My name is Xu Youfei, and I'm a fake crown prince.
Ten years ago, during a palace coup, I, the son of a gatekeeper, was ordered to die in the crown prince's place. By sheer luck, I survived and spent ten years hidden away in the Marquis's residence, thinking I could keep my head down for the rest of my life.
That is, until my father's other woman and her son tried to seize my position as heir, and the emperor's spies, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, surrounded the residence to verify my identity.
To keep my identity hidden, I married into the Gu family, who had caught the eye of the Prince of Jiangdong, and wed a wife rumored to be a madwoman.
I never expected the whole family to be abnormal.
My mother-in-law is obsessed with flowers, and the bones buried in her garden are all human. "Good son-in-law, the eight hundred thousand members of the Red Flower Society in Jiangnan are waiting for you to raise your arm and give the call."
My father-in-law persuades people through virtue, while secretly running a salt-smuggling operation that exterminates entire clans. "Good son-in-law, the hundred thousand river bandits of the Grand Canal's Boatmen's Society are waiting for your command."
My wife, rumored to be a mad, ugly fool, is actually stunning enough to topple kingdoms. "Husband, the money and provisions are ready. They can support the army for three years."
I let out a sigh. They all think I'm the real crown prince of the late emperor.
From top scholar in the prefectural exams to provincial graduate and palace laureate, I rose to the heights of success. Hand in hand with the late emperor's eldest princess, I climbed the imperial steps and stood with my foot on the usurping emperor's head, demanding:
"Your Majesty, why did you rebel back then?"
At the beginning, there was a cerebral hemorrhage operation. What is the purpose of participating in something like a poetry festival? Is it difficult to pretend to be a coward and say that you are illiterate and have no interest? You all know that the new emperor has PTSD from the former prince, but you still want to peacefully ascend the throne? Since there is no one to support him except the coachman and the maid, he should directly ask the Marquis for money and leave quickly with his two confidants. This is Gou's way. The normal way is to kill the prince and then swap identities with him without saying a word. After getting the confidant, he will start to contact the prince's old department and prepare to fight the new emperor from the beginning of his rise to the end. It is really outrageous for a fake prince to want to take the imperial examination with a clean body who is both abnormal and unscrupulous.
So is the heroine the eldest princess or Gu Linglong?