Untitled Episode chapter 13
722 Words
Chapter 13 : The Prince’s Debt
The air in the courtyard was so thick with tension it felt like it might snap. The Imperial Prince, a man used to people trembling at his feet, stared down at Lin Xia. He was a warrior and a royal; he did not negotiate with "common" women.
"You speak of my mother's seal," the Prince hissed, his hand resting on the hilt of his jade-encrusted sword. "If you are lying to me, I will burn this estate to the ground and sow the earth with salt."
"I am a mother of four daughters, Your Highness," Lin Xia replied, her voice as steady as a mountain stream. "I don't have the luxury of lying. I only have the luxury of leverage."
Lin Xia gestured toward the West Wing. "The 'Golden Son' is alive, but he was poisoned by the very Physician you sent to 'protect' him. If you kill me now, you lose the only person who knows how to keep that child breathing. And you lose the seal that proves your secret connection to this house."
The Prince looked at the West Wing. He saw A-Mei standing on the balcony, holding a small object wrapped in purple silk. Beside her stood A-Jiao, holding a torch. The message was clear: If the Prince moves against the mother, the daughters will destroy the evidence and the boy.
"Walk with me," the Prince growled.
They walked toward the koi pond, away from the prying ears of the guards and the trembling Master Chen.
"What do you want?" the Prince asked. "Gold? Land? A title for your husband?"
"I want the Chen estate to be declared an Imperial Trade Zone," Lin Xia said. "I want my daughters to have the legal right to sign contracts without a man's signature. And I want thirty days of absolute silence from the Tax Bureau while we produce the silk."
The Prince laughed, a dry, humorless sound. "You want to turn a silk factory into a kingdom for women. The Emperor will never allow it."
"The Emperor doesn't need to know," Lin Xia countered. "The Emperor only wants his Tribute Silk. If I give him the best silk he has ever seen, he won't care whose name is on the contract. But if you refuse... the Empress Dowager will find out that her favorite son has fathered a child with a common merchant’s concubine to hide his debts."
The Prince’s face went pale. Lin Xia had hit the mark. The Prince wasn't protecting the boy out of love; he was using the Chen estate to launder money he had stolen from his mother’s treasury.
Suddenly, the black carriage of Lord Yan rolled slowly into the courtyard, stopping just a few feet from them. The door didn't open, but a voice drifted out from the window.
"Your Highness," Lord Yan said, his voice smooth and cold. "The Lady is offering you a graceful exit. If the silk is produced, your debts disappear, and the boy remains a 'Chen' heir, hidden from the Court’s gossip. It is a logical trade."
The Prince looked at the carriage, then back at Lin Xia. "You have powerful friends for a woman from a ruined pavilion."
"I don't have friends," Lin Xia said. "I have interests."
The Prince turned to his Captain. "Withdraw the guards. The Chen estate is under my personal protection for thirty days. No one enters or leaves without Lady Wei’s permission."
Master Chen, watching from afar, nearly fainted with relief. But Lin Xia wasn't smiling. She knew the Prince would try to kill her the moment the silk was delivered.
As the Prince’s carriage began to leave, the Blind Lord Yan finally stepped out of his own carriage. He walked straight toward Lin Xia, his ironwood cane tapping on the stone. He stopped an inch from her.
"You played a dangerous hand, Silver Phoenix," Lord Yan whispered. "But you forgot one thing."
"And what is that?" Lin Xia asked.
"Concubine Hua isn't in her room," Lord Yan said, his head tilting toward the smoking ruins of the North Pavilion. "She escaped through the nursery window while you were talking. And she took the 'Golden Son' with her."
Lin Xia spun around. The nursery balcony was empty. A-Mei and A-Jiao were gone, and the cradle was overturned.
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