Chapter 101
When Grand Empress Dowager Chen learned that the child was a little princess, she fell silent for a moment before smiling with genuine delight.
“You are a woman blessed with good fortune,” she told Cui Lanyin.
Cui Lanyin knew at once that Grand Empress Dowager Chen had reached the same conclusion she had.
Having a son would certainly allow the Empress to climb to the very pinnacle of power, but the dangers and hardships along the way were more than an ordinary person could endure. By the end, one might well become an entirely different person. It was difficult to say whether one gained more or lost more.
A little princess had her own advantages. At the very least, many matters could be handled gradually, without making one’s hunger for power look quite so ugly.
Grand Empress Dowager Chen immediately entered the state of preparing to welcome her great-granddaughter. She instructed Aunt Gao, “Hurry and gather all the women in the palace who are skilled at needlework. Prepare clothes, blankets, shoes, and socks for the little princess. Go to the storeroom and make sure you find the finest, softest fabrics.”
Even after saying this, she still felt uneasy and started to climb down from the kang. “No, I must choose them myself. None of you has an eye as good as mine.”
“Grand Empress Dowager, the storeroom is packed with things. You might trip and fall,” Cui Lanyin said, stopping her at once. “We still have six months to prepare. There’s no need to rush this very moment. Just let Aunt Gao select everything slowly and bring it to you for approval.”
Cui Lanyin had only just managed to hold Grand Empress Dowager Chen back when Aunt Gao unexpectedly failed to cooperate.
“Grand Empress Dowager, I’ll take some people and bring out all the fabrics from the storeroom. You can examine them one by one when we bring them over. We absolutely cannot be careless with the clothes and belongings of our precious little princess.”
Grand Empress Dowager Chen nodded repeatedly. “You’ve become more capable with every passing day. Go on, then.”
Cui Lanyin could only watch helplessly as Aunt Gao led a group of people off to rummage through the storeroom. That would have been fine if it happened only this once, but she was worried it might become the norm.
Empress Dowager Xu, Consort Dowager Shu, and Dowager Concubine Wan came over to play cards with Grand Empress Dowager Chen. When they saw that every place one could sit in the sitting room was piled high with fabrics—all of them delicate and luxuriously soft—they immediately guessed what was going on.
Consort Dowager Shu smiled and asked, “Are you making little clothes?”
Consort Dowager Shu had served before Grand Empress Dowager Li for so many years that she was exceptionally measured in her speech. If something was not her place to say, she would not utter a word; if she had a question, she would ask it directly.
Grand Empress Dowager Chen did not keep it from them. “Yin is carrying a little princess, so we must hurry and prepare the things the child will wear and use. Your Jin'er is about to give birth too. Have you had the Imperial Physicians examine her to see whether it’s a boy or a girl? How have you prepared the clothes and bedding? Do you have any pretty styles for girls? Find a few pieces and bring them over so we can see what styles are fashionable nowadays.”
She pointed at Aunt Gao. “Everything she has is in those old-fashioned antique styles. We can’t let our little princess wear things like that.”
The three women were inwardly amazed. When had Grand Empress Dowager Chen ever spoken at such length? The little princess was still in the Empress’s womb, yet she was already becoming the apple of the Grand Empress Dowager’s eye. Once the child was born, wouldn’t she be cherished like the very heart of her heart?
Consort Dowager Shu was not afraid to say, “When I was carrying Prince Duan, Director He, who held the post before, told me it was a boy. The current Director He, however, does not have his father’s skill.
“I thought there was no one left in the Imperial Medical Bureau who could determine such things, but it turns out they had been hiding a Deputy Director Cao.
“Since we don’t know whether the child in Jin’er’s belly is a boy or a girl, we prepared two sets of clothes and bedding. If Grand Empress Dowager does not find them beneath her notice, I’ll have someone bring over a few pieces later.”
Dowager Concubine Wan chimed in, “Those Imperial Physicians are overly cautious. They would never tell anyone whether it was a boy or a girl. As for the Empress, if His Majesty had not given the order, I doubt they would have said anything either.”
Grand Empress Dowager Chen nodded, then said to Consort Dowager Shu, “Send someone to fetch them right away. We have nothing else to do, so the women can begin making things as soon as they arrive.”
Consort Dowager Shu promptly instructed one of her attendants to go and retrieve them. Then she turned to Cui Lanyin with a smile.
“Now that the Grand Empress Dowager has a great-granddaughter, the Empress is going to be pushed aside.”
Cui Lanyin put on an aggrieved expression. “Isn’t that the truth? There’s no room for me to get a word in anymore.”
Everyone in the room burst out laughing. Only Empress Dowager Xu looked at Cui Lanyin’s belly with a flicker of melancholy before quickly recovering.
Cui Lanyin understood. Empress Dowager Xu had once been pregnant too, but for some unknown reason, she had miscarried at two months. For the women of the inner palace, having a daughter gave them far more hope for the future.
Cui Lanyin’s spirits, however, had improved. Everything depended on one’s efforts. She was confident that if she managed things carefully, she would not end up in such a state. The Emperor would not be heartless enough to treat her that way. Besides being the Empress, she was also his niece.
After moving into Yanhua Palace, Cui Lanyin had initially thought she would have trouble adjusting. Once she actually settled in, however, she discovered that Yanhua Palace was livelier than Danyue Residence had been.
Everyone in Yanhua Palace was familiar from the days of the princely residence. Silin still came and went as freely as he had back then, as did Qian He, Buyan, Gufeng, and the others. The Emperor had also resumed his old habits from the princely residence. Once he returned to the rear palace, he spent all his time in the sitting room on the arhat couch, except when it was time to sleep, listening to her chatter about this and that.
Only then did Cui Lanyin realize how much she had missed the days they had spent together in the princely residence, and the people who had shared those days with them.
The only regret was that they no longer had their smiling chief aide. Fortunately, she still had to handle matters concerning the Commerce Affairs Directorate in the former residence, so she could continue seeing him often.
There was one other matter she could not quite figure out. After their wedding on the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month, the Emperor had still not shared a bed with her.
At first, she thought it was because the wedding had been followed immediately by the New Year, leaving him rushed off his feet every day. Perhaps, knowing she was pregnant, he had been restraining himself out of consideration for her.
But half a month had passed in the blink of an eye, and the Lantern Festival was only three days away. The Emperor had remained abstinent the entire time.
It was not that he had no desire for intimacy. Cui Lanyin could clearly sense that he was forcing himself to hold back.
Earlier, because of those absurd rumors about her lover being old and strange, she had felt guilty and had been unusually bold and proactive in bed for a while.
But after becoming pregnant and returning to her family home for more than half a month to await the wedding, she had discovered that even two people who were deeply intimate could become a little awkward after being apart for some time.
In any case, she was too embarrassed to take the initiative again now.
For half a month, the Emperor had kept her at arm’s length. At most, he would hold her and lightly brush his lips over her forehead or cheek, like a dragonfly skimming the surface of water. Cui Lanyin had become reserved as well. Whenever she moved even a little closer to him, she had to force herself to endure the blush and racing heartbeat.
For some reason, she remembered something the Emperor had once said: “Do you know how to make a glutton lose his appetite? There’s no trick to it. Feed him until he’s full and satisfied for a while, and he’ll stop eating on his own…”
Was the Emperor like this now because he had eaten his fill and grown tired of it? Was that why, even when he had the desire, he would rather endure it?
While she was lost in thought, the Emperor returned from the western chamber, and Buyan hurried to arrange the meal.
After they finished eating, the Emperor said to her, “You won’t be able to go out much once your condition becomes more cumbersome. The eastern chamber is not being used at present, so you can use it to meet with the people from the Commerce Affairs Directorate. I have already permitted Commissioner Song to come and go at Yanhua Palace. For ordinary matters, summon him to the eastern chamber and question him there.”
Cui Lanyin looked at the Emperor in surprise. “I can go to the eastern chamber? What about the court officials…”
“We’re in our own home. Why should we care what others think?” The Emperor pulled her down beside him on the arhat couch. “You find Commissioner Song easy to work with, don’t you? You can leave all the outside affairs to him.”
Chief Aide Song was capable and good at organizing things. Wouldn’t that mean she could truly return to the days of the princely residence?
Cui Lanyin was very tempted.
"Isn't there that fellow who runs errands and passes messages for you? Give him a post as a guardsman of the Yanhuapalace, so he can travel freely between the palace and the outer residences. That'll make things far more convenient for you on all fronts."
Cui Lanyin had not expected the Emperor to even know about Geng Dayou. If Geng Dayou could come and go as he pleased between the palace and the outside world, she would be able to keep a tight grip on so many matters.
"Granduncle..." Cui Lanyin was just about to throw herself into his arms, when she suddenly recalled the awkwardness of their current situation. She quickly pretended to pour tea to cover up her blunder.
After finishing a cup of tea, the two of them walked over to the main hall at the front together. The Emperor headed for the West Side Pavilion, while she brought Buyu with her to the East Side Pavilion.
During the few days of the grand wedding and the New Year when the Emperor sealed his official seal, Cui Lanyin had wandered through both the West and East Side Pavilions. The East Side Pavilion had originally been built as the Emperor's living quarters, laid out with a private inner bedroom and an outer reception area. Now, however, its layout had been rearranged to resemble that of the West Side Pavilion, except the furnishings inside were far more delicate, elegant, and exquisite.
Cui Lanyin sat down behind the flat-topped table carved with dragon and phoenix patterns, admiring the sandalwood inlaid plaque screen decorated with precious plum and bamboo motifs on the table. It was clearly a treasured piece from the Emperor's private collection.
When it came to these material possessions, the Emperor never kept anything hidden from her at all.
Buyu then led Commissioner Song and Geng Dayou inside. The two men bowed excitedly and exclaimed, "Your subject greets Her Majesty the Empress."
Cui Lanyin quickly bade them rise. "We are all our own people here, no need for such formalities."
Commissioner Song's lips were still trembling. "This subject never dared dream that I would still get to serve Her Majesty the Empress."
As for Geng Dayou, he was too overcome to utter a single word. If Buyu had not stepped forward to pull him up, he would have remained kneeling on the ground.
His reaction was already quite proper, all things considered. At the very least, he had managed to follow behind Commissioner Song into the palace without making any unseemly scene.
According to what Gufeng had told her, the Emperor had personally appointed him as a Yanhuapalace guardsman, granting him an official rank of the eighth grade. His parents had been so overjoyed that they had nearly lost their minds. In the blink of an eye, before anyone could stop him, his father had dashed straight to the Ministry of Works to report the good news and kowtow to his old master.
His mother, on the other hand, had sprinted off to pay her respects and express gratitude to his wife and eldest young lady. All the proper airs they had recently learned to put on as the majordomo and majordomo's wife of the Lord Xuanping's Manor had been cast aside completely in their excitement.
Quite a few court officials were waiting in the West Side Hall for their audience with the Emperor. They had all seen the Empress head to the East Side Pavilion, and soon after, the palace eunuch by her side had led Commissioner Song from the Commercial Tax Bureau, as well as Geng Dayou, who had been following her around on errands ever since she was still in her maiden family, into the East Side Pavilion.
What on earth was the meaning of this? The main hall where the Emperor handled state affairs had never allowed women to set foot in, not even the Empress herself. That had been the rule in the old Benyuan Hall, and it was still the same for the Yanhuapalace.
Now, not only had the Empress entered the East Side Pavilion, she was also receiving the officials from the Commercial Tax Bureau inside. Everyone knew that the Qilin Hall, the predecessor of the Commercial Tax Bureau, had been under the Empress's personal management before she married. And the commercial taxes she had collected back then had never been properly accounted for. Thinking of how the Emperor always acted in unorthodox ways, could it be that he intended to let the Empress continue to take charge of the Commercial Tax Bureau?
Besides, it had been quite a while already. Shouldn't the Empress be moving into the Phoenix Palace by now?
After going through several previous incidents, the court officials had learned to be more careful with their words.
The newly appointed Chief Censor of the Left was the one who brought up the question, phrasing it tactfully: "Your Majesty, there are so many people coming and going in the Yanhuapalace. We wouldn't want all that commotion to disturb Her Majesty the Empress in her pregnancy. The Phoenix Palace is far more peaceful and suitable for her to reside in."
The Minister of Revenue immediately followed up and added, "One should not overexert oneself when carrying a child. When Her Majesty the Empress summoned Commissioner Song just now, was it to hand over the affairs of the Commercial Tax Bureau?"
This time, the Emperor did not show any irritation. A faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "The little princess likes it here."
Since neither the Emperor nor the Empress had made any attempt to hide it, everyone already knew that the Empress was carrying a little princess.
Before the officials could even process that piece of news, the Emperor added, "The Emperor's private storehouse naturally ought to be managed by the Empress."
So what His Majesty meant was that the little princess liked staying in the Yanhuapalace, so the Empress would not move away? And all the commercial taxes collected by the Commercial Tax Bureau would go straight into the Emperor's private storehouse?
After Commissioner Song and Geng Dayou left, Cui Lanyin wandered into the inner room. She sat down on the Luohan couch to rest for a while, reached for a cushion to tuck behind her back, and then a tattered storybook slipped out from under the cushion.
She picked it up casually, and froze when she saw the title, *The Tightly Bound Heart Lock of Near Yet Distant Affection*. What on earth was this nonsense? Who had been reading it?
I've worked extra hard to bring you an update today, dearest ones. Enjoy reading this chapter first. I'll try to post another one later tonight, and I'll make sure it's up before midnight [wry smile emoji].
