The Substitute Princess's Love Episode 15 Recap
> The Substitute Princess's Love Recap
Wen Ye saw Shen Keyi's swollen face and guessed it was the Empress Dowager's doing. Shen Keyi made excuses to cover it up, but Wen Ye picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom. Wen Ye felt extremely pained. He personally washed Shen Keyi's feet and blamed himself for his family causing her to suffer injustice and beatings.
Shen Keyi said she was happy even if she was beaten, considering it a way to sacrifice a little more for Wen Ye. The Emperor accompanied the Empress Dowager for a walk. Seeing several maidens happily playing in the palace, each holding a sugar figure, he stopped to ask. One maiden said that a sugar figure master had come to the palace, whose craftsmanship was lifelike, and many palace maids rushed to buy the sugar paintings to satisfy their cravings.
The Emperor praised the exquisite skill of folk art, calling it unique. The maiden added that if one were to say who was the best at sugar painting in the capital, it would be a princess consort who married into a princely mansion last winter. The Emperor thought carefully and calculated according to the season that it could only be Prince Jin's Consort.
The Empress Dowager demanded that the Emperor thoroughly investigate the matter of a commoner maiden being brought into the palace. Prince Jin bitterly guarded the frontier but was deceived and concealed by Chancellor Shen, which also damaged the royal family's reputation. The Emperor stated that he would definitely hand the case to the Dali Temple for a strict investigation and exterminate the nine generations of those with malicious intentions.
The Empress Dowager felt the punishment was too severe, saying she was old and couldn't bear to see bloodshed, and it would be enough just to drive out the substitute princess consort. The Dali Temple quickly took Shen Keyi away for investigation. Chancellor Shen questioned Madam Shen about leaking the information about the substitute marriage for revenge. Madam Shen naturally denied it, instead believing that Chancellor Shen always had a way to resolve things.
Chancellor Shen, being ruthless at a critical moment, walked to Shen Lingling's room with a broken tile and disfigured Shen Lingling. Madam Shen arrived a step late, saw her daughter's miserable state, and cursed Chancellor Shen as cold-blooded and heartless. When Wen Ye heard that Shen Keyi had been taken away by the Dali Temple, he rushed to the entrance of the Dali Temple in a fit of rage and dispersed the guards.
A Dali Temple official relayed the Emperor's oral decree, ordering Wen Ye to avoid suspicion, otherwise, the princess consort would be executed immediately. Wen Ye had no choice but to return to his mansion and wait for news.
Chancellor Shen took his disfigured daughter into the palace to plead guilty, stating that when Shen Keyi learned that the Shen mansion was to marry off a daughter to Prince Jin, she ran into the mansion for glory and wealth and used a dagger to slash her legitimate sister's face, only then did he implicitly allow the concubine-born daughter to be the substitute bride.
The Empress Dowager saw that Shen Lingling's facial scar was pale pink and didn't look like an old injury. Chancellor Shen explained that Shen Keyi had poisoned the dagger, causing the wound to not heal for a long time. Upon hearing of Shen Keyi's viciousness, the Emperor declared that the Dali Temple must conduct a thorough investigation. Chancellor Shen sent someone to prepare lavish gifts for the Dali Temple Minister, demanding that Shen Keyi be convicted.
The Dali Temple subjected Shen Keyi to severe torture to extract a confession and intimidated her into signing it. Shen Keyi endured all sorts of cruel punishments but still refused to plead guilty. Wen Ye's brother stopped the furious Wen Ye, explaining that Chancellor Shen had disfigured his daughter to prove his innocence, and urged Wen Ye to remain calm. Compared to clearing the Emperor's surroundings and rectifying the court, sacrificing one woman was nothing.
Wen Ye could not accept this and still insisted on breaking into the Dali Temple to save her. Madam Yun Ying told Wen Ye not to act impulsively. Since the rumors about Shen Keyi originated from the inner palace, it indicated that the Shen mansion's inner courtyard had long been harboring disloyalty, and this could be used as a starting point for the investigation. The Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching.
Wen Ye arranged for lotus paste mooncakes to be sent to Shen Keyi in prison. Chancellor Shen arranged for Shen Lingling to accept the marriage proposal from Minister Li's son. Shen Lingling was resentful because of her disfigurement and prepared to commit suicide to resist her father's selfishness. Wen Ye secretly sneaked into the Shen mansion, stopped Shen Lingling from committing suicide, and asked her to go into the palace with him to expose Chancellor Shen.
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