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

-襄儿(xiāng ér)- Xiang’er, Yu Xiang

-沈妙琪(Shěn miào qí)- Shen Miao Qi, Yu Pin Yan’s biological younger sister.

-彩棋(cǎi qí)- Cai Qi, Shen Miao Qi’s name as a maidservant

-赵安顺(zhào Ānshùn)- Zhao An Shun, Magistrate of Yun Zhou. 

-赵敏慧(zhào mǐn huì)- Zhao Min Hui, the eldest daughter of Zhao An Shun and Shen Miao Qi’s former master.

-方志晨(fāng zhì chén)- Fang Zhi Chen, Pei Shi’s son

-虞思雨(yú sī yù)- Yu Si Yu, the female and male lead’s sister

-老太太(lǎotàitai)- Old Madam

After thorough investigation, that maid was called Cai Qi, formerly known as Shen Miao Qi. She was the first ranking head maidservant of Zhao Minhui, the eldest daughter of Zhao An Shun.  He was the magistrate of Yun Zhou who came to the capital to report on his work. Yun Zhou was located in the extreme south of Lingnan^[1]. The air in Yun Zhou was filled with malaria and inconvenient transportation. It was notorious for its inhospitable natural environment and unruly people. It was not easy to be a magistrate there, and most of the magistrates were children from poor and humble families who had no backing, or unlucky people who had offended the rich and powerful people. 

Not only did Zhao An Shun come from a poor and humble family, but he had also offended many of his colleagues with his straightforward personality. Seeing that he could no longer be able to work in the capital, he had no choice but to apply to be appointed to a post outside the capital. But as he had no one to help him mediate, in the end he was sent to Yunzhou where he stayed for more than ten years. 

The Dragon Scale guards checked him over and over again and found nothing suspicious but they found something wrong with the charcoal. It turns out that all of the charcoal piled in the corner had been soaked in a liquid medicine made of safflower, peach kernel, musk, Cyathula officinalis and other herbs that were mixed together and concocted. When it was burned in the fire, the medicinal properties were emitted out. 

Safflower and other substances were harmful to the fetus. After undergoing special processing and curing, it could be called Tiger Wolf Medicine^[2]. Every family and household came to add charcoal, the smell of the smoke had already filled in the temple’s air for a long time but the Crown Princess was far away from it. The female physician did not notice it because the smell of smoke was not as strong as before. 

There were several other pregnant women in the temple who also suffered symptoms of miscarriage, like the Crown Princess that night.

Yu Pin Yan took the dossier and read it over repeatedly. In the end, he summoned a few of his best subordinates and ordered them to follow the two clues: charcoal and herbal medicine. The amount of medicine required was enormous for several hundred catties of charcoal to be soaked. No matter how well concealed it was, there would always be traces left behind. Moreover, several suspects had been  captured at the purchasing stage. 

He left the last two men and ordered them to investigate Shen Miao Qi. Aside from her life experience from childhood to adulthood, even the few grains of rice and the few mouthfuls of water every day had to be truthfully reported. 

When all of them had left, he showed a gloomy and anxious expression. 

Finding his biological younger sister also meant finding Xianger’s family. When things got out of hand, Xiang’er was bound to distance herself from him and might even leave the Marquis manor and follow them to Lingnan. 

Because of this concern, Yu Pin Yan wasn’t keen on finding his blood related younger sister. He had only sent out trustworthy household servants instead of the omnipotent Dragon Scale guards. When Lin Shi urged him, he would ask about it. Other than that, he would not think about it. Otherwise, with his ability as a commander, how was it possible for him to  spend four years looking for her to no avail? Other than that, he didn’t care about his relatives^[3], how could a younger sister that he had never met before be compared to Xiang’er, who he was interdependent with? It was fine if she was found. But if she wasn’t found, then he would just keep dragging it since he didn’t care. 

However, he didn’t look for her but the heavens spontaneously sent her to his doorstep on their own accord and even under such a dangerous situation. If Shen Miao Qi’s identity was verified to be his biological younger sister, it must be reported to the Crown Prince and the emperor. But as to when and how to report it, Yu Pin Yan had to reconsider it. 

If the Crown Princess had successfully given birth to a pair of boy and girl twins^[4] this time, it would naturally be easy to say. But, if something happened to the Crown Princess and the foetus, the Marquis manor would be implicated. 

All kinds of consequences were considered thoroughly. Yu Pin Yan did not ask someone to release Shen Miao Qi and detained her in the dungeon. When the case was uncovered, he would report it to the Emperor in its original form for the Emperor to make a decision. 

He was the sharpest knife in the emperor’s hands, and a powerful weapon that existed to clear the way for the Crown Prince to ascend to the throne. Although the Crown Prince was a man of virtue and talent, his weakness was his gentleness.  The Emperor was afraid that he would be suppressed by his powerful officials and consort kin^[5] relatives in a hundred years’ time, which was why he made a drastic reorganisation of the imperial court. It was to leave the Crown Prince with a peaceful and prosperous life. The Crown Prince did not have a talent for pioneering a new territory, but he had the ability to sustain the rules and regulation in place. The Emperor would die in peace once the Han Dynasty did not have internal and external difficulties. 

The reason why the Emperor felt reassured to give Yu Pin Yan such tremendous power was because Marquis Yongle manor had been loyal to the imperial family for generations, and Yu Pin Yan’s wisdom in judging the situation. 　

As a result, Yu Pin Yan dared not hide anything from the Emperor. As for the Old Madam, he didn’t inform her at all, so that she wouldn’t have to worry about it. 

Yu Xiang was unaware that the real female lead had entered the capital, and had even met Yu Pin Yan. She had a large blister on her back and felt really uncomfortable, so Yu Xiang and the Old Madam informed others that they were leaving and went down the mountain to head home.

When Fang Zhi Chen saw that she had left, he gave a random excuse to Pei Shi and also went down the mountain. Currently, he was still lodging in the Marquis manor. He thought that he might be able to get close to this beautiful woman in private when he returned. 

Yu Si Yu sent someone to keep an eye on Fang Zhi Chen and hurriedly followed when she saw him leave. Seeing that he had left, she hurriedly followed saying that she was going back to take care of her younger sister. 

The Old Madam didn’t believe a word she said, but nothing could go wrong with Xiang’er overseeing her. Thus, she nodded her head. At that time, the news of the Crown Princess giving birth prematurely had not been spread yet and the Bai Yun temple was not sealed. Thus, they walked down very smoothly. When they were halfway through the route, the entire mountain top was surrounded by Dragon Scale guards. Don’t even mention humans, not even a fly could fly out. 

However, the Crown Prince was magnanimous in nature and loved the people as his own son. So, he only arrested all the Daoist priests and the residence of the courtyard. Those who were not suspected of being involved were able to return to their courtyard after registering and writing down their statement at the Dragon Scale guards’ office, and they were not tortured to extort confessions. This act had won the great favour of the people. 

With Yu Pin Yan around, the Crown Prince tossed this matter aside and waited for the Crown Princess to give birth. This was his first di son, the di grandson that his father had been waiting for six years. If a boy was born, his position as a crown prince will be genuinely secured. Even if something was to happen to him, with his father’s temperament, the throne would be inherited by The Emperor’s di grandson, and not to his imperial brothers. 

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^[1] 岭南(Lǐngnán)- Lingnan/South of the Nanling mountains. It is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau as well as modern northern Vietnam. Credit: Wikipedia

^[2] 虎狼之药(hǔ láng zhī yào)- Tiger Wolf Medicine is the name of traditional Chinese medicinal properties. Xu Shen, the imperial physician of the Ming Dynasty, used Tiger Wolf medicine as a medicine to cure Emperor Shizong’s acute disease. Translated from Wikipedia. 

^[3] 六亲不认[liùqīnbùrèn]- not recognising one’s family; self-centered and not making any allowances for the needs of one’s relative

^[4] 龙凤胎(lóngfèngtāi)- A pair of boy and girl twins. 

^[5] 外戚(wài qī)- Consort kin is the lineage/chinese kin (a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor), or a group related to an empress dowager or a spouse of a Chinese dynastic ruler or a warlord. The leading figure of the clan was either a (usually male) sibling, cousin, or parent of the Empress or consort. Credits: Wikipedia

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