The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1414 - 1414 687 Firm as a Mother (Extra Update)

Chapter 1414: 687 Firm as a Mother (Extra Update) Chapter 1414: 687 Firm as a Mother (Extra Update) Falling from such a high place, if he didn’t die, he would be crippled.

The crown prince was always accompanied by hidden guards, of course, they wouldn’t allow him to be injured. A hidden guard lurking nearby, with a swoosh of light work, flew over, caught the crown prince, and launched an instinctive attack on everyone who posed a threat to him.

He struck a palm toward the princess.

The crown prince’s face changed drastically, “Stop!”

But it was too late; the palm had already been thrown, and the princess was hit by the hidden guard’s palm wind. First, she slammed against a stone table before heavily falling to the ground, blood even spilling from the corner of her mouth.

“Young master!”

A palace maid’s cry of alarm came from not far away.

It turned out that the little palace maid couldn’t find the princess in the Sleeping Palace, worried that she might wander off and cause trouble, so she quickly came out to look for her.

She also notified several eunuchs patrolling nearby, so a total of five people came.

The five didn’t see how the crown prince fell, but they did see the former princess being struck and spitting blood by a hidden guard by the crown prince’s side.

Everyone was stunned. What was the crown prince doing? Why did he let his hidden guard injure the former princess? And why did he dismiss all the palace maids around? Was he planning to deal with the former princess in secret?

If they had not come looking, would the former princess have already suffered at the hands of the crown prince?

They thought of the princess’s assault at the Imperial Mausoleum. Could it be—

“You…” the crown prince looked at her coldly, “Shangguan Yun, you are ruthless!”

…

“That’s the situation,” Gu Chengfeng said to Gu Jiao, “The princess has lost her memory; she can’t even remember her own son’s name, sometimes it’s Zhang Qing, sometimes it’s Li Qing, she gives a different name to whoever asks. It’s unclear how she provoked the crown prince in the evening, causing the crown prince to attack her in the Imperial Palace. The incident of the princess being attacked initially had no useful leads, in other words, the people of the crown prince did it too cleanly, not leaving a single clue. But with what happened today, the suspicion on the crown prince has greatly increased!”

“Is the crown prince such an impatient person?” With the sovereign in the palace, the crown prince really dared to be so brazen. Why bother with an assassination in the first place? Was it because he thought he wasn’t exposed enough?

Gu Jiao felt that there was something strange about the whole affair.

“Who’s there!” Gu Jiao’s eyes sharpened.

“It’s me!”

Xun Fengxian’s voice came through.

“Come in.” Gu Jiao withdrew the Begonia Needle in her hand.

Xun Fengxian sheepishly pushed the door open, carrying a tray of freshly cut chilled melons and fruit, and said with a smile, “Just sliced.”

She set the fruit tray on the table, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave now.”

“Wait,” Gu Jiao called out to her.

Xun Fengxian turned around, her smile sycophantic, “What would you have me do, young master?”

Gu Jiao asked, “What do you think of the matter just now?”

Gu Chengfeng gave Gu Jiao a surprised look.

Xun Fengxian quickly waved her hands, “What matter? I haven’t heard a word!”

Gu Jiao pulled out a small knife.

Xun Fengxian, terrified, collapsed to her knees, supporting herself on the table, “I’ll talk, I’ll tell everything!”

Gu Jiao sliced a piece of fruit, looking at her with an odd expression, “Hmm?”

Xun Fengxian glanced at her little knife, then at the thinly sliced fruit, and was instantly dumbfounded.

You, you just wanted a slice of melon? I thought you were going to slice me up!

Now that the truth was out, she could no longer hide it.

Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with her handkerchief, Xun Fengxian said with a nervous chuckle, “I didn’t hear much, just that you two were discussing matters about the princess and crown prince. If you ask me what I think, I believe the crown prince was responsible for the action.”

“Would the crown prince be that foolish?” Gu Jiao inquired.

“Of course the crown prince isn’t that foolish, but all the palace maids saw it, didn’t they? It was indeed the crown prince’s guard who injured the princess.” Even though Xun Fengxian also felt that it was inconsistent with the crown prince’s usually steady nature, facts spoke louder than words, and what was witnessed in person could not be faked.

Gu Chengfeng stroked his chin, pondering, “Could it be a ploy of the princess, for instance, deliberately attacking the crown prince to provoke his hidden guard to defend him?”

It seemed that he had read too much about old sacrificial rites; he almost had the Thirty-Six Stratagems memorized to a tee.

Xun Fengxian shook her handkerchief, “Then you are uninformed. I’d rather believe the crown prince lost his patience than believe it was a ruse by the princess because—”

As she spoke, her expression suddenly became serious, “That is the proudest woman in all of Dayan.”

She was the princess who did not beg for mercy even when publicly executed.

Under a barrage of whips striking her, she endured being beaten until her skin broke open on Jinluan Hall, under the scrutiny and mental torment of all the civil and military officials. Despite the dual agony of body and spirit, she did not shed a tear, did not cry out injustice, did not say a single word about the pain she felt toward her emperor father.

If she were willing to bend her pride and beg the sovereign for forgiveness, how could she have fallen into such a wretched state?

Unable to remain a princess, at least a princess would do, but she preferred to be stripped of her status and confined for life rather than bow her head and show any sign of weakness.

This is who the princess was.

Xun Fengxian sighed, “How could such a princess resort to self-harm as a strategy? It is a method she would utterly disdain. To make her break her own pride is more painful than killing her. Perhaps I can’t make you understand, alas, I am at a loss for words. In any case, if she really has done this, then she must have something very, very important to protect, something more valuable to her than her own life and dignity.”

…

In the Imperial Palace, the Pavilion at the southwestern corner.

Shangguan Yun did not leave and just kept sitting on the stone bench. The palace maid anxiously waited by her side, persuading her with earnest concern, “Young master, let’s go back. You’ve been injured, at least lie down to rest. People will come to investigate the situation later.”

Shangguan Yun did not speak.

The palace maid became frantic, “Then, then let’s go back and eat before returning, okay?”

Shangguan Yun still did not speak.

The palace maid, at her wit’s end, said, “Alright, alright, I’ll go get the food. You wait here, young master!”

The palace maid went back to the Sleeping Palace to fetch the food.

Shangguan Yun quietly sat in the Pavilion, gazing in the direction of Fengqi Palace and also toward the Xuanyuan Family.

The night breeze carried a hint of chill, brushing her hair.

Suddenly, a small figure, exquisite as carved jade, climbed the steps on all fours and arrived atop the Pavilion.

She peeked out her adorable little head from behind a column: “Huh? Who are you?”

Shangguan Yun, hearing the childish voice, regained her presence of mind and turned her head to look at the other.

Seeing a small girl dressed in palace attire, excessively beautiful, she smiled faintly, “I am Shangguan Yun. Who are you?”

“Oh.” Children have an innate sense of discerning malice. The Little Princess felt kindness from her and emerged from behind the column, “I am Shangguan Xue. They all call me the Little Princess.”

“Little Princess,” Shangguan Yun thus called her as well.

The Little Princess attempted to climb onto the bench.

But the bench was too high for her to climb onto.

Shangguan Yun helped and lifted her onto it.

Once seated, the little one solemnly said, “Thank you! By the way, your surname is Shangguan too. Are you a princess? Or like me, a princess of a commandery?”

Had this been outside the palace, she might not have asked such a question, but Shangguan females in the palace were generally members of the imperial family.

Shangguan Yun answered, “Neither.”

The Little Princess fiddled with the corner of her clothing, evidently puzzled as to how there could be a Shangguan female in the palace who was neither a princess nor a princess of a commandery.

But a child’s logic is not the same as an adult’s.

Not being one meant not being one.

The Little Princess uttered an “oh,” then asked, “My father is Lord Yun Shan. Who’s your father?”

Shangguan Yun looked at the Little Princess with an expression of realization, “So you’re my Uncle Nine’s daughter.”

The Little Princess was a smart child. Upon hearing these words, she quickly responded, “You call my father Uncle Nine, so that means I’m your little cousin! But why haven’t I seen you before? Which of my uncles are you the child of? Why aren’t you speaking? Could it be—”

Some of her uncles had passed away because they had been very old.

The Little Princess furrowed her brow seriously, climbed onto the stone table, reached out her little hand, and gently patted Shangguan Yun’s shoulder, “Don’t be sad.”

“I’m not sad. I haven’t seen him for more than ten years.” Even after coming back to the palace this time, he had not summoned her, and she had not taken the initiative to pay her respects. They both remained at an impasse.

“More than ten years…” The Little Princess understood.

“Little Princess!”

“Little Princess!”

“Where did you go, Little Princess!”

“Oh no, they’ve come looking! I can’t play with you today.” The Little Princess slid off the bench and waved at Shangguan Yun, “Cousin, goodbye!”

…

The palace maids brought the Little Princess back to the monarch’s Sleeping Palace.

Lord Yun Shan was the posthumous child born to the Empress Dowager for the former Emperor, more than twenty years younger than the monarch, raised by the monarch as his own son.

The monarch felt a paternal affection for Lord Yun Shan, yet lacked the expectations that a son should have to be successful. With no expectations, there came no disappointments, and in this way, Lord Yun Shan became a particularly favored brother by the monarch’s side.

And this made the Little Princess particularly cherished.

The Little Princess went directly to the monarch’s Study Room.

The Study Room, a restricted area, even imperial princes and princesses could not enter at will, but for the Little Princess, it was just like a small vegetable garden.

She would enter whenever she wanted.

The dreaded tyrant of Dayan was at that moment looking coldly at the memorandum in his hand. When he saw the little one come in, his expression softened slightly, but it was still quite intimidating.

It was just that the Little Princess did not feel this intimidation.

“Where did you play today?” The monarch asked the Little Princess.

“Your Majesty, Uncle.” The Little Princess first performed a respectful salute, then raised her little head and seriously said, “I played in the Pavilion. I met a cousin today.”

The monarch lifted his teacup and took a sip.

With a sad sigh, the Little Princess said, “Her name is Shangguan Yun. She’s so pitiful; her father has been dead for over ten years!”

The monarch spat out his tea—

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