Zheng Yuande: …Is the Crown Princess really not concerned about the recent state of the court at all?
Listening to the Crown Princess speak as though no one else were present, smiling at His Highness the Crown Prince, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help twitching a few times.
The mood had been perfectly fine just moments ago, and here was the Crown Princess practically going out of her way to pour oil on the flames for His Highness.
In the three months since His Highness’s young maternal uncle, the Cavalry General, had returned to the capital, that pack of civil officials with nothing better to do than sit idle all day had been finding excuses to impeach him at every turn.
That alone would have been bearable.
A few days ago, it had clearly been that old man from the Privy Council who provoked the Cavalry General first, and afterward spouted arrogant nonsense showing disrespect to the General, which was why he’d been struck.
But in the end, it was the General who was impeached by the civil officials and censors, ultimately reprimanded and admonished by His Majesty, and even stripped of his post as Military Commissioner of the Pacification Army!
Because His Highness had stood up to speak for the General, he’d been scolded twice by His Majesty these past few days.
What His Highness could least bear to hear right now was probably any talk of the divide between the civil and military officials!
But it was precisely because Great Yong valued civil office over military that both inside and outside the court, even in the eyes of the common people, this had long since become taken for granted.
If a civil and a military official crossed paths on the road, even if the military official held a higher rank, he would still have to yield to a civil official one or two ranks below him — this had already become an established custom.
But His Highness and the Cavalry General were only five years apart in age, and the two of them had shared a deep bond since childhood…
Hearing that His Highness was going to Zhaoxun Shen’s courtyard, the Crown Princess couldn’t help freezing for a moment, a thread of jealousy rising unbidden in her heart.
Yet her smile remained as dignified and virtuous as ever: “Your Highness, Zhaoxun Shen isn’t as well-versed in propriety as the maidens from the more scholarly families. This concubine worries she might offend you…”
The Crown Prince suddenly cut in: “Not well-versed in propriety?” His tone dropped slightly, the thin, sharp corners of his eyes narrowing downward, his jet-black pupils giving away no trace of emotion.
The Crown Princess froze for a moment, and before she could react, she saw that he had already risen to his feet, said something about matters still pending at the front hall, and left.
His expression looked no different from usual.
It made her can’t help but wonder… whether that glance he’d given her just now had only been her imagination.
She rose and bowed. “This humble one bids His Highness the Crown Prince farewell.”
Only after he had gone did Nanny Zhou, who was attending nearby, say in a low voice, “Your Highness, this old servant has heard that the court has been in an uproar recently over the Cavalry General’s assault on a court official in the street. His Highness’s ill mood is likely because of that.”
The Crown Princess frowned, displeased. “A military officer whose merits overshadow his lord will naturally make Father Emperor wary, and yet His Highness’s uncle shows no restraint at all — doesn’t know how to keep a low profile, and keeps stirring up trouble for His Highness everywhere. Doesn’t the Old Duke of Fengguo, or the Dowager at the estate, do anything to rein him in…”
Nanny Zhou sighed. “Aside from the Duke of Fengguo, whose legs are crippled, the Old Duke of Fengguo now has only this youngest son who’s still in good health. And since he was born so late in the Old Duke’s life, naturally no one has the heart to discipline him strictly.”
“This servant thinks… perhaps it’s because the Cavalry General still hasn’t taken a wife and started a household — that’s why, even at his age, he still conducts himself so recklessly.”
The Crown Princess pressed her lips together, brow furrowed in thought for a moment, then said, “Nanny’s words make sense. I ought to speak with Mother Empress about it, and have Mother Empress urge His Highness’s uncle to settle down and marry soon.”
Still, it seemed rather inappropriate for her, a junior, to arrange a marriage for an elder.
Better to pass word to her own mother, and let her mother find the chance to mention it to Mother Empress.
Seeing that her brow was still knit, Nanny Zhou comforted her. “Your Highness need not worry. With the little imperial grandson at your knee, no matter which courtyard His Highness visits, no matter who in the back courts gains favor or loses it, none of it can touch your position. All we need do is sit back and watch the show.”
The Crown Princess frowned, still displeased at heart, but as Crown Princess, with His Highness currently having only one son and one daughter, his line of descendants far too thin, she couldn’t monopolize the Crown Prince for herself alone… · B L A C K L O T U S Novel Site
Otherwise, all those voices outside calling her jealous would drown her.
Worse, she had to put on the appearance of a virtuous and magnanimous Crown Princess, so that her reputation would stand all the better.
She could only console herself with the thought that even if His Highness went to another’s courtyard, he would still wear that same cold, indifferent expression, with no exceptions made for anyone — only then could she barely suppress the resentment in her heart.
Dusk merged with twilight, the light of day hid itself away, and stars scattered across the night sky.
Seeing that the hour was about right, Zheng Yuande stepped forward lightly and said in a low voice, “Your Highness, it’s nearly time to light the lamps. Which courtyard will my lord be settling in tonight?”
Although His Highness had already told the Crown Princess earlier that he would be going to Zhaoxun Shen’s place, he still asked once more, not daring to presume on his own.
Cui Yu’s brow creased slightly. He closed the book scroll in his hand, rose and brushed off his sleeves, and said in a deep voice, hands clasped behind his back, “Let’s go.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Zheng Yuande hurriedly took up the palace lantern and led the way ahead.
“My lady, the Golden Chicken, Peach Blossom Pastry, and Donkey-Hide Gelatin and Snow Fungus Milk Drink you asked for.” Chunping took the food box from Quanshou and hurried around the screen into the eastern warm chamber.
Shen Yanshui had long since been sitting at the round table, eagerly anticipating this. Seeing her come in now, her bright peach-blossom eyes practically lit up at the sight of the box in her hands.
“Quick, set it all out, set it all out.” She hadn’t expected the Eastern Palace’s kitchen to be this good — so much better than back at Chuxiu Palace! Even better than the cooks at the Marquis’s estate.
Now that she’d had a taste of meat again, how could she possibly hold back?
At the Hour of Shen, roughly four in the afternoon, she’d already enjoyed a delicious dinner — appetizing shrimp and jade spicy soup, crispy, delectable fried crackling, and wine-steamed lamb slices — utterly blissful, practically floating on air.
With cooking like this, she could stay in the Eastern Palace a hundred years without ever wanting to move!
The only downside was that it cost quite a bit of silver — otherwise, there wasn’t a single flaw.
Now it was roughly the Hour of Xu, just past eight in the evening — the perfect time for a late-night snack.
In the west side hall across the way, Liu Fengyi, dressed to the nines and rather restless, heard the commotion from across the courtyard and asked instinctively, “Yinping, what’s going on out there? Has His Highness the Crown Prince arrived?”
She knew perfectly well in her heart that His Highness likely wouldn’t be coming to her place today, but what if he did?
Deep down, she still couldn’t help clinging to that faint hope, and hadn’t even had the heart to eat more than a few bites of dinner.
Yinping knew in her heart that if His Highness were coming, the commotion wouldn’t sound like that, but she still went out to have a look as told, then came back to report, “My lady, according to Yinye, that’s just the kitchen delivering a late-night snack to the place across the way. It was just carried in.”
Liu Fengyi couldn’t believe it. “A late-night snack?”
“She can still eat a late-night snack at this hour?” She gave a slight curl of her lip as she spoke, thinking to herself that someone from a military family really had no manners, no sense of decorum at all.
Did she already know His Highness wouldn’t be coming to her place tonight, and so she’d simply given up and let herself go?
With that thought, she set the matter aside, though she still couldn’t resist the urge to have someone keep watch outside the courtyard.
The moment the Crown Prince set foot on the covered walkway in front of the row of side chambers, the hearts of the mistresses in every courtyard and room instinctively leapt into their throats.
Among them, Liangyuan Zhang and Wu Chenghui were the most nervous of all.
Everyone said that His Highness the Crown Prince valued propriety and etiquette above all else in his daily conduct, so by rights, the first night should have seen him go to Liangyuan Zhang’s courtyard.
Only Wu Chenghui, confident in her own beauty and having just received the Crown Princess’s praise that very day, was riding high with pride and wouldn’t have thought so at all.
Upon learning that His Highness was heading in the direction of her courtyard, she was overjoyed and smug all at once, hurrying to check her mirror for anything amiss on her face or attire, while urging on those around her, “Come, go wait at the courtyard gate for His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Yes!” The servants attending below were hardly less excited — if their mistress won the honor tonight, they too would have a bit more standing walking about the Eastern Palace from now on.
But only a moment after stepping out, before she’d even reached the gate, the maid who had just been beaming with excitement came hurrying back with a rather poor expression on her face. Looking at her mistress, already dressed in full splendor, the maid stammered cautiously, “My lady, His Highness the Crown Prince has entered the, the neighboring Lianxin Courtyard.”
The smile that had bloomed across Wu Chenghui’s face like a flower instantly sank away.
When Shen Yanshui heard the commotion outside her courtyard, she had just taken a sip of the sweet, rich Donkey-Hide Gelatin and Snow Fungus Milk Drink.
Seeing Chunping come dashing in as though fleeing for her life, saying that His Highness the Crown Prince had already reached the courtyard gate, and hearing the rising waves of greetings echoing from courtyard to courtyard, Shen Yanshui nearly choked herself on a mouthful of milk drink.
With no time to tidy up, she caught her breath and hurried to the door, catching a faint glimpse of a tall, broad-shouldered, long-legged man’s figure approaching unhurriedly, flanked on both sides by bowing eunuchs. She hadn’t even had time to lift her head and see the newcomer’s face clearly before she hastily bowed in greeting, nearly stumbling over herself.
“This concubine, of the Shen family, greets His Highness the Crown Prince. May all be well with Your Highness.” For once, she was a little nervous.
Her thoughts, though, were entirely fixed on the man now only two steps away from her. By the candlelight from within the chamber, she could make out clearly the pattern on the black leather belt at his waist, and the silver thread rippling through his purple robe in the candlelight.
But wait, what was going on with the Crown Prince? Wasn’t he supposed to be the one who valued propriety above all else? So why had he come here to her place?
Zheng Yuande could only think this Zhaoxun Shen had quite the fierce temperament!
Not only had she failed to wait at the gate early, hoping to welcome His Highness, but she’d only rushed out to offer her greetings in a fluster after His Highness was practically already through the door.
He glanced at her — this hardly looked like someone dressed and ready to receive guests.
By rights, even if His Highness weren’t coming today, she ought to have stayed dressed properly, awaiting word of his whereabouts, and only put out the lamps and retired once definite news had come. That was the proper etiquette expected within the palace.
Cui Yu lowered his eyes and glanced at her.
Shen Yanshui wore a lotus-root-colored plain silk narrow-sleeved blouse, with a sky-blue-green half-sleeve long robe over it, her hair done up in a tasseled bun. Aside from a single sky-blue-green hair ribbon tied in her hair, she had already taken off all her other ornaments early on — nothing like the elaborate, resplendent dress of the others.
Like a lotus rising from clear water, naturally lovely without need for adornment.
“Rise.”
Shen Yanshui, still bowed in greeting, caught out of the corner of her eye, after hearing his cool, steady voice, that he had already lifted his foot and walked past her side into the room, the purple hem of his robe brushing past the edge of her skirt. | black lotus Translation — BLACK LOTUS NOVEL
Though she had no idea why His Highness had come to her place tonight, but since… he was already here, aside from her initial startled panic, she had now calmed down somewhat.
Watching him lift the hem of his robe and settle himself onto the couch, Shen Yanshui finally got a clear look at his face, and her eyes couldn’t help but light up at once.
His bearing was as fine as jade, his brows and eyes like a painting, his air carrying both gentle elegance and an innate, dignified authority — even better-looking than she had imagined.
Cui Yu suddenly lifted his gaze toward her. As their eyes met, Shen Yanshui blinked her naturally seductive, bright peach-blossom eyes, stepped forward two paces, and explained in a sincere, gentle voice, “Your Highness has come at just the right time. A few of the chefs from the Changqing Palace kitchen made something absolutely delicious, so this concubine had a little late-night snack brought over. Would Your Highness care to try some together?”
She spoke the polite words with a smiling air, though her heart was somewhat uneasy, and she felt a bit of regret over the snack on the table that she’d only managed a few bites of.
Cui Yu turned his gaze to the few dishes on the table, then looked at her — who, in just this short span of time, had already glanced toward those dishes several times.
He hadn’t had much of an appetite to begin with, but seeing her faint, reluctant, longing look, he suddenly gave a slight nod.
Shen Yanshui had only meant to shift the topic to keep the conversation going, and offer a tactful, flattering explanation on the side — she hadn’t expected him to actually agree.
