Meanwhile, an investigative dossier also lay before Ji Yu.
Ji Yu picked up Gu Shengyin's file first.
"So her name is Jiang Lingzhen, the daughter of Auntie Wen Cheng," Ji Yu murmured the name Jiang Lingzhen a few times between his lips.
Ever since he was "exiled" to Qianlong Temple, the members of the Royal Clan had avoided him like the plague, and Eldest Princess Wen Cheng was one of the few who cared for him.
For this elder, Ji Yu felt some gratitude in his heart.
"Hmm?" Ji Yu noticed a line of text before him.
"Betrothed to the Second Prince since childhood?" Ji Yu couldn't help but recall the woman who had spoken and laughed so freely with him in the bamboo forest, matched with someone like Ji Ye; it was truly a pity.
However, now that he had taken an interest, this engagement was doomed to be impossible.
Ji Yu then picked up another file, this one about Jiang Yunsan.
"A bastard born of a maid, seeking to entangle with her own elder legitimate sister's betrothed?" Ji Yu clenched the dossier in his hand and the file on Jiang Yunsan seemed to crumble into dust as if crushed by some invisible force.
"Since you are so eager to climb into my esteemed younger brother's bed, I must certainly lend you a hand," Ji Yu said with a meaningful smile.
He clapped his hands toward the shadows, and a black silhouette emerged from the corner, kneeling before Ji Yu.
"Go take care of something for me..."
After returning from Qianlong Temple, Eldest Princess Wen Cheng went straight to the Great General's chambers.
"Could such a thing be true?" The Great General was both shocked and furious. He had little memory of his daughter Jiang Yunsan; her mother had taken advantage of his drunkenness to climb into his bed, and even though Eldest Princess Wen Cheng had expressed no concern, he still felt he had wronged his wife, and could not bring himself to feel affection for Jiang Yunsan.
"Unruly daughter! I must invoke family discipline!" The Great General could barely contain his rage.
"Hold on," Eldest Princess Wen Cheng stopped the raging Great General, "Punishing Jiang Yunsan is a minor matter, the urgent task at hand is how to cancel Ah Zhen and the Crown Prince's marriage. Ah Zhen will soon reach marriageable age, and if the Empress issues an imperial marriage decree catching us off guard, I do not wish for Ah Zhen to marry a man who has dallied with his fiancee's younger sister of a concubine."
"You're right," the Great General calmed down.
The couple began to discuss how to propose this issue to the Imperial Family.
Unexpectedly, before they could draft a resolution, an imperial edict arrived from the Imperial Family.
"Long live, long live, long live the Emperor!" Eldest Princess Wen Cheng and the Great General bowed before the Emperor above them.
"Rise," Emperor Shengde on the dragon throne felt somewhat uneasy, looking at his sister Wen Cheng's face, he felt the next words hard to utter.
"The Empress and I have had the same dream every night recently," the Emperor pondered for a moment before deciding to be straightforward.
Eldest Princess Wen Cheng and the Great General exchanged glances, wondering how their dreams related to them, but the Emperor's next words took them by surprise.
"A sun falling from the east, coming to rest within the Eastern Palace." The Eastern Palace was where the Crown Prince resided.
"Congratulations to Your Majesty, this is an auspicious omen," the Great General proclaimed.
However, the next words of the Emperor gave the couple a start: "And a moon rises from the western mountains, hanging over the Minister's Mansion."
Eldest Princess Wen Cheng's heart skipped a beat; what did the Emperor mean by this? The descent of the sun and moon was a great omen. If the Crown Prince was the sun, then who in her mansion was the moon?
After much thought, Ah Zhen was the most likely candidate.
The Grand Princess broke into a cold sweat at her own realization. In those times, when people revered deities and Buddhas, such matters were taken very seriously. If Ah Zhen were to be branded with this prophecy, then her marriage to the Crown Prince, no matter what, could not be canceled.