Chapter Seventy-One
The group split up, with Geng Dayou still driving the carriage while Cui Lanyin returned home with Chiyun and Chiyue.
The day before, they had seen Emperor Xuanning’s coffin off. The entire court had been worked to the bone by the affair, and the emperor had therefore granted everyone a day of rest.
Thus, when Cui Lanyin arrived home, both families from the second branch were there as well.
Cui Lanyin already knew that Cui Chang had followed Meng Huaizong back to Yingcheng. He must have felt too ashamed to show his face, and had not appeared until after Emperor Xuanning’s death and Prince Wei’s accession. He had chosen that day to return home.
But Cui Mian had already declared that no one was to open the door for him. Lady Chang did not dare disobey. No matter how Cui Chang pleaded and explained himself, she refused to let him in.
Even Lady Jiang, who knew little of what went on outside the household, understood that Cui Chang had not come to repent. He had come because Prince Wei had ascended the throne, Cui Lanyin had been summoned into the palace by the emperor, and although Cui Su had not received a title, he was sure to be appointed at least a sixth-rank Imperial Guard officer. Cui Sheng had also established himself in the Ministry of Works. Riding on the success of the Cui family’s first branch offered far better prospects than seeking connections elsewhere.
Since Cui Mian and Lady Chang did not mention the matter, Cui Lanyin pretended not to know about it either. The two branches enjoyed a harmonious lunch together.
After seeing the second branch off, she rested for a while. Once she awoke, she spent some time chatting with her family, and soon it was the hour of Shen, nearly five in the afternoon.
Besides making tofu-skin buns, Cui Sheng prepared four kinds of vegetarian pastries that would keep well. He packed them, still steaming hot, into food boxes.
Since Cui Lanyin would now be living in the palace for an extended period, she also gathered several large bundles of the clothes and jewelry she had most often used at the former princely residence. When she left, there had been only one carriage. On her return, there were three.
The carriage at the front was the four-horse carriage Empress Dowager Chen had prepared for Cui Lanyin’s journeys in and out of the palace. The second was another four-horse carriage given to her by the palace chief secretary. The last was the two-horse carriage she rode most often.
The palace guards had been changed again. Not long before, Li Yixin’s carriage had entered the palace, and those who did not know the circumstances began asking one another which noblewoman could possibly have a grander procession than Miss Li.
When they heard that it was the second young lady of the Cui family, known as “Cui the Second Fierce One,” they clicked their tongues several times in surprise, then understood at once. The balance of power in Yingcheng was beginning to shift.
Cui Lanyin had only just returned to Funing Palace and had not yet taken out the tofu-skin buns when Buyan arrived, as though he had timed it precisely. After offering his greetings, he said with a smile, “Second Young Lady, His Majesty said he would wait for your tofu-skin buns. He has yet to eat lunch.”
“They must be truly delicious if they can make the emperor yearn for them.” Empress Dowager Chen did not even wait for them to be arranged on a plate. She picked one up and tasted it. “They really are excellent. No wonder His Majesty was willing to go hungry for them.”
By the time Cui Lanyin had finished arranging the buns on a plate for Buyan to take away, Empress Dowager Chen had already eaten half the platter.
After finishing the remaining buns, Empress Dowager Chen tried one piece of each pastry as well. She praised them again and again. “The pastries are excellent too. They put the imperial kitchens to shame.”
She looked at Cui Lanyin curiously. “Is the cook a hereditary servant of your family? I had no idea your grandfather was such a gourmet, or that he had found someone who could both cook dishes and make pastries so well.”
Since the subject had come up, Cui Lanyin did not conceal the truth. She smiled and said, “If our family had possessed a cook like that, we would have been so poor all those years ago that someone would have found a way to lure him away long ago.
“These are all my father’s handiwork. He dabbles in everything. Over the past two years, he took up cooking dishes and making pastries. He found many recipes for food and pastries in ancient books, and whenever he ate something good outside, he would come home and try to recreate it. These tofu-skin buns were made after I brought some home for him to taste when I visited Tianfu Temple. He imitated them, and everyone says his taste is even better than the temple’s.”
Empress Dowager Chen was quite surprised. “Didn’t your father join the Ministry of Works? Qian He said that his superiors value him highly, so he must be very busy. Yet when he returns home, he still cooks for all of you?”
“For a while, my father was working day and night at the dock of Dongshui Pass. Only a few days ago did his superiors permit him to live at home. During the few meals I had after returning, he cooked every one of them. Even when I’m not home, it’s the same. Whenever anyone in the family wants to eat something he makes, he puts aside whatever he is doing and heads straight to the kitchen.”
Empress Dowager Chen sighed sincerely. “Your mother is truly blessed, and so are you children.”
There was not the slightest hint of disdain in her voice. On the contrary, she clearly approved of Cui Sheng’s actions.
Cui Lanyin went over and put her arms around her. “I knew Your Majesty was different from ordinary people. His Majesty has been taught by you, and he didn’t think there was anything wrong with my father’s ways when I told him about them.”
Empress Dowager Chen laughed until her eyes narrowed. “I know perfectly well that you’re only flattering me, but I still love hearing it.” She tapped Cui Lanyin lightly on the nose. “His Majesty must be just like me. He loves hearing you flatter him too.”
It was the most ordinary sort of remark, yet Cui Lanyin heard another meaning in it. She quickly lifted her teacup and took a sip, timely concealing the warmth that was beginning to rise in her face.
They had tofu-skin buns for dinner and did not summon a meal from the imperial kitchens. After dinner, Cui Lanyin stayed with Empress Dowager Chen for a while before finally returning to Dan Yue Residence with Buyu.
The fragrance clinging to her from the pleasure boat had proved remarkably persistent. Although she had changed clothes before entering the palace, she had not had time to wash her hair, and the sweet scent still lingered around her nose.
She did not need to think about it. The emperor would certainly come that night.
Although the emperor had taught her to cast aside propriety and convention, she was still afraid that if he learned she had taken a pleasure boat on the Wu-Yang River, he might confine her to the palace. A cloying, bone-melting fragrance like that could be recognized by the emperor at once. He would know exactly where she had been.
As long as there was even the slightest clue, there was no way to hide anything from him.
Seeing that there was still some time, she hurriedly ordered water for a bath and changed into a completely fresh outfit from head to toe.
Her hair was still only half-dry when the emperor arrived. He glanced at the water clock. It was not yet the hour of Xu, nearly half an hour earlier than usual.
The moment the emperor entered, Aiye and the others withdrew without waiting for further instruction.
He tossed aside the ribbon Cui Lanyin was about to use to tie up her hair, then raised a hand and stroked her hair, letting his fingers slide down to her face. “It’s not as though I haven’t seen you like this before.”
Cui Lanyin was worried that tying up wet hair might cause a headache, so she let him do as he pleased.
The emperor did not sit down, however. His palm lingered over her face, moving back and forth and making her skin prickle with a faint itch. Cui Lanyin caught his hand and turned it over. She found a thin layer of calluses on his fingertips, with several places rubbed raw and sprouting splinters of skin.
“You didn’t have these before. Have you been very busy these past few days?”
“Mm.” The emperor looked at her. “There have been quite a few memorials piling up lately. With you away, I had nowhere to catch up on my sleep, so I simply spent day and night reviewing memorials.”
Seeing the dark bluish shadows beneath his eyes and thinking of the carefree time she had spent outside over the past two days, Cui Lanyin felt a little guilty.
“You should have rested, at least.”
For once, she took the initiative to push him back into a seated position. “I thought you’d sleep better once he was gone.”
“It made no difference.” The emperor buried his face in her hair and inhaled. Then he sniffed again. “Did you change your fragrance?”
This man’s mind was sharper than anyone’s. How was his nose so keen as well?
Cui Lanyin pushed him away. “Uncle, sit a little farther away. My hair is still wet, and if I lean against you like this, I’ll get a headache.”
The emperor released the arm around her waist, then took her hand instead and idly toyed with it. He said in a coaxing tone, “Even though I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t call you back. You should give me something in return.”
By lamplight, his features appeared even more profound. His brows and eyes, his entire face, seemed to have been sketched in the finest ink. At that moment, reclining lazily where he sat, he had shed the lofty majesty he wore during the day and become irresistibly alluring.
For no reason at all, the few lines Cui Lanyin had overheard on the pleasure boat drifted back into her mind. "I heard the emperor is already twenty-six, and there's not a single woman by his side. I'm afraid there's something wrong with him..." Those courtesans had never even laid eyes on the imperial face, just spouting nonsense at random. The emperor was so peerlessly handsome, how could he be compared to those ordinary men they talked about, who were just good-looking and in the prime of their youth?
After hearing those words, even though she did not fully understand them, she knew they were vulgar, improper remarks that should not be listened to, and had repeatedly told herself not to think about them, much less remember them.
She had managed to suppress the thoughts very well, but now they all came rushing out at once.
Since she had taken charge of her family's affairs early on, from the careless remarks the maids and wives had let slip, she knew that after a couple got married, there was the matter of intimacy between husband and wife. But wasn't that just for the sake of bearing children? How come in the words of those two courtesans, that act seemed like the most supreme pleasure, as if the joy between a man and a woman had some absolutely wonderful taste?
Moreover, was it true that the emperor had not taken a consort all this time because he was unwell? And what would that kind of unwellness be like? Would it be the same as her own situation, where she could not give birth to a child? Was that why the emperor had always shown no interest in women?
But that did not seem right either. The emperor had tried to hug her the moment he saw her, and kept wanting to nuzzle and kiss her here and there, which did not look like he was unwell at all. Just what could that so-called absolutely wonderful taste be like?
Was it the act of two mouths pressed together? The thought had barely crossed her mind when a picture of the two of them kissing, their lips overlapping, appeared in her head. Realizing she was thinking of such improper things, Cui Lanyin shook her head hard, trying to shake off all those messy thoughts, only to see the crimson blush spread all the way to the tips of her ears.
Emperor Xuanning happened to catch that sight. His gaze settled on that spot, and the color of his eyes deepened. He reached out with his left hand to cover it, his thumb rubbing the soft skin back and forth, "What's the matter?"
His warm breath fanned across her ear, and Cui Lanyin flinched, avoiding his gaze. "Nothing... I wasn't thinking of anything."
The emperor chuckled. "A clear case of the person concerned protesting too much, isn't it?"
Cui Lanyin shook her head frantically, trying to steer the conversation back to serious matters. "I have something to tell you, Uncle..."
Her unfinished words were suddenly cut off by the emperor's fingertip, which had landed lightly on her lips. After brushing her soft lips once, he lifted his hand to examine it in the lamplight. "They say lips that are red without the touch of rouge—aren't they describing just this?"
This side of the emperor was so unfamiliar, something she had never seen before. Cui Lanyin instinctively sensed the danger, and said hurriedly, "It's true, Uncle. I saw the steward of Prince Ping openly associating with the Nine Circles Trading Firm, and the firm has promised Prince Ping a one percent share of the profits..."
"Is that so?" The emperor was not about to let her off. He pressed his fingertip back to her lips, his eyes holding glimmers that were like tiny hooks. "Want to have a taste?"
Was the emperor seducing her? Cui Lanyin felt her entire spirit going unmoored. She shook her head randomly, "I..." The word had barely left her mouth when the emperor's kiss landed on her trembling long eyelashes, then slid along the bridge of her nose to her pert little tip. This gentle, spring breeze-like touch was something she had gradually gotten used to before. She thought he was just teasing her, same as the few times before, so she let out a soft breath of relief.
All of a sudden, the emperor wrapped an arm around her waist, and his right hand came up to cup the back of her head. Before she could react, his lips landed on her slightly parted cherry lips. The moment her jaw went slack in surprise, he deepened the kiss, slipping past her teeth. "Sweet..." The rest of his words were breathed directly into her mouth...
Cui Lanyin's fingertips dug into the front of his robe, and she could feel his heart beating like a rapid drum. In an instant, her fingertips went weak and numb, and she could not summon up a single bit of strength left in her...
It was not until Cui Lanyin whimpered, "It hurts..." that the emperor pulled back a little. When he saw the teeth marks on her lips, and the faint streaks of blood beneath them, he realized he had been too rough.
He calmed his breathing, the searing heat in his eyes fading away. He reached out a finger to gently wipe away the tiny bead of blood that had welled up. "Ouch... it hurts..." Cui Lanyin twisted her head away, dodging him as she kept complaining.
The all-knowing, almighty emperor was stumped. He held her face carefully in his hands. "I will have the imperial physician prepare some ointment for it."
Seeing that he was about to head for the door to call for someone, Cui Lanyin, forgetting the pain in her panic, rushed over to grab him. She did not even call him Uncle anymore. "Are you out of your mind? If we call the imperial physician for this, how will I ever show my face to anyone again?"
The emperor did not see the problem that way. "We are both unmarried, and we are openly and properly in love. How could that make you lose face?"
Cui Lanyin knew that this was the man who held all propriety and conventions in contempt—there was nothing he would not dare to do.
She could only say, "You are still in the mourning period for the late emperor."
To her surprise, the emperor did not care even a little bit. "It makes no difference to me whether I am remembered as a wise ruler or a foolish one."
Cui Lanyin thought of a quick retort. "We had a one-year agreement. Are you going back on your word?"
This line worked. The emperor turned back, and carefully leaned in to look at her lips again. "If we don't do something, they will be swollen by tomorrow morning. Everyone who sees you will notice."
The thought that Empress Dowager Chen would find out made Cui Lanyin panic. She grabbed his arm. "Hurry up and think of something!"
The emperor always had a way out. He pulled her into his embrace. "Don't worry. We'll just say I bit my own lip while I was eating. I'll have Xuanlin go find the imperial physician for the medicine."
That meant Xuanlin would know exactly what kind of improper thing she and the emperor had done. Cui Lanyin huffed in frustration, and butted her head lightly against his chest to vent her anger, before agreeing. "Fine. Go call him."
The emperor opened the door, called Xuanlin over, and whispered the instructions to him.
The moment Xuanlin heard the story, he knew exactly what had happened. He could not believe that the emperor, who had been so pure and ascetic for all these years, had gotten so impatient only a few days after he had confessed his feelings to the Second Miss.
This was exactly what the old saying went: an old house catching fire, the more it burns the more ferocious it gets, and there would be no stopping it once it started?
But thinking of how wise and mighty the emperor was, Xuanlin figured it probably would not come to that. Once they had gone through all this, His Majesty would surely return to his usual self.
Even as his mind wandered, his movements did not slow down. He moved with the speed of someone who could leap across roof tiles and scale walls, and soon reached the imperial physicians' duty quarters. The one on duty today was Imperial Physician Cao.
When Xuanlin said the emperor had bitten his own lip, everyone knew that even the smallest matter concerning the emperor was a major event. Imperial Physician Cao, who had been worrying that he could not find a chance to show his usefulness, immediately slung his medical bag over his shoulder. "Nothing about His Majesty's health can be treated carelessly. I should go examine him first before prescribing any medicine."
Xuanlin stopped him. "Imperial Physician Cao, just write the prescription."
Imperial Physician Cao tried to argue again, and Xuanlin simply said plainly, "There are some things it is better not to know too much about."
The Imperial Hospital had seen all kinds of secrets, so Imperial Physician Cao immediately had a vague idea of what was going on. He did not dare ask any more questions, and quickly prepared the medicine and handed it to Xuanlin.
Before Xuanlin could leave, he spoke up first, even before Xuanlin could warn him. "Lord Xuan, rest assured. I will not breathe a single word of this to anyone."
As he walked back, though, he could not help wondering, which palace maid was lucky enough to get this favor? Was the palace about to welcome a new imperial noble consort?
Here we go [winky face]
