Chapter 65
During the mourning period, the emperor was permitted only simple, modest meals, with no more than six dishes on the table in total. Cui Lanyin ordered six items: tofu, vegetarian meatballs, steamed vegetarian buns, and a few other plain vegetarian dishes.
When the imperial kitchen staff learned that the meal was being prepared for the emperor, nearly all of them nearly dropped to their knees in relief. The past two days, every meal they had sent to the emperor's quarters had been returned completely untouched, leaving the entire kitchen mired in deep anxiety. Now that Funing Palace had placed an order for the emperor's meals, the whole place immediately brightened with new hope. Cao Liang, the head eunuch of the imperial kitchen, listened as Qi An relayed the menu, saw that all the dishes were prepared in very common, straightforward ways, and wanted to show off his skills a bit. "Tofu, vegetarian meatballs, steamed vegetarian buns—these can all be made in far more elaborate, delicious ways," he said. "I have better recipes for all of them, just you wait and see how well they turn out."
Qi An quickly stopped him. "Don't you dare. These dishes were all picked out by our Second Miss Cui to match exactly what His Majesty likes. No one knows his tastes better than she does, so don't go altering anything randomly."
Cao Liang was still not willing to give up. "The Second Miss probably doesn't know that much about the finer points of vegetarian cooking. Trust me, I guarantee nothing will go wrong."
Qi An glanced at him sidelong. "If you're that capable, why didn't His Majesty eat a single bite of the meals you sent over the past two days?"
Cao Liang exhaled in defeat and asked, "How did you hear about that?"
"How did I hear? His Majesty came all the way to our Funing Palace and told the Second Miss he was starving."
Cao Liang did not dare say another word. He personally assigned each dish to the appropriate cooks, making sure not a single detail of the original intended preparation was changed.
He then came back to wait alongside Qi An, and could not help asking, "Back when His Majesty was still living in the prince's manor, was it really the Second Miss who took care of all his meals?"
Since Cao Liang had always treated the people of Funing Palace with due respect in the past, Qi An decided to give him a helpful tip. "Back in the prince's manor, His Majesty always ate all his meals together with the Second Miss."
Cao Liang cupped his hands in a grateful gesture. "Thank you for letting me know. If there's ever anything I, Old Cao, can do for you in the future, don't hesitate to ask."
He then suddenly realized what he had said and added quickly, "Though with Chief Eunuch Qian around, you probably won't ever need my help. I spoke out of turn just now."
Qi An patted him on the shoulder. "We've been friends for years, there's no need to stand on ceremony like that."
Since every dish was being made to suit the emperor's tastes, all six were put on the stoves at the same time and finished very quickly. There was no need for the people from Funing Palace to carry the food themselves; Cao Liang had a palace eunuch from the imperial kitchen personally escort the dishes over to the palace.
This was the third time Emperor Xuanning was having a meal at Funing Palace. He gestured for Empress Dowager Chen to take her seat first, then sat down in the exact same spot he had chosen the previous two visits.
It was a square table, so no matter where one sat, you would either be right next to the emperor or directly across from him. Cui Lanyin thought it over, too nervous to meet his gaze head-on, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she chose the seat right beside him.
The emperor was clearly ravenous. He ate one steamed vegetarian bun after another, finishing three of them before he even started on his rice. Even during those few days every month when he would lock himself away and skip meals entirely, he had never been this eager. It must be that the heavy burden of affairs over the past two days had worn him out far more than usual.
Cui Lanyin could not bear to watch him rush so, so she ladled a full bowl of three-delicacy tofu soup for him, with both vegetables and broth in it. "Uncle," she said, "slow down. You've gone hungry for days now; eating too fast will give you indigestion."
"Mn," Emperor Xuanning responded. He picked up the bowl of tofu soup, and though he still spooned it through quickly, he did slow his pace noticeably from before.
Seeing him focus entirely on his meal without saying a single word, Cui Lanyin began to think that she had overworried about the situation earlier.
After the meal was done, Emperor Xuanning glanced at Cui Lanyin, then turned to Empress Dowager Chen and said, "Lanyin has always liked living near water."
Empress Dowager Chen nodded right away. "It was careless of me to forget that. Children have always loved staying in the imperial gardens. Earlier, since Lanyin did not visit very often, and the other six young ladies were already living there, I was afraid they would disturb her peace. But the Danyue Residence in the back gardens has the most beautiful waterside scenery. I will have people tidy it up this afternoon, and she can move in right after that."
Cui Lanyin had an uneasy premonition. She tugged at Empress Dowager Chen's sleeve and said, "I've grown used to staying in Yi'an Hall, and I'm perfectly comfortable living here with you, Your Majesty. There's no need to move me to the garden. Besides, I'd love to spend more time keeping you company."
Her words were a subtle reminder that back in the Prince Wei's Mansion, she had always resided in the main hall, where there was no pleasant scenery or waterside views to enjoy. But Gufeng, who was rather oblivious to the undercurrents, spoke up trying to please the emperor, "Second Miss Cui, you might not know this. Earlier, His Majesty gave orders to Chief Aide Song to divert water and plant flowering trees in the backyard of Yi'an Hall. If you hadn't entered the palace, the work would have been finished by now."
Aunt Xia also chimed in, "Second Miss Cui, you really should move to the garden. That way, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager can have a reason to go there for walks. The imperial physicians have advised her to take more exercise for ages, but she never listens. Now that you'll be staying in the garden, I'm sure Her Majesty will be looking forward to going there every day just to visit you."
"You think you know everything?" Empress Dowager Chen said with a playful, childish huff, sounding fondly exasperated. "You just love to tease me about my bad habits."
Then she turned to Cui Lanyin, her tone softening immediately. "All young ladies of status have their own private courtyards to live in. The west sleeping chamber is far too cramped. If you move, there will be plenty of space for your bird Grayfeather to spread its wings and move around freely when you bring it here."
The emperor, who had kept a calm, unreadable expression all this time, lifted his hand and tapped Cui Lanyin lightly on the top of her head. "Don't let that mischievous bird run around and poke its head into places it shouldn't be."
Cui Lanyin giggled. "It knows very well how to behave. It will make sure to steer clear of your quarters, Uncle Imperial."
At this point, Cui Lanyin began to think the emperor did not have any hidden motives after all. She recalled that back in the Prince Wei's Mansion, she had always been the one arranging the daily meals and snacks. Now that they were both in the palace, the emperor probably just hadn't gotten used to the new arrangements yet.
These past few days, the emperor had sent Qian He out to handle errands outside the palace, so his personal attendant had been Buyan instead. What Cui Lanyin did not know was that Buyan would never dare to make any decisions on the emperor's behalf.
She guessed he must have been too hungry to wait any longer, so he had come to find her to get the proper meals he was used to.
She was more than happy to look after her Uncle Imperial, so she suggested, "Uncle Imperial, how about I make the meal arrangements myself, and tell the imperial kitchen to send your meals at the exact same time they did when we were in the Prince Wei's Mansion?"
The emperor gave her another light tap on the head, signaling his approval. The little suspicion that had just sprung up in Cui Lanyin's mind vanished completely.
Right after the emperor left, Empress Dowager Chen did not even take her usual midday nap. She directed Qi An to lead the servants to help Cui Lanyin move her things to the new courtyard.
The Danju Residence was already fully furnished with all kinds of daily necessities, and the servants cleaned it every day. All they needed to do was move over Cui Lanyin's personal belongings. Since everyone had originally expected Cui Lanyin to only stay in the palace for a few days, she had not brought many possessions with her, so the whole moving process was done in no time.
Once everything was settled, Empress Dowager Chen accompanied Cui Lanyin to the Danju Residence. She looked around the entire courtyard carefully and said, "We are still in the mourning period, so it's not appropriate to make a big fuss over decorations. You'll have to make do with this for now. Once this period is over, we'll go to my private storeroom to pick out all the finest items, and redo the furnishings here to make it even more beautiful."
Emperor Xuanning had always treated Empress Dowager Chen with great respect on the surface. All the items and furnishings in her Funing Palace were of the highest quality, and at least in public view, they were no less luxurious than those in Empress Dowager Li's palace.
That meant the layout and furnishings of the Danju Residence could not possibly be anything less than exquisite. Cui Lanyin could not even imagine how it could be improved to be any better.
Unlike the graceful, delicate style of the Spring Stream Pavilion in the Prince Wei's Mansion, the Danju Residence had a unique, relaxed charm that felt like a little piece of wild nature. A meandering stream of clear water ran along the base of the red palace wall, its glistening ripples lapping at the bluestone steps right behind the back eave of the residence. A bamboo bridge led to a bamboo pavilion sitting in the middle of the water. Among the shallow reeds along the bank, two cranes were flapping their wings and splashing in the water, while further away, several crested ducks swam leisurely by. The first thought that crossed Cui Lanyin's mind was that her bird Grayfeather would absolutely love living here.
The Danyue Residence had more than enough rooms. Empress Dowager Chen had also assigned Yushan to serve her, and with Aiye, Sangzhi, and Buyu by her side, Cui Lanyin now had four personal attendants. A few additional maids and eunuchs were arranged to handle errands and odd jobs, bringing the total staff to over a dozen people — more than enough to live comfortably within the Danyue Residence.
The only shortcoming was that the windows of the residence were still pasted with paper. If she wanted to enjoy the garden scenery, she would have to either open the windows or sit out on the corridor.
That was bearable for now, but once the weather turned cooler, she could not catch any draft on her head, and she would have to miss out on all the beautiful views of the entire garden.
Starting from the dinner that evening, Qi An brought Buyu to the imperial kitchen to introduce him to Cao Liang. "From now on, our Second Miss Cui will send this young fellow over to arrange the Emperor's meals, so don't treat him as a new face unfairly."
Hearing that Second Miss Cui would be taking charge of Emperor Xuanning's three daily meals from then on, Cao Liang was secretly taken aback. He had held his position for over ten years, and even Concubine Li Shu, who had once enjoyed immense favor, had never dared to make decisions about Emperor Xuanning's meals.
He immediately perked up, not daring in the slightest to slight Buyu just because the boy was young, and said politely, "You must be Brother Buyu, right? Whenever you come, just give your orders. No one with a grain of sense will ever be disrespectful to you."
Over the next few days, every meal Cui Lanyin arranged was sent to the Emperor, and the Emperor ate all of them. Qian He even took time out of his schedule to come over specially and thank her.
The Emperor also never returned to the Palace of Great Blessing again. Cui Lanyin laughed at her own foolish overexpectation, and completely let go of the one-year agreement in her heart.
Nice as the Danyue Residence was, Cui Lanyin did not want to stay in the palace forever.
During the mourning period, things could stay as they were, but she planned to bring it up to the Emperor after his coronation ceremony — even if she could spend half her time in the palace and the other half back at her own family home, that would be more than satisfactory.
One day after finishing dinner and chatting with Empress Dowager Chen for a while, Cui Lanyin headed back to the Danyue Residence with Buyu.
The headbands she had made for Empress Dowager Chen during the Dragon Boat Festival, and the sachets that Qi An and the others had made, were still being worn by everyone every now and then.
Empress Dowager Chen's headband was one thing, but back then, to match the Dragon Boat Festival theme, she had embroidered patterns of tiger-shaped amulets and the five poisonous creatures on the sachets. Those patterns would no longer be appropriate to wear once the festival was over.
The palace had the Imperial Needlework Bureau, which could produce any fine craft imaginable. Not to mention Empress Dowager Chen, even if someone like Qi An casually asked for a sachet, the bureau would have rushed to make dozens of different styles overnight.
These people cherished the gifts she had made simply because they liked her as a person.
Cui Lanyin sewed a new sachet for each of them and told them to replace the old festival-themed ones.
When they saw that she was about to keep making more, Empress Dowager Chen, along with Aunt Xia and Aunt Gao, gave her a good talking-to, telling her that she must never do all the needlework herself again. If she really wanted to show her care, she could let the servants do most of the work, and only sew one or two stitches on each piece herself.
Cui Lanyin was the kind of person who took good advice. Besides, her needlework skills were only mediocre — all the pieces she had made before used clever, simple patterns. They were fine to wear around the family, but if she wore them out to meet guests, she would be making a fool of herself.
After that, she had Aiye and Sangzhi help her make the sachets and headbands, and only added a few stitches on each piece at the end. Even so, when she sent the finished items over, Empress Dowager Chen and the others loved them just as much as before, and refused to wear any sachets or headbands that did not come from her.
After Cui Lanyin moved into the Danyue Residence, Empress Dowager Chen had even assigned two maids with excellent needlework skills to her, so that she could leave all the sewing work to them later.
Just then, Yushan came over with a few newly embroidered headbands and sachets made by those two maids. Cui Lanyin sat down on the Huanghuali jade-inlaid flower-patterned Luohan couch in the outer room, and started idly adding a few stitches to the headbands and sachets one by one.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of the outer door opening. Buyu had only left a short while ago — what could he be coming back for?
She looked up and her eyes landed right on the emperor who had just walked in. Behind him was Qinglin, who was so flustered that he did not know where to put his hands and feet.
The emperor, however, showed no awkwardness at all for barging into an unmarried young lady's bedchamber. He walked over naturally, just as if he was still in his own imperial study, kicked off his boots, and sat down on the luohan bed.
Aiye and Sangzhi were relatively calm, quickly standing up and stepping aside to wait on him. But Yushan, who had never seen the emperor before, was so frightened that her face went pale.
Cui Lanyin was not much better off. She gaped for a long moment before she managed to speak, "Uncle, how did you get here?"
The palace gates were always tightly locked at night. If the emperor wanted to leave the palace, his trip would have to be accompanied by a grand entourage. There was no way he could arrive so quietly.
Prince Wei glanced at Qinglin, who mumbled, "I accompanied His Majesty here across the rooftops."
So the dignified Son of Heaven of the Great Ying had so much unused martial arts skill that he was wasting it scaling walls and leaping over roofs inside the palace?
Cui Lanyin's thoughts raced to the palace maids and eunuchs living in the courtyard—there was no way this could be kept hidden from Empress Dowager Chen. Even if Empress Dowager Chen had never suspected anything before, with the emperor sneaking over walls and through courtyards in the dead of night to visit her, it would be impossible for the empress dowager not to misinterpret the situation.
How was she ever supposed to face Empress Dowager Chen now? The empress dowager would surely think she was a scheming girl with improper designs on the emperor. Overcome by embarrassment and fluster, she even forgot to be scared. "Uncle, if you come here like this, what will the Empress Dowager think of me?"
The emperor swept his gaze over Qinglin again, and Qinglin could only bite the bullet and explain, "I've knocked all the servants outside unconscious with acupressure. They won't wake up until dawn. Only Buyan and the people in this room know we are here."
"I won't tell a soul," Yushan stammered, her legs trembling as she hid behind Aiye and Sangzhi.
The emperor flicked his fingers twice on the edge of the bed, and Qinglin stepped forward helplessly, saying to Aiye and the other two, "Step out for a while."
Aiye and Sangzhi looked at Cui Lanyin. What choice did she have? She had agreed to that one-year promise before, and now the emperor had come to collect on it—no, not collect on it, to come and spend time with her openly and unapologetically. She could only welcome him in.
She did not dare to hold onto any false hope anymore. The emperor had never intended to let that one-year promise go unfulfilled. Not wanting her two maids to worry, she spoke as naturally as she had back in Prince Wei's study, "His Majesty has come to talk to me. You may step out. Let Buyan come in to serve tea and snacks later."
Things had always been like that at Prince Wei's residence. Cui Lanyin had even slept over in the prince's study twice before, and nothing improper had ever happened. Aiye and Sangzhi believed her, and pulled the still-shaky Yushan out of the room.
The emperor leaned lazily against the bolster at the head of the bed, pinching the space between his brows. "I'm vexed," he said, his voice trailing off at the end. Cui Lanyin's heart started fluttering again.
Thinking of those words "this companionship is not that companionship", Cui Lanyin knew there was no way to brush it off. She got off the bed, walked over to his side, careful not to get too close, and stood a full arm's length away as she extended her fingers to massage the space between his brows. "You must be exhausted."
The emperor would not let her keep her distance. He stretched out his arm and pulled her close, only to release her before she could tense up. Before the breath she had been about to let out could fully escape, he caught her free hand, turned it over to examine it carefully, and then brought it to his mouth. His warm lips pressed against the center of her palm.
A shiver of heat ran through her as he whispered a soft reproach, "You've been hiding from me. Don't you deserve to be punished?"
"I haven't..." Cui Lanyin did not dare face him, and could only bury her face in his shoulder.
The emperor did not press the matter further. He wrapped one arm around her waist and held her half-embraced against him. "Let me lean on you for a while. I haven't slept well for the past two days."
After all the shock she had just gone through, being held like this and holding hands did not feel so out of place anymore. Cui Lanyin slowly steadied her breathing.
Qiqi's good days are finally here 😏
