Chapter 73
The emperor, who usually considered even two sentences too many, had gone on and on this time, speaking at length while looking ahead and behind himself, contradicting himself at every turn. In Cui Lanyin’s eyes, the emperor was practically omnipotent, yet she had never imagined that he could be just as uncertain and helpless when it came to matters of the heart.
It turned out the two of them were much alike. Both were plagued by worry over gains and losses. In this matter, the emperor was not high above her at all.
Only when the emperor said, “I can’t go against my conscience and say that my heart belongs to you,” did Cui Lanyin feel a little better. She shifted closer to him. “How many people truly fall in love with each other? So many meet only once before getting married. Uncle, you needn’t feel guilty for not being devoted to me. I’ve always regarded you as my uncle too. I haven’t managed to change my feelings either.”
The emperor closed his eyes in silence. Just as Cui Lanyin thought he was about to enter a meditative state, he opened them again, though he still did not look toward her.
“I thought that, since I couldn’t give you mutual love, I might as well let you experience a little of the pleasures of youth. I never imagined I’d injure your lips the other day. When it comes to this, I truly am useless.” By the end, he looked thoroughly dejected.
Cui Lanyin still could not bring herself to discuss their kiss openly, so she answered vaguely, “You don’t need to do that for me, Uncle…”
The emperor gave a self-mocking laugh. “All this time, I thought desire had nothing to do with me. It was only after meeting you that I realized all men are lustful—and I’m no exception. I have many impure thoughts about you. Once I have one thing, I’ll want a second. If this continues, then when the year is up and you decide not to stay, with your forthright nature, you probably won’t marry anyone afterward.
“When I think of it that way, perhaps injuring your lips was a good thing.”
Though the emperor did not say it outright, his words sounded very much like he intended to stop there.
Yet he did not say that their one-year agreement was canceled. He still came every night. He continued to hold her hand and put his arm around her waist. When he got up to leave, he still kissed her forehead and cheeks, and their interactions gradually returned to the way they had been before.
Cui Lanyin could sense his inner conflict, and she was no different. The two of them continued on in a state neither advancing nor retreating.
Faced with an emperor who was so obviously trying his utmost to restrain himself, Cui Lanyin could not remain unmoved. She felt like a heartless, unfeeling scoundrel who had betrayed him.
On the twenty-third day of the ninth month, the emperor’s mourning period ended. The following day would be his enthronement ceremony. At noon that day, he would host a grand banquet for the officials, and in the evening there would be a family banquet.
This was an important occasion for the emperor. Given the state of their relationship, Cui Lanyin wanted to do something to make him happy. She felt that she ought to show him some sincerity.
The few valuable things she owned had all been bestowed by Empress Dowager Chen, so it would not be appropriate to give them away to the emperor.
The silver recovered by the Qilin Hall during its investigations, together with the money earned from settling various matters over the past few months, amounted to nearly one hundred thousand taels. All of it was in her hands.
Although the emperor had told her to spend the money as she pleased, Cui Lanyin was more inclined to leave the palace after the year was up. She therefore did not want to spend so much of the emperor’s money without a clear reason.
The money earned from the pastry shop and the restaurant was different. She had personally managed and arranged everything involved with those businesses, and they had been promised to her back when the emperor was still Prince Wei. The emperor did not care about that small amount of money, so Cui Lanyin felt perfectly comfortable using it.
She took out six hundred taels for her family and kept another six hundred for herself.
After Liu Heipi had turned the tea shop at Eastwater Pass into a base of operations for the Qilin Hall, its business had more than doubled. It had earned four hundred taels in just half a year. She still gave half of that to her family and kept two hundred taels for herself.
She also had the fifty taels of gold bestowed by Empress Xu. Added together, Cui Lanyin had a total of thirteen hundred taels of silver.
Looking at the box of gold and silver, Cui Lanyin felt rather troubled.
Even if the recipient were a young nobleman or a prince, she could use the money to buy him a jade crown, a jade pendant, or something similar—something he could actually wear.
But the recipient was the emperor. Every item on his person was a treasure from the imperial treasury. If she bought something for him outside the palace, it would be far too conspicuous. Take the two sachets she had made for him, for example. It had only been a few days, yet people throughout the palace and court had already been asking about them. The gossip only stopped after they learned that they had been offered by his niece as a filial gift.
A jade pendant and a jade crown were different from ordinary things. They were not gifts a niece ought to give. If the emperor truly wore something she had bought outside the palace—especially something he wore every day and never took off—it would be tantamount to telling the world that the two of them had a secret affair.
When the emperor came that evening, Cui Lanyin tactfully asked what she might give him.
He said, “There’s no need to prepare anything special. Even a sachet would do.”
After spending so much time together, Cui Lanyin already knew that he sometimes said the opposite of what he meant. Judging by the slight upward curve of his lips, the emperor clearly cared about and looked forward to the things she gave him.
But no matter how long she thought about it, she could not come up with anything. In the end, Cui Lanyin brought out her sewing basket. She certainly would not make another sachet; she had decided not to make anything that would be displayed in public. Instead, she would first make several pairs of socks. If she still could not think of anything else by the time the occasion arrived, she would give him the socks.
On the evening of the twenty-second, the emperor came over. After they spoke for a while, he asked, as though casually, “What are you going to give me the day after tomorrow?”
The emperor cared even more than she had expected. Thinking of the plain socks in her sewing basket, Cui Lanyin suddenly felt they were too embarrassing to present.
On the twenty-third, she rose early and sent Buyu to tell Empress Dowager Chen that she would not be coming over that day.
When they had been staying at the traveling palace, Empress Dowager Chen had taken out the silver kept in the bottom of her dowry chest, along with the private savings she had accumulated in the palace, in order to raise the hidden guards. That money had supported them until the emperor turned fifteen.
Afterward, the emperor established the Qilin Hall and earned enough to fund the hidden guards. He also reimbursed Empress Dowager Chen for the money she had contributed.
Thus, although Empress Dowager Chen did not know the precise details, she knew that the emperor had profitable businesses outside the palace, and that they were now in Cui Lanyin’s hands.
Whenever Cui Lanyin did not come to see her, Empress Dowager Chen knew that she was busy handling matters outside the palace and would not let anyone disturb her that day.
After breakfast, Cui Lanyin took out the few pairs of plain socks she had finished making and prepared to embroider some trim around them. After racking her brains all night, that was the only idea she had managed to come up with.
Unfortunately, her needlework was mediocre. It took her an entire hour to finish a single pair. By midmorning, her eyes were sore and her hands were stiff.
At this rate, she would not be able to embroider all six pairs even if she stayed up all night. She had been planning to give them to the emperor that evening.
Perhaps she should give him only four pairs? But six carried a better meaning. The gift was already too modest; reducing the number would make her sincerity seem even thinner.
“Second Miss, Princess Yongjia and the Princess Consort of Prince Duan have come to see you,” Buyu announced as she entered.
Princess Yongjia? They had only met once at Prince Jing’s residence and exchanged a few polite words. How had she suddenly become familiar enough to visit?
And Li Yijin—shouldn’t she have been wary of the Li family and Empress Dowager Li? Why had she come to Empress Dowager Chen’s palace?
Cui Lanyin hurriedly put on her shoes and went out with Buyu to receive them.
Princess Yongjia was Emperor Xuanning’s second daughter. She was twenty-three years old. She had married at eighteen, but two years later her husband had died of illness, and she had remained a widow ever since.
Princess Yongjia had inherited Consort Wan’s beauty and was a strikingly radiant woman. Her face carried a bright smile; unlike other widows, she did not look perpetually sorrowful.
Princess Yongjia took hold of Cui Lanyin before she could bow. “There’s no need for that between us. I sincerely want to become friends with you.”
Although everyone treated Cui Lanyin with respect because of the emperor, a princess was still a princess—and the emperor’s younger sister, a generation above her. Why, then, was she behaving with such humility?
“Sister came to find me just now and insisted that I come with her to have a chat with you.” Li Yijin added from the side, implying that Princess Yongjia had practically dragged her here.
Cui Lanyin set aside her doubts for the moment and invited them into the sitting room.
Princess Yongjia did not sit on the couch. Instead, she took a chair beside it along with Li Yijin.
That only made her seem more suspicious. Sure enough, after Buyu and Yushan brought in tea and refreshments, Princess Yongjia said with a smile, “There’s something I need to discuss with you, but I’d rather not have anyone else hear it.”
Cui Lanyin turned to Buyu and Yushan. “Go stand watch beneath the corridor. Don’t let anyone come near.”
Li Yijin’s maidservant saw this and withdrew as well.
Li Yijin had not expected Princess Yongjia to have business with Cui Lanyin. Afraid that Cui Lanyin might think she had brought trouble to her door, she asked, “Can I hear this? If not, I’ll leave too.” The displeasure in her voice was impossible to hide.
Princess Yongjia hurriedly caught hold of her. “I know this is improper, but I’m truly desperate. I’ll properly apologize to Fifth Sister-in-law afterward.”
Fearing that Cui Lanyin might refuse to listen, Princess Yongjia beckoned to the palace maid who had accompanied her. The maid stepped forward and took a fist-sized pouch of kesi-woven silk from her sleeve. Princess Yongjia accepted it, untied the brocade cord, and opened the mouth of the pouch before setting it on the small table atop the daybed.
In an instant, it gleamed with reflected light. The pouch was half-filled with pearls.
Not only were the pearls of exquisite quality, but every one of them was as large as a thumb. A pouch like this would be worth an incalculable sum.
Princess Yongjia pushed it toward Cui Lanyin. “I’ve been saving these pearls for the past few years. A few days ago, I finally collected enough to make a strand. Take them and have them strung for your amusement.”
There was no way Cui Lanyin could accept them. She pushed the pouch back. “Since they’re precious to you, you should keep them. And didn’t you just say that there was no need for such formalities between us?”
Princess Yongjia could wait no longer and came straight to the point. “Lanyin, I truly have a favor to ask of you. Someone intends to impeach me for committing a grave act of filial impiety during the mourning period. Could you plead with the emperor on my behalf?”
A grave act of filial impiety was no joking matter. Li Yijin’s face changed dramatically. “Sister, what did you do?”
After spending the whole night in dread, Princess Yongjia could no longer keep it to herself when Li Yijin asked. She said miserably, “I only asked Lord Yu to sleep with me. We didn’t do anything.”
Li Yijin stared at her. “You slept together and still say you did nothing?”
“He recited poetry to me, and when we grew tired, we held hands and went to sleep.” Seeing that Li Yijin still did not understand, Princess Yongjia put it even more plainly. “Don’t you and Fifth Brother sleep in separate rooms? As long as you don’t do that sort of thing, you don’t even need to let him enter your—”
“I understand!” Li Yijin hurriedly cut her off. “If that’s all, what are you afraid of?”
Princess Yongjia lowered her head, her voice dropping as well. “Well… someone caught us red-handed.”
Li Yijin did not believe it. “Apart from the eunuchs and palace maids at your side, who could possibly enter the inner chambers of the princess’s residence and catch you in bed?”
“It was Lord Wei. He noticed that I hadn’t been seeking him out lately and grew suspicious, so he found his way into the residence. When I have company, I usually dismiss everyone serving me. That was how he got in…”
Li Yijin heard the implication and once again widened her eyes. “He’s another lover of yours? You took up with two men at once?”
Princess Yongjia tried to make her understand. “Lord Yu is handsome, while Lord Wei is rugged and imposing. I truly couldn’t choose between them.”
Li Yijin immediately grasped the situation. “So Lord Wei is now dissatisfied and wants to find a censor to impeach you? Even if you and Lord Yu only held hands and slept, the two of you aren’t husband and wife. Taking a man to your bed while in mourning for your father is still disreputable. It wouldn’t be difficult to accuse you of being unfilial and disrespectful toward His Majesty.”
Princess Yongjia nodded rapidly. “Exactly.”
Cui Lanyin was utterly bewildered. She could understand Princess Yongjia taking lovers, but taking two at once—and being caught in bed with one by the other—was so far beyond her experience that it felt as though they did not even belong to the same world.
When Princess Yongjia once again begged her to plead with the emperor, Cui Lanyin was still dazed. “Princess, I truly have no way to bring this up with my imperial uncle.”
Li Yijin added, “Sister, Second Young Miss is a junior and is not even married. She really has no way to discuss such a matter with His Majesty.”
“But apart from Lanyin, who else can get a word in with the emperor?” Princess Yongjia had clearly thought it through.
That was the truth. Moreover, it was only because she had used Cui Lanyin’s connections that she and Prince Duan had been able to live in peace until now. Li Yijin was left speechless.
Princess Yongjia fretted, “His Majesty still hasn’t taken a woman. I’m afraid he’s utterly indifferent to matters of love and desire. How could he possibly understand me?
“I could accept any other punishment he gave me. I’m only afraid that he’ll choose a husband for me. I don’t want to devote myself to just one man. Lord Yu is handsome, and I love listening to him murmur sweet poetry while we take our time together. Lord Wei is powerfully built, and I adore the way he ravishes me over and over. Each of them has his own pleasures…”
Li Yijin tried several times to pull her back, but to no avail. In the end, she could only clamp a hand over Princess Yongjia’s mouth.
Princess Yongjia paused, but she was a woman who could not bear to be without passion. Once she began talking about it, she simply could not stop.
Since she could no longer speak about herself, she turned to Li Yijin instead. “I know you’re bold too. What’s there to be shy about? Consort Wan treats you wonderfully. I hear she won’t allow Fifth Brother to go near any other woman. But you can’t leave him unsatisfied. Even while you’re pregnant, there are other ways to enjoy yourselves—and they have pleasures of their own.
“A man can’t keep suppressing his desires. If he goes too long without release, you’ll regret it. What if Fifth Brother becomes as detached from desire as His Majesty and loses all interest in such pleasures? How will you endure the years ahead…”
Cui Lanyin was not like Princess Yongjia. If she let her continue, and her words reached Empress Dowager Chen or the emperor, even she—who had merely accompanied Princess Yongjia—would suffer for it.
Li Yijin had always been decisive. She immediately rose and began ushering Princess Yongjia toward the door. “All I know is that if Sister doesn’t leave now, His Majesty won’t be able to let you off lightly even if he originally intended to.”
Li Yijin was usually shrewd and calculating, so Princess Yongjia believed her. She did not dare linger and allowed Li Yijin to drag her away.
Cui Lanyin even forgot to see them out. Her mind was filled with the things Princess Yongjia had just said.
What kind of pleasures were they, exactly, that could leave a princess so enthralled she could not bear to give them up?
