SWHCBB 31

Chapter 31: General Jiang Really Doesn’t Take his Little Husband Seriously at All!

Yuan Xiang knelt on the ground, trembling as she stared at the two pairs of feet in front of her. The Fifth Prince sat in the main seat, while General Jiang stood beside him, attentively caring for him yet silently watching her with a cold gaze.

Heart pounding with fear, Yuan Xiang lowered her head. She thought to herself, Did General Jiang really have to put on such an act? I’ve already seen through his true face! Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but feel the Fifth Prince was truly pitiful.

But wasn’t she just as pitiful? She couldn’t be made the scapegoat for their internal strife. She had to tell the truth, as long as the Fifth Prince was willing to protect her, she was willing to do anything!

“Speak.” Wen Jue’s voice called her back from her thoughts.

Yuan Xiang immediately knocked her head on the floor a few times, tears streaming down her face, continuing until her forehead was swollen and broken.

“This servant has committed a grave sin. Your Highness, I am willing to be punished. I only beg Your Highness to spare this lowly life so I can atone. I beg you, Your Highness!”

She cried out as she kowtowed ten more times. Wen Jue remained unmoved, letting her cry and bang her head without the slightest hint of sympathy.

Only when she finally couldn’t take it anymore and cautiously looked up, only to be glared at by Jiang Chuang and forced to lower her head again, did Wen Jue speak calmly:

“Done kowtowing? Then let’s get to the point. What crime did you commit?”

Yuan Xiang panicked. Who said the Fifth Prince was a weak and easy target, a gentle blind man who didn’t care about the world? His heart must be hard as stone, she’d already cried her heart out and he hadn’t even flinched. It was like he was enjoying watching her kowtow. Not a shred of mercy.

Yuan Xiang didn’t dare play tricks anymore and honestly confessed her wrongdoing, though still trying to excuse herself along the way.

It turned out that the other day, Zhuge Qing had told her to go to the western outskirts to find a medicinal herb, saying he could tell she was fated to find it. He even described the herb as something unparalleled in the heavens and earth.

If she could find it and heal the Fifth Prince, she would not only be General Jiang’s benefactor, but also that of Princess Chenyu.

At first, Yuan Xiang didn’t quite believe it, but figured it was worth a try. Who knew? Maybe she’d dig up something valuable she could sell. So she snuck out and began digging. To her surprise, she did find something!

First some unusual jade stones, and later even pearls! Pearls–in the dirt! How strange!

She was overjoyed and convinced that she truly was fated for greatness, the chosen one of heaven!

She kept digging enthusiastically and soon uncovered a pair of gold earrings. Ecstatic, she dug deeper and eventually uncovered a bizarre object.

It looked like a sutra banner tightly wrapped around something. Curious, she opened it, and found a strange bone wrapped in several strings of prayer beads.

Stunned, she hurried to re-bury it, terrified she might have triggered a curse.

But before she could do that, a man suddenly appeared, eyes wide in disbelief.

“This–this–this was buried here? It really exists!?”

More men showed up, one after another, all astonished by the thing she held and speaking in riddles. Terrified, Yuan Xiang threw it away, grabbed her “treasures,” and fled back to the city.

The next day, she found out what she’d really unearthed.

After Consort Chen died, rumors spread that after she had given birth to the Fifth Prince, her powers as a thousand-year fox demon had drastically weakened. The Empress had summoned a Daoist priest who sealed her away using her own finger bones, wrapped in talismans and prayer beads, bound with sutra cloth, and buried underground.

Everyone had dismissed it as legend, until the exact item described in the rumors surfaced. Identical in every way.

Now rumors were spreading again: Consort Chen had been released and would bring disaster upon the world. She would join forces with her two children and destroy Daling to avenge herself!

Yuan Xiang finally realized that she had been used! And the person who used her was that man who had stood behind General Jiang that day!

It must be that General Jiang wanted to harm the Fifth Prince but couldn’t do it himself, so he targeted her instead.

Since she had followed the prince out of the palace, the incident couldn’t possibly be traced back to Jiang Chuang.

It was clear now, she’d been a pawn in a perfect twofold scheme!

Yuan Xiang, believing herself doomed, was determined to confess everything to the Fifth Prince. Heavens! Your Highness, even if you’re blind, you must uphold justice for me!

But who would’ve thought Jiang Chuang was here too? And sticking to the Fifth Prince like glue, what a scheming man! She had thought military men were simple-minded!

So all Yuan Xiang could do was sob through her explanation: “This servant was truly set up, Your Highness. I remember the man looked like the one in white robes standing behind the General that day…” She snuck a glance at Jiang Chuang.

The Grand General wasn’t looking at her. He was playing with the Fifth Prince’s hand, completely uninterested in what Yuan Xiang had to say.

Of course! Yuan Xiang’s heart skipped a beat. He must be threatening the Fifth Prince in secret!

“I didn’t know what he wanted. I was just desperate and fell for it. But I never meant to harm Your Highness! Please, I beg you, spare me!”

She kowtowed again.

Wen Jue understood. From the beginning, he’d thought it strange, how could the trap he’d laid be unearthed ahead of schedule?

So it was Zhuge Qing…

Could Yunchuan have leaked it? But he had never mentioned his plan to Yunchuan. Even if Yunchuan suspected something, he wouldn’t have known exactly where it was.

Zhuge Qing, Wen Jue had investigated him. Frivolous, clever in petty schemes but lacking grand strategy, or so it seemed. Yet something about him wasn’t simple.

He was close with Yunchuan; they joked and bickered constantly in the army, like brothers.

To outsiders, it looked like he clung to General Jiang to hold his position, contributing nothing.

But Wen Jue had studied several of Yunchuan’s miraculous comebacks in past battles. The terrain had been treacherous, the odds steep, luck alone couldn’t explain their success. Zhuge Qing had been present for each one, yet later faded into the background during rewards and recognition.

Strategist for a thousand miles, full of tricks, yet he cared nothing for fame or fortune, what a strange man.

That Zhuge Qing could see through Wen Jue’s scheme didn’t surprise him. But that he knew exactly where the item was buried, and sent Yuan Xiang to dig it up, that shook Wen Jue.

What was Zhuge Qing’s real aim?

Yuan Xiang, seeing him silent, dared not speak again.

Jiang Chuang wasn’t bothered by what she said. Zhiyu and Princess Chenyu would handle it. It was all within their expectations, he didn’t even notice how Yuan Xiang had viciously implied he was the culprit.

“Getting tired of listening? Should we head back?” Jiang Chuang asked.

Yuan Xiang panicked. “No! Your Highness!”

Jiang Chuang immediately snapped, “What are you yelling for? No one said we’d kill you, don’t shout at His Highness!”

Didn’t she see how much that shriek hurt Zhiyu’s ears?

Yuan Xiang despaired. So this is how the world works, cold and heartless. A person is just meat on the chopping block! Once a prince marries, even he becomes ‘meat’!

General Jiang dared to threaten to kill her right in front of the Fifth Prince! He didn’t take the Fifth Prince seriously at all!

Pitiful!

Tragic!

The Fifth Prince was just too miserable!