Chapter 067
Chapter 67: Should’ve Just Thrown Him in a Pig Cage
“How could this be?”
After a moment of stunned silence, Madam Yun finally recovered her senses, feigning disbelief as she looked at Princess Consort Jing with wide, astonished eyes.
Princess Consort Jing clutched her handkerchief, a sorrowful smile on her pale lips as she murmured, “Isn’t it? How could it be like this?”
“If it weren’t for that woman’s child going missing, prompting her to panic and come looking for Mo Ze, I wouldn’t even have known. I would’ve been kept in the dark forever.”
[Oh, have a little more confidence. You absolutely would’ve stayed in the dark all the way to your grave.]
[That scumbag of yours? He’s got a heart blacker than ink. You shared a bed with him for more than ten years, bore his children, ran the household—if not love, there should’ve at least been some shred of familial bond. But look at him. He doesn’t just want you dead—he wants you ruined.]
[Not only does he want to kill you, he wants to smear your name, make you die in disgrace, dragging infamy into the grave. So even as a ghost, you wouldn’t be a clean one.]
[Such a filthy man… he ought to be dragged off and drowned in a pig cage!]
The moment the scumbag Prince Jing was mentioned, Yun Wan Ning’s temper exploded again. Her inner voice unleashed a relentless storm of complaints.
[Good thing this storyline’s gone completely off the rails now. The chaos is even spilling into the lives of side characters.]
[In the original plot, that child going missing and causing the mistress to rush to the manor in panic—accidentally exposing the affair—never happened.]
[So now that things have gone this far, who knows whether someone is secretly helping Princess Consort Jing, or if it’s just a domino effect caused by the plot’s collapse.]
[Either way, it’s a stroke of luck for her to discover the truth now.]
[Let me offer you some heartfelt advice, Princess Consort: wake up while you still can. Divorce him. Or better yet, cast him aside yourself. Just run—run far away from that beast of a man if you want to stay alive.]
Madam Yun: “……”
Divorce him? Cast him aside?
Little Fourth really dared to dream. Were women in her past world always this bold?
That Mo Ze might indeed be utterly despicable, but he was still royalty—an imperial prince, the emperor’s uncle. You think the court would allow a divorce? Or that a prince could be cast off by a mere woman?
Even if Princess Consort Jing had the courage to do so, her natal Jiang family would never approve.
This wasn’t just about the face of a household. It was the dignity of the entire royal court.
Prince Jing and Princess Consort Jing were not simply husband and wife; they represented the face of Great Wu.
Still, there was truth in Little Fourth’s words. No matter what, Princess Consort Jing should distance herself from Prince Jing as soon as possible. Otherwise, if he were to be driven into a corner, he might lash out and force her into a trap—just like in the original plot.
But if she didn’t divorce him, how was she supposed to escape from Prince Jing’s clutches?
Sigh… What a wretched dilemma.
“Prince Jing is still a royal prince. If he truly wanted a woman, he could’ve brought her into the manor openly. Why raise her secretly outside? Who is this woman, really?”
Madam Yun turned toward the princess consort, her eyes full of confusion.
She was genuinely curious—what kind of woman could make Prince Jing so obsessed that he’d go so far as to scheme to kill his own wife?
“Do you remember the second young miss of the Yin family?”
At this, a captivating figure immediately appeared in Madam Yun’s mind. Her expression flickered with surprise.
“You mean… Yin Meng Lan?”
Princess Consort Jing nodded slightly. A faint embarrassment crept over her weary face.
“Yes. Her.”
“But back then, the Yin family was convicted of treason and enraged the late emperor. All the men were executed, and the women sent to military camps as prostitutes. How could she have returned to the capital? And… with Prince Jing, no less?”
Madam Yun could hardly believe it. That woman was Prince Jing’s mistress?
Well, that explained everything.
No wonder Prince Jing lost his mind and committed such vile acts.
Yin Meng Lan had been the brightest star of her generation—brilliant in talent and free in spirit. She was the red mole in the hearts of many noble heirs throughout the capital, their most forbidden desire.
Among them, none pursued her as madly as Prince Jing, Mo Ze.
He once embarrassed himself countless times just to win her smile. It was said that, in his youth, he did so many foolish things to chase her that he became the laughingstock of the entire capital.
At the peak of his infatuation, he even got into physical fights with other noble youths. One time, he was punished by the late emperor and grounded for two weeks.
When the Yin family fell, Mo Ze knelt before the imperial study for three days trying to save her, forehead bloodied, even offering up his royal title in exchange for her life.
But the late emperor ignored him. Yin Meng Lan was still sent to the military camp, and after that, she vanished without a trace.
No one ever expected that, more than a decade later, she’d suddenly reappear in the capital like bamboo after rain.
Princess Consort Jing shook her head. “I only learned of it yesterday. I don’t know the details. I don’t know how she returned, nor how she and Prince Jing got back together.”
“But I suspect it was Prince Jing who brought her back. The late emperor is gone now, and His Majesty respects Prince Jing as his uncle. It’s just a courtesan. If Prince Jing insisted, I doubt His Majesty would stand in his way.”
[Oh, Princess Consort, how wrong you are.]
[Yin Meng Lan wasn’t brought back by Prince Jing at all.]
[He might’ve wanted to, but he’s just a minor prince with no fief, no power, and—after the humiliation he caused in his youth—no favor with the late emperor. He was completely looked down upon.]
[Border generals never respected him either, so he had no ability to “fetch” anyone.]
[That Yin Meng Lan was a dazzling beauty. The moment she entered the military camp, she captured a general’s heart and became his favorite. No one else could even glance at her.]
[Later, that general won a few victories and delighted the late emperor. When offered a reward, he didn’t ask for wealth or title—he asked for Yin Meng Lan.]
[The emperor granted his wish without hesitation. And just like that, she became the general’s concubine.]
[Of course, her past as a military prostitute was a shame. The general kept the marriage secret, and after the wedding, hid her away in his inner courtyard. The capital never heard of her return or her regained status.]
[Maybe it was the harsh climate of the borderlands, or maybe her body was damaged, but she never had children with him. Then the general died in battle. With no child to support her, her status plummeted. The primary wife drove her out of the household.]
[Prince Jing met her right then.]
[After all these years, he recognized his old flame at once. All his repressed, youthful desire came flooding back. And his simpering, pathetic loyalty reawakened. He took her in and kept her hidden.]
[He’s been keeping her for four or five years now.]
[At first, Yin Meng Lan didn’t think much of it. A quiet life was already a blessing, and she behaved obediently, fulfilling her role as the perfect mistress.]
[Ironically, she had never conceived while living with the general, but within three years of being with Prince Jing, she became pregnant.]
[And the child turned out to be a boy. That changed everything.]
[Once she had a child, her desire to become the legitimate wife flared to life. And after the birth of a son, her ambitions grew rapidly.]
[…]
Even though she knew no one could hear her, Yun Wan Ning couldn’t help but mutter the story again in her heart.
As the tale replayed in her thoughts, she found herself once more spitting curses at Prince Jing:
[Ah, wives are never as favored as concubines, concubines never as tempting as secret lovers, and secret lovers never as alluring as the ones forever out of reach. A scoundrel of a man will always chase what he can’t have.]
[If not for that imperial edict, Princess Consort would have been just that—forever out of reach. I wonder, if he had truly married Yin Meng Lan back then, how would he react now upon meeting the Princess Consort again?]
Mo Yun Han: “…”
Madam Yun was utterly stunned by the outrageous words coming from her own little milk bun.
“Wives not as favored as concubines… concubines not as tempting as secret lovers… scoundrels chasing what they can’t have… Where on earth is she learning these things? And at her age—why is she even thinking about such matters?”
It was a strange and unsettling feeling. Yet… there was a certain bitter truth in her words.
Coming back to herself, she turned toward Princess Consort Jing with concern and asked, “Now that things have come to this… what do you plan to do?”
Princess Consort Jing shook her head. Her voice trembled with confusion and sorrow as she whispered, “I don’t know.”
“Sister Ye, if he truly loved that woman, he could have just told me. Whether he wanted her as a concubine or whatever else, I wouldn’t have objected. But why… why must he deceive me, humiliate me, trample me like this?”
With a soft plop, a fat teardrop fell onto the back of her hand.
Despair clung to her like a winter chill—suffocating and inescapable.
“Don’t cry, Mother.”
Suddenly, the small child trotted over with his short little legs. He stood in front of her, head tilted up, his obsidian eyes gleaming like polished jade.
The sight made Princess Consort Jing’s heart ache even more. She quickly wiped her face, forcing a smile more painful than tears, her voice breaking despite her efforts.
“Mother isn’t crying. Han’er, weren’t you going to see your little sister? Why aren’t you with her?”
“You’re lying,” the little one frowned, his face sculpted like a porcelain doll, expression unreadable, yet clearly filled with worry.
Tears welled up again in Princess Consort Jing’s eyes. Afraid he’d see, she quickly scooped him into her arms, resting her head lightly on his small shoulder.
“Really, Mother’s not crying. And even if she was, it’s only because she’s too happy. Go now and play with your little sister. I need to speak privately with your aunt.”
[Ah… such is the weight of a mother’s love.]
[Though her heart is in pieces, she still forces a smile to keep from scaring her child. Being a mother… it’s never easy.]
[And the little one is sweet too. The moment he saw her crying, he ran to comfort her. Mm, a little gentleman in the making. Officially certified.]
[Stay just like this, little one. No matter what happens, always stand by your mother.]
[As the saying goes, a child with a mother is a treasure; a child without one is but a weed. If the Princess Consort dies and that Yin Meng Lan woman takes her place, your happy days will end.]
[In the original plot, she tormented you endlessly. And your scumbag father? He turned a blind eye—sometimes even found you annoying.]
[…]
Mo Yun Han: “…”
Hah. If that woman makes it into this house alive, he’d count it a failure.
If not for his calculations—knowing the Yun family would eventually intervene—Mo Ze wouldn’t have lived to see the sunrise.
“Young prince, your mother is fine. Go play with your little sister. I have something to speak to your mother about,” said Madam Yun softly, heart aching at the sight of the mother and son huddled together.
Her eyes stung with tears, but Yun Wan Ning’s heart voice snapped her back.
Her little milk bun truly was her joy in this world.
[A child with a mother is a treasure; a child without one is a weed]—how she loved hearing that phrase.
The two women joined forces to trick Mo Yun Han. The little boy pretended to fall for it, obediently returning to Yun Wan Ning’s side for another round of staring contest, big eyes versus small.
[Wow, he actually believed that? What a gullible little thing.]
[But maybe that’s good. He’s still so small, can’t do much of anything yet. He should just stay happy every day—there’s no need for him to worry about the troubles of the grown-ups.]
Mo Yun Han: “…”
Seeing his face, Madam Yun silently cursed Prince Jing dozens of times. She shifted closer to Princess Consort Jing and wrapped her gently in an embrace.
“Don’t cry anymore, Princess Consort. That man… he’s not worth your tears.”
“But as for your earlier question—why he would keep that woman hidden outside rather than tell you directly—I think, firstly, he feared your refusal and the scandal it might cause.”
“And secondly… perhaps the woman herself didn’t want to be a mere concubine. She might have refused to enter the household unless it was as your replacement.”
“If it’s just the first reason, it can be handled. But if it’s the second, you must be wary. We all remember how obsessed Prince Jing once was with her.”
“If she truly means to take your place, well… there’s no precedent in the imperial clan for divorcing or demoting a princess consort. So if she wants your seat… what do you think they’ll do?”
“Heh. It’s not that we wish harm on others—but we must protect ourselves. You should begin making plans.”
This matter, after all, was between husband and wife. Madam Yun couldn’t say too much, only offer a warning in this roundabout way.
She only hoped the Princess Consort would take it to heart.
Her husband had been right—what they could do was bring the truth to light. Whatever the Princess Consort chose to do with it was entirely her decision.
No one else could save her.
She would have to save herself.
[Wow… Mother, you’re so smart. I’ve got to say, you nailed it.]
[That scumbag man really is thinking just like you said.]
[Who would’ve guessed? My mom’s actually this clever. Guess I won’t have to worry about her being tricked anymore.]
“…”
Madam Yun flushed with embarrassment at the praise, while Mo Yun Han could only sigh.
Little girl, have you ever considered… maybe your mother figured it out because she was hearing your heart’s voice?
Boom.
Like thunder striking her mind, Princess Consort Jing’s eyes widened in shock, a hand flying to cover her mouth.
If it truly was as Sister Ye said—if that woman intended to replace her—then the only way was for her to die.
Would he really be that heartless?
Eighteen years of marriage… did that weigh less than a childhood crush?
Her eyes turned red, stained with grief and disbelief. After a long silence, she drew in a shaky breath and gave a hollow laugh.
“Sister Ye, thank you for letting me pour out my heart. I’ve troubled you long enough today. I’ll take my leave and visit another day.”
Seeing that something was wrong, Madam Yun quickly tried to reassure her, “Of course. But Princess Consort, those things I said earlier were just guesses. If they upset you, please forget them. Don’t take them to heart.”
“I know you meant well, Sister Ye. I truly appreciate your concern. And really, I’m fine. There’s no need to worry. I’ll come thank you properly another day.”