Chapter 38 - The Handwriting of the Divorce Letter

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Chen wondered. “Mother, am I wrong?”

The Queen hurriedly waved her hand. “Leave. I find you such an eyesore now.”

Lu Chen:”…”

“Okay, I’m leaving.”

After Lu Chen left, the Queen rubbed her temples. She had thought that the Crown Prince had informed Jinniang of his real identity when he was in the South.

She had thought that Qiao Jinniang was willing to be the Crown Prince’s concubine because they were a loving couple for three years and had Tuan’er.

After all, for the noble girls in Chang’an, being the first concubine of the Crown Prince was not a bad choice.

The biological mother of Prince Lu, who was a daughter of an aristocratic family, was married to Emperor Huilin as a concubine, who was only an unfavored prince back then.

However, she didn’t expect that Jinniang was unwilling to be a concubine, not to mention that her son actually sprinkled salt on Jinniang’s wound.

The Queen said to a mammy she trusted, “I am such a smart person, but why did I give birth to such a silly son? Did someone swap my son too?”

Since it was known that Duke Anyuan’s eldest daughter was swapped, many nobles in Chang’an also doubted the identities of their children.

The mammy smiled and said, “His Royal Highness is brilliant, handsome, and talented. He looks so much like you. How could he be possibly swapped?

“I think His Royal Highness is too proud to realize that he has fallen in love!”

The Queen said, “Sooner or later, he’ll regret it, just like his dad did.”

…

When Qiao Jinniang returned to the Duke Mansion, the Duke and the Duchess hadn’t come back from the palace banquet yet.

Back in the Jin Garden, Jinniang saw Qiao Ruoyi waiting for her.

Qiao Ruoyi saluted. “Sister.”

Jinniang hurriedly fetched an ointment and handed it to Qiao Ruoyi. “I’m so sorry. This ointment can reduce the swelling.”

Ruoyi took the ointment and said, “Thank you, Sister, but you did nothing wrong. It was Fourth Sister who beat me. It has nothing to do with you.”

Qiao Jinniang said, “No, it’s my fault. That jerk was talking about me, but Qiao Ruoshui thought he was talking about you.”

Ruoyi was a bit frightened when she heard what Qiao Jinniang called the Crown Prince. “Sister, don’t call His Royal Highness that. It may bring you trouble.”

Jinniang said angrily, “He is a jerk, a scum. Even if he is burnt to ashes, his bone ashes are dirty!”

Ruoyi’s heart trembled when she heard Qiao Jinniang scolding the Crown Prince.

Her Second Sister, who was so gentle and nice, looked so fierce when she was cursing the Crown Prince.

Qiao Ruoyi asked tentatively, “Sister, did the Crown Prince do anything to harm you?”

Jinniang didn’t want to hide it from Qiao Ruoyi. Anyway, she had already decided to tell it to the Duke and the Duchess.

“After I had my coming-of-age ceremony, my foster parents were seriously ill and my relatives all coveted our restaurant. It happened that my father and I saved Lu Chen from a river.

“At that time, he lost his memory and had nowhere to go, and I needed a husband who was willing to marry into my family, so as arranged by my foster parents, he married into my family.

“We spent three happy years together, but at the last Lantern Festival, he accidentally fell into a river and remembered everything. Then without any explanation, he just took my son back to Chang’an.

“I waited for him for a few months, only to get a divorce letter from him. When I returned to Chang’an and finally met him, he actually said that he wanted me to be his concubine.

“Maybe he was afraid that I would cause trouble, so he said he would allow me to be his first concubine, but who f*cking cares? He divorced me, seized my son, and made me his concubine…”

Qiao Ruoyi said, “Sister, being the Crown Prince’s concubine is different.

“To put it bluntly, you’ll become an imperial concubine when the Crown Prince becomes the emperor.

“If you’re his first concubine, you’ll at least be one of the four major imperial concubines. Plus, you’ve given birth to a son for him, so maybe you’ll directly be canonized as the Noble Imperial Concubine.

“Although Father is Duke Anyuan, it’s not an insult to you at all to become the Crown Prince’s first concubine.

“Moreover, His Majesty hasn’t taken any imperial concubines for 20 years, so the crown princess will probably be the daughter of a civil official or from a powerful family.”

The more Qiao Ruoyi said, the gloomier she found Jinniang’s face. She then coughed awkwardly and said,

“However, since you had formally married the Crown Prince, you should be his wife. How can he demote you to be his concubine?!”

Qiao Ruoyi asked tentatively, “But since you were once married to His Royal Highness, you may not be able to marry someone else.

“And since His Royal Highness is insisting you to marry into the East Palace, you may need to control your temper.”

Jinniang frowned and said, “Even if I refuse, so what? When Father and Mother come back, I’ll tell them about this matter. If they feel guilty for me… they will definitely not force me to marry into the East Palace.

“If the Emperor is angry, then I will become a nun and spend the rest of my life in the temple.”

Qiao Ruoyi hurriedly said, “No, Second Sister, there is always a way out, but you must not tell Father and Mother about your relationship with the Crown Prince.”

Qiao Ruoyi thought that even she felt that being the Crown Prince’s first concubine was a very good choice for Jinniang.

If Father and Mother knew about this, they probably wouldn’t feel angry at all.

What’s more, there were so many things Father and Mother had to consider.

Qiao Ruoyi said, “Although Father and Mother love you, as a high-ranking official, Father is always very cautious. He will definitely not disobey the Crown Prince’s order.

“Although Mother loves you very much, she still has to consider our two younger brothers…

“And the entire Duke Dingyuan’s Mansion is counting on her. She may not have a choice.”

Qiao Jinniang clenched her handkerchief. “I wanted to keep it a secret and asked Mother to find me a fiancé before the imperial decree is issued.

“His Majesty won’t force a woman who has already got a fiancé to marry into the East Palace, will he?

“But if I don’t tell them now, everyone would misunderstand that the Crown Prince is interested in you.

“If that happens, it will tarnish your reputation and affect your marriage.”

Ruoyi smiled and said, “I don’t care about my reputation. Besides, I don’t want to marry into a noble family.

“Second Sister, you should ask Mother to find a fiancé for you as soon as possible.

“Then you can spread what happened between you and the Crown Prince in the South throughout Chang’an.

“Make that jerk lose face!”

Qiao Jinniang felt what Qiao Ruoyi said made sense.

She should find a fiancé first before wide-spreading this scandal of the Crown Prince.

She would rather marry an ordinary man than marry the Crown Prince. This fact would definitely disgrace that jerk.

“But then you’ll be wronged,” Qiao Jinniang said to Ruoyi.

Qiao Ruoyi smiled and said, “I’m still young and my biological mother is sick. Mother has talked to me about my marriage, but I don’t want to marry so early.

“I don’t care about my reputation. Besides, when you are married, the truth will naturally come to light.”

Qiao Jinniang said, “I heard that you’re very good at literature. I’ve brought a lot of books out of print from the South, pick some.”

Qiao Jinniang ordered Nuomi to open the crate full of books.

Qiao Ruoyi found that these were all precious books out of print. “Sister, how come you have so many precious books?

“These are all handwritten copies and are rare to see.”

Qiao Jinniang said, “Some were handwritten by the jerk from memory, and some were bought by him with my money!”

Back then, Lu Chen often spent hundreds of taels of silver on books, and she always gave him the money without saying a word. Thinking of that, she really regretted it.

When Qiao Ruoyi realized that the “jerk” in Qiao Jinniang’s mouth was the Crown Prince, she pursed her lips and said,

“The jerk’s handwriting is similar to Master Liu’s style and probably even better than his.”

Jinniang asked Qiao Ruoyi, “Master Liu?”

Qiao Ruoyi explained, “Master Liu is from the Liu Family in Longnan. He is a famous calligrapher.

“In Chang’an, many young noblemen learned his handwriting.

“Among them, the Crown Prince learned his handwriting the best.

His Majesty once praised His Royal Highness’ handwriting, so everyone in Chang’an scrambled to learn Master Liu’s handwriting, but no one was as talented as the crown prince. So, his handwriting is better than anyone else.”

Qiao Jinniang looked at a handwritten book of Lu Chen and recalled the handwriting on the divorce letter…

Although they looked identical, it was obvious that Lu Chen’s handwriting seemed to be more powerful, while the handwriting in the divorce letter seemed to be a little more elegant.

Could there really be some misunderstanding about the divorce letter?

But even if there was a misunderstanding, it was a fact that Lu Chen was a jerk!