You of All People Managed to Get Yourself a Wife?
“There is another letter, one he wrote to Father Emperor.” Chu Yuan opened the second letter and read its contents with calm composure.
“What does it say?” Jiang Ni asked.
Chu Yuan handed him the letter.
“...red candles,” Jiang Ni murmured. Only after a long moment did he draw it out from the depths of memory. “Is it that rumor concerning the Jiang clan?”
“What rumor?” Nie Xuxing asked, bewildered by their cryptic exchange.
Jiang Ni let out a faint scoff, his expression tinged with ridicule. “At some point, no one knows when, there arose a rumor that the bloodline of the Jiang clan can grant immortality. If one were to take a bowl of a clansman’s blood and boil it into candles, those candles would not decay for a thousand years. To avoid calamity, the Jiang clan withdrew from the world, concealing their names and identities.”
“Preposterous. For the sake of private gain, they would not hesitate to destroy the lives of countless others.” Nie Xuxing’s expression grew indignant.
Jiang Ni said, “That rumor had long since faded. I only heard it mentioned by the clansmen in passing. I never expected it to surface again now.”
“How does Ah-Yuan know of this? Did your mother tell you?” Jiang Ni returned the letter to him and asked gently.
Chu Yuan paused. He lowered his gaze and gave a barely audible “Mm.”
“What does Ah-Yuan intend to do next?”
Chu Yuan smiled coldly. “I will destroy his well-laid plans and make him lose everything.”
As he spoke, he supported his belly, now nearing five months, and walked slowly to the writing desk.
Nie Xuxing said, “The Emperor has ordered His Highness to proceed directly to the Northern Frontier and deploy one hundred thousand troops. It is a pity that the military authority is not in His Highness’s hands. It is unclear whether he has the confidence to win this campaign.”
“Why bring this up now? Ah-Yuan is carrying a child. Are you deliberately making him worry?” Jiang Ni reached out and twisted his arm.
Nie Xuxing cried out in pain and begged for mercy. “My fault, my fault. I spoke out of turn. Yuanyuan, do not take it to heart. His Highness will certainly win.”
Chu Yuan lowered his head and laughed softly. “Mm, I also believe His Highness will prevail.”
After some thought, Jiang Ni raised his head and looked at Nie Xuxing. “When does Father plan to depart for Xiang Cheng?”
Nie Xuxing said, “Mid-tenth month.”
“There are still nearly twenty days. Ah-Yuan’s belly has grown. I am uneasy. Could you go and speak with Father again in the morning? I think we should leave a little earlier.”
“Very well.”
While they spoke, Chu Yuan had already written a new letter.
“He wishes to exchange the Jiang clan for peace and security and reap the benefits without lifting a hand. If he is without benevolence, he cannot blame me for lacking righteousness.” Chu Yuan removed the wax seal and replaced it onto a new envelope.
“If this letter reaches the Emperor, it will certainly arouse suspicion and displeasure toward him.” Jiang Ni had glimpsed the contents of the letter and smiled faintly.
Nie Xuxing said, “Ah-Yuan has done well. A despicable man such as him deserves death.”
Chu Yuan looked toward the half-open window, his voice cold. “Once Father Emperor grows suspicious, and he cannot produce what he has promised, Father Emperor will become enraged and will detest him with a deep and unforgiving hatred.”
At that time, with Emperor Hongjia’s obsession with immortality, he would never spare the man who had made a fool of him.
“The six kingdoms are restless now. This war will come sooner or later.” Nie Xuxing sighed, his gaze filled with pity. “Only the common people are to be pitied. Who knows how many will lose their lives in the chaos of war.”
Chu Yuan withdrew his gaze. His eyes were resolute. “I believe in His Highness.”
He believed Lu Ronghuai would not slaughter innocent civilians, and that he would do all he could to minimize losses and casualties.
Of this, he had never once doubted.
Northern Frontier, snow mountains.
A night raid had just ended. Soldiers were clearing the battlefield while military physicians hurried about, stopping bleeding and dressing the wounded.
“Your Highness, will you drink?” Zhao Lu carried a wineskin and walked over through the thick snow.
Lu Ronghuai sat upon a rock, a strip of cloth clenched between his lips as he bound his left forearm.
He paid Zhao Lu no heed.
Zhao Lu exhaled white mist and found a place beside him to sit. Tilting his head, he looked at Lu Ronghuai’s injured arm. The bleeding had stopped, but the cloth was still stained.
He sniffed, as though his nose were blocked.
His Highness had been injured because of him.
“If Your Highness had not pulled this subordinate back just now, my head and neck would already be parted.” Zhao Lu kicked at the snow at his feet, pulled out the stopper, and took a great gulp.
Lu Ronghuai finished tying the cloth with unhurried ease. He lifted his eyelids, dark and still.
“Frightened?”
Zhao Lu hissed from the burn of the liquor, his eyes reddening. “Frightened my foot. At worst, it is death. How many battlefields have I come back from? Would I fear this?”
“Then why were you crying like a little wife just now? It was rather unsightly.” Lu Ronghuai kicked him and laughed as he scolded.
Zhao Lu curled his lips. Though kicked, he did not move, and said in a muffled tone, “I was afraid afterward. If anything had happened to Your Highness, how would this subordinate answer to Prince Consort?”
He had left the capital early, yet he corresponded often with his wife and knew a little of affairs in Ye Jing.
Lu Ronghuai paused for a moment.
Then he kicked Zhao Lu again. “Say something auspicious. It is but a small injury, yet you speak as though I am about to die. Inauspicious.”
“Ptui, ptui, ptui. This subordinate misspoke. Your Highness is peerless in martial prowess, a war god reborn, invincible wherever he goes, victorious in every battle.”
“I have heard that enough. Change it.”
Zhao Lu now looked at Lu Ronghuai as though he were a reborn parent. If not for His Highness, he would already be lying here forever tonight.
In his excitement, praises spilled forth without restraint.
“Your Highness is handsome beyond compare, imposing and majestic.”
“Mm.” Another kick.
“Your Highness commands troops like a god and is full of resource and strategy.”
“Mm...” Another kick.
“Ah... Your Highness... Your Highness and Prince Consort are as paired birds sharing the same fate, as mandarin ducks matched in perfect union.”
“Mm.” Lu Ronghuai withdrew his long leg, the corner of his lips lifting.
Zhao Lu’s eyes brightened. He had finally found the correct direction for flattery.
“Prince Consort is gentle and beautiful, one in ten thousand.”
“Indeed.” Lu Ronghuai nodded in agreement.
“Prince Consort is kind and endearing, sincere toward others.”
“Quite right.”
“Prince Consort is deeply devoted to Your Highness, steadfast unto death.”
“Exactly so.” Lu Ronghuai bent down personally and brushed away the snow he himself had kicked onto Zhao Lu’s leg. “Who would have thought that a coarse fellow like you would be so skilled at praise.”
“All due to Your Highness’s guidance. This subordinate learned from you.” Zhao Lu thought inwardly that being a proper lackey was no easy task.
“Let us go. Return to camp.” Lu Ronghuai strode toward his warhorse.
Zhao Lu quickly followed.
“Your Highness, do you not feel that this time you fight more fiercely than usual?” Zhao Lu mounted his horse and turned his head.
“Do I?” Lu Ronghuai raised a brow.
“You certainly do. The brothers have been speculating in private whether something has stirred you. You do not leave the northern barbarians a single path of survival, chasing them relentlessly. It is too fierce.”
“Mm. This Prince still finds it too slow.” Lu Ronghuai reached into his robes and took out Chu Yuan’s jade rabbit pendant, gently caressing it several times.
Then he carefully tucked it away again.
“This Prince wishes to return home for the New Year. I have no leisure to tarry with these barbarians.”
“So it is longing for home,” Zhao Lu said in understanding, pointing at himself with his thumb. “When this subordinate had just married, I was the same as Your Highness, yearning daily to return and accompany my wife. Now... being outside is also quite comfortable.”
His wife was far too fierce. When she fought, she was more formidable than he was. Better to avoid what one cannot withstand.
Lu Ronghuai cast him a sidelong glance, that look seeming to say, you of all people managed to get yourself a wife?
Zhao Lu: “?”
Lu Ronghuai said, “This Prince’s situation is not the same as yours.”
Zhao Lu asked blankly, “How is it different?”
“My wife clings to me, needing to be held and coaxed, unable to be apart from me even for a moment.”
Zhao Lu: “...”
“He is especially fond of acting spoiled. You would not understand. The moment he acts spoiled, I cannot withstand it. I would wish to pluck down the moon from the heavens and place it in his hands.”
“You know what acting spoiled is, do you not? It is exceedingly adorable. Ah... This Prince nearly forgot, you married a tigress. Tsk.”
That single “tsk” was laden with boundless sympathy.
Zhao Lu suddenly felt that the way His Highness looked at him had changed.
Gleeful at his misfortune, and beneath that, a concern that only made the glee more gleeful.
“...”
“Why did I not die just now?” Zhao Lu nearly ground his back teeth to powder. “To live on only to suffer such indignation.”
Better dead than this.
Lu Ronghuai said, “Mm? You are dissatisfied?”
Zhao Lu said, “... I am very content.”
“This Prince is also very content.”
Zhao Lu’s face was expressionless. “Yes. There is no need to say more. This subordinate already knows that Your Highness is very content.”
“For the sake of everyone’s contentment, we break camp at dawn and advance upon Nalubo.”
Having given this order, Lu Ronghuai departed with easy confidence.
Leaving Zhao Lu alone, frozen in the wind and snow.
In the end, the Nie family decided to depart half a month earlier and set out for Xiang Cheng at the beginning of the tenth month.
There were still a few days left. The lingering heat of late autumn remained. Chu Yuan wore a loose, soft gauze robe and sat in the rear courtyard of Zhuqin Garden, leisurely painting as he chatted.
“Prince Consort, why are you still painting?” Le Shu crouched nearby. “We will soon leave Ye Jing. Will the painting workshop close as well?”
“It will not. Many scholars now sell their paintings to the workshop. If the shop were to close, those poor scholars would lose a means of livelihood. Even if we leave Ye Jing, the workshop will continue to operate.”
Le Shu said, “Prince Consort is kind-hearted. The price you offer is already the highest in all Ye Jing, yet there is little profit to be made.”
“Have you forgotten? When we were at our most difficult, there was also a kind-hearted workshop willing to buy my paintings. If not for that workshop, we would have starved to death long ago.”
Chu Yuan lowered his head and added rugged branches to the ink plum in the painting, his gaze gentle. “It is easy to add flowers to brocade, but hard to send charcoal in the snow. If one offers even a little help to others, perhaps it may help them through a difficult time in their own lives.”
“Mm, what Prince Consort says is true.” Le Shu nodded happily.
“Master, Xian Yue has arrived.” Xian Shuang leapt down from a tall branch, landing without a sound.
“Very well. Have him come directly here.” As Chu Yuan’s months advanced, he grew increasingly reluctant to move and became more indolent.
Xian Shuang said, “He is not alone. There is also the senior palace maid from Consort Ye’s side.”
He had once followed Lu Ronghuai in and out of the palace and recognized some of the maids attending Consort Ye.
“Ah? Then have them wait in the western hall. I shall change my clothes.” Chu Yuan set down his brush. A few drops of ink had stained his sleeve, and it would be improper to receive guests thus.
Le Shu carefully watched his footing as he supported Chu Yuan back to change.
Before long, he returned to the western hall.
“This servant greets Prince Consort.”
“Rise. Le Shu, serve tea.” Chu Yuan took his seat and signaled for them to stand.
“Mingzhu gugu, what brings you here?” He looked at the palace maid with smiling eyes.
The palace maid smiled. “This servant was sent by Her Highness to deliver these small garments to Prince Consort.”
Chu Yuan looked toward the bundle in her arms.
Xian Yue explained, “Mingzhu gugu came to Prince Li’s residence this morning, saying Consort Ye instructed that this bundle must be personally delivered to you. This subordinate had no choice but to bring her here.”
Chu Yuan waved his hand, his smile unchanged, speaking half in jest, half in earnest. “It is of no consequence. The residence is quiet, and I grow bored staying there. I came to the Nie residence for a few days, yet it has caused gugu to make an extra trip.”
Mingzhu said, “Prince Consort shames this servant. Thanks to Prince Consort, this servant is visiting the Nie residence for the first time. It is said the Nie family gates are difficult to enter. This journey is well worth it.”
Chu Yuan laughed at her words. “Everyone, sit. It is tiring to speak while standing.”
Xian Yue sat as instructed.
Mingzhu hesitated for a moment before sitting.
She observed quietly and saw that Prince Consort’s expression was serene, conversing easily with Xian Yue, while the guards of the residence were accustomed to his manner and showed no awkwardness.
Her heart eased, and only then did she thank Chu Yuan and sit at his lower right.
It had been many days since she last saw him, and she noticed something had changed.
She looked more closely and realized that Prince Consort seemed... somewhat fuller than before.
The pointed chin had filled out slightly, the cheeks carried a touch more flesh, and his complexion was excellent, making him appear even more handsome than before.
What surprised her further was that Prince Consort wore a begonia-colored robe today. Such a bright color should have been cinched with a jade belt to emphasize a slender waist and highlight his refined bearing.
Yet now, the robe hung loosely upon him without a belt. Seated behind the table, she could not see his waist or abdomen, only the garment spreading like a water lotus, flowing and drifting.
Perhaps the curiosity in her gaze was too evident, for when Chu Yuan looked toward her, he quickly offered an explanation.
“Forgive the informal dress, gugu. It is cooler to wear it this way in the heat.”
“Gugu, what is in this bundle?”
Mingzhu returned to herself. “These are small garments Her Highness made by hand, three sets for each of the four seasons. Prince Consort may take a look.”
“Small garments?”
“Mm. Some time ago, His Highness entered the palace and asked Her Highness to sew several infant garments. Her Highness has been occupied with this matter these days.”
Mingzhu spoke yet could not help glancing at Chu Yuan with concern.
She herself did not quite understand why Prince Li had asked Consort Ye to make infant garments.
Before leaving, he had gone once more to Consort Ye and instructed her to deliver the finished garments directly to Prince Consort.
Prince Consort was male and could not bear children. She and Consort Ye had guessed that perhaps the two of them intended to adopt a child, hence the garments.
Yet Consort Ye had reviewed all branches of the imperial clan and found no woman near delivery.
She had been greatly troubled yet dared not ask and thus sent Mingzhu out of the palace with the garments to probe Prince Consort’s thoughts.
“Please convey my thanks to Consort Ye.” Chu Yuan smiled, his eyes curving gently. There was not the slightest trace of displeasure or distress on his face.
He even opened the bundle with keen interest and took out the small garments to examine them, the joy on his face entirely genuine.
Mingzhu could not make sense of it.
“The embroidery is exquisite. These little fish look like they might swim off the cloth at any moment, how adorable.” Chu Yuan touched the lively embroidered carp upon the little bodice-bib (xiǎo dùdōu): A traditional garment for infants and young children, a sleeveless front panel tied around the body, typically embroidered with auspicious motifs. Here decorated with carp, which symbolise abundance, vitality, and good fortune. , his eyes full of admiration.
Mingzhu smiled as well. “This embroidery was done by this servant. It is good that Prince Consort likes it.”
“Gugu’s skill is exquisite.” Chu Yuan held the bodice-bib, unable to set it down.
Before his eyes appeared a plump white infant wearing the bodice-bib, stretching out lotus-root-like arms, smiling with irresistible sweetness.
Speaking of embroidery, Mingzhu grew less restrained. “When this servant first entered the palace, I trained together with Lingzhu and Fangzhu in the Imperial Embroidery Workshop.”
“So that is the case. No wonder gugu’s skill is so fine.” Chu Yuan looked at the intricate stitching and thanked her sincerely.
Mingzhu flushed at the praise. Having spent long years in the palace, where rules were strict and words could bring death, she seldom dared to speak freely.
Yet now, seeing Chu Yuan’s sincere and gentle expression, she suddenly felt the urge to speak, and once she began, she could not stop.
“This servant’s skill was not the best. At that time, the finest embroiderer in the workshop was Fangzhu. She could also devise novel patterns and was greatly favored by the consorts in the palace.”
“She became the most sought-after embroiderer. Even consorts of lower rank could not secure her services.”
“Consort Xu favored her greatly and even asked the Emperor to have her transferred. This servant and Lingzhu both said she would soon rise in status. It is only a pity...”
“A pity for what?” Chu Yuan asked.
Mingzhu sighed. “It is a pity that she somehow offended Consort Xu later. After receiving a beating, she was sent to Lady Li as a menial servant. Not long after, Lady Li passed away, and as Fangzhu was already of age, she was dismissed from the palace. After that, there was no further news.”
“Leaving the palace is also a good thing. Within the palace, one lives in constant fear. Outside, with her embroidery skills, she would not starve. Perhaps she even married...” Chu Yuan spoke, then suddenly stopped, his words cut short.
Mingzhu did not notice the change in his expression. Flushed, she nodded, touched that she had spoken so much of her trivial past, yet Prince Consort had shown neither impatience nor disdain and had even comforted her.
Mingzhu felt deeply moved.
She rose to take her leave.
Palace attendants leaving the palace had a strict time limit and could not linger. A carriage waited outside. Chu Yuan instructed Le Shu to escort her.
“Prince Consort, what is it?” Xian Yue asked, his expression turning serious.
Chu Yuan looked at the small garments in the bundle. His gaze shone like molten gold at sunset. Suddenly, he smiled. “Xian Yue, we have found her.”
“Whom?” Xian Yue did not understand.
Chu Yuan raised his eyes, his gentle voice stirring the air. “Zhang Ze’s former wife, Zhu Fang.”
“She is the palace maid Fangzhu that Mingzhu spoke of.”
Xian Yue understood at once. “No wonder our trail ended there. She had once been in the palace and deliberately changed her name.”
“Not only that. The reason she could evade your investigation is because someone has been covering her tracks.”
“Prince Consort refers to someone in the palace?”
Chu Yuan narrowed his eyes, his fingers brushing the soft silk of the garment. “Xian Yue, investigate Fangzhu’s past while she served Consort Xu. I suspect her departure from the palace is connected to Consort Xu.”
“Yes, Prince Consort.”
“Also, send people to keep watch on the Fourth Prince and the Xu family.”
Xian Yue said, “Since the Fourth Prince left the palace last time, he fell ill again upon returning. Head Imperial Physician Wu has gone to Prince Rui’s residence several times. This subordinate observes that the Fourth Prince’s health seems...”
“Continue watching. I feel there is something amiss.”
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Lu dog: No one can stop me from showing off my love.
Zhao Lu: I want to die.
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