Chapter Forty (Part 1)
Pei Lam looked coldly at Yan Shi Ting.

‘Yan Shi Ting, look at the evidence and see if you’re not the liar,’ Pei Lam said. He turned his head and looked at his father. ‘Imperial father, she has been sending me threatening letters. If imperial father doesn’t believe me, imperial father can summon the palace maids and eunuchs here. Imperial father, look at her, she’s a shameless woman and deserves to die.’

‘No!’ Yan Shi Ting said. ‘Don’t believe him. He’s lying! I’m not shameless! It was my mother who told me to do this, I didn’t know anything! Big brother crown prince, since you were a little boy you said you loved me! Why are you lying?’

The emperor heard Yan Shi Ting’s pitiful cries. He didn’t understand why an auspicious day turned into a nightmare. He was too angry, his blood flowed chaotically. He stood and spoke heartlessly. ‘Hurry and take her away!’

Yan Shi Ting’s loud cries slowly faded from the ceremonial hall.

The wedding guests were about the leave too but the crown prince suddenly broke the silence.

‘Imperial father, I’m unfilial,’ Pei Lam said. ‘I let imperial father be deceived and shamed the imperial family. Imperial father, I request you take away my crown prince position. I’m willing to be banished from the palace and do good deeds in remote places to ask the ancestors to forgive me.’

The wedding guests were stunned and the empress was scared to death. But Consort Mu lowered her head and hid her joy.

‘What did you say?’ the emperor asked.

‘Imperial father, I have shamed you,’ Pei Lam said. ‘Imperial father, take away my crown prince position.’

The emperor vomited blood.

‘Your majesty!’ the wedding guests cried out.

The crown prince and Yan Shi Ting’s wedding wasn’t an auspicious day, it was a tragedy and all the wedding guests quickly retreated from the ceremonial hall.

In the horse carriage Yan Shi Ning hugged Pei Jin. Her heart and hands were cold and trembling. She couldn’t stop thinking about the image of Yan Shi Ting being dragged outside the ceremonial hall and Yan Shi Ting’s pitiful cries. She was too scared to think about what was going to happen to Yan Shi Ting.

Pei Jin hugged Yan Shi Ning’s cold body tighter and held her hands.

‘Pei Jin, what do you think will happen to Yan Shi Ting?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

‘She would have been executed,’ Pei Jin said. ‘But now she’s trapped in an insane state for life.’

Yan Shi Ning’s heart felt remorse.

‘Pei Jin, was I too cruel?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

‘Shi Ning, if it’s done then you don’t need to think about if it’s right or wrong,’ Pei Jin said. ‘It’s not your fault alone that she’s insane.’

Yan Shi Ning felt colder after she remembered the empress and the crown prince’s heartlessness. ‘Pei Jin, the palace is a dangerous place.’

‘Shi Ning, the palace has always been a dangerous place,’ Pei Jin said.

Pei Jin hugged Yan Shi Ning and stared out the window. His heart was relieved his Shi Ning wasn’t heartless.

***

End of Chapter Forty (Part 1)

Chapter Forty (Part 2 of 2)
After escorting Yan Shi Ting to the palace, Princess Kang Hua returned to the Yan Manor.

Yan Jing drank with the guests at the Yan Manor. Neither he nor Princess Kang Hua knew why Yan Shi Ting returned to the Yan Manor, because she was supposed to be the bride at the wedding ceremony in the palace.

Yan Jing also didn’t know why Yan Shi Ting was dancing and singing like a fool.

‘What happened?’ Yan Jing asked.

‘Prime Minister Yan, wait at home for the news,’ the ceremonial minister said coldly and left.

Yan Jing and Princess Kang Hua sent servants to the palace to find out why Yan Shi Ting was behaving like a fool and the servants returned with bad news.

Princess Kang Hua’s life dream shattered, her daughter was insane and her older sister stabbed her heart.

Yan Jing slapped Princess Kang Hua. ‘Scum! Look at your good deeds! You dare to let your daughter fake a pregnancy. Do you know what happens if you deceive the emperor? Death!’

‘You dare hit me?’ Princess Kang Hua asked.

‘I want to kill you!’ Yan Jing said. ‘You’ve pulled me into your mess!’

Princess Kang Hua laughed coldly. ‘So what? You die and I die. We’ll die together!’

Yan Jing left Princess Kang Hua’s chamber and she fell into depression.

That evening an elderly lady secretly travelled by horse carriage to visit Princess Kang Hua at the Yan Manor.

Princess Kang Hua was coaxing the insane Yan Shi Ting to sleep when she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door and was scared to see who visited her in the middle of the night.

‘Kang Hua, no one wanted this outcome,’ the elderly lady said. ‘The emperor is ill so he’s not pursuing this matter now. But after he recovers, I fear it’ll be bad for everyone involved. I know you’re not the only one responsible but to protect your family, you need to take all the responsibility. My daughter, I’m sorry it’s been hard for you.’

The elderly lady stood, put a small bottle on a table and left the Yan Manor.

Princess Kang Hua picked up the bottle, sat on a chair and her usual cold arrogance died.

In the palace the emperor was recovering in his chamber. Two years ago the emperor was ill and ingested many medicine to regain his health. No one expected the emperor would fall ill again on his tenth son’s wedding day.

Consort Mu and seventh prince were anxious about the emperor’s health. They didn’t want the emperor to die before announcing the new crown prince.

There were also people in the shadows that didn’t care if the emperor died. If the emperor died then Pei Lam would sit on the throne and seventh prince’s supporters would clash swords with Pei Lam’s supporters. Even if seventh prince stole the throne, the citizens of Dian Kingdom would rebel because the seventh prince wasn’t the true heir. Then both Pei Lam and seventh prince would be eliminated.

While the emperor’s health was uncertain the Yan Manor’s doors were locked. Princess Kang Hua took care of the insane Yan Shi Ting who continuously laughed and cried. Yan Jing pretended to be ill and didn’t attend imperial court meetings at the palace. He knew he would lose his prime minister position but he needed time to think about how to save his life.

At Pei Jin’s manor, Yan Shi Ning and Pei Jin speculated about the emperor’s health in their courtyard.

‘Pei Jin, do you think the emperor will recover?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

‘Yes,’ Pei Jin said.

‘When?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

Yan Shi Ning was anxious what the emperor would do to the people who deceived the emperor.

Pei Jin fed Yan Shi Ning a mandarin segment.

‘Soon,’ Pei Jin said.

‘Isn’t the emperor seriously ill?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

‘Imperial father is someone who values image,’ Pei Jin said. ‘He’ll want to kill everyone involved. Even if the empress and tenth brother cut off relations with Princess Kang Hua, imperial father isn’t fooled by them. But imperial father can only pretend to cooperate with them because there were too many witnesses that day. He didn’t want others to see that an emperor of a kingdom was deceived by his wife and son. He can’t swallow his anger but he can feign an illness. It’ll give him time to calm down and for everyone’s attention to be diverted from the situation. Then he’ll punish everyone involved. Shi Ning, you should know imperial father loves to punish other people.’

‘What will the emperor do?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

‘Imperial father chose to believe the empress and tenth brother in front of everyone,’ Pei Jin said. ‘It means he’ll collect fake evidence to protect them and blame everything on Princess Kang Hua and Yan Shi Ting. So the Yan Manor will be in trouble and the empress is safe for now.’

‘A pity,’ Yan Shi Ning said.

‘There’s no hurry,’ Pei Jin said. ‘Didn’t I say imperial father loves to punish other people? He’ll wait for another opportunity to punish them for their deceit. Shi Ning, soon tenth brother won’t be the crown prince anymore. After that happens the empress will wither.’

‘Pei Jin, do you think the crown prince truly doesn’t want the throne?’ Yan Shi Ning asked.

Pei Jin shook his head. ‘Honestly, in the palace tenth brother is someone I don’t understand the most.’

***

End of Chapter Forty (Part 2 of 2)