The night was as black as ink. After leaving Prince Kang's Estate, boarding the carriage, and securing Prince Hui's wheelchair, Yao Huang took the opportunity to lean close to his neck and take a sniff.
Zhao Sui's body stiffened slightly, and then he heard his princess consort's rather surprised voice: "Did Your Highness drink a lot tonight?"
Zhao Sui: "...It was alright."
When it didn't concern official matters, Prince Kang rarely lost his temper. With Prince Qing leading the charge tonight, the crowd was quite fierce in pushing drinks. With Prince Qing pressing the issue, Prince Kang's two close attendants didn't dare to directly help Prince Kang away. Seeing that Prince Kang was truly drunk, Zhao Sui helped by offering a word of persuasion, after which Prince Qing started proposing toasts to him.
When men compete in drinking, they like to bring up brotherly bonds. Under those circumstances, it was inevitable that Zhao Sui drank a few extra bowls.
He didn't tell his princess consort this, but Yao Huang figured it out upon a moment's thought—among the male guests tonight, only Prince Qing would dare to frequently urge Prince Hui to drink.
During Prince Qing's own wedding last time, he was the groom being forced to drink, so naturally, he had no spare time to push drinks on his second older brother.
"Are you drunk? Are you dizzy, does your stomach burn?"
Noticing the faint flush on Prince Hui's handsome face, Yao Huang asked with concern.
Zhao Sui shook his head and looked at the curtains on both sides: "Open them a bit, let the smell of alcohol dissipate."
Yao Huang: "..."
It turned out that Prince Hui's face wasn't red from the alcohol, but rather because he was worried that the stench of alcohol on him would overwhelm his wife, thus damaging his noble elegance as a prince.
"Don't air it out, I like the smell of alcohol on Your Highness." Yao Huang deliberately leaned under his chin again and took a deep breath.
After a deep breath naturally came a long exhale. Prince Hui felt the princess consort's warm breath landing on his Adam's apple turn into a ball of fire, burning all the way down to...
Zhao Sui looked to the side and said, "Water."
Prince Hui was thirsty, so Yao Huang quickly poured him a bowl of lukewarm water.
After setting down the teacup, Yao Huang sat in the side seat, took out the purse Aji had stuffed into her hands when boarding the carriage, poured all the broken silver inside next to her in one breath, and smilingly began to count it.
Zhao Sui had seen her counting in the morning, and at a glance, he could tell the broken silver had increased. His princess consort had won money.
"A little over fifteen taels." Finishing the count, Yao Huang said with fair satisfaction, then explained to Prince Hui, who had been watching her: "Originally I had won over fifty taels in the morning. It was only during the afternoon game that I realized Side Consort Gu had been hiding her skills earlier. Once she showed her true ability, the Second Princess, the First Princess, and I all lost. The Second Princess lost the worst; she lost all fifty taels of capital she borrowed from Side Consort Ruan."
The two princesses hadn't expected to play cards at Prince Kang's Estate when they left the palace, so they didn't bring any silver and had to borrow capital on the spot.
Zhao Sui saw sheer schadenfreude on his princess consort's face. This was by no means a virtue, but the princess consort looked very beautiful when she smiled.
Upon returning to the princely estate, Zhao Sui repeatedly rinsed his mouth in the front courtyard, followed by a massage and a bath, before heading to the rear courtyard.
Yao Huang leaned into his embrace and chatted with him about the instigating words the Second Princess had said: "Of course I prefer visiting Prince Kang's Estate. Eldest Sister-in-law has a similar family background to mine and we hit it off well. The two side consorts are also warm hosts. Plus, there are three children over there to amuse and entertain us. What does Prince Qing's Estate have? Just a third sister-in-law who has barely ever looked me straight in the eye. Why would I rush over there just to be given the cold shoulder?"
Not to mention Zheng Yuanzhen had never sent her an invitation; if one day Zheng Yuanzhen actually did, Yao Huang would have to worry if it was a trap.
"But on the surface, I definitely can't say that. If Third Sister-in-law disdains me, that's her business. I won't actively hand her anything she can use against me."
Zhao Sui thought for a moment and said, "It's best if you can live in peace, but if someone really bullies you, you don't need to suffer in silence and compromise."
Yao Huang savored this for a moment, propping herself up halfway to look at him: "Is Your Highness saying that even if Third Sister-in-law bullies me, I can push back?"
Zhao Sui: "En."
Yao Huang bit her lip and whispered, "Of course I'd hope to do that, but I'm afraid of the 'what if'. What if Third Sister-in-law's status has a chance to advance further in the future? When the time comes and she brings up old scores, wouldn't I suffer for it?"
Zhao Sui looked at his princess consort and taught her: "The higher the status, the more one must strictly observe etiquette and law. No matter what her status is, you will always be her second sister-in-law. If she provokes you without cause, both you and I can submit a memorial to impeach her."
Yao Huang: "That's still asking the Emperor to make the decision. What emperor isn't biased toward his own empress?"
Zhao Sui: "In front of the civil and military officials, even the Emperor must be reasonable."
Since this was brought up, Yao Huang asked quietly, "Who does Your Highness think has more hope, the First Prince or the Third Prince? If it's the Third Prince, I'll have to be a bit more careful and not run over to Prince Kang's Estate too often."
Zhao Sui: "I don't know, and you don't need to overthink it. Merely socializing among princess consorts will not affect court affairs."
Yao Huang: "Understood. Then I will continue to be on good terms with Eldest Sister-in-law. Suddenly distancing myself would instead make both sides suspicious."
The next day, the couple entered the palace to attend the ceremony. Because Prince Kang and Chen Ying were the eldest brother and sister-in-law, the two couples—Prince Hui and his wife, and Prince Qing and his wife—had to walk over to pay their respects to the new sister-in-law.
Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui, and after calling out to her eldest sister-in-law, she looked at Chen Ying with profound meaning.
Chen Ying understood her meaning. Recalling that time in the middle of the night when she had indeed cried from pleasure, her face instantly flushed red, and she lowered her eyes, not daring to look at Yao Huang again.
Yao Huang smiled. With Chen Ying's temperament, she wouldn't easily anger Prince Kang. Now that her worries about the wedding night were dispelled, Chen Ying's life in the future shouldn't be bad.
This was Prince Kang's second time dealing with such a scene. Originally, he had nothing to be shy about; his sitting posture was upright and his expression steady. However, with Chen Ying blushing like this and his second sister-in-law smiling in that manner, Prince Kang suddenly felt the awkwardness of having the secrets between him and his little princess consort from last night seen through by others. He subconsciously looked at his second brother in the wheelchair.
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes after greeting his sister-in-law and did not notice any of this.
Yao Huang pushed him away, allowing Prince Qing and his wife to step forward and pay their respects.
As soon as Yao Huang left, the heat on Chen Ying's face faded. Towards Zheng Yuanzhen, she harbored even more of the awe a minor official's daughter felt for the beloved daughter of the Grand Princess than Yao Huang did. After all, during that month in the Chuxiu Pavilion, Zheng Yuanzhen had at least sized up Yao Huang from afar a few times, whereas she had treated Chen Ying like dirt, never even glancing at her once. And Chen Ying couldn't be like Yao Huang, who was able to treat Zheng Yuanzhen as an equal sister-in-law right after marrying into the princely estate.
Emperor Yongchang and Empress Zhou sat side by side in the main seats, and at a glance, they could see the closeness and distance among their three daughters-in-law.
It was strange to say, but when Zheng Yuanzhen was merely his niece, Emperor Yongchang saw her just like his own First Princess—perfect in every way without any flaws. But now that Zheng Yuanzhen had become his daughter-in-law, Emperor Yongchang suddenly noticed his niece's shortcomings. She was too arrogant; she wouldn't even deign to get close to her two sisters-in-law. Even if the three of them had vastly different statuses before marriage, his niece should at least give her two cousins some face.
However, these were all trivial matters. Emperor Yongchang had too many state affairs to worry about, and he quickly tossed this fleeting thought to the back of his mind.
After Chen Ying bid farewell to her family, Yao Huang spent a few days accompanying her on a proper tour around the capital. The poor Princess Consort Kang had been in the capital for almost a full year, yet she had to wait until after her marriage to finally have the chance to go out and walk around.
Away from the noble grounds of the imperial palace and the princely manor, Chen Ying, when alone with Yao Huang, was no different from an ordinary sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl. She would be captivated by the stories told in the teahouse, dazzled by the piles of jewelry and silks, and would laugh, revealing a mouthful of little white teeth, whenever Yao Huang recounted something amusing. In Yao Huang's eyes, Chen Ying was a very endearing playmate, a hundred times better than Prince Hui, who never made a sound unless spoken to.
Prince Hui, who only got to see his princess consort at night, discovered that the word "sister-in-law" could also bring that seemingly affectionate gleam to her eyes.
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, officials and scholars began their New Year holidays, which lasted until the fifth day of the first lunar month of the new year.
Early in the morning, Yao Huang pressed herself against Prince Hui, who was preparing to get out of bed, and said with a smile, "My mother has already bought all the New Year goods for her family, but we haven't bought ours yet. Will Your Highness accompany me to buy them today? This is the first New Year I am spending with Your Highness, and I want us to prepare for it ourselves."
Zhao Sui looked at his princess consort and said in surprise, "I thought you had already bought everything when you went shopping with your sister-in-law."
Yao Huang replied, "I only bought ordinary things with my sister-in-law. New Year goods naturally have to be bought together by our own family."
Speaking of "our own family," the bright eyes of the princess consort looking at him seemed to hold a bit more emotion than when she mentioned her sister-in-law or Jinbao.
However, before Prince Hui could figure out what that emotion was, he looked away from the princess consort's overly radiant smile. After a moment of silence, he said, "Alright."
There were too many people wearing silk in the capital, but a wheelchair with large golden wheels was too rare. In order not to expose Prince Hui's identity too much and cause the common people to be terrified or gossip wherever he went, Prince Hui chose the four-wheeled elm wood wheelchair that he had not used for a long time for their outing today.
The carriage stopped by the street. Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui onto South Avenue, while Qingai and Feiquan dressed up as young servants and followed behind, waiting to carry the New Year goods for the prince and the princess consort.
Roasted nuts, cured meats, pastries, silks, wine, tea, and fireworks. Since the prince and the princess consort wore top-grade silks bestowed upon the princely manor, Yao Huang bought some ordinary ones to reward the four senior maids including A'Ji, the prince's two close attendants Qingai and Feiquan, and the chief stewards such as Guo Shu, Eunuch Cao, and Nanny Liu. Yao Huang also bought stacks of couplets and "Fu" character papers.
Qingai and Feiquan each ran back to the carriage once to drop off the items.
The crowd was dense, and they had bought almost everything they needed. Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui, turned around, and prepared to head back.
Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice came from the front, "Wang Ge'er, Wang Ge'er?"
Yao Huang subconsciously looked towards the voice.
Before she saw the battalion commander's wife who often showed off in front of her mother, Yao Huang first met a familiar handsome face. Li Tingwang, who was over eight feet tall, stood diagonally in front of a jade shop. Ignoring the flow of people coming and going around him, Li Tingwang seemed to have seen her a long time ago. When Yao Huang looked up, her gaze collided straight into those complex dark eyes that seemed to be overflowing with words he wanted to tell her.
Yao Huang was startled and cursed "bad luck" in her heart!
With such a standout young master from a battalion commander's family staring straight at her, had Prince Hui already noticed?
A glance and a thought actually only took a moment. After her astonishment, Yao Huang continued to push Prince Hui forward as if nothing had happened. It wasn't until she was close enough that she stopped and looked in surprise at the mother and son who were now standing side by side, saying, "Madam Wang, Young Master Li?"
Madam Wang naturally was not afraid of Yao Huang; what she feared was Prince Hui sitting in the wheelchair, whom she did not even dare to look at directly. She was afraid that Prince Hui would discover her son's affection for Yao Huang, who was now a noble princess consort!
Just as she was about to pull her son down to kneel and pay respects to Prince Hui, Yao Huang interjected, "Second Master and I are just out for a casual stroll. Madam, there is no need for formalities."
After saying that, she smiled and introduced the two to Prince Hui. Battalion Commander Li was her father's superior. With this relationship, it was perfectly normal for the two families to know each other.
Zhao Sui nodded and looked at the mother and son.
Madam Wang curtsied and respectfully paid her respects to the Second Master.
Li Tingwang cupped his hands and bowed, his eyes fixed on Prince Hui's boots resting on the footrests of the wheelchair.
"Dispense with the formalities."
He heard Prince Hui's cold and indifferent voice, followed by the princess consort's smiling farewell: "Go about your business, the Second Master and I will take our leave now."
