freenovelworld Chapter 760 Ignoring the Crown Prince, Yet Secretly Engaging in Relationships with the Crown Prince&
Chapter 760 Ignoring the Crown Prince, Yet Secretly Engaging in Relationships with the Crown Prince&
“Mother.” Princess Jiahe’s voice trembled slightly. She looked at Princess Yongding who came out of the inner room, as if she had found her pillar of support, or as if she had grasped a lifeline.
Princess Yongding immediately noticed her daughter's distraught state. She waved for all the maids to leave and personally closed the door to the flower hall.
"What did she say to you?" Princess Yongding sat down in the main seat, her expression calm, as if she had already anticipated that Gu Qingchen's intentions were not good.
Princess Jiahe took a deep breath and recounted Gu Qingchen's insane plan in detail. With each sentence she spoke, the Princess of Yongding's brow furrowed more deeply.
When she heard that "my affair with Qian Zhenyun has been exposed," even someone as experienced as Princess Yongding was horrified.
The entire flower hall was so quiet that you could hear the sound of the cold wind whistling through the bare branches outside the window.
“Madman!” Princess Yongding spat out the two words heavily, picked up her teacup, only to find that the tea was already ice cold.
"Mother, she's a madwoman!" Princess Jiahe's voice shrilled. "She'd rather ruin her own reputation than not escape from the Eastern Palace! She's gambling with her own honor, the dignity of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and all of us!"
Princess Yongding put down her teacup, looked up at her daughter, and the initial shock in her shrewd eyes had faded, replaced by a cold, cautious calculation.
“No, she’s not crazy.” Princess Yongding slowly shook her head. “On the contrary, she’s more lucid than anyone else.”
“Awake?” Princess Jiahe couldn’t understand.
"Why do you think she chose you?" Princess Yongding's voice was calm to the point of cruelty. "Because in the whole capital, only you hate her the most, and only you want to sit in the position of Crown Princess. It is most credible and most lethal for you to expose her."
"She's not gambling; she's using someone else to do her dirty work. She's using you to sever her connection with the Crown Prince. And you are that tool."
Princess Jiahe was stunned, and the anger of being used rose again in her heart.
"Why does she think I'd help her? I wish I could..."
“But you have no choice.” Princess Yongding interrupted her, her words hitting the nail on the head. “Would you rather be the Crown Prince’s principal wife in glory, or would you rather endure being her concubine for the rest of your life?”
Concubine.
These two words, once again, pierced Princess Jiahe's heart like a poisonous thorn.
"This plan may sound absurd, but it is currently the only way to break the deadlock."
Princess Yongding stood up, walked to her daughter's side, and gently patted her shoulder.
"Gu Qingchen is a woman of character; she would rather die than live in dishonor. She is capable of such a thing. Precisely because she is capable of it, the Crown Prince will believe it, the Emperor will believe it, and the whole world will believe it."
“But… Qian Zhenyun,” Princess Jiahe still found it hard to believe, “she was just a tutor to the Crown Prince, powerless and without influence, why would she…”
“That’s where her brilliance lies.” Princess Yongding’s lips curled into a meaningful, cold smile. “If she had been trying to associate herself with some prince or nobleman, the investigation would have eventually uncovered some clues, and she might have even gotten herself into trouble. But Qian Zhenyun is different.”
"He's the Crown Prince's man, his most trusted study companion. Gu Qingchen's affair with him—whose face is this a slap in the face?"
Princess Jiahe's pupils suddenly contracted.
It's the Crown Prince's face.
“A future crown princess, who rejected the crown prince, instead had an affair with the crown prince’s personal tutor.”
Princess Yongding's voice carried a hint of satisfaction, "This scandal is enough to make the Crown Prince a laughingstock throughout the world. In order to save face, he will never marry Gu Qingchen again. He will only wish he could tear both of them to pieces."
Princess Jiahe's heart began to pound wildly.
She got it.
Gu Qingchen's move was called "drawing the firewood from under the cauldron," or "cutting off his own arm."
She used herself as bait and Qian Zhenyun as a knife to stab at the pride and dignity of Crown Prince Zhao Chen'an.
“Mother, I…” Princess Jiahe was in a state of panic. The risk of this matter was too great. If she was not careful, she would be doomed.
“Jiahe,” Princess Yongding held her daughter’s cold hand, her eyes resolute, “Fortune favors the bold. If you want to sit in that position, this risk is necessary.”
"Once this is done, Gu Qingchen will be utterly disgraced, and the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion will lose all face. In order to salvage his reputation and to win over our Yongding Prince's Mansion, the Crown Prince will surely appoint you as his principal wife immediately."
"At that time, you can then demonstrate your virtue and understanding to appease the betrayed and angry crown prince. He will see who is truly the woman who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him and rule the world as an empress."
Princess Yongding's words seemed to possess a magical power, dispelling the last vestiges of hesitation in Princess Jiahe's heart.
That resentment and humiliation, in the face of the desire for power, ultimately transformed into a resolute ruthlessness.
“I agree to her request.” Princess Jiahe raised her head, all traces of weakness vanishing from her eyes, replaced by a cold, determined light. “Mother, how should we prepare?”
Princess Yongding smiled with satisfaction.
“You don’t have to do anything,” she said slowly. “You just need to draw everyone’s attention to Gu Qingchen and that Qian Zhenyun on the day of the New Year’s Eve banquet.”
"The rest is up to Gu Qingchen." The princess's eyes gleamed. "Since she dared to set this up, she must have prepared all the evidence. We'll just watch the show and then, at the most opportune moment, clean up the mess."
The New Year's Eve banquet at the palace was a joyous occasion both inside and outside the imperial city.
The sound of firecrackers rose and fell, illuminating the night sky of the capital as if it were daytime.
Inside the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, Gu Qingchen sat in front of her dressing table, letting the maids comb her long, black hair.
The woman reflected in the bronze mirror had delicate features and a calm expression, as if she was completely unaware of what was about to happen that night.
She was even somewhat looking forward to it...
"Miss, how about this jade hairpin? It makes your skin look even whiter."
Huanran picked up a translucent white jade hairpin and held it up to her head.
Gu Qingchen glanced up and said calmly, "No need. It's fine to keep things simple today."
What she wanted was not to dazzle the audience, but to make a clean getaway.
Qian Zhenyun walked out of the study, still holding the unclosed book in his hand.
He stood in the courtyard, looking up at the sky illuminated by fireworks, his eyes filled with deep worry.
He knew about Gu Qingchen's plan and that he was a crucial part of it. But he couldn't stop it; he could only do his best to cooperate.
All he could do was put himself in the eye of the storm and try to give her a chance to survive.
At the Yongding Prince's Mansion, Princess Jiahe, dressed in magnificent palace attire, sat regally on her phoenix palanquin.
Today, she specially chose a bright pomegranate red dress, with a golden phoenix embroidered on the hem, and a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin in her hair, adorned with pearls and jade, and her hair ornaments swaying gently.
She looked at her makeup in the bronze mirror again and again, her eyes gleaming with a determined light.