makes sense. Years ago when their family was flourishing, my health was never good. Now that their family is suffering one death after another, hasn’t my life become much more prosperous?” The more Prince Chen thought about it, the more he believed it.

Su Huandan was now able to completely ignore this kind of rhetoric from Prince Chen.

This man was sometimes so eccentric that he could link anything to Feng Shui.

“Put the baby down. Don’t keep holding him. His bones are so soft; aren’t you afraid that if you keep carrying him around, his bones won’t grow properly later?” While Su Huandan was in confinement, Prince Chen hadn’t been bothered by it at all, because if he didn’t see his son and hold him every day, he couldn’t sleep.

Su Huandan breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Prince Chen place the child in the small crib. He really shouldn’t hold him like that; he should wait until the boy was a bit older. The baby had just finished nursing, and his father was already rocking him around. Wasn’t he afraid the baby would throw up from the motion?

Fortunately, this little guy had a strong constitution. He was so healthy that Prince Chen spent all day grinning from ear to ear.

Su Huandan thought to herself that as the son of a powerful figure, his physical constitution was much stronger than hers, even though she regularly used Spiritual Spring Water to nourish her body.

“Have you picked a name for our son yet? We can’t just keep calling him ‘son’ forever, can we?” Su Huandan asked as she finished a large bowl of wontons in one go.

Her appetite made Prince Chen very envious. He could never dream of eating and drinking so heartily.

“The formal name is set. Like the Imperial Princes, he’ll use ‘Zhe’ as his middle name. His formal name is Zhou Zeyu, and his childhood nickname will be Gousheng⁴. What do you think?” After Prince Chen finished speaking, he blinked and looked at Su Huandan.

Su Huandan turned back with an expression that was hard to describe. “Gousheng? You picked that? Aren’t you afraid your son will grow up, understand what it means, and pick a fight with you because of it?”

Prince Chen gave a cold snort. “As his father, didn’t I give him that nickname for the sake of his life? My own childhood nickname wasn’t pleasant either; I was called Tiedan⁵. A crude name makes for an easy life. If it weren’t for that, would I need to pick such a rough name?”

Cough, cough, cough…

Su Huandan nearly choked on her own saliva. Prince Chen, the man who now possessed a head of beautiful hair thanks to her care, the extraordinarily handsome Prince Chen, actually had a childhood nickname like Tiedan?

Prince Chen’s face instantly darkened. “Don’t you go thinking my nickname is unpleasant. If it weren’t for this name, you might not have lived to see the day you married me.”

Su Huandan nodded while stifling her laughter. Yes, yes, yes, whatever you say is right. She couldn’t take it anymore; she had to go out for a stroll, or she was going to burst.

She stood up and dashed away. Before she had even cleared the Main Courtyard, Su Huandan’s hearty laughter drifted back into the room and reached Prince Chen’s ears.

Prince Chen was speechless.

This was his Princess Consort, the woman who had just given birth to his big, healthy son. He couldn’t scold her, he couldn’t scold her. He had to endure.

Instead, he turned his glare toward Gui Xi and unleashed a torrent of frustration.

Gui Xi stood there in silence.

He was used to it. This was just his life, forever serving as the scapegoat for everything.

Translator’s Notes