Substitute

Trigger: Mentions of violent sex (not between the MC and ML), the fourth prince being a creep

Wu Roushu's name had been given to her by her birth mother, the second concubine of the family. The character for 'Rou' meant 'gentle' and the one for 'Shu' meant 'outstanding'. Wu Roushu knew that this was because her mother had had high hopes for her, despite Wu Roushu being a daughter of an unfavoured concubine.

But secretly, Wu Roushu hated her name. She hated the unrealistic expectations that her mother had, or that her name only meant 'gently outstanding'. This was a privilege for pampered daughters only, unloved children like her had to fight tooth and nail for an ounce of attention.

Most of all, she hated that 'Shu' was a homonym for 'to lose'. A weak loser. She didn't know if it was because her mother was uncultured that she'd given her daughter such an inauspicious name by accident, or if her mother truly felt this way. Had been disappointed at Wu Roushu's birth that she wasn't a boy and could not bring the family honour.

Could not elevate her mother's lowly status.

If it hadn't been for Yan Yun, Wu Roushu would be dead by now. But Yan Yun had shown her that it was possible to fight back, to use everything in her arsenal to try and change her life for the better. That day by the pond, she'd watched as this once-high and mighty prime minister's son used his looks and cunning to beguile her father and get her brother into trouble.

For the first time in her life, she'd opened her eyes to a new possibility. It wasn't that she was sheltered from the politics of the household. Far from it in fact. But before Yan Yun, Wu Roushu hadn't thought it possible to put down her pride as a daughter of an influential household and do what it took to survive.

Now, she knew better.

This mansion that the fourth prince took her to would have been a nightmare for her in the past. But after considering her other options, which was to die forgotten and possibly abused in the backroom of the Liang Household as an unwanted concubine, she'd reconciled herself with her current life.

Thanks to Yan Yun's warning, she was already wary of her new husband before entering the fourth prince's manor. And it turned out that it wasn't unwarranted. The fourth prince hadn't touched her again for a couple of days, and then one night, he'd stumbled through the door to her chambers in a drunken stupor, pulling down the trousers of her nightwear just enough to mount her from the back.

He'd been like an animal. She hadn't resisted because this was her duty as a concubine but she hadn't enjoyed herself either. His touch revolted her, especially when he'd prevented her from turning to glance at him by smothering her face down into the pillow, hips pumping forward in a frantic chase of his pleasure as he moaned out Yan Yun's name lewdly in her ears.

She hadn't felt even an ounce of jealousy. Just pity for Yan Yun, that he was being hunted by such a beast.

After that night, he'd come back every other evening, which had earned her the envy of his princess consort and the other concubines. But only Wu Roushu knew that whenever he took her, it was never from the front because he wanted to pretend she was someone else. Perhaps she was his best outlet to sate his unfulfilled desires for Yan Yun.

She had cried that first night after he'd fallen asleep but had also never tried to turn his advances away. She knew that if she wanted to rise in standing in the fourth prince's manor, she had to milk her tenuous connection to Yan Yun for all that it was worth.

This was why, about a week after she moved into the fourth prince's mansion when he took her to this 'Yutao Pavilion' and told her that he would reward her if she could please him, she'd obeyed. Even though she'd been shocked by the extent of his depravity.

And to think that he was the most popular option for heir apparent. She had heard some of the other concubines gossiping enthusiastically about this in the gardens the other day, all of them excited at the prospect of living within the palace walls. Wu Roushu couldn't see what the fuss was about. It would be akin to going from one cage to another cage.

She hadn't resisted when the maids in Yutao Pavilion had bound her chest with bandages, so tight that her supple breasts were constricted flat against her ribs in a suffocating squeeze. Her nipples were allowed to peek out through the white cloth, like two crimson seeds from the lovelorn tree. A jade gag, which resembled a manhood, was inserted past her lips, stifling her speech, as her hands and legs were bound to the bed with luxurious silks.

The maids dressed her in the robes of a young servant boy and the ornate pins in her hair were removed one by one, her dark tresses swept up into a simple scholar's do.

Oh, so this was what it was about.

When the fourth prince breached her from behind, she couldn't help the pained moan that escaped from her lips. She was on her hands and knees, with a male prostitute lying beneath her, letting out wanton groans as though he was the one being penetrated. But the fourth prince must still have heard her because he smacked her bottom punishingly, the sting of the impact not nearly enough to distract her from the searing heat in her body.

"Don't let me hear you again," he grunted out. "Now be a good boy, and spread your legs more, yes, just like that, mmhn, Yan Yan, you're so tight—"

Tears slipped silently down her cheeks to fall on the face of the boy underneath her. He met her eyes and gave her a lascivious wink that filled her with disgust, unable to accept that she had been reduced to serving her husband together with a filthy whore. The fourth prince was using her back entrance raw and she didn't realise it would hurt this much. As a girl from a good family, she had been taught how to consummate the marriage in a befitting way. She hadn't been instructed in the art of pleasure itself and did not know how to prepare herself for the act.

But she knew that she had to learn. Because her husband was a monster and she wanted to become queen of his lair.

When the deed was finally done, Wu Roushu collapsed onto her side on the bed, observing lifelessly as the fourth prince shrugged his robes loosely around his shoulders. He never seemed satisfied after their passionate encounters, she realised. On the contrary, he would start musing to himself, often like he was having a conversation with her although he never expected a reply.

"This prince is going mad," he muttered, laughing a little as he gestured for the male prostitute to fill his cup of wine. "I keep thinking that he must be in Compiler Wu's bed now, do you think my dear brother would notice if I got rid of one insignificant 'Lower Six' official?"

Wu Roushu didn't say anything. She didn't need to. She listened and memorised.

"I never intended for this to happen." The prince's eyes glazed over as an unnatural flush coloured his cheeks and his breathing became ragged. She wondered whether it was truly wine in his cup. "You're Wu Bin's sister, aren't you? Which do you think is stronger? His love for that servant boy or his ambition?"

Wu Roushu closed her eyes. What did it matter? Her selfish brother hadn't expected to have to give up either. This was how greedy men in power could be.

Just like this man before her.

"He was right in front of me," the fourth prince mumbled, gripping onto the boy's slender hips and pulling him forward into his lap. The whore let out a wanton sigh and wriggled closer but the fourth prince's gaze went right through him like he was seeing someone else. "I had him in my hands and if it wasn't for that dog Wu Bin's treachery, he would have been mine."

Irrational anger seized at him. Wu Roushu could hear it in his voice even though she didn't bother to look at his face.

"Xiao Lichun!" he snarled.

The eunuch emerged from behind a silk room divider, where he'd been patiently waiting for his master to finish.

"May this humble servant know Your Highness' instructions?" Xiao Lichun asked.

"This prince believes that Compiler Wu requires a little pressuring to remind him of who his master is. Go and pass the word on, from now on, whoever makes his life in the Hanlin Academy a misery, this prince will remember their favour."

"As Your Highness commands."

Wu Roushu heard Xiao Lichun's footsteps fade. The only noises left in the room were the irritating pants of the whore as the fourth prince started to fuck him in earnest.

She didn't mind. She could nap through this.

——————————

At the hour of the second gong, the kitchens were mostly empty except for the figure hunched over the table near the stoves. Yan Zheyun slipped past the rickety doors without touching them. They had been left open for him on purpose, he knew, because he'd been the one to ask Wu Zhong to pass Matron Wang a message.

She was indeed waiting for him.

"You're here," she said when Yan Zheyun walked over to greet her.

"Matron Wang," he replied. "Yun Er was held up by his duties and apologises for wasting your time."

She waved him off. "What's done is done," she said, in an unusual display of patience. Yan Zheyun had never asked to meet her before and she was probably curious as to why. But instead of asking him straight away, she pushed a plate of desserts over the tabletop towards him. "Your favourite lotus cakes. Try one, they're fresh from today."

To be honest, after Xiqing's and Xile's deaths, Yan Zheyun had a bit of PTSD when it came to lotus cakes. But he didn't refuse her kindness, picking one up and thanking her before taking a small bite.

It was still fragrant.

"Thank you for agreeing to speak to me," he said, eyes trained on the plate as he debated how to ask for her help. He'd already troubled her enough as it was but after Wu Bin had been forcibly taken away by the Minister of Rites, he'd spent the remainder of yesterday constructing his plan. He would do anything to ensure that it came to fruition.

Matron Wang didn't acknowledge his thanks. "This old lady knew your mother," she said instead and he wondered if that was her explanation for the care that she'd shown him.

"My mother?" Yan Yun's memories of her were fond but Yan Zheyun couldn't relate to them. The prime minister's beloved wife didn't look anything like Yan Zheyun's brave, bossy entrepreneur mother and he could not relate the two together. The word 'mother' only belonged to one woman in his heart.

Of course, he didn't let his apathy show. "Did my mother come to the Wu Estate often?"

There was a deep grief in Matron Wang's eyes that was foreign on her solemn features. "I used to be the handmaid of the old mistress of the house," Matron Wang said, referring to the mother of the Minister of Rites. "The Wu and Liang Families have had close ties since two generations ago and your mother used to come and play around the knees of my mistress in the afternoons." She gave a small, sad smile, which softened her face. Suddenly, she reminded Yan Zheyun of his grandmother back home and he felt a tug of longing for his loved ones.

He also hadn't realised that Yan Yun's mother was from the Liang Family. This wasn't a detail that Yan Yun, as a child, had focused on much and so Yan Zheyun had overlooked it.

"The old mistress wanted your mother as her daughter-in-law instead of…" She sighed and let out a rueful laugh. "But your mother insisted that she wouldn't marry anyone besides your father. She was always so stubborn, the old mistress couldn't convince her otherwise. And she was the perfect match with Prime Minister Yan…"

There was a bright glimmer in Matron Wang's eyes. Yan Zheyun lowered his gaze to give her some privacy.

She lowered her voice to whisper. "Young Master Yan," she said, calling him by his old title for the first time. "Don't listen to what anyone else says. Your father was a righteous man and would never have committed treason. Your family was wronged!"

Yan Zheyun's heart was heavy. He knew that just based on what his little sister had said but he didn't even know where the begin to rectify it.

"Thank you for your kind words," he said quietly. "I miss them." Yan Yun missed them. The boy's memories were tinged with the pain he felt at their loss and Yan Zheyun wasn't so different from him in this regard.

Matron Wang wiped at her eyes surreptitiously with the back of her hand. She seemed to realise that she was being very emotional and had just remembered to be embarrassed because she cleared her throat and tried to bring the conversation back to normal again.

"What did you want to see me for?" she asked.

Yan Zheyun told her without hesitation. He'd debated for the entire day about whether it would be risky to do this via Matron Wang, whether she could fully be trusted. But after what she'd just said to him, he felt like she wouldn't betray him. It was still taking a chance but he had to work with what he had.

"I need to pass a message on to Third Concubine."

Matron Wang's eyes flashed. "You—" she said, visibly shocked. "Are you—"

"It's not like what you think," Yan Zheyun reassured. "Yun Er promises Matron Wang that he does not have intentions towards Third Concubine. Yun Er just requires her assistance."

He needed someone to make pillow talk in his favour with the Minister of Rites. And what better choice was there than Meng Die, the new and upcoming favourite?