Chapter Ninety-Five
After Cui Lanyin entered, she discovered that the two rooms on the west side had been opened into one, serving as both a sitting room and a study. A guqin rested beneath the inner window, while half-finished calligraphy lay scattered across the large desk dividing the two rooms. The delicate hairpin-script was graceful and soft, its style as refined and willowy as Grand Empress Dowager Li herself.
The arrangements in the palaces of Grand Empress Dowager Chen, Empress Dowager Xu, Consort Dowager Shu, and the others were all much the same. The main room was used to receive noblewomen and other guests, the eastern inner room served as a sitting room, and the eastern rear room was used as a bedchamber.
The western inner room was generally made into a study, while the western rear room either held out-of-season clothing and jewelry or was used as a quiet chamber.
Grand Empress Dowager Li’s arrangements were precisely the opposite. She did everything in the western study. Whether she had done so to distinguish herself from Grand Empress Dowager Chen or to highlight the refinement of one steeped in books, Cui Lanyin could not say.
She suspected it was both. Even though their only meeting had been that hurried encounter in the Benyuan Hall, Cui Lanyin had already sensed how deeply Grand Empress Dowager Li resented Grand Empress Dowager Chen.
Although she had only just come from her bedchamber, Grand Empress Dowager Li’s clothing and makeup were immaculate. She looked more than ten years younger than Grand Empress Dowager Chen.
In reality, the two women were only three years apart. Clearly, the past several decades had treated Grand Empress Dowager Li very well.
Cui Lanyin felt displeased at once. Facing Grand Empress Dowager Li, who was sitting there waiting for her to offer a formal greeting, she remained utterly still.
Buyu took matters into her own hands without a word, moving a chair from the side so that it faced the couch directly. “Second Miss, please make do for a while.”
With Chiyun’s support, Cui Lanyin sat down leisurely.
Her attitude made it obvious that she had come with hostile intentions. Xing Kun stepped forward and said, “Has Second Miss never learned how one is to show respect to an elder?”
On the couch, Grand Empress Dowager Li’s fingertip glided over a collection of poetry, smoothing down a curled corner of the book. With a smile, she said, “She is carrying the emperor’s first child. It is only natural for her to be cautious. That is my great-grandchild, after all. I have not taken offense, so why are you sticking your nose in?”
“Just listen to this foul mouth of mine.” Xing Kun raised a hand and lightly slapped his own face twice before forcing on a smile. “Her Majesty truly is the most benevolent elder beneath the heavens.”
Grand Empress Dowager Li looked toward Cui Lanyin. “You would not come even when invited, and every gift I sent you was returned. I know you only did so because you did not want your cousin to be upset. But if you ask me, she is the one who cannot let go. So many years have passed—what is there left to hold on to? The emperor has such an eccentric temperament; it would be better for us to join hands and help him settle into his life. Why insist on drawing the lines so clearly?
“The emperor has never once come to see me since ascending the throne. Have I ever complained? No matter what, he is my grandson, and I must acknowledge him.
“You are one of the few people the emperor is willing to keep close. I have already regarded you as a junior of my own family whom I should cherish. I had hoped to use you as a bridge so that your cousin and I could put the past behind us. I never expected you to misunderstand my intentions.”
Cui Lanyin waited patiently until Grand Empress Dowager Li had finished. Then she smiled. “It seems Grand Empress Dowager Li is the one who has misunderstood. My child has only one great-grandmother, and that is the Grand Empress Dowager in Funing Palace.”
The calm elegance on Grand Empress Dowager Li’s face finally cracked. Her fingertip dragged several distinct marks across the poetry collection. Raising a brow, she said, “Do you think that because the Ministry of Rites has begun preparing for your installation as empress, you can come here and flaunt yourself before me? Does the emperor know?”
“His Majesty is probably afraid of disturbing Second Miss’s pregnancy, so he has chosen to report only good news and not bad,” Xing Kun said with a mocking laugh. “Once Second Miss returns, she may send someone to Yan Hua Hall to ask. His Majesty should be in quite a fix by now.”
Cui Lanyin raised her hand and studied her fingers carefully before replying with indifference, “Isn’t it merely Chief Censor Wan Shan leading more than two hundred officials to kneel outside Duan Gate? Does that really require anyone to make inquiries?”
Grand Empress Dowager Li pushed the poetry collection aside, her tone equally unconcerned. “It is nothing serious. Even if the child was conceived in an illicit affair, it is still the emperor’s flesh and blood. You may not be able to sit in the empress’s position, but after enduring ten or eight years, you could still obtain a consort’s rank, just like Consort Shun. Your reputation might suffer, but if you do not care, no one else can do anything to you.”
Cui Lanyin flicked her finger. Buyu handed her a handkerchief from the side, and she accepted it, wiping each finger carefully in turn, as though her fingers had been stained by something filthy in the room.
The excellent composure Grand Empress Dowager Li had cultivated over the years split apart at that moment. The smile on her face looked terribly false.
Cui Lanyin lifted her head, her eyes bright with laughter. “We are an unmarried man and woman, and neither of us has obstructed anyone. Even those who shamelessly carried on between a cousin’s husband and his younger cousin have not felt embarrassed. We, on the other hand, could not be more aboveboard.”
“You… how dare you!” Grand Empress Dowager Li shouted.
“I am Cui the Bold, so you are not wrong.” Cui Lanyin nodded, entirely unruffled. “Now, to return to the matter at hand, I came because I wanted to make a deal with Grand Empress Dowager Li. His Majesty feels that Chief Minister Li’s health seems to have suffered from inadequate care. Why does Grand Empress Dowager Li not persuade him to return home and recuperate for a while?”
By then, Grand Empress Dowager Li had regained her composure. She was certain that the kneeling of those officials outside Duan Gate had made the emperor wary. He simply did not want to lower himself publicly, so he had sent Cui Lanyin to put on an intimidating show and try to frighten her into persuading Chief Minister Li to call the officials back.
Cui Lanyin was still too inexperienced. She thought she had concealed her intentions behind an air of profundity, but Grand Empress Dowager Li could see at a glance that she was merely putting on a brave front.
Grand Empress Dowager Li leaned back comfortably. “Chief Minister Li is healthier than any young man. He is determined to help the emperor shoulder his burdens. He will not return home until he is seventy or eighty.”
“Is that so? What a pity.” Cui Lanyin looked around the room and sighed. “This place has been arranged so elegantly, filled with the fragrance of ink and books. Grand Empress Dowager Li must have put a great deal of thought into it. I imagine you would have trouble adjusting if you had to move elsewhere.”
Grand Empress Dowager Li refused to yield. “Move to Funing Palace? I have no interest in that.”
“Perhaps the years have been so long that Grand Empress Dowager Li has forgotten.” Cui Lanyin looked at her with sympathy. “My maternal uncle told me that the late emperor was registered under our Grand Empress Dowager’s name from beginning to end. That is why I said my child has only one great-grandmother, and the emperor has only one grandmother.
“As for Fuan Palace, strictly speaking, Grand Empress Dowager Li has no right to live here. Oh, no—that should be Grand Dowager Consort Li.”
The teacup Grand Empress Dowager Li had only just picked up slipped from her hand and fell, splashing tea across the front of her robes. She paid it no attention. Her voice rose, sharp and shrill.
“How dare you!”
“We dare very much.” With Chiyun’s support, Cui Lanyin rose to her feet. “I will give you until the middle of the Shen hour—not even half a quarter beyond that. There is not much time left. Grand Empress Dowager Li should think carefully about whether she wishes to remain Grand Empress Dowager Li, or become Grand Dowager Consort Li.”
Cui Lanyin started toward the door, but Xing Kun stepped forward to block her path. “Second Miss, we are not finished speaking.”
Chiyue turned her palm into a fist and waved it in front of Xing Kun’s eyes. “Anything that obstructs Second Miss—His Majesty has given us permission to beat the offender to death.”
Xing Kun looked suspiciously from Chiyun to Chiyue. “You are Qilin Guards?”
“Your eyesight is not bad.”
Chiyun and Chiyue escorted Cui Lanyin out. Remembering the fearsome reputation of the hidden Qilin Guards, Xing Kun gritted his teeth and stepped aside.
Afterward, a deathly silence settled over the room. Even the several older women attending Grand Empress Dowager Li did not dare approach her to help change the robes splashed with tea.
At the beginning of the Shen hour, Gufeng came to report that the officials kneeling outside Duan Gate had withdrawn.
The emperor returned as soon as the hour of You arrived. The moment he entered, he kicked off his boots, tugged off his socks, and went barefoot to sit cross-legged on the luohan couch. He pulled Cui Lanyin against him, his large hand rubbing over her still flat, slender belly.
“How has it not grown at all?”
“I told you, it won’t show until the fourth month.” Cui Lanyin pushed at him. “Go change your clothes. And put your socks back on.”
“Let me sit for a while first.” The emperor did not move.
That evening, they dined together and went to bed together. They had thoroughly lost all distance between them, and Cui Lanyin discovered that the emperor truly no longer treated himself as an outsider.
Back when they had lived in the former residence, whenever the emperor returned, she would remind him to change his clothes and shoes. Though reluctant, he would still do so promptly.
But now, he needed to be urged three times before he would move. Sometimes, to save himself the trouble, he would not even change into ordinary clothes, but would wander around the room in nothing but his inner garments, barefoot.
When it was time to retire, he would take off even those inner garments and lie beneath the covers in nothing but a pair of loose trousers. He was more uninhibited and unrestrained than a common roughneck. Only then did Cui Lanyin realize how shallow her understanding of the emperor had been.
Cui Lanyin could not stand disorder, least of all a man dressed so sloppily—especially when he insisted on going barefoot.
Now she poked him in the arm. “You weren’t like this back at the residence. Had I known you were so careless about your appearance, I never would have agreed to marry you.”
“Can your husband really be compared to your older cousin by marriage?” the emperor said unhappily, tapping her on the cheek. “Husband and wife ought to be open and unguarded with each other.” He even deliberately lifted his bare foot and wiggled it.
By now, Cui Lanyin was too lazy to argue with him. She asked about the matter at hand instead. “The officials won’t cause a scene again later, will they?”
“After tomorrow, no one will say another word against you.”
“What arrangements have you made this time?”
The emperor helped her recline against the cushions, then braced himself over her with both arms. “Give me a little something, and I’ll tell you.”
Cui Lanyin, confident that she possessed a protective talisman, thrust out her belly and pretended to be helpless. “I may wish to, but I’m afraid I lack the strength.”
The emperor laughed suggestively. Leaning close to her ear, he said, “I asked Court Physician Cao. We don’t have to abstain at this stage. I’ve learned a few techniques that will benefit us both. Shall we try them tonight?”
Cui Lanyin hurriedly covered her belly with one hand. “The baby can hear you! What nonsense are you talking about?”
Yet, despite herself, her mind conjured up Princess Yongjia’s instructions to Li Yijin: that they did not have to abstain, that there were other ways to enjoy themselves during pregnancy, that such methods had their own special pleasures, and that a man could not be expected to hold himself back forever…
The emperor withdrew his arm and lay beside her, pointing at her small belly with an aggrieved expression. “Do you think our child has no sense of timing? It could at least have waited another two months.”
All of Cui Lanyin’s thoughts vanished in an instant. Unable to bear it any longer, she grabbed the cushion beside her and smacked it over his head.
“How can you even say something like that?”
She pressed down on the cushion to keep the emperor from lifting it. “Princess Yongjia even asked me how I could live with someone as taciturn as you. She wondered whether the two of us simply sat facing each other without saying a word. If I weren’t worried about damaging your dignity, I’d truly like to tell her that sometimes you’re even more long-winded than I am.”
The emperor’s muffled laughter came from beneath the cushion, while his hands began wandering restlessly.
Cui Lanyin quickly pulled the cushion away and pinned down his misbehaving hand. “Shall we ask them to serve the meal?”
“Go ahead.” The emperor agreed, then caught her hand and asked, “You refused to change the way you addressed me before. Why haven’t you called me ‘older cousin’ these past two days?”
“You truly don’t understand?” Cui Lanyin stared at him mournfully. “I was afraid that after the baby was born, it would end up calling you ‘great-grandfather.’”
The emperor’s breath caught in his throat. Speechless, he locked her in his arms and peppered her face with kisses. Then he caught her lips between his own, nibbling and sucking at them in slow, lingering strokes, each muttered word brushing against her mouth.
“It’s too late to complain that I’m old now. Tomorrow, Minister Gu will go to your family with Grand Secretary Shen and Grand Secretary Yao to formally propose the match.”
Cui Lanyin breathed softly and turned her face away. “You asked Grand Secretary Shen and Grand Secretary Yao to act as matchmakers?”
“Mhm.” The emperor knew they could not continue, so he put an arm around her and leaned back with her. “The Yao family has been reasonably cooperative this time.”
So Grand Secretary Yao’s role as matchmaker was the emperor’s way of signaling his approval to the Yao family.
After everything that had happened over the past few days, Cui Lanyin felt that the emperor was even more meticulous and unfathomable than she had imagined. Every move he made served several purposes at once—one action accomplishing many goals.
In the presence of someone like him, any scheming or maneuvering would be unwise. It was better to speak openly about whatever she wanted.
The opportunity had presented itself, so Cui Lanyin brought it up. “I still want to leave the palace every few days as I did before. And I don’t want to abandon the Qilin Hall either.”
“Will your health be able to bear it?” The emperor was somewhat worried.
“Other women have to observe rules before their mothers-in-law while pregnant, and still manage the household and handle all its affairs. What I’m doing is practically child’s play. Besides, didn’t Court Physician Cao say that moving around more would be good for the delivery?”
The emperor granted her permission.
After they retired that night, when the emperor moved close to her, he thought of Princess Yongjia’s words. He was also in high spirits where such matters were concerned, but this time he abruptly stopped. What if something happened…?
Cui Lanyin half resisted and half yielded, ultimately giving in to the emperor’s wishes.
The emperor’s eagerness to learn about such things was truly tireless. He taught her patiently, step by step, never growing weary. It was not enough for him to understand the pleasure himself; he insisted that she experience it alongside him.
Afterward, the emperor attentively washed them both before they returned to bed. His entire presence had changed. He seemed warm and relaxed, all his awkward edges smoothed away. Whatever she asked of him now, he would agree.
Cui Lanyin knew then that a man who had tasted such pleasure could not give it up. Even if he could not be completely satisfied, he would at least need to be kept half full.
The next morning, once she had washed and changed, the emperor returned again.
“Why have you come back?”
“To dine with you. From now on, I’ll return for all three meals every day.”
“Don’t you still have officials to summon over there?”
“I can take a short break in between. It won’t interfere.”
Cui Lanyin hurriedly ordered breakfast to be served. The emperor ate with relish.
“Food at home really does suit my taste better.”
“Isn’t the entire palace your home?”
“Wherever you are is home.”
Cui Lanyin tried to ignore him, but the curve of her lips betrayed her mood.
The emperor said, “It seems I wasn’t the only one left unsatisfied these past two days.”
He caught the hand she reached out to pinch him with and explained, “I’ve changed the Qilin Hall’s official designation. What do you think of the Bureau for the Administration of Commercial Education?”
Here it comes [kiss].
