The Grand Princess Refuses to Take the Blame

Blurb One: In the long corridor with its carved beams and painted rafters, the flowerpots hold the princess's red lantern peppers. Behind the exquisite rock garden, the flower beds are planted with corn grown by the princess. In the shimmering koi pond, water chestnuts and lotus roots brought back by the princess are growing. Half of the vast imperial garden has been turned into a pastoral idyll, yet no one dares touch a single blade of grass or tree there. That is the emperor's most precious darling, the lifeblood of Princess Yongjia! Once, a favored concubine merely picked a cucumber, and the next day she was banished to the Cold Palace. So, would you dare touch anything? And what happened later? Later, Princess Yongjia became Eldest Princess Yongjia, and the imperial garden was finally spared, because she went to the court to torment the ministers instead! At first, Yongjia thought she was just a scapegoat. It was true that she had planted the vegetables in the imperial garden, but she was a pampered princess, born into a life of luxury. Why would she go farming instead of waiting for everything to be brought to her? Either something was wrong with her head, or someone had secretly ordered her to do it, right? Too bad, everyone in the realm thought it was the former. Later, it was true that Yongjia went to the court to torment the ministers, too. But if those useless ministers hadn't been so utterly incompetent that they nearly ruined the empire her family had built, would someone whose lifelong goal was to eat well and wait for death really have wanted to usurp the throne? Too bad, everyone in the realm thought she did. And later still, Eldest Princess Yongjia, the scapegoat, was granted in marriage to the Marquis of Shining Peace. With so many handsome young men at her own Molong Mountain estate, why would she want Wen Huaiqing, an old piece of eye candy? Was it because he used to nag her to study every day? Because he had a whole crowd of admirers? Too bad, everyone in the realm thought she had taken him by force, like a boulder crushing a crab. Blurb Two: "Your Majesty, if our plan is exposed, you and I may both lose our heads!" "Either we succeed or we die trying. To hell with it!" The young emperor, dressed in his dragon robe and seated on the throne, gritted his teeth. He was practically ready to pledge brotherhood with his trusted minister in blood and swear to kill their enemies. He waved to summon his most capable eunuch. "Li Delin, go deliver the decree yourself!" Outside the capital, at a luxurious estate beneath Molong Mountain, surrounded by hundreds of acres of fertile land, a woman in red accepted the imperial decree with a strained smile. "Li Delin, please convey my greetings to His Majesty. Tell him I am grateful for his great kindness, and that I will repay him handsomely one day!" Every word was heavily emphasized, leaving Li Delin, the seasoned chief eunuch, so frightened that his legs trembled. In less than a day, news that Eldest Princess Yongjia had been granted in marriage to the Marquis of Shining Peace had spread through every noble household in Chang'an. Rumors and sighs of sympathy abounded: "Not even the highest authority can defy the emperor! If the princess is to marry, who would dare refuse?" "The Marquis of Shining Peace. What a hard life!" "Such a fine young man, handsome and virtuous, ruined!" "The old marchioness has only this one legitimate son. This will surely anger her to death!" At the Marquis of Shining Peace's residence, the normally quiet inner courtyard resounded with firecrackers for half the day, a sight not seen in years. The old marchioness wept until her eyes were red. If her family hadn't held her back, she would have gone to the temple to eat vegetarian food and observe a year of fasting, to thank the heavens for their kindness. "At long last, we've gotten rid of that hot potato!" Scapegoat freelancer Eldest Princess x specializes in putting everyone in their place and is a hot potato Marquis of Shining Peace Note from March 4, 2020 Theme: