Chapter 5: The Crown Princess Consort Maps Out the Road Ahead

Jiang Shijin's heart skipped a beat, and she secretly cursed to herself.

If it weren't for the fact that her elder sister was frail and sickly and unwilling to leave the house easily, how could she have stolen her reputation and forged this romantic fate with the Heir?

Jiang Shijin had always known well that in terms of family background she was inferior to her elder sister, and the same was true for beauty. Therefore, before she could firmly secure her footing, she was absolutely determined not to let the Heir lay eyes on her elder sister, lest he feel regret and subsequently harbor resentment toward her. Concealing her panic, she feigned a casual look outside and asked with a hint of feigned curiosity.

"The Heir must be mistaken. Where on earth is anyone out there?"

The Heir of Prince Chun's Estate lifted the carriage curtain and peered out closely. Apart from pedestrians hurrying along, there really was no one in sight. For a moment, he knitted his brows in a slight frown, feeling somewhat uncertain.

He had laid eyes on practically all the young ladies of noble houses in this Western Capital, yet he had zero impression of the young woman he had just glimpsed. Perhaps it was truly his eyes playing tricks on him. Relaxing his brow, a smile played at the corners of his mouth. Thinking of the Second Miss of the Zhao family who had thrown herself into his arms earlier that day, his heart inevitably stirred with restless desire.

Jiang Shijin watched her husband's infatuated expression with cold eyes, feeling a bitterness in her heart that surpassed the taste of coptis root.

She had taken the desperate risk of pretending to be her elder sister to secretly meet this Heir of Prince Chun precisely because she no longer wanted to endure that dull and insipid life.

In her past life, under the arrangements of her eldest uncle, she had married a timid and submissive scholar and given birth to several children of mediocre talent. Although her maiden family provided assistance, it was strictly financial, and in the end, her husband never climbed to any respectable position.

The only reason she enjoyed a shred of preferential treatment from others was entirely because her elder sister had married into Prince Chun's Estate.

True, she had become the esteemed Heir's Consort of a prominent and wealthy household, yet pathetically, whenever she went to visit her family, she had to endure covert mocking remarks from the gatekeepers. Such a life—she never wished to experience it again. Waking up to find herself back in the days before her marriage, she was determined to live this lifetime in dazzling glory.

The immense wealth of Prince Chun's Estate was something she deserved to enjoy.

The refined, noble, and handsome Heir was a man she deserved to marry.

Most importantly, she was fertile!

In her past life, she had borne three sons and two daughters. If she could manage to conceive ahead of the concubines before they even entered the household, she would have no need to worry about a wonderful life ahead of her.

Pondering these thoughts, she felt that all those so-called gossips—about stealing her elder sister's matrimonial match and being tormented by her mother-in-law—were utterly insignificant. Since her fickle husband could not be relied upon, she had to secure her position as the Heir's Consort by any means necessary.

Smoothing out the silk handkerchief in her hand, she pinched a corner to dab at the powder at the corners of her eyes. Suddenly, this life did not seem so difficult to bear after all.

Entering the month of May, the weather in the Western Capital began a relentless climb toward sweltering heat.

The weather was like rolling waves of heat, devoid even of a whisper of wind. If it weren't for the blocks of chilling ice placed throughout the room, Jiang Shiyuan would likely have fallen ill yet again.

Whenever the heat-induced sickness flared up, she was prone to her old ailments of heart palpitations and coughing. Therefore, most of the items surrounding her were crafted from cool jade.

Especially during the scorching summer months, her bed was laid with ice-silk quilts, and she held a cooling jade piece in her palm. Ordinarily, women dreaded conditions associated with excess coldness in the body, but she had no such worries. In fact, whenever her monthly period arrived, she was completely oblivious to it until she soiled her skirts, otherwise she would still be greedily enjoying frozen treats to beat the heat.

Just as the maid Liuhua entered the room, she saw Jiang Shiyuan reclining sideways on the window-side platform bed. A cooling ice-silk bolster supported her waist, and she wore a long, strapless dress made of Huan-Yue gauze, embroidered with large, blooming peonies that were exceptionally eye-catching.

"Miss, the sweet melons have been brought in."

"Mhm, set them down."

"Yes."

Jiang Shiyuan's body tended toward heat, so she could not casually consume fever-inducing fruits and melons. Yet her courtyard was always supplied with them without interruption, simply because she could not tolerate the scent of fragrant incense and could only use the natural fragrance of fruits and vegetables as decoration.

Liuhua placed the plate of neatly arranged sweet melons onto a small rosewood side table carved with tangled floral patterns. Then, she tidied up the vernacular novels scattered on the table. Following that, she retrieved a small white porcelain bottle from the cabinet, gently shook out a red pill, and handed it over.

This was the Fragrance-Condensing Pill that Jiang Shiyuan had to take once every three days.

Washing down the pill with water decocted from coptis root, she watched as the medicinal sphere quickly dissolved within it. Jiang Shiyuan drank it down in a single gulp. The taste was slightly bitter, but having taken the medicine uninterrupted for so many years, she no longer felt anything of it.

Liuhua handed over a handkerchief, and Jiang Shiyuan lightly dabbed the corners of her mouth.

"Has Father returned?"

"The pageboys at the second gate haven't shown their faces yet, so chances are the Master hasn't come back yet. Miss, don't be anxious; after all, the Marquis's family banquet is set for the afternoon, and there are still two or three hours left."

Earlier, her cousin-in-law Lady Xiang had mentioned to her that the family was hosting a banquet to welcome the maternal cousin from the Pei family. Sure enough, news had been sent over yesterday.

Jiang Shiyuan wanted to go over earlier to keep her maternal grandmother company, which was why she felt somewhat impatient.

Just as she was thinking this, she saw a maid lift the curtain and step inside. With a round face and almond-shaped eyes, looking as cute as a steamed bun, the maid Luoluo walked swiftly over to Jiang Shiyuan and said excitedly,

"Miss, the Master has arrived."

She had long since instructed the pageboys at the second gate that the moment her father returned, they were to guide him directly to her courtyard. She rose and put on her shoes, just preparing to go to the doorway to welcome him, when she saw Jiang Huashan stride in, his face wearing an expression of urgency.

He was now a man over forty years of age. Clearly, he dealt with people in official circles day in and day out, yet he possessed not a hint of obsequiousness toward the powerful and wealthy. Instead, with the passing years, he had added a certain scholarly backbone. At this moment, he wore a moon-blue round-collared robe, the collar slightly dampened with sweat from hurrying back in a rush.

The moment he laid eyes on Jiang Shiyuan, Jiang Huashan's brows knitted into a deep crease. Walking up to her, he immediately began expressing his tender concern.

"The people at the second gate said you were looking for your father in a great rush. What is it? Is something making you uncomfortable? Shall I have someone send a formal calling card to invite an imperial physician to come and take a look?"

His anxious tone filled Jiang Shiyuan's heart with a profound sense of warmth.

Having been away from home for a decade, she had wondered if perhaps her father no longer felt all that familiar with her. Thus, upon her initial return home, she had observed every rule meticulously and spoke with unassailable perfection, acting almost as if she were living in someone else's house. Yet, in just a single instant, when she looked at the strands of white hair at her father's temples and his reddened eye rims, she understood the true meaning of blood being thicker than water.

A father-daughter bond ultimately could not be eroded by the passage of time; instead, the guilt and longing born of distance only deepened it. Stepping forward to offer a bow, Jiang Shiyuan broke into a charming smile and said,

"Daughter is quite well. I had someone wait for Father at the second gate simply because we are going to the Marquis's Estate for a meal today, and Daughter has been missing her maternal grandmother. At the same time, I worried that going alone might make Father fret, so I thought I would wait for your return and set off right away."

Jiang Huashan looked his daughter up and down. Seeing that apart from a somewhat pale complexion she seemed otherwise fine, the heavy stone in his heart finally settled. Then, with a mixture of doting indulgence and helpless resignation, he said,

"Very well. Wait for me to go back and change my clothes, and then we will set out."

"Father's word is final."