The Villain Runs Wild

Ch 60 - Ruthless Crown Prince x Foolish Prince: No Blood Ties


With his consciousness suddenly removed, Lin Sui opened his eyes to a chaotic, noisy scene.

Pavilions and terraces with an antique feel, he wasn’t in the modern era any more.

A small palace eunuch shouted for help in a panic, a few imperial bodyguards jumped into the water and fished a person out.

Lin Sui still hadn’t had time to receive memories from this world, but he could acutely feel that the gazes of everyone at the scene looking at him were wrong, the few looking on with malice were especially clear.

Those people were wearing embroidered brocades, they were clearly royalty.

Impatient to jump to the next world after finishing the last one, the System which hadn’t made a peep in a long time opened its mouth: [You’re the Crown Prince, the one fished out of the water is the Son of Fortune, your younger brother, who was kicked in by you in full view of everyone.]

Of course, the one who kicked him had been the original owner, but the System couldn’t conceal the glee in its tone when talking about it.

Lin Sui’s complexion was very poor, owing to the words “younger brother”.

The System had absolutely done it on purpose, wanting to use this method to punish him.

But Lin Sui didn’t care about this issue, in any case he wasn’t actually Yan Qin’s older brother. But if they did have a blood relationship, then Lin Sui wouldn’t follow the old methods in this world, at the very least they wouldn’t have an intimate relationship.

All in all, this would be a little challenge to human relationships, and a little provocation for Jinjiang[1].

“Carry him into this One's[2] palace and call for the imperial physician!”

The palace maids nearby didn’t dare to delay, and the group of people rushed into the Eastern Palace one after the other.

“Third brother, you went overboard this time. Although Fifth Brother said a few things he shouldn’t have, he’s a fool, what does he know? How could you bother with him?”

To the side, a pretty woman wearing goose-yellow garments looked at Lin Sui disapprovingly as she spoke, and the others nodded.

“He’s a real fool, but I’m afraid some people are just pretending to be foolish."

Lin Sui didn’t need to know the entire course of events. He could roughly tell the groups these people belonged to based on their movements and the glances they exchanged, and, combined with the young lady’s words, he outlined an approximate possibility.

Lin Sui’s cold gaze swept past everyone present. The Fourth Princess who had spoken shrank back, and the others’ looks were all different, but they were all acting like they didn’t understand.

Inside the Crown Prince’s palace, the pale young man of slight build who’d been completely drenched had already been changed into clean clothes and was lying down on the bed, and the imperial physician with grizzled hair was checking his pulse, thinking for a moment, and writing down a prescription.

“How is he?”

“Responding to His Highness the Crown Prince, the Fifth Highness just received quite a fright, he wasn’t in the water for long and doesn’t have internal symptoms, but this subordinate is afraid he has signs of cold shock, so he hasn’t yet woken. This subordinate will administer acupuncture and decoct two doses of medicine for him, that should suffice.”

The physician looked at the dour young Crown Prince in front of him and spoke deferentially, then began administering acupuncture following the young man’s assent.

Lin Sui had already finished digesting the information he received about this world during the time it took to return to the palace and that interval just now.

This time, he wasn’t called Lin Sui, but rather Yan An, with A-Sui being his childhood name and his birth mother’s surname being Lin, and he was the Crown Prince of the fictional Dynasty of Dayan.

Yan Qin was the Fifth Prince, and his story would begin from this day.

He was originally an intellectually disabled Prince, but he was not a fool from birth. He was particularly intelligent before he was eight years old, he knew how to read at four, could recite poems at seven, and was even called a child prodigy. He was the Emperor’s favourite son.

But a high fever at the age of eight left him foolish, and his birth mother died of an illness that same year. The Emperor was a fickle person, and following the death of his birth mother, Noble Consort Wan, he was also gradually left out in the cold.

Now he was fourteen years old, and he had received countless humiliations in the six years since. His mother was envied by many concubines before, he was despised by many princes and used to be matchless, but now everyone could bully him.

During today’s encounter he’d been incited to say vague, mocking things about the Crown Prince’s insolence and lack of moral standards in front of the Crown Prince, and had been kicked into the lotus pond by the infuriated original owner.

This was actually a clear attempt at instigating disharmony, but one was a fool who didn’t understand anything, and the other was an undeveloped, poisonous brat whose brains didn’t work properly, so the attempt was actually able to succeed.

After receiving a shock from falling into the water, Yan Qin’s mind was miraculously restored, and he began laying low, concealing his strength and biding his time as he quietly and calmly participated in the competition for the Emperor’s title, until at last he became the only winner.

After roughly consolidating Yan Qin’s matter, Lin Sui turned his thoughts towards the body’s original owner.

His situation was even more terrible than he’d imagined, and his identity in this world was unlike before. Although his identity was still privileged, he was being held back by his circumstances.

The original owner was the Empress’ first son, so it stood to reason that he should have been honoured since birth and enjoyed a multitude of favours, but this child was not what the Emperor wanted.

As Lin Sui saw it, the Emperor actually had no skills and originally ascended the throne by relying on the influence of the family of the Empress’ mother, which lead the power of his external relatives to increase more and more after he became Emperor. The Empress’ father was the Governor of the Department of State Affairs, he led numerous officials and had once joined the Imperial College, so he had who knew how many students in the Imperial Court, and his power was deeply entrenched after several years.

The Emperor viewed his father-in-law unfavourably and had long since wanted to remove his power, not just from the Imperial Court, but also from the Imperial Harem.

The Empress was not favoured, to the point where she was without child for several years, but she exhausted every possible means and finally became pregnant.

After giving birth to the Crown Prince, the Empress’ body became weaker and weaker and she lingered in her sickbed for many years, but when the Crown Prince was twelve years old, she couldn’t hold on any longer and passed away from her illness.

The original owner had a bad temper since birth and, on top of that, the Empress had always instilled in him that only he was the most honourable prince, and that the others were all born of lowly concubines, so he became increasingly conceited and arrogant, obstinate and self-opinionated. He didn’t have many talents, but he thought himself extraordinary.

But even though his brain didn’t function properly, he knew there were many who wanted to drag him down from his position and replace him, so he became increasingly ruthless and imperious.

It actually wasn’t that he didn’t want to pretend to be virtuous, it was just that he knew his father didn’t like him and didn’t want to let him stay as Crown Prince to inherit the throne, so he had long since secretly hated the Emperor.

His various actions and conduct was a sort of provocation, as if trying to say ‘look at me, I’m in a bad mood and you can’t get rid of me’. Everyone both inside and outside the palace knew the Crown Prince was temperamental, ruthless, and conceited.

But this situation of those around him watching him like tigers stalking their prey was not the main reason Lin Sui felt so terrible.

The main reason was that… He wasn’t the real Crown Prince.

The Emperor naturally had hand in the Empress being childless for so many years, as a result, even if she tried her best to conceive, she wouldn’t have been able to keep the child. But she had already made underhanded preparations. She found three women outside of the palace who were pregnant at the same time as her, chose one of the boys, and passed the pauper off as a prince.

The Governor of the Department of State Affairs naturally knew about this and enthusiastically came to her help. The father-daughter pair knew that if they wanted to achieve a good conclusion, they could not allow themselves to be led by the nose, so they quietly carried out this power-seizing operation.

After Lin Sui found out about this, he let out a sigh of relief. At least he and Yan Qin were not blood-related.

This history was the ultimate reason for the original owner’s downfall. At that time, the Governor of State Affairs and the Empress hadn’t handled everything properly, and there were three insiders concealing their identity and living elsewhere. They were later found by Yan Qin, and served Yan Qin to completely cut off the obstacle the original owner presented.

The fingers of the person on the bed moved slightly and his lashes trembled, he was about to come to.

Lin Sui had been standing close to the bed and leaning extremely close, so he immediately discovered something odd.

He leaned close as if with concern, the palace maids didn’t dare stand too close, nor did they dare break the rules and go look.

Yan Qin was in a vacant state of confusion, his body so weak he had no strength to move, and his brain was caught up in chaotic memories.

At that moment, he felt a burst of danger, forcing him to open his eyes.

The face of the youth in front of him was delicate and outstanding, and gave him the feeling of both familiarity and unfamiliarity. It seemed as though he should know who that person was, but all the memories of his childhood were churning around in his mind at that moment, so he didn’t recognise him.

“No matter what the others say, you just have to say you were playing around with me, understood?”

The light eyes of the person in front of him were dangerous and cold, and his voice was very soft, but Yan Qin didn’t dare be careless.

Because a slender white hand was clutching his neck, brimming with menace.

Yan Qin nodded timidly, trying to figure out the current situation.

“Don’t play any tricks, I don’t care if you’re a fool or not, remember my words, otherwise I will kill you.”

The young man’s eyes were dark, bringing to mind a dangerous, coiling viper.

Yan Qin nodded, both eyes open with a particularly good and obedient look.

Lin Sui took back his hand, his heart feeling unexpectedly strange.

He had actually never seen Yan Qin look like this. When Yan Qin showed up in front of him, he had the appearance of a strong and silent young man, and yet now Yan Qin was only about fourteen years old.

His nutrition had been bad due to poor treatment, so he wasn’t as tall and straight as before and looked particularly thin and weak.

And, because he’d been a fool for many years, he stared blankly even now, looking like a stupid, un-weaned puppy.

A burst of noise came from outside the palace hall, followed by the words “His Imperial Majesty arrives”, and kneeling in the palace hall.

Lin Sui frowned almost imperceptibly and saluted the Emperor who was angrily rushing in.

The Emperor was nearing forty, but he looked younger, so as a result his complexation looked ruddier with his anger.

“Unfilial son!”

The Emperor reprimanded him as soon as he arrived, calling him “wicked and incorrigible”, “vicious and merciless”, and even “incapable of handling important tasks”.

The palace maids bent down even closer to the ground, wishing they could be deaf and blind.

In the original story, when the original owner heard this indiscriminate criticism his insecurity turned into resentment, and when he said that Yan Qin had been incited by others, not only did he not receive the Emperor’s approval, the Emperor instead felt that what he’d said was right.

The Emperor had long since wanted to depose his heir, but, firstly, it was against ancient tradition since, although the original owner was ruthless and imperious, he hadn’t committed any major offences, so he didn’t have a convincing reason to depose him. Secondly, the Governor of State Affairs was still in the Imperial Court, and he wouldn’t let the Crown Prince be deposed.

The Emperor’s anger made him unwell, so naturally he saw faults everywhere with the Crown Prince, often verbally berating him and placing him under house arrest without his salary.

Lin Sui’s eyes swept past the Imperial Consorts, Princes, and Princesses that came in at the Emperor’s heels, revealing an angry and puzzled expression.

“Why is Father Emperor so furious? Did your humble son[3] do anything to displease You[4]?”

The Emperor responded, fuming with anger: “You still have the audacity to ask me?! Fifth son is your younger brother, and you actually kicked him into the lotus pond, how could you do such a thing? You have no benevolence in your heart!”

“Your humble son and Fifth Brother accidentally lost control when playing around, how did it turn into your humble son wanting to harm Fifth Brother? Fifth Brother is loveable and naïve, how could your humble son do such a thing? Were You listening to someone’s gossip again?”

“If You don’t believe me, ask Fifth Brother.”

Lin Sui swept a cold glance past everyone, looking wronged.

Everyone choked when hearing Lin Sui using the adjective “loveable and naïve”.

Everyone turned their gazes to Yan Qin, who was lying on the bed. The youth’s complexion was pale, and his expression was confused and vacant, looking like he didn’t know what was going on.

Yan Qin had already understood the current situation during the process of events, and knew this was the time to make a choice.

He could take in everyone’s expressions at once, and for some inexplicable reason he felt that the Crown Prince was looking at him with a slight smile, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to have just been an illusion.

If he agreed with the other Princes, then the Crown Prince would bear a grudge against him, but if he chose the Crown Prince, he’d still have a bit of leeway with the other Princes. He was a “fool”, after all.

“Imperial Father, your humble son and Elder Brother Crown Prince were playing around, it was your humble son who accidentally fell in, but the lotuses were blooming so beautifully that your humble son really wanted to pick one to bring back!”

The youth spoke and acted just like a young child, he seemed to not sense the hostility within the palace, still happily talking about those flowers.

“Fifth Brother, why are you saying that? We saw you get kicked down by Elder Brother Crown Prince.”

The Fourth Princess was frank and outspoken, giving him a puzzled look.

“But I was just playing with Elder Brother Crown Prince…” Yan Qin mumbled to himself, “Those flowers were so pretty.”

The crowd cursed the fool in their hears, only Lin Sui had a smile in his eyes.

It seemed like they wouldn’t reach a conclusion by continuing to speak about this matter. Although many people had seen it, the Fifth Prince himself said so, and His Majesty the Emperor had no way to charge Lin Sui with this crime.

Just as he was about to continue speaking with a bad look on his face, Lin Sui spoke out again.

“I’m afraid there are those harbouring malicious intentions who want to obtain the position of heir to the throne, so they opine irresponsibly and sow discord.”

As his words were clearly laid out, everyone’s faces changed. Although this was a common understanding behind their backs and they all knew each other’s thoughts to some extent, when clearly spoken out loud, no one was willing to admit it.

“Your Royal Highness, you can’t make irresponsible remarks.”

The one who spoke was a woman beside the Emperor, she was wearing a light blue dress, her hair was combed into a flying fairy bun[5], a huadian[6] flower was painted on her forehead, and her appearance was elegant. She was the Fourth Princess’ birth mother, Consort Shu[7].

The witnesses at the lakeside just now were the Fourth Princess, Sixth Princess, Seventh Prince, and Eight Prince, but only the Fourth Princess spoke out, so Consort Shu had no choice but to speak.

The Emperor frowned: “Fine, stop spouting such drivel again. Regardless of whether or not you were playing around, as an older brother, you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Your humble son will remember. While Fifth Brother was unconscious, your humble son blamed himself deeply, so your humble son was planning on letting Fifth Brother reside in the Eastern Palace to properly carry out my duty to care for him as an older brother.”

Lin Sui’s expression was cold, his tone also particularly harsh.

These remarks slightly shocked everyone again, they hadn’t expected the Crown Prince to actually feign like that.

On the bed, Yan Qin frowned inwardly, but didn’t show anything on the outside.

In the end, Lin Sui was still punished by the Emperor to be under house arrest for a few days, and was transferred to the Ministry of Rites to work.

As everyone knew, the Ministry of Rites was not without its benefits, and it would be a kind of torture for the moody Crown Prince to spend time in that place with old pedants who talked about the rules and customs all day.

Although they failed to make a big fuss out of it this time, behind the scenes people were a little satisfied with the result.

Lin Sui actually didn’t care. In the original story, the original owner was also transferred to the Ministry of Rites, but he was unwilling to go and in a particularly bad mood. Lin Sui was not the same, there was someone in the Ministry of Rites that he wanted to find, this just happened to be an opportunity.

With the Emperor’s departure, the entire Eastern Palace fell quiet once more.

Yan Qin witnessed everything, and shrank back when Lin Sui turned back to look at him, squeezing out a shy and obedient smile.

“Your Highness, the Fifth Prince’s medicine is ready.”

The senior palace maid, Fu Shu, stood outside the door, holding a tray in her hands, waiting for orders.

“Have him drink.”

Lin Sui didn’t care and spoke impatiently, flicking his sleeves and leaving the inner palace hall.

Yan Qin obediently took the bowl of medicine and declined Fu Shu’s help, drinking the bowl in one gulp and hiding the darkness in his eyes.

He still remembered that day he got the fever when he was eight years old. Someone had slipped him a drug that made him drowsy. That night had been chilly, and he’d been picked up and placed somewhere where the wind was very cold, he couldn’t open his eyes, and awoke at midnight with a high fever.

Someone had harmed him, but he didn’t know who was behind it.

His birth mother’s death was also particularly strange. As he remembered it, his birth mother was a very healthy person, so how could she have fallen ill and died from simple agitation?

He was also deeply aware that he had been too sharp when he was a child. His birth mother had no external family influence to rely on, which incurred disaster. At the time, his grandfather was just a Senior Official in the Imperial Censorate. He was an upright and honest official who had offended several officials, so it was normal for there to really be someone targeting him.

Although he had suffered all kinds of humiliations during his years as a food, they had also allowed him to see many things. After all, no one would be guarded against a fool.

Yan Qin finished drinking the medicine and handed the bowl back to Shu Fu, then used a handkerchief to wipe the medicine from his lips and yawned tiredly.

Fu Shu bowed and drew the curtains.

Yan Qin lay on the bed, thinking about the culprit behind the scenes.

Was it the late Empress, the Imperial Noble Consort, or Consort De[8]?

Yan Qin thought about the scene of the Crown Prince trading barbs with everyone and lowered his eyes in thought.

According to his observation these past several years, this person was incapable of handling important tasks, so if he succeeded the throne, the land would fall into chaos.

Regardless of who the culprit behind the scenes was, this heir had to be deposed.

Lin Sui gave Yan Qin space to think alone and walked into his study.

Presently, His Majesty had plenty of sons, and although it wasn’t as bad as nine sons competing for the throne[9], there were still six sons involved.

The Emperor’s eldest son was born from the Imperial Noble Consort, but the Eldest Prince died when he was two years old, and the original owner hadn’t even been born at the time.

It was unknown whether the Eldest Prince had died from having been born sickly, but at that time Noble Consort Chen had been promoted to Imperial Noble Consort.

The Second Prince’s birth mother was just a First Class Attendant, so after he was born he was adopted under the Imperial Noble Consort’s name. He was nineteen years old today, and had been granted the title of Qing.

He was the biggest threat to obtaining the title of Emperor, the second one was the Seventh Prince.

The Fifth Prince, Yan Qin, was actually still in between them, but following his stupidity and the death of his birth mother, Noble Consort Wan, he had no competitive strength.

In this dynasty, the order of the princes and princesses was only determined by age, and men and women were not separated by themselves. The Fourth Princess’ birth mother was Consort Shu, the Sixth Princess’ birth mother was Concubine Yue[10], and the Seventh Prince’s birth mother was Consort De.

The Seventh prince was currently only eleven years old, there were no signs of his development at present, but Consort De intended to obtain a good future for her son.

The Eighth Prince’s birth mother was Concubine Xian, who was from the Imperial Noble Consort’s faction.

Power in the Imperial Court was mostly divided into five factions. The first was the Royalists, most of who were confidantes to the Son of Heaven, so they did whatever the Emperor said, though they were few in number.

The second was the Crown Prince’s faction, headed by the Governor of the Department of State Affairs. The third was was the Second Prince King Qing’s faction, headed by the Imperial Noble Consort’s older brother, who was the Attending Imperial Censor in charge of the Imperial Guards.

The fourth was the Seventh Prince’s faction, headed by Consort De’s father who was the Governor of the Ministry of Works, but this faction wasn’t very distinct. After all, the Seventh Prince was still young, so many officials were still observing.

The fifth was the Neutral faction, they hadn’t picked anyone and continued to watch from the sidelines.

Lin Sui grabbed a brush and wrote on the fine rice paper, thinking about how Yan Qin rose to power in the original novel.

Yan Qin continued pretending to be a fool until he was seventeen years old. At that time, the original owner was nineteen, and more and more faults had been exposed under the continuous pressure.

He was fully aware that he might really be deposed if he continued like this, but he was a stupid, tyrannical, and irritable person, so he completely ignored his grandfather’s advice and even wanted to kill his father to forcefully seize the throne.

But, at the time, he didn’t know he wasn’t the Emperor’s biological son because the Empress and the Governor of State Affairs had never told him, so he firmly believed that he was legitimate.

The Emperor was attacked by an assassin during the Autumn Hunt, so Yan Qin blocked the arrow for the Emperor and seized the opportunity to “come back to his right mind”.

With the return of that former prodigy son, the grace of having his life saved, and his son’s admiration for himself, the choice for heir in the old Emperor’s heart was swayed again.

Afterwards, it was revealed that the Crown Prince wasn’t a blood member of the royal family. The old Emperor was furious, so he deposed the Crown Prince and conferred him a white silk[11], and the original owner was hung in the Cold Palace.

Lin Sui smiled slightly and put down his brush.

If he and Yan Qin had really been blood-related, then he supposed he would have had to be more tactful and indirect, but since they had no blood ties, he was just going to act without the slightest scruple.

But he wasn’t planning on going along with the original course of development, that would be too slow.

In the original story, Yan Qin only regained his “right mind” at seventeen years old, and although he had no outside family to rely on, he received the Emperor’s deep fondness.

King Qing and the others simply never expected that person they had long since stopped caring about to actually be their strongest opponent.

The Crown Prince was deposed when Yan Qin was eighteen years old, and he contested against King Qing, the Seventh Prince, and the Eight Prince, beating them one by one, for as long four years. He succeeded the throne at twenty-one years old, but he still had to resist foreign aggression and pacify the interior of the country, and Lin Sui didn’t know how long it would be until his large-scale unification.

Lin Sui didn’t want to wait for these people to depose the Crown Prince, he had to get to the Emperor’s throne first.

When Lin Sui returned to the bedchamber, Yan Qin was still sleeping peacefully.

Although the youth looked thin and weak, his facial features already looked heroic.

Fourteen was still too young. Although this was already considered a mature age as far as ancient times were concerned, Lin Sui didn’t have those kinds of hobbies.

“Your Highness, should this slave arrange a place for the Fifth Prince in the side chamber?”

Fu Shu was the senior palace maid left behind by Empress Lin, she had also left behind two reliable nannies, but they had been driven out of the power centre of the harem by excuses from the other concubines. One had already left the palace, and the other was in the Office of Eunuch Affairs.

“No need, since this One promised Father Emperor he would take good care of him, then naturally this One has to do so personally.”

Candles shone inside the palace hall, making Lin Sui’s face look all the more deep and terrifying.

Yan Qin had been awake from the moment he came in, so now he was pretending to sleep.

When he was rolled up and lifted, he pretended to groggily open his eyes as he was placed down on the ground next to the Crown Prince’s bed alongside the bed quilt.

“Is a fool born from a lowly concubine deserving of sleeping in this One's bed?”

The youth in front of him stood with his hands behind his back, his tone scornful and disgusted, his expression cold and cruel.

Yan Qin lifted his head and looked up at him, giggling like he didn’t understand, but the hand hanging by his side tightened a little.

 

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[1] Pretty sure this is a dig at JJWXC lol (“jinjiang” is the same as the website name). ⤴

[2] He’s actually using the pronoun ‘本宮 běngōng’ which is used by someone with a palatial rank when speaking to someone of lower rank. It’s normally a more feminine pronoun since it’s used by the empress and high-ranking consorts, but it can also be used by the crown prince. It can be roughly understood to mean ‘I, who owns this palace’. ⤴

[3] Using the pronoun ‘兒臣 ér chén’ which is used by male sovereigns when addressing the emperor, empress, or other high-ranking officials. ⤴

[4] Formal ‘you’ (您). I don’t often point out the distinction between formal and informal ‘you’ because it’s not too relevant in modern settings, but since this is an Imperial setting I’ll try to differentiate them by using ‘You (Formal)/you (informal)’ when possible (though capitalisation at the beginning of sentences is inevitable). ⤴

[5] Traditional chinese hairstyle that’s kinda like a bow made of hair on top of the head. 

Example Pics.

 ⤴

[6] Ornamental forehead makeup. 

Example pics.

 ⤴

[7] Although the author seems to be using titles from the Qin Dynasty, in other dynasties 淑妃 shū fēi is often a title for an imperial concubine translated as ‘Pure Consort’, but I'm choosing to translate it as ‘Consort Shu’ because it just makes things simpler name-wise. ⤴

[8] Just like Consort Shu, 德妃 dé fēi is often a title that translates to ‘Virtuous Consort’, but she will be Consort De because it sounds more like a name and is, imho, easier to keep track of. ⤴

[9] A historical event in which 9 of the 24 sons of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty competed for the throne. ⤴

[10] The hierarchy so far is: Empress > Imperial Noble Consort > Noble Consort > Consort > Concubine > First Class Attendant. ⤴

[11] Basically told him to go kill himself. ⤴

TN: Welcome to footnote hell, grab a seat and get comfy. Wish me luck on this arc I because can already feel an Imperial Headache coming on orz