Chapter 121: A Master of Strategy, Beyond Compare

Not long after Chuxiu returned from Prince Mu’s residence, everything she had discussed with him in secret began unfolding step by step, without the slightest omission.

Throughout the twelfth lunar month, nothing major happened at Prince Mu’s residence. Only a few rumors of romantic intrigue stirred the waters: some said that Prince Mu’s principal wife and his secondary consort, Luan Su, were competing for his favor; others claimed that Luan Su and the Northern Xuan Emperor, Shengrui, were still entangled despite having broken things off; still others said that Prince Mu had originally forced Luan Su into marriage...

Until the New Year drew near, Prince Mu seemed wholly occupied by the troubles created by his two wives and concubines, leaving him no time to concern himself with affairs of state. Since he had only recently married, this was hardly unusual.

At the same time, messages arriving from the Yun clan in various prefectures reported that the Fourth Prince, Prince Fu, had been impeached repeatedly at court. Not only had he been exposed as the mastermind behind the two attacks on Prince Mu, but the assignments under his charge had also met with repeated failure. From time to time, bloody incidents occurred as well.

There were even rumors that Prince Mu’s secondary consort, Luan Su, was an undercover agent sent by Prince Fu. At this critical juncture, she was deliberately creating signs of discord within Prince Mu’s household, leaving the lovestruck prince utterly overwhelmed and unable to turn his attention elsewhere.

For a time, rumors sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, all of them pointing their accusations at Prince Fu, Nie Peiying. His hypocrisy was exposed, and the reputation for “benevolence” and administrative achievement that he had spent years cultivating was ruined at a stroke. Though Chuxiu never left the house, she knew everything happening under Heaven. After hearing the secret reports from the Yun clan’s agents in every region, she could not help applauding Prince Mu’s methods.

The new year arrived quietly amid Southern Xi’s murky struggle for the throne, and it seemed more tense than any year before. It was as though the air itself concealed the glint of blades; with the slightest misstep, a major upheaval could erupt at any moment.

The Fourth Prince, Prince Fu, had indeed grown impatient. In secret, he was plotting rebellion.

At the same time, news arrived from the capital concerning the Wenchang Marquis’s residence. After his legitimate youngest son, Shen Yu, returned, the old marquis, Shen Cong, suddenly fell gravely ill once more. This time, the illness was genuine. He managed, with difficulty, to see Shen Yu married before dying with deep concern for the future of the Shen family. Chuxiu believed, however, that the old marquis must have been comforted to see Shen Yu marry a daughter of the Yun clan. At the very least, as a son-in-law of the Yun clan, Shen Yu had been secured.

The funeral of the old marquis was conducted with great solemnity. Emperor Nie of Southern Xi and Empress Ming Zhen personally went to the residence to pay their respects, preserving the dignity of the Wenchang Marquis’s household. After the New Year passed, on the first day of the first lunar month, Shen Yu’s elder brother—the heir, Shen Zan—formally inherited the title and became the new Wenchang Marquis. As an in-law of the Shen family, the Yun clan once again sent Third Master Yun Xian, who was residing in the capital, to offer his congratulations.

For Prince Mu’s wedding, the neighboring Marquis of Lixin’s household sent Yun Xian to extend its congratulations. For the funeral of the Wenchang Marquis, the Marquis of Lixin’s household, as an in-law, once again sent Yun Xian to pay its respects. When the new marquis succeeded to the title, he was also the one who went to offer congratulations. On the surface, this showed impartiality toward both factions, and for a time outsiders could not discern the Yun clan’s position.

After all, a daughter born to a concubine did not possess the status of a legitimate daughter. The young marquis of the Shen family had married only a daughter of the Yun clan’s secondary branch—a piece that could be protected or discarded, advanced or withdrawn.

In the very month Shen Zan succeeded to the title of Wenchang Marquis, Prince Fu, Nie Peiying, finally rose in open rebellion. His accusations were aimed directly at Prince Mu, Nie Peihan, whom he denounced as a two-faced schemer who had provoked and plotted against him. Prince Mu merely sent troops to resist halfheartedly. While loudly proclaiming his innocence, he made no particularly forceful move, appearing to have been caught off guard by someone’s sudden treachery.

The struggle between Prince Mu and Prince Fu for the throne had finally been laid bare, and people began calling it the “Mu-Fu Conflict.” In theory, with Southern Xi thrown into internal disorder, this was the perfect opportunity for Northern Xuan to launch a large-scale invasion. Yet the Northern Xuan Emperor, Shengrui, Chen Xuan, did not send troops against Southern Xi at that moment. He merely watched from the sidelines.

Chuxiu guessed that Prince Mu and the Northern Xuan Emperor, though enemies and allies by turns, had probably reached some sort of agreement. What that agreement was, however, she had no way of knowing. One thing was certain: Prince Mu must have paid an enormous price. Otherwise, Northern Xuan would never have let such a rare opportunity for invasion pass.

Afterward, because Prince Fu had struck first, Prince Mu appeared to have been caught completely unprepared, and the entire situation seemed to tilt toward Prince Fu. Yet Emperor Nie, secluded in the imperial palace in the capital, merely watched the two sons fight each other from across the divide and made no declaration of support.

Since Prince Mu had said that he would resist passively for a time in order to see the true state of affairs at court, Chuxiu became even more certain that he would ultimately emerge victorious from the campaign. Besides, though Prince Mu’s forces appeared to be retreating at every turn, he was spending no less money. Great quantities of silver were being transported out of the Yun residence.

Naturally, Chuxiu took only the gold bars buried beneath the lotus pond in Quiet Garden. She did not touch a single coin hidden beneath the Dowager Madam’s Rongjin Hall. That was the Yun clan’s life-saving reserve. No one could take it away.

In the end, when there was no other choice, Chuxiu ordered several money houses in various prefectures to close, all to provide funds for Prince Mu’s uprising. As a result, another storm arose amid the chaos of the age. Rumors spread everywhere that the Yun clan’s new matriarch was incapable of managing the household. She had not only abandoned the clan members and businesses in Northern Xi, but could no longer manage the businesses in Southern Xi either, and had been forced to shut down the money houses. Some even claimed that because the heir, Yun Cheng, had been adopted into the family, Madam Chuxiu intended to hand him nothing but a ruined mess.

Later, no one knew which ill-intentioned individuals released another rumor: the former Marchioness of Lixin, Xia Yanran, had not drowned; Second Master Yun Qi and his wife, Zhuo Yan, had not died in an accident; and Third Concubine Wen Xian had not passed away from illness. Madam Chuxiu was the true culprit behind the internal strife and the ruin of the family!

As the controversy surrounding Chuxiu grew fiercer by the day, the Dowager Madam did nothing beyond offering her a few words of comfort. Chuxiu exhausted herself investigating from every angle before discovering that the rumors originated in the capital itself.

That was rather subtle.

If outsiders had spread the rumors, it would have been easy enough to explain. But how could outsiders know so many private details? Why would they heap every filthy accusation, true or false, upon her?

If the Yun clan itself was turning against one of its own, then there were only two suspects: the eldest daughter, Yun Xiangrong, who had married into the Wenchang Marquis’s household, and Third Master Yun Xian, who had been forced to leave the Yun residence and manage the capital’s businesses.

Both had motive. Yun Xiangrong was jealous of Chuxiu, while Yun Xian bore her a grudge. The methods resembled one of Yun Xiangrong’s schemes, but after the hidden instigator behind the Third Branch, Wen Xian, had been exposed, Chuxiu had learned that appearances could be deeply misleading. She therefore did not dare rashly guess who had truly started the rumors.

In any case, her reputation was ruined.

As Prince Mu’s forces suffered defeat after defeat, more and more of the Yun clan’s businesses were closed. Though the public explanation was that the shops had been shut to avoid the ravages of war, the fact remained that the Yun clan’s assets were growing thinner by the day.

In the short span of three or four months, “Madam Chuxiu” had become, in the hearts of Southern Xi’s common people, a calamity of a woman who had risen to power by unscrupulous means, usurped authority from men, and proved utterly incompetent. Some even analyzed that the reason Prince Mu, who had always been victorious in battle, now suffered defeat after defeat was that he had been cursed by her ill fortune.

After all, the two of them were in the same city.

Seeing Chuxiu tormented day after day by the rumors, the Dowager Madam finally could bear it no longer and summoned her to Rongjin Hall.

“In my opinion, you need not continue guessing. This was not done by Xiangrong or Third Master.”

Seeing the Dowager Madam’s air of complete knowledge, Chuxiu hurriedly asked, “Not Xiangrong or Third Master? Then who was it... an enemy of our Yun clan?”

The Dowager Madam smiled. “Not an enemy. An ally.”

“An ally?” Chuxiu stared at her in surprise. “You mean... Prince Mu? Why would he spread such rumors?”

“To divert the world’s attention.” The Dowager Madam rubbed the beads in her hand and smiled enigmatically. “Think about it. How imposing was the Seventh Prince in the past, while the Fourth Prince built his reputation through civil administration. Now that the two princes are fighting, the contest is one of both strategy and military strength. Would it not be suspicious if the Seventh Prince suffered defeat after defeat on the battlefield? A man who has always been skilled at warfare, losing repeatedly to the Fourth Prince, who knows little of military affairs? Even if the Fourth Prince has brilliant advisers beneath him, throughout Southern Xi, who can lead troops against the Seventh Prince? What is more, he has the Ninth Prince aiding him.”

“You mean that Prince Mu, having suffered defeat after defeat, feared people would suspect that he was doing so deliberately, and therefore released a smokescreen to shift the world’s attention onto me?” Chuxiu asked.

The Dowager Madam nodded. “With these hidden scandals, the story of how you were made principal wife, and the Yun clan’s reputation besides, would that not be enough to arouse the curiosity of the world?”

It certainly was.

Chuxiu suddenly understood, and her admiration for the Dowager Madam deepened. “You truly see through everything... But how did you know?”

“At first, I was not certain either.” The Dowager Madam raised her brows and smiled again. “It was only when the rumors recently began calling you an ill-omened woman, saying that the Seventh Prince was suffering defeat after defeat because he had contracted your bad luck, that I became certain he was the mastermind behind the slander.”

She gently set the beads on the table.

“Do not be fooled by the fact that I recite scriptures and worship Buddha every day. I am not, in truth, a believer. But the people of this world believe in supernatural forces. The Seventh Prince has made you into a seductive demon, and since you are both in Yanlan City, it is perfectly natural that he should suffer one defeat after another after being tainted by your ill fortune. Whether he ultimately wins or loses, no one will accuse him of having been a fraud all along.”

So that was it.

Chuxiu understood that this was simply another form of political strategy. Prince Mu truly was ruthless. She had supported him so wholeheartedly, yet he had dragged her into the mire with him, fabricating such rumors to divert the conflict. He was despicable, hateful, and loathsome.

But she could only endure it. She had no way back.

“Do not dwell on it. He is merely taking revenge because you helped Shen Yu escape! Otherwise, with so many noble families in the realm, why would he single you out?” The Dowager Madam sighed. “Prince Mu, Nie Peihan, is sinister, ruthless, and vindictive. Everyone knows this. He was simply too polite to you in the past, which made you careless. You thwarted him and sent Shen Yu away; naturally, he would bear a grudge. In public and in private, the fact that he chose not to pursue the matter openly but instead adopted this method already counts as mercy.”

Hearing this, Chuxiu could only smile bitterly. “So that was the truth... I will remember the lesson.”

The Dowager Madam gave a quiet hum. “Now that you understand, do you still think the family discipline I administered back then was excessive? You spent a month recovering before you could get out of bed. Was I too harsh? If I had not taught you that lesson, you would have suffered far more at the Seventh Prince’s hands in the future. He must have known that you were punished by the family. In a way, it was our indirect apology to him.”

With this explanation, Chuxiu finally understood the Dowager Madam’s painstaking intentions. She lowered her head in shame.

“I know I was wrong. But Prince Mu’s method of revenge... I would rather endure the family discipline once more than let the world see me this way.”

“Do not worry. Since the Seventh Prince dared to slander you so viciously and use you as his shield, he will certainly find a way to clear your name someday. It only depends on whether he is willing.” The Dowager Madam comforted Chuxiu, then taught her another method. “The Seventh Prince has tolerated you once. He probably will not tolerate you a second time. Spend more time with his secondary consort. He will understand what you mean.”

After witnessing Prince Mu’s deep affection for his secondary consort, Luan Su, with her own eyes, Chuxiu had complete faith in the Dowager Madam’s strategy. So long as the Yun clan remained Luan Su’s maternal family, and so long as Chuxiu maintained a good relationship with Luan Su, Prince Mu would presumably be willing to let go of his anger.

“If anything like Shen Yu’s situation happens again, you must ask the Seventh Prince in person to release him. You must not resort to secret tricks behind his back. I originally thought that, being as slow-witted as you are, you would likely come to the door and plead with him for Shen Yu. Who would have thought that you would be so clever this time, hiding him among the secret guards and sending him out of the city? Even I would have had to think twice before showing such courage.”

Though the Dowager Madam’s words sounded like a rebuke, she delivered them with a smile. Chuxiu felt that she was not angry. On the contrary, it seemed almost like praise for her nerve.

But who could ever fathom the Dowager Madam’s thoughts?

She had recited scriptures and worshiped Buddha day after day for decades, yet today claimed she was not a believer. Prince Mu was the same. He bestowed favor and wielded authority in equal measure, rewarding and punishing by turns, leaving people utterly unable to read him.

Every one of them was a master of the human heart.

The thought was both praise and a confession of her own inferiority. But there was one thing she remembered deeply:

If she ever wanted to help Shen Yu again, she would rather go to Prince Mu in person and plead for mercy than act behind his back.

Chuxiu engraved this lesson upon her heart, already foreseeing that one day this method would come in useful.