Chapter 107 Part 1

His identity was the son-in-law of the emperor.

In the imperial family tree, he was recorded as the prince consort of Princess Shouchang. Yet last night, this prince consort smashed his fish pouch, accidentally destroyed the princess’s dowry, and left the princess in anger and went to the tavern. He didn’t come back for a long time, and even letting the princess came to personally pick him up…

If the emperor truly wished to make an example of him, he wouldn’t even need to bring up the fish pouch incident. Any one of these offenses could be enough to punish him to the brink of ruin.

Indeed, some people rose to prominence and enjoyed a life of glory by becoming a prince consort. But at the same time, history was rife with cases where a prince consort, having offended the imperial family for one reason or another, was imprisoned or executed, while the Princess simply remarried—sometimes more than once. This was probably why the position of a prince consort was both envied and despised. A son-in-law of an ordinary household, should his marriage turn sour, might still have the option of divorce. But once one became a prince consort, there was no way out. People with a sense of pride and dignity would naturally loathe to lower themselves into a life of submission, living at the mercy of the imperial family and subject to the judgment of others. Meanwhile, those who harbored grandiose dreams but lacked the means to attain them could only look on with resentment, slandering those who had married a princess.

Pei Xiaoyuan wondered how much the emperor knew, or if he already knew everything. Although he felt uncomfortable and unhappy when he thought that even the bedroom matters between him and the princess would be reported to the emperor, at this time, the only thing he could do was to bow his head and willingly accept the wrath of thunder from above.

After all, every drop of saliva that the emperor sprayed at him at this moment was not sprayed in the wrong direction. He had indeed done those things.

“…Hao’er is Zhen’s daughter. Zhen cherish her as if she were a piece of Zhen’s own heart, never once have Zhen even so much as given her a harsh look! You bastard! Married but three days, and you dare show her disrespect? Dare to offend her? You even slammed the door and abandoned her? Zhen granted you leave so you could properly keep her company—not so you could run off to filthy brothels and carouse with prostitutes!”

The emperor strode furiously back and forth in front of Pei Xiaoyuan with his hands behind his back, angrily listing his crimes. When he talked about drinking and having fun with prostitutes, he happened to stop directly in front of Pei Xiaoyuan. His eyes blazed with fury. In a flash, he lifted a foot, and aimed a vicious kick straight at Pei Xiaoyuan’s injured shoulder. But just as the sole of his boot was about to make contact, it abruptly froze in midair. The sudden halt threw him off balance, and he staggered forward, nearly losing his footing.

Fearing that he would fall to the ground, Pei Xiaoyuan quickly stepped forward to support him.

“Get lost! Who needs your help? Zhen can stand on my own!”

The emperor stood firmly on his feet and finally kicked away Pei Xiaoyuan’s hand, which he had just stretched out but failed to retract in time. Then he continued to curse.

“Was it Ashina who dragged you along last night? Zhen heard the two of you are so close you might as well share a pair of trousers! Ashina—that scoundrel! There’s not a single brothel in all of Chang’an where he doesn’t have a favorite courtesan! Birds of a feather! A tortoise and a turtle! What kind of fine character do you think you are? Zhen must have been really blind to listen to Hao’er and let you become her prince consort!

“Zhen is so pissed off!”

The emperor’s face had turned ashen, his beard trembling with rage. He halted right in front of Pei Xiaoyuan, jabbing a finger at his forehead, and hatefully scolded him once more. Suddenly, as if he thought of something, a fierce light flashed in his eyes.

“If it weren’t for Ashina’s father’s loyalty, Zhen would never forgive this scoundrel! His father wanted Zhen to grant him a marriage, and Zhen was thinking about how to choose a noble lady for him! Very well! Zhen will confer a princess upon him and tell him to take her with him and get back to the Wolf Court immediately!”

The emperor turned towards the outer hall and seemed about to call someone.

When the emperor first mentioned Chengping, Pei Xiaoyuan hesitated for a moment, thinking that maybe he could just let his friend take the blame for him. After the incident was over, he would try his best to make amends to him, and Chengping would unlikely to get offended. But he did not expect that the emperor was so angry that he would randomly grant Chengping a marriage to drive him away. What kind of noble lady with good status could Chengping get?

If Chengping married an unsatisfactory “princess”, not only would he be laughed at by his tribal brothers, which would be detrimental to his succession to the throne, but it could also become a hidden danger for his entire royal family.

“Your Majesty!”

He spoke, and when the emperor turned to look at him coldly, he bowed his head and said, “My going to the tavern last night had nothing to do with Ashina. I took the initiative to find him, and he took me there.”

“What?”

The emperor stared at him intently, his eyes trembling constantly, and it was obvious that he was even more angry and disappointed than before.

“Pei Xiaoyuan! Being my imperial prince consort and marrying my only beloved daughter is such a painful thing for you? How dare you do such a thing a few days after your wedding day? How is Hao’er not worthy of you?”

The emperor gnashed his teeth, thinking of him abandoning his daughter to have fun at a brothel, and asking his daughter to beg him to come back late at night. The red and swollen marks on his daughter’s earlobe just now appeared in front of him. How could he not know how it had come to be?

And then he thought of how this Pei family son had never even wanted to marry her in the first place. It was his daughter who, for the sake of her grand ambitions, had chosen to wed him, hoping to bind him to her cause. He himself had not been willing at first. And yet, in his own moment of greed and folly, he had allowed it—he had given away his precious daughter, a girl as delicate as jade, only for her to suffer such humiliation and degradation.

As a wave of heart-piercing pain came over the emperor, his gaze landed on the fish pouch hanging on the leather belt around the young man’s waist. With a furious yank, he tore it free, and smashed it on the hard palace floor with all his might.

This throw was filled with rage and its force was far greater than the one Pei Xiaoyuan had done last night.

With a sharp clang, the fish talisman burst from the torn pouch, leaping nearly three feet into the air before crashing back down and rolling under the emperor’s couch.

Pei Xiaoyuan had just begun piecing things together—judging from his words, the emperor should only know about his series of actions after he left the bedroom. As for what transpired within, the emperor seemed to remained unaware. A glimmer of relief flickered in his mind, but to his surprise, the emperor made such a move.

He raised his eyes and saw that the emperor’s breathing seemed to become difficult, each breath drawn in a harsh, ragged hiss. His complexion had turned deathly pale, yet his eyes were glaring at him intently. Even as his chest heaved, his furious voice still roared through the hall.

“Someone come—

“Prince Consort shall be punished with fifty strokes of the cane—

“Thrown him into the palace prison—”

However, his entire body was shaking, as if he was about to suffocate at any moment, and his voice was intermittent, hoarse and broken, so that Zhao Zhongfang, who was waiting outside, did not hear it and did not respond.

Pei Xiaoyuan was startled, and jumped up from the ground, half supporting and half dragging the emperor to the couch. He slumped down, gasping for air with his eyes closed. Then, Pei Xiaoyuan turned around and walked out quickly. He was about to call someone over, when suddenly, a question came from behind:

“Do you want to be a Prince Consort or not?”

The voice was still trembling slightly due to difficulty in breathing, but it no longer had the anger from a moment ago, and instead filled with a solemn and cold feeling.

“If you don’t want to do it, tell Zhen now. Zhen will not force you.”

Pei Xiaoyuan suddenly stopped and turned around.

The figure was still facing away, lying on the couch in a crooked position.

He walked back quickly and said, “This minister absolutely doesn’t deserve her!” and then kowtowed again.

“This minister is nothing but a foolish and unworthy man, a lowly soldier who grew up in a remote frontier. But the Princess is a noble daughter of the heavenly family, with gold and jade body, her beauty like that of an immortal. To be graced with her favor is the greatest fortune in this minister’s life; how could this minister possibly be unwilling to serve her?

“What happened last night was indeed caused by this minister’s impulsiveness and disrespect to the Princess. This minister committed a grave mistake and regret it deeply. No matter how Your Majesty choose to punish, this minister is willing to accept it. But the cause of the matter is not as Your Majesty believes. It was not that this minister slighted the Princess—on the contrary, it was she who—”

He had never wanted to reveal the private conversation between the two of them, but at this moment, the situation was beyond his control. He had clearly sensed the hatred in the emperor’s words.

He gritted his teeth and briefly recounted what happened inside the bedroom after he returned home yesterday evening.

“The whole thing is because this minister is too stupid. At that time, this minister listened to the Princess’ jokes and believed them to be true. Misunderstood that the princess had no intention of being with this minister for a long time, feeling unwilling and had a lot of resentment inside. This minister was confused for a moment and got angry, and then…”

He paused, skipped over the incident of smashing the fish pouch in anger, and continued to confess his guilt to the figure in front of him: “This minister left the mansion and did those foolish things, disturbing Your Majesty.

“This minister truly deserve death! After what happened last night, the Princess, despite everything, did not abandon this minister—she even came to fetch this minister. Upon returning, this minister was overwhelmed with remorse and… and earnestly begged for her forgiveness and pardon this minister’s unforgivable offense. Thankfully, the Princess was magnanimous and did not hold it against this minister. After that, nothing further happened. This morning, when the first drum sounded, this minister heard from the messenger that Your Majesty had summoned, and immediately rushed here to present oneself.

“This is the whole story of what happened last night. Your Majesty, please quell your anger. From now on, this minister will serve the Princess wholeheartedly and will never again act in such a way, causing the Princess to be sad and causing Your Majesty to misunderstand and be disappointed.”

After he confessed his crime, he touched the ground with his forehead and bowed for a long time without getting up.

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