Substitute Marriage

Chapter 4

“This doesn’t belong to him.” With these words, Xiao Lan let the robe fall back into the chest with a rare sigh of relief escaping her lips.

Xiao Ming also noticed that the robe was too small for the Prince Consort to wear, so he took out a few other pieces. All of them were tailored for a slender frame, prompting her to glance sharply at the shadow guard.

“I personally witnessed the Prince Consort’s men delivering things to this courtyard,” the shadow guard responded as he immediately knelt down.

“Go ask the neighbors.” Having come this far, Xiao Lan knew she wouldn’t sleep tonight unless everything was clarified.

Though she maintained a calm demeanor, her heart was in her throat when the shadow guard returned with the local residents.

Most of the people brought in were women and elderly ladies. Their faces showed fear at the sight of the armed men.

Xiao Ming first had the shadow guard distribute silver to each of them. Once the people had the silver in hand, their wariness eased, and she asked, “Who lives here?”

The women eagerly began to speak, trying to outdo one another: “A woman and a child, about ten years old.”

Xiao Lan sat quietly, feeling her heart gradually settle back in place. Resting her arm on the stone table, her fingertips curled inside her sleeve. The Prince Consort was only twenty this year, too young to father a child that old. But she couldn’t rule out the possibility of him taking care of someone else’s child; after all, some people do like to play the father figure.

“And what does the woman look like? Who is she? How old?” Xiao Ming continued to question.

The women exchanged glances, hesitating for a while, until one plainly dressed woman finally spoke up, hesitantly: “We don’t know who she is, but she’s about our age, not very pretty, and somewhat coarse-looking.”

Xiao Lan’s curled fingertips relaxed.

A woman past her prime? Xiao Ming pressed on, “Did you get a good look at her?”

The woman nodded, and another added, “That lady is big-boned, broad-waisted, with rough skin, and feet as large as boats—she’s much rougher than us!”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Xiao Lan took out a portrait of the Prince Consort for them to identify, but they all shook their heads, saying they had never seen him before. With no useful information, she dismissed them.

Xiao Ming stood up and began pacing around the stone table, growing increasingly puzzled. Mistresses were usually enchanting and alluring—how could one be so crude? She issued an order: “Keep an eye on this place.”

Just then, a guard pried open a locked chest. “Princess, there are many portraits of women inside.”

The group quickly walked over, and as they looked at a few of the portraits, they became even more confused.

“This one is of a young girl!” Xiao Ming’s eyes widened in amazement. “She’ll definitely grow up to be a beauty—how could she be the coarse woman the neighbors described? Even if she were a woman past her prime, she should still have some charm!”

She rested her chin on her hand, clicking her tongue in thought. “I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

The girl in the painting had eyes as clear as a serene lake, full of allure without being overly seductive—yet completely captivating. Xiao Lan’s heart began to flutter again.

“I think I recognize her too,” Cui zhu said as she flipped through the pages, her gaze locked onto a very familiar scene. She hurriedly presented it to the others. “Princess, isn’t this the moment you won the horseracing competition at the age of six?”

Xiao Ming looked at the painting, then at Xiao Lan, and suddenly burst into laughter, clutching her stomach. “No wonder she looked so familiar—it’s my niece!”

“These are all moments of your greatest triumphs!” Cui zhu pointed out proudly. “This is you at seven, shooting arrows on horseback; at eight, drumming on a warship; at ten, playing polo; and at eleven, kicking a ball. But you got injured and the Emperor was so angry that he grounded you for three months.”

“Don’t you remember?”

“Lan’er was always more into martial arts than the other girls, just like her father!” Xiao Ming hadn’t witnessed many of these events firsthand, but the vivid paintings captured the brilliance of her niece at the time.

As these memories came flooding back, Xiao Lan recalled them all. But who had painted these?

If it was the Prince Consort, then the person in this courtyard must be someone he was keeping! How could he paint her here and yet treat her so coldly at the estate?!

With lingering doubts, the group continued to flip through the portraits. Some were true-to-life, while others were more imaginative, but all of them closely reflected Xiao Lan’s habits and preferences.

For example, she liked to use a round fan, preferred wearing smoke-blue robes, and enjoyed drinking Junshan Yinzhen tea…

They searched for a long time but found no signature until they reached the very bottom of the chest.

There, they discovered a painting dated to when Xiao Lan was sixteen, on the third day of the third lunar month—the day before her wedding! In the painting, she was dressed in a bridal headdress and gown, her eyes smiling, brimming with affection. This was the only painting with writing on it:
“The mountain has trees, and the trees have branches; I adore you, but you do not know it! With love, Xiao Lan.”

Suddenly, Xiao Lan felt her face flush with heat.

“The artistry is exquisite, making one feel as if they were really there. The poetry is deep and elegant, and the calligraphy is strong yet gentle,” Xiao Ming, who had a deep appreciation for art, sincerely praised the work. But when she noticed the signature, she was instantly taken aback. “These weren’t painted by Wei Lin?”

Xiao Lan also recognized that the handwriting didn’t belong to Wei Lin.

“Wei Jin?!” Xiao Ming looked at Xiao Lan. “Who is that?”

Facing the inquisitive and curious gazes of everyone, Xiao Lan felt as if she were in a steamer, her racing heart about to burst from her chest. After a brief pause, she hesitated and shook her head, “I don’t know this person.”

“…”

A long silence ensued.

“Who on earth is this person, who knows you so well, down to the smallest detail? And has harbored feelings for you for over ten years? Is he some kind of secret admirer?” Xiao Ming’s teasing laughter echoed in the room.
Xiao Lan was at a loss for words: “…”

Auntie, it seems the conversation has gone off track.

Just beyond the wall, Wei Jin, along with his aunt, Madam Gao and her son Han Yuan, quietly left the premises. After much effort and several moves, they finally found a new place to settle.

“This is the residence of one of my subordinates. It’s very safe, and it’s close to the patrol camp. Aunt, Yuan, you should stay here for now and not go out,” Wei Jin instructed.

“They came so suddenly, we didn’t even have time to take anything with us. What if they discover you—what will you do then?” Recalling the commotion from earlier, Madam Gao was still shaken. She had thought the Wei family had found them and, in her panic, had only focused on fleeing with her child. She blamed herself, “I was too careless.”

As she spoke, Madam Gao turned away to wipe her tears. Her face had been disfigured long ago by the cruel actions of the Marquis’s wife, Madam Wen Yan, leaving scars of various sizes. She had to wear a veil all year round, but even so, the rough, unsightly texture of her skin was still visible. Years of medication had altered her figure, making her broad and stout.

“Aunt, rest assured, I will take care of it,” Wei Jin comforted her.

His aunt and cousin Han Yuan were the only remaining members of his maternal family. His uncle had sacrificed his life to protect him, and no matter what, he had to ensure the safety of his aunt and cousin.

Although hiding them in the capital was a risky move, it allowed him to take care of them closely. He wasn’t worried about Xiao Lan discovering the courtyard. In fact, he might even look forward to it a little. However, it wasn’t the right time to reveal his true identity.

“Very well, but it’s a pity about those paintings,” Madam Gao sighed softly, knowing full well how much those things meant to her nephew.

“It doesn’t matter,” Wei Jin’s eyes, as enchanting as peach blossoms, lifted in a gentle smile. “Consider it a return to their rightful owner.”
The shadow guard returned to Yiyuan at dusk.

“There is no such person! Are you sure you asked thoroughly?” On the way back, Xiao Ming had sent the shadow guard to investigate Wei Jin’s background at the public office of the Ministry of Revenue. The matter involved Xiao Lan’s reputation, so she couldn’t let it slide.

However, the result was baffling.

“I asked very clearly. There isn’t a single person named Wei Jin in the entire capital, not even among the deceased of the past ten years,” the shadow guard confirmed.

Xiao Lan’s thoughts were in a tangle. A person who could create such lifelike and elegant paintings couldn’t possibly be someone of obscure background, nor could they be a nameless, deceased person.

There were two prominent families with the surname Wei in the capital: one was the Prince Consort’s family, and the other was the Wei family of former officials from the previous dynasty.

The Marquis Wei Wu had only two sons, and Xiao Lan had familiarized herself with the names of all the branches of the family before her marriage—none of them were named Wei Jin. Initially, Xiao Lan had guessed that Wei Jin might be a descendant of the former dynasty’s Wei family.

“Whose name is the house under?” she asked.

The shadow guard looked perplexed. “It’s still under the name Wei Jin. After some inquiries, even the Ministry of Revenue has found it suspicious and has sent people to investigate.”

“Surely they can find out who registered the house? There must be records!” Xiao Ming, unwilling to believe in the mystery, couldn’t fathom how a house could exist without official registration.

The shadow guard’s silence indicated that they did not know.

Intrigued, Xiao Ming speculated, “This Wei Jin is so mysterious—could he be some deeply embedded strategist, perhaps advising Wei Lin?”

Xiao Lan shook her head. “No matter how skilled a strategist, they couldn’t possibly move freely in and out of the highly guarded royal grounds for over a decade, especially not someone this familiar with me…” She left the rest of her thoughts unspoken.

“Oh, I nearly forgot!” Xiao Ming slapped her forehead.

“I’ll find a chance to ask the Prince Consort,” Xiao Lan instructed Cui zhu to carefully store away the portraits.

“Well, there’s no time like the present!” Xiao Ming’s eyes gleamed with a mischievous light. “If Wei Lin finds out that someone has been eyeing his wife right under his nose, he’ll probably faint from anger!”

“The Ministry of Revenue and the local authorities will soon move to seal up the house. If they follow the trail back to the Prince Consort’s residence, it would only seem natural,” Xiao Lan didn’t want the Prince Consort to know she had been tracking him.

Since it was ultimately a matter between husband and wife, Xiao Ming stopped pushing the issue.

For the next two days, Xiao Lan was cold and distant towards the Prince Consort. Neither of them brought up that night, as if there was an unspoken agreement to avoid the topic.

But on this day, something happened that broke the ice.

“Bupleurum, Angelica, White Peony Root, and Stir-fried Atractylodes, 9 grams each. Poria, Honey-fried Licorice, and Peppermint, 15 each and Stevia, 3 grams. Follow my prescription to decoct the medicine,” Wei Jin wrote down the well-practiced formula for nourishing and regulating qi and blood.