Chapter 20: Damn! This Is Too Dog-Blooded, Too Sinister!

With the sorrow of Lin Daiyu burying flowers, she flung the peonies from her hand, tossing them back into the flowerbed.

With tears brimming, she turned her face toward the distant mountains, speaking sadly to Prince Jin:

“Say what you came to say, and then leave quickly. The General’s Estate is a place of danger now. You must not linger here.”

Prince Jin narrowed his eyes slightly, studying Zhu Wuhuan.

Something about her seemed different today.

He hesitated for a moment, but then dismissed his doubt—after all, the Zhu family was facing extermination. It was only natural for Wuhuan’s emotions to shift.

He stepped closer to her.

“Since you want me to speak plainly, I’ll do so. This matter is urgent.”

He lowered his voice. “Wuhuan, I came today to save someone.”

Zhu Wuhuan turned sharply to him, a flicker of surprise lighting her eyes.

“Save someone? Prince Jin, can you save my Zhu family?”

Meeting her expectant gaze, Prince Jin regretfully lowered his head.

“Forgive me, Wuhuan. I am only a prince, not the Emperor. I cannot save all of the Zhu clan. But I can preserve a single thread of bloodline.”

Lifting his head, he met her eyes with solemnity.

“Wuhuan, I can save your youngest brother, Chengying. I can see to it that he escapes this calamity. I will raise him well, and one day he can revive the honor of the Zhu family.”

Zhu Wuhuan did not look joyful at this. Instead, she staggered back two steps, eyes wide with despair.

“So… only one person can be saved?”

She murmured in grief, “Our Zhu family has seventy-six members. You would save only one… only one…”

Her exquisite performance not only fooled Prince Jin into believing her grief and despair, even the system wanted to applaud her acting.

She let herself play the part a moment longer, dazed and broken, then slowly dabbed the corner of her eye with a handkerchief, smiling bitterly.

“One is good… truly. To save even one life is something. One is good.”

Drawing a deep breath, she asked, “Then how does Prince Jin intend to save my brother Chengying? What must our Zhu family do?”

Prince Jin opened his mouth, but seemed unable to speak it. He stood in silence, gazing at her.

She gazed back.

After half a minute of wordless staring, Prince Jin looked toward the distant mountains and spoke in a low tone.

“Wuhuan, the plan I am about to propose may be difficult for you to accept. But for your brother’s life, for the survival of your family’s bloodline, I hope you will hear me out and think carefully.”

Closing his eyes briefly, he went on.

“My plan is… to let Chengying pass as our child.”

“As long as he remains a Zhu, he cannot escape this disaster. But if he is thought to be my flesh and blood, then he will carry royal blood. I could then beg my mother, and she would plead with my imperial brother to spare him.”

He looked at Zhu Wuhuan. “Wuhuan, if you wish to save Chengying, this is the only way.”

“…” Zhu Wuhuan’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

She played the part of a shocked, trembling woman, shaking her head rapidly. “Chengying is my brother—how could he pretend to be my son with you? Impossible! That would turn everything upside down—absolutely not!”

But as she acted, she railed inwardly to the system:

Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap—this prince is truly vile! To come up with something this twisted?

If he truly wanted to save the Zhu family, if he genuinely wished to preserve the bloodline, then yes, though this idea is melodramatic, at least I could praise his “good intentions.”

But clearly that’s not his aim! This is obviously a trap for the Zhu family!

He’s afraid the tyrant won’t hate the Zhus enough, won’t hate the Empress enough!

Now I finally understand why that Empress Zhu in history died so miserably—why Feng Changye subjected his wife to the horrific “Bone-Drunken” torture!

He believed his brother, Prince Jin, and Empress Zhu had a six-year-old child. In his eyes, they had been together seven years earlier, long before she wed him, and she deceived him by pretending to be a maiden. Forget being Emperor—even an ordinary man would be driven mad by such a massive green hat!

And as for the Zhu family—they were no innocents either. In his eyes, they knew about the affair and helped raise the bastard child, then still married her off to him. With such a deception, how could he trust the Zhus’ loyalty?

He would naturally see them as treacherous scum who mocked the throne. Already accused of treason, with this added crime of deceiving the Emperor, how could they hope to survive? Dream on!

“…” Feng Changye, in the pavilion, heard her inner words with perfect clarity.

He raised his head sharply, staring at Prince Jin in disbelief.

To make the six-year-old Zhu heir pretend to be Wuhuan and his bastard child?

Truly vicious! Truly poisonous!

This was not just carelessness—this was a plan to destroy Zhu Wuhuan completely. No ordinary person would think of such a cruel way to ruin a woman who had been devoted to him for years.

At least he—the one reviled as a tyrant for over a thousand years—would never treat his woman so!

Feng Changye’s eyes narrowed, glaring coldly at his brother’s back. Murderous rage flickered there.

He had already thought of confining his brother. Now, that resolve only grew firmer!

A man with such venomous schemes, willing to stop at nothing—who knew what chaos he would cause if left free?

He would not repeat history. He would not die poisoned in three years’ time!

… In the garden.

Prince Jin saw Zhu Wuhuan’s stubborn refusal, and sighed helplessly.

“Wuhuan, I know it’s hard to accept. But would you rather watch Chengying die? Nothing is more important than life itself.”

He coaxed on:

“And besides, this is only a temporary measure. Once Chengying survives, once in the future we can clear the Zhus’ name, I’ll restore him as a true Zhu son. I swear it—he won’t have to live in shame as a bastard forever.”

He reached for her hand.

“Wuhuan, to save your brother, to preserve the bloodline of the Zhu clan, I am willing to defy the world, to face my brother’s wrath. What are you afraid of?”

Hearing this, Zhu Wuhuan praised him again in her heart: this Prince Jin was truly a master!

So skilled at playing with people’s hearts!

Once more, she slipped from his grasp, her eyes shimmering with tears as she looked up at him.