Translated by: Jellylynn

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Edited by: Lynn

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Names mentioned in this chapter (which can also be found in the glossary):

-虞襄(yú xiāng)- Yu Xiang, the female lead

-虞都统(yú dū tǒng)- Commander Yu, referring to Yu Pin Yan

-林氏(lín shì)- Lin shi, Yu Pin Yan’s mother

-永乐侯 (Yǒng lè hóu)- Marquis Yongle, referring to Yu Pin Yan

-易风(yì fēng)- Yi Feng, Yu Pin Yan’s name in the officialdom. 

-宋嬷嬷 (Sòng mó mo)- Song Momo, Crown Princess’ Momo

-白云道观(báiyún dàoguàn)- Baiyun Taoist temple

It was said that after the Crown Princess had the “Dragon and Phoenix” Qian drawn by Yu Xiang, her mood became good. She was taking a short rest in the side room of the back hall and looked at the spring rain outside.  She saw several plum blossom trees with tiny bright red buds^[1], which were particularly lovely stained with water drops. Disregarding the hindrance of the palace servant stopping her to do so, she even held an oil-paper umbrella to look for plums. 

As she strolled the edge of plum forest, she could see a hanging flower gate, opposite it was the courtyard where ordinary people live. Although it occupied a small area, it was crowded with seven or eight households. The weather in Spring was now cold. One wouldn’t feel cold when the sun was out.  But when it was raining, it was bitterly cold. In addition, the top of the mountain was even colder than on the plain. It was impossible to live without burning charcoal. 

The Taoist children were afraid that the Taoist pilgrims would fall ill from the cold. They piled up a lot of charcoal in one corner of the courtyard and burned a large pot of roaring fire on the side, so that anyone who wanted to burn the charcoal bowl could come to get a spark for themselves.  

A beautiful maidservant was adding charcoal to the large fire pot while adding sparks into the fire pot she had brought with her, lest the fire be extinguished when others came. 

As soon as the charcoal entered the fire pan, it made a crackling sound and also emitted thick smoke which made the girl cough non-stop. 

The Crown Princess covered her mouth and nose, and was about to turn around when she heard the female physician attending to her suddenly shouted, “It’s bad, the smoke smells unusual!” 

All of them panicked and were at loss as to how to react but they saw the Crown Princess suddenly stumbled and covered her abdomen and softly cried, “Quickly help bengong^[2] return, bengong’s stomach is in pain!” 

This meant that she was experiencing symptoms of a miscarriage! Song Momo hurriedly ordered someone to help the Crown Princess and rushed out briskly. She seemed to think of something and yelled towards the Dragon Scale guard who was not far away. “Quickly find the Crown Prince and Commander Yu! Also, arrest that girl!’ 

The dragon scale guards each took their orders and left.

The master of Baiyun Taoist temple, who was proficient in medical skills, diagnosed that the Crown Princess was going into premature labour and ordered people to prepare the delivery room.  Then he proceeded to kneel down in Leizu hall to pray for blessings. The accompanying female physician and midwives, who were standing by, were burning with anxiety. If anything happened to the Crown Princess and the unborn babies, other than them, even fifty to sixty percent of the Taoist pilgrims would not be able to escape Commander Yu’s butcher sword. 

The Emperor was the eldest di^[3] son, who was the natural successor to the throne.  As a matter of fact, he was almost killed by his brother. From then on, he paid more attention to di and shu^[4]. It would be fine if the Crown Prince was incompetent. However, it was only that the Crown Prince had both moral integrity and talent, yet he had only one shu son so far. This was the only thing that made the Emperor become dissatisfied with the Crown Prince. The Emperor had been looking forward to this di grandson for six years, so it was no wonder that the Crown Princess was so nervous that she couldn’t sleep well at night. 

When something was about to come to fruition, it was unexpectedly secretly harmed by someone.  It was obvious that the Emperor would be furious.  

Not only were the palace servants and the temple master’s heart became frightened, but even the Crown Prince’s heart was also trembled.  He feared that the loss of his di son would cause his father to abandon him. Seeing Yu Pin Yan striding in, he suppressed his anger and said in a cold voice, “Yi Feng, investigate for Gu^[5]! Gu must be too benevolent and generous nowadays that it made them do something unthinkable! If you find out who is behind the scenes, Gu would report it to Father Emperor to kill him!” 

“Your humble subject will not fail Your Highness.” Yu Pin Yan didn’t say anything further. He slightly cupped his hand and headed to the dungeon to interrogate the suspect. 

The Dragon Scale guard borrowed the cellar of Baiyun temple to build a torture chamber, and was using it to punish the maid who added charcoal. 

The maidservant was unyielding and did not relent even when her body was bruised by the whip. She insisted that she entered the capital with her master’s family from Dayu city and came to join the festivities in time for the festival and that she has no connection with any forces in the capital and was wrongly accused. 

The Dragon Scale guards’ style of interrogation had always been cruel. Regardless of whether you were guilty or not, they would exercise torture then talk about it. The two people who were carrying out the interrogation didn’t argue with her. They took a splint and was about to exercise the torture.^[6]

The maidservant could not stand it any longer after her fingers’ were agonisingly squeezed twice and cried miserly, “I’m innocent, I have done anything! I-I am not a maidservant. I’m the di daughter of the marquis manor! How dare you treat me like this?! If my family finds me, I will tear all of you to pieces” 

“Marquis manor? Which Marquis manor?” One of them laughed contemptuously. To tear them to pieces? First rank officials are even afraid of ordinary dragon scale guards. In this world, other than the Emperor, Commander Yu was the only person who could break them into pieces. Other than the fact that this maidservant was spouting nonsense, what could she do to them even if she was born into an aristocratic family? 

The maidservant shook her head continuously and yelled, “I don’t know which Marquis manor it is. I only know that fourteen years ago I was carried back to the wrong house by another family. My father was killed by bandits. Ask around and you’ll find out! I am a di daughter of Marquis manor. I am the real di daughter of Marquis manor!” Suddenly, she felt that the threat just now was not appropriate, and she hastendly remedied it, “As long as the two lords are willing to help me find my family, my family would repay you handsomely, and today’s harsh treatment would be forgotten!  I still have the swaddling clothes left by my family in my room. The cloth is a tribute of the palace. I can show it to all of you!” 

The more she said it, the more bizarre it became. The two Dragon Scale guards shook their heads and laughed, and their actions became more harsh. 

As soon as Yu Pin Yan stepped into the threshold, he heard the maid’s threats and bribery. His solemn expression remained unchanged but his heart stirred slightly. He quickly walked forward, waved back the two subordinates and held the maid’s jaw and lifted her face to examine her carefully. 

The maid was already shedding tears when shed felt the cold temperature on her jaw. She couldn’t help but tremble. She strained to open her eyes and immediately gritted her teeth in a low bellow, “It’s you again! It’s not enough for you to hurt me once that you have to hurt me twice?  What grudge do I have against you?” 

These questions were asked in a confused manner. When did the great Marquis Yongle cross path to meet and interact with such a lowly maidservant? The two Dragon Scale guards felt that this person was sick in her head. 

Yu Pin Yan did not answer. Seeing that her face was seventy to eighty percent similar to Lin Shi, there was an answer in his heart. He flipped her sleeves and as expected saw a red birthmark in the shape of an orchid on her wrist. 

The younger sister who they had been searching for four years without finding her was actually found in prison.  One was a torture officer and the other was an imprisoned prisoner. He didn’t know how heavens had arranged this. Yu Pin Yan took two steps back and said in an indifferent tone, “There is no need to torture her. First, she will be put into a cell to await trial.” 

The two dragon Scale guards agreed softly and did not dare to ask other questions. 

Yu Pin Yan walked out of the dungeon, there was neither joy nor relief in his heart, nor the excitement of finding his family member. His only thought was——Why did she appear here and get involved in this matter? Was this a trap set up for him? 

All sorts of doubts accumulated in his heart, and he could not help frowning and decided to investigate it clearly first. 

^[1] It looks something like this: 

^[2] 本宮(Běngōng) – I, the one who owns this palace. Such as the queen will call herself ‘the palace’, and the princess with the official title can also call herself ‘the palace’.

^[3] 嫡 (dí) – Legitimate.

^[4] 庶(shù)- children born from a concubine

^[5] 孤(gū)- Gu. Similar to Zhen, it means ‘I’ and it is usually used by an emperor, king or a crown prince. 

^[6] 拶刑(zǎnxíng)- The literal translation is finger compressing. It is one technique of torture that was used in ancient China for interrogation of female suspects that aren’t life-threatening. It consisted of a set of six wooden sticks positioned around and between the fingers and connected by strings. Each time the prisoner refused to testify or confess, the string was pulled, slowly, agonisingly squeezing the fingers between the sticks until the bones were crushed. Credits: Wikipedia

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